Welcome!

This is Grand Central Station for what one might call my "online presence." I built my first webpage (in Word, no less) some time in the late 1990's. A few years later, in an effort to escape the horrors of Windows ME, one of my brothers graciously wiped my hard drive and installed FreeBSD instead. I figured since I was learning to communicate with a computer via command line anyway, I might as well learn HTML (and later CSS). I built a new website for myself that even included a kind of proto-blog (using a dictionary list, of all things).

I know that there are now very fancy programs that are supposed to make it really easy to make web content without having to know a lick of code. I've tried learning Dreamweaver, for example, but I found that the learning curve was quite steep. Since I have no desire to make flashy websites anyway, it never seemed worth the effort. When I am in a hurry (or feeling lazy or compelled for some reason), I have sometimes used free sites such as yola or wordpress to publish content. The trouble with that, for me, is that every time I want to start a new category of content (for example, I decided I wanted to separate my blogging about teaching from my blogging about everything else), I had to start a whole separate account somewhere. As a result, I've spent the last few years spreading content all over the interwebs, creating a mess I've begun to lose track of.

As an attempt at a rememdy, I rented some server space with Dreamhost in early 2010 (highly recommended, by the way), and took the first step toward consolidating content: I moved my personal blog. It was in need of a new home anyway, and I thought this might motivate me to clean up my act, so to speak.

No such luck. It took over a year (it is now late in the spring of 2011) for me to finally sit down and start working out just how I wanted to sort all this mess out. I still don't really have a plan, but that's ok. I found some colors I like, threw together a navigation scheme I can live with, and now I'm off. Since it's almost summer and nice weather is (theoretically) right around the corner, my timing might not be great. Who wants to sit in front of a computer and write code all day when they can be running around in the sunshine? Pale-faced redheads, for one. And that's me. Although I do enjoy observing the sun from the protection of a nicely shaded spot.

I might be joking about that.

I've never been one for titles, but I see how they sometimes serve as decent descriptors. If you're curious, I am at times a daughter, sister, friend, aunt, teacher, mentor, artist, photographer, writer, mountaineer/outdoorswoman (that doesn't quite roll off the tongue like I'd hoped), computer geek, math nerd, philosopher, and all-around renaissance woman. I try lots of stuff. If I decide I don't like it, I (usually) stop doing it. Sometimes people make fun of me for that. That used to bother me (being made fun of, not being willing to try new things). Now I just laugh.

Although I've spent a lot of time putting stuff out there on the internet, I've never been much for self-promotion. I do spend time on facebook, but I don't share my blogs there. Lately, I've found twitter more interesting. There are no games, no stupid arguments (that I've noticed, anyway), and I find that the 140 character limit sometimes results in pretty interesting and even poetic expression. I share goings-on there from time to time, especially when I travel. It's a way of letting my friends and family know I'm not dead, and where the might be able to find me, should they want to. As I sometimes go on very long roadtrips, and don't have a smartphone, twitter has been a really handy tool.

This ought to be enough to serve as brief introduction. If you want to know more, checking out the navigation to your right. Neat, isn't it? Now that you're done admiring, why not click?