Site-Update on jasoncrowther.com

Migrated to Hugo

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:47:33 -0700

I’m kinda bored with Wordpress. Its bloated, kinda annoying to maintain, and has some questionable leadership at this point. I’d looked at migrating to an SSG in the past, but none jumped out as being super easy to set up.

RIP Mastodon Syndication

Mon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Posted last week and noticed I didn’t see a notice in my mastodon feed. Hmm, at some point, IFTTT made syndication to mastodon action a pro feature. I don’t have enough action on either the blog or my few mastodon followers to warrant the few bucks a month for IFTTT, so my blog is gonna be on my private island alone for now.

Oops, unscheduled downtime

Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hmm, it appears that Monster Insights Wordpress Plugin updated itself at some point with a bug in it and took out my whole wordpress site. All pages just responded with a page saying that a Critical Wordpress Error has Occurred. Gulp. I guess that’s probably better than a raw php error though.

Spruced up the home page a bit

Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Previously, the home page here was pretty static, just an image and some basic intro text. That’s probably not the best for SEO, so I changed the layout into a 2 column affair and added a Latest Posts widget so its a little more obvious that the site is actually being updated.

Facebook? Nevermind...

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Did some more research on trying to syndicate this blog to Facebook. Doesn’t look anybody can post to your normal field, just to a Facebook page, at least for free. Even Wordpress’ own Jetpack thing with the social plugin can only post to pages.

More Administrivia

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Moved some more random bits off my old Digital Ocean droplet and then powered it off. Gonna let that stew for a few days to make sure I didn’t forget anything or leaving anything pointed to that older droplet. Then, it’ll be time to destroy that trusty 8 year old droplet. Godspeed, my friend!

On Garmin Connect Embeds...

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Embedding on Modern Wordpress

On modern Wordpress (ie: circa 6.x), it wasn’t super obvious how to use an <IFRAME> style embed using the new blocks interface. Turns out the magic is just use a Custom HTML type block and paste in the embed from the Garmin Connect website. That gets you most of the way there, but the alignment is flush left. To get around this, just add a Single Column type block and put the Custom HTML type block inside it, and done.

Ok, nevermind...

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hey! Why don’t I syndicate my posts to Facebook too? Let’s head over to IFTTT to set that up. Oh, right, IFTTT can only post to Facebook Pages and not to normal personal profiles. Hmm, I think I probably knew that and that’s why I didn’t already do something with Facebook. Grumble.

Blogging on the go

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hmm, let’s see how much the Wordpress iOS app has changed since I last used out years ago. We’ll, log in was fairly painless. The editor send to let you do all the block stuff that the latest version of the web based editor does; not sure if that’s cool overkill. There’s about a zillion upsells for JetPack (which I haven’t bothered to install on the server side yet.) Stay tuned for further insights.

Let's Freshen Things Up

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Some what embarrassingly, I have to admit that my blog install was way out of date. It was running an ancient version of Wordpress on an ancient version of Ubuntu.

And we're back

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

15 minutes of downtime while I snap shotted and upgraded to a newer Ubuntu version. I think it went pretty smoothly for a noob. As far as I can see didn’t break anything along the way.

Email at Digital Ocean

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Turns out setting up an email server at Digital Ocean is pretty straight forward. Here’s my recipe:

Follow this Digital Ocean tutorial to set up postfix.
Poke a hole in the firewall for mail to get through with sudo ufw allow mail (not sure why the Digital Ocean tutorial didn’t have this critical step; props to this other recipe.)
Add an MX record on the Digital Ocean DNS control panel.
Add the email addresses to forward to the virtual aliases file.

No muss, no fuss. Nice!

Props to DreamHost

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I finally got around to shutting down my DreamHost account. I poked around a bit in the control panel and didn’t find a way to cancel the account. I started to file a support ticket and their ticket tool pointed me in the right direct to cancel the account myself. Turns out I was on the right page already, just missed the tiny link for end my account.

Moving on

Wed, 04 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Finally got my rear in gear and migrated from Dreamhost (its been nice) to Digital Ocean (the new hotness.)

Digital Ocean’s droplet setup stuff is super easy. They also have great recipes for setting everything up. I was able to get everything installed, setup, and secured in about an hour. It took another hour to migrate my wordpress install. If I had known it was that easy, I would have done it a while ago.

1000!

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Wow, sorta hard to believe but this is post #1000 for my blog. Its taken 9 1/2 years, 2 blog engines (pivot and wordpress) and 2 hosting providers (host for 2 bucks and Dreamhost) to make it here. Thanks for reading! Onward and upward!

Wordpress Update

Thu, 19 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Just took the site offline for about 30 seconds to update to Wordpress 3.8. Man, updates through the admin interface are silky smooth these days. (After backing up site and data) updates are a single no too scary button click. Nice!

Syndication Update

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Facebook peeps, I’m no longer syndicating my twitter feed to facebook. So, you’ll see blog posts like this one, via feedpress syndication instead. Hopefully, not much will change with your enjoyment of my fine postings.

