Blog: November 2005 Archives

When I check out my web server logs I find referers from the oddest of places. When I check out my logs the youth oriented blog communities like MySpace and Xanga I always feel sooooo old. Was I ever this young? Anyway, I thought I would give some props to my peeps. I don't know you, but I've enjoyed reading your thoughts here and there.

• oflove
• idealistbliss
• twine4max
• Chelsea86
• UbiquitousMusez
• uncookedramennoodles
• Brian Cooksey The Dagger of Mild Reason
• toddlyles
• Redecorating Middle-Earth in Early Lovecraft

I just upgraded my MovableType installation (BTW, thats the software that powers this blog) to the 3.2 release. The install wasn't really seamless or painless for me.

So what didn't work for me?

• The fact that I needed to move the files from the mt-static directory to my blog directory wasn't obvious to me. That meant that the proper javascript wasn't getting pulled into the upgrade. This caused the upgrade cgi to say it was upgrading, when in fact nothing was happening.
• Once I moved the mt-static files to the right location, the tc/client.js script still wasn't getting pulled in. I had to update the upgrade template to specifically include the client file. Then everything worked fine.
• When I was done I rebuilt the indexes. When I was done the permalinks got completely hosed up. Dunno exactly what happened, since it disappeared after I rebuilt again.

Most everything seems to work now. If you see any strange behavior let me know. I'll likely be overhauling my templates soon, so you may see some things changing.

Yahoo! thinks "Tim needs" the following.*

1. to join the band
2. a girlfriend
3. new shoes
4. YOU
5. a shirt
6. to have an opportunity to learn in low-risk, highly supportive learning environments that challenge him
7. to use his transmitter and receiver
8. David as much as David needs Tim
9. to understand how academic work applies to his future career goals
10. your messages to keep his spirits up

MSN thinks "Tim needs" the following.*

1. to get much more emotional.
2. your love, just like any young man his age.
3. you to click him
4. Help... Foster Parent Needed.
5. two wizards to take his place.
6. your help with: Doing Office Work
7. you to volunteer time on his campaign.
8. to know what a good problem solver he is
9. no special lighting or stage.
10. something simple
11. some help getting out of the pond

* I didn't include the duplicate entries or any referencing my own web site.

One blog I saw even had a little fill in the blank blog entry where one of the tamest fill in the blank questions was "Tim needs ______". I might post all sorts of crazy things but I sure wouldn't post a fill in the blank quiz like that.

I also found a web site called the Church of Tim. While that particular blog is in need of updating, I like the blog name a lot. I wish I would have thought of something clever like that.

So what does Tim think that Tim needs?

The first thing that came to mind was this bit of verse.

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou 
Beside me singing in the Wilderness - 
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

--Omar Khayyam (translated by Edward FitzGerald)

While I was searching for the author of that verse I came upon a listing in Amazon for Khayyam's verse newly translated by one Peter Avery. One of the reviews contained the poem in question. The newly translated version, said to be more faithful to the original text reads as follows.

Here is the new version.

If chance supplied a loaf of white bread,
Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton,
In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl
There'd be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo.

After reading the first translation and the second, it's quite apparent the translators must have had different ideas about what the word translation might mean.

To finish my little riff on what I need. It seems like the older I get, the more I have. At the same time I find that I want the stuff I have less and less. When I am out tramping in the woods with only what fits in my pack I find I am at my best. The answer to what Tim needs is family, friends, and just enough stuff to carry in his pack.