Well, I've fixed a couple of things. I installed the Help module for Views, and understood it a little bit more, enough to re-create the Knotty Geeks views module. Unfortunately it would work in Gallery Live Preview mode, but gave a 404 error when I clicked the link. I had to end up changing the link from jeremyreimer.com/views/knottygeeks to jeremyreimer.com/audio/knottygeeks, and then magically it worked again. Maybe it just needed a /views/ subdirectory to work, because I had an /audio/ subdirectory already.

Then I fixed my Book problems, where my entire book hierarchy had gone missing. This is a known issue, and the solution is actually not that hard:

1.) drop table book in D6 (if there are no diffs to your backup of D5)
2.) reimport table book from D5
3.) run update_6000 for the book module (2nd page of update, Select Version, choose 6000 in the drop-down-box for book)
4.) check your book hierarchy

I took my original full database backup and restored it to new database called 'backup'

CREATE backup;
USE backup;
SOURCE dbcontent.sql;

Then I exported just the "book" table:

$ mysqldump backup book > book.sql

Then dropped the table from the Drupal 6 database

USE mydbname;
DROP table book;

Then just re-imported it from the book.sql file

$ mysql mydbname < book.sql

And then ran update.php from my site, and selected "6000" from the "book" table, and voila!

Now that everything is working, I'm going to stop fiddling with things.

I found a better theme at the Drupal Theme Garden. The theme is called Ad Novus. I had to tweak the font sizes a bit, and I took out the textured page background and shifted the banner up a bit (the original had way too much screen real-estate devoted to the page banner).

I've re-installed the various modules I needed to get Audio (for Knotty Geeks) pages to work again, but there is a big problem with the Knotty Geeks View. I converted it to Drupal 6 format, but it didn't work, and now it just shows the entire blog. The new AJAX-based view editor doesn't work at all, and just spits out a Javascript error whenever you try to do something. I changed it to a non-AJAX view, which apparently a lot of people do, but now I'm at the point where I am completely unable to comprehend what any of the options mean. I think the Drupal people know this, as they suggest installing a help module on the View editing screen. Thanks, guys, but couldn't you just have made it usable in the first place?

The other huge thing, and something that really annoyed me, is that my book, Edge of Infinity, got completely lost. The pages are all still there, but the chapter structure just disappeared. Apparently this is a known bug! The solution involves exporting the entire table from the old database, and importing it manually! And nobody is fixing the problem! Unbelievable!

I really like Drupal, but it seems like they are pretty sloppy when it comes to writing the upgrade scripts for new versions. It weakens my trust in their whole code maintenance strategy, to be honest.

The last thing I expected to find in my mail box was a letter from Google trying to win back my love.

Maybe it was just coincidence, but I found it interesting considering that just a few weeks I put up a blog post entitled Google Ads are useless and don’t work. Perhaps the semi-sentient, Skynet-like Google bot had noticed that I had complained about low Google AdSense revenues, run a quick check to confirm my low Google AdSense revenues, and then fired off this automatic card. It does feel a bit weird to receive a Valentine from a machine entity.

Nonetheless, here it is. Google is offering me a “free” $100 to spend on AdWords, so that I can advertise my own blog. Buried in the fine print is a little “gotcha” line about how unless I cancel, Google will continue to charge me long after the $100 is gone, a nice source of recurring revenue for them. It’s a great endless loop of cash for the search engine giant—I pay money to Google so that people will visit my blog, then I put AdSense ads on my blog page so that Google can charge other advertisers money for viewing them. Only in the unlikely event that someone actually clicks on a link do I get my fraction of a millionth of a penny in payback. Google, meanwhile, is laughing all the way to the bank.

Still, I wonder if it might be worth playing with my “free” $100 just to see how the other half lives. How much traffic could I drive to my site with a few AdWords? Perhaps I could forget about trying to get big numbers on for my blog and just advertise my novel, Edge of Infinity, directly. At least if people buy my book I get a measurable bit of cash, rather than millionths of billionths of a penny.

Maybe I’m just being a grumpy old curmudgeon. Google has been a great resource for me for years and has never charged me a penny for their services. Maybe I should give them a chance. Maybe Google really does love me.

On the other hand, maybe Black Mesa will help me out. That was a joke, ha ha, fat chance.

Oelph on Ars Technica wrote this post the other day, entitled “I have to stop reading TechCrunch”:

I've been reading TechCrunch on and off for a little over a year now and finally come to the conclusion that I have to stop reading it.

I dislike Arrington. I dislike Scoble. More importantly I'm getting downright depressed seeing all these damn young kids in high powered jobs in Google or successful startups. All developing websites and apps which seem pretty pointless but still rake in tonnes of investment.

I used to think I knew technology. I'm only 32. But now I realise it passed me by long ago and I'm struggling to understand this new world.

This was my reply:

I think that much of the Scobles, Arringtons, Googles, and Social Web people are in a bit of an echo chamber, where everybody links to everybody else to tell themselves how awesome they are for being so awesome.

I'm older than you (37) and I sometimes feel the same resentment and disconnection, but I try not to let it get to me. Remember, you and I are posting to each other on a web-based forum, which is about as Social Web as it is possible to get. Yes, I like and use Twitter, and I blog, and I checked out Google Wave and all that, but I tend to come back to the Ars forums time and time again.

I'm trying to make a focus shift in my own life as well, from just consuming all the latest web content and buying the latest gadgets (been there, done that) to producing my own content, in whatever form I can. This is far more enjoyable and satisfying than just consuming. I'm betting, for example, that you enjoyed making this thread. It may be not much, but it's yours, and you created it. This is a neat feeling.

Basically, I don't think you are struggling to understand the "new world" at all. I think you've got it.

There are times on forums where you feel you are disconnected from everyone else, and don’t really get what they are talking about, or vice versa. Then there are times, like these, where you really share a moment. Ironically, it was a moment about not understanding other people’s moments, but still…