A change is gonna come

I was going to call this post "ch-ch-ch-changes" and put up a picture of David Bowie, but then I remembered - I've already done that.

So, instead, I used the title of a Sam Cooke song. Clever, no?

No?

Well.

As you can see, I've made a couple of changes. I was inspired by some changes that are happening at work today, and which I'm still trying to process.

The first you'll notice is the layout; yes, I'm talented at the "copy and paste" method of blog updating.

The second thing you'll notice is the "Swidget."

(It's that great big square thing over there on the sidebar. Please, if you know some html hack I can use to get that thing to shrink, for the love of Pete, let me know! I'm a mere mortal and not privy to that sort of know-how.)

I've signed up with Swagbucks and, while I haven't redeemed any yet, I'm really, really close to being able to do so! And they've got lots of cool stuff, just for searching! And if you click that Swidget and sign up from here, I get more!

Swagbucks is a search engine, powered by Google, which randomly chooses to give you rewards points for using it. You can then trade those points in for oodles of different things - mp3s, gift cards, and lots more.

Though I haven't gotten any prizes, I promise it's legit. I know people who have! Seriously! And I'm having even more fun with these things called "swagcodes" that they have "hunts" for. The other night, during the NBA finals, they hid FIVE codes on their site. FIVE! It was only good during half time (the codes all have time limits) and I actually had fun figuring out the clues to find the codes.

(I am SUCH a dork.)

If you sign up with Swagbucks on Twitter or Facebook, you get all sorts of neat information - like when there's a swag code! They also have a program called Twitter Tuesday Phrase that Pays, and if they pick your tweet, you win 50 Swagbucks!

Sweet!

I've also gotten around to finally changing the "What I'm Reading" button over there. I love Lillian Jackson Braun's books - they make me want to live the life of the main character, in a quaint little town, with plenty of money from an inheritance, and a couple of Siamese cats.

Living in a converted barn, and writing a column for the local paper - no crime stories, no angry public officials. That would be the life!

I've made a couple more changes to Anna Marie's room too, but - I kinda ordered a little custom canvas wall thing for her room. It'll only be about $10, and it's by a local artist! I've just got a little more tweaking to do before I'm ready to reveal her room.

Tweaking. I guess that's what I should have called today's activity. TWEAKING.

A tweak here. A tweak there.

Add it up, and a change is gonna come.