A new baby means we MUST have a new web section; 10 Oct 2004
Big changes: New House, New Baby. We, of course, couldn't buy just a house for our baby - we also had to buy a new digital camera. And, I'm happy to say that I'm finally inspired to make a whole new section "Baby Makes Three" under which to chronical all our experiences as Mum and Pop. This time, after making www.graysonscatering.com for a Chef Seth took a cooking class from, I'm 100% up-to-speed on all the HTML I missed out on while not updating our pages: stylesheets, iframes,
It's been a long, long time; 31 July 2004
Finally, something since we stopped travelling that has inspired me to make a new web page - we're buying a house! So, I've posted photos I took.
Another forced server move 5 June 2002 to 27 June 2002
Much easier this time! Last time it took 3 months. This time only 22
days! I hope we like our new server.
A prioritized list of what I'd like to improve, March 28, 2002
So, not only is the new server my ISP moved me to slower, it is also
unreliable. Approximately five times in the past four months I have
been unable to reach www.immell.com. Very frustrating! There is nothing
we can do while we're traveling, but once we settle, I'm going to host
my own site. I did make a major breakthrough today. Unlike the support
people at www.hostingsupport.com, I sorted out why my number of files doubled
after the server move. Frontpage extensions, which I did not request and
do not want, were installed for me. Thus, I had 20,187 unwanted _vti_cnf`directories.
After deleting these dirs, I am at a comfortable 23,627.
Next priority is to incorporate style sheets into all my pages. I've
tested a .css sheet and it's easy to use, I have to figure out whether
or not I could use a product like dreamweaver to automatically add the
line I need into every single one of my files. Once I have style sheets,
choosing a color scheme/web-look won't be such a big commitment since it
can be easily changed.
Next priority is to create a better interface for my photo database.
I have too many choices for tick boxes.
And, the work never ends, on-going priority is to make sure *every*
destination has at least one photo and a written description.
Forced move to a new server, July 22 to October 23, 2001
Well, the one thing I can say is that I've learned a lot. However,
because of the change made by my ISP, all BTDT pages since China are practically
empty. Instead of writing about my travel, I've been recovering my Guestbook.html
( in Tokyo), tar-ing & ftp-ing my files ( while driving around the
Pacific Northwest ), dumping & loading mySQL database ( in Vancouver
), tracerouting the new server's slow network connections ( in Vancouver)
and increasing my new counter ( in Orlando). What a technical exercise!
However, as of today I am confident that the new server, though slower,
will wok fine. Time to get back to writing about our travels.
New Home Page with square buttons & optimized graphics, July 13,
2001
After weeks of "testing", I finally put up a new home page while at
Tod & Kristen's. With their constant internet access, I figured I could
easily remove it if there were problems I found after ftp-ing it. I also
decreased the Flags files by a factor of 10 by changing from JPEG to GIF
format. Best reduction was 4,634 to 129 bytes!! Worst reduction was 470
to 95. The BTDT pages should load blazingly fast now. Also attempted to
pick a harmonious color scheme.
Focused on nothing new, just error fixing and content writing. April
14, 2001
For the past three times that I'd had a fast internet connection, I'd
created new, kool things for our web pages. This time, I told myself I
was going to concentrate on nothing fancy, just error fixing and BTDT content
writing. It worked really well and I was able to document every destination
on our Japanese whirlwind tour while we were at Tod and Kristen's!
Created a Photo Database. February 9, 2001
I spent hours and hours and hours and hours of time at Bob and Eileen's
creating a photo database.
It was Bob's programming prowess that enabled me to start this project
at all since he'd created a database for www.bobandeileen.com.
I basically just adapted his photo album for www.immell.com.
Uploaded World Tour Route Maps. Janaury 9, 2001
I've been working on route maps for the past week. Finally they are
on line! To break up the monotony of creating just graphics, I've also
been going through shoeboxes of old boarding passes, expense accounts,
etc. and I'm filling in information under BTDT for work and Travel details.
I am trying very hard to both do new page creating and old page finishing.
I just have too many "under constructions" that I never finish.
Uploaded 8 hours of World Tour pages and raw photos. October 27 to 29,
2000
We were REALLY fortunate in San Marino to get a working AOL line at
26400. Seth downloaded all our mail to our laptop and then I started the
web upload. It took SIX hours! Seth checked throughout the night and made
sure to reconnect me when the connection was dropped. Then, for a nice
crowning touch on all the web uploads, we also got a web connection (again
AOL at 26400) in our hotel in Pisa. I fixed a bunch of small errors and
we now have an up to date web online.
Redesigned a BTDT page to have a photo right at the top. While in Murnau
during October 2000
Seth wanted to see more photos integrated with the text on our BTDT
web pages, so I've changed the format to accommodate him. Now, there is
a good photo from each destination visible right at the top as soon as
you look at a page. I am not going to make this change retroactively. Only
for new pages.... unless I end up with ALOT more time on the computer that
I'm being allowed now :-)
Added a "World Tour 2000" main menu. Yeah! July 16 to 18, 2000
Staying at Chris and Sam's house and using their wireless iBook machine
was excellent. I had been without a Mac for over a month since we left
Tokyo. Using a Windows machine just isn't as fun for me. So, I was very
happy to have access to Photoshop on Chris and Sam's machine. Wireless
made it even better since I could sit on the couch and design the World
Tour buttons. Fun!!
Continuing to Scan in the past. May 10 & 11, 2000
I've been waking up for three days in a row at 3am due to being jetlagged from a Chicago -> Tokyo flight. So, what better to do at 3am than scan in photos? I've scanned in (but not fully linked): Our Flat in London, Troy trip with Tim, San Francisco 1991 trip and high school photos of Seth. Plus, I've added a new section "Living in Chicago" and "Our Nomadic Life" BTDT and "With Bob and Eileen" under BTDT. Not all of these are linked in on-line yet either. But, they are closer than they've ever been!!
Blast From the Past. March 18, 2000.
In preparation to move, I've been sorting through our old photographs and organizing them. Seth would like a sticker on the outside of every photo album that we keep in a bookcase. So, I've been documenting which photos are in which albums. Then, this morning, I got sick of organizing the physical photos and decided to scan in some of those old photos I was documentation. Soooo, There is now a trip from 1991 to Columbus, Ohio, and trips from 1993 to New Orleans & Washington DC under BTDT - The Americas.
Hi, Today is Saturday, February 19, 2000 & this is Tara.
Not only do I have a new hard-drive, but Seth has hooked my scanner up again. Therefore, look for some old pages to get new photos added to them. For example, today, I have added photos from 1996 to our Living in London / Finding a Flat page, Friends and Family / London Visitors and Italy trip with Mark, Tara and Tim. Plus, I've written up and documented our trip to Derby to visit Tim from January 12 - 14, 2000. Under What's New / Unfinished Text, you'll also see that ALOT has been added to the BTDT For Work pages. That is because, as I clean the apartment in preparation to move, I'm finding lots of facts about when I was where.
I have lots of fun writing the web site and typically spend a whole weekend updating our web about 3 times a year.
As for updates to come, these are the topics that I STILL haven't gotten to yet: