Arconati.us Archive

I have uploaded the archived version of this website to the server. This was Arconati.us prior to mid-July. For those who were fans of the site back then, amazing how far we've come, isn't it?

Most of the links do not currently work and there are several images currently missing, even after I worked on it just to get the page to work. But what's funny about it is that this page also had a link to a subfolder of an older archive from earlier in the year, that was in it's own subfolder. That is now at http://arconati.us/archive/archive/. What happens the next time around that I update the site in a massive overhaul like this? Does everything get moved down a subfolder again? This could get really annoying. I want the options to reinvent, but I want to log (for posterity) what has come before.

I think the best option is to simply have one index file of the Arconati.us Archives, which will link and display thumbnails of the evolutions of the site over time. There were a lot of cool tricks in the previous version that I want to save and a lot of good lessons that I learned in making it that I fixed or avoided in the new version.

This little trip down memory lane is not associated with nor should it be confused with the Wayback Machine or their missing archive of this site.

"Merry Christmas!" vs. "Happy Holidays!"

The link above will only work for verified MonsterCommerce clients and Staff.

This strange controversy came up for the first time this year, to my knowledge. It seems that years ago, when all you would hear around this time of year was "Merry Christmas" those of other faiths took a small polite exception to this and started a quiet campaign to spread the word that there were other holidays around this time of year, most notably the Jewish holiday of Chanukkah. In modern times and in my experience, the more politically correct response has been to wish someone a more neutral "Happy Holiday".

However, it would seem that some potentially misguided Christians are now reacting in a pendulum swing against this. There are those actively boycotting stores and even online merchants who use "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". A specific example and the confusion it caused was even highlighted by a client of ours in a private thread. Basically a "holiday" newsletter had "Merry" wishes as well as the "happy" holiday lines mixed in a bit and the supposed Christian customer that responded suggested that the merchant was a "Christian Hater". What?

I was raised Catholic, am currently Christian and raise my children that way. However, my stepmom and her children (all of whom I'm close to) are Jewish. When we gather for the holidays, I make sure my children understand the difference and yet we take part in Dreidels, the Menorah, and other Chanukkah traditions. My children love them and understand them as well as the Christmas traditions.

It's a sticky situation that the customer is trying to put the merchant in. It's ugly and proof positive that customers (and Christians) are not always right. Crack open that Bible every once in a while people! Jesus taught tolerance and acceptance. You should too.

Google Sitemaps

I have previously added Google Sitemaps to the Arconati.us home page, and have recently added back the Andale Counter that I had on the site previously.

It is going to throw off the numbers a bit, but I am going to eventually be adding the same counter to all pages of the network of sites, along with the same Google Sitemaps code. So far, traffic is a bit of a trickle of what it was prior to the server crash, but I did get a visitor or two from somewhere in China. Most likely, the users were lost, but at any rate...

--That means 'Hello', I think.

NerdTests.com Fun Tests - Nerd Quiz

del.icio.us/help/tagrolls

Here are all of the tags that I am using right now in my del.icio.us account. This tag list will update automatically.

Ministry

Tonight at choir practice, I got a moment to talk to Deb about something I've been wondering for a few weeks. I knew there had always been a web site for the Ferguson Christian Church Youth Ministry and I was pretty sure that Nikomas was instrumental in setting it up initially. But knowing that he was moving to Illinois (more info), I wasn't sure who was working on it.

She gave me more information about it and we led into a discussion about what I do for a living and how my expertise could really benefit either the youth group or even the church at large. We talked about different ideas and I realized as I talked more and more about it that it was something I wanted to do very much.

Deb and also Jeannie and Bob were interested in what I had to say. I don't think it has really been discussed much in the Elder's meetings, but perhaps they would be open to the church having a web site. A million ideas for this are swimming in my head right now, but I realize this is only because I've been secretly thinking about it for a while now.

Stacy gave a good sermon this morning leading into thankfulness for the upcoming holiday, but he also touched on the different things we all do as a church family that help support everyone in the family. It nudged me just a little more that I could contribute in this way.

I pray that God is calling me to do something like this. So many times, I've found myself listening to Stacy (and Mike, before him) and thinking that the minister was speaking directly to me. First day I came to church here it was that way and it has continued that way repeatedly. Yet it was not the man talking to me, but someone ... no, not someone, God speaking though them, planting seeds in my life that are helping me to grow. With Lisa's new foray into the world of communications, I think that she is going to be helping with this website idea too.

Okay, now to plan...

Arconati.us Informational Pages

Currently the links in the footer section on my site do not point anywhere, but I'm about to point them here to this page as soon as it is created. If you are reading this from one of those links, then you have my apologies but at the moment these individual pages do not yet exist. However, you can view the drafts of what they should be here for the time being.

About Us

Update (2007/01/24): This page exists now.

As you may have already read in the description section, the Arconati.us web site is for anyone whose last name is "Arconati," specifically for those that live in the U.S.A.. I am looking to collect information, references and special family announcements. Any family reunion announcements and invitations will take center stage. Anything I can collect and display properly in a web interface about our genealogy will be made available and accessible. I am also looking to have links to any sites run or managed by family members and to use the domain name for @arconati.us email addresses.

