Hiatus

Since Labor Day weekend, I've been plagued by personal problems I cannot explain here for the sake of privacy.  I persevered posting on this blog for as long as I could, but when it became apparent that what started out as a terrible weekend would not just grow into a terrible week but likely a terrible two-week period - or "fortnight," "as the Brits call it - I decided it was too much.  I'm taking a break from this blog, and I am probably going to stay off until this Thursday (September 15), at least.

I need to clear my head and possible a few other things in my life.  I feel exhausted even as I type this.  Don't worry, I'll be back in time for a new Music Video Of the Week, as well as extended commentary on the transition from Queen Elizabeth II to King Charles III.  (Not to mention Mar-a-Lago, so I won't!)

Take care for now . . .  

Hiatus Announcement

This should come as no surprise, since I'm in the path of Tropical Storm Isaias (which fortunately got demoted from Category 1 hurricane status), but I am putting my blog on hiatus for a few days.  Even if I don't lose power, I won't likely be back until next week because, quite frankly, I'm emotionally exhausted by everything that's happened in the past five months and everything that could happen in the coming - dare I say it? - year.  (That is, through next August.)

I had actually worried about a hurricane hitting this area in the fall, and given the prediction from the almanacs and the overactive Atlantic hurricane season, and that could actually still happen.  But I didn't anticipate a storm like this coming so soon in the year.  Perhaps the best thing about Isaias, apart from the fact that it's not a major hurricane, is that it will be out of here sooner than expected.  Forecasts now predict that it will be out of the Greater New York City area by five o'clock this afternoon and we could actually have some sunny skies around dinnertime.  Will my power stay on?  I don't know, but it's 50-50 right now.  This storm is not unlike Irene in 2011, and my household got through that without a scratch.  Some of my neighbors weren't so lucky, as trees of theirs that were standing the week before Irene were horizontal the day after.

My Music Video of the Week feature will still publish automatically in case of a power outage; I'm moving the videos to posts on the main page rather than changing them on the separate Music Video Of the Week page.  If I have power as of Friday, August 7, my Music Video Of the Week page will be reactivated.  Whatever happens, I hope to be back soon, as in this coming Monday. Wish me luck.    

Hiatus Announcement

I am not going to post on this blog between now and this coming Friday, as I have to spend more time on other writing projects this week, so I'm going to be very busy very soon.

Besides, I need a break from writing commentary about current events for awhile.  I keep trying to spend less time on the Internet, and I still can't seem to cut my screen time.  Rest assured, my Music of the Week feature will be updated as scheduled, and I hope to have some commentary on the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies by the weekend.  I just hope nothing big happens this week - although, given the ongoing crises in Britain and Venezuela, who knows.  

This is not an April Fool's joke.  I'm currently in a mood where nothing is a laughing matter.  See you all soon.         

Hiatus Time!

I'm worn out from my Olympic commentary, as always, though I didn't go all out like I did during the 2012  London Games.  Except for a new Music Video Of the Week this coming Friday, I won't post here again until August 31 at the earliest.  Besides, I have yet another project to finish to bring this blog up to speed.

Here's the thing.  While I said I was not going to add labels to all the posts that I never did label, I had to go back to the posts I did label between February 2009, when I first started using labels, and April 2012, when I stopped.  I stopped because, in April 2012,  Blogger.com redesigned its site, and as a result it could no longer support Internet Explorer 8, my preferred Internet browser at the time. So I had to download Google Chrome, a browser that, non-coincidentally, Google-owned Blogger.com could support.  Part of the redesign of Blogger.com included a requirement to separate labels with commas rather than separate them with quotation marks, as I'd been doing.  But in using commas, I found that the labels were being automatically posted in alphabetical order, which isn't always necessarily the order I placed them in or wanted them in.  As I thus had no control over the order of my labels, I decided not to post labels any more.  But my friend Clarisel said I should, in order to draw more eyes to my blog.  So I resumed using labels this month.

But here's the problem; the labels I had separated with quotation marks between February 2009 and April 2012 were not automatically separated by commas after Blogger.com made the change from separation by quotation marks.  So, a blog post with, say, ten labels before that change suddenly had one long, run-on label instead.  Does that mean I have to separate the old labels with commas myself?  You got it, pal!

So that's what I'll be doing between now and when I get back, and maybe some time after.  I hope to have this all done before Labor Day.  

Weekend Hiatus

It's already November 4, and I've done nothing on this blog this month so far but report that I'm back online, I'm back offline, and I'm, as of now, back online again.  Power was restored to my house yet again after a second blackout struck yesterday morning.

I suppose I should get back up to speed and comment on Herman Cain's campaign follies, everything Congress is not doing to help the economy, and all that rot.  The truth is, I'm pretty much emotionally and physically spent after the events of the week just passed, so, since tomorrow is my birthday, I'm going to take the weekend off from blogging.  I'll give everyone the gory details of what happened during the storm in a post on Monday, then I'll try to catch up to commenting on the news.  But for now, I need a break. 

In the meantime, enjoy my latest Music Video Of the Week.