New Site

Welcome to my site! This is the first post in what I hope to be a regular blog where I write about things that interest me: epidemiology, computing, some literature, etc. I had a few goals in mind when I set this up:

1. Learn server admin: I have always been curious about running a server myself, but never had the opportunity to. I would have preferred to host this site from home, but instead it is being served to you from a data center somewhere out in a New Jersey swamp (I assume). Since I'm now paying for a VPS, its an extra incentive to myself to learn a bit more about administering a server and I can also use it to host some web services down the road.
2. Practice web design: Believe it or not, I've never played around with HTML or CSS. Both have always seemed really mystifying, so I thought a concrete project would help in the de-mystification process. If you are reading this around when I post it, odds are it is not the prettiest, however I did manage to make a nice looking navbar without any JavaScript! I shudder to think what it looks like on mobile... The aesthetic I am aiming for is simple, mature, and easy-to-read. Once I nail that, there are some structural flourishes that I would like to take a crack at, a la Gwern Branwen's site.
3. Have a web presence: Perhaps the most practical of all of my goals! Having a base where I can host my resume, some professional writing and opinions, and my projects makes it a lot easier to stand out on noisy social and job networks. I also think its a lot more sustainable and empowering to use a personal platform rather than all of the corporate one.
4. Think out loud: I've noticed that it takes me much longer to put my thoughts into words than it used to. I used to write a lot and in different formats, whereas now I stick to short policy brief and research type writing needed for grad school. These are tight styles which express a technical idea as succinctly as possible. That is fine - and extremely useful - but 1) I'm not very good at it, 2) I don't have enough low-stakes opportunities to refine my writing, and 3) I enjoy other styles much much more. I plan on using this blog to explore some of the writing that I don't get to do much any more, as well as practice my verbogenitive(!) powers.

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, to sort of prep for this, and have come across loads of "blog lit" or people talking about the benefits of blogging. I appreciate their enthusiasm and certainly see why blogs are cool (I'm writing one now!), but I also think it gets taken a bit far sometimes. Aside from the act of blogging as the act of writing about oneself, I do think personal sites should - and are - coming back in a big way. In a time when reliance on big tech companies for information sharing is so deeply entrenched, I think we need to break out of the mold a bit and/or return to some older forms of community. Along with my stated goals above, this site also represents my meagre, insignificant attempt at doing that. Eventually, I'll get this site on some webrings and serve it via Gemini.

In any case, thanks for visiting and I hope this is the first of many posts! In the next few days, I'm going to set up my to-do page, which will give you an idea of the direction I want to go in.