Sunday, November 27, 2016

Rocks in the River



Just go with the flow is a popular saying that sure sounds good if there is nothing other than water to contend with, but what about the rocks in the river?  Some particular jagged ones I have smashed into while trying to go with the flow of managing [SiteHoundSniffs.com] has been technology and people.  Yeah, that pretty much sums up the whole deal with the new site directory, which has left me grimacing in agony more than once since the beginning of this ordeal dream.

In regards to technology, adding new sites in alphanumeric order has been a serious pain because of having to do it manually because of not knowing the code so that it can be done automatically from the database.  What made it especially painful was having the displayed headers mixed in with the text links.  Now, I can sort the lists with MS Word during the processing, but I have not found an app that will do this on WordPress.  To make it somewhat easier on me, I have moved all of the displayed headers to the top, with the text links underneath in each category and country.  When it comes time to add new sites, I will delete the old text links and replace them with the updated listings.  When someone allows their header to be displayed, it will be added in alphanumeric order at the top and their text link is deleted.

What I continue to be beat up by the most is people—especially those who just do not get the simple concept of replying to their comments on their sites.  Maybe it is just me not getting their logic behind returning comments everywhere but right there under where a comment was left, but it is a genuine pain trying to figure out what site is theirs when they give permission without letting me know where it is coming from.  I have even had 5-6, who answered my comment on someone else’s post on my Google+ page!  You see, Google+ works a lot like Facebook, in that when you leave a Google+ comment somewhere else, it will show up on your own page.  Then when someone leaves a comment for you on that thread, their comment also shows up in the comments on the original post (as if they were leaving a comment for that person).  Hopefully, having this post at the top of my Google+ page and not leaving anymore Google+ comments elsewhere will solve that problem.

I really need to get rid of Google+ altogether, but it has shown some potential.  When I checked how many had visited my Google+ page a year and a half ago, the number was just short of 2 million, which is double how many have visited here over the years.  In all fairness, I cannot attest to just how accurate that headcount may have been.  For a year before, the number was over 6 and a half million.  I have no idea what the count is now.  For that statistic is no longer available.  The biggest reason I am sticking with having a Google+ profile is that I am afraid of going back to just a Google profile will mess up access to my Google stuff.  For my old Google profile has been evidently deleted, and the thought of making a new one has me spooked.  After all, all it would take is a half-microsecond glitch in the data stream to have me locked out in the cold with no way to claim my Google account.

Okay, I will continue to just go with the flow.  I suppose I have no other choice.  By the way, have I failed to mention that I have an aversion to drowning?

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Thursday, October 20, 2016

SiteHoundSniffs' Revenue-Sharing Program


I have always taken rejection rather personally, and it especially hurts when being rejected by those who know me.  For almost everyone included in the first round of listings on [SiteHoundSniffs.com] were included in one of the editions of the Sites To See series we had on here over the years.  Yet, only around 10% of those contacted so far have given permission to have their headers displayed on SiteHoundSniffs, and a few of those who did give permission did not know me from before.  No, there was no actual relationship established with most.  In fact, most never even acknowledged being included in a Sites To See edition, but it should have been proven in their mind that I am not trying to run any sort of spam-scam.

What am missing?  For I do not know how having your header displayed on SiteHoundSniffs could cause you any harm.  If anything, it should be of at least some benefit.  For a linked 300 x 150 (pixels) image certainly stands out over just an 18-point text link.

Sure, we are benefiting, too.  For the displayed headers enhance the experience for those stopping by to look for something of interest, but the links are of the greatest value, which are provided out of the juicy goodness of our little ‘ol pea-pickin’ hearts.

Okay, I do have an ulterior motive, but it is as pure as the freshly-fallen snow.  For I hope SiteHoundSniffs will generate enough revenue from outside advertising to make me a contributing member of society again and off of the welfare rolls.  If I could work enough for someone to pay me, I would do about anything, but I have not been able to for over 15 years now.  So, the 2-3 hours (on good days) that I can sit in front of this desktop and do what I do has to do.

Furthermore, I plan on sharing 90% of the advertising revenue with those gracious enough to let us display their header.  Of course, there will not be any advertising revenue to share unless the site has enough traffic.  So, if you could say something (preferable good) about SiteHoundSniffs here and there, it would be good for both yourself and us on this side of the screen.  Besides, if Grayson does not get enough treats…

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Monday, October 10, 2016

SiteHoundSniffs.com has Launced!!!


