Fixed it!

Mostly ;-) But the point is, bloggy service is restored, and the comments should be working again as well. I'm not sure where the Typekey authentication part has gone to, but I'm going to look into that tomorrow. This whole site really needs stripping back to the bare code, so I shall get on to that tomorrow, I expect.

Now, I'm off to bed!

Reconnected.

Oh thank .... well, whoever that guy was in 2nd line support who finally figured out what the problem with my internets was. Which was that when BT had done some work at my local exchange on the day I lost my connection (Sat 26th), they had either deleted or not re-added (depending on what they'd been doing) my ISP's domain to the list of ones that are allowed to connect. I spose no-one else uses that particular domain for their log-in round here - either that or it's specific to each broadband enabled line. Actually, that would make more sense. Anyway, they've now put it back on the system and voila, I can connect. It's liek magic, only with teknolegdgy *nods* I told them it was an authentication problem the first day it went wrong, but it took 10 days to get someone to figure out exactly where the trouble was. To be fair, the fact that BT were doing work on my exchange threw them off the scent so I had to wait for all sorts of tests and then a BT engineer to come out because everyone thought it was a line problem that just looked like an authentication thing... oh well. All better now!

So anyhow, I should probably get on with uploading the many many photos I have to put up, both for Project 365 and for my knitting progress. Which there has been lots of! I finished the Hedara socks and I've taken my Bigga jacket out of hibernation and begun the sewing up of that. Plus I'm still plugging away on the Chevron scarf of DOOM. Scarf in fingering weight = Never Again, as I think I've said before. But anyway, that's all for another post really. I'm off to bed.

Internetless

I'm internetless! Well, obviously not this instant: right now I'm using a computer in C. House to make this post. But at home my broadband died on Saturday afternoon and hasn't come back yet. Argh! It's driving me potty. It doesn't appear to be anything at my end that's the problem, and my ISP has checked everything at their end as well. So it looks like it's a problem on the phone line disrupting my ability to connect. :-( I don't know how long it'll be until I get back online from home again. What's almost worse about this is that I only had my broadband upgraded (for the same price I was paying already, mwahah) to glorious speeds only last week. And now, kersplat! No internets at ALL. I don't think it's related to the upgrade - it was working fine for several days, and I technically have a perfectly good connection still. I just can't connect to my actual ISP. Apparently it's a line fault, so BT have got to check it out. Let's hope it doesn't take too long.

On the plus side, I've got loads of knitting done - I'm pretty much done on the gusset of my Hedara sock, having started from the ribbing just a few days ago. I can't believe how fast it's gone! And while I've been knitting, I've been catching up on season 1 of Alias, which I haven't watched for ages and ages. But today I'm having withdrawal, so it's back to the internets I come. However, there are other people waiting to use these machines, and even though I'm a speedy typer, I have other stuff to do. So I'd better get going. Let's hope I'll be back soon!

Where was I?

Both figuratively / mentally and literally.... um.... yes. My train of everything is well and truly lost! Let's try and get back on track, shall we? This is probably going to be a massively long post, I warn you now! There's also going to be a fair bit about mental health stuff, so feel free to skim :-)

So, starting from when I vanished back in December... well, for the three weeks leading up to Christmas I was pretty much knitting constantly. So much so that I cramped up my shoulder and ended up with an ouch-y left index finger joint! But eek, I had to get the Christmas knitting done!!! Well, as I already mentioned, I didn't quite succeed, but I did get Mum's Fetchings done, and I had a scarf finished that I gave her as well. Also within that time, I went to visit C for the weekend, and having been manic not too long beforehand, I think I 'overworked' myself, because once I got home again, I when I wasn't knitting, I was sleeping. Zzzz!

Then, this site was down from 17th - 26th-ish December because of a server crash. It took the hosting company a while to be able to recreate the accounts and then restore the files. The flat files were about 6 weeks old but the databases were all up to date, so I've been able to easily restore the things that were still missing (photos, mainly). So that's all good. Of course, during that time I had a million posts I wanted to make, and now I don't remember what they were about ;-)

After Christmas, I crashed like a .... crashed out thing for a good ten days. Everyone tends to, I think, but annoyingly I can't do anything by halves, so I hit a depressive slump with it: didn't get up or eat or anything really. I slept, or I read - I got through about 15 books, actually. But mostly I slept. Luckily, I'd arranged with Clara, Ally & co. for them to come over for New Year's. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have done anything for that... and if I'd been up to phoning them to cancel, I probably would have. But as it happened, Clara rang me and just asked me what time they should turn up. I don't think she knew I was down, but that really is the best way to deal with me when I'm like that. Don't leave me room to get out of things! So I pulled myself together, tidied up, and sorted out some nibbles and the like. We had a good time - just a chilled out evening, chatting and playing with little M. :-) After that, I was still down for a few more days, but I started to pull up again at the weekend after C helped me with a plan to get me firing on all cylinders again. Hooray!

