Offloading Memories 2004

Steven Johnson has an interesting post from December about projects to extend our memories through storage of more of the data of our lives (e.g. all our email, phone calls, sites visited, etc.). It got me thinking about what I'm doing with this site and so I left a comment which, in the interest of preserving all my writing which I think is of any significance to telling my story, I reproduce here:

I'm finding as I begin the daunting task of filling in the rest of my life before the blog that not only would having more data be daunting, it would yield a less perceivable portrait of me. Filters can add value to data, I find, so I see a lot of benefit in the fact that while I have almost all my journals, many of the personal letters I ever received in my life, and lots & lots of other memorabilia, I do not have everything. What I saved, what survived the moves I made does reflect my perception of what is important to me and therefore contributes to a portrait of me.

I do wish I had every piece of real writing & art I ever did. Not the "Dear sir or madam, please close my account as I have now paid off the balance in full" stuff, but the creative writing pieces, the letters I sent (as opposed to the letters received many of which I have), the little art projects (sometime around 1990 I did this great little animation piece in Hypercard which I deeply regret having lost), etc.

It would also be great to have a picture of me from every month of my life and a picture of every place I ever went to school or lived or worked and a picture of everyone I've ever interacted with regularly. Pictures do bring back memories, which is to say, they remind me of stories and the stories is what I really want to preserve of my life.

(Cue Tim Burton's new movie "Big Fish"...)

A Productive Day 2004

It's been a good day. I didn't sleep too late. Visited with friends at Derek & Heather's brunch to welcome in the new year. Had a bit of a walk with Chris getting there & back. (Oh and I should mention we had a lovely long walk to a party on New Year's Eve). It was a beautiful day. Perhaps I should have been out in it, but I was able to get myself into a productive groove and so wound up spending most of the day and evening here at the computer.

Managed to get all my posts from November 1998 into TypePad. These were done pre-Blogger, so they had to be added by hand and I'd never gotten around to adding them into either Blogger or Movable Type. Given that the posts I was able to import from Blogger to Movable Type still have to have titles and categories added, it's not that much more work to add the whole post, but it's still time-consuming, especially since I've been taking the time to confirm that links still work and the images are migrated.

So, there's still December 1998 though the first half of August 1999 to put in from my hand-coding days. Then the Blogger stuff from August 1999 through March of 2000. After that I had gotten it all into Movable Type, which is made by the same fine folks who make TypePad and so all that migrated fine and much of it has titles and categories.

Oh and there's still all the side stuff; things I did which weren't part of the main blog. I've gotten a bit of that in, but there's still more to go.

Once I do all this, then I can weed through all the data on my old host, confirm I've got everything migrated and then I'll take it down. Given that I'm paying for the hosting, I might just pull the data off and close the account, but it's kind of handy to view it in situ with all the Movable Type code running. Assuming I can be a little tougher about making progress on this project, I'll probably still spend a couple hundred bucks on extra hosting. Oh well, as hobbies goes it's fairly cheap.

Best Weblog of 1660 2004

Congratulations to Phil on completing the first year of publishing the diary of Samuel Pepys on the web! Lovely project, beautifully realized.

I wanna be more like Jason Kottke again, damn him. 2004

So, yes, I got all excited about these sidebar list things in TypePad (and earlier sidebar content in cruder form), but I've gotta say I really like what Jason's done with his site in integrating his links and media reviews in with his full size posts. Like the good designer he is, he talked about the decision and gave the rest of us the chance to learn from his process. (Kevin Fox is always really good about doing that on his site too). Guess I'll put in a TypePad enhancement request to be able to run in "Kottke mode".

Chronological Clarity 2003

I've just added an extra indicator of the year of each post to make things clearer in my category archives. Now that this weblog is over 5 years old and I'm backfilling posts about the rest of my life, I think it's helpful to have a little more context as you start to read a post. (This idea came to me when I was reading one entry and thinking "Boy, I hope they realize I wrote this over 20 years ago...")

5 years. 2003

I've been writing this weblog for half a decade. Go me!

(Yes, yes, the links are broken at the moment because I haven't moved a bunch of really old stuff to be archived here in TypePad. Just substitute my old Hurricane Electric account's IP, 216.218.166.103, for the www.metagrrrl.com when you get a Not Found message and it'll all be fine).

