Time for some housekeeping and announcing and notificationizing. First, I’ve just switched over to my new “Influence 3” theme — if you read via RSS, head on over and take a peek. I’ve still got some tagging issues to fix up, but the tags don’t show at all in the other themes, so this is still better. The theme may look familiar to some, as I had it live briefly a few months ago, but reverted to the old one when some people had comment issues.

If you have any commenting issues in the new theme, scroll down along the sidebar and look for the “Themes” heading, select “Subversive Redesign” to go back to the old theme, and you should be fine. Alternately try clearing the cookies set by this site and that should do it. I have not been able to replicate the problem; it’s only been Windows-users iirc, but has occured on Firefox as well as IE. It could be local to them, but either way, this is the workaround… and it only happens with repeat commenters, not first-timers. Anyway, come and admire the new furniture… and sorry, map-lovers, the map is gone. I’m on a journey without a map now, remember?

Seems it’s a time for change. The Celtic New Year has started, and I’m in a reflective mode of seeking an ordinary rhythm of life these days as I count down to the third anniversary of this blog and the new Lectionary year beginning with Advent.

Early this week, Gordon (Real Live Preacher) Atkinson said some very nice things about my writing when he emailed to say I was now one of the “cool kids” in the new Christian Century Blog Network. Man, I hope they don’t find out I’m not all I’m cracked up to be… I’m mostly just cracked up. A link here should appear there shortly. There are some really good people on the list, including Paul Soupiset, Chuck Warnock, Sarah Dylan Breuer, and of course, RLP Himself and several others. I’m honoured to be included.

Also new around here when you visit and see how I’ve rearranged the furniture for now is a donation button in the sidebar… and, of course, a new begging page where I explain why you might want to send me a few of your hard-earned (or easily-come-by, I’m not fussy) dollars or rubles or rupees or pounds or euro or anything else I can convert and spend. Heck, you can even send me your gold dust and Babe Ruth Rookie Cards… shoot me a note and I’ll give you an address you can use! ;^) The short version is that as some of you know, I’m starting career number three, this time as a freelance writer. I don’t actually have much of a clientelle, but I do need to start earn more soup money this way, and the thing I would love most in the world (at least at this moment in time) is to have a bit of income from this site so that I could justify at least a few of the hours I sink into it. Please don’t be under any pressure, you’re welcome either way, but if you’ve been blessed by some of my writing, consider donating the price of a beer, the money you’d have spent on a magazine for a good article, or just enough for a can of soup. I’m calling it all soup money, and you’ll see a soup request at the bottom of the posts now, before the comments. As I’m typing this, my wife just literally — coincidentally?? — brought me a cup of soup, complaining that I was too stubborn to eat lunch if she didn’t feed me. I have no comeback for that.

So, let’s do this: everybody go ahead and leave a comment below. If you’re new, say “Hi” and how you found me; if you’ve been reading for a while but not commenting, here’s your chance — I’d love to meet more of the “lurkers.” If you’re part of the woodwork already, leave me a comment to say “hey” to everyone else and to make sure you’re comment-friendly on the site (see above). After that, we’ll all toast the incoming year and start looking forward to Advent… and a bunch of other subjects I want to try and hit over the next week or two. Or we could talk about soup… what’s your favorite?