It's Gemütlich Blog. It's gemütlich because . . . well . . . go here and read about gemütlichkeit.

Medary isn't very gemütlich. I've (rather on purpose) made it pretty difficult to comment on my articles here. That's not gemütlich at all. Plus things here at Medary tend towards the serious, the political, and honestly goes off a bit too often for my comfort on some serious anger about politics and the really, really stupid things done by the really, really stupid people who think they know how to run the world.

See? Serious.

I don't wanna be serious, but Medary is a serious place. It can't help it, I think.

And so, we have Gemütlich Blog.

Medary will still be here, a repository for my serious side, my rants about things worth ranting about, and all the fun stuff that makes blogging so bloggy for blog bloggers. But Gemütlich Blog is intended to be more fun, warmer, nicer, more welcoming, and all that stuff.

We'll see how it goes.

The blogging has been hot and heavy for a while here at Medary.com. But I'm in the process of shifting gears as summer recedes in the rear view mirror and we breeze through fall and head for . . . college basketball!

I'm also working on a few other projects which will occupy some of my time--I've accumulated a pile of books that are begging to be read; I've finally hooked up a turntable to my computer to finally convert my old vinyl LP's to digital iPod-ready tunes (which is what I happen to be doing tonight); my partially-written science fiction novel has been languishing and it's starting to get really lonely; and I've started writing a more politically-oriented tome as well. I've got a couple of pieces of lawn furniture to sand and re-lacquer. Go get a flu shot or two. Celebrate a wedding anniversary. Keep losing weight. You know, stuff like that. So much to do, so little time.

The bottom line is don't be worried if the rate of posting slows down here. I've got my usual Thought of the Day series queued up for a while, and my retrospective One, Two, Three, and Four Years Ago series will be there too to tide you over should I neglect things for a day or three. I'm around. But I'm probably busy.

Don't panic.

I have now turned off the automatic user request feature on the board, because it seems that the vast majority of users of that feature were obvious spammers. I don't like spammers very much.

So, the only way to get an account here is to ask via e-mail. Ask nicely.

The procedure:

1: Ask for a user id that might possibly be a real name, or at least a real word.
2: Use an e-mail address that actually works.
3: Send an e-mail to me from that e-mail address proving you're someone who has something more than spam on their mind.

You may mail me with your request at medaryrequest (clever user name, isn't it?).

Then the little curly-cue at-sign. This one: @.

Then yahoo.com.

Put it all together into an e-mail address, and send something coherent to me if you want commenting privileges here. I don't check that account all that frequently though, so you'll have to be patient.

And remember, I'm still picky about who my friends are.

I've neglected the "Sections" area over there on the left side of the screen. But I also had an idea--"those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

Since this iteration of Medary.com went live on February 21, 2005, a lot as happened. A lot.

So, I've decided, as an occasional feature here, to go back into the archives and present some "golden oldies," posts I've made about various things which, in my very, very humble opinion, have stood the test of time.

That's what the sections One Year Ago, Two Years Ago, Three Years Ago, and Four Years Ago are all about. Now, since I'm just starting this little project, those sections are pretty empty right now. But they'll fill up, soon enough.

It will be an interesting adventure for me personally, as I'll be seeing how my thoughts have evolved--or have remained consistent--over these past few years. And i'm taking you along for the ride, too.

I think that all sides of the political spectrum can probably agree that we don't really want to repeat what has happened in the last four years. So, let's try to learn together.

I've updated my software here at Medary.com.  It went much easier than I thought it would.

One thing I've been meaning to do for some time is to change the look of the site.  It currently uses a look (a "theme") called "Professional."  That's the one with the blue header bar, and left and right sidebars.

I've found another theme, called "pure" which has a black header, and only a right sidebar--no left sidebar at all.  I think it's cleaner than Professional and I've set it as the default theme for Medary.com.  If you don't see the new theme, just delete your browser's cookies, and that should take care of it.  If you actually log into Medary.com, then you'll have to go to My Account, pick Layout and Language, then pull "Pure" down from the menu and then hit "Save Information."

Enjoy, in moderation.

Much work has been happening over at SDSUFans.com.  There's a new forum for South Dakota State University athletics.  The new forum is here.  The old forum, here, will be around for a little while (until May, probably).

I've got a stack of papers from the last couple of weeks that I plan to crunch through this afternoon, while watching the Tennessee Lady Vols and then listening to the SDSU Jackrabbit women take on the Wyoming Cowgirls in the WNIT.  So there will be a bunch of posts, I imagine . . .

Well, it seems like the new version of my blogging software broke some links in my Conference Map Project, but that was easily enough fixed.  Now that I have a couple of free hours, I'll look around here but it looks like I'll stay on this version rather than trying to figure out how to restore my (upgraded) database to the un-upgraded version.

Onward!

Well, if things look a little strange, it's because they are.  I was playing around with a new version of my software here and it apparently decided to upgrade my backend database.  I've got a backup, but I also need to take Snookums to supper tonight, so it will be a while before I can play with it further.

I might just decide to stay at the new version . . . what the heck.

Tanned, rested, and ready to rock!

Much more coming soon (as soon as we get a neighborhood garage sale this weekend out of the way . . . )