Since then, I've posted my resolutions, which I'm doing OK with in general, and I've started Project 365. Mentally, I've cycled into a more manic phase, but overall I've been mostly within 'normal' parameters. I've also done something that I'd been sort of putting off for some time - I've gone and registered with the drop-in centre down the road. I think I was resisting it because part of me felt that only people with a "real disability" needed to go to somewhere like that. Or perhaps with a more severe disability than I like to perceive myself having, I don't know. Ah, denial! I thought I was over you, but no! Anyway, it's a really nice place, and I can go there as often as I want or need, to use whatever facilities I want to. Mainly, I think it'll be useful for me to have somewhere to pop in when I know that I'm starting to slide one way or another and need to just be around other people to ground myself, and also it's good to know that the support and advice services are there if I need them. And I have to admit that it's a huge plus that it's literally a minute's walk (or less) from my front door. They do food too, very reasonably, so if I can't cook, I can eat there. And I got to chat with three other people with bipolar while I was there, and it's just kind of nice to have that face to face contact with others in the same boat. So yes. I'm going to keep that up.

Hmm, I think that kind of covers it. I've been working away on my WIPs, but I'll talk more about that in a different post (with progress pics, whee). Oh, and I seem to have my sleeping pattern back to normal, so it's back to the gym and everything this week as well. I missed Knit & Natter the Saturday before last, but my friend M is coming over tomorrow, and I'm planning to go this coming weekend. Now all I have to do is stick to the plan, but also not overdo it!

Project 365 #1 - Day 1-6: 10th - 15th Jan

I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking about doing Project 365. A couple of days later I decided that if I was going to do it, then I'd better just start before I started thinking about it too much. So I did.

Which means that I will, all going well, be posting a photograph for every day from 10th January 2008 to 9th January 2009. I'm planning to make a post every five days or so. In actual fact, I might post more than one photo for some days - this is to stop myself getting mired in indecision! I've set up a specific folder in the photo album for the set of photos to go in, as well. I won't be putting them on Flickr or adding them to any group sets there, though I have joined the Ravelry group for 365-ers, and I'm intending to join the webring.

Anyway, that's enough rambling on the theory. On to the photos (click 'em for the full size versions):

Day 1 - 10th Jan 08

This is me trying to take a decent modelled photo of the socks my lovely SP11 pal, Janey, made me. Tucking my jeans up? Oh dear, won't be trying that again! Don't worry Janey, I think I managed to get a better view in the end! Also, look (you might need to click through to the full size pic): among the mess in the background are my faithful DMs, the box for my shiny new webcam (xmas pressie), and the bookshelf that I have my back to when I'm at the computer. Can you see the wee dye-cast TARDIS on the top? *unashamed fangirl*

Day 2 - 11th Jan

Xandermog, faaaaaast asleep on the sofa. Awww :-) See, I said this would all be yarn / knitting and cat pics, didn't I?

Day 3 - 12th Jan

This is actually fairly indicative of my day. See, I was all ready to go out: I had all my stuff in my bag to go to Knit & Natter, and here are my shoes ready and waiting to be put on. Only, they stayed right there. I came over kind of woozy and didn't go anywhere at all. Bah.
This pic also gives you an idea of the layout of some of my living room: it's a pretty large room, so I have it kind of split up into areas. I took the pic from the doorway, so you can see through to the computer, and also the back of the sofa which makes a division into the 'telly / music' bit.

Day 4 - 13th Jan

Ah yes, the reason for the previous day's wooziness. The oncoming storm. "Hi I can't sleep and everything is HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!!!!" mania. I would say I was five, except even at five years old I was generally a serious child with my nose in a book. On the plus side here, I wrote it down on this mood diary sheet and later recorded it on the chart thingy I have, and I was able to be online and talk to some friends, which grounded me somewhat until I came over tired enough that I conked out. (Taken w/ the webcam)

Day 5 - 14th Jan

I was still riding the mania, but I had had some sleep during the day and I'd come down enough that I could be productive... although I wasn't able to actually make a decision about what to do! Luckily, my friend suggested that if I wasn't going to be able to sleep that night, I should use the time and sort out my paperwork. So I did! This is me about half done. About 2/3 of the paper ended up in the recycling (orange bag) - hoorah!

