My writing place. 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z https://mpmilestogo.site/ Michael Perry 2026-10-09T00:00:00Z https://mpmilestogo.site/blog/Learning%20my%20way%20forward/ <p>Today has been this learning day I think with 11ty. It is fun to learn how a minute difference in the core configuration file can mean a thing like RSS just won’t work right. I built all this from a howto but then I found issues with some of how it works. At least for me. The biggest thing was how RSS was not creating a proper feed file which got me for some time. I admit to using Google Gemini to show me the error and suggest the fix. It is always worth it to run the development server first and make sure that the generated feed.xml file is correct.</p> <p>The goodness of all this is the learning I think. I thought of just using pika or pagecord or bearblog again but what I did not get with that was starting something from somewhere else, deciding how I wanted the blog to work, fixing things along the way, and then seeing with some delight the rendered blog. Of course with that feed error which took me a little digging.</p> <p>So what’s next? Good question. I may fix up the old blog posts a bit and move them over. I like some of them. It is easier like I usually do to just start all over again with this thing. There is still one final thing I want to do to help anyone crazy enough to read this thing find other stuff I may have written. Doing this requires the usual editing of the eleventy.config.js file and making changes. Then breaking things and fixing them.</p> <p>One thing I wanted was proper footnotes. This ended up taking some bit of time. I had it fixed locally and then vercel got unhappy building my blog. So found what it could be and took care of some cached files in git. Then tried again. And got a clean build.</p> <p>You may ask what’s the point in all this? Good question. There is no point. Not doing this to make one. I’m doing this because I have wanted to for some time. I’m not good enough to start from scratch so I took a howto but then decided I wanted other things. I broke the config and fixed it again. I learned. I don’t think using some blog service I would ever learn. I would set it up. Add a domain name. Add some fancy slash pages I don’t really care about. Then I could say,</p> <blockquote> <p>Done!</p> </blockquote> <p>And write my /now page. I don’t got no now page and I likely never will. Or a uses or a colophon or a set of links. Sorry. Them things ain’t important to me. I wanted to spend time instead on futzing about with footnotes. Making css deal with mobile devices. Wade into how liquid templates work. And what happened? Here’s what.</p> <p>The result to me is some Frankenstein thing which I made and then figured out how to make it work the way I wanted. Its nice to pour my own drink in this world even if I was helped along a big distance. The feeling of just doing it will be with me for some time I think.</p> <p>That leads me to saving this and finding some more things to say when I go for the walk tomorrow. There’s coffee to be had and words to be written. I’ll do both. Just in a slightly new place.</p> <p>So do I think others should do this? No idea. I demanded nothing from it. And I got ever so much back. For me there is no real done. I want to add some other things. I read some blog about what someone did with 11ty and I may want that. Or not.</p> <p>Maybe I won’t last with this. Maybe I will go to pika. Maybe I won’t. Some of the quiet joy in just doing this won’t leave for some time.</p> <h2>Friday coffee, writing and things</h2> <p>It’s early and coffee is out there. Writing on my iPhone. Quiet times. My favorite time to just write. The journal gains a morning perspective but given how I am there is always some good and bad. Mostly good. My daughter dropped off my passport last night with cookies she bought for me when they toured India. She wants to meet to hear my stories about Chennai and months living there. So we will meet soon and try this pho restaurant just down the street.</p> <p>I’ll play with a coffee photo later today or some of my walk. This thing has no goal. No end. So I just decide it’s now.</p> 2026-10-08T00:00:00Z https://mpmilestogo.site/blog/welcome/ <p>Welcome to my kinda newe and almost improved blog. I built this from a very nice <a href="https://rdjarbeng.com/building-a-modern-blog-with-eleventy-3-x-liquid-edition/">howto</a> I found on the 11ty site. I added in some additional things I wanted not included in the documentation. Fixed a few things I found along the way. I really wanted to build a thing i could kinda call mine.</p> <p>The whole idea with it is to have this small space that’s mine. A place I can turn to write, record, complain, and cuss and discuss my daily life in whatever detail I want.</p> <p>I have a feeling the site will be gradually improving as time goes. Particularly the CSS which I had a friendly AI build for me with some suggestions that I then went and tried.</p> <p>There’s no real point to the site as you can probably guess. It’s just me howling into some vercel void as it were.</p> <hr> <p>If you want an adventure and some genuine fun and perhaps a few challenges, I could recommend building such a thing. I’ll never be some big time JAMstack developer but I have learned a little about how things work. Kudos to <a href="https://11ty.dev">11ty</a> for showing me all this can be fun and also learn how to make kinda work together.</p> <p>Stay tuned for more nonsense.</p>