I've finally gotten some time to finish up my new theme for rocktreesky. Obviously it follows the naming of the site but it also just feels a lot more like home to me. I'm not the best at graphics but the new header is close enough to the picture in my mind that I'll be happy with it. Right now the tree is in winter display but spring is less than a week away so I will be updating the header to have a spring tree soon. I also plan to eventually create a night sky that will show when it is night time at home. read more »

Drupal 6 was officially released on Wednesday, February 13 and I have now upgraded the site. At the same time I also moved my site off of shared hosting onto my new VPS with Slicehost. I had set the server up around the holidays and have been cleaning up other servery things before I finally made the move. The most important thing that delayed the move was email. I have no intention of running my own mail server - it's too important to me and Colleen. read more »

I am currently in L.A. for work. Actually the work week just ended and I am now free to roam. Luckily in this instance L.A. does not mean the crazy city that I normally associate with it, but rather we were doing workshops at a seaside hotel in Redondo Beach. During the week the ocean and seals were background noise and brief interludes. Today I am waiting for a ride from an old friend and I have no where to be. I have tons of things I could/should do but that Sword of Damocles feeling has been suspended. read more »

So, I finally cut my long hair off. I used to have a shaved head back in the day (like 7 years ago) but have grown it out for quite a few years now. Back in the spring my friend Barb donated her hair to Locks of Love and I was inspired to do the same. It gave me a reason to persist with the annoying long hair AND an excuse to eventually cut it nice a short again. Colleen has always loved my long hair so having a sense of purpose was enough to get her on board with the immanent chopping. So, it isn't back to shaved but it is pretty darned short and I am loving the feeling. I donated a good 10" of hair to folks who will appreciate it and that feels even better. read more »

Well I haven't written very much this summer. I have been tumbling around in the whirlwind that is my new life. Ever since the jump into a new career I have been bouncing through many, many changes. I have been in a constant state of challenge both mentally and emotionally. I can't even really begin to articulate very much of it as much as I wish I could, to even myself. I am feeling very cloddish, in both tongue and mind. The new challenges in my life are invigorating as well as frustrating and frightening. read more »

OK, so I was looking at my site stats and came across a hit to the site that came from a Google search for tar papered home. My first reaction was WTF? I clicked on the search and sure enough I am the number one hit on Google. It leads to the home category on the site where I mentioned in a post that the new roof connection was ready for the coming rain. Now, that makes sense and all but I find it fascinating that I got ranked so high. I mean I am above a pbs.org article on Eyes on the Prize for gawd's sake. That is just weird. read more »

According to the Gunning-Fog index of readability I'm very good at writing simple sentences (we'll just ignore that five syllable word back there). I have a paltry (yet desired?) 8.91% of words that are three syllables or more. I guess repeating syllable over and over again will push that up. My Gunning-Fog index is at 8.32 which is supposed to line up with the average grade for a reader who can hack through my syllables. Don't even look at the Flesch-Kincaid Grade - I don't even get out of elementary school there. read more »