Main Site Down

I'll be using the old Blogger account as a backup whenever I have a problem with the main site over at www.dmperez.com.

Like now.

In upgrading Wordpress this morning, something went wrong, so now I need to wait for Tech Support to restore the database. I just hope I don't loose all my info like the last time!

Moving to Wordpress

It's the end of the Second Age (the First Age being when I was at Xanga). I am leaving Blogger and taking everything to my own host and publishing my blog via Wordpress, which I am absolutely loving.

To see the new blog, please go to http://www.dmperez.com

You can update your RSS feed (all 2 of you who get this via a feed) over there, and also catch the feed for comments.

I may keep the Blogger account as a backup for now, but Wordpress is where it's at for me now. :)

The Coolest Thing I Saw In Belgium

I uploaded the Flickr gallery for the latest episode of The Gamer Traveler - Brugge, Belgium, and came across something that I had been meaning to share with geeks around the world.

Aside from all the neat places I visited in Belgium, all the wonderful historic grounds I traipsed upon, all the yummy beer I drank, the yummy chocolates I ate, and the wonderful people I met, there was one event, one surprise event, that stands out as "The Coolest Thing I Saw in Belgium (tm)".

Let me not use words, and let the pictures speak for themselves:

That thing is exactly what it looks like, a mechanical, motorized lion.

It was built by a local artist-metalworker named Kezanti who has a studio on the same street I was staying at. On our last day in Brugge, I went out for a little walk around the block, and ended up on the open-air dining area of this small restaurant two buildings down from our B&B. I saw the mechanical lion standing there, but at first I thought it was a bitchin sculpture (Brugge is the kind of town where you can see open air art displays). Then the guy stood up and turned it on and I could not hold my geekness inside.

I spoke with him a little (him in much better English than me in my horrible Dutch) and he told me this was the first time he had taken it outside the studio and was having a celebratory beer. He then stood up and proceeded to ride the mechanical lion! What's even better, I got video:

Click here and leave a comment.

Just a handful of people saw this walking work of art take its first steps, beaming artists riding atop. These are the kinds of magic moments that happen when you travel that you remember forever, the moments that you could never, in a million years, have forseen and that happen, seemingly, just for you.

Furthermore, since like two days ago there has been a flurry of comments for the video over at YouTube. I just found out why:

My video was honored as #98 in the Top Rated (This Month) in Travel & Places. Even at 98, I think it's pretty cool and it seems so does everyone else who has seen the video.

Drop by and leave a comment as well. Maybe next month I can go higher!

And THAT was "The Coolest Thing I Saw in Belgium (tm)." :-)

New Toys

I'm still waiting for the domains to transfer and the new account info to propagate across the vastness of cyberspace. In the meantime, I have been exploring all the cool new toys I have available at my new host. I have already installed Wordpress in the new site, so in a couple of days I hope to be able to transfer this blog over there (though I shudder at the thought of transfering all my posts!). They also have a laundry list of programs I can install, like php forums, Mambo, OS Commerce (if this means nothing to you, just read it as "cool toy, cool toy, cool toy"), among others. I'm excited because this will allow me to grow my web presence all across the board and on all of my projects. The upfront cost was tough (very good price, but still all upfront), but so far it looks like an awesome investment. Can't wait!

Changing Hosts

Bye bye Stargate.com, hello Bluehost.com. I finally moved my sites and hosting from Stargate, and not a moment too soon. Stargate was fine a couple years ago when all I had was my personal site, but things have grown since and their services were just not up to par, not to mention expensive in comparison. So after shopping around and asking the opinion of people more knowledgeable in this stuff than me, I went with Bluehost. Soon I'll be able to start the redesign of all my sites, including my personal blog, which will go from Blogger to Wordpress. I just gotta get through the whole moving part, which is as tedious online as it is in real life.

Save The Internet!

Save The Internet!

Happy New Year 5767!

I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and sweet new year 5767!

L'Shanah Tovah!!!