Hey Matt, You've Changed...

Regular visitors to this site will notice some big changes along the way.
  • First - the accordion widget is gone. People just didn't grok it. In addition, google would index something within the accordion and people would find that text in a search and click over to the site only to not find what they were looking for cause it was buried somewhere in the accordion. While it was a neat working idea, it just didn't cut it on many levels so it had to go.
  • Next, you'll see a bunch of added pages - that's where the accordion text went. Each panel in the accordion is now a web page.
  • The contact page (Grab Me) is functioning now. I had no idea it wasn't working - I just thought no one wanted to write to me. It wasn't until some of my other sites began generating spam that I realized something was wrong with the script. I tested the panel and found that accordion botched that piece of code as well. Now if you want to send me a message, you can.
  • I added a Bear Gear Store page. These are just some of the things I find interesting and thought you might too. When you buy anything off that page, I get a small commission from Amazon and that helps to defray the web hosting charges. Nothing big, but every bit helps these days.
  • Got a video projects page. That is more of what I got going on other sites like JibJab and FaceBook. I still have my different channels on Youtube but this is some added fun stuff.
  • And the biggest change of all is the blog is gone. Blogs are so 2008. I'm trying my best to simplify my life and keeping up a blog page takes too much work. Besides, I was getting bored with it and the reason I started it has served its purpose so be gone bad spirits.

Other Stuff Still in the Works...

  • I'm still holding on to the Bear Calendar. I don't want to give that up just yet but it's one of those things that require quite a bit of work to keep current. Right now only the shell is there. I haven't decided for sure if I want to keep it or not. The problematic issue here is that the original code I was using to keep that page up to date is no longer being supported by the developer. It was a great piece of code that pulled my calendar data from iCal on my Mac so it was a piece of cake to update. Now I have to jump thru hoops using google calendar and I'm not too thrilled about it. I'm hoping someone else picks up the slack and reissues an updated version.
  • The Gay Directory is still a work in progress. My hopes are to give it more attention after the holidays as my website work should taper off a bit and give me extra time to devote to promoting that.

What's New in the Desert?

October is here and the weather is like being in heaven. I have never been in a place where the temperature is so perfect. And it's like this every day. I do miss a rain shower though. The last rain we had was in February and when we did have about 3 days of overcast skies, I was giddy as could be thinking it might rain.

The snow birds are starting to return and traffic is testament to that fact. It was so nice having this town to ourselves. Being here with the locals is something akin to being in the Wisconsin Dells during the off season. Only difference here is that the weather is warm instead of blistering cold as it is up north.

I miss my family and friends back in Wisconsin, but it's next to impossible to give up this climate. I wish they were all down here.

I continue to make new friends and build a life for myself here. I like my apartment but I'm starting to get the bug to do some remodeling so I wish my place up north would sell so I could invest in a place of my own here.

Ok, that's enuff for this go-round. I hope you enjoy your visit here and thanks for stopping by.

_Matt