goblin cartoons

I just added the WPtouch plugin, so if anyone with an iPhone or Android phone could look at this blog and let me know if anything needs to be tweaked, I would greatly appreciate it.

Dorothea Salo explains once more why she doesn’t have comments on her blog. I think she makes an excellent point: it’s her web space, she can do with it as she pleases, and she doesn’t want comments on her blog.  I can’t think of a reasonable argument against that and I think it’s silly to expect her to treat her website any other way.

It got me thinking about why I do have comments on my blog. And the cold, hard truth of it is: I like getting attention, and when people leave comments here, my self-esteem is raised a little more. Yes, I like having conversations, and comments facilitate that. But mostly, I’m insecure and I like the attention. So, there you go.

I just upgraded to WordPress 2.7. I’m using the QuickPress feature for this post. Mostly, I want to make sure the upgrade went OK. The process was fast and easy. And I like the new backend design.

This has not been the best year of my life, which is particularly bad as I was saying the same thing last year. It hasn’t been all sewage and shadows–I’ve had some really good times this year. But it feels like the bad has exceeded the good, in effect if not in actual instance. There’s been a whole lotta feh this year, is what I’m saying.

So I’ll gladly take this day to give thanks to all the good, to polish the sunlight and kick depression in the kneecaps.

I’m thankful that Julie and I found each other and continue to discover good things about each other. I’m thankful I get to be Morgan’s father and have her in my life. I’m thankful my parents (in-blood and in-law) are doing relatively well. I’m thankful my siblings (sister, brother and sister-in-law) and their beautiful children are doing well.

I’m also thankful this is the last Thanksgiving I’ll ever have with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their whole cabal in the White House. I will sing and dance when the Worst President Ever leaves Washington. These are bad, bad people, and I want them out of my life.

As my friend Steve Lawson says, I’m thankful for the internet and the World Wide Web. (I’ll throw in cell phones and other information-communication devices, too.) I’m not sure I would have made it through this year without the friendship of the amazing people I’ve met and grown to love online. I’ve also reconnected with old friends because of the internet. This is really a fantastic time to be alive, and I’m thankful that I am alive to live through this and enjoy it. To all of my friends, near and far: thank you.

I’m trying to synch my posts here with my Livejournal account. Let’s see if it works.

I first started blogging in 2001. I called the blog, and the domain, “goblin cartoons,” for no good reason except I like the name and it seemed to fit with…well, stuff in my head. After some years of blogging, I felt like I was running out of things to say, except when it came to libraries. I decided to remake my blog into “the goblin in the library” and focus exclusively (well, almost) on libraries and technology.

It’s been a few years, and I’m feeling once again like I need to change things up a bit. I wouldn’t want to grow stale and crusty, would I? I’m blogging about library and tech matters over at the LSW blog, so I’m going to go back to blogging over more general matters here. I’ve felt lately like I have a head full of dreams, so don’t be surprised to find those dreams leaking out here. If you’re a library person and you want to stick around for talk about comics, games, books, movies and other fancies, I’m glad to have you here. If you feel like bailing, there will be no hard feelings on my part.

OK, are we ready? I’m going to throw the switch. Let’s see what happens!

Today, I somehow found some energy and inspiration for a blog post. But rather than post it here, I’ve started a new blog on the LSW site: Humbug! The idea is for it to be a group blog, with other members and me posting to it. But even if no one else posts to it besides me, I’m thinking it could end up as my main library blog. I think this website will be changing into something else. I’m not sure yet, and my personal life is too wacky for me to make any really big plans, but…well, we’ll see.

Two people have told me that my last couple of posts have come through Google Reader with spam links cluttering the post. I have no idea why this would happen or what to do about it. If anyone else is seeing this, please let me know. And if you know how to solve the problem, please let me know that, too. (I use Bloglines, and my feeds have come through fine for me.)

Update: The spam didn’t show up in Bloglines, but it was there in the posts. Not this post, but the two previous. I could see the spam when I viewed the page source. I deleted it from both posts. How did it get there? I don’t know. How do I keep it from happening again? No clue.

It’s been almost a month since I last posted here (and I said I intended to post more, ha ha!), but the fact is, I’ve been feeling…well, bored with Libraryland. I still love libraries, I still love being a librarian, but I don’t have anything to say about libraries or librarians.

So, don’t expect to see much posting until I get all fired up about something. In the meantime, if you’d care to, leave me a comment telling me what’s getting you all excited or angry or ecstatic about libraries. Or, hell, leave a comment about what’s getting you all excited or angry or ecstatic about anything.

Recent studies have shown that this blog goes best with Long Strange Tripel, one of Boulevard’s Smokestack series, or a similar beer.

Cheers!