Cleaning up, rearranging

I've been cleaning up and rearranging the blog. It is still a work in progress as I experiment with layouts and elements. 2 Polls closed - Which of the New Wonders of the World would you like to Visit? and How Harry Potter affected your Reading Habits. Taj Mahal won the New Wonder of the World most of you readers would like to visit followed by Michu Pichu and the Great Wall of China, then the Roman Colaseum and Brasil's Statute of Christ, and the Jordon's Petra and finally Mexico's Ruins. On Harry Potter, most of you already loved to read before Harry Potter was discovered by you.

I have removed the games. I'm not sure if anyone was playing any of them or not. If you were, you can still play them by visiting my website and selecting games from the left hand frame. The Harry PotterGames, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Sudoku (my favorite) are all there.

I think everything else is still here just rearranged. 3 Polls on Harry Potter are still open. If you haven't voted yet, there is still time. The polls are located on the left side - just scroll down.

As I am posting this, I am also cleaning up, rearranging and adding elements to my website. One new section deals with books. IF you like to read, you will want to check out that section. It is still having pages added but I already have suggestions for fans of Harry Potter on books they may enjoy reading and suggestions on US and UK authors. I plan to add genre sections, Best 100 Novels sections, Non-US, Non-UK authors sections, and others as time allows. I am including links to authors' websites so it takes time.

I have also added a section on Alzheimer's and a section on Global News sites in English (listed in left hand frame).

I am also in the process of scanning photographs and adding them to my photo section of my website. I have literally hundreds of photos to process that are already scanned and plan to scan more. I am also adding photos to my Picasa albums and Flickr albums. I have more on picasa than flickr. IF you do not already have a picasa album, I would recommend it. It is FREE and part of the Google Pack. You can get it by clicking the Google Pack banner on the side menu. There are several items included in the Free Google Pack in addition to picasa. Flickr is by Google's competitor Yahoo. I have not yet done as much with it but it is also free. Why not get both and see which you prefer? Just do a quick search for Flickr above in the search box and you'll find it. I will be adding more photos to both of my accounts as time permits.

I think that about covers it. Let me know what you think.

Polls - updates

Many of you have voted on the various polls I have listed: New Wonder of the World you'd most like to visit; How Harry Potter had afected your reading habits; Whether you were disappointed with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Which of the Harry Potter books was your favorite and which was your least favorite.

This is just a snapshot look at these polls.

Of the 7 new Wonders of the World, which would you most like to visit?

18 Votes

India's Taj Mahal leads with 7 votes

Peru's Machu Picchu and China's Great Wall both have 3 votes

The Colosseum in Rome and Brasil's Statue of Christ the Redeemer both have 2 votes

Jordon's Petra has 1 vote and

Mexico's Ruins of Chichen Itza has received 0 votes.

I wish there was some way to match up the votes with geography -- where the voters reside. Without any comments on why they chose the ones they did, can't really say alot. Machu Picchu would have received my vote IF I had voted followed by the Great Wall of china. Why? I love remote locations away from the crowds. The Ruins of Chicken Itza would probably have been my third choice for the same reason -- away from the crowds.

How has Harry Potter affected your reading habits?

20 votes

This one surprised me. I had heard so much about how Harry Potter and made people who did not like to read into readers. But the poll shows that of the 20 votes, 14 loved to read before ever reading Harry Potter. I would be in this group also. The other 6 liked to read some but Harry Potter increased their love of reading. Maybe the ones who started to read because of Harry Potter still don't like reading other things including my blog?

Did Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows disappoint you?

13 votes.

The early votes were all disappointed but later voters not as much. Currently 8 of the readers are disappointed, 4 are not (2 of whom loved the book) and 1 neutral

What is your Favorite of the Harry Potter Books?

9 votes

I was surprised here. Half-Blood Prince leads the way with 3 votes; Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire both received 2 votes; Order of the Phoenix 1 and Deathly Hallows 1.

Which is your least favorite of the Harry Potter Books?

10 votes

Again I was surprised. Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire tied with 3 votes each. Order of the Phoenix received 2 and Deathly Hallows 2.

Polls are still open so if you haven't voted, feel free to vote. If you have voted and want to explain your choices, just send me a comment and I'll add it.

Poll Added: Which of the 7 New Wonders of the World would you most like to visit?

7 New Wonders of the world have been recently voted upon. They are:

1. The Ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico
2. Brasil's Statue of Christ the Redeemer
3. The Colosseum in Rome
4. The Great Wall of China
5. Peru's Machu Picchu
6. Jordan's Petra
7. India's Taj Mahal

Which of the 7 would you most like to visit? Or how would you rank them 1 to 7 of places to visit?