This is just a post to let you know that I am still around. Things will be changing. Give me a couple more weeks. I know, I know, it’s a lot to ask. Lots of things going on and all will be revealed in time. Ok ok, that sounds ominus and cliched…. Anyway.

I’m always excited when there is some kind of upgrade to MovableType, especially if it’s a quick and easy one. Before you do upgrade to 5.1 make sure you back up everything, literally. I thought I had and thought I had made a huge mistake (which luckily was easily fixed). I thought I had downloaded a complete site backup. What it turned out to actually be though was a System backup. I’m not entirely sure what that means but I do know it was not what I thought. When you think you’ve made a huge mistake and didn’t download the proper backup, you may go through what I did. So, first and foremost, make sure you download the correct backup from your host, then backup (and hey maybe even export entries) from each blog hosted with your MT setup. After you’ve done that, read the instructions.

Unlike previous upgrades of MovableType you do not want to overwrite the files of the previous version. You want to put them in their own file folder in the cgi-bin and make a new mt-static folder to go with version 5 as well. After doing that, changing the file permissions (etc) you’re ready to do the check and login for upgrading. Remember to change the config file to recognize the new paths to the new folders! This is one thing that I forgot to do.

After everything upgrades, login. Everything is completely different. The setup is more like WordPres with the menu down the side instead of being along the top. One thing that isn’t working for me inside the system are avatar photos. I’m not sure why yet but once I figure it out I will let you know. I tried finding out where the photos are supposed to go but I can’t find that in the file folders on the server - the one they are talking about doesn’t seem to exist. I uploaded new photos to try and use as an avatar in the system but they were no listed as a possible photo to use. I need to look through the manual and see if this is addressed.

I haven’t tried everything in the new system yet. I have removed spam trackbacks, looked through the settings regarding the blog info and registration setup to make sure everything was still the same and so forth. Things seem to be larger in the new system. The window in which you type your post out is larger and does not need to be resized (nor can it be). The menu being at the left is much more nicer than the one in 4.3 because I won’t accidentally run my mouse over it to do something else and end up having the menu floating over the post box. With the new menu you actually have to click in order to open and close the menu.

The theme is the same with the gray, blue and green throughout. It may take some time to get used to the new format and layout but it shouldn’t take long at all. Everything is there, everything works and hopefully there will be some new themes to go with the new version before long. Enjoy the new system, mt users.

From my family to yours, from my pets to yours, from our tree to yours, Merry Christmas! Have a beautiful, safe and thrilling holiday with your family and friends. May you all eat too much and not gain an ounce, may you all drink sparingly and have a sparkle in your eye. Enjoy those children for they’ll be adults and on their own path way too soon. Listen to the elders for they have many stories to share that they won’t be doing for much longer. Enjoy your family, even the annoying parts, because you simply never know. Apologize, Forgive, Hug and Make new Memories.

So I’ve finally gotten around to continuing through the world of magic Kelley Armstrong has created. Werewolves, Vampires and Half-Demons oh my! The world she has created is filled with magic and adventure, love and strife, making it feel as if you could simply step through and be there, experiencing every detail for yourself. Kelley Armstrong has not only written this amazing saga, but along with it, several short (and not so short) stories to supplement the details of the characters backgrounds. Such as how Hope and Karl met, in Chaotic, or the details about how Paige and Lucas came to have their own office to start their dream business given in El Chupacabra. Don’t stop at reading just the series, get behind the scenes and find out more about the characters you love.

Industial Magic features Paige and Lucas as they are sucked into helping the four Cabals find a serial killer murdering the teenage children of their employees. Jaime Vegas helps by contacting the deceased to find out what they remember, if anything, about how they died. In order to solve the distressing case, they have to bring in other members of the council and during the case realize that even Savannah is in danger. The Pack help out by taking Savannah in during the time Lucas and Paige are trying to find out who is tracking down and killing supernatural teens. During this novel you’ll find out more intricate details about Cabal families and their lives, how difficult it is to be in such a family for many children and how hard it truly is for Lucas when working with his father. You’ll get to see Cassandra and Aaron as well as a few other members of the council helping to find the murderer as quickly as possible. There’s quite a few adventures in this novel, including an accidental trip to the otherside - the Afterlife.

