They grow up so fast
Tara and Tommy found out they were pregnant with Maggie just a couple of weeks after they had vacationed with us. (Todd has always claimed she's secretly his after an alleged 'hot tub incident'.) We were the first ones to send them a congratulations gift -- a little Duke t-shirt. It reads:

When I get to Duke
I'll study when it's rainy
play when it's sunny
and I'll call home
when I need money

Tara said at the time, it seemed like one of the smallest things she'd ever seen. Now Maggie can't even fit into the little shirt any longer. She's growing like a little weed! But Tara snapped a couple of pics for us so we'd get to see her all decked out. Isn't she adorible?! Not that I'm a proud auntie or anything... So tell me though. Does she have Todd's eyes?
posted at 01:07 AM | link-

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Can you picture this?
With the help of Kristine's excellent "build your own MT photolog tutorial", I just made a new photolog for Susan. If you want to check it out, you can see her new photolog here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go deal with an "oh shit" moment. Today is the 16th. While working on everyone else's projects, I totally forgot to do this yesterday, and we won't be in town tomorrow. Oops!
posted at 11:39 PM | link-

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He's the wolf screaming lonely in the night
Poor, poor Vince Neil. Someone neglected to inform him that the world stopped turning just for him waaaaay back in 1987.
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Peanut Butter! Jelly!
Just in time for the weekend -- its "peanut butter and jelly time"! (Link not safe for work. From FARK.com.) And in case you're still at work, check out the deadly toy archive instead.
posted at 04:49 PM | link-

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Because it's not an orange team
Kevin's got a big day today. Go tell him to kick ass and take names for me! Go on now... Scoot.
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This life can turn a good girl bad

With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp
when you go walking past
And in your hot pants and high heels
They could not believe that
such a body was for real.....

Go baby go go - we're right behind you
Go baby go go - yeah, we're looking at you
Go baby go go - oh ,we're right behind you
Go baby go baby - yeah, we're right behind you
Go baby go baby - oh, we're right behind you
Go baby go baby - yeah, we're looking at you
Go baby go baby - oh, we're right behind you
Go baby go baby - yeah, we're looking at you
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So it's sorta social...
We have a new blogger in our midst -- please welcome Richard Vernon over at "Demented and Sad, but Social". You may have noticed ol' Dick has chosen to go the 'anonymous blogger' route. Although it may be pretty easy to figure out just who he might be, please respect his wishes and do not try to guess his true identity here, nor there, nor anywhere... It's just plain Dick. Capiche? School's back in session, folks. Don't be tardy.
posted at 01:27 AM | link-

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I nevah been so happy in my who' lai-fuh
OMf'inG. That new NFL camera-trick (where the camera hovers and floats directly over the field for a 360° video game-style effect), combined with our new Sony Wega, is literally an orgasm in a box. Double-meaning intended... And Sooner Rocky Calmus should see some playing time for the Titans tonight! My little sister went to high school with Rocky. I hear he's still afraid of her. Heh.
posted at 08:12 PM | link-

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Dead poet's society
My new ThinkGeek t-shirt arrived today! Whoo! HTML and CSS count as code in my little world...

posted at 07:02 PM | link-

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I am not an animal!
The girls over at "Hormonal Bitch" tipped me off on this little blog news event happening over at davezilla.com. You have got to be kuckin' fiddin' me! It's great to see all of the support flooding in though... Go Dave!
posted at 02:39 PM | link-

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If you believe, they put a man on the moon
If we can build space shuttles that have survived repeated liftoffs, orbits, and re-entries -- why oh why can we not make bloodtests that require no fasting beforehand? Todd is on his way home to pick me up for 'routine bloodwork' in an hour. But I haven't been able to eat or drink anything since last night. Robyn. At 2:15 p.m. Without caffeine. Not a pretty picture... I don't have needle-phobia. They can suck the blood out to their heart's content. They just damn well better have a 20 oz. Coca Cola waiting for me on the other side of that curtain! Screw the Snoopy bandaid. (Although that's always a nice touch.)
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1,2,3,4,5 - 6,7,8,9,10 - 11,12

"Look girls. Your President can count to this many..."
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The long and winding blog
Christine M. (of "This or That Tuesday" fame) has moved to a new home with a new name (:: the passionate ailurophile ::) -- so make sure to update your links and Blogrolls accordingly!
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Colour me your colour, baby
So I was pretty quiet (for me) Wednesday. Lots of new projects I was working on... But I did take a little of my time to keep my word. A quick "GnomeTome", if you will. Chris fulfilled his end of the bargain, so now it's time I met mine. (Please do not open above tampatantrum.com links at work. To reset, go here.)