OH NOES PAPERCUT!!!! See, sorting through all that paper has its dangers. I sliced myself right on the web of the thumb, and it kept pulling as I was still sorting stuff out, so I needed to bung a plaster over it... and of course, the only one I could find was this unnecessarily large thing. Typical.

Day 6 - 15th Jan

Once I'd sorted the paperwork, it all got neatly filed away. Isn't that nice? Although, this photo also tells you what a packrat I am. There's still all my stuff from uni in there, for heaven's sake. And in fact, that Tigger folder was my school folder when I was doing GCSEs. Oh dear...

Of course, I can't do anything without the mog coming to check up on me. Dreadful nosy beast! (And, why yes, that is the box for a Laser Screwdriver down there on the right. The bro gave me one for Christmas to go with the Sonic Screwdriver he got me a couple of years back. Hee! (See above re. *unashamed fangirl*) Mmmm, John Simm.)

Really, he's a very good cat, but his one main vice is shredding my furniture. And walls. Quite often while pretending he's not really doing it at all (hence him not looking at the door or me in this pic). *sigh* And while he hasn't shredded the inside of this cupboard door, he's now decided that the outside of it is his new favourite scratching post.... :-/

And that's that for now. Next five days coming soon...

Phew!!

Right now, I'm feeling the urge to run all the way to Dublin and physically cling to my webserver. Oh yes. You might have noticed that my site disappeared for a while there. As did most of my email. The old server crashed and died, and it took quite a while to determine that it was dead forever, and then transfer everything to a new server. It probably doesn't help that I have multiple domains on here. And once the data was restored, I had some work to do at my end, recreating database usernames, cron jobs, email accounts, resetting file permissions. But at last, here we are: I think I have everything back except for some of the photos in the album. And those, I can re-upload, no problem. Yay!

So, er, Christmas was good! I had a lovely one, although I was a bit zonked out today. My knitted presents went down well, although I didn't manage to finish Emily's Chevron Scarf - I showed it to her so far. I probably would have got it done, but I've been having ouchy-finger-joint issues. Bah. However, Mum liked the Fetchings I made her, and the scarf - a sparkly gold one - that I gave her as well. Pictures soon!

I'm planning to go to the gym with the bro tomorrow (assuming he's remembered I said I'd go too!) and get my new year's resolutions underway early. *g* I haven't been over there for a while, although I do belong, and I need to get back into the swing of it.

Destashing? HAH!

Today, I've been looking through my stash on Ravelry and trying to decide what I don't want / need. As well as a few odd things, I had every intention of thinning out some of my Posh Yarn and Yarn Yard stash. Uh huh, right. What has actually happened is that I've fallen madly back in love with every single skein and colourway. It's all mine and you can't have it. So there!

I'm also restraining myself right now from running and digging out a skein or two to wind into cakes so that I can cast them on. Oh, they're so pretty! I want to knit with all of them, this instant! But I don't have time. Christmas knitting first! And oh dear, only just over a month to go for that. I've got to get a crack on.

Actually, there are a few skeins that I can bring myself to, ah, re-home. If anyone wants to buy them from me, that is. I really do have more sock yarn than I can reasonably knit in the next, oh, couple of years. And more than once I've bought yarn because it's so pretty... without taking into account that I already have some that's very very similar. I'll think about it overnight and see which ones I settle on.

Before I go to bed, though, I'm going to do a bit more work on the redesign of this site. With a bit of luck I should have it up sometime this week. The design itself is pretty much done, actually.... it's just plugging it in to the various parts of the site. I'm intending to convert everything to php, so I have to work out the most efficient way of doing the templates. I'm not sure if I'm going to change the blog to php, though. It'd mess up any direct links. Unless.... Hmm, I'll sleep on that as well. I'm tired anyway. Maybe I will just go to bed now. G'night.

Pink for October

In case it's not obvious, I've decided to go Pink for October. Ta-daaa!

Well, pink and pinky-purple. And blue. I didn't have time to do a full redesign. Maybe next month - I've been meaning to change this one anyway.

OMG ded (sic)

Woah, I'm exhausted. Feeling a little bit spacey here, I can tell you. The four-year-old who lives upstairs from me is allergic to sleeping all night long, and I keep getting woken up by loud thumps. The crying I could sleep through - it's the intermittent bangs on the ceiling that do it. Nothing I can do about it, though, except be glad I'm not one of her parents! And possibly invest in some earplugs next time I'm at the chemist...

