It's so frustrating wanting to do something but not knowing how. I really want to change this blog's layout and add more visual interest, like a photo graphic thingy. But, I have no idea how. My aunt has a blog on typepad, and she's got this really cool photo montage banner at the top. The Caffeinated Librarian has a graphic banner on her blog. And then there's mine, dark and dull and about as text-heavy as you can get.
The blogger layouts are all kind of boring - Karen used to make new layouts for her xanga every few weeks or so; when she gets back, I'd like to ask her how she does it, though I think it involves photoshop, which I don't have on my computer. I thought that after taking this online journalism course at school, I'd be able to play around with the coding and create something new, but alas, looking at the coding for these blogger layouts immediately makes me want to pop two aspirin and lie down.
It's funny, everyone thinks that being under the age of 25 means you automatically know everything about computers and online technology. But, like all stereotypes, this just isn't true (recall my utter fascination with Google's satellite map, which has been around forever, and my lack of photoshop usage). Only two months ago did I learn what an RSS feed is, and the only mainstream blog I regularly check is Salon's Broadsheet. I've heard of all those others, Wonkette, the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post, but have never checked them out. I still don't know exactly what Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and Twitter are, and despite the fact that all our journalism professors keep saying that the only way we'll get a job is if we keep up with all these internet advancements, I've got no real desire to do so. I figure, I already spend enough time staring at the computer screen that my eyesight will probably be all but gone by the age of 50, so I'd rather not spend any more time than I already do perusing this vortex we call the internet.
And even though Google is taking over the world, I'm still wary of jumping in wholeheartedly. While almost everyone I know lauds the benefits of Google Calendar, I must be the only one who finds it slightly disconcerting that every date I enter will probably be stored somewhere out there in the nebulous realm we call cyberspace. In this day and age where a paper trail can be the kiss of death for anyone climbing the career ladder, I'm not eager to volunteer any more information than I have to, even if it's as mundane as the due date for my paper on the role of NGOs (and yes, I realize that by keeping a blog, I'm doing just that, but I made it clear from the very beginning I find this whole blogging this suspicious in its own right). Call me old-fashioned (or paranoid after reading that previous sentence), but I still enjoy keeping a little day planner and hand-writing all my dates in. Think of it this way - if someone finds that planner 150 years from now, (assuming they still know what paper at that point), that sloppy color coded script will remind them that behind all these documents are real people with real personalities and emotions and desires, not drones who lived a life scripted in the same sterile size 12 Arial font.
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I can't claim any role in the creation of the banner - a very talented friend of mine did that for me. And a good thing too, because I have no skills in that area. As for the placement, that was all trial and error. :-) I plopped the code done in a ton of places with varying degrees of disastrous results before I found something that I liked. Good luck if you decide to create your own - let me know how that goes.
As far as Google Calendar goes - I know what you mean. I use it and I cross my fingers that no one ever gets access to it, hunts me down and kills me (or such like, such like). But re. work - as long as you don't put things on there like "pay hitman to off B. Spears" or "pick up cocaine on the way home" you should be fine. :-P
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