Hacky

Site updates: yes, I have a favorite lizard. When Western Skinks are youngsters and just two-three inches long, that blue is so blue it can make you stupid with delight. These lizards live in California's mountains and foothills. They're deep in hibernation now -- nestled between the bark and the wood of fallen trees and buried in leaf litter beneath slabs of granite, dreaming their lizard dreams under the falling snow.

California is mostly storms at the moment. My sister was reading by candlelight in San Jose this afternoon -- no electricity.

Meanwhile, I'm hacking, and posting, and if the winds here knock out power I will spit ink.

Christmas decorations and subsequent hacks slowed down my blog's loading time, and I've been trying to clean [virtual] house. Images have for the most part been optimized. Most widgets and gadgets have been tossed.

Sidebar links [the ones in the link lists] now open in a new window. I adapted the link-arrow gif from a template design I like very much, created by César.

The menu bar below the header is just a link list: a good horizontal menu idea from Hans at Beautiful Beta.

The hack for an Open/Close feature on longer posts can be found on a number of sites: I followed César's instructions.

The navigation icons for Older Posts/Newer Posts [that's the neon Indian chief from the old Arrow Motel in Las Vegas] were added according to directions at La Bloguería.

Code doesn't need to be translated, how cool is that. For everything else, Google will be happy to translate. You can provide the site's URL or a section of text.

[Edited to add: yay rain!! It's pouring.]