2 December 2008

Server upgrade

Last week I upgraded my web hosting server from MediaTemple’s Grid-Service to their Dedicated-Virtual (VPS). It is amazingly fast, and although I’m not hitting it heavy at all right now, it is very stable (compared to their lousy-of-late Grid-Service). I am super happy about it. Hosted client sites will benefit from this soon, too.

WordPress upgrade

Last night I upgraded this website to WordPress 2.7-RC1, which has the new fancy interface. I’ve withheld until now to try it out. It’s pretty impressive. In terms of interface, it is leaps and bounds beyond anything you’ll see for Textpattern. It’s definitely faster to navigate, and seems more fun to use. It feels a little more bulky than prior versions of WordPress, especially for such a simple website as this, but, nonetheless, this is a really nice upgrade. 

Magazine subscription

I ordered a subscription to GOOD Magazine recently, and today I received my first copy in the mail. I’ve only flipped through it so far, but it looks good, smells good, feels good, and I’m excited to read it. You can pay whatever you want for a subscription, and I suggest you do. 

Have a Mint

Almost three months ago I quit using Google Analytics. I quit analyzing traffic data on this website to focus on what matters more to me, which is thinking through writing. In doing so I wrote:

I realized, though, that no matter how many visitors I get, no matter how many traffic spikes I receive (however big or small), none of it adds up to much if what I am writing and publishing doesn’t stir discourse. If no one emails me in response, if no one posts a response on their own blog, what is it worth?

I haven’t witnessed discourse like I hope for, but I have seen evidence of it beginning to happen. So I sense I am on the right path in accomplishing my goals.

Last night I was looking at Shaun Inman’s Mint web analytics software and realized that I had a license for a web project I never got around to building. So, I transfered the license and set it up here. I’m minted. I don’t regret quitting for the time I did, and I don’t feel hypocritical with the addition of Mint. We’ll see how it goes. This is really nice software.