Take it off, take it all off...

Sun, 27 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Content is king! I’m ditching my custom twentyten based Wordpress theme in light of the new hotness that is the twentythirty theme. I think its pretty sexy out of the box, so I’m just gonna roll with for now. Enjoy!

Good bye, Feedburner

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’m preparing to overhaul my blog and figured it was time to hang up on Feedburner, and its uncertain future (especially since Google shuttered Reader.) So, its onward and upward with Feedpress.

vagrantpress

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been putting off some look and feel updates to my blog for a while; Mainly, because I’m too time constrained (and/or lazy) to set up a development environment to mess around with.

and we're back

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

There was a minute or two of downtime as I updated to the latest Wordpress. I also disabled a bunch of plugins that I no longer use. Might speed things up a little bit.

Hello to all my new friends!

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Bots or otherwise…

Mercy, there was quite a spike in my google analytics. Easily most page views for a single day in the 8 or so years I’ve been running this blog.

Hoot Hoot

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been using Wordpress' Twitter Tools and Social plug-ins to syndicate my blog posts to Twitter (which is sucked into my Facebook account further down the line.)

The workflow has been pretty good, but its got 2 problems:

Twitter Tools Update

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Sometime ago, I noticed that my twitter integration plugin for Wordpress, Twitter Tools stopped tweeting when I make a post here. I checked to see if there were any updates and found that there weren’t any updates and that it hadn’t been been updated in a long time.

Project Pixel

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0000

For those not already in the know, the Mrs. and I are expecting again. You can follow all the action and wager when they’ll make the seen at pixel.thecrowthers.info. You can also subscribe to Pixel’s own twitter feed: @babypixelbingo.

Domain Blow Out Sale

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve got some decent domain names that I’m just sitting on when they could be yours. Make me an offer.

Something you like? send me an email at domains@jasoncrowther.com.

Ok, where are those tweets at?

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Hmm, so still no tweets on blog posts. Turns out there’s a bunch of folks having the same problems with twitter-tools. Just noticed that my Dreamhost config for this domain was still saying php4 (even though calling php_info() from a script in this domain reports v5.2). I flipped that switch, but I doubt it will help. I guess I’ll stab around in the dark some more until someone makes a debugging breakthrough.

A Little FLW, anyone?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Just replaced the stock header photo from Wordpress with something my personal photography collection. Enjoy the shapes in some lights from Frank Lloyd Wrights’ Falling Water house.

Its about time...

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Time is something that I’m pretty short on these days. I’ve been meaning to do some work on the old blog for months it seems. I’m finally blowing the dust off the keyboard and trying to get stuff back up to snuff.

Sad Story

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Its a kinda sad story when the only work that I get to do on my blog these days is the occasional wordpress update… And, I screw it up by forgetting to rename my template out of the way and watch it get overwritten by the default. Oh well, fixed it so that won’t happen again.

That's Better!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Ok, the flickr feed is fixed. Not sure what the problem was, but I think I noticed something similar last time I updated Wordpress itself.

I purged the cached images and did the one click automagic update on the flickrss plugin and was back in business.

Pardon the Mess

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

My Dreamhost overlords moved me to another server box and some how that broke the flickr feed site right. I’ll get things cleared up soon. Please stay tuned.

Wordpress Update

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

After seeing a scary Wordpress update warning on mashable.com, I was guilted into doing a little maintenance work on the old blog. I was half way through the normal Wordpress update procedure that I know and don’t really look forward to… backup the database, back up the site’s files, download the new release, unzip and copy over the existing site.

Take Two on the Tweet

Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Expected that last post to put in a Tweet. Turns out I didn’t have the auto create tweet from post option turned on. Option toggled and hopeful it’ll work this time.

Twitter Integration

Sun, 24 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A little tech task I’ve been meaning to get to forever was adding my Tweets to the sidebar. I was gonna cook up something myself, but stumbled across Twitter Tools. It was a simple unzip, copy, activate, set some options type of affair. As a bonus, it also files a tweet when I publish here; something I’m always forgetting to do.

Hot Stuff... Now using Feedburner

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

All the cool blogs use Feedburner to host their RSS. Now, I do too. As far as I can tell, if you’re already subscribed, nothing will change for you some smoke and mirrors on this end will route everything through Feedburner’s servers automagically. I don’t think you’ll need to do anything, but if things stop working for you, try subscribing directly to my Feedburner URL: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/JasonCrowthersBlog. If still no workey, drop me a comment and I’ll get you working again.

Wordpress Upgraded to 2.7.1

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Finally getting around to updating Wordpress again. I was waaaay behind the times. After messing around with the new admin interface (not that many changes on the end user side that I’ve noticed.) I have to admit that I should have upgraded sooner. Oh well, such is life.

Wordpress 2.3 Update

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, figured it was finally time to update to the latest wordpress. After enjoying all the enhancements on the wordpress blogs we use at work, I thought they might encourage me to work on my blog some more.

