Well, let's see.... I finally added some new pictures to the photo section. Besides a few standard family photos, there are the ever thrilling vacation and hiking pictures. I still have plans to thrill the world with some of my original (if devoid of talent) artwork and photo manipulations. Also, much as I hate frames, I used them here because I felt they were functional (I used a narrow frame on the left side to display thumbnails, on which you can click to display the full-size version over to the right). Well, I also wanted to try writing the HTML to display them. I don't have any fancy-schmancy web authoring tool for any of this stuff (probably pretty obvious, huh?), so I "hand roll" all these pages. I use Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01 to come up with the basic layout and colors and meta tags and all that, and then I use a word processor to edit the HTML. I figure it's better to learn how to do all this yourself than have it all handed to you by some software (okay, I'm too cheap to buy it).
Uncle Pat has gotten some technical questions, and has tried to answer them in his column. He'd really like to get questions on all sorts of topics, so send them in. He hopes to become more than just a snotty cynic and politician hater when he grows up someday, so help him out.
After much tinkering, I think I've gotten the basic layout established for my links sections, as well as the homepage and Uncle Pat's venue. I have hopes to add some of my own artwork to make the banners, but for now I guess the plain ones will do. I have lots of links to keep adding to the Internet Guide, and damned if I don't keep getting more everyday. As I said before, it's a never-ending thing. I'm trying to keep what links are out there current and unbroken, but if you find something that doesn't work, let me know.
The Star Trek ones are liable to start disappearing, because from what I hear, Paramount has decided to crack down on those "unofficial" sites. It's typical; they thumb their noses at the very fans who buy all their crap and movie tickets and whatever. Far from taking away any money from these people, these sites do nothing but continue to spread the popularity. I think it's mostly because they've gotten into bed with MSN. And we know how Microsoft likes to strangle the competition. Oh well, I won't bore you with that now (I can always rant and ramble on about it elsewhere, should I feel the need).
Also, I realize it's kinda hard to read some of the text and links on these pages, but everything in life is a compromise, and when I'm forced to choose between asthetics and functionality, I have to go with asthetics. Since there aren't many people who'll ever see this stuff, I reckon I might as well try and keep myself amused. The jury is still out on the photos section, but I kinda like the way the frames work, so I imagine the "final" product will incorporate them.
For those of you who don't know about it yet, I've put in a new "front door" to this place. It's a rather simple layout, which will allow you to navigate around the site without loading all the stuff on the "home" page (like the music and all that). It's got a slightly easier to remember URL for passing along to the throngs of people (need I insert a smiley?) who no doubt are always asking for it. There's a link to it at the bottom of this page.
Well, I guess that's about it for now. I have lots of stuff I'm working on to start adding to this place, but I'm quite the procrastinator, so I guess you'll just have to keep on stopping back from time to time, to see what happens. That's assuming you've found any of this stuff worthwhile in the first place, of course. Until I see ya again, then, take it easy, and thanks for stopping by. Merry Christmas, Chappy Chanukah, Happy New Year, and all that other crap. See ya.
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