The way I read the internet (and I do mean all of the internet) is by opening up multiple browsers in Firefox. When a Joe Cocker song comes blaring out of my speakers and sending me frantically searching through all of my open tabs to find out where I need to stop this music, I tend to get annoyed. Unfortunately, that was my first impression of this blog. Music that starts playing automatically on a personal website (with the exception of MySpace) stopped being popular in 90s.
The title of the blog is “I Can Leave My Hat On” (according to the top of the design) or “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” (according to what the author submitted when she requested her site be reviewed). Design-wise, it’s very simply done in a standard two-column layout, where both columns are approximately the same size. There’s a large image of a chocolate-covered strawberry at the top. The actual blog content fills one side of the layout, while the other includes components like a small section about the author, a link to her Flickr photos, links to other various sites, and the aforementioned music player that pops up on every single page throughout the archives.
According to the archives I found, Laurie, the author, has been blogging at this Blogspot locale since October 2004. She writes about just about everything under the sun. From posting current and old family pictures and anecdotes to admitting her love of debunking the legitimacy of those annoying forwarded emails, there’s typically something that just about any reader is going to be able to connect with. The labels that are assigned to various posts range from American Idol, where Laurie predicted several correct results throughout Season 6, to MS Paint, where she posts quite funny altered images that have obviously been done in the Windows-standard graphic program.
In January 2005, she begins a series of posts about some Sea Monkeys she’s obtained and later named after their appropriate Hollywood counterparts. This series of posts is just one example of little gems you’ll find throughout the blog. Besides, where else was I supposed to learn that if sea monkeys are stuck together, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re trying to make baby sea monkeys. Man, I suddenly feel more than qualified to set my own sea monkey colony.
The writing style over the entire blog is easy to follow and enjoyable to read. Laurie writes in a conversational-type manner and turns everything into a story she could very well be discussing with a friend, as opposed to publishing it for all of the internet to see.
Overall, this blog is definitely one of personal flavor. If readers happen to stumble upon it, it may take some extra digging in the archives to find out who the people are the author is currently mentioning, but for people that are looking to find a site like this to read on a regular basis, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans