The Pnebleu Blog

Lately, I’ve been struggling to find motivation to do things when I’m at home. I have no problems with this at work. I have plenty to do and I enjoy most of it. Maybe that’s why I’m lazy at home. I just haven’t wanted cook, read, play games, organize, clean, or just about anything.

But, today (2/22/2010) I am making a stand.  I am forcing myself to do things.  I’m going to clean the apartment, make a grocery list, make a non-grocery shopping list, and then go about carrying out my tasks.  I want to make a permanent change and remove this procrastination from my life.

So the month is almost out and I’ve been busy for the past couple weeks.  There’s also a new member of the family.  My sister had her son at the beginning of the month, Layton.

Click for larger picture.

So, yesterday morning I clicked the upgrade button thinking everything would be fine and I’d be finished with the automatic update to WordPress 2.9 in a few minutes.  Nope!  The MySQL database I was using was less than version 4.1.2, which is required for the new WordPress version.  So the upgrade failed in the middle of the process.  I was unable to login to the administration screen and I was unable to upgrade the MySQL database directly.

Fortunately, I downloaded the backups beforehand, as you are supposed to do in the upgrade process.  I created a new 5.0 MySQL database, uploaded the backup (after a few tweaks to the SQL to make it work right), and reconfigured my WordPress installation on the hosting server.  After that it worked correctly.  I didn’t lose anything, nothing was corrupted, and I didn’t have to re-upload my files and photos for the links to work.

If you are going to have an upgrade failure, this is the one I would recommend.  It only took about 45 minutes to get everything working after it failed.

Wow, it’s already November.  Time is flying.  So to elaborate on my October post, the last few months have been quite crazy!  I’ve gotten settled in to my 2-bed, 2-bath apartment that I share with me, myself, and I.  I’ve taken my first business trip that lasted 6 days (I worked in Beaverton, OR, near Portland).  I’ve gone on a two month spending spree to fill out my apartment.  I discovered the gender of my soon-to-be nephew.  I’ve installed Windows 7 on my PC and I’m loving it!  And I’m planning my schedule for the hectic holiday season.

I love my new Canon EOS Rebel T1i.  I’ve got a lot to learn, but ever since I got my first digital camera in 2002 photography has been a passion.  These two photos are a few of the things I’ve bought to fill out my apartment.  Most of the dishes are dirty at the moment, so the cabinet seems a bit empty.  It’s normally full to the brim.  I have enough settings for 8 people.

I’m looking forward to the coming months.  I’m planning a holiday party for some of my coworkers.  This will be a good début of the dishware, my cooking skills, and my hosting abilities.  Amanda, my sister is due in January.  I’m very excited about the addition to our family.  Plus, babies can be used as chick-magnets .  I’ve also started planning for the purchase of a house.  It probably won’t happen until after 2010, but I want to get a fixer-upper.  I don’t want it to be falling apart, but it could be in need of a remodel.

October been full of all kinds of craziness! I’ve finished upgrading my entertainment center, for now. (A PS3 for Blu-ray and better speakers are in the works.) I have an awesome new camera. My PC now has Windows 7 installed and I’m working on setting it up.  More to come later.

I’m currently waiting in the Houston airport for my flight to Portland, Oregon.  The flight from College Station was just fine, lasting only 30 minutes.  I’m flying with two coworkers.  We will be staying there a week.  We are going to be dismantling an office that got closed down.  50+ PCs and a few racks of equipment will have to be packed up and shipped back to College Station.  The weather should be a nice respite from the Texas heat and humidity.  This will be my first business trip, so I’m getting to travel and get paid for it.  We will be working hard, but I’m sure it will still be fun.

Lately, I’ve been out of the loop on news and politics in the U.S.  I just haven’t been motivated to stay involved.  Everything seems to be getting worse in D.C.  National debt, health care, and corporate bailouts are a few of the issues that have been the most controversial and seem to be progressing in the wrong way.  Does age bring on cynicism?  It seems to be doing that with me.  I’ve gotten very fed up with both sides.  Both claim to do things, but then all that is accomplished is that the federal government has gotten bigger and more powerful.