mySQL hell!

Spent most of the weekend fighting with MySQL and phpMyAdmin! They have won so far! I'm trying to do something very basic and obviously missing something, but it's pretty frustrating! All I want to do is move a CMS-MS (that's CMS Made Simple!) website I've been developing for a client from the test area on my website, to the area on the same host where I host websites. And can I do it ... ?!?!!! No!! I have moved the files of course, but it's the database that I'm having problems with. And restrictions with usernames ... sigh! I'm sure when I finally manage to do this it'll all seem really easy, but right now it doesn't! This is the first CMS site I've done, so I guess there's bound to be a bit of a learning curve - just wish it'd straighten out now!

Did manage to escape this mental turmoil and go to yoga class on Saturday afternoon ... which was really nice! I'm still struggling to find space in my day / workspace to practice during the week. But I managed to practice in the gym last week, which although somewhat odd, was OK! There I was squished in between various gym machines and people lifting weights ... :) I've asked around at my workplace and the consensus is that it's most unlikely there are any empty offices that I can use, so this is the best alternative I can come up with!

I passed!

I've been putting off posting. This blog is part of ashtangi.net, and this week (last Sunday) the Guruji of Ashtanga Yoga passed away.

I've kind of been at an impasse, not quite knowing what to say about it all but feeling that I needed to. I feel a bit on the edge/side of the Ashtanga community. I never had the opportunity to study with him - the one time he came to Australia and I was signed up to attend his classes I came down with a bad case of Giardia and had to cancel.

But, although I can't say I'm a very 'good' practitioner, Ashtanga Yoga has been a big part of my life for about 9 years. Since I started practicing it I've learnt and developed so much, and have had no desire to do any other kind of yoga - ashtanga just 'got me'! So I'm really grateful to Pattabhi Jois for teaching this practice to Westerners, and bringing it to the West. And I feel confident he can rest in peace, knowing he's left it in safe hands with his grandson Sharath having pretty much taken over in the past couple of years.

...

Now I've said that, I can go back to my previous post, and the title of this one! Yes, I did it! I took the ITIL exam again on Tuesday and I passed! Got 77% ... I was so thrilled and excited - it meant much more than if I'd passed the original exam! Probably partly because of the extra effort I had to put into studying all the concepts/theories/terminology again and somehow fixing it all in my head! I spent most of the weekend doing that, plus reading the manuals on the bus to and from work each day for the previous week! What a relief all of that's over!!

Now I've got a peaceful weekend ahead of me - and I'll dedicate my yoga practice this weekend to the memory of Guruji Pattabhi Jois.

ITIL certification course

Last week was exhausting! It was a short week - the Monday had been a public holiday. But Wednesday to Friday I was on a 3-day course - ITIL Foundation certification. Basically this is all about processes that are (or should be) used within the IT industry, and in my new department (ITS) they like all staff to get certification. It's all theory and really hard to cram into your head! I was completely wiped out by it. We had an official exam on the Friday afternoon ... We'd done 2 trials (previous exam papers) and I passed both of them. But I failed the official one! I was so upset on Friday evening. I knew it was stupid but I'd put an awful lot of effort into it, and the fact that I'd passed the two trial ones easily - it was infuriating! I've decided I'm going to have to do the exam again - and if/when I pass, then I can let it all drop out of my mind and probably won't remember much of it at all.

Sigh ... I don't know why I've got so wound up about this - everyone at work dreads this course and there was lots of eye-rolling when I said I was going to it. I guess I'm not actually used to failing(!), and having put so much effort into trying to understand the concepts, and learn which processes went with which service - failing really got to me! I had to make a big effort not to have it cloud my whole weekend - ridiculous I know!

Feeling better now - it's Sunday afternoon and I've just been planting some potatoes in the veggie garden I dug over a week or two ago. I went to yoga yesterday afternoon - bit of a slog coz I was feeling weak and stiff, but I'm very glad I went (as usual!) Tomorrow morning bright and early (6am) I'm off to the hospital to have an IV-IG infusion. I need to get a CT scan organisied for the next month or so. If I don't catch my doctor (when he comes up to the ward to do his rounds) then I'll have to make an appointment to see him and get the forms. This (CT scan) is my yearly check-up ... :) Feeling fine about it now but I know I won't be sleeping too well the night or two beforehand. Ah well - cross that bridge when I come to it!

