My big problem with blogger, or at least one of them

When I started blogging, it was on a Wordpress blog.

For the Patriot blog I reported news and made commentary on campus and local events. There were a few other blogs that focused on campus happenings and reported on them as news. In this environment who reports on something first and breaks new information on a story is important. If something crazy was happening with the AUSC or there was an event on Sproul, the first blog to report on it set the story. Other blogs could still talk about something, but it was after the story had been broken and unless they had something exciting and unique it was simply a rehash of old news, often with a hyperlink to the original post.

This is where timestamps are important. In Wordpress, the default timestamp is when the post is published. In Blogger it is when the post is first started, even if it is a draft for hours or days before being published. There were times when I would write a post full of news, commentary, and pictures about something. Before I published it, I would look around to see if any other place had reported on the story. I then published the post knowing I was the first to tell the world about it.

A few minutes later, I would see a post on Beetlebeat. It would report the exact same story as I did, but the timestamp would be 10 or 15 minutes before mine, even though it was published after my post.

I know timestamps can be easily changed to anything. However, the default method on Blogger is misleading.

This time difference might seem petty, but it is important to people who make a point of writing news posts. It is also fun to see how an individual can post a story before an entire news organization with dozens of people can put something together.

As an example of how the timestamp can be off, after I publish this post I will publish a post about my trip to Berkeley (using the default timestamp both times). The Berkeley post is being published around 3:35 AM on the 29th, but the post will indicate it was published a week ago.

Trip to Berkeley

This past weekend I went up to Berkeley to see Fr. Charlie before he leaves for his new assignment as pastor in Tennessee. It was fun to see people and catch up with how many everyone is doing. On the trip up I took the 152 to the 101 and saw Rohit and Shauna before taking the San Mateo/Dunbarton bridge east over the bay. There was a campus hike to welcome Fr. Bill where he met many great student leaders who just graduated and were alumni, but few who would be around in the fall. I was excited my Cal1 card still had money on it and I got a Coke from a machine in Evans. I used a coupon for a free slice of extreme pizza I received at Caltopia either Junior or Senior year.

I do not want to recount the complete list of a couple of dozen people I saw, but seeing the people was great and wonderful. My Associate just happened to be at Moe's when I called him on Saturday so I saw him and Linda easily.

On Sunday I made a wacky cake for the student dinner, because it is lactose free. Fr. Charlie and everyone liked it, even if I almost put it in the oven minus the flour.

I am looking at the post so far and I am unsatisfied. I have given an outline of what I have done but I feel I am missing something. Maybe it is distilling an entire weekend, 860 miles of driving, and all the people I saw into a few words.

A day at the Orange County Fair

Before I get to the fair from yesterday, a comment on Tuesday. I saw the movie Drag Me To Hell with Larry, Peter, and Eric. It was at the dollar (actually $3 per ticket) theater. I do not watch too many horror movies, but I liked the atmosphere and things jumping out of nowhere aspect of the movie. Some of the parts were overdone and ended up being funny instead of scary.

Now the main topic. Through the MS Society my Mom obtained tickets and parking for the OC Fair for yesterday. We got stickers that identified us as Friends of the Fair. We were able to enter the fair a few hours before the general public and could ride the kid rides for free until noon. If I had paid for some of those rides, I would have felt robbed. For example, there was a pirates themed ride. People sat in small roller coaster cars and slowly drove through a winding track in the dark. There were three displays that were visible, all of them skeletons or parts of them with pirate accessories like hats. This costs 4-5 or more tickets.

I should get into the traveling ride business. All I have to do is charge a couple of dollars so people can ride a car in the dark with a few scattered decorations bought on clearance from a Halloween store on November 1st. I went on the ride Re-Mix II which was directly across from the Ferris wheel. For a mobile ride at a fair, it was pretty good.

One of the great attractions from the fair is the food. They have deep fried foods that cannot be found elsewhere. The deep fried Twinkie was unexciting. There was very little effect from the oil on the Twinkie. I also had a zucchini winnie, which is a corn dog where the hot dog is inside a zucchini.

My favorite was the deep fired smoore. The chocolate covered bacon was great as well. It was served straight out of the freezer. I have material to make funnel cake at home, so I did not try any of them.

Return from New York

I got back from New York today. I can't say it was a vacation, I did more work there then I do at home. Dealing with my grandparents can be difficult, but I do not want to dwell on the negatives. Working with my Dad, I fixed an outside flood light, painted an enclosed porch, and did several little things around the house for Grandma.

I disconnected my Grandma's old rotary phone on Sunday the 5th. My earliest memories of going to visit Grandma C in Buffalo are like taking a trip back in time. The refrigerator, freezer, oven, appliances, decorations, even the glass bottles of pop in the fridge are straight out of the 50s or 60s. Going back to even another memory, the first time I went to Disneyland (summer of 95 I believe) I went on the Wheel of Progress in Tomorrowland. It was a circular building with seats facing the center stage. After the automated show giving a glimpse of what life was like in a certain time for a family in America was finished, the seating area would turn maybe a fifth of a turn and see a different setup at the center that showed an era more advanced. When I went to my Grandma's house, it was as if I had stepped onto one of those stages.

On a more immediate to the present topic, I finished my personal statement for UCLA on Thursday and mailed it in Buffalo. I waited until the last minute to finish it and had to print it out at Aunt Addy's house.

During the trip to New York (4 - 13) I read H.G. Well's The First Men in the Moon. I liked it, as I have enjoyed all of H.G. Well's books I have read so far. The introduction gave me a few ideas on other books of his to check out, including When the Sleeper Wakes.

While I was gone, I received a letter from Derek. We are practicing the art of letter writing and keeping old fashioned things in style. I was very excited when I had the chance to line dry some clothes at my Grandma's house. I should mention, Derek is by no means the only person who I am corresponding with via the post.