Tag: web design

small update

Well, boys and girls. I got sick of the layout and design again and decided to do something about it. I’ve been a busy little girl. As you can see, the site looks very different. It has a different feel. I think I like it.

Don’t get too used to it.

Many of you have taken the time to read my “notes from me” little postings every once in a while, so you know that the purpose of this site is so that I have someplace to play. I get to do whatever I want to it since it’s mine. And that means that whenever it starts to bore me, I can simply take the whole thing, toss it out and create something new.

I haven’t added any writing, any substance, to mis días. It’s just the decorations that have changed.

By the way, Nivia Gonzalez, talento incomparable, created the lovely painting featured currently. You may recognize her work from the book jackets of Hijas del Quinto Sol and House on Mango Street. Her art is breathtaking. Her brown-skinned creations are uniquely divine. If you have a chance to see more of her work, please take it. You won’t regret it.

Small FYIs for those of you who have been waiting to hear about how my soap opera of a life is going. I’m no longer telefunding. I quit that to do something much more interesting. I’m actually working weekends as a video monitor. Basically, I watch tapes of the news and write down who said what about whom and in what context. They’re paying me to watch television. Isn’t that too cute for words? I’m sure that it’ll get boring after a while, but at least people won’t be cussing me out when I interrupt their dinners to ask for donations. And I don’t have to work evenings.

I’ve actually gone on a few real interviews. That is, interviews for full-time jobs that would, hypothetically, pay me enough that I wouldn’t need a part-time job to survive. I haven’t heard back from any of them, though, so I’m going to assume that I haven’t impressed anyone too much.

My current real job isn’t going too well. I have that trapped “I need to get the hell out of here” feeling whenever I’m in the office. It may just be pre-holiday blues or cabin fever or something. Or maybe I’ve just been there too long. The longest I had ever stayed at one job before this one was a year and a half. And that was part-time while I was in college. This is my third Christmas with the university, the second in my current position. I need to move on. Now I just need to have someone hire me.

On the plus side, I get one and a half weeks off, from Christmas through New Year’s. These days are paid and do not count against my vacation days. It’s just a perk of working for the university.

the rebirth of a website

A funny thing happened on my way to maturity — I had too much fun being immature. I kept thinking of being an adult and, in my mind, it was the same thing as being dull. So I refused the label of adult the same way I had once refused to be part of the crowd, with blind arrogance. And it got me nothing.

Then one day I stopped and looked around. I saw adults who were having fun, grown-ups who could teach me a thing or two about enjoying life and making my mark in the world. They were ROLE MODELS. And, after some hard knocks and soul searching, I accepted the fact that I had to grow up. I really had no choice. If I had to do it anyway, I should do it with style.

And I have.

That little story can be applied to this space of mine. One day, on impulse, I went to the information technology people at work and filled out all of the paperwork to make them give me some web space. I then proceeded to fill it up with one page where I could play around with design. It was a simple enough idea. I had the space, it was mine, and I could do with it whatever I wanted.

I used it to advertise myself. I know what you’re thinking, I do know . . . vain, selfish, egocentric. True, but that’s what I did.

I looked at what I had created a few months after I started up, without structure, without purpose, without identity, and decided to give it a little bit of order. I had been putting my words out there, blatantly ignoring any advice and comments on how to be better. Thinking of the site as something that was created for others was something I didn’t want to do. It was too serious. It was too adult. It too grown up. It wasn’t me. So I stopped and regrouped and approached the space from the eyes of a committed webjefa.

My site grew up.

Fast-forward one year. My little space is no longer entertaining, at least not to me. I keep trying to make it better by giving it window dressing and it remains stale. It became something I no longer enjoyed. In my desire to provide my readers with something that would make sense, I killed my interest in what I was doing.

I’ve tried to make it fun again, but I keep getting caught up in that serious spirit as if it were a virus or an infection that clings to me every time I opened the files. My solution is to shelve the old site and start fresh. This site is my fresh start. Please pardon the dust, the innovations and the new identity — giving birth to a new site is a tedious, loving, enthusiastic event that can go wrong or go right. But I intend to love every moment.

style change

Welcome to my new parlor, people. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve changed the look of this site slightly. I got sick of the color scheme and the layout. Unfortunately, these changes are purely window dressing. I don’t have anything new for you. Except, of course, a few recommendations.

  • {{water}} is a must-see. The design of this site puts me to shame. My silly little dive into the web will go unnoticed and forgotten easily, {{water}} will not. I comfort myself with the fact that the site keeper lives online for a living, but that is the only comfort I can keep. I don’t make regular updates anymore and my ramblings have become cotton candy, all fluff and no substance.
  • Hispanic/Latino News Service – Daily Roundup is a great source of Latino news. It’s a great resource that links to newspapers and news sources across the country.

That’s all for now. I’ll try to give you some real words soon.

anniversary

This previous Tuesday, April 28, marked the first year anniversary of this site. I can’t believe it’s been a year. What started out as some personal and temporary space has reached a real anniversary. For those of you who have been with me since the beginning, you will recall the original format, the changes in content and style, and you have gotten to know me through these little self-indulgent sessions. For those of you who are new, I thank you for giving this site a try.

I have ranted and raved, nagged and whined, yelled and sighed about a lot of things over the past twelve months. Most of the original features and editorials aren’t even on the web anymore. I have changed the focus of this site from my writings to other noteworthy items on the web. And a lot of stuff in here is pure mind-candy, simple fluff, because, quite honestly, this is mine and I can do with it anything I want.

That’s the point of this space.

So here we are, one year later, and this site is nothing more than what I have made of it. It is nothing more than what I want it to be. My few loyal readers tell me what they like and don’t like, and, if I agree with you, I make the changes.

Now let’s see if we make it to two years! Later.

site announcements

ANNOUNCEMENT TIME . . . has arrived. All my old links will probably not work anymore. I’ve decided that I need to reorganize this site one section at a time and unless I make myself do that it’s never going to happen. So, if there’s a story, page or other that you had linked to and now need, just contact me and I’ll send you a copy of it or tell you when it’ll be up again.

ABORTION RIGHTS . . . have been the recent hot topic in my campus activist’s list. I’m pleased to report that even the people who have professed to being pro-life have been adamantly opposed and appalled at the recent violence towards abortion clinics and their personnel. It’s a scary world when people are murdered under the banner of “life” and thrown the words of “God” as their justification for these atrocities. It’s not something I’m ever going to understand.

NEW LIST . . . I joined a new list to replace the old one — the one that threw me out. I’m not as comfortable there yet, but I’ll get there. I still have this overwhelming desire to find out what happened, why they felt the need to just exile me without a word of warning or excuse. But I will get over it (sigh!) and move on. In the meantime, I’m getting to know my new virtual friends. Hasta luego.