I know it's been a long time since some of you last dry-humped your computer screen, so I apologize profusely for any damages you might have incurred after loading the new and improved Gray's Matter for the first time.  I, myself, was able to keep this in check but that's only because I have so much practice at suppressing the sensations of overwhelming animal arousal - otherwise I would never be able to catch a glance at myself in a mirror without becoming catatonic!  

Unlike last time when we danced this dance, a lot more has changed than just the UI:

• This blog now can guard against comment spam.  I know we will all miss "Steroids for Sale" chiming in on fitness posts advising not to eat too much ice cream, but in the end David Woods just needs to grow a set and start using his real name on comments.
• I can finally delete categories without having to spend 40 hours of my life trying to hand-edit XML
• There are now links to Digg/Reddit/Delicious for those of you who love that sort of thing.  There would have been a link to DotNetKicks but they were disqualified on the basis of their button being horrendously ugly.    Sorry guys, but only heart-breakingly pretty things are allowed on this blog!
• This blog is now powered by BlogEngine.NET.  Dasblog and I have had some good times in the past but it was just time for the two of us to move on, in particularly for me to move on to something a little younger and a little hotter.  Don't worry DasBlog, your team is great - it's not you, it's me!

 
There are a lot of people I need to thank for the redesign that rendered my original redesign post moot, but first and foremost among them is:

Me.  Unlike most pikers out there who simply take the default template supplied by their engine of choice, I prefer to be a real man and real men hand-roll their own blog template using DIV-based design. This is what I did the first time I redesigned Gray's Matter into the site that most of you printed out and kept underneath your bed for when your significant other is out of town, and if anything I have only become *more* of a rugged he-man since that time.  Let me tell you there is nothing like futzing with margin and padding pixels in the wee hours of the morning to let you know that you are truly alive, and truly a loser.  Seriously, who does that stuff late at night?  Thankfully, I balanced this out by making out with my hot wife in-between edits.  However, remember that I am a very special person and most software developers only know the kiss of a vaccuum cleaner hose rather than that of another human being, so I would not risk your own coolness by trying to do hackery at 3 AM. 

Now, under normal circumstances I would just end the post here with a giant, 72 pt font "Good job Justice!!" but the last time I redesigned Gray's Matter, the following events occured:

a) I used an altered version of the basic layout that I saw on Kathy Sierra's site
b) I failed to give appropriate recognition of that design's influence
c) Kathy Sierra *left her web site forever*.

I tried to get her to come back by informing her publically that she was on my Freebie 5, but even such extreme measures were not enough.  To avoid further online crisises , here are some of the people who need to be thanked for their influence on the new Gray's Matter design.  They all have two things in common; they have their own blogs, each of which is phenomenal, and are proof of the only design rule that matters: Good-looking UIs can only come from good-looking *people*.

• My hot wife: Not just for the make-outs listed above but *also* for the help in making this design; I've always known that my wife has a great eye for fantastic UI - after all, she married me!  
• Kevin William Pang:  The "tabbed post" look I am using on the left is a variation on Kevin's design.  As good as William's design skills are, his blog content is even better! 
• CrazeeGeekChick: Her posting on the 301 redirect is the whole reason you're managing to read this post without having to completely swap over your feed! 
• Axialis Free Icons - the permalink and comment icons on each post are slightly altered versions of an orange/blue/green set freely available from Axialis.  These guys are phenomenal!! 
• A mystery blogger!!! - I'm saving this one for tomorrow as it is going to be the lead-in for something altogether new and different!!
• Some white guy on the internet talking about BlogEngine.NET - This is where I got the idea for the CSS-based calendar image on each post.  Unfortunately,  I lost my browser history so I have no idea who this guy was, only that he was male and Caucasian.   I unfortunately can't find the link  but hey, if *you're* a white male who has a calendar style image on *your* blog, give yourself on a pat on the back for helping crack the internet in half today!!  Our lives, however briefly, have been intertwined!

Tomorrow - the mysterious identity of the *mystery blogger* revealed!  Is it you?  Is it your momma?  Is it that weird toothless woman asking for change on your way home?  Is it both?   The beginning of a brand-new series and a brand new era on Gray's Matter!