Complaints, Irritation, Annoyance

Okay,

I have heard through the grapevine that some of our regular visitors (we have regular visitors????) have complained that the photos Tracy and I keep telling people are on KellysWorld are not easily accessible. For all of you, please know that I have learned the error of my ways. I have made finding the photos of 427 Da Vinci Lane so easy, Gracy (that's my dog) could do it.

Wait, you wonder how easy is it? What have I changed? Well, if you are reading this article shortly after publication then all you need to do is look directly to the left of this text (and a little up) and you should see a simple link that will take you directly to the photos.

But wait, there's more! For those that need it really, really easy, I MEAN REALLY EASY.

CLICK HERE
(If you are currently looking for the "HERE" button, please turn off your computer and throw it away.)

Here at KellysWorld we strive to offer our visitors the very best in customer service and satisfaction. After all, you, our readers pay the bills.

Wait, no you don't..... Okay, so why am I making this easy?!?

Oh yeah, my wife threatened to raise my voice two octaves if I didn't. See honey, I do as you ask me.

New Video Available

If you check out the Gallery you will find that I have added a new video. I created this video last weekend for Carlos Jr. first birthday party. The video is a three part photo montage of Carlo's first year of life. It wasn't too difficult to create, especially using the tools on my Mac; in fact it was a lot of fun. I started working on it the night before and had the DVD burned before we left 12:30 the next day. It really is way to easy to do this, all you need is an idea and the willingness to put in a little time.

So, check out my lastest video masterpiece and let me know what you think. As a side note, when you click on the video it may not start right away; the video downloads first. After a little waiting click on the video and it should start. If not, wait a little longer. You can also right click on the link and download the video to your computer.

I've also included an actual video I did last year on the video page, and will include some other videos I've created over the past year or so. All but one are actually photo slideshows set to various types of music.

Go HERE to find the videos.

Updated "About KellysWorld"

If you check out the About section of the website, you will see that on the 3rd change I added an update to reflect a few of the changes that have taken place over the past few days. Nothing major, but worth noting.

Old Look, New Look

Recently the software I used for KellysWorld was updated, bringing new features and abilities. The changes are really on the back-end, but they do allow for eaiser customization and building of the site. One of the downsides of the updated software is that my previous set-up wasn't working as well as I would have liked. Even after getting most everything working, I still wasn't thrilled with the results. The final option was to do a slight redesign of the site, making use of some of the new back-end features. That change precipitated a change in header graphic, the one I had originally used I couldn't find; at least not the original photoshop document.

You won't see anything incredibly different as you tour the site, just a change in color scheme and the blog has some changes. You will notice that not only are their categories, but also tags. Basically, two different ways for me to index the blog, and allow the reader to find what they might be looking to see.

So while we have a new look, it is still the old look. Tell me what you think.

More Changes to Web Site

You have undoubtedly noticed that KellysWorld has an unfamiliar look. You haven't landed at the wrong site, I've just been working on several issues related to a recent upgrade I made to my web authoring software. The theme that I have used for well over a year doesn't seem to play all too friendly with the updates software. So in the mean time I am using this theme which does seem to work, well, mostly work anyway.

I am also making some additional changes to the interface of the site, nothing too major; but I do want to be able to fit into the schemas of some of the web themes I have seen and liked. Many of these themes require fewer major menu groups than I previously had on my site. The plan right now is to concentrate on what folks who visit the site want to see. I believe that primarily to be this "blog" and the "Gallery." So, I'm going to work to make sure those two sections look and work as best I can manage.

UPDATE: This isn't what I want the site to look like, but this is a look that works for the time being. If you come back tomorrow, it might look different; hell, it could look different in an hour. One just never knows with me.

Updated Photo Gallery

If you visit the Photo Gallery you might notice a slight organizational change. Nothing big, but trying to create a structure that might be more scalable than what I was using before. I've also increased the size of the photos in the flash slideshow. No need for all that white empty space right!?!

Second Life, Second Story

This morning I noticed that David Pouge, New York Times columnist, wrote an article about Second Life. He also did a report for CBS Sunday Morning. Both the article and the report are linked below. Feel free to check them out. Whether you would actually want to log-on and play around in Second Life or not; the phenomenon is still very interesting. Apparently over $600,000 is spent every day in Second Life.

David Pouge Article
An Experiment in Virtual Living
CBS Sunday Morning
Second Life

Virtual Nuke in Virtual World "Second Life"

Well, as crazy as it seems, terrorism has finally made it's way from the streets of Iraq to the online world of Second Life. In an effort to get the attention of the operators of Second Life, Linden Labs, long time users of the virtual world game set off two "virtual" nukes near two major corporate headquarters to protest the unfriendly turn that Second Life has taken in recent months as the population has grown by mammoth proportions and so to apparently has the in-game violence. You can read the original article here.

I came across this article reference on Digg.com which was in turn a reference to a story on TheLastBoss.com. I don't know if I should think the situation is funny or extreamly sad. Here are the thoughts of DiggityDugged, who posted the article on Digg.

Last year the virtual population of Second Life soared from 100,000 online players to well over 2 million. The veterans were upset with the way the newcomers were playing the game disrespectfully, so to get Linden Labs attention, they set off two nukes within the same day. Talk about overkill.. They started their own official army too. (Read Digg Article)