After fixing up the site’s outstanding security issues over the last couple days, I spent some free time adding some flair and function to the site. Read on for whats new around here.The new “Theme Chooser” allows you to try out the various color schemes available in which to view the site. After setting all that up of course I realized I had more work to do! I needed to build logos for each theme to give the site a consistent feel and also, since these themes all come with the default install of Geeklog, to personalize the site for ME, since otherwise the logos would have just read “Geeklog” everywhere which would have confused everyone. This would have been really simple since in Photoshop using the layers feature you can pretty quickly crank out multitudes of pieces based on the same basics which all have their own unique flavour, however… The themes all seem to store the logo in different places and call them by different names, so it became a hassle to move the images to the right place and edit the right html headers to get it all working.

The other thing I added was a small block on the left side of the page called “local links” which provides quick access to some of the other pages I maintain. There was no easy way to get to these pages from the “blog”, so that makes it nicer.

I added an RSS feed from Wil Wheaton’s blog, so be sure to click through and read his leftist rants. Just when I think I can’t stomach his stuff anymore, he’ll whip off something so hilarious or coompelling that I keep going back. I recently sent him an email telling him he could probably relate to the plight of Steve of “Blue’s Clues” fame. If you don’t know what Blue’s Clues is, picture a 25 year old Mr Rogers. Well, the show’s official line is that Steve “went away to college”, but Cathy found him touring with the Flaming Lips and playing real venues too! Actually, he’s quite good (sort of a mix between Radio Head and They Might Be Giants) check his stuff out at http://steveswebpage.com I was sure that Wil (who played Wesley on Star Trek the next generation, could relate to being type cast into squeaky clean roles and having to find a new way in life.

I feel I have to explain the “in Nates world, he is the King” theme of the site before I get flamed. It comes from a long running joke that I have with Emily. At one time in the past I said to her that “I was king in this castle!” meaning the house, and she adamantly informed me that “there are no kings here” and that I am not a King, I’m a Dad! I decided that if I couldn’t be the King in my own house, I’d find another kingdom where I COULD rule. So this is my kingdom. That makes you my subjects, and since I “subject” you, the readers, to an unending stream of mindless dribble, I suppose the title fits. If any of you wish to rise above the peasany status and take on the mantle of story administration here, I will certainly grant you such (if you are worthy!)

If that doesn’t put you off, remember that all members of the site are welcome and encouraged to post stories to the site whenever they feel like it. The only thing to remember is that a story that is submitted is not automatically posted, but needs to be approved by me (this is the way the software works) so you may not see it appear on the site right away. I will try to do better than Todd’s last post which took over a month to get approved! I just plain missed it.

If you would like to become an administrator of a certain topic and moderate posts on that topic yourself, it can be arranged. Let me know you’re interested!

Plugins currently being evaluated for possible integration here include a random “fontune” or “quote” generator based on my list of favorite quotes and a chat box to allow users on the blog to chat to one another when they are on the site at the same time.