We've posted some new pages on the site using new templates and css files. Nothing to shout about, but definitely more organized. We've broken down our categories to simplify navigation. The site is so darn big now, that we've kind of forgotten some of our old pages... and maybe, they will die quietly? Or maybe we'll take some time to freshen them up, too.
Our friend Pat, over at raftinfo.com, has just launched another new look to his rafting directory. It is sweeeeet! Clean and easy to navigate, the directory includes many outfitters throughout the country. We really need someone like that to take over our dinosaur...
One of the things that I've noticed since we started revising our website, is the obsession of clean code. I get it. I really do. There is a perverse joy in seeing the code simplified without a bunch of junk coding and html.
The obsession is creating a sort of backlash against graphics and pictures, though, as we try to keep each page as clean as possible. It's become sort of a game of trying to get away from templates and authoring programs and focusing on pure code. And this from a non-programmer!
I think most of us who "play" with the web are always looking for a game-like response to each new change on the internet. First it was just learning simple HTML, then the SEO game, then the organic search mantra, then the bid strategy for PPC, then CSS simplification, then clean code advocates, social networking and now, just organizing the sites (back to square one?).
Everything is cyclic as we see each internet giant buy into the "old media" giants housed in New York on Madison Avenue... back to plain ol' advertising... with a twist, of course. What will we be facing next? More advertising placed on every single thing that you do on the internet. That is the future. Because Tivo ruined the onslaught of advertising on TV, everything moves to the web.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Griefers
Our Second Life property is a work in progress as we practice building waterfalls, flowing streams and rock formations. We've been working on scripting the prims to do some cool stuff, too. Each time we're there, we play with the prims and create different items for our inventory. My favorite prim is the torus. It seems that you can do so many cool things with it. I discovered that I could make these really neat objects and then attach the whole thing to my avatar. Dancing with the "thing" looks so cool when you're at the festival or at another dance site.
I was there one day engrossed with the playing of prims. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, another avatar was standing on the property next to ours. She (you never really know the gender, as role playing is rampant) was building some neat stuff, too. I sent a chat over and said, "Hi." She didn't respond so I just went about my building. She might not have seen the chat because I know I've missed greetings before while taking a break in the bathroom or just being so involved in whatever project I was attempting. So there was no offense taken.
I kept working when she dragged a very large item right to the property line in front of my bridge. The property next door has nothing on it except for a couple of scripted small items that the owner is storing there. Many people purchase properties just to gain more numbers of prims for their main estates. I wasn't sure if the avatar was the property owner or maybe a friend of theirs.
Then she disappeared, leaving this huge thing looming right on the property line and blocking my bridge. It was kind of weird. So, I felt a little bit of sorrow as I realized that it was done on purpose. Solution? I placed a transparent wall there to soften the obstruction and proceeded to change the configuration of my property. You got to live with your neighbors. Just like in real life.
The item disappeared soon after. Each time, we keep refining and changing stuff on the land. It's become an obsession as we keep practicing what we've learned. Yesterday, someone left three giant neon green pulsating items looming over our site again. Geesh. I clicked on to it and sure enough, it was for sale.
Okey, I get it now. Someone was trying to force me to purchase their stuff so that I could delete it. It was just some ugly thing that someone left just to annoy me. Sigh, just like in real life, when a neighbor puts up an ugly fence or wall. Perceptions are everything. Sometimes, you just have to live with the neighbor or the people who hang there.
In Second Life there are islands and properties that have covenants where this type of behavior is restricted. It's like living in a gated community with a neighborhood association. Ick. That's the last place I want to hang. At least this interaction has been annoying, amusing and actually kind of interesting. The blandness of a gated community leads me to want to hang where I am and maybe make a new friend.
Griefers in Second Life can be looked at as just another annoying source on the internet. At least here, it's just a game.