[December 22, 2003: This post has been noted by spammers and is getting repeated junk comments. I have closed commenting on it for that reason.]

Where's the old site? 2003

Should you for some reason wish to access the old non-TypePad version of MetaGrrrl.com, it's still over there at Hurricane Electric and you can get to it at http://216.218.166.103/metagrrrl/

Thanks again, Pyra 2003

I haven't used Blogger for several years, having switched to tools over which I have a lot more nitty gritty control, but the tools I do use wouldn't exist if it weren't for the groundbreaking work of the team at Pyra.

Thanks again to Meg, Ev and pb for bringing us blogging without hand-coding; for setting an early high standard in the attractiveness of the interface design of weblogging tools; for the permalink; for the webcam fun; for sticking it out in a basement office with peculiar neighbors and long hours and no financial reward.

Lest some naive person think the new kids on the block don't know their roots, note that while setting up the new office for for Six Apart, the company that makes Movable Type and TypePad, Anil Dash, the Vice President of Business Development, wore a Blogger t-shirt.

A monumental project 2003

As I mentioned before, I'm currently moving all the content from my old site into TypePad. This will give me the enormous benefit of having most everything personal I've written on the web contained in a single content management system for easier searching and archiving.

A good and achievable project, but, man, I gotta tell ya, almost 5 years* is a hell of a lot of content to move, assign titles & categories to, and check links for. I'm back in early 1999 right now and I'm afraid it's still not visible in the archives here in TypePad because all the posts are sitting in draft mode waiting for easier editing of dates. Fortunately, they won't have to wait long; according to the latest TypePad Features In Development list, this will be coming later this month.

Well, back to it. My labor for this Labor Day holiday is to try to get all of my pre-Blogger posts - the hand-coded stuff - into TypePad. There's still about 6 more months to put in, so I'm not sure it's a one day task, but I'll give it my best shot.

*Admittedly, everything after March 2000 was done in Movable Type, so the changes there are more minor and less urgent.

Respecting My Elders 2003

Though I had a nice visit with my grandmother today, this post is actually about someone younger than me, but whom I consider to be my elder on the Web.

Justin Hall started his site in January 1994. He's been continuously contributing ever since.

My site would not be what it is without the inspiration he provided way back when. I wish I had more memory of when I first started surfing the web; perhaps this process of transferring old journal entries will reveal some insight about that.

20 Steps Forward, No Steps Back 2003

I like TypePad.

After I got back from a visit to Rangapalooza, an annual gathering of librarians celebrating the great Indian librarian Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan, I worked on the site some more.

Within a few hours today, I've brought my new site up to the level of my old one in many areas and past it in many others. I'm finding TypePad so pleasant to use that I'm encouraged to undertake some clean-up chores which have been moldering on my to-do list for years.

Here's the current list of planned changes & remaining site transfer chores:

- Once my upgrade to a Pro account goes through, edit the templates to change the following:
--- make the logo link to the home page
--- add the tagline under the logo
--- add a footer explaining what a blog is and showing my copyright statement
--- add the sidebar links to my Launch radio station and to the Dean volunteers banner
--- fine-tune sidebar archive display to just show link to index and not to most recent 12 months
--- add a link to the Dinah category archives on the About Me page
--- move the category links above the date links on the archive index page

- Figure out how to add TypeLists to my archive so you can see more than just the latest book/music/movie links that show in the sidebar
--- and then figure out how to get the annotation for each entry to show (These lists are where all the Inkspot content went)

- Once I can edit dates without paging back month by month (feature request submitted & since Movable Type did it, I bet it won't be an unlikely enhancement):
--- add the last few of the "Dinah" blog posts to the new main blog (in the Dinah categories)
--- add to the new main blog all pre-Blogger posts (Oct 20, 1998 - Aug 15 1999)
--- add to the new main blog all post-Blogger, pre-MT posts which weren't already imported (Aug 26 1999 - March 7, 2000 first post)

- Tidy up a few little style sheet touches (declare multiple fonts, support a few silly little custom styles I made e.g. big & orange for Taylor)

- Review every single post (it'll be well over 2000 of them by the time those missing ones above get added in) to confirm that they have titles, categories & any supporting image files and that the links are still good.

- Confirm all content on old server is migrated, backed up or deletable.

