It was all my fault.
One often relies on previous experience when troubleshooting a problem, and that was my downfall this morning when I managed to take down the whole CC web site by applying a minor update to the WordPress software on which the site runs. That’s not what I expected to happen!
So to those of you on the Right Coast (and the rest of you early-ish risers), please accept my sincerest apologies for leaving you with a blank screen to go with your first cup of coffee this morning.
That said, let me more formally introduce myself. I’ve been commenting off and on as “res” or “stembre” ever since Paul launched CC (and was a regular reader from his TTAC days), and submitted my first “Ex” CC last year. From henceforth, I’ll be posting under my “real world” name. I’m an industrial designer by education (Georgia Tech), and manage product branding for a Fortune 50 company in order to support my attempts at farming fifteen acres in The Middle West. Our two sons are grown, but still at home for now, and Son Number Two and I are currently restoring ’62 and ’63 Volkswagen Beetles together.
Paul recently reached out to ask if I’d be interested in writing additional pieces for the site, and in the course of conversation, learned I have prior WordPress site and theme development experience (like you believe that now!). So if you noticed the site is loading a little faster today, it’s because Paul has trusted me with the keys to the toolchest, and I’ve already started doing some optimizing behind the curtain. Hopefully I won’t bring the site down again (!), and hopefully you’ll notice the CC experience getting better over time.
I likely won’t be as prolific as Paul, Tom and the rest, but do welcome the opportunity to contribute what I can toward telling every car’s unique story.
Not sure it can be entirely your fault when it’s Vega powered! I once resembled that picture…
Well, from what I read online, you wouldn’t be the first guy to be waylaid by what seems a simple WordPress update!
As the former “network administrator” for my small office, I am well familiar with the “oh, this should be a piece of cake” kind of update that turns out to be anything but. Happily (for both me and for the others in the office) I am now the FORMER network administrator. So you have my heartfelt congratulations and condolences in your new role. 🙂
I have enjoyed your comments your postings as well. I look forward to more.
Ed,
I too am an industrial designer. I graduated from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology. I have worked for CBS Labs designing professional broadcast products, for Henry Dreyfuss Assoc designing John Deere snowmobiles and Polaroid cameras, and for Amtrak designing interiors and exterior markings. I look forward to your contributions.
Great to hear from you! IDs are a small community, but I tend to see more than one should expect on forums like this (for some reason).
Surely you have a “My CC” to share? Write it up and send to Paul!
Nice to hear from you, Ed. Maybe someday you could document your sons’ VW restoration projects for us.
Hey, no guts no glory, right? 😉 And all’s well that ends well, the site does seem to load faster. Welcome, Ed! Nice farm you got there!
I don’t know if it would help, but TTAC has tweaked their comments section some time ago by just allowing plain text with no tags for bold face, italic or any other personal touches.
What do I know, I’m just a box-designer!
Wish I lived on a farm…just how many “CC”s do you have stowed away in your barn? Can we see them, huh?
All in due time… (c:
Zac: that was done to get rid of hot links, which folks used for trolling readers for their own websites (think Ronnie Schreiber, and me back a ways too) as well as inserting big pictures and videos. But that’s not really a problem here.
Ed, when you get to having to replace the 82 and 83’s trim and various pieces like the window crank and dash knobs, the best place to go is Wolfsburg West. High quality reproduction parts and decent customer service. Stay away from JC Whitney, they sell crap that you have to “finesse” to make it fit or work right. I never had that kind of problem with WW.
Marc (or is it Kyle?) – WW already has a sizable chunk of my hard-earned cash! (c:
You’re right – they are pretty much the “go-to” place for decent quality VW parts, and the only source (outside of genuine used) for replacement bumpers that match OEM and won’t rust in ten months.
I had no idea that “res” or “stembre” were the same guy I’ve been following on a Farm “blog” for about 8 years until today.
Jeez, I think you’re only about an hour from my buddies place in Milledgeville.
Sean – hmmm. I do have a “family” blog (i.e. next-to-no traffic!), but we live in the Middle West now, having moved here from Georgia over a decade ago. My dad lives in Milledgeville, so I’m quite familiar with that area.
I notice the comments I placed last night (my time) on the Ambassador and the Plymouth makeover articles have vanished tonight (my time) – did the website crash eat them, or am I being censored lol! I can’t tell you what time in USA time, but it was about 24hrs before whatever USA time this post shows up as being posted. The joys of computers!
NZ – we had to recover the site from a backup made at 1am, June 5 (USA time), so anything posted between then and around 9am probably got munged. Sorry!
Computers will take over the world. Yesterday, I got a root canal from a new (to me) dentist. On arriving for my appointment, the receptionist stated I didn’t have an appointment. I showed her my little appointment card, and was told I probably would have to come back another time, for I wasn’t in the system. I quietly told her that was fine, but I wasn’t coming back.
After she had a secret confab with the Doc, I was ushered in and Doc gave me his appologies for the “confusion”. The root canal went as planned. Today, my mouth is sore.
If any subversive organization wants to cripple the world, just disable the Internet or the electricity that powers it. Earth will come to a standstill. No nuclear weapons or biological agents required. Food for thought.
That’s what EMP warheads are for…