The Catholic Blog Reviewer

2003-02-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

Hello readers! I haven't been able to blog much lately because there's been so many other things to do right now. My wife and I are the Confirmation Coordinators for three parishes, and our current class is going to be confirmed in a few weeks. So we are having to plan and organize their last retreat, and plan the Confirmation liturgy for the bishop. I'll try to blog when I can. :-)

2003-02-13T10:55:00.000-06:00

I haven't had much time to go blog visiting today, but I did stop by a blog that I hadn't visited for awhile. It is "The Lady in the Pew". At the time of this posting, she has a great story there titled, "The Perfect Offering" (she posted it on Feb. 7th, if you need to go to the archives). It is a must read.

You know, for just being a normal, average "lady in the pew", Kelly sure does have a lot of insight into the things of God. We can gain a lot of wisdom from her.

2003-02-12T12:08:00.000-06:00

An emailer wrote me to share about a new Catholic blog called "Ever Ancient, Ever New". It is a blog for the Association of Students at Catholic Colleges. This looks like it's going to be a good place to hear about what is happening with Catholic students on college campuses around the country. Be sure to check it out!

Since it is a very new blog, I won't try to review it yet. But I will mention that they do use the overused "Mark Shea templete", and you all know how I feel about that. Come on, get creative with the look of your blog, ASCC! ;-)

2003-02-12T08:33:00.000-06:00

I came across a new blog this morning called "Veritatis Visio". Some of the posts are long, but the stories are well worth the reading. The only drawback is the text size. If my eye sight was any worst, I would have a hard time reading the small print. But the content, I believe, outweighs the text size problem.

Great start, Joey! Keep up the good work! :-)

2003-02-11T10:48:00.000-06:00

As a personal note, I would like to thank of of you who have expressed your love and prayers concerning the loss of our child. Your comments and expressions of understanding really have meant a lot to me. Thank you!

2003-02-11T09:56:00.000-06:00

The introduction to "The Lidless Eye Inquisition" states that this blog is "dedicated to the exposure of the crackpots of the lunatic self-styled 'traditionalist' fringe who disingenuously pose as faithful Catholics." To that, I say, "Good!!!

I remember when I was first coming the the Catholic Faith, I came into contact with a schismatic traditionalist who believed that his bishop, an excommunicated bishop named Bishop Vezelis, was the only faithful and valid bishop in the whole United States. He promoted the common false ideas that Vatican II was heretical, that the Seat of Peter is vacant, that the Tridentine Mass is the only valid Mass, etc.

I watched the falsehoods of this man lead uneducated Catholics away from the truth of the Catholic Faith, and into schism from the One True Catholic Church (the one in union with the Bishop of Rome). It was really sad to witness this. I'm glad that there are those out there that are attempting to expose false traditionalism, and stand up for the truth!

2003-02-11T07:45:00.000-06:00

For the serious student, check out the new blog by Christopher Cuddy titled, "Toward a Catholic Biblical Worldview". Christopher is a student at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and a Junior-Fellow with the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. It looks like Scott Hahn, founder of the St. Paul Center and well-known Catholic apologist, asked Christopher to provide a day-by-day account of his theological journey from Reformed Presbyterianism to Roman Catholicism. And PRESTO! ... this blog was born.

I would really check it out, if I were you. Not only are the posts very good and intellectually thought provoking, but the website itself has links to many resources for personal study and reading. Keep up the good work, Christopher!

2003-02-10T08:36:00.000-06:00

If you haven't already, check out this post from the "Sons of Frater Louis" blog. I think that every convert can probably point to those people that God used to bring them into the Church. And Dave's right that the only Jesus some people will ever meet is the Jesus they meet in us. We need to remember that when we see a new person at Mass. We need to be Christ to that person, and reach out to them, and help them feel welcomed in our faith communities. Who knows, if we don't, they may leave feeling rejected and become BAPTIST!!! We can't have that!!!

Note: I can make fun of Baptists, for I used to be one, so no hate emails from any Baptists out there please. :-)

2003-02-10T08:18:00.000-06:00

I noticed that in my absence there have been several new members join St. Blog's Parish. But out of these several blogs, there is one that I have been hearing a lot about from others. It is Kathy the Carmelite's "Gospel M*I*N*E*F*I*E*L*D". So I thought I would drop by and check it out.

