OK, I’ve been blogging for quite some time now, since November 2009 I think it is.  I have never, up to this point, modified the “look” of my blog.  I only moved it to Word Press last summer mind you, but in those 9 or 10 months, I haven’t played around with the format of the blog, etc.

So, I was looking through the options and low and behold, look at all the interesting stuff that I can do.

I made a few changes to the “side bar” area of the blog. For instance, I moved the admin area to the top – this is for my benefit.  If I need to log in again for some reason, it is right there.  I made more of the recent entries visable to visitors and, believe it or not, I actually get quite a few people visiting the blog.  I am not sure if they read many entries but occasionally I get a comment about something that I have written.  When I started the blog, I wasn’t sure what the point of it was.  To this day, I am still not sure what the point is, but it is sort of cool to look back and see what I have been doing with myself.  I don’t post some details of my days – I want to keep the blog mostly family friendly.  🙂

Beyond the recent entries, the archive and category views have been condensed into a pull down list.  Saves some space.  After that I have added a calendar.  By the looks of it, most of the days (in May anyway) have entries.  I have been a busy blogger.  I then have my 10 most recent Tweets.  I typically use Twitter to share news and information and to rant and rave.  I follow 175 or so people so I rarely look at all the tweets, I wouldn’t have the time.  I occasionally get a reply or a re-tweet which is cool.  I then give the option of following my blog – if you do this, you’ll get an email every time I make an entry.  Apparently, there are 4 people following me via email updates – not sure if I can see who they are.

So, that’s what I did to make the blog experience better – what’s been going on in my life?

Well, I sent an email out yesterday to all of the umpires in the area to see if anyone had any used equipment for sale.  I got a few replies which was nice.  As I was driving home last night, I received a phone call from one guy who had recently purchased new equipment and was offering his old stuff to me.  I met him at his work last night.  He’s a mechanic so that is good to know – knowing a mechanic is always nice.

He ended up giving me 2 chest protectors, a pair of shin pads, a mask, 3 shirts and a jacket.  The best part, he wouldn’t accept any cash for it.  Nice – thank you very much.

I sold my HTC Desire HD.  I upgraded to the Samsung Note and I love that phone.  The Desire was a good phone but it would occasionally crash when using the GPS and voice dialer at the same time and then I would have to reboot the darn thing which would mean pulling over, taking off the Otter Box and then waiting for it to reboot which would be at least 5 minutes before it was good to go.  The new phone is thinner but has a larger display.  It is like carrying a small tablet with me – it is an awesome phone though.  I plan to purchase another Otter Box for it in the next couple of weeks.

Umpiring tonight, weather permitting.  I also finally received a reply from the Supervisor of Umpires for Baseball Alberta.  I am good to go for the 2012 season.

Until next time…