WordPress Update

On By Michel McDonaldIn BlogLeave a comment

If anyone tried visiting my blog today they may have noticed that it wasn’t accessible.  I was trying yet again to update my WordPress blog to the next version which is supposed to be better.  I really don’t care about the new features, what I care about is getting that stupid notice at the top of the screen off.  Also one of my plugins is telling me that it won’t work until I update WP to 2.8.

One of the things that I was told to do before updating is to deactivate all my plugins before attempting to update and for some strange reason that keeps slipping my mind.  I don’t know why but I’ve deactivated EVERYTHING so that I may proceed.  If it doesn’t work again then screw it, I will just deal with my plugins not working and with that warning at the top of my control panel.

UPDATE: Ok, I finally got it all working again and the upgrade is installed.  Here is what happened.  I am a hard headed idiot who cannot follow directions that’s what happened.

The first time I tried doing the upgrade I read the full instructions and at the very beginning it said clear as day “deactivate all your plugins first” so what do I do?  I don’t deactivate all my plugins, I just proceed with the upgrade.  Then I had to delete it all and reupload my backup then I tried upgrading again WITHOUT deactivating my plugins then again it didn’t work so I had to delete it all and reupload my backups.

So today I did the same exact thing lol.  Finally after I made the above post I did it again lol.  Then after I reuploaded everything AGAIN I decided to deactivate all my plugins and did the upgrade and it worked.  However, as I was reactivating plugins things started going south again so I was luckily able to click back and deactivate them.  So I went and reactivated them one at a time while looking at the blog site in another tab, I kept hitting the refresh button to make sure it was all working.  There were a few plugins that I lost that were not compatible with WordPress 2.8 but I don’t mind.

Those plugins are:

  1. Global Translator which I can find another one that will work for those who read my blog but do not speak english.
  2. Custom Smilies… what?  I can’t smile in my posts anymore?  Well I’m gonna have to find some new ones then aren’t I?
  3. Flickr – This actually didn’t cause any issues but I just never use it so I got rid of it.
  4. WordPress Greet Box – This is something that would greet my visitors from any website they came from like for example if you came here from Google it would say hi google person or whatever it would say lol.  Yeah, I don’t need that.

So that’s it.  I’m going to try to get number 1 and 2 back soon.

Spoke Wrench

On By Michel McDonaldIn BikeLeave a comment

I just came back from Snider’s Cyclry, I had to get a spoke wrench for my bike.  I was going to wait until I got my check then have them “true” the wheel but I wasn’t sure how expensive it would be.  The guy at Snider’s told me it would only cost $17 but probably more depending on how bad it was and it’s pretty bad lol.

He asked if I’ve ever “trued” a bike before and I said no but I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to do it with watching YouTube videos and reading tutorials and stuff because I’ve read if you don’t do it right you can screw it up and you’ll have to buy a new wheel.  He said yeah and he showed me how to do it which was nice.

He said that a truing stand would cost like $75 or so which I don’t have that kind of money but he told me that you can put the wheel in your front fork where the front wheel goes and put a zip tie on the fork about where the top of the wheel is as a guide so when you are moving the wheel near that zip tie you will be able to see if it needs to go in which direction.

I’m not quite sure I remember everything he told me but I’m going to do my best.  I just want to save the $17 or so so I can buy my seat next in 2 weeks.

Well, I’m off to go try to “true” my back wheel in the front fork hehe.  Wish me luck.  And as always I will edit this post when I’m finished with a YAY I did it or oh crap I screwed it up and now I can’t ride my bike until I can get a new wheel lol.

Edit: I am happy to say that it worked out.  I didn’t totally 100% true my back wheel but it doesn’t wobble anymore.  I tried doing what he said by putting the back wheel on the front fork but it’s not the right size because of the freewheel (the thing that the chain goes on) made it too big.  So what I did was I put the zip tie on the fork for the front wheel and did a little practice test on the front wheel.  That worked out perfectly because the front wheel needed to be trued a little too.  So then I put another zip tie on the back wheel and I trued that as best as I could and then went out on a test ride and perfection.  Well, 95% perfection lol.  I didn’t want to mess with it too much and end up screwing it up.  But it was much easier than I thought because of that zip tie.

