15 Dec
2008

Hanging Snowflakes Decoration

Last year in January I bought (actually my dad paid for them, thanks dad!) a whole box of Christmas decorations from IKEA, for about 2 GBP. In the box were some snowflake decorations, and yesterday I made a little hanging snowflake decoration to go over the stairs in the hall. I think it looks cute!

snowflakes

It was just a little crocheted string (to give the hanging snowflakes some texture to get tied onto so they didn’t all slide around on the string), then snowflakes threaded onto the cotton, tied into a loop, and then looped onto the string. You can’t really see in the photos but the snowflakes are all glittery and sparkly. Then we put a few nails into the wood over the stairs, and just hooked crochet stitches over them – here it is from the stairs side:

snowflakes

The whole thing took about 20 minutes … so although the snowflakes have had a long wait, it was worth it!

12 Dec
2008

Relocating a WordPress Installation

WordPress is a fine basic website tool, and I’ve used it for a few different odds and ends. One thing it does have that suprises me every time is that it uses a setting for its web address. So as part of the install, it sets this setting and then everything works. Or rather it does, so long as the web address of the application doesn’t change.

Well I’m working on something that I’m developnig locally, checking in to a subversion repository, and then deploying to another server (and other people will be doing the same when they collaborate with me). WordPress isn’t really designed for that, or for the situation where you have a copy of the database, and the code and need to restore it to a different place for any reason. The admin login form is accessible – but then submits to the old location before you can get in to change the settings.

Anyway it turns out to be really straight forward. The URL is in the database and a one-line query mends the problem. I’m putting it here for the next time I need it :)

update wp_options set option_value = 'http://new.path.to/blog" where option_name = 'siteurl';

I found some complicated instructions for moving a blog too – but this will also work for that scenario. This was wordpress 2.7 (their new and shiny version!), I’m not certain which other versions this would apply to but add a comment if you can expand on this please!

05 Dec
2008

PHP Advent Article Published

I was wildly excited a few weeks ago to receive an email inviting me to be one of the contributors to this year’s PHP Advent. Actually the biggest kick was seeing my name in a list of PHP luminaries! The article was published today, you can find it at http://phpadvent.org/2008/which-web-service-by-lorna-mitchell – its a short overview of various types of web services around with some pros and cons about when each is useful. To be included in the PHP Advent project has been huge fun, in fact I’m so delighted that I’ve broken one of my usual rules and blogged twice in one day :)
05 Dec
2008

Birthday Time Again

I’m not old enough to have stopped counting the years yet – and today is my birthday. I’m another year older and actually I think I am a bit wiser than I was this time last year – its been a busy one with a new job and some new experiences (public speaking, eek!). I’d like to say a huge thankyou to everyone who sent cards, gifts, tweets, emails, or wrote on my facebook wall, its been really nice to receive so many happy thoughts from people. I’ve had the day off and we went to York for a bit of shopping and lunch at one of our favourite spots – we lived in York as students so we know the city well, and it was great to go back. I also bought a few nice things for myself :)
29 Nov
2008

Christmas Cranberry Chutney

This weekend I got a chance to try out a recipe I’ve had my eye on for a while. Its this Spicy Cranberry Chutney which I’m making as christmas presents (home made presents – way nicer and way cheaper!). Here is it in progress, and in the jars when it was finished:

cranberry chutney, cooling cranberry chutney, bottled

Its very sweet and not very spicy because I (predictably) didn’t check I had everything I needed so I had to improvise wildly – and the missing ingredients sadly were the ginger and the pepper. Still, Its very edible and I can see this going with cold turkey very nicely on boxing day. I’m also planning some apple-something (apple jelly perhaps?) since I have a few apples that need something doing with them:

Crate of Apples

26 Nov
2008

Girl Geek Dinner Next Week

I’m getting quite excited now about the next Leeds Girl Geek Dinner which is next Wednesday (3rd December 2008). Got some cool speakers by the look of it – I know Monica (and she is fab) and from Katie’s bio we are in for a treat. Also I have been promised there is more food this time (hot and christmassy food …. yum) so count me in.

I often get asked why we don’t allow men at these events – well of course we do. Men can attend but only when they are invited by one of the attending girl geeks (maximum one man each please, ladies!) – meaning we can have men who are likely to contribute to the event but not be invaded if we don’t want to be. If you’re a guy and looking to go, find a girl geek and ask nicely :)

I’ll definitely be at this event – I look forward to seeing some others. I had a great time last time – so go and buy a ticket (cheap night out at £15!) and I’ll see you there!

24 Nov
2008

PHPNW Post-match Analysis

Last weekend saw a crowd descend on central Manchester in the UK for the first PHP North West conference. We had almost 180 attendees, 12 sessions, 16 speakers, and lots of fun. The day itself went off very smoothly and although I didn’t manage to see many of the sessions, the atmosphere both at the conference and at the socials was absolutely buzzing. I found myself doing the introductions which was a bit scary but apparently the audience were more scared than me when I laid down the law about not moving around during the talks!

On a personal level, I met up with lots of friends and also made several new ones – one of the best things about the conference for me was being able to meet “in real life” the friends I’ve made online, either on IRC or through my site or the phpwomen site. There were people there that I’ve met through my work and through attending other tech events – and to be able to shake hands and chat in person was great.

We also had a phpwomen stand at the event – which generated quite a bit of interest. For the record, we counted around 15 women in the 174 attendees, which is actually quite a lot – or rather, its more than usual – and it was great to see it. Also there were 2 female speakers out of 16 which was accidental but is also quite a good ratio so I’ll mention it (hi Steph, hi Zoe!)

All in all, it was a pretty stunning first conference – I’d like to personally thank Jeremy and the people from his family and company that he dragged in to help, and Jenny who also did a great job. The speakers were ace and the helpers on the day were also really excellent. The main sponsors were my employers, Ibuildings and it was great to have them around for this – and of course to catch up with my colleagues!

17 Nov
2008

Speaking at “Beauty and the Geek”

I’m giving a talk next week in a Beauty Salon. Yes, really :) There is an event entitled “Beauty and the Geek” at Heaven Spa in Didsbury – details on their blog – and the event is on 26th November. It sounds like a fun mix of beauty techniques (mouse-finger massage, anyone?) plus a talk by yours truly … although I need to a) figure out how to give a talk with no projector and b) live up to my reputation as “influential blogger” – if you’re going, then let me know and I’ll see you there!
13 Nov
2008

PHP North West Conference in Manchester – Next Week!

Its been creeping up on us for a while but now PHPNW is almost upon us! PHP people will be arriving from all sorts of places and coming together to attend this event. The schedule is full of excellent talks by a selection of speakers – and we’ll round the day off with a lively panel discussion about the PHP community itself.

We’ve got socials happening right over the weekend – with a pre-conference social on Friday night for people to meet up, catch up, and generally hang out (and drink), the weekend will get off to a good start. Saturday is the main conference event, ticket price includes full access to the event, a year’s subscription to php|architect magazine (in print as well as digital format), lunch, and access to the evening party with yet more food (hotpot, since we’re in the north!), and of course a selection of drinks.

For those coming from further afield, there is plenty to do in Manchester over the weekend. The conference itself is very central, so you have easy access to the entertainments of the city centre. The shopping is excellent in the city centre and for those who prefer a geekier pastime, entry to the Museum of Science and Industry is free and it is open 7 days a week.

I know there are plenty of people going and I’m really looking forward to it – to catching up with old friends (and colleagues, I don’t see them very often!), to making new ones, to hearing the talks that will be going on, and of course to a few drinks and a good time. Hope to see you there :)