Lewis Empire

After a brief heart attack this evening Lewis Empire is back up and running. I was trying to figure out a problem with my comments and spent a little time surfing the web for an answer. The problem was that whenever someone posted a comment they received a blank screen. Jarle at The Personal Development Blog even sent me a quick email last week about the problem (Thanks Jarle!)

Some of the things I read online told me that I should change the domain name in my WordPress admin - Options section. Is it because I’ve been working so hard on my patio that my mind shut off? Maybe, but I decided to delete the domain name and press update anyways. If you’ve never done this before I would not suggest doing it. You will be greeted by a beautiful WordPress screen that says,

It appears that this Blog does not exist, please click here to start a new blog

I immediately tried using my FTP account to upload a previously backed-up copy of my options-general.php file. No luck. Then I tried hitting BACK on my browser (which showed me the original screen) added the URI back and hit update…I got the same message!

All did not end up so badly. I simply resigned to the fact that I was dead-in-the-water and that all the great comments I’ve received (not to mention the posts) were gone. I pressed OK, entered my domain name again and moved on. All of a sudden, Lewis Empire reappeared and all posts and comments were back! With some minor adjustments - like removing the extra About page and duplicated Uncategorized category - everything was back to normal (even my heart rate.) Also, the blank comment redirect screen is now also gone so apparently I fixed the problem.

For a blogger, thinking you just lost your entire blog can be devastating. I hope this post can spare even one person the terror of my evening.

On a lighter note, here are some other things I can think of that should never be done on a Tuesday night:

• Watch Mortal Combat II the movie
• Eat Sushi you just bought at a convenient store
• Hammer your thumb with a rubber mallet
• Lock your keys in the car in the middle of nowhere
• Not drink enough water when digging (that’s digging dirt) in 100 degree weather
• Put your sunglasses in your pocket and sit down
• Eat an entire thing of cotton candy (is there a name for the paper roller?)
• Find out your backyard project will cost about 75% more than you originally estimated
• Have a nap in your bed and forget about a pocket full of sand

Actually, these items should probably never be done on any night. Also, in case you were wondering, yes I did just summarize my week! Don’t worry, the good and great far outweighed the above list of bad…