website

EOM Checklist

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In an effort to maintain and preserve decades worth of text and images to the Archives, I have set up a checklist for monthly backup procedures. 

Text

  1. This website’s .xml files are exported each month
  2. Each month’s posts are collected from the Denbow Operating System then sent to print to .pdf
  3. Each month’s posts are physically printed out and stored into a three-ring binder.
  4. Each month’s posts are sent to the e.pub format and then sent to Kindle/Apple Books to be read there.
  5. Then transferred to an external hard drive in the Archives section  under the  2024-10 folder
Hello, handsome.

Images

  1. Each month’s photos are filtered, tagged, facial-tagged, geo-tagged and sorted 
  2. These images are then uploaded to Flickr for offsite backup
  3. Then transferred to an external hard drive in the Archives section under the  2024-10 folder

In the past, I was negligent with my works but have slowly and painstakingly managed to create an effective backup system. It’s not flawless, but it’s better than having data scattered all over the place. 

Pink

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In honor of Inter Miami’s record-setting season that just wrapped up, I have changed the highlighted colors on this site to the team’s pink home kit. They will host the MLS Cup playoffs starting next week with the final on my birthday, December 7. I’ll leave the colors up until then. Or, I’ll change my mind. That happens. These team colors of pink and black matches well with the new dark mode script I installed too.

Before the team was awarded the season’s trophy, the FIFA president announced that Inter Miami, in a never-before-opportunity, has earned a spot in the 2025 World Cup were they will host the first round in Miami. No major league team anywhere has played side-by-side with their national team. Is it conceivable that the United States, the host country, plays and loses to a team from it’s own country?

Maybe, perhaps maybe, I can convince Tracy to agree with joining me to go see another World Cup.

Night Mode

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Pulling up and reading this website’s default theme color is a bright white. However, when reading in low light that could be blinding and potentially disturb the un-approving significant other trying to sleep. That’s an issue.

Introducing night mode that will automagically render to match a reader’s default display settings. So if your device is in light mode the website will be light. Dark mode display on your device? Dark it is. However, I have installed a script on the page that allows you to toggle to the desired light/dark setting.

Before
Look at that sexiness

Something Useful

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I just installed the “On This Day” feature in the Archives and decided to click on one of the results as a test and I was amused by what I wrote on this same day two years ago:

Am I doing something useful or am I avoiding something that is intellectually more difficult?

I am not an archivist.
But I want to curate my notes and articles.

I am not making notes for legal documents.
Just for me.

For 99.99% of my notes, lists, notebooks, drafts, files… done is better than perfect.

If I can reliably find my notes and figure out later on what I meant when I wrote it, that’s all I need.

– https://chrisdenbow.website/archives/22055

Times have changed, because now, for me, the sole purpose of this website is to be a repository for my thoughts and I am in fact, a curator. An archivist.

On This Day

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I just wrote and deployed a script to display “On This Day” for any/all of my previous articles on that given day. It can be found in the Archives section. When there is a day in the previous years I did not post, the script will read: “Nothing has ever happened on this day. Ever.“

However, I was fairly busy on October 1st in the past according to this screenshot. 

On This Day

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I just wrote and deployed a script to display “On This Day” for any/all of my previous articles on that given day. It can be found in the Archives section. When there is a day in the previous years I did not post, the script will read: “Nothing has ever happened on this day. Ever.“

However, I was fairly busy on October 1st in the past according to this screenshot.

A New Look, A Fresh Start

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Introduction:
After some thoughtful redesign, I’ve transformed this site into a space where my writing, thoughts, and more can live in a more organized environment. This redesign reflects my vision of creating a central hub for my work.

Why I Redesigned the Site (again):
Having a home site that feels like ‘me’ is essential. I wanted to craft a place that resonates with the tone and depth of my work—something aesthetically pleasing yet functional. This redesign allows me to streamline how I present my content, making it easier for readers to dive in and explore.

