Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

VPS move: done, finally!

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I am happy to report that while moving this blog gave me a few bad moments, WordPress did not actually kick my ass. The blog now even has its very own Rottweiler-themed subdomain!

The old URL links and forwards to this one, and I’ve updated the RSS feed and (hopefully) all of the directories and networking sites where we have listings.

Since the old servers were still running PHP 4 and one was still running Apache 1.3, and this one is running PHP 5 and Apache 2.2, I expect there are still a few things out there that will need fixing once we find them.

But for now, everything seems like it is going pretty well. Yay, me! Yay, WiredTree!

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 5 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 132 of 274)

VPS move: almost done, finally!

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Yes, I know, it’s taking me long enough considering I started back on Memorial Day weekend.

There was a flurry of activity at work which took up much of my time during the week following the holiday. Plus I was almost paralyzed into inaction by reading about some of the bad experiences that some people had while migrating their sites to new servers, mostly involving PHP scripts and MySQL databases: various guestbook programs (three sites featuring guestbooks, two of which feature rather large guestbooks going back quite some time, whose owners would want to die, or want me to die, should they be lost to time), various gallery programs (two of these, one MySQL-based and one with a flat-file database), and of course, WordPress.

I have come to believe that at least a few of the unhappy people did not read any instructions or tutorials, or else read the bad tutorials (my God, are there a lot of crappy tutorials out there or what), as everything I had responsibility for is now happily residing on the new server. The old Gallery 1 gave me a bad hour of fixing paths and links to graphics programs on the server, but Gallery 2 and the guestbooks went over willingly and required only some extremely simple edits of the various config files.

I’m still singing the praises of WiredTree technical support. I didn’t have too many questions that fell into their area, because I do not think technical support is supposed to take care of my personal panic attack after reading all those bad experience stories. The one big question I had (activating PHP 4 for just one or two domains) was very important and was answered practically before I could blink.

Tomorrow I move this wonderful WordPress blog. I have a feeling that WordPress is about to kick my ass, so think good thoughts for me!

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 4 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 131 of 274)

Does everything always have to be about games?

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I’m not cool enough to be part of the beta testing for the Twitter game Spymaster and so far, it doesn’t seem that too many of my followers and followees are involved either (not necessarily because they are not cool though as my followers and followees are all way cool).

This isn’t really about Spymaster, though. If you want to read about it, there are thousands of inches of copy about it already floating around the ‘net. You can start with the link up there. The game even sounds like it might be fun to play.

I just wonder why everything has to be about games. Why exactly does Twitter need games?

I’ve been a member of a number of forums that added arcade modules. It didn’t seem to me that the games attracted people that really contributed to what was supposedly the main purpose of a forum: discussion. And in some cases, good and entertaining discussion slowed down because people were busy playing games.

I don’t spend much time on Facebook these days either. Again, everything there seems to be about games and quizzes. The sad part is that all of the noise with game results, game invites, and quiz results sometimes causes me to miss things that are more important to me and the person who posted them. Stuff like blog updates or status updates with actual thoughts, opinions and feelings. Stuff like new photos of family, friends, pets and cool places. Even if I don’t know someone all that well, I’d far rather see a photo of their child or pet, or even hear them bitch about their job, than know the fact that they just robbed a store in “Mafia Wars” or made a building in “Metropolis.”

I’ve complained before about people who communicate solely by sending game invites and pixel gifts, so I won’t make you all listen to that again.

But am I the only one who thinks there are too many games in places that really shouldn’t need them? Or am I just not fun enough to live?

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 3 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 130 of 274)

Ordinary heroes

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(This month’s NaBloPoMo theme is heroes.)

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He’s ordinary

“There Goes My Hero” is one of my favorite Foo Fighters songs. I’ve heard more than a few people say it’s about Kurt Cobain. Since I consider Cobain a talented but troubled individual who died far too young, and not a hero by my definitions, I far prefer Dave Grohl’s own explanation:

“My heroes were ordinary people and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people – people you can rely on.”

Especially those everyday heroes like firefighters, police officers and teachers. Not all of them, of course, and definitely not even all of the ones I personally know.

But in a week like this one, when a young Chicago police officer was killed and others seriously injured, think about those ordinary, everyday heroes who put it on the line for us, because it’s just what they do.

(brought to you by the proud wife of a Chicago firefighter/EMT)

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 2 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 129 of 274)

Work avoidance backfires big time

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After going in to work early today, working in full speed mode for a few hours, and then being thrown full stop into a holding pattern, I just wasn’t feeling very productive when I got home. So much so, that my work avoidance mode even included reality television.

Except for American Idol and the occasional other music or tattoo show, I don’t watch reality television. I made an exception tonight to watch I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here on the chance of seeing Patti Blagojevich have to eat bugs or something. Which she did have to eat a dead tarantula. It was not worth sitting through the show to see it, especially since that meant sitting through way too much of the totally intolerable Spencer Pratt. My God, does that man need a good ass-kicking.

I think my IQ dropped 20 points in those two hours. It’s amazing I can even string these words together into the first post of June ’09 NaBloPoMo. I don’t think we’ll address this month’s theme (heroes) until tomorrow, though. I certainly didn’t see any of those in tonight’s television viewing!

(NaBloPoMo | June ‘09: 1 of 30 | 75% Challenge: 128 of 274)