Tag: blog

Blog Down, RSS Up

On By Michel McDonaldIn Blog, Daily BlogLeave a comment

Oh my goodness what a day I’ve had. Went to the doctor’s office, got praised for losing 2lbs the WHOLE MONTH which upsets me but the doctor seemed to be happy about it for some odd reason. We come home and I go on a tangent of trying to fix my RSS feed and screw the whole thing up.

I had this plug-in which was supposed to fix everything but it didn’t do anything and I went to their blog and posted a comment asking for help. I figured that if I just re-upload all the blog files it would fix it but it did the complete opposite. I couldn’t access anything at all. My blog was down for at least an hour.

I was floored that I might have lost my blog but I got it back and everything is fine. My RSS feed works again which was all I wanted to begin with and my blog is up again. WHEW! I really need a cocktail now lol.

RSS Feed Doesn’t Work Anymore

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I have had the worst day with my blog.  I don’t know why it happened or when it happened but all of a sudden my RSS feed doesn’t work anymore.  When you click the RSS in my blog this is the message that you get.

Ok fine, I see the problem but I don’t know what file to open in my blog folder to fix the issue.  I can’t save XML files at all, I can alter and save a php file no problem but the problem is finding which php file has this error.

I right clicked the RSS button and saved the file which downloaded as download.xml but again, I can’t alter and save an xml file to fix whatever issue I’m having.

I’ve googled the issue the entire freaking day and I just can’t find an answer.  I’m not going to mess with it any more today because it’s just making me mad the more I try and my shows are coming on soon so I’m going to just watch SyFy until then.

Maybe tomorrow I will be able to find my answer.

The problem is, without my RSS feed my posts won’t transfer over to other websites like my fan page and YouSayToo.  I’ve been lucky enough that they have been going over to YouSayToo by whatever miracle that allowed that.

Maybe someone else had this issue and can respond to me.  Hopefully…

Bicycle Trailers

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Daily BlogLeave a comment

Last year I found an article on the Dvice blog about a guy who built his own bicycle trailer for going to “Burning Man”.  In that article was a link to another website which showed the same article but also another article for Roy the PVC Guy who was building his own trailer out of PVC.

I was looking at another article which has some links to other trailers people have made such as this trailer that doesn’t look exactly like a trailer to sleep in as much as it just looks like the kind of trailer you use for hauling your things.  Although if you keep watching as he directs his grandson to help him you will discover that it is indeed a trailer for sleeping in.  I was oohing and ahhing throughout the process which only took 12 minutes.

I can’t add that video in here for some odd reason but you can see it here.  Vic’s Journey to Manitoba.

But, as nice as that is you have to look at this video right here.  This is absolutely amazing.  And I know it’s not for bicycles, it’s for cars but if you are able to build this yourself it would make a very nice bicycle trailer.

It’s just a matter of lifting the top and putting it on the ground and the tent pops up all by itself.  It’s so easy.  If you build this for a bicycle you just use the same concept but with bicycle wheels.

I also like this idea because it allows for 2 people to share a space and tow their own trailer.

I don’t know if anyone has built this one but if they have I would love to see it in action.  In fact, if anyone has any videos please send them to me, I’d love to see them.

Free Adult Buffet Meal

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

Today is my 1 year anniversary since I signed up with Hometown Buffet through their website.  When I signed up I got a free adult buffet meal and then I got another coupon via email on my birthday and now today I just got another coupon for a free adult buffet meal on my 1 year anniversary.

I just thought I would pass along the savings by giving you this link to sign up with the Hometown Buffet eclub.  That link was given to me in my coupon to email to people but I thought I would do better by posting the link here in my blog for you all instead.  I’m not sure what happens by allowing people to sign up with me as a reference but who knows, I might get more free coupons lol.

We Got Carded for Wood Putty

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Ok, I’ve been carded in my life for cigarettes when I was younger.  I’ve been carded for booze when I went into the bars when I was younger or when buying beer from the store.  No problem.  But I’ve never been carded for buying wood putty.

We went to Home Depot for prices on linoleum floors for the kitchen in the rental and while we were there Darrin needed some wood putty and we went to the self checkout lanes.  I scanned the wood putty and the screen said that we needed assistance from the employee who had to check Chips ID.