Haunted takes you into the Afterlife, a dimension where the dead continue their ‘lives’ - usually doing something they are good at. Eve Levine on the other hand, Savannah’s mother, is more concerned with finding a way to watch her daughter, and even be a part of her life, until a crazy Nix decides to induce people to start killing. This story originates in medieval times when a Nix accidentally traps itself in a human host and dies. The Nix has already trapped an angel - whom no one can find where - and driven another angel literally insane. It’s up to Eve to trap the Nix and put her back where she belongs, but she can’t do so without earning her wings. Can you imagine? Black Witch to Angelhood for Eve Levine? Using her afterlife, and even some living, contacts she gets the facts, tracks down and kicks ass. She’s heavy on the snark and the attitude, which may be off-putting to some, but when it comes to getting the job done, Eve is your witch.

Broken revisits Elena and the Pack. I normally dislike Elena, but I have gotten used to her jumping to do whatever she see’s fit to get the problem solved. I’ve even started to like her and feel bad about her having to endure a Toronto summer heavily pregnant while they try to find Jack the Ripper. You read that right. Jeremy, Clay and Elena take on a job from Xavier - a malicious half-demon who helped kidnap her previously - to steal the infamous From Hell letter. In retrieving the letter they accidentally open a portal which brings out two zombies and (possibly) Jack the Ripper. During this time Elena has been struggling with being pregnant and has been having nightmares regarding it. She’s capable of shifting into her wolf without complication, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t scared like most new mothers. Elena has even more fears. What happens if the baby is a girl and thefore not a werewolf? What happens if it’s a boy and is a werewolf? Fears most new mothers don’t need to worry about. Her nightmares continually plague her, and by extension, Clay. As overprotective and controlling as he usually is has multiplied tenfold during Elena’s pregnancy. Being as there have never been two werewolves documented in their past to have children, this is a new one for the entire Pack.

No Humans Involved features your favorite celebrity necomancer (that’s right!) Jaime Vegas! The sexy redheaded celebrity has been picked to join two other mediums on a tv-reality show called Death of Innocence and they are put into a house in L.A. to live. Jeremy Danvers takes time out of his busy Alpha schedule to visit with her and in turn help her solve the murder of 6 children who are unable to speak or otherwise communicate with Jaime. All they can do is touch her and speak in whispers that even her power cannot make out clearly. Jeremy is a great help during this novel with his werewolf skills to aid Jaime in finding out who murdered the children and how to possibly free them from their in-between state. You also get to meet Hope Adams and Karl even makes an appearance. The intriguing piece in this book is that it involved humans, despite the title. A group of humans are trying to find the link between themselves and magic and how to give it to themselves. They don’t believe the paranormal exists and some people in the group chase down and prosecute paranormal scammers. During their search to track down and put these people behind bars they find information that may lead them to bringing magic into the human world. The way they are going about it is the reason that Jaime and Jeremy have to stop them. Jaime may not be strong in physical sense but she is quite a huge help to the council in other ways and does know how to put her ‘flighty, flaky celebrity’ personality on the sidelines when working such a horrific case. If you’re someone who wants Jaime and Jeremy to get together, this is definitely the novel you don’t want to skip. You’ll find out what they decide to do about their feelings for each other and what Jaime decides to do with her insecurities and her life.

