It’s the same old blog, but a brand-new platform. Oh, yeah, and a brand new look! While I’ll miss the old-fashioned, “historian” font style and look, I think this is going to be a great home for all my rants and raves.

All 270 previous posts have found their way here, so we’ll just pick up where we left off (if you’re new, have loads of time to kill, and enjoy reading til your eyes fall out, check the archives!). I’ve finally stopped procrastinating and added the DeafRead badge to my blog. The absence on my previous blog wasn’t a subtle comment; in fact, I’ve been supportive of DeafRead since day one, and actually, if you notice the new URL, I’m hosted over at DeafRead! So it’s just a matter now of my backing up my personal support with something more visible.

I’ve added and modified my blogroll. It’s kind of a boring word, “blogroll,” but I had lots more important things to worry about in reformatting everything than a simple label. These aren’t all the blogs I read, by any means, but they’re the ones I check daily and that are as frequently updated (or more!) as mine. There’s one or two exceptions in there, of course, and I may add a couple more soon.

I also now have everything labeled under “Categories”– it’s pretty self-explanatory when you look at the labels, with the exception of “Mr. Sandman.” Anything with that label is about me and my life– sometimes it may just be a few sentences within a post, but usually if it has this label, it’s what’s going on in my day-to-day existence.  “Art/Culture” is a catch-all label, and covers the arts, cultural events, and (mostly) museums. “Smirk,” of course, is the current occupier of the White House, and posts involving him usually go hand-in-hand with “Politics.”

That covers everything, I think. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or whatever, go ahead and leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you about this blog!

Before I go work on my next post, I’d like to thank Tayler Mayer of DeafRead/TaylerInfomedia for hosting this blog, and for his willingness to help with the technical issues involved in setting up at this new site. Thanks, dude.

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I’d also quickly like to re-post this, as a reminder for my old readers, and as a guideline for newer readers:

1) I know my identity is now an open secret, and it doesn’t bother me, but I’d still appreciate it if commenters would refrain from using my name in the comments box. One of the main reasons I’m using a pseudonym is because I’ve been looking for work on and off for some time. While I don’t particularly care if the Deaf-world knows who I am, I *do* care about prospective employers. The fewer people with the power to make my life joyous or miserable that know who I am, the better off I’ll be.

I don’t ban commenters, like certain bloggers do; I won’t edit the general gist of what you have to say, ever (unless you do something extraordinarily stupid and illegal, like make a death threat). But I will edit out my real name. Just so you know…

2) I’ve noticed here and elsewhere on tons of other blogs that people are posting e-mail addresses– often to allow the bloggist to contact them. While I have no problem with that here, I’m betting that just like me and everyone else, you don’t want spam. Spambots and scammers have been known to troll blogs, message boards, and even comments to harvest addresses. I suggest that if you’re going to post your own e-mail address, or someone else’s, that you write it like this: mrsandman(at)blogger(dot)com. Another option is: mrsandman@NOSPAMyahoo.com.

This ensures I (and others can contact you using your address, but it makes it harder for a machine to collect names and addresses, and inflate your inbox in various annoying ways.