Yoga and the 5 Rhythms

I've been collapsed at home today (Sunday) after quite an amazing afternoon/evening yesterday. Went to yoga class in the afternoon which was quite lovely. Not that anything wonderful in the way of breakthroughs or progress happened - probably the reverse as I still haven't sorted out a new practice schedule since changing jobs (and time available). But it just felt so good to be 'in the slot' of practice - doing the sun salutes and just following the series through. I had to leave early because I was supposed to be somewhere at 6pm, and the teacher had started talking to everyone about pranayama, or the basic beginners' pranayama that he teaches and we do at the end of asana practice. I had to get up and go in the middle of all of this which felt a bit awkward, but couldn't be helped.

So - where I had to be at 6pm was at a 5 Rhythms dance! I'd never heard of this before, but a friend (Ross) invited me to one being put on by his yoga teacher. Basically it's a dance 'practice' founded by someone called Gabrielle Roth, where you dance to 5 different rhythms - flowing, staccatto, chaos, lyrical and stillness. 20 minutes for each rhythm. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was wonderful! I would have thought I'd have been pretty tired having just done about 1.5 hours of yoga, but I didn't sit out any of it! Most of us did kind of treat the last one (stillness) as a sort of savasana, lying on the floor, but still I have to say I was quite amazed that I was able to keep dancing without any thought of sitting down for a while!

However, today is a different matter! I was quite tired, and when I got back from doing the shopping (and visiting the library) I was quite content to have a slow quiet afternoon! Mind you, I'll still fighting with uploading my CMS website to a test server - unsuccessful to date! Hoping to get some (more) help from the user community, who of course are mostly in Europe/USA and so in bed when I'm awake, and awake when I'm asleep!

Photos from Easter

Me and my cousin, my Mum and my Aunt


Jedda, lounging on the antique furniture


hiding in the bedclothes!

Post-Easter holiday

A nice Easter holiday ... I took a couple of extra days and am now just back at work. This is the first break I've had since all of the emotional upheaval that I guess inevitably comes when a whole group of people you've worked with for many years are made redundant / split up. Somehow it seemed a much more significant event than if I'd just resigned.

My Mum came up from NSW (she usually does for Easter) and we had a nice family time. Went to visit one of my cousins on Easter Day - she's just moved into a new house at Mt Tamborine - about an hour's drive south of Brisbane. Very pretty there, up in the hills (Gold Coast hinterland) but also very green and wet! It rains a lot!! We had a big family lunch there with 4 generations (including an 8-week old baby, great-grandnephew of my mother).

On Monday a friend from many years ago came through Brisbane for the day - on her way from a wedding in Melbourne and a Great Barrier Reef holiday in Cairns, back home to L.A. We knew each other when we both lived in London a long time ago, and since then have met up every few years. Talked (and ate, and drank wine!) for hours and hours, so now we are both fully caught up on what's been happening in each other's lives!

I also spent quite a bit of time on one of the two websites I'm developing. It's mostly finished now - just whatever changes/updates that are requested. Next weekend I'm going to meet up with the client for the other website, to move that along too.

And this evening I'm (yet again!) picking up my yoga practice and going to class.

Week 2 - a little tired!

Last week I sailed through with heaps of energy, but I'm a bit more tired this week. I guess it's to be expected - will take a while for my body/circadian rhythms/whatever to get used to the new situation. But that's OK. My cough is also getting a bit worse, which doesn't help. I've got some antibiotics but am holding off taking them until I'm sure I need to.

One thing I'm really missing is yoga. Last week I managed 2 practices. This week, nothing so far! I'll go on Saturday but I can't see any other options. I've already got to get up really early - not going any further (or earlier) down that track. And I just don't have the energy when I get home. When I was at the other campus I practiced at lunchtime - there were heaps of spare rooms around, and we also had a weekly yoga session with 2-5 others. Here - this building is a rabbit warren but I don't think there's much spare space. Anything that doesn't have people in it has piles of computers and parts and cables and so on!

There is, however, this Unifit system where the gym is available for one hour at lunchtime to staff whose departments (mine included) pay for their staff to attend. After Easter I'm going to sign up there and see if they'll let me do my yoga practice there in the gym. Not ideal, but the best (possible) solution I've come up so far.

Weekends have been taken up with work on 2 websites! Never rains but it pours ... One of them is my first CMS-based site. I'm using CMS-MS and am getting the hang of that. The other one is a static one, that's come out of an Arts grant that a friend applied for. She quoted for a website as well as everything else. This is 2 Artists books, so will have lots of images etc.

And I'm really pleased because I'm going to be able to get a new laptop from the proceeds of these two websites. My existing one is over 4-5 years old and is just soo slow. It's a Mac Powerbook, and I've been using the later Intel-based Macs at work for years now. The difference in speed is amazing. But it's not just the comparison - there is definitely something wrong with the Powerbook. I'm making sure I back up to an external hard drive every night, just in case of disaster! Just have to hope it lasts out for another month or so!