Category: Weblog

Today marks the 10 anniversary of the formal start of this weblog, the venerable Cruftbox.
In internet time, that’s an eternity. While I’m not considered one of the truly early bloggers, I’ve been at this quite a while.
I registered my first domain back in 1997 and promptly posted a story about making a cup of coffee on August 31st. I had posted about my daughter being born even earlier, on July 19th. While some might claim that as the start of my blogging, I consider it when I started using a content management system of some kind.
My inspiration for Cruftbox was a site called Lum the Mad, a weblog about the game Ultima Online. Scott “Lum” Jennings still blogs about gaming today at brokentoys.org. My initial start was a rudimentary blogging app called NewsPro. Blogger was less than 6 months old, MovableType didn’t even exist in those days, and owning your own domain was not for casual enthusiasts. Thanks to Ben & Mena Trott for making MovableType. Without it, I probably would have never kept on blogging.
My first post was January 21st, 2000, simply about starting the site. In the beginning, I mainly posted about video games and linked to interesting stuff I saw on the web. As time went on, I started to create more real content on the site.
To this day, the most popular page on Cruftbox remains How to make a Smoker from a Trash Can, posted in October of 2003. Even now, 50-100 people a day read this page. The more real content I made, the more visitors I had arrive. Once I added Google ads, I started making $100-150 a month and still do today.
Blogging led me to start attending SxSW Interactive and helped me meet a ton of great people all over the world. I have found blogging to be a rewarding experience, well worth my time and the headache. I have refrained from trying to turn my site into anything other than a window into my life.
I never believed in the “Bloggers will pwn the world!!!1!!” meme that still occasionally rebounds around the net. It’s not blogging that changes the world, it’s hard work that changes the world. Blogs are a great way to surface hard work, making it easy to publicly publish what you’ve been working on, but crap on a weblog is still just crap.
Over the years, I’ve been Slashdotted, Farked, Boinged, Dugg, and even hacked. To be honest, it feels good to get the attention. I’d much rather get many people reading my site than a bunch of hits to the Google ads.
Today, I mainly post about my experiments in food or science. I don’t post as frequently, since I feel a lot of the personal stuff fits better into Facebook or Twitter. Who knows what I’ll be writing about in a few years.
So what words of wisdom do I have after 10 years of blogging?
Not a lot really. Just a few things that are probably obvious to a lot of people, but I’ll write them down anyways.
1) Blogging adds content to the internet, where as social networks add noise. A weblog tends to be a more permanent record of information that is searchable and retrievable over time. People still visit my post about loading XP on a SATA drive from 2004 regularly, because it’s usefully content that they can find easily. Twitter and Facebook are fun, but their content is ephemeral, melting into the net like snowflakes in the sun. Beautiful for a brief moment and then gone.
2) Only write things on your weblog that you are comfortable your co-workers, friends, family, and strangers knowing. If you have private thoughts, keep them private.
3) Most of the social media experts are full of crap. Anyone who claims to know where the internet is heading or how ‘you should establish a relationship with your reader’ is simply selling something. The internet is wild and unpredictable. Your best bet is to simply sit back, do what you find interesting, ignore what bores you, and enjoy the ride.
The biggest thanks I have go to my wife, Michele, who has put up with my blogging of our lives, eaten food cooked in trash cans, let her kitchen be used as a lab, helped me count Halloween costumes, and watched me eat copious amounts of junk food in the name of science. Thank you sweet pea!
Lastly, thank YOU for reading. If not for the comments and emails over the years, I wouldn’t still be doing this. Let’s see what the next ten years brings, I have no idea what it will be, but it will be wonderful.
And yes, I know I need to redesign the site. 😉

1. I like to ride bicycles.
2. You can endure more than you thought you ever could, then endure some more.
3. Onions can taste good.
4. You can’t make someone else happy. You can only make yourself happy.
5. Wet wipes are better than regular toilet paper.
6. Twitter and Facebook put a damper on blogging.
7. If you are still waiting for a hand after the flop, fold.
8. You don’t need a podium to speak in front of an audience.
9. Coffee made in a Chemex carafe is better than French Press coffee.
10. I like to ride bicycles.

