Update & Site Update: Back, updated site look, better navigation - v 1.0
Hello again everyone! 
It has been 21 days since my last post. Thank you for waiting. I really appreciate it. As you may have noticed for the past few days, the site was undergoing some changes. I wanted to change the site look before heading on towards the content that the design supports.
2 brief topics in this post:
My trip:
My trip to the south went from being an almost potential disaster to being a successful meeting with Ronald on one end and a missed opportunity to meet Valerie on the other, and a few other things.
I will be posting some details about the events in the next few days, in addition to catching up to a lot of other things from the past also.
Site update:
In addition to being back here, I have implemented some changes around the site as you may have already noticed. I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress and unfortunately, a lot of things broke. I then decided to change the theme all together and find a new one. For the first time in changing history, The Reasoner has entered the version 1 phase in terms of design.
- New visual style
- Different coloring system
- Different, updated navigation
- Different pages have different, unique elements
This change can be considered a little bit of a major change compared to the last update, v 0.95. As of today, not moderating comments has turned out to be a good decision. Slowly, a few spam comments are getting through. At this time, I find the benefits that the readers and myself receive in terms of getting comments published quickly to outweigh the drawbacks of having a spam comment or two sneak in from time to time. The entire time I was away, about 20 or so spam comments go through, if memory serves me correctly.
The numbering system is a random system I chose in order to make it easier for both myself and you to keep track of changes. The latest change is v 1.0 . You may notice bugs or things that can be improved. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions of any kind. You may notice the font style or size being weird, the coloring to be undesirable in some areas, the navigation confusing somewhere, the page looking weird or too wide in some areas, or something else. In any case, please let me know so I can try to improve things. Thank you.
If anyone wants the previous design back, please let me know and I will try to see if I can try to have the previous layout available as an option also.
I would like to thank everyone for this, specially 3 people:
1 : Vera
Without Vera, this new rollout would not be possible, literally. She spent a lot of time from pausing her busy life and studies to look at my site and offer several suggestions, comments, and to also point out several bugs. Vera’s original coloring choice was a different color, which I hope I can implement soon, or offer as a choice. Thanks Vera!
2 : Valerie
“Do it, just do it.” That’s Valerie. I had to do this because Valerie kept saying the same thing so I could start implementing and stop the plan-only mode. Thanks Valerie!
3 : Ronald
Ronald looked at the site and provided last minute input before the new look went live. Thanks Ronald!
If I forgot to mention you, please let me know and I will not only thank you, I will also update this list and include your name. Unless I am missing something, I kept in touch via e-mail with almost everyone. I will be getting back to comments within the next 48 hours.
The original posts and updates are included below. Thank you, and let us resume things now.
——First update to the post on September 19th, 2007—–
Hi again everyone.
I got back from my Los Angeles trip last Monday, and now it’s time to fly again. Things are hectic as usual, and emergency is slowly becoming my middle name, I think. I have to rush around like a squirrel, or hopefully a rabbit, to get things done before my next flight;I am flying to the southern states tonight, specifically Alabama.
About the hecticness, American Airlines first lost my luggage from my last flight, and when I managed to get it back, many of my things like clothes are missing, and some other people’s stuff is in my bag. I have to run around between two airports to try to sort things out before my next flight, which is very creepily with American Airlines also.
Some of the upcoming articles will include “Ten reasons to avoid American Airlines”, “How to lose almost $10k in 2 days because of immature friends”, and “The headaches bestowed on me by the tourism industry.”
I have gotten back to everyone’s emails by now, I hope. If you have not yet received a response from me, simply contact me and I will get back to you by Sunday evening. I will probably be meeting Valerie and Ronald. Let’s see how it goes.
Regards,
Bes
********* Original Post on September 13th, 2007, 10:49 pm PST ************
Traveling - September 13th, 2007 weekend
Hi everyone.
It’s time for emergency traveling again. From tomorrow morning, I will be traveling to Los Angeles. I will be traveling again next week [details on that next week]. I may have some prewritten articles to be published during the weekend. I will try to get back to all emails by Tuesday evening, September 17th. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me on my phone, specially if you are in Los Angeles or Orange County area and want to meet.
Once I get back, I have to then get ready for my next trip for next weekend. I will try to update this post with something more. Thank you everyone.
PS: Thanks to Valerie’s repeated persuasion, as a small test, I may be updating random, useless/useful things on Bes Z’s Twitter via my phone, which you can see on the sidebar of this very page also. That way, any interested people [hopefully they exist] can be aware of what’s going on. If you think it’s lame or something, let me know and I will probably remove it when I get back.
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( September 14th, 2007 at 9:46 pm )
ahem. it’s not lame.
Have a good trip. Hopefully see you on the 20th
( September 15th, 2007 at 8:46 pm )
Ah, I want to go to LA. Have a great time!
( September 20th, 2007 at 12:27 am )
Hello, I also would like to go (back) to LA. California is a beautifull place and LA is so magnetic. Hope you enjoyed it.
( September 20th, 2007 at 9:09 am )
LOL.. whoaa, vacation time or business time? XD.. ya, I seriously hate american airlines.. its so freaky.. I almost lost things there…and they said the stuff were transfered elsewhere..(i think Vancouver or something).. i was like what?! I can’t wait for it.. need it like now?! lol..it was bad..
didn’t you hear about that incident with the keys a LONGGG while ago? It was like near midnight that this family’s flight had just landed and they left their home keys inside the luggage.. and when they opened it guess what? Ya, nightmare.. the keys were gone ..they couldn’t open their doors to the house! I think they stayed overnight or something..can’t remember.. but ya.. after that, most people are pretty scared about american airlines -_-;.. who isn’t?!
