Recently in Site stuff Category

I am updating my website and trying some new things. Just a test.

Comments aren't working.

Inspired by a co-blogger, I wrote another review for Odessa Books. Man oh man do I have a pile of books to write up! I really let that whole scene go, perhaps because nothing has blown my mind quite as significantly as the last book I reviewed (We Need to Talk About Kevin -- have you read it yet? No? Are you waiting for a free copy or something? Just READ IT).

But after today, I think I'll be back in the swing of things. I've been reading even more voraciously in the last few weeks than I normally do, partially because it helps me escape the madness a bit, and partially because my back starts to ache at night and reading is a good back-relaxing activity. I'm sure if I had a television, things would be different, but for now, books are it.

So a few books I have to write up:

My Sister's Keeper
Double Fault
The Shadow of the Wind
A Year in the Merde
Oryx and Crake
I Feel Bad About My Neck
The Glass Palace

With two exceptions, most of those books are only so-so.

Which leads me to my next question: WHAT CAN I READ? I am going crazy because I have not read a really, really good book in awhile. Please give me some suggestions, but I have some constraints this time around:

So the other web site I run's forums have been hacked. Hacked to pieces by bastards with nothing better to do. I'm not bitter though.

I'm taking this all in stride. It happens. This is surprising because technological problems tend to eat at me for hours (yes, I'm a dork). And I discovered it quickly enough and contacted my host and everybody is doing the necessary work to fix it.

Sort of. The people in the support forum are a little mystified. I was running the latest version, no security holes they know of. I ran a security check, it came out clear. Checked my users, nobody is getting in "illegally." They think the hackers have gotten to my files - but maybe just one - but the whole system has gone wonky in the process.

So right now, all I can do is wait.

And yeah. France didn't win the World Cup.

It's been a weird week.

Luckily, I spent all day today in the sunshine.

Long-time reader Lottie pointed out to me that she has made several comments, and that none of them have shown up. Know what's funny about that story? I really thought people had just flat-out stopped commenting. You know how some sites just sort of invite people to comment in hordes, while others just don't seem to incite that sort of response? I guess I thought this site wasn't being read all that much, and that those who did read weren't really inspired to participate.

Um. I was wrong. So - let me apologize to all the commenters who have posted anything in the last two months. It turns out I had over 2,000 spam messages, and I think the system just freaked out. Normally, I get little messages in my inbox, letting me know somebody commented so that I can approve the comment. I wasn't getting any messages, and I had to go digging through the spam pile to find yours.

The good news is that I found them. Woo-hoo! And they've been approved and published. And I am finally going to throw in one of those special Turing test things, 'cause this is just freakin' ridiculous.

So thanks to Lottie for making me investigate the matter. And thanks to all of you for just thinking, "Well, I guess she's not reading my comments..." but still trying. I'm reading them all, now. It's a bit of a comment binge, if you will. And I promise that now the comments are going to work better. Pinky swear.

I received 135 spam comments from some poker site that deserves to rot in hell. The whole situation caused a sudden need to update to MT 3.2, and fast.

I was sort of dreading it, but the whole thing went smoothly, therefore proving my technical prowess. There was a small glitch, I checked some documentation and realized it was a javascript issue. Boom, boom, bada bing, bada boom, and here we have a functioning, thus far spam-free zone.

I might introduce those annoying Turing test fill-in-the-letter things to my comment forms, and thus do away with the authorizing. Because, for reals... I only get a few comments, max, per entry. It's not like I need to moniter this shit daily or anything.

Meanwhile, the admin side of MT 3.2 is sooo pretty. I wish you all could see it and ooh and aah over it like The Boy and I just did. Then again, maybe you're just THAT much less geeky than us, and you wouldn't be caught dead finding web publishing so entertaining.

Anyway. I am content. Let me know if you find a bug.

Sometimes web sites - no matter how little they are read - are too public of a forum. I cannot write about what's on my mind because I promised myself that I would not write things that could potentially hurt others' feelings. I am not too sure why I bother concerning myself with a certain other's feelings, when this person has little regard for mine, but so be it.

I have cried a lot the last few days, gotten in an unnecessary argument with The Boy because I was emotional and he was his usual overly-critical self, and had a miniature panic attack at 10.32 pm last night. I am at another rough patch in life, and digesting the problems in front of me has been a little overwhelming. Although difficult, I'm going forward.

Doing so is taking 90% of my energy, and that is why I am not writing here.