The Junk Drawer

As you know, I’ve been struggling with what to do about Google’s idiotic change in its commenting system. It’s been a nightmare dealing with the issue and considering my options.

After much pain and anguish, I’ve decided to move my blog to a new platform. No more Blogger. It’s WordPress, baby! I’ll let you know when that happens. Hopefully, the migration will be seamless.

My good friend, J.D. over at I Do Things So You Don’t Have To has been listening to me grouse about the Blogger mess for several days. She knows I’ve been irritated and consumed by this problem, especially because it’s kept me from writing about anything else.

She told me, "Well, you can’t always write about fluffy kittens and sunshine." As I pondered that nugget yesterday, I watched my cat Stinky twitch about while she was dreaming. I caught her just as she was waking up out of what I suppose was a nightmare about Big Bad Google screwing up my blog.

Because I wanted to post something cute, fluffy and non-Googly today, here she is for your viewing pleasure. The other cat to come into the picture is Stinky’s arch nemesis, Lucky, aptly named because he escaped death for ruining our furniture.

Yesterday I posted about the recent unannounced change to Google’s commenting system on Blogger blogs. If you host with Blogger, this change is significant and will likely cause a drop in your readership.

The post I wrote didn’t include a complete enough explanation of why this will impact you, so I would encourage you to visit BlogCatalog, where there is a more involved explanation of the problem and links to other blogs where the issue is being discussed.

There is also a link to the appropriate place to voice your concern to Google about this change.

Check out the discussion on BlogCatalog today!

And speaking of problems with Blogger, there is a problem with the way pictures are handled in posts. When a reader clicks on a picture, they are asked to download it or open it with a program of their choosing. Before, the picture would simply open within the browser. This is a known bug and Google is working on a solution.

Seems this is a big weekend for Poopy Heads. Google has just changed the way people can leave comments on blogs hosted on Blogger, such as this one. I’m not happy with this change and it’s made me seriously consider moving to another blogging platform.

Until I decide what to do, I thought I’d at least announce what happened and explain all the commenting options now in place.

Why is Google a Poopy Head?

When leaving comment, no longer can you click on the Other option and enter your name and URL back to your own blog. They’ve replaced that field with Nickname, which only allows you to type your name. Poopy Head Move #1.

The old way was much more user-friendly and gave you a way to easily link me and my readers back to your blog.

What to do?

Commenters WITH Google accounts may still login with their Google User ID and password to leave a comment. But when the comment is posted, people will get a link to your profile (not your blog). I know, that stinks. Poopy Head move #2.

Commenters WITHOUT Google accounts have several options, none I like very much. Big Giant Collective Poopy Head Move.

1. Create a Google account and just use it for commenting. This method also means you can check the box to be notified by email of responses to comments.

2. Choose the Nickname field and just enter your name. Simple enough, if you just want to leave your name behind.

3. Enter your blog’s URL below your comment. It’s a poor substitute for the old method, but at least it means anyone who wants to visit your site can copy and paste it (or type it) into a browser URL field to get there. It will not be clickable!!!

A pain, I know, but this is probably the easiest option if you want to display your blog address. (Read on for how to make it a clickable link).

4. Click the drop-down arrow next to “Sign-in using:” and choose one of the services listed if you have an account with one of them. Enter the information it requests (assuming you know it — not all users will).

5. You can still click Anonymous, if you prefer.

Yeah, but what if I really, really, really want to leave a clickable link to my blog in your comments? No problem. You just have to enter your blog’s address in this format:

<a href=”http://www.yourblogname.com”>Text to Display</a>

Of course, you would replace the “yourblogname” part with your blog’s address, and replace “Text to Display” with whatever you want the link to read.

I’ve done this myself and it takes just a few times to memorize the format. You could also keep a little text file handy with your code already formatted. Just copy and paste into your comment and you’re off. Go ahead and copy the above text and practice it by leaving me a comment and a link to your blog!

