I felt a deep inexplicable need to update my blog template and spent way too much time creating it & soliciting opinions.   The old template was functional but felt a tad dated and just not very personal.  

(FWIW, my first template is still online and actively updated - it's a bit embarassing though & feels like looking at an old high school yearbook picture  )

This new template has a higher "drama" color scheme and a stylized pict of moi front and center.   I wanted a higher contrast color scheme, a narrower text area, deeper use of CSS to slim down page load times as well as a few other improvements.

It'll take a little while for the new template to work its way into all the nooks and crannies of my blog.   So be forewarned that you'll encounter a rather disjoint user experience at times....