A table is going to be here, with "sections" of.... stuff.

But for now, I think I'm going to treat this area as a sort of blogging area...
Just an area to think out loud... or in writing, rather.

Feb 25, 2009

I updated the site a bit today - Nothing really major. Most notably, I added some new content under the "Stereo Images" link on the left over there...
I'm still working on a strategy for doing things on here... I'm starting to develop a plan to convert words in my text to links to the appropriate Amazon.com page. You'll notice there's now links here and there throughout the text. Any of the links located in the main body of the site will open either a new window or tab depending on your browser settings. Only the constant links found on the left and right hand sides of the page will replace the current page.
I'm just kind of sharing all the gritty details of the process of setting up this site. I really do enjoy staring at the page for a minute... thinking to myself, "What should I do now?" - then figuring out how to implement whatever comes to mind. So far, the majority of my planning has been purely infrastructure. Trying to think of issues I may run into in the future, and then developing a system to deal with it as efficiently as possible. I've only been using HTML so far... I've had to do a few searches of the, "How do I...?" variety, then just cut and paste the code for use on here.
I've been thinking about setting up a user submitted content section - If you have any content you'd like to submit, please email your suggestions to j@thejpad.com - Make sure the subject line says "The J Pad"

Feb 11, 2009

I've been thinking about the site again today... wondering what to do with it. I've got ideas, but I need to get the foundation ready so I can just sort of, fill in the blanks. I decided to add the host's affiliate banner at the top right corner. If you've thought about setting up your own site, I'm pretty happy with this host. I haven't really pushed them to the limits... found out how much they can handle yet... but so far I'm satisfied with what they offer. They're pretty affordable too... Under ten bucks a month. I'm poor and can afford that. If you do decide to sign up with them... of course, please use the link found on my site, so they'll kick me a little referral bonus. ;)
I think I'm going to use this center portion of the page for image links to different sections of the site. The links on the left will always be there, but when you're on the home page, there will be a picture to represent each of the primary sections of the site. I'm also leaning toward making the section on the right an "updates" section. Kind of a "links" type of effect, but to take you straight to the most recently updated or most important (to me) pages. I just need to start developing the content to link to. I have some ideas, and will start working on them little by little... I've had a lot of "free" time recently... but it's been occupied by other necessary activities. Things are starting to slow down a little, so I should have a little more time to work on this.
I have an affiliation with Amazon.com - I like their service... and more often than not, if I'm buying something online, I get it through them. You can get new or used items... because sometimes it doesn't matter if something is used, as long as it works. You can find things that are extremely difficult to find at a local store. Anyway - the reason I mention my affiliation with them, is because they have a "store" feature which I might be adding as one the "pages" to my site - where I can pick and choose items from their site to feature on mine. You can actually add them to your cart and buy them straight through me. I mean, they do all the "behind-the-scenes" work... but it would, in essence, be my store. I added their banner to the top right corner of the page... if you're an avid Amazon shopper, please use that link to get to their site. Just replace "Amazon.com" in your mind with "thejpad.com" when you want to go to their site. I'll make sure their link is always pretty accessible.
Recently a friend told me about a little music project some cool cat put together called "Jaydiohead" - you can find a few of the tracks from the "album" on MySpace. Just search for "Jaydiohead" in the music section. I think about five of the ten tracks are available that way. I'm not sure how this guy found the whole CD with album art... but he downloaded it onto my computer and suggested I listen to it. It's pretty awesome. I listened to it all day yesterday.... and am listening to it now. They take instrumental music samples from Radiohead and remix them into a hip-hop format... Occasionally they'll include a vocal portion from the original song as part of the hook. Over the instrumental beat, they lay down Jay-Z vocal tracks. They do a really good job of making them work together. On a couple of tracks, I'd almost swear they were meant to go together. "No Karma" "Lucifer's Jigsaw" and "Change Order" are some of my favorites. Again, the whole collection is great - but there's some that are just straight awesome. "Optimistic Moment" is the only track that's really not that smooth. It has abrupt changes in the beat in order to make the vocals fit.
Alright - gonna try to do some more formatting to start bringing this site to life.

Jan 27, 2009

I've been working on the pad(that's probably what I'll be calling this site when I talk about it) a little while today. My usual method of "updating" involves changing something, looking at it, then changing it again and again and again, until I'm either satisfied with it, or just delete it because I can't make up my mind. I had a cup of coffee, and a huge bowl of the store brand version of cap'n crunch. I was thinking earlier about a blog I wrote for my space one time... I typed up this review of coconut, and it ended up getting lost because of an error when I tried to save. All of my life I've claimed to hate coconut, and up until recently, I had only eaten it in the shredded, sweetened form. I can't stand the flavor and texture of that stuff. I was offered a piece of fresh coconut - just cracked open and peeled - and it's REALLY good. I even drank the coconut milk. I expected to vomit, but I really liked it. Very pleasantly surprised. It doesn't taste anything like the shredded crap - and the texture is very nut-like. -- That's kind of a recap of what that blog said... I've been kicking around a lot of ideas about what I want this site to become... but I'm having trouble settling on a theme. I'm leaning toward a "mind of justin" theme. Just a collection of thoughts and ideas. Sort of a quilt...