Yeah, I Did That

Sorry for the poems and such for those that aren't interested, but I just had an urge. Of course this is going to look a bit silly and backwards to those without an RSS reader, but oh well. I thought long and not so hard about how to post this since the sequential nature of a blog gives you the latest first, even though there is a clear sequence (in my head). But, in the end, I decided to get another beer instead of worrying about it since everyone's emotional lives have their own map and sequence.

New Project

I doubt you've noticed it, but I've added a couple of new blogs to my sidebar. Also, I've started a new project that's much more work focused: Contented: a weblog dedicated to content strategy and web copywriting. I don't know how far I'll get with it alone, but I felt the need to write about some of the things I deal with on a day-to-day basis at work. Hopefully, I can expand the authorship over there as well. In any case, that stuff really didn't really seem to fit here. So, if you're interested, click on over. If not, nothing to see there, please move along.

So yeah, I'm Back.

Lots to see here, so clicky those linky's to move on along.

Time Out

Vacation. Whatever. Due to some upcoming travel and continuing insanity at work (three projects all peaking at once), I'll be taking some time off from updating the site. I should return much rested after Labor Day.

In the meantime, take some time to peruse the site's on my sidebar, as I've found them endlessly diverting.

Changes Afoot

I'm sure that it looks like I've abandoned this space entirely, but that is not the case. While I have been very busy with work of late, I have been kicking around quite a few ideas on how to improve the site. And it's time to begin implementing them. While my schedule is still hectic, watch this space for a number of (what I think will be) improvements FlannelEnigma.com over the coming weeks.

Some of these changes will be visual. More of them will be editorial. And, I hope, all of them will be welcome.

UPDATE: As part of these changes, I'm instituting an editorial calendar, devoting certain days to particular themes. As you see above, Monday will now be about music. Other themes that will emerge with their own theme days will be Food & Drink and Sports. I'd imagine, some sort of politics will creep in, and I may even blog about workish things.

Of course, if I see something that interests me, I'll still pass it along, but by assigning certain days of the week to certain topics, I hope to create more thought-out posts and a depth of content that only occasionally appeared here. If anyone has suggestions on what I should be holding forth about, just drop a note in the comments. Stayed tuned for Music Mondays, and Food and Drink Wednesdays (bbq, scotch, and dirt bar reviews)! And sports seems like a good Friday activity since it will be a good wrap-up look forward to the weekend with a certain cup final coming up. Tuesday and Thursday are open now, and I'll just be a lazy sot on the weekends still.

Still Alive

Just up to my eyeballs in a project. Don't worry, I haven't decided to abandon my own corner of that interweb. I hope to return to regular posting soon. Hope this update finds all six of my readers well.

Blog Updates

And I don't necessarily mean lack thereof.

Sometime last week, I was prompted to switch to Blogger 2.0. The main addition from this change has been the addition of tags to each post (or, as Blogger calls them, "labels"). Semantics aside, I've long wished I had this ability through blogger, and while I'm not 100% thrilled with how they're implemented exactly, they certainly beat nothing. Unfortunately, to have full control over their presentation, I'd have to abandon this URL (or let Google host it), so I'll just have to put up with it I guess.

To make a long story short, the time I would have spent posting over the last week or so, I've been doing housekeeping on the site, adding these tags. Well, and I've been extremely busy at work too. But that will happen from time to time. Let me know how the tags work if you get a chance.

I Suck

There's no way avoiding it. I suck. I can't seem to find time to update ye olde FlannelEnigma. I keep hoping that work life will settle a bit, and I can find time to post a bit more. I owe you all, at the very least, a review of the Yo La Tengo show last Saturday night. It's coming, I promise.

As for all the very salacious and interesting occurrences around us, I hope to get back to that. Quick note: how stupid does Boston's city government look. I am Errr, feel my fury, but not that kind of fury. Of course there is always USA v. Mexico in about 20 hours. My guess is despite the rabid Mexico support in Arizona, the best they'll manage is a draw. Call it 1-1.

