Oh, hello!
Been a while hasn’t it? More than 4 months if you’re counting. Where have I been? Well, I’ll get to that. First off, that elephant is in the room again…
A new blog!
Do you like it? New layout, new header, new front page.. I just love that new blog smell. And it’s not even the site’s birthda… wait, that’s this week! Look at that, it’s almost like I planned this….
Yup, a few days short of 2 years ago I started blogging on The Man, The Chef, The Dad, and this would be the third time I change the look and layout. That’s just craziness.
Speaking of the look and layout, I’m sorry to anyone who was greeted with a broken down TARDIS if you tried to visit my blog from Feb 26 to now.
I had been working on the rebranding of my blog off and on for a few weeks, but I was doing it under a test URL. When I was finally ready to switch the address with this one, despite the what felt like hours of YouTube videos I watched, I still managed to royally mess up everything. I was insanely lucky to have enough common sense to have a back up of this blog because if I didn’t then I don’t know what I would have done. Besides cry for days, of course.
Anyway, I decided to put up the broken TARDIS and just work on it every spare minute that I got. it took me a week (my spare minutes come far and few between), but I’m finally here. And I have to admit, I’m glad I messed things up because I’m loving this blog a lot better than the way I was originally going to launch it. It’s funny how things work sometimes, isn’t it?
To get back on track, if you’ve been around for these 2 years then you’re probably wondering why I change my blog like I change my underwear. Well the last 2 times were requirements, this time it was because I wanted a change.
The blog, not my underwear. Pay attention.
I wanted a change because I’m finally going to be utilizing the name of this site.
That’s right, I’m going to be talking about the things I like that don’t have to do with the kitchen (The Man), continuing with the food and recipes (The Chef) and giving insight into my current profession as a Domestic Engineer (The Dad).
Oh the horror! That’s like 3 blogs in one! When I haven’t posted in this one blog in months. Well I’m looking forward to the change and how it’s going to be freshening things up a bit. If you don’t and rather just keep things strictly food then worry not, I’m trying to make it extremely easy for you to do so. Let’s take a tour, shall we?
- If you haven’t already seen it, click on my spiffy new header and it’ll take you to the front page. There you’ll scroll down and see a slideshow of my recent posts and under that, the 3 sections of my header split up. Just click on whichever side of me you’d like to visit and boom you’re there. You can also access them in the menu directly beneath the header, or on the menu bar that awesomely hangs out on the top of the page when you scroll down.
- Also for all you old schoolers – on the top menu bar (and the footer) you’ll find the RSS feeds for each individual section of my blog. So you can subscribe via RSS to only food stuff, or only dad stuff, or all of it. The choice is yours because I’m a nice guy.
- New schoolers – your subscribing options are on the sidebar in the form of Feedly and Bloglovin’ buttons. Below that, you can also subscribe via email where you can again choose which section you’d like to follow.
In other words… You have absolutely NO excuse to not follow me. Seriously, I gave you like 20 options.
- About the sections, you’ll probably notice the headers and how different they are for each section. It’s an idea that a friend of mine Jenn Bauguss recommended to me back when I was redesigning the blog. No, not this time, the other time. Or.. the other, other ti.. never mind. Using collages to represent each aspect of the site tells a story all on their own. The pictures represent who I am and what I like and they’re definitely my favorite version of the site’s header yet. Thanks Jenn!
- Another change is the integration of my personal social media accounts.
That’s right! I’ll no longer be using @_Papa_Chef on Twitter or +Los Perez on Google+. I’ll still keep them just in case, but they won’t be updated. Why? I’m glad you asked.
Before, I was using Twitter and Google+ accounts that were specifically for my blog. I really liked keeping it separate because I know not everyone who follows me would appreciate blog updates and the other posts that came with them. But the problem with that was I really wasn’t using the accounts. They would be used for every blog update but I always found it a hassle to switch from one account to the other just to post something. Then came then feeling of leaving others out of a conversation because they’re not following me on the other name, it was just one big pain. So I went ahead and connected my personal Twitter account (The1llusiveMan) and my Google+ account (+Papa Los) to the site. So far, I have to say I really really like the change. This way you’re getting all of me, who I am and what I’m saying. As oppose to what I was saying on my other accounts which was nearly nothing. And that’s my new initiative with this, to try and connect my blog and its followers with who I am, not just Los the food blogger. Plus it doesn’t look like I’m ignoring my blog which seems to happen from between posts.
- The links to my social media sites – Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and tumblr – can all be easily found on the right side of your screen, floating around just like the top menu bar as you scroll up and down.
- A few other changes on the sidebar are the inclusions of my Instagram feed (which wouldn’t have been possible if I kept my other accounts – see how this is better for everyone?)
- Also you’ll see a few new ways to show off recent posts and seasonal posts. Those change with every section so hopefully when it works it’ll show you recent posts pertaining to what you’re looking at. I know, it’s like I thought of everything.
- Then below the ways to subscribe you’ll find the tag cloud. Now be warned.. I’ve already lost a few hours of my life just sitting there staring at the tag cloud in motion. Then I accidentally saw what happens when you scroll on it and lost another hour. Use is only recommended for the strong willed.
The changes aren’t only in the sidebar. You’ll notice a few things in the main post area too.
- I’m sure the first thing you noticed is my fancy new music player. Yes, that thing you were searching frantically for as soon as the page loaded so you could turn it off. See, at least I was considerate enough to put it at the top in plain sight! All I needed was some stuttering firework graphics and it would’ve been like the glory days of Myspace all over again. I won’t always have the player set to autoplay so don’t get too nostalgic and expect to see who’s in my Top 8 with every new post I publish. But when the song is an important part of the post I’ll probably turn it on. Or when I feel you need to be taught a lesson. But if you do see a music player in that spot, don’t be shy, go ahead and click on it to see what it has in store, if only for a few seconds. If I do have a song on a post, all the way at the bottom you’ll find a link to Amazon where you could buy it.
- After you turned off the music player you probably got a chance to catch the little Evernote elephant just under the post title. If you’re an Evernote user you’ll learn to love that little button because it will send the blog post directly to a notebook of your choosing. Cool, right?! Why doesn’t every blog have this?? And it’s right at the top, convenient if you don’t have time to go scrolling down looking for it. It’s ok, you can thank me later. If you’re not an Evernote user, it’s a great service, you really should check it out.
- Scrolling all the way to the end of the post before the comment section you’ll find 4 posts that relate to the one you’re viewing. So if it works, and you’re viewing a post about a pie, then those related links should be the top 4 pie posts I’ve done. I’m just trying to look out for you and your interests, I hope that’s obvious.
- Lastly, if you’re anywhere but the top of the page, you’ll notice a little arrow all the way on the bottom right corner. Click that and it’ll shoot you like an elevator back to the top of the page. You’re welcome.
I think those are the biggest changes to the site. Overall, I’m happy to finally get back on the ball and start posting about food again, but I’m also extremely excited to post about other stuff too.
This may sound cheesy but I thank all those who have supported me in the past 2 years. Also I’d like to thank my internet buds who I go to for advice and the few who never stopped visiting and commenting on my posts – you all know who you are. And of course I thank my amazing wife with her kick ass career that allows me to stay home and tend to the needs of kids all day long which is a lot more glorious that it sounds. And I thank my mother because.. well, she’s my mom and everyone should thank their mom.
I look forward to writing again and getting my thoughts out there. But as for now, since I’ve been busy as heck over the last few weeks trying to get this site up and running again, I’m going to take a week off and finish playing A Link Between Worlds. I’ve earned it!
