As you know, I’ve been struggling with rebuilding my blog from the .frm, .MYD and .MYI files for the past few days (since I moved my hosting services). I managed to get the posts recovered up until Jan 2007 but then I hit a brick wall. Every time I attempted to recover more, the system boo’d and hissed at me and barfed back a series of error messages. My new host wouldn’t let me drop the original files into the data folder – where the SQL dbase is installed – so I desperately needed help to recover the last 5 months of posts.

Enter the best friend a strung out blogger can have – Clayton. I’ve know Clayton since we took a class together at college in 1998 and shortly after graduation he started working for the same company I was collecting a paycheque with. We’ve worked on many of the same projects and teams and he’s one of the most knowledgable technical guys I’ve met. Add to that his sweet disposition and it makes for a hell of a great guy (are you listening ladies?)

Fed up with struggling with recovering my blog, I found Clayton on-line tonight and explained what I was trying to do. I shipped the files to him et voila, he was able to recover all of my previous posts from the database. He hung around long enough (over 3 hours in total) until we were sure everything was appearing on the site. I don’t know many people who’d give up a big chunk of their Friday night to help a friend recover their blog, but I’m really glad that I do know Clayton.

Clayton, as always – you rock!

End result:

• Lost posts = 0
• Lost comments = 3 (the ones people made while I was attempting to recover my blog)
• Crappy former host = -10.0 (not only did they refuse to help, take days to respond to my email requests for assistance, but they have yet to release my domain to the new host). I can’t cancel my service with them until I’m sure my domain transfer is complete, so I’m stuck paying for an extra month’s service due to their slow response.
• New host = 0.5 (they had no idea what I was talking about when I approached them for help – Clayton understood what I was trying to do in less than a minute.)
• Clayton = 10.0

We can start the celebration immediately.

Note: I’m leaving this post up as a sticky post for a few days because Clayton deserves to be recognized. Scroll down for posts dated after Friday, June 15 2007.

Technorati Tags: friends, domain, host, sql, database

Last night was Betty’s – our awesome Karaoke hostess’ – retirement party. She’s finished school and left the world of night-time karaoke for a day job. It’s awesome to see her move forward with her life, but it also leaves a small hole in our Friday nights.

Of course, we bestowed lots of gifts upon her – bouquet of panties, blow up microphones signed by the gang, blow up walker with horn – and recorded the bulk of the night on video to celebrate the end of a 14 year run. We’re nothing if not creative in our old age. This morning her equipment was packed up and moved home with the intent to sell it all off and hopefully start someone else on the path of entertaining drunk masses.

Next week is her first weekend off in years and she’s as unsure about what she’ll be doing next week as the rest of us. It seems so odd. Many of our motley group of Friday night friends met at one of the many locations she’s held her shows over the past few years. Our horizons have expanded along with our cell phone contact lists. Now, we’ll have to find new ways to keep in touch on a regular basis.

Backyard BBQ at our house it is!

Technorati Tags: karaoke, friends

Welcome to the 26th edition of the screaming pages Thursday Thirteen.

With Mother’s day around the corner, I figured I’d join many others in dedicating my TT to my mum this week. *smarmy TV infomercial voice* But wait, that’s not all. In addition to a TT complete with facts about mum, you’ll also receive a list of words and phrases my parents used that the hubby had to learn after hooking up with me!

Thirteen things about my mum. Mum is the 4th of 10 (living) children and was named for her mother. The four eldest all immigrated to Canada. Mum was a registered nurse, retired, and then went back to work years later as a teaching assistant in the NB school system. Mum immigrated to Canada and landed in BC with her eldest sister. They eventually moved to Ontario to be closer to their eldest brother. Mum met my dad at a legion dance (in Port Credit, I believe) in the late 60’s. Mum and dad moved back to Scotland for a time but decided to return to Canada in the early 70’s (after my sister was born but before I came into the picture). Dad was already back in Canada and working when mum gave birth to my sister in Scotland. She returned to Canada on her own with an infant. Despite having her driver’s license for donkey’s years, mum has only recently started driving. When I was in school, mum took upgrading classes from STU and Grant McEwan. Mum’s an extroverted people person. She’ll talk to complete strangers and know their histories in no time. Mum’s outspoken and not afraid to tell people what she’s thinking. Mum’s the keeper of the family history. She has a phenomenal memory but needs to write it all down cause I have a memory live a sieve some days. The hubby tells me (and everyone else, if I were being honest) that my mum has a thick accent and when she’s excited, speaks so quickly he has difficulty understanding her. I’ve never noticed. I guess you don’t hear accents in your own parent’s speech. Mum’s incredibly strong. She’s survived the hell of my teen years and dad’s illness and subsequent death with dignity and grace. Bonus: Thirteen words or phrases I grew up with that the hubby had to learn late in life… This was a difficult one, since lots of words and phrases my parents use had to be translated when the hubby and I started dating – and through the years. To make it easier on myself, I’ll admit to falling back on ones that not only have I had to translate, but ones that I’ve been known to say to the hubby myself. So, no mention of argie-bargie (argument), tattiebogle (ragamuffin), sweeties (candy), swally (swallow; devour), feart (afraid), hoose (house), moose (mouse), cludgie (lavatory; toilet), heid (head), ta (thanks), wallae (wallow), gie (give), or wean (baby, child) on the list, although they certainly deserve a mention somewhere. Oh wait, I did mention them 😉 Bog – Loo; Bathroom (also twa-let) Whinge – Whine; Whining. As in quit your whingin’ and get over here to help. Tatties (also Tawtie) – Potato Bahookie – Buttocks. As in get your bahookie up here. Knackered – Exhausted; Very Tired. As in no the noo, I’m knackered. Daft – Stupid; Silly; Insane; Crazy. As in don’t be daft. Dram – Tot of liqour. As in gie us a wee dram. Knock me up in the morning – Knock on the door to wake me up when you get up in the morning. I still remember the look on the hubby’s face the first time my mom said this to him. Knocked up definitely means something different in Canada than it did to my parents. Deid (also Dede) – Dead Blether – Babble; Chat; Talk Nonsense. As in stop your blethering. Beastie – Bug; Insect. As in the beastie bit me. No the noo – Not right now Whish – Hush; Be quiet. As in would you whish? Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Technorati Tags: thursday thirteen, t13, meme, mum, Mother’s day

