Sun - February 21, 2010
Willowwood Revival?
Anybody here? Maybe, just maybe, I can get this
blog going again.
There's been scant activity here over the past year,
with only six entries in 2009, and nearly six months since the last
one.
But I'm not giving up yet!
One of the main reasons for my neglect is that I've devoted quite a bit of spare time since last spring to another tech-related activity: app development for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I think that will be the subject of one or more future entries, as I expect to continue pursuing it (and to get an app into the App Store). So that distraction will not go away soon.
But another major distraction has gone away. Despite the fact that I don't even have an app released yet, I recently quit my day job. To be more precise, I took advantage of a voluntary layoff program offered by my employer of 36 years, and retired. There may still not be enough hours in the day or days in the week to satisfy me, but I hope to find more time for blogging.
On another blog-related note, you might notice that the comment-submission feature here has changed. This is the result of the demise of the old Haloscan mechanism, now replaced by Echo. Give it a try, and we'll see how this works out.
But I'm not giving up yet!
One of the main reasons for my neglect is that I've devoted quite a bit of spare time since last spring to another tech-related activity: app development for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I think that will be the subject of one or more future entries, as I expect to continue pursuing it (and to get an app into the App Store). So that distraction will not go away soon.
But another major distraction has gone away. Despite the fact that I don't even have an app released yet, I recently quit my day job. To be more precise, I took advantage of a voluntary layoff program offered by my employer of 36 years, and retired. There may still not be enough hours in the day or days in the week to satisfy me, but I hope to find more time for blogging.
On another blog-related note, you might notice that the comment-submission feature here has changed. This is the result of the demise of the old Haloscan mechanism, now replaced by Echo. Give it a try, and we'll see how this works out.
Posted at 12:45 PM Read More
Sun - February 8, 2009
Brighten Dreary Web Pages -- Starting Right Here!
Readers who do not frequent the Making Light
blog may have missed this important news...
Do you find your normally cheerful outlook brought
low while reading web pages about the environment, politics, the economy, or
other bad news? Or do you spend more time than you'd like browsing drab and
poorly-designed sites? Now you can add sparkle and color to nearly any page
with Cornify, "the #1 unicorn and rainbow service worldwide"! Check the Cornify
web site for more information, or try it right here! Just click
the button below -- and keep clicking for maximum
effect!
(Button will be in place real soon...)
(For good or ill, this won't work if you have JavaScript disabled.)
(Button will be in place real soon...)
(For good or ill, this won't work if you have JavaScript disabled.)
Posted at 10:06 AM Read More
Sun - January 4, 2009
Third Annual
The Willowwood blog isn't quite dead
yet.
I'm celebrating the second anniversary of this blog,
though it's been pretty quiet here in recent
months:
Besides the overall slow decline in entries, another pattern is greater activity in the winter. This is perhaps not entirely because I'm often inspired by snow; I think I also find more time for blogging during the winter months. We'll see how this winter goes, and I'll try to keep blogging through the summer -- or revive next winter.
Besides the overall slow decline in entries, another pattern is greater activity in the winter. This is perhaps not entirely because I'm often inspired by snow; I think I also find more time for blogging during the winter months. We'll see how this winter goes, and I'll try to keep blogging through the summer -- or revive next winter.
Posted at 11:32 AM Read More
Sat
- February 16, 2008
Home Frozen in Transition
Our house wasn't looking its best for the
Google camera.
As you may know, Google has people driving around
taking pictures for the new "Street View" feature of Google Maps. The other day
I noticed that they had implemented this feature for our neighborhood, so I
looked to see what sort of images they had of our
house.
I was surprised to see that they just happened to come down our street in August of last year, while we were having new siding installed! The image below is from their photos, and shows our house wrapped in Tyvek, stacks of materials in the driveway, a big red dumpster, and the contractor's trailer in the yard.
I suppose it may be years before Google updates such photos, so if you're using Google Maps to plan a visit, bear in mind that the house doesn't look exactly like that anymore.
I was surprised to see that they just happened to come down our street in August of last year, while we were having new siding installed! The image below is from their photos, and shows our house wrapped in Tyvek, stacks of materials in the driveway, a big red dumpster, and the contractor's trailer in the yard.
I suppose it may be years before Google updates such photos, so if you're using Google Maps to plan a visit, bear in mind that the house doesn't look exactly like that anymore.
Posted at 05:32 PM Read More
Sun - January 6, 2008
In-Line Comments
The Willowwood blog now has in-line
comments.
HaloScan, the service that manages comments for this
blog, recently added support for in-line comments (as an alternative to the
earlier comment feature, which handled comments in a separate browser window).