After a year and a half of setbacks, the new site directory is finally up and open for business.  Well, not exactly.  For any business to be conducted will have to wait until enough traffic comes by.  Until then, everything [SiteHoundSniffs.com] has to offer is completely free of charge, and after enough traffic starts coming by to attract advertisers, I hope to institute a revenue-sharing program.  Needless to say, I need your help with drawing attention to the site before there can any money to spread around.

To be completely honest about it, I am not real happy with the way the site looks so far.  One of the things I have learned is that WordPress will not accept any fancy text formatting that can be done with MS Word.  So, aside from wasting a ton of time upon MS Word formatting, I have had to settle for working with just the Arial font.  There is a plugin to allow for the use of Google Fonts, but it will not work with the current version of WordPress.  I suppose the same situation applies to first copying text to a Google Doc, which will accept a great deal of MS Word formatting, and then pasting it into the WrodPress text editor, which is supposed to work according to last year’s [Tessaract Theme/WordPress tutorial] by Tyler Moore.

Alas, I have made too many mistakes to get into.  At least I think I know a little more about what I am doing, but that has meant that the next disaster just has not happened yet.

The next step is to ask the 1,767, who have not yet given permission to display their header, for permission to do so.  I will then start adding sites.  The original plan was to launch with at least 5,000 sites listed, but when I discovered a better way to process them and had to start almost completely over, the first round was cut-down to 1,785 from 78 countries.  Learning the country of origin for sites has been really interesting to me, and I hope it will be for you, as well.

In regards to our physical health issues, Arlynda has not fallen since the last time almost two months ago, and she has regained almost full use of her right arm.  Her primary care physician moved to St. Louis, and we are now having a hard time finding her another to write the dozen (or so) prescriptions she has for her non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver and other things.  Her specialists will not do it.  My primary care doctor also moved out of town, but I have an appointment to see his replacement next month.  My high blood pressure and other “stuff” is being well-controlled by the medications I am currently taking.  So, I am hoping that he will not be hard to deal with.  There appears to still be no treatment for my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome condition.

Please let me know what you think about [SiteHoundSniffs.com].  Hey,  Grayson will probably most definitely agree with you if you think it is not all that.  Sigh.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Lost on a Dirt Road

A couple of weeks after announcing that the new site directory was basically ready to launch a couple of months ago, I had one of my epic dreams.  I consider them to be epic because of how realistic they seem to be and how very clear memories of the dream stay with me for days.  This one involved being on the truck and heading across the country with a load of produce bound for Brooklyn, NY.  The dream started with me being behind the wheel and noticing that I was now driving on a dirt road somewhere in western Pennsylvania—not I-80.  Even though the dirt road was firm and smooth, I panicked.  For I did not know exactly where I was, nor if there were any bridges insufficient to hold my weight just around the bend.  Oh no, there was no place to just turn around and go back to where I had got off of the interstate.  My panic grew and grew each time I stopped in a small town (without any side-streets, nor intersecting roads) to ask just where I was and how to get back to the interstate because the only answers I received were that I was where I was at and that they had never heard of an interstate highway, nor where I might be on my map.  Furthermore, I was running low on fuel and only had $100 in cash to buy diesel since no one in the towns I stopped in had ever heard of a fuel charge card—let alone accept the one I had.  The dream ended without me making it out of the nightmare alive and left me with a very uneasy feeling about heading in the wrong direction with the development of the new site directory.

While finding more and more mistakes I had made in the processing of the information the new site directory will provide, I swallowed hard and played with a new process, which would involve starting almost completely all over.  Thankfully, it is a much better way, and I was amazed at how much faster the processing was going.  In fact, I was even planning on launching a scaled-down version of the new directory on the anniversary of the beginning of my nightmarish hospital stay last year on September 4th.

On July 19th, Arlynda was out with her mother and fell hard on her rear on the sidewalk to an auto parts store.  This was the first of four times she has fallen since.  I will forego including anymore details, but work on the new site directory has come to an almost complete halt because of me spending my available energy upon doing what I can for Arlynda.  Be assured that I really miss visiting your sites, and I hope you-all have been doing at least relatively well.  I still have hope that things will at least get back to normal for us, but I have no idea when that might be.

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Sunday, June 26, 2016

Independence Day

Wow, it has been over a month since my last posting.  I have been keeping as busy as I can on the new site directory, and it is basically ready to launch.  I just need to work on a couple of things that might make things go more smoothly later on.

