JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

After a few days of dallying around with the new WordPress 2, I decided to upgrade all my blogs to the version. Of course there may be some items that just don’t work the way they used to, but I’m pretty sure most of the standard goodies do. Please let me know of any bugs you run across. Thanks.

If you been keeping up-to-date with the blog, then you know I added a new foodie blog. Along with this new blog came the new WordPress 2.o installation. It is very different from previous versions and will take some time to adjust to. The main difference is the WYSIWYG editor. I actually have grown used to the previous editors and the spell check plug-in. I guess over time I will be able to determine which one is the more advantageous.

It seems everyone totally enjoys the “Cute Overload” site. Unfortunately that lead to an “overload” of allotted bandwidth and the site is “temporarily” down. Hopefully not for too long because I really enjoy the daily dose of laughter the site creates in my life.

It also appears that the “The Customer is Never Right” site is experiencing a metamorphosis and is under reconstruction. However, the ever enjoyable and insightful “Waiter Rant” site is going as strong as ever for those who need an escape from the service industry life.

NOTE: 7:41 p.m. – 9 Jan 2006 – I just checked and “Cute Overload” is back up and running!!!

Now for the next step, creating my own PHP custom field, a disclaimer field.

Well I’m trying my first attempt at “posting a custom field with a value”. I’m still not quite sure what all that means lingo wise, but here it goes anyway.

Sometimes I enjoy going back through the classics. My Microsoft Reader is currently playing Charles Dickens’ “Old Curiosity Shop”.

Okay, I’ve noticed that many sites are now sporting favorite lists of various types. One of the most popular lists is of the currently reading book type. I don’t read my books. There is a program that does the reading for you. For a long time now, I have been a fan of the Microsoft Reader which has a large list of free books on a wide array of topics. In addition I can rest my tired eyes and let my ears do some of the work by using the text to speech plug-in. Although the program probably isn’t new to most people who have been “plugged-in” to the net for any amount of time, I have found it to be a great way to “read” my book and do other things (such as cooking, laundry, etc.) at the same time. Gen Xers and Yers aren’t the only ones who know how to multi-task. People who manage households have been doing it since the beginning of time! And this is one way that helps us do it. Now how to get a “currently listening to” addition to the book section of blogs. Hmmmm….

After having so much difficulty with getting my videos uploaded at YouTube, I checked into other free video sharing services. I ran across one called JussPress. It allows drag and drop uploading directly to the site from your PC. (However, you should know videos are limited to two minutes and it is a family site.) The site also supports photo sharing and posting to blogs. After signing up, use the help section for a complete rundown of how to accomplish all tasks.

If you want to view the full length video of the hawk below, click here.

If you’ve been keeping up with the site for the past week then you know a few things have been happening.

First, there was the problem with not being able to get into the site for a while at the beginning of this week. And it seems my server isn’t the only one with a WordPress blog that has been having difficulties. To solve the problem of not having access to this server, I created a “Plan B” backup site for emergencies. Please check there for information on any current problems if you can’t get into this site.

Second, I’ve started adding videos to the site. On the day I originally tried posting my first video, the host site was having problems. But that was corrected and the very helpful staff at YouTube quickly and accurately provided the information needed to get things rolling. (However, there still seems to be a problem in Opera with the actual video not showing. Which I will try and get fixed as soon as possible.)

Third, although I’ve been able to get Feedster to recognize this site, I still haven’t figured out how to get my two other blogs properly listed. Feedster still doesn’t seem to recognize their own feed claims. Technorati has been doing a good job of getting most of the posts listed and their member listings work well. I was able to upload icons and have them displayed for all three blogs without too much trouble. Although IceRocket was quicker at getting posts displayed on the search engine a few weeks ago, it seems they too are having some difficulties.

So the adventures of a blogging newbie continues…

For the past twenty-four hours I’ve been having trouble with the site. But it’s back online and seems to be working now , so keep you’re fingers crossed. If there ever is another situation where you can’t get into the site, try this site. I will keep it for emergencies like this past day.