Usually WordPress doesn’t inform me what search terms people use to find my blog via search engines. Sometimes it does, however, and more than once people have found my site using the keywords “steve whitmire blog”.
While I’m happy to get the attention, I can only assume that those people are pretty disappointed to find out that this is not, in fact, Steve Whitmire’s blog, even though he figures prominently on it. So here’s my attempt to help those people out:
Thank you for visiting my blog, and I’m sorry to tell you that it is not exactly what you’re looking for. I am a supporter and fan of Steve Whitmire, but I am not affiliated with him despite a very slight internet acquaintanceship.
I decided that my domain name should reflect the name of my blog, so I added the domain name “frogoflamancha.blog.” The “frogquixote” URL should still work, however.
I joined Twitter, so you can follow me @frogoflamancha. My intention is to use it as a tool, not make it a way of life; we’ll see how that goes.
Now for the major news:
I don’t know if anyone else has tried to access Steve’s blog lately. When I try it on my PC, I just get an error message, but when I tried it on my laptop, I got a maintenance page with the following message:
Hey All!
Things are changing, and I’ll be back ASAP.
Thanks for checking in,
S
So it’s a bit vague, and I don’t know exactly what he means by “things are changing,” but it certainly sounds as though, after these six long months, he’s finally getting ready to come back to the blog!
I’m not sure this warrants a full-on Kermit flail but it’s certainly cause for cautious optimism.
I don’t begrudge Steve the right to do whatever he wants with his blog, but the unfortunate consequence of him absenting himself when he did was that he had just banished the troll(s) from the comment section, and reading the comments had become infinitely more enjoyable. So I’m hopeful that not only will we soon be enjoying more stories and insights from Steve but also having pleasant conversations in the comments section again.
My own words are insufficient to express my emotions at this development. Take it, Wembley:
Hello, all! I haven’t posted anything of real substance for a while, and I wanted to take a minute to catch up. I wanted to let you know that it is not my feelings and convictions that have changed; all that has changed is my schedule.
The good news is that I recently landed a new, open-ended, freelance writing gig (thank you, FlexJobs.com), and while it doesn’t pay much, I think that the experience I gain is going to be invaluable to me as I embark on this new career path. The bad news is that, while I have given two weeks’ notice at my other part-time job, at the moment I am working three jobs, and while this is a temporary situation (until the end of the month) I’m sure you can imagine that my life is quite crazy and hectic at the moment, and free time for blogging is at a minimum as I try to manage my schedule and meet all my various commitments and deadlines.
I did, however, purchase and watch Frank Oz’s documentary Muppet Guys Talking yesterday, and it was probably the nicest brunch I’ve ever had (perhaps second only to this). I could only afford to purchase the film, not all the extra stuff, but the film itself was well worth the 10 bucks or so. I can heartily recommend it, and I’ve been informed today that it’s not going to be available forever, so I’d advise you to carpe diem and carpe documentary while you can.
When I have a free moment, I’ll come back and tell you my thoughts and feelings about it, but don’t expect it before April.
I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I watered it in fears Night and morning with my tears, And I sunned it with smiles And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright, And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine,–
And into my garden stole When the night had veiled the pole; In the morning, glad, I see My foe outstretched beneath the tree. –William Blake
I remember first reading this poem in high school and being horrified by it, because the anger and resentment that the speaker harbors not only poisons the speaker’s foe, it also poisons the speaker, to the point that the speaker is “glad” to see his (her?) foe lying dead on the ground.
I never want to be that kind of person. I decided a long time ago that I would try never to derive pleasure from another human being’s misfortune. I don’t always succeed, but I do try.
You all may know about this already, but I’m learning how to use the “Press This” feature and decided it would be a good opportunity to do my part to get the word out:
I apologize to those of you who don’t need the reminder, which is most of you.
For those few who do need it, here is a reminder of my comment policy:
Commenting on someone else’s blog is a privilege–NOT a right! Comments on this blog will be permitted as long as they are respectful. Rude, inappropriate, or hateful comments WILL NOT be tolerated, nor will spamming, trolling, or bullying behavior of any kind.
I‘ve been enjoying writing this blog so much, and focusing so much attention on it, that I’ve neglected other life concerns, both personal and professional, to my detriment. I need to take a step back from the blog and focus my time and researching skills elsewhere, at least for a while.
Ideally, I’d love to be able to post something new every day, but I’m only one person and, with a strict full-time work schedule, I just don’t have the time I’d like to be able to commit to blogging. So the choice is either to cut down on quantity or quality, and I’m never willing to cut down on quality.
Which is not to say that I’m taking a break from the blog or absenting myself from it entirely, but I am going to have to slow down the pace at which I publish. My goal is to produce one substantial blog post per week at the very least.
I finally figured out how to use the “Read More” tag in my blog posts so that the longer posts appear a more manageable length on the main page of my blog. I think that this helps the main page look more “tidy,” and perhaps a bit more professional, but I’m interested in your opinions.
What do you think of the “Read More” tags? Do you think they make the blog look more tidy, or would you prefer to see the lengthier posts sprawled all over the main page?
I’d appreciate whatever feedback you may have. Thank you. 🙂
CANTUS: Listening is the first step and the last step. MOKEY: Ohhh…then I’m on the LAST step! CANTUS: YOU…haven’t even begun. MOKEY: Well, I’m already there! I mean…what about the ping? CANTUS: The ping is the start, but then comes the beginning. –“Mokey and the Minstrels” Fraggle Rock, (Jocelyn Stevenson, screenwriter)
It’s been almost two months since I started this blog, and while I’ve created quite a bit of content that I can be proud of, in a way I still feel like I haven’t even really begun.
This is just to say that my little blog here is undergoing a slight rebranding. I deemed this necessary due to a rookie mistake I made when I first started this blog: I failed to Google the name that I intended to give my blog to see if it was already taken or in use in some other capacity.
It was brought to my attention a while back that there is a play called “Frog Quixote,” and that could potentially cause confusion. I wasn’t specifically asked to change the name of my blog by either the playwright or the publisher, although I would have been happy to comply if it had been considered a copyright infringement. But I don’t think there was much danger of my harming them; if anything, the existence of the play was potentially redirecting web traffic that would have come to me otherwise. So this in my best interest as well.
I would have done it sooner, but I had a hard time thinking up a new name. I only want to go through this rebranding once, so I want to get it right. “Don Quixote” and “Man of La Mancha” are more or less synonymous, so this seems like a logical step.
Most importantly, the URL is staying the same for now. If, for some reason, that changes in the future, I will definitely let you know.
I’m sorry for spamming you with a lengthy, off-topic post last night. I’m trying to figure out how to get it to go under the menu instead of on the main page, but last night I got tired and frustrated and decided to delete the post and go to bed. I think I figured out where I went wrong, so I’m going to planning to try again later today when I have the chance. However, that won’t be for several hours because I start my new job today.
Funny thing: I’ve been so preoccupied with all this Muppet stuff that I didn’t have time to be nervous about starting a new job. I’m nervous about it now, though.
Frog of La Mancha 