Personal Demon takes you on a thrill-ride only a Chaos Half-Demon could truly capture and enjoy. Hope Adams is featured in this novel and she’s not your normal half-demon. Most half-demons gain powers and none of the chaotic thrill that their fathers enjoy. With Hope she got the reverse. Being Lucifer’s daughter is hard enough (and he’s just another demon like Satan) but when the bliss of chaotic distress takes over you and blinds you completely as to what’s going on as you drink it in, you could not only endanger your life but the lives of those you love. Hope is trying still to learn how to control her need to feed that chaotic demon. You originally meet her in No Humans Involved trying to help Jaime and Jeremy find out who killed the children and what they need to do to keep it from happening again. In this novel Hope decides to pay her debt (If you read the short story Chaotic, you’ll read about the favor owed) to Benicio Cortez by infiltrating a gang trying to cause issues for the Cortez Cabal in Miami. Not only does Hope allow herself to enjoy the chaos thrills she’s experiencing by infiltrating the gang but she also decides to enjoy a little personal time with Jaz, one of the gang members who’s sexy smile and outgoing personality are exactly what she feels she needs to get over Karl Marsten. Eventually Karl finds out where she’s at and what’s going on and comes to Miami, which makes things all the hotter and more enjoyable to read. In this novel Hope is able to expand her control over her powers and use them to her advantage. With all the strife that happens in this thrilling page-turner Lucas and Paige have to step in and help Benicio run the Cortez Cabal. That’s right, Lucas steps in and turns to the dark side for a few moments, not because he has to but in order to help the father that he does truly love, even if he doesn’t want anything to do with the Cabal itself.

Living with the Dead features Karl and Hope back in L.A. helping Hope’s friend Robyn after losing her husband in a misunderstood shooting. Robyn is human though and has no idea what Hope and Karl really are, supernatural. This novel needs to be read slowly, as it tends to change point of view often and may cause confusion. There are other new characters introduced as well, who we’ll probably never see again, such as Finn. Finn is a detective on the LAPD who can see ghosts. He’s a very weak necromancer but has never known the term. Finn simply knows that his family line carries some strange anomaly that allows some of them to see ghosts. You’ll also get to meet several clairvoyants, who were supposedly a very rare race. I enjoyed the story because Hope and Karl were in it and I enjoy their characters because they are such a complicated pair. Karl struggles with his overprotective, controlling, oh god I have to sniff the ground behavior and Hope struggles to not be needy. I consider Hope a strong character but she does not consider herself strong. She dislikes asking Karl for his help let alone needing it. I like the fact that Karl is there, and will stand back, until she asks for his help. I’m not sure why she has an issue with that. I know they will make it as a couple if they stand back and look at how well suited they are for each other. Robyn may enter into later novels, but simply as a secondary character. I can’t quite figure out why Kelley Armstrong decided to ‘let a human in’ to the supernatural world. Perhaps this is a step to having them come out to the human population who outnumbers them exponentially? Let’s hope not, I’d see widespread extermination and genocide if that happens. I know this isn’t much of a review on this book, but you have to read it in order to continue the series, and with the constant change in view points it may be something you’ll want to read when you are waiting somewhere for something or want to get it done and over with to move onto the next novel.

Make sure you take the time to go behind the scenes and read the short stories. You can find them at Kelley Armstrong’s website for free. Some of them are (I feel anyway) long enough that they could stand as a novel. These stories are great if you’ve gone through the series and want something more about your favorite characters to read or if you’re biting your nails waiting for the next novel to come out. I am enjoying her novels more and more, even though I started out disliking Elena, even she has grown on me and I can’t wait to see her again. Enjoy!

On occasion I allow Dusty to drink water out of my mug. This of course spoils him into thinking he can do it whenever he wants, which is not the case. I’ve almost gotten him to the point where he knows when he’s allowed to drink out of my mug (when I’m offering) and when he’s not (when I don’t have water in it). I had poured the rest of my water into their bowl before we left for Honey’s birthday dinner. When we got back, I sat down and Dusty started messing with the mug. He kept trying to put his face in it and didn’t succeed at first. So I told him to stick his head in the mug and he did. I was so shocked i had to take a photo. Then to see if he understood, I told him to do it again and he did. How hilarious is that? Enjoy!

So the little lady and I got all prettied up for thanksgiving dinner with the family. It’s always fun for us to dress up and go all out when there’s a family function. With my family if you didn’t dress up for easter then there must be something wrong. Although, I do wear jeans. Nice jeans, but jeans nonetheless. Here with Honey’s family it’s not important to dress up but the Little Lady and I like to do so (and I don’t get to do so very often) so we go all out! We are also wearing necklaces that I bought from a friend’s jewelry party ages ago. They are still in amazing condition and I love them still.