Alas, with me not really knowing what I am doing, I am quite sure I am doing everything the hard way.  A lot of that has to do with my eyesight still being fairly poor, which keeps me from learning the codes that could automate much of what I am (and will be) doing manually.

No, I did not get the cataract surgery on my eyes.  The plan was for the doctor who has been treating me with the Avastin shots to pass me along to another doctor (over him in the clinic) for the cataract surgery as soon as the excess fluid in the back of my eyes was gone.  The excess fluid has been gone since last March, but I was informed that my cataracts were not bad enough to warrant surgery at this time, which has left me not being able to read anything that is not at least in a 20-point emboldened font.  There is not a doubt in my mind that the real reason why I could not have the cataract surgery is because I am on Medicaid.

The huge irony of it all is that I could get off of Medicaid and become a contributing member of society again if things go well with the new site directory.  So, I am looking forward to the launching of the new directory in a couple of weeks as being an independence day for me and Arlynda in that regard, as well.

Herein lies one of the things I hope will make the new directory stand out.  For if you do a regular search (Google or some other) on Independence Day while looking for some information on the new movie by the name or maybe the American holiday, this article will show up—even though it has nothing to do with either.  The reason why is because computer algorithms are set to find the name, which may have nothing to do with the content while every site on the new directory is actually checked to see what they are all about and placed in appropriate categories.  Of course, my poor eyesight sure factors in, and changes will be made when they are needed.

Our Heavenly Father has sure given me some hard lessons to learn.  For I was raised to believe that He only helped those who helped themselves and that anyone down in the gutter (so to speak) had placed themselves there and was getting what they deserved.  I now know that He helps me the most when I am helpless to help myself (even before I beg for it) and that one can find themselves severely down and out despite how hard they tried to do things right.

Oh yeah, I have done plenty wrong, but it sure seemed right at the time.  I hope the new directory is not another one.

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Thursday, June 2, 2016

ATF: Honorable Mentions

This series will include as many of my all-time favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way your musical tastes could be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make.  For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.

Link: [Dion]


Abraham, Martin and John
Dion
Has anybody here
Seen y old friend Abraham
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young
You know
I just looked around
And he's gone

Anybody here
Seen my old friend John
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young
I just looked around
And he's gone

Anybody here
Seen my old friend Martin
Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good they die young
I just looked around
And he's gone

Didn't you love
The things that they stood for
Didn't they try
To find some good
For you and me
And we'll be free
Someday soon
And it's a-gonna be one day

Anybody here
Seen my old friend Bobby
Can you tell me where he's gone
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin and John



Nightshift
The Commodores
Marvin
Marvin
Marvin
Marvin
He was a friend of mine
And he could sing a song
His heart in every line
Marvin
Marvin
Marvin
Sang of the joy and pain
He opened up our minds
And I still can hear him say
Ah talk to me
So you can see
What's goin' on
Say you will
Sing your songs
Forevermore
Ever more
Ever more

Gonna be some sweet sounds
Comin' down
On the nightshiff
I bet you're singin' proud
Oh I bet you pull a crowd
Gonna be a long night
it's gonna be alright
On the nightshiff
You found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshift
Oh
You found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshiff

Jackie
Jackie
Jackie
Hey what you're doin' now
It seems like yesterday
When we were workin' out
Jackie
Jackie
Oh
Oh
You set the world on fire
Fire
Fire
You came and gifted us
Your love
It lifted us
Higher and higher
Keep it up
And we'll be there at your side
Say you will
Sing your songs
Forevermore
Ever more
Ever more

Gonna be some sweet sounds
Comin' down
On the nightshiff
I bet you're singin' proud
Oh I bet you pull a crowd
Gonna be a long night
it's gonna be alright
On the nightshiff
You found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshift
You found another home
Gonna be some sweet sounds
Comin' down
On the nightshiff
I bet you're singin' proud
Oh I bet you pull a crowd
Gonna be a long night
it's gonna be alright
On the nightshiff
You found another home
I know you're not alone
On the nightshift
You found another home…

Lyrics From: [eLyrics.net]

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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

ATF: Legends

This series will include as many of my all-time favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way your musical tastes could be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make.  For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.



