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For three weeks now, I’ve been trying to move The Bar to a new domain.  For three weeks I’ve been beyond frustrated. First the upgrade from phpbb2 to phpbb3 sucked ass. Oh, everything converted. Everything is there. But one post, just one, ended up split from a thread. I have tried everything to merge it back, but the merge feature refuses to work. I tried copying the post and changing it’s permissions. That didn’t work and in fact spawned a new issue. It wouldn’t let me delete the damn post either! HELLO! Database creator here! Still… it refuses.

I finally gave up trying to fix it and settled down to move the database. Well, not really move it but copy it to the new domain. I tried the backup/restore function within the database itself. No dice.  I googled for some tips and tricks and came across a php board where some techie guy said, yanno the backup/restore doesn’t work very well. Go into phpMyAdmin and do an export/import.

Ooooh, I thought. This sounds right! Did it work? NO. Okay, it sorta worked. In the admin panel it showed me all the threads. I thought wooo hooo! I went to the forum itself… empty. Whaaaa? Massive headache ensued. So I gave up and pondered the damn thing for a few days. My conclusion? I needed someone else to look at the damn thing. I had to be missing something.

So I sent Marty an email. He’s smart and resourceful… the kind of guy who would know about databases right? Well, he’d never moved one before, but offered to poke around in mine to see what might be wrong.  Marty’s next email shocked me. The two boards have different versions of php. Woah. I never even thought to look at that! So I deleted the new board uninstalled phpbb and went into the configuration to upgrade my php from 4 to 5.  Then I reinstalled phpbb3. Now, it’s ready for another try.

I’m not sure that I can still make this work but it was nice to have another set of eyes look at the problem. Instead of it being a bad database that needed a timeout, it just needed someone else to tame it. Or so I hope anyway. I really appreciated Marty looking at it. If anyone out there knows php board admin rights stuff, email me. I still can’t merge that effing thread. *sigh*

It’s Monday so I’ve got a nice Marcus here to drool over.  I kinda like the scruffy face look on him.

Now, for the first time, I think I’ll put a naughty female behind the fold. After all, I really did appreciate Marty’s help.

Read more…

This weekend is my big media blitz. Well, at least until someone gives me a contract for one of my stories. Then I will be hanging out at ALL social media begging you all to buy the book and make your mothers and their friends buy the book. Heh.

First up, the always awesome Jen from Redneck Romance Writer came through for me again with great suggestions for Silver Lining, even though she’s a busier person than I am. I worked my ass off on it Friday night and just a wee bit ago… I took my balls in hand and subbed it to Amira Press. I think this time I really will bite my nails. This story had a major overhaul and went from it’s original 4900 words to a whopping 8559, but I think it’s ready now.

When I put my query letter together, I realized that this publisher wanted to know what my marketing plan was. Me? Market something? Then I realized that for once in my life I’d done something RIGHT! I mentioned the loops I belong to (Yahoo and Google groups). I mentioned how long I’ve had winterheart.com. I mentioned that my author website at lexvalentine.com was up and running. I mentioned this blog and the wonderfully supportive blogging community I belong to. I mentioned the Zanctuary board which is filled with people from JR Ward’s message board. I mentioned the Bar…. Then I brought out the big guns. I mentioned a fistful of social media networking sites from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn to Flickr and Brightkite and on and on… Damn.

Look what you people and a smart phone have done for me! MADE ME LOOK GOOD ON PAPER! WOO F’ING HOO! I was never so happy to be an anal geek as I was tonight.

Moving on, I’ve been learning to make trailers using Windows Movie Maker, which by the way, sucks major ass. At my office, I am the queen of Powerpoint. It’s not hard to be the queen of PPT there. I’m like the smartest person there when it comes to using software. I have this really cool PPT about email that incorporates the company’s credo essentials… it’s narrated by a staff member who emcees our big Memorial Day and Easter events. He has a great voice… and all I do to show this PPT is click on slide show. It runs all on it’s own and I just sit there. Not even a click. I love it. So making the trailer is kinda like doing a PPT presentation.

At any rate, the most I’ve ever done with anything like this are the PPT things and using Audacity to clip MP3’s for videos the president’s assistant makes. Now, I’m no dummy. I’ve been watching Ruthie make these videos off and on for a year. I decided to make myself a trailer after the Lex site was done and guess what? It wasn’t too hard and came out okay! Lady V from The Divine Madness said I could use their music (just to be all official like) and voila! Here is my masterpiece! (Don’t be too hard on me, I’m a newb at this remember?)

So, there you have it. My trailer for Lex Valentine, author. Tomorrow, I’m gonna tell you a little story about Jester, a sexy song, and how Justin let me steal his name. Then I’ll show you the other two trailers. Like I said in the title… media blitz!

I’m off to get some sleep before the big Chatroom Racers Stakes day at the sim Saturday morning. I already know I’m gonna get my ass handed to me on a platter. I even had the nerve to run a girl against the boys going long. Luckily, I think she won’t care.

Have a great weekend!

