Oilpressure

Most readers here know how much I detest change. I constantly live by the mantra that “Change is Bad”. But that is not to say that I am opposed to improvements or new things. That is what I am announcing today.

There are actually two changes and one new thing. One of the announcements will probably make everyone happy, while the other will make everyone yawn. The reaction to the new thing is still to be determined.

First of all, I’m sure everyone will be delighted to learn that going forward, you will see no more ads on this site. I was aware that a few years ago, WordPress (the host of this site) started placing ads under every article that was posted. Since I paid no money to WordPress, it was considered their property and they could legally do what they wanted. I didn’t like it, but I went along with it. Plus, since I am always logged into WordPress to access the dashboard and inner workings of the site – I never really saw the ads. But Susan would occasionally show them to me from her laptop and remark how disgusting some of them were (infected feet, for example).

The final straw was when it was brought to my attention this past Tuesday that there was a “windowshade” ad that came down from the top and actually obscured the text. My brother said he noticed that thing a couple of months ago, but never mentioned it to me. He figured I knew about it.

So effective Wednesday night, I finally forked out the nominal fee to WordPress to guarantee that you will no longer have to see any ads here anymore. If you do, please let me know.

The second change or improvement to the site will not matter to most of you, but will help in the branding of the site. Since I started this site almost ten years ago, I have paid for domain mapping so that anyone going to it would only have to type in Oilpressure.com. But it always irked me that once you went to the site, you always saw oilpressure.wordpress.com in the address bar. If someone was ever telling them how to go to my site, they would either read or type that whole thing.

The worst was a couple of years ago. I’m not trying to brag, but I was actually quoted in a book on Art Pollard entitled Art Pollard: The Life and Legacy of a Gentleman Racer by Bob Kehoe. He says some very nice things about me on page 232 and uses some excerpts I had written in 2012. But he says I write for the site oilpressure.wordpress.com. Seriously?

So if you’ll look up at the address window in your browser, you’ll see that it now simply says Oilpressure.com. That’s how I have always referred to the site and how I’ve always tried to brand the site with T-Shirts, polos, sweatshirts, etc. I’m sure this matters to no one else but me, but it’s one of those little things that has bothered me for years. Now it’s finally been fixed.

The new thing is something that will make some happy and others groan. Many have noticed that there has not been a One Take Only video here since last May. Some are happy about that, but others have asked where it has gone. My cohort, John McLallen, has had some issues going on – not the least of which is a close family member in very poor health. Let’s just say that his enthusiasm for being made the butt of my jokes has waned considerably. Last fall, I asked if we would be doing any more episodes and he wouldn’t give me an answer – so I started thinking of a Plan B.

When Paul Dalbey started his new site, Field of 33, a couple of months ago I got to thinking that maybe he and I could do a remote video blog as sort of a joint effort between our two sites. We talked about it, made sure we could do it via Skype and we recorded our first episode of our new video venture; Two Sites Unite. The format is roughly the same, but it may be a little more structured and delve a little deeper into more hard core racing issues. For example, we dive into the new qualifying format for the Indianapolis 500 just announced yesterday. This first episode is a little rough and way too long. The video needs improving and the audio was off also. I think I know what the problem was there, but ran out of time to fix it. We’ll need to tweak it a lot and shorten it, going forward.

One difference is, with One Take Only – it was clearly my deal with John as my sidekick. With Two Sites Unite, this is a true joint venture and with no clearly defined leader. I will post each episode on my site, while Paul will post them on his. We’ll see how this evolves.

For those who think this is replacing One Take Only, fear not. I told John what we are doing and I think it has spurred him on. Supposedly, weather permitting – he and I will be taping a new One Take Only this Monday afternoon to be run on Wednesday – just before the season kicks off Friday at St. Petersburg.

So if you didn’t like One Take Only (and many did not), give Two Sites Unite a try. I can promise you it will be different. Whether or not it is any better or worse is for you to decide.

For those of you who saw the headline and thought there were major changes to this site – this is my definition of major. There are no cute graphics or new writers coming on board. I’m not changing my schedule of how often I post, and I’m sure not getting rid of this white type on black theme that drives so many people crazy. But when was the last time I’ve made any changes to this site? Yeah…never.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on March 1, 2019 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.