Posting

I was going to post every day in July, but then I realized that what I wanted was an outlet, not additional stress.  The first week in July turns out to be pretty busy and so I haven't gotten round to this until now.

The last posts for the sake of posting on this page were in November of 2022.  That was a post about how Microsoft had nearly bricked Outlook with an update and how unfortunate that was.  For the record, it is still functioning sub-optimally.  Pretty much every computer reboot presents with an Outlook launch that won't access my work email.  In most cases I can just close the application and restart it and that is enough to make it work - although I can't send email from my outlook.com address.  I find that particularly humorous.  Every couple of months the thing gums itself up enough requiring a start in safe mode and a restart.  That actually happened today.  Each time I find myself in that situation I am pretty sure that'll be all she wrote for Outlook, but so far it always manages to come around.  Back in November of 2022 our IT person said he's done with Outlook, so I am pretty much on my own to find work arounds.  It has something to do with user profiles, but I think it might be unfixable.  Last time we looked we found a known issue between Outlook and Google Suite email.  I'm not sure it is in their best interest to fix it.

The post before that shouldn't count as it was sort of a retraction for articles posted on the Newspage.  There were conflicting articles about Bruce Willis and AI.  I had posted them on my page and then put them in my newsletter, so I put a post here contextualizing them.  I am a little concerned every time I hit send on the newsletter that I am promoting something wrong.  That "drama-all" d-list is a disaster just waiting to happen.  So far this has been the only issue though, and I am fairly sure nobody noticed but me.

Before that you have to go back to August of 2021: two "Ellipses" posts where I am trying to do exactly this.  There's probably a theme to posts around "I am trying to get back into the habit of posts."  That effort went two days.  Not too successful.  It is interesting to go back and read even these truncated posts and see how little has changed (and how much COVID had changed things in the short term).  The 10/10 post complains about Pluto TV, which is funny because I just reloaded Pluto on the Rokus.  They seem to have fixed a lot of what I was complaining about, and they added a bunch of content I like.  There are two more Ellipses posts from July 2021 and then back into work posts.

Most of what has been here for a while are two flavors of work post (like you haven't seen it if you are reading this): "Worth a Look" and "DP Weekly Wrap Up."  The former are five Greenpage articles I think are good but got little student attention.  The latter are mostly articles I'd flagged but that didn't make it to the Newspage that have particular relevance to SOD DP disciplines.  Every now and then there's also a YouTube crosspost of students doing a Newspage Podcast.

There are a rash of what I guess I would call "real posts" ending at September 2020 and working their way backward.  The go back through March and then they drop back to mostly work posts.  This is the pattern all through 2019.  I made an effort with "Photo Friday" posts, each with a couple of phone pictures from that week.  Those posts are pretty fun in hindsight.  Maybe I will try them again.  I find it interesting that there are no posts at all from July of 2019, which was a hugely eventful period.  That gap represents a significant shift in my attitude about posting in general.

In November of 2018 there's a run of posts with a culminating "how'd I do" post talking about a posting sprint.  Another attempt to restart the habit.  And then another sprint in July: 31 posts in 31 days.  After that there's nearly nothing until 2014 at which point I think we can say we're into regular posting.  Almost 10 years since I had really been into this.  I would not have thought it was that long.  If someone had asked I would have said 4-5 years at the outset.  10 years is a long time.  Interestingly that does correspond to another significant development.  Maybe it was more about that and less about posting in and of itself.

Radio Check

A short list of things detrimental to Blogging tempo:

• Facebook
• Computer games
• Children
• The DVR/Netflix/Binge watching
• RSS readers
• Significant illness
• Other blogs/webpages
• Friends
• Books

Trying to do better.

On 30 Posts in 30 Days

So I did it.  I mean, less than three days in I had failed by strict evaluation but under 21st century evaluation I think I did alright.  Actually the missing the deadline thing is one of the things I learned from the whole thing.  Let's start with that.

Something about how my life is structured right now means that I can't really find a moment to sit in front of the computer to write until after 11pm.  That doesn't mean I don't find time to sit in front of a computer before that; I spend an inordinate amount of my time in front of a screen.  It just means that this sort of writing seems to get pushed off to the back even when I have tried to make it a priority.  Just to make the point even more clear this is happening right now.

I seem to really not want to take a position anymore.  Looking back through the archive there are all sorts of posts taking one or another firm position on political issues.  Right now I could talk about ebola or Gaza or immigration but strangely I don't.  I'll point at it obliquely in an "Ellipses..." post but the oomph required to generate an entire post seems to have left me.  Not sure what the root of that could be.

I could have an endless supply of posts if Gavri came over every day to play with my Lego.  All things being equal I am not sure those are the posts people want to read... all six of you.

