Journals
Monday,Dec 31 2007, 08:18:37 PMIt's the smiling on the package
Let's talk about widgets and Wordpress design for a second. Here's what grinds my gears about widgets:
As you can see, I like to have everything in my sidebar categorized and personalized with titles. So I have a section for quotes and readers and wishlists and recommendations, etc. And I have used the last section for the readers and upcoming events with script code instead of widgets because each widget requires its own sidebar section with or without a title. That irritates me. I know the page would flow a lot easier and the scripts wouldn't halt the loading of the page as much but I don't want each stupid widget to have its own title in a sidebar. I want them categorized.
So to all Wordpress developers out there, I think the new version of Wordpress should have a capability where you can put widgets into categories. That way when you arrange the widgets for the sidebar in "Presentation" you can put all of the stupid community widgets like MyBlogLog and Bumpzee into one sidebar divided section. With the way it is now, with the scripts, I can't put all of that stuff in the text editor of the sidebar because it's way to cluttered as is and, again, the scripts make the page slower toward the bottom where I had to start putting code in because each freaking widget needed its own title.
Plus the stupid widgets that require code, make background lines underneath your links, regardless of your settings when you configure the thing at their site. So this MyBlogLog widget, for example, looks like cheap crap because it makes trailer shadows under the link text. I'm assuming there's a conflict between the colors in the widget and the color setting in the template's CSS. Sigh...What a pain in the ass.
And it's off to begin the New Year's festivities again. We went out last night and had a good time. I like catching up with everyone. We did decide, however, that Sunday is nothing compared to Saturday (musically and socially). Anyway, hope everyone has a safe time tonight. I'm off to dinner for Dad's birthday, then our kick ass party at Fran's Dad's house. Ha ha. Cheers, ya'll!
Photo credit: skelastic
http://www.deloresdefacto.com/?p=60
Saturday,Dec 29 2007, 07:44:06 PMIt's because of these things
I need to write a book entitled, "How to be a Dummy for Anyone and Everyone". I have no idea why it is so easy for me to overlook the simplest of details so that I screw myself over in the end.
I'm sitting here, checking my email at my decent hour of noon on a Saturday morning over Christmas break, when I get an email from one of the girls in my class asking a few of us if we can finally get around to critiquing her manuscript. I replied back with "I don't know what you're talking about. I thought the Workshops didn't start until next month." We are off school until the 7th and I was glad to be sitting here, not having to worry about any of it for a while. But I went online anyway to see if she was posting her manuscript early and wanted some feedback sooner than required. Of course, my jump to such conclusions was wrong and I discovered that we had been working on manuscripts, since the beginning of December, and I hadn't known.
I wrote another reply to everyone and said that I had misunderstood because my manuscript wasn't due until January. Sure enough, the professor had said before that we were to begin posting manuscripts and critiques in the Document Sharing section instead of the discussion board like every other class I had taken before organized them. In the Document Sharing section I have about twenty manuscripts to read and critique. I sent an email to the professor and told her that I was sorry that I had missed that whole thing. I was thinking that we started posting for the workshops next month in the discussion board for the week like the classes usually do. I also mentioned that I hoped I wasn't the only one who screwed this up and that it had already been a crazy month anyway.
How in the hell do I sit here with something stuck in my head and proceed obliviously to any contrary elements? I already missed my freaking rent payment at the beginning of the month and then kept screwing it up and making the payment later because I kept trying to leave a check in the rent drop box even though they wrote me two letters saying that late rent can only be paid in the form of a money order. At least I was one of sixteen residents who did the same thing though but that didn't deter the landlord from charging me a $100 late fee for the month.
Then there was my insurance that I dismissed and figured it was paid even though I was, in fact, paying $200 a month for back months that I didn't even have insurance. Then there was the handkerchiefs that I bought Dad for Christmas that I couldn't find but discovered that they were simply in the trunk where the rest of the gifts had been stored. Then there was the stupidity over not refilling my allergy pill prescription and realizing at one in the morning on Friday that I hadn't refilled that even though I had gone to the doctor to get it prescribed for the month. Then there was my school loan money that I thought was coming and would pay for me well through my program and now it's definitely dwindling to frightening numbers. Etc. etc. etc.
Why in the hell do I do this all the freaking time? It's so frustrating. No wonder I procrastinate and don't put 110% into anything; I get lost in the details and don't even pay attention to the glaring, obvious errors in my midst. Sigh...
Now I will have to take my "break" time to go through all of these manuscripts and critique them. It's not a huge deal and I can manage but, damn, I just get so freaking mad at myself because I'm so dense and naive sometimes. And here I was thinking that I was fairly intelligent. Sheesh...Some ego bursting there, huh?
Aside from this little glitch, as you can see by my chosen photo for today's post, I have started on my photoblog capabilities with my new camera. These little skulls were part of my stupid little gifts that the girls give me here and there. After seeing lomokev's picture, I tried the idea out for myself. Granted I'm still getting the hang of the fine details of the camera, but I thought this was a cute idea with the black, red and white contrast. (It's always about those colors and skulls and notebooks with me, isn't it?)
