There are 145 posts filed in MT.Net (this is page 13 of 15).
Ever since I upgraded my site to WordPress 2.7, the image uploader isn’t automatically resizing my uploaded images. All the uploader offers me is “Full Size.”
Anyone seen this?
Update: Fixed it. Looks like I didn’t have all the necessary GD plumbing in place.
This year I was fortunate enough to be able to bike to my job downtown. Just those 15 minutes of riding each way helped me drop weight, spoiled me, and got me into probably the best shape in my life. Not bad now that I’m less than a month away from being 40!
I did get a rude awakening in September when my lab tests showed an elevated cholesterol level. Since then I’ve been munching almonds and cutting back on carbohydrates. Another lab test in October didn’t show much improvement, so I began taking anti-cholesterol medicine, which then tripled my personal health insurance premium.
I get tested again next month. Hopefully things will have settled down. Until then I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.
One of the 2008 highlights I expected to write was relief that no one close to me died this year. Looks like I’ll have to revise that one as my Uncle Arthur passed away this morning at the age of 77.
We spent many summers at my aunt and uncle’s beach house in Garden City, SC. Arthur was always quick to tell a joke or to tousle our hair. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past several years but could still tell a joke. He seemed in good spirits the last time I saw him.
We spent Christmas Day with my parents, during which I took a moment look at photographs. I found my eyes lingering on a picture of Uncle Arthur with my aunt.
He lived quite a full life. I’ll link to his obituary tomorrow.
We took a week off in August for vacation, initially with the hopes of getting back out to Orcas Island. When the frequent flyer tickets weren’t available for Seattle, we opted to travel closer to home. Thus it was a few days in the mountains and a few days at the beach.
The mountain in question was Gateway Mountain, outside of Old Fort, NC. After being welcomed with the traditional mountain greeting, we enjoyed getting our caricatures drawn, looking around Old Fort, or just enjoying the stunning view of a mountain sunset. We took a side trip to Chimney Rock, where my photo from the Rock is still featured on its Wikipedia page.
While the mountains were beautiful as always, the area was alarmingly dry. We swam in knee-deep water at Lake Lure. Honestly. Even four months later the area’s still in the grip of a terrible drought.
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It’s the time of year I list my highlights of the year. This year I will eschew limiting myself to ten, as it’s tough to pick and choose from so many happenings. I will rank them, more or less, though, as I think that’s important.
Look for the first installment sometime this weekend.
My exasperatingly-beautiful editor wife has observed my use of “its” as a substitute for “it’s” makes me look foolish (or adds to this appearance, anyway). I replied that I’d once seen official word from the All-High Grammar Police that such use is now acceptable. Now, however, I cannot cite any references for this proclamation, but plenty that say I’m Doing It (or is it it’s?) Wrong.
In an effort to curry favor with the aforementioned grammar police, MT.Net will resume using “it’s” wherever appropriate.
Aaron Parks posted an update over the weekend about jazz musician Mark Turner’s progress in healing from his recent finger injuries:
Hi everyone,
I know many of you have been asking for more news about Mark’s condition. Out of respect for the privacy of him and his family during this difficult time, I’ve been a bit reluctant to make any more posts about it. Also, there’s a lot of people who have known him for much longer than me and would probably be better chosen for the job of keeping people informed. At this point, though, it seems that this blog has become the primary source for information about what happened, and therefore, it’s the place many people are coming to for information about ways that they can help. It’s with this in mind that I’m writing this post tonight.
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Rita Mae Brown once said that insanity is “doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” I suppose insanity might also mean expecting people to apply critical thinking skills to anything.
I’ve been poking through MT.Net‘s logfiles and I’m pleased to see so many searching for the Thomas Jefferson Bank Quote. As of today, MT.Net is the third Google result for those search terms. That’s all fine and good. What drives me up the wall is when I go to the pages linking to the quote, in many cases the linker is presenting the quote as fact, not even reading that I’ve debunked it! Um, did anyone read the post? What kind of fool would link a quote to a post that clearly says the quote is bogus?
No wonder America is falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to using our noggins.
I got back from the James Taylor show to find MT.Net has been Slashdotted. Seems my Caller ID sleuthing in relation to Automotive Warranty Solutions caught someone’s attention.
I also see that I’m missing out on some big money. According to the NC Attorney General’s office, these warranty calls could be worth $500 to $5000 apiece! That’s some serious change in this down economy. Even better, I could invest that money in a lot more SIP phone numbers with which to snare even more fines. And I wouldn’t have to lift a finger to collect (well, I would have to show up for court, but I could earn potentially +$25k for each court case).
Hmm. Passive income paid by scammers … what am I waiting for?
No account of my weekend system administration adventures would be complete without acknowledging the outstanding customer support provided by my blog host provider, VPSFarm.
I emailed VPSFarm’s customer support first thing Saturday morning requesting they shut down my server. This was completed for me in a matter of minutes, and Vinay at VPSFarm sent prompt replies to my emails throughout the entire weekend (even close to midnight). He even provided a tarfile backup of my system. In short, Vinay and VPSFarm went above and beyond the call of duty – far beyond the meager amount of money I spend would justify.
Its easy to be a friend when times are easy, but when the chips are down you find out who your friends really are. Vinay Selvaraj and VPSFarm are the real deal. If you’re looking for an Xen-based Linux box you’d be stupid to look anywhere else.
Bravo Zulu, VPSFarm!
