May 02 2008
Some Things Change…and Some Things Remain the Same
GITF or Gratitude Improves The Feelings as I wrote to Urban Observation.
Unless you’re a new reader you may have noticed that my blog theme has changed. I am using another theme by Sadish Bala called Palaam. I changed the header image to the one he uses for Seashore.
The change in themes reflects the changes I have gone through: I first felt most at home in the mountains and now I feel at peace near the ocean.
I had been hoping to move my blog to my root domain of qmusings.com but it was beyond my level of expertise. It was also beyond my level of time and patience! I’ve been meaning to update my blog for a while. If anything, it needed a new coat of paint…SOMETHING.
Plus, I am actually knowledgeable about programming. Yeah, go figure! I’m not in the Nerd or Geek range but my degree in computer science pays the bills. Which means that I have some desire to upgrade and tweak!
So my blog begins having…problems. It looks like it’s been hacked. I figure It’s A Sign that I should really upgrade to the latest version of WordPress.
I was on version 2.1 and it had improved up to version 2.5.1. In software years, my blog was uh, a crone? On life support?
I do believe that life is about change and while I may resist change (scary!) I know that change brings growth.
I couldn’t figure out how to move my blog to the root domain but I went ahead and upgraded my version of WordPress and changed the theme.
I still have to tweak the site some more.
Urban Observation left a comment that he liked the new theme. Thanks UT!!
Lately I’ve been more open to just Going For It. Being open to changes.
I still make plans but I have really been working on letting go of my fears, particularly the one of making mistakes.
I’ve slowly began to try new things just to see what happens and it’s been okay and sometimes I see that new things can be FUN!
My theme has changed, my URL remains the same and do my best to follow Urban Observation’s urging that I Keep On Keeping On.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I almost didn’t recognize everything! I like it!
I’ve been running with GITF ever since you unveiled it to me in an e-mail. I think it is great and I’m going to continue to embrace it for the long haul.
Funny thing about wordpress 2.5.1… They never had a 2.4. At least not from what I can tell. Did you install it manually or does your host have it on their server to do automatically? I’m waiting for my host to provide it. I don’t want to mess up. I’m currently on 2.3.
Great to see you taking those steps.
BTW… You’re very welcome. You have shown me a great deal of care and warm thoughts.
Have a wonderful weekend.
The theme is nice. Not sure if I like the navigation on the left or not.
The reason your move to root failed is you did not follow all of my directions. You have to move (or copy) everything in the /blog directory to the root or, when you implement the redirect, Apache will not be able to find the files because it will look for /blog/somefile.php and be redirected to find that file in the root, where it does not lie!
Sue: Glad you like it! I see you keep tweaking and updating your blog! It’s got a great fun look.
UT: I’m glad you’re likin’ the GITF – it’s a fun spin!
I installed WP 2.5.1 manually. I was going to go for 2.5 but of course they added another release a couple of weeks later. I recall thinking about upgrading to 2.3 back in the day and well..stuff happened and I just wasn’t up for the backups and careful installation. Based on what I know about you and what you’ve been studying, I’d think you could take on the upgrade but I certainly don’t blame you for wanting your host to provide some automatic method.
HMTKSteve: I thought I followed all your directions. I did try copying everything under my /blog directory to my root, modified the htaccess and even tried renaming the /blog directory.
Regarding the left sidebar – I’m not sure about it either – probably because I’m right-handed. I do like having a wider post area. I like the care Sadish spends on his themes and was even considering one of his premium ones. I once thought of having 3-columns but don’t like things all crowded. I also have to find plugins and widgets that work with WP 2.5. And I need to tweak the fonts (I did for MistyLook, my prior theme). So back to the stylesheet and refiguring how that works!
Oh wow, how very different! I do like that your posts have more area now. And although I’m more used to navigation on the left, it’s a little bit different since your site always had it on the right. Your header image seems more pensive (which might be good since it’s your qmusings). But at the same time, it’s more general since it’s not as unique as the last one. Just my thoughts on looking at it.
As for the move, if you really can’t figure it out you could always just reinstall. Somehow, though, I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary.
