Peeps have already noticed the new layout, which surprised me given that my stats show the majority of you viewing (Into) the Fray via some type of reader.  For those of you who have yet to click through, please do.  After nearly three years (three years!) of writing here, including a switch in platforms and nabbing my own domain, I thought it was time to clean house a bit.  That includes:

banner

  1. The curtains now match the drapes.  The main page matches the blog which matches the shop.  And strangely enough, the colors seem to be reflected in the house.  Crazy.
  2. So many of the directories I’d joined way back when I was still new to blogging resulted in zero traffic so they’re gone.
  3. I’ve long wanted to flesh out my links list and now I’ll have the chance to since they’re located on their own page.  I realize the categories are rough given that so many of my favorite sites straddle the line between art, craft, and general awesomeness.  If anything looks off or a link goes no where, please shoot me an email and I’ll get it updated.

Lisa recentl tagged me to share 10 honest things and I figured I’d focus on all things intertubes given the recent sprucing.

1. Email was my first introduction to the internet.  My university issued email addresses that were the same as our student IDs (a mess of meaningless numbers.)  It strikes me as so impersonal now that I think of how clever people get with their email addresses–and frustrated when they can’t use their name because it’s already taken!

2. Other than email, the internet was largely meaningless for me through the remainder of college. (I’m trying to think now what I did with my fttime–oh yeah, that’s right.)  After I graduated, I discovered the world of Damn Hell Ass Kings and quickly got emersed in the Fametracker forums.  I liked Mighty Big TV, too but even then I wasn’t much for television.  It still cracks me up that Mighty Big TV took off, underwent a name change and was then bought by Bravo, while the site I loved languished and eventually went on permanent hiatus.

3. Right before I left the country, I toyed with the idea of keeping some kind of online journal and even played around with Diaryland before ultimately deciding it was too weird.  I regret not doing it now.

4. I joined Friendster while I was living abroad.  I wouldn’t have known it existed given that I still had no internet at my flat & barely had time to glance at my email at work–only a friend sent me an invite.  I’ve read a few explanations of why it crashed & burned when MySpace came on the scene but I still don’t fully understand what was up with that.  While I know people love being able to customize their Myspace page, it ultimately feels like getting inundated with LV logos or unicorns or music I don’t like.  In other words, get off my lawn.

myspace

5. I met the boyfriend via an online dating site.  He had an ability right from the start to crack me up over IM that remains largely unparalleled.

6. The same week I met him, I met up with another fellow via the same dating service who was also:

a. an only child

b. of older divorced parents

c. from kentucky

and wondered if I’d landed on a reality tv show without my knowledge.

7. While on my first vacation with the boyfriend, I decided to start a blog.  I’m still not quite sure why he was the only one I told about it for months and months.

8. I resisted digital cameras for a long time, which is why my first few sets of flickr photos are actually from a 35mm I refused to get rid of.

9. I was also a bit late to Twitter but still managed to get teased by a coworker when I mentioned using it.

10. I believe my friend Tyler, the very talented artist who is responsible for the new look and layout, is the first person besides Ben to know about my blog.  He was the only person I knew in real life who had one himself (check out his portfolio–he’s seriously talented.)  I’m still not sure why I kept it a secret from people I know–anyone who knows of it is quite supportive.  Silly me being self conscious, I guess.

I’d love to see 10 honest things from Julia, Missa, Franca, Betsy, and Sister Wolf because her constant honesty impresses me.