As you can see, I’ve revamped the site again. This time, I really like it myself, so I think this one will stick. The blog is going to be restyled to match, but I just haven’t had the time right off the bat.

I’m doing well, as is the rest of my family. I graduated in May and have been contracting ever since.  I’ve made some great contacts and some great friends as well.  While the future is always a little uncertain as an entrepreneur, it is exciting to say the least.  I’m thankful for the support of my parents and my amazing girlfriend, Nancy.  They have faith in me, and I have faith in myself. I’m not conceited, but I do good work, and I’m proud of that fact.

Let me know what you think of the new design!

Sometimes there just isn’t enough of one person to go around. Not that I’m always “the go-to man” all the time. I’m sure pretty much everyone feels that way from time to time. Thank goodness there’s Stargate SG-1, my nightly weakness that helps me unwind. Ok, so some people smoke, some get smashed, and I watch Stargate. Guess it’s not that bad… until the end of season 10. Who knows what evil vices I may turn to then, like maybe knitting, or perhaps something worse, such as a bobble head collection!

Ok, think I’ve rambled enough. Surprisingly, after about 5 minutes of writing this, I’ve begun to feel better. Maybe blogging really is therapeutic.

The wedding was a great success. My father Randy sang “The Lord’s Prayer,” and luckily, I didn’t lose the rings or mess up “Trumpet Voluntary” either. I believe there were something like 300 people in attendance, perhaps more.

If you know Jeff or Hannah, be sure to congratulate them!

Click the image below to visit the page:

Or you can download them directly here.
(Right-click and select “Save Target As…”)

In lousy, primitive IE6, it looks like this:

Now isn’t that gray around the computer annoying?!  Not to mention the terrible way it renders CSS layout.  For you normal people who aren’t into web design, you may notice that some websites look absolutely messed up in IE6.

So, I beg of you, if you’re one of the people in the world still using Internet Explorer 6, please, please upgrade to IE7. It’s free! In fact, there’s even a newer version – IE8! You can download it here.

Now if you’re really in the mood to be adventurous, consider downloading either Firefox, Safari, or Opera.

As the business evolves, I’m finding out more about what policies need to be put in place when dealing with people. You have to be careful who you trust… an example:

Over three months ago, I did a design project for an individual I thought I could trust. In fact, I felt that we had a decent business relationship history in the past, but none of it mattered. I completed the project, which he needed in a hurry, and sent it off.

All this time has passed, and after several invoices, phone calls, and emails, I am still unpaid. Thus, I have a PayPal payment option on my site now, and will be asking for deposits before proceeding with more intensive graphic design projects. I’ve always required down payments for web work, and didn’t think I’d have to for other things as much.

Anyway, as much as I know there are deadbeats who don’t pay their bills, there are still a lot of great people in the world that have a sense of moral responsibility and honesty. What can I say? Live and learn.

Anyway, as you can see, I’ve added the little “calendar” thingy beside each post. Not that it’s some huge breakthrough or anything, but being that this is the first blog template I’ve ever created, it’s taking me a while to get everything figured out.  It is by no means finished yet.  Probably the thing that’s bugging me the most is the bland design of the comments on each post.  So that’ll be the next thing to be modified, I suppose.  In addition, I’m attempting to get a better handle on PHP, so messing with this template is good practice.  If you’re on here some day and things look all messed up, that’s probably a sign that I’m working on it as you read.

Well, thanks for reading. Peace out.

Probably the hardest part of this project was trying to make the layout work in Internet Explorer. I haven’t tried IE 8 out yet, but I hope it finally gets up to speed with Firefox, Safari, and Opera. Seriously, what a pathetic excuse for a browser.

From there, making Phatfusion’s Lightbox work for all of my galleries was fairly easy, except for IE’s stupid reactions that took nearly a day to figure out. As you may remember, there was not previously a blog on DougKeeling.com. Thanks to WordPress.org, I’ve finally come into the 21st century.

Some advice to any college students who may read this:

Do not count on college or your professors to teach you anything about web design, blogs, wikis, forums, or any such useful info. If you want to learn the stuff, read books, get online, experiment. I feel like I’m pretty much floating out on the open seas of the web all by myself without having been taught to do anything but tread water.

Anyway, enjoy perusing the new site. It may still have a few small bugs, but I’ve tried to get as many as I could locate for now. Please comment and let me know what you think of the new layout.

Thanks!
- Doug