Month: May 2006

The first thing I noticed when I loaded bryce.web into my browser was a layout that was different than the biggest portion of the personal weblogs on the ‘net. The very first entry on the site was an explanation of where one of my favorite expletives came from – I don’t know how true it is, but it grabbed my attention in any case.

I jumped right into his site, where his posts begin in November 2005. The majority of his posts are just bits of trivial information he has pilfered from the internet, with a few links for readers to follow if they want more information. I’ll admit – had it not been for this weblog, I would have never known a set identical twins voluntarily had one of their arms removed and attached to the other twin. Too bad it ended up fake!

The site is fun because Bryce does post links that not everyone would find in their average trip through the internet. From bizarre to quite interesting, he pretty much covers it all in his very brief posts.

The layout of the site looks to be something that Bryce has done himself. Black text on a white background is where the blog entries are written. Shades of blue and some black and green compliment the rest of the layout.

From the “About” section of the site, Bryce indulges his readers in a few random bits of trivia about himself.

Overall, the posts that Bryce makes are fine. There’s nothing extraordinary about them, but the links he provides give readers something to entertain themselves with. It’s a fun site to occasionally visit, just as it appears to be a fun place for Bryce to occasionally post his internet findings.

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Blogs are like sanctuaries for many people, somewhere to turn to and become introspective and reflective. Nick’s is no exception although his blog sometimes sounds more like a letter to his friends, a point of contact as many personal blogs are. As I log in, I am welcome by a sleek design, complimentary colors and mostly well designed layout (MSN Spaces). Further contributing to the MS conspiracy, the template breaks in my Apple Safari browser and modules overlap, pictures don’t scale properly.

To say our author, 31 year old englishman Nick, is into god is an understatement. Nick is IN-to god. Reading through the last few months of posts I would say maybe %75 relate to or mention or conclude with a godly message, so despite being a personal blog Nick’s site is also thematically charged. He wants us to know about his piety and like a lovestruck boyfriend shouting from the mountain tops. Its all good, but I often wonder whether these kinds of personal sites are merely professing their faith (ie preaching to the converted) or trying to “spread the word” as New Testament dogma often demands. Either way, there are several well thought out posts here offering opinions that I, mostly, can agree with despite my secular ways.

Nick seems like a nice bloke, and even says in his tagline that he values his friends and doesn’t really have any enemies which is a nice way to live. The site is a little cluttered with more links that you can poke a click at, but well presented and well written. He does gets a tad preachy however which only furthers the christian stereotype of fundamental zealotry, though I know by reading deeper that Nick isn’t necessarily this way inclined. He is honest, open and searching and this shines through in Nick’s Sanctuary. NULL

“Cancer. It’s not just an astrological sign anymore.” If that ain’t the truth, I don’t know what is. This weblog, if it isn’t obvious from the title, is a personal weblog written by Amanda, who shares her experiences of being by her husband’s side as he battles his way through cancer. The most heart-wrenching part of this blog, for me, was the age group these two fall in – Amanda is 24 and her husband is 25.

In the immortal words of The Doors, “The time to hesitate is through.” Amanda and her husband are no longer hesitating on anything. They seem to be grabbing life by the reigns and going full speed ahead.

Since the inception of the blog back in April 2005, life appears to be non-stop for the couple. The day she starts blogging, she explains her disappointment in not being able to find any “real people” cancer blogs, which is why she created this one. Then, the next day, it’s time for her husband to start an extensive chemotherapy treatment. While each thing that happens would absolutely zap the energy and hope out of someone, Amanda rolls with the punches and keeps an amazingly positive attitude throughout the past several months.

Yes, cancer, the treatments, and the effects of the combination of the two play the major part in the posts for this site. However, there’s the rest of her life she has to deal with, too. The couple moves from Hawaii to Maryland shortly after the site began and, sadly, their kitten passes away. All the while, Amanda is taking time off work to be with her husband and blogging his process and treatments for the world to see.

The design on this site is really nice. That may sound trite, but it’s the first word I thought of upon loading the site. Amanda had recently submitted her site to several other review sites. The latest review she received made note of the light text on a dark background, so she immediately changed it to it’s current look – the nice one. It’s a very sleek look, easy to navigate, and everything is easy to read. I didn’t see the design before, but this one works very well.

I enjoyed reading this blog. It connected with my emotions and personal feelings enough to really pull me into the site.
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