Site Map

Right now, there is not much content in the site. In fact, I only have one page -- the home page. However, it might be helpful to have a link to the separate sites and blogs that I personally own that are going to be part of the same site in the future or part of the full network of family pages. Here is what I have available right now:

• ArcoJedi's Blog - I am the webmaster for Arconati.us and you are reading my blog right now. Amazing!
• Friends of Arconati.us - Mostly my coworkers and friends, here is a list of information and links to their web sites, both personal and professional.
• Arconati Kid's Korner - I wanted to create a directory of sites for my children that would meet the general approval of most parents.
• Arconati Quotes - As Voltaire said A witty saying proves nothing. Here is our web page about nothing.
• Arconati Comedy Awards - These jokes and comedic images have been gathered by our minions for your enjoyment. Also, we are looking for more minions. Apply within.
• Mudhorny.com :: Home - My brother Jon's fan site for four-wheel-drive vehicles and mud racing enthusiasts.
• Seamist Inn - A home brew Dungeons & Dragons campaign of my own creation.

Privacy Policy

I should not have to say this, but we will never USE nor DISTRIBUTE nor SPAM nor SELL any information that you submit to us at Arconati.us. This site is currently a non-profit entity and does not at this date and time even sell ad space. Besides those used by Google within the Blogger software, our site does not even install cookies. In fact, we just recently started tracking web stats again, using the new Google Analytics software.

Contact Us

Currently, I am reviewing methods to receive contact requests from users without being inundated with spam. There are methods for this, but most seem either difficult to manage or of low quality results. I'm going to have this refined soo, so thank you for your patience.

Everything Gets Left at the Doorstep of the Blog

I've realized that for many months now, I've been posting interesting things and tags and tools to my various blogs about the different things I am interested in, but haven't really created any actual content in all this time. Pretty lazy on my part. As of today, I've not actually finished the entire story about our Meet & Greet with Rob Thomas. How upsetting. I'm disappointed in myself.

SO what to talk about? Well, my family and I just back recently from a 5-day stay at Disneyland! By my family I meant my wife, my two girls, my Dad, my stepmom Linda and myself. It was a beautiful time all around; rollercoasters (the first for both Reese and Linda), a multitude of Princesses, helpful park employees, Mice wearing pants (Mickey), Ducks without pants (Donald), a Dog that walks and talks (Goofy), a Dog that doesn't (Pluto), precision fireworks, walking on the beach at sunset and even "shampoo" the whale at Seaworld.

Back to work on Monday. Work is busy, lots of action, stress and changes, but I'm still amazingly happy at this company. We are doing great things for our clients and going to do even better things in the future. This ship is going very far.

My wife is going to take her sister to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter without me! But I think that is fitting, actually, as I went with Katie to see Serenity when it first came out.

So, a lot of my other subject oriented sites have been getting more attention than this one. I can't say for sure why. One minor mental debate that I think I settled with myself was how specific did I want to get with various sites. I mean, I have this as my main blog, the original and focus. But I have a blog for comedy and jokes I find online, a blog for links to Kid Friendly pages, a blog for outgoing links to my friends and coworkers, a page for home brew Dungeons & Dragons, my collection of interesting quotes and a website I'm working on for my brother and his appreciation of off-roading.

But I have many other interests. Do I start a separate blog for each one? One complaint that some folks have mentioned about the Blogger software is that it does not currently have the ability to set up different categories. But even if it did, how would I arrange my many interests into specific categories?

Something else I've really gotten into lately has been adding links to my del.icio.us account. I have the account set up properly so that when I add a link, it adds the links and descriptions to my home page. I've got over 800 links saved at this time. And I like the categories I've been creating as well. Some day, I envision a 'wiki-like' setup for pages on this site, where I have my content that I created with the 'related' links from my del.icio.us account automatically added in the right place on each page.

A really minor quandary in my head had nothing to do with the category issues, but more along the lines of the fact that I was running into too MUCH segmentation in different areas rather than a central area. Do I start a separate blog for the music that I listen to and think about and maybe even create? Do I start a separate blog for my political thoughts, as non-active and half-educated as they are?

Do I start a separate blog for my Christian experiences and thoughts? I'm going through an internal faith experience that I can't even describe yet, but I want to try. Do I keep these in a separate blog from the postings in my other blogs that perhaps aren't quite as 'Christian' because they mention or have mentioned cynical thoughts or rants or complaints about organized religion some of the time? Do I keep my studies about the life of Christ separate from this personal blog where I've mentioned sinful things I've done in my past?

The answer is no, finally. EVERYTHING goes here. Everything! This is by me and about me, all aspects ultimately of me and what I care about. I'm not perfect so if you thought I was go read someone else's blog. I'm trying to be better. Perhaps something I mention will be helpful to someone else or plant the proper seed in their life. Perhaps the reader will perceive me as a hypocrite. Perhaps the only folks reading this are my family and friends and couldn't possibly take a word I say seriously even with pressure. It really doesn't matter.

Everything goes here. But for now, I must sleep. Goodnight!

Moon Phases

Google Logo

If you go to a folder or directory on Google, such as this error page, the graphical Google logo is replaced by an HTML text version. I was curious to see what style/colors they used, so I am quoting it here.

Google