Apologies & housekeeping

I sincerely apologize for not being present for all of last week (though I must note some degree of irritation over the fact that, given the subject of previous posts, no one thought to check on me to see if I was all right or if I had been burnt to a crisp by wildfires) but due to the vicissitudes of weather -- both the wildfires churning out smoke and the lightning storms which are causing them -- I have been subject to crippling headaches. And not simple "My head hurts, I cannot brain" headaches, but far worse "Oh god what did I do to deserve this agony, I'm going to go lie down in a dark room with a cool compress over my head and try to lapse into unconsciousness" headaches.

Yesterday was the worst by far, as I woke up with (never a good start to the day) a pain that felt like a molten icepick was stabbing into my optic nerve and it lasted for, I kid you not, over twenty-four hours.  The only times I have hurt worse than this involved either physical injury or passage of kidney stones.

At any rate, I can hear the thunder rumbling outside again, so I will try to get this post finished before the onset of more pain. I'd like to begin a new series of blog posts this week but that will depend entirely upon how well I can concentrate.

Regarding the change in font size: Out of 28 participants, only 4 of you said you didn't like the new, improved legibility, with everyone else weighing in at positive to neutral, and zero votes for "I still can't read it." So the change in font & size will stay.

Regarding Disqus: Okay, I get that some of you don't like it. However, when asked, only one person expressed a seething hatred for it, and four respondents (20%) said they'd comment more if I ditched it. Compare and contrast that to the 55% who either liked it or had no problem with it, and the other 20% who said they didn't leave comments so it doesn't matter either way for them, and we have a clear winner.

Besides, I like the functionality Disqus gives me. I can reply directly to comments; I can edit my comments in case I make grammatical errors; and participants are notified via email when someone replies to their comments. This is a big deal for me, folks. I might have dropped it if there was overwhelming support for getting rid of Disqus, but there wasn't, so it's staying around. Also, it's ridiculously easy to sign up for a profile so that you can comment, so that really shouldn't stop anyone (I'm looking specifically at you, Barking Alien.)

Anyway. I'm doing better (at the moment) and I've removed the annoying poll results.If my head ever relents I've got a wacky idea for a week of posts that will either leave you laughing or screaming in terror. Perhaps both!

-- E to the P to the OIC