The Weekly Update: 10/2/16

 
 

Happy October, everyone! Not that I really have a special affinity for the month, but it seemed a fitting way to start the post.

I thought I was finally going to have a rant-free Weekly Update, but alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. Something always has to go wrong, Murphy’s Law and whatnot. But you know what’s great about having a blog and having people who actually read it, other than the obvious? When a company is good, I can promote them. For example, 1800Contacts. You need contacts? I totally recommend them. But even more importantly, when a company is bad, I can warn everyone about them.

I’ve already warned you all about Toshiba, and now it’s HostGator. Almost every time I’ve ever contacted support, they’ve been unable to help or answer my questions, they’ve given me wrong information, they’ve known less about how websites work than I do, or they’ve done all of the above. I wasted a bunch of time talking to someone on Thursday who told me it wasn’t possible to do what I needed to do and still keep my metaphorsandmoonlight.com subdomain intact, yet here I am! I had to figure out how to do it myself, but it actually wasn’t that difficult, and it worked exactly how I thought it would, despite the person’s statement that it wouldn’t. The only reason my site went down was because of the servers needing to be reset. Just call me Miracle Worker Kristen! That’s sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell, because I shouldn’t know more about how the service works and how websites work than the hosting tech support person. I’m seriously not a website expert.

And now for the funny thing that I was originally planning on sharing with you… I had an exceptionally weird dream the other week that I keep forgetting to tell you all about. I dreamt that I was a leg. Not that I had a leg, that I was a leg. Just a leg as my body, with a face and arms. I don’t even know if anything happened in the dream, I just remember that lol.

Then, just last week, I ended up coming across this (you can click to open it on Pinterest to see it full-sized):

the skull bone is connected to the leg bone tumblr

That was my dream, guys! Hahaha, but with arms too. Except seeing this now, I know I’ve seen it before, so maybe my subconscious just remembered it?

But anyway, that was it for my week!


Blog/Bookish Updates:

It looks like all those vampire posts I had planned probably won’t be happening this month. I have two recommendation posts I want to make, but so far I only have 7 books/series for one and 8 for the other, but I want 10 for each. And I’d rather wait and make the posts as good as possible with books I truly recommend than half-ass them just so they’ll get more attention in October.

I will be doing a vampire Cover Characteristics post though! I’ve also got two more Halloween-ish cover posts and a post with quotes about blood, so be on the lookout for those this month. I’m really getting into this whole blogging/reading with the seasons thing! Ok, well, only for fall and winter, I guess, since I didn’t do anything relating to spring or summer.

Oh! A couple more things. I finally made a button for my blog since everyone else has one, and I felt obligated. I still can’t get the textbox with the code to work right though, so anyone who wants to use it for now will just have to figure out their own code. You can find it on the “about” page, but here’s what it looks like:

Metaphors and Moonlight

Not particularly exciting since I don’t have any graphics in my header or anything, but I think it looks rather clean and elegant, if I do say so myself. I also added the number of pages to my book reviews, figured it could be useful to some people.

Books I Received for Review:

No new review copies this week :-O

Books I Finished:

The Man in the Long Black Coat by J.L. Aarne | reading, books
A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky | reading, books
 

It was a slow reading week. The Man in the Long Black Coat was a fun and entertaining urban fantasy, but A City Dreaming… didn’t have a plot? Great humor, but I need more than just humor from a book :-/ That review will be up this week.

Song of the Week:

“Slow Life” by Grizzly Bear – You all seemed to like the instrumental music last week, but I’m back to my usual melancholy (with lyrics) type of music this week.

 

In Case You Missed It:

– I reviewed Chasing Rabbits by Erin Bedford, a book set in a fae version of Wonderland with a sexy Cheshire Cat.
– I asked whether you use accents in your head while reading and discussed which ones I’m best and worst at.
– I reviewed The Beast Without by Christian Baines, a darkish M/M paranormal about a vampire and werewolf.
– I reviewed Unbound by Chani Lynn Feener, the third in a YA series about a girl whose life was changed when she made a deal with Hades to save her boyfriend.

The Sunday Post Link-Up:

Once again, I’m linking up to The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer 🙂

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Did you find any good books or music this week?
Have you had any weird dreams lately?
Do you have any seasonal posts planned?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

58 thoughts on “The Weekly Update: 10/2/16

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  1. Deborah

    I think the button looks great! As you said – very clean and clear.

    Siteground hosts my blog and they’ve been great. It’s not very expensive and – touch wood – I haven’t had any problems since I signed up and they were great with the transfer.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks!

      Sorry, I saw your tweet, I’ve just been a bit busy. I’m tempted to change, but I’m just *used to* the way HostGator works, you know? Maybe at some point though. I’ll keep Siteground in mind 🙂

  2. Annemieke

    That is one weird dream Kirsten, haha. But great to remember and laugh about. Unless it was a scary one. I like the button. It fits with the overal look of your site.

  3. Greg

    I have a feeling a lot of these hosting sites don’t know what they’re doing, or more accurately whoever is in Support at any given time probably doesn’t! I’ve heard stuff like this before, and frankly it makes me hope my site doesn’t go down (law of averages says it will at some point) so yeah… I get your frustration.

