New Icons

It's amazing what consumes a blogger's time. I spent most of my useful time today on one--just one!--silly icon. Nevermind that the other three took almost as much time. Icons ...that you might notice. You might even click on them.

It's a simple thing to want to make changes to your site, but quite another to actually make the changes. I do the graphics, mostly, because it's a matter of pride. Imagine my frustration when the freeware crashes and takes all my work with it! You get what you pay for, I suppose. I can somehow relate to the guys who spend weeks and months in a real roundhouse, grinding, lathing, bolting, degreasing, and what not, all to see a real work of beauty roll out on the rails, noting with quiet satisfaction that it's their work out there on display.

That's something that's missing in today's mass produced, Made-in-everywhere marketplace. If you have the audacity to sign your work in most workplaces, you're fired, especially if you're a masseur. Maybe it's time to start taking some pride in our workmanship, if only for our own sense of well-being.

RSS is Really Simple Syndication. If you like what you see on this site, but you don't want to go to the trouble of looking to see if there's anything new here, you can use a Feed Reader to automatically pull in any new posts the moment they hit the wire. It will allow you to manage your subscriptions, file away the important ones. Don't need a reader? You can have it mailed to you. More info ...

Facebook is not just for college students any more. Trains Magazine and Colorado Railroad Museum have Facebook pages, and CR does as well. Facebook makes a way for people to connect, even if you don't know their contact information. The CR Facebook page, like others, is a way to connect with railroad fans, share photos, videos and swap stories and questions. You need a free FB account, however.

Twitter is "mini-blogging." If you can say it in 140 characters or less, you can tweet it. There's a few tricks like @'s and #'s, but it's very easy. #POTD is CR's primary tweet, short for photo of the day. They're photos I've found that are worth viewing. The only catch is that it's related to Colorado. There are lots of other things to tweet, but keeping it short is something that's hard for me to do.

YouTube has changed railfanning in many ways. It's now possible for anyone with a mouse to get a sample of the latest traffic on the Joint Line or to see someone's new addition to their model railroad layout. While I can't regularly add new videos, I can collect others worth your time. This is one area I need to work on more, however.

So those are the new icons. They're going to be in the right hand column in a much reduced size very soon. Hopefully, you see a few features that show promise. If you do, or if you have suggestions on improvement, e-mail me! I would appreciate it!