Well, here are a few updates about the site. Most of my work recently has been behind the scenes, optimizing code, commenting code, and lastly updating and creating new SQL procedures.

I've redone how users are handled internally, now using a colletion rather than sending the display name with the blog. So now, at any point in time - if I have the User ID, I can pull up the relevant information - such as the avatar (soon to be implemented), email address, or anything else that is stored. (Actually, that is all that I store right now).

I have also added an AJAX Windows Live search box to the top of the page. This allows me to let you search my site (that has been indexed by the Live engine) or the web, without leaving the page. I may eventually write my own search to look at blog posts, but that isn't a priority right now.

My current task is removing anything that has been hard-coded and replacing it with the information that is pulled in from the config file. My brother, Jared, has been expressing interest in using this software for quite a while now, in fact he has helped me keep moving along and designed this current layout and glass borders (thanks again Jared!). As a favor, I am attempting to allow him to run a beta of this site, so he can finally use it instead of Blogger. If anyone has any information on how to script/export a database for a new setup, let me know - I am trying to untie everything from my network, but it is proving more difficult than I thought. I currently have 16 stored procedures and while I know how to write them, I am trying to make it as easy as possible for a new user to set up and maintain.

Keep an eye out for future developments - it is slowly but surely moving along!

And thanks for all of your support, it really does help!