- Once all content in TypePad blog:
--- redirect from Hurricane Electric server to TypePad account
--- create a custom 404 error page to point users to new Archive Index

- Once TypePad supports domain naming (listing the blog under metagrrrl.com)
--- Create a custom 404 error page with the Archive Index content
(Hmm, or maybe I should just put that behavior in as a new feature request?)
--- Set up proper mail handling since I don't think that will be part of the forthcoming domain naming feature.

*whew*

As you might guess, this is an ongoing project (five years and counting!), but TypePad is a great leap forward. I'm really happy with the features and the editing & management interfaces and I suspect the Pro features will give me everything I need to meet the above goals. Even if I have to wait a while for some of it, it won't be an inconvenience - I've got plenty to keep me busy!

Beta testing Typepad 2003

I was lucky enough to be part of the beta test of Typepad. Before I delete my test blog, BetaGrrrl (tagline: "What do you mean I'm a little testy today?"), I thought I'd save a few of my comments for posterity.

All seems very familiar to a MovableTyper. I like the soft green color; it matches our linens.

My first bug to report is that I can't report bugs.

[Turned out I was using the wrong password. I'm pleased to report that the Help/Feature Request system in Typepad is one of the easiest to use support systems I've ever worked with from the customer side. I feel well taken care of.]

Wowzer. I just went up to see what "TypeLists" are and tried making one. Naturally I chose books and it said enter an ISBN and I'll look it up for you and gave me that look that says "Yes, you know you love me" and it did look it up and even brought in the book cover. Sweet holy fuck. I love Six Apart.

I just betcha I'll be able to plug my Amazon Associates link in there too at some point. Automatically. Oh, yes, this is such a good thing.

I'm already thinking of who I want to buy gift accounts for: my Mum, Chris's Mom, my uncle, my sorta nephew Tony, my actual nephew Erich, my old college roommate who I lost touch with and whose mighty brain I miss, my aunt Mo up in Alaska, my stepdad, my friend Beverly, my old housemate Keoni...

I realize I'm at an advantage. I'm a geek and I've used MovableType, but even without that kind of knowledge it's so dang easy.

Oh, and if everyone and their mother has a TypePad account and is bringing their voice to the web, how cool is that? Mmm, and it's all gonna be standards compliant. Hallalujah!

I predict that Typepad is going to have a profound effect. It's a Tivo-scale leap forward.

Moving Notice 2003

[posted on Movable Type blog while switching over to Typepad]

I'm moving my virtual home to a new address:
http://metagrrrl.typepad.com/metagrrrl/.
Within the next month or so, this domain name will automatically direct you there.

Let me walk you through the process of making the switch.

At around 11am this morning, I started by signing up for the Typepad service. I compared the three plans and chose the middle one figuring I could upgrade later if I need to. I updated all the general info about me (I had been part of the beta test and hadn't spent time on it before) and then took an hour or so going to every single setting page and configuring my new weblog based on the available settings. Now, I wasn't editing templates themselves, just choosing options from the defaults.

Then I went into the management system for this blog, Movable Type, and created an export file of all my posts. Then I imported it into my Typepad blog.

It's 1pm.

Go take a look.

Two hours.

It's not perfect yet, but think about it: two hours. That's all. Trackback empowered. XHTML compliant. RSS feed. Mobile posting capability. Notification of new posts to various blog update trackers. View my pals list in order by who posted recently. Link books & music to my Amazon Associates account. And a whole lot more.

Sure, it helps I've got years worth of content, but look at all the structure that's in place to hold it. Two hours (and for a lot of features, no time at all because the default is just right).

Continuing modifications 2003

I've been making a few changes around here. I'm growing to see my weblog as more of a documented life stream. Thus, rather than splitting some things out into separate sub-blogs, I'm moving them into the main blog and listing them under a category. This evening I pulled the whole Eclectic Encyclopedia in.

Next up: the Dinah section and updating the page templates.

Then I really ought to do a better error page with the archive links on it. Once I have that, I can actually prune away old content. Might hold off on that step until I decide if I'm definitely going to be able to migrate to Typepad when it comes out. (Domain/mail management is my sticking point, but knowing those cleverpants people they'll solve that for me as well).

***

Better add to the list, before deleting anything, checking all umpty-jillion posts for a) bad links, b) missing categories, and c) lack of appropriate titling (an issue with automatic conversion from Blogger entries).

Whoops 2003

That post which appeared as my latest news for the last 7 hours or so has been relegated to it's proper position back in 1980. I apologize for any chronological discomfiture you may have experienced.