I’ve talked about Darrin here in my blog on several occasion.  He is 59 years old and he has gray hair.  He is hardly a person that you would card for something let alone wood putty.

I can understand carding for spray paint because I’m sure teenagers are always buying spray paint but wood putty?  Sheesh.  What could you possibly do with wood putty that would be destructive to someone else’s property?

Whatever.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

On By Michel McDonaldIn Celebrities, TVLeave a comment

There is a movie that I just heard about that is from Joss Whedon and family that I am head over heals for.  It’s called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog which stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer.

OMG it is so good.  It’s basically a 42 minute musical (as by the title) comedy all about Dr. Horrible sitting in front of his computer doing video blogs and he tries to rule the city while Captain Hammer always tries to save the day.  But Captain Hammer is a pompous prick.

Normally you would root for the good guy but in this movie the good guy is a douche and you root for the bad guy instead because even though he is evil to the core, he’s still a sweet lovable guy who just wants to get the girl (gag).

Let’s face it, Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion are perfect for these roles.  They both can sing.  Oh boy can they sing.  And they both do such a great job in this as their characters.

Dr. Horrible’s… was a little movie with 3 acts filmed during the writer’s strike of 2008.  I was told by a friend tonight about this musical episode that it was going to be a new summer 2009 show for ABC but when I went to ABC.com it didn’t show anything so I just assumed it was Hulu only.  Then I discovered that Amazon has the DVD for sale.

I also Googled the shows title and found the official website.  I’m reading the “Master Plan” and I see that it was only going to be available to see on the internet until July 20th 2008 then it’s gone from the internet forever.  But… it is still on the internet.

If you would like to buy it on DVD make sure you go to Amazon and to www.drhorrible.com to download it on iTunes.  They also have some t-shirts for sale for $25.

Nathan is in his own show on ABC called Castle which is on Monday’s at 10/9C and Neil Patrick Harris is still in How I Met Your Mother on CBS Monday’s at 8:30/7:30C.

Which ever show you watch you can also watch them at Hulu, that you can be sure of.

New Joss Whedon Show – Dollhouse

On By Michel McDonaldIn TVLeave a comment

I recently heard about a new show on Fox called Dollhouse which is created by Joss Whedon starring Eliza Dushku.  I liked her as Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I didn’t watch her other show but apparently it didn’t last long because she is now in Dollhouse.

I tried watching the first episode of Dollhouse on Hulu but I wasn’t really that into it.  I mean, if I really wanted to watch it I’ve had the last few days to try since I first heard about it and I haven’t tried to watch it again.

It’s about Echo who is an “Active” for this illegal underground organization called Dollhouse.  They use these women as pawns to do certain tasks for them then they erase their memory.  These women can never have a real life outside of the Dollhouse.

I’ll try to watch it again.

Tune in to Fox on Friday’s at 9/8C for Dollhouse.

Amazon Kindle 2

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, TechLeave a comment

In my previous blog about e-books I talked about the pro’s and con’s of e-books.  Well, most of the day I’ve been obsessively researching e-book technology and I have to say that I’m really excited about the future.

E-books use e-ink.  They don’t hardly use any power so the battery lasts a whole week.  You turn it on, press the menu and find the book you are reading, and by the way it shows in that menu the page you were on so you don’t have to find where you were at, it keeps it bookmarked from the last page you were reading.  Then you click the book you want to read and start reading.  Once that page is loaded it stops using any of the power from the battery.  You can have it sitting there for an hour on that page and it won’t use any power.  Once you press the button to turn the page then it uses power to turn the page then you see the words change and then no more power usage.  The battery will last basically a week before you have to charge it at all.  And when you do charge it, it takes about 2 hours to charge.

If however you are flipping through the Amazon website and flipping through pages of a e-magazine then yeah, it’s going to use a lot more of your battery and it will probably last 2 or 3 days before needing charged.

I love the idea of waking up every morning and the newspaper is already downloaded on your kindle.