I was there one day engrossed with the playing of prims. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, another avatar was standing on the property next to ours. She (you never really know the gender, as role playing is rampant) was building some neat stuff, too. I sent a chat over and said, "Hi." She didn't respond so I just went about my building. She might not have seen the chat because I know I've missed greetings before while taking a break in the bathroom or just being so involved in whatever project I was attempting. So there was no offense taken.
I kept working when she dragged a very large item right to the property line in front of my bridge. The property next door has nothing on it except for a couple of scripted small items that the owner is storing there. Many people purchase properties just to gain more numbers of prims for their main estates. I wasn't sure if the avatar was the property owner or maybe a friend of theirs.
Then she disappeared, leaving this huge thing looming right on the property line and blocking my bridge. It was kind of weird. So, I felt a little bit of sorrow as I realized that it was done on purpose. Solution? I placed a transparent wall there to soften the obstruction and proceeded to change the configuration of my property. You got to live with your neighbors. Just like in real life.
The item disappeared soon after. Each time, we keep refining and changing stuff on the land. It's become an obsession as we keep practicing what we've learned. Yesterday, someone left three giant neon green pulsating items looming over our site again. Geesh. I clicked on to it and sure enough, it was for sale.
Okey, I get it now. Someone was trying to force me to purchase their stuff so that I could delete it. It was just some ugly thing that someone left just to annoy me. Sigh, just like in real life, when a neighbor puts up an ugly fence or wall. Perceptions are everything. Sometimes, you just have to live with the neighbor or the people who hang there.
In Second Life there are islands and properties that have covenants where this type of behavior is restricted. It's like living in a gated community with a neighborhood association. Ick. That's the last place I want to hang. At least this interaction has been annoying, amusing and actually kind of interesting. The blandness of a gated community leads me to want to hang where I am and maybe make a new friend.
Griefers in Second Life can be looked at as just another annoying source on the internet. At least here, it's just a game.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Links
We've got a lot of links on our site. Most of them got there because the site owner asked, and we saw that their website had valuable information for our rafting clients. When you love something like rafting and whitewater, you want to share that passion with other people.
My brother-in-law's nephew was in town from Ohio a couple of weeks ago. We sent him on a bunch of trips on the American River. He even did a 2-day wilderness trip on the South Fork. He was hooked. He called his uncle and told him that it was the highlight of his California tour. He said that while he was lying on the ground in his sleeping bag in the Lotus Coloma Valley, he saw a night filled with stars like he had never seen before. He said, arms outstretched, "... here..., I am... me, under this universe of stars." The joy in his voice was contagious.
That's why we link. We link to other rafting companies across the country and throughout California and the west because we really love rafting. We know that once you're hooked, you will come back to us or to another company. You will talk it up and bring that same contagious enthusiasm to your friends, your family. Then you'll bring your kids when they are old enough because you love it so much. Pretty simple concept, heh?
We still get the spammy emails asking for links. We usually just ignore it. The links we do give are usually to smaller outfitters that bring an intimacy and love to their river trips. Most of these rafting companies are like us, they do it because they love rafting. Otherwise, what's the point?
My brother-in-law's nephew was in town from Ohio a couple of weeks ago. We sent him on a bunch of trips on the American River. He even did a 2-day wilderness trip on the South Fork. He was hooked. He called his uncle and told him that it was the highlight of his California tour. He said that while he was lying on the ground in his sleeping bag in the Lotus Coloma Valley, he saw a night filled with stars like he had never seen before. He said, arms outstretched, "... here..., I am... me, under this universe of stars." The joy in his voice was contagious.
That's why we link. We link to other rafting companies across the country and throughout California and the west because we really love rafting. We know that once you're hooked, you will come back to us or to another company. You will talk it up and bring that same contagious enthusiasm to your friends, your family. Then you'll bring your kids when they are old enough because you love it so much. Pretty simple concept, heh?
We still get the spammy emails asking for links. We usually just ignore it. The links we do give are usually to smaller outfitters that bring an intimacy and love to their river trips. Most of these rafting companies are like us, they do it because they love rafting. Otherwise, what's the point?
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