Web Hosting has been a necessity as I plan to revive my rachynski.org domain and blog with that again. In order to do so, though, I had two choices: continue to use a service, like WordPress, and pay to have my domain forwarded to it or get separate hosting altogether.

I’ve opted for the second option as I’ve been finding customizing the layout and theme for my current WordPress blog to be a little confusing. Being able to edit a theme also does not come free as you have to “upgrade” to enable that feature. The upgrade is not that expensive ($15 per year) but it still doesn’t grant total flexibity. To do so, I’d have to install WordPress onto a host machine (or service) rather than use WordPress.com.

Also, it would also cost me an additional $10 per year to point rachynski.org to a WordPress.com blog. This also isn’t a huge amount of money but if it’s costing me money to forward to a service that’s limited, I’d sooner pay a little more for total control over the blog for that domain.

This leads me to my second dilemma: if I’m going to use blog authoring software, WordPress is not my only choice. Don’t get me wrong – I’m quite happy with WordPress thus far and as far as (free) blogs go, I think they’re simply the best.

In the past I’ve also used software called TextPattern, which I was also quite impressed with. The only reason that I stopped using it was because I decided to stop paying for web hosting and use a free blog service (ie. WordPress.com) instead.

I’m sure that there are other equally good options as well that I have not yet looked into.

Anyway, the point I’m getting at is that this blog is now on it’s death bed – at least in its current state. It’s going to be manifested again as rachynski.org sometime in the near future. Because of this, I haven’t been driven to write more as it’ll just be more that has to get carried over to the new system, or will be simply lost altogther (I haven’t decided to carry the blog posts forward or not as of yet).

If anyone has any suggestions for web hosting or blog authoring software, I’m all ears. At this time, I’m planning getting my hosting through Media Temple (http://www.mediatemple.com) and running WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) on it. The only requirement (currently) for Web Hosting at this point is that the service include PHP 4.3 or greater and MySQL 4.0 or greater.

So it’s really been a while since I’ve written anything substantial. By “substantial”, I mean something more than posting a YouTube video with a small blurb. There’s been quite a bit that’s been going on and in typical Neil fashion, I over-analyze everything until I’m sick of thinking about it, which only keeps me up and night thinking about not thinking about it. Such a vicious and ugly cycle I wind up in there at time.

There’s a lot of change on the horizon, or that’s already begun to take shape in my life. A new relationship has begun, a new (to me) car is in the process of being purchased, and there are a few other things which I’d rather not discuss here.

Having given up meat some 3+ months ago, I finally got some results back from my doctor about how my blood is looking (other than red). So far, so good. I’ve also been cooking a lot more which has helped keep things healthy in my diet. Plus, when you’re not eating greasy burgers, fried chicken, or other such fat-laden meat; you tend to eat healthier period. I’m not saying that you can’t eat meat and not eat healthy. These two things are hardly exclusive. However, it has been easier to eat healthy when I don’t have to worry about such things in the first place.

The one thing that’s been missing is my writing. Not just on here, as there’s not often a lot that I write about and publish so publically anymore. Maybe that will change or I’ll just stop caring so much about who may possibly be reading this and just write whatever comes to mind.

So many maybes.

PS. I still hate waiting.

Anyway, I’m sure there won’t be much sleep on the agenda tonight as tonight is concert night. I was going to post a video from Rise Against or Thursday, as those are the bands that I’ll be seeing tonight, but I was this particular song appeared on my playlist and it seemed kind of fitting for my mood as of late.

The song is Lights by the Editors.

Life is stuck in a bit of limbo right now as I wait to find out what’s going on with buying a car, what days I’ll have off for the holidays, with how much time I’m going to be able to spend visiting people, a roommate who plans to move out sometime next spring or summer, a daughter who may be moving out of Edmonton next summer, et cetera.

Some of the above hinge on an offer that’s fully expected but which has not yet arrived. The rest lies with other people who’s lives I have no control over. So, in short, I’m waiting to see what happens so that I can begin to work out what’s going on with my own life. This is a feeling that I don’t much care for.

So, in consideration of my being in a particularly good mood, I thought I’d post another video of yet another favourite song of mine. Yes, I have a lot of “favourites” when it comes to Queens of the Stone Age.

You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire – Queen of the Stone Age

I never have been, nor likely ever will be, a huge Hip fan but you can’t deny Gord Downie’s ability as a lyricist.

I believe that it only takes doing something daily for three weeks to develop a habit out of doing it. That doesn’t sound so hard. All I really need to do is sit down for a half-hour a day and write for three pages – no more, no less. Three pages on whatever comes to mind. I believe it was termed as “three pages of stream of consciousness”. This daily exercise should provide an outlet to help deal with my anxiety rather than allowing it to build up and strike at rather inopportune moments.

Like most everything else, now that I’ve sought out help in dealing with this, the problem seems to have gone away all on its own. It’s now been about a week since my last anxiety attack, which were occurring typically more than once a day. Just like bringing your car to the mechanic to have that mysterious rattling noise checked out only to have the noise stop on the way to the garage.

Time to sit down and start on my homework today. I’m not such a fan of that mysterious rattling noise coming back once I pull out of the garage and make for home.

On the same train of the thought, we had another Rock Band party this past weekend. Besides being good, drunken fun, it’s a good way to unwind by screaming into a microphone far too loudly. One of the songs I enjoy singing more than most is this one (for probably some fairly obvious reasons). Musically, I think the song is pretty amazing as well.

The song is Panic Attack by Dream Theatre.

Okay, so maybe waking up not only early but in a ridiculously good mood after getting a decent night’s sleep isn’t the first sign of the Apocolypse. It should be. It’s pretty bloody rare that the stars align just right for this to happen.

With it being a Friday, I’ll leave you with this short note and a pair of live videos, of Girl Is On My Mind and I Got Mine, by the Black Keys. I can’t find too many decent live videos of theirs, so enjoy.

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either, just fuck off and leave me alone.
2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tire.
3. The darkest hours come just before the dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbour’s milk and newspaper, that’s the time to do it.
4. Sex is like air. It only becomes really important when you aren’t getting any.
5. Don’t aspire to become irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.
6. Remeber, no one is listening until you fart.
7. Never forget that you are unique, like everyone else.
8. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
9. If you think nobody cares whether you’re dead or alive, try missing a couple of mortgage payments.
10. Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you’re a mile away and you have their shoes.
11. If at first you don’t succeed, avoid skydiving.
12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
13. Have you lent someone a 20 and ever seen that person again? It was probably worth it.
14. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.
15. Some days we are the flies; some days we are the windscreens.
16. Don’t worry; it only seems kinky the first time.
17. Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.
18. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.
19. A closed mouth gathers no feet.
20. There are two theories about how to win an argument with a woman. Neither one works.
21. Generally speaking, you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving.
22. Never miss a good chance to shut up.
23. Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
24. When we are born we are naked, wet, hungry, and we get smacked on our arse. From there on in, life gets worse.
25. The most wasted day of all is one in which we have not laughed.

I really ought to follow 19 a little more often.