The Most’est of the Post’est

Saturday, January 2nd 2021… Two steps forward, one step back…

Weird – I have been having problems with my site for the past couple of months (actually for more than a year). That’s a shitty, sobering thought, a lost year of blogging. This wants to be updated, that wants to be updated, use this plug-in, use that plug-in, this works, that works better, this does that, that does this, try this, try that. What I figured out by trial and error is that if I go to the latest version of php that my ISP offers, my site breaks. It’s not backward compatible with everything. Now truth to tell, it’s not the most current or stable version of php, but its what I have to play with. So much for my upgrading to the next release of php from my ISP. I tried Elementor to customize my site, it doesn’t play nice with Akismet, or Vaultpress via Jetpack. Have to get rid of that. Liked Imagely’s current NextGen Gallery plug-in, doesn’t play nice with the free “basic” Twenty Sixteen theme which is 5 years stable and updated. Have to get rid of that. Having difficulty installing/activating a migration plug-in, doesn’t play nice with the suite of crap that I am using from a security perspective. WTF? Doesn’t this stuff get tested? With current and backwards compatibility? I am hell bent on getting all this stuff to play nice together without site errors and downtime!

-Rat

Friday, January 1st 2021 – Happy New Year!

Trying out this new block editor thing. I think I’m going to like it. If it’s what I think it is (it reminds me a bit of quattro pro – if you remember that, or was a spreadsheet experimentalist). Actually, 2020 was a fairly decent year for me. I really enjoyed staying and working from home – it gave me time to focus on the things that are important and it gave me time to reflect on things that I thought were important. It was kind of a reflection year.

One thing that I figured out was that – art was important to me. Not that it was a big surprise, but I liked doing it often, and can probably make something out of it from a career perspective. I honestly wasn’t so sure. I think that ill take to retirement like a “fish to water” was another thing that I figured out. I also wasn’t sure about that either. My daughter calls me “The man with a thousand hobbies” which I think is true. It may stem from the fact that I love to learn new things. There are so many things in life I want to learn and experience. I wish I had forever. But why do I love to learn new things? I don’t really know. Do I think that I have to master them? No, I do not. I guess I just love the process.

What do I want from this year? I would like to lose some weight, bet back in good shape. Start Tai Chi again, continue my painting, begin meditation, get my ham radio license, continue my studies of WordPress, php, and content management systems. Survive work for another year – this year is going to be a bitch. We are moving the datacenter, migrating off the current hardware to another newer updated platform, migrating the current legacy business applications to our DR providers hosting platforms, patching our current business application to a new tools release, and god knows what else. All while keeping a 1.5b$ company running. I will need my sanity and a diversion or 2.

-Rat

Sunday, December 20th 2020… COVID, Schmovid…

Taking the next 2 weeks off work. Yay! Hooray! Going to work on some painting, finish learning php and wordpress. Gonna do the octane, workout when i can, and listen to some albums. Probably work on the “Honey-do” list. Cook some, eat some, loose some weight, and maybe ride a bit if the weather holds. We shall see. Hopefully I’ll get to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Maybe even photograph it. Isolating has not been fun, but its part of our current life. Just got to deal with it. Kind of like cold weather. No big deal.

-Rat

Friday, September 25th 2020… Will I? Or won’t I?…

I’m posting today to see if my post hits my blog. I’m not quite sure at this point. It looks like there is another bad plugin that does not want to play well with WordPress. I am learning a new language, albeit it slowly via Duo Lingo. Kind of interesting and it almost slides it in under your nose. It doesn’t even feel like I’m learning. A couple of things though… one is that its relentless in reminding you that you need to put in the time which I totally get but don’t really want to hear. Second, there is not a lot of explanation that I think I would benefit from.

Watercolor class is going well this term. I am posting my latest creation. A monochrome purple painting.

-Rat

Thursday, August 27th 2020… Nothing to say… lately…

Work sucks, been riding when I can in the mornings on my bike with Vikash. Been watercolor painting when time permits. No martial arts, no lifting, no life drawing – here in the desert. My only real entertainment is the birds and learning Dutch.

I have 2 bikes, a hybrid which is a cross between a gravel bike and a mountain bike. Basic front, lockable suspension, thin-ish knobby tires with a road stripe, and disk breaks. It can be taken off road, rode on gravel or street. Its a workout on the trail around my house. I’ve rode it on the “Bike the Drive” ride and it have me awful chaffing. It wasn’t made for a 30 mile ride. I learned the hard way. I also have a road bike with 700×25 tires which I purchased used in March this year. It was made to roll. Carbon frame, awesome gearing, skinny tires. While I haven’t ridden it 30 miles yet, I’m sure it would handle it with aplomb. I’ve ridden it for over 500 miles this year so far. Only 2 flats. I decided I’m getting some gator skin tires. They should be delivered tomorrow. I will have them on for a 30 mile ride on Saturday.

