“That we might have Joy!”

Alright… it appears that I didn’t realize how attached you were all to these blogs.  It actually just makes my heart happy though to hear that some of you really like the blogs and want to leave them here.

But after much pondering and praying… I can not ignore the Spirit any more.  I know that I need to migrate these blogs off of our own hosted solution.  I don’t know why, in fact, I want to keep them here, but I can not go against what I feel is right.

I will call each of you tomorrow to find out what you want me to do so start thinking about it.  I can create the blogs for you and get them all set up if you would like and then add you as an administrator on them.

I’m so sorry everyone.  I do love you all so much an will do what ever I can to get you set up and continue to help as I have in the past.

~Jeff

Alright, it has been a long couple of days.  Sorry for not keeping you in the loop.  This is where we are with the blogs (this is going to be a long post… hang on!).  For those that may, or may not have noticed… all the blogs have been down since Monday night.  They came up again late last night after a long week.

As you can see I managed to get them all back up.  I ended up migrating EVERYTHING (all 50+ GB, data, SQL databases, mail servers, settings, everything) over to a new web host.  The old host (bluehost.com in case you were wondering) wouldn’t budge on opening everything back up for a couple of days so I could do a proper migration of old posts to a new format.  I found a host (hostgator.com) that was willing to do a month to month payment option till we can get everything properly migrated.  To tell you the truth… I am very pleased with them.

That being the case… I really realized that I need to have someone else hosting this and managing this.  The original reason they started looking at our account on Monday was because vandrimmelenfamily.org (the website I created for our family worldwide) was hacked.  And it WAS hacked.  Someone found a way to execute commands on the server.  I knew it needed to be upgraded (I got a warning from the guy that created the script I used to build the website), but I have been too busy to manage it.  That being said, I also manage 30+ wordpress sites.  I wrote a script to keep all those updated, but it is just too much with everything else going on and I don’t want to risk something worse happening.  I really am not a web developer, it is just something I like to do…  So… I am recommending we move off of these self hosted wordpress installations to a hosted option where professionals can keep us updated and protected.

First and foremost I want to ASSURE you that I am keeping a backup of ALL data and will keep it after we close down the host.  I learned the hard way that we always need a backup.  So, if anything ever happens, we can recover it, or recreate it.  I will also make sure you get DVD’s with all the data on them for your own records.

To help you make an informed decision, I have tried to lay out some of the features I think are important below about the two best options out there that I know about.  If you have already made a blogger account.  Great!  I hope this helps you see what it can do and how I can help.

Blogger

This seems to be the popular option for a lot of our friends.  It is easy to use.  Everyone else is using it.  Jump on the Bandwagon.  Debbi said she felt like if all her friends were able to use blogger, she could too and jumped right in and took control.  Who am I to argue with that.  If Debbi is going to write more (wink, wink) then I am more than willing to let her!

• Post Transfer - I found a tool that you can import posts from wordpress.  Blogger will only allow 50 posts a day, so you will have to do it in increments.  But that is built into the tool.  Here is a test site I did (notice it only has the first 50 posts of our blog on it).  The dates of the post are preserved in the import.
• Comment Transfer - The tool I used does not transfer comments.  I did find another one that says it will transfer comments, but it is a python script that needs to be edited.  I don’t do python, but I know someone at work that does.  I might be able to see if he can help me edit it.  If I can get it to work, the dates of the comments will not be preserved, but at least the content will.   They will all show up as posted when I import them.
• Pictures - Pictures will show up in the post right now, but when we finally cancel the self hosting, they will not show up any more.  Of course any you do from now on will show up.
• Theme - Blogger has quite a few themes, and unlimited more that you can download.  This is certainly a plus for blogger.  I can also potentially help edit themes for y’all.
• Help from Jeff - If you want to make me an administrator on your blogs (don’t feel like you have to), I can log in and help edit settings, posts, etc. like I always have.
• Privacy - There are two settings: show to the world (including search engines), and only show to a list of readers (up to 100).
• Own Domain Names - You can configure it so you can buy your own name, or continue to use your current name (vonbose.net, etc.).

Wordpress.com

This is the hosted solution for what we have been using all these years, so you should be very familiar with the how to use it.

