I've been a TypePad user for a number of years. I'd signed up once before and later canceled my account and then came back to TypePad again. Now I have three blogs through the service. Yes, I pay for the privilege to blog.

With the popularity of free services such as Wordpress and Blogger, paying for TypePad may seem like a waste of money. Well, for me, nothing could be further from the truth. The fee for TypePad is actually a convenience fee in that I pay for the simplicity of access to great professional design templates and other features on my blogs. I crave simplicity, ease of use and anything that will save time. Some folks may be so advanced at CSS, HTML, and the like, that simplicity is not an issue for them but I'm not one of those folks.

One of the features that kept me with one of my blogs on Blogger was their ease of navigation that TypePad lacked. Now, with a beta version of TypePad's upgraded features, my readers can navigate from page links at the bottom of each page. That is a small but significant improvement as I am convinced many readers did not avail themselves of blog posts beyond the first page. The navigation upgrade is also available for comments,

Speaking of comments, TypePad allows for comments to be disabled on a post and to be closed. The upgrade allows a global blog feature of closing comments after one week up to one year. You can also subscribe to comments to keep up with conversations that may develop within the comments.

Those are just a few of the features and upgrades on TypePad and I love them. It's important to know that these upgrades are strictly for the users like me that don't use advanced templates or mixed media layout.

Since the TypePad folks also added new design templates, you never know what my blog will look like because it so easy to change to a new template. Anyhoo, I'm loving TypePad again. Now, back to blogging!

Wayne Hicks , the Villager over at Electronic Village honored me with a 'Spread the Love' Award. I've seen these awards on several blogs and I think some folks may take them lightly. Let the record show that I don't. Each and every award I've received has humbled me and served as motivation to keep doing what I do.

As one who started blogging without a plan or a niche or following any of the recommended steps and practices in the blogging process, I am honored when another blogger takes the time to recognize and appreciate what I post here and on my other blogs.

Villager is one of the folks I consider a master blogger. He's always on his game, posts regularly and his blog's flavor is definitely Obama-esque. The Electronic Village is transformative in the knowledge shared and the overarching ambience of unity of all Villagers. He is also one of the bloggers I've featured through my '20 Questions' interviews on my blog 'on the black hand side'.

I probably shouldn't be so honest as to share the fact that much of what my regular readers have enjoyed the most on my blogs were frequently those features and posts that I really hadn't planned. I could pretend it was all planned and I had it going on but that would be a lie. The truth is I listen to my inner voice and allow myself to be led. It's karma, the ancestors and the angels guiding me. For all of the nudges in the right direction I say thank you. For all of you who are subscribers and commenters, I thank you also.

With all that being said, I am spreading the love to Shelia, Invisible Woman, MarvalusOne, Karoli, Paula Neal Mooney and Linda. All of these ladies are shining examples of bloggers who uplift and inform. I am pleased to have them as blogging sisters and wish them many more blog posts to come.

Again, thanks for the love, Villager. Let's keep this train going.

Did you see this jacked up story about a CNN producer who was fired from his job at CNN for blogging. What's that about? The guy did not blog about work but his blog became so popular that he was invited to guest blog for The Huffington Post. Perhaps that was his undoing? I don't know. The New York Times coverage of his termination and his personal blog post gives one reason to pause.

His blog post after he was kicked to the curb was very enlightening and it may have been better for CNN to just reprimand him and not fire him.

Use of the internet on one's personal time is an issue that must be dealt with or there will be more situations like this in the future. Thanks to Matt from A Bowl of Stupid for the heads up.

Blog buddy Linda of Linda's Yoga Journey tagged me, sort of, and I am to name my ten favorite blogs. That's not the easiest task for me to accomplishment because my taste changes daily. So here goes.

1. Skelliewag.org
2. Invisible Woman…Black Cinema at Large
3. Black Tennis Pros
4. Paula Neal Mooney
5. Opinionated Black Woman
6. Bang the Drum
7. Linda's Yoga Journey
8. A Bowl of Stupid
9. Living Life Abundantly
10. Modern Musings

     

I've listed my ten favorites but that's just how I'm feeling today; the list could be different tomorrow. Either way, check them out; I'm sure you'll find a blog to your liking.

