The first dash of colour in the garden this year. A welcome sight.
We finished watching Schitt’s Creek over the weekend. Yes, we’re a bit late to this one, but we tend not to watch many things as soon as they’re released. It was great fun to watch.
Tonight we started watching Shrinking on Apple TV. Good so far!
A change to my blog
After a few years of being on the Micro.blog platform, it’s time to host my own blog again. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed hosting my blog on Micro.blog, but I want to have more control over what my blog does for me.
Having my blog on Jekyll wasn’t enough, though. I needed to be able to blog from my phone if needed. So, over the last couple of days, I have been building a Rails app that helps me to do what Micro.blog offers. I’ve tried to do this in the past and failed miserably, but this time I’ve added enough knowledge to know what I need.
The Rails application handles two important steps that I need to continue blogging about when I have my phone.
Uploading and hosting images
The first is the uploading and hosting of images. I previously included all images in the blog itself when I last ran my blog using Jekyll. As expected, it led to some seriously long build times for Jekyll.
The new application allows me to upload and serve all the images for my blog. Each image is saved in different sizes, and I’m using an LLM to generate alt text as it’s uploaded.
This allows me to manage uploads separately from the blog itself and keeps the blog’s build time fast.
Posting on the go
The second is creating posts on the go. I previously did this using GitHub’s web interface, pasting the post directly into my repo. Not exactly straightforward, and it worked to an extent, but it became more of a chore than anything else.
The new application allows me to compose posts on a much friendlier web page. I can save the post as a draft and come back to it later. When it is ready to publish, it commits the post directly to my blog’s repository on SourceHut, where I have a build script to deploy the code to my server after each commit.
What I’ll miss
Yes, features are missing from my setup, like cross-posting, bookmarks, and bookshelves, and over time, I might replace them with my own take on these features. For the moment, though, I’m quite happy knowing that my blog is back to being something I have full control over, and I have more of a say in how it’s built and displayed.
And yes, this means I have parked the three-column theme I was building for Micro.blog. I doubt I will finish it. Apologies if you have been looking forward to it.
I will still be keeping my blog pointed at the Micro.blog community and I wish nothing but success for the platform. It’s a great community, and I hope it continues to grow.
I’m slightly divided on who to support in the curling tonight. The all-Scottish GBR team or the Canada team? Either way, it’s going to be a great final for the gold medal.
A great morning of golf with my youngest today.
Jennifer planted these bulbs in October in a layered fashion so that we would see all the flowers through springtime. Looking good so far.
My wife is having a serious geek out moment with her new record player tonight. Dug these two classics out from the loft. Time to start collecting vinyl again!
I’ve been hesitating to unfollow a blogger I have followed for years. This morning I decided to unsubscribe. The silence from them is deafening.
It’s great to see a player like Sam Darnold win a Super Bowl. A real testament to not only his physical ability, but also his mental resistance. Also, it pays to be patient. The NFL is a tough league to crack, but players need time to develop their skills. Sam Darnold played the long game and won.
How did I not know about filters in Micro.blog?