We're in the Homestretch Now

November was such a tumultuous month that I'm glad we all get to sit back and enjoy the crazy holiday preparation season now. I can say that since I don't shop. Heh.

November was so intense with the election of not everybody's desired candidate, the recession-maybe-depression-maybe not economic fluctuations, the government bailout of the idiots that caused it saturating the national headlines so totally that things locally spiraled almost as much, which had an impact on the stories I covered for the newspaper. Talk about getting caught up in it all!

The things I wrote about here reflect that vortex of chaos, but you have to read between the lines and consider where my newspaper stories have led me to figure out the "why" behind what I wrote. Witnessing how adroitly politicians backstab is one of those that drove me to write about duality.

In an attempt to break away from it all, I took the opportunity to write about breaking a colt that hit three birds with one stone: a meme, another warning about the dangers of following TV cowboys, and a safe way to live through a colt's first ride.

I read quite a few blogs, as do you, so with my already lowered tolerance for chaos, I wrote about the common mistakes in English that I see way too often. I think it goes along with my sudden ... discomfort, shall we say ... about growing old. Time marches on, so no sense in kicking that particular dog yet.

I told you about a few great finds in new blogs. One is English Conversation Online, which I learned about right after writing about English mistakes. It's written by Mike over at My Thai Friend. Not only does Mike talk about the English language, but fills it out quite a bit by talking about the experiences that go along with learning a new language. He's opened my eyes a few times already. Another new blog I'd like to point out is my friend Karen's at The Princess's Carriage. She owns a horse and carriage company here in Arkansas, and is getting her feet wet with blogging. I'd say she's done a good job so far!

As a member of the All Arkie Army, we've nominated and elected our first two rounds of honorary captains. I'm pleased to say that the friends I nominated at pamibe and Functional Shmunctional both got badges pinned into their chests. They are nicely done badges designed by The Hawg himself, the leader of our little Army of bloggers. Congratulations again, Pam and Grandy, you've both earned the captainship because of your fantastic, top-notch blogs!

Thanks to the bloggers that dropped here 31 times this month: My Thai Friend, Symphony of Love, Technically Easy and Turnip of Power! You're the best of the best, and I read you every day! Turnip, thanks for your help this month. You're great!

Oh, one last thing. I finally found a Blogger template that I really like for eyebald and made the change two days ago. The theme is made by DJ Yano over at Online-Quest, a fellow Entrecarder. Hats off to you, DJ for the super fast response and help with the embedded contact form! I had tried other themes, had problems and the authors didn't bother to respond to distressed pleas for help. I'm no dummy when it comes to diving into the code behind the template, but the things I want to accomplish are sometimes beyond my HTML/CSS knowledge. When I learn XML, I'll be doing my own templates. Um, that won't be any time soon. Therefore, I recommend DJ highly for not only his great templates, but for his willingness to stand behind his work.

One more month and the year will be over. Time marches on. I suppose that means it's time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions. December always seems to fly by, so grab onto your hats with both hands!