robglazebrook.com

Although most of what I have to mention should be pretty self-evident, I figured I could post an entry about it so that you-all don’t have to freak out about the clowns anymore. :)

First, the Google ads in the menu bar have migrated their way upwards, mostly because I didn’t like they way they looked nestled twixt two longer, wider menus. To combat the loss of real estate on the virtual front fold, I’ve reduced the number of ads from four or so, to one. At least they’ve went from talking about church brochures (where’d THAT stuff come from, anyway?) to baby stuff. Regardless, I figure most of you don’t give the ads a second glance; what little revenue the ads seem to generate (almost, but not quite, enough to pay for my hosting) tends to come from areas other than my blog.

Next, the miniblog has made a triumphant return. Now that I have an RSS aggregator that I’m in love with (which I’ll post about in the near future, I hope), I should be able to find sufficient content to keep at least a good half-dozen links up at any given time. Right now, the miniblog is set to display the last seven days’ worth of entries; if that proves to be too many (ie, the miniblog takes over the sidebar), I’ll lower the count. For those of you who also love RSS aggregators, the miniblog has an RSS feed available here. I’ll try to post a button in the sidebar sometime.

I’m not done messing with the sidebar, either. At some point, I’m hoping to incorporate some sort of a book tracker so that everyone can… I dunno… read along with me? The real problem is going to be, I read a lot of articles and not so many books. As such, I’m considering just making another MT blog and messing with it to get a bookroll, which is how I’ve created the miniblog and the portfolio section of the site. Until I get around to the bookroll thingie, perhaps I’ll just put notes in my posts as to what I’ve been reading, as many of my friends seem to do.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for things to put in the sidebar? I’m always open for ideas on that one.

—–

Finished reading (in the last few days):
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan.
“Change” in Doing What Comes Naturally by Stanley Fish.
“The Discourse Community in Scientific and Technical Communication: Institutional and Social Views” by James P. Zappen (JTWC 19.1 1989).
“A Patriotic Left” by Michael Kazin (Dissent Fall 2002).
“A Nation Worth Defending” by William J. Bennett (USA Today Magazine Nov. 2002).

Currently reading:
New Media: A Critical Introduction by Martin Lister et. al.
Remediation by Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin.
“Instrumental Discourse Is as Humanistic as Rhetoric” by Patrick Moore (JBTC 10.1 1996)

Hmm… that’s a lot of typing. Maybe I won’t do that. ;)