First of all, I do like the look. I don't know if she planned it or not, but the the brownish tones go very nice with a title that has the word "minefield" in it. I mean, a title like this just wouldn't be the same with pink or pastel colors. It just wouldn't give off the same effect and feeling. ;-)

Her content so far is a very good mix of serious and humorous posts, which is what I like. Exceptional blogs seems to always have a good balance between these two extremes. (Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, like the "The Catholic Nerd Blog", which is meant to be funny all the time.)

Overall, I really like Kathy the Carmelite's new blog. It's off to a good start. But the question is will it someday make it to my top ten list? Hmmm.... well, just have to see. :-)

2003-02-09T16:11:00.000-06:00

Thank you to all of you who kept me and my family in your prayers. In case you are wondering, my wife ended up having a miscarriage. But everything is okay, and we are going to try to have another baby as soon as we can. We know that everything happens according to God's will, and that He has a purrpose for what happened. May He always receive glory and praise!

As you have probably noticed, my blog has a slightly new look. I hope you all like it! I just thought that since I will be beginning to blog once again, I needed a new look. :-)

Have a happy Lord's Day everyone!

2003-01-29T23:41:00.000-06:00

Dear Readers... My wife is having some problems with her pregnancy, so reviewing blogs is going to have to take the back burner until everything gets figured out and settles down. Please keep us in your prayers! Thanks.

2003-01-28T08:48:00.000-06:00

Well, there are three new members of St. Blog's Parish, so I thought I would check them out.

First there is one by Karen called "Disorder Affections". It looks like it's going to be a very good read, and a frequent stop of mine. I especially like her newest post, here, about a pretend visit to a "Family Planning Center." Very nice, Karen!

Second, there is a new Spanish blog titled, "Sweet Rome". But since I cannot read Spanish, I'm not able to review the content of the blog. But the look is very nice! Those of you who can read Spanish should really check it out!

And finally, there is "Spiritual Pyromania", which is a blog by David Ancell, and other members of the Frassati Society. This blog has some very good and interesting posts. I also like how the different readers tend to sometimes feed off of each other. I mean, one person will blog something, and it will inspire another writer to expound upon it with their own thoughts. Very nice! :-)

2003-01-26T20:51:00.000-06:00

To all of those who have emailed me and thanked me for placing them on my top ten list, you are very welcomed! Just keep up the good work, or you will be displaced! ;-)

And sorry that I haven't written much since posting my list. My family and I have been out of town, and I have been working on a personal poetry blog of my own featuring a few poems that I have been writing.

But starting tomorrow I will again be visiting the blogs of St. Blog's Parish to see if there are any up and coming blogs that should be on my list. And visiting the blogs on my list, in order to see if they should remain there. So be on your toes, because here I come!

2003-01-26T08:16:00.000-06:00

Happy Lord's Day, everyone!

2003-01-24T09:01:00.000-06:00

Top 10 List Completed!

If you haven't already noticed, my top 10 list is finally completed and posted on my sidebar. Congratulations to all who made it! I also want to say that if your blog didn't make it, it has nothing to do with your blog being bad. In fact, I actually didn't see one bad blog in St. Blog's Parish. You all have done an excellent job!

Also, in case you don't already know, my list is simply based upon my own likes and dislikes. In other words, it is very subjective, and thus, may not reflect other people's picks (or even the truth)... lol! :-)

Good job everyone!

2003-01-24T08:17:00.000-06:00

Something happened to my comment feature overnight. It must be the service that I am going through. Hopefully they will have it fixed soon. Sorry. :-)

2003-01-23T12:53:00.000-06:00

Just to let everyone know, I have narrowed by search down to the final 10 blogs. All I have to do now is to simply put them in order. I could possibly have the list posted by tomorrow! So if you want to place a bribe, now is the time to click on that "PayPal" button on the left! (Just teasing. At least about the bribe part. You can still click on it and donate! lol!)

Also, for those who are still thinking about that "right-aligned sidebar" thread (if anyone still is in the first place), here is a hint. Just read this post, and this post, and my first response on this post. And then read this post in light of these three posts.

Good luck! :-)

2003-01-23T10:47:00.000-06:00

If any of you have time, take a peek at the new look of "Meet Joe Convert". VERY NICE, JOE!!! Keep up the good work!

