I just got off the phone from a friend who needs to design a web page. I suggested that he do it himself. It seems anyone who is out of work fancies themselves a web page designer. I get asked quite often about designing web pages and the best way to go about it. Since I am a programmer and don’t care how a page looks, it is not like I am losing any business by helping these people.

Lately I have been steering people towards the FREE Microsoft Sharepoint Designer software. This is Microsoft’s replacement for Front Page, the software responsible for so many very bad websites. Sharepoint Designer is easy to use and those used to other MS products will be comfortable using its interface. It is also very powerful and will let more sophisticated users add all the tweaks and styles that they want.

Best, it is free, so everyone can have a copy and produce ugly webpages and then call me to write the back end software.

SharePoint Designer Home Page – Microsoft Office Online.

My Dad could be sarcastic, but he almost never used foul language. Other than that, I like this twitter feed. It reminds me of my Dad.

Justin (****mydadsays) on Twitter.

I’ve learned not to make too much out of new year’s resolutions. Last year I wanted to take some courses, but that was a bust. The course I did take was a total waste of time. I would like to take an evening computer course, so I will do some research over the next few weeks.

I have lots of projects that I want to do in the coming year, but I would work on these projects without having to make a resolution. I will be upgrading blogs, starting new websites and writing stories. I have a new Flip Ultra HD video cam and I want to record some tutorials using it.

In 2009, the weather was bad and I did not walk much. The bus commute made my schedule very rigid, so I did not get up early and walk. I want to start that up as soon as the weather starts to get better. In April I want to go to bed earlier and get up early enough to walk around the lake again. I liked that. If I don’t get up early, I will drive over there after work and walk, but either way I want to walk at least three miles a day this spring.

I’ll check on new year’s eve 2010 and see how I’ve done. 1) Walk. 2) Take a course. 3) Record Tutorials. 4) Follow up on new projects (Harp recording project and Robotic Website).

Odds are I will never get to any of these. I’ve had similar resolutions for as long as I have been writing them down.

I recently read a list of best fantasy series and I was surprised that they left out some of the best fantasy ever written.

I an not trying to say the books on the other list are bad, but they did leave out most of my favorites. I can only conclude that the blogger has not read all that much. We only agree on one series.

Here’s my alternate list.

10) The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Very good series of Fantasy novels featuring rich settings, very real characters and (almost) believable world building.

9) The Fairy Books, by Andrew Lang
Like the Arthur romances, fairy tales are one of the main sources for modern fantasy. Lang has collected a wonderful assortment in his books.

8 ) The Once and Future King, by T. H. White
The Arthurian cycle is the basis for what we call fantasy, and T. H. White’s version is richly done with three dimensional characters and a grand treatment.

7) Biography of Manuel by James Branch Cabell
Lushly written, this series, the descendants of Cabell’s Jurgen fantasy farce, are subtle and sometimes difficult, but well worth reading. The plots, characters and settings are distinctly Fantasy. I am a fan of Cabell’s rich musical style of writing.

6) Witch World Series by Andre Norton
Much of modern fantasy has been influenced by Norton’s seminal Witch World books. The first three or four books are wonderful, but Norton became a brand name late in her life and much of what appeared under her name she did not actually write, so avoid the later books.

5) The Martian Novels, By Edgar Rice Burroughs
Better than Burroughs’ Tarzan novels, the Barsoom stories are pure fantasy, in spite of taking place on another planet.

4) Conan, By Robert E. Howard
Somewhat dated, but some of the best action adventure stories ever written, full of magic, gods, and blood.

3) Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber
These stories have wit and adventure. I read and then reread them.

2) The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
Written for children, but loved by adults. Aside from a little too much Christian based allegory, some of the best fantasy stories ever written. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is one of my favorite books of all time.

1) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Best plot, best characters, best writing – best bar none.

From Saturday at the Graham homestead (Mom’s House).

I tested out the Flip video by going back and checking on the bees. It was too cold to open the boxes.

Christmas Day Bees from Keith Graham on Vimeo.

I saw this on the Westchester County eBay site. It is a locked safe. Someone has bid $5. It is probably full of money. I would bid on it if I were you, and then crack the lock.

SAFE – eBay (item 330389365738 end time Dec-30-09 05:47:01 PST)

There are parts of my websites that I haven’t seen for years. I went to send one of SF Christmas Cards and the site did not work. I upgraded to PHP5 and never tested it.

It took a few minutes but I found the problem and had to make changes to 5 programs to get the images to display. I’ve got it working now, but I have to read up on how to embed the image in the email rather than send it as an attachment – maybe next year.

The poker boys wore their Santa Suits to poker last night.

Jim and I had suits. Robert IS Santa with his long white beard, but he just wore was his Santa cap, no red suit. John wore a tickle me Elmo hat with antlers.

When Polly and Stella came home, we all started Ho-Ho-Ho-ing and got the girls laughing so hard that they could hardly stand. Every time they came back into the room we started up again. Too bad I didn’t bring a camera.