The Voyage of Macgellan

Site Note: Macgellan Is At Sea!

Macgellan is at sea, crossing the Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to North America aboard the Marfret Provence. He will be completely off-line until he lands sometime mid-May. Meanwhile, this is a great time to go back in the archives and review all of the great exploration he has done over the past 625 days -- and counting! -- on The Voyage of Macgellan!

Site Note: Map Update

After a couple of lengthy HTML/Java sessions that have practically made my eyes bleed, the map is now fully up to date. I've included "waypoint pins" for all of the actual GPS readings I recorded on each of my "Freighter Days" so that you can have a visual representation of the relentless march across longitudes... and time zones! I've also included "link pins" for all of the Logbook, Report, Musing and Dram postings along the way. Finally, I've repositioned the map so that it is more closely centered on where I am now.

Because I really don't know what I'm doing with HTML/Java, my "code" -- if I can even call it that -- is completely bloated and highly inefficient. This wasn't such a problem at the beginning of The Voyage when there were only a few points, but it's gotten to be a pretty big problem now that there are so many. I hope you will be able to bear with how slow the map is in loading and continue to find it useful.

(Note to "code monkeys": If anyone can show me how to make my map HTML/Java more "elegant", I would be very happy to hear from you! I'm pretty sure the problem is in how I define each point individually, and suspect the solution lies in using some kind of data table. Beyond that, I'm completely clueless!)

Site Note: First Amazon Commissions Almost $20!

The results are in! During Macgellan's first quarter as an Amazon Associate he earned almost twenty bucks in referral fees! Many thanks to those of you who clicked through to Amazon via any of the links in the right side bar. Your purchases generated much needed revenue for The Voyage at no additional cost to you! Thank you!... and keep up the good work! For those of you who have not made any of your Amazon purchases via this website, please consider doing so in the future. Every little bit helps keep The Voyage going and is very much appreciated by Macgellan. Here's looking forward to an even bigger second quarter!

Site Note: The Map Is Back!

I changed locations -- and web connections -- here in Copenhagen and the Map uploaded just fine. So, everything is back to "normal." I put that word in quotes because I have fully realized -- and hopefully you have, too -- that there is no such thing as "normal" on The Voyage. There's always something for me to figure out, fix, resolve or work around. Luckily, I enjoy the challenge -- most of the time -- or it would have gotten really, really annoying by now. As Greg said the other day, "Things aren't always as easy as you make them appear on The Voyage!"

Site Note: Map Temporarily Broken

I just tried to update the map from here in Copenhagen. For yet another first on The Voyage, there's some kind of problem syncing with the server which caused the old file to be deleted and makes uploading the updated file impossible. So, the Map is temporarily broken and I will try to fix it as soon as possible.

Site Note: Photo Log Update

Of all the options I have explored for handling the Photo Logs, I decided I really like the way my old Mac iWeb program lets me handle photos the best. In order to get iWeb back up and running -- after making the poor thing croak under the huge mass of my old website -- I had to drastically reduce the size of the old site that I had left behind in the conversion process. So, I spent most of the day moving things around on my .Mac server, then gutting the old site of everything except the photos. If you try to use any links to the old Logbook, Reports, Musings, etc., I'm sorry but you're going to get a "404 Error." Don't worry, though, everything is already over on this new site!

(Note: Once I had stripped the old site down, iWeb started working like a champ again. For any of you who are using -- or considering using -- iWeb, I continue to give it a very positive review... As long as your total domain doesn't get much over a gigabyte in size. If your domain is going to be smaller than that, iWeb is an excellent option for you. If you get much above a gig, start thinking about moving to a larger system.)

While I was changing over the Photo Logs, I went ahead and did some design changes to give them a look and feel that is closer to the new weblog. They still have all the same photos and captions, just different background color, etc. As a result, they will look familiar to you, and look like they "fit" for new browsers.

I also started a new Photo Log for this month, though most of the photos are ones you've already seen in posts on this weblog.

The long and short of this is that I think the Macgellan website is finally pretty much completely changed over. That means I can finally stop spending so much time on it and get back to exploring! Thanks for your patience in the conversion process. I remain confident that it will be an excellent move for all of us going forward.

Now, stay tuned for some great new stuff coming very soon from The Voyage of Macgellan!

Site Note: It's All Here Now!

It's been a slog, but I have completed the process of bringing all the content from the "old" site over to this one. Now, for the first time ever, you can access the entire Logbook, all the Reports and all of the Musings in one place. Don't believe me? Just click on "Logbook" (under "Content" in the upper right corner) and see what I mean! You can read the entire saga of The Voyage from beginning to end!

I had planned to do this on a somewhat longer timeline, but I got a bit ahead of myself in another area. You see, I had the great idea to include a "Search" feature for this website and used my new HTML skills (plus a little cut and paste from Google) to do so. You can see it just to the right. Of course, it doesn't work yet because Google can't search my site if it hasn't "crawled" it. So, I also had to create a "site map", submit it to Google and get the process started.

Also, Google can't crawl it if it doesn't exist, so I had to hustle to get all the content brought over. Hence my slogging for the past few days. (It's just as well, since I'm still "on hold" here in Newcastle anyway!) Now, we'll just have to wait a couple of days to see if I did it right and if Googles little "robots" do their thing. If your head is spinning, don't worry... I've been deep in Google all day and I need a dram!

Anyway, it's all here now! Except, of course, for the Photo Logs which you can still access on the old site via the links down on the lower right sidebar. I've been looking at how this system handles photo albums and I'm not thrilled with it. Luckily, Mac has just released iLife '08 which includes a major upgrade to iPhoto and allows for pretty slick handling of web-based photo galleries. The long and the short of it is that I'm going to evaluate iPhoto '08 -- and maybe a couple of other options -- and see what will work best for sharing photos going forward. I'll get it figured out as soon as I can, and will include lots of photos in other posts until then.

Meanwhile, you've never had a better opportunity to go back and read all about The Voyage in the Logbook and take a look at some great "old" Reports. Have fun!

Site Note: Care To "Comment"?

A number of you have inquired in the past about being able to submit "Comments" on my website postings. My old system had no way to handle "Comments" but this new one does. So, I have "flipped the switch" on the "Comments" feature.

I've tried it out and its pretty easy:

1) Click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of a post.
2) Enter your "Name" -- real or pseudonym.
3) (Option) Enter your "Email Address" -- it will not be displayed with your comment.
4) (Option) Enter a "URL" -- to your site, another link, etc.
5) Enter your "Comments" -- go ahead, express yourself!

Then, click either "Preview" to see how your comment will look or "Post" to submit it.

The final step will be to use your eyeballs to read a six letter/number graphic code and type it into a box. This is a test to prevent "automated robots" from posting spam comments.

The only "control" feature I have enabled is "moderation" which means I will be able to review your comments before they get posted. I intend to be "open-minded" about your comments, but I reserve the right not to post anything I don't want on my site. I will not otherwise "edit" your comments.

So there it is... I am hopeful this will be a useful and convenient way for you to share your thoughts and expand your participation in The Voyage!

Care to "Comment"?

Site Note: "Old" Photo Logs Are Available!

The work involved in converting all the "old" Photo Logs into the new system seems pretty overwhelming, so I've solved the problem -- for the time being at least -- by simply linking to them over on the right hand side-bar. I'll start a new Photo Log in this system as soon as I figure out how to do it, and all future Photo Logs will follow suit. Meanwhile, I'm sorry for the inconvenience of having to jump back and forth... but at least the "old" Photo Logs are available!

Welcome to The Voyage of Macgellan!