We have a winner!

A few days ago I changed my blog template and said I'd give away a copy of a great book to one lucky, random commenter who would leave me a comment or suggestion about the new look during October.  I got a number of very good pointers, and fear not - I'm not through tweaking this theme, so just because you haven't seen the changes yet doesn't mean I'm ignoring your comments.  In general, I think the following changes are in the works:

1) darken the background from white toward a very light grey or perhaps a light creamy eggshell color.

2) darken the body text from a medium grey toward a dark grey or black.

3) for right now the left sidebar will remain floating, but I took the picture out of that banner and it seems to move smoother and more unobtrusively.  I'm likely to put a variant of that hanging banner somewhere else above the fold.  Currently I have my secret band of techie ninja working on an alternate theme much similar to this one, but with a static left sidebar - we might try that theme out later.

4) all links are now red, to match the kanji in that aforementioned banner.

5) will reorganize the right sidebar links over time to point to links pages instead of labels.

And more... Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Now, for the big winner!  It is... drumroll please...

Bob Patterson of the Striking Thoughts blog!  Bob, send me an email with your address and I'll send you the book.  As an added bonus, Kris Wilder, the author, has graciously offered to autograph the book and write you a nice note, so give me a couple weeks shipping time after you send me your address to get it out to Seattle to him, and then for him to get it to you.  Congrats, Bob!

____________

Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

____________