Don't forget, I am Chris Pirillo's favorite blog read!

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Make sure they get your good side good side
Mikey recently asked "Whatever happened to Adam Ant, anyways?" Don't drink. Don't smoke. What do you do? Apparently get arrested and later plead guilty to threatening patrons with a starting pistol and brawling in a London bar...

In "thank heavens for small favors" news -- the "Batman vs. Superman" movie has been indefinitely shelved and will not see a 2004 release date. “We decided that 'Batman vs. Superman' is like a good wine--it will find its time and only get better,” Warner Bros. exec Lorenzo di Bonaventura says in The Hollywood Reporter. *cough*bullshit*cough* Oh, excuse me. Something in my throat.

It got weird, didn't it? The creator of the Frisbee, Ed Headrick, has died. Headrick's ashes will be molded into a limited number of "memorial flying discs" which will be distributed to family and friends, and sold to help fund a future Frisbee/disc golf history and memorabilia museum. (Can you imagine your dog carrying that Frisbee in his mouth?!) In an interview with the Santa Cruz Sentinel last year, Ed Headrick stated, “When we [Frisbyterians] die, we don't go to purgatory. We just land up on the roof and lay there.”

And a couple of amusing quotes to pass along from the MSNBC gossip pages...

“I don’t want to get too graphic, but it looked like some kind of miscarriage that had somehow been molded into a face and had make-up fired at it by a cannon. It was the most alarming thing I’ve seen.” -- Comedian Judith Lucy commenting on Joan Rivers face

“She’s a bad fucking joke. If I hear one more person compare her to us, I’ll cut their heart out.” -- Jack Osbourne's take on the Anna Nicole Smith Show on E!
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Don't stop 'til you get enough
Just the other day Christine was talking about her theory that Michael Jackson is actually Janet. (I happen to believe he's LaToya.) So what should I find on Daypop, but this most hysterical site -- "The History of Michael Jackson's Face". Spew alert!
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13 is a lucky number
Thirteen has always been lucky for us, and it's apparently very lucky for Kristine and Eric as well! I've known Kristine for quite some time now -- long before blogging. I feel very lucky myself in saying that. (She entered her beautiful wedding dress in the 2000 Dress Contest.) Wishing you many years of love, laughter and happiness ahead kadyellebee and E -- happy anniversary!
posted at 10:05 PM | link-

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It's not easy being green (or blue)

It seems there's been a lot of bad and sad news floating around the blog world lately. Two bloggers have recently watched their coworkers die from their offices. Others have had medical traumas or lost their jobs and their pets. There's not much any one person can say to make these events less tragic, or to help make those surviving through it all "ok" -- but I just wanted to send a quick note to all of the above that I am thinking about you, and I hope things get better soon. Consider yourselves hugged... -Robyn
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Boomer Sooner!
So did anyone catch the beginning of the Lightning Round on today's Call for Help? <wicked grin> Guess I'd better get crackin'!

UPDATE: There's no turning back now...
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New names and new digs
peat is running a poll to name "a blog to be named later". Head on over and vote!

And ste has new digs, and a new domain, at "wanderlost". The domain-switch revolution continues!
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I'll take a large pepperoni and a side of Underoos
A link that could only come from FARK.com -- Undie Funday Monday. Here's the deal. You buy Papa John's pizza in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on August 5, 12, and 19th -- and Papa John's will donate $1 to purchase new packages of underwear for kids in need.

Excuse me, but what possible board-room scenario could make these people see this as a "good" idea... School supplies? Nah. Did that last year. Coats? Too hot still. Toys? That's the Marines turf. How's about we buy those needy kids some panties. Lots and lots of panties. Great idea, Bob! It's genius!

I feel a Tina Fey-esque "So ladies, if ya wanna rob a bank but you don't want your cooter poked, head to Minnesota - land of 10,000 lakes..." moment coming on. Too bad SNL is still in reruns! A commentor at FARK said it best: "This is a great idea to bring in the pizza eating pedophile demographic." Order your pizza now. It's for the children.
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A daddy tomato, a mommy tomato, and a baby tomato are walking down the street...the daddy tomato stomps his foot down and says "Ketchup!"
Whoa. Like I totally had time to remember to do this week's Monday Mission and This or That Tuesday for a change!