2003-01-23T09:29:00.000-06:00

Just to let you know, I won't have much time today to visit blogs. I spent most of my reviewing time trying to figure out how to do the comment feature, and now it's play time with my little girl. Oh well. Truthfully, though, I would rather play blocks with my daughter than look at blogs anyway. Don't take that as an insult anyone... :-)

2003-01-23T08:12:00.000-06:00

If you haven't already noticed, I added a comment feature to my blog. So now you can comment to anything that I write. Enough people asked me about adding this feature, so I thought, "Hey, my public is speaking, so this must be a need." So don't let me down, everyone. Comment away!!! In fact, I think I'll test it right now myself! :-)

UPDATE: It worked!!! YEPPIE! I did it right! lol!

2003-01-23T00:11:00.000-06:00

Well, readers, after mentioning this blog a few times already, I think it is about time for a serious review of "Nihil Obstat". I know that in the past I said that Nihil's blog is in the running for my list of the top ten blogs of St. Blog's Parish. But now, after taking a good look at it, I'm not so sure. Let me expound ...

First of all, I do have to say that the whole concept of this blog is very original and clever. I mean, who would have thought of having a blog based on spelling and grammar checking? So for originality, Nihil scores very high.

But on visual appeal, Nihil takes a nose dive. After all, he uses the same "Mark Shea template" that so many others use. There's no originality here at all. This is an area that Nihil could use some more creativity. In fact, I've already thought of several clever things Nihil could do to make this blog more visually appealing. But I'll let Nihil figure that out on his own. :-)

And then there is the content. I don't know about you, but when it comes to content I want more than just negative comments about other blogs. I personally try to point out the good and the bad about the blog that I am reviewing. Nihil, on the other hand, seems to only point out the bad. This gets very depressing after awhile. So in the category of content, I would have to score Nihil towards the bottom of the list.

So, in my honest (and, of course, subjective) review of "Nihil Obstat", it has only one outstanding good quality, which is its originality in regards to concept and idea. Will this one good quality be enough to overcome its not-so-good qualities? Hmmm... we'll just have to wait and see!

2003-01-22T12:33:00.000-06:00

I noticed that Davey's Mommy decided to play Catholic Blog Reviewer last night. Hmmm... at least I know that if I ever go on vacation, I'll have someone to fill in for me! :-)

2003-01-22T10:52:00.000-06:00

Due to overwhelming opinion, I have decided to cancel the idea of putting advertisments on my blog for an extra income. After all, I'm here to have a good time, and blog in the spirit of Christian love, fellowship, and fun. And why spoil that with a lot of ads, huh? :-) So I have deleted the two posts that were on that subject (in case anyone is wondering), and have stuck with only the blog reviewing posts, which is my purpose for being here in the first place!

But, I have kept the donate button on the siderbar in case anyone does feel the desire to give me financial support. Thanks to everyone for their input and comments! And thanks for keeping me focused! I appreciate it! :-)

And now.... back to reviewing!

2003-01-22T09:02:00.000-06:00

A reader emailed me last night and asked me if I could put a comments system on my blog. Well, when I was first putting this blog together I did think about adding that option. But then I decided against it. Why, you may ask? Because with 100+ blogs to try to visit every week, I really do not have time to also check out and monitor comments on my own blog. That would just be way too time consuming for me. So I decided not to have that option, and just have email.

But for those who may be worried about their email addresses getting out, don't worry. I will never let out anyone's email address, or even their names, without expressed permission from them. I completely respect the privacy of my readers.

P.S. For the reader who emailed me last night, Lycos.com (my email host) somehow lost all of my emails overnight! That being the case, I can't respond to the other question you have. So if you want to try to email me again, we can see if Lycos is working correctly now. I hope it is! Thanks! :-)

2003-01-22T08:28:00.000-06:00

I got a chance to visit Sean Roberts' "Swimming the Tiber", and it is very thought provoking. Take, for example, his post on the issue of pride (which you can find here). He talks about how doing acts of goodness and holiness can many times cause us to struggle with pride and self-exaltation. And as we all probably know, Sean is right on target here. It reminds me of that old country song that says, "Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way." Sean hits a chord in all of us, and makes us examine ourselves more closely. Keep up the good content, Sean!

