Uppity-Negro.com

Hello, all! Yes, a brand new professional installation of Movable Type was necessary; an attempted upgrade did not go well. I'm in the middle of importing all of Aaron's messages from the beginning of the blog (June 2002) on. I'd import them all at once, but I had some trouble with that. Pretty much the Movable Type system is able to handle one month at a time -- which is pretty much about all I can handle, as well!

Turns out the real problem wasn't so much my inexperience with Movable Type as it was this domain's host's experience with stating that I had (and was certainly paying for!) a certain amount of site storage space but actually only allotting not much more than a third of that. It caused all sorts of problems in trying to "rebuild" the site after the upgrade and miscellaneous code changes. Once I found out it might be a space problem and I wrote to the host, pretty much their response was, "Our bad! OK, you have it all now. Bye!" This, after spending minutes/hours/days wondering if I hadn't somehow completely destroyed the site forever?!? Yeah, thanks a lot!

The old pages are still on the site, under their original addresses, and are also in this new version of the site under the new archive date-descriptive directories.

In time, all the messages will be back. For now, though, kinda consider the site read-only (unless you have a TypeKey account). And stuck in a time warp. Thanks, everybody.

Posted by Val at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I cringe to think what the place would have looked like if I'd been away for longer than three days.
-- Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Triangle"

Yes, unfortunately the site/blog is experiencing technical difficulties. Don't worry, everybody's comments are actually still within Movable Type's virtual innards, they just don't display... at all. And no one can post any comments, either, ironically making my last post a dismal, complete and utter lie! Anyway, I've left a post on the Movable Type Forums about the problem. And Cleopatra Jones 2525 truly kicked a** in trying to help me. Pretty much it's all up to Movable Type to help me get this solved. I thank you all for your patience.

Plus, you know that somewhere Aaron is smirking and going, "Geez, I've only been gone one month and do ya see what Val has done to my site?!?"

Anyone with any suggestions, comments, or even words of soothing encouragement and their own blogging tales of woe can write me at valsadie at aol.com.

Posted by Val at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From Val --

Aaron wasn't a particularly religious person, but he did like the song, "Come to Jesus," by Mindy Smith. I knew about her from her remake of "Jolene" on the Dolly Parton tribute album that came out earlier this year, and saw her perform it with Dolly Parton on the Tonight Show. I'd seen the music video for "Come to Jesus" on the VH1 County cable channel, and found the song haunting -- but in a good way. Aaron did not listen to country music, so I was surprised to hear Smith's "Jesus" warbling out of his room one day. He told me the song was being played on Chicago's WXRT, which I found interesting -- again, in a good way.

It's impossible for me now to hear the song and not think of Aaron. It's haunting yet comforting yet still haunting, all at the same time. Definitely take a listen...

Mindy Smith, "Come to Jesus"

Oh, my baby, when you're older
Maybe then you'll understand
You have angels that stands around your shoulders
'Cause at times in life you need a helping hand

Oh, my baby, when you're prayin'
Leave your burden by my door
You have Jesus standing at your bedside
To keep you calm, keep you safe
Away from harm

Worry not my daughters
Worry not my sons
Child, when life don't seem worth livin'
Come to Jesus and let Him hold you in His arms

Oh, my baby, when you're cryin'
Never hide your face from me
I have conquered hell and driven out the demons
I have come with a life to set you free

Worry not my daughters
Worry not my sons
Child, when life don't seem worth livin'
Come to Jesus and let Him hold you in His arms

Oh, oh
Oh, oh
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Oh, my baby, when you're dying
Believe the healing of His hand
Here in Heaven we will wait for your arrival
Here in Heaven you will finally understand
Here in Heaven we will wait for your arrival
Here in Heaven you will finally understand

Worry not my daughters
Worry not my sons
Child, when life don't seem worth livin'
Come to Jesus and let Him hold you in His arms


From Mindy Smith's One Moment More

Posted by Val at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)