Hey, Team LJ, I've got a question for you.

I used to keep a blog at textuality.org, you can still see it there.  I built it myself with Tinderbox, some software that's spiffy but which takes a fair bit of maintenance and offers features that I don't really need.  I'd like to wake the blog back up again, repurpose it, and I'd like your thoughts on engines.  These feel like my options:

1. Fix the Tinderbox system.  Pros: it's custom, has some nice linking options, looks custom.  Cons: would require serious fixing; never really did work quite right; can only be posted to from my computer, or a Mac.  If I wanted any new features, I'd have to build them myself.

 

2. Use TypePad on Pair.  Pair, my webhost, offers TypePad Personal for $3/mo.  If I downgraded my domain to a cheaper hosting plan, and added that, I'd actually save a dollar a month.  Pros: TypePad... how is it?  Flexible and full-featured.  Would include comments, I think.  Pair would support it and update it. I could post to it from anywhere.  Cons: $3/mo.  I'd have to migrate my old content over, though that wouldn't take too long.

 

3. Use Sandvox.  I've already got a website builder that I use for the rest of my site because it's ridiculously easy to use, and I value "not having to think about it" in my personal site maintenance.  Sandvox can do a blog reasonably well.  Pros: flexible; free; looks good.  Cons: not as full-featured as TypePad, no comments w/o third-party software (though they support that well); Mac only.

 

4. Just use LiveJournal!  I could open a new journal and just use that.  I know LJ ... but I also have yet to see a really professional blog built in it.  Pros: Trivially easy; I know LJ.  Cons: Less professional, it seems; it would remain "in LJ", not wholly in my domain.

 

5. Install something free somewhere else.  I have friends with servers, so I might install MoveableType (or some other blog tool that you think is way cooler) on one of their servers.  Pros: Free; full-featured.  Cons: would have to set up myself; don't know about uptime, though uptime isn't terribly key here.
    

What do you think?  I've never used TypePad, so I don't know it well.  I'm not against porting my content over from the old system, but want to do it right the first time.  I could put whatever plan I choose into action this weekend, so ... PLEASE ADVISE.

I think that it's high time that I at least considered renters' insurance.  But I know NOTHING about it, and am dubious because Ali's home a lot and we're pretty careful people.

O Pragmatic Friends, can you tell me:

• Whether you think Renters' Insurance is a good idea?
• What company you use and whether you like them?
• What to watch out for?

Dear Flist: A few weeks ago, my 6-year-old Powerbook G4 finally reached the point of no return. It is now the most expensive lapdesk I've ever owned. I have two questions for you:

First, I would like to pull its hard drive and put it in an external enclosure. Apple says that its drive is "120GB Ultra ATA/100; 5400 rpm". Wikipedia tells me that "Ultra ATA/100" might also be called ATAPI-6 or "UDMA 5 (100)". I have a Mac Mini to connect it to. Will this drive work? Do you recommend another?

Second, any ideas for the rest of the computer?  The motherboard is the problem, something involving the power-- on boot it gets enough to spin up the hard drive, but not enough for the computer to do the rest.  I'd love to do something with it, especially the monitor, but other than pulling apart its corpse like some sort of big-eyed, electronic cat, I'm at a loss.

Interestingly, even Tekserve can't deal with it, because Apple will not sell parts for it. It is "vintage".  They'd service it, I think, if I brought some replacement parts, but since the motherboard is the problem, I'm not even going looking.

Hey, Team Flist--

After the success of my mapping software challenge, I've got another one for you.  I now have a space of my own which I can decorate as I'd like: which for me means maps, maps, and maps.  I have a colorful topo map of my hometown, an old-fashioned map of Scotland which isn't actually old, and an actually old (1874??) map of my home township of Kirkland, NY.  I also have two beautiful prints from an oversized Miyazaki calendar, one from Nausicaa and one from Grave of the Fireflies.

None of them are framed, and even better, I've never had anything framed before.

Where do I start?  Tips on particular framers in NY (my office is in the Flatiron District, which has lots of stationers and framers)?  Budget lines to stick to before I write off the framer as ridonkulous?

Love, 
--emsariel