Ignore this. It’s just a test.

AKA: Operation SSS. Tonight I’m installing a mod that will allow me to limit who can see certain posts to registered members who I’ve allowed access. I’ve wrestled with this decision for a long time. The one thing I don’t want, is to ever have to censor myself here but because some people still check the site even though they should have stopped caring about what I have to say MONTHS ago, I’ve decided it’s time.

I don’t want some of the things I discuss here to EVER be used as ammunition against myself or Ben or Cassidy or anybody else I love and the only way I can ensure that is to keep some of the stuff I need to rant/vent/GET THE FUCK OUT out of the public eye. For now at least.

I’m going to pretty much approve anybody who registers EXCEPT the petty morons that I’m trying to keep out so go ahead and register and I’ll get around to approving people ASAP. You only have to do it once, choose the option to stay logged in and you’ll be set. Only posts where I talk about certain topics will be hidden, but for the most part I’ll continue to blog publicly like I always have.

It sucks I have to do this, it really does. But I don’t need people perpetuating drama that I let go of awhile ago and I have other things to focus on right now like my wedding (OMG I’M GETTING MARRIED) and not killing anybody before the PMS completely subsides.

I don’t blog enough. It’s not for lack of things to say. I have PLENTY to say. As a matter of fact Ben would probably love it if I didn’t say SO MUCH to him and started saying more HERE again. I wish I could come up with the reason that I haven’t been blogging more. Maybe I’ve just been lazy? I feel like I should entertain you all with blog posts. I go back into my archives sometimes and read “Today was fun. We ate this here and we shopped there and then Cassidy said something funny and isn’t that super swell?!” and I actually bore MYSELF!

I don’t ever want to say that I’ve ‘outgrown’ blogging. I haven’t. If you have one and you are here there’s a very good chance that I’ve read it today. I still read them a lot. A lot, a lot. If you comment, I read your blog and I probably even add you in my favorites and I will come back and read again. I’m fascinated by your life. I’m fascinated by the fact that you have kids, or you swear you will never have kids, or that you are married to a funny guy, or that you just broke up with the love of your life. I’m fascinated by that funny story you told about your dog and the garden hose, the one about how you daughter hasn’t gone to the restroom in 5 days made me cry and wish you well, and I love all the off the wall pictures you post of your doorknob.

I promise I’ll start trying to do better. Now that I think about it, maybe I just needed a little break. A chance to let my engagement story linger there at the top. Once I start blogging again, that will fall back into those pages of archives and some of you won’t get the jist of how powerfully in love I am. And My Maui pictures will fall off the main page and I’ll have to come to terms with the fact that I’m actually back here in San Jose and when I open my eyes tomorrow I won’t still be on vacation.

But, I have no doubt that planning a wedding will make for some interesting times ahead. It’s started. I’ve purchased every single wedding magazine I’ve found and also got this FANTASTIC planner that I’ve spent hours reading and pouring over and started formulating ideas and pictures in my head…

So that actually gives me some ideas for blog posts! So, I guess I’m back? If I haven’t commented on your blog in awhile, or you’ve never commented here, comment or drop me an email or just wave excitedly from your computer chair and I’ll do the same in return.

So, here’s the thing… This theme has a long way to go. Having it finished, cleaning the house, getting myself and Cassidy packed for 9 days and work are not all going to happen. Something needs to be pushed to the back burner and since those other things are things I CAN’T push back the site it is.

I have things I need to fix. I haven’t even TOUCHED the menu. I have something pretty planned. The comment form is HORRID. But I wanted to just throw it up here to take advantage of some of the features I took the time to incorporate so I ganked the code from my last theme, altered it a bit and pasted it in there. I have something pretty planned for it too. The blog titles are… *shudder* AND there’s so much more but *shrug*, it is what it is. For now at least. Till it’s something better. Which it will be once we get back. Or later.

I don’t know if I’ll be posting before I leave but I will be posting pics from the camera phone and updating flickr so check them often. And keep an eye on “follow me” to see what we have going on. Love you all and I’ll catch ya on the flip side.

No really! The other layout that I talked about in September… it actually EXISTS! While Cassidy was gone for a week I worked on it a lot. Coding it from the ground up turned out to be a little more time consuming than I had imagined (and there was that month or two that I didn’t work on it AT ALL) but now that it’s starting to finally all come together I’m really liking it. Ben even likes it. That’s saying a lot because he generally he thinks they are ‘okay’. This one he’s managed to come up with more than one adjective for. And none of them were ’suck’ or ‘really?’ or ‘nice’.

I’ve added quite a bit of new content. Some of this is because I’ve found cool new apps while playing with the 8525. My only complaint about the phone so far is that it’s POP mail sucks. A lot. Gmail has a nice little java app that you can run locally but it doesn’t allow you to attach files. I liked being able to email pictures to my flickr account with the Sidekick2 but the POP on the 8252 has MAJOR lag. Like a four hours of lag. I know the image files are quite a bit larger but yeesh. Four hours? I’m an instant gratification kinda girl. I want it to happen NOW!

So I came across a cool little program called ShoZu that uploads pictures via a pretty simple “one click feature”. Not only to flickr but to pretty much any moblog service out there. You can also upload video’s directly to YouTube which is kinda neat and I plan to start abusing that soon. One of the best features though is that you can upload photos in a blog post to wordpress like you see in the post below.

Another nifty little thing I discovered is Twitter. Twitter is kind of like a moblog minus the vanity shots. heh You send text messages to it via IM, SMS or on the web of what you are currently doing. Anybody who’s added you to their list also gets the IM or SMS and vice versa. So, how is this cool? Well, I’ve added a little script in the sidebar of the new layout titled “currently” that shows you what I’ve said and how long ago I said it. So basically, I can let all you readers know exactly what I’m doing at all times. So… you can totally stalk me. And… I can totally rub Maui in your face.

What?! Rub Maui in your face?! Yeah! Because I really want to have the site live by tomorrow night. It hurts my finger bones to type that but I honestly plan on having it live before I leave so I can take advantage of some of the cool new features like Twitter and ShoZu while we are away. And adding it to this theme seems just a little too lazy and EASY and NOT GOING TO CAUSE A PSYCHOTIC MELTDOWN for me. I’m all about the psycho.

I know what this is going to cause. It means that my Friday night will be spent running around the house like a psychotic obsessive retard cleaning and packing everything we own into way too many suitcases. Then Ben will spend two hours taking all the dinner plates and bottles of Windex OUT of those suitcases while trying to convince me they ALREADY HAVE those things in Maui.

But really this is a distraction I need. I can’t sleep at night and I’m getting more done at work then a superhuman because I’m in hyperdrive mode and cant’s stop moving. So if it wasn’t working on the site I’d be spending my time doing something REALLY useless to pass the time. Like counting the tiles in the kitchen. Or obsessively brushing the cats. Or cleaning baseboards with a toothbrush and bleaching the refrigerator. I guess that last one isn’t such a BAD thing but I have a reputation to uphold and “clean” is not one of them.