First, happy Independence Day! Hope you had a good one. Mine was spread across 2 days — I threw an ice cream float party for people at work on the 4th and went to a concert & fireworks on the 5th. (If you’re looking for a refreshing alternative to a root beer float, try an orange float — orange soda with vanilla ice cream and/or orange sherbet.)

Second, I’ve made a few changes to streamline this website & make navigation a little easier. The first change you might notice is the sidebar menu. It’s now shorter and has interactive options. Every menu item on the left is a link to its own page; several of them also display sub-pages when you mouse over them. I’ve also changed a few pages names, which I think will be clearer for people navigating the site: 

• “For ‘Sail'” is now “Ship Shop.”
  • I’m in the process of making a subpage for art sales. The main Ship Shop page will be for books, note cards, etc.
  • I researched more about monetizing my website and adding e-commerce functions (shopping cart, check out), but at this time, it still makes more sense for me to keep it as is. If anyone wants to purchase something, just contact me. Payment can be completed through PayPal & check (or cash if we’re in person). 
• “Port of Call” is now “Home Port.”
  • This change is to make the home page more apparent. Plus, as much as I enjoy the mystique and adventure of  the phrase “port of call,” as far as definitions go, “home port” makes more sense. 
• “Otaku Corner” (basically a landing point for anime conventions) is now “Comics Corner.”
  • Fans of anime & manga will recognize the term otaku, but “Comics Corner” is more understandable to a wider audience. (“Otaku Corner” was a working title until I came up with something better anyhow.) Bonus points for alliteration.

I’m making some changes to individual pages as well. Some sport a nifty function to hide & show text. Next time I’ll share a little bit about how I put together an art show for a huge community event my workplace gave on Sunday.