Construction Time Again

Day two of "Operation Change My Blog Template" has commenced.

Will today be the day I manage to finally build the blog template I want? Can I make XML bend to my will or will it defeat me?

Stay tuned for the epic battle of:

Girl With Outrageously Expensive Graduate Degree
From Ivy League Institution

-versus-

The Extensible Markup Language Death Squad

Clearly I need to call in some reinforcements to deal with that pesky death squad.

Barack Obama is in town so maybe I can ring up his people and see if he has a second to come over and tell me why my widgets won't work on my template. I mean, Barack does want my vote, right?

If he tells me, "No, I have no time for you! I'm getting ready for a debate tonight and besides, I only have time for celebs like George Clooney and Scarlett Johannsen," guess what? I might have to ring up...

Hmm... Thinking. Thinking...

Who else can I call? John Edwards dropped out so I can't call him. That's a shame too since we are a union household and the mailbox has been stuffed with mailers supporting him. He would've felt obligated to come over and help me.

Racking my brain here! Britney Spears is unavailable since she got, uh, put on psychiatric hold this morning. Can't believe the police were referring to her as "The Package"! Unreal!

But yeah, "The Package" is over in the psych ward at UCLA and besides I'm not really sure if she even knows what XML is. She might think it's some sort of cute new form of illegal substance and we said no to drugs back in the days of Nancy Reagan.

I know! I'll call up Depeche Mode and ask them to come over!

Those boys are geniuses! They know how to operate synthesizers and make music on a Mac so clearly they must know about XML! Besides, their third album is called "Construction Time Again" so that has to be a good sign.

I know, I have issues...and I needed a little excuse to talk about Depeche Mode today. In case you didn't know, I'm obsessed. And I need to make myself laugh because I had a pity party last night where I found myself thinking, "How many degrees do I have and I can't fix a stupid blog template!"

But now I'm over it. Sorry to be making changes to the template during the daytime when you are trying to read this, but I fell asleep last night before I could change anything else.

Now let me go don my blog template battle gear!

Comments

1969 said…
Liz...good luck. Wish I could help you. The new template is nice though. :)
Jameil said…
i have accepted that html and xml (never even heard of it until you brought it up) are not my fortes and THAT'S OK!! i'm good at other things and so are you. give DM a ring! lol.
Liz Dwyer said…
1969,
Yeah, I'm starting to think maybe I'll just leave this one alone as is. But I'm so stubborn!

Jameil,
I might have to accept that as well! AAGH! One more day of trying though and if it doesn't work out, I am done with it!
I would almost suspect you of getting yourself into this perilous position just so you would have an excuse to call Depeche Mode to the rescue.

But of course, I know you wouldn't do that. I do. I know it.

You wouldn't, would you?
Malik Akbar said…
I feel your pain. One thing that helped me when I was troubleshooting my blog was maintaining a change log. I reinstalled everything from scratch, added each script one at a time, enabled each plugin one at a time, and meticulously annotated everything. That was how I eventually isolated the problem that was causing my entire template to malfunction: a pair of unenclosed tags. Of course.
storyteller said…
Such boldness! I'm impressed and hope you figure things out. I'd love to make some changes on my blogs, but just don't know enough to even begin at this point. Perhaps I'll use you as a resource down the line?

I stopped by to let you know I left you something at Small Reflections on January 29th because I find your blog to be a treasure and wanted to let others know about it while expressing my appreciation.
Hugs and blessings,
Ingrid said…
liz,

from one depeche mode fan to another: never be ashamed of a shameless plug;-p
Tami said…
I've been watching the ongoing saga of your blog template facelift. You are so much braver than I!

I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and passed one of those manuals on coding. For a moment I was tempted. Visions of finally having a three-column blog danced in my head. I dreamed about finally understanding why quoted material in my blog always breaks funny.Then...I chickened out.

It looks good!
Anonymous said…
I never remember how I actually get the tough stuff done, since I first try logical and systematic steps. Then I get pissed and randomly start hitting shit and ...ta-dum - things are in order. Wishing you luck!
Liz Dwyer said…
Heart,
Oh, I'd never do that. Never ever.

Malik,
That's what I need to do... even with this template I have the cloud tag and the post date and title floating up in the header.

Storyteller,
It was definitely a leap of faith to change templates. Like losing a security blanket that's just overstayed it's welcome. But, I didn't build this template. I got frustrated with the one I was trying to make and in the midst of searching for help, I came across a site called BlogU that had this template -- which is so different from what I've had in the past -- but I really like it. And you're so nice to leave something for me there. I appreciate it!

Ingrid,
Ha ha! And love the Facebook dedication song. That one's in my top 10 DM songs.

Tami,
Thanks! I need one of those manuals myself! I'd like to be able to do more than I currently do! But on the other hand, it's been so time consuming, I now know why people hire folks to do this!
Liz Dwyer said…
Jali,
LOL! I've tried to refrain from losing it over this but I tend to just get bummed out and mope a bit!
Jen said…
It's looking like most of the pieces are in place. I was thinking I probably need to break up with blogger and go the wordpress route, but your posts are just one of the many reasons I'm shaking in my shoes.

I hope it all goes perfectly!
Anonymous said…
This hurts...its backwards...oh my goodness I thought I was flexible..but this is hurting my eyes...my brain...it needs to be flip flopped...what happend to the butterfly...I liked butterfly!
Anonymous said…
This hurts...its backwards...oh my goodness I thought I was flexible..but this is hurting my eyes...my brain...it needs to be flip flopped...what happend to the butterfly...I liked butterfly!
Liz Dwyer said…
Jen,
I've thought about breaking up with blogger too, but I think I might have to get someone to hold my hand for moral support if I go that route. Plus, for most stuff I want to do, blogger works alright.

Gyamfua,
I liked butterfly too but butterfly was just jacked up. It wasn't working the way I'd wanted it too and I'd spent TWO days on it. I couldn't take it anymore. I'm a writer not a tech person. I just had to suck it up and admit I didn't have the skill. I could get it to work in my test blog, but not here. Bummer.
Keith said…
I want to make changes to mine too but every time I get started I realize that "code" is not a language I speak. And I don't have the $ for a translator. I like what you have up now if that's of any consolation.
Liz Dwyer said…
Keith,
I really like this look as well. It feels fresh to me. I came across a couple of folks who seem like they do this more for the enjoyment than anything and might only charge $50-70. I think down the road I might investigate that a bit.

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