4:20 a.m.

Ok, I really am about to go to bed but I just had to add this little note saying it is raining buckets outside! THe spouting and gutters are overwhelmed and I can hear the overflow splashing down on the porch. At least we won’t have to water the plants tomorrow, although given all this rain we may not have any left soon as a result of the exploding snail and slug population.

Turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Or at least a middle-aged dog.

The title of my first post is in homage to the standard first task that you undertake anytime you decide to try out a new programming language. It is also appropriate given that I am ostensibly “signing on” to the World Wide Web, which means that literally anyone in the whole world with Internet access could read this blog. Although who’d want to & why to are very good questions…

True to my blog title, I am typing this first entry at 1:25 am on Friday morning of 17 October. I just finished proofing an article for a manuscript that will be published soon-ish in a new journal called “Regional Science Policy and Practice.” Suus is wisely asleep, as are the cats Bugs & Daffy. Daffy in particular is looking very comfy lying next to me on the couch.

Honestly I am not quite sure what to do with this blog thing. Many of Suus’s Dutch friends have a blog and it is quite fun to read about their adventures and exploits. In the previous incarnation of suusendaniel.net Suus had done a great job of publishing verhaaltjes (”little stories” in Dutch) on her portion of the site, while I was unquestionably AWOL. Unfortunatley Suus’s previous entries are currently lost given our switch to the new blog software system. As always, life is full of trade-offs. If I have time and/or energy, I will try to restore them, as they were wonderful stories to read (in Dutch, of course) and had lots of fun photos of our life together here in NZ and some travels about the world.

I suppose I am hesitant because I’ve had several false starts in the past with web pages because they can be really hard to maintain. However blogging is supposed to be fun and easy, so we shall see.

At this point the wise reader is probably thinking: “Well that’s great, but why don’t you just go to bed!” Good advice that I will follow soon. Tomorrow is Friday and it will be a busy day. I have a phone call with my good friend and colleague Chris Lepczyk in Hawai’i (Hey champ!) to discuss a workshop that we plan to run at a conference next year. Then I have volleyball match at 11:00 am (semi-finals). And of course work, although talking to Chris is work. I mean part of work…

More later I suppose. In the meantime, I’ve put in a few important links. Other than showing the world what I think is important or fun, their overall purpose escapes me.

Cheers,

D.