A family friend was in town. Marty has known him since high school. He was here because his mother had taken ill. When he told his mother he had to leave for a bit to visit some friends, she asked who he was seeing. He said, Marty Walter. His mother perked up and said, “Oh, Marty. She’s the one who was dating that very handsome boy, right?” 

After Joe shared his mother’s comment with Marty and me, all three of us standing in the kitchen knew Joe’s reply to his mother was not, “Yeah, she ended up marrying that guy.” We all knew the handsome guy his mother was referring to. In fact, my Marta was on that handsome boy’s arm the night I first met her. And in retelling our origin story, I too might describe him as the handsome boy, so handsome in fact, if given the choice, I might have dated him. 

Fortunately for me, that handsome boy was also not a funny boy. If he could have made Marty laugh and smile as deftly as I could, it might have been a fair fight.

Some Early feedback and giveback received from Baya shortly after the new site went up: I have a feeling more of the learned and inspiring content may be soon coming from my three children, none of which can really be described as children anymore.

Part 1 of this story is here

The new girl and the question were unexpected, so it took me a moment to realize what she was asking about, but when I did, I had a moment of panic. 

TROY
Oh. That over there? You saw that?

CAR GIRL
Yes. I was driving home from work and saw the two of you on the corner. I couldn’t figure out what was ...

It feels like a minute since I've had the opportunity to share a good story, so let's make the first post-restoration entry about one of the more unusual things to happen to me since being away. 

In 2021, I spent a week in my hometown, Fort Collins, Colorado. Midway through the week, I had to switch to a new Airbnb spot, so I found myself in a new neighborhood. I quickly noticed it was n...

Welcome to the revitalized DeArmitt dot com. Honestly, I cannot recall if this is the third, fourth, or even fifth time the site received an overhaul in its twenty four year existence. While I may not know how many times it has had an adjustment, something I can say with absolute confidence is the versatility of the initial design has has been unexpectedly remarkable—doubly so given this is only the second website I ever made. That it has shouldered decades of change on both the technology AND consumption fronts is surprising. Bookpimp's initial feedback after seeing the new design: "I like it. It still has all the DNA but mixed up with some of the chaff removed." Lean with some sheen was the goal. Happy to have landed at least near the mark.

A few things to note: 

• The new Home page includes a Past Post of the Day and a Publication Schedule! I’ve always felt bad about the erratic and uncertain nature of when new things would appear. I don’t ever want to let down people kind enough to support this site, let alone be a weekly letdown. So going forward, I will plan on scheduling updates so you don’t have to play the is-there-content-this-week guessing game. 
• All past content has been tagged, meaning over 2,600 items have been individually read and cataloged. That work was the most grueling part of the renovation, but given the varied content in this collection, it was a meaningful update that needed to happen. In all, that review took four months and happened in eleven states (Chronologically Mo, Ut, Wy, Co, Pa, Nj, Ct, Va, Wv, Ga, Nc). 
• The Site Archives page has been reorganized by era.
• All of the pages have been refined to make their presentation more digestible (e.g., larger fonts, better organization). I’m most pleased with the look of the TroyScripts.
• The What I’m Reading page also saw a significant update. There is still a sizable amount of missing data there. I'm working on backfilling books, reviews, and quotes but did not want that to hold up the site release.
• It is not ready yet, but the second region of the site has been dog-eared for a future site extension called Troy Notes. I’m not sure when that will come online, as it needs a healthy bit of design consideration. 

I hope you enjoy the newly restored site. Since promoting it a few days ago, I have been sleeping better, knowing I no longer have the most dilapidated house on my virtual block. 
dearmitt dot com Home Page
BEFORE July 2024


dearmitt dot com Home Page
AFTER July 2024