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warrenshea.com…needs an overhaul.

Monday, September 9th, 2013 at 2:26 am

I did this site a 1.25 years ago (! time flies !) and haven’t really touched it since.

While it’s good and the pinnacle of my development skill at the time, I’ve still grown (as a developer) since then.

I think my next project may be to update it. And not just update it, also design something that’s modern (and/or timeless) whilst also improving the code (MVC/modular/JSON/JSONP…whatever that is) and CSS. I’d also like to add to the portfolio section – not just the stuff I’ve done in the last 1.25 years, but also maybe add everything somehow. Even the non-relevant stuff – like art. But I’ll try to add it in a discreet and unobtrusive way. Also, I’d like to add my new job responsibilities. It never hurts to give the resume a good ol’ update.

In August, I had 5+ LinkedIner’s contacting me. And my LinkedIn profiles haven’t been updated in a while too. I’d really like to see what would happen if I really get out there.

I feel that I’m past my young prime. I feel like I’m at the start of the second phase of my career. If the first phase were called “Executor”, the second phase would be call “Strategist”.
Going from Junior Designer to Junior Design/Developer Hybird to Junior Developer to Intermediate Front-End Developer to Senior Front-End Developer to Development Lead.
And while Development Lead also sounds like an executor, I think the title Development Manager also applies, which is a strategist/management.

Anyways, I think it’s time for a warrenshea.com redesign/redevelopment. Also, it’d be good to learn something new and keep my skills from rusting. I still debug throughout the day but I haven’t developed something from scratch in a while.

Very excited about this.

And yes, my motivation came from another co-worker upgrading his site. “You won’t upgrade your site without me!” I cry, as I shake my fist in the air! RAWR!

(Almost) all my sites are migrated!

Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at 12:25 am

(mt) = Media Temple

Decided to combine everything into one compact email for reference purposes. I may need to remember the stuff I’ve done here…so good to document it all.

horderockcafe.com
Migrated domain to (mt), migrated content to (mt), changed nameservers to (mt), recoded to PHP

warrenshea.com
Migrated domain (pending due to domain transfer lockout), migrated content to (mt), changed nameservers to (mt)

seasaltfishandchips.com
Migrated domain to (mt), migrated content to (mt), backed up WordPress/mySQL DB from IXWebhosting, restored WordPress/mySQL DB on (mt), editing WordPress Config File, changed nameservers to (mt)

kotobishoujo.com
Migrated domain to (mt), migrated content to (mt), backed up WordPress/mySQL DB from IXWebhosting, restored WordPress/mySQL DB on (mt), editing WordPress Config File, changed nameservers to (mt)
kotobishoujo.com Post Migration: many pages didn’t work due to how my 404/permalinks is set up.
Thankfully, I made my own post: Tutorial: Setting up WordPress permalinks without index.php on IIS server which reminded me what I had done. I had to replicate my changes but rather than use IIS/CMS, I used the .htaccess file
# BEGIN WordPress

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]

# END WordPress

worldofwarren.com
Migrated domain to (mt), migrated content to (mt), backed up WordPress/mySQL DB from IXWebhosting, restored WordPress/mySQL DB on (mt), editing WordPress Config File, changed nameservers to (mt)

mySQL Backup
For all backup purposes, I used phpMyAdmin to back up the SQL to a .sql file.
To restore the file, I used BigDump which is a script that runs your .sql file (because you can’t upload a .sql file over 10MB) and creates everything. I did run into an error: It failed due to 3000+ lines of commands. To fix this, I simply changed
define (‘MAX_QUERY_LINES’,300);
to
define (‘MAX_QUERY_LINES’,999999);
Not sure if that’s the “best” way to fix it, but it worked. So I’m happy!

And I wrote all this for next time…so I remember :)

Hopefully the migration went well. I still have to test/debug and check everything. Probably be a couple days of fixing things…

warrenshea.com – Migrated!

Thursday, February 21st, 2013 at 5:53 pm

2 websites (horderockcafe.com & warrenshea.com) migrated. 3 to go…all the others, seasaltfishandchips.com, kotobishoujo.com, worldofwarren.com, have wordpress on them.

So they need a mySQL database export…and import. I’ve only done that once so far…but I’m sure by the end of the night (if I do it tonight) and do all 3, I’ll be proz.

That is all. The new server seems awesomes so far.


EDIT 6:45PM : seasaltfishandchips.com has been migrated !
Only kotobishoujo.com, worldofwarren.com left!

I’m moving….

