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May 4, 2011

Yes, I’m back.

The most interesting things I did in the last few weeks:

Went on an actual vacation and severely whanged my toe, so there was a lot of comical hobbling on the beach.

Read tons, including Tina Fey’s Bossypants which everybody should read because it’s so awesome. It will probably get its own post. I also read In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, which made me re-think my own mission. More on that later.

Had a couple of conversations with Tucker Max. No, he didn’t do anything excitingly untoward. In fact, he gave me some really helpful advice about the blog. File under “things I never would have predicted” and score a touchdown for surreality.

Had several other conversations with businesspeople, the gist of which was that I should probably not be spending all my waking hours on the blog if I wanted to get other things accomplished.

And, in the last week, spent all of my waking hours re-designing the blog. It’s still not all the way done, but done enough to work with.

In the coming months I will be posting less frequently, and probably taking the content in different directions. More on that, too. But later. Because I am very tired from re-designing the blog.

31 Responses
  1. ReadyWriting says:

    Wow, Tucker Max? Seriously? One of these days I’ve got to make it down to Austen and have beer/beverage with you.

    I can’t wait to see what new direction you’re going to be taking. I have to say, the timing is pretty good, as I have been inspired by you (and others) to start a new “feature” on my blog over the summer: Bad Female Academic. In part by you, in part by the “Bad Mommy” blogs that are out there.

    Anyway, y’all hear it hear first. Still grading, but once that’s done, Bad Female Academic begins!

    I’m happy to have you back. I’ve missed you. For cereal.

    • wopro says:

      Wish I could say it was the result of how cool/exciting my life is, but no, it was pretty coincidental. Like the Bad Female Academic…like Bad Teacher, except the college version!

  2. Zētētikos says:

    Welcome back! I’m looking forward to the post on _Bossypants_. Tina Fey is a god!

  3. Alyssa Ravi says:

    Did you guys get a chance to see the dubstep megagroup Magnetic Man at Coachella? I’ve seen their videos like 24 times

  4. softfree says:

    Thank you..really informative!!

  5. Caroline says:

    Wow! Digging the new look. Sorry the redesign was a drag. But yay! Worst Professor Ever 2.0.

    Now I can’t wait to find out a) how you met Tucker Max and b) what you guys talked about.

    • wopro says:

      Thanks! The design part was okay, but the transfer was not so okay. I met TM at SXSW, and our dialogue really wasn’t that exciting…but yeah, maybe that should be its own post!

  6. Sorry… my brain may have short-circuited at “Tucker Max.” Still, the guy knows from self-promotion and monetizing, I suppose.

    • wopro says:

      Actually, my brain was short-circuiting too, for a lot of reasons. Like it or not, I can’t deny he’s a really smart guy. Which is not the same as a good person, obviously.

  7. ScienceGeek says:

    I look forward to your new morph!

    • wopro says:

      Uh…is that a science term?

      • ScienceGeek says:

        That’s funny, its Greek, meaning shape. Or so I thought! But you are the classicist, so now I’m confused…

        Morph is short for morphology and can also be used as a verb. At least this is what biologists do.

        • ScienceGeek says:

          hmm, now I am wondering whether you were pulling my leg. Ah well. Regardless, I really like your blog. I look forward to your telling us about the books you read.

          Totally off topic – I recently read Beatrice and Virgil, by Martel. WOW.

        • wopro says:

          Yeah, I could kind of guess the meaning but I was wondering if you were using it some specific biologist way, like it’s the technical term for what bugs do or something? I too look forward to the new morph, though it’s not entirely done yet! I haven’t read Martel’s book…maybe I should, though I admit that anything vague related to the Classics still feels a little like homework. Part of the PTSD!

  8. Welcome back ~ we missed you. At least I did. Presumably the rest of redesign will include activating links. Less redesign than basic blogkeeping. Taking content in different directions keeps blog and blogging fresh. Keeps blogger from getting bored. Sometimes too another blog just for letting it out, reader take the hindmost helps.

    Ta ta ~ back to the feed reader and then to write a few blog posts. Anglo transplants (members of lost tribes of SoCal) planning Cinco de Mayo themed yuppie farmers market opening day in a 50% Hispanic rural NM village. If that’s not good for a few comments, I don’t know what would be.

    • wopro says:

      Yeah, it’s been a fun little treasure hunt finding out what got broken/lost in the transfer. But I’ll fix it, darn it!

  9. Dr. Cynicism says:

    Welcome back! Loving the new look too! Eagerly awaiting more posts…

  10. Danielle says:

    Welcome back! Blog looks great – especially the rockin’ footer!

    • wopro says:

      Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I’ve been looking for an outlet for my frustration with the internet publishing issue…

  11. Maureen Ogle says:

    1. Damn! I missed you.

    2. Already miss Bra-girl from the old site, but this new one is sure as heck sleek.

    3. Can’t wait till your brain processes all the info/ideas you picked up during your absence, so you can blog about blogging.

    4. I put my blog on hiatus while I finish the book, but I truly, sincerely miss blogging. So, see above point 3: looking forward to your insights.

    5. Welcome back!

    • wopro says:

      1) I missed you too. We post-academics need to stick together.
      2) Not a bra, a bikini – and that’s one reason it needed to go. Will explain more next week.
      3) Yes, I will, it will take a while.
      4) I’ll try my best, not sure I can promise insights yet, still processing.
      5) Thanks! Glad to have you here too.

  12. -k- says:

    Wow, this is pretty much exactly the same as Penelope Trunk’s recent redesign. I feel like I’m in one of those suburbs where they change the floorplans by putting the door on the other side.

    I too miss the old PhD-burning pictures. They were truly fantastic in and of themselves, and seemed to capture your writing persona very well.

    • wopro says:

      Excellent, this means the selling out is working. And do you see any CSS3 on PT’s blog? I think not.

  13. Eileen says:

    I don’t get updates in my inbox anymore! My procrastination will now be less efficient. Anyway, welcome back.

    • Eileen says:

      Also: What happened to all of your older posts?

      • wopro says:

        You can access the older posts via the archives list in the lower right of the page — and please do let me know if that’s not working! — but I’ll be setting up more ways to navigate (search form, etc.) in the next few days.

        • Eileen says:

          The archives don’t link (they’re just text, not hyperlinks, at least on Firefox and Safari), and every time I press the “older entries” link, I get the same page, refreshed, except that the URL line says “page 2 [3,4,5, etc]. The only way I can find older posts is through the tags. Which is sad because they’re funny.

          • wopro says:

            Huh…I’m not even seeing the “older entries” link…and the month links for archives work on my computer. But this is why browser compatibility sucks!

    • wopro says:

      Yeah, the email subscription got lost in the transfer…I’m trying to do what I can, at least to get an email subscribe icon up!

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