ZipIt Wireless

On By Michel McDonaldIn Products I LikeLeave a comment

zipit-wireless

I’m at YouTube watching another installment of Fred the episode where he is swimming lol.  Anyway at the end of the video he is texting on this device called the ZipIt Wireless.  There was a link at the end of the video which goes right to ROFL w/Fred but you can click ZipIt Home and it takes you to the websites homepage (or just click here).

I like this device.  It’s only $50 for the device and of course you have to pay a monthly fee of $9.99 a month or $109.89 for a full year and you get 1 month for free.  Go ahead, get your calculators… I’ll wait.

Ok now that you have verified that you get 1 month free you’ll want to know what it is.  This is a device that you can buy either for yourself or for your kids.  It has unlimited texting and IMing to any cell phone or any device.  Basically you can chat on AOL/AIM, Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger or cell phones.  There are no other fees.

But it’s not just a messenger, you can view your photos on there and listen to mp3’s that are on a miniSD card which is very nice.  It also streams radio stations too.

Personally, I don’t have enough friends that I chat with online to require needing to carry this with me everywhere I go.  If I had a job that I went to everyday that I couldn’t chat with on my work computer, or if I didn’t work in front of a computer then maybe but I don’t.

I am a huge fan of IMing with friends/family and I think the amount of money the cell phone companies rip you off for is terrible and $10 a month is great for kids because it gets them off the family computer and it helps out with the cell phone bill in this economy.

But this thing has parental controls too so you can feel safe knowing your kids aren’t talking to creeps from Dateline NBC.  You can make it so they can only talk to certain people and you can also set a time limit so you know they aren’t wasting their life IMing everyone around the universe all freakin day and night.  Obviously you don’t want them going to school with it so when they get home you can set it for maybe 2 or 3 hours or so AFTER they do their homework of course lol.  Sorry kids, I know you are calling me names right now.  Stay in school and just say NO to drugs, cigarettes and alcohol!

So, it would be smart to buy one of these if not for your kid then for yourself.  Don’t drive and text PLEASE!

Land of the Lost Movie

On By Michel McDonaldIn MoviesLeave a comment

We went to see Land of the Lost today at the movies.  Yeah I know it’s been out for awhile but I can’t just go to every movie premiere.  What do you think I’m made of money?

Ok so I loved it because I watched the show when I was a kid on Kroft Super Stars in the 70’s.  I was rather disappointed that they did change a few things but I think they did it to add some spice to it.  Although I did find it rather disturbing that Rick Marshall was kissing Holly because in the original 70’s show Holly was his daughter.

I did love the woman who played Holly, she was in Pushing Daisies so I already knew I was going to like the movie because she was in it.

Chaka was hilarious getting to second base with Holly lol.  And him getting high with the guys and almost making out with Rick Marshall was hilarious.

As we were leaving the theater all I heard from people behind me was “boy that was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen” and “oh my god that was so stupid”.  Sorry, I don’t know what to say but I liked it lol.  I have a sense of humor and some people just don’t and they probably weren’t that into the show in the 70’s so they just didn’t get it.

I mean, come on, the acting in this movie was 20 times better than the original series so you gotta give the movie some credit.  Not to mention the fact that they used real dinosaurs, I mean come on, you know that the T-rex is a prima donna.

Wait, one sec…. what’s that?  You say it was CGI?  What?  But I thought…

Oh eh hem… was this mic on that whole time?  Um what I meant to say was the CGI graphics in this movie was amazing.  They must’ve gotten the same people who did Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs to do the CGI.

Well anyway, I thought it was good so poopoo on anyone who doesn’t like it.

Merlin on NBC

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

Tonight Merlin was on NBC.  There were 2 1 hour episodes and considering magic is one of my most favorite things to watch on TV I just had to watch it.  I was a little bit disappointed that the King banned magic or face death but I guess it will make it even more interesting to watch.

As I said there were 2 1 hour episodes.  I completely forgot it was going to be on so I almost missed it.  I IM’d a friend of mine who I know wanted to see it so I reminded her and she didn’t even know it was 2 hours either so she had to go into the program on her VCR to add the extra hour.  She records it then watches it the next day.  I on the other hand have to watch shows on their premiere night so I can turn around and come here and post my comments.

