xidey.wordpress.com Has Moved To thepursuitofalife.com

Today I moved by personal blog from the former url https://xidey.wordpress.com to http://thepursuitofalife.com. I wanted more power and control over my WordPress installation, so decided to take the plunge.

I’ve definitely got mixed feelings about the move, because my old domain carried a PageRank of 5, and as I understand it, wordpress.com doesn’t offer the option of using permanent 301 redirects, which would tell Google that the links should transfer over and keep my PageRank intact. Oh well.

I’ll be adding plugins of all sorts over the next week or two, including a long-overdue one from @npost that I think I promised back in the summer.

If you’re a subscriber, please consider re-subscribing to thepursuitofalife.com, and if you’re not, please consider adding me to your feed reader!

Two Great Pictures

Here’s what Twitter brought to me today.  First, from @_Dianne, this picture of lightning over Brisbane, courtesy of news.com.au:

Lightning over Brisbane

Next, from @moniguzman, this picture of the 520 floating bridge in Seattle “floating” in fog, via Twinkle Shots:

520 bridge floating in fog

Thanks tweeples!

Missing Categories In Mashable! Open Web Awards

Check out the list of categories for the 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, presented by Mashable!  You see tons of items related to social media, social networking, etc., but some categories are missing – where is personal productivity?  Tools, like online source control, project management, and analytics?

It smells as if the people who put together the list were somewhat technical, but not *very* technical – and the output reflected that result.

UGC is important, and it’s important to solicit user content earlier and earlier in the process.  Back in the day, you’d have Letters To The Editor.  Now users can actually suggest, and contribute funds to, stories that they want to see investigated.  It would have been nice if Mashable! ran the list of suggested categories past the user base first, or had a specific mechanism to suggest additional categories.

Silvertlight Spelling Error

Yes, you read that right. After the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 upgrade, here’s what my Help|About dialog looks like:

Spelling error in the VS 2008 SP1 Help|About dialog

Look in the “Product Details” section at the bottom.

How To Back Up A MySQL Database From a Command Prompt

I just upgraded my WordPress installation to 2.6.3 and have some tips for you future Googlers.

To back up your database from the command prompt, type:

mysqldump –user=username –password=password databasename > filename

Example:

mysqldump –user=foo –password=123456 foodb > foodb.bak

How To Get The Current User in MySQL

To determine who you are currently logged in as in a MySQL command prompt, type the following:

mysql> select user()

or

mysql> select current_user()

How To Get The Current Database Name In MySQL

I just upgraded my WordPress installation to 2.6.3 and have a few tips to blog about for all of you Google searchers.

To find the current database in a MySQL prompt, type the following:

mysql> select database();

Serendipity Is A Great New Breakfast Place in Magnolia

Today I took my family to Serendipity, a newish cafe in Magnolia Village.  I’m happy to report that it the food is excellent, the coffee is excellent, and that’s not even the best part!

In the back of the seating area, the owners have built a kids’ play area that is surrounded by a low wall.  Parents can grab one of the booths or tables outside the area and keep an eye on the kids while they talk pleasantly among themselves.  It’s a real highlight for harried grownups.  Inside the play area is a tabletop train station, a large dollhouse, and other smaller toys.  It’s fun for diaper butts all the way up to maybe 6-year-olds.

The food was great: my Spanish scramble was as spicy as any I’ve ever had at a breakfast place; great for my taste buds by maybe a bit too much for the average diner.  The French toast was thick, custardy, and loaded with vanilla and cinnamon; a real treat.

At 9:30 on a Sunday morning we did not have to wait in line, which was a real treat since I’m used to the lengthy lines at other Seattle-area breaksfast places like The Dish or Julia’s.

The only downside, and this is being very picky, was that the service was a touch slow; but it ended up being a net positive as my wife and I were able to enjoy our coffee and talk while the kids enjoyed themselves in the play area.

Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed!

My 2008 Election Predictions

President Obama wins the Electoral College 353 – 195, with an 9% margin over McCain in the popular vote.

Democrats pick up 8 additional Senate seats (AK, CO, MN, NC, NH, NM, OR, VA), for a 57+2 advantage in the Senate.

Democrats pick up an additional 32 House seats.

November Challenge: No Sugar

During the month of October I drank no coffee and no Diet Pepsi.  If you know me, you’ll know that this is a BFD.  It was occasionally very tough but here I sit on November 1st and feel altogether better for having done it.  My energy levels do not spike up and down during the day; and although I miss the manic caffeine buzzes, I don’t miss the corresponding sluggishness.

Interestingly, my overall energy level has not appeared to have gone up.  I expected more.  Also, I have not lost any weight; I expected that the subtraction of a couple lattes a day would have resulted in *something*.  I obviously am eating more, possibly to make up for less fluids or possibly to satisfy some oral fixation.

I’ve been thinking of what I could do in November that would be a good next step and have settled on not eating any sugar.  Specifically:

• No soft drinks or juices with added sugar
• No pastries
• No candy

The real killer thing for me is going to be giving up Red Vines, which I absolutely love.

This step must have been fated, as I read a great post this morning by Marina Martin about committing oneself to 30 days of kicking ass in November with personal goals.

I’ll report back on December 1st.