Tue, 30 May 2006 at 10:05 pm
I got my review over at The Bloggy Awards. The ratings were low, but they added some kind words that made up for the lousy numbers. As a quantitative thinker, however, I am still insulted.
On a more positive note, my very good friend, Janice, from over at Cowhampshire, New Hampshire Blogging, and probably a few other sites I don’t know about, has taken it upon herself to design a new banner for me. Ain’t it pretty?
Of course, there is a bit of an inside joke here, which she probably figured I didn’t catch. . . but I did after only 2 days (yay, me!). She recently blogged about When Frankenstein Roamed the White Mountains, an article which I got a kick out of and commented on (for those not in the know, it wasn’t Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that roamed the White Mountains of our native New Hampshire — you’ll have to read the article if you want more than that).
So the new banner is appropriate for the title. After all, Victor Frankenstein certainly used a great deal of chemical knowledge in order to give his creature a better life (well, gave him life anyway).
So, thanks Janice!! Love ya! And you are welcome to come over for dinner any time 
jd Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
The numbers aren’t that bad. Besides you have your fans and groupies.
Love the banner! Janice, any chance of your making a menacing banner for me?
Janice Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
Joanie, I love your banner, but of course lol
http://www.searchroots.com/salt-banner.jpg
J
Janice Says:
May 30th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
TJ, Your drooling blog groupies adore you, and that is all that truly matters.
J
TJ Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 11:33 am
For the record,
(1) I don’t have any blog groupies (other than you and JD).
(2) I don’t think you are drooling.
Janice Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 11:35 am
::wipes chin and hopes no one sees:::
heh
J
TJ Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 12:46 pm
MC Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 1:51 pm
I like the new banner too. It reminds me of a book dust jacket from the 1950-60′s. Me likey.
Janice Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Here are a few more… snag any that you want.
http://www.searchroots.com/betterliving1.jpg
http://www.searchroots.com/betterliving2.jpg
http://www.searchroots.com/betterliving3.jpg
http://www.searchroots.com/betterliving-flag.jpg
J
TJ Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Janice, I love them! number 1 is my favorite, so i’ll but that up for now, but I like them all. I’ll be giving you some lovin’ on my blog. Thanks a bunch. You’re the best!
Janice Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Awww.. the banner was created from copyright free graphics… I now convey to you the complete rights to the banner… i.e., you post it, you own it
J
Janice Says:
May 31st, 2006 at 11:15 pm
My Personal Review of “Bloggy Award: Given To All The Best Blogs”
[link omitted purposefully]
This blog award site was constructed by IMAND, a so-called internet marketing and network development team, solely as their advertising arm, i.e. to draw clients. To be ruthlessly honest, the general public would be better served if they performed an immediate amputation.
Visual Aesthetics – 2
The blog’s predominantly bland white theme, complemented by its childlike graphics, is enough to make the viewer immediately flee to a more visually interesting blog. Any one will do.
User Friendliness – 1
The blog is obviously written by someone with a third grade vocabulary, and is therefore very friendly to that age group. For example, one of their business pages states, “Web copywriting is hard!” Actually ice is hard, and web copywriting may be difficult (or excrutiating if you actually pay these folks to write your articles).
Reading Enjoyment – 1
The author composes the critique in a manner that entirely lacks entertainment value, and the absence of photos highlights the poor writing style. The blog does not allow comments, which is probably a good thing, since the author insults every blog it reviews, and would otherwise be inundated with negative commentary. Typographical and grammatical errors abound. Commas, and other punctuation marks, are randomly omitted. Caution: do not read more than two or three archived reviews, or you will experience a genuinely creepy sensation that someone may have used a poorly-written creative writing software program to compose them.
Examples of poor commentary:
“A family man, he shares details about himself and his famly which altogether make going through his blog like visiting with friends, should read ‘family’ not ‘famly’; also it should read ‘makes,’ not ‘make,’ and ‘which altogether make going through his blog like visiting with friend,’ is an extremely awkward sentence, and could read, “visiting his blog makes you feel as if you are visiting with an old friend…” (which is one of the few accurate comments there).
And this is only the tip of the iceberg. The Titantic must be close by.
Useful info – 0
The author has no useful links within the blog in support of his posts. Most of the links are to reviewed web sites with the hope that they will reciprocate and, in turn, draw even more unsuspecting bloggers to submit their url for this entirely useless inspection. Other links present on the blog are to Google advertising, with the hope of some day actually making an income. Several people within their organization have already passed out while waiting and holding their breath.
Overall Experience – 2
Despite its juvenile appearance, and lack of any intrinsic value, this blog can be quite entertaining to grammar school English teachers, to use in their lesson plan, as an example of “what to avoid.” The blog author(s) should be hunted down and spanked.
J
TJ Says:
June 1st, 2006 at 7:02 am
Oooh, snap! Janice shows off her vicious side. Now this deserves its own separate post. . .
Janice Says:
June 1st, 2006 at 9:10 am
TJ
What vicious side? ::looks completely innocent:::
I know you laughed, mostly because every word is true.
After seeing what they wrote about you I just took a closer look at them. What I found was scary, so I felt compelled to share it . I submitted my own blog url to them, to see how they will review it. I’m hoping it will provide me with even more “ammunition.” If they think I’d even consider putting their ugly little advertising box on my web site, they are greatly mistaken
J