Little Lady was also kind enough to take a photo of me after I put my makeup on and made myself prettified. I can’t seem to take decent photos of myself lately so I let her do it. She does an amazing job and may go into photography and art classes next year. I’m hoping she does, it sounds like a lot of fun and I wish I had done that when I was in JVS instead of secretarial training. I’m sure it would have been a lot more interesting than being a receptionist. Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday yesterday and that you’re still happy and content today. Laters.

Yes, I said ‘ho ho’ as in those chocolate cake rolls with cream on them and a chocolate coating outside. I learned how to make this dessert from a coworker but have taken a different route with it. She would crush the ho hos and stir everything together. It was good, REAL good. I like my way, too and other ideas that I’ve had this evening regarding it. I don’t like pie (it’s true, I don’t and yes I’ve taken a lot of shit for it over the years and sometimes I provide my own dessert when it comes to pie-based holidays.)

This is stage one. You need 1 box of Jello Chocolate Pudding. Mix it up per directions and stick it in the fridge. Then layer it on the bottom of your container. To slice the hohos so they don’t fall apart I used a chef’s knife. I would lightly draw the knife back and forth in the center of the ho ho and when it broke through the coating I’d push down. Then repeat that to get four slices. Layer them neatly.

This is a layer of regular cool whip. I bought the cheap store brand, if that really makes a difference to you. I layered it on pretty thick. I bought a small container of it and used 3/4 of the container. Anymore than that and I wouldn’t have had much room left in the bowl and I didn’t want to go far over the edge or anything. Now it’s time to get decorative.

Here you can see that I did another layer of ho ho’s but I left a gap. There’s no reason as to why other than to make it pretty. In the center are 4 ends. I had a 5th end that I had no room for and decided to let the Little Lady eat it before she started drooling over the dessert as I made it.

As you can see the final stage is to put a dollop of cool whip on the center and then drizzle chocolate syrup on top. I am sure there are other syrup flavors that would be good here as well, such as caramel. Another idea I had while showing the photos to a friend was to have sliced strawberries in between the center and the outer ring of ho ho slices. I was also asked about the calories regarding this dessert. Being as it’s a holiday they don’t count. You could also use other berries, cherries, blueberries or raspberries would be good as well. You just have to like chocolate with them. Enjoy for all the non-pie lovers out there!

For ages I couldn’t get my tablet working properly. There’s been a short in the wire for some time now. Not sure why, it hasn’t been mistreated and it certainly hasn’t been overused and abused. So finally I sat down and decided to figure out exactly where the short is located and what to do in order to fix it. As you can see in the photo above, the short is very close to the usb plug. That’s why no matter how I situated the cord it wouldn’t connect and work. You’ll also notice that I used a piece of yarn to tie it that way so it doesn’t move.

So far it has been working properly for over a week, which means I have a real mouse again and, if it works, I can start practicing with the pen tool again and figure out how exactly it works. That makes me happy. I paid 85 bucks and change for a small tablet years ago and I felt that I hadn’t gotten my full use out of it, since I rarely used it. Now it’s attached to the laptop, working, and that makes me happy. Laters.

So yesterday the three of us went to the Academy of Museum Sciences in San Francisco! We had a great amount of fun and I think anyone who comes within 200 miles of it should go see it. They have a new dome for the planetarium, a rain forest (we didn’t go to see it though), and a huge aquarium.

You can view the photos I took using the slide show: or if you want to click through them you can view them here at my Picasa account:

Academy of Sciences Museum

Either way, enjoy the photos! I enjoyed the trip. It was definitely worth the drive up there and back!

So not only do we have this fabulous new layout but this photo above was taken on halloween because it was a full moon. This is probably the best moon photo that I have ever taken. Probably because I balanced the camera on the trampoline and then cut it out of the photo. The other photos I took after two in this way turned out badly, even though I had the camera balanced as well. I probably shivered or something while the photo was being taken.

The new layout features a female assassin (usually called Rogues in other games) from GuildWars. The wallpapers I saw featuring her were pretty neat and intense but I wanted to make my own altogether, so I found an image of her, cut her out using the extract feature, fixed her up using the history brush and went to town on creating the layout itself.

By the way, I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but one of my favorite colors happens to be purple. I have always loved purple and black together and this layout simply makes my day. Enjoy!