CSS Exposed
I’ve updated my blog design for 2008. I try to change it once per year. As usual, it was a bit of a challenge. I would get everything nice and neat for Firefox and Safari, then I’d check it in Internet Explorer and it looked like a broken mess.
This is the first edition that has been completely designed using CSS DIV’s, which Internet Explorer does not play nice with. I’m awful with programming, but as far as I know, I pulled it off with this one.
I finally changed the logo I’ve been using for 3 years. I always liked that cracked font, it was the same font used for the “Psycho” movie posters. But it was time for something new.
Please let me know if you have problems viewing the site because I want to know. 
This is how it should look:
And here’s the old design:
Whatever Happened to the Newspaper?
Last December, I announced on my blog that I was going to have a column in the online edition of Out & About, Nashville’s GLBT newspaper. Since I wrote that post, a lot of friends that I talk to outside of my blog have asked what became of that.
I haven’t posted a follow-up because quite honestly, I don’t know what to say.
Here’s what happened—
I’m friends with the publisher of Out & About, and he really liked my blog. He wanted to know if I’d write articles for the online edition of the newspaper. I was excited and jumped the gun, blabbering about it on my blog and announcing it to all you readers.
That was a mistake. I usually don’t announce anything prematurely. But that was a little flub. Since the publisher initiated this, I jumped to the conclusion that it was a done deal.
It turned out the decision would need to go through the editor first. That’s where things got stuck, and have been ever since. I sent the editor some samples of posts I’ve written, and he said he’d review them. I tried to follow-up several times after that and never got a response. I really don’t know what happened.
That’s the story, and I thought I should fill you in since people have been asking. But I want to emphasize that I never heard anything positive or negative. It would be bad journalism for me to insinuate the outcome, so I just want to remain neutral and say nothing came of it. Nothing good, nothing bad.
But thanks for all the kind words of support and excitement. It really meant a lot to have people cheering for me.
Tell me a love story
Valentine’s Day is next week, and I realized that I never really do anything cool on my blog to celebrate it. So I had an idea… A lot of my readers are couples, so I wondered if you’d like to share your love story? Tell readers about how you met, and all that good stuff.
If you’re interested, send it my way and I can publish it. I don’t know how much response I’ll get, but I thought I’d put it out on the table.
Any takers?
E-mail secrets [at] nathanexposed [dot] com
Oh Hello There…
All it takes is a few busy days, and then you realize you haven’t written a thing on your blog. Even worse, I left things in such a sad place. Well thanks for all the words of support and agreement. People don’t always agree, but it is nice when they do.
Well it was a good week, though it flew by. Yesterday and today, I spent on-site with clients. I usually don’t do that, because most of the website work I do can all be handled via phone or e-mail. But I did get free lunch two days in a row, so maybe I should meet with people more often.
(Yes, I’m aware I should be the one paying… believe me, I offered.)
Tonight, we watched A Clockwork Orange. It wasn’t as good or as shocking as I remembered, but Rodney had never seen it. I think I was about 10 years old when I first saw it. Oh, the things you see when you have older brothers.
In other news, Rodney has announced to me that he plans on writing on my blog. This is interesting news, coming from the guy who used to say he “has no interest in blogs.”
But he’s been reading mine lately, and one day he just walked in the room and said “You know, Nathan, you’re a really good writer.”
Thanks, Rodney. It only took you 7 years to say that. 
I guess that’s it in my neck of the woods. I hope everyone is doing well.
The Gay White Male Oprah of Blogs
It’s been awhile since I posted a “Conversations with Myself” segment, an idea I borrowed from Rey. It’s just a two sided discussion with my own inner conscious, mainly for the purpose of presenting a thought process in a way that’s easy to follow.
So I hear you’re working on being the gay white male Oprah of blogs?
Yep, I’ve wanted to for awhile now.
What the heck is the gay white male Oprah of blogs?
Well… I used to say I wanted to be the gay white Oprah. But Ellen Degeneres filled that spot…. well, kind of. Ellen is funny, Oprah really isn’t, at least not on purpose. When Oprah does the deep bull-dyke voice, she is hilarious. Oh, and also when she calls her vagina a “vajayjay.” That never gets old.
But Oprah and Ellen are both on TV. You get mad if you have to put pants on to leave the house. In fact, you wear your pajamas when you do leave the house, and you refuse to go anywhere that doesn’t have a drive through.
This is true. That’s why I added “of blogs” to the end of the title. With the internet, I don’t have to wear pants. Just look at my blog header.
So why do you want to be like Oprah? Or Ellen?
I love both of them. They inspire humanity. They are intelligent, strong willed, and compassionate. They help make the world a better place. And they are both minorities, who would have never made it 50 years ago. I always like a story of triumph.
Mmm-kay… that’s all true. But how are you going to change the world with your pants off?
I’m not sure yet, I just know I am. I’ve always known I would. I want to reach people, and that takes work. But little by little, I think I’m doing it. I think I’m reaching people. Somehow, someway, I think I help make people happier.
So what’s this big news?
Well, it’s big news to me. The publisher of Out & About, Nashville’s GLBT newspaper, has become a friend of mine in recent months. He didn’t know about my blog, because I usually just tell people about my business website. But I finally decided I knew him well enough to share it with him. So he came here and read through it, and really liked my writing. He told me he wanted me to do some writing for the newspaper, but all the sections are already filled with writers. However, the newspaper also has a quickly growing online website, which has unlimited growth potential. He asked if I would like to write a section for the newspaper’s website.
Now I just need to find a topic and a theme. I have a few ideas, but Jerry (that’s his name) suggested I ask the readers of my blog what I should write about. So now I am. I value your opinions.