Anyway, what I am having a problem with is the stupid LCD screen protector always folding up and coming undone. I'd like to just forget having one on there because I've tried to apply a couple of them and they just will not stay put. It's quite frustrating.
But I'll keep looking for things to get good shots of with my camera. Last night I was thinking about where I could go to take good pictures and felt like some odd stalker as I quietly drove around the waterfront homes, scoping out interesting Christmas light displays. I decided that since I have the camera, I'm going to use it, regardless of my fear of being wondered about. At least, that's my resolution for the New Year, along with "get a job" and "lose ten pounds."
Photo credit: deloresdefacto
http://www.deloresdefacto.com/?p=59
Wednesday,Dec 26 2007, 06:39:29 PMNobody knows how to talk to children
Big sigh as Christmas is now over. It wasn't bad or anything it was just busy. It's those two days that you spend trying to enjoy the holiday while running all over the place and feeling disoriented. Saturday and Sunday I watched the dogs and did my house sitting for Fran. Sunday night we watched Spiderman 3. I'll go as far as to say that I liked it. I don't agree that it's the best one out of the trilogy but it was pretty good. I think it was just all Topher Grace -- I just love him because he has some freaking personality and his cuteness just makes it better.
Monday we picked Laura up from the airport in the morning. Sunday night we had checked to see how late flights were delayed in NY due to the storm: 3-4 hours. But by morning they were on time so I got myself up early and went to Fran's to drive over with her. Then I stayed for a while at her house, we ate lunch, watched Princess Bride, visited Mom and Dad for a while and then came home for a nap. Then the busy-ness started.
At 8 o'clock we were at Fran's Dad's house for Christmas Eve. We exchanged our gifts between the three of us and I wore my kick ass White Stripes shirt that Laura already gave me that afternoon. It's very Christmasy so I wore it as my non-dress up, hang out shirt off and on Monday and Tuesday. Anyway, Fran got me some Nightmare Before Christmas stuff and this shirt that I freaking love that has the heart and the barbed wire around it.
Then it was back home to get a shower, try on a few outfits before settling on my standard "going out" shirt and skirt (because that's all that will freaking fit anymore and at least one of my New Year's Resolution will have to be to lose this extra weight so my hips will squeeze into my size 8 jeans again without wheezing.) It started to rain, of course, and I easily found a parking space at church. I went to Midnight Mass and actually had to get on one of the nieces case about being too loud. (I mean, she was funny but she was so freaking distracting for the rest of us who were trying to find solace in the moment.) The sermon was good actually because Father made a point of talking about how going to mass doesn't make you a good Catholic, it just reminds you once a week of what is really important.
After mass, I came home at 1:30 and stayed up until 3:30 to wrap presents. This has been a long standing tradition for me because I learned it from my grandmother. We wait until the last minute, gather up all the gifts and wrap until late at night and by the time Christmas comes and everyone is ready to open them, the sleep part was skipped. I started my own tradition of watching A Christmas Story during the marathon on TBS and wrapping my presents on the floor in front of the television. The funny thing was that it occurred to me that this was the first Christmas I spent in my new apartment because last year I was sick and had the gall bladder surgery and had to stay at my parents' over that whole week and didn't come home until the day after Christmas. That made me happy to know that I had my own little nook in the world to have my Christmas to myself for a while. I plugged in my little silver tree, put on the red garland, turned on the lights on the porch (I have three little gold cone trees that light up) and enjoyed the moment while I could.
But that was short lived because I went to sleep, then got up at 8 o'clock again to start the running around all over again. I took my shower, went to Circle K, got gas and coffee and proceeded to my parent's house with my presents in tow (three each for Mom and Dad; not bad for a broke gal like me.) Dad wasn't all for the cheeriness of the day and I was sort of irritated that he wasn't just letting things go and having a good time like Mom and myself were. (I'm sure there's a grammatical error in the sentence but oh well.) I got a cool necklace with my name on it a la Carrie Bradshaw, perfume, stuff for the bedroom, stuff for the bathroom, fuzzy socks, a purse, a cordless sweeper thing (because I freaking hate to vacuum), my all in one printer, a Winnie the Pooh (it's been a long standing joke since I was a kid that I was the only child without a Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal so now at age 31, my mother finally bought me one.) Then I got my long awaited camera. I love it and I can't wait to try it out somewhere other than here while taking pictures of the cat (he never stands still long enough to get good shots of him anyway.)
