...And We're Back!
DavidNeedham.net made the transition to Drupal 6 and WestHost beautifully! I had a few minor hold ups, but all-in-all it ended up being a pretty easy job. The longest part was working on the theme.
When I got to D6 I realized that I'd have to make a new theme. My old theme was just sort of thrown together and didn't really do much for me. I think that this one is interesting and a lot more professional. The original theme I used as a base is called A3 Atlantis, was originally developed by John Forsythe and modified by me to fit my needs and desires for layout and general aesthetics.
My favorite part about this theme is it's ability to adjust the internal sidebar on the right based on if there is content there or not. For example, on this page and all blog pages you'll see content in the darker color to the right and more content farther out on the right. If you go to another page that does not have the internal sidebar content (ie. my portfolio) that darker region goes away and makes room for more content in the main area.
The new site has some new features like the blogroll, comment nesting, and much more coming soon. I've had a lot of time to read every page of Using Drupal by the Drupal ninja's at Lullabot and have lots of ideas for improvements. I highly recommend Using Drupal to anyone that wants to learn Drupal - even if you're already a pro at it.
I have a very exciting announcement coming in my next blog post. Almost everyone that reads my blog already knows my announcement, but I hope to create some suspense anyway. Be sure to check back next week for more information!
Went Offline for Upgrades
I've finally decided it's time to upgrade my website from Drupal 5 to Drupal 6. I've also been wanting to increase my skills by working with a VPS and manage my hosting entirely via command line (as if I had my own linux server). I found a great hosting provider called WestHost who has VPS service at shared hosting prices and great reviews. Now that the semester is over, I actually have time to tackle these things and get a move on!
What this means is that my site will be going offline for some amount of time. Ideally this will only be for a day or two, but my goal is to be back up 100% by January 1st, 2009. I'll also be "unplugging" myself throughout the week of Christmas. That means no email, no internet, no cell phone, and no iPod. I'm trying this little experiment to reconnect to some things I've been neglecting lately - namely friends, family, books, and my personal Bible study and fellowship with God. I'm confident that I'll make it through this drought a better person and much more relaxed than I have been of late. Who knows, I might even make this "unplugging" thing a regular occurrence.
Boston - Saturday??
Wow, so it's already Saturday. I'm behind in my blogging! At least now I'm done with all of my MIT meetings, so I can talk a little about how things went with that.
I was a little disheartened at first by the mass numbers of Engineering-related needs of the departments. I saw lots and lots of people doing mechanical and electrical engineering-type things like building and programming with circuit boards and designing robots and similar things - all very cool, but not anything I know about. A few of the people I talked to suggested that I work full time before applying to grad school to get more experience and focus, since currently I have a number of skills but no clear idea about what I want to do with them. I mentioned the Japanese English Teaching (JET) Program to one of the faculty members, and they said that I should jump on that once in a lifetime opportunity before grad school.
Overall, the Design Ecology group looks the best with Information Ecology coming in a close second. That's actually not surprising, since before this year they were the same group. They deal a lot more with typography, design, and interfaces - more or less things we learn at Bradley instead of engineering. They do require a little more programming than Bradley's Multimedia program offers, but my Computer Science background helps with that a considerable amount.
So besides meeting with people at MIT, what else have I been doing? Sleeping. I've intended to get out early and explore Boston but every morning I end up sleeping much later than I meant to. I don't know if it's making up for lost sleep from the Oresteia, Brian and Abigail's homey apartment, or what, but I suspect it's jet lag. :-)
Last night we went to a super authentic Japanese restaurant. It was in a mall with a number of authentic Japanese stores. I was able to refill on Pocky for Men (dark chocolate), Mitsuya Cider candy (soda flavored), and some delicious, delicious coffee milk. :-D
I have notes about things I wanted to blog about... but I can't seem to find them now. If I find them later I'll blog about them then, but I think this is good for now.