I liked it.  There, I said it.  Keep in mind that my kind of show is more of a modern day show with cars and computers and the use of telephones instead of horses, abacus and shouting at each other but it was good.

The actor who played Merlin looks very young like he’s 17 or 18 years old, he’s very skinny but he plays the role great.  I loved how at the beginning he didn’t have to say anything to cast spells, it just happened.  That was pretty cool.

Now next week he will be exposed and face death but you can’t believe he will because they just started the show, why would they throw the towel in after 3 episodes?  Now when I say exposed, I mean the King finds out he is a wizard, not that he dropped his towel in front of someone lol.  Come on people, get your mind out of the gutter.  Oh wait, that was my mind.

Anyway, hope everyone else enjoyed/enjoys Merlin Sunday’s on NBC.  Ding ding ding.

My Spirit Board

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I’ve been wanting to make a spirit board for a very long time.  I don’t want to buy one because I want it to be personal, something that I made.  Perhaps when I die I might be attached to it some how lol.

I just haven’t had the money to go out and buy all the stuff for it.  A friend of mine, Alyce, bought me the wood burning kit which I am totally grateful to her for because it’s a $30 kit and even though I can afford to buy that I just would’ve never been able to because there is always something that is going to take precedence over a hobby.

All I need now is to buy the piece of wood to burn the letters and numbers.  I’ve mainly been waiting all this time because I wanted to practice wood burning to make sure I’m good at it before I even try to attempt it for fear of screwing it up.

So when Alyce first sent me the wood burning kit we went to Wal-Mart looking for cheap wood to burn on and I found these little pieces of wood in the craft/hobby section for .99¢ but the wood is so difficult to burn on so I just figured that since it’s so cheap I will do my best to try but no guarantees on it.  Well one of the pieces I ended up using to cut the Planchette with yesterday and I burned the Charmed triquatra on it.

my-planchette

It’s not perfect by any means but it’s mine.  Of course I’m going to stain it a little and put lacquer on it to keep it clean.  Then I’ve got to put the bottom pieces on it to make it slide easily on the board.  Here is what the board is going to look like:

55125012

I like this wood, I like that it has the bark on it and I think it’s about $20 or $30 at Michael’s.  I don’t remember.  Of course I want a very big piece.  I think the piece that is probably the better size because it is paper size is about $15 or $20.  I want it to be bigger than paper to give the planchette a lot of room to work with.  Also I don’t want the letters/numbers to take up the whole board because eventually I’m going to add a pattern around the whole thing to give it character.

Ok I know what people are going to say about spirit boards.  They are dangerous and they open up a portal that you cannot close blah blah blah exorcist yadda yadda yadda.  Whatever.  I don’t believe in all that.  Personally I don’t think this is going to work with just 1 person anyway and I can’t ask Darrin because he doesn’t believe in the spirit world.  He is taught as a born again that the only spirit he is supposed to acknowledge is the “holy spirit” despite the fact that he has had an encounter with a ghost cat in my bedroom.  He knows they exist but he’s not allowed to acknowledge that because of his religious beliefs.

Well, I don’t go to church, I don’t believe in organized religion.  I don’t believe that if “God” does exist that he would want us to sink all of our money into a church to worship him/her/it when we can do that at home.  But that’s a debate for another time or never lol.  My point is, I do believe in ghosts and no church is going to tell me that I can’t believe.

Well, in July I’m going to buy the board to make this because I want to.  I’ve already made a commitment to buy some other things like a new seat for my bike which is about $30 – $50.  I’m thinking of just buying the cheap $30 one even though it’s probably hard as a rock but then in August I can buy the sheepskin cover for it.  And I’ve also made a commitment to buy a cigarette kit for Chips cousin for her birthday on July 4th.  It’s the injector for around $5 plus a cartons worth of tubes and a can of tobacco which should only be about $25 total.  So I’m pretty sure that after all that I can still afford to buy this wood to burn on.  Plus I want to buy some other wood burning accessories to go with it all lol.

Of course when I make this I will post the board picture.