So, I have been taking a watercolor class with John Howard. He’s an AA Art Grad and all around good guy who teaches watercolor and drawing at McCord. He’s got some mad watercolor skills. Pretty funny, a guy I went to school with from AA back in the day, had a art show at McCord – Dale Popovich. He was a hell raiser when we were in school, or that is what I remember :). Anyway, my watercolor skills have a ways to go. I’m better than most, but I know what I’m capable of and what I think I can aspire to.

Lee’s has been out of the question with COVID and stuff, same with the gym – off limits. Cant wait until there is a vaccine. No life drawing here in the South Side Desert. I’d have to go to Elmhurst but with working from home so much, ill wait until the winter time if we get a vaccine. We bought a recumbent elliptical machine for the house so we can exercise when the weather gets shitty.

I’m an avid bird watcher. I try and make sure their feeders are stocked and the birdbaths are filled. I have 5 feeders. A hummingbird feeder, a thistle feeder, a cylindrical songbird feeder, a suet feeder, and a black oil sunflower feeder. They (sparrows, finches, cardinals, doves, chickadees) are like a bunch of toddlers, its fun to watch them. I can be entertained for hours. Then there is the occasional hawk, which is always interesting. I just wish he’d get a chipmunk or 2.

I’m learning Dutch via Duo Lingo. Which albeit is fun, is really a labor of love and is a bit of a grind. I am following a few people who I would like to think I know! Hope springs eternal. I am truly an optimist.

-Rat

Thursday, June 25th 2020 … arrgh! Flipping website!…

So I need to vent! My site has been working sort of for about a month now. Now there was no hacking involved here (unlike before). Its a battle for services and sites. All my photos and some of my apps did not work for a month. The reason? A firewall via a DNS service provider. Change my host DNS servers, voila, no hacking. Pictures don’t work. Posts sometimes don’t work. My backups don’t work. Some of my apps break. No email. Restore DNS and voila! Everything back to normal. Except my site is open to hacking (maybe). We shall see. I have to get this figured out. At least I know what the problem is now.

-Rat

Monday, June 8th 2020… I don’t know what to think….

I kind of like this stay at home thing however, I don’t like this working nonstop thing. It was nice to have an actual weekend off. I didn’t have to do anything…except what my social coordinator tells me. So, I dug up rose bushes, planted new plants, put out the garden trinkets, and watered the plants. I got the new belt for the dryer (the old one snapped last week). I put out the low voltage lights, set up the hummingbird feeder, set up the mosquito dynaTrap, put out the big wind chimes, and made a batch of sun tea. Oh and washed the kitchen floor and did the taxes. Ah, the honey do list.

Bizarre, sometimes the header pictures work, sometimes they don’t in Firefox. I downloaded Edge today to see if i can see any difference. Maybe it will give me some clues. Its easier to flush cache though.

-Rat

Monday, May 25th 2020… Happy Memorial Day…

Thank you to all the veterans who gave their lives for our freedom and those currently serving in the military. An extra big shout out to the Army! 40-Rounds.

Worked on a deck yesterday and am just taking it easy today. Worked on taxes for most of the day today. Went to Home Depot this afternoon to get a replacement drainage hose for the dehumidifier. My neighbor helped me put on my pedals on my bike Saturday, so now I’m ready again to hit the trail. Had to work this morning so no trail today. Also, have to work tomorrow morning too. Maybe Wednesday morning – look out world. I went and picked up a used weight bench for the basement on Friday. I have to get some replacement parts to get it in usable shape. About another week ought to do it. It was cheap (the price was right). I’m glad I took an extra day off, my back was sore. Anyhoo, back to taxes….

-Rat

Wednesday, May 20th 2020… Boy, am I an idiot….

Sometimes, I just get an idea in my head and my imagination runs with it. The downside to this is that that idea is sometimes waaaaay off base. I need to start applying Occam’s Razor to the problems I run across, and not apply some conspiratorial logic. I apologize to all involved because yesterday’s initial middle-page rant was wrong. I was wrong. I apologize to my neighbors even though I’m sure they have no idea that I needed to apologize. Yeah, I’m human and imperfect. They are good peoples, and I needed to give them “the benefit of the doubt”. There is/was no real reason or justification for me thinking what I thought. Nuff said, I’m done brow-beating myself over my own stupidity – mission accomplished.

I got a bit of a scare this morning. I couldn’t find my admin page. Whaaat? Finally, I reviewed all my settings and voila! Admin page. I can breathe now.

-Rat