Free trip to Indonesia! If you are a travel blogger check this out. Pesta Blogger 2008

The Indonesian government will invite five foreign bloggers on a round trip to Yogyakarta and Bali as part of the Pesta Blogger 2008. The bloggers are from the United States, China/Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and Malaysia. The blogging trip is a novel activity for the Pesta Blogger, the largest national-scale bloggers’ gathering in Indonesia. The five bloggers would start their trip in Bali on November 17 before going to Yogyakarta and Jakarta. The U.S. Embassy is also one of theRead more

Feedback on blog design? Text? Header?

Ok, now is your chance to criticize the design I implemented last night. If you’re wondering why things are so dark around here, I A) wanted a change, and B) thought black would help to better set off the photos compared with the white I’ve used for years. How do you find the overall look? Is text easy to read? How about the header (was just playing around). Do you prefer the rotating header with photos that I’ve used inRead more

Google Adsense: Taking the plunge

Since starting this site in 2002, I have never used any sort of advertising, no Amazon referrals, never accepted payment for promoting content, locations, or products of any kind, and have never used text links related to serving myself in any way. Being 2008, I’ve decided to ease into a bit of advertising, utilizing Google Adsense first. I find them to be relatively unobtrusive and quite relevant to the topics I discuss: photography, travel, Indonesia, Bali, technology, blogging. I haveRead more

Blog changes: awesome archive tool and "asides" are back

I spent some time updating to the latest version of WordPress today, and while I was at it, upgraded to the newest version of K2 – the theme this blog uses. I was impressed with the changes. Check out that tool at the top – the “older” link. Click that baby. Check out that slider action? Sweet huh? Also, the “asides” are back. I lost that function after upgrading in October. What are Asides? They’re kind of mini-posts. When IRead more

Five year blog anniversary

Unbelievably, this blog just turned 5. I truly cannot believe I’ve kept it going this long. It’s been through many iterations both in regards to style and content. It began as a way to keep in touch with family and friends, basically an avenue to avoid mass emailing. It morphed into a place for venting frustrations of an expat living in Jakarta, random ramblings, and finally more as a photoblog with less frequent writing. I’ve never tried to play theRead more