November 18, 2007

Oh Crud

Well, for some reason, MT-blacklist has just completely stopped working, so I can't keep up with the deluge of spam comments that has been hitting the site. I don't know if I got hacked or what, because I can't even access the blacklist configuration panel. Will work on the problem as soon as I get a chance...

Posted by mwashburn at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2007

Sorry it's so Slow

We're entering the busy season 'round here, with holiday-type obligations and work obligations heating up already. So I apologize for the lack of posts the last week. I'll get back on it soon, I promise. We are actually hard at work setting up the new, improved Lilybug site at the moment too. It just got to be too much of a pain in the ass to do all the photo editing and page re-writing to update the site I designed, so we're switching to a blog format with date-based photo archives, and hope to have it operational soon. Will keep everyone posted. It will be password-protected like the old site, so we'll send an email to everyone who was on the former lilybug list about that as well. If you're interested and didn't have a password for the old site, just contact me so I can add you to the list.

I think that's about all the news that's fit to print. We had a fun Saturday at the Field Museum in Chicago, and stupidly forgot to bring our camera. The Darwin exhibit was really good, and they've opened a new "Family Play Lab" area for kids 2 and up that was just awesome. The Bug had a great time playing there. They have a sound-proof room full of instruments from around the world that the kids can play, an Indian pueblo for the kids to play house in, a huge art room with various staffed craft activities, a forest play area with animal costumes, and a whole dinosaur dig and science area we didn't even get time to check out. It's not quite as extensive as the Playscape area at the Indianapolis Children's Museum but still tons of fun.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

July 30, 2007

Some Sort of Prize...

To the person who can tell me why the border on the right column extends above the header image... ugh.

CSS is so satisfying when you get it to work properly and so aggravating when you can't figure out the source of a bug. I think other than a little fiddling, the only thing still eluding me is why the creative commons license isn't displaying properly (or at all.)

OK, off to read more Harry Potter. Maybe I'll have more posts of substance when I've finished re-reading books 4-6 and have sunk myself wholly into Deathly Hallows

Posted by mwashburn at 10:07 PM | Comments (2)

July 29, 2007

Almost There

Well, it's working sooner than I hoped. But, I still have a few bugs to fix. I haven't updated the archive template yet, and I need to get a little more air in the page. Also, I'm not really pleased with how the borders and header images are working. So, I'll be fiddling, but mostly I'm just so proud of how far I've come with CSS and just filled with glee that I got a 3-column layout to work (at least in Firefox... haven't checked that nasty, non-standards-compliant IE yet...)

Posted by mwashburn at 07:11 PM | Comments (1)

July 11, 2007

Oh, the Possibilities

Since I've had a couple of web design jobs lately, I decided to hit the books and teach myself proper CSS. I've been reading Stylin' with CSS, and just started Bulletproof Web Design. They are both written in a very visual, easy-to-understand way, and I'm learning a lot. I'm applying all of this, step-by-step, to the new pages I'm designing, and I hope to do a blog redesign soon.

Courtesy of Bulletproof Web Design, I found this website, the CSS "Zen Garden," which is a really amazing example of the power of CSS. Designers are invited to submit their own stylesheets, and every single amazing design shown is the result of a different style sheet applied to the exact same page markup. It's a very inspiring site, and they've just published a book called The Zen of CSS Design. I'm gonna have to pick that one up at some point too.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2007

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 26 June 2007

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact flygrrl (melissa at studiovirgo dot com).

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Posted by mwashburn at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)

May 21, 2007

Selling Out

Well, after watching my friend Carol over at Pure Sugar, I decided to go ahead and join Pay Per Post. I think she has done an excellent job of just continuing to be herself, blog-wise, and still be part of a marketing network. I don't know how many opportunities I'll take, but be assured that I'm not going to start blogging about Payday Loans. How many times have I sat here and written about some website, news article, or product that I was just crazy about? So now someone will be sending a little cash my way if and when I do that. This blog is primarily ready by my friends and family, so it will kind of lose its purpose if I start writing about things none of us is interested in. I promise not to do that. I'm sure you'll let me know if I prostitute myself too far. Cheers.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:41 PM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2007

Getting there

Well, the three-column layout still eludes me. Now my right column is doing what I want my left column to do, and my calendar is completely messed up, but at least things are looking presentable. sigh.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2007

Forgive the Mess

During my little vacation in Arizona, I started reading Stylin' in CSS (a great beginner book written for designers and not programmers) to start boning up on my web design for an upcoming project. As a result, I've learned just enough XHTML and CSS to be dangerous, and plan to implement a few changes here. Please hang in there as I repeatedly screw up and fix the layout.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:57 AM | Comments (1)

October 30, 2006

Happy Halloween!

Be sure to check out the Black and Orange online art contest/gallery. Yes, I'm participating. There is some incredibly good illustration there. The woman who runs the site has a weekly "just for fun" illustration contest for amateurs and professionals alike, but this is the first time I've actually submitted anything.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2006

As If I Don't Already Have Enough Going On

Blah Blah trip to Arizona, blah blah house closing, blah blah garage sale, blah blah freelance work.

Anyway, someone recently let me in on this great website featuring all handmade items and art. It works sorta like ebay. In any case, I thought it would be a better place to hawk my wares than the Studiovirgo site, so here's the link to my shop. Tell all your friends.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:23 PM | Comments (2)

August 09, 2005

Commence Spamming...

