seanwillson.com

well i’ve finally found the time to get my blog up and running. during my registrar move i decided to move my blog from movable type to wordpress. it wasn’t because of anything mt did or didn’t do … it was mostly due to the convenience of someone else maintaining my blog software. i was able to click a few buttons to get it installed, import all of my old posts, and i was up amd running. so where did i waste the rest of my weeks/months then if it was that easy? well mostly in being lazy … but also in finding a decent theme and then hacking the wordpress php code to get it to render the way i wanted. one thing i really don’t like about wordpress is that it always seems to think it knows how to format my html better than i do. if i tell it to get out of the way then damn it, get out to the way. i shouldn’t have to open php files an comment out formatting lines to get it to behave the way i’d expect when i insert breaks, lists, or paragraph tags. i hope my wordpress experience is much smoother going forward, i’ll keep you posted.

after the severe public backlash from movabletype weblog authors it seems that sixapart has decided to change their licencing/pricing scheme. they altered the sites and authors limitations in their various tiers to bring it more in line with their user-base. the change that effects me is that the low end personal edition now has 5 weblogs and 5 authors (up from 3 and 1) which brings it in line with my usage model. the pricing is still a bit high considering the feature set but i’m starting to think that i might give them a chance rather than jump. i’m going to look into it more and make sure that it fits my usage and make a decision from there. a few of the things i’m really looking for them to add are photo blogging, email posting support, and easier file uploading. time to think on it …

even google’s getting into blogging by eating their own dogfood, and by that i mean blogger. i used blogger in the not so distant past but prefered hosting my own content management system rather than trusting someone else to “do the right thing” … seems that didn’t work out to well for me ahe?

if your into blogging you likely saw news earlier this week about sixapart changing their usage policy of their movabletype blogging tool. they’re changing the terms from a free usage policy, with donations accepted, to an overpriced tool that hasn’t seen a decent feature added in a few years. they released the news on their (in)appropriately entitled blog, “it’s about time”. lets just say people were less than pleased with the changes. yes, movabletype is one of the most popular blogging tools on the market but i’d be willing to bet that’ll be changing soon.

i personally use movabletype for two blogs, my wife uses it, and i have a few private less known blogs. if i were to go forth and throw sixapart some of my cash i’d owe them around $99.95 for the same exact features that i’m currently receiving for free. i find it very troubling that they’re sticking their hands out without having innovated or added a new feature since i started using movabletype almost two years ago. it would be different if i felt like they were progressing their feature set, but that’s far from the truth. don’t take get me wrong, i’m happy to support software developers that have applications i use and enjoy. i’ve done it with net news wire, unison, omnioutliner, and many others … heck i even donated to sixapart when i first started using movabletype. i just have a certain standard that sixapart hasn’t met with this new 3.0 release or the past few releases for that matter.

thus begins my search for a movable type replacement, stay tuned for all of the fun. maybe i’ll throw a redesign in at the same time.

she’s been busy setting up her new digs over at www.martiegras.com. we’re loving the new domain and the colors aren’t bad either. font could be a little smaller but that’s just my personal preference. she’s now officially left the blogger world and entered the realm of movable type. being a mt convert she can now appreciate the true power of blogging with complete control over all facets of her creative juices. some pain is included, but what fun would life be without a few shots of pain to make it all worthwhile?

sometimes when i sit down to write an entry for my blog i begin to glaze over and stare off into nowhere. after a while i forget about the topic at hand and my thoughts drift off to questions of why i write on my website in the first place. what makes me tick and why do i want to share my thoughts and ideas with everyone?

i started writing on a web page back in 1994 while i was at the university of michigan. each student was given around 10 mb to use for their personal web pages. at first it started out as a learning thing. a place where i could collect links to things that interested me. don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t that much content on the internet at that time. being a geek within a web of geeks with nothing but geek content, i was in heaven. after a few years that original bookmark site evolved into something much more as did the web itself.

i started using my site for more than geek related things around 1998. at that time i was living in chicago and spent a lot of my time working. in the free time i was able to find i started posting small writings and articles. it was never anything huge, but i enjoyed managing the site, messing around with new web technology, and most of all expressing myself through my writings. i was never very good at it but i enjoyed trying.

growing up i was always kind of shy and was never the kind of person who was “memorable”. that changed a bit in college when i had the opportunity to reinvent myself and break from my stereotypical shy roots. i broke out of my shell around some people but around most others i was still that shy kid. what i realized later was that i found it easier to open myself up to people that i could relate to. people who either liked something i liked, lived the way i lived, or experienced the things i’ve experienced. often times those people were nerds or outcasts like myself.

around january of 2000 i hit a point in my life where i wanted to make a change. i was tired of the same old same old and knew i had to do something to break out of my rut. i was a nerd who was over weight and didn’t have a ton of friends. i know, woe is me right? no !!! i’m not asking for your pity, just telling a story. at this point i decided to stop taking my health and fitness for granted. i started researching different exercise programs and health information. i started putting that information and other tidbits in this blog. over the past few years i’ve detailed my meanderings in health, fitness, love, family, work, and all things useless. i’ve used it as a place to make note of my changes, jot down ideas, post about things that interest me, keep my family up to date, meet new people, and generally try to express myself in writing.

it’s easy to write something about your past but if you really think about it you can easily miss all of the nuances of life. it’s hard to detail things that happened while at the same time express your feelings and thoughts. i know lots of my postings come across as simple notes, i’ll trying to work on that. nevertheless i enjoy using this site as a springboard to express myself.

recently i’ve been trying to see what other people have been doing on their blogs. the number of communities that have developed around this form of expression is truly amazing. you can’t visit a persons site without seeing someone’s blog entries about anything and everything that interests them. from the mundane to the exciting i’ve wondered what people find worthy of reading? what brings people back to someone’s blog? is it that openness of ideas or is it just the same content posted over and over again? are people interested in what like minded netheads are doing or is it fresh ideas that stimulate them?

like i said, things pop in my head at the weirdest times. i just trying to write them down and make sense of them all.

the creator of watson now has a weblog. two of my favorite non-apple tools on the mac are watson and net news wire.