After removing ActivityPub, comments, and other interactive features, I decided to return to a static website. I migrated to Hugo, choosing the Poison theme from several available options for its clean design.
The site is now live, but there’s still work to do. I’m focused on getting all the old articles migrated, properly formatted, and visually restored. The most pressing task is recovering images that were lost in the transition. Future tweaks are planned as I continue refining the design.
I’ve removed ActitibyPub and related plugins from this web site. I don’t think WordPress is ready for me to replace Mastodon, yet.
Comments are turned off. All new posts will not have comments enabled, and old posts won’t allow new comments to be added. I don’t want to pay for a comment anti-spam solution and would prefer to interact, socially, on my Mastodon account.
I began 2024 by starting a habit of listening to audiobooks. I realized that I could buy a Kindle book and get a discounted audiobook that follows along with the text, allowing me to switch between audio and text while keeping my place. I find it to be a nifty and useful feature, and it’s caused me to consume a lot more books than usual.
This past Sunday, I took a stroll around Massachusetts Avenue to do a bit of last minute Christmas shopping. On my way back to my car, I snagged a shot of the minaret at the Old National Centre and an apartment building along the Cultural Trail named the Aviary.
This image shows the iconic Murat Shrine, now known as the Old National Centre in downtown Indianapolis. The focus is on its Moorish Revival architectural elements, including a tall, striped minaret with intricate details, green accents, and a crescent-topped dome on the right. The sky provides a serene backdrop with scattered clouds, enhancing the building’s striking features.
This image shows a house with a gray, shingled roof and a prominent white chimney in the foreground. Behind the house, there are trees with some fall foliage, including shades of yellow and orange. The sky is clear blue with a visible daytime moon in the upper right portion of the image. The scene feels calm, with a hint of seasonal change.
Ever since I was a kid, I heard a story about my paternal grandfather working at one of the first White Castle restaurants here in Indianapolis. We even have a photo to prove it, which you can see below.
A vintage interior of a 1920s restaurant, featuring a counter with stools. A worker in a white uniform and bow tie stands behind the counter, while a man in dark clothing sits on one of the stools, leaning slightly. The counter displays various containers and items, with shelves behind holding decor and products.
Recently, I had some time to kill and an audiobook, so I took a stroll around downtown by myself. Plus, I really needed to get out of the house. Even though it was pretty cloudy and dreary, it was dry, warm, and pleasant out, although a bit windy.
Here are some of my views as I walked around.
This is the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in downtown Indianapolis, set against a cloudy sky. The monument features intricate sculptures, including a group of figures representing military and allegorical themes. An American flag is mounted near the inscriptions on the monument’s pedestal. The figure of Victory stands atop the monument, and an ornate streetlamp with a distinctive design is visible to the lower right.
Trainz.com recently posted for sale MTH 30-20683-1, which is a model of the Monon’s very first diesel locomotive: DS-50. MTH released this model in 2019, as a custom run sold exclusively through Mr. Muffin’s Trains up north of me in Atlanta, Indiana.
This image shows a detailed model of the Monon DS-50 locomotive. The black engine features bold white lettering reading ‘MONON’ on the side, along with a circular emblem that says, ‘Reliable Chicago Indianapolis Louisville Service.’ The number ‘50’ and is visible on the cab. The model is set on a table, with a softly blurred background, highlighting the craftsmanship of this vintage railroad replica.
I’ve been thinking about restoring old content lately.
Many years ago, I had a WordPress blog full of years of content, but I took it offline (for reasons that don’t resonate much with me today) and didn’t properly archive it. That means that the only archive available to me is whatever happened to get archived by The Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
I plan to restore old content here, posting retroactively. I’m sure there is content that I will choose not to restore. It might be something that’s lost all meaning and context, or it might be something not really fit for this current iteration of my web site. Anything that I don’t post here will likely end up in my private journal.
The image shows the north side of the Indiana World War Memorial, a monumental neoclassical building in Indianapolis. The structure is adorned with tall columns and inscriptions commemorating the valor and sacrifice of the United States military forces. The sky is clear, enhancing the grandeur of the memorial against the urban backdrop.