Well, tomorrow Lily and I set off for the wilds of Indiana. I'll be without internet access, so don't expect exciting posts or email from me for about a week.

In the meantime, it must be Spam season. Somehow the spammers have found my blog. I don't remember if I have blacklist installed; I thought Adam did that for me, but obviously they've found a way around it or I need to upgrade or something, because it's been nonstop. I've also been getting several spam emails per day on pretty much every email account I have. It's irritating. Just stop it, okay?

See you when we're Hoosiers again...

Posted by mwashburn at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2005

Brief Hiatus

I am afraid entries will probably be spotty for a while. Aside from the occasional funny anecdote, most of the baby photos and such will be posted on lilybug.net (if you need password info, email me privately). I intend to keep the blog as it always was, and not turn it into a baby blog. And, seeing as I have little time for anything aside from baby and the Daily Show right now, and with some actual paid work on the horizon, I don't see a whole lot of new blog fodder cropping up. Please keep in touch though. I need you.

Posted by mwashburn at 11:21 AM | Comments (2)

June 04, 2005

We're Back in Business!

I got my iMac back yesterday. No more flames! I missed ya, little buddy.

And WHY oh WHY do phone tech support people for places such as banks not know what Safari is? I spent half an hour on the phone with customer service for my credit card yesterday, because I was having trouble with their web page, and the whole time their tech support guy apparently thought Safari was my internet service. Duh.

No! No baby yet! My mother arrives at 5:30 today, so I'll try to go into labor right after that. I promise.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:36 AM | Comments (1)

February 28, 2005

Thank You

Thanks dear readers, for making Decapitating Shadows the #1 hit on Google for the search term "decapitating." I'm not really sure what that all means, but at least I'm #1 at something.

In other news, I had a fantabulous weekend. We had our last grownup getaway before baby comes. Stayed at the Stone Soup Inn in Indianapolis on Saturday night, and did nothing but eat the rest of the weekend. I discovered that 6 months pregnant + whirlpool tub = "ahhhhhhh...."

Here's a photo of the room:

I'm sure Ennui Central will feature far more photos and exciting commentary on the weekend.

As we left Illinois on Saturday morning, the clouds lifted, the air warmed, and the birds began to sing. It was beautiful out during our whole trip. When we got back to Illinois, it was cloudy, cooler, and windy. It rained and snowed last night, freezing up quite nicely in time for morning. In addition, the blower on our gas furnace has started sounding like a riding lawn mower. I think it's a sign...

Posted by mwashburn at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)

November 08, 2004

New Ventures

I am exhausted. I don't even have a good reason for it. I just am. So, I apologize for not getting a new post up sooner. And today's post didn't really take much thought. I'm simply announcing that Studio Virgo is officially open for business. The site still has a few bugs that I am working to resolve, but since A is in Pittsburgh with the laptop for the week, it will have to wait.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2004

Plug of the Week

I just got finished putting up a website for my friend Alan (aka Jamie R). He is selling his delightful penguin holiday cards. Stop on by his website and get yours today! Eventually, more of his illustration and poetry will be available on the site. All quite good, I might add.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:45 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2004

Props

I just want to take a moment to thank those who have made this new blog possible. First, Adam over at Ennui Central for patiently responding to my every email, IM message, and howl of rage down the stairs about building this thing; next, Heidi for being such a diligent code checker (and crochet-er), and then the list of people I don't know:

For getting my random Sophiecam images working:

this site on how to convert my blog to a php site.

The MT archives for making me realize that it had to be PHP...

Totally PHP for giving me the script for the random image (please note, you can't use this script exactly as written to do what I did-- read my extended entry for details)

And last, but not least, Kung-foo.tv for the fabulous Kung-tunes, which displays whatever I'm grooving to on the iTunes...

I'm not going to do any sort of real tutorial here; all of the sites above are by accomplished programmers who can explain it way better than I can. I'm really new to all this stuff. But, I will say that to use the random image script cited above, I ended up following the MT archive advice and creating a new template, called random_image.inc, and putting a php include in the sidebar portion of my main index page. This is scripted a little bit differently than the include line in the original... it should read:

<? php include "file_name.inc"; ?>

Where file_name.inc is your php script, conveniently saved in a template that you create in your blog templates. How to set all that up is pretty well explained in the MT archives.

I really feel like I'm in 12th grade Trigonometry with this stuff... if I slavishly follow the example, I can apply those steps to a different problem, miraculously managing to not comprehend or commit to memory the actual process. I'd do fine for the first few problems, but then they'd throw in a wrinkle-- if you understood the meaning of what you had been doing, the wrinkle could be figured out. That's where I'd always get stuck.

So, as long as I have good tutorials and patient people around me, I can connect the dots and get some of these magical things to work. Because I know how much you all care about what my dog is up to or what I'm listening to at the office...

Posted by mwashburn at 07:30 PM | Comments (6)

September 05, 2004

Movin' On Up

Welcome to the new digs. I'll be fixing up the place a bit soon, no doubt. The last month of my life has forced me to suddenly learn a whole lot of programming I had no interest in learning. MT is still a bit of a mystery, but luckily I have the faithful A to help me when I start ranting about add-ins and wondering where my CGI script went wrong (no, I don't know what I'm talking about). But, I have managed to become mistress of the jsp menu and I made mySQL my bitch.

All of this, of course, is thanks to some volunteer web design work I have been doing and the exciting development of purchasing my very own domain name. Future home of Studio Virgo.

Be well, and I hope to see you around a lot.

Posted by mwashburn at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)