I'm Running B-arely-eta!

By now, I should know to avoid the term "Beta." It's just a decoy. Sure, it has the promise of a fresh package, a rare and exotic novelty, and the exploration of a new toy. With all the successful conversions out there, surely Blogger Beta would jazz up my blog, too! Those stars in my eyes were caused by the light at the end of the tunnel, sure... little did I know it was an on-coming train.

See, Beta really means "unfinished." It's a testing stage. To work out the bugs, glitches, kinks, snags, errors, problems, headaches, frustrations, and moments where you give up and bellow, "What the fook!?" to yourself. I should know this by now. I've tried to be a beta TESTER for video games before. Apparently the true test is how quickly I can catch on to reality. The results are in, but I can't look at my score just yet.

I remember when Beta was a videocassette format -- smaller in size and considered superior in quality to its more popular cousin, VHS. My family would travel to Video Towne, and I remember there was a single Beta rack with a pathetic, paltry selection of movies. Back then, people spent several hundred dollars for a lead-heavy brick cassette player that with a top loader and a remote on a wire. All that wonder, quality, and cash for what? To watch a vivid copy of "Real Genius" or "Soap Dish" because that's all that was in stock? Shortly after, Beta disappeared altogether, the eventual splat of the on-coming locomotive. Did I learn?

If we take a page from portfolio investments, we learn that beta is a measure of volatility and risk in investment. Clearly, in the realms of unfinished business, beta is too risky for me. And yet I already played the market. My blog is now partially Beta-ed, but I can't upgrade the template. And I've searched high and low for a fix -- nothing yet, official or otherwise. Why did I not associate all these bad betas with one another? Was it guilt by lack of association?

So now I wait with beta'd breath for a solution. And in that breath, I say, "You won't beat me, Beta. Not this Army.
"

10 comments:

Mo and The Purries said...

Hi Army --
try checking out www.beautifulbeta.blogspot.com
if you can't find the hints/fixes posted, the guy that runs the site is very good with helping out.
best of luck,
Morgen

Bubz The Troll said...

That's weird, the comments page is now a pop-up. Anyway, I'd like to point out that I was officially called Betamax not Beta. The name is derived from the fact that the tape wound around the reels like the greek letter beta.

Army said...

Thanks for the suggestion, Morgen. I'll definitely have to hit up some folks soon if there is no fix in the near future. I want my new template real bad!

Robert, yes, it was Betamax! I forgot about it's full name; we've used the nickname so much. I didn't know how it got the name, so thanks for the extra thinks to cram into my noggin : )

Wesley Bronez' Blog said...

I don't like the Beta version of Blogger either. I wish there were some way to switch back!

Dr. A said...

Congrats on being named Bestest Blog!

Unknown said...

WTF happened? It won't let you upgrade the template? Why?? Tell me! Why?!?!

Unknown said...

PS- Beta rocks! Let me know if I can help you enjoy it's full potential. ;)

Anonymous said...

That was the funniest play on words that I have EVER heard!! You ROCK! Oh, and congrats on being named the Bestest Blog of All-Time!! Well deserved.

Mo and The Purries said...

I agree with Allie -- Beta Rocks!
Once you get past the transfer stage, it's sooo cool & easy to use!

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

congratulations on bestest blog! very nice, i have to switch to beta and i am scared to death! i shutter to think of it. sigh....bee