Hey there. If you tried to visit yesterday, you probably got a database error. I still haven't figured out what is up with that. I think what was going on is that the database server was being moved, but it seems to be back now and the site still wasn't working. It's up now, mind you -- because you are reading it now -- but that is because I created a new database and uploaded the old content to it using my most recent backup (which, to the best of my knowledge, contains all of my recent posts, though a few comments may be missing). I e-mailed my host admin about the problem and was hoping to wait for a response, but my site not loading really, really bothered me so I had to try this. Hopefully they'll at least let me know what was wrong with the other server.

You'll also note (or not, since the change shouldn't really be noticeable on your end) that I upgraded to WordPress 2.1 shortly before the unexplained period of downtime. I don't think that has anything to do with the problem -- the site was working fine before I went to sleep late Saturday morning, the Scary-Crayon blog doesn't seem to be experiencing any analogous difficulties, and it's clear to me that they did something to the database server because earlier it was registering as having 0 MB in it despite clearly containing data -- but I suppose it's possible that the new WordPress install is somehow corrupting the database. Time will tell on that front, but in the meantime I'll be backing up my content much more frequently than normal (which admittedly wasn't all that frequent; maybe once every couple of months or so).

Also -- and again it's possible that it's something that got changed in WP, but I'm largely convinced that it's related to a server change because it began inexplicably on January 24 (before I upgraded WP on the 27th) -- I am no longer receiving notification when users post comments. I checked the mail logs and found this error: smtp server didn't accept RCPT To: command, replied "550 mail from 74.208.16.2 rejected: administrative prohibition". I'm not entirely sure what that means (aside from the obvious) or if I can do anything about it to fix the problem, but I'm doing some research and have posted on the WP support forums to see if I can't get around the difficulty. Natch, any info you have will be greatly appreciated.

Here's hoping Wesoteric doesn't die on us again! 😐

I was at Best Buy today with two DVDs in hand, and then I looked down at them and said, "You know what? I totally don't need these." And then I put them back on the shelf and walked out empty-handed. AMAZING.

In other news, they now sell 5' ethernet cables and several different types of USB cable (including one that would fit my digital camera!) at the dollar store. This is good! One can never have too many cables.

Um, can anybody tell me the point of last night's "South Park" episode? Have I missed some deeper meaning there, was it simply a twist on sports films, or did Matt and Trey just have an incredibly bad day? 'Cause Jesus Christ, dude -- that was sad! No... hope... no... hope... 😥

Happy Halloween, minna-san! I just posted a more involved Halloween entry over on the Scary-Crayon blog, so you're encouraged to go check that out if you're interested in my Halloween "tradition" and some quick comments about dollar store candies. Poor Bacardi did so much barking with all of the ringing of the doorbell and costumed strangers that I imagine his little throat will be sore for days to come.

Last night, I went to Bennett's Curse, which claims to be the best haunted attraction in the MD/DC area. If that's the case, I needn't worry about attending any others, as this one wasn't super fantastic. Credit where credit is due, though -- there were a few innovative touches. The 3D Hall of Clowns, in which the patrons don 3D glasses and look at a bunch of spooky clown paintings, was pretty cool, to say nothing of a giant animatronic skeleton beast thing by the name of GOLGOTH THE BLUDGEONER (or something like that) that actually gave a several minute-long speech about how he had bludgeoned people to death for centuries and how we had been chosen to spread his legend. I think most of the people in my group missed out on the greatness of Golgoth because they kept moving without even listening, but I stayed for his entire rant and have fulfilled my purpose in life by telling you about him.

See, more stuff like that would've been cool from my position, as there's nothing really scary about costumed people jumping out at you and growling. Hell, I've been through so many of these attractions that I am very good at spotting them in their hiding places, such that they generally don't even bother to try to scare me because they know I can see them. In any case, I can see kids getting scared (and admittedly I like seeing kids in these things, because at least then I can vicariously appreciate the sincerity of their experience), but I really don't get these adults who tremble and shriek and clutch at whomever they're with (or NOT with -- we'll get to that) as they pass through these things. Jumping at a sudden fright is to be expected, but beyond that there's not a whole lot to the scares here. I mean, hello -- YOU'RE A PAYING CUSTOMER. THEY CANNOT KILL, HURT, OR MAIM YOU. IF THEY ATTACK YOU AND YOU SURVIVE, YOU CAN SUE FOR BIG MONEY. The hosts even lay out the ground rules before you enter these attractions: do not touch the monsters (that is, the employees) and they will not touch you. Jeez.

