Reports on my forays into web design and coding.

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I went clothes shopping today. Kinda.

I mean, when I go “shopping” it basically means I have in my mind’s eye an image of exactly what I hope to find, and heaven help a salesperson who shows me something that’s the wrong shade of mossy silver-green. Or whatever. (This is all hypothetical, of course.)

But today I went out (with two different “looks” in mind) searching for an interestingly textured dark grey dress shirt, and a grayish brown hoodie. And found… an interestingly textured dark grey dress shirt, and a grayish brown hoodie. Both of which fit me.

In fact, when I got home and tentatively modeled them for Mark, he–Mr. “I’ll Buy New Jeans When the Legs Fall Completely Off the Ones I Have”–made a subtle but unmistakably approving noise under his breath. I made some good choices.

And at CASA today two of the kids complemented my hair, which I had just after lunch gotten cut, leaving the bangs longer than I’ve had them since college.

So, taking inventory: I have jeans I love, shirts I love, a jacket I love. I have a haircut I feel good about, an amazing location for the shoot, and a photographer whose work (at least as much as his personality) really impresses me.

Oh crap. This means if the pictures don’t turn out, there’s nothing left to blame but my face.

No pressure, Dave.

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One week from right now I’ll be in New York, trying (if I know me, with limited success) to relax and prepare for Sunday’s photo shoot with Kris Rogers.  Once I get those photos back (which will probably take a couple of weeks, I imagine), I’ll plug them in to the various corners of the site, and I’ll have no more excuses not to go live officially!

That huge “before website launch” checklist I mentioned earlier has continued to tick away, but while I’ve really been enjoying stretching my wings with the structure, design, and coding of the site, I’m also recognizing that “you’re obsessing, David” knot that develops in my right trapezius when I’ve been doing detail work for too long.  (I’m torn between wishing my muscles would just let me do my thing, and wishing they’d somehow warn me earlier when I’m engaging in behavior that’s going to get me in trouble.)

Anyhoo.  I’ve moved a few of those “before launch” items to a new list—”Picky Things to Look at After Website Launch.”  Now that I’ve gotten the overall design to a place I feel good about, and have the site functioning as fully as I can be sure of (before the Murphy’s Law crucible that is actually going live!), I’m reminding myself that little CSS details (like making sure all of the various fonts and styles match up exactly between plugins) can wait.

And now, with my shoulder throbbing a bit, I think it’s time to celebrate a good productive Saturday afternoon, and go spend some time with hubby.

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No, it’s not my impression of the crocodile in Peter, Hook, and the Darlings (though that was a shameless plug…).  Rather, it’s the sound of items being checked off of my “Left To Do Before Website Launch” list:snap

I’m actually enjoying this process quite a bit—it’s nice to be able to bounce ideas off of forum users, plugin authors, and experienced friends without the site being “live for real.”  Tweaking a site knowing that it’s going to be out there, wrong, until I fix it is one of my least favorite things ever.  (Not that I won’t start sleeping a lot better once I’ve figured out some of these hurdles.)

But boy does it feel good to watch those boxes bounce down to the “Checked” section one by one!

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Well, that was surprising!  One of the things I’ve always struggled with in my professional web presence is the whole saying-nice-things-about-myself thing.  The way this manifested itself in previous versions of my website was that while I used first-person language to talk about the future—“I look forward to working with you” and the like—I invariably discovered I’d used third-person language in talking about my accomplishments.  (“David was named #1 Music Teacher in Harrisburg for 2015 by Thumbtack users!”)

Anyhoo.  Curious how others felt about it, I posted the question on Facebook:

snap

The results were nearly unanimous: first-person it is!

Won’t my therapist be thrilled when she learns folks expect me to say nice things about myself using my own voice!  (Damn, I hate when she’s right.…)  😉

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Wow.  I have had a tremendously productive day today at polishing up and unifying the various parts of the new website into something close to a unified whole.  I can hardly wait to share it with the world!

I have a photo shoot scheduled for November 15—three weeks from now—which I hope will provide some great new images for the site.  If I can find the patience not to go live before then….