2019 Resolution

I’ve never really been a New Year’s Resolution type of person, but that may change in 2019. I’ve been a bit bored with my websites recently and I’ve had the real urge to tinker around. I haven’t had this urge in years. Since it has been a while since I’ve kept up with the web development community, I started researching what software or service everyone is using these days for creating content. I signed up for a trial on Squarespace out of curiosity and imported this site to see if I’d like their interface. It’s pretty nice, but there are a few things that bother me about it and will, most likely, prevent me from moving from WordPress, which I’ve used since this blog’s inception. I will probably create a separate blog post for my thoughts on Squarespace (and WordPress) at a later date. The point is, that led me to a realization that is brought me to my resolution: I don’t blog anymore and I’d like that to change.

Over the past several years the frequency in which I update this site has slowed and slowed and has pretty much stopped almost completely. If you look at 2018, I had four posts. Yes, four. This is a blog that has existed for 15 years. I used to post weekly, if not daily, in the beginning. Of course back then I was in college and in the beginning stages of my career and as such I had more time, but in 2018 I managed to knock out four whole posts. I’ve essentially stopped writing. I think a lot of the reason why I no longer post is I’m always busy at work and when I get home the last thing I want to do is spend more time staring at a computer. This makes finding the motivation to write or share something pretty low. Especially since there are easier ways to share my thoughts. That brings us to Twitter.

Posting Activity for 2018

I’ve been on Twitter since almost the beginning. I think since it’s second year in operation. I used to love Twitter. It was my go to place for sharing thoughts on a variety of topics. There was also a really great community that I followed on Twitter, especially the St. Louis area people. However, Twitter has become a cesspool of Alt-Right hate groups and trolls. I don’t spend nearly as much time there as I did a year or two ago. In fact, there are days where I don’t check it at all. So now I’m getting the urge to get back into blogging and sharing myself through my blog, taking me full circle.

So in 2019 I’m going to try and post more. If I have something to share or say I’m going to try and do it here first. I’m going to make myself get back in the habit of posting. I have an Instapaper account full of articles that I thought would make great posts but never took the time to actually post them. It kills me when I discover something really cool, save it for a blog post later, only to see it spread its way around the internet and by the time I work up the motivation to post it is old news. 2019 is the year of the blog (again).

The Max is Coming to Chicago

the max

The Max, the fictional diner from Saved by the Bell is coming to Chicago this summer. The popup restaurant will only be around for the summer, but is sure to be a popular destination for people my age who grew up on the Saturday morning television show.

The diner, called Saved by the Max, sold out reservations quickly, but travelers may still be able to walk-in for brunch and some late night grub. Visitors can order themed items from the menu, such as A.C. Sliders, Mac and Screech, Preppy BLT and the Bayside Burger (no green mystery meat here). According to Vogue, Ed Alonzo will reprise the role of namesake magician-owner of The Max and is set to perform magic tricks for the grand opening—just one in the series of late-night Bayside After Dark special events scheduled. Others include Tuesday Saved by the Bell trivia challenges and Sunday performances from the diner’s in-house band, The Zack Attack.

The decor looks great, but small. You can see photos at Vogue.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get a reservation. If anyone I know is going, please take pictures!

Meet Spike

IMG_0120After not having a dog for a couple of months I decided it was time to bring another fur ball into the house. I missed the companionship and, while nothing could ever replace Penny, decided it was time to start looking for a new dog. I knew I wanted to adopt a rescue. I also knew I wanted a small dog and wanted one that was already housebroken. I started my search, hitting up the humane society, looking on PetFinder, and going to adoption events as PetsMart. It took a few weeks of searching, but I finally found a handsome fella to bring home.

Spike is a 2 year old terrier mix (he looks like he has some corgi in him). I actually adopted him on his birthday. He’s a sweet little guy that loves to be pet. I’ve had him for a couple of months now and he has settled in quite nice. I’m still trying to teach him how to play (he’s not interested in playing, just wants to be pet and scratched). He’s pretty hesitant of new people but he took to me right away. I’m glad I was able to provide a home for him.

Rediscovering Comic Books

When I was younger, I was a huge comic book fan. You could even say I became a collector. I amassed a large enough collection to fill two long-boxes.[footnote]Long-boxes are boxes that are slightly wider than the width of a comic book and go about 3 feet deep[/footnote] Like most kids, I started with the classics. I was a huge Superman and Batman fan due to the movies, so I started there. Then, I naturally moved to comics that featured both of those characters, The Justice League of America.

Now in the ’90s, the only Justice League that existed was Justice League America, a shell of its former greatness. I preferred the heroes of old. Instead of reading the exploits of Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, and the Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern of the ’90s era Justice League, I was reading about Superman, Batman, Hawkman, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern, The Flash, and The Atom. I tried getting my hands on as many books of the Justice League of America from the ’60s and ’70s as possible. What also drew me to the books was knowing that they were some of the same books that my dad read as a kid. It was a bonding experience to know that we were reading the same things. Eventually, I expanded my reading to the solo books of Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkman, and even The Atom. Some of these titles were good. Others, not as much.

Once I started running out of books from the ’60s and ’70s I decided to try and pick up with my favorite characters in the present day. Again, some books were good and some were not. I really enjoyed the rebooted JLA of the late ’90s, which featured all the greats back together. Green Lantern with Kyle Rayner and eventually returning to Hal Jordan was also one of my favorites. I enjoyed a few issues of The Flash. Limited series, such as the DC event Final Night and the mini-series Kingdom Come were also excellent. It was about this time that I entered high school and started spending all my money on CDs instead of comic books. The comic book store was replaced by the mall, Best Buy, or even Blockbuster Music [footnote]I swear, no one remembers Blockbuster Music, but it was really a thing.[/footnote]One day, I just quit reading and I never thought about going back. Read more

RIP The Blog

Jason Kottke recently had a post on his blog declaring the blog dead. Of course, it’s not really dead, but the way we write, consume, and share content has changed drastically over the past several years. If you look at my posting on this site over the years, you can see the number of posts decreasing each year, and fast. I no longer have the time, or the will, to write long posts about what I find interesting, what’s going on in my life, or random stuff I find on the internet. When I do want to share something, I usually post it on Facebook or Twitter (mostly Twitter).

That being said, I still want to share that information in a place that is much easier to sift through the noise (like a blog!), but that’s not what piece of shep is or was. So, I started i am shep on Tumblr. It is the perfect place for me to post quick links, pictures, videos, etc. Yeah, I could have found a Tumblr-style theme for WordPress, and I tried, but Tumblr is a better place for my new focus (or lack thereof). So, if you’d like, go over and follow me there or subscribe to the RSS feed (or, since it posts to Twitter, follow me on Twitter). POS will still exist, and I may post longer posts here, but for now, anything that grabs my attention will be posted at i am shep.