Starting a blog sure isn’t what I imagined it would be. Writer’s block is bad enough, but then there’s having a vision of what I want a blog to look like and then trying to get there.
Those of you who know me know that I’m not the type of person to take the stock version of anything as-is, shrug and just go with it. My modus operendi is typically to first find the envelope and then give it a good firm push. Really explore the boundaries and make it mine.
One of the appeals of starting a blog was the seemingly endless number of options available in its grahhic design. Just a few observations of more established web pages and you notice that the possibilities are staggering. WordPress is really good at giving a number of theme options for a blog, but I’m finding out that when you pick one, you kind of get locked into some options and locked out of others.
I had this idea that to put a typical page together, it would be like taking graphic and verbal content to a pinboard and hitting ‘post’. Instead, there’s menu layers that follow a logic that has taken some getting used to. Some features sound similar in nature but do different things, and some others seem like polar opposites and accomplish the same thing. And then, being the detail-oriented perfectionist that I am, I seemed to not only lose sight of the forest, but found myself counting the florets of lichen on the tree bark.
This is kind of how it’s gone so far:
The title bar is in all caps and I KNOW I included lower case as well in setting this up. Why are they all caps? Where do I change it? I can’t? Why on Earth not?
There’s gotta be a hack for that.
I don’t see a Zaph Humanist Bold font option. It’s really what I want. It’s not available?
There’s gotta be a hack for that.
This person’s blog has this cool plugin to count up days since a certain event. I’d love to get the name of it and add it to mine. I wonder if I can find a reference in the source code for that blog page and find it online.
There’s gotta be a hack for that.
Okay. Time to slow down, take a step back, take a deep breath and rethink this.
Several days later, there’s still only one post. A short one, at that, more for experimental purposes than anyting else. Maybe it’s time to redirect my focus.
I’m reminded that one of the more important lessons that life has taught me over the years is that it’s great to have a direction and vision, but you don’t have to have all the answers right now. This, like many things, could end up being a long road. I’ll add this to a growing list of long-term pursuits, which currently include:
Losing weight and running faster
Introducing automation features in our house
Learning German
Learning to program in C
Learning the comamnd line in Linux
Working in the barn and making it a multi-use asset
All baby steps. And I’ll take them when I can get them.
So don’t be surprised if you come back and see widespread changes and crazy new features here. If you see something you like, ask me about it and I’ll share the hack with you.
Barefoot Heretic 
My brother, the blogger. Awesome start. Though perhaps you should put the picture of your foot on a deeper page…. Just sayin.