Earlier this year I started a comic podcast over at www.professorsexinthetoiletwiththelawnmower.com. I got a couple episodes out but the time it took to produce and the fact it was no fun doing it alone, I kinda stepped back from it until I can devote the time and resources needed. Right now the site is being used as a starting ground for stuff I would want to do in the future but thats about.

In the meantime, to satisfy my comic blog itch, I’ve signed on to be a regular contributor over at www.comicspoilers.net. I have 5 posts up already and plan on at least 1 new post a week but most likely more depending on the given week.

Visit me at http://the8thsign.tumblr.com/ and subscribe to the RSS feed at http://the8thsign.tumblr.com/rss

This site, like many others, is powered by Wordpress. Today Wordpress 2.1 was finally released.

New features include:

• Autosave makes sure you never lose a post again.
• Our new tabbed editor allows you to switch between WYSIWYG and code editing instantly while writing a post.
• The lossless XML import and export makes it easy for you to move your content between WordPress blogs.
• Our completely redone visual editor also now includes spell checking.
• New search engine privacy option allows you take you to indicate your blog shouldn�t ping or be indexed by search engines like Google.
• You can set any �page� to be the front page of your site, and put the latest posts somewhere else, making it much easier to use WordPress as a content management system.
• Much more efficient database code, faster than previous versions. Domas Mituzas from MySQL went over all our queries with a fine-toothed comb.
• Links in your blogroll now support sub-categories and you can add categories on the fly.
• Redesigned login screen from the Shuttle project.
• More AJAX to make custom fields, moderation, deletions, and more all faster. My favorite is the comments page, which new lets you approve or unapprove things instantly.
• Pages can now be drafts, or private.
• Our admin has been refreshed to load faster and be more visually consistent.
• The dashboard now instantly and brings RSS feeds asynchronously in the background.
• Comment feeds now include all the comments, not just the last 10.
• Better internationalization and support for right-to-left languages.
• The upload manager lets you easily manage all your uploads pictures, video, and audio.
• A new version of the Akismet plugin is bundled.

Unfortunately, I will not be upgrading to 2.1 anytime soon as my host is still running on MySQL 3.23 and has yet to upgrade to version 4.0 which is required. I’ve been happy with my host but I may look for a more high profile web-host that supports wordpress in the future so I can avoid stuff like this. So for the time being it looks like I’ll be stuck with 2.0.x.

[10 Things You should Know About WordPress 2.1]
[Download Wordpress 2.1]

January – started using Mac OS X

February – built dedicated computer to run Mac OS X on

March – Starting using iTunes to manager my media

April – stopped using Bloglines, switched from Exchange to Google Mail and Google Calendar, bought a Jimi wallet

May – switched Layout, Skype is free for the rest of the year, started a new job, Macbook’s released, went to grand opening of Apple 5th Ave store, bought my Macbook

June – joined valleyshwag, MC360 released for XBMC, bought a Nintendo DS Lite, canceled my Final Fantasy XI account after 3 years

July – switched to Flock, Macbook got hit with discoloration, started running using the Nike+iPod kit, Macbook Random Reboots started

August – switched from del.icio.us to Shadows, started using OpenDNS, got hard to find Trauma Center and Phoenix Wright for the DS, new mc chris and Evanescence albums, bought the Timbuk2 blogger bag

September – started new full-time job, fall TV season starts, bought a Xbox360 after Guitar Hero 2 is announced with new controller, canceled my Myspace account

October – got tickets for macworld 2007, Xbox360 troubles, 300 trailer, Macbook RSS fixed, bought my first Blackberry, my Xbox360 has its own blog

November – interviewed for MacNewsWorld, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Elite Beat Agents all released on same day, turned 28, XBL Video Marketplace released, subscribed to Netflix and Gamefly, bought an HD DVD

December – Geekdrome dead, started reading comics again, finally found out what all the hype about Battlestar Galactica, Veronica Mars and Greys Anatomy was all about

Its been a whole week and not one Xbox 360 problem yet. I may have a winner here folks. I did get a extended 1 year warranty with this one so it figures it will work flawlessly. To celebrate this stunning achievement, I’ve set up a blog for my Xbox 360 over at 360Voice. Stop by to see what my 360 has been up too.

