Everyone's a critic.

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Wednesday, 15th December 2004

Pre holiday update: where's the rants?

I don't think anyone actually reads the news section on my page, but I'll keep updating it for now so's it doesn't get all stale and redundant. I don't want to pollute the rant area with site-related news.

I've mentioned before: I hate Blogger. I've only recently done something about it though. Were one to visit this page they would find the system I am considering using instead of Blogger. It is b2evolution.

The reason I have not yet transitioned is simple: I have my whole rants page geared around Blogger, and am reluctant to start with a blank slate again. I must find some way of amalgomating all my previous rants (and associated comments) with the new system.

An additional problem is that this b2evolution wants to take over the whole system. It has its own links page and news page that would obviate the rest of the site. Would this lobotomise the soul of cechner.com?

Thursday, 2nd December 2004

New home, new host

I don't believe in doing things by halves. Not only do I move house on the 10th of this month, but if you are reading this note you are looking at a newly hosted cechner.com. This page is now being carried by BlueHost.

Tuesday, 9th November 2004

What's not happening?

WebHostXL have told me they won't be taking on hosting contracts starting next year, so I have till about June next year till I have to find somewhere else. MicFo Group seem promising.

All new rants have been going to my blog - and there have been a few updates. This page is only going to be used for news from now on.

I'm setting up a new gallery. WebHostXL doesn't come with any image manipulation sofware installed, so I may be migrating sooner rather than later. There is also, of course, the option of using flickr, but I like being able to control it myself.

Friday, 15th October 2004

I hate Blogger

User friendly systems like Blogger are meant to hide all the scariness of the Internet behind a smooth façade of web wizadry. Why is it then that every time I use it I feel as though I'm struggling against every layer of technology on which Blogger is constructed?

I'll tell you why - it's the randomness. One of the first rules of User Interface design is consistency in using the interface. Dont get me wrong - Blogger has a spit-polished look-and-feel to it. But about half the time my post just sits 'somewhere' trying to be pushed through Blogger's system, and often it doesn't seem to go anywhere at all. It just keeps cycling on the 'Publish in progress' screen while I sit there impatiently gnashing my teeth and pulling my hair. There's something about the publishing wait screen that smacks of mental torture. That flashing exclamation mark; the agressively regular reloading that gives the illusion that there is progress being made...

If Blogger is owned by Google why can't they sit it on some reliable servers? I'm just glad I've learned from past mistakes and keep a backup of my posts in an open document editor.

As we speak I'm waiting for a post to publish that I haven't been able to push through for over an hour (actually, I'm trying to re-publish a modified self schadenfreude). Hence my frustration.

Friday, 15th October 2004

Webloggery

My first tentative foray into the world of Blogger has been somewhat disasterous. Relying on a web-based publishing system resulted in the tragic loss of a carefully composed post entitled the tyranny of telephones (a title stolen from a recent BoingBoing article). Thinking of the advice someones father-figure probably once gave to them to jump back onto a horse (or some such thing,) I swiftly composed another post lamenting the loss of the first (I could not spoil the memory of tyranny by attempting to re-compose it... nor could I relive the halcyon days of its authoring.)

I am glad to announce my victory over technology.

Not withstanding my stinging and humbling lesson, I now have a journal/blog on which I intend to publish my rantings - political, personal, whatever. I will probably delete it before too long, so best read it now!

Tuesday, 12th October 2004

Lost in La Mancha

The hour drags on; I have just finished uploading Spring in the Valley photos (Scroop composed a fairly credible account - his recollection is clearer than my own); I am probably not going to be able to get up tomorrow.

I have to say though, that I feel fairly alienated from what I - as of yesterday - perceive as the average Australian.

It's true: I have a vendetta against Howard since I first noticed his crusade against providing an egalitarian tertiary education system (I was a budding Uni student at the time)... the fact remains he is a toad. America cannot save us from ourselves, John, and a platform built on deception is no platform at all.

Monday, 20th September 2004

Click

I was recently the surprised recipient of a (relatively, considering I have never had one before) hefty pay bonus. This monetary serendipity temporarily made accessible to this humble consumer a hitherto unknown world of options. $2000 AUD later I became the proud owner of a Canon 300D digital SLR.

I have been learning at an astounding pace over the three days since my purchase... yesterday for instance I learned that after careful reading, constant probing, and taking hundreds of photos one could still completely and obviously suck at taking photos.

This page being nothing more than an extremely sketchy facsimile of a sub-section of the things in my life, I have added a Photography section to the Links page and soon expect to amp up the Images section.

Wednesday, 25th August 2004

Ping

AustralianPolitics.com is back... for all your Australian Politics needs.

I don't like the generic nature of the cechner.com front end. I'll have to think up something more interesting to put there. I'll also get rid of the logo I made, I think... make it a site icon or something. My "Stuff o' Interest" section of the links page is getting too generic. I'll have to sort that shit out.

My weekly schedule: Monday: Jam. Tuesday: D&D. Wednesday: Mixed Netball. Thursday: Watch Shaun play / Salsa. Friday: Sadly, often flake out and sleep.

Wednesday, 4th August 2004

Updating

I'm using Slackware Linux more than Windows at the moment, so am without my beloved HTML-Kit (see links page). I wont use anything that requires you to download your files manually, so this site hasn't been updated in some time now.

I'll find something though... until then, I've added some art stuff to the links page, and added a whole new images section.

Friday, 25th June 2004

New direction

I'm still deciding on what I want this page to do. Added a dinky little calendar and am going to put a full-blown organiser on some page that I can synchronise with my home/work computer (via iCal).

I've noticed that I currently have no need for a Bulletin Board system, so I'll remove all links to it for now. In fact, the only thing I use this site for regularly is keeping track of bookmarks. I'll probably create a system to organise these news items and link them up with my dinky calendar, though. Shouldn't be too difficult. I'll plan it out on another page.

My keyboard has a 'screensaver' light that keeps flashing at me. What the fuck?

Tuesday, 1st June 2004

A big word up

Scroop (aka Lucien) linked me. My first linkage.

So this one goes out to my homie Lucien. I do hope his mother doesn't visit his page though - for a guy who takes pride in his diction, he has a dirty mouth.

Saturday, 29th May 2004

It has to start somewhere...

cechner.com hosting has changed hands. webhostxl.com now hosts this page. It's nice and cheap, but the support is really terrible.

I have also set up a proper bulletin board system using phpNuke. My crappy homemade bulletin board lacked functionality and security, and suddenly stopped working to boot. I know I prefer stuff that works.