Moving the site from WordPress.com to my own had me very excited for a few days there. Maybe it’s a man-thing or a techie-thing, but I was as worked up as a lorry-load of leprechauns at a mini-skirt convention.

Okay, there were so many things that should have worked but didn’t. In the corporate world these are called challenges. I call them problems caused by fekers-who-don’t-publish-proper-help-files-and-have-out-of-date-info-on-their-website.

I drew on all my training in software engineering processes and planned everything meticulously. Then I seen the virtual mini-skirts and all that went out the window. I went at like a pig at a potato. Big mistake. You’re supposed to learn by them aren’t you? Well, then that makes me a fekin genius.

A big thanks to Eolaí for slicing the spud with some very useful advice and suggestions. And good luck to Bock with the move to his own site. I’m looking forward to seeing the new gaff.

• There is a new poll opened. It runs inline this time so you won’t be redirected to PollDadday.com. One of the great things about being able to use Javascript and Flash.
• Mo Rogha has been updated to a pretty nifty table. You can now sort it by clicking on the headers. This may be overkill right now, it might be useful when the list grows.

So I have all the gizmos, gadgets and go-faster-stripes I could ever want. Now all I need is to be able to write something readable. There’s always a snag isn’t there?

• This week, the Central Bank, predicted a slowdown in consumer spending. This worries me greatly. My average visit to Tesco currently takes 15 minutes. As I suffer from trolley rage, if this slows to 20 minutes I may not be able to cope mentally.

• For you linguists out there: Pop over to An Cainteoir Dóchais. You have seen many Irish-English glossaries but this one in the Irštině tab is nothing you’ve seen before. For a special treat, click on Cló Gaelach on the homepage. This renders the text in old Irish script. (Works best in IE).

• Still on linguistics, the barman in my local was leafing through a Polish-English dictionary one of the staff left behind. Jayzez, this is a fekin great dictionary - It even has ‘wanker’ in it. Well now I know how to grade dictionaries. Thanks for that, Pat.

• Sad but unbelievably funny: A friend’s father died suddenly a short while ago. As usual, all attending were invited back to a local hotel after the burial for a meal. Somehow the hotel had laid out napkins (with customised messages printed on them) which were for a wedding party later that day. My friend reckons she sat in a seat intended for a bridesmaid as hers read you’re next, girl!

Dear Van Drivers Listen here, wankers! Yeah, you. You in the Celtic/Mar U/Da Pool jersey. You with the Star/Mirror/Mail wedged on the dashboard between the paper coffee cups and left-over breakfast-rolls. Know who you are now?

Why can’t you shower of langers be like your big cousins, the truck drivers, and have some respect for other road users? We all know you want to be truckers when if you grow up. Some of you think you are truckers. But you’re not. Face it lads - you drive a scuttery Hiace/Transit/Ducato. Cars on steroids. That’s all. You aren’t in a big 18-wheel Scania.

You don’t scare me. Find that hard to believe? Well it’s true. It is pointless driving right up behind me. I’m not breaking the speed limit just because you’re up my ass like Freddy Mercury. I honestly don’t give a shit if you really must get to the next Centra/Spar/Mace for an emergency breakfast roll.

I know you don’t give a shit either. The van is not yours. You can drive it into the ground. Not your money. The boss is paying for the extra fuel you burn by overtaking above the speed limit. Not you. The boss will pay for tyres and engines worn out before their time. The boss will pay for the clipped mirrors and scraped paintwork. The boss will pay when you whack the van into a ditch.

There’s a phone number printed on your van. I’d call it and complain but I’d probably get you on the other end. You’d take the call too, while driving. Because you know van drivers are exempt from using mobile phones while driving. After all, you are on the way to the next Centra/Spar/Mace for an emergency breakfast roll.

What you don’t know is that there is another number on your van. It’s called a registration number. You wouldn’t know that being a Mirror reading, Mar U supporter. The three of you who have gotten visits from the cops this month and the one of you who will be in court on the 2nd of August will know my name. That one of you will have the pleasure of meeting me face-to-face then. (Pity really - I would have liked to meet you two other guys too. But then we’ll meet soon, I’m sure). I wonder if your boss will pay your fine? I wonder if your boss will pay the extra insurance? I wonder if you will have a job?

Yours sincerely

Just cop on!

I had EuroNews on the TV this morning. Every 5 minutes or so they made the following announcement.

Boris Yeltsin will be buried live here on EuroNews today.

If they go ahead with it, it will be the best reality TV ever.

It reminds me of years ago when a work colleague sent out an all-employees email:

There will be a presentation for Pat O’Brien who is getting married in the conference room at 3 o’clock today.

The GM responded immediately:

The conference room shall not be used for religious services of any kind without prior permission from the management.

Sorry about not posting for a while - I’ve been up the last few nights nursing a very sick database. It is getting better. A bit of a cough, but nothing serious. We may both get some sleep tonight. I need it. I’m more tired than the Michelin Man.

The database is just 3 days old, by the way. Ah, shur, they’re gas at that age.

Anyway. Why am I posting now? Well, just to proffer a word of advice to you kids out there:

If you are thinking about moving your blog to your own domain on a hosted service without technical help - DON’T!!

It is hell! Even if you (think) you know what you are doing, like mise. So many things which are supposed to work, don’t. Everything needs to be figured out as you go along. Help files, I hear you say. What help files?, you hear me ask. In my case all three entities involved pointed me toward their user forum.

I can’t complain. I can’t sue. I can’t do anything, because the services were all either free or very low cost. But seriously, what kind of builder, for example, would build your house and then when you ask for information about where he ran the water pipes, would suggest you chat with your neighbours?

Maybe this shouldn’t be a post in itself. Maybe I should have just commented in my post for feedback on how folks find using Web 2.0 applications.

WELCOME TO THE NEW SITE

And what a sight it is

I solved the issues with incorrectly linked comments … finally. There are still some problems, but they should not affect readers / commenters.

Just one thing to note: Moderation is not turned on. Ignore the message that says it is. I will fix this as soon as I find out which php file is causing it.