Yikes!

Blogging Elsewhere

It's been a while since I've posted much here.

But Ben posted my entire analysis of last night's ep of Top Chef over on his blog.

So you can read it there.

Status Questionable

I'm not sure about this whole blogging thing.

I just don't know what it is I have to say.

Even when I do have something to say, I'm not so sure people care to read.

For those of you who do care: I'm currently living in Los Angeles. I go to school every day. Starting in late August, I'll also have two internships on top of that. Last Friday, I moved into a new apartment on Wooster Ave in the Pico/Robertson neighborhood (I sold out), across the street from my girlfriend.

There's nothing else of particular interest to report. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this blog up or not. We'll see.

Back

This is my "old" pre-Israel blog.

Now I'm back to using it.

I imported the posts from my Israel blog (which can stiil be seen on its own here).

So now I'm back to my old blogging ways. This is going to be less of a journal -- because who cares about my life in Los Angeles -- and more of a news/web-log.

That's it. I hope you enjoy.

Odds & Ends

Some random thoughts and pieces of business...

1. Dante and Dave like to watch horseracing. I'm not sure why people watch horseracing. You get ready to watch. If you're Dave and Dante you make drinks, and maybe even dress up. You get all excited.

   And then you head to the bathroom to take a whiz, and by the time you get back, the race is over.

2. I added search functionality to the blog. See the cool little text entry box on your right.

3. I also added ads to the blog. I apologize if they bother you, but I get paid every time someone clicks on them (even if you click and then just hit "back" to get back here...), and the money's gonna help me pay for grad school.

That's all for now. More later.

An End to the Frustration

You may have noticed that I haven't updated my blog in a while.

I pay for my blog hosting -- provided by a highly-recommended service called TypePad -- with my Visa. For a few bucks a month, I get hosting for this blog (which, by the way, can now be accessed at www.joshbarkin.com) and for all my pictures. In addition, I get this built in comments feature, lots of tools to make my blog look better and to make it easier for me to post, and an ad-free page.

My Visa was stolen last Saturday. While I was without said Visa, TypePad went to bill my credit card (which it does every month at this time). Since I'd reported my card stolen, TypePad's charges were declined, and I lost access to the blog. Now that I have a new card, the blog is back.

It was an extremely frustrating week. I had all these things to blog about, but no blog to post to. Blekh. (Well, you could see the blog, but I couldn't add to it).

Anyway, things I could have written about while I was gone:

1. I'll never watch another reality dating show again. Rachel was perfect for Adam, and he managed to make a fool for himself on national television... this goes to show that your parents always know what's right.

   In other reality show news, The Apprentice continues to kick ass, and I'm happy with the final two, though I think that at this point, the job is Bill's to lose.

2. Went to Opening Day at Dodger Stadium with my brother. Dodger Stadium is my happy place. I went back on Wednesday night with my dad and Abby. Had I had access to the blog that night, I would written more, but now I just don't have the creative energy.

3. Seders were good. Pesah is a good holiday.

Anyway, more later.

Since you asked...

Some readers have asked where they can find the old (pre-TypePad) archives. The first year of Yikes! (July '02 - Sept. '03) can be found here.

Just for Kicks

The Weblog Review

Testing BlogJet

I have downloaded and installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a Windows-client for my blog tool (as well as some for other tools).

Actually, it was not me who wrote this text: when I launched BlogJet for the first time, it's edit window already contained this text and the program asked me to click Post and Publish button to post this text to my blog in order to test the connection (yes, and the text above is not mine too! :-)... So, I did.

Now I'm gonna learn all that cool features of BlogJet (don't ask me, there are too much - go to their website and read).

Statement of Audience

Everyone who writes or reads blogs ought to check out an essay entitled Why I Hate Personal Weblogs, authored by a guy who hates blogs but apparently reads a lot of them. Anyway, at his suggestion, I hereby state the following:

I realize that nothing I say matters to anyone else on the entire planet. My opinions are useless and unfocused. I am an expert in nothing. I know nothing. I am confused about almost everything. I cannot, as an individual, ever possibly know everything, or even enough to make editorial commentary on the vast vast majority of things that exist in my world. This is a stupid document; it is meaningless drivel that I do not expect any of the several billion people on my planet to actually read. People who do read my rambling, incoherent dumbfuckery are probably just as confused as I am, if not moreso, as they are looking to my sorry ass for an opinion when they should be outside playing Frisbee with their dog or screwing their life partner or getting a dog or getting a life partner. Anyone who actually takes the time to read my bullshit probably deserves to ingest my fucked up and obviously mistaken opinions on whatever it is that I have written about.

It's Been A While

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I spent a few days in Death Valley with Alex and Evan, and then I left soon after that for El Paso, where I am now. I came with Esther to visit her family. I'll post more about both trips when I'm home and I have time to wax philosophical about such things.

In other news, I got a new phone. It's an LG VX6000 and it has a built-in camera. I can now post photos to this here blog directly from anywhere in the US where I get a cellphone connection.

To see pictures from my El Paso trip, check out the MoBlog Photo Album.