I selected Drupal, for its brilliant design and extensive documentation. I was particularly intrigued by the Drupal Book module, described as “structured document publishing.”

I began recording progress on Twitter with Learning Drupal, March 21, 2009.

First Drupal Site

I followed advice on drupal.org, and it was easy to subclass Zen theme to design new site. It was also easy to create menus, blog, forum, as well as a book.

I also studied Pro Drupal Development to understand how it all worked.

Everything improved eight days later:

starting 16 part Drupal/Eclipse tutorial

Because tutorial introduced me to Eclipse PDT, a wonderful integrated development environment for PHP programming language.

Problem Installing Eclipse

After a few crashes, I got Eclipse to work, by installing latest version of Java runtime. I did not want to replace my current version, but it was simple to point Eclipse to new version, starting it:

Eclipse has never crashed with newer Java.

Problem Installing Drupal Test Site

Before adding content, I wanted to be sure that my test site would not appear on search engines. Unfortunately, I could not find “privacy” among the dozens of Drupal administrative settings, or in “Database Table Reference” of Pro Drupal Development.

NOTE: Follow instructions on Disable RSS Feed? before adding content to a Drupal test site.

After 16 Days of Drupal

On April 5, 2009, I Tweeted:

My first Drupal site is up: http://mitchelldmiller.com/web/
Unfortunately, my Tweet from the site did not work

I fixed the Tweet problem, by writing my own program to read and display my last Tweet, and added it to my Drupal and WordPress blogs.

My next Tweet was melancholy:

Trashed my Drupal database and test site is gone!

No, I have no idea what I did, but I knew I needed to learn more PHP. On April 10:

any suggestions for PHP book with function ref to replace php.net?

A response by @ucffool led me to PHP Reference by Mario Lurgi, which has been very helpful.

Nevertheless, I still liked Drupal, so I added “Convert blog to Drupal” to my lengthy “To Do” list.

Month of WordPress Updates

On July 13, I Tweeted:

only took 5 minutes to upgrade WordPress, but I am sick of it. Time to finish my Drupal book, and try something new

I have no idea how I did this, because it was never that fast again!

I recorded additional WordPress updates on July28, August 11, August 15.

I am delighted to report that since Tweeting:

@wordpress please consider validating future releases with Eclipse so they load without errors http://tr.im/uOC5

Future releases have loaded without errors!

Unfortunately, updates introduced very annoying problem! “Screen options” on Administrative pages, stopped working. Tried Linux versions of Firefox 2 and 3, Opera 9 and 10.

I wish WordPress would offer an option for a simpler Administrative theme, where all options are visible. Has anybody besides the developers, ever used the Drag & Drop feature?

Anyway, these experiences induced me to tackle blog conversion.

My Last 29 Hours of Drupal

Notes and comments from my experience converting Where Did My Brain Go? from WordPress to Drupal:

1. optimized WordPress database with disable revisions plugin before export
2. installed Drupal, and followed instructions on Disable RSS Feed?
3. selected WP2Drupal module to convert database to Drupal
4. edited WP2Drupal to: connect nodes with taxonomy terms fails due to lack of $node->vid
5. WP2Drupal ignored WordPress slugs, and created links from titles — most links worked
6. Needed to:
   • review 300 links to correct changes
   • Learn how to filter content types, to maintain current structure
7. Tried Blueprint CSS Framework, used by Blueprint Drupal Module. Even includes validator! But was hesitant about having to learn Ruby Programming Language to understand how it worked. Finally came to senses after reading “Help me!” messages in Blueprint CSS : Google Groups. I would not benefit enough from replacing:
   • one stylesheet with complicated Ruby system
   • really wanted to use Drupal Book module, but did not want to expend many hours converting blog

How To Try WP2Drupal Now

I installed these Drupal modules before converting database:

• Advanced Help
• Content Management Filter
• Devel
• Global Redirect
• Path Redirect
• Pathauto
• Root Candy (great Administrative theme)
• Taxonomy Redirect
• Token
• Views
• WP2Drupal
• Zen

Drupal Suggestions

I recommend Drupal to anyone who wants to start a new blog, knows PHP programming language, and is willing to read Pro Drupal Development to understand how Drupal works, and to learn how to write Drupal modules.

Drupal should assign volunteer to update WP2Drupal module so it creates uses existing links in WordPress slugs, instead of creating new ones from titles. Drupal should make it easy to convert WordPress blog to Drupal, if it wants to become more popular.

Today was the first day I felt “normal.”

First, I updated Plaxico Burress on Wikipedia, then wrote about him here. I even Tweeted about it. However, Plaxico Burress, is an idiot, who messed up New York Giants season, and it did not leave me in a good mood.

Thankfully, Bear Grylls always puts me in a good mood, so I searched for some news about him.

I started at Twitter, where Grylls tweeted that he is filming something in Alaska. Great news — because his shoulder must be better.

Then I visited Bear's Blog, and found something interesting.

Where Is Bear Grylls Now?

Bear Grylls endorses two “fan sites” which are both run by “Melissa” whose MySpace Page states she is 34, and lives in Connecticut. Unfortunately, MySpace is broken, and even after I tried logging in, I could not read her profile.