3rd Party Blog Management

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

I like Wordpress’ management interface, really I do. Well, except for one minor annoyance that’s not really Wordpress’ fault. After typing on a plain old PC keyboard for years and years, I’m addicted to the home and end keys to jump to the start or end of the current line.

300% More Super Mario Bros. Influence

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Post headers, footers, and the sidebar headers now have nifty Super Mario Bros. flavor courtesy of the Super Modena Bros. free Icon Delivery from Icon Buffet. I think they perk up the design nicely.

Flipped the Switch...

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

A while back on my former pivot blog, I said I was migrating to wordpress. After that, I pretty much gave up on the old site. I was planning on doing a fancy schmancy site overhaul to coincide with the blog engine cut over, but I can never seem to find the time to work on it.

Quickie: New Favicon!

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

You may have noticed that I’m finally getting around to tweaking the look and feel. I stumbled on some nice Super Mario Bros. themed icons in my Icon Buffet Free Delivery a while back. The idea is kinda neat, they give you starter sets of icons free to get the word out. You can then trade the sets between your friends. If you sign up and are looking for a particular set, I’ve been in the program a while and have a bunch.

A thankless job?

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Spent a few hours over the weekend tuning up my blog content. I’ve gone through a recategorized all the posts (so not everything appears in the default category.) Hopefully, that should reading stuff like my running updates a little easier.

Quick Running Stats Now in Sidebar

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I’m slowly but surely getting up to speed on hacking Wordpress. Today, I added some quick running stats to my side bar. Just about as easy as it gets. I made it so my run log database manager program prints the desired content to a file. Then I just call it in the Wordpress sidebar.php file using a php include. Sweet!

Quick Updates

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0000

As you may have noticed already, on the navibar to the left, you can now find my del.icio.us links and flickr photos. Hooking up both of them was so easy, I’ve all but forgotten about coding up my own homebrew tools.

Mmmm. del.icio.us...

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Ok, I’m not making any progress on my master plan to reinvent my website. In my grand vision, I’d like to use a single home brew tagging system to cover my blog, links, and photo gallery. But lack of energy and time pushed the delivery date some time into 2010, if make it a rush job at the pace that I’m going.

New Year, New Host

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I’m in the process of moving from Globat to DreamHost. Ability to host multiple domains out of one account was the primary motivator. Now, maybe I’ll actually work on some content instead of having to keep up with all the hosting bills. Stay tuned!

Oh yeah! Its on...

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 00:00:00 +0000

As you’ve probably noticed by now, the site looks a lot nicer than it did the last time you visited. Welcome to jasoncrowther.com version 3.0. No HTML tables we harmed or used in the new layout (check the source if you don’t believe it).

Quick Update

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, my faithful readers. I’ve been devoting all my spare time into a full site redesign. I’ve got the new look and feel done, and I’m working my way through re-skinning all the content. Stay Tuned…

Gallery Update

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

All the pictures from our honeymoon in Maui have been uploaded. I’ve got titles and captions done for most of them, with a gallery or two to go. Check ’em out.

I'm baaaaack!

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Back to business, I’m back from Maui and slowly but surely getting back into blogging and getting some new bells and whistles together for the site. Stay tuned!

Photography Gallery Coming Soon

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been hunting around for a gallery manager tool to catalog all the pictures from the honeymoon and all the other misc. photos that I have on my harddrive at the moment. After sifting through the lot of gallery tools at Source Forge, I eventually found Coppermine. Its very easy to set up and very configurable; it amazes me just how good open source software can be. I started hooking things up locally and uploading some images, here’s what I’ve got so far.

Long time, no blog?

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, I am still alive; and, I’m still interested in blogging!

Unfortunately, time is the issue. With the wedding fast approaching, free time is at a minimum. I actually have a bunch of cool posts in the queue, but I just don’t have the time time to get them properly written up.

PhotoBlogger Update

Mon, 31 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Messed around with my PhotoBlogger s’more this morning. Finished the WAP version of the POP3 client that scans a mailbox for new postings. With a little testing help from Opera (which renders WML with great debugger), it was pretty easy to get it up and running directly from the phone.

Say cheese!

Fri, 28 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

In addition to my text blog, I’m trying to come up with a nifty photo blog. The kicker is that the pictures will come directly from my Nokia 6225i cell phone. IE, the phone has internet connectivity so I can basically mail pictures straight to my website without needing to use a computer.

flipped the switch...

Thu, 27 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Late last night (well late for me anyway), I turned on the home page making my site officially live. There’s still some loose ends to wrap up, but the site is pretty much together at this point. Feel free to drop me a comment via the blog or by email.

Pivot configuration complete!

Wed, 26 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Whoa! Pivot is way cool!

Pivot is super cool and very easy to set up for the php challenged. Basically, all you need to is mess around with their templates and CSS files and leave all the php to them. This is my first experience with absolute positioning via CSS, so excuse any minor formatting issues.

Test

Wed, 26 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

just trying to get the time zone worked out…