robglazebrook.com

I’ve received the following news regarding my future recently:

1) A week ago, I heard unofficially that I was accepted into the graduate program in Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Communication here at ISU.

2) Monday, I heard officially that, as long as I pass English 418 with a C or greater, I’m graduating with a degree in English come May.

3) Ten minutes ago, I heard unofficially that I’m receiving a Teaching Assistantship next year, which means I get half my tuition paid, as well as a small but serviceable stipend.

I’m not sure that celebrations are due quite yet, seeing as how this is mostly unofficial information. However, seeing as how my unofficial source is the Director of Graduate Education, maybe that adds a bit of validity to the whole thing.

I also got some other news regarding my future last night, but I don’t really feel like talking about it yet. Thinking about it is depressing me enough as it is.

The important part is, I’ve postponed the inevitable search for full-time employment for a couple more years. :)

PS - Happy birthday, Kara. I guess my invitation got lost in the mail. *grin*

You people are pretty darn convincing. :) I’m now planning on keeping the name rootarcana.com. Actually, it seems I’ve been unconsciously planning to do so from the beginning. I stuck ‘rootarcana.com’ in the splash page’s title.

And for those who don’t know what a splash page is, that’s probably because I’m borrowing an inaccurate term from digital media. In that context, a splash page is a sort of title/introduction page, like the Windows screen when 96% of you turn on your computers. I’m not sure what the proper term for what I’m planning would be called. Basically, it would be a page that gives some very brief bio information and links to a couple of things, like my email, resumé, and blog. Kinda like a portal, I guess, except this is too small to be a portal. Heh. Ya know what? I think that, back in the day, this sort of thing would have been called a ‘homepage’. Ooo… I’m retro. :)

So anyway. I spent an hour or so in Photoshop yesterday working on an idea for this ‘homepage’, and then spent an hour or two last night implementing said idea in html and css. So far, I’m quite pleased with the result. It’s simple, yes, but that’s what I was going for. Expect to see this new page show up soon. Those of you who only care about my weblog will be forced to either click a link, or change your links, bookmarks, or whatevers. Not too difficult either way.

Why am I doing this? That’s an excellent question, and thanks for asking. Since I’ll be graduating soon, and becoming somewhat more professional in one capacity or another, and since potential employers could quite easily find my website, I want to put my best foot forward. And, while I love this lil’ blog of mine, it isn’t the first thing I want someone who doesn’t know me to see. I don’t want to go to an interview, bitch about the interview here, and then have that employer stumble upon my rant.

So for now, expect the name rootarcana.com to remain, but expect the face of rootarcana.com to change. Can you dig it?

I was bored at work today (hopefully my boss doesn’t read this), and so I was going through some of my old blog archives. I noticed that, in March 2003, rootarcana.com nearly expired on me. And guess what? March 2004 isn’t much different. Luckily, this time, I caught it three weeks ahead of time instead of just two days.

So what does that mean? Same thing it did last year. I have to choose between renewing rootarcana.com, and selecting a new name. Last year, I didn’t so much choose as run out of time. This go round, I’ve got the time, so maybe I’ll make a choice.

So far, I’m leaning towards getting a new domain name. A boring domain name. Something like rglazebrook.com or thereabouts. Yes, it’s dull, but it’s also a bit more grown-up than my current domain. Plus, I can do stuff I’ve always toyed with, such as hosting my portfolio and resumé and so forth online. My domain name could lead to a splash page, with links to other portions. This site would probably become www.domainname.com/blog. Sure, I could do a splash page like that now, but I would always feel the need to explain what my domain ‘means’ every time I point someone to it. And that just sounds like a pain in the ass.

Thoughts? Ideas? I’ll ponder it for a week or so before making a decision.