On almost every link, MySpace tried to send me b.ashx, which Firefox did not understand. I guess they only tested it with Windows. <g>

After switching to their new “lite view” I was able to learn that Melissa is married, and a Leo, but I started getting the same error, on every link, so I logged out of MySpace.

Melissa's other site, includes a forum, hosted by FreeForums.org, which worked fine.

Ask Bear Grylls

Check out Melissa's Ask Bear forum, where she has posted almost a question a day, for over two years.

Apparently, if your question is good enough, Melissa, who might not exercise enough, because there are no photos of her, on either site, will forward it to Bear Grylls somehow, and transcribe his response.

Although Bear Grylls did not answer my Twitter question, you may have better luck using Melissa's forum!

I reminded him to upload a photo, and invited him to visit Where Did My Brain Go? when he was done.

Come on Bear, leave a comment, and let us know you were here!

Following Bear Grylls

Follow Bear Grylls on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/BearGrylls

Until I am doing something on a computer, which does not work — and I convince myself that it would be much easier to solve the problem if I was sucking on a cancer stick.

Usually, I chew on sugar-free candy, until the urge passes. Since the worst computer problems occur at night, and are often caused by simply staying up too late, sometimes I go to sleep, as soon as I want a cigarette.

Unfortunately, “usually” plus “sometimes” does not equal “all the time.” Because occasionally I take $3.18 to a nearby store, which never closes, and trade it for a pack of smokes.

Alas, occasionally is more powerful than sometimes and usually together.

Eventually I reach for a cigarette, as soon as I wake up in the morning.

Additional Inspiration

• I promised my daughters another 30 years, which will not happen if I smoke
• Someone I know was just diagnosed with emphysema from smoking

My New Plan

First, it does not involve Chantix, which is the worst drug I ever tried.

This time, I am going to use my computer. I plan to tweet about smoking.

Tweeting Tobacco

My thinking, is that I am more likely to stick to it, if I keep reminding myself on Twitter. It might be boring, because I might actually stop, or (even better) just forget about it.

I counted the days when I stopped drinking for awhile, but cigarettes are different. During my first month without liquor, I wanted a drink all the time, and each day was a challenge. Cigarette cravings pass in a few minutes, and are not nearly as strong.

Countdown

I have 11 cigarettes left.

What Is Aardvark?

Aardvark is a network of users who answer each others questions. It opened to the public in March 2009, but new users must be invited to join by existing users.

Users register as “experts” on at least three subjects. For example, I selected:

1. HTML
2. Java SE
3. Web Programming

Basically, someone sends a question about HTML to Aardvark, which eventually gets routed to me. Then Aardvark emails me the question, asking if I want to answer it.

Of course, there are many more options. I can limit questions to “friends” or members of groups. I can also receive questions by IM and chat services. iPhones will be supported soon.

Does It Work?

I don't know yet, because I have not sent or received any questions! I think I need to register for more subjects. I am also used to asking questions on Web forums, however I will try to ask my next question on Aardvark.

Aardvark is a brilliant idea. I will report back on it, when I have more experience using this innovative service.

Note:

What Is Twitter?

Twitter is a micro blogging service. Entries, or Tweets are plain text, and limited to 140 characters.

Tweets may include Web addresses, but these are limited to 30 characters by Twitter. Twitter will automatically shorten long links, but I wanted something better.

So, in addition to Twitter, I signed up for another service, bit.ly, to Tweet about links like:

What Is bit.ly?

Use bit.ly to shorten, share, and track your links. bit.ly shortened the the previous link to:

After opening a bit.ly account, you will also be able to keep track of all the links you have submitted.

Danger, Will Robinson!

Visiting a link, with an unknown destination, can be scary. You can obtain information about a bit.ly link, by adding:  + (plus sign)

For example, try:

When you open a link from bit.ly, or others like it, the service expands it, and issues a redirect to your browser.

Linux users should try this tip from yitzle on Lifehacker. It uses cURL, a very handy utility, which is installed on most systems.

Add this function to your .bashrc:

Use it from the shell like this:

Add a "v" for cURL’s verbose output, to test it, and learn how it works:

Twitter Trivia

On yesterday’s Kim Komando show, America’s Digital Goddess, said that Twitter bought their logo, seen by millions daily, from iStockPhoto for $30.

Ms. Komando said the artist received $6 from this sale.

Twitter Accounts

Everything on Twitter works nicely. I particularly like how easy it is to remove generic wallpaper and customize colors.

However, Twitter’s best feature, is the way it handles the selection of user names. I register for many sites, which require an account, to ask a question, or run a demo.

Some sites, like Joomla, take you back to the 80′s —

1. Enter all your info
2. Press “Send” and wait
3. Receive message that your selected ID is taken
4. Go to 1

Others, like MySpace, where I am also MitchMiller2009, or Wikipedia, where I am Mitch3000, issue a permanent address, which can never be changed.

Twitter will let you change your ID, but I have not done it, and do not know how it affects your old Tweets. However, they make it easy to search the system as many times as you like, for available IDs, and other sites should implement similar systems.

Twitter Support

Visit Customer Support Community for Twitter to get answers from users and Twitter staff. Over 50,000 people have registered for this service.

So What?

Should I Tweet that I am writing about Tweeting?

I am not sure, because I still don’t understand most of its features. I also do not understand how Twitter makes money, because there are no advertisements or fees.

But I love using Twitter!