First up, PromoGuy's Monday Mission:

If I could guarantee that the Fashion Police would not lay the smackdown on you, which favorite out-of-style article of clothing do you wish you could wear right now? (and if you have photos of you wearing it, post 'em) Let's see...I still wear 'em anyway, but definitely flannel shirts and Doc Martens. The grunge era suited me quite nicely.
In your opinion, who is famous but shouldn't be? John Travolta.
Are there any new movies or TV shows that you are forward to this fall? To be honest, not really. I'm ready for FOOTBALL.
If you had a time machine that you could use only one time (there and back), where would you go and what would you do? I would go back to Australia a few years ago, tell Michael Hutchence to put on some damn pants, sober up, and go have a bite to eat with me. Then I would explain in very detailed terms what a fucktard Bob Geldoff is -- and how he was in no way significant enough in the scheme of things to make Michael's children grow up without a father and the world to have his voice silenced for all time.
What cologne of perfume do you like to wear? Which brand do you prefer that your partner wear? I wear Comptoir Sud Pacifique's Vanille Abricot (which I'm just about out of again) and Obsession. I love it when Todd wears Obsession for Men! *swoon*
Do you recall your first "French kiss?" Tell me about how that felt, and how it came about. Do you like them? Yep, sure do remember it. I was in the 8th grade and "Pretty In Pink" had just been released on video. My friend Elisa threw a party. During the prom scene at the end, my boyfriend Matt Berry squeezed my hand -- and a very slobbery, sloppy first kiss for us both ensued. Don't know whatever happened to him to be honest. I moved across the state the next school year. Do you mean "do you like them" as in the person, or "do you like them" as in the kisses though? In either case, my answers would be "yes" and "hell yes!"
Excluding your partner...If you had the opportunity, who would you most like to French kiss? Oh I could answer that question with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back. Wait. That sounds like fun. But seriously...duh.

BONUS: Can't you see that it's late at night? Rats. Foiled again.

And now...this week's "This or That Tuesday":

Dr. Seuss characters: the Cat in the Hat or the Grinch? Grinch!
"Anne of Green Gables" or "Little Women"? Never read either series. I went straight from Ramona and Beezus to trashy novels.
Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys? Wasn't much of a mystery book reader either... I was a history book reader.
Winnie the Pooh characters: Tigger or Eeyore? T. I. double Guh-ER.
Which author: Judy Blume or Beverly Cleary? I loved both authors. But in a head-to-head battle, I'd have to give the edge to Judy Blume for the puberty factor alone.
Roald Dahl books: "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" (Willy Wonka) or "James & the Giant Peach"? "James and the Giant Peach".
"Harry Potter" or "The Wizard of Oz"? Wizard of Oz - hands down. I'm still miffed it no longer airs on CBS because of Turner.
Curious George or Madeline? Another toughie! We own both, but I have to give the edge to "Madeline" because we have her namesake.
"A Wrinkle in Time" or "Little House on the Prairie"? Haven't read the first, and tossed the "Prairie" series half-way through the first book. Boh-ring.
Dr. Seuss again: "Horton Hears a Who" or "The Lorax"? "The Lorax". I married an environmental science grad.

posted at 01:48 AM | link-

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May I admire you again today?
Another new domain to report -- Jason of Blogrolling fame has moved into yummy new digs at badh*p. If you've noticed your Blogrolls have auto-updated to his new domain -- that's why!

And a quick note of thanks to Christi! She surprised me with a little summin'-summin' from Amazon, and I was able to pre-order this and this on DVD. I've only been waiting for them to be released, oh like, for-evah. John Hughes fest at our house!
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I'm me. Me be. Goddamn. I am.
Well if he can do it, so can I! Hear me now and believe me later. Man, I hate what my voice sounds like recorded. Please tell me I don't sound that bad when you meet me in person. Pretty please...
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Some things you just don't wanna know
So Todd and I were doing a little house-cleaning while looking for a computer part, and ran across this pamphlet that we snagged from my doctor's office last year for posterity. In case you're wondering, we did not have this test performed. But just the thought of it was enough cause for a 20-30 minute Beavis and Butthead-style laugh fest. No matter what life throws at us, we always keep our senses of humor intact! And we always end up making our own dirty jokes...
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Happy birthday to yooooou!
Whew -- this one almost snuck right by me! For some reason I had it in my little blonde brain that Dan's birthday was this weekend during the party. But better late than pregnant...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAN! You can collect on your spankings Saturday. <wink>

posted at 09:23 PM | link-

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Squish da' fish

My Tampa Bay Bucs are just about to take the field against the Miami Dolphins on ESPN Monday Night. (We actually attended this very game last year.) Tonight's match-up will be of particular interest to us because Ricky Williams looking nice and nasty in the color orange again. He stomped all over Oklahoma back in the dark days of our program in the 90s -- and our hatred for him runs very, very deep. He's whiny. His teammates do not like him. He would miss two games with injury if he got a splinter in his right pinky. And I'd just about lay down money on the fact he won't play a full season for Miami this year. Time shall tell... I'm just hoping by the end of the night that he'll have a #47 imprinted across his chest, left over from a nice Lynch hit.

