Recently in Blogging Category

If you have tried to leave a comment here since the first of November you might have encountered a problem.  That error is fixed now.  Seems I had some bad permissions on the November archive directory.

The whole reason I am having issues is that I want to post photos directly from my Flickr account here but for some reason that isn't working.  I use .php files in the blog and they require specific (775) permissions to run.  When I publish from the MT interface I have no problems but the Flickr posts show up with 666 permissions and the server will not render the file.  I wish I could solve this problem but the SixApart forums have been exactly zero help.

Oh well, please comment away and let me know you are reading...or not as the case may be.

I am trying to find something to write about and am drawing blanks.  My mind is preoccupied with many things at the moment, but nothing that really stands out.  I have talked about my new love of poker, my ongoing interest in photography, my addiction to buy books, and a whole host of other interests that are likely only important to me and not to anyone else on the internets.  I could rant about the current state of politics but there are plenty of people out there that do it better than me both from a comedic point of view and from the serious angle.  So given that everything has been done, what else is left more me to say?  I can't think of anything.  Therefore, it is now time to turn over the subject to you.  Yes, I am looking at you.  Got a question for me?  Now's the time.  I can't guarantee I will answer it but there is a really good chance I will.  Basically I am fishing for ideas here folks so bring them on.

One final note and this one is actually political.  The current campaign has got me soured on the state of American leadership.  I feel like Vizzini from The Princess Bride.  In the battle of wits with the Dread Pirate Roberts, Vizzini must chose between two cups that have been poisoned by Roberts.  It is up to Vizzini to figure out the best choice between two potentially deadly cups.




What Vizzini didn't know is that both cups were poisoned so either choice would end in his death and in a very War Games moment the only correct choice would have been not to play.  This election is very much the same.  Both choices will result in bad outcomes and the only correct choice to not to elect either person.  Of course the large majority of the voting public is either unable or unwilling to reject the current two party system and find a true leader and thus willingly drinks the poison. 

Anyway, got anything exciting to talk about? 

I am trying to decide if this blog/website/thing should continue.  I am not asking for opinions on the subject but rather talking out loud.  Bouncing thoughts against myself to see how I feel about them.  I can't shake the thought that this site and all of my other various interactions with the internet have become nothing but a distraction.  Almost like the internet and technology is the forest that I can't see around to find my true destination.  I wonder what life would be like if I let it all go and walked away from the wired world.  I am forever linked to the medium for various reasons but it seems like my life wouldn't be missing anything if just turned it off.

I had hoped that rebooting this site would re-energize my excitement about the internet but that has not been the case.  No, it has only been a frustrating annoyance at best and a time sink that I am increasingly finding difficult to justify.  I won't mention how it affects my work productivity.  Just assume that it does.  The other issue, and the one I consider the elephant in the room, is that I am finding that I just don't have anything to say.  I don't "bring anything new to the table" and I think I am ok with that.  I have things I enjoy discussing but I have learned that I enjoy it only when others are there to debate with me.  Throwing out an idea where it sits and rots seems...I don't know...self serving. 

Maybe this is how it ends.  With a whimper.    

Do you find blogs that primarily just repeat news from other locations worth visiting?  I see this quite a bit but have never really been able to figure out why these blogs exist.  The authors don't offer commentary on the story, just basically a summary and then a link.  I know some sites are just link farms but I also see plenty of personal blogs that are really just repeats of popular stories from places like digg.com, slashdot.org, and the like.  Why would someone take the time to do this and who would go back to such a site on more than one occasion? 

I am not saying these sites are bad, pointless, or teh suck, I just wonder for what purpose the author continues to post stories without adding something of value.

Do you visit a site like this?  If so, why?

Five years ago today I decided to play with some blog software to see if I could install it on my own. I was successful and published my first blog post. It had something to do with Froot Loops if I remember correctly. I also remember that I had a major typo in the name of the blog. I typed "A Utter Waste of Time" and didn't realize the mistake until I was heckled by another user on the internet. That pretty much set the standard for my blog experience right up until today. Posts without a point and a succession of horrible typos defined my online image right up to today. Sure on rare instances something of meaning might have wormed its way into the site, but overall I don't consider much of it worth the storage space the 1s and 0s took up. I never meant it to be more than an experiment with what was then a budding technology.

Over the last six months I have occasionally wondered if any of it would continue. There are plenty of reasons to kill the site. Mostly I was worried that I wasn't being fair to myself. I worried that the image I portrayed was not accurate and, quite frankly, not always positive. After I finished graduate school and started thinking about my future both professionally and privately I decided I wanted to take the site in a slightly different direction. I wanted it to continue because many amazing things have happened since I first went live five years ago. Most importantly, I have met a handful of people with whom I have become friends and that alone makes it worth the effort. I also think writing here has made it easier for me to be more sociable in the "real world". There is something freeing when you realize a person knows a bit about you even before you meet. For someone who is naturally very reserved that little thing goes a long way to helping me relax around others. There are other reasons for wanting to keep up the site, but that is something to talk about at another time.

Today marks the soft relaunch of this site. On a purely technical level it has been interesting. I tried several different platforms and was not happy with any of them. On a strong recommendation I tried Drupal. I initially thought it would be the right choice but as I got into the system (after 1.5 hours of struggling with the install, but that too is another story) I found that it wasn't really blog focused. I didn't want to go full CMS so Drupal eventually got the boot. I then went back to MT. MT and I have had a love/hate relationship especially since the release of version 4. Version 4 was such a departure from 3 that even today few styles have been developed for the platform and the performance of the system after I upgraded was horrible. I installed MT because it is comfortable but quickly decided I needed to try something else. That brings us to WordPress which is driving the site today. I am not totally sure that this is the way to go. The abundance of themes is amazing, but MT still seems more developed. I certainly like MT's publishing interface better. WordPress, however, seems a little easier to customize. Overall, however, I think my lack of coding ability is the major deficiency with all the platforms. Regardless, WordPress is the winner for the moment.

The banner is a photo I took at Disney World this year. I suspect it is temporary as is the rest of the design. I really wanted to go live today as the 5 year anniversary of this site had meaning for me but it left me with little time to work on layout. It will likely change. Of course, any ideas are always welcome. Now that I have that new, fresh blog smell I hope to be able to use it to provide insight into a life that while simple, is anything but ordinary. I am a proud atheist living in the bible belt. I am a serious professional who is just a kid at heart. I am a son. I am a father. I am a husband. I am a geek. I am an American. I am the Walrus. No, wait...something is not right there... Anyway, I hope those that have been with me over the last year stick around. There are interesting things yet to come.