Blogs and the Updating Thereof.

Yeah, I don't know when I'm gonna finish writing about co-housing. There are certainly lots more things to say about it, since I only got halfway through writing up the tour. But July hit, and with it, madness: sorting, discarding, repairing, preparing. So much to get done in one short month, with precious little downtime. Yet somehow* it did get done, or done enough, and after bumping back my deadlines a tad, I got myself packed up and out of town. And that saga is addressed in detail on the New Blog, which you probably know about already but just in case, here it is. That'll be taking first priority over the co-housing posts, and I'm already behind over there, so: yeah. Co-housing can wait.

As previously mentioned, that blog won't replace this blog. That blog is intended to promote my project and my writing, with a view to eventually getting some paid work out of it. It's very self-consciously public and narratively focused; it is a specific thing and not other things. This blog continues to exist, and to be sporadic and amorphous, because we all need a place like that on the internet, or at least I do.

* "Somehow" mostly being "with lots and lots of help from friends."

URLwarming!

Well, I... I did it. I think it worked, mostly? Except for the part where the new location says "this blog has moved" and the old one doesn't. But I fixed that with some internet duct tape. I've been tweaking the look, too. I'm no graphic designer, but I know it could be better, so I plan to continue adjusting until I get bored with it.

This is decidedly a downgrade as far as URLs go. But it just doesn't make sense to host my own blog anymore. And I investigated WordPress and yes, there are things about it I like a lot better, but also there are still things I like better about Blogger, and it came down to which was easier at the time, i.e. the grass on this side of the fence. I can still switch. I may still switch. But for now, here I am. Right here at this ridiculously lengthy address.

So if you have an RSS reader, I guess you got the previous post and have switched your feed-tubes so you can still savor occasional helpings of my delicious prose, right? If not, there's a handy little link over on the right (under the moon) to help you do just that. If you do not have an RSS reader, you must be wasting a lot of time clicking on bookmarks! You should really consider letting the internet keep an eye on your favorite sites for you. Google Reader or Bloglines or similar web services can provide you with regular fieldtrips out of the Facebook ghetto.

Although if your web activities are primarily restricted to Facebook, I guess you're not reading this. Carry on!

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I Don't Even Know What Will Happen!

FTP publishing will no longer be available after May 1, 2010

You currently have blogs that are published using FTP. You must migrate your blogs to a new custom domain URL or a blogspot URL. To learn more, see our dedicated blog and help documentation.

Start migration now

Yeah, so I spent some time looking at WordPress and thinking about the relative benefits of WP vs. Blogger and hosting vs. no longer hosting my own blog (and by extension my whole dang site, I mean what do I need a site (that I don't update) for if I don't have a blog (that I don't update) on it, except for occasional file hosting and an excuse to dink around with HTML occasionally?). Also I've got this Amazon S3 account now, and admittedly I still don't know how to use it, but it seems like it might work just as well if not better if I can just get past that little hurdle of ignorance. So there's, like, a layer cake of decisions to make here and I can't seem to approach it from any angle other than complete haphazardry (yeah, that's a word now). As in, "let's try this and see what happens."

So I'm currently all hopped up on chai and comics and I'm going to click that blog migration link now, which may turn out to have been a terrible idea, but that May 1 deadline is breathing down my neck and it's been eating garlic. There is a very good chance that all my blog posts will be regurgitated into your RSS feed, or that you will suddenly be unsubscribed and have to readjust your feed to reconnect. I apologize for any such mishaps in advance.

HERE WE GO

Happy Year of the Tiger!

For the second year running, the Lunar New Year feels a lot more like a fresh start to me than the, uh, Solar kind. Holiday hassles are a distant memory (the one with the hearts and smooches is not much of a hassle for me), days are getting long enough to have a little elbow room in them, and this whole Way Early Spring thing we've been having in the Pacific Northwest, though it will doubtless have some negative consequences, is really just awfully pleasant.

I put on my beautiful new orange socks and went for a walk on Mt. Tabor today, where I kept running into the same batch of skateboarding teens over and over again. Round another corner, there they'd be, all scruffy and ebullient, scrambling up the hillside or yelling at each other over the rasp of their wheels. It was kind of like my walk in the park had a limited extras budget and so they had to keep using the same people over and over.

My pockets were empty, so I picked a wildflower to leave at the hidden shrine (perhaps you know about the hidden shrine at Tabor? It's appropriate to leave an offering of some sort there, though to whom you are offering is, I think, up to the giver. You can also take something, if you like). There was a baby's shoe there and some pretty stones, but it wasn't as cluttered as usual. I think someone has been tending it. Maybe everybody tends it.

On the way out I crossed paths with my neighbor, the self-designated neighborhood watchman. I quizzed him about his former career as an undertaker while he walked me home. (Apparently the economic downturn has really hit the funeral industry hard. I had no idea.) He also told me about the people who used to live in my house over the years. Seems one of those people was the self-designated neighborhood watchman, years ago; he would sit and look out my front window all day long, just keeping an eye on things. I am grateful for people like that.

In other news, I am apparently one of Blogger's Problem Children, because I insist on hosting my blog on my own webspace instead of at Blogspot, and they don't want me to do that anymore. I'm not super excited about compromising with a redirect URL, as they suggest, so I'm wondering if this is the time to make that switch to WordPress I keep thinking about (you know, so I can gripe about a different service!). I still have a lot more research to do on this, but if you have any input on the usefulness and/or limitations of WordPress, I'd love to hear it.