Man it feels good to be wearing this jersey again! Seven straight months of fucking golf and auto-racing, all ignored of course. I'm ready for some football. Go Bucs -- Chucky's back and you're gonna be in trouble!
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Yo VIP, let's kick it!
Ok, you just have to see this!
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Blogger evolution
With all the blogiversary stuff flying around, Todd and I were joking last night that someone needs to make an evolution of bloggers chart. We both started off on Blogger (although we had our own domain and webspace already and skipped the Blogspot part). I lasted a few weeks, got fed up, and went to Greymatter. But Todd held out and stuck with Blogger for a few more weeks once he learned Movable Type was in the works. Then we shared webspace for a couple of months, with both of us running MT. Then I got my domain blogblogbaby.com (from Christine as a birthday present and I moved in with her on her copy of MT), so Todd decided that he needed his own domain as well. Then I got tampatantrum.com and moved to my own webspace. Which brings us to where we are today...

With that, I thought I'd take an informal survey of where you are now and how you got started. Did you use Blogger first (yes, no)? If no, did you enter your entries manually and then progress to another blogging tool -- or did you start off with another piece of software altogether? Do you currently use a publishing tool like Blogger, Movable Type or Greymatter -- and if so which one? If you've moved on from Blogger and the like, how long did it take you before you saw the need to upgrade to the big-kid blogging tools? No specific questions to answer really. We're just curious how your blogs have progressed as well...
posted at 03:10 PM | link-

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Roll Tide
Christi saw new Todd's OU design and my new Tampa Bay one, and batted her eyelashes at just the right time -- so I gave her a quick Bama skin for her blog. OU and Bama meet up this September 7th in Norman for the first game in a back-to-back series. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn the lyrics to "Yea Alabama" just in case... Boomer Sooner!
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All I do is contemplate ways to make your fans mine
Ok, so it appears I was taken to task over the weekend (in an audio message) for not having a "Call For Help" skin on my site. The sidebar perma-link and graphic is no longer enough, I guess. So here's the deal. You show me yours...I'll show you mine. If you can figure out how to work the words "Boomer Sooner" (said TOGETHER, not separately!) into this week's show -- I'll figure out how to make up a Call For Help skin to rival the Apple one by the upcoming weekend. Deal? I will be watching (and listening)...

posted at 01:33 AM | link-

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You see I do what they can't do, I just do me

Which one, pick one, this one, classic
Red from blonde, yeah bitch I'm drastic
Why this, why that, lips stop askin'
Listen to me baby, relax and start passin'!

And if I had to give you up
It's only been a year
Now I got my foot through the door
And I ain't goin' nowhere
It took a while to get me in
And I'm gonna take my time
Don't fight that good shit in your ear
Now let me blow ya' mind...

Today (August 12, 2002) marks my one-year blogiversary! My life has seen a lot of changes in the last year. We had just moved into our first home after five years of marriage. When I started blogging my health wasn't so great -- I would guess that I was bedbound about 60% of the time and I was only able to get out and leave the house on rare occasions. Now I'm doing much better and make it out the do' for at least one outing a weekend, and sometimes during the week as well. Before blogging my portfolio from 1998-2001 included mostly friends and family member's sites. Since blogging, with the help of a lot of wonderful women I've been able to pump up my HTML skills, learn CSS, and give that 2002 portfolio a real workout.

When I started blogging a close group of friends and I had just survived an internet wedding group split that wasn't exactly a fun time for anyone. Since then we've remained quite close and three of seven of us are now first-time mommies. When I started blogging, I was powered by Blogger and I didn't even have comments. Movable Type is now the Oz-man behind the curtain of my Wizard (after a brief stint with Greymatter), and I live for all the latest bells and whistles. When I started blogging almost all of my online time was devoted to Wholly Matrimony! and Clueless Books. Now it seems I hardly ever have time to even touch those sites. When I started blogging I didn't even know Tech TV existed. Now I have one of the hosts wearing red shirts on air just for me.

