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This year, I’ve decided to try my hand at having a garden. I’ve never even attempted to grow food before, so I’m sure I’m doing a lot of stuff wrong and making lots of mistakes. Even so, that’s how I learn best…from doing. Growing up, my family had a garden. I was involved in gathering the vegetables, shelling peas, shucking corn, etc., but not planting and keeping the soil in good shape, so I look forward to learning how to do this, and picking up the best practices along the way.

I started by using my next door neighbor’s tiller to break up my ground. I mixed in some garden mix soil and lime. After a week or so, I went back and tilled it up again. Added some organic vegetable plant food. I’ve set out my plants now, and watered them a couple of times. I’m starting off fairly small. So far, I’ve set out tomatoes, a variety of different peppers, okra, and squash. I may plant a few more things. Originally, I was gonna plant peas, butter beans, corn, etc. But, I think I’ll start off a little more basic and see how it goes. If this year’s garden turns out pretty good, I’ll add more next spring.

Tags: Life and Interests by Anthony ∗ 4 Comments »

Like most people, I have new goals for myself for year 2010. I really prefer not to call these New Year Resolutions, because that sounds to me like something that I’ll never achieve. I know that many people have New Year Resolutions, and NEVER stick to them. I’m not sure I know anybody who has ever stuck with one. There are some who would prefer to put a more positive spin on this term by calling their goals – destinations, but that doesn’t do much for me. So, I will simply call these goals.

I do believe that putting your goals out for others to see makes these goals much more likely to be accomplished…..and that’s what I’ve decided to do. I do have other (and more measurable) goals than what I’ve listed here, but these are what I desire the most. [Read more →]

Tags: Goals, Life and Interests, Personal, Personal Development by Anthony ∗ 6 Comments »

The reason I don’t blog much anymore, is that I just don’t have as much interest in the web as I once did. When I first bought web space and this domain name, it was for no reason other than having my own website. Why? No reason, really. I wasn’t selling anything, nor was it built around any certain hobby. It was just an interest I had in figuring out how to put together a website, without using a pre-made template. I did that.

Then I discovered blogging and WordPress. I first started blogging on Blogger, then WordPress.com, and finally replacing my website with a self-hosted version of WordPress. At the time, the internet wasn’t as saturated with blogs and social media, and it seemed fresh and exciting. I admit it, I even blogged about blogging. I think this is the natural thing for someone to do when they have a blog for no reason. What else are you gonna blog about?

I immediately started downloading a bunch of themes and modifying them with my own color schemes and headers. It wasn’t long until I wanted to figure out how to create a theme from scratch. So, after spending a bunch of time playing around with code and reading tutorials, I learned how the different files of a basic theme work together. I released my first theme, and got quite a bit of attention for it, even though it really was nothing special. So I started putting out a new one about every week or two for a while. By this point, I was getting so many support questions, I was ready to change my name. The far majority were not problems with the themes, but questions about how to make changes….to customize them.

At that point, I decided I needed to start charging for my services. I couldn’t keep up with all the emails and questions, although I didn’t want to ignore anyone. So for a while, I took on “clients”, who wanted a custom theme. I did this for a while, but working on someone else’s website just wasn’t as interesting as making one for myself. I continued to make customizations for a fee, and still do that, occasionally. However, my interest in developing websites has become much less than it used to be.

I think for me, I’ve got to be learning something new, and although I haven’t learned everything there is to know about building websites, I learned enough to successfully build one from the ground up. Now I have interests in other things. I like tools. You know, like shop tools….wrenches, ratchets, power tools. It’s enjoyable to work on something and actually fix it. I also like photography. I’m not interested in ever becoming a pro. I’m not interested in being a portrait photographer or a wedding photographer, but I do like to take photos, and experiment with the camera, as well as post-processing. It’s just fun. And I love motorcycles. I currently own two of them. I have an antique BMW bike, which I’ve written about here before, and I have a Yamaha Virago. I just started back riding last year, after not riding for a bunch of years. Now I’m hooked on it. My dad and I ride together a lot, and are planning a trip to the mountains next month(if the weather isn’t too bad)….can’t wait.

So, I suppose the point of this post is, to let you know that when I post on this website in the future, it will not necessarily be about anything web related. It could be about anything. I don’t have a central topic, or a schedule to go by. I’m not trying to make a living here nor build my RSS readership up.

The WordPress themes will stay for now, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll leave them on. They’re kinda outdated anyway.

If you’re still here, thanks for reading.

Tags: Life and Interests, Personal by Anthony ∗ 3 Comments »

This past month, I purchased a 1976 BMW R60/6 motorcycle. My reasons were two-fold: 1)fuel mileage and 2)enjoyment. Even though it’s over 30 years old, this bike is one smooth machine. This bike belonged to my father-in-law, and I’ve seen it tucked away in his garage for years. Finally this year, I have acquired it for myself. In my mind, this motorcycle is a classic.

Probably the most unique thing about these old BMW bikes is the appearance of the motor. They have several nicknames associated with them such as “boxer twins” and “airheads”. The 2-cylinder motor looks like a block with a cylinder head sticking out on both sides. The engine is an air-cooled engine, thus the term “airhead’. I’ve been riding it around for about a month, and it has become the subject of many conversations. I’ve had several already ask if I would be interested in selling it………not today.

In street-bike terms, the motor is of the smaller variety with a 600cc engine. Even though it’s not uncommon with the bikes of today to see engines at 1500cc’s and higher, this motorcycle has plenty of acceleration power to pass at highway speeds and run smoothly with the flow of traffic on the freeway.

I grew up riding small motorcycles, and loved them when I was a kid. I stopped riding when I got my driver’s license and started driving cars. I hadn’t been on one in years before getting this one, and had forgot just how much fun they are to ride. The only downside is, that the weather is starting to get pretty cold, so that limits how often I will ride for the next few months.

Updated picture(4/13/09):

For pictures of some more cool BMW bikes, check out the BMW Motorrad group on Flickr.

Tags: Life and Interests by Anthony ∗ 30 Comments »