Warren Shea - World of Warren

Hiatus….OVER!

Friday, October 21st, 2011 at 6:35 pm

What can I say, my hiatus lasted a little over 24 hours. :/

I sent my request to my hosting company to move to new, upgraded hosting at around 11PM.
By 1AM, my new hosting had already been created/completed: Free of charge.

By 3AM, I moved the content of
horderockcafe.com
warrenshea.com
seasaltfishandchips.com
to my new hosting.

By 3AM, I was trying to restore my 21MB WordPress SQL backup file, when the Import of the new DB was at a 2MB max. WTF.
I found a PHP script that took the SQL file, and pending correct database information, would run the SQL commands though the PHP. Effectively, rather than myPHPAdmin or whatever importing the contents of the .SQL file, it was basically a PHP script running the .SQL commands, effectively restoring the database. I ran into some minor but easily remedied trouble…but I’ve only been working on the site for like, 30m-1hour, and as you can see, by 7PM I have my backups restored.

I’m currently just archiving my content, SQL databases, etc…

My goal tonight is to install WordPress onto my new PHP5 server, for my new domain. Also, to make sure everything is running okay. If this blog works…my hopes are high.

All together, the migration seems pretty damn painless.
Now seems to be a good time to promote my hosting: IX Web Hosting. I’ve been with them since March 2007…so almost 5 years. They’ve been fantastic….no problems on my end. This was another example of a simply fantastic job.

So I’m back. Already.

Off to continue working on stuff….see you soon! :D

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Hiatus

Thursday, October 20th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

I’ve decided to go on an undetermined blog hiatus. The reasoning is actually really simple though…it’s not due to content but more of a technical restriction.

When I signed up for hosting on this account, a few years, my hosting company had just started supporting ASP.NET 3.5 and hadn’t reached PHP 5 (I don’t think it was even out yet). Years later, and WordPress now requires PHP 5. And ASP.NET has moved to 4.0….but I’m still on a server that doesn’t support these things.

I haven’t been updating my WordPress on worldofwarren.com for a while now, because of this. It hasn’t been a big problem, with the exception of being unable to use a PHP 5 function here and there.

But as I have a new domain now, and I’ve decided to put WordPress on it….(and use WordPress properly this time), I gave the install a try last night and it failed. Rather than put an old WordPress on, I figure now is a good time for an upgrade.

I’ve been avoiding an upgrade for a while for many reasons:

1. I don’t want to back up my stuff, and find out that (for some reason), I cannot restore it properly.
2. It’s quite possible I go on a shared server cluster [not sure if that’s correct terminology] that sucks. Like, it’s not dedicated, it’s shared hosting. What if I go on a server cluster that uses crazy resources? What if the only reason my stuff is so stable is because no one is on this legacy hardware anymore? One bad apple can ruin it for everyone. One bad developer, infinite looping and sh!t can ruin it. I know when some of my friends went on my hosting provider, they had completely different experiences than I. Just the same, when I tried different hosting, they weren’t any good [despite recommendations for my friends]. Anyways, I’ve decided to take the chance. In worst case scenario, maybe I can just ask to get transferred somewhere else.

So anyways, I’ve decided abruptly that I’ll take a blogging break, backup all my databases and code, and do a migration. Now is a good time as my day job is getting busy and having one less distraction or priority will be a nice break. I figure I’ll back everything up…and slowly work on warrenshea.com offline if I get the itch to do something. I don’t know how long it will take….but I’ll blog again once it’s finished. Hopefully I’ll be on an equally stable server :)

This may be a good chance to get my local environments working correctly….hmmm. Anyways.

I’ll talk to you all on the other side. Don’t miss me too much. :)

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Random Update

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 at 11:14 pm

Despite wanting to give up on the Kirby game, I’ve taken another approach: Finish 1, 2 or 3 levels in a sitting, rather than try to force myself to continue to play (cuz that makes me really sleepy). Better to play this game in moderation. I’ll eventually hit 100%…I’m at world 3 now, 46% complete…with all Gold Coins for each level. So far, I’m on my way to 100% completion rate :)

Almost everywhere I go now, I keep thinking about Zombie Apocalypse Survival. For example, I went to Table 17 for dinner today, using a Groupon that expired today. While there, Z and I had a window seat…and I was thinking how…unsafe that place would be in the zombie apocalypse. Honestly, almost everywhere I go, I’m thinking about zombie apocalypse survival. I had no idea The Walking Dead would have this kind of lasting effect on me. It’s quite entertaining.

I read somewhere that when women enter a room, they look at faces…and [other things women notice]. When men look into a room, the immediately, unconsciously, begin to study escape routes, safety issues, etc. Like survival is so innately important to them.