Yet I ended up walking through the Dominion of Darkness -- a pitch black"maze, except it was more like a path with a few turns -- with some lady I do not know repeatedly shrieking and running into my back and clutching at my shoulders. At first I just shrugged her off, but it got so bad that I ultimately moved aside and told her and her group to go in front of me so that I could bring up the rear and thereby pass through the rest of the attraction in relative peace. I imagine my feelings at that point were similar to how Wendy felt when I dissed Van Gogh at the Met.

Combined with the fact that I spent about 100 minutes in line for three attractions that took about a total of 10 minutes, I can't say that the experience was worth the $20 in my case (though I will say that I don't feel like I got ripped off, because the attractions were certainly involved enough to warrant a $15-20 admission fee). I did enjoy the antics of the children in front of me in the line, though, who seemed endlessly amused by the fact that there was a screen featuring R-rated movies (Child's Play and Nightmare on Elm Street) set up for the benefit of people in line. And at one point, the two brothers also looked at their sister and said that they could never have an attraction like this for only girls because there would be so much screaming that it would be completely ruined. The girl's reaction was curious -- she said nothing, but eyed them with this strange look of pain and utter disbelief. And then at another point, one of the boys expressed a belief that girls don't go to Hell, presumably because they are incapable of doing anything bad enough to warrant that punishment. Kids are strange.

And to close, here's a weird comment that my spam filter picked up:

chlamydia Bricklin SV-1 from North America
Bloody hell chlamydia I had never even heard of the Bricklin until I saw it on a movie earlier tonight (thinking it was a DeLorean, haha), but then I checked out this forum, chlamydia always been a fan of '70s exotics, and just reading about the mods you made to that car made me salivate.

What?!?!? If it weren't for the random chlamydia links (and yes, each instance hotlinked to some page, which I assume was all about chlamydia), I'd think that maybe this guy just posted a comment meant for someone else in the wrong window or something... but I dunno. Very, very weird.

Also, Adrian Alexis has some good stuff.

That does it for this entry, then. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Ja ne. 🙂

I have a tendency to spend way too much time writing these things, so I am limiting myself with this one. (You wouldn't believe it, but typing just this took me a full minute because I revised it that. many. times.) If I have not said what I intend to say within ten minutes, I will stop right there, mid-sentence, what have you -- and perhaps continue the thought another day. Perhaps not. We'll see. Okay, here goes:

On Friday, I took a page from what I believe to be the M. Glitter Playbook and stopped by Taco Bell for the first time since probably the late 90s. I used to go there all the time as a kid -- back when they had cool premiums like Batman and Ghostbusters cups (that was TB, right?) -- and then because it was a cheap place to get some halfway decent grub, but with me buying my own food from the supermarkets now and whatnot I just hadn't gone there. Anyway, I don't think I had a defined reason not to go there before, but I do now. See, the main draw of Taco Bell was never that the food was really good, but that it was really inexpensive. I mean, you could eat like a king (or pig) on just $5, if you got like five tacos or three tacos and something else or whatnot. But now Taco Bell seems way too expensive. I guess it's still cheap if you get beef tacos, but buying them with chicken (or steak) ups the price of each taco almost a whole dollar after tax -- so I ended up paying $3 for a lukewarm Cheesy Gordita Crunch. It wasn't bad, but for just a few more dollars I could make like ten of those things at home. So I'll have to pass on Taco Bell.

I was looking for a replacement pillowcase for my pillow (thanks for inadvertently reminding me to change it, Molly) on my laundry and clothing-filled top bunk and I came across an Ultimate Fighting Championship t-shirt that reads, "As real as it gets." And I thought, That is not true at all! Because "as real as it gets" would be like those underground Mortal Kombat type tournaments where people are actually killed and never seen or heard from again. Shame on you for lying, UFC!

Our time is up. 🙁