But I would like to take this opportunity to mention something. When you visit Sean's blog, you will notice that he uses that Blogger.com template that has the dark gray background, light gray sidebar, blue header, and white body background. I call this the "Mark Shea Template". Why do I call it that? Because Mark Shea's blog, "Catholic and Enjoying it!", was the first Catholic blog that I ever visited, and he uses that template. So since his blog was the first one that I ever saw use that template, I simply named it after him. :-)

But anyway, this is where visual originality enters into my review of a blog. If a blogger simply uses your average, everyday, template from Blogger.com, then they really aren't being visually original. Now, before I start getting angry emails, I completely understand that many bloggers are not literate when it comes to HTML code, so they are stuck with only what Blogger.com offers them. This is understandable and acceptable. But in order to make their blog stand out in the crowd, they need to learn at least your basic HTML code. I mean, just think about it. Blogs are suppose to be an expression of the bloggers themselves, right. It shares with the reader the blogger's personality, thoughts, dreams, etc. Well, if your blog looks exactly like a half a million others, is it really an expression of yourself? Let's hope not!!!

Plus, it really doesn't take that much time or trouble to learn HTML code. After all, take a look at my blog. It's not very fancy. In fact, it is pretty plain and simple (like me). The truth is that professional website designers would probably look at my HTML code for this webpage and laugh their heads off because it is so elementary. But it really doesn't matter, since it is ORIGINAL. There is not another blog that looks like it anywhere in the world! And that is what I am talking about!!!

So as I step down from my soapbox, I would like to lead those who want to learn more about HTML code to a website that has helped me learn alot. It's called "HTML Goodies", and can be found here. And I'll be looking forward to seeing more original looking blogs in the near future! ;-)

2003-01-21T12:38:00.000-06:00

I was just reading through the posts at "Holy Weblog!", and I am very impressed. Not only does Joyce Garcia have a very nice looking layout (and not your normal, average "Blogger.com" template), but her content is very good. I like how she has a variety of subjects that she blogs about. There's probably something here for everyone! Good job, Joyce! :-)

2003-01-21T11:11:00.000-06:00

Don't forget this! I have received some guesses so far, but none have been right yet. Keep thinking!! :-)

2003-01-21T10:18:00.000-06:00

I really like "Meet Joe Convert". It's a blog about a man's journey to the Catholic Church.

I personally never went through the actual RCIA process myself. You see, I work evenings (the 3:00-11:00 pm shift), so I was not able to meet when the regular RCIA class met. So our priest met with my wife and I once a week in the mornings and went through the information one-on-one with us.

I think it also helped that I was a Baptist minister, who already had a background in theology and had been studying Catholicism on my own for almost a year. Not to mention the fact that my wife and I had been good friends with our priest for almost 10 years before even thinking about becoming Catholic, so he was well aware of where we were in our relationship with God.

But I do think that I missed the relationships that people form as they go through the RCIA process together. That is one thing that you don't get when you only meet with the priest one-on-one. But that was over 2 years ago, and my wife and I have now formed some very good relationships with others in our parish through that time. Even though, I still wonder if I missed something by not being able to actually go through RCIA process with the others that joined the Church with us. Hmmm...

2003-01-21T07:46:00.000-06:00

If you want a lot of links to news stories, without much commentary from the blogger, then "De Virtutibus" is for you. Personally, though, I could get this information from most news websites. The reason that I visit blogs is for the personal commentary by the blogger. Nothing personal, Kevin! ;-)

2003-01-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

A reader emails me and says:

"Nihil is on the great list of St. Blog's, only about ten or so down from the top. http://praiseofglory.com/blogs.htm is the url of the Great St. Blog's List. There are some on the great list that are not in the ring, and some in the ring that are not on the great list."

WHAT??? I was only going by the St. Blog's Ring. You mean there are other blogs in the parish that I haven't visited yet??? You have got to be kidding! I guess my job has only begun.

Thanks for the info!!! :-)

2003-01-20T12:41:00.000-06:00

By the way, readers, there is a meaning and purpose behind the "right-aligned sidebar" thread. The first one to figure it out, and email me with the answer, will get extra points towards being in my top 10! :-)

2003-01-20T10:34:00.000-06:00

Davey's Mommy writes in "Chirp": "Catholic Blog Reviewer has something against right-aligned sidebars."

