Category: tech

Profile

I was cleaning some really old files off my webserver the other day and I stumbled upon an edit file of old profile info I used to post on AOL. [1]That’s America Online for all you youngin’s out there.   I had a habit of saving my profile descriptions. I’d often just copy/paste the same profile info as necessary across different sites. Anyway, I was a little disappointed after perusing some of the content. I had forgotten some of the disrespectful things I used to put in my profiles. Granted, I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful but that really isn’t the point. Intentional or not, referring to a whole race of people as being off-limits is offensive. The same goes for “not fats, no fems, etc.”

While I did eventually see the error of my ways, I’m sad to say many have not. You only need peruse pretty much any online social site to see guys posting the same type of comments. And don’t even get me started on the over-use of ‘masculine-only.‘ That is a rant all to itself. We’ll save it for a rainy day.

Anyway, whether you intend it or not, it is offensive to put such things in a profile. I’ve probably ranted on this subject before but it bears repeating. Instead of telling the world what you’re not into, focus on what you are into and keep it positive. Leave out the negative comments as it only serves to make you look like an ass. And it often makes you less appealing to prospective suitors. After all, the old saying goes ‘you catch more flies with honey...’

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After I wrote this I found the original post on the subject. How funny I gave it the same title. I guess my mind still thinks the same way.

References

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↑1 That’s America Online for all you youngin’s out there.

Happy

Happy holidays to all of ya out there. I’m working today to help keep lala land safe. There will be tons of food at work. They day will start off slow and as we move into evening, the family fights will start. lol Once the newness wears off, you suddenly realize why you only see certain people once a year. hehehe

I hope you all have a warm, fuzzy and safe holiday whatever you celebrate. Be it Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, great spagetti monster, whatever! And if you’re going out with friends and/or family, please be safe. On the chance your holiday is a bit blue, consider yourself hugged from me. It’s just another day and will be over tomorrow.

For those of you who got xmas cards from me this year, I didn’t get to pop in my surprise. It was gonna be a pic of me and Cooper. Sadly, my printer decided to die a violent painful death and ruin my plans. I blame Apple guy. I’m not sure how but I know it’s all his fault! lol [1]yes, he reads my blog :p

Oh and you should be logged in!

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On a complete side rant, I’ve noticed more and more people who have given up (or cut way back) on traditional christmas celebrations. They all lament pretty much the same thing. It’s become a consumer frenzy of over-spending, often on items no one really needs and will be out-dated within just a few months. I’m not complaining about consumerism just the craziness that has grown up around it. [2]And don’t even get me started on the overnight, sometimes weekly waits in line for electronic devices that will be out-dated in just a few months. Seriously, WTF?! I mention it because the holidays can be a hard time for a lot of folks. Whatever the reason, sometimes the holidays are just rough. I find that as I shift away from the traditional idea of christmas I no longer feel as much pressure around holidays. I used to get very sad on xmas if I was single. I’d feel lonely, pathetic, and like a total failure as a person. Granted, that was a time when I had bigger issues on my plate but you get my point. I just don’t put as many expectations on holidays anymore. Less expectations equals less pressure. Less pressure means less anxiety. So if you are someone who is having trouble finding holiday spirit this year, I hope my words help. At the end of the day, it’s all self-inflicted. You are not a failure, you are still a wonderful human being, regardless of your relationship status. I urge you to walk away from the hype, the fairy-tale story-lines, and just focus on the things you do have. I bet you’re better off than you realize.

Regardless, I wish you the best and as usual, I thank you for reading my madness.

🙂

References

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↑1 yes, he reads my blog :p
↑2 And don’t even get me started on the overnight, sometimes weekly waits in line for electronic devices that will be out-dated in just a few months. Seriously, WTF?!

New

*First, sorry for all the emails. I was working with my Hosting provider on an image upload error and forgot to turn the damn subscribe plugin off. Apologies.

Anyway, I bought a new bluethooth keyboard for the Nexus 10. Who knew there were so many to choose from now? There were easily 10 or 15 different choices. I even found an ergonomic one I plan on getting later for home. Anyway, here is my shiny new keyboard. lol I love that the case doubles as a stand.

Since the Nexus 10 and the Tab 2 (10.1) are basicaly the same size, I could have opted for the zagg keyboard like I had with the iPad. The zagg actually irritated me though. The keys were scrunched up too close and aggrevated my carpal tunnel after only a few minutes. This one is more spread out (I wrote this post using it) and comfortable to type on. I almost opted for the rubberized one that would roll up but it looked a little too flimsy and didn’t get the best reviews.

It’s funny how rarely I use my laptop anymore. I’m sure as the OS matures, I won’t even need a laptop soon. The nexus has a video port so I cactually plug it into an external monitor and use it like a computer.

Moved

I’m all moved to my new site now. Unfortunately, I was unable to merge the old blog. Apparently, WordPress only supports xml imports up to 2megs and mine was 9megs.

*sigh* I just set it up the way it was before so nothing has really changed. All the old links were kept intact as well so I guess there is that.

Now I get to finally fire 1and1.com and their shitty customer service!

 

New

For those few of you who still visit my blog via the web vs RSS, mobile, etc, you should notice a (hopefully) unobtrusive first time visitor message right before the first post on the blog. As soon as you reload or revisit it should disappear. I hate popup windows so opted to make it show as easily as possible w/o interfering w/your visit.

