TsukuBlog A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Moving from Blogger to WordPress

Google updated Blogger a while ago, but many of the new features are not available to blogs that are published by ftp (like TsukuBlog). So, if we want to use all of the new Blogger features on this site, we either have to move the blog to BlogSpot or set up a "custom domain" that is still kind of controlled by Google.

I would rather be able to keep some control over the blog (i.e. I want to be able to decide how much space I am able to use for photos, etc.), so I have decided to try to move TsukuBlog to a WordPress-based system.

A Blogger-WordPress import tool was recently developed for the updated version of Blogger, so I think it is time to start working on the changeover. I am not sure how long it will take to move everything over, but I am going to start the process this weekend. If you notice the blog doing weird things, that is why.

I will post again when it looks like the job has been completed.

Moving to Blogger Beta

TsukuBlog is run by Blogger and the Blogger software is currently undergoing some major upgrades. I have switched TsukuBlog to Blogger Beta (we were given the choice, but it was only a matter of time before we would be forced to switch) and that has caused some changes to the blog.

1. All members (contributors) of the blog must sign in with a Google account to post to the blog. (People who read the blog will not be affected.)

2. All of the posts can now be given labels. (See the bottom of this post for the label "tsukublog". If you click on it, you will be taken to all of the articles labelled with "tsukublog" on this site.)

3. The "feed" and "email service" was a bit strange yesterday because of the upgrade. If you subscribe to the feed or the email updates, you probably received a large number of posts yesterday. I assume that this was due to the upgrade and it shouldn't happen again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I am still sorting out some of the details of the migration to Blogger Beta, but so far, everything seems to be in working order. If you notice anything strange, please let me know.

Onegai

Hi Tsukubloggers,

I would like to ask the bloggers here a favour. I have not yet figured out what the relationship will (eventually) be between Alien Times, Tsukuba Wiki, and this blog. In a perfect world, they would each have a large team of volunteers and a unique purpose or goal in the community. As it stands, they all kind of overlap one another and generally seem to serve similar purposes. I'm all for redundancy, however, since that helps to ensure that people get the information they need, from one source or another.

So, until (or unless) we come up with some sort of master plan for all of these sites, I would like to propose the idea that Tsukublog act as a sort of feeder for Alien Times articles. I want to make sure that the blog posts you write get maximum exposure to the Tsukuba community, and I also want to make sure that the information you provide gets archived in at least two places, so it has a better chance of surviving. To that end, I would like to ask your permission to create Alien Times articles out of some of your posts. I won't necessarily post all of them on the AT site, but when there are ones that have the potential to help people in the future (like the ones about Sakura and monthly passes, etc.), I would like to be able to post them on the AT website and occasionally have them printed in the paper version.

Any objections? Please let me know what you think in the comments section or by emailing me. (If I don't hear anything from you within a week or so, I will take your silence as consent -- but I would really much rather have your explicit permission.) Of course, if you ever write a post that you would rather *not* see in Alien Times, just let me know and I will honour your wishes. Sound fair?

Posting Articles on Alien Times Site

Hi Fellow Tsukubloggers!

I have finally been able to make some time to archive some of our posts on the Alien Times site. Please have a look at the articles listed in the October issue. I hope to be able to keep AT updated with the archives from this blog on a regular basis.

I would like to know what name to add to the articles by RfFish and Daddy B. I think it is fine to use nicknames on Tsukublog, but if possible, I would like to list proper names (even if they are pseudonyms) on the AT site. I think it makes the information on the AT site more trustworthy to have it signed by "real people".

Can you guys send me an email to let me know what to do? If you disagree with my reasoning about the AT, feel free to tell me what you think I should do.

Thanks!

Still There?

I have to apologize for my extended absence from Tsukublogging. Autumn always seems to be a busy time for me, both at work and at play.

We have had some wonderful weather lately. On Saturday, I was able to take a bike ride down Tsukuba RinRin Road thanks to the new (trial) rent-a-cycle service they are providing at the 20km mark. And I took a walk around Expo Memorial Park this afternoon. It was great to see so many people out with their families and friends just enjoying the nice weather.

On Friday I went in to Tokyo for a dinner, but I had some free time before meeting up with my friends, so I decided to go to Meiji Shrine. It is a bit embarrassing to admit this, but I had never been to Meiji Shrine before now even though I have been in Tsukuba for almost 5 years now (and in Japan for longer). I didn't realize it when I came up with the plan to visit the shrine, but November 3 is the day of the official Meiji Shrine festival. There were all kinds of people there, so it wasn't very peaceful, but it was really neat to see the 3-, 5-, and 7-year-old children dressed up for shichi-go-san. The kids were extremely cute, and I would have loved to take some pictures of them, but it would have been weird for me to take pictures of other people's kids! So, here's a picture of one of the big gates instead...

How did you spend your long weekend?