Archive for the 'Blog' Category

Hey look, he’s back!

After many months of soul-searching and meditating on desolate Himalayan mountaintops, I have decided to return to my blog. You may commence with the rejoicing.

Seriously, though, I’m paying for web hosting that’s just sitting here accumulating virtual dust, so I may as well do something with it. My current contract lasts until sometime in November, but I’m not entirely sure if I’ll renew it. Most likely, I’ll move to a WordPress.com account, or even a Tumblr. Then again, a free blog has its own drawbacks, including involuntary ads and limited customization. I suppose I’ll have to mull on that for a while.

Originally, I had great plans for this site. Custom-made websites! WordPress themes! Witty bantering about anything and everything! Then I realized that I didn’t quite have the time to make websites for people, nor do I know much about PHP (though I’m learning!), so I fell back on the ol’ ranting and raving. That was all well and good back then, but I’ve mellowed in my old age, so I’m not feeling the vitriolic vibe needed for properly lambasting the morons of the world.

So, I’ve decided to branch out for the short time this site is still around. Maybe I’ll post some technical tutorials or insights into my recent experiences in the programming world. Or maybe I’ll just post pictures of goofy-looking dogs in military uniforms.

Hiatus

This is probably stupidly obvious, but I’m putting this blog on an indefinite hiatus. It started out as equal parts inane prattling about my life and complaining about how screwed up the world is, and I don’t really feel like writing about either any more. I’ve got a Twitter account for all the pointless life-related stuff, and my rants have historically had too much rhetoric and not enough substance. I’d rather not be a liberal version of Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly.

Once I figure out what purpose this blog will serve, I’ll be sure to let everyone know. By writing a post. On this blog.

(That was smooth.)

Oh, and for pity’s sake, people, stop sending me stuff about Alex Jones. I’m sorry I ever mentioned the guy.

Full time job = no time blog

For the first summer ever, I have managed to actually get a full-time job. I honestly don’t know what was going on the past couple summers when I tried applying to every business in my home town, but this year I’m working for the county’s parks and recreation department. Not my ideal job, but it’s steady income.

As a result of my new 40-hour week, I haven’t had much time to get on my blog and post stuff. This is unfortunate, but it’s happened before. Everyone hits a slump now and again. I figure I’m just too beat to get properly irritated at world events. Or maybe I’ve become jaded enough that I simply can’t get properly irritated? That would be disturbing.

For lack of anything better, here’s a video. It involves SCIENCE. Kind of.

YouTube Preview Image

Broken blog

As usual, my WordPress upgrade (to the much-hyped 2.5) gave me grief. Unfortunately, much of it was my fault. For some odd reason, my FTP client moved files on the server instead of copying them, so my backup was essentially useless (I copied the original blog directory to another directory). Thus, when I deleted the new directory when it got messed up, I deleted everything. Themes, plugins, even images. Can anyone say “stupid mistake”?

Luckily, any pictures I used on the site are on my computer, but that just means I’ll have to re-upload them and fix any posts using images (such as the most recent post before this). And on the bright side, I can start anew without the clutter of useless themes and plugins. On the downside, I don’t remember what all the useful plugins were…

And yes, Bagel, I know I could have avoided this by just having a blog on WordPress.com, but I’m too stubborn for that. I just wish I had made better backups…

UPDATE: All right, I’ve got a new theme going, but I’m still missing a lot of stuff. And I still feel stupid. Argh. At least WP 2.5 is nice. It’s a good thing, too, considering the trouble I went through.

How to easily upgrade WordPress

If you’re like me and run your own copy of WordPress that’s not actually hosted by WordPress.com, upgrading can be a little bit annoying, especially with the minor security fixes that come out every so often. Luckily, there’s a fairly easy way to do this, as Zack of All Trades illustrates. You can do this if you have access to an SSH or Telnet shell. Some hosts don’t offer it, but others do, so you’ll need to check with your web host to see if you can access your account via a shell client. It’s is not for the weak of heart.

I wouldn’t recommend this method for major upgrades, but I suppose it’d work out just fine. I’ve used it for the past few minor updates and it’s been great. Less time spent using an FTP client and more time spent…uh…writing, I suppose. Maybe. Sometimes.

 

May 2012
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