As you probably know, I love tinkering with this site and adding new features that you might find interesting. I am thrilled to announce a major new addition: status updates! Some programmers figured out a way to pull Facebook status updates into a WordPress blog. I usually update my Facebook status at least once a day, sometimes several, to tell my Facebook friends and family what’s on my mind or what I’m doing. Until now, I’ve had to maintain two separate worlds: my Facebook one, which is updated constantly, and my AndyBox.com blog posts, which occur a few times a week. Now the two have merged. Those of you who don’t have Facebook can still see my current status updates in the sidebar even when I’m not blogging. I hope you enjoy this as much as I will.
Category Archives: Site News
Newbie
New Features – Like/Dislike, Share, and Weather
One of my favorite features of Facebook is the “Like” button. As the name implies, it lets your friends tell you that they like something you posted without having to dream up a witty comment. I found something even better for AB.com – the new Like and Dislike buttons below each post. Please use them as you see fit. I just have one request: Mom, please don’t “Like” every single post just because you’re my mom and think I’m great. =) If you like a post, tell me! If you disagree with something, speak up! I have NO way to know who is voting, so you can be completely honest. I look forward to seeing how the votes come in.
You’ve probably also seen Web articles that let you email a link to a friend or post the page to Facebook, Digg, or similar sites. I added this feature as well. So if you REALLY like one of my posts and think others might want to read it, now you can pass it on.
Finally, I added a widget (seriously, that’s what the items in the right sidebar are called) for the local weather in Euless. Since many of you are in the DFW area, I thought it might be helpful. I’m still experimenting with it, so please share any thoughts you have. You can click the link to go to Weather.com for more info on Euless.
Enjoy!
Home Weather Stations
As a dispatcher, I’m almost required to be somewhat of a weather geek. I just posted a new weather page that shares some of my thoughts on weather and a few interesting links.
Lately I’ve been doing research on home weather stations. “Weather station” is a broad term that could cover anything from an outdoor thermometer to a $5000 professional-quality set of sensors that feeds data to the National Weather Service. I have one made by Oregon Scientific that reports indoor/outdoor temp and humidity, air pressure, and atomic time, which it picks up via radio signal. I LOVE it except that some evil person stole my wireless temp/humidity sensor. It also tries to forecast the weather, but since it only knows the data it can sense, the forecasts are usually wrong. =)
I looked into upgrading to a station that measures winds and rainfall and beams the data into my house. Then I realized two things: 1) at our house, the best place to install an anemometer (wind gauge) is 6-10 feet above the roof ridge, and 2) even then, with all the trees we have in the area, the wind data wouldn’t be that accurate. So now I’m looking into another type of station that picks up a REAL forecast and current conditions via radio or the internet and organizes them in a convenient display on your desk or countertop.
In case you want to geek out on weather with me, WeatherBuffs and WeatherShack are both good sites that specialize in these products and include some information to help you decide.
The Big 4-0-0
Wow, my last post was number 400! Thanks for sticking with my blog for so long. 400 sounds like a really big number. If you’re talking about TV shows, very few of the weekly sitcoms or dramas ever reach the 400 episode mark. American Idol just hit 300 episodes, and they typically run 2 episodes a week. Will I make it to 500 someday? I’ll do my best. Stay tuned!
Sex Ed Poll
I thought that might get your attention! Our home group is going through Tommy Nelson’s Song of Solomon series. This week’s lesson is on physical intimacy, so we got to talking about how we learned about sex growing up. Naturally, I thought it might make an interesting poll for my readers, so vote away! All responses are anonymous, as always.