UPDATE on Forum Maintenance

[Joan Marie]

I had planned to do some work on the forum- i have to upgrade several things- it's a lot more complicated than you might imagine. For me it's really complicated. I have to get into the root directory of the database and bunch of other scarey sounding things.

I was in the middle of trying to set up an offline version of the forum to test out some things first, (also no picnic, no night at the disco) when my trusty laptop experienced a MAJOR hard drive crash. Like it started making a horrible noise in addition to not booting up anymore.

This is very bad. And will be very expensive. And it will take at least a few days to remedy.
So I'll update you when i have a better idea of when I will be able to shut the board down and do the upgrades. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

In the meanwhile, I am using my old Flintstones laptop which is a pretty limited affair.
I will do the best I can to keep the homepage updated etc.but it is going to be a rough few days for me doing anything that requires computer power.

All this in addition to injuring my hip (not serious, just painful) having a package returned that was posted improperly (by the post office!) and some other things, this has been a world-class Gemini Season / Mercury retrograde week.
Maybe it's a good thing I won't be doing the forum upgrade right now!
Here's hoping for a better week ahead.

[BlueStar]

Oh dear, I hope it all gets resolved soon for you!:)

[fire cat pickles]

I hope all goes well! I know how aggravating these things can be

[TheLoracular]

Oh no that is all just awful news. I know that I would be willing to chip in money-wise in June to help mitigate some of the costs and I'm sure I'm not the only one; if a fundraiser or private donations are wanted, let us know? I know from experience its not just a money thing, its an "everything" hitting thing

[Joan Marie]

if a fundraiser or private donations are wanted, let us know? I know from experience its not just a money thing,

Thats really sweet thank you.
I have a lot of decks to sell, Star & Crown and Button Soup. I really prefer to raise funds by selling those. That just feels more right to me.
But really, I thank you so much.

[testpattern]

Thanks for your hard work in keeping this community running!

[Joan Marie]

So yesterday I accomplished a feat of derring-do and replaced my own hard-drive. Yes, I opened up my laptop, undid the screws and replaced it myself.

Ta-da!

I had a backup and restored my computer. It took all day but it actually worked.

God bless all those people who post such excellent you-tube videos on exactly how to do almost anything you can ever imagine.
On behalf of autodidacts everywhere I thank you.

There is one issue though, the OS upgrade I was advised to make rendered all my best (and most expensive) software obsolete. My whole Adobe Suite is not compatible with the new 64-bit OS. And neither is all my Office software.

Adobe doesn't sell (or upgrade) their software anymore, they only rent it which is an abomination. And it is ridiculously expensive and only works from "the cloud" which is also ridiculous.

So, all that means is that I have to downgrade my OS which Apple does not make easy. So today I will wipe my new hard drive clean and try to get the old OS on there and restore the backup again. It is a surprisingly convoluted process (by design) but yesterday built my confidence (I have NEVER opened up a computer before) so I am hoping for the best.

Sorry for such a boring and non-tarot post.

[testpattern]

I have been running a cantankerous and unstable version of CS5 on my aging Mac for that very reason.

[Pen]

So today I will wipe my new hard drive clean and try to get the old OS on there and restore the backup again. It is a surprisingly convoluted process (by design) but yesterday built my confidence (I have NEVER opened up a computer before) so I am hoping for the best.

You're very courageous - hats off to you and good luck with the restoration.

[Joan Marie]

I got everything restored, AND my laptop is running faster than ever. (due to the SSD, solid-state drive, I installed for you nerds out there- no spinning disc, no moving parts!)
I'm kinda proud of myself.

I'm so glad I didn't have to replace my laptop as I was initially afraid of. Besides the expense, I woulda missed the hell out of my sticker collection.

In a few of days I will get back on the forum-upgrade train and let you know the plan. I will need some time to prepare for it.
FYI- there won't be any major visible changes to the forum. It's all background stuff.

[fire cat pickles]

Not even a hiccup! Good job!

[Pen]

Brilliant!

[Joan Marie]

Regarding the forum maintenance, I am preparing for that right now, hopefully I will have everything figured out in advance so that the process goes smoothly. I can't say for sure when it will take place and in fact it may be kind of spontaneous, like when I feel confident enough to do it I may just jump on it.

I will have to shut the board down while I do it and you will see a message to that effect when you come to the homepage. I will include in that message a link to my twitter account in case I need to provide more info while the board is down.

I have no idea how long it will take. Hopefully just some hours. And again, I'm still working on some practice stuff before I actually do it.

So, sorry I can't be more specific about when and how long, but it isn't like this is a bank website or a hospital or something, right? I will try to get this accomplished as soon and as fast as possible.

(one thing I don't want to interfere with is the Summer Solstice readings which start on the 14th. Hopefully it's all hunky-dory by then.

[Joan Marie]

For any of you following my riveting technical saga, here is today's update:

I finally made some progress yesterday in getting my offline version of the forum set up. So now I have a place to practice and test out things before I implement them on the live board.

First thing in order is of course the update.

When I do this i will first close down the forum (there will be a message and a link to my twitter in case I need to update you during the process).

Then I will do a full backup of everything. This takes a while. Several hours at least, and if all goes well I won't even need it.
But I want to do it after I shut everything down so that no post or image gets left out of the backup.

Hopefully the actual update process goes really quickly. If all goes well it will take less than a day. (the backup being most of that)

I've decided to wait until after the Sacred Days of MidSummer readings (June 25) because I don't want to disrupt that, and it will also give me more time to plan and work things out so that everything goes as smoothly as possible. So that means I will be able to give an exact date for the maintenance. I'll decide that in the next few days and let you know.

[Rose Lalonde]

Thanks for your time and effort.
If it's welcome, is there somewhere or a paypal email where a donation can be made?

[Joan Marie]

Thanks for your time and effort.
If it's welcome, is there somewhere or a paypal email where a donation can be made?

That's real sweet. Thank you.
But I've made the decision to fund my efforts with sales of the decks we made here, Button Soup and Star & Crown.

That's what feels right to me.