Topic: like an alcoholic...

Last night, in e-mail, Michael asked me why I do not have a web site of my own. I responded with the truth:
I have lots of ideas for a web site, I really want one, but I've always run into trouble trying to find the time/energy to follow through with my grand plans.

I got this geocities account, and now I've made myself a deal (I've made this same pact with myself before and always failed...this time is different, I hope.)
IF I can follow through with my plan for 3 months, I will break down and buy a domain name, get some real space (Pugzly, you still open for business?) and do it for real.

I've given myself 15 minutes / business day to write extemporaneously on the word of the day. 15 minutes, that's all. Maybe it will grow, but today I'm starting small. Baby steps.

Day one is finished. There's not a lot there, but feel free to look, comment, insult, whatever. It will change, grow, take shape, over the next 3 months.

I'm not really looking for anything specific...just kinda like when an alcoholic trys to get off the sauce, he can make deals with himself all day long (most of them he'll break before sunset), but if he tells his family he's done, there is this public incentive.

Asylum, please be my public incentive to spend 15 min a day typing worthless crap into a worthless geocities web site. I'd appreciate it.



[This message has been edited by mobrul (edited 11-29-2002).]

Way to go, mobrul. I think that's a great idea.

As for the page, it's looking clean and although sparse right now, I'm looking forward to further updates.

mobrul - great to see you marking your territory on the net...

first of all... some editorial housekeeping: endeaver = endeavour, writted = written, and "what ice water" = "want iced water".

ensuring basic grammatacity (or at least purposed derivatives) is the first step for having readable content. And please don't slacken off on this, just because it's on the net. Intelligent readers will not put up with this for long, no matter how enticing your content is. (i know you're working on a 15 minute limit, but at least give your work a thorough read through after your time is up, to correct the basic boo-boos.)

...and believe me, it is enticing. An intruiging concept, i look forward to seeing how this unravels.

tip #1: i suggest a link or prompt of some sort, linking to the meaning of your word of the day. Ideally, a little popup when the user mouses over or clicks on the title.

the hyperlinks look really tidy. nice work there.

your entire site design looks very - insprired? influenced? by stephen's earlier miscminutiae work. is this work yours? i have no doubt you coded it personally, but it seems to influenced by his work to leave room for your own stamp of individuality. please, don't take this as a 'ripper' accusation, i'm saying that you seem to have adopted his style instead of developing your own, that's all.
and speaking of stephen, and your list of influential people - i think my list would be almost identical to yours! very cool list of very cool folk.

your use of space is quite good.
my only whinge is that the 'mission' seems to be in the wrong spot. on the right are your links - links to external places. the mission explains the content of your site. it just doesn't fit. where would i put it? on a new page, personally. linked to from either one of the 'item x' links, or it's own link, above 'encumbrance'.

very nice work, mobrul - don't give up on this one, stick to your solemn vow.



[This message has been edited by reitsma (edited 11-28-2002).]

cool... great idea Mobrul... I've often wanted to have a page where I can write randomly -or not so randomly- inspired rants, but always felt there was no point.. but with something new and simple every day for inspiration, it could be a good way to practice and improve my writing.. I wouldn't want to use the word of the day of course - I mean hey.. I'm not looking to rip you off or anything I just think you've inspired me to take a little time every once in a while to work on my writing.. and thinking. then again, I'll probably never do anything like this because I'm too lazy and very poor at time management.. oh well.. you did inspire me for a moment there

--Lurch--

Wow, that's a great idea, mobrul. Not only that, but I'm going to take you up on your offer and be your incentive. No slacking off now, or you'll be hearing from me.

The design is clean and unintrusive, which is always a good thing. I'll second reitsma's concerns about the "mission," though, although I think you might be able to get away with just moving it to the top.

Thank you, by the way. I am also preparing to launch my own website, and I've kind of gotten bogged down in work and vacation planning. Seeing your site has renewed my inspiration, and hopefully you'll be seeing something from me soon.

Good luck, and stay on that wagon!

Thank you all for your support and encouraging responses

reitsma:
Grammatical and spelling errors noted and fixed. Thanks. I'm normally pretty good about that sort of thing...not perfect, but better than average. Maybe I was just so excited on Wednesday...
New emphasis on grammer and spelling. [check]

Title attribute newly set for the title of each day's writing. Good idea. [check]

About Twitch^...hmmm...that's kinda disheatening. I understand exactly what you're saying. Believe me when I say I didn't 'on purpose' pick to model my design off anybody.
But you seem to think it is, for lack of a better phrase, 'too close' to Stephen's work...and after you say it, I took a long hard look and agree, it does look kinda like the old miscminutia.
I'm not sure what to do about that.
I'll say this for now:

If Stephen/Twitch^ happens to see this, and you think I'm 'too close' to yours, please contact me in whichever way you feel necessary. I'll remove the style sheet immediately. I'm not being a smart ass, or anything but totally serious.
In the meantime, or barring any comment from Twitch^, I'll think about ways to make this more imprinted with my own (feeble as it may be) style.

Thanks for being honest without being rude.

Mission section...not convinced on what to do with that yet, or even if it will stay for very long. I appreciate your advice, but for now it's staying where it is.

Suho:
Thanks, I need it. my e-mail is in my profile. Email whenever you feel I'm slacking.

Finally, Michael, besides inspiring me to get off my ass, has now offered me some little space in his web world. From now on, geocities can die and my site will be (at least temporarily) found at http://mobrul.formclot.net.

Many many many thanks to Michael.

mobrul

It looks like things are coming along nicely. Can I make two quick suggestions, though? First, you might want to change the title of the page to somethig a bit more descriptive than "Website." Second, what about putting the date on the page? It might be helpful for people in different time zones to keep track of which day you are on.

the tip bit looks great, mobrul.

under mission, it says "Thanks to Michael"... well, by now, you should know his URL.

under people, it says "michael" - by now, you should....

yah, you get the point.

*ehem*
hey - if you have to update every page to fix the link, imagine how hard it would be if i told you this at day 30?

hmm..... now there's food for thought. *cough*php*cough*

email me if you're interested.

Date...OK, easy enough.

Name for website...not so easy. I'm a little low on name ideas lately. Today it stays 'website'. This is one of the (many) major issues I need to resolve in the next 3 months. PHP (or some other) management tool is another major issue.

There are a lot of things...like getting photos scanned in and captions written. Another thing, some time ago I promised Kriek some vegan recipes. Currently there are a few of them, but they have zero style sheet attached and could really use a rewrite.

Tons of stuff to do. I hope to tackle one 'major' issue every week or every other week. Not very fast, I know, but all I can afford right now. Baby steps.

I've played with the idea of putting some of my favorite photos as background images in those 3 boxes to the right. What do you think of the one that is there?

mobrul