Overhauling the blog (finally)

Posted on September 8, 2007 by Kirk M

I’ve been long planning to overhaul this effort of mine for a long time now. Funny as it might seem, the general layout of categories dates back to when this blog started out on the original version of Blogger and was carried on and added to by the time I moved the whole thing to WordPress.com and yet more categories were added to the list by the time it traveled over to my own WordPress install. By now the Category structure is bordering on ludicrous, having too many vague categories with posts scattered hither and thither until I can’t even decide where to put stuff anymore.

And now comes WordPress 2.3 (September 24th) with new, restructured Categories that are now once again a separate entity based on a whole new taxonomy system of classification that’s supposed to be much more efficient and easier on the new restructured database.

This all spells trouble for me if I don’t get my categorical act together. So…this weekend the overhaul begins and there are going to be much changing and deleting of categories, creation of new ones and moving around of posts thereof. This, of course, will result in a whole new lot of broken links–at least when the search bots go looking for the old permalink structure which was based on the category the post was published under. In this case the permalink redirect I have installed will not work and it will off to the 404 pages for them. It’s not that bad in the fact that all of my posts have already been indexed under the new permalink structure which is based on the year/month the post was published on but still.

Now here’s where all the new WordPress bloggers that haven’t stuffed their respective blogs full of tags and new categories luck out. You folks will have an easy time of it and the upgrade should go smoothly with no glitches. When I tested WordPress 2.3 beta 1, even my existing plugins didn’t have a problem so the those that have fairly new blogs or blogs that are laid out with few plugins, categories and little or no tagging syste, this will be a breeze. Especially if you use the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin by Keith D’souza (ignore the version number stated on the download link. It’s been wrong since version 0.2–the current version is 0.6 which is what you’ll get).

You also might notice a few features of this blog disappear temporarily while I hunt down a minor but irritating problem that has 404 pages cropping up for WP functions that shouldn’t be indexed and I’m sure it’s one of the plugins doing it.

Such fun.

I may not get it all done this weekend and I’ll continue to post of course and more often hopefully.

Of course there’s work, errands, home projects, health issues……

New Word Monday at It’s Write Now

Posted on September 6, 2007 by Kirk M

Emma over at It’s Write Now has added a bit of spice to her New Word Monday where every Monday she publishes a new word and it’s definition. Brings to mind the age old Readers Digest, “Increase Your Word Power” series that have worked the minds of folks for decades on end. But you can actually win some cash with this contest. Not a lot but enough for those needed misc weekly errands that need doing now and then or to top off your tank.

I?ve finally decided what I?m going to do with my New Word Monday. Every 5th word I will have a contest where one lucky commenter wins 20$ USD.

It’s easy to participate. Every fifth word Emma will run a contest that will last two weeks (the first one ends September 16th though) in which one lucky comment picked at random will win $20.00 for using all five words in a comment. She has example on her announcement post.

The list of current New Word Monday Words can be found here.

I should be good at this! For instance I can easily use the following four Words in just one sentence:

Defeat, Deduct, Defense and Detail.

Ready?

Defeat of deduct went over defense before detail.

I’m a winner for sure.

Technorati tags: contest, It’s Write Now, blog marketing, writing

Another VA Trip

Posted on September 4, 2007 by Kirk M

A regularly scheduled trip to the VA has come to have a double purpose. To make sure that the doctors involved with me understand that there will be no more changing my meds around. Period!

On my last trip, my regular doctor decided that my BP was still too high and thus doubled the dosage of a rather powerful BP medication which just so happened to negate the effects of the pain medication I take that keeps me at work. As of last Wednesday I was out of work with the same “someone rammed my solar plexus with the butt end of a pool cue” type feeling I had before I began the pain med in the first place.

No more.

No more messing with my medication. The increase in the BP med didn’t accomplish anything anyway since my BP stubbornly stayed right where it always does so I’ve been out of work for nothing. Unfortunately this medication can’t be just dropped back to the previous dosage without rebound happening.

So I did it anyway. Last time I checked I wasn’t dead yet and even though my BP has risen some, rebound doesn’t last forever and maybe I’ll be able to get back to work tomorrow.

I’ll be back…

Looking at Summers End

Posted on September 3, 2007 by Kirk M

There’s a stand of flowering plants in the backyard surrounding an ancient Lilac tree that begin to grow in the late Spring and spend the rest of the summer growing to the height of 5 feet or more before bursting out with a single, bright yellow flower at the top of each stalk. A bit like a sunflower in miniature and like their their larger cousins, they follow the sun around each day until it dips down below the tree line behind them.

In their own beautiful way they announce that the end of Summer is soon at hand and it’s time to begin making plans for buttoning up the house for the coming Autumn the colder weather to come–but not quite yet. Soon enough though.

Summer always seems too short around these parts.

So I thought I post a picture these kind harbingers of the end of Summer so you’ll know what I’m speaking of and what we have at our place to brighten our days at Summer’s end.

Technorati tags: summers end, autumn, sunflowers

Troubleshooting a plugin. Please forgive

Posted on September 3, 2007 by Kirk M

Didn’t I just write up a post recently about getting into the technical end of things too much. Didn’t I state that I needed to keep a close eye on myself?

Yeah, I did. So what am I doing?. Troubleshooting a niggling problem with an otherwise great redirection plugin that takes care of eliminating stray 404 pages without having to dink around with .htaccess.

Currently I’m gathering data to send to the email author. Please be patient with me. Troubleshooting is a sickness of mine that has no cure.

5 Posts From the Past. I’ve been challenged once more.

Posted on September 1, 2007 by Kirk M

I was perusing around the Dashboard of my blog when I happened to notice an incoming link from one of the recent posts at Successful Blog and sure enough, there was my link in the post with my name stapled to it. Seems that Liz had been challenged by her friend Ilker to dig up 5 “Must Read” posts from the past and work them into a new post for all too see. And like every decent challenge that comes her way, she rose to the task at hand, worked her way through 2000 or so past posts and came up with these 5 great pieces.

The she passed the challenge on to myself, CK, Mike, Ann, Dave, Rick, Jeff, Chris B., Susan, Seth, and everyone else who might have been reading at the time so we too could dig through our blogging past and resurrect 5 of our own. Personally I don’t believe I ever wrote anything that would qualify as a “Must Read” type of Just Thinkin prose but I did find 5 that I enjoyed reading again.

So in no particular order…

6/25/06 Weekend Chores (or how not to water one’s foot): Adventures in trying to water a flower garden out front when the spigot is around the back and not watering the neighbors in the process.
12/09/06 The Scooter: A Christmas present for an old gent.
12/23/06 Absentmindedness is a sign of what??: Guess what and whom this post is about?
01/20/07 How To Speak With a (partially) Deaf Person From my Life as a Veteran category. Written out of total frustration with certain members of my co-workers who refused to understand that I couldn’t hear them.
05/30/06 Things I Can’t Stand Everybody has one and so do I. Presenting my top ten list of things I just can’t stand. Thought I’d end the list with a bit of fun.

As I said, this blog really isn’t anything I consider a “Must Read” anything since this is my personal outlet to relieve the pressure in my head without having to resort to a drill. But I hope you enjoy reading them irregardless.

And I’ll tag anyone who happens upon this post that wishes to do so to dig into their past archives and join the fun. Who knows, you might be surprised at what you find.