As a side note I have pretty rigidly refused to post links to this blog in any of my other internet homes.  Last week I dropped a link for the comment voting on the new @NFTRW_Feed twitter stream, but at that time that stream had only 6 followers.  I wonder if I would be more or less motivated to write if I cross linked the posts to Facebook or my personal Twitter.

There would probably be even more photo posts if I could manage to get my iCloud photo linking to work better between my phone and my laptop.  It's all set up, but the results are totally intermittent and that means if I want to do a post with a photo I have to wait until I download the camera, email the photo to myself (which BTW my new work email won't let me do either), or sync the phone.  It's not a huge impediment, but it isn't greasing the wheels either.

I still haven't come up with a firm policy on my child's presence here online.  Should I use his name or "Baby TANBI"?  Can I post pictures?  I've been all over the place.  Perhaps that's the policy: all over the place.  Like Lego projects I am not sure my audience is looking for daddy blogging.

At the top of July I made a list of topics for posts with 20 possible posts.  In the end I used 3.  I guess preplanning isn't a guarantee of high posting tempo. So I am not going to try to do a post each day of August, but I will try to keep the post tempo up.

Oh No! I'm a Bot

Do you think this is how Tigh felt when he found out he was a Cylon?

Not 48 hours after setting up my Blogger>RSS>IFTTT>Buffer>Twitter thing it all fell apart.  Twitter decided I was a bot since all my posts were links and I wasn't following anyone (you think they might cut me some slack as at that moment I was only tweeting to seven people).

Of course I didn't know it was Twitter that was the problem.  Their email saying they'd frozen the account got swept up  in a spam folder.  So naturally I spent a while making sure I hadn't screwed things up somewhere along the chain.  I had a nice twitter exchange with someone at Buffer.  I deleted and re-wrote the IFTTT recipe.  Eventually I looked at my old email spam (I had to tie the new twitter to an old email) and found the freeze notice.

Update password and we're off and running again.  At least until the next SNAFU.

It's BAAAAAAACK!

Sometimes things work out well.  Sometimes.

As one of my four readers you may be aware that I run another blog: News From the Real World.  That blog aggregates articles I think are relevant for my students.  This is the source material for the "Worth a Look" and "Vote for Comment of the Week" posts on this page.

There are two main streams for the content on that page.  One of the is the "ToDo/Alerts" folder in my email.  Through a bunch of Outlook rules that folder gathers a bunch of industry content and I winnow that for Greenpage (my shorthand for News From the Real World) content.  The other stream are articles I tag "Greenpage" in my RSS feed.  I have lost track of how many feeds I am subscribed to and which of them are pretty much exclusively for Greenpage content generation.  Anyway, articles pile up under that tag and then I winnow those into Greenpage articles.

In my present operation of 12 posts per day, 6 days per week I generally post 6 articles sourced from my RSS tag.  A quick scan of the tag shows 26 articles tagged today.  That means 20 articles that I initially thought were relevant don't make the final cut.  Often it's editorial balance that makes the difference - I just don't like the way the 12 daily posts are forming up.  Sometimes it is just volume.  If I posted everything it would be overwhelming for the students.  Sometimes I think even the 60 posts per week is overwhelming.

Back in the golden days of Google Reader (may it rest in peace) the software gave me an interesting sideline.  Tagged articles in Reader could themselves get RSS feeds.  That allowed me to have a link on the Greenpage to what I called the "Greenpage Feeder Page."  If people were so interested and wanted to see the remaining tagged articles that didn't make the 6 that got to the Greenpage each day they could check out the Feeder Page and see all of the articles.

Unfortunately that functionality was lost with the loss of that specific RSS reader.  I switched over to Feedly Reader and my process didn't change at all.  I still tag articles "Greenpage" and then select a couple of articles each day to promote to the Greenpage proper.  I could see the full list but the opportunity for readers to get access to the full tag volume wasn't available.

Until I got around to fixing that today.  Introducing the "Greenpage Source Page."

While I have been griping about this loss of functionality I have been peripherally aware of a service called If This Then That: IFTTT.  In broad terms this is a service that lets you link other internet services.  Looking through the available "recipes" I found one already written to generate a blogger post each time a Feedly article was tagged with a specific tag.  So I started a new blog, set up the IFTTT recipe and presto: new outside "Greenpage" tag access.

I need to work on some formatting issues.  Part of me thinks it will never look polished, but that is sort of in the "backstage" spirit of the thing anyway.  If you have the time and inclination you should check it out.

Well, it's Come to This

Yesterday, apparently, I couldn't even be bothered to tweet.

One Hundred Thousand

So Are You Ever Going To Blog Again, Or What?

Yes, things have dropped off some. The "shorties" are piling up and while entertaining just, just aren't the same. So, what the hell happened?

A couple of things.

