I’ve also added several new categories and gone back and recategorized all of my posts. I corrected a few problems that slipped in during the conversion from iBlog too. Not a big deal but worth noting.

I replaced my blower motor resistor today. It was easier than I had thought. I could get to it from under the dash without a problem. (Well, I had to lay upside down in the seat and I got a head full of dirt from the floor mats, but it could have been much worse.) I think $26 for a working fan isn’t a bad deal. The new one should last for quite awhile. It looks like they redesigned the part. I am not sure what I am doing next with the car, although I am thinking that a tune-up would be a good idea.

I am pondering changing how I make blog entries. Those little “In which I…” blurbs at the top made sense with the way iBlog did things but they really don’t fit with the WordPress idiom. Besides, they are getting harder and harder to think of. Any opinions?

When I see news stories about people all over the world who are experiencing hardships, I worry about them, and I rack my brain wondering how I can make a difference. So I decided to start my own blog. That way I won’t have time to think about other people.

People who are trying to decide whether to create a blog or not go through a thought process much like this:

1. The world sure needs more of ME.
2. Maybe I’ll shout more often so that people nearby can experience the joy of knowing my thoughts.
3. No, wait, shouting looks too crazy.
4. I know - I’ll write down my daily thoughts and badger people to read them.
5. If only there was a description for this process that doesn’t involve the words egomaniac or unnecessary.
6. What? It’s called a blog? I’m there!

The blogger’s philosophy goes something like this:

Everything that I think about is more fascinating than the crap in your head.

The beauty of blogging, as compared to writing a book, is that no editor will be interfering with my random spelling and grammar, my complete disregard for the facts, and my wandering sentences that seem to go on and on and never end so that you feel like you need to take a breath and clear your head before you can even consider making it to the end of the sentence that probably didn’t need to be written anyhoo.

If that doesn’t inspire you to read my blog, I don’t know what will. You can find the Dilbert Blog at

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

Recently I renewed my .mac account and the free iBlog stopped working. I haven’t been able to find out if it was supposed to stop working after a year or if something strange happened when my .mac account expired. Either way, it forced my hand.

I decided to go with WordPress. Installing it was amazingly easy. I found a handy little utility called Agitprop that converts iBlog blogs to Movable Type import files. My first attempt had some major formatting problems. I ended up modifying the import file in TextWrangler with moderately complex grep-based search and replaces. The second import went almost perfectly.

With a working blog and the majority of the old blog moved over, it was time to work on details. I installed the Pool theme, added the random gallery pic and WeatherPixie to the sidebar, added Sloganizer, and tweaked the configuration.

There is a lot more that I can do with this, but now that I have all the old stuff moved over, it’s time to close down the old blog and go live with this one.

New features that I am actually already using:

• Comment system (moderated for now, so they won’t show up right away)
• Search
• I can post from anywhere rather than just from my computer
• Added Sloganizer to sidebar
• Random Gallery photo now uses the official Gallery version rather than my hacked version. It also automatically adjusts to the proper hight and automatically respects the page’s fonts and colors.
• List of links in sidebar

I want to add more soon (including entries that are less boring than this one). But right now I have to get to bed so I can be up in time to get the PCV valve replaced on my mom’s truck. Until then, here’s the Penny Arcade boys’ take on blogs. I think they probably have a point…

I’ve been using iBlog to create my blog. I know that a lot of customization is possible but I had never tried anything besides switching templates. It occurred to me that the WeatherPixie would be a perfect guinea pig to try customizing my blog with. Turns out that it was way easier than I thought it would be. So now you get so see the Wausau WeatherPixie over there on the right.

Since that was so easy, I decided to see if I could get a random picture from my Gallery. That was not nearly as easy. I think what you see on the right is about as good as I can do using the stock Gallery scripts. If I want to tweak it more, I’ll probably have to customize the Gallery PHP code. But it’s a good start.

I’d like to clarify a possible misconception from my last entry. I do not begrudge my time in Wausau. It actually was exactly what I needed at the time. It’s just that I am ready for a change now.

People who ask me to update my blog more often should be careful of what they ask for. They just might get it.

This past weekend was JoAnn’s birthday. I headed down to Milwaukee to party with her. She likes to make an event of her birthday and it is usually a lot of fun. I arranged to take Monday off at work and headed south on Friday night. I got a late start (even for me) so I ended up getting there when things were winding down.

Scott, JoAnn, and I did some shopping on Saturday and I picked up some $3 used CDs (Soul Coughing, Seal, Reel Big Fish, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Pulp Fiction). Then we met up with Steve & Liza at Buca di Beppo’s . Mmmmm… It was a ton of very good food and a fun time with friends. We had coffee and desert at Bella Caffe. Steve & Liza had to rescue the babysitters and Scott, JoAnn, and I continued on to Mindgame which was being put on by the Next Act Theatre. It was a challenging play but worth the work. It helped that my companions were trained in theatre. Then we headed back and played some GameCube until we crashed.

Sunday started with the traditional Annual Myasthenia Gravis Breakfast Event. There are only a few things that will get me out of bed and eating breakfast before noon and this is one of them. It ended up paying off. We got a bunch of 32 Mb USB pendrives for free (mostly because no one else knew what they were) and we got some other fun trinkets. Then we headed off to Steve & Liza’s to move a lizard cage and spend some time with Samantha and Travis (who are both insanely cute!). Scott headed off to parts unknown and JoAnn and I headed south. We found my brother’s place in Arlington Heights. He and Jessie have a setup that makes my insanely jealous. They are renting a great little house in a cool neighborhood. After getting the nickel tour, we headed off to Ikea. I finally got some dishes, silverware, and a strainer that the damn spaghetti noodles won’t just slip though! We wrapped up the visit with a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. Yum. I plan to visit Matt & Jesse more often. We got back to Milwaukee and JoAnn watched the season premiere of Alias (which she had set to tape while we were gone) while I logged onto the ‘net and took care of some emergencies for work. *grrr*

On Monday, we slept. I gave JoAnn a lift to work and then I swung by to visit the HMS Wooldrage. I watched Hannah for a few hours while Mark & Shanah were both at work. Hannah and I had fun breaking all of mom and dad’s rules. (Shhhh!) Then I headed out of town so that I would make it to Stevens Point in time to catch the Packers at Chicago on Monday Night Football. Pat, Sarah, and Ian were kind enough to host a small group of football fans. The Packers properly inaugurated the newly renovated Soldier field by crushing da Bears. I pulled out a copy of Blast and we watched that too. And then I limped home to get a little sleep before having to be at work at 7:50 am.

On Tuesday morning I got to attending a meeting of all the networking group personnel from CWCI (the new company that is the merging of DataWave, TZ Net, and Wood County Telephone Company). Looks like my job is fairly secure through the end of the year, at least.

Oh, on Monday night Matt picked up a 12″ PowerBook. Apple certainly is getting its share of cash from the Berkvams.