And no, the Twitter thing isn’t lame.. its cool.. that way you can save space and energy to open up your blog lol..
( September 24th, 2007 at 11:45 am )
wow, i thought my AA story was bad, but at least when i finally got my bags three days later my stuff was still in it. AA is so terrible. after their system crashed, they basically told everybody waiting at the gate to ‘go away, we can’t help you’. We ended up missing two days of our Carribbean cruise because of that POS airline.
( September 26th, 2007 at 9:33 am )
I recently had someone take my bag because it was nearly identical to mine. I eventually got it back but what a pain. What happened to the days when the airlines would check your baggage claim ticket before you left the carousel area?
( September 28th, 2007 at 8:13 am )
:O.. you fixed it.. yay =] with the new K2 theme too… i really need to start on mine =__=;;……… ONEEEE DAYYYYY ~~~
( October 3rd, 2007 at 9:29 am )
I can understand luggage being lost, and being searched but how much disregard do you have to show to people’s personal belongings to get items mixed up in different cases? You have to be fully indifferent to manage that.
( October 5th, 2007 at 12:18 pm )
Where are you man? I miss you
( October 9th, 2007 at 10:54 am )
Just was in LA and I had a wonderful time.
:) 
( October 11th, 2007 at 5:28 pm )
I hope things are all good. See you soon?
( October 13th, 2007 at 11:30 am )
Am sure it’s a stupid question, but where is LA?
thanks!
( October 14th, 2007 at 11:26 pm )
I like the new layout, it looks much better. Well done!
( October 29th, 2007 at 1:08 pm )
Thank you so much everyone for the comments, e-mails, criticism, support and for telling me both the good and bad things about the new design. I am doing my best to keep on improving it.
Thank you also for waiting for my response!
Valerie, thank you! Too bad, though, that we couldn’t meet, no?
Jennifer, thank you! I hope you go there too and have a wonderful time. See if you can go to Orange County [nearby], it has a different atmosphere and a bit less crowd in some very interesting places [like The Block or The Spectrum].
Free for girls, thanks for the comment. An interesting username/business-model, by the way. Is that your own business or do you work for it?
Where did you move to from LA, or why did you move, if I may ask?
LA is indeed an interesting city, like Sin City. In fact, LA is sin city! It can be so magnetic, and so bad too. I had an interesting time, yes.
Vera, thanks!
Both, actually, since my life can be a mixture of a lot of things many times and it seems like a single thing sometimes. Vacation/relaxing time itself is very rare, by the way.
About American Airlines, yeah! We need things now, not later, now. What if we have important things in the bags? “You should put important things in a hand bag.” ??? So now we have to keep in mind that a major airline cannot take care of luggage that it takes only an hour or so before a flight?
That’s sad that it happened to you! Who will you be flying next time you come to California? Glad you like twitter; I am using it more as I know I have a few followers, including you hopefully.
And yes, I did fix the layout thanks to you!
Commerce news, thanks for the comment. You are lucky!
Did they explain to you how the bags went missing in the first place? That sucks [sorry] that you missed your cruise days. Did American Airlines try to make up for any of the troubles?
Barry Cox, thanks for the comment. Yes, I remember the days too when the bag tags were checked to make sure your bag was yours. I am guessing not having such a security check anymore is a way to save money.
Chamonix, thanks for the comment. Yes, I was so surprised to see that. How can you mix it up? They don’t even have any filing claim or process for misplaced items. They [American Airlines] either thinks you lost luggage or lost items within a piece of luggage. They cannot compute that since I have someone elses’ items, my items may have been mixed in someone elses’ bags.
Could it be the transit security authority [TSA] who did checks through the bags and mixed stuff up? I am not sure why they would think I need someone elses’ boxers and bra, though.
Robin, I am here! I talked with you the same day as your comment. Thanks for checking up!
Loong time no see indeed. Talk to you on the instant messenger.
Gorilla Trades, nice! Where did you go and what did you do, if I may ask?
Samantha, thanks!
Yes, see you soon on this blog, I guess? heh. You are also under the username Jagad Guru, right?
site funda, thanks for the comment. It’s not a stupid question at all: LA is Los Angeles, in Southern California, in America.
Simonne, thanks! That is encouraging to read.
( October 30th, 2007 at 12:49 pm )
Your site navigation is not bad, but I think there is lot of white&blue color..
( October 31st, 2007 at 1:34 am )
Thanks for the comment, Mapquist [am I seeing a trend here? Meeebo as the other username, and Mapquist here. Are you two representing the same company? I was wondering..
].
A lot of white and blue, ok: do you have any suggestions? When you say a lot of blue, do you mean in the text, the header or the footer? I will try to see if I can reduce either blue or white somehow and somewhere, thanks.
( November 8th, 2007 at 1:45 am )
Good change!
( November 12th, 2007 at 7:19 pm )
Thanks Sawai; so no suggestions or recommendations of any kind? How about any requests?
( March 12th, 2008 at 3:52 am )
How about making the text column a bit more narrow? It is difficult to read it on 24″ monitor.
( May 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 pm )
Hi Rapid Bob, thank you for the suggestions.
I will try to see how I can make it narrow. By the way, did you mean the right side bar or the main left text area with the content? Also, in what manner is it hard to read on your monitor? Is the column too wide, resulting in very long lines? Or is there something else going on?
If I can get some more information, I will get to work on changing it a bit to make it look better for you on your monitor.
( August 15th, 2008 at 12:40 am )
good work, it’s a great blog, love reading it