Hello World

Why am I here …

So, it seems obligatory that everyone’s site starts with a post such as this detailing why they thought this thing needed to exist. Over the past year, I’ve made a handful of posts and written one article on LinkedIn that seemed to attract more attention than I expected. That got me thinking that I would like to have a place to share my thoughts on technology, home improvement, traveling, life in the oilfield, and whatever else has captured my attention for the moment.

Ok, but why HERE specifically?

I could continue posting my thoughts on other platforms such as LinkedIn (and I probably will for shorter musings), but I really wanted something that was MINE. LinkedIn’s content policy is better than most, but that content is still dependent on their platform. I also have limited control over the look and feel of how my ideas are presented there. So, I decided to build this site in order to give myself that kind of control and learn some bits of how the internet works that is of questionable value to my day-to-day life.

Aside from having somewhere to share my thoughts, I’ve been curious about all things web-related for a few years. We live in a world that is increasingly connected together, and I want to learn more about how those technologies work. I’ve dabbled a little with fairly simple JavaScript pages for some projects at work, but this is my first foray into managing the server that runs my site, the platform it runs on, and the design around how the entire thing looks.

What’s so wrong with hosting content on LinkedIn (or any other service for that matter)?

Realistically, absolutely nothing. I imagine most people have absolutely zero desire to learn about setting up a VPS, static site generator, Markdown syntax, or the various other things I haven’t yet realized I need to learn to make this work. It’s amazing to me how many different platforms exist that allow people to easily share their message with the world with minimal technical expertise required. So, if you have something you want to share with the world, find what works best for you and just focus on getting it out there!

Here we go!

I hope people enjoy the things they find here, and that maybe we can laugh and learn a little together along the way. I will likely share links to things I’m writing here on LinkedIn, and I would love to get your feedback in the comments on those posts. Otherwise, I can sometimes, sorta, randomly be found on Twitter at @anthonyallison_ or my LinkedIn profile here¹.