fly fishing blog
This is the last Thursday night I’m going to have my arse growing roots into the chair in front of my computer, frantically trying to make up compose some sort of eloquent prose filler material for a fly fishing blog. Because of my self-induced Friday deadlines, you can imagine the quality programming I’ve missed on Thursday nights for the past year and a half. Good hell, I have lost touch what is going on over at Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice! It’s time I got myself a life. Time I spent some time with my wife, sitting three feet apart, watching television and texting each other on our iPhones (“Get me some popcorn, woman–and a beer!”…”LOL like that’s going to happen.”). The foundation of a strong marriage lies in the quality time spent together. I seek more of that quality, at last on Thursday nights.
No, I am not retiring. Again. Believe you me, I would not put you through that, again. However, the winds of change are a-blowin’ and we all know that wind is not the fly angler’s friend. And frankly sometimes change is bad. That being said I assure you the wind is not the howling gale that blows a drift boat upstream in the Yakima Canyon, nor should the change cause any angst. It may just in fact be a nice cooling breeze, so sit back and relax. Think about fishing, or something else.
All that’s happening is that the Weekly Drivel® of the Unaccomplished Angler is moving to the middle of the week…smack dab on the hump. You know, Wednesdays. It’s not a big deal (and no, as tempting as it may be it will not become known as the Weekly Hump®). While the changes should be virtually invisible, I do realize that most of you plan your weeks around the Drivel®, intentionally leaving a gap in your Friday schedules so that you can read the UA when new material is posted each week. I apologize for the inconvenience, but remember– just because it’s coming out on Wednesday doesn’t mean you have to read it right away. You can continue to read it on Fridays. It’ll just be like a two day-old fish by then. That was left out on the counter. During the heat of summer.
So, I’ll see you all next Wednesday. And Mrs. UA – get the popcorn ready on Thursday night. I’ll send you a text as a reminder.
PS- My friend Derek Young was just honored as the 2011 Guide of the Year at the Orvis Outfitters and Guide Rendezvous in Bozeman. Congrats, Derek, on a well-deserved award. Now get a hair cut.
I was recently informed by The Outdooress herself, a fellow blogger of all things fly fishing, that there were some things about The Unaccomplished Angler that were bothering her.
“Oh? Do tell…” I replied, standing with arms crossed and brow furrowed.
She went on to tell me that my blog was in need of some help.
Being insecure, naturally I lashed out in defense of my writing:
“Oh yeah? Well I’ve been told I write pretty good, and anyway – you’re stupider!”
After discovering that what she meant was not a frontal assault on my writing, but rather an observation from a technical standpoint that my blog had some shortcomings, I apologized for my abrupt retort. She accepted my apology and went on to calmly tell me about outdated versions of this and that and unavailable plugins and blocked permissions and broken RSS feeds and a whole laundry list of stuff that made me glaze over. As she rambled on in a manner that attested to the passion she has for tinkering under the hoods of websites, I began to go numb: I felt like a high school senior during their last week of Greek Mythology class. Admittedly I don’t have, or desire to learn about, the technical intricacies of tweaking and fine tuning the behind-the-scenes stuff that make blogs more effective in reaching their intended audience. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and all that goes into captitalizing on a blog’s performance therein is all Greek to me. In my case, ignorance may have been bliss or a while, until one day when neglect eventually caught up to me and my blog imploded, leaving me with no recourse other than to walk away from the smoldering pile, never to look back on a brief career as a blogger.
Thankfully Rebecca not only pointed out the problems brewing, but more importantly she provided solutions. After a couple of days of troubleshooting and turning wrenches, which was likely more than she bargained for, The Unaccomplished Angler is now a finely tuned, souped-up, muscle car of a blog, ready to deliver mind-bending 1/4 mile performance, and optimal efficiency.
Think of it like a ’71 Plymouth 440 Hemi Cuda…
…with the mpg’s of a Toyota Prius.
At least under the hood. On the outside, it still looks like ’76 AMC Gremlin.
So, what does this mean for you, the loyal follower of The Unaccomplished Angler? Absolutely nothing. And that’s the way it should be. But for good measure, buckle up and hold on – I’m not sure myself what to expect.
Many thanks to The Outdooress – blogger, fly angler, and blog technician extraordinaire. I recommend that if you’re at all like me insomuch as you started a blog because you like to write and don’t know or care about what’s under the hood, give Rebecca a shout-out. She’s like your blog mechanic who can improve your air intake system, install headers and a free-flow exhaust and a performance chip so you get optimal performance out of your site. Heck, your blog may only need a new set of wiper blades and a quart of oil – so why risk poor visibility and a potential meltdown when The Blog Mechanic is only a click away?