I’ve re-installed MT on this server… I was hoping to see some speed improvements, but I’m not very hopeful. I’ve also nabbed one of those the new iPod, even though my old one was only half a year old, and that caused me to reload iTunes. And then there’s me: having to re-re-re-re-re-install more OS’s at work more times than any mortal should and having to survive three different attempts are importing my data back into the server… it’s been a long week already.

The problem with this Blog – and I mean technical problems, as I won’t try to fix the content! – stem from a pseudo-crash a couple of weeks ago. My disk space ran out because of some files I had lurking around (and didn’t know about) and that caused MT to yonk. Once MT yonks, it’s rarely fix-able. Yonk once, broken everywhere. So, when that happened, I scrambled to get it back up and running… I was able to find a semi-OK 2.65 version of a database and imported into that, but that’s when slow downs started. As in I couldn’t even use SharpMT to post to my own Blog.

So this past Sunday I started to attempt an install of 2.661. Renaming problems. Template issues. Rebuilds were failing. I tried it once and got frustrated enough to the point of deleting the files… this is not something I’m prone to do, but there was no point in struggling with it. An hour later I decided to try on a local machine and then transplant it on the server. Three hours after that, all of my machines were turned off and I was playing Halo on my Xbox, with the server unchanged.

As it turns out some of my folder permissions had changed that were causing the problems. My hosting company tells me that I must have deleted the directories and that removed the permissions. Yeah, whatever… at least when they were reset, I was able to initialize a new database for 2.661. That plus another couple of hours tonight – the first import failed mid-way through and I had to start over; another hiccup after that caused me to start over, again – and the site is reloading itself as I type this… more or less anyway. I’m hoping that the comments are saved faster, but the truth is that I’m so sick to death of seeing MT pages that if it doesn’t get fast, fuck it. I’ve had it with this crap!

On to the iPod… newer software. Better screen. Much longer playtime. Same size HD with a 1mm smaller case. New click wheel. Oh, and $100 cheaper than the last time, and I get to keep the same Dock, AC Adapter, and headset-based remote, which was a key thing to consider. I mean I have two docks, two AC adapters, and a few other accessories… my Exo skins won’t work, but they were sorta icky anyway – the Apple-mad sleeve still works. I’m also diggin’ the new wheel but there is one concern: when it’s in the Dock and you need to want to skip tracks, you need more than the one finger ya needed on the Gen3 to do it. That’s a trade off because when you’re holding it the click wheel is much better compared to the touch-buttons.

I did reload my iTunes database though, as I wanted to re-org some stuff…. that was mostly painless. I’m also inspired by Steve who has been ripping CD’s in his spare time. One thing I noticed when I moved was that I have a lot of CD yet I’ve only ripped about a third. This will also tell me what CD’s I can sell to a store, since I’m bound to find stuff I won’t ever listen to again.

Beyond that, I picked up my cycle from REI on Sunday and have been branded a “granola-crunching, tree-hugging, Greenpeace-loving hippie-wannabe” by most people east of the Mississippi. This notion was put down by the simple statement of “it’s easier to take a bike over to Cold Stone than it is to walk and parking sucks near there so you’d have to walk a long way to get in”. I keep telling people I haven’t changed – I’m just in a different time zone… this is the proof.

Lastly, Bad Geek Karma is encroaching… I can feel it looming out there, but it only has shown up for an hour or two at the time, so it’s no official… it’s been close enough to keep me out of the SharpMT 3 code base at any rate!