• Post Transfer - You can export and import with the tool built in to Wordpress and transfer everything, although it did seem to mess up my embedded video’s from YouTube.
• Comment Transfer - All comments transfer as well.  Here is a test site I did.
• Pictures - Pictures will show up in the post right now, but just like Blogger, when we finally cancel the self hosting, they will not show up any more.  Of course any you do from now on will show up.
• Theme - Themes are a bit more limited in Wordpress.  They only have about 50 or so to choose from.  There is no way to upload some of the themes from the internet, and I can’t do the customization I did with the old themes.  They do let you adjust the side widgets and add some functionality there, but not as much.
• Help from Jeff - If you want to make me an administrator on your blogs (don’t feel like you have to), I can log in and help edit settings, posts, etc. like I always have.
• Privacy - There are three settings here.  Show to the world; show to the world, but not search engines; and show to a list of users.
• Own Domain Names - You can also configure it so you can buy your own name, or continue to use your current name (vonbose.net, etc.).

So, that’s about it.  I really don’t care what you choose.  I can show you how to migrate, or you can make me an adminstrator (or I can even create it for you and make you an administrator) and I can do the migration for you.

Bottom line in my opinion, Blogger has more theme options, the edge on ease of use, and popularity.  Wordpress has the familiarity of the old, complete import, and privacy.

Let me know how I might be of assistance.  Feel free to call… or leave comments.  I will answer them here so everyone get’s it.

Oh, and as for timeline.  Take your time.  It’s not terribly expensive to pay by the month with these folks so I’m not in any rush.  I want to do it correct, that is why I moved everything instead of trying to rig it up as fast as I could.  I personally have to migrate our family blog, edutechie.com, mormontechie.com and my online portfolio (jeffvandrimmelen.info).  In case you were wondering, just because it is easier and more professional, I am going to use wordpress for everything besides our family blog.

I love you all!

~Jeff

About a week ago, Kay was complaining of a tummy ache and everyone was going to hear about it. She’s in her 3 year old prime and for Kay, that means that everything she says is loud and dramatic. Jeff and I tried everything we could think of to distract her of this tummy ache (knowing that nothing was wrong with her) until finally Jeff asked her if she needed some medicine. I gave him a look that said “Nothing is wrong! Why are you giving her medicine?!?!?” and he gave me a look of “Don’t worry, everything will be fine”. Minutes later, Kay was tucked in bed for nap time, had her bean bag warmed up for her, and best yet, it was quiet. After inquiring Jeff about the medicine, he smiled and whispered to me that it was just milk in the dropper. I couldn’t believe that she fell for the trick! We smiled.

Today, we had a similar episode and she wanted medicine for her tummy ache. Thinking back to my wise husband, I sent her off to bed with a warmed up bean bag with a promise to be in with her medicine. This time I couldn’t find the dropper so I used a little medicine cup from the older kids medicine. She seemed satisfied and I think may actually be asleep now. I wonder, though, how long we will be able to pull off this new medicine before she realizes is just plain milk.

Fellow parents, feel free to use Jeff’s wise medicine trick… but please keep it quiet so we are not discovered. SSShhhhhh

We’ve had a really exciting week!  Jeff has been posting lots of video’s so it’s my turn to post one.  On Tuesday, we woke up to snow!  We were all very excited!!  We quickly got breakfast in everyone and then we started the process of getting everyone dressed.  If anyone has ever gotten little kids dressed in snow gear, you know what an ordeal it can be.  Once outside, we all had a great time!  However, after just a half an hour of freezing, that was the only time they asked go out to play even though the snow stuck around until Friday.  Here’s a little video of their fun!

So another week has come and gone… and life just continues to go along great! Here are some video’s to share.

First off is this very cute video of Tank and Kay. As you may, or may not have heard, our little boy Spencer is a big kid, and we love it! Debbi started calling him her little Tank when he was small… and I liked it so I call him that all the time. What makes things even better is the fact that Kay is kind of a dwarf for her age. So you put the two together and you end up with a three year old that weighs less than her 20 month old little brother. This is a cute video of some of the results… (2:56)

Our own little Rebekah hope had a birthday this past week. (Okay, it was a week and a half ago… but I have been busy.. ). Here is a video of her opening her presents. (3:59)

Everyone else is doing well. Here’s a one line update from everyone else not featured above… Joseph is really enjoying lego’s right now and working hard to save some money to buy some “electronic” lego’s. Debbi has started walking/running on a regular basis with a really good friend down the street. And I (Jeff) am learning to write programs for the iPhone in my spare time for fun!

I am working We also had a great snow day this past week… I’m working on uploading a video right now. I’ll probably post that later tonight… Love you all!