it's a new year! i stayed up late.
we didn't really do anything for new year's eve because we are both still a little bit sick. earlier today, i finished up a first draft of a website design i am working on for an artist friend. after banging my head on it for a while, it finally felt like it actually came together, and i wielded some neat css tricks. then, i did one more thing on my bucket list before the year ended: i made a new email address (or rather, got a domain to use for email) to replace the google mail account i have been using for online account logins for the past 10 years.
recently, i've been thinking about data hygiene. well, i think about it pretty often because it's a hot topic in the circles i run in. but the recent trigger was switching my default search engines last week. i already stopped using google search a while ago, but it made me more aware of how google is still lurking too heavily in my online life.
i already have 2 email addresses, one that i use for interpersonal correspondence (which was already a custom domain), and one that i use for online account signups (that was the one that was still on gmail). i wanted to transition the latter to a custom domain so that i could use a catch-all (*) alias and put in different email addresses for each website that i registered an account on. this would allow me to individually track how any given spammer got my address. not that i even get a ton of spam, but having this kind of digital hygiene brings me joy.
anyway, i finally went ahead and got a new, domain name, and hooked it up to a non-google email provider. i won't say the domain name here because i don't want it to be publicly connected to me. (weird to remember that this is a public space even though it's just bits on a raspberry pi behind my desk!)
i changed my login on a few accounts already, but it will take me a while to transition because of the sheer number of logins i've created since i started using my password manager. but the first step is done, and i feel great about it! oh, and using a custom domain name that i own means that i can switch providers in the future without having to repeat this process of going through and changing all of my old logins. (well, as much as anyone can really "own" a domain.)
then, we finished watching the godfather. i wanted to watch it as part of my project to understand more popular culture references. but it's actually kind of a good movie in some ways. sort of a funny choice for a movie to ring in the new year with though.
i want to put more photos in this journal. it's nice for things to feel a bit more visual. when i'm just spending time at home, i tend not to take as many photos. so this is a reminder to myself to play with my camera more.
ok, i have to go to bed now. happy new year, web friends!