microBlog (microRSS)

Issue 61 is shaping up

Nov 18, 2024

We're still in Italy, but Issue 61 of the 11ty Bundle is shaping up to be a doozy.

A bash listing of the various stats for the upcoming issue of the 11ty Bundle

We fly back home to the US in a couple of days. I'll be dropping Issue 61 next Tuesday. Lot's to digest before summarizing it all. Stay tuned!

We're in Italy at the moment

Nov 14, 2024

We left the US on election day, heading to Rome. We spent a few days in Rome, seeing various museums and other historic sites.

We spent a very long four and a half hours in the Vatican Museum, which was a bit much, but also pretty incredible. At the end of that day, I suffered a lengthy episode of atrial fibrillation. It took 4 doses of medication to get my heart back into a normal rythm. I've been feeling a lot better since then.

We then took a train to Naples for the scheduled tour of various cities and sites surrounding Mount Vesuvius. We were in Pompeii today. All I can say is WOW!

Yesterday, we visited a few historic villas, including Villa San Marco. The image below was originally found at the villa, but is now houses in a regional museum. It's my favorite picture of the whole trip so far...something about the combination of colors and the composition of the image.

A small fresco from Villa San Marco near Naples

We're off to see Oplontis. Here is a description of the site from a regional website:

Among Vesuvian archaeological sites, buried following the dramatic eruption in 79 A.D., Oplontis is probably the one that offers the most significant monumental evidence of the Pompeii suburbs. The group of Roman era buildings found, beginning in the Bourbon period, in the modern city of Torre Annunziata, is comparable to an actual city suburb, administratively subject to the jurisdiction of Pompeii.

This will be the final day of this 5-day tour that we've taken with Darius Arya, an archaeologist who has been featured on various TV shows. He's been a great guide, and we've learned a lot from him. He's got an impressive YouTube channel, which I recommend checking out if you're interested in ancient history.

On Saturday, we return to Rome to spend a couple of days with friends from the UK before returning to the US.

On the 11ty front, I just finished catching up on posts and sites that I've uncovered while traveling. You can find the latest posts in the Firehose and the sites are on the home page.

I'll get Issue 61 of the Bundle out shortly after I get back home.

The day after...and we're in Italy

Nov 7, 2024

We flew from San Francisco to Rome yesterday. When we landed in Zurich on the first leg of the trip, I immediately switched to the eSim I'd purchased, got access to the local cell network, and opened the Washington Post app on my phone, only to be greeted with the distressing news of Trump's victory. I was stunned. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I was in disbelief. I was in denial. I was in despair. I was in mourning.

Thankfully, after arriving in Rome and getting to our hotel, placing our bags down, and walking a single block, we found ourselves, quite intentionally, in Saint Peter's Square.

And after a night of very deep sleep, I have awoken refreshed and I'm going to do my best to purge the US from my mind, at least for a time.

This is a beautiful city and we have a lot to see and do.

I hope you all are safe and well.

Anxiety officially reduced

Nov 5, 2024

Well, yesterday day ended well and I feel a helluva lot better. Here's why:

I got Dropbox working on my laptop, so it's coming with me to Italy.
I solved an Eleventy problem that was causing me serious grief. I decided that I wanted to have the main feed of site's blog include these microblog posts as well as having a separate feed. While in the end, the solution was simple, I groped for way too long.
The appointment with the orthopedic surgeon went well. It was good news, bad news. The good news is that I have the surgery scheduled. The bad news is that it's scheduled for March 6, 2025. We're planning another trip to Europe in May, so that might be tight. I've been put on the waitlist in the event a cancellation occurs. If not, and I'm still in a walkable condition, I'll have it done after the May trip (though I'd prefer to enjoy the summer not in physical therapy).

I'll write more from Italia! Ciao!

I'm currently anxious about way too many things

Nov 4, 2024

Just a dump of things I'm anxious about right now:

The election tomorrow. That's all I need to say about that...except that I sure hope Kamala wins.
We're flying to Italy tomorrow. It should be a fun trip, but I'm always worried about this kind of trip. It's everything from making sure I've packed everything to the flight being on time. If I had to bet though, it's all probably going to be fine.
Dropbox on my laptop is shitting. For some reason, sync'ing has stopped and appears stuck. I've tried a bunch of stuff with no success. Perhaps this is God's way of telling me that I should not be taking it on the trip. We'll see.
I've got an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon today as it's time for me to get my other knee replaced. I've tried physical therapy, I've been doing a lot of strength training, but the grinding and getting into the car is getting pretty painful and I think that there's no other way out. I wrote about my first knee replacement in this post. And while I know what to expect, I'm not looking forward to this at all.
Our 30-year-old son struggles with what I'd call "doing life." This is a constant worry, but moreso recently.

Well, I said I'd wanted to write more and I thought I'd take this opportunity to do so. If I can't get my laptop working, you won't be hearing from me here until we get back (in a couple of weeks). If I can, I'll be posting from Italy.

Is it really a new design?

Nov 2, 2024

I'd been wanting to redesign my personal website for a while. I've had sketches and ideas, but no will to get started. Then, finally, a couple of days ago, I sat down and started futzing.

What you're seeing now is a modified site design and not exactly something I'd call a complete redesign. It's more of a simplification with some new functionality. The home page is now more an introduction to who I am instead just a list of the last 3 blog posts. I've shifted some of the top nav to the footer, added a crapload of social icons to the footer, and added this new microBlog section.

What you're reading now is the 2nd post of the microBlog. It's intended for short pieces like this one. It's been a while since I had blogged anything of substance and I wanted to reduce the friction of writing and not worry about the length and depth of each post. Also, on the main blog, I've always had a habit of having a hero image and I wanted to eliminate the need for that effort.

The microblog has its own RSS feed. ~~I may change the main feed to also include these posts, but for now the main blog and this thing will have separate feeds.~~ The main feed now includes these microblog posts as well as the main blog posts. Friction has been offically reduced for those pre-existing subscribers.

The first microBlog post

Nov 1, 2024

Now that I've redesigned the home page of this site, I've decided that I want to write more, but in shorter pieces. Hence, this microBlog. I'll still write some longer pieces on the main blog, but this will help me to write more spontaneously and more often. It will be what it will be.