Poasts

content/blog/up-to-my-eyeballs.md

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+---
+title: Up to My Eyeballs
+description: What I’ve been up to instead of posting on my blog.
+date: 2024-02-26
+tags:
+  - Quick Thoughts
+synopsis: What I’ve been up to instead of posting on my blog.
+imageURL: /img/logo_post.svg
+mastodon_id: "112001639227268153"
+---
+If you’re one of the handful of people who read my blog, you may have noticed that I hadn’t posted yet in February. You see, about a month ago, I decided to implement that neat trick some people are doing that allows them to use replies to a mastodon post as comments on a web page. While I *could* have lifted [Juhis’](https://hamatti.org/posts/blog-comments-via-mastodon/) implementation wholesale and been done in a half-hour, naturally, I decided to complicate things and build the feature using web components.
+
+As if this wasn’t enough, I figured that my site could use a bit of sprucing up. I began with changes to the typography; surely, I thought, this would only represent some minor changes to the CSS! Alas, I came across a link to [utopia.fyi](https://utopia.fyi/) and decided to implement fluid space and type scaling. I found this rather confusing at first as [utopia.fyi](https://utopia.fyi/) is pretty unclear about exactly how this works,  but I got it working nicely in the end and I was even able to remove my media query in exchange for one small container query, which it seems [we can safely use now](https://caniuse.com/css-container-queries).
+
+I also decided that I was sick of how crowded my font folder was, so I replaced the lot with two beautiful variable typefaces that only require one font file each for a slew of styles: [Manrope](https://www.gent.media/manrope) and [Fraunces](https://fraunces.undercase.xyz/).
+
+To make a long story short: I rendered my website unusable by taking on too much at once. Could I have switched branches and uploaded the odd post? Surely, just like I *could* do my taxes the minute I get my W2, or I *could* get more exercise. In any case, I now have a prettier, leaner website with:
+* Mastodon comments
+* Fluid type
+* Two variable typefaces instead of two giant font families
+* Zero breakpoints
+
+...and I’m fairly chuffed. Some things I plan on doing in the future include:
+
+* Styling for blockquotes, including optical margins
+* Fixing styling for images that *aren’t* in a `<figure>`
+* Better styling for code fences
+* Implementing an image gallery
+* Creating a /uses page
+* Doing some of [this stuff](https://jamesg.blog/2024/02/19/personal-website-ideas/), and/or [this stuff](https://shellsharks.com/notes/2023/08/15/website-component-checklist)
+* Finally getting around to making a professional site for my work accomplishments, et cetera
+
+It feels good to have a working site once more. I’m very excited about these changes and keen as mince to get posting again!

content/now/now_2024_02_26.md

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+---
+title: Not Blogging, Incense, and Scientific Naps
+description: When you hear what I’ve been up to, it may just put you to sleep.
+synopsis: When you hear what I’ve been up to, it may just put you to sleep.
+date: 2024-02-26
+imageURL: /img/pexels-pixabay-277458_copy.webp
+imageAlt: A series of clocks on tall black poles in a clearing in front of some trees.
+---
+I spent about a month working on my blog, while [not blogging on the thing](../blog/up-to-my-eyeballs/), but I’m very pleased about the new changes. The biggest new feature as a result of the work is the ability to comment on my posts via Mastodon!
+
+After a failed batch, I went back to basics and made some plain Palo Santo incense that turned out very, very well. I expect I’ll write a post about it soon. I also caved and got three varieties from [Yi-Xin Craft Incense](https://craft-incense.com/pages/about-the-artist)’s February collection. Not only is his stuff consistently gorgeous, it’s also great reference incense for those masochists who like to make their own. If you want to know what a *good* stick can be, you can’t go wrong with one of Ken’s.
+
+I had a bizarre first experience the other day. In aid of determining whether there is a medical explanation behind my snoring, or whether my unconscious mind simply enjoys keeping my partner up all night, I went for a sleep study. While it’s a fascinating experience, I can’t say I enjoyed it. Sleeping in front of a camera with approximately one million electrodes attached to you overnight is bad enough, let alone spending the next day taking on-camera naps every two hours until five PM! 0/10: wouldn’t do again.