That's not the only reason I'm knackered, though. I've been up to my eyeballs in php, and learning all about Wordpress. Which have been fun, but once I start getting into the code and stuff, I forget to stop for, oh, food and breaks, etc etc. What, it's absorbing! I'm not going to be changing this site to WP - it took me long enough fiddling about getting MT how I like it, and if I went and changed to another blogging system I'd only spend a million years prodding the back end (my Mum thinks that sounds bad, but I have no other way to describe it) and not making any posts. Again! So this site is staying as it is. However, WP is a useful thing to know how to use, and it all meshes in nicely with the PHP I've been learning. Hoorah!

So my brain is a little frazzled from several days intense work at that. Good thing I've had my knitting to wind me down! I've started the two larger items of my Christmas knitting (and the other two I have planned aren't definite anyway) but I spose I can't talk about them here just in case. D'oh. I've also been working on the other projects that I started recently... that I still haven't mentioned on here, but deserve their own post when I'm less tired! I really need to make posts for my finished items too. Although actually, I can't post one thing because it's for SP11. Oh well, eventually!

Talking of SP11, that's the other reason I'm tiiiiired. Sort of. I went into town and shopped! Partly for SP things, and partly for other stuff that I'd been needing. I also bumped into C, which was nice cos I hadn't seen her for ages. And, um. Um.

Losing... ability... to... words... together... string....

$var="sleepyLou"
if(eyes!=open && brain==ded) {
function init(goToBed)
} else {
function init(CAFFEINE)
}

Yup. Think that covers it. *thud*

D'oh!

Well oops - I did notice a couple of days ago that all the posts seemed to have disappeared from the main page, but because I'd been having general computer slowness, I thought it was just me that the page wasn't loading fully for. So when I came back to it today and everything was still missing, I finally started wondering why. Then I noticed that everything was stopping at the BookMooch widget in the sidebar. Aha! Had I accidently messed up the code in the template? I double checked.... and no. Eventually, I twigged: I had an email from my web host a few days ago telling me that they'd upgraded PHP on the servers. I was using the php include version of the widget. It would seem the two aren't compatible. So I've now changed to the javascript version, and all is well again. Hoorah!

In other news, I'm having a crack at writing this post in ScribeFire. I think I do prefer it to the pop-up Quickpost bookmarklet, but it doesn't incorporate the "Extended" post second window (unless there's a way to do that? Anyone?) so I'm not sure how that might work when I want to use that. Hmmm.

Anti-spam upgrades

I've been having loads of problems with comment spam, so I've been upgrading to the latest few versions as they come out, and I've also installed the MT-Blacklist and NoFollow plugins. I've set the blog to mostly dynamic publishing, too, which should (a) reduce the load on the server, and (b) solve the rebuilding problems I'd been having. Hoorah!

Back in the 'real world', I've just started one of my OU courses for this year, and will be starting the other at the weekend. No, I'm not completely insane (only partially) for doing more than one course at once: the music course is a 30-pointer*, and the web design course is a 12-week 10-pointer, which will be followed by two more of the same starting in May then October. Which will give me the standard 60 points for the year, all going well :-) They all count towards my degree as well as the web courses being part of the Web Apps Development Cert.

It's also occurred to me... I didn't actually mention on here that I've moved, did I? Which is a bit remiss of me, since it was a fairly big move: in September of last year I came back down here to Hastings, the old home town. And it's very nice to be back, too. :-)

Anyway, that's about it for now. I should be posting much more often from now on, though, now I've got the study-journal thing set up, and this year's courses have started again.

* 120 points is the equivalent of one year's full time university study.

Bother

Bah. I've had to take the photo album down, cos the script I was using is no longer allowed by my host. Which, considering I found the rec for that script on their forums in the first place, is flipping annoying. It was another customer who suggested it, if I remember rightly, but nothing was said about there being security probs with it. Still, maybe it's something that's become a problem since. Anyway, nothing I can do about it. I've taken it down, and I shall install an alternative when I have the time. CPG took me bloody ages to install and configure, but hopefully I'll find a new one that's a bit easier.

Testing 123!

This is a test post. Repeat, this is a test. This is not a real post. In fact, it's not even really here, it just thinks it is. Enchilada enchilada enchilada ping. The reason this post is (not) here is because I'm installing Movable Type, and therefore need to make a test post to check that everything is going to line up correctly. Bet it won't, mind you. Blahhhhhhh.

Testing testing testing. Enchilada, ping!

Just back from Summer School

Just back from my OU Summer School - had the most excellent time! So this is a shout out to my fellow A214-ers, just in case any of them happen to wander this way. :-) See, I made it home without falling asleep once!

I really am going to make this into a study journal. Even though I'm 3/4 of the way through this year's course already. *cough* I just have to finish the redesign of this site, move the files to the new location and transfer the domain over.... oh, and change this blog over to Moveable Type. I'll get around to it. Honest.