I have never been able to use the automatic update feature for WordPress or plugins with the host of this site. I did some research on the host’s forum and on the wordpress.org forum but never found anything that could help. I just did the manual upgrade in the past. It only takes a few minutes.
I decided to finally figure out the issue. I found a few old files that were causing problems. After deleting them everything seemed to work as expected. I upgraded from WordPress 2.9.2 to version 3.0 with no problem automatically after de-activating all of my plugins.
Then I started to upgrade some plugins, 7. The first few upgraded automatically just fine, but by the 4th my blog got stuck in maintenance mode for over 15 minutes. That seemed a bit long to me. I checked my site and tried to return to my admin page and all I got was –
Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.
After a quick Google search of ‘wordpress stuck in maintenance mode’, I found the answer on the wordpress.org forum.
The answer – looked for a file called .maintentance (dot maintenance). Once deleted everything came back.
This issue was a bit scary at first. Before I freak out and sent emails/phone calls to my host I always search major problems in Google or appropriate forum for an answer.
Since I was awake at 1:30 AM June 15th, I decided to checkout the Apple Store website. At first I was not thinking about pre-ordering an iPhone 4, I was actually checking if there were any iPod classics available on the refurbished site. Well, the Apple Store was down for maintenance.
After that I thought I would check with AT&T wireless website about upgrading information for the iPhone 4. The iPhone specific page loads with a big iPhone 4 ad with an pre-order select button. Pressing the button takes to a log-on screen for your account for upgrading. I entered required information. The response tells me that I am eligible NOW to upgrade my iPhone 3G (No S). Until recently I was due to be eligible on 21 June. Next page fails. There was a warning that AT&T is unable to process my inquiry. So that was that off to bed.
Next try, 7:30 AM. Same thing with both Apple and AT&T. Off to work.
3rd try, 7:00 PM. AT&T same response still. Lucky for me the Apple Store is up and running. I selected iPhone 4 32G pre-order and checked the appropriate upgrade path. Next Apple checked my AT&T eligibility. Information came back showing my current AT&T phone, messaging and data plans with an option to keep current ones or change. I kept old plan for now.
Next step was a choice on iPhone 4 delivery method. Either ship to or in-store pick-up. The in-store pick-up option stated that there were no reservations available but I could go to my local store and get an iPhone 4 on a first come basis on June 24th. I had not chosen an actual local store at this point. That option was too iffy, especially since I would be at work until 6 PM. Who knows what in-store availability will be like the first weekend, probably not good.
I chose the ship to method. The page stated that the iPhone 4 will ship by July 2nd. Yes July 2nd. My confirmation reaffirms this and adds delivers by July 6th – 8th by standard shipping.
Hopefully these dates won’t be extended. This will give two weeks to read and here all the comments from those who got the iPhone 4 on the first day.
I saw the Prince of Persia yesterday. It was exactly as I expected, fun, simple, and entertaining. For a Disney film rated PG-13 I found it quite interesting. I remember playing the Apple II video game back in 1989 and the sequel on the Mac in the mid 90’s, but I do not remember the story line. Jake Gyllenhaal seemed to fit the main character well. I mainly know of Jake from October Sky, Donnie Darko, and The Day After Tomorrow. I never saw Broke Back Mountain. Gemma Arterton is new to me although she has had parts in Quantum of Solace and The Clash of the Titans. I did not realize she was in Clash of the Titans as Io until writing this. The audience appeared to be an older crowd, 30+.
If you want to see a fun and entertaining film check out Prince of Persia.
As the title states, I reached over 2,000,000 credits using BOINC. I am currently only participating in 9 projects. 2 have been inactive since the end of 2009 and another only gets very few sporadic jobs.
More details under my About tab.
I no longer work for Books Inc. in Mountain View, so the continuation of the Night of the Living Book Club at that physical location will probably end in June. Since the May and June books have already been selected and posted I will still facilitate the book club on the first Monday of the next two months at the Books Inc. in Mountain View at 7:30 p.m. During the next two meetings I will be open to discuss the direction or continuation of the Night of the Living Book Club in some format.
I had my first real talk with an Apple Genius today about my failing 20” iMac. It went very well compared to my last drop-in visit. I described my problem and got the answers I expected. I was told that Apple will only replace the internal hard drive with the same size it already has. Strange since I was told last time that they would replace it with any size which would vary the price. Anyway, for a 320GB drive replacement I am looking at $500+.
It was suggested that I could take the iMac into a different authorized service provider in order to get an upgraded hard drive replacement. I did email and call the two local non-Apple authorized service providers but got no response after multiple tries over a week.
Essentially, that is just too much for me especially with only a 320 GB drive. My flakey internal optical drive appears to my a dirty or bad lens so to replace the internal optical drive would cost $300+. $800 to repair an over 3 year old computer is too high, so I opted for complete replacement – 27” iMac i7. Once I get my new computer up and running then I will buy a 1 TB drive from OWC for the 20” iMac and replace it myself.
Well, I finally got around to replacing my old 20” iMac 2.4 GHz (mid 2007). I have been living on borrowed time since the internal 320 GB hard drive in my 20” iMac is failing SMART. It could totally fail anytime. I do have multiple backups, so I am not worried when the time comes.
I briefly asked an Apple Genius a few weeks ago what the cost would be to replace the internal hard drive to a 500 GB model. After some confusion on their part not understanding what model I was describing and that I have NO warranty, I was told over $500. I made an official Genius appointment for tomorrow in order to ask about this in detail. Additionally, the internal optical drive is flakey. The drive does not always recognize disks, usually DVD movies I get from Netflix.
Next week after I receive my 27” iMac i7, I will replace the hard drive in my 20” iMac myself. There is plenty of videos and HD pictures available. OWC has 1TB drives for under $100 plus a tool kit. Since I was a tech in the military, taking apart the iMac is not too much of a hassle after watching some video procedures.
Since I own Macjournal and I am only using the trial version of MarsEdit, I will now try using Macjournal for a while before spending more money for MarsEdit.
A few months ago I initiated a drop-in horror themed book club at my work. Everyone is welcome to stop by and check it out. Thanks to a co-worker for the name suggestion.
The book club meets on the first Monday of the month at 7:30 pm, hosted at Books Inc in Mountain View, CA.
I started a Facebook page for the bookclub. See box in sidebar or this link – Night of the Living Book Club on Facebook.
For more information go to the official Books Inc page for The Night of the Living Book Club.
First post of 2010 – FINALLY!
Maybe if I try a weblog editor like MarsEdit, I may actually post more often. This still doesn’t have the flexibility of some of the plugins provide. Like embedded video. And I have not tried to upload and insert a picture. I currently do not use Flickr. For most of my text based post, this will definitely work as is.
Additionally, I am trying out layout changes once again. There are sidebar issues with the currently nightly of K2 that I’m using – r1044. I not sure about dueling sidebars or 2 on the right. A single sidebar just doesn’t work for all the stuff I want to display. Time will tell.