There’s a reason I’m not a contractor. What I thought was flooding is apparently “minor seepage”. The contractor noticed that the float had somehow become disconnected from the sump pump and it wasn’t turning on to shift the water outside to the water main, which caused the water to flow into the basement through the boring hole. What I thought were leaks in the foundation turned out to be the lowest points in the basement and thus where the water was pooling. First thing he did was fix the sump pump and less than 30 minutes later almost all of the water was gone from the basement. I got the “it doesn’t matter what time of the night it is, you should have called immediately” lecture – so I’ve warned him I’ll be calling in the middle of the night should it happen again – and then the basement was loaded with industrial heating fans to dry it out.

The walls have been inspected for water damage and the baseboards and vents removed to check for any sign of water in the walls. So far, it’s looking good. The list of repairs turned out to be pretty minor (and affordable) and began yesterday. By the sounds of things, they should be finished up today.

We’ve got a to do list for outside when the ground dries enough to do some digging, but he thinks that can hold off until the hubby gets home to lend his arms and back to the digging process. Being your own manual labour helps keep the costs of repairs down 😉

There’s no sign of mold in the basement and the last flood was many, many years ago (the previous owner’s son lives in the house next door and grew up in this house) so it doesn’t appear that this is a common problem with the house. The sump pump was added to the house after that watery experience. The end verdict appears to be that had the sump pump been working properly at the time, the water wouldn’t have been all over my basement floor.

As for my poor neighbour, he had one of the few basements on the street that didn’t have any water seepage and was kept busy running from house to house inspecting the damage. Guess there’s no such thing as a weekend off when you’re a contractor living in Edmonton.

There’s a tonne of clouds in the sky and it looks like it may soon rain again so I’ll soon know the quality of the repairs…

Technorati Tags: water damage, flood, sump pump, contractor, neighbours

It’s been raining here for over 24 hours and for the first time since we’ve owned our home (2 years this month) the basement has flooded. I’ve spent the last 4 hours (since the discovery) with a wet/dry vac and a tonne of blankets and towels trying to get a handle on the mess. Of course, the hubby is off on exercises for at least another 15 days and I have no way to contact him to even let him know what’s going on.

See, I thought I knew what I was doing when I quit my job – I put enough money aside to ensure that we could pay our bills until I could find a job that I liked and a company I wanted to work for (well, until the end of July at least). I have a feeling all those plans will be quickly laid to waste considering the amount of water that’s floating around here and the fact that I can’t trace it’s origin. The ceiling is dry, the walls are dry, and the windows aren’t leaking. I have a feeling it’s a problem with the foundation – which means that repairs are going to cost a small fortune.

I’ll be up all night trying to keep this mess under control and first thing tomorrow morning (well – a reasonable hour at least) I’ll be banging on the neighbours door asking for help. Thank goodness he’s a respectable and honest contractor. If he can’t find/fix the problem, he’ll at least know who I should contact for additional help.

Someone send me good luck vibes quick – I’m in desperate need of them!

Update: It’s just shy of 8am and I’ve been up all night trying to keep the water levels down. I’ve identified four leaky areas and as I suspected, they’re all foundation issues. From the looks of things, we’ll need to pull down two walls, fix the leaks, and get new walls put up. Going to give the neighbour at least another hour to sleep in before I go begging at his door for help. And yes, it’s still raining outside. *sigh*

Technorati Tags: water, flood, basement, repairs, contractor