If you have any questions, or if you just want to complain about this new system, drop a comment in the drawer. Oh, how we love to complain here! It’s good therapy.

UPDATE: Google has rescinded this change. Read about it here. Sorry, Google. Too little, too late.

Dear Poopy Head Truck Driver:

I know you didn’t mean it when you had an accident on the bridge I cross to get to work. But I just have to tell you what you were responsible for this morning.

1. You made me 45 minutes late for work.

2. You made about 2,500 other people 45 minutes late for work. That means the world lost 1,875 man hours of work, about a year’s worth of a typical job.

3. You forced me to look death in the eye and try crazy stunts to shoot off the last exit before the bridge in an effort to get away from the traffic jam.

4. You made it so that 1,000 other drivers tried the same thing and caused us to get in a second traffic jam on side roads.

5. You made my office have to make a pot of Disney Mickey Mouse coffee that’s been in the refrigerator for about a year, since I had the supply of new coffee in my car.

6. You caused all the people who could finally get moving again to gun the accelerator and violate every driving rule known to man, trying to make up lost time.

7. You made me hate the innocent cyclist who I saw whiz by me at one point, getting to his destination on time.

8. You made a thousand people, who just finished their morning coffee, wish for a Port-o-Potty on the side of the road.

I hope you totaled your truck, don’t have insurance and have to take a bus to work for a month. I hope you were cited and fined for your incompetence. I hope everyone flipped you off when they made it past your stupid accident. You should be lucky they didn’t kill you. I know I wanted to.

P.S. Poopy Head isn’t what I was calling you that whole time, but this is a G-rated blog, so that’ll have to do.

Like many high-schoolers my first job was at a fast-food restaurant. I learned a lot about responsibility, working in a fast-paced environment and coping with the public.

I also learned why you should avoid eating there if at all possible. Consider this the next time you pay a visit to your neighborhood quickie-meal joint:

1. Teenagers run the place. The majority of the staff were under 18 years old. Teenagers have zero vested interest in serving quality food to you. They are biding their time until they can punch out and resume the part of their lives they give a damn about.

2. Managers can’t be everywhere. Yes, the good managers will oversee the production line and make sure nothing bad happens to your food. But they are not omnipresent. I once witnessed a co-worker drop a large cut of roast beef on the floor while trying to load it into a slow-cook oven. He picked it up and put it right back in. (I reported him).

3. The sneeze guard over the salad bar is worthless. Understand that salad bar items are subjected to dirty fingers, dirty air, coughing and hacking customers and fluctuating cooling temperatures. Face it. The food sits out all day and God knows what happens to it before you sidle up and help yourself. In addition, if enough of one item is too much to toss for the day, it’ll be put out the very next day to mix with the same environmental pollutants as it did the day before.

4. Cleanliness is not top priority. One day the restaurant’s drainage system backed up and we sloshed around for two hours with plastic bags over our shoes, still serving food, before someone came from the Health Department to shut us down until repairs could take place.

5. Food for you one minute, dog food the next. For about a year, our restaurant entered into an arrangement with the local SPCA. Food that was deemed fit for human consumption was fed to people. After the food was under heat lamps too long, it was dropped in a bucket and picked up to be fed to dogs. We’re not talking quality here. Five minutes ago, it was meant for you.

6. You get what minimum wage pays for. Almost anyone can get hired. The same guy who dropped the roast beef on the floor also cut off part of his fingertip while slicing ham. A week later he was caught smoking pot behind the drive-thru window and finally fired. He worked under the influence a lot of the time. Your best interest was not on his stoned-out mind. We didn’t like to think what else he did that no one caught him doing.

7. Cross contamination is the norm. When things got busy, the same person who just swept garbage off the floor might be asked to perform cashier duties without washing their hands in between. They may rearrange your food on your serving tray, help the food line staff assemble sandwiches, grab cups and utensils, all with their bare hands. What they touched, you touched and you probably put it into your mouth.

Bon appetite! (if you dare)