Switching to Octopress

A while back I realized something about my blog. I was spending more time fixing issues with Wordpress than I was writing blog posts. Either the database server was getting hammered, or I was getting lock out notifications because someone was scraping my page or trying out exploits on my comments/contact form.

The past few years I’ve been getting rid of cruft from all facets of my life. This minimalist approach to living life has spread into everything.

I read something a while back about living with only owning 100 things total. That includes every article of clothing, silverware, books, and tools. The premise is that by getting rid of everything except what is absolutely necessary you have less to worry about. You’re attached to less stuff. You have more freedom. The true value in this is what has become our family’s mantra: Value experiences over stuff.

How is this related to Octopress and switching blog platforms you ask? I had stuff, a database and ton of Wordpress plugins I didn’t need, and a fancy theme but I wasn’t writing. I wasn’t experiencing the core thing that I set out to do with my blog I was yak shaving. If I’m so anal in ultra light backpacking that I’m cutting backpack straps and cutting my toothbrush in half to save weight then why do I have a database driven blog with just a couple dozen posts?

Besides, I kinda like static sites and generating my blog from the command line. It’s a really fun experience ;)

UPDATE: It’s now 2023 and I’ve switched again. This time to Astro. It’s still static HTML and it’s hosted on CloudFlare. It’s even less work now.