I hate instant messengers these days. The reason I hate them is because people don’t have any courtesy when they use them. They think that because it’s just a form of online social networking that they don’t have to use the common courtesy that they use with people with whom they are speaking face to face. Here’s some of the stuff that’s been nagging me lately about IMs:

Scenario 1: You see a friend online on your IM. You send them a HI. They respond and you start talking. Then your friend just stops answering you. After 10 or 15 minutes go by, you wonder if they are on the phone or working or something. However, an hour or more goes by and you notice that the person still shows as online, yet you never once got an explanation from them for why they stopped talking to you.

Scenario 2: You see someone online. They do not have a busy message up. You send them a message and they snap back at you, telling you that they are busy.

Scenario 3: Someone sees you online. They send you a message. You talk for a few minutes and then they just stop, like in #1 above.

Scenario 4: Someone IMs you as soon as you come on, to ask you about someone else. No, how are you? No, are you busy? No anything. Just blurting out what they want, getting the answer and then, without a thank you, they stop talking to you.

There are a lot more scenarios. Those are just the top ones that several people have been perpetrating in my world lately. I know that IM software is buggy. Sometimes it shows people online when they are gone. I give people the benefit of the doubt… until those scenarios become regular occurrences.

So here’s the thing. Why is it that people feel it’s okay to be rude, because you’re talking to someone online and not on the phone or in person? In this age of technology, those scenarios up there are just as rude as hanging up on someone. Why do so many people not get that?

At any rate, here’s what I’d like to see the perpetrators of those scenarios do so that they stop pissing off me and others:

• If you don’t want to talk to all the people on your IM list, make yourself invisible to the ones you DON’T want to speak to. Then, if they are courteous, they will not IM you.
• If you do start talking to someone but become distracted by other IMs or Tweets, tell the person you gotta go, you are talking to someone else and you just can’t concentrate on all the convos. I don’t get pissed when people say this to me. I prefer to know that they’re busy with someone else rather than they can’t be bothered to tell me they don’t wanna talk to me anymore.
• Start your IM convo by asking how the person is. If they are busy… this lets them know that you will not take offense if they don’t have time for you, and shows them that you aren’t just some rude SOB who lives in an egocentric world.
• Use your busy or away message if you busy and/or away. Don’t just snap at people because YOU didn’t put up an alert or warning.
• When you IM someone, and start a convo, don’t just stop talking because someone or something else is more interesting or more urgent. If you started the convo and you can’t continue it, then you need to end the convo. Tell the other person you have to go.
• Don’t forget the common courtesy that was instilled in you as a child. The people online are just as real as the people you see every day face to face. They have feelings and they deserve to be treated with the same level of courtesy as any other person.

All of us have been the victim and the perpetrator in these instances I’ve depicted. I’ve started becoming more aware of how I treat others online because of the way I’ve been treated by a handful of people whom I thought – knew – were my friends. We all need to realize too that just because someone is your friend doesn’t mean they understand what is going on with you and isn’t hurt when you treat them rudely in IM.

I’m not sure how to solve these issues. I’m probably going to have to bite the bullet and send an email to all the perps because they don’t read my blog. I wanna be nice about it, but at the same time, it’s hard because I’m disappointed in their behavior. I don’t want people to be mad at me, but I also don’t want to feel bad when I speak to them in IM and they just don’t show me any courtesy. Obviously, it’s something that has to be tailored to each friend in an individual way, but I don’t like having to do it. I wish I could just understand how people can get like this. It reminds me of how people drop all their friends when they have a new love interest. It’s rude, and hurtful.

Ok, I’m stepping down from the soapbox. Do you have an IM or Twitter pet peeve? Something that common courtesy would resolve? Feel free to rant about it in comments.

Have happy social media Sunday!

I’ve been grilled like a bratwurst at a tailgate party! Neil over at Citizen of the Month has this project he set in motion some six months or so ago. It’s still going strong. It’s the Great Interview Experiment. The reason I know it is still going strong is that I was interviewed by Vodkamom. If you’re interested in what she asked me and what I had to say, click on her name and check out the interview post on her blog. She didn’t ask me run of the mill questions so it’s not quite as boring as you might think it would be. I sent off my questions to the person I am interviewing and I’m awaiting his replies. Once I have them, I will post my interview here.

Now, it’s time for my Monday Marcus photo. Today, I am speechless. I just want to look at the man and drool. These are the photos that made him a superstar in the modeling world.

If you like hot guys who are cool, you gotta swing by Uncle Monkey Boy’s brand new blog. Click on his name and leave a welcome comment for him. I’m very excited for him. I’m sure he will find this just as much fun as the rest of us do.

I had a great brunch at El Torito with Karl and Motley on Sunday. I knew Karl would be going back to Florida on Wednesday so I wanted a chance to go hang with him one more time before he left. He’s not even gone yet and I already miss him being nearby!

So he and I and Motley were sitting at our table Twittering and fussing with our new phones… while this guy sat a few booths away with an overstuffed organizer, papers sliding out of it… We were so techie and cool. I don’t understand how business people can walk around with those little overstuffed folders of leather in this day and age. Hello! Smart phones, people! Buy one. Learn to use it. Lose the bits of paper!

Paper is only good for fanning yourself when you’ve been looking at Marcus Schenkenberg photos. HEH. Have a great Monday!