I want it to be different. The basics are covered- they have news, entertainment, opinions, etc. Jerry suggested I write an advice column, which I’d really enjoy. A sex advice column would be fun, but then I would eternally be pegged as “that sex writer” and I don’t want that. That’s not Oprah worthy.
How about something inspirational? Something that helps people be happier, more successful, more satisfied with life? That’s a broad net to cast. But I also want it to be a little edgy sometimes. Something that people would read and say “Damn, that Nathan is pushing the envelope. I’m going to forward this to all my friends.”
Okay, readers! What are your thoughts? Keep in mind that whenever a new article is published, I’ll be posting something here about it. So it needs to be a topic people enjoy and could stomach on a regular basis.
Hello? Am I even in the room anymore?
Sorry, I got sidetracked talking to the people on my blog. Help me become the gay white male Oprah of blogs! What are my strongest writing abilities???
I’m leaving now…
Thanks for listening.
Poll Results: Birth Order and Fruitcake
You know I LOVE taking polls…
Regarding birth order (original post):
A whopping 46% of readers who participated are the oldest child! There is an even balance of middle born and youngest, each teetering around the 25% mark. Just one participant is an only child, which is oddly humorous if you think about it.
As for poor ol’ fruitcake (original post):
Readers are pretty divided about that. 54% of participants DO like fruitcake (I’m one of them), and 46% do not like it. Geographically, almost everyone who said they liked it lives in the South or Midwestern states.
And now for a new poll…
How much will you spend on gifts this Christmas?
A Rare Species
I love Myers-Briggs tests! Is you’re familiar with them, they are a 4 letter combination that makes up your personality profile.
I or E (Introvert/Extrovert)
N or S (Intuitive/Sensing)
F or T (Feeling/Thinking)
J or P (Judging/Perceiving)
A friend of my posted his profile, and he’s an ENFP. There are times I have a lot in common with him, and I usually understand where he’s coming from.
As for me… test after test shows I’m an INFJ. But this last test told me that only 1% of the population has the same personality as I do, making it the most rare personality type. Really? I didn’t know that.
This is what it says about me…
INFJ – The “Confidant”
INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others. INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a “tell me what’s wrong” sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath. INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs.
Yep, that’s me, no doubt about it. I am very sensitive, I hate arguments, and I do get satisfaction from listening to other people. Sometimes I feel like a battery that gets recharged off other people’s energy. Because of this, my environment can really impact my mood. If people are mean or harsh, it can take over me and bring out my worst side. But if I’m surrounded my positive people, I am thriving and I’m capable of doing amazing things.
What is your personality type?
More Names for Nathan
My search continues for a fictional last name to use on my blog. I’ve decided I want it to be simple, but uncommon:
Nathan Black
(It sounds a little mysterious, which I like a lot. I might go with this one.)
Nathan North
(Always moving up.)
Nathan West
(Rodney says “West is the best”, *teehee*)
Nathan Berlin
(I like it a lot, even though it does sound like a porn name.)
Nathan Anderson
(The 11th most popular last name in the U.S.)
Nathan Green
(My favorite color.)
Nathan Fisher
(A tribute to Six Feet Under, a show that really left an impression on me.)
Nathan Young
(At heart, I always will be.)
Nathan Richards?
HELP! I need a fake last name.
Here’s the deal: I don’t use my last name on my blog, which isn’t so unusual. Most bloggers do prefer to keep their last names private. But sometimes it does get frustrating not having a last name to post. E-mail is another good example. For 2 years, I had my e-mail set-up to show messages from “Nathan”. I shudder to think how many people must have thought it was spam when they saw a one worded name in their Inbox. I finally changed it to “Nathan Exposed”, which sounds just as spammy.
So I need a name. A fake name. And I’m terrible with fake names. How about Nathan Richards? It’s a dirty joke. “Dick” is a short name for “Richard”, so I could be like Nathan Dicks, only Nathan Richards so it’s not so obvious.
No?
Okay, how about something European or exotic? How about a strong German last name? I have ancestors from Germany. Nathan Brandt means “fire”. Nathan Faust means “fist”, heh. Freud means “joy”. Nathan Freud, I like that.
Nathan Nussbaum means “nut tree”. Again, I like that. It has a nice ring to it.
Nathan Lang? Lang means “long” in German, and has just enough similarity to sound like Nathan Lane.
I guess I could name myself after my first dog, Nathan Bouncer. Yes, my first dog’s name was Bouncer. I don’t remember why.
Any ideas?
Being a writer is hard y’all
I finally started my “Nathan Exposed” book and I’m 15 pages into it. Filling the pages is only half the battle. I’m going to pursue the self-publishing route, which means I also have to design it myself and organize it. That’s a job in itself.
I like it so far. But I wrote the pages in plain text without any font formatting because I thought it would be easier to stylize in the printed copy. But when I imported it into my page layout program, there were all types of wild characters. Argh!
Anyway, I’ll get the hang of it. Most of you don’t know this, but the whole concept of “Nathan Exposed” started as a book almost 3 years ago. I never intended to have a blog, and didn’t even know what one was until mid-2005.
But blogging on a daily basis has really helped me be a better story teller. Well, at least I hope I’m good at it. We will see!
I like the self-publishing route because you don’t need an agent or any contracts with big publishers. You just upload the file, have it printed and bound, and it’s yours to sell. The cost is a little high. It’s going to be $7 per book for printing alone. I’ll have to mark the price up to $10 just to make a 30% profit.
I’m also going to offer an e-book version at a reduced price, and I will make full profit since there are no printing costs. I know a lot about that side of the market, so I will be able to profit that way, and it’s a growing audience.
It’s not even done yet and I already have it all planned out. Actually I’ve known this for years and haven’t wavered from my initial plans. It’s just a matter of finishing the book… oh, and it has to be good, of course.