First off I've really been fighting the tendency for this to become David's emo blog. Mom died, it's been, it still is real hard; and much as I have a lot to say about the subject I just don't think this is the place. My Facebook status updates from January were rough enough. I don't think anyone needs month after month of e-grief. There's also the situation with my Dad and his process and current events; and again, although interesting, and by no means tragic, just aren't tight for here.

Then there's work. There have been two real over-riding work stories this semester, neither of which I can really write about much here. The first is that I got a new boss in January. The transition went about as well as you would think getting a new boss, mid-year, just before the University announced campus wide cutbacks would go. It's been rocky, my personal situation (read above) didn't allow me to handle it all that well either, and none of that makes for appropriate blogging. Although again, it could be interesting to read in some other context.

The other real work story is that among the university cutbacks my new boss has managed to still get hold of some "honeymoon" money. My major non-academic project for the last few months has been working with several other people trying to determine how to spend what we did manage to get. Normally I think I would have written about that a lot, but "under the current financial conditions," it didn't seem appropriate to be talking about how we're going to spend money when even within the same department we were making cuts in other places.

And BSG ended and the season of SCC ended and it was canceled. I could write for hours on end about reruns of The West Wing: "Do you think Toby was right when he told Josh that someone running for President can't be a person who had to be asked to run, that they have to think the universe has conspired to make them President?" But, just seems less than.

There have been other things. I got tenure (although we're holding our breath a little until 7/1). My sister had a baby boy. Kevin & Diane had a baby girl - and they just closed on a new house. It rained a lot yesterday. Some people just down the block appear to have had a flood of sorts, and there's a fleet of electrical trucks down the street. Tivel has been out for two days now and I am afraid that it's gone from "out" to "missing." Brey'Tak got his spring shave. Mrs. TANBI survived a second round of personnel cuts at her job. In the midst of the blogging drought things are as busy as ever. I just haven't managed to get to writing.

I'll see what I can do about that.

Just Type Something Already!

How hard could it be?

Where Has All the Blogging Gone?

If you've been reading for a while (and thanks so much if you have) you've probably noticed things dropping off quite a bit of late. While much of that has to do with just general lethargy and my ongoing family situation I actually do think there are a few other influences that have had a significant impact. In the naute of blogging I thought maybe you'd like to know what they are.

1. iPhone

Blogging for me usually turns out to be a late in the evening thing. Since I got a smartphone and can check my email without even lighting up a computer I've found myself sitting in front of this screen less and less. Less computer time is just going to translate into less blogging posts. I haven't done a blog post from the phone. I guess if I make that happen it might start to be less of an issue.

2. Facebook

So this hasn't been as big an issue as I suppose it could be. But, without argument the other site has nuked out a couple of more regular blog posts: the "link of the day" and the meme. More often than not now if I do a meme or if I see a site or an article I want to make people aware of I post it to my facebook wall. So if you miss those kinds of posts you should friend me inside Facebook's little walled garden. If you never liked them in the first place - well you probably don't miss them then, even if it has made for less overall posting.

In that same vein, Twitter and LoudTwitter have impaced things a little too. I think sometimes the Twitter feed steals some of what eventually might have wound up in "ellipses..." posts; even even though it all eventually works its way onto the site, it's not really the same. Sometimes I consider dumping the "Shorties" posts from LoudTwitter - but lately it feels like that would leave nearly nothing at all.

#3 Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword
I've always been a fan of the Civ game series. Actually my favorite was Alpha Centauri, but they haven't released that for a contemporary OS. I've got it down to where I can play a complete game in less than two hours. Still along with that, I often don't feel like going on to spend time writing. It's a lame excuse, but it's true: blogging has taken a backseat to gaming more often than once.

There's also the small problem of XenoTactic, which you might be familiar with if you follow the Twitter feed. Having been pretty much stymied by level six I haven't spent as much time with that particular diversion as of late. But it has taken a toll.

But not as much as this next thing.

#4 RSS Feeds - Google Reader

So, back in the day you'd have a few blogs you followed and once a day or so you'd blow open the page and see what was up. No more. Now most pages have feeds that you can set to all accumulate in one place and check in a feed reader. Whenever they update the piece is there automatically, no checking day after day and finding nothing. Maybe a week ago, if I left my feeds alone for 24 hours they would pile up north of 2000 entries. Even jamming through without looking that carefully, 1000 stories takes for-f'in-ever. So last week I ruthlessly culled through the subscriptions and cut it down significantly. Now I think on a normal day we're at about 600-700 stories and I can go through like 300 in a half hour or so. It's gone from being like slave labor to like reading the paper - but it definitely takes time away from the blogging.

Still, I certainly miss the blogging. So maybe there will be some re-balancing over time and the posting will pick up again. At least I hope so.

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Clearly I'm Not Trying

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

CMU Alumni Related Companies - updatedx2

Do me a favor and check down this list. If you know of any other CMU Drama Alumni owned/run companies could you give me a shout?

