Catching Up

First off. It has been a long time since I sent an update. In hindsight that was a mistake. Lots of fun stuff has been going on and it is good to record it one way or another.

So, where shall I start? I will try to do this chronologically, but I'm not terribly good at that, so it will only be a try - not a success.

Let's start with the web page. I reworked the webpage - www.shorteddy.com - about 5 times. The first time was pretty basic and ugly. The second time I'd gotten some art from the artist and made a really cool page that moved around, had pop-up menus etc... The problem was, it didn't work too well. So I used the same design concept (the logo splits open), without the moving bits and made a more static page. And then I decided I wanted a few more areas on the page and more flexibility to modify it. I also wanted things to look far more professional. So I made graphical headers for everything, made my buttons graphical, got rid of my pop-up menu (made a static one) and redid the content so it could be served in two formats (simple and javascript enhanced) without actually having to modify it in two places. I also added a few features. I added a Forum. At this point it isn't terribly effective, so I may delete it. But I'll wait a bit more. I also added merchandise. I found in a Wall Street Journal article a reference to a POD (Print-On-Demand) shirt printer (CafePress). I set up an account and they let me customize the selection and the apperance and everything. Now you can order T-shirts, mugs, posters, bags etc... for the PENGUIN logo. It is pretty cool and their stuff is very high quality. I am extremely satisfied with this company. If you get a chance, check out the page, it is pretty cool.