All of this hooplah was precipitated when I attempted to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress.  WordPress told me, as it did to many, many others, that my version of MySQL was outdated and that I had to update.  When I contacted my host about this, they basically told me that my only hope was to update to a new hosting package that supported a later version of MySQL.  Fortunately, I was able to do this without incurring any additional hosting costs (and actually the package I switched to is rather feature rich).  In any event, I exported my MySQL 4 database into a newly-created MySQL 5 database, made some configuration changes, and was able to successfully update WordPress.  However, upon viewing my newly-updated WordPress blog, I discovered the odd “junk” that you now see.

I’m sure a person more skilled in the ways of MySQL could fix this problem in their sleep, but unfortunately I am not that person.  So, if you have any thoughts on how to fix this problem, feel free to let me know in a comment.

IObit makes a great line of (free) system utility software that will do fantastic housekeeping on your computer. Advanced SystemCare will clean up your registry, clear out junk files, complete privacy sweeps, and much more. Smart Defrag, as its name suggests, is a hard drive defragmenter, but is far superior to Windows’s stock optimizer, with many more options and defragging modes. Both are great programs at a price you can’t beat.

Yeah, I did it. ‘Nuff said.

In case you haven’t heard, WordPress 2.7 rocks. In honor of WordPress 2.7 eptimozing all that is awesome in a publishing platform, here’s a look back at five years worth of WordPress goodness.

The Inauguration

Given the historical significance, I just have to say something about this. There’s truly a feeling of warmth and good will permeating the country right now. And it’s amazing. It’s so refreshing to see the country, at least for a moment in time, feeling so hopeful and optimistic about the future. It’s a wonderful feeling, and the energy is unlike anything I’ve seen or felt before. Let’s make history tomorrow!

Of course, the Inauguration has resulted in oodles of content at CNN, MSNBC, and many of the news networks. They have, among other things, assembled an amazing amount of historical presidental Inauguration content, such as summaries and text of past Inauguration speeches, and in some cases videos of those Inaugurations. Lots of American history there, for you history buffs.

The snow nullified both our offense and defense. It became incredibly difficult to see the ball, which completely shut down our pass-happy (actually, pass-dependent) offense. Also, the snow turned the natural grass field into a wasteland, making it impossible for our lightning-fast defense to get a jump on the oh-so-sackable Favrah. So, by the time the second half started, the Hawks were basically running in circles, and the Packers took advantage of it. Big time.

Regardless, I thank the Seahawks again for a fun season, and there’s always next year! And again, I thank them for showing me just how much fun football really is! If that statement makes you roll your eyes, well, tough.

In blog-related news, I’m currently trying to get my embedded gallery on its feet again. After I updated to the latest version of wordpress and wpg2, and switched my theme, the well-oiled, finely-tuned machine that was my embedded gallery… broke down. I’m currently trying to pick up the pieces, but it’ll take a bit more time. Not that anyone is dying to see my horribly-outdated gallery, but, hey it’s all part of the package.