Bike Seat Issues

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike1 Comment

Lately I’ve been coming home from my 2 hour bicycle ride numb in an area that would normally make me blush to mention.  I know that it’s my seat that is causing the problem because of the “nose” of the seat (yes, my crotch sits on a nose for 2 hours lol).

I have one of those gel cushions for my seat because the seat (they call them “saddles”) is really hard and I refuse to sit on a seat that hard with my body weight.  I can’t recall how much the gel seat cost me, maybe it was about $10 I’m sure, I bought it from Nashbar and that is how much they charge for them.  I’ve been using that all this time, last year for a couple of months and now this year for a couple of months.

It hasn’t bothered me before but lately I’ve come home from my bike ride and go to use the restroom and notice I can’t feel anything in my appendage (giggle I said appendage).

So I decided that it’s time to find out what’s going on and what to do about it.  Apparently it is a common thing for men who sit on a bicycle for hours and hours.  It can cause temporary impotence (YIKES!) in men and it may also probably lead to serious problems in the future because you are pressing down on your arteries and your colon so you can expect problems.

There is a solution and it is a new type of seat which has no nose, instead your butt takes all of the impact.  Here is a picture:

large_seat_b

This seat is going to cost me $63 plus shipping of course because it’s coming from Canada.  It is called Spongy Wonder and frankly I can’t wait to get it.  It is going to relieve a lot of my issues and I won’t have to keep standing on my peddles during my ride to relieve myself down there all the time.  They have an optional seat cover for an additional $16 which I will not be able to buy right away but perhaps in August I can buy that.  I’m going to have to wait until July to buy this seat because I am flat broke right now but there’s only 2 more weeks until I get more money so I can wait 2 weeks.

Other models I have seen cost around $79 and up and this is just the right price.  The cheaper the better.  Well, cheap in price but hopefully the same good quality you know?  I’m probably going to be bashed for buying outside of the US during our bad economy but I really don’t care because I need something that I can afford and I really need this now because it is becoming a medical issue.  I will be looking at other websites, after all, I do have 2 weeks to decide before I place my order.  If I do find another place that is US-based then I will choose that and of course you know I will be making a post about it lol.

Update: I am looking at the 2 other noseless seats and the one that is $79 is also from a Canadian websiteTesco-Shopping and it looks exactly like the $63 one.  Then there is the Spiderflex which is $110 plus $12 shipping so I definitely will not be buying from them.  I don’t know if they are in Canada or not, they aren’t releasing that information but they ship there and to Europe but in their shipping page they do show a map of the US showing delivery times lol.  I’m pretty sure that these 3 companies are the only ones who are selling these seats but I will keep looking.  I’m willing to pay $63 because it is a small price to pay to prevent colon problems and/or impotence lol.

I found it! Bicycle Seats | Ergo Seats this is perfect.  It’s basically the same as my regular seat but without the nose so it’s basically a half seat.  The positive of this is the price.  It’s the right price for me at $30 – $50 plus $30 for a sheepskin cover (optional).  I’m thinking maybe I can get the seat in July then the sheepskin cover in August.  That is if the seat is really that hard that I need to buy the sheepskin cover.  This is the perfect seat.  Check out the link for pictures.  Oh and by the way, this website is in Washington State!

Thumb Sucking Adults

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog4 Comments

What is up with thumb sucking adults?  I’ve seen teenagers with a pacifier in his/her mouth or sucking their thumb.  Today we passed this lady in her car sucking her thumb while driving.

I’m not here to make fun of anyone but I just want to know why they do it?  I’ve been reading up on it and apparently it’s all psychological.  But there are problems associated with thumb sucking.  Such as your teeth grow so that your thumb can stay in your mouth and your tongue gets this white coating on it.  Your thumb also can get sores on them where the teeth are biting down on them as well as your skin becomes red and infected because of the constant moisture from the inside of your mouth.

Not only that but your fingers are digging in your purse or pocket, intermingling with objects outside of the mouth such as poles, door handles, money… etc.

It’s a disgusting habit and these adults need to grow up and stop sucking their thumbs and teenagers especially, it doesn’t look cool to either be sucking your thumb or have a pacifier on a necklace around your neck.  Come on, seriously, pick up a different habit because you look like you belong in a psycho ward.  It’s hard to look like a thug with a pacifier in your mouth.  If you come up to me with your jeans around your knees showing me your boxers with that street thug strut, don’t expect me to take you seriously when you have a pacifier or your thumb in your mouth.

