Slight Blog Tweak

I’ve finally taken the 10 minutes it cost me to tweak the blog a little bit.

If you’re a semi regular visitor you might notice now that the content area is wider than it was.  Previously, I was frustrated by the fact that my content area was so narrow, specifically when posting images.  I could only go so big before the damn thing would blow up.

Now it is definitely wider (by 200px).  Of course, I don’t think I’m done futzing with it.  I’m really kinda bored with the look and feel of this thing and want to go in another direction.  The only thing that is stopping me is the fact that I really like my rotating headers I have and I don’t want to have to recreate them or something to fit a new layout.  As you can see, they don’t fit the new width and perhaps I’ll do something with that soon.

Since I basically play with HTML and CSS all day at work, it really isn’t high on my list of things to tackle once I get home.  But maybe I’ll have another slightly larger burst of energy to completely change this blog layout around.

Stay tuned.

Boise State vs Hawaii

It was another game night Friday.  The Hawaii Warriors were in town for a rematch of last season when they took the the WAC championship from us.  Well, payback is a bitch, as they say.

We pretty much dominated them on the defense side of the ball.  Our defense is scary good.  In every game except one (Oregon) we have held the opposing offense to a single score.  That’s it.  Amazing.  Last night, we pulled down 5 interceptions and got 7 sacks.  That is a thorough ass whippin.

However, our offense still isn’t as good as it should be.  Sure, we won and I won’t ever complain about a win, but we have one weak link on offense this year.  Our offensive line just isn’t very good.  I don’t know why, but they struggle every game.  The running game has never got off the ground.  Also, we have not had many deep passes this year.  What do both of those things need?  Good blocking.  We just don’t have it.  I am certainly not used to watching a Boise State team be more dominant on defense than offense.  It is an interesting change of pace.  Especially when you are used to seeing 45+ every game.  This year, we have to be satisfied with 24+, but this time around we’re holding the opponents to 11 points a game.  A “W” is a “W”, I suppose.

This also marked the first game I was able to bring our new camera to.  Jess and I got a Canon XSi Digital SLR a couple weeks ago and I’m still figuring out how to use it.  But, it came with a couple nice lenses and what follows are some of my favorite shots I got. Click on each one to go to the flickr page or view the whole gallery here.

Here Come the Broncos

Kellen Moore Pass

Jermey Avery Up the Middle

DJ Harper Left

Sunset Over Bronco Stadium

More Dorkiness

It’s well established that I like all things tech. Thusly, it should not surprise you that when Chris Hillman talked me into getting a Facebook.com account, I originally balked, but soon caved.

Now, I’m enjoying it, especially the little piece where you can update your “status”. And now, since I have gotten the Facebook App for the iPhone, I can mobilly update my status whenever I feel the urge.

Which made me think… perhaps there would be a way to incorporate that information into my blog…

Well, scan your eyes to the right, just below the picture of your glorious author. What you will find there is my current facebook status. Fun right?

What this means for you is even if you don’t have facebook and add me as a friend (or if you do, go here: http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason_Haberman/1300160722) you can still see my status. Even better, there will often be at least a little something new for you to see on every single visit, as I am tending to update that thing multiple times a day.

Cheers!

Blog Updated

So, I have finally updated my blog. No, I don’t mean writing a new post. I mean I actually upgraded the WordPress software running this thing.

I always hesitate to do this, because it can cause all sorts of strange errors or problems with incompatible pieces. But, since my brand new iPhone has a native application that will allow me to mobile blog even more efficiently, and there are numerous security updates, I finally went from version 2.3.3 to the full fledge version 2.6. No, it doesn’t sound like much.

What does this mean to you, dear reader? Well… nothing. Although, I have removed the anti-spam captcha words that were on the comment form. Ok, well, I didn’t choose to remove it, that plugin was incompatible with the latest version. Hopefully, I won’t be innundated with spam, but time will tell.

The only problem I have now is that the permalink structure (aka: the path that shows up in your browser address window) now sucks. Due to 2.6 and IIS not playing nice together, I’m unable to go back to the cooler way of linking (/2008/7/30/Blog-updated) and have to stick with the default (?=414). This is quite aggravating since I have numerous links from elsewhere on the web that point to the old structure. I’m going to have to do some more investigating.

Anyway, there ya go. Not all that exciting, but news none the less.

Update:

I figured out and implemented a fix for the ugly url deal. Much thanks to this guy.

Bronco Hall of Fame Contribution

There is a blog that I visit with some regularity called One Bronco Nation Under God, or obnug.com for short. They, as you might guess, are all things Boise State football. To which, I have a slight affinity.

Anyway, I was asked by the guys over there to contribute to their little ongoing feature called the OBNUG Hall of Fame. I could nominate any player/performance I wished. After some deliberation, I finally settled on my candidate and selected the best performance I ever witnessed live (aside from the Fiesta Bowl).

You can read (and vote) here.

Thanks again for the opportunity guys!

For anyone who might be visiting me for the first time from that site, feel free to peruse my Boise State posts.

Some of my favorites:

Another Missed Birthday

Crap.

Last year, I somehow missed commemorating my blog’s birthday, or blogiversary, if you will, by a full month. This year, I missed it again, if only by a single day. I had planned to recognize the “terrible twos” with a little post, but sure enough, April 24th came and went with nary a batted eye.