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 at 1:40 pm

…to a new hosting company…for my websites…. (sorry if that’s anti-climactic!)

I’ve noticed uptime problems with my website. It’s pretty rare, but frequent enough that it’s bothering me. Originally, I was just dealing with the issue – I wasn’t aware you could domain transfer easily. Back in the day, domain transferring wasn’t common. Most hosting providers kinda “locked” you in with your domain. But that’s not how it is now (I just wasn’t aware of it).

So I’ve moved horderockcafe.com and kotobishoujo.com’s domains to a new hosting company, from IXWebHosting to MediaTemple. MediaTemple has served me well recently regarding some work things and I’ve been pretty impressed with them. I’m going to gradually transition my products over. First domains, and then hosting all together. I can simply have the nameservers point to my old hosting until I’m ready with the content on my new servers.

Hm. Looking at domains, I pay $75 for 5 domains with IXWebHosting. $7.50, $7.50, $20, $20, $20 oddly enough. That’s going to change to $60 ($12 each) for 5 domains.

But hosting currently costs me $131 (yearly), down from $144 a year ago and $151 before that. This new hosting will cost $200 (yearly). But I think that $70 is worth it if my site’s uptime and speed increases. I am a web developer after all and I use my websites quite enough for the $70 difference.

Anyways, that’s my plan! Hopefully I can get rid of all the hosting companies that have disappointed me in the past: GoDaddy, Brinkster, WebHost4Life, IXWebhosting (though it wasn’t terrible…).


Edit
ARGHHHHH!
I just purchased new hosting and migrated 2 domains over…and I realized…MEDIATEMPLE DOESN’T SUPPORT ASP.NET.
Which is kinda okay, since worldofwarren.com, seasaltfishandchips.com, and kotobishoujo.com use PHP. warrenshea.com is static and horderockcafe.com is asp classic…so it can be converted to PHP quite easily.

But what bothers me is that switching is going to prevent my ability to do ASP.NET…unless I do it locally, which I don’t like. Okay, it’s not a big deal. In the last 3 years, I’ve really seen and loved PHP…so I’ll stick with that.

okay. DRAMATIC EPISODE OVER.

…in three years…

Monday, January 7th, 2013 at 1:01 am

Today is a special day for me. It’s the 3rd year anniversary since I quit World of Warcraft. Ironically, I was playing casually last month but that whole phase seems to have gone. I’m not sick anymore and back to doing/working on things that “matter”. I wrote a similar post last year and the year before.

What I’ve done in the last year

worldofwarren.com
2012: 164 posts between Jan 7, 2012 and Jan 7, 2013. On average, roughly 13.7 posts/month. As with last year, falling in line with my hope of 150-200 posts.
2011: 187 posts between Jan 7, 2011 and Jan 7, 2012
2010: 308 posts between Jan 26, 2010 and Jan 7, 2011

warrenshea.com
Completed! Even though one year ago, I was saying this was almost done…but I only finished in May 2012. Anyways, finishing this was a great feat and led me to my next project

kotobishoujo.com
45 – retroactive blog posts
55 – pages including statues
3 – other pages (checklist, faq, contact)

Twitter
2012: 594 (totalling 3425 since Jan 10, 2010)
2011: 1486 (totalling 2831 since Jan 10, 2010)
2010: 1345

Improved development skills

  • Improved quite a bit in jQuery, HTML5, CSS3, AJAX this year mostly due to warrenshea.com
  • Improved a lot in PHP due to the Facebook work project I had including learning the JavaScript/PHP SDK, Facebook App Creation, Like Gates, and Facebook and Twitter Share Dialogs
  • Installed/learned WAMP and Media Wiki

Note: Keep in mind that for 95% of these movies/shows/cartoons, I’m not technically just watching them. They’re just ON while I do other stuff, like dev or photography.
Movies