Derek: Yes, the header image suits me with respect to being pensive but I am going to search amongst my own photos for something personal. My prior header was unique in that it was part of a collection of digital photos a friend had taken. I editted one of them a bit and asked him if I could use it
I do like the change from an Autumn look to this blue serenity type of feeling. I have various ideas of what to put in my header and may change them every so often with my own photos.
A reinstall won’t really fix the move to root unless I want to blow everything away (which was something I had considered – a totally fresh start!)
Drop me an email with a preferred login and password. I’ll set you up with an account on my server and show you how it is done!
Looking good Miss Q! …. and i am fond of your new sidebar.
The only thing is that I can’t read on “mobile” anymore (sadness). For some reason the backround and font is the same color. I am at the office right now, and everything is super. The new header looks like a place that you could sit and take in the smells and feel the salty spray for a relaxing afternoon.
Change and wreckless pursuit of of adventure on any given day? Yep … love it.
Speedy!! Glad you like the new sidebar
The background and the font are the same color? Hmm. The header font is something like pale blue or blue-gray and however the stylesheet works (don’t ask as I barely know it) might get simplified to unreadable by the time the format gets to a mobile format. That is, a brower may be able to handle all sorts of colors and images and then the software that takes all that code and optimizes (removes all the fancy stuff) to make it readable in your mobile device…
Sorry. I have been tweaking the colors and sidebar and font. It took me a while to get the MyBlogLog and Adsense colors to match my new theme colors. PLUS it took me a while to get the latest plugins that can work with WordPress 2.5.1.
I couldn’t get my “recent comments” plugin to work despite finding a later version.
I mostly like this theme but it doesn’t feel as soothing as MistyLook. So…I am not sure. In many ways I find it a bit generic and boring!! I like the simple design but …must ponder. If anything, I can change the theme again what with updating WordPress.
Yeah, I loves the ocean. I was looking at my ocean scenes from South Africa but they were very calm which doesn’t make for a great header shot. Too flat! I do like crashing waves!!
I’ve been inside WAY too long today. Gotta git! I’m not much into shopping but in my efforts to Spring Clean and organize, a visit to Tar-jay seems to be in order!
MsQ,
I like the new theme. For some reason, it reminds me of the posts while you were vacationing in South Africa.
Regarding the move, I just changed my domain name (employed 301 redirects) and I still took a big hit on search traffic (2/3 decrease). I realize your move is on the same domain name, but it probably will take awhile for the search engines to catch up. If most of your readers are regulars, then it shouldn’t impact you too much.
esofthub: Glad you like the new theme. You know me well! Yes, the new theme is a reminder of South Africa. It was there that I really was able to hear that “still small voice” and know that I had to make some changes in my life.
Yes, I got your notice about changing domains. In your case, it makes a big difference! Most of my readers are regulars or friends of regulars as far as I can tell. When I first started blogging I was fascinated by the linking and ranking and all that but not so much now. I do the adsense stuff just for chuckles. It’s funny to see the what ads come up based on my content! Maybe Google will send me a check by the end of the year. Hahahaha!
I may be visiting your unix system admin blog more these days as I actually am on unix (AIX 5.3) systems these days. Go figure! Learning more about volume groups and HACMP. Not that I have to configure it but I have to know about it from a high level for my job.
HTMKSteve: forgot to respond! I’ll email you soon!
I’ll just have to drive here from a reader. Mobiles lack quite a bit; mine does anyway. I do like to have one though … great device to catch up, read some news, and email folks. Yep.
Did you get some new pants at Tar gette`? I see they have chicken patties on sale ….
OK, nappin!!!
Speedy!! Not sure what you’re meowing about, “I’ll just have to drive here from a reader”???
As you can see I got a new “recent comments” plugin and that works. Phew! My blog is shaping up nicely.
No pants from Tar gette although…I did (TMI?) get a bra!!! Don’t need no Turkey Stretch Pants (can’t recall but did you get Turkinator pants there??) but your visit from Olga as well as the Donut wars must have sent my some subliminal message.
Maybe I take a photo. Or not.