Why I Finally Started This Blog
A little corner of the internet for the things I am curious about, from AI and localization to hiking, technology, and whatever else catches my attention.
I’ve tried personal websites before. Years ago, there was MSN Spaces. Then came MySpace, and later WordPress. None of them lasted very long. Life got busy, and eventually I stopped writing. But I never completely lost the idea of having a little corner of the internet that was my own. This time feels different. I finally feel like I’m in a good place to create something that I can keep coming back to. I want a place where I can write about the things I am curious about, without having to fit everything into one particular category. Some days, that might be AI. Some days, localization and translation technology. Other days, it might be a hike somewhere in Québec, a place I’ve visited, something I’ve learned at work, or simply an idea that I can’t stop thinking about. These things don’t necessarily belong together. That’s kind of the point. 😊
Building the space myself
This time, I didn’t want to simply sign up for another blogging platform and start writing. I wanted to build the space myself. I chose Astro because it gives me more flexibility than a traditional blogging platform. I can decide how I want the site to look and change the details as I go. I can adjust the layout, typography, images, navigation, and the way my articles are organized. I enjoy that part. There is something satisfying about looking at a page and thinking, “I wish this were a little different,” and then actually being able to change it. At the same time, building a website from scratch can come with a lot of technical details. I don’t want to spend all my time learning how every piece of the technology works just to make a small change. This is where AI has changed the experience for me. With Claude, I can describe what I want in natural language and have it help me turn that idea into code. I can say that I want the article title to be smaller, that an image should be narrower, or that I want the navigation to look a certain way. Claude can help me figure out how to make those changes in Astro and CSS. But it isn’t really a case of AI building the website for me. I’m still very much in the loop. I look at the result. I test the build. I decide whether something looks right or feels wrong. Then I tell Claude what I want to change, and we go back and forth until it gets closer to what I had in mind. That combination is what I find exciting. I get to be the person with the idea and the person making the decisions, while AI helps me cross some of the technical gaps between the two.
A little joy in being the builder
Customizing the page was part of the fun when I had my old websites. I could change things around and make the space feel like mine. With AI, there’s much more freedom to do so. I’m not limited to the options provided by a blogging platform. I can build things the way I want them. And I don’t have to become an expert in every technical detail to do it. That gives me a little joy. I’m not just writing the posts. I’m also building the little place where they live. 🌱
A place to think
I’m not starting this blog because I think I have everything figured out. Quite the opposite. I often understand something better after I’ve tried to explain it. Writing gives me a reason to slow down, organize my thoughts, and sometimes discover that my original understanding was incomplete or simply wrong. That’s especially true with AI and technology, where things are changing so quickly that it feels impossible to ever be completely caught up. So I don’t want this to be a blog where I pretend to have all the answers. I’d rather write about what I’m learning, what I’m noticing, and what I’m still trying to understand. Sometimes that might turn into a carefully researched article. Sometimes it might just be a few thoughts about something I found interesting. Both are fine.
A little bit of everything
I don’t know exactly what this blog will become. Maybe that’s what I like about it. It can be a little bit of everything. AI and localization. Technology and work. Hiking trails and places around Québec. 🥾 Travel. Things I’m learning. Things I’m building. And probably quite a few things I haven’t thought about yet. I don’t want to force all of these interests into one theme just because a neatly defined niche might make more sense. The internet is already full of specialized sites. This one can simply be mine.
Starting again
Maybe the biggest difference between this blog and the ones I had years ago is that I’m not trying to make it into something bigger than it needs to be. I’m just curious. I want to learn. I want to write things down. And I want to build a little place where those things can live. I don’t know if I’ll still be writing here regularly a year from now. But right now, I’m enjoying the process. And for the first time in a long time, that’s reason enough to start.