After the gifts and the dinner and the parade on TV, I went home to take a nap at 1 o'clock. I was to go back to Fran's Dad's at 2:30 but I was neither in the mood for lasagna (the food I already had at Mom and Dad's was already giving me heartburn and refusing to go down completely) so I slept until 4:00, got a shower and headed back over to see my "other" family for a while. By the time I was done it was 7:00 and instead of going with everyone to see National Treasure, I went back to pick up my stuff from my parents' house, ate dinner again, visited and decided to go home. I watched Pirates 1 on TV and tried to just hang out for a bit so I could watch Orlando Bloom as anticipated. While everyone was at the theater, Fran sent me a pic of her kissing James McAvoy on the Atonement poster and included the text message of, "I scored at the movies!" Ha ha ha.
I went to bed after midnight, leaving the Christmas lights on and slept and slept. Now I'm trying to get back into the swing of normal life once again. Damn I hope I get a job soon. Sigh...bring on the New Year.
Photo credit: rjblogs
http://www.deloresdefacto.com/?p=58
Saturday,Dec 22 2007, 03:13:28 AMAnd all that we need is one thing
Well here we are, four days until Christmas. I put it off for as long as I could but I eventually went to Wal-Mart last night about bought some stuff for Tuesday. Not everything, mind you. I totally forgot to get wrapping paper and gift bags and cards and little things like that. But all in all, I'm done. I am Queen Procrastinator and work best when I'm in the throws of last minute rushing around when I can focus for a few hours on what needs to be done. Then I put all my energy into shopping or doing whatever it is that needs to be done and it's fine. I don't know why people worry about doing things ahead of time, only if they like the idea of not having to worry about it until later. But not me. I am all about the saving it for the extreme later time because I always know I can do it and get it done and it's fine. Not perfect. That's the perfectionists' motto; I waited until the last minute and, therefore, didn't have time to make it perfect. That way nothing can ever be as good as it could possibly be. If it were, we'd all have to put out 110% effort every day and who needs that stress?
Tonight I got to have dinner with my parents, go to Hallmark for cards, send one last thing to my family in town, get the wrapping paper and such, put up my wreath and the outside trees (clearance at CVS; gotta love it.) Tomorrow afternoon through Monday morning I'm on house sitting duty. Then Monday Laura is coming in, then we have the stuff at Fran's Dad's house, plus mass, plus my getting ready for my parents' house, then Christmas Day. The End. It's really a bunch of stuff that leads up to one day where all you do is sit in a daze and nap on and off as much as possible. At least I have my church dress ready. I chose silver this time for a change. I actually chose a silver purse for one of my presents this year too. It's a good year for silver apparently.
So anyway, the shopping part is done but the wrapping and getting ready is second. I'm not in a Christmas mood, nor am I interested in doing this at all but if I don't try to get into the spirit of things, then I'll feel like I missed out. Stupid holiday; makes people want to be happy. :-/
My photo choice for today is because, again, I am always seven years behind on these things. I'll let the inner fourteen year old girl in me say: I love Orlando Bloom. I saw him on some E! countdown thing and then in Kingdom of Heaven and now I'm interested in him. I like how he looks dirty; like he could be working at any local Pep Boys and fit right in. He needs to start selling Tag or something. Damn... But at any rate, it helped me make my decision on buying At World's End for Dad for Christmas. Now I have a sly excuse to watch Orlando on Christmas Day. Good times.
Photo credit: filmweb
http://www.deloresdefacto.com/?p=57
Tuesday,Dec 18 2007, 04:59:05 PMEverything I am will be bought and sold
So here's what happened. As predicted, my scam of a web host finally went down and my site was saying that my account was suspended. How can it be suspended when it was a base-line fee for lifetime hosting? I even checked the web host's main homepage and they had a suspended account as well. Go figure. So I wanted to try the other guy's web hosting that, again, I bought on Ebay as "lifetime" at a base price. I can't log into that web host's FTP server at all so my guess is that he was a scam too. (Hell, it was probably the same guy.)
I then went on the usual search for a good web host and decided on GoDaddy because they're reputable. I shelled out the money and luckily went with them because I had the worst time setting up my Wordpress databases on the new servers. (I chose a Windows hosting package instead of a Linxus hosting package; keep this in mind next time. You must choose a Linxus hosting plan when using Wordpress. Windows won't allow you to use PHP. The more you know...)
By the time I figured out how to backup the Wordpress database files correctly: again, something to be aware of, don't bother having the Firestats tables included in your backup database files. All it does is make the file too large to import. I had to cut and paste each table to import it that way; into smaller files. It's not a huge pain in the ass but it takes some time and patience.
And that's precisely what happened. I lost patience after doing this and getting no where every day. Finally, after I knew the GoDaddy host was changed to Linux and I had mySQL files cut into a smaller size (I just eliminated all the Firestats tables) then I went to putting the damn thing back up. Plus I found out that when it says it can't find your wp-header file, it just means to put a copy of it into your root directory. I swear, if it weren't for the Wordpress forums, I would never get this thing working.
And here I am, with a site that's up again and even upgraded to WP 2.3. I'm so proud of myself even though it did take a freaking week to get it done. Sigh...
Photo credit: manu contreras
http://www.deloresdefacto.com/?p=56