UPDATE: I just pulled up my site in IE 6, an ancient, substandard browser with security problems that for some reason is still the standard browser at work, and discovered that my site looks terrible. Apparently IE 6 can’t handle cascading style sheets correctly. This is yet another reason for you NOT to use it. If you haven’t switched yet, try Firefox, Safari, or Chrome instead.

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You know how some people have this strange urge to rearrange the furniture, paint a room, or in some other way modify their homes every so often? It took me a long time to understand those people. Then I realized I’m the same way with my blog. It’s not so much that the old way is bad; it’s that the process of changing is fun, and the results make us happy, too.

I changed the “theme” a couple of days ago partly for technical reasons, partly aesthetic, and partly my own amusement. WordPress makes it really easy, just a few mouse clicks, to completely change the look of a blog. However, each theme doesn’t necessarily make everything look exactly how I want, so I always have to make a few tweaks. In the process I might find that some of my bells and whistles don’t play nicely with the new theme. Then I shop around and find new bells and whistles that do. In the process, my brain gets a bit of exercise, and you get a fresh look to enjoy (I hope!).

You might not have noticed yet that the photo at the top changes each time you load a page. I think there are 5-10 different pictures. A certain family member has complained about a picture that looks like the Japanese flag. I assure you that I am not turning Japanese or packing up for a move. I don’t fully understand how the picture rotator works yet. When I have time, I hope to learn and replace the pictures with some of my own.

Please share your thoughts on the new look. I even gave you a new comments plugin to make comments a bit easier to post and read.