Don Quixote
Gordon Lightfoot
Through the woodland
Through the valley
Comes a horseman
Wild and free
Tilting at the windmills passing
Who can the brave young horseman be
He is wild
But he is mellow
He is strong
But he is weak
He is cruel
But he is gentle
He is wise
But he is meek

Reaching for his saddlebag
He takes a battered book into his hand
Standing like a prophet bold
He shouts across the ocean to the shore
;Til he can shout no more

I have come over moor and mountain
Like the hawk upon the wing
I was once a shining knight
Who was the guardian of a king
I have searched the whole world over
Looking for a place to sleep
I have seen the strong survive
And I have seen the lean grown weak

See the children of the earth
Who wake to find the table bare
See the gentry in the country
Riding off to take the air

Reaching for his saddlebag
He takes a rusty sword into his hand
Then striking up a knightly pose
He shouts across the ocean to the shore
‘Til he can shout no more

See the jailor with his key
Who locks away all trace of sin
See the judge upon the bench
Who tries the case as best he can
See the wise and wicked ones
Who feed upon life's sacred fire
See the soldier with his gun
Who must be dead to be admired

See the man who tips the needle
See the man who buys and sells
See the man who puts the collar
On the ones who dare not tell
See the drunkard in the tavern
Stemming gold to make ends meet
See the youth in ghetto black
Condemned to life upon the street

Reaching for his saddlebag
He takes a tarnished cross into his hand
Standing like a preacher now
He shouts across the ocean to the shore
Then in a blaze of tangled hooves
He gallops off across the dusty plain
In vain to search again
Where no one will hear

Through the woodland
Through the valley
Comes a horseman
Wild and free
Tilting at the windmills passing
Who can the brave young horseman be
He is wild
But he is mellow
He is strong
But he is weak
He is cruel
But he is gentle
He is wise
But he is meek



Vincent
Don McLean
Starry starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen
They did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen
They did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left inside
On that starry starry night
You took your life as lovers often do
But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you

Starry starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen
They're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Lyrics From: [eLyrics.net]

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Thursday, May 26, 2016

ATF: Fading Memories

This series will include as many of my all-time favorite (ATF) tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way your musical tastes could be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions you might dare to make.  For I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.



Y’all Come Back Saloon
The Oak Ridge Boys
She played
Tambourine
With a
Silver jingle
And she must have known the words
To at least a million tunes
But the one most requested
By the man she knew as Cowboy
Was the late night benediction
At the Y'all Come Back Saloon

In a voice soft and trembling
She'd sing her song to cowboy
As a smoky halo circled ‘round
Her raven hair
And all the fallen angels
And pinball playing rounders
Stopped the games that they'd been playing
For the losers evening prayer

Faded love
And faded memories
How they linger
In her mind
Miles and years played the cowboy
Like an old melody
Out of tune
And out of time

Every night in the shadows
Thinking back on Amarillo
He'd dream of better days
And ask for faded love
Lifting high his glass in honor
Of the lady and her song
He paid his check
Then lonely walked
That broken cowboy home

She played
Tambourine
With a
Silver jingle
And she must have known the words
To at least a million tunes
But the one most requested
By the man she knew as Cowboy
Was the late night benediction
At the Y'all Come Back Saloon
She played
Tambourine
With a
Silver jingle
And she must have known the words
To at least a million tunes
But the one most requested
By the man she knew as Cowboy
Was the late night benediction
At the Y'all Come Back Saloon
She played
Tambourine
With a
Silver jingle
And she must have known the words
To at least a million tunes
But the one most requested
By the man she knew as Cowboy
Was the late night benediction
At the Y'all Come Back Saloon
ut the one most requested
By the man she knew as Cowboy
Was the late night benediction at the
Y'all Come Back Saloon



1979
The Smashing Pumpkins
Shakedown 1979
Cool kids never have the time
On a live wire right up off the street
You and I
Should meet
Junebug skipping like a stone
With the headlights pointed at the dawn
We were sure we'd never see an end
To it all

And I don't even care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust
I guess
Forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below

Double cross the vacant and the bored
They're not sure just what we have in store
Morphine city slippin dues
Down to see
That we don't even care
As restless as we are
We feel
The pull
In the land of a thousand guilts
And poured cement
Lamented
And assured
To the lights
And towns below
Faster than
The speed of sound
Faster than
We thought we'd go
Beneath the sound
Of hope

Justine never knew the rules
Hung down
With the freaks and ghouls
No apologies ever need be made
I know you better than you fake it

To see
That we don't even care
To shake these zipper blues
And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust
I guess
Forgotten and absorbed
Into the earth below
The street heats
The urgency of now
As you see
There's no one around

Lyrics From: [eLyrics.net]

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