In the “better late than never” department… I can’t believe its already been two years I’ve been doing this. Amazing. Feels much shorter than that. I don’t even mind that 90% of my readers are people that I know personally. I still get the occasional random hit from google, but nothing major. Like I said last year, this is mainly for me.

Some updated stats:

  • 267 Total Posts by me.
  • 690 Comments from you.
  • upwards of 1,300 unique visitors a month.
  • 19,541 spam comments avoided.

That’s not too shabby.

Going forward, I’m thinking there might be a major overhaul of the look and feel of this site in the future. WordPress (the software used to run this thing) has been updated greatly since I started, but the theme I’m using does not take advantage of all of those upgrades. So, if I can find the time, I may start tinkering with the presentation around here. If you show up and things look all wonky, rest assured, it’s probably just me playing with it.

So, happy (belated) Birthday In The World… here’s to many more.

Welcome ESPNers

This morning, like I do most mornings, I jumped on the web to check the stats from my blog. I always like to stay on top of what sorts of traffic I get. Granted, it’s never a lot. I average maybe 50 unique visitors a day or so.

Well, this morning was different. When I first checked, I had some 300+ visitors since midnight. Wow… what the hell is going on, I wondered. I checked where these hits were coming from and most of them were coming from a comment I made on ESPN.com a few days ago on a story about Super Bowl foods. I simply posted, “I’m personally going to whip up some Stroganoff Dip. It is ALWAYS a hit.” with a link to my blog post with the recipe.

espn.jpgLo and behold, somehow that quote got “featured” on their main page. Check the image to the left, bottom. I have no clue how or why. All I know is that as of right now I’ve gotten 374 unique visitors and over 800 page views. The most interesting part is that I’ve gotten a big spike in traffic from Google from people searching “Stroganoff Dip Recipe” and finding my site that way as well.

The web is an amazing thing.

So, welcome folks from ESPN. Stick around if you like. I’ve written about Sports in general and Boise State specifically quite a bit.  Maybe you’ll find something you’ll enjoy.

Why You’re A Fan

August 16th, OK?

Apparently, I seriously dropped the ball. Who knew that my devoted readers keep on top of things, but obviously you all do. It’s not like we were keeping it a secret or anything and we’ve told anyone who asked. It just slipped my mind to put it on my blog. So, without further ado…

The big day is scheduled for Saturday, August 16th 2008.

We have been engaged for two full months as of this Friday. Presently, we have just about everything nailed down. Date, locale (for reception at least), caterer, photographer, DJ, cake, colors, dress, tuxes, honeymoon, you name it. I believe the only semi-major type thing left to do is flowers.

Yes, I’ll take full credit for getting all of this done. I’ve really been busting my ass, making decisions and calling all over town coordinating everything. I will say it has been kinda tough dragging Jess through this whole process…

Oh… Hi baby, didn’t see you there… a-hem… whoops… um… I mean… er… well, see… ahh… the thing is… uh…

Just kidding. She has actually been super efficient in nailing all this down. She jumped into the deep end and has done an amazing job. If it was up to me, we’d be nowhere. Getting married at the local Moose Lodge or something officiated by Reverend Skeeter, local pastor and tractor mechanic.

So, there ya go. You’re all up to date now. For the record, you’ll notice that I’ve added a new category to the right navigation called “Wedding”. This can be your conduit for all things wedding related here on my blog. Right now, this will be the only post in there, but stay tuned. More will be coming to feed you people’s voracious appetite for wedding details.

I Am Legend – Jan 3rd

My buddy George and I go to a lot of movies. I have been extremely lax about posting movie reviews on this site, and I want to get better about that this year. He had the idea that he is going to keep a “Movie Journal” about what he sees this year (in theaters that is), and I thought that was a great idea. So, I’ma gonna steal it. Thus, my journal will be here. (see, George, if you had a blog, you could have claimed this for your own…) Keep watching this spot for future reviews. Well, technically, these won’t always be strict reviews. They will probably be filled with things that made me crazy, didn’t work, or questions about why characters did what they did. Without further ado…

The first flick (and only flick for that matter) I’ve seen so far is the sci-fi piece I Am Legend starring Will Smith.

Now, this thing will be filled with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it ruined, quit reading now.

Continue reading “I Am Legend – Jan 3rd”

Slacking…

South Park MeI know, I’ve been slacking here. Well, I suppose technically I’ve not been slacking. That would connote me, parked on a couch somewhere eating Cheetos and watching old Three’s Company reruns.

No. That’s not me. I’ve been busy. So terribly busy. Work went from zero to 100 in about a minute. Add to that the fact that I’ve been moving for what feels like forever. (Don’t get me wrong, its going great! But half of my crap is still in boxes, and we just got the last crap from the apartment last night, which is finally all empty, clean and ready to go).

It’s just the blog that has suffered. When I get a bit of down time lately, I tend to zone out and can’t summon the creative juices as easily as I could when I was wasting time at HP.

Of course, that is not to say that I haven’t had stuff to blog about either. I’ve had about a dozen different ideas for posts. Some of them are great too. Who knows if I’ll ever get to them. I’ll sure try, but since many of those ideas were topical in nature, me, blogging about the Boise State game 3 or 4 games ago, really isn’t doing anyone any good (if I could remember what I wanted to say in the first place).

So, as an amends to my loyal readers, all 7 of you, I have this image… my South Park “me”. I’ve had this image for a long time and totally forgot about it. But now seems like the time to bust it out. Enjoy.