Zen and the Art of Website Maintenance

April 2, 2004

Amazing, absolutely amazing. As I continue packing up stuff (it’s a slow process, not one that’s taken me all week, mind you), I think of new things I can do. For instance, today I had the bright idea of retiring my little computer that has served me well as my web server for my website for the last few years and instead moving my site to my Dell Dimension desktop that I bought a couple of years ago. It’s slightly faster than my little computer, it has a little more storage, but best of all, it’s much, much quieter. And since I’m leaving it here, I have a feeling that my Mom will appreciate the sound of silence rather that the loud WHIRRRR of the CPU fan in the cramped case of my old computer.

Well, the amazing part came in when I simply installed all the operating system, updates, and server software on my new computer, then dragged and dropped the files over from one computer to the other. And everything came up. It didn’t all work perfectly, mind you, but the snags that I hit were resolved in just a few minutes. Even better, I was able to finally install a module on my website that’s been missing since I switched to this new system last summer–one that automatically deals with image resizing and placement, the one thing keeping me from sitting down and finishing my pictures. Does that mean I’ll be able to do them much more easily? You bet. Just not right now while I’m in the middle of moving.

But I was impressed, nonetheless, at how easily I was able to do that. I expected problems up the yin-yang at doing such a simple thing, but it’s amazing how it works out so easily sometimes, no? Speaking of easily, I packed up my bathroom and all my stuff from the kitchen, and I honestly thought to myself “This is it?” I really don’t have that much stuff. I had a lot of stuff in college because I sort of needed duplicates of things I had at home, but now there’s really not that much stuff to cram into my room. Heather offered me space to put things in the living room, if I so desired, but I don’t have a whole lot of stuff like that. You know, decorative stuff. Unless you want to count my pint glasses as decorative, maybe…? Well, I have plans for those, anyway. But since I have a fairly large bed, dresser, TV stand, and desk and computer to cram into my room, looks like my Tetris skills will get put back to work. I don’t anticipate too many problems since I have no couch this time around (well, aside from my futon that’s very couch-esque). Today I’m taking over some of my stuff, probably my computer and whatever else I can fit into my car, and then tomorrow comes the final move. Furniture, mostly, and stuff I can’t fit into my own car. Should be an interesting day. I anticipate no more than about five trips back and forth, honestly, mostly due to furniture.

Sunday I get settled right back into things, and I have to pick up my friend Michiko at the airport. She had thought that I was picking her up at 11 AM, so she made a 2:30 PM train reservation to get back home, but alas, upon carefully examining her ticket home a little more closely, it turned out that her flight arrives at 11 *PM* and not 11 *AM*. Oops. Well, since by then I’ll be all moved into Heather’s apartment, I’ll just take MAX to the airport and get her back, then off to the bus station in the morning. Now I just need to find her a place to stay for the night….

Allow me one more opportunity to pimp the new TV show I enjoy, “Wonderfalls”. It has moved, apparently permanetly, to Thursday nights at 9 PM. Change your tapes accordingly. The Friday night time slot on Fox is sort of the kiss of death, for many shows. Only one show in recent memory has done well in that space, and that was “The X-Files” many years ago, before it made its move to Sundays for the remainder of its run. Other than that, most Friday night shows are sort of write-offs. Take “Firefly”, for example, a show that didn’t even get through a full season despite decent ratings, a strong following, and from what I understand, some critical acclaim. Fox is notorious for debuting shows that shouldn’t ever be aired (”The Mullets”), canceling shows without giving them much of a chance (”Futurama”, “Firefly”, “Brimstone”), and letting shows that aren’t worth airing anymore go on for years past their prime (”The Simpsons”, and as much as I hate to admit it, “Married With Children”). Amazing that they still have some of the funniest shows on television (”Malcolm in the Middle”, “Arrested Development”, and now “Wonderfalls”, which is more of a dramady than a comedy). So that’s it, make sure you tune in next Thursday night at 9 PM for the next episode of “Wonderfalls”. You know I’m going to keep mentioning the show, so why not try it?

Guess I’ll get back to packin’. Big day tomorrow, lots of trips back and forth.

Posted in Geekery, General