Blog Housekeeping

Ok, now that I'm (semi-) underway, I've made a couple of subtle changes to the blog, and am contemplating a larger one.

1. Astute GSRED readers may already have noticed a new heading in the sidebar to the right, titled "Last Known Location". As you might expect, this lists my last known location on the globe. Or, to be more accurate, the last place I was when I remembered to update the was place I was.


2. Particularly astute GSRED readers may have noticed that the map in the sidebar is now showing a sporty new RED line, AND it's centred on my Last Known Location, instead of being stuck hovering over Winnipeg. I decided to leave the original blue line, because it was kind of a pain to build in the first place, and because I thought it might be nice to see what I thought would happen, compared to the red line which, of course, represents what has actually happened.

3. Astoundingly astute GSRED readers may even have noticed that the countdown clock skipped beat a little while ago, since I revised it to reflect my actual departure time from the Calgary airport, en route to Chicago, and then connecting to London Heathrow! I've left it in local time, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out what it would be in GMT.

4. Finally, once I actually arrive in London and have a chance to get online, I'll adjust the countdown clock so it will start counting up, adding up the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds I've been traveling.

Now for the other possible change I'm considering: Twitter. Those of you on Facebook may have noticed that I haven't updated my status since, er... January... so maybe I shouldn't be adding to my online To Do list, but it seems like Twitter may be a Useful Thing. A few people have commented that one of the good things about the blog will be that when they see new post, they'll know that I'm ok. However, there may be long stretches of time when I'm not able to post anything new (23-day overland tour through Africa, anyone?). However, I can update Twitter with a text message on my cell phone, which I plan to keep active by buying local SIM cards as I travel.


I think I can add a Twitter window to the sidebar of the blog so that even if there isn't a new post, there might be a quick 140 character update to satiate the addicts in the crowd, if only briefly. The trick will be in finding a gadget for the blog that doesn't ruin the lovely asthetic we've got going on here, and that I can implement without Phonella standing over my shoulder coaching me through it.

I've gone ahead and created a Twitter account, called "goseeruneatdrnk". Note at the "i" in "drink" is missing, because Twitter will not allow a 16-character account name. That was almost enough to make me scrap the whole plan...

So what do you think? Should I tweet, or should I just go have fun and let you guys stew between posts? Comments, please.