Month: December 2004

Updated

  • Added new plugin, so that if comments are disabled; comment link is removed from main page.
  • Found some errors in the server log, moved files to different folder to correct the errors. After fixing the errors, noticed that the styling of certain portions (mood/music) of the project had changed.
  • Fixed database backup plugin, so that it works for project leader
  • Altered site’s styling slightly to better incorporate items in sidebar

In-Progress

  • Fix plugin to sync project with journal.
  • Apologize to project leader for playing with boards and deleting one of her posts… Done
  • Update site to latest version of WP
  • Find/create theme for boards Done: Installed requested theme, though minor tweaking needs to be done yet and project leader will most likely need to update her profile to see new theme.
  • Add a contact page/form?

I just updated my portal page to include a web comic that I’d forgotten to add but have been reading for a while now. Bunny. It was Applegeeks that pointed me to Bunny originally and I’m very glad they did as I feel Bunny really brings The Funny.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about by The Funny, go read Websnark’s FAQ. In fact, you should be reading Websnark anyway as it’s a great resource for people who like webcomics.

This post was brought to you via the nagging of Pukka. That’s right Pukka; this post’s for you. :p

Sorry for the lack of regular updates of late but with the holidays coming up; I’ve been kind of busy. Also, I’ve been working on a not-really super, secret project for a friend. Said project needs to be complete by 1 Janurary 2005; so that’s where I’m focusing a good chunk of my enery for now.

However, I will throw out the following bone to clam your rampant desire for more stuff to be happening with CoffeeBear.net. This site is now Gravatar enabled. Gravatar is a central service for avatars or user pics. Basically, you sign up with the service, upload an 80×80 image and then on any Gravatar enabled website; your comments will be displayed with your avatar. Mind you the websites can add restrictions to their pages; for example here on CoffeeBear.net, I limit the displayed image to 40×40 and require the image to be rated PG or less. Oh yeah, that’s another thing about Gravatar; though it will let you upload any image you like, the image has to be rated by their staff before you can use it. The end result is that when you leave a comment; you get to have a small picture of yourself (or whatever) attached to that comment. As an extra bonus, that same picture will get used on all other Gravatar enabled sites. Enjoy!

On the advice of a friend (Pukka), a while back I began to read Wil Wheaton‘s blog. Though I’d seen Stand By Me and Toy Soldiers, my firmest memories of Mr. Wheaton were of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. That was one of the few sci-fi shows that my parents were willing to watch and I have to admit while I enjoyed parts of that show (Picard rocks!); I hated Wesley. He always struck me as this smart ass; who’d lucked out his way into working on a starship. Of course, probably what really irked me about it was that it was him and not ME! Even so, that initially made me reluctant to visit the blog, but Pukka has a habit of sending me interesting links. Since he’s rarely wrong (unless I’ve already seen what he’s sent); I checked out Mr. Wheaton’s site and have been faithful reader ever since. Then back when I ordered my copy of Ghosts in the Snow from Amazon.com; I had one of my oddly, cheap moments.
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A while back on the advice of AWelkin, I picked up a copy of Ghosts in the Snow. I read it, loved it, got distracted and never wrote up any kind of review. A couple of weeks later, I read again. I still loved it but I still didn’t write up a review of it. Sometimes, life just works against you. *sigh*

I think the best description of Ghosts in the Snow, by Tamara Siler Jones, that I’ve heard is “forensic fantasy”. It’s got ghosts, magical items, foreign religions and gruesome murders. Dubric Bryerly is the Castellan1 of Castle Faldorrah and it is his duty to keep the peace. Recently, a serial killer has been stalking serving maids and killing them, one after another. The troubling part for everyone is that no one has seen the killer. The real trouble for Dubric is the ghosts of the slain are haunting him.
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