~* Hi!  Thank you for stopping by! ~*
 

:: Updates ::

9 Apr 04: WooHoo!  First Link to another site!  Check 'em out!
13 Aug 03: New item on the Home page ~ come vote for me!  
New item on the Pets page, still coming together
Another Web Ring!  Trying to fix broken image links on this page, too
4 Jun 03: Updates to browser preferences on this, the Main, page
28 May 03: Aahh, Definitions fixed!
27 May 03: No clue why Definitions is out of its table; no success fixing yet
18 May 03: Smilies back for ages, probably; my life is getting in the way of this site BIG TIME!!  Waaah!
22 Feb 03: Ack! Checked link for mazeguy ~ smilies down for a while!
New, mega~ranty stuff on this, the Main, page
21 Feb 03: Yep, another Web Ring
2 Dec 02: New item on the Entertainment page
30 Nov 02: Three More Web Rings
20 Nov 02: Egg-less baking tip on the Food page
21 Sep 02: Three new Web Rings
16 Sep 02: New Web Ring
11 Sep 02: ~* PEACE ~*
6 Sep 02: New item on the Pets page

~* News on site development ~*

  :: Guaranteed: This site will be a continual work in progress! ::

 6 Sep 02: The site is coming up quite gradually, as I'm one of those forced-by-necessity-to-work-to-the-point-of-exhaustion types who wishes I had far more time ~ and energy! ~ to devote to the belief I carry closest to my heart: that every last one of God's children deserves to be treated kindly and with the utmost respect.  Thanks for bearing with me while it takes aeons to complete my labor of love!

jas

First, the boring and preachy (but important!) stuff about proper web site viewing (proper meaning the way each site designer intends his/her site to be seen, not how straight you're sitting in your chair, so do feel free to relax...! ).  I realize that not everyone has a totally boss
node like mine (well, yes, I am rather deeply in debt ~ your point?), but if you do, you're good to
go!  Otherwise, I can't vouch for how bad my site may look or sound to ya, what with the vagaries of, and inconsistencies between, different platforms, browsers, preferred user settings, yada yada yada ~ sorry!  But, at any rate, if you have the particular tools/settings
below...

To start, the hunk of equipment known as a PC, or personal computer.  I can't say I even know
of anyone who's used a Mac, except the former Jeff Dahmer (no offense in a million years to his
devastated, guilt-stricken, unbelievably strong and loving father, who could never have forsaken
his affection for his son, even as he grieved for ~ and alongside ~ the parents of Jeff's victims.
 No offense in a million years to Mr Dahmer's wife, Jeff's stepmother, who qualifies for
Sainthood ~ who never left her husband's side, even in the aftermath of the shocking revelations
of her stepson's horrible depravity, of his profound sickness; she stayed, and felt the searing pain of everyone involved in this American tragedy, struggling to come to grips with the horror
of it; and she has paid with her health.  And certainly no offense to any of you perfectly nice Mac
users out there, completely lacking in mysteriously and tragically desecrated souls.
 Interestingly enough for my web site topic, though, Jeff never did get into torturing
animals when he was a kid like many people mistakenly believe he did ~ his thing was rounding
up roadkill, poor critters that were already dead, and indulging a macabre fascination with
dissolving them in acid and stuff (shudder!).  Um ... so again at any rate, there's no vouching
for how messed-up your viewing experience here may possibly be; I've never checked my
pages out on a Mac.  Well, maybe the library has one ~ I'll have to bounce over there and see
on one of these fine sunny days.

Hey ~ so I've always had this morbid fascination with serial killers ~ what're ya gonna do?
 Besides, I can't think of what other page this would have fit on!

 Internet Explorer 5.5 or later.  Now, I know how everyone just loves to hate Microsoft, but hey ~ that way-too-rich guy's later browsers really are tip top, bringing those who want to see it the extensive best the 'net has to offer, custom-colored scrollbars, mouseover effects, stationary backgrounds and all, that some of the other available browsers lack.  If the spirit moves ya, you can click here to download the latest, most awesome version they may have come out with.

I didn't used to be terribly impressed with Opera (because my site looked like HELL in it), but their latest version KICKS BUTT!!! 