2008 Gift Guide

Remember this post?

Well I think I'll do a 2k8 version next week sometime. So if you have items that ought to be included send them my way!

Oops

DBoevers (4:18:47 PM): can you see my package in this pic?

DBoevers (4:18:49 PM): https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIBUepxvaXBJ4Vi3L7ZJp721R6B-GwUOJxCE793zTkye8cKtwvjGsNwUkl2atzetf-Xj2jH33VH-D7qDSoMmSgUPx-CshgZPKqmxGr3z87TgvtTNDsmcJb1AtL3FNh5jYACp6E/s1600-h/Panorama.jpg

Mrs.TANBI (4:19:07 PM): no

Mrs.TANBI (4:19:12 PM): can you?

DBoevers (4:19:16 PM): are you sure?

DBoevers (4:19:46 PM): I think is DAMN close - but no

Mrs.TANBI (4:19:58 PM): where?

DBoevers (4:20:16 PM): if you look at the inside edge of the mandalay bay sign

DBoevers (4:20:21 PM): but in the reflection in the glass

DBoevers (4:20:33 PM): I think the image cuts off just above the danger zone

DBoevers (4:21:03 PM): almost VERY embarrassing

Mrs.TANBI (4:21:25 PM): have you posted this on the internet?

DBoevers (4:21:44 PM): http://mydaddidntliketheurl.blogspot.com/2008/10/not-yet-up-to-speed.html

DBoevers (4:23:14 PM): don't see myself here:

DBoevers (4:23:15 PM): http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ynlm4u-_Y0T4etSC_ytelQ

DBoevers (4:23:26 PM): but that panorama shot is less discreet

DBoevers (4:23:35 PM): have to remember that when shooting around windows

Mrs.TANBI (4:24:42 PM): maybe don't take pictures while naked

DBoevers (4:24:44 PM): right

DBoevers (4:24:46 PM): check

DBoevers (4:25:00 PM): or, I have to become hotter

DBoevers (4:25:03 PM): one or the other

DBoevers (4:25:07 PM): or maybe both

Mrs.TANBI (4:25:32 PM): hot has nothing to do with not posting pictures of your package

Mrs.TANBI (4:25:38 PM): that's just indecent

DBoevers (4:26:14 PM): I guess

DBoevers (4:26:28 PM): the dangers of blogging

Fourth Anniversary Post

So this post is actually more than a month and a half overdue. Sometimes I guess life just gets in the way and we don't have all the time we might need for things like blogging. Plus I spend an awful lot of time maintaining the other blog, I average about 1500 articles a day coming in through my Google reader account - something for my own edification although it also generates this feed and the Green Page, and then there's Twitter, and most recently Facebook. It's a lot of computer time for one guy. Add Xeno Tactic and there's pretty much no time for CivIV, let alone StumbleUpon.

The RSS feeds thing has really changed the blog. I spend more time reading and less time writing, and when before I might see something on TV or hear something on the radio and then write about it; now I am more likely to read about it online and post a link. It's pretty much done away with the "Link of the Day" idea, although there are still occasionally that type of post. Posting in general had dropped way down until July when LoudTwitter started shipping batches of tweets as a daily post. Now the numbers are way up although contentwise we're still down.

The numbers:

TANBI 07-08
351 Posts
17 Ellipses

I'm back down under a post per day, but the automatic posts will jump it up again soon, and when you figure all the other activity, well, I am posting well above "hermit/loser" on the scale of unpaid online posting. Various data sources show around 700ish distinct viewers and roughly 100 page views each day. The counter rolled over 70,000 this year and is nearly already to 75k.

The whole idea of "most" photos or videos has sort of fallen apart because of the use of other sites for embed, and the meme thing is just so over - so we won't be counting those this year.

Best pic:

From Halloween2k7

Worst pic:

From There are no bad ideas

I don't know what I was on that day, but clearly I needed a nap.

Top 10 posts, as chosen by me - the guy that did them:

1. I CAN HAS DYNASAAR - 2008
2. .sig War
3. LOL Commencement
4. Reasonable Stopping Point
5. Why Barak? Why?
6. I've Had an Idea
7. What the Financial Markets Could Learn From Industrial Motion Control
8. Food Adventure
9. Last Minute PTM Type Gift Ideas
10. Cam-pain

They are in no particular order. It's hard to compare being funny to being serious to home projects to work, but I think overall they're a good group. And representative of a decent year.

What up?

The Dinosaur Post was viewed 113 times today. I wonder what's up with that?

They Like Me, They Really Like Me!!!

Thanks so much for coming by.

P.S.

I don't want to make anyone nervous, but we're about to reach 70,000 hits.

More David! More David!

Twittering at dboevers.

Posting to Post

I never took off my pajamas today.
I thought that would be a good excuse for not posting.
That's all I have to say.