  • Karate Kid [Rewatch]
  • Catch Me If You Can [Rewatch]
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Rewatch]
  • The Terminal [Rewatch]
  • The Prestige [Rewatch]
  • Karate Kid (2010) [Rewatch]
  • Tremors [Rewatch]
  • Training Day [Rewatch]
  • Superman Returns [Rewatch]
  • Gattaca [Rewatch]
  • Kick-Ass [Rewatch]
  • Back to the Future [Rewatch]
  • Wall-E [Rewatch]
  • Avengers [Rewatch]
  • Star Trek [Rewatch]
  • Men In Black [Rewatch]
  • The Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Rewatch]
  • Memento [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park [Rewatch]
  • The Lost World [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park III [Rewatch]
  • Good Will Hunting [Rewatch]
  • Gone in 60 Seconds [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze [Rewatch]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 [Rewatch]
  • TMNT [Rewatch]
  • Turtles Forever [Rewatch]
  • Casino Royale [Rewatch]
  • Quantum of Solace [Rewatch]
  • Skyfall
  • Independence Day [Rewatch]
  • Jurassic Park [Rewatch]
  • Catch Me If You Can [Rewatch]
  • The King’s Speech [Rewatch]
  • Pursuit of Happyness [Rewatch]
  • Star Wars IV: A New Hope [Rewatch]
  • Iron Man [Rewatch]
  • City of God
  • The Butterfly Effect
  • Indie Game The Movie
  • The Goonies
  • The Illusionist
  • The Prestige
  • Anchorman
  • Avengers [Rewatch]
  • Amazing Spider-man
  • Brave
  • Dark Knight Rises
  • Spider-Man [Rewatch]
  • Spider-Man 2 [Rewatch]
  • Spider-Man 3 [Rewatch]
  • Jiro Dream of Sushi
  • Avengers
  • Titanic 3D
  • Titanic [Rewatch]
  • Scott Pilgrim [Rewatch]
  • Battle Royale [Rewatch]
  • Up in the Air
  • The Godfather Part III
  • Show

    • House S1-S7 [Rewatch], S8
    • The Walking Dead S1-S3
    • Gilmore Girls S1-S7
    • Glee S1-S2 [Rewatch], S3
    • Pushing Daisies S1-S2
    • Hell’s Kitchen S9 [Rewatch]
    • Breaking Bad S1-S5 [Rewatch]
    • MasterChef S3 [Rewtach]
    • Dawson’s Creek S1-S6
    • Big Bang Theory S5 [Rewatch]
    • Mistfits S3
    • One Tree Hill S1-S4 [Rewatch]
    • Glee S1-S2 [Rewatch]
    • The Glee Project S1

    Cartoon

    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) S1-S9
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) S1
    • Samurai Pizza Cats E1-E13
    • Spectacular Spider-Man S1-S2 [Rewatch]
    • Batman The Animated Series [Rewatch]
    • Justice League: Doom

    Anime

    • Tekkaman Blade II
    • Tekkaman Blade
    • Steins;Gate
    • X-Men Anime
    • Persona
    • Spirited Away

    Reading

    • The Art of Racing in the Rain [Novel]
    • Ultimate Spider-Man 1-89 [Comic]
    • Amazing Spider-Man 654-700 [Comic]
    • Prince of Tennis Vol. 1-42 [Manga]
    • Hikaru no Go Vol. 1-23 [Manga]
    • Neon Genesis Vol. 13 [Manga]

    Gaming

    • Super Mario Bros. Wii U [Wii U]
    • Contra III: Alien Wars [SNES][Replay]
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time – Normal Mode [SNES][Replay]
    • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time – Hard Mode [SNES][Replay]
    • Kirby: Return to Dreamland [Wii]
    • New Super Mario Bros [DS]
    • Super Mario 3D Land [3DS]
    • Zelda: A Link to the Past [SNES][Replay]
    • Braid [PS3]
    • Kirby: Return to Dreamland [Wii] [Replay]
    • The New Super Mario Bros 2 [3DS]
    • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [3DS]
    • World of Warcraft – 80-85 – Annataz
    • World of Warcraft – 80-83 – Aldino
    • World of Warcraft – 80-83 – Sheaman
    • World of Warcraft – 80-82 – Blackcanary
    • World of Warcraft – 80-81 – Sudoku
    • World of Warcraft – 80-81 – Grimlock
    • Tiny Tower – 161 Floors
    • Diablo 3 – Level 43-52 (Monk) – Normal mode, Nightmare done, Hell mode Act 1
    • Diablo 3 – Level 1-20 (Demon Hunter) – Normal mode

    Art
    None

    Photography

    • Kotobishoujo: Scarlet Witch
    • Kotobishoujo: Phoenix
    • Kotobishoujo: Dark Phoenix
    • Kotobishoujo: Batgirl Black Costume
    • Kotobishoujo: Poison Ivy
    • Kotobishoujo: X-23 X-Force
    • Kotobishoujo: Christie Monteiro
    • Kotobishoujo: Catwoman
    • Kotobishoujo: Liara T’soni
    • Kotobishoujo: Supergirl
    • Kotobishoujo: Evil Supergirl
    • Kotobishoujo: Wonder Woman
    • Kotobishoujo: Batgirl Black Costume
    • Kotobishoujo: Supergirl
    • Canon Rebel T3i – new DSLR camera!

