Losing it[1]

This is probably the fifteenth[1] version of my personal site. Over the years[2], I’ve moved from a tool that shall remain nameless, through HomeSite and Dreamweaver[3], before moving to Movable Type and now WordPress. Until WordPress version 1.5 came along, I hand coded most of the site, and tweaked the weblog bits to match. Now that I can use WordPress’s lovely “pages” feature, I only have to tweak my design once, and all my pages will match.

I started the weblog part of the site because I wanted an easy way to record my progress in losing weight and getting a bit fitter. But I soon digressed and started writing posts on other subjects, and the weblog took over the rest of the site. Several redesigns and one change of host later, here we are with Losing it[1], a fully integrated WordPress 1.5 site, now upgraded to version 2.x[7].

This is what you can find here:

• Losing it[1] - the main body of the site. You can read the daily[4] weight reports, exercise reports, my reviews of books, music and movies and anything else I happen to witter about. It’s about as exciting and interesting as most weblogs. You can add your comments to any post if you feel so inclined.
• Archives, a page of convenient links to all Losing it[1] posts organised by date.
• Lescam, the occasionally live webcam. When it’s not live, you can see the latest static image of me.
• Galleries, the ever-growing photographic section of the site. It started as a sideline, now it’s one of the most important parts.
• Sounds, a small selection of voice recordings, mostly for the benefit of my American friends who sometimes need a little help in knowing how to pronounce things correctly.
• Contact, a little form you can fill in if you’d like to comment on the site or send me a message without leaving it on the site where anyone can read it.
• Subscribe, where you can save yourself the bother of visiting and have all my posts sent to you be email

Who is this Les guy anyway? Well, I have been described as:

A clown, a nut, a punster, a jokester…as well as being sardonic, sarcastic, witty and twisted. Let’s not forget irreverent, satiric, and whimsical[5]

It has also been alleged that I

wield language the way a samari wields a sword

It’s possible that the person in question[8] meant “Samurai”, but I’d hate to make unfounded assumptions. Either way, I deny it, of course.

Or to put it another way, I’m a forty-something IT geek, originally from Cardiff , living in the North East of England.

Why Losing it[1]? Well, I wanted to give the weblog a name, and the original subject was weight loss, so it made sense at the time. Of course, if you read the footnotes on the main page, you’ll have worked that out.

Why so many footnotes? Well, I like them. They suit my way of thinking. And if I didn’t use footnotes (like the ones below) I’d end up writing sentences (like this one) with lots of stuff in brackets (like these (or are they parentheses?) ones here). Personally, I think lots of nested (puts aside mental image of brackets snuggling (I like that word) together) are much harder to cope with than a couple (understatement) of footnotes. Some people think that my email with 174[6] footnotes was a bit too much, though.

If you’re interested in how various bits of the site work, you can have a look at the credits page.

Any major changes to the site will be mentioned here

[1] Number chosen at random
[2] My first attempt was probably in 1997 or 1998. Fortunately, it no longer exists
[3] Though I mostly hand-coded when using that
[4] Except when I’m away, or I forget
[5] © Twisty, 2006. Thanks, Twisty
[6] Since upgraded to a version with 240 footnotes
[7] Now upgraded to 2.1.x 2.2 2.3, and version 2.4 2.5 isn’t far off, though I may not install it for a while.
[8] Hi Twisty!