Working

Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope you had a good NYE and are looking forward to the coming year (and beyond).  Everything is stressful right now and, yes, it looks like it's going to get worse, but I'm doing what I can to look on the bright side of things...

Which is easier said than done but has to be done.

BTW, I did get to play some Sims, eat too much bread pudding, and see friends and family this X-mas.  Sadly, my Internet was down from Christmas Eve through the weekend (or close) but I still managed to have a decent holiday.

ANYwho, I am working on back-end stuff you can't necessarily see.  Most of it requires hand-editing older posts for [dead] links and content, but that's only part of it.  So, although posts might be a bit spotty in coming weeks or even months, I really am working here.  Super cereal.

I was just writing about these types of posts the other day: There are a shit-ton of them from years gone by, which makes me feel lazy when I re-read them but I remember some of those times -- fighting with firewalls, installing fonts, and all the rest -- and there is an awful lot that goes on behind the scenes that I tend to put-off doing because it's so much work.

On a blog, these updates are necessary so readers don't think you've abandoned it.

Changes don't work or look right, old links can't be updated (videos are a big deal with this one and all that stuff takes forever), IRL shit comes up that delays your work... then one of these, "I swear I'm working here!" posts turns into several. But, I'm hoping none of that happens.

This particular blog has been up and running since 2005 or '06 and I stuck with the design (template) for a number of reasons -- primarily so that it would be accessible by everyone, regardless of their economic status, computer literacy, or accessibility.  IOW, I have foregone a lot of nifty things so that readers with older systems, or who don't speak English, et. al., could access it.

Sadly, there are some very powerful cynics in this world who have taken advantage of my good graces, so security has become a greater priority than accessibility.

But, to their credit, this fucking thing is almost 15 years old. Kinda way past time for a major update, regardless.

As I go, I'll be testing things live.  I often edit new posts several times for grammar, spelling, cohesion and coherence, and so on, because the editing window (where you type in the posts) cuts-off most of the content and the "Preview" doesn't load most of the page (feeds, gadgets, ads -- most "live," or dynamic, content); the only way to actually see everything as you, The Reader, sees it is to publish it.  Which means you're likely to experience some wonkiness until things get straightened-out.

As with every single time I do this, I don't just love the design yet.  Every one of these blogs has a different set of customizable parameters -- being the oldest, this one has the fewest.  Which means I am likely to break it (but I'm looking at starting from a fresh template, anyway).

If you have any suggestions as to the design, feel free to shut the fuck up!

I also have to keep up with "real" (paying) work, but I am doing my best to get the sponsors and their links updated to (hopefully) offset some of the costs associated with not only hosting, but domain names, content creation and management, security, IT, et. al.

I understand that some folk dislike ads and I use ad-blockers, myself, but that's the trade-off: For me to continue doing this at a level just barely above "Amateur Hobbyist," it has to be financially sustainable -- otherwise, paying work takes precedent because that's the only way I can afford to do this.

Then it's 15 years later.

I actually have a lot to say on advertising and self-sustaining work online, speaking of, but I'll post that over to The Cyberculturalist because it fits better there.  (I'll eventually include the link to that piece -- when it's written and published... and I remember to do that.)

Here's to
© The Weirding, 2020!