I have a new website project. Domain purchased. It’s related to my interests…but also something I might not be able to share with everyone. That is, I might build it, but not tell people that I run it. While a Japanese otaku might understand it’s awesomeness, I fear the close-minded co-workers of mine may not be so forgiving. Anyways, will write more.

My plan is to finish warrenshea.com before Oct 31…but I might not hit that date due to work. I don’t know why I set that date out…I was just motivated to work on projects and be productive but I find that with deadlines, and productivity, come stress. And with stress, come sickness. I’m avoiding sickness like the plague right now. Everyone around me is sick… :/ It’s a hard battle to win. Like surviving the zombie apocalypse. Anyways….I want to start the new website project. I’m not sure whether to use WordPress on it temporarily, while I build an ASP.NET site….or to just start building an ASP.NET site now, and…not have a website for a while. The problem is that the website topic is peaking in interest as we speak….well, it may continue to peak….but I don’t want to complete the site during the fall of interest.

Also, I want to develop this ASP.NET site:
1. Correctly – code in the proper places…no inline code hacks like I’ve done in the past. Correct layers…Presentation, Business, Code….[insert other words that are releveant]
2. Locally

I’m always about trying to do something different….with code (not irl lol). The more approaches you take, and continue with, the more you learn. Rather than do the same thing, or method over and over again.

It’s difficult: Lots of work, lots of personal projects, and avoiding stress and sickness. But this is currently what I’m trying to balance.

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Accomplishments – October.516 2011 Edition

Saturday, October 15th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

Shows / Movies
Toy Story 1, 2, 3 [Rewatched] – Done
The Walking Dead – S01E01 – S01E06 – Done

Books & Manga

worldofwarren.com

warrenshea.com

secretproject [to be renamed]

Gaming
Kirby Mass Attack (3DS) – 38% – In Progress

Web Development and Design

Other

Notes
I’ve been unsick for about a week now, so I’m catching up on all my shows and other stuff. I’m slowly working on gathering my materials for the warrenshea.com portfolio, though I still haven’t coded anything since the last week of august. Seriously, time flies.

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The Zombie Apocalypse

Saturday, October 15th, 2011 at 4:24 am

I’ll admit, I’m not much of a zombie person. While the idea, once I’ve given it more thought, intrigues me….I definitely dislike the idea of an onslaught of mindless, but difficult to stop zombies approaching me. I feel anxiety when I watch it, fearing a personal plague on myself despite being highly unlikely (at this time…).

It frightens me that a simple bite could cause a zombie. I mean, it seems quite difficult to avoid. If I were at home, in my condo and the zombie apocalypse hit, I’m sure I’d be dead within moments. I’m on the 8th floor…my only way to ground is stairs (a small area) or….freefall or something :) Plus, I live downtown. There’d be zombies everywhere. No, I don’t predict much hope for me if the zombie apocalypse were to occur. That said, I wouldn’t move away from downtown to avoid this potential threat.

Anyways…if there were a zombie apocalypse, this is an idea I had…for safety reasons though not for survivability. I would go way up North, where it’s so cold you might freeze to death. But I’d bring clothes and hopefully find shelter there. In a place like this, zombies would be stuck dead in their tracks (because of how cold it is). It would be difficult to survive, probably impossible to survive a long time….but you’d be safe from zombies.

As I was watching The Walking Dead, the idea behind the science, or biology of a zombie did intrigue me. I mean, a zombie can “live” without legs, or a stomach…or arms…basically, they just need the head. My question is, what keeps the cells alive? If blood isn’t needed in a zombie (because obviously they’re powered not by oxygen, but by…..I dunno) then what’s doing it?
Would zombie DNA or cells…I dunno, be solar powered (I’m trying to think how a zombie could survive a seeming eternity…without nourishment or energy)? That’s the only way I can think of for a zombie to live. They have like, Mitochondria that hold and convert solar energy into allowing the body to move without blood, limbs, etc….

Like, I understand…their brain losing all high functions, and they’re driven just on need to survive…and they want to feast on “brains” or any living thing…but they don’t need it (at least, from what I’ve seen from The Walking Dead). A zombie goes after the living…but can remain in a dormant “living” state without anything for a long period of time. My thoughts are that they don’t need living for nourishment or power….it’s just a mindless craving they have, but do not need. Doesn’t seem to make much sense from a survivability perspective….but I guess it’s the main premise of a zombie. If a zombie weren’t going after the living….it’d just be really really boring.

Maybe I’m over-analyzing. Again, I’ve never really given much thought to the zombie apocalypse but I’m glad I’ve been thinking about it. It’s always nice to try to figure stuff out :)

What I really don’t understand is….if the zombie apocalypse occurs….why not just plant sunflowers, corn, watermelons, squashes, and other fruits and vegetables on your front lawn. It seems to work pretty well for me in Plants VS Zombies. I guess you need to be good at Tower Defense (which I am!).

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