Rants and Raves -
A casual blog reporting on the life and times of Caroline C. Blaker
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Oh wow, Hi!
All the professionals have a website they've let go for 11 years, right?
Weird to be back. Weird to revive this. Weird to care so much. Weird.
Weird that defining this gap can pretty much boil down to my Facebook and Twitter arcs. Twitter is all gone. Facebook wants to be all gone. The era is gone! And now I have to post here, again!
We're on secure, updated software. The front-end code is old and reflects old conventions. But it's mine, and I still like it.
Not just one kid, but two. A business shift. Healing, healing, healing. Boundaries. Feeling strong, finally, with my skills and future. So much to do - here! Not on Facebook or any other platform owned by other people....
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Having a baby - in like, 5 seconds
Hi Friends,
As many of you know, and some of you do not, I'm due to deliver a baby boy in about 12 days. I've been doing my best to stay active and busy during this time - sorta "business as usual" approach - but as you may be able to imagine, some of the physical limitations that now govern my decisions are making me tired, restless, and less able to push forward than in previous days. I've got an extra 30 lbs limited solely to the frontal abdomen that are consuming resources, weighing me down, throwing me off-balance, you name it. The good news is, it's only temporary. The other good news is - the joy of being a first-time parent for me and my spouse is just around the corner. In the coming days before I go to the hospital, I will expend as much energy as I can find to do art, this website, keep you updated on everything, etc. I just don't know how long I have, and I want you to know that I think about writing to you every day. I'll be a mom in a minute, and a whole new lot of topi...
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New website design is live!
Hola everyone! I'm pleased to finally be showing you the design I've been working on for months for this brand-new look and feel for carolinecblaker.com. In the spirit of "The cobbler's children never have new shoes," often does self-serving work of professional web designers and developers go un-delivered. We are not always our own best clients. Suffice to say that some upcoming events, including the shedding of an old web server and a baby due date fast-forwarded this project on my list. It's now live, at least in a skeletal, many-features-coming form. I know, I know, "Yeah Right!" Actually - many features that you cannot access are already installed - but there are reasons why they're not live yet: like they're not flushed out visually, or they need a tiny bit more development time, or going live to avoid a complete shut-down of the site was more important in the interim than their addition to a dev to live environment site. For those who don't speak geek - I've set myself up to be...
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New carolinecblaker.com is in development
This website is my first website. As someone who builds websites every day in a high-demand environment, I have a fondness for this one that supercedes my love for my work (which I LOVE a LOT.) In the past, it has been the canvas for my development skills. If you have been visiting for more than a few years, undoubtedly you remember it being riddled with bugs, impossible to use, or just having one of those "what was she thinking?" moments. As it turns out this problem is systemic for artists, but I'm not just an artist. I'm a professional web developer AND artist. I have the time, the know-how, and the motivation to produce a superlative website to showcase and sell my art work. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Aside from personal vanity, I do have motivation for the work I'm doing for this website. Lately, I've noticed that despite my fondenss for this website, I hate updating it. Yep, you heard me - it's a pain. When the last iteration of the design was built, it was the eas...