What’s New:

Theme: I chose a new theme that gives the site a clean, minimalist feel. I want the focus on words, and not distractions.

Font and Color: The new typography1 and color2 highlights evoke the tone I want to set—professional yet approachable, and a little bit whimsical. The colors are meant to be inviting and soft on the eyes, perfect for long reads.

Pages: I’ve reorganized the structure of the site. You’ll now find dedicated pages for my current projects, thoughts, and more. You’ll find these on the navigation bar at the top of this website. If you are reading this on a mobile device, then they would be listed under Menu.

The Details

  • About + Contact is the new self-introduction home page. Re-written for my evolving style and professionalism. Everything else is accessible by the menu above it.
  • Archives are the place to go for quickly accessing decades of writing. Search bar, category search, tag search and search by year is available.
  • Colophon explains how this website is designed.

The Work

I’ve re-organized and re-titled these pages for specific actions.

  • Photographing – a brief page with a blurb about my hobby and a link to the off-site portfolio
  • Reading – formerly known as “The Library.” A curated page to document my literary explorations. Eventually, I will add other reading sources I enjoy besides books.
  • Talking – formerly known as “Podcasts.” It is the home of the Radio Denbow podcast. Eventually, I’ll add quick audio thoughts. In regard to thoughts…
  • Thinking – formerly known as “Micro” or “Notebook.” This will capture my quick thoughts in short-form writing.
  • Writing– formerly known as the Home page. This is where to go for my long-form posts. The main repository for my musings.

Looking Ahead:
For now, I am done. Overall, the redesign meets my needs and refocuses on specific criteria that is more categorized and easily accessible. Any more features will be on the backend, such as site performance and streamlining code.

I appreciate you taking the time to visit this website and continue to read the web log. 
You can support me in many ways such as contributing to the conversation in the posts, adding me to your RSS feed readers, or, I can be reached via electronic mail by clicking here: @hello

Footnotes:

  1. Inter Font ↩︎
  2. #00c7ca ↩︎

Send To Print

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Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own.

– Carol Burnett

The first 35 of 3,287 pages to print this website are complete, hole-punched and placed lovingly in a three-ring binder for safekeeping.

Right away, I noticed there are formatting issues such as a small blurb of an article takes up only 10% of the page. Wasted space. I had to discard of three blank pieces of paper as a result.

So re-formatting, or allowing the printer to cover both sides of the page, for example could help save space, ink and money.

As first-run test print, I am pleased to see a small portion of my written words on a black and white paper as opposed to a screen.

Print Error

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I attempted to print a few pages from the Archives .pdf last night at the library. It would not accept the 485MB file. I didn’t want to print all of it but the printer didn’t give me a chance to tell it which pages to print. Need a better solution.

3,287

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That’s how many pages I need to print from 24 years worth of writing on this website. Printing them from the library and over time may be my best bet I think. Let them worry about the paper and ink costs.

Podcast Page

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As a follow-up to my previous post, I realized that my audio file host had removed the embedded code and URL link from my Podcast page here on this site. Not very nice!

So I have uploaded the audio files, all 10.5 episodes, back to the Podcast page for posterity. In addition, I now have the files on my server for safekeeping.

Podcast Page Screenshot

I own my publishing house. This website, my own e-mail, the domain name, file servers, etc. I’ve learned the hard way not to trust third party anything.

A Look Back

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Once again, I find myself working behind the scenes of this website. This time, I am organizing the backend, the stuff that no one else sees. I am also wrapping up the migration of writings from my previous sites into here for posterity. Such as it is.

It’s been fun to look back and see the previous designs of this site in all of its iterations. I’ve learned a lot, experimented quite a bit, and still have a ways to go. Nowadays, I care more about substance than style and will make an effort to keep the experiments to a minimum. Until then, here are a few screenshots of this site through the years. I wish I could have done the same during the early years.

March 2011
May 2012