I made up that word, “blogrumps,” and it’s not about the expansion of bloggers’ rumps (though that may be true, too), it’s a melding of blog and grumps. Most sincere apologies if I offend anyone, but I have a couple of complaints:

• the comment-leaving process. If you have a blog, sign out of your account and then go to one of your posts and try to leave a comment, as if you’re just a reader. Some blogs make it so easy – you write the comment, enter your info (or maybe it’s already there if you’re a regular commenter), click once, and you’re done. I LOVE THOSE. I hope my blog gives you an easy process, but please let me know if it doesn’t! Some blogs, and I think it happens most often on blogger, make it really difficult – and it’s just a matter of settings. I know most people don’t really understand all the settings and are just trying to keep spam off their blogs, but here’s what it takes to leave comments on some blogs: you write your comment, and pick the way you’ll be identified (I always use OpenID if I can, or url). So you enter that information and click post. You think you’re posting your comment, right? NOPE. Now a window opens and you have to enter the letters and numbers you see, so you do that and you click post, and you think you’re finally posting your comment, right? WRONG again. Now you have to click post again.  This isn’t anything more than a mild irritation, obviously; no one is starving or dying because it takes multiple steps to leave a comment, but gee. Make it easier, please.

• photos – For this one, I think I have to point a blaming finger at Pioneer Woman. Heresy, I know! She’s greatly loved by one and all (and I’m a fan too), and it feels like saying bad things about Mother Theresa (though I’ve done that), but she started it. Pioneer Woman, I mean. Her posts — especially her cooking posts — feature a couple of words and a giant photo, repeated dozens of times in a post. It’s like this, here’s an imaginary post: First, melt the butter [giant photo of butter melting in a pan] and then stir in the garlic [giant photo of garlic in the melted butter] repeat 3 dozen times. This is great if you’re trying to learn how to melt butter and stir in garlic, but in my Google Reader, I have to pagedown pagedown pagedown pagedown so many times just to get to the end of the bloody post. In her wake, bloggers everywhere include step-by-step photos of every little thing, every tiny step. This is cool, this is great, but it’s really nice if you include a “more after the jump” deal so people can go see whole photo-laden post if they want to, but they aren’t subjected to it every bloody time they open their Google Reader.

And thus concludes the end of my blogrump. My blog grump. Maybe I’m just grumpy because I accidentally put too much cinnamon in my oatmeal this morning. And the city hasn’t picked up the trash since Christmas Eve, and there’s just a tiny narrow path down my street between the giant piles of trash spilling out from both sides of the street.

Here – this’ll change the mood. I love these little boys.