Second Geekhood

Category Archives: Damn Technology!

Thank you, Open Cart!

Posted on by Posted in 'round the 'net, Damn Technology!, Website Tech Tips - Knowledge for Knerds

You may notice that my jewelry & giftware website, EarthDaughter Arts, has been down for two weeks. That is because some asshat credit card scammers in Russia hacked it. My ISP shut the website down and I had to clean out the files and start over again.

I really want to nail those bastards in Russia.

But, will you hear me complain about having to clean out those files and reboot a website that has been up since 1992? No, not really. You see, I have been wanting to take down the website and clean it up and out, completely and utterly for a couple of months anyways. Yes it was a pain in the butt to have to drop everything and deal with this mess, but it was worth it and I was wanting to do it anyway.

Everything happens for a reason.

So…what does this have to do with Open Cart? Well, I had Zen Cart as my shopping cart for a few years now and it was difficult to manage for a number of reasons…the back-end being too complex, for one. So, in a pondry as to which shopping cart to go to next (heck, I wasn’t even looking!), I ran across a local programmer in my networking circles that uses Open Cart. My God, what a LIFESAVER. The thing is so simple to use, even a retard could install and use it. *jumping up and down with glee!*

After my new programmer took me on a working tour of the Open beast, I jumped on installing one on my system ASAP. Then, to my horror, after I had deleted all the sample categories for products, the damn thing wouldn’t let me create new ones! WTF?!?!?!!!! I went to Open Cart’s forum and looked up the problem. They knew what it was.

Would you believe it was the Germans???

Yes, the problem (for those of you tearing your hair out), is the stupid German language module in the admin area. Find the language and delete it, dude. Then your Open Cart will work like a charm. God, I love forums. Go to them early and often and you won’t have to rely on the lack of customer service and 24/7/365 tech support #s.

Open Cart Forum Discussion on Categories problem in Open Cart

Welcome to "Damn Technology!"

Posted on by Posted in Damn Technology!

gun to a computer

$%#*!!! Tech!

Actually, I love technology. Grew up around it with my father working for United Airlines maintenance yards in South San Francisco in the 1960s – ’70s. He said he took me there as a baby to show me off…yeah, I *think* I remember something vaguely about that ;P

What I remember more is sitting on the couch watching in fascination as he cut his own slides and mounted them with a heat-press-thingy. He looked like he was having fun and I wanted to do it. He had a darkroom in the garage he also used to develop his own black and white photos. Next were his filing cabinets of photography equipment and cassette tapes. He made his own tape recordings of record albums to play in the car when he commuted to work every day. He always watched science programs and I was right there on the couch, sitting next to him, listening to the program and him talk. I probably asked questions, but don’t remember if I did.

Sadly, he passed away in December 1976. Star Wars came out in May 1977 and I know he would have loved the science fiction and technology sides of it. Every time there is a leap in computer, entertainment, medical or space tech, I think of him and know he would have been fascinated by how far and how fast we have come.

So there you are, I still love technology. And since I am, among many things, a website designer and mess around with throwing in the occasional software program and hard drive in my computer, it is a love/hate relationship. I love the breakthroughs…I HATE the malfunctioning software, the defective hard drives, the viruses and spam, BUT my generation created the internet and now it is so easy to keep in touch with those loved ones and friends that have had to move away. The trade-off is fair. I’ll live with it.

And in the meantime, I will review, rant and rave about all the neato things that are in our world of technology. I hope you’ll stick around to throw your opinion in too, on occassion. You’re welcome to it!