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From the blog of Charlie Stross comes this little gem:

This happens every year: Beloit College issues this heads-up to their staff, to try and remind them of the mind set of the incoming college year. Here’s what the fresh graduates of 2013 know about the world …

image: http://media.photobucket.com/image/old%20man%20face/DESERTSUN2008/FACES/israel-125year-old-man-laughing.jpg

I figured I’d write a post about what I accomplished in 2008.  This is it.  I’ll also add what I hope to accomplish with each item in 2009.

What are some of your accomplishments this year?

Well, I’ve finally upgraded WordPress, to version 2.7.  I also decided it was time to change the theme.  I don’t know if I’ll stick with what you see here, but we’ll see.

No weekly links this week, things have been busy and hectic, as they have been for just about everyone this season.

I’m actually off of work for the next two weeks.  The kids have no school, and I’m still the primiary caregiver, so I stay home with them.  The timing work-wise sucks, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It seems that late winter/early spring is a bad time for the blog. Last year at this time, I commented on how things were slowing down here. I wonder if it has anything to do with the ‘long winter blues’?

I do have excuses… of course. I mean, who doesn’t. The laptop fritzed out and I had to re-install the OS. Unfortunately, the install disc is so old that trying to upgrade from the install to something more recent turned into a fiasco. I ended up installing from scratch about 4 times before I figured out what I could and could not upgrade. That’s one of the pains of Gentoo/Sabayon. Oh well.

I’ve also received some contract work in the last month or so, and it took a chunk of time.

So, there ya go. Two pretty good excuses, and I didn’t have to think too hard about it!

I’ve pulled my Nano novel out of the drawer and started revisions on it. I’m keep track on a page by page basis. When my revisions are all typed in (I revise on paper), I’ll update my word count, and start revision 2.

Patry’s novel is being released in paperback today. Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and is receiving treatments. Because of this, she is unable to promote her books trade paperback release, and a number of Bloggers are banding together to do it for her.

What would you do if your best friend was murdered—and your teenaged son was accused of the crime? How far would you go to protect him? How many lies would you tell? Would you dare to admit the darkest truths—even to yourself?Jeanne Cross is an ordinary suburban wife and mother with a seemingly “perfect” life when Ali Mather arrives on the scene, breaking all the rules and breaking hearts. Almost against her will, Jeanne is drawn to this powerfully seductive woman, a fascination that soon begins to infect Jeanne’s husband as well as their teenaged son, Jamie.

Though their friendship seems unlikely and even dangerous to their mutual acquaintances, Ali and Jeanne are connected by deep emotional needs, vulnerabilities and long-held secrets that Ali has been privately recording in her diary.

The diary also holds the key to something darker. Though she can’t prove it, Ali is convinced someone has been entering her house when she is not at home-and not with the usual intentions. What this burglar wants is nothing less than a piece of Ali’s soul.

When Ali is found murdered, there are many suspects; but the evidence against Jamie Cross is overwhelming. Jeanne’s personal probing leads her to the question none of us would ever want to face. What comes first: our loyalty to family—or the truth?”

Patry’s novel is being released in paperback today. Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and is receiving treatments. Because of this, she is unable to promote her books trade paperback release, and a number of Bloggers are banding together to do it for her.

What would you do if your best friend was murdered—and your teenaged son was accused of the crime? How far would you go to protect him? How many lies would you tell? Would you dare to admit the darkest truths—even to yourself?Jeanne Cross is an ordinary suburban wife and mother with a seemingly “perfect” life when Ali Mather arrives on the scene, breaking all the rules and breaking hearts. Almost against her will, Jeanne is drawn to this powerfully seductive woman, a fascination that soon begins to infect Jeanne’s husband as well as their teenaged son, Jamie.

Though their friendship seems unlikely and even dangerous to their mutual acquaintances, Ali and Jeanne are connected by deep emotional needs, vulnerabilities and long-held secrets that Ali has been privately recording in her diary.

The diary also holds the key to something darker. Though she can’t prove it, Ali is convinced someone has been entering her house when she is not at home-and not with the usual intentions. What this burglar wants is nothing less than a piece of Ali’s soul.

When Ali is found murdered, there are many suspects; but the evidence against Jamie Cross is overwhelming. Jeanne’s personal probing leads her to the question none of us would ever want to face. What comes first: our loyalty to family—or the truth?”

Here it is, well into the month already, and I’m not sure where the time went.

Let’s see what I did:

1. A lot of work on WordSlinger. I broke it adding folders to the draft/scene area, but it’s almost working now.
2. Tore apart our bathroom and started rebuilding it. The previous owners of the house glued linoleum 4 feet up the walls, and trying to take it down destroyed the plaster and lathe walls. Doh. I also found rotten wood and some mold. Not nice.

Well, that’s it. Two items. Granted, both took a fair amount of work, and neither are finished, but still… Time to get back to a regular schedule.

I’ve moved this web site from a Gentoo based/Apache 2 install to a new Ubuntu Server/LiteSpeed install. We are experiencing some difficulties with the transfer. If you see anything wierd not already mentioned in the comments, please leave a new comment with the particulars.

I’m still running on a virtual system, but response times should increase dramatically.

I'm off the grid for 7 to 14 days (depending on how much fun I'm having).  The blog will have some automatic posts, so y'all can come and check from time to time.

It's official, we're a two wheeled family.  This weekend, my youngest (4 years old) learned how to ride a two wheel bike.  His training wheels are in the garbage!

The entire lesson took about 1/2 hour on Saturday, and on Sunday we went for a ride with the entire family.  Jared got a bit upset, since it wasn't the fastest ride (he's 6), and he kept having to stop and wait for Ryan.  Still, it was fun.  We'll be taking the bike when we go camping for sure!

On another note, the blog seems to be slowing down a bit during the summer holidays.  I'll see what I can do about that. 

(July 17th update: The whole family went for an 8 km bike ride in Birdshill Park.  Both boys did exceptionally well!  Fantastic!) 

Just thought I'd throw that out.  Did I accomplish everything I wanted to during the last year?  Nope.  But I'm closer than I was.

(This post is also my first attempt at writing something well before it's publish date.  WordPress should make it available on the 15th!)

The WordPress conversion is complete, now that I've upgraded from version 2.0.10 to version 2.2.

I spent a few hours this morning changing the website to 100% hosted on WordPress.  I no longer use or need CityDesk for the site, which is good since it's essentially a dead product.

I still have a static start page, simply because I didn't want Google and other search engines to lose all their links to me.  I'll think about it over the next week or so and see if I really care about it though.  Maybe I'll look into using Apache redirection to send anybody going to my start page to make things easier.

edit: The Apache 2 redirect was easy, and it's all done.