A Miami real estate agent lost his job Monday after postings on his blog sparked a $25 million defamation lawsuit by a developer. Yes, $25 million. Read more about it here. Do you think this litigation will spark other lawsuits?

Check out Double Whammy by Raquel Christie at American Journalism Review. It is required reading if you are a journalist or involved in the business side of the media. If the mainstream media does not heed and correct some of the problems highlighted in this piece, traditional media will soon become extinct.

Today is the last day of 2007. It has been some year. I've enjoyed the last week in that we're on break from the office and it allows me time to be with my Mom and take care of family things. Either fortunately or unfortunately, I do miss my job. That must sound crazy, but I do.

I've never worked harder in my life and that's a huge statement for folks that know me. I'm doing what I can to work smarter but some things are just not under my control. I'll do whatever is needed to get my projects finished because I really like my boss. She's so nice that I think I'm dreaming most of the time. This is our last week on break so I must complete several personal tasks over the never six days and then it's on and popping again. I guess I'm really not the housewife type because I really miss the phone calls and e-mails from my co-workers.

Two great things happened today and I'm claiming the same karma in 2008.

First of all, my mom came home today. Well, sort of. The medical transportation service didn't pick her up so my Dad brought her home for a few minutes. They said they waited more than 30 minutes. I know my dad doesn't like to wait for anything, so the transportation is sure to be the recipient of his wrath. Oh, well. I don't have the vocabulary to express what seeing my mom at home and walking did for our family. My dad took her back to the rehab center; I haven't seen him so happy in a long time. My mom may be released sooner than we thought. I know those of you who prayed had a lot to do with her progress. Thank you; I am eternally grateful.

Secondly, I finally found documentation needed that will allow my alumni association to receive a $1,000 donation. Thank you, Jesus. It had been two weeks of searching through boxes, file cabinets and briefcases to find that one little piece of paper. I'd looked in the box several times where I found it but I won't go there. Today was the deadline or we would have been SOL – sho'nuff out of luck. Needless to say, I scanned the document and saved on my computer and a couple of flash drives. I was going to make hard copies also but I thought that might be overkill; I'm trying to live a paperless life as much as possible.

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to 2008. Thank you to everyone that has become my buddy, friend, associate and mentor since I started blogging. I am still having a blast with this and just going with the flow.

Here's to claiming an awesome 2008 for You. At the stroke of midnight, this is from me…

Smooches!

I saw this quiz over at the Electronic Village and decided to give it a go. Oh, my God! I am a blogging addict.

I guess it's time for blogging rehab or that 12-step program.

Give it a try and let us know what you score is.

The last few days have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I didn't realize how much this blog has become a part of my routine until I couldn't get it to function the way it did before. Reading the TypePad Knowledge Base for assistance and other research on the web didn't correct the problem although there were a couple of moments of premature celebration.

I deleted my Veteran's Day post, which I will add back, because I thought that post was the culprit. I also made other adjustments via the 'DNS Manager' on Network Solutions. I still don't have an answer as to why this blog was down and not my other two blogs, also hosted by Network Solutions and using the TypePad platform.

Unfortunately, I think I lost the ability to link to this blog without the 'www' in front of vanessabyers.net. Although the TypePad Knowledge Base indicates that it's not possible to configure am address that way through Network Solutions, I was able to do it with some tweaking and use of webforwarding. Anyhoo, all the links appear to work on this blog again and the photos are back so I'm not doing anything else to the guts of Vanessa:Unplugged!.

I do know that TypePad should reconsider its options for offering support to its customers. The help ticket system only helped me practice my patience lessons. I'm disappointed in my reactions in that I cussed a few times, threw things against the wall and ate a frozen Snickers --- not the ice cream bar, an actual frozen Snickers candy bar. It should not take twelve hours between responses on a help ticket. That's just not good customer service. If the help ticket system is the only option, then the response to the tickets must be faster --- much faster.

I'm not leaving TypePad just yet but I gave it serious consideration. I figured I could switch to WordPress and outsource my blog design and technical assistance for the money I'm paying now. Anyhoo, I'm back in business, I think.

No sooner than I'd written the last post and the blog funkiness returned. I'm really losing my patience. I'm waiting for staff response. I may be calling on my friends that use WordPress or I may go back to Blogger.