something went wonky with a script I wrote and a bunch of old youtube vids got posted to the site... sorry about that ;)

if you're one of the very few people that reads this blog in a feed reader and you'd rather not get my 'status updates' in your feed, I set up another rss feed: rss (no status updates).

Finally got the site back up. A bad power supply took out the old webserver and the case it was in was a non-standard size Gateway box. No replacing the power supply as I couldn't find one that fit. I figured I'd just transfer everything over to another computer and upgrade drupal to a new version, apache to apache2, and php to php5... all at the same time. Not sure what I was thinking.

I realized pretty quickly that I would need to learn a lot more about php, MySQL, and apache than I really had time for. At the same time, I've been scripting in python on the side for about a year now and yes, it really does seem to make programming fun again.

In searching for alternatives to drupal, I pretty quickly decided on PyBlosxom: it's extremely lightweight, everything is written in python, and there's no database language to learn as everything is file based. It's definitely not for everyone though... the directions for setting up plugins are usually along the lines of 'read the source'. Remember though, it's all written in python ;)

After some work on getting the site's theme similar to what I had before, setting up some initial plugins, and writing some scripts to get all my data out of the drupal database, I finally have the site back up.

It only took a little over two months but... It's not like anything else was keeping me busy ;)

A few notes: as of this writing, the comments are using akismet (the same spam filter that wordpress uses). If this doesn't work for whatever reason and I start getting spam, the comments might be turned off for awhile. Also, there is no need to put the ":2300" in the URL for the site anymore... You don't need to change your links (they will still work), but the ":2300" is no longer a necessity.

Been fighting to get the site back up after we switched ISPs a few months ago: we're back! While this was going on, Kel decided to get her own site, which can be found here:

http://itsasgoodasdancingqueen.wordpress.com/

as Kel said:

There you have it. We both agree that this is a "very good move". I'll still probably post about family stuff, but I have a feeling Kel's blog will have most of the family related posts (and will be updated more frequently).

I was using this video to test out how easy it is to embed video feeds from YouTube.com. Saw this trailer for a Leo Kottke DVD:

The picture to the left is the old network card that helped to power this site: about a week and a half ago it decided to start giving a fit and wouldn't recieve or transfer anything. I tried just about everything I could to get it working again to no avail...

I had a box in the basement I'm not using right now so I swipped the network card from that... thank god it was just the network card and not the drive though... This has really made me start to think about how I could back up all the data on the server a little better. After this arcade cabinet I'm making, I think my next "fun" project will be to get some sort of back-up system in place. I *do* have a pretty well set up back-up system going right now, but all my data is getting backed up to different partitions on the same drive: I need to start thinking about what I'd do if the whole drive were to fail.

As for now, lets hope the new network card has a long and happy life :)

I finished the website upgrade last night: it went a lot smoother than I thought it would. The comments don't require moderation anymore, so they should show up immediately again :)

Just thought I'd post that I am so extremely impressed with what the people involved in the drupal project have done. You DO need to have experience with linux, mysql, and apache in order to use their software, but they've really got their process down. It's extremely easy to find help about how to do upgrades and installs. Everything is documented to the point where you almost (notice I said *almost*) don't need to know how to use linux, mysql, and apache. From messages on their forums, it looks as though the installation/upgrade process is going to get even smoother soon.

These guys are awesome :)

While I was looking for solutions to the comment spam the site has been seeing, I noticed there is a new version of drupal out. I'll be upgrading the site over the next few days, so please be patient if you find the site down.

UPDATE: While upgrading the site to the new version of drupal, I will need to disable the website's theme. This means the website will look different for a little bit while I'm doing the upgrade. Hopefully my theme will transfer over to the new version with a minimal of fuss... if not, the website may look weird for awhile...

I've been having some problems with comment spam the past few days. The same person (with IP address 71.57.133.162) keeps filling the comments on this site and my family's site (both on the same computer) with advertisements. Seems I'm not the only person having problems with this idiot though... check out this thread:

http://spamhuntress.com/2005/10/05/supremely-stupid/

Until I can figure out how to block this guy's IP address, you won't see your comment until I manually go into the website and okay it. This should be a pretty easy fix though...

work has been so extremely busy the last few weeks... pretty much since new years. Having worked like this before at past job's year ends, I've come to get used to this feeling that overtakes me after working with numbers for a long time. It's kind of a drunk sensation: I start slurring words and find it really hard to form sentences. I don't keep the numbers on my mind, or dream about them in my sleep, but I get this feeling or inability to think about anything besides numerical analyses. When I get like this Kellie and Jeff just laugh at me. Usually I just need to sit down and do nothing for awhile. I do find it funny though... I think the best analogy would be the feeling you get in your muscles after a long workout: your muscles just don't seem to want to work anymore.

Kellie, Jeff and I will be going to St. Paul this weekend to visit the new cutie in town. We'll probably be coming in town on Friday night and will be coming back to Madison on Sunday. I'll be bringing a camera in the hopes of taking lots of pictures. Hopefully will get in town in time to meet up with friends, but we might be pretty tired by the time we get into town... We'll see.

One last note... new theme implemented today. please let me know if anything looks out of place... I'll be checking all the usual compatibility websites as well...