Yes, I do. Let me explain why. For centuries writers in the western world have always aligned things from the left. This is the way that we read. This is the way that we write. It's TRADITION!!!. And now people want to come along and try to change the way things have always been done. It's just simply wrong! People may try to justify it by saying that aligning the words on the right satisfy their sense of symmetry (as you attempt to do here), but there really is no justification for it.

Davey's Mommy also writes here: "It looks like Catholic Blog Reviewer is mainly focused upon compiling a ten-best list, so perhaps my humble little weblog will be spared an objective review."

Sorry! ;-)

2003-01-20T09:30:00.000-06:00

I absolutely LOOOOOOVE the look of "Richard's Blog". He has done one awesome job at designing, and making his blog very readable and fun to look at. On the account of its visual appeal, this blog is in the running for my top ten for sure!!! Good job, Richard!!!

2003-01-20T08:54:00.000-06:00

Well, I have finally had a chance to visit every blog in the parish, and I have narrowed my search for the top 10 blogs down to only 34. Now, the hard part starts, which is to narrow these 34 down to 10.

One of the surprises that I discovered was that "Nihil Obstat" is not even a member of St. Blog's Parish!!! What's up with that??? I was going to put Nihil in the running for my top 10 (even though he had the nerve to point out some of my spelling mistakes and errors in grammar... lol!), but I guess I can't now. Hmmm.... Maybe Nihil will join that parish at the last moment, and make a mad dash for the top 10. We'll have to see! :-)

2003-01-19T07:31:00.000-06:00

Happy Lord's Day everyone!

2003-01-18T10:33:00.000-06:00

After reading my post about the right-aligned sidebar on "Fructus Ventris", Alicia changed it to the traditional left-alignment format. PRAISE THE LORD! That's one victory for traditionalism, but the war isn't over yet! Keep on praying, fellow members of St. Blog's Parish!

2003-01-18T08:46:00.000-06:00

"Nihil Obstat" writes: "Reviewing Catholic blogs is not a trivial task."

Well, Nihil, sorry to break this to you, but in the whole scheme of things, reviewing Catholic blogs really is pretty trival. But it's fun! :-P

2003-01-18T08:23:00.000-06:00

Karl Kohlhase writes in his blog, "My Daily Crumbs": "My wife complained about how uninspiring my blog was this past month. However annoying it was to hear that, I think she was right."

After being married for over ten years, I have noticed myself that wives, in their great love for them, have a way of reaching within their husbands, tearing out their fragil egos, and crushing them with their bare hands. And to make it even worst they are almost always right when they do it!

But, hey, we husbands would be lost without them, though, wouldn't we? :-)

2003-01-18T07:48:00.000-06:00

I clicked on the link to "Fructus Ventris", and what did I see? Another sidebar with the words aligned on the right-hand side!!!!

My worst fear has actually come to past. The smoke of Satan has entered St. Blog's Parish. The liberal and modernistic right-aligned sidebars have influenced more people than I first thought. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us at this time of desperate need! Dear God, set St. Blog's Parish free from this sin of right-aligned sidebars, and may we see the light and truth of reading left to right. And forgive them, Father, who have commited such an act, for they know not what they do.

I would like for each member of the parish to say 2 Our Fathers and 3 Hail Mary's twice a day until we have cleansed ourselves of this sinful practice.

Lord, please deliever us from this evil!!!!

2003-01-17T11:47:00.000-06:00

As a convert to the Catholic Faith myself, I really like the "Sons of Frater Louis" blog. Many of the things that he writes about ring true in my ears, and are very familiar to what I experienced when I joined the Church over two years ago.

I would like to really encourage those who are "cradle Catholics" to spend time reading the stories and experiences of those who have come to embrace the Faith from "the outside". I've just found that many Catholics who have been Catholic their whole lives tend to take the Catholic Faith for grant. They don't realize the special gift that they have received until they can see it anew through the eyes of a convert.

My only problem with this blog is that Dave doesn't seem to blog too frequently on it. But maybe that's because we just came out of the busy holiday season, and he just hasn't had the time. We'll just have to wait and see! :-)

2003-01-17T09:18:00.000-06:00

I was just reading through the posts at the "Regina Caeli" blog, and I can't help but notice the love that this mom has for her daughter. It's not in anything specific that she says. It's just HOW she writes about her daughter. I can't really explain it. Maybe it's just because I have a daughter of my own, who (from the pictures on the blog) is probably about the same age as Margaret. I really like this blog. It touches me.

