Apt. 11D

Warning --- Blog Transfer Happening

OK, guys. Lots of changes going on behind the scenes today.... Don't bother commenting until the transfer happens. 

I'm moving to a very VANILLA design at WordPress. Fixing the design is the easy part. Moving the archives, the ad codes, and the domain name is boring, but terribly time consuming. My goal is to get this boring stuff done in the next 24 hours. 

A Business Day

After a weekend of family fun, I'm sitting at the computer looking a long list of troublesome chores. Steve and Jonah went off to work and school with that same hangdog look. Only Ian went to school with a smile. Thank God for Ian. 

The first order of business is dealing with this blog. Typepad installed a new spam filter a couple of months ago, and it has wrecked havoc with this blog. I haven't updated the blog design in several years. I need a new logo and all that. With ten years of archives and a sidebar with ads, it's a huge pain in the ass to make a change. I have to tranfer info with GoDaddy, sitemeter, and Google analytics, too. 

So, I need to do a little research on paying someone else to deal with that mess versus doing it myself. 

This blog feels like the home of a hoarder. Instead of collecting hats or buttons, I'm a collector of words and ideas. I haven't done the best job of keeping things organized, so now I must pay the price. 

I'm going to put up some very short blog posts over the next couple of days, but nothing too long. I'll be mostly working behind the scenes to clean up this mess. 

UPDATE: I really love the design options at SquareSpace, but they don't import from Typepad, so now I'm checking out WordPress. 

UPDATE2: What a time suck!!!! I picked out a vanilla design from WordPress. I'm the process of tranferring the archives. Next step, transfer the domain name. After everything moves over properly, I'll play around with the design more leisurely. I probably should have started this process during the weekend, but whatevs. 

Typepad Fail

I just recovered a bunch of very smart and funny comments from my spam filter. SORRY.  Typepad is not the best blogging system. Please let me know, if your comments are getting eaten and I'll fix it. At some point, I'll invest a grand into this blog and soup it up, but not just yet.

Guest Posts on Parenting - An Intro

Dave S., a regular commenter, asked if he could submit a guest post about parenting. It's only fair that if I say yes to Dave, I give the opportunity to others.

I'm opening up the blog to guests this week. If you would like to contribute a blog post about a parenting dilemma and get feedback from the commentariat, then send it my way. 

Good-bye, Kids

Finally, both kids are simultaneously at camp. I feel like a morning of old fashioned blogging. Multi-blog posts! Random pictures! Snark! Time wasting! Awesome-ness! 

New Commenting System

We've had some problems with comments in the past week. I fished out a couple of good comments out of the spam folder. (sorry to Doug K and Wendy) I know that people have had trouble leaving comments with certain browsers. I just enabled a new comment system on Typepad. Let me know how it works. If we still have problems, then I'm going to have to switch blog systems. 

Comment Policy

Every once and a while, I think it is a good idea to review the comment policy for a blog.

Comments are very important to Apt. 11D. I genuinely appreciate the fact that people like to come to this blog to chat. I have made comments a big part of this blog. I throw out open questions and put the latest comments up on the top right hand portion of this blog - valuable space that could be used for other purposes.

However, sometimes the comments on this blog get a little out of hand. I need for you all to self-police yourselves, because this blog is a hobby. As I've said before, the ads on the sidebar bring in beer money for myself. I have other projects and responsibilities. I have very limited time to manage blog comments, so if this responsibility becomes too burdensome, I will have to remove the comments.

Some quick rules:

1. Sockpuppetry. You have to stick to one name in the comment section. You can't say one thing with one name and then something different with another. Unless you are being purposefully and obviously ironic. 

2. Comment Hijacking. If the blog post is about Topic A, then you really should stick to Topic A. Comments should not exceed the length of the post. One person cannot dominate the comment section. I think that five substantive comments per day is sufficient for the most part. There can be unlimited one-line snark. From time to time, I get complaints from readers that someone is hijacking the blog. I do not have the time to mediate these matters. If you feel so strongly about Topic B and think that I'm completely off base for not considering Topic B, then I suggest starting your own blog. Feel free to put a link to your post in a comment here, so everyone who wants to talk about Topic B can talk about it elsewhere. 

3. Offensive comments. I love debate. I have zero problem with people criticizing an idea or an opinion expressed in a blog post. Sometimes I fail to consider an angle of a story or maybe you're aware of some information that disputes my point. FINE. Tell me. I'll always be cool about it. I'm very proud of the fact that there's a spectrum of political ideology in the comment section and, as long as everyone is civil and respectful, I'm happy to foster that environment. 

But if there's something about ME that deeply and consistently disturbs you - my political leanings, my world view, my family, my house, my choice in footwear, my character, my weakness for celebrity gossip - then you really need to find another blog to read. If you don't move on voluntarily, then I will help you.

I've never had a problem with racist, sexist, evil comments, but if they happen, then the comment will be deleted and the commenter banned. 

I think that's about it. Sound, good? OK, let's move on.  

 

Apt. 11D Gift Guides

The Apt. 11D Gift Guides are back! The Apt. 11D Gift Guides are back!

Do I give you guilt trips? No, I do not. Do I try to sell you tote bags? No, I do not. Do I post obnoxious ads that slow down your browser? Well, ok. I do that. But  you guys never click on them, so I don't make any money off of them, and I'm not quite sure why I keep doing it. Anyway.

Amazon Associates does bring in some dough for this blogger every year. Here's the deal:

1. I'll post some gift ideas over the next couple of weeks.
2. If you are planning on buying anything on Amazon (that product or anything else), please go there via an Amazon link on this page. 
3. I get a little kickback. 
4. I buy myself a bitch' pair of boots that I would be too guilty to buy ordinarily. 
5. You get what you wanted. I get some serious kickass boots. Win. Win.

Next Week: All About Blogging

Apologies for neglecting my loyal blog readers and devoted spammers this week. I was at a blogging conference on Friday. Thursday was spent doing last minute prep work, like printing up business cards at Staples and figuring out the new bus route into the city. On Monday, I'll dish out the details and a series of posts about blogging. 

The Summer and Blogging Slow Downs

Blogging will stop and go like a rusty locomotive during the summer depending on chaos levels at home. This week, the chaos levels are high. The kids are home. We're in that canyon of time between school and camp, so I've packed in appointments for the pediatrician and orthodontist. We're leaving for Cape Cod on Thursday. I have to polish a 40 page proposal and send it out by Wednesday night. And I have to keep the house in magazine condition, because it is still on the market. NO BIGGIE. 

I'm not griping. Our stress levels are surprisingly low right now. I'm just warning y'all that I'm going to be a lousy blogger this summer.