Rounding the Corner
Well, after a few days of careful piece-by-piece assembly, I’ve successfully upgraded webeldotnet to WordPress 2.2.1. I don’t think I have the Spam Karma problem solved yet, but at least we’re online. Eventually you should start to see some small changes to the interface and features that are on here … but for now, I’ve got more important things to do.
Like what? Well, I’m packing up and moving out right now … because tomorrow will be my last day in Loudi, my hometown. Before I leave, I’m going to do a photo shoot around town, clean up my apartment, say goodbye to some friends, and hand over the keys to my school. It’s hard to believe, but this chapter in my life is almost over!
I’ll go to visit my cousins in Yueyang (northern Hunan province) on Saturday, then fly to Chengdu (Sichuan province) on Sunday night. From Chengdu, I will probably go on a horse trekking trip to Songpan (northern Sichuan) with a couple of friends (Rick and Mary Claire) for 4-5 days.
Then, on the 23rd, I’ll meet Grahm and Tennom (my Tibetan friend) to go visit Tennom’s family, some nomads who luckily are living in Qinghai right now (if they were in Tibet it would be highly illegal to visit). We’ll make an appearance at a huge horse race festival there (Hidalgo?) on the 25th too … it’s going to be quite the experience!
My five day trip home starts on July 28th … I’ll take a 36 hour bus to Chengdu then fly to Changsha, Beijing, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Lexington. After that, it’s a 2 hour drive to Grayson and 4 more hours to good old Cincinnati!
July 12th, 2007 at 8:09 pm EST
Lance, you know…it is really less than 3 hours from Grayson to Cincy. (It only took me 3 and a half to get from Grayson all the way to camp). I just cut like an entire hour off of your trip! I’ll bet you feel better now. Can’t wait to see you!!!
July 12th, 2007 at 10:10 pm EST
I have not died and gone to heaven, Lance. I have been very occupied helping the Mrdjanov’s getting ready for their new assisted living facility here in Copley. I have not been on the computer for nearly 2 weeks. I have a little bit of a soft spot in my heart for China and her wonder since you will be leaving there and I will no longer have a tangible connection through your hands with your wonderful entries on the blog nearly daily. GOODBYE CHINA!
Love, MOM
July 13th, 2007 at 12:44 am EST
Sweet! So I’ll count on three, ’cause I’m driving to Colerain (on the northwest side) … thanks, Kells!
July 14th, 2007 at 5:46 am EST
Do you have a comment spam problem; or general email spam? I was going to suggest the Akismet WordPress plugin for the comment spam (works easily/wonderfully) … can’t wait to see you back in town, but it has to be hard to leave a place you’ve been (and grown and changed) so much in, for over a year ….
July 14th, 2007 at 11:01 am EST
Paul … I just switched to Akismet, and it’s working great. But my database is bloated from my previous install of Spam Karma. I haven’t been able to figure out how to clear out the unwanted spam comments without destroying the comments I want to keep.
And yes, I think it will be a little hard. I’m not usually the sentimental type, but I can feel some if it coming on …
July 17th, 2007 at 9:52 am EST
Whew, I got tired just reading about your trip back home.
Could you just delete the Spam Karma tables since you aren’t using it anymore?
I use Spam Karma but I haven’t uninstalled it. Do you have access to a phpMyAdmin to look at he tables?
Oh well, nothing that can’t wait!
Have a safe trip.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:25 am EST
your 5 day trip starts on my birthday
what a lovely gift!
July 27th, 2007 at 10:41 am EST
Christopher, I was waiting to delete them until I was sure that it wouldn’t mess up all of my regular comments (or at least until I had a good backup). Now, at your suggestion, they’re gone … so performance should hopefully improve.
Something still seems a little weird, though … I’m getting just as many visitors as normal, but not nearly as many comments. Sure, I’m not posting regular content, but I kind of wonder if people’s comments are getting filtered out by my new comment spam filter.
July 28th, 2007 at 5:07 am EST
i think commenting is down because posting is down, and we’re all just waiting to actually SEE you in person for your stories!