Browsing around, I’m realizing that I no longer have a sense of what a good (or modern) site looks like. Responsiveness, sure. But just in terms of style or feel, I don’t think I’ve got a clue.
Browsing around, a lot of the themes I’m coming across seem incredibly dated. And for me to think that, that’s saying something.
So I guess this is where I’m at: an ache for something new, and in inability to determine what new looks like.
I’m happy to say, I was able to go back over that time period, and got a lot of updates added. If you want to take a peek, the posts start at the end of March, and go through mid-June. Lots of great stuff to browse through, if I do say so myself.
In 2013, as we were cleaning up the basement, I found this old set of keys. Someone had left them on top of the existing duct work, and it took until then for us to discover it.
I made a post about it, citing the details on the keyring and the reference to the Reynolds Metal Company in McCook, Illinois.
And then I got a comment about it. And then another. And slowly, over time, people began stumbling across this post… and started to talk to one another.
Well my gosh, I haven’t seen you in a long while. Hello, stranger – it’s been a minute!
As someone who’s kept (or tried to keep) a somewhat daily blog since 2002… there’s been an odd amount of radio silence, lately. No updates for a few months on here, which is a bit out of the ordinary.
Let me explain.
Tonight, I posted up my list for my ten best days from 2023. Had a lot of contenders, but feel pretty good about what made the cut.
Consider this an invitation to explore the last year. And to explore the last twenty years, if you’re so inclined.
It’s weird, the kind of special memory powers a long-running blog imbues. I forget important things like the birthdays of close family members, the kids’ names of close friends. But by god, I’m able to remember the last time I saw a window cleaner outside my office window.
Found out today that I’ve actually got access to the Browsing and Plugin features, for ChatGPT. Tried out a few things, and ended up asking it about the type of content on my site/blog. The answer was… fine. Not great, but a decent summary of the most recent posts. But the thing I’ve been most excited about… I still don’t…
Something happened recently, though I’m actually not sure exactly when this happened. But apparently, the Amazon ads I have on this site started to appear as larger footer-based ads. And they take up a good portion of the screen!
While parking, I happened to see that there was a Warhammer store a few doors away. Perhaps these aren’t new, but they were new to me! I haven’t seen them in the city really, but then again… I really haven’t been out very much these last few years.
The blog is a weird animal. Part of it is a personal diary, part of it is like a very large notebook of things I want to just save for some future reference or reflection. I don’t even know how many people still have blogs anymore.
Once all the rage in the early 2000’s, I feel like the act of sharing one’s personal life has continued and grown – but fractured into smaller, more consumable pieces of media. A tweet, an Instagram photo, a TikTok video.
This started with a trip to Chinatown with my friend Alex, back in 2003. And I’m happy to say I’ve kept it up since then, with over 200 good days that I’ve shared.
Each year, I look back all the blog posts I’ve made and try to come up with a list of my ten best days. This started after a converastion with my friend Alex, while we were hanging out in Chinatown in 2003, and has since resulted in over 190 entries, tracking my ten best days from 2003 through 2021.
Instead of a caption or comment under each photo, I’m skipping around a lot… and only leaving notes at meaningful moments. Even with this approach, I’m looking at maybe one or two days’ worth of posts, per evening.
I’ve let the blog go a good amount, moving from daily updates to weekly… and I think things kept quiet on here for maybe a week and a half. I don’t think it got quite to two weeks, but it got closer to that than it’s ever gotten.
I’ve picked my best ten days each year, since the blog started. If you’re interested… you can see all the days I picked, going all the way back to 2003.