    Video

    • Converted 22 VHS Tapes to Digital
    • Converted 12 Camcorder Tapes to Digital

    What I hope to accomplish this year

    worldofwarren.com
    I hope to consistently update my achievements section.
    I also hope to do a few figure reviews. I have a lot of toys that don’t get much spotlight and I’d like to give them some.
    If this blog stays as is – a journal of my life – I plan to leave it as it. If I change the direction of this blog, I would hope to create a Facebook page for this.

    warrenshea.com
    This is done and I haven’t been updating/needed to update it much. At some point, I’ll have to gather any projects worth showing from May 2012 to now and add them to the Porfolio section. Otherwise, I’m pretty content with this.

    kotobishoujo.com
    I purchased the domain for this last year, in Oct 2011 but only started doing stuff with it in May 2012. It’s been about 7 months and while I’ve done a lot, there’s still much to do. My hope is to definitely finish this thing this year. And then I can start with other stuff…

    Blogging
    I’m content with my blogging. It’s not as much as I’d like but I don’t have the content to fill…so it all works out :)

    Reading, Art
    Don’t really care about these two things anymore…

    Gaming
    Here’s my Gaming TO DO list:
    The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Replay] – In progress already
    The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
    The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Replay]
    Mega Man 1 – 5
    Mega Man Zero
    Super Mario Galaxy
    Super Mario Galaxy 2 (maybe)
    Final Fantasy III (VI)
    If I stick to this list, I should be able to get it down fairly easily.

    Photography
    Learn more about Photography !
    Improve on my macro shots including finishing my Kotobishoujo.com pics and adding some figures to my Figure Review section
    Purchase a 50mm (details pending) lens for everyday shots.

    Improving development skills
    Learn MVC and apply it to warrenshea.com (via backbone.js)
    Improve my OOP.
    ASP.NET MVC?
    Become Microsoft Certified in something? SQL?
    There’s a lot I could put here, but technology is always changing…it’s hard to predict what I’ll want to know in the year.


    How I’ve changed professionally this last year

    It’s been a critical year professionally for me. I’ve been looking at posts from the last 3 years and 2 years ago, I had a crushing experience – not getting the senior developer role despite both applying and feeling qualified for it. Oddly enough, I got the role, unofficially a few months after. And I had that role, title and responsibility, but not the pay for a year+.

    After doing the role but not getting paid for it (for a year~) my work ethic changed. It got worse – I’d come in late, and I’d leave early. In a way, justifying my job and low(er) pay by working less hours, to increase my pay ratio I guess.

    And 1/2 way through last year, I finally got my promotion + salary increase. But unfortunately, my work ethic stayed around the same – poor. It only becomes great when I work on an interesting project. And that’s more for personal gain/motivation than professional (well, I guess it’s both).

    So basically, I’m enjoying my life now. I got my senior developer title. I got my senior developer pay. But I don’t work that hard. And I choose the jobs I want…cuz I’m a diva. Though I tend to also take shitty projects. Funny thing is, I actually downgraded my title (but not my pay) to Intermediate Developer, so I that can still develop and do less project management/overseeing. I’d still rather develop than be in meetings and talk/consult. There’s still much to gain from being in the front-lines. I got very good at being confident with my voice and critical thinking/situations – making the right call/judgement in a critical situation. It’s a skill I think will help throughout my life. To weigh my options and determine what’s best.

    How I hope to change professionally this year

    I’ve been casually interviewing. Talking with headhunters. I’m finding that a lot of people find me on LinkedIn, but once they go to warrenshea.com, they’re sold. They want to talk to me about job…cuz my website is so awesome :D Unfortunately, in these scenarios, most of the jobs they offer suck. Not interested in being the only developer on a site/in a company. Sigh…stop offering me that crap.

    Not sure where I want to go professionally actually…but I want to improve my development skills personally and professionally. Again, I don’t always know where I’m headed but as long as I’m pointed in the right direction.


    …in three years…

    I’ve done a lot since I quit WoW, three years ago today. It’s funny, WoW’s not even a part of my life anymore, it seems odd to pay some kind of tribute to not playing it when I barely think about it nowadays. But I guess I must always remember the 5 years, 400 days of playtime I wasted to that game. I must always remember to keep busy to make up for that time.

    Reading last year’s post, I’m in a much better place happyness-wise. And isn’t that what it’s always about? Being happy? The answer is: yes.