Another browser that I've found is really cool: Avant Browser by UltraBrowser.  It's IE-based,
but you can't make it look any more attractive than IE, unfortunately, if you're into that kind of
thing like I am (you can make Opera look gorgeous!).  Well, I guess there's Hotbar ~  but that's
spyware ~ or the IE Toolbar, but that only works with version 5.0 (Doh!!).

:: Notes on other browsers ::

Viewing with America Online (AOL): The creators of this browser had a nice, well-meaning idea for saving bandwidth (a.k.a. cost/page-loading time), but the trade-off is a big giant pain in the
arse for AOL users and non-AOL site designers alike: images on web sites not built in AOL are
corrupted, unable to be viewed, thus diminishing the quality of the web surfer's experience.
 There IS a way, however, to get around this that AOL doesn't make common knowledge: you
can go to your Preferences tab and turn off compressed graphics.  Or, if you like, you can
just minimize AOL to your systray and use an external browser such as IE 5.5+ with your AOL
connection.

Viewing with Netscape: This one won't let you see all the silly little extra effects I like, such as the matched-to-the-site scrollbar, the background image that stays in place while the text slides over it, the nifty page transitions, etc. .  In addition, I've noticed that the ALT text that appears under images before they load is sometimes in such a large font that, in several of my images, it doesn't display the whole text, rendering my attempts to be a decent webmaster only partially
effective, if you're the sort who surfs with images off.  THEN (if you're the sort who surfs with images ON), once the image has loaded, mousing over provides no ALT text at all.  What the hey
is that all about?

A computer with a jammin' sound card and killer speakers.  Though still in the works, this site
will have an option to play ~ or not ~ music files.  Many people (myself obviously included) love
to create, and view, sites that incorporate music into them for a total experience, much like
watching a movie.  I'm very keenly aware, however, that there are those who will leave a site
immediately, and not come back, upon hearing the first note.  My thought there is, 'Jeez, just
mute your volume!  Why close your mind to something possibly invaluable to you over that?!'
 (Ohhh, you're one of those who figure, if they like sound on their site, they can't POSSIBLY have
anything to say that YOU want to hear!   *sniff * Whatever {hee hee!}.  Well, if you can
POSSIBLY see your way clear to clicking the link that will be at the absolute top of each page ~ allowing you to turn off the song before it starts to play ~ then fine.)  Oh yeah, and there's ALWAYS the matter of personal taste ~ if you think you want to hear it, then decide that my taste in music SUCKS, there's that link!  Feel free!  

These display settings: 1024x768 pixels screen resolution and 32-bit true color.  I've attempted to compensate for those of you who use other settings, but have already discovered that a resolution of 800x600 pixels ~ for some reason ~ tosses the background image on these inside
pages way over to the right side of the screen (as does narrowing the browser window's width,
I've noticed), which is troubling to me but seems to be unavoidable.  If you don't have squillions
of colors enabled, this site may (or may not) look like Hell on your node (I'm not much into
picking from only the 216 accepted 'browser-safe' colors).  Your display settings can, however, be very easily changed in your computer's Display Properties panel, if you're so inclined as to give a flying hoot.

Pop-up Killer type programs disabled (sorry, everybody ~ I really hate pop-ups, too, believe me!).  My links to other sites will open in their own separate windows, so that when you're done there you can just close that window and you're still with me.  An anti-pop-up program I used to use kept my links from working properly.  If you wish not to disable your program, you can mouse over the links and the site's address should display so you can type it into your address
bar, unless you're using Netscape, as referenced in the above notes on browsers.  Or (get a load of this), you can configure Opera to allow only REQUESTED pop-ups, such as my links to other sites!  Needless to say, I think Opera's pretty schweet!

Also...

I have silly little things to say under all the smilies on these pages, so don't forget to mouse over whenever you see one!!  'Cept for that blasted Netscape/Opera thing...

One last important note: a moderate number of  times, for whatever myriad reasons under the
sun, an image or two on any web site out there may not load on the first page view.  This
includes my site quite a bit lately, while I update the pages.  Don't have a clue why.  In case that happens,  just reloading the page will very often do the trick!  Thanks!
  
 

   
End of blah blah blah!
 On to the Definitions page...
   
 

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