Dreams Into Lightning

Posting Break

So, I might as well just make it official: I am going on a posting break. Light posting until September 1.

Update

As you may have noticed, I tweaked the page layout today so it's now a three-column format.  I'm hoping this will make it easier to navigate without spending so much time scrolling down.

Also, don't forget to check out my new newsfeed window - News1@DiL, courtesy of Google Reader -  which is updated frequently.  This is a list of recent items that have caught my eye from some of  my regular sources.

Right now I'm working on cleaning out the "Drafts" tag.  These are posts that I started writing but put off finishing.  I had big ideas of writing important essays around these items, but other things came up and the essays didn't get done.  At this point I just want to get them posted and they're going to appear pretty much "as is".  So the next few posts won't be quite as timely or as polished as I'd like them to be, but I still think there's important material there.

Update

A number of recent developments in my personal life will likely have an effect on the shape of Dreams Into Lightning.  I'll go into more detail later (don't worry, it's all good stuff) but the bottom line is that I'm going to focus on using my blogging time more effectively and finding innovative ways to enhance the quality of this weblog.

For most of the last three years I've been posting mainly on a Mac in the Safari browser.  When Apple came out with Tiger, I started using the built-in RSS feature, and got hooked on RSS.  Now I'm trying to broaden my computer proficiency a little bit and I divide my time about equally between my two Macs and two PCs.  (A dual-core G5 PowerMac, a G4 PowerBook, a Toshiba Satellite, and a dual-cor HP Compaq.)  I'm making the switch over from Safari (and Explorer, which I used occasionally) to Firefox. 

Some friends clued me in to the option of online feed aggregators, and I've set up an account with Google Reader, which will probably take the place of Safari's RSS when I read and post.  I'm still getting used to composing in Firefox.  I have to say I don't like it quite as well as Safari for composing html, but the net advantages will probably come out in Fx's favor.  Meanwhile, please bear with me if you see glitches in the formatting of the posts.

I'm still mostly a novice at html, but planning to develop some more proficiency there too.  I didn't know what a bold tag was when I started blogging; now I know enough to compose a post, but not much more.  So I started a web page - got an account at a free hosting service, downloaded FTP clients (StaffFTP for Windows, Cyberduck for Mac ... with a name like Cyberduck, you know it's going to be for Mac), and started playing around with header fonts and RGB hexcodes.  I have Adobe GoLive for editing, too, but I'm probably not going to use it right away.

That's probably more information than you needed to know, but my point (and I do have one) is that I'm always looking for ways to improve the quality and functionality of DiL.  And here's one new item I can offer you tonight:  selected items from my Google News Reader, which I'm calling News1@DiL.  You are cordially invited to bookmark the link.

Update

I'm in northeastern Connecticut, staying with some relatives here for the duration of my two-week visit. We had Thanksgiving dinner and I'm enjoying a lot of downtime. Last night I made it to my high school reunion - the first one I've attended - and it was a blast. I haven't lived on the East Coast since I left home, and I'd lost touch with almost everyone back here, with the exception of one good friend who reads this blog and writes regularly.

Probably no political posting here until after I get back to Portland on December 5. For the latest events in Lebanon, go visit Michael Totten. For Iraq, read Iraq the Model. Iran-related matters at Azarmehr and the Free Iran news forum. Great commentary on international affairs can always be found at The Belmont Club. Authentic feminism at Tammy Bruce, and great conservative commentary at Gay Patriot. Cobb is erudite, articulate, and in a class by himself.

Finally, be sure to visit Judith and friends at Kesher Talk.

Blogger Is Down ...

... but posting here at Dreams Into Lightning on TypePad remains unaffected.

Blogger: Scheduled outage, 4pm Pacific (again).

Blogger status:

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Blogger will be down for maintenance tomorrow (Sep 21) for 45 minutes starting at 4pm (Pacific Time).

As always, you can read Dreams Into Lightning on TypePad when Dreams Into Lightning on Blogger is down - and vice versa.

Blogger: Scheduled outage, 4pm Pacific.

Blogger reports:

Monday, September 18, 2006
Blogger will be down for maintenance tomorrow [September 19] for 15 minutes starting at 4pm (Pacific Time).
Posted by Prashant at 16:41 PDT

Dreams Into Lightning on Blogger will be unavailable during that time. Posting here at Dreams Into Lightning on TypePad will remain unaffected.

Posting Break

Okay, might as well make it official: I'm going to take a break from posting for a few days. Need to take care of some personal and creative stuff, and clear my head. There are a number of essay-type posts I've been meaning to write and I want to collect my thoughts so that I can get on with those.

See you soon.