News & Updates in December 2007

Fixed a problem in the forum where the birthdate fields would be lost upon registration, thus requiring the user to input it again once they logged in for the first time. Changed the feedback page so that there is no longer an intermediate page between the initial feedback page and the actual page with the contact form.

Posted the character profile of Sakura Sakurada (from Mezzo: Danger Service Agency).

Posted my review of Sonic Underground.

Implemented new pop-up information bubbles. These new pop-up bubbles can handle more text than the previous ones, plus HTML like bold, italics, and even links. Also, they can be made to stay open while the mouse cursor is over them so that you can do things such as select text and click on links.

Posted my review of National Treasure (Two-Disc Collector's Edition).

Posted the anime profiles of Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles. Posted the character profiles of Hidan (from Naruto), Yugao Uzuki (from Naruto), Li-en (from Zatch Bell).

Posted the character profiles of Yukino Hojo (from Gate Keepers), Kaoru Konoe (from Gate Keepers), Ty Lee (from Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Whelp, yesterday morning was the end of my 10-day Amoxicillin & Clavulanate antibiotic treatment. They worked great at clearing up whatever it was that I had. Of course, they also worked great at keeping me nearby a toilet at all time. I seriously hope none of you have to go through that! After reading the side effects, I now know that they are also the reason I had little energy. But all that's finally over with, and I'm back to my normal, cheery self.

Oh, and I found out yesterday that my chiropractic visits have been seriously paying off, so now rather than going twice a week I only have to go once every two weeks! W00t! Yes, I visit a chiropractor. Bad poster in high school followed by years of slumping over a computer literally got me bent out of shape. So let this be a lesson to all you young whippersnappers out there... DON'T SLOUCH! You don't want to have to go through this torture later in life; not to mention it ain't cheap! You'll need a lot of talent or a lot of luck to find a job that has good enough insurance to cover the cost.

Posted the character profile of Pip Bernadotte (from Hellsing Ultimate).

Posted my review of Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (Two-Disc Collector's Edition).

As you may or may not be aware, three weeks ago I fell sick. Towards the end of that first week, I felt much better, except for a nagging sore throat and cough. Unfortunately, that was but a calm before another store. When Saturday rolled around, I again fell to sickness, as all my previous symptoms returned with a vengeance. After another week of suffering, I once again began to feel my old self emerging. My symptoms all still remained, they were just not as potent. In fact, I was even able to go see The Mist in the theater with my wife and her mother, who was visiting for the weekend. I only had two cough drops on me, so thankfully I only came close to coughing fits twice in the theater. Had a third reared its ugly head, I would have had to excuse myself and miss a bunch of people going crazy in a supermarket.

Anyway, so this past Saturday marked week three. Despite having consistently been taking vitamin C, I still had a little congestion, a minor cough, and a sore throat. By now it was obvious what I had was bacterial, not viral, so I headed to the medical clinic where I got me some antibiotics. Lucky me, now I look forward to ten days of killing all bacteria inside me, good and bad. Definitely something I would have liked to avoid, but I guess sometimes you just aren't given much of a choice. But hopefully now I'll start feeling better so I can get my butt back in the computer chair and start updating the website.

If you've visited Absolute Anime recently, you'll notice that every update in November has been some DVD review. Since I was sick, I spent a lot of time cuddled up vegging on TV. Thank you, SpongeBob, for making it just a bit more bearable! Taking care of emails and adding new profiles can be a headache, so I avoided those tasks. But that's not the only reason for my lack of updates this month. I've also been working on creating a new, redesigned website for my dad's non-profit group called the McCune Committee. Currently, it's just located in a subdirectory on Absolute Anime called McCuneCollection.org.

It's a simple design, as is pretty much any site I layout. The original site was a single page, so my dad and I have put in a lot of effort this month building it up into something that can really showcase the McCune Collection. I also put in the effort to make it valid XHTML1.0, which was quite a pain. So far the only page that doesn't validate is the one where I use an Iframe to display a Google map, since Iframe tags aren't allowed. The Object tags are supposed to be used in their place, but of course that doesn't work with Internet Explorer. I could use JavaScript to put the Iframe in place, but really, that's retarded; validation just isn't that important.