It’s a strange holiday, this Thanksgiving thing. Did you know that even though the first Thanksgiving occurred in the early 17th, it wasn’t until Lincoln that the last Thursday of November was set aside for the holiday? Americans from the establishment of the Colonies through the Revolutionary War and establishment of the United States celebrated Thanksgiving whenever it suited their local or Federal desires. Not until 1863, did we as a single nation begin to sit together and give thanks.

In essence, it is supposed to be a religious holiday to celebrate the bounty and mercy of God, but like all other Western traditions Thanksgiving is muddled with secular pleasures. We drink, watch sports and parades, and prepare for the shopping onslaught of the next month. Thanksgiving is the gateway to Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It is also the day that many begin their annual charity.

The core traditions of Thanksgiving still hold. Like the Pilgrims, we gather together with family and friends. A table is set with our finest plates and stemware. Down the center of the table are epicurean delights like roast turkey, cornbread stuffing, cranberry relish, sweet and mashed potatoes, wine and beer, beans, and on and on. It is a feast for an army to feed a few.

It sounds cynical, I know. To be honest, I enjoy the holiday because of what it is: A day with friends and family. Strip away the religious trappings and historical controversies (think the effects of colonialism on native populations) and you have a day off from work that revolves around spending time with people you genuinely care for. Okay, maybe that is stretching it for some, but nonetheless this day is for feasting and friendship.

Today, I go to a friend’s home. She is laying out a traditional Thanksgiving feast. There will most likely be sports on the TV and wine in the glasses. We’ll eat until we burst, drink a little more than we should, and shoot the shit for several hours. Does it get any simpler or better?

In the spirit of the holiday, I’d like to list the things I am thankful for:

• Family that I want to spend time with.
• Friends that I will be spending time with.
• A job.
• A roof over my head.
• My relatively good health.
• A stable and sharp mind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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3D Pinups

11 Photos

Flowers for Mom

13 Photos

 

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Dad Stops in Seattle 2008

46 Photos

SinnerSaint Burlesque @ the NocNoc

24 Photos

The Yard Dogs Roadshow

20 Photos

Seattle Gay Pride 2005

22 Photos

Fremont Solstice Parade 2008

36 Photos

Patriot Guard Riders

10 Photos

Shooting with Charles Gatewood

18 Photos

The Bedroom Club

40 Photos

Black Valentine's w/ Dita von Teese

22 Photos

 

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Danielle Trixie & Nikki Sebastian

23 Photos

Oh, Carlotta!

25 Photos

Pictures of Lily

10 Photos

Invy

28 Photos

Tris Bazaar 2

20 Photos

Ashley Haven 2

18 Photos

Adorable Raccoon

15 Photos

Black Mist @ Tokeland, WA

39 Photos

Amber Chase 2

24 Photos

Amber Chase 1

16 Photos

Sheridan Cherry

21 Photos

Tris Bazaar 1

22 Photos

Ashley Haven 1

11 Photos

 

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Green Spaces in and Near Seattle

21 Photos

City Views

37 Photos

Under the Detroit Terminal

10 Photos

Portland, OR

15 Photos

MN - Prairie Country

13 Photos

The Ballard Locks

17 Photos

Piney Flats, TN

14 Photos

Biltmore House, NC

14 Photos

Grand Father Mtn, TN

11 Photos

Ole Jonesboro, TN

15 Photos

Leavenworth, WA 2009

39 Photos

 

Ta-da! I have yet again redesigned my website. It’s one of those tasks that makes feel like the site is still alive. In this case, the redesign was much needed. I have always been enamored with site design. Strange-Hungers is not my first outing in this arena. Some  of my attempts were successful, but most were pure failure. Like the last design. What a flippin’ stinker that was.

Here’s why the last site didn’t work. It had a stable frame (no web pun intended) – Three columns capped top and bottom by header and footer. Main navigation was built into the header. The far left column also had navigation. The difference between the header and left column was that the left column offered more granular results. I had also mashed in there a tag cloud, search field, and content usage. The far right column display any content I coded in. In this case it was link lists and a banner. This left the site’s content struggling for attention in the center column. Finally, all of this structure was buried under graphics. It was ugly and my friends were gracious.

The new design I am proud to say I stole. Well not wholly, but in spirit. I am a fan of John Gruber’s DaringFireball.net. This tech blog uses little in the way of site graphics or complicated structure. This keeps the content easily readable. I also took note of Gruber’s rare compliments to other sites. In the end, I decided that the simpler-is-better approach was best for my site. Superfluous graphics eliminated. Strike the right column. Get rid of the fine grained browsing options. Make the page about the content and make obvious what I think is important for readers to see.

I spent several days scouring DF’s code for the clues to Gruber’s very successful design (the over-flattery is just in case he reads this). Simple and clean are great starting points, but these usually disguise more complicated means to the end. And I was right. His links behave differently according to context. Gruber also used tags that I had neglected or forgotten. His style sheet accounted for a great deal of html formatting tags. By the end of the first code read-through, I decided that I had to gut my current template.

First things first. I took to heart a comment Gruber made in his own style sheet:

If you copy without permission, I will mock you.

Alright then, don’t be a schmuck and copy and paste his code. Got it. I hate plagiarism, too. However, reading code is like reading music. Without the scores we would never know how Bach structured his symphonies. (Insert good natured ribbing from musician friends here) No one learns purely by looking or listening to a master. We learn by copying them and spinning our variations from what we learn. Mocking will come, I’m sure, but those that have the knowledge will see the distinct differences. And my failings.

In the end, I’m quite satisfied with my layout. As much as this layout was inspired by (and at times, lifted from) Gruber’s DF, this site design is my baby. It’s littered with my graphics, font and color choices, and most importantly, my content. No one can take that from me.