Again, this year, I’ve been growing a mustache (or ‘Mo’) for the month of Movember to raise money for fight prostate cancer. This year it is very personal, as my father-in-law, Tony is fighting prostate cancer and just had his surgery this month. He’s doing well, but this is no walk in the park.
As you may know, I had rotator cuff surgery this month, spent only a day in the hospital, and can only imagine how much harder dealing with prostate cancer is for others.
You can visit my Movember page to donate or learn more. I’ve posted plenty of pictures to see the growth of the Mo. Those that know me in RL, know I can grow a beard in a about a day, so the mustache has come in fully during the month. My wife, Michele, is the artistic designer this year, and guided the shape.

I was at a local antique shop, rummaging around with my daughters when I stumbled onto some old science fiction magazines from the 50s and 60s. I like this one because it had an article about what college would be like in the year 2008.
The article touches on various ideas such as early aptitude testing, learning at home, and even the use of smart drugs. I scanned the article in for your enjoyment.
I wonder what an article about the Class of 2058 would predict.

I’ve been to San Francisco twice in the last couple weeks. That means new hotels room videos.

Recently, I traveled to the East Coast for a bit of business and an alumni reunion. Here are my 4 hotel rooms in 5 days. You guys seem to love these videos…

I need your help.
As many of you know, I took up road biking in January and somewhat obsessed with cycling. I recently joined the Disney Triathlon Team and offered to ride in a relay team. For years, Disney has fielded a large team of athletes and gathered donations.
In a month I’m riding the cycling leg of the Nautica Malibu Triathlon to raise money for the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. This year, Disney has raised over $125,000 but we want to raise more.
Any donation, small or large is helpful! Link here to donate.

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while.
I was reading the Goons with Spoons forum at Something Awful, when I stumbled onto the Making a Rainbow Cake thread. I knew I must give it a try.
The idea is simple.
1) Make some cake batter
2) Split into portions
3) Color portions with food dye
4) Mix into baking pan
5) Bake
6) …
7) Profit!!!

Prepping to cook

My daughter and her friend, who happens to be a boy. “He’s not a boyfriend, Daddy!”
Mixing the dye into the batter.

The four colors, ready to go.

Poured into the baking dish with no particular plan at the direction of the children.

Out of the oven, looking good.

Mira is ready to eat a slice of the Rainbow Cake

The rest of the cake.

Michele and I have been watching the Tour de France and started to wonder who exactly the sponsors are and what they do. I mean, we had no idea what Cofidis or Quick Step are or why they sponsor cycling teams.
I did a little research about the teams and who the major sponsors are:
2009 Tour de France Teams & Sponsors

AG2R-LaMondiale– French team sponsored by Ag2r Group, a French retirement fund, and LaMondiale, a French insurance firm
Agritubel – French team sponsored by Agritubel, a French maker of metal tubing for livestock on farms
Astana – Kazak team, sponsored by the Astana Group, a group of Astana government run companies
Bbox Bouygues Télécom – French team, sponsored by Bouygues Télécom, a French mobile phone company
Caisse d’Epargne – Spanish team, sponsored by Caisse d’Epargne, a French bank
Cervélo Test Team – Swiss Team, sponsored by Cervélo, a Canadian maker of bicycle frames
Cofidis – French team, sponsored by Cofidis, a French consumer lending company
Euskaltel-Euskadi – Basque Spanish team, sponsored by Euskaltel, a Basque telecom company
Française des Jeux – French team, sponsored by Française des Jeux, the French National Lottery
Garmin-Slipstream – American team, sponsored by Garmin, an American maker of global positioning devices
Lampre – Italian team, sponsored by Lampre Group, an Italian maker of pre-coated steel
Liquigas – Italian team, sponsored by Liquigas, an Italian provider of liquified gas products
Quick Step – Belgian team, sponsored by Quick Step, a maker of laminate flooring
Rabobank – Dutch team, sponsored by Rabobank, a Dutch bank
Silence-Lotto – Belgian team, sponsored by Lotto, the Dutch National Lottery, and Omega Pharma, a Belgian pharmaceutical company
Skil-Shimano – Dutch team, sponsored by Skil, a German make of power tools, and Shimano, a Japanese maker of bicycle components
Team Columbia-HTC – American team, sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, an American maker of sportwear, and HTC, a Taiwanese maker of mobile phones
Team Katusha – Russian team, sponsored by Russian Global Cycling Project, a foundation funded by Gazprom,
Itera and Rostechnologii
Team Milram – German team, sponsored by Milram, a German maker of cheese and dairy products
Team Saxo Bank – Danish team, sponsored by Saxo Bank, a Danish investment bank

Cheese makers, steel manufacturers, laminate flooring, and agricultural tubing? Who would have thought they are key parts of the sport of cycling?