I've installed this feature for new pages, beginning with this one. This should
make it a bit easier for all of you to read and post
comments.
Maybe sometime soon I'll write about something other than the blog itself!
Maybe sometime soon I'll write about something other than the blog itself!
Posted at 04:29 PM Read More
Tue - January 1, 2008
Second Annual
The Willowwood blog has survived an
entire year, and this is the second annual New Year's Day
entry.
Happy New
Year!
Today is the first anniversary of the creation of this blog. I'm happy to say that a prediction I made when I started was at least partly wrong. The first entry ended with the following:
I'm not at all sure how often I'll post entries here, but my guess is that I'll start out with a few entries each week, and taper off exponentially to a final entry about six months from now.
Entries have certainly tapered off, as the following graph shows:
This graph could be pretty well approximated by an exponential decay, but I have managed to pull it up off the axis a little in recent months -- so Willowwood may have been often dormant, but it isn't dead yet! Being an optimist, I'm hoping to post a bit more often in the coming months. I'd also like to encourage readers to continue contributing occasional comments. Feedback is always helpful!
Today is the first anniversary of the creation of this blog. I'm happy to say that a prediction I made when I started was at least partly wrong. The first entry ended with the following:
I'm not at all sure how often I'll post entries here, but my guess is that I'll start out with a few entries each week, and taper off exponentially to a final entry about six months from now.
Entries have certainly tapered off, as the following graph shows:
This graph could be pretty well approximated by an exponential decay, but I have managed to pull it up off the axis a little in recent months -- so Willowwood may have been often dormant, but it isn't dead yet! Being an optimist, I'm hoping to post a bit more often in the coming months. I'd also like to encourage readers to continue contributing occasional comments. Feedback is always helpful!
Posted at 01:19 PM Read More
Sun - February 11, 2007
Reader Comments on Willowwood
Readers can now submit comments on
Willowwood blog entries, thanks to HaloScan.
I recently discovered HaloScan, a commenting service
for blogs. I've now installed the code necessary for this on my blog entry
pages (but not yet on every page where it might make sense), so all you readers
out there can leave comments, and read the comments of
others.
It's a little odd, because the comments and submission form appear in a separate pop-up window. But just look for the "Comments" links, and give it a try; I'm eager to hear from you!
Along with the comment facility is a TrackBack facility for handling notifications of links between blogs. We'll see how this works out.
It's a little odd, because the comments and submission form appear in a separate pop-up window. But just look for the "Comments" links, and give it a try; I'm eager to hear from you!
Along with the comment facility is a TrackBack facility for handling notifications of links between blogs. We'll see how this works out.
Posted at 04:51 PM Read More
Mon - January 1, 2007
Starting a Web Log
Jim starts off the new year by creating a
web log.
I'm not often inclined to New Year's resolutions,
but the beginning of a new year seems a fitting time to begin things, so today
I'm beginning this web log, which I've named
"Willowwood."
Now, I could make up a story pointing out that willow baskets might suggest a sort of web, and that "wood" and "log" are clearly related, but the fact is that I've chosen the name "Willowwood" for no better reason than I like to spell this word out loud: "double-you eye, double-el, oh double-double-you, double-oh dee". (If you'd like to hear how I spell it, you can download this little audio clip of me spelling "willowwood"--I suppose this qualifies as my first podcast!)
The content of the web log will probably be varied, with no particular focus that I can think of. I expect to post thoughts about any of the topics that are important to me, including family, religion, science, art, news or spelling things out loud.
I'm not at all sure how often I'll post entries here, but my guess is that I'll start out with a few entries each week, and taper off exponentially to a final entry about six months from now.
Now, I could make up a story pointing out that willow baskets might suggest a sort of web, and that "wood" and "log" are clearly related, but the fact is that I've chosen the name "Willowwood" for no better reason than I like to spell this word out loud: "double-you eye, double-el, oh double-double-you, double-oh dee". (If you'd like to hear how I spell it, you can download this little audio clip of me spelling "willowwood"--I suppose this qualifies as my first podcast!)
The content of the web log will probably be varied, with no particular focus that I can think of. I expect to post thoughts about any of the topics that are important to me, including family, religion, science, art, news or spelling things out loud.
I'm not at all sure how often I'll post entries here, but my guess is that I'll start out with a few entries each week, and taper off exponentially to a final entry about six months from now.
Posted at 07:29 AM Read More
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Published On: Feb 21, 2010 12:45 PM
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Published On: Feb 21, 2010 12:45 PM