It actually works!

I've had this blog for six years now. Finally it's paying off!

I don't remember exactly when I added Google ads. I know I put them on at one point and then removed them and decided to try putting them back again. I don't know if I ever really expected to see any return on them.

But low and behold, yesterday a check arrived in the mail from Google for $104! That's really impressive considering I hardly write on the blog anymore.

This could be yet another incentive to keep writing. Google doesn't pay you until you're earnings reach the $100 level. Hopefully it won't take another six years to get another check.

So thanks, everyone, for the clicks.  I'll keep writing if you keep clicking.

Today is the first day of the rest of your blog

My three-month blogging hiatus is over.

Lately, anything I've felt like saying I've been able to say in 140 characters or less on Twitter.  Any interesting links I spotted or photos I had were shared on Facebook.  Updates on life with the Rooney family were posted on the Rooney Train.

I was no longer sure this blog served a purpose and came closer than ever to pulling the plug.

The truth is, I thought about the blog almost every day. I usually felt guilty for neglecting it, but I was actually a little relieved when I thought about getting rid of it and not worrying about neglecting it any more.  If keeping this blog going is a source of stress, then what's the point?

So if that's how I feel about it, then why am I back here posting again?  I'm really not sure.  I guess I just don't want to give up that easily.  I shall endeavor to do better.  Wish me luck!

Happy Bloggiversary to Me

I allowed my bloggiversary to quietly slip by unnoticed last week. I've officially been blogging for half a decade now. "Off the Top of My Head" launched on July 26, 2004.

In recent years, Facebook and Twitter have eaten into the amount of attention I've given to the blog. But I have no intention to give up on it all together any time soon.

Blogger help needed

There's a crucial change I'd like to make to my blog's template, but I haven't been able to figure out how to do it.

If you look at the page for any blog post here (you know, what you see when you click on the headline or comments, not the main page with all of the current posts) at the bottom you'll see links labeled "Older Posts," "Home" and "Newer Posts." I want to move that to the top of the page instead of the bottom.

I've been staring at the template code, but I haven't had any luck making it work. Does anyone out there understand what I'm talking about and know how to pull it off?

Join the Disqusion

As you may have noticed, I've set the blog up with a service called Disqus to handle comments.

I've seen it on a few other sites, like Lost Remote and TV Newser. I wondered if it might be a good fit for WNYT.com and figured I'd test it out here first.

There are four different options for how you can post your comment.

• You can remain unregistered and enter whatever you like for your name and e-mail address (although I'll still be able to see your IP address no matter what).
• You can create an account for yourself on Disqus.com and login with that when you leave your comment.  Then you can go back to Disqus.com to track all of your comments on any site using Disqus.
• Use Facebook Connect to tie your activity here to your Facebook profile.  That way, whenever you post a comment here, it will also show up on your wall and in your newsfeed along with a link back to the item here.  It's essentially just like a posted link on Facebook.
• You can login with your Twitter account.  Like with Facebook Connect, this way your comment here will also appear on Twitter as a reply to @ChrisRooney (my Twitter profile) along with a link back to here.

Of course, none of this does any good if I don't post something worth commenting on.  I'll try to get better at that.  My blogging mojo has been out of whack lately, but I think I'm getting back on track.  It's been tough to find the right balance between blogging and my other social networking (not to mention actual work, family and all the rest of life's activities). 

So please comment away and let me know what you think!

Disqusion

I'm playing around with using a service called Disqus as a new way to handle comments on the blog. Let me know what you think.

Belated happy bloggiversary to me

Hey, my bloggiversary blew by unnoticed. I just remembered today that July 26 marked the day I started "Off the Top of My Head."

Four years and 1,228 posts -- and nearly as many hours wasted.

Back to the drawing board?

I'm starting to think it's time for an overhaul of the blog. I've been living with this layout and while now and I'm starting to get bored with it.

I think I'll keep the picture of me, since I like it and I've received many positive comments on it. However, everything else is fair game.

Any suggestions?

IE problems?

Does anyone else have trouble loading my blog in Internet Explorer? It seems to work fine in Firefox and Safari, but it's often slow in IE 7 and says it's loading with errors on the page. What's that all about?

Further reason why I prefer Firefox.

