Getting In The Zone and Loving It

Everything seems to be working well at my old blog so far. Reinstallation has somehow proved beneficial to me in more ways than one and I love it. And even if all is well with it now, I just couldn’t let go of this new blog. I want to keep this for very sentimental reasons this time. Interestingly enough, I figured this blog would we a welcome change to the routine of my life in running a site powered by WordPress.

Right now, I’m still learning Calliope’s rich text editor that’s browser-based. I’m learning how to edit settings, approve comments, organize my audio uploads and more. I am enjoying it here so far. How about you? Is this your first blog? If not, have you tried WordPress before? 

My WordPress 2.6 Blog is Up and Running, Finally!

Oh, yeah. Finally. After postponing reinstallation of WordPress 2.6 on my server for sentimental and not-so-sentimental reasons, I finally gave in last Saturday. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I haven’t been “down” for that long and three days is just too much for a blog to be down. Like I said, everything else is okay with it, except for the homepage that displays nothing more than a “blank screen of death” as touted by one blogger who had a somewhat similar problem, although not entirely similar as mine. His had a problem with the wp-config.php (an extra unassuming “empty” line in the code) which, according to him, when removed, solved his problem so miraculously as if nothing happened. Now, I wish my problem was as easy as that or as easy as another site owner’s problem with a faulty index.php script that needed to be renamed to .htm. Both problems characterized an unaccessible admin/login screen. Mine was entirely different because I can login, write posts, preview and save. As the blog site’s blogger, owner and administrator all at the same time, I obviously knew by heart quite a few permalinks to posts and pages (for the uninitiated, permalinks are permanent URL’s of your posts). So anyway, I tested these permalinks and they worked perfectly fine. Now, that would have sounded great if only for the fact that (1)those accessing ADayInTheLifeOfRJ.com through direct URL would not see anything, and that (2)they wouldn’t have the slightest hint of my permalinks. Those accessing through Google search, however will still land on my site.

I tried messing with the scripts and all that boring research but I guess, I’m too old and impatient for that right now, specially lurking and going over a loooooong thread in the WordPress forums. So, I did the dreaded and inevitable — I reinstalled WordPress on my server. That’s a clean install. Start over. Start from scratch (almost, since I had an xml file of the posts backup). My webhost offers WordPress 2.3.3. That means, an upgrade is still needed. So I decided to install, upgrade, import posts, uploaded themes and plugins, added widgets. And voila! Blog is back! Just like that. I make it appear so easy but I tell you, it takes work, a lot of patience, dedication and pure love of blogging to endure such a thing. Anyway, I’m happy that all is well now. Although, more work is left to be done ( I have to manually repair broken links since my permalink structure was set to default), it should be easier than staring at a “blank screen of death”. Oh well, another Day In The Life Of RJ.

No Joy, I Tell You… No Joy.

It’s 9:24pm. I have stared at my desktop screen for far too long already. I have Googled phrases like “how to fix blank homepage display after upgrading to WordPress 2.6″ or “WordPress 2.6 upgrade errors” or “index.php errors WordPress 2.6 installation upgrade”…and yes, you guessed it right — all to no avail. *sigh*

I have been toying with the idea of doing a clean install at my server and importing posts..but I still can’t bring myself to do that. Maybe that’s because I know that all other pages and permalinks are working perfectly. It’s just the freaking homepage that’s busted. Just one page, and yet it has made me crazy for the rest of the day yesterday and it’s making me crazy until now..

 Is it the index.php? Do I rename it? But I already did that. Put values in the category tag? Already did that too. Deleted cookies? Done. Deactivated plugins? Done. Revert to default theme? Done. Done. Done.

My mind’s twisted now. Can’t think straight. Can’t sleep. I even dream of this, I think. I wake up to playing with scripts, Google-ing, lurking the threads, asking help from friends…but still, here I am. I feel that nobody can really help me at this time. Not only is it frustrating. It’s also physically, intellectually and emotionally draining.

 I don’t for how long I can endure this. I just hope that before I eventually give up, I wish this has been fixed already. I’m so tired. I want to rest, sleep, procrastinate and tell myself that I can still do this tomorrow..but I just can’t keep it off my mind. It haunts me..this horrible problem..haunts me even in my sleep, even while watching TV or eating. 

Oh, please God..help me. Fix the code for me. Or better yet, just do your thing…fix it miraculously without me lifting a finger..

Welcome To The Beginning

For a time, a long time, I blogged almost without fail..as consistent as I can at ADayInTheLifeOfRJ.com. It has been my favorite blog, a self-hosted one,. powered by WordPress. I loved the freedom and control that WordPress gave me, specially because it was a self-hosted blog. I install whatever plugin I choose, upload any theme I like and even edit php files as if I’m a pro (of course, I’m not a pro..).

But this recent update to version 2.6 has hurt me a lot. It’s very frustrating for me. I just couldn’t take it. I’ve always been the patient, persistent and persevering kind..I don’t give up easily. Nor do I lose hope. But this recent bug in that recent release which has caused me and a whole lot more of WordPress users to have blank pages is just too frustrating and disappointing. Hell, one of the toughest issues I had to deal with online.

My first blog has been with Blogger and I was content for a long time, until I felt the need to switch to WordPress because the many plugins I’ve been seeing had me drooling over my keyboard. That’s just me, always ready to try new things. It went on pretty fine and I had a great time., really. Until this new update came along. 

Right now, as I write this, I’m still working on fixes I research from the wonderful world of Google..but so far, no joy.

I hope I fix this. I’m just too tired now. I’m feeling cranky and grumpy from that sleepless night I had..I loved WordPress..but like many people I’ve loved in the past, it did not love me back — at least the way I expected it to..

And so begins this rjmarmol.i.ph blog.. aptly titled “The Reformed Blogger”. So far, it’s been very promising and intuitive. I’m loving it. I hope this time, I find what I’m looking for…because if I do, I’m never gonna leave..Never. 

Welcome to the beginning.