Category: Uncategorized

Christien’s a 27-year-old guy from Canada. His weblog, Cat Whisperings, has been up and running since May 2004, according to the blog information listed on his site. Readers can learn even more details, though, by clicking on “Full Profile”. The only reason I’m even pointing out that link is due to the links being the extremely close to the same color as the text on the site.

The layout of the Cat Whisperings appears to be set specifically for a 1280 x 1024 screen resolution. Anything smaller resolution results in visitors having to scroll from right to left to navigate the entire site. Everything is done in some shade of gray/black – the text, the background, the links, etc. Gray is great. In a blog entry, however, it’s extremely difficult to distinguish between the sentence and the link readers are encouraged to explore.

Readers never learn the myth behind the name of the site: Cat Whisperings. Perhaps it’s better left untold, or perhaps I just didn’t find it in the six or so months of archives on this domain.

The sidebars of the site do have some interesting tidbits. There’s a poll that changes from time to time and my personal favorite, Christien’s own concoctions for his favorite alcoholic beverages. There are also the usual archives, a chatterbox, and the typical links to other sites on the web.

I don’t remember the last time I reviewed a weblog that had this many quiz answers or other various memes. The author’s appropriately stuck these posts in a category called “Dumb quizzes, etc..”. Christien has many different categories, as well, which give people an idea of how wide a variety of topics he covers from day to day – Geek stuff, Hotness, Stupid White Men, and finally something to do with the name of the site, Cats.

There are posts that contain Christien’s interests, which are often very well written and become quite passionate in meaning. Enjoyably, he gives readers the chance to comment on the things he writes. According to his disclaimer, he’s more than happy to participate in a debate type atmosphere about any given topic, but would rather avoid discussing anything with anyone who isn’t open minded and in Christien’s words, has an IQ of over 100.

When Christien actually takes the time to write a post from his thought or his experiences, readers will be in for quite a treat. He’s conveys his thoughts clearly on very serious topics like gun control and politics, and is very confident and well-informed on the subjects of his writing. These posts don’t come often enough, though, and people may lose interest in the copied and pasted text from other sites and the very regular results to the current quiz.
Cat Whisperings…

Upon first opening Thoughts of Mike and finding a picture of a dog, I figured that I would be reading yet another “things I did today” blog. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. Mike’s thoughts encompass a wide range of topics.

Mike is a 22 Yr. old student who also works at a local deli as a delivery driver. This author posts about whatever happens to interest him. He comments on mundane everyday occurrences with a dry wit that is reminiscent of Seinfeld. In a post about purchasing shampoo he says, “I’m trying to find the one that says ‘Dirty Hair.’ It doesn’t exist. Shampoo now does everything from color to curl, except clean. Where is the shampoo for me? The one that just says, Cleans hair real good.” In a post about car features, the author laments about not being able to find the “Automatic Detonation Feature” that all cars in movies appear to have. Probably his most entertaining posts come from his experiences as a delivery driver. He describes the joys of delivering to a local gentleman’s club and contrasts that with his many deliveries to nursing home employees.

A bit disconcerting is this writer’s participation in “Blog Jihad” where he visits other sites using Blogger’s “Next Blog” feature and leaves random and sometimes insulting comments on the blog he happens to land on. He openly posts about this practice and invites the retaliatory visits and comments he receives. He admittedly does this to up his own hit counter. It is a shame that he resorts to this, as his content would stand on its own.

The site uses a standard Blogger template. While I normally dislike a black background, as it is sometimes hard on the eyes, Mike uses pictures effectively to break up the white on black monotony. In fact, his pictures enhance many of his posts. The previously mentioned dog pictures are Mike’s proof that the dog in question is actually an alien. Archives go back to June of this year and the site includes the standard links one finds on most sites.

Overall, Thoughts of Mike is an entertaining read. The blog could be improved with more regular updates. I am sure Mike has more thoughts than he has time to post. Perhaps a little less time spent on his “Blog Jihad” would allow him more time to update. I plan to check back with Mike to see what is on his mind in the future.

Thoughts of Mike

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I came to this blog. Gambling is an addiction I know nothing of, and a risky hobby that I don’t see the glamour in or purpose of. That being said, if I wanted to learn any and everything about it, Gambling Weblog is the place to do it.

The content consists of only Gambling information, from Poker tour dates the results of Gambling Magazine Online’s award winners. There is an abundance of links to different places in the online gambling world, and at the end of every entry, there are related, archived entries and research reports.

Yet, there is a generic air to this site. It seems to be manufactured. I didn’t like that. And the recently reviewed soccer Weblog reveals an eerie resemblance. And low and behold, the Gambling and Soccer weblog link to one another, ie. the same author, or company, or whatever. The layout is just boring. There was no imagination and no effort put into it’s design.

I myself, do not consider this a blog. It’s simply a website, attempting to attract more traffic to itself by luring unsuspecting blogger to it under false pretenses. If you enjoy Gambling and want to stay in the know, then this will be an excellent site for you to visit. It seems to be consistently updated and well-maintained. But, if you are anything like me, don’t waste your time.

Gambling Weblog

The initial impression was that there was something amiss with the blog. On closer inspection I found that the links and everything else was at the top of the blog, with the actual entry’s were down the bottom.

I’m not sure if this is a template fault or not, the author might want to check it.

My impressions were that this might be an interesting blog. The title “A poet. Now a blogger.” left me with the sense that this might be a writers blog with lots of poems. There was only one poem translation on the blog itself, a few quizzes and some other links. I was expecting more poems and less quizzes.

The blog itself is a fairly new blog, was only started in July 2004. The design is a blogger template, like many other blogger templates.

I was a bit disappointed with the lack of writing material in the blog. The blog may develop over time into something else, or it may not. It’s more a personal blog that doesn’t really tell you much about the author, there is no “about” page or any little blurb about her writing or her life.

I hope that this blog does choose and path and hopefully develop. It has much potential.Pattern Recognition

I thought of the insurance company when I read the title “Progressive Ink!” That didn’t really make much sense especially since I kinda figured that this was not a marketing blog by Progressive. But enough of that.

I liked the layout a lot. It was simple and the fact that the different shades of gray was the background and everything looked so nice in its simplicity scored points from me.

The entries come through when the subtitle promised “Interactive Notes Re: God, Life, Philosophy, Science, Religion and Politics. All I can say is that most of them are rants about what the author thought. Like some rants, the entries here were funny and witty and sometimes even to the point of being lighthearted.

Overall, I suggest that everyone stop by at least once and read through the author’s wit.Progressive Ink!