The cruellest month..

T. S. Elliot said it was April, but I think November might give it a run for the money. This 11th month in particular has been difficult for us and folks we know, with deaths, hardship and struggles of every stripe.

In general I try to let adversity roll off my back - let if flow around me and through me without touching me, to borrow some imagery from Frank Herbert. Sometimes, however, the general pile of crap gets high enough that I can't help but let it color my perspective. I get more testy, more bitter and frustrated. My emotional reactions are more sensitive and I get teary-eyed or angry much easier. It shoots my concentration all to hell and I find myself having to do things twice to get it right.

And I get a little more introspective - obviously. ;)

So, through a glass darkly - blues tinted glasses, I guess - here are some random scribblings.

Thanksgiving is coming up, that uniquely American holiday. Unlike religious celebrations wherein we are supposed to remember to be thankful - Lent, Ramadan - Thanksgiving revels more in celebrating what we have than in reminding us what others do not. I like Thanksgiving, actually, but it's been imbued with a sense of irony this year that I usually don't notice.

And following the holiday theme - what's with the desperation of the retailers this year? Christmas stuff started going up in various stores two weeks before HALLOWEEN. All this rush to market has done is make me keenly aware how manufactured Christmas has become. I almost want to see a completely different holiday take over here - something non-religous. Let commercialism have its own celebration and return the observance of Christ's nominal birthday to those who truly believe. I'm sure the corporations would get behind it. At the very least a secular holiday means they could finally tap Jews, Muslims, Hindus and all the other potential markets locked out by the religious nature of Christmas.

Well, just read good news from a friend - their baby is doing great despite some tense moments in the days after her birth. One nice thing about having your emotions on a rough edge - the highs are really high. So enough of my cynical ramblings. Sorry for the bitter taste to this post.

-bob

A (new) beginning (of sorts)

Hi Folks,

The first page of the redesigned site is now up (and about time, too). I'll put the link in the section to the right, for those coming to the blog "from away," as it were. (It's www.bobcram.com.) While still very much a work-in-progress, the basic structure is complete. It's details now, which means I'm finding the devil at every turn.

It's been an interesting process so far. I'd gotten pretty comfortable with my current amount of HTML knowlege and hadn't really kept up with newer techniques. Rather than slide slowly into obselescence, I decided to make the revamp of the site a sort of CSS workshop. I've learned a lot about CSS in the past month or so and done it the only way I know how - throwing myself into the process and learning as I go. It leads to a lot of mistakes, but those are teaching tools as well.

I've also been struggling with how to approach using this blog. I've got a more personal rambling area at LiveJournal, and I think I'll keep that as a sillier, less formal space. Not that this blog is going to turn into a staid, technical journal. Not sure I could even manage that. I will, however, refrain from posting ridiculous conversations with friends on IM here as well as making sure I've had enough coffee before posting. I expect the tone will all sort itself out after a couple of months.

Please take a look at the new design when and if you get a chance and let me know what you think. Especially if there's something I can improve on. I'm working on the illustration area right now, so with any luck there'll at least be some interesting pictures to look at soon.

Thanks,

-bob