Today, after years of thinking about it and threatening to do it, I’ve finally added Gallery to my website! Unlike my (much-neglected) Photoblog, I’m hoping to use my new Gallery pages for many of those photos I’d like to share but don’t plan on spending a lot of time on. I don’t have it all figured out quite yet, but I suppose I’ll be using Gallery in more of a photojournalism capacity.
This is the first time I’ve ever had this application running on ianspiers.com, so I really don’t know what kind of problems this installation may cause. I do realize that the images I’ve added so far are sizable, so my biggest concern at the moment is bandwidth. I’ll just have to let you all have your way with this new section for a while so I can get a better feel for what’s needed.
I also realize that the template that Gallery uses doesn’t match the rest of this site. The application is in development for v.2, and that is supposed to allow for a lot more customization. Sure, I’d like to have these pages match the feel of the rest of the site, but the rest of the site still isn’t done, so I’m not complaining. Anyways, this site’s just for experimentation, friends and family, right?
If you have any problems or suggestions, please comment here or email me. As usual, I’ll be adding content as I can.

MT-Blacklist to the rescue! It really took very little time to download and install this powerful plug-in for Movable Type. It didn’t take much longer than that to remove all of the spam and get my blog back to normal.
This site may not be as active or as popular as my other one, but it’s still my favorite. I particularly enjoy knowing that only a select few know about it.

Just in case you’re wondering why this was important to me, I’ll tell you. The old image of Seattle was only about 60% of the width of the new image, so the likelihood of that image repeating itself to accomodate larger monitors was significant. The new image is 1150 pixels wide, so most (but not all) monitors should be free of this ugly little problem.
Don’t worry. There’s still plenty of web site chores left more me to procrastinate on.

I’m still trying to figure out how to best manage my time so I can do all of the things want to do. As far as the photoblog goes, the trick, as always, will be to add content regularly. When I think about how easy it is for me to spend time in the darkroom, I realize that I may have some problems getting in the rhythm of things. And then there’s study, and school, and work, and freelancing, and downtime, and cleaning,.

One of the many cool features of Movable Type is its ability to create and manage a (flexible) series of archives for blog entries. It comes with its own templates straight out of “the box,” but you can also customize your own templates to meet your own needs.
So, today I took a few minutes to work on the Monthly Archive Templates for this site, making some basic changes and linking my MT templates to a new Dreamweaver file. I still have a lot more work to do on my various archives sections, but today’s efforts promote structure and functionality.

I’ve just added the IfEntryIfComments plugin to this site. This simple little plugin allows me to vary the text that indicates when someone has commented on my postings. It was a breeze to install and implement.

Foregoing any Saturday thrifting, Mary and I headed out on our usual garage sale loop this morning. I love doing this. Besides the fact that it’s cheap as all get out, it’s a fun way to get out of the house and sitesee around your neighborhood. And, of course, you never know what you’ll find when you’re out there.
Today’s hunt quickly, and oh-so-very easily, produced this long, cashmere pea coat. I don’t usually buy clothing at garage sales, but I really had no choice but to make an exception in this instance.
We’d just stopped at a meager little garage sale when the only other visitor (apparently a neighbor) declared, “You look like you need a pea coat. Five bucks.” Being polite, more than anything else, I turned my attention to this garment… and slowly began to realize what a score I’d just been offered.
The coat has no real signs of wear. It has all of its buttons, no holes, rips, tears, funny odors or stains, is as soft as a baby’s bottom, and just so happens to fit me perfectly! “Sold.” And now that I’ve got it home, I see the tag says that it was made in Hungary with cashmere from Italy. The pockets are still tacked. Wow. For only five bucks, this is sure going to be a hard deal to beat.
In other news, I’ve been busy with the web site again. Go figure. Man, I really don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. I have to feel inspired to do the things I’m doing, and the inspiration just keeps coming! (Yes, this is a good thing.)
Anyhow, the ideas I’m currently working on have to do with networking with local entrepreneurs (friends) and creatives. I see it as being a place where visitors to my site can take a little peek at some of these people, and possibly even consider making use of their specific services or buying their wares. I really don’t know what, if anything, will ever become of this new section, but I really like the idea of reviewing and promoting other people’s works.
With this idea in mind, today I started contacting people that I haven’t seen or heard from in a long time. I’ve been distant all but completely isolated (socially) for about a year now, so it was a real trip to talk to some of these old friends on the phone. The two I was able to talk to really seemed to like my idea. I have a few emails floating around out there, so I’m hoping to hear back from a few others that might be interested, not that I need permission to do what I’m doing, mind you.
Anyway, this new section will require serious consideration and development. I’ve got a good start on it at the moment, but I have other obligations, too. I guess I feel too inexperienced to accurately gauge how much longer it will take to “complete.”

Among the many things I have to do over the next week are several upgrades I want to bring to this web site. I won’t go into the details now, but I will admit that I’ve neglected implementing these improvements long enough. While you might not notice these changes immediately, I will be hard at work, so please be patient with any problem you experience.
A final note: You’ll see that I’ve changed the subtitle of this site from “home of the evil twin” to “metaphysical underground.” This idea presented itself on the drive home from work last Thursday, and has been tugging on my thought ever since. I never intended to take the many subtitles I’ve considered seriously, but I feel this one hits the nail on the head and lends license to my natural train of thought.