August Recap: A Look Back at This Month's Activities

Introduction

Hello, I'm a professional engineer.
With August ending today, I'd like to reflect on what I've done this month. Regarding my main job, I haven't seen many major achievements, possibly due to fewer work days, but things are progressing smoothly.

Reviewing This Month's Posts

First, let's look at this month's posts. I think this will give you a general idea of what I've been up to. By the way, since this blog manages articles in Markdown, it's easy for AI to compile and summarize them.

So, here are this month's posts, summarized by Gemini↓

1. Development & Self-Made Tools (3 posts)

• Publishing Static Pages with Hugo × Cloudflare Pages [Free!] (8/1)
  • Explanation of the process and benefits of combining the static site generator "Hugo" with "Cloudflare Pages" to publish fast, completely free static web pages (e.g., profiles).
• I Built a Dashboard for Bulk Editing & Analyzing Blog Posts (8/12)
  • A story about creating a custom web dashboard that uses the Gemini API for automatic generation and bulk tag management/analysis to fix unset meta descriptions in old articles.
• I Made an Obsidian Plugin for Blog Posting (8/11)
  • Development of a dedicated plugin to complete the Markdown to Ghost posting workflow entirely within Obsidian (including automatic WebP image conversion, meta information synchronization, etc.), which previously required separate tools.

During the summer holidays, I was busy creating tools to streamline blog posting, so there are many articles on that topic. I'm especially glad I developed the Obsidian plugin; it made things incredibly easy. I'm satisfied that it resolved almost all the tedious aspects of blog posting.

2. Blog Operations & Improvement (4 posts)

• This Blog Has Finally Reached Its 5th Anniversary! (8/10)
  • A reflection on the blog's 5th anniversary milestone, summarizing its evolution and the motivation behind its operation.
• I Migrated My Domain to Cloudflare (8/19)
  • Procedures and benefits of transferring a custom domain from another provider to Cloudflare Registrar, aimed at optimizing renewal costs and centralizing management.
• Considering Blog Thumbnails (8/27)
  • An examination of design consistency for AI-generated featured images, the presence or absence of text, and their impact on visibility and click-through rates.
• I Created an English Page for My Ghost Blog [Trial Operation] (8/16)
  • A verification report on implementing multilingual (English) support using routes.yaml and dedicated templates, managing languages as separate articles rather than within a single article.

It seems many of these were also done during my summer break. The English page was something I tinkered with quite a bit. While there aren't any noticeable benefits yet, I intend to continue with it for a while. The operational cost is also low since I'm using an API for translation.

Furthermore, I believe migrating the domain to Cloudflare will subtly pay off in the future. Operational costs should decrease by about 1,000 yen annually. Probably.

3. Server, Security, & Optimization Know-How (5 posts)

• Self-Hosting Cusdis to Implement a Lightweight Comment System (8/14)
  • Introduction to self-hosting "Cusdis," a privacy-focused and ultra-lightweight open-source comment system, and integrating it into Ghost.
• Key Points for Aiming for High Scores in PageSpeed Insights (8/30)
  • Know-how for optimizing images (WebP conversion), font subsetting, and reducing unnecessary JS to maintain and improve high scores in PageSpeed Insights.
• It's Interesting to Have Cloudflare's Security Logs Analyzed by AI (8/22)
  • An experiment attempting to extract unauthorized access logs and bot logs blocked by Cloudflare, then feeding them to AI for analysis and visualization of attack patterns.
• rclone is Convenient for Backing Up Blog Data Independently (8/13)
  • Steps for building an automated blog data backup using "rclone," which can synchronize with various cloud storage services (R2/S3/Google Drive, etc.) via CLI.
• Ghost Server Migration Steps & Summary of Data to Back Up (8/9)
  • Organization of backup targets (content folder, JSON export, etc.) and restoration procedures for Ghost server migration.

These topics also relate to blog operations. In particular, backing up blog data had clear advantages. Although the granularity of backups differs, I managed to reduce costs by implementing something similar to what paid options offer, but on my own.

So far, I've only used this backup for updating my local testing environment, but it proved genuinely useful, so I'd say it was well worth the effort.

I'm honestly still deliberating what to do with Cusdis. Comment sections are tricky these days. I'm even surprised I haven't received any spam.

4. Columns & Web Trends (2 posts)

• Let's Look at the Latest Global CMS Market Share! (8/17)
  • A market trend report on WordPress's dominant share, the rise of Shopify/Wix, and the positioning of headless CMS and Ghost.
• Cloudflare's Blocks Against AI Bots Are Getting Stricter (8/25)
  • The background behind Cloudflare's enhanced one-click blocking feature for AI crawlers and the implications web operators should be aware of.

These posts covered topics that caught my attention, stemming from news. Ideally, I'd like to cover incident-related topics, but subsequent information is often hard to come by. While I'm not particularly interested in recurrence prevention, I would appreciate knowing the root causes for future learning.

5. Reviews, Daily Life, & Entertainment (4 posts)

• [Good News] As a Gout Sufferer, I Finally Overcame My Annual Attack! (8/7)
  • An episode reflecting on past gout occurrences (dehydration, AC failure, etc.) and how appropriate measures helped avoid this year's annual attack.
• I Played "Hono Kurashi No Niwa" a Lot, So Here Are My Thoughts [Spoilers Possible] (8/14)
  • A review of the indie game "Hono Kurashi No Niwa," sharing gameplay impressions, unique atmosphere, and story.
• I Tried ATOK Again After a Long Time, and It's Still Great (8/23)
  • A user experience review, reaffirming the excellent conversion accuracy and predictive suggestions of the Japanese input system "ATOK."
• "The Pillow That Needs No Sheep - Bliss" Is Quite Good [Review] (8/22)
  • A review of the popular TPE material sleep pillow "The Pillow That Needs No Sheep," covering its comfort, fit, and breathability.

There were also a few posts reminiscent of older blog styles. Personally, overcoming gout had the biggest impact, but the other topics were also quite "good!" ATOK is even helping me as I write this. Having used it in the past, I'm once again reminded of how great ATOK is these days.

Number of Posts This Month

Including this article, I made 20 posts this month (excluding automated news posts and English articles). I think the posting pace was pretty good.

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The year with the highest number of posts in the past was 2022 with 59 articles, but this year, 2026, has already surpassed that number by August. At this rate, I might hit around 100 posts for the year. Am I really that free? I probably should try to reduce the count for my reputation's sake.

Topics I Want to Cover in the Future

I'd like to cover IT-related news, especially information leaks or system failures, if I have any thoughts on them. After that, probably AI-related topics. Since personal AI use is rampant, I think it would be good to discuss it from the perspective of an ordinary engineer who doesn't have the power to change rules. Something like "the right way to use AI without getting scolded at work."

Finally

Based on past trends, I have a feeling my pace will drop from here on out!

This article was translated from the original Japanese version (8月終わるので今月やったことをまとめよう) using Gemini API.