Now
Updating magdillusion.xyz: 10 September 2026
This website was originally built by inputting html pages one by one. After a while, that got tedious, so I went looking for alternatives. I have already used the Ruby gem Jekyll on a personal project - a journal test - and found it easy to modify the default theme (minima) that comes with Jekyll for that purpose.
I found that experience positive enough to dive deeper. I had some specific changes in mind that would make updating magdillusion.xyz easier in future. With a lot of work, reading, and fumbling around, I found that I could get all of that done in a local test setup.
This is the final step: implementing this online on my server. I found a couple of things to fix when I did:
- A typo in a config file broke a couple of links. That has been fixed.
- I had forgotten that replacing the entire site on this server results in directories allow the webserver access due to the default permmissions assigned. I did something here that I should have done previously; documented this information as Standard Work. Now I have something to follow each time I do this, making the process of keeping this site up to date smoother and faster.
So far, I am very satisfied with using Jekyll and I enjoy learning to use it.
Learning About Lean: 12 September 2026
The company that I work for has implemented Lean in some areas, and that sparked my interest in it. I’ve found that Lean is a much a philosophy and mindset of how to run a business as it is a set of tools. I haven’t Lean implemented at work in my work area, but I can and do implement it in how I run my own projects. Growing up on a working farm, I find that picking up Lean is easy; it is like an extension of the basics that I already had - the idea of continuous improvement is essential to successful farming. I’m continuing to grow and learn.