Background Progress - Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
I have been working full time as a web developer in Seattle, but I'm also picking up another job, so I haven't had a whole lot of free time. Regardless, I've been slowly chipping away at completely recreating this site. I was hoping to have it all done by the end of summer, but I'm not sure I'll hit that goal now. I believe I'll release the new site when it is at least as functional as the current site. It's already got some features that aren't on here, and it will have its own domain name finally, but that's all I'm saying for now....
Server Issues Resolved - Friday, July 3rd, 2009
I finally discovered the cause of the problem I was having with the script that runs PHP and have corrected it. I also updated some setings that should improve performance, so everything should be better now.
Server Issues - Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
My server is having some issues with running PHP right now. The problem started Monday night when I restarted PHP, and it did not come back up. I've had to manually start the process, but it craps out after a few hours. I'm in the process of troubleshooting it, so if you see any "Bad Gateway" messages, that's why. Sorry!
Minor Calculator Change - Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
A courteous user pointed out a display problem that Internet Explorer was having with the calculator. For the non-technical users out there, the input sections were partially overlapping in some instances. For the technical users, IE was paying attention to "clear: left" on one div and then immediately ignoring it on the next, causing the second div to float above and into the prior one. Anyway, the problem and fix have no direct impact on the way the calculations work, so I haven't updated the calculator version. If anyone else has any troubles, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Engine Maintenance - Friday, April 17th, 2009
I took my car in to have the timing belt replaced, get an oil change, and clear the airbag code that is keeping that indicator on. While taking care of the timing belt, they discovered the cause of my oil leak—or leaks actually. They also recommended that I have my water pump replaced, which sounded like a good idea (my MR2 has 129,375 miles on it now). The timing belt was $369.10, the water pump was $182.79, the camshaft and crankshaft gaskets were $221.29, the valve cover gaskets were $167.37, and the distributor shaft o-ring seal was $176.03 (all prices are parts and maintenance). After the fees and taxes, I ended up spending $1469.86. The car sounds and drives subtly better, but the heater is significantly improved. With the window down and the heater at hottest (with the fan at the lowest setting), I became too hot and had to turn down the heat. That's pretty impressive for a 50-degree day (Fahrenheit). This gave me the idea of creating a database of the maintenance records for my car, which I think might be helpful to other owners, but I haven't committed to the idea yet. It's still floating around in my head but maybe....