NP: absolutely nothing

The State of the Blog

With the new year, my thoughts have turned to what's going on here (i.e., what's working, what's not working, and so on), so I thought I throw it to you my readers (however few of your there actually are). This is the time of year for assessment [Ed. Note: I should stop smoking again?], so I thought I would do a little assessemtating or something. Please let me know in the comments which type of posts you liked over the last year (or the life of the blog for that matter), what kind of links you visited, and whether you even noticed the ads.

I need this feedback to further optimize the user eperience here at ye olde Flannel Enigma [Ed Note: and now to you action item man!]. Thank you for your support.

But seriously, any feedback on what I should do more of, should do less of, should avoid like the plaque would be more than welcome. So get to it!

More Tinkering Under the Hood

So I've switched things up a bit around here. The stacked sidebars at the right were kind of bugging me, so I thought I try something different. What do y'all think? Suggestions are welcome of course.

Did This Work?

Tinkering under the hood continues. Why didn't anyone tell me that the site looked so bad with IE? Switch to Firefox already infidels (unless you really can't).

I made some tweaks to make this look better in Internet Explorer. Complaints? Bitches? Whinges? Problems?

Now I only have to figure how to make the now playing part play nice. (A little aliteration for those of you in the know... and assonance too!)

Late Silence

At work, I'm treading water about a foot below the surface, trying to keep sight of the light right now. So, I haven't had time to right about anything other than client #1's brand and voice and how to accessorize client #2's boxy products. Normal posting should resume shortly.

NP: "Baudelaire" - ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

Anniversary

Looking back at my archives, I see that my first entries on this, my third incarnation of a blog, occurred a year ago today. My previous attempts either evolved from a blog to a full-on employment search support site or just faded due to my lack of time. My initial entries here were actually the cream of the crop (scotch) from a previous incarnation.

Over the last year, I created 176 posts, averaging a post every two days or so over this time. My posting frequency has increased lately though. I started with one or two regular readers, now I have between 40 and 50 daily readers if StatCounter's count of returning visitors can be believed (and the trend lines are looking good). I've also moved from blogspot to my own domain (update those links).

I had no idea this experiment would last this time around. I started blogging to brush off my writing skills when I wasn't doing much copywriting. My topics were all over the map in the beginning, since I just wanted to keep my writing muscles exercised. Since then, its purpose has evolved a bit to provide more commentary, and a few central topics have emerged. Also, I seem to sense a nascent community here as well (even though its numbers are still small).

Overall, I guess I'll stick around since this whole blogging thing has become rather central to my week (if not day). And since I've always thought anniversaries and birthdays are great times to look ahead as much as you look back, it's a good time for some goals. With that in mind, here are some things I'm thinking about for the coming months:

• More St. Mary's posts as I have time to edit and revise my current notes (on the idea of mountains, blue-ridge geology, and southern appalachain flora and fauna)
  
• A year-end music report (c'mon, you know you love lists)
• More posts, more frequently
  
• A migration from Blogger to WordPress, so I can begin to tag and categorize my posts (anyone have tips and tricks?)
  
• Design tweaks based on the migration (nothing too radical I promise)
• Expanded permanent content
  
• I may even add ads, or is that just a horrible idea?
  

Have a happy Thanksgiving break everyone.

NP: "Ihop" - Luna

Housekeeping: Google Analytics

Google Analytics, their new web statistics service, launched last week. I currently use StatCounter, and I've been pretty happy with the data that they provide with their free service. However, I thought I would give Google a go at as well. If any of you are interested, and want a gmail account to make it a bit easier, just drop me a line.

I installed the code here last week, but only began receiving reports today (a lag time that I was none too happy about). The data that Google gives me though, seems like it's an improvement on the other free services (StatCounter, Sitemeter). So for now, I'll run both, see which one I end up liking the best, and report back.

