Re-Organization

11 November 2008 @ 23:08 | Posted in » Bob, Web Site

The recent spate of computer issues is providing an organization opportunity for me.

When I realized getting the blog immediately back online was not going to happen, I shifted into calm mode. I hatched a plan and it looks like it is coming together. I’ve wanted my personal stuff more separated from the family stuff for some time. This fiasco provided an opportunity for that to happen. I successfully changed ladow.net into a domain for the family. I am now in the process of converting another domain into my personal site. I had hopes one time of having batona.net. That didn’t happen. I was going to change my trail name again, but have decided to opt for transparency.

RDOwens seems to be what I am going to be using. I am moving my personal files over to the other account. Once I am convinced the database is going to be usable, I will get the domain name set up.

While all this is going on I am slowly going through the photo archive. It sucks to have to do this again, but it will be done properly this time. In doing so, I am coming across some stuff that I’ve been wanting to find. There are scavenger hunts that I never logged that I knew I had done. So, as I come across these, I am updating the databases with these.

Of course, this is a double-edge sword. Losing ladow.net meant that every scavenger hunt I logged at TC.com now has no photographs with the log. One of the hallmarks of the hunts I post is that photographs are to remain active. Now I have approximately 500 logs with broken links. As more time goes by, the less forgiving the owners are going to be. Understandably.

I am not about to edit those 500 logs. That is too much effort. My account is now associated with broken links. Splendid. All this is the evidence that is leading me to bow out, at least actively, playing the game there.

As of now, I am planning on keeping the scavenger hunt database up-to-date. That will become more difficult because my account will eventually become a non-premium member account. My paid membership is up soon. Presently, I am the UCR leader in Delaware. That will extend the ability to get GPX files for a while. I will eventually lose that status. At that point I will be reliant upon others to help me keep the database current. If it is of benefit to others, I suspect I will receive the assistance I need.

Anyhow, I seem to have adopted a different perspective for the blog since all this happened. It is still a need of mine, but the feedback, attention, notoriety that once helped it seems to be unimportant. The blog, once again, is mine. It’s an odd thing, I understand, but it is significant for me.

The ducks are lining up and I am feeling pretty good about it is all coming together. I see myself taking a backseat in many online communities I once was active in. It’s kind of like the recent trip to Jamaica. I went sans GPS and did not have the camera in hand the entire time. I enjoyed my vacation. True, I don’t have scavenger hunts to log and shutterspots to list. So be it. My personal time was rewarded with my decisions. I am looking forward to similar rewards by spending less time with some of these activities. I do this stuff for me and I am more than happy to chronicle it here. We shall see how it plays out.

Anyhow, happy Veterans Day.