Received an email from a concerned reader yesterday:

Hannah is, of course, referring to this post from a couple of days ago.

I’m not sure what surprises me more: the fact that I received a complaint, or the fact that I have a reader who isn’t one of my friends, and is in fact a complete stranger.

Very politely, I pointed out to her that while I didn’t throw up an NSFW tag anywhere in that post, I did mention that the picture showed “the teeth/mouth apparatus that are mounted into the jaws of Real Dolls, those life-like sex dolls that so creep me the fuck out.” One would think that if I say an image is one of a group depicting the construction of sex dolls, then the NSFW would be implied.

So let me spell it out now.

JOSHUA BALES dot NET is occasionally not safe for work.

If you are worried about getting in trouble at work for looking at something that could be considered inappropriate, then maybe you should not view this site until you get home.

Of course, I don’t plan on this blog turning into some sort of goatse or lemonparty linkblog. I don’t hate you that much, gentle reader. However, on occasion I do post stuff which could be frowned upon if viewed at a more conservative workplace, and when I do post such content, I don’t generally preface it by saying it’s not safe for work.

That being said, anything I do post that might be considered NSFW will almost always be phrased so as to clue the reader in to the fact, such as with the sex doll example above.

I mean, it’s not like I’m going to say, “Hey! Look at this picture of a cute cat,” and then link to a picture of a giant penis.

Though that would be funny.

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(This is for part of Technorati’s verification process.)

There we go: just finished porting the blog and everything from joshbales.net to its new home at joshuabales.net.

I had the opportunity to buy the joshuabales.net domain last month for one dollar, so I did. GoDaddy had some sort of sale going on so I thought I’d nab it before some other rapscallion Josh(ua) Bales came up with the idea. Then I thought to myself, Self, now that we own this lovely domain, why not make it our new home on the Web? After all, it might help differentiate us from that other Josh Bales.

And here we are.

If you’re like me and are too lazy to edit your bookmark and add an “ua” to the URL, no need to fret. You can still reach this blog via joshbales.net; it’s forwarded to joshuabales.net, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. I don’t ever intend to give up the rights to my venerable domain. And should anyone else ever decide that they want to own it, well . . . I’ll give it up when ICAAN takes it from my cold, dead hands.

One last thing: as I’m sure you’ve noticed, this joint has a new look to it. Per what has become my semi-annual tradition, I spent the last couple of weeks redesigning the theme. I like it. The minimalist theme suits me.

What do you think?

Quickly, a few admin notes:

1) Nate is blogging again, this time at Under the Thinly Veiled Guise of Sanity. It’s blogging for the depressed, by the depressed. And it’s pretty damn funny. Check it out.

2) I imported all of my old archives, so now the the engine’s tentacles reach back to October 2002. I’m in the progress of updating some of the categorization, but you can still check any and all of them out.

3) I joined Twitter. Been meaning to for a while now, but just have never gotten around to it until today. There’s not much there, but stay tuned because I suspect it’s all that will get me through the workday for the near future.

You may have noticed there is a new skin up. Things may consequently be glitchy for a little bit. If you discover any errors or have any suggestions, please point them out to me in the comments. I’m sure most of you will have no problem with this directive.

JAB

It’s done.

At long fucking last it’s done.

It’s safe to say that I’ve put more work into building this son of a bitch than I have since when I first sat down six years ago and thought, Huh. How about I make a blog? Perhaps that will finally satisfy these narcissistic tendencies I’ve been experienceing. Then I probably turned on the TV and thought, I dunno, what the fuck is “American Idol,” ’cause this was way back in 2002.

But I digress.

This “theme” (Gods, how I still hate that word) looks somewhat different than it did a few days ago. Someone in the peanut gallery remarked that the chosen color scheme made it look like “the pentecostal Christian affiliate of NAMBLA,” or something to that effect. Though a jackass remark, it did serve to make me realize something I was feeling but hadn’t yet externalized: I didn’t like the color scheme either. So a few hours of work later, and the site is no longer just some tarted up Catholic schoolgirl to whom I told sweet lies so that it would sleep with me; now I feel genuine affection towards it.

Thusly, here is the new color scheme; indeed, the new incarnation of JOSH BALES dot NET.

Hopefully it won’t suck.

JAB

Perseverance, aided by half a bottle of vodka, and here I am, having finally figured out WordPress themes. The main page looks pretty much the way it should, with a few small tweaks needed here and there. The other pages . . . not so much. They’re completely functional as far as I know, but the code needs some tinkering. Nothing major, but at two in the morning I just couldn’t move myself to give a shit about it.

Semi-regular posting and actual content will commence in the near future.

So . . . how’s everyone been?

JAB

Oh. Hello there. I didn’t see you come in.

Blogging will recommence in the short future, once I figure out how to make a WordPress “theme,” which I despise having to do. Movable Type, despite its many sundry flaws that made me stop using it, I at least understood how the templates work. Very slowly I’m beginning to understand how WordPress’s works, but it may take some time. I do have a new layout, and it is pretty nifty. Or gay. Possibly both. I’ll leave you to decide when it finally is up and running.

In the meantime, you stay classy, San Diego.

JAB

Celebrated the third birthday of JOSH BALES dot NET yesterday with Nate and his dad at the Seoul House, this Korean dive near Fairborn. Nate’s dad brought little party hats for us to wear, while we drank sake and sang karaoke, which mostly consisted of Korean pop hits. It was pretty sweet.

Okay, I’m fibbing slightly.

We didn’t actually drink sake, or sing karaoke versions of Korean pop songs . . . or do karaoke at all, really. And we weren’t there to celebrate JBdN’s birthday, though that did fall on yesterday. Honestly, I’m not sure if there was even an occasion behind us going to the Seoul House, other than to be badasses and pick up chicks. Maybe it was for Nate’s birthday. I dunno. I’m sure if he does know, Mister Valentine will undoubtedly chime in with his usual mixture of wit and cockery.

So . . . I guess I was really just lying during the entire first paragraph, except for the parts about going to the Seoul House and it being pretty sweet. Though the food was indeed delicious: a spicy beef melange called boolgogi served with the most flavorful white rice. And the restaurant/bar really was a dive. It was nice, and I liked it quite a bit, but it was a little rundown. Places like that appeal to me, though — especially when said places are bars. They’re more . . . interesting. Why I enjoyed New Orleans so much, I suppose.

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this shit — this particular shit I’m referring to being blogging, of course — for over four years now. Every few months I always tell myself, “Self, I think I’m going to quite blogging real soon. Perhaps I’ll take up golf, or join the Model T Ford Club International (MTFCI) and race very, very slowly on the weekends.” But I never do (quit blogging, that is — I will race Model Ts one day, by God), and probably never will. I’m so used to to doing it that not doing it would just be . . . bizarre. Plus, I’m really lazy.

And that’s the kind of attitude that kept me at Wal-Mart for five years. At least I’m consistent.

JAB

New layout time, 98% bug-free. Whadja think?

JAB