It sets a small cookie [1]which you can delete anytime showing you’ve been here before. For you security minded folks, I’ve examined the cookie and it only collects enough info to function.

As my site visits increase, I felt the need to post messages for new visitors. I’m just experimenting for now. This one seems the most stable and the least intrusive so I’m trying it out first.

References

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↑1 which you can delete anytime

iGone

It’s official, I ditched the iPad for the Nexus 10. My beautiful new beast arrived today! I’m so excited I can’t sit still. lol I’m still a multi-OS household but down to two now. lol I still have Windows on my laptop [1]No, I will not be upgrading to Windows 8. First time in MS history I haven’t upgraded when a new version came out.  However, I rarely crack open my laptop at all anymore. Usually, it is to write a really long email or more intensive work. If I could, I’d totally run Android on my laptop too.

This is my xmas present to myself this year. I’m still not caught up all the way yet so can’t justify spending a lot money on holiday stuff this year. It’s a wash on price so not bad for a self-gift.  I’ve already pre-sold the iPad. I sold it for just enough to cover the cost of the Nexus. I would have felt guilty making a profit, considering I won it from work. It’s going to a coworker’s little girl as a Christmas present. I threw in the Zagg keyboard/case since it won’t fit the Nexus. I’m sure she’ll love it, it’s in excellent condition.

I’m not kicking Apple & I gave it a good run. In the end, I just prefer Android. Apple gets props for setting the standard. To me, Android is more user friendly and provides for better functionality. It’s also a lot less restrictive on what I can & can’t do with it. This is my first foray into Android tablets so I’m hoping the Nexus 10 measures up. The specs are impressive and carrying the Nexus branding means it runs pure Android. [2]Which also means I get updates right away vs waiting for carrier tweaks for Android phones  So far, it’s a beauty. The display is amazing and it’s blazing fast so far. Even better, Google backs up not only your apps but also their working files. All my programs installed with all the working data! The only thing I had to manually setup was my email accounts.

My only complaint so far is some of my apps aren’t tablet ready. A minor annoyance but I can live with it. I’ll list out any big issues if anything major develops.

References

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↑1 No, I will not be upgrading to Windows 8. First time in MS history I haven’t upgraded when a new version came out.
↑2 Which also means I get updates right away vs waiting for carrier tweaks for Android phones

Settling

Ok, I’m officially in my new hosting space. Apparently, I setup my account a bit wrong so they had to move everything around internally. I must say, while there were a few unexpected delays, the customer support team has been great. I opted for 1 month of managed shared hosting, which is a fancy way of saying I paid them to help me.  It comes with 24/7 tech support by phone, chat, email, and/or online.

I think I’m gonna be happier with them. I’m still discovering more and more how shitty 1and1 was in so many ways. I have direct access to chron jobs, apache, mysql [1]To be fair, 1and1 did give me mysql access, email filtering, IP blocking, etc. For basicaly a dollar more a month, I have so much more control over my domain and how it functions now. Some of these items are not for novices but it’s nice knowing I can use it, if and when I need it. I’ll definitely be using the chron jobs now.

In other news, I’m gonna attempt to import my old blog data into this one so I can do away with the duplicate setups. I figured since I’m moving all this stuff around, I might as well go for broke! lol I’m gonna try an XML import to avoid conflicting issues with API keys, blah blah blah. You shouldn’t notice anything significant. Well, if something goes horribly wrong you might see the domain go blank while I fix it again. lol

Another post coming today so sorry in advance for doube emails. I turned off subscribers so as to avoid bombarding everyone with emails.

References

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↑1 To be fair, 1and1 did give me mysql access

Pings v2.0

As I settle into my new digs, you should begin to notice “likes” from Facebook showing up in the comments section. Imagine my surprise when they suddenly started showing up! I’m discovering several of my plug-in errors were caused by not by poor coding skills but my old host, 1and1.com. [1]Needless to say, I do NOT recommend anyone EVER using them. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be on a new host. If I’d know it would be this easy, I would have dumped 1and1 ages ago.

If anyone is interested, I’m now on lunarpages. My only beef so far is their tech support is only avail 24 hours by email. They do tech support by phone 7a to 7p. Not the end of the world but in this day and age you’d think it would be ubiquitous. Anyway, I’m now going back over a few of my old plug-ins to see if the original errors have been fixed.

In related news, I have like 10 or so posts backed up. lol It’s funny when I was holding off on posting due to the move, I wanted to blog about everything. heeheee Instead of dumping them on you all at once, I’ve scheduled them out every other day. Some I’ve already had to edit for relevance.

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↑1 Needless to say, I do NOT recommend anyone EVER using them.

Comments

I have to give one particular spammer credit. His comments are often somewhat relevant to my blog. His email and link fields are the give away of course. But what makes me laugh is while the comments are often relevant, they are 99% of the time posted to the wrong post. I’m curious to know what program or bot he uses because the comments are almost comprehensible enough to be written by a live human…almost.

Sadly (for him), the filters are adequate enough to catch 100% of his many comments and they get moved to the trash bin w/o fail. Should you happen to be reading this, maybe if you tried spamming less, your comments would get thru.