I’m a total catch
Thursday, 16 May 2013
David Pennington's blog on Bending, Brewing, Living in Denver.
Bend & Brew
David Pennington's blog on Bending, Brewing, Living in Denver.
Fall Risk
More on this stupid knee.
Yes, that one.
Sometimes you get to a point in your therapy where you need the marvels of modern science to get you the rest of the way. For two weeks my range of motion had stalled out at about 120 degrees. Inside my knee was a bunch of supremely stubborn scar tissue that had been building in my leg since I took the fall on January 12th. It got to a point where I could put my entire weight into bending my knee and just about pass out from the pain of a knee that was just fuckin’ stuck.
At that point, the doctors do a “manipulation.”
On Monday the surgeon loaded me up with a ton of drugs and used a bit of mechanical advantage to bend my knee and tear through the scar tissue as he established that yes, I could do the full 155 degrees of movement.
When I came to I felt like the day after loosing a pro bowl game. My knee was once again enormous and the nurse had already loaded me up with a bunch of Percocet (“I know you love this stuff,” she says to me) as they sent me on my way for a nauseating car ride home. While I was sedated I could move my knee 155 degrees.
Now I have to do it without sedation, or drugs, while various physical therapists look on with a “seriously? you can’t do it? wimp!” attitude (probably). Meanwhile I’m on the floor sweating through a maneuver any kindergartner could execute seven different times during recess. Assuming, of course, they still let kids outside for recess.
This madness has gone on long enough. There is only so much that physical therapy and working out at home can do. There is only so much cardio and core work one can get from riding a friggin’ stationary bike. Thanks to this knee-injury (my own damn fault) the last four months have been alarmingly sedentary. Pants are getting tight. I don’t have any shoulders. I’ve never really though of myself as vain, but I know if I approached a climbing wall right now I’d have trouble with a 5.7 – basically a glorified ladder, maybe what your kid does to get up into his treehouse (assuming, of course, kids also still fit into treehouses).
Not mine, but nifty no less (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I miss the meditation that came with climbing. It was a reason to cut-off my drinking on Saturday nights so I could be clear early on a Sunday so I could get intimate with a route. Largely, though, a lot of these meditations happened on a bouldering wall – of which I doubt I’ll ever be able to approach again – without ropes or belays or safety nets. It required a focus I haven’t felt since the fall.
Like with every light at the end of the tunnel, I need something to look forward to. Flat out, after this massive climbing injury I’ve suffered, I can’t wait to get back to climbing again. Which is why I’m pushing myself to be able to climb a 5.12 by 12/5 (ideally, 2013). This was the year I wanted to try my hand at competitions, but that was (literally) crushed early in the game.
So that’s the goal: 5.12 by 12/5. That’s a Thursday.
It is a done deal, Tumblr is now a part of Yahoo! I’ve spent the weekend migrating everything from Bend&Brew’s Tumblr home over to a self-hosted wordpress blog (which is what you’re looking at). As much as a pain in the ass as it was, I’m glad I did it.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think Tumblr is a fantastic community and I’ve gained a lot from it. But it is a stern reminder to anyone who publishes anything online: the more keys you hold, the less likely someone’s going to fuck you over in the long run. With Tumblr, you hold very few keys. As with most of the awesome things that exist online, their time passes and we’re left with not much. Now that Tumblr is wrapped up in a corporate structure, things will likely move a lot slower than they had before. But that’s hardly a reason why content creators should be worried.
Here is why Tumblrites should be worried about this acquisition (and the Missing E plugin is the least of it):
Of course, I’m curious to see what happens. I’ll keep my Tumblr on life support so I can get first glance at the updates. For today, I think this is a call for content creators on Tumblr to up their game and learn about new platforms and ways to show off their stuff. Moving to a new platform isn’t difficult, here’s a post about how to make the transition from Tumblr to WordPress/Blogger. It can cost you as little as 18$ a year. Know what you’re doing and looking to make a switch? I do pretty much everything through name.com – totally local badasses.
I, like the millions of other users, are wary of what Yahoo! will do to Tumblr. For now, it’s an opportunity to see what else content creators can do.
If you’re jumping ship at the announcement of Yahoo! buying Tumblr, here’s a few bits of advice on how to transition away from what once was a great platform:
You will first need to export all of your posts in a format that is friendly to other blog platforms. By and large, this is the .xml file format. To do so, use this online tool to conduct the export. Keep that file in an easy-to-find spot.
I use name.com for all of my domain management, and now all of my hosting. Reasonable rates, stellar customer service. If you can’t figure out how to set things up through this blog post, they have the resources to help you as well.
Use the domain finder tool on their homepage and pick something up. If you check their Facebook page they usually have some kind of promocode running that you can use to get a few bucks off your purchase. For most, a single domain host will do you just fine. Or, you can set everything up super-easy by hitting the banner link below (totally affiliate).
You can always go the wordpress.com route. Like Tumblr, you get a free slice of the net. Unlike tumblr, it limits you as to what you can install, post, etc. You can’t host ads through this platform and not all themes are available for use. But, if you just need a place to post stuff, it works just fine. If you do decide you want to extend your functionality, have a premium domain (one that doesn’t say yourdomain.wordpress.com after it), more bandwidth, etc they have a variety of pricing options.
WordPress is also an open source platform that can be installed on any hosting service and used for free. Most admin panels for your hosting will have something called “Fantastico” or “Softalicious” or “one click wordpress install.” Boom. Done. You’re installed. Now login to your new site at yournewsite.com/wp-admin and get to work.
For what it is, Blogger is a pretty impressive platform that offers quite a bit of functionality. At first, your domain will be yourdomain.blogspot.com. If you have purchased a domain from somewhere, you can follow the tutorial on how to set up your blog to have the premium domain. Blogger also has built in ad-serving capabilities – meaning you could make money from day one.
If you’re self hosting, there is a built-in importer in the latest edition of WordPress. Find it on the left sidebar under “tools>import” and follow the directions. While you will need to create a new API, it is a very simple step-by-step process.
After you have completed it, it will import all of your content as “unpublished drafts.” This might be the time you regret reblogging those hundreds upon hundreds of posts, because they are each a new blog post. It may be worth your while to delete some of the fluff through Tumblr’s Mass Editor before starting this process.
Pretty simple: Settings>Other>Import Blog. Select the .XML file you downloaded earlier. Done.
Blogger has a catalog of themes (under Layout), so does WordPress (appearance>themes>install new theme). Many of them are free. A google search for either will take you to a world of selection that can be overwhelming and kind of expensive. My advice: start small, simple, build from there. The key here is your content.
Here’s the great part about moving away from Tumblr – you already know what great content looks like, now you can create some of your own. There is nothing stopping you from grabbing images, videos, and blogs from Tumblr or Pinterest and using them as source material from the content your new blog is going to need. Think of this as a blessing – now you can up your game and go from being on Tumblr to being a really awesome blogger.
Well, that’s the nature of the internet, isn’t it? LiveJournal might still be doing something, might still be able to get away with something over on MySpace. While the web seems like a democratic platform, the prettier sites always seem to win out. When it comes to community-based platforms (like Tumblr and WordPress), they can really only do so much before they have to prove they are a profitable business model. Ultimately, you get what you pay for.
Related articles
Having a pretty awesome week, you guys.
How’s your life?
Spring is juuuuusssstttt about official
Yup, I’m a total catch.
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Friday, 17 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Wednesday, 8 May 2013