diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ba1ec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+index.html
+rss.xml
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c5f846
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# builds thoughts
+# (well, not quite like that)
+
+default:
+	repo2html \
+		-t "Mike Gerwitz's Thoughts and Ramblings" \
+		-d 'The miscellaneous thoughts and ramblings of a free software hacker' \
+		-c 'Mike Gerwitz' \
+		-l 'Verbatim redistribution of this document in its entirety is permitted so long as this copyright notice is preserved.' \
+		-R40 \
+		'http://mikegerwitz.com/thoughts/' \
+		> index.html