AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 1, 2005 — Saturday; parades; football; a brand new year.

Even though holidailies aren't over I decided it wasn't too soon to revamp the journal, make it easier to manage. No reason I can't post daily until January 6 and then decide if daily is still a good idea.

I did spend inordinate amounts of time figuring out what this new format would be, however. I spent time doing hand-to-hand combat with my old Dreamweaver software and Fireworks. I did that a few days ago. Now it's just type, type, type. Right? I'll be integrating elements you used to find in separate places. Eating, drinking, moods, exercise, reading and the ever elusive 'writing'. If I feel like 'just typing' then I'll do it right here.

I thought long and hard about navigation. (Well, not really, but I did think about it a little.) I decided that there will be a page a day. You can jump out of the month with the triangles. On a given day the little calendar will show all previous days of the month that have entries and the next one in the month (if one exists). So you can happily navigate from day to day or through the whole thing. I think. When a month is over, I'll capture the calendar reference and maybe I'll thumbnail the pictures, too. We will decide that at the end of the month.

As for pictures, well we are going to drop the rule for a daily picture. But, if there is a picture you will find it below the text. So if you just come for the pictures you may have to scroll.

I am kicking off this new year with an essay. These will be collected in one place. I'll date them with a tag line. I'm not going to have a rule about constructing an 'essay' (yes, very loose term) every day. Which means, in the scheme of things, that they won't get done that often, of course.

Then there was the question of comments. Occasionally one of you drops a comment in here. But it isn't exactly a community of voices. Still I think I'll keep the comments link for a while. However, since I post often and you comment infrequently, I think I'll have one comment group per month. At least for a while. So if you jump in and then look at comments and things don't make sense...you may not have read the page being commented on.

Got all that?

Oh, and the front page still has an e-mail link. Whatever.

So what happened this first day of the year? I had trouble getting out of bed for starters. Up late, you know. I'd had a little digestive difficulty in the night. But after I got up and started my day, I felt pretty good really. I had a coffee and a banana.

We walked around the neighborhood with our dog. On the corner of Burnet and Hancock there is a new beer joint called Billy's. We noticed it was open. FFP went in and got a menu while I waited with the dog. We continued to the corner of 45th and Burnet and wound back through the hood to our house. On the way we saw a group of young people talking. A plump girl raised her hands while making a point and her top came up to reveal a large scar.

We decided to leave the dog home and go back to Billy's for lunch. It was getting to be that time again. We walked back. (We did not start either car today. Surely a record.) On the way we saw one of our disreputable-looking neighborhood denizens (wild unkempt beard, stoned look, shabby clothes) walking away from the convenience store with a coke and several packs of cheese and peanut butter crackers. We saw two other characters in the creek bed, intently doing something which looked like picking grass. (They were there when we returned, too.) At the library (which was naturally closed) a guy was sitting on the bench in front with a laptop. His truck nearby was spouting music. My guess is that they leave the server and Wi-Fi antenna on when they are closed.

Billy's was a delight. There was football on several screens. We had a delicious burger (with Bleu Cheese, fire sauce, lettuce, onion) some rings, fries and fried green tomatoes. I had a Guinness and himself had a Harp. Not a good way to start the year. Good thing I didn't make any resolutions about dieting!

We walked home again. I worked on my journal a little. (Whenever I redesign the journal I realize what a terrible designer I am. It's sad because I love good design, I think I know it when I see it. But I just can't produce it.)

Dad showed up. I'd invited him to watch football but I didn't think he'd come. I dropped what I was doing, made some coffee and sat with him watching a game prior to the big Longhorn appearance in the Rose Bowl. FFP joined for the big game so I took the time to take down all the Christmas stuff and pack it away. The house looks kind of bare really.

I watched parts of the game and was surprised to see the Horns pull it out. Good for them.

Dad left after the game was over. I read some old newspapers and watched some tube.

Today was pretty much what I imagined it would be. A chance to read some. Food. TV. I hadn't imagined going to Billy's but I enjoyed doing it and walking around the neighborhood. Chalow was delighted.

I'm posting this as the day winds down. I'll probably stay up a few hours snacking, reading, watching TV. But I need to get the format out in cyberland and test it and update old pages so that if people arrive from other directions they can find this.