OK, I don’t really hate ads. I know they are what pay for a site, but I hate ads that look like the graphic I am including here. Sites that tend to have these horrible ads get closed pretty quickly. What sucks is more and more sites seem to be running them. I am here to ask them to stop. Please stop. Think of the children.

I have no idea why this graphic isn’t animating, but trust me, you don’t want it to.

If you’re hoping to read anything about ExpressionEngine 2.0 Beta then move on. I’ve managed to download it and that’s about all. I’m not even sure if their NDA lets me say that much. Ha!

One of the problems I have with ExpressionEngine is that it is such a fire-and-forget system that every time I build a site in it—or decide to redesign one—I am starting from scratch and by the time I am done I’ve learned so much that I want to start over. I do not have this kind of time. This is a strength of the software and my weakness. If I was a full-time developer I know this is the system I’d want to go with. Even as a dabbler it’s what I choose to use. I prefer to use the best tool for the job even if I don’t know how to use all the functions of the tool.

I can’t wait to set up a site in ExpressionEngine 2.0 Beta. I have a project that has been languishing for a while now. It’s time to go beat on it.

Sometime ago I started beating up on marketers on twitter. I don’t get them, and I really don’t think they get the medium, so I heap abuse on them whenever I can. I know it’s a quixotic quest, but I’ve been having fun doing it.

Check out puppypotpie.com

I spent considerable time on the CSS on this site, getting it to appear as closely to the output generated by MS Word or MS Frontpage as I could.

Anyway, not a lot to be said about it. Lots of inside jokes not worth explaining. Be sure to reload to get additional cartoons.

I’ve been thinking of taking an internet vacation. Or at least from the sites I spend so much time on. I spend too much time on metafilter. I spent too much time on twitter, and twitter. I was thinking of taking an imposed break from metafilter, probably at least one of my twitter accounts, and putting my jackassletters site on hiatus. The only problem I have with this is these sites may become like macjams to me. I used to spend tons of time there. I haven’t been there in quite some time. I miss it, but I just can’t seem to set aside to get my audio hobby going again. It’s kind of like cable TV. I gave it up a while back, after a season of shows went by I found I didn’t even miss it.

There’s just so many other projects I would like to work on, and I use these sites to procrastinate. I also use twitter to promote my jackassletters site, so I don’t count that as a complete time suck, but if I am honest I have to admit I’m not even certain how much traffic I send my site’s way from there. But I figure, if I put jackassletters on hold I can take a “twittercation.” Same think on meta. Just step away, concentrate on other things.

I’m not talking “time management” here, but I do want to start looking at where my time does go.

I am working on a book project (and I feel funny calling it that), and I have other writing related projects that are languishing. I have several books I would like to get read. And other things that should be taking a higher priority than websurfing. Heck, even updating this site! The internet is a big place, and I reply on metafilter to show me where the good stuff is. I fear that by stepping away from meta for a month or two I will just replace my viewing habits with crappy sites. Who knows.

So I am not sure when/if I will do this. I have a furlough coming up where I work, so doubt I’d really have the will power to stay away then. In August my girlfriend starts University classes again, but that’s too far away to wait for. April is too soon. Ha! See, just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Maybe when I make next Monday’s jackass update I’ll walk away for a month. Less TV, less internet. That’s the goal. We’ll see.

I’ll write more about the whole book thing tomorrow. It’s kinda cool.

You can follow the discussion.

So far people don’t like the ads on the site, or they are actually interfering with the viewing of letters. So I pulled almost all of them.

I like having the ads. Used to be part of the joke. Having “Hooked on Phonics” ads on a writing site tickled me, but they generated no income. Same with the “Letter from Santa” ad.

I was down to only books on Amazon by authors doing a similar thing to what I was doing, and no more than 2 google ads, but some people were saying the ads covered the letters, so I pulled them.

I’ll have to spend more time figuring that part out, or just pull the ads entirely.