Category: General

Well, I’ve finally managed to get my blog up and running again. It appears to have been offline since August of 2021 — at least, that was when the last automated backup arrived in my WPBackups mail folder. To be honest, my shouting-into-the-void needs had largely been met by Twitter (at least until last November), so I wasn’t in much of a hurry to investigate. But it seemed to make sense to self-verify my Mastodon profile, which meant getting this website back online. I took the opportunity to update my Linode instance from Ubuntu 2016.4 LTS to something newer, install the latest WordPress, etc.

It turns out that the plugin I had been using to get those regular backup emails was only sending me the contents of the database as a SQL file, whereas most of the online guides to “restoring” or “migrating” a WordPress site assume you have an XML-based export file. After a couple of false starts, I found this article which had the key to success: namely to create a new database and populate it from the SQL file, then install WordPress and point it at that database during the “five-minute install” process. At this point WordPress will say “You appear to have already installed WordPress; let me just bring your database up to date” and then you’re ready to go, more or less.

(I got an immediate error that included the name of the theme I had forgotten I was using. Reinstalling that was much more pleasant than trying to get something I liked out of the default WP themes that are based around the WP block editor, which seems like overkill for a simple text blog.)

Now that I’ve done all that, will I begin blogging regularly again? We’ll see; if so, it will likely be more articles on macOS and Swift programming, and fewer hot takes on hot button issues (which frankly I don’t have the energy to deal with these days).

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I’ll be starting a new job within a couple of weeks. I was fortunate enough to find another remote Mac development position, which I’m very happy about.

I appreciate the efforts of everyone that helped me out along the way (including my family for their support). At least that’s one good thing that’s happened during this annus horribilis…

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I find myself available for a full-time position as a software developer, preferably on Apple platforms (macOS, iOS, etc.) using Swift or Objective-C. I prefer a remote position but will consider opportunities in the Baltimore-Washington region (when offices reopen, of course). View the “Résumé” page (linked above) for links to my current résumé, my LinkedIn profile, etc.

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Twice within the last week I’ve been hit by the following tactic:

I receive a call on my cell phone from a nearby calling area (Baltimore, in my case).  The middle-aged voice on the other end asks for “Mason” (or “Terence”). When I politely reply that there’s no one here by that name, the person responds “Oh, perhaps you can help me”, and launches into a solicitation for some high-minded charitable donation.

Last week I simply told the gentleman that I couldn’t help him and hung up.  Today, interrupted from a particularly knotty work issue, I pointedly asked the woman if this was a new marketing tactic and could I expect similar calls in the future. She simply said “I’ll update our records” and hung up.

Will no one rid me of these troublesome callers?

(I’d installed Nomorobo on my iPhone—it’s apparently the best of the current bunch of call blockers—but obviously technology has its limits. Also, for some reason Nomorobo had managed to disable itself and I had to go back into Settings to re-enable it.)

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I believe we have a winner. Still wrapping up a few details, but it looks like I’ll be starting a new position that fits my interests and experience, cuts down my commute by a significant measure, and hopefully will be more stable to boot. (Two layoffs within a twelve-month period make for interesting times.)

Here’s to the future!

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As a result of a change of direction at my current employer, I am once again open to a full-time position as a software developer — preferably on Apple platforms, i.e. OS X and iOS, using Objective-C or Swift with Xcode. View the “Résumé” page (linked above) for links to my current résumé, my LinkedIn profile, etc.

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As a result of a reduction in force at my previous employer, I am now looking for work as a software developer — preferably on Apple platforms, i.e. OS X and iOS, using Objective-C with Xcode. I prefer a full-time position but would accept short-term contracts as well. View the “Résumé” page (linked above) for links to downloadable résumés, my LinkedIn profile, etc. (If the “Résumé” page isn’t linked above, then I’ve found a job. Hooray!)

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As of this evening the TV Guide channel is not displaying the scrolling list of program information — just the mindless “American Idol Rewind” and other programming at the top of the screen. You can usually see an empty space at the bottom where the program listing would fall.

When we called the customer support 800 number, the representative was completely clueless and apparently unable to understand our description of the problem. First she told us to unplug our cable-ready TV set from the cable and plug it back in (we’re still analog here and have no cable box). Predictably that had no effect. After my wife and I tried to explain the problem again, she finally decided that the problem was with the network — that is, the TV Guide Network had chosen to stop sending us program listings. She suggested we contacted the network to complain about the change.

As a result, we have no source of program listings from Comcast. The “Channel Lineup” page on comcast.com has had the message “We are currently working to provide channel lineup information for your area” for at least a year. (Our town straddles multiple counties and has its own cable franchise. Last summer Comcast decided to move everyone in town to the same system, which means that we’re now on the “other” system.)

The CSR dutifully ended the call with “Thank you for choosing Comcast”, which is a joke since our original system (Adelphia) was bought out by Comcast. Oddly we had no problems with Adelphia, but the major impact of Comcast (beside shifting our system) was to repeatedly raise our rates while moving channels from the analog tier to the digital tier.

I personally watch very little television and would ditch cable for over-the-air (and over-the-Internet), but my wife enjoys having the TV on while working in the kitchen, and the kids watch Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, etc. Frankly, Verizon can’t bring FIOS to our town fast enough for me. (Sadly there’s no evidence that they’re even considering this, although they’re hooking up an adjacent county.)

[The six loyal readers of my blog probably couldn’t care less about this issue; this post is really just to have something to point Frank Elias (@comcastcares on twitter) toward.]

Edit: In the interest of full disclosure, I got two responses on Twitter the same evening; apparently it was a known issue (involving the digital transition?) and cleared up in a few days.

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Once again it be [Talk Like a ](http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/)[Pirate Day!](http://www.talklikeapirate.com/) Do yer duty!

(What’s that? Only nine posts since last year? Ne’er you mind that, ye landlubber! Get back to work — them decks don’t swab themsel’s, ye know!)

— Mad Russ Greybeard

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