Fly Problem

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I don’t know what it is about summer but all of a sudden there are fly’s all over the kitchen window above the sink.  It’s like that every year at this time.  When I go to take the dog out in the back yard I usually open the back door then we walk to the back gate and I let her out then I go back into the kitchen and close the door.  But even if I’m not opening the door they come in through the front door when we answer the door or when we are coming or going.

So about a week ago I was sitting in my room watching tv and the saying “you catch more fly’s with Honey than you do with Vinegar” came into my head.  I wasn’t thinking about the fly’s so I don’t know where that came from but it was like all of a sudden a light bulb turned on above my head.

I went into the kitchen and we had these honey packets from KFC from awhile ago that we never used, yes I’m the guy who saves ketchup packets and all the other “packets” lol.  Anyway, I put some on a napkin (yes, from Taco Bell lol) and put it on the ledge above the kitchen sink and left it.  Well, after a few days the honey had soaked into the napkin so you couldn’t even tell it had any honey on it, it just looked wet.

I threw the honey napkin away like 2 days ago and cleaned the honey off the tiles.  During the entire time I had that honey sitting there it was like all the fly’s had disappeared from existence.  They were gone.  None of them took the bait and landed on the honey and got stuck but they just disappeared.  That’s why I removed the honey but it’s been 2 days, the fly’s are back in full force.  So, I went to look for more honey packets to put on a little plate but we didn’t have any more, I’d used the last 2 but we did have some syrup.

Yes, I know what you are going to say, ants… well, they didn’t come when the honey was there so hopefully they won’t show up for the syrup lol.  But since I put the syrup out about maybe 10 minutes ago all the fly’s are gone again.  It’s almost as if they were offended by it or something lol.

Oh speaking of fly’s lol have you heard on the news about Obama killing a fly during an interview and then PETA came out against him saying he murdered an innocent fly on TV lol.  OMG hilarious.  They said he should’ve used this thing called Katcha Bug which is a stick with a little pyramid looking dome that you catch the fly in then set it free outside lol.  Ok whatever you say PETA.  I believe that dogs, cats, birds, elephants, lions, tigers and bears oh my all have souls but I mean come on, who freakin cares about a house fly whose life cycle is only 15-25 days anyway.  Who cares, KILL EM!

Star Struck or Struck By Too Many Stars

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

stars

This guy named Rouslan Toumaniantz tattooed 56 stars on this girls face after she asked for stars to be tattooed to her face.  Here is a quote:

“Toumaniantz claimed that Vlaeminck agreed to have the tattoos done: “Kimberley agreed to everything, she was very happy with my work. I have a witness who saw everything.”

Now she says that she is ugly, disfigured and can’t even go out anymore, not even to work.

By the way, she fell asleep during this procedure.  She fell asleep.  How the heck do you fall asleep while someone is putting needles on your skin especially on your face?  The only way someone is going to fall asleep and endure this much pain is if you have numbed your pain with some kind of drug or alcohol.  That is why it is illegal to tattoo someone while they are intoxicated because they can’t be responsible for the tattoo they are about to ask for because they might have been influenced to get it and they don’t remember.

Here is another quote:

He said that it was only when Kimberley’s dad saw his daughter that she changed her mind.

But the Franco-Russian body artist has now offered to meet the cost of a laser operation.

Belgian newspaper ‘7s7’ quoted him as saying: “It will cost around €3,000, but I’ll pay for it. I’m not a criminal and I don’t want to start a fight with anyone.”

Toumaniantz, whose own face is full of piercings and covered in tattoos, said that he has learnt from the incident: “That was the first time that I’ve tattooed a customer’s face. I won’t do it again without written permission.”

The amount of money that she will have to pay to have the stars removed is $13,000 (converted to US dollars – according to fox news) and he has agreed to pay for half of it.  If he has a witness stating that she was happy with it and she asked for it then I don’t see why he should have to pay a dime.  But considering it was on the face and she wasn’t covered like he is with tattoos then he should have had her written consent first.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFEKjl0OOcU