The train is leaving the station

As I've mentioned before, from time-to-time there is a call for more family stuff on the blog. Perhaps I've been slacking off a bit in that department.

So to help remedy the situation, Kris -- a.k.a. ADKmom -- took it upon herself today to start up a new blog titled "All Aboard the Rooney Train." We'll both contribute to that blog, which will be strictly just family stuff. It's mainly intended for ou of town loved ones, but you're all welcome to check it out.

I'll still post some family stuff here too. But if you want the full dose -- like the story behind the picture of the cool dudes seen here -- then check out the new blog. For convenience, I've added a feed for it right on here on this page.

Upgrade

I think the blog is overdue for an overhaul...or at least some maintenance.

My random photo gallery hasn't worked for a long time. Does anyone know of a good photo gallery widget? I like the one I had before that would display six random thumbnails. I know Picasa lets you embed a slide show, but that's not what I want. I liked that there was a group of photos displayed at once and that every time you visited the page you saw different pictures.

Flickr has something that's kind of like what I'm looking for. But I already have a Picasa account. It's a hassle to have to upload pictures to Flickr too.

Any suggestions?

Test driving Utterz

This mobile post was sent by Roon using Utterz.

Think before you blog...

Here's how I feel sometimes...

Approved for all audiences

I know I try to keep this blog family friendly, but I didn't realize it was this tame.

What is your blog rated?

Remember me?

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. I've just been mega busy. I promise to get back into the habit of regular posting soon.

In meantime, I like to send out congratulations to my brother Tim who turned 50 earlier this week, my nephew Patrick who was crowned prom king last weekend, and my college classmate and fellow blogger Mike Sussman on the birth of his new daughter Darah Shea.

Are there still radios at Radio Shack?

I was going to just link to this in my "Things That Caught My Eye" section. But then I saw that the Onion articles have this neat little "Blog This" button that gives you the code to embed snippets like this on your site...

Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business

FORT WORTH, TX—After a through review of its operations, RadioShack CEO Julian Day could provide no real explanation for the analog-riddled company's staying power.

Checking in

Thanks to the lovely ADKmom for posting about our recent activities. We've had a lot blogworthy stuff going on, but I've been too busy to keep up with the blog. I'll try to pick it up and maybe throw something on tonight.

1,000th POST!

It’s a landmark day for the blog. This is Off the Top of My Head’s 1,000th post!

Since July 26, 2004 there have been 999 previous posts about things that probably few people care about besides me. Thanks to all of you for putting up with 1,000 posts about geeky subjects like “Doctor Who,” “The Simpsons” and “24,” and for enduring all the family photos.

If I get around to it, I’ll try to put some thought into what were blog’s “most memorable moments” of the first 1,000 posts.

Thanks also go out to my lovely wife for putting up with my indulgence in the blogosphere and for contributing a few posts herself as “ADKmom.”

In other news, we had a busy weekend. Kris attended a Cub Scout Leader Pow-Wow to get all sorts of tips and ideas about how we can be better den leaders.

Meanwhile, keeping with the Cub Scout theme, Nolan and I built his first Pinewood Derby car over the weekend. The race is coming up soon. I’m sure we’ll have some pictures or video. I have an extra kit. So this weekend I’ll probably build another car for Thomas.

Finally, I was immersed in the world of “Beauty and the Beast” for three straight nights. For the third year in a row, I helped my former boss videotape the Niskayuna High School spring musical.

Usually we watch the show on Thursday and tape on Friday. But there were some problems with the set on Friday night. They had a massively huge set rented from a professional theater. It didn’t do all the things it was supposed to do Friday, so we were asked to come back for the Saturday performance.

The show was incredibly impressive. If you didn’t get to see it, then you really missed out. It’s amazing what they manage to get out of high school kids.

'Turn on the magical shining light!'

I'm announcing the official "Off the Top of My Head" guerrilla marketing campaign (that's supposed to be me--I had trouble doing the glasses).

I am not responsible for any panic or road closures caused by the distribution of these signs.

Make your own subversive Lite-Brite display here.

Browser issues

I've discovered that although my changes to the blog's layout look great in Firefox, there are some problems in Internet Explorer.

So it's back to the drawing board. Please bear with me.

UPDATE: It looks like everything is working fine in both browsers now.