A Good Change 2003

Today I decided, as much as I love Hurricane Electric, as much as they've given me fabulous service for all these years, when TypePad goes live, I may make the switch.

Why?

Because MovableType is one of the better software products I've used.
Because I trust and respect the people and the company that make it.
Because I don't really need to spend $40 a month on hosting (or if I do, I can at least help keep my friends paychecks coming in).
And most of all...
Because I'm never gonna get my sorry ass fully web standards compliant without a little help from my friends.

Universe Contraction 2003

When I converted to Movable Type, I actually created 4 blogs so that "Dinah", "Inkspot" and "Eclectic Encyclopedia" could have their own categories and archive presentation. Now, noticing how little I post to them, I'm considering moving those entries into the main blog and making the navigation just link to category archive pages.

Hmm, and I really must wrap my brain around Trackback and decide if I want to use that feature. Oh and update my comments template. *sigh* and finish adding titles and assigning comments to my old Blogger posts.

Beautiful day today.

Oh look and it's time to go to work.

Blogging is still clearly a hobby, not an obsession around here.

Still here. 2002

Thanks for all the supportive letters and comments. I appreciate it.

My silence this week is not political or due to anything bad; I've just been very busy at work and distracted by exciting possibilities for a new apartment on the home front.

In lieu of personal content, here's some fun links and quotes:

Silly foreign Nike ads [thanks, Jun]:
http://www.setthemfree.com/movies/young_love.mov
http://www.setthemfree.com/movies/scary_cat.mov
http://www.setthemfree.com/movies/angry_chicken.mov

I was bemused to receive random greetings from someone at idrankwhat.net. [thanks Chad]

"Most people spend their lives going to bed when they're not sleepy and getting up when they are!" --Cindy Adams

And with that quote [thanks, Larry], I'm off for a shower and then bed. Not at all sleepy.

An Argument Against Free? 2002

Jason once again reminds me why it's worth checking his site every day. Today's post is an interview with G. Beato containing this thought-provoking idea:

I think an important point has largely been overlooked -- and that is that an environment where the majority of content is free or sponsored by advertisers ultimately favors corporate-created content.

I highly recommend you read the entire interview.

April Fool's Day 2002

This year I am Jason Kottke.

Content Dominatrix 2001

Wow. I'm impressed by Movable Type. I've spent the whole day working on creating MetaGrrrl 3.0 and have made lots of progress. I'm about 2/3rds of the way to being able to launch it, but probably weeks from getting all my content nicely contained in the new structure.

I wouldn't have gotten as far as I have without the help and encouragement from Jay. He's a good friend, especially when you're ready to give up. (One side-effect of moving up in your company is you may lose your web chops; I certainly have lost a lot and it's embarrassing and depressing. Jay, was right though, I can still do it, just maybe not on the first, or even the second try, but, hey, you know what? Third time lucky!)

No plans to go up to the city tomorrow (unless Meg and Judith say "Come up! Let's go to the Exploratorium!"), so I hope to launch the new version of the site, undoubtably with some oddities and broken links, by tomorrow night. And then -at last! - there'll be comments! Also the catsuit picture will be back which I know will please certain fans of my obvious status as a mammal. Now it's time to sleep the sleep of the just.

[tried to post this via Blogger at 1am last night, but it was on the blink; kinda ironic]

Thoughts about "Keepin' it Real" 2001

• I don't see a big distinction between myself online and myself offline. I'm just like this.
• I am not a construct of the obsessive mother of a high-school acquaintance; I am Real. Mike said so:

Cam Grrrl 2000

Ok, the pop up cam is working now, but the thumbnail isn't. Pop me up and see Perplexed Dinah!

The mindset for writing 2000

If you like to keep a presence on the web, do yourself a favor and recognize that:
- you don't have to put out masterpieces every week.
- you don't have to update every day.
- you don't have to enlighten your audience with every post.
- you don't have to hand-code to maintain your street cred.
Set yourself up with Blogger [or TypePad] and cut yourself some slack.

Wow. I missed my anniversary. 1999

I've been keeping a weblog since October 10th, 1998.
Note: the "Old!" link at the bottom of the page now works. I think I've finally figured out Blogger's archiving feature and it was mostly a user problem. Special hello to Seth for nudging me to get this working. :)