It would also be good if the catalog companies would deliver their catalogs directly to your Kindle so that you don’t have to 1, wait for them to come in the mail and clog up your mail box and 2, waste paper when you throw it out.  This way you can flip through them then delete the file when you are finished reading it.  That is if you decide you want to, you can keep it if you want.

Another thing I want to obsess er um I mean discuss is the hard drive.  The previous Kindle 1 from last year only has a 256mb hard drive allowing you to store 200 e-books but the new Kindle 2 has a 2GB allowing you to have a hell of a lot more.  I don’t know exactly how many but it’s a lot.  Can you just imagine maybe in another year or 2 when they come out with the Kindle 3 it might have 2TB.  Then you will have a crap load of books and magazines and newspapers.  You won’t ever have to delete anything because you will have tons of room.

As I said in my last post, I’m waiting for it to be cheaper, in color and have touch screen.  Well, I watched a video today of the guy who invented Amazon talking to Martha Stewart and she kept mentioning color e-ink and he said it was in the labs.  Not their labs but in labs period.  Well, I’ve been seeing e-books with color e-ink so I know it is possible and I’m sure in Kindle 3 it will have color e-ink.

My other issue is about the touch screen.  I think it is a lot better than buttons.  I saw an e-book from Dvice.com that was touch screen, all you do is press and drag the page and it turns the page, or you just press the right side of the pager to flip it.  And also when you are on the website trying to buy a book you touch the screen for the keyboard and it comes up so you can type the name of the author or book title.  I think the Kindle keyboard is just too much.  Although it does have more of a use than just buying books, you can make notes in your books.  You can also highlight sentences.

Chatty Kathy

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

It may appear that I like to talk a lot.  I mean because I have 460 blogs over the last year and half (including this one).  At the beginning of this blog I only blogged once a day, sometimes only a few times per month.  But then when I started using Word Press all of a sudden I’m blogging sometimes 4 or 5 times a day or more.  I just have a lot to say.

But my online personality is so not the way I am in real life.  I mean, if I have a story to tell then I’m chatting and sometimes wont shut up but there are times that I just don’t talk at all.  It’s not because I have nothing to say but like when I go visit family it seems like my brain freezes, and not the good way like when you drink a Slurpee.  It’s like all the information in my head drained during the flight or bus or car trip.  You know when you are on the freeway for a long time and because you have gone to a higher elevation than you are used to your ears are plugged up?  Well, I think that’s what happens, my ears plug up to keep all the information in but there is a leak somewhere and all the words just leak out.  Maybe it’s when I fall asleep during the trip.  That’s when the defenses are down.

I’ve visited my aunt’s Betty, Louise and Joyce’s house and it seems every time I go there, I can’t talk.  I just have nothing to say.  My brain just clears.  It reboots if you will but windows just doesn’t load properly, it goes into safe mode.

But, you give me a keyboard and I can’t shut up.  All the information needs to be released and it comes out here.

Google 911?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Recently I asked a Rhapsody question and got a response within 24 hours on my own blog straight from the horse’s mouth.  So… now I want to ask a question for Google.

This year I found out that Google had come out with 1-800-GOOG-411 to make free 411 calls.  Their service is so amazing, you call and it asks you business name, city and state.  You say like pizza hut Bakersfield california and it automatically came up with a pizza hut on Stockdale hwy and said that it would connect me now or if I needed more listings to say so.  Awesome!  411 calls are outrageously expensive being that you get 3 free 411 calls per month but after that it’s $1 per 411 call.  Thanks google.

But how about this?  I’m thinking about canceling my home phone service and buying one of the new Nokia Skype phones from Skype.com because it’s only $3 a month for unlimited local and long distance calls.  I already got my goog 411 so now what about 911?  Skype doesn’t offer 911 like Vonage does so how bout it google?  Are you going to ever offer that?

Google is a great company, I’m sure they can come up with an automated 911 service that asks you what your emergency is and you just tell the computer and then it asks you if you need a cop, fireman or ambulance and then it dispatches those services without needing to talk to an operator.  Or they could give you the option to be connected to the actual 911 in your city.

The phone company isn’t going to last much longer thanks to internet calling like Skype and Vonage so if landlines are gone forever (sorry ma bell) then we need a 911 replacement.