I tried to upgrade this site from Movable Type 3.17 to Movable Type 3.2 beta 5, and all hell broke loose. First of all, I did back it up, but I didn’t know that the backup of the database was corrupt until it was too late.

Version 3.2 wasn’t working because of memory limitations from my hosting company, but I couldn’t simply downgrade because 3.17 couldn’t read the newly-upgraded data in the database.

When I tried restoring from backup, 3.17 wouldn’t work because the database was corrupt. And I was still using a Berkeley database instead of MySQL (because the Berkeley database previously wasn’t “broke,” so I never fixed it), so I couldn’t look at the data to fix whatever was wrong.

Anyway, I eventually used a combination of some Berkeley tables from the backup and some Berkeley tables that had been upgraded, and I was able to convert this combination to MySQL using Movable Type’s conversion script, and then I could go into MySQL, fix what was wrong, manipulate the upgraded data to the way it was before, and successfully use version 3.17 again.

So now I’m running on 3.17, and it’s working very well, and all of my data is intact except some anti-spam settings and some trackbacks (which I never cared about anyway). And now I’m using MySQL, which is handy because I can fix things that break in the future, and I can easily make changes to all entries at once using SQL.

Tomorrow they’re supposed to announce the official release of version 3.2, and I’ll most likely try it again. But at least this time I have a textual backup (in the form of a SQL script) of the database, so if something goes wrong, I can downgrade again.

Knock on wood.

Jason Kottke wrote about his “analog Palm Pilot” today. Clearly he is not familiar with the PaperPalm, which I wrote about a few years ago. But he should be. So Jason, if you’re reading this, you should buy a PaperPalm.

Almost everyone on my Buddy List has an away message up right now, and I think it would be interesting just to list all of them. If you’re one of those people who likes to do the same weird things that other people have done on their weblogs, feel free to do this too.

What do you dream about when your love is asleep at your side?

I am currently away from the computer.

Someone in my office is eating tuna. At first I thought my computer smelled like tuna for some reason. But no. It’s actual tuna, elsewhere in the office. Phew!

Dude, my keyboard is making funny noises when I type. Like, it sounds like a very quiet old fashioned cash register: “ker-ching, ker-ching, ker-ching.” I think what’s happening is that some of the springs (or maybe just one spring under a letter I type frequently) is getting worn out. That’s not nearly as cool as if it really were an old fashioned cash register, and were full of money.

Oh wait… I just realized why it’s making that noise. My computer’s microphone is turned on, and it’s picking up the sound of the keystrokes and amplifying it.

Stupid David.

The PaperPalm is so cute! I want to get one for my mom. She could tease my dad with it. Her Palm would be faster, more reliable, lighter, less expensive, and easier to use than his. Ha ha.

The power supply in my computer blew a transistor, so I replaced it. Then I realized that the CPU had been fried, so I replaced that. Then I realized that the motherboard was also fried, so I returned the CPU and power supply, and began seeking out a whole new computer.

I bought a “barebones” computer (just a case, power supply, and motherboard) from Fry’s, a big hard drive, and a cheap CPU, and built myself a new computer. The case was really cool, but one of the components on the motherboard (namely the video card) was apparently not compatible with Windows XP, so the computer kept getting “the blue screen of death.” In retrospect, I think the blue screen wasn’t caused by the incompatible video card, but rather by some kind of electrical issue. Still, I wasn’t going to be able to troubleshoot the problem successfully, so I took apart the computer and returned it to Fry’s. Did I mention how much I love Fry’s return policy? Well, I do.

Then I went over to Micro Center to look at pr