2003-01-17T08:12:00.000-06:00

HA! HA! HEE! HEE! HEE! HO! HO! HA! HA! HA!.....

Oh.... excuse me. I was just reading "The Catholic Nerd", which is a new blog on St. Blog's Parish. This blog is, for sure, going to one of those that I visit everyday. It's definitely a must read if you are in the need of a laugh. In fact, if it keeps going the way that it is right now, it may even be in the running for my top 10 list!

But I do have a question for Jenny, though. I took spent two years in high school learning Latin, but I wasn't Catholic at the time. Would that still mean that I am a Catholic nerd? Hmmm... maybe it just means that I am a nerd, period! lol! ;-)

2003-01-16T17:58:00.000-06:00

I'm SOOOO excited!!! I just opened my email and found my first two blog related emails! I couldn't believe it! Why am I so excited by emails, you might ask? Because this means that other people besides myself have actually read this blog today! YEPPIE!!! :-)

My first emailer writes: "Oh, and I actually like Mark Shea's sidebar alignment. There is a nice clean margin between it and his posting section with the text all ending at the same place on the right rather than beginning at the same place on the left."

MY RESPONSE: WHAT !?!?!? You actually like that sidebar alignment??? I'm sure that the "spirit" of Vatican 2 is somehow to blame for this type of craziness! Hmmm.... are there any traditionalists out there that can help me figure out how to blame Vatican 2 for this?

And my second emailer asks: "How the heck will you keep up with all 100 plus blogs in the parish? Do you have a day job or do you just forgo sleep? inquiring minds want to know!"

MY RESPONSE: Yes, I do have a job, and a family, and a baby on the way to boot. And, yes, I do forgo sleep many nights. But, no, I will not be able to keep up with all 100+ blogs everyday. But I am going to try to visit each of them at least once a week. But this is where you and my other readers can come into play. If you see anything interesting in a blog, just drop me a line and tell me! You all can be my eyes and ears when I'm visiting other blogs. :-)

Thanks for the emails, readers, and keep them coming!!!

2003-01-16T12:50:00.000-06:00

David Ancell has an interesting post about Church Restoration on his blog titled, "Danger! Falling Brainwaves".

Although, I completely agree with his concerns about things such as no kneelers and a suspended "crucifix" (if you can even call it that, since it wouldn't even be a crucifix to begin with), I really cannot agree with his concerns about the tabernacle not being in the sanctuary, or there being seats instead of pews. Why? Because these things are not actually against the General Instrustion of the Roman Missal. I mean, the GIRM allows for the tabernacle to be in a separate chapel and not in the sanctuary. And as far as I know, there is nothing that forbids the use of seats instead of pews.

To tell you the truth, I think that many times we allow our personal preferences to influence whether or not we think that a particular church restoration is right or wrong. If things are not exactly how WE would like them to be (like the tabernacle being in a separate chapel instead of the sanctuary), then we seem to automatically think there is a liberal agenda going on. We fail to realize that some of the things that we may not like are actually allowed by the GIRM, and thus, are not as wrong as we would like them to be. Maybe we should begin to judge church restorations according to the standards set by the Church, and not by the standards set by our own preferences.

2003-01-16T09:18:00.000-06:00

My first commentary has to be a comment about something that has been bugging me for quite some time. It's actually a comment about the visual look of the left-hand column of Mark Shea's blog. Am I the only one who has noticed that the words in the left-hand column are aligned on the right? I know that this may seem like something trival to most of you, but it is driving me NUTS!!!!!!!

Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love Mark's blog. In fact, I make a point of visiting it several times a day to read what he has written. But doesn't Mark realize that most of us in the western world do things from left to right? I mean, we read books from left to right. We write from left to right. And when we look at websites, we look from left to right! Doesn't he realize that when he aligns the words in this column from right to left, it can bring total chaos to the lives of overly anal people like myself?????

Of course, I don't expect Mark to change this feature of his blog just because it drives me up the wall. After all, if he hasn't already noticed the potential for chaos that this could create, then there's probably no hope of converting him to my particular pickiness. So I guess I will just have to keep trying to simply ignore that side of the screen when I visit his blog, for I'm not about to stop going there. It's just too good to give up! :-)