NP: "Russian Autumn Heart" - The Church

Still Here

Work has turned into a bear this week, so just bear with me. Normal ramblings should resume shortly.

NP: "Eighties" - Killing Joke

Updates

I'd like to take this chance to highlight a new addition to the list of Flannel Approved sites: Blue Ridge Blog. Take a surf on over and check out her great photos of western North Carolina. I found it this morning, and as of this writing, you'll be greeted with a great picture of the Blue Ridge (or is it the Smokies?) shrouded in their eponymous haze. There are lots of other great images to feast on as well--including broccoli!

Of course this reminds me of where I grew up and brings my mind back to the St. Mary's River. There's a new St. Mary's post forthcoming. Really, I promise! [Ed. Note: We've heard that all before.] Actually, I have a few in process, one dealing with the idea of mountains, especially those that cradle the river. I'll then turn to a brief overview of the Geology of the area.

Also, I hope to have brief reviews of a couple of the new Echo & the Bunnymen' album, Siberia (which I'm listening to right now).

NP: "All Because of You Days" - Echo & the Bunnymen

Me Dot-Com!

To celebrate my up and down ride over the last ten years riding the Internet tidal wave, I've become my own dot-com:

http://www.flannelenigma.com/

The old URL will no longer be hosting new posts, and I'll be adding some neat features to the new site, including some musical goodness. Welcome!

More Tinkering Under the Hood

I've messed with the comments a bit to make it even easier to comment on posts and to enable trackback by switching to Haloscan commenting. Hence the test comment below.

Housekeeping Notes

You may have noticed some tinkering going on here lately. There's the new look of course, but I've also added some links to the sidebar over there. First, there's 72hrchikdom, the blog of a friend of mine from Savannah (one night returning to IRC can lead you to some good finds apparently). I also added a link to a coworker's blog, Sweetfrenchtoast.com. This was fascinating reading during her recent trip to Asia.

Yesterday, I added two new blogs from some very old friends. Grande Con Carne is a blog focusing on film run by my fraternity big brother. Finally, Dilettante in Distress is a brand spanking new blog by one of my oldest friends; strangely enough, she is the indirect source for this site's title. Small world ain't it?

Go show them some love. All eight of you!

NP: "Mr. Jones" - The Psychedelic Furs

Fair Warning

I wasn't kidding about the poetry. [Ed Note: Now you're driving away all eight readers, idiot!] For the poetry averse, a new St. Mary's prose post will soon follow. I can't decide yet between the flora or the geology (the fauna will follow at a later day... perhaps hunting season?).

Housekeeping

As you may have noticed, some slight tweaking has been going on here. I've increased the main content column--I was getting a little tired of moderately length posts stretching for-ev-er down the page.

I've also streamlined the comments process as an experiment. This experience has gone on long enough that I thought it time to make feedback easier [Ed Note: You'll have to post more though]. For now, anyone can leave comments, but if comment spam becomes a problem, I'll re-enable signups even if it is a bit less restrictive than before.

NP: Charlatans UK - "Title Flight"

Still Here

All five of you probably noticed I haven't posted anything lately. I'm preparing something which may be a bit of a departure from what I've been doing (or an addition if you will). Stay tuned.

Update: OK, you'll probably notice what I'm doing: writing about St. Mary's river. Why? I've been thinking about it a lot lately (must be the time of year) and this seemed like the place to let it all fly so to speak.

NP: Charlatans UK - "Blue for You"

Housekeeping

I added a bunch of new links to the Flannel Approved list. From sports to politics to music to life, these are some of my most visited sites. Feel free to surf 'em all.

Also, don't miss the Locals area over there too. It includes friends and current and former co-workers, all of which have good things to say (and I don't mean about me either). Oh, and feel free to comment on anything. (Months and months and not a comment yet, I must really only have three readers after all).