And all of this doesn't even begin to cover all of the amazing friends we've both made since blogging. (Todd started a month after I did on September 14th.) Some we've met in person. Some we will meet in person soon. And still others we'd better meet in person in the near future somehow!

I never dreamed I'd have so many people reading here every day. I still don't know "how" or "why". I'm only thankful that you do, because even though I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd be able to keep up with all this -- much less for full a year -- it's become a very important part of my life. And I'm very thankful to have found that secret writer/ranter buried deep inside of me in order to share her with you all every day.

[And I said no salt...NO SALT for the Margarita, but it had salt on it... BIG GRAINS OF SALT!]

So to the important things... Beer's in the fridge to the right. Chips and salsa are over to the left. I'll be firing up the blender momentarily for blogaritas, and the cake should be wheeled out soon. Hopefully if my wish comes true when I blow out the candles, Rivers Cuomo will pop out of it! Thanks for stopping by... -Robyn
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Public Service Announcement
May I have your attention please? wKen is a blogging god. And Annessa is cute, smart, fun and she forgot to mention adorible. That is all. You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog-reads.
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P.S. We should be together, too.
Earlier last week I quoted a passage from "The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog" by Rebecca Blood. Here's another interesting one to put up for discussion from Chapter 6 on "Weblog Community and Etiquette" under "Things to Avoid":

ASKING FOR A LINK: Every so often I receive an e-mail that says, "Hi, please add my weblog to your portal page." Or worse, "Hi, I am interested in trading links with you. Please confirm that you have added me to your site so that I can add you to mine." What?

Yes I know that many "experts" will advise you to trade links with others in order to increase traffic to your site, but in the weblog community an email like this is very bad form. Think about it: Almost all of us maintain our weblogs for free, in our spare time. Our only payment is traffic to our sites. More to the point, our reputations are built largely on the quality of the links we provide to our readers, especially in the case of filters. Maintainers of blog-style sites are just as motivated to protect their hard-earned credibility by pointing their readers, when they do link, only to sites that genuinely reflect their taste...

...In contrast with telling another weblogger that you admire their work, I think it's iffy to write suggesting that they would enjoy yours. Well, they might, but chances are they already have looked at your weblog if you have linked to them. If they haven't linked you, they might be waiting to see if you make it past the one-month or two-month mark...

Putting another weblogger in the awkward position of having to turn you down or ignore your request may make her feel guilty. Since guilt is based on the worry that one is not a good person, your note may make the weblogger whose attention you hope to attract feel vaguely bad about herself. Because none of these feelings originate with her own actions, the weblogger will quickly transform this vaguely bad feeling about herself to a vaguely bad feeling about you. If your goal is to gain allies in the weblog world, putting others in an uncomfortable position is poor strategy.

Sooooo...let's blow that hornets nest wide-open shall we? How do you feel about this? (And please don't write with apologies if you've written me asking for a link in the past. This is not my writing, but rather Rebecca Blood's. I have been known to tease certain bloggers into linking me once upon a time myself.) But I get a few e-mails a week now from people asking to be added to my link list. I do agree with Rebecca somewhat on the guilt feelings. Although I don't really take it to the second level mentioned above and then transfer 'bad feelings' onto the blogger who wrote, I do feel bad that I can't link everyone who wants me to do so.

However that said, my link list (massive as it is) is a list for me and not for anyone else. It's my own personal bookmarking system. It just happens to be on a webpage rather than in a browser "Favorites" folder. It's what I read when I have the time to read it.

I guess, in a way, it would almost be like FOX News writing me and saying, "I noticed you have CNN.com and MSNBC.com bookmarked and that you read them every day. We'd like you to read our news, too. We think you'll like it. Will you please add our link to your IE Favorites folder?" Although I do visit FOX News from time-to-time, I can't possibly sit down and read the news on every single site out there, so I stick with my two favorites -- and read the others as I have that precious commodity called spare time. Make sense? It doesn't mean I don't love discovering new reads -- but that's the point. The discovery process is more fun if you find the items yourself. Scavenger hunts don't come with lists of items and where they are located. Instead they come with clues on where to get started (i.e. blog comments and stats).

So how do you feel about this... Is this yet another needless set of "rules" for a new genre of online writing that wasn't based on rules to begin with? Or do you go through the same struggles with your own blog reads?
posted at 05:41 PM | link-

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