I just wanted to take a brief time-out to wish you all a happy solstice, merry christmas, and all of that. Sorry for the lack of updates, I had a lot of things planned, but never got them put up… then I felt bad about not posting anything, and then, and then…. Well, I ended up not wanting to post new stuff without finishing the old stuff. I finally decided to just throw the old stuff away, so you won't end up seeing that. Sorry.

The good news is, I'm back with some actual updates… so have fun!

I'd like to take a moment to thank 4WebHelp for their wonderful UNIX Timestamp Converter. This little app has made it much easier for me to "fix" the dates on old articles. Thanks again, 4WebHelp!

As you can probably tell, I have finally got a content management system running around here. This is the first new entry that hasn't been manually entered into a text file. I've had an interesting time getting the new site online, and there is still much to do. I'm now running the site using PolarBlog, "an open source embedded weblog solution." PolarBlog uses MySQL and PHP to render web pages. Unfortunately, it is not quite compatible with the version of PHP that my hosting provider has installed here, so I had to make a few adjustments. For instance, I had to remove all instances of "call-time pass-by-reference".

Other than that minor setback, set-up has been rather easy. I was able to re-add most of the old articles, and write a new one. The dates on many of the articles are messed up, especially the really old ones. (I didn't start keeping track of when I wrote articles until recently.) Also, some of the really old articles (pre-2000) are missing, since I deleted them years ago.

I still have to adjust the layout code a bit so that MGZI-NET looks like the old, familiar, and happy place you have grown to love. Once I finish transferring all of the old content over, I will fix the layout. Until then, you will have to go through the old site to get to many of my pages. Sorry about that.

I'm still working on that content management system. Things are looking up, though… initial tests on the system have been successful. I just need to add some security, and… I'll probably be using a highly modified version of something I find on the 'Net. Ciao!

The Home of AlexDW and Mgzi Networks are proud to announce that we have placed an order with our web hosting provider, Your-Site, for MySQL services at the tune of $40/year. The practical upshot of this is that we can work to add dynamic article and comment features present on nearly every other site of this nature on the internet. Discuss this article online, just as soon as we set it up…

Finally, after making such a big deal about Linux Digital Camera Support, I've added a picture of myself to the site. You can see the madness on my about the author page. I have also updated that page with more information to reflect my current status, and shed some light on things you might not have been aware of…

AlexDW's House of Music is being ressurected, this time as a lyrics-only web site. Alex's Lyrical Journey is the result, and the first song to get the AlexDW treatment is Carry On Wayward Son.

Well, I'm working on a few ideas for this web site. Since it is basically in the "log of random thoughts" vein anyway, I am thinking of switching it over to using a CMS. I'm looking for something I can use with PHP, but doesn't require a database like MySQL (my web host charges extra for that.) I'm really looking for something a little more permanent to replace the old "announcement" system. In other site news, I've added Google Ads to this site. I have also removed the old announcement box. Ideally, I'll be updating this site often enough to not need it. The ads are not flashy or bouncy, and so they shouldn't be intrusive to the layout. Hopefully they will link to useful sites, which will also make my job a little easier here.

Some of the denizens of rec.arts.drwho may be wondering what happened to me. INN happened to me. For some reason, the new version of INN can't properly handle a system crash — like when I use my buggy video capture software. After a crash, it corrupts all of its databases, requiring a lengthy and tedious recovery process. I haven't had the time necessary to maintain it, so I just shut it off. (Along with my Usenet access, you understand.) My best choice right now is to downgrade to an older, more stable, version. Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to do that either, so I'm back off of Usenet. Sorry, guys.

After moving on campus at Tri-State University, I broke off relations with my old Internet service provider. (I tried to negotiate a lowered fee for hosting-only — they didn't call me back.) I have been looking for a good web host for quite a while now, but haven't really been able to afford the ones I've found (not on my college-student budget). Until now, that is. Your Site Virtual Server Solutions is currently hosting my site and my new domain for $80/year. Of course, if for some reason I get Slashdotted, I get to pay $3.00/GB for the extra bandwidth. (Yipes!) Right now I'm currently working on a total re-design of the layout of this web page. Since I now have access to a real server , I am converting my old generator-side WML code into server-side PHP code. As a result, all pages will be generated dynamically. This will allow me to add some nifty features down the road. (It also allows me to gain experience in PHP programming.) Currently, only the main page has been converted, but more pages will be converted in the coming days.