[the8thsign's Xbox 360 blog]

Ecto, my favorite blog editor, has FINALLY released a Intel build of 2.4.1. I have been waiting for almost a year for this. While the PPC build worked under Rosetta, it was painfully slow. I have been popping around between ecto, Flock’s builtin blog tool and surprisingly Windows Live Writer. I can now happily say ecto is back in my dock. Now if only ecto 3.0 would hit the inter-tubes before the end of the year.

Ok, I admit it, I’m a statistics whore. I use Google Analytics since I’m Google’s bitch and Measure Map is closed for new accounts. For as little traffic I get, I still check my metrics everyday. It usually involves logging into my Wordpress Admin page and checking my reports page that Tantans plugin provides. Enter Dashalytics, a Dashboard Widget that provides Google Analytics data from the comfort of your own Desktop.

Download Here

Six Apart, the makers of Typepad, Moveable Type and Livejournal have recently launched Vox. While Vox i just another blogging system, if tries to combine web2.0 with social blogging. Kinda like a Myspace+Livejournal for the web2.0 crowd. You can view my site at http://jadedhalo.vox.com.� It will probably get lost in the shuffle of the countless other blog accounts i have and don’t use but maybe this one will be different. I have been thinking about keeping a personal blog again and I really like where Vox is going.

Right now Vox isn’t open to the public but I have two invites I’m willing to give out. If you want an invite, leave a comment and I’ll send out the invites randomly. Don’t forget to add me to your Neighborhood.

Kevin over at theory.isthereason is hosting a meme contest called BestBlogForward to celebrate his 1000th post. I have contacted Kevin about sponsoring the contest and will be giving away a Flickr Pro account. Over the weekend I will go through my posts and stats and post my BestBlogForward also. Here are the instructions, Its pretty simple.

THE INSTRUCTIONS

1. Find the most popular post on your blog
You can discover this either by checking your web statistics service, most number of comments, or simply googling yourself and finding what tops the rankings. Suggestions on using blog trackers like BlogPulse and Technorati are welcomed. If all this sounds too complicated, just go wth your instinct!

2. Blog the story behind it!
Blog the story behind your most popular post by giving the permalink, what its about, how it became popular and how you came to write about it. Its a great way to see our different blogging strategies. I’ll post mine as an example soon but get started if you get the picture.

3. Tag “BestBlogForward”
Once you’re done writing, make sure to title and tag it “BestBlogForward”. Link your post back here if you wish to qualify for the contest. Everyone will also be able to see your post over at Technorati if you use the following HTML code: <a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/bestblogforward” rel=”tag”>bestblogforward</a>

THE DEADLINE
THIS CONTEST ENDS AT 11.59PM ON MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 29th 2006. After that, you can continue adding to the meme, but you won’t be getting a prize (it’s self-gratifying already right?). ‘;ll pick out the most interesting blog story and announce the winner next week.

THE PRIZE
Since I’m not exactly rich, I’m emailing the winner a $25 Amazon gift certificate. If I find more than 50 individual submissions, I’ll try to give a Flickr Pro account or an iTunes gift certificate to the runner-up. I’m currently approaching some Web 2.0 sponsors for more prizes in case this gets widespread. If anyone’s interested to sponsor, let me know and I’ll plug you. I’ll have the final say as to how things go, but rest assured, I’m hoping to make this experience as enjoyable as possible.

THE FAVOR
Before you go, help me pass the word about this meme contest by telling your friends, by submitting it to your favorite social-bookmarking service (e.g. Digg, Del.icio.us) or simply adding me to your blogroll. If you haven’t done so, you can subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed here.