    What kind of dream is THAT lol? Kinda funny tho. Interesting PIN… at least you had arms. Still…

    I actually kinda like the seasonal blogging thing too. Especially fall… something about it. the changing of the seasons… although I think the spookiness/ October feel is a lot to do with it. Halloween covers and quotes about blood? Yes please. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      The thing about customer service is, usually it’s just random people doing the job. Like, it’s a common work-from-home thing. But I feel like actual tech support, you know, when it comes to helping people with something that is actually technical and requires knowledge about the product, should have people who are knowledgeable. I mean, the info she gave me was just plain incorrect, and I could tell she was just feeding me scripted lines and had no idea what the real answer to my question was. And so then, when my site went down, I thought maybe I did something wrong, and I started stressing and trying thing and ultimately went through a whole bunch of extra work when all that happened was I needed to contact them to reset the name servers, which took like 5 minutes. And if I had just known that ahead of time, it would’ve saved me that extra work and had my site back up within minutes. But since yours isn’t self-hosted, you probably won’t have to worry about anything like that, unless of course you plan to switch to self-hosted.

      Lol right? At least I still had arms!

      There’s just something so fun and festive about fall and winter. And now the feeling is infecting my blogging lol.

  4. Rain @ Ivyclad Ideas

    I like your button! 🙂 I should probably get round to making one of those at some point, but, honestly, at the moment I’m just concentrating on churning out posts. I slipped a bit last month…

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! It took me over a year of blogging to finally make a button, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you lol. The content is definitely more important!

  5. Becky @ A Fool's Ingenuity

    I hate when you end up having to figure out your own problems because the people who are meant to be helping you just don’t know what they’re talking about. I know tech support tends to go through to people who know as little as I do and are just using the help guide to advise you but I would much rather just use the troubleshoot guide than speak to someone who is clueless. This is why I’ve never gone self hosted, because I know so little when it comes to internet things that if something went wrong I would be helpless to fix it.

    Also, I’m a little concerned about that leg dream. That’s really weird and so utterly random. I’ve had weird dreams but I think you’ve definitely got me beat with this one.

    And I’ll be happy with something vampiric this month, I want to read something appropriately Halloween-esque this month and vampires seem appropriate. I say this and it will never happen now because I’ll be reading other things. Oh well.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Agreed. I could tell she was just feeding me the lines from some sort of help guide or whatever and had no idea what I was actually asking or what the answer actually was. But I feel like actual tech support ought to be knowledgeable about the topic, or they need to have someone on standby who can take the more technical questions when the help guide isn’t enough. But luckily I’ve been able to figure out everything myself so far.

      Lol. I’ve always had the strangest dreams.

      I will probably be reading lots of vampiric stuff this month. I have one standalone and one first-in-series (and then the rest of the series if I want it) as review copies, plus I want to read Dracula, re-read Interview with the Vampire, and finally read the Claudia’s Story graphic novel. But like you I say that now and will probably not get to half of that, haha.

  6. Kei @ The Lovely Pages Reviews

    I did a lot of research before I chose my host and the ultimate factor was the cost – everyone had something different to say so I thought it doesn’t really matter, you get great days and awful days, depending on the problems and the experience (yours and the person at the supporting end). So far my host (eHost) has been great and when I signed up they had a special prize offer, so win win! I love the button 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      I don’t think I did that much research lol. Maybe that was my problem. Pretty sure someone recommended it, and I had no idea what I was doing at that point, so I went with that company. But I agree, everyone has something different to say anyway. HostGator has been pretty good at keeping the site running, it’s just the tech support that are useless most of the time whenever I actually have questions or need to do something. And thanks 🙂

  7. Melissa

    I love the button…I need to do something clean and neat for myself since I simplified my blog design…my button doesn’t work anymore.

    PS. Glad you’re not just a leg!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I just looked at your button, and it sill looks nice 🙂 But it is different from the header, so I can see why you want to update it.

      I too am glad I’m not just a leg!!!

  8. Lola

    I agree it is nice to have a platform to talk about the things you like and those you don’t, whether it’s books or in this case companies. I usually don’t expect a hosting company to know everything about websites, I usually just look things up myself. Then again it’s usually wordpress related things and they aren’t responsible for that. Not sure exactly what you tried to do, but it does sound like something they should have been able to know.

    That is one disturbing dream 0_o! Now I can’t unsee those creepy leg things in the pictures.
    I have had two weird nightmares in two nights in a row, so not too happy about my dreams right now. One was about a zombie girl that wouldn’t die and kept coming after me during a martial arts class. Someone had killed her and then we found her zombie head and it attached to the body again and she kept coming after me. And even though I sliced her multiple times with a sword she kept coming and moving like nothing was wrong, it was super creepy. And one about me some sort of gunfight I was in and I could get multiple weapons like in a game and then I had only a jetpack left and I saved a robot from some sort of river or lake and then the whole country was after me for some reason. I tried to save time by trying to make a bargain with someone, but then other factions came after me as well and I tried to stay free and kept flying around with the jetpack (which is unusual as usually I can’t fly in dreams). Although I also remember some normal dreams. Dreams sure can be weird sometimes.

    I actually scheduled a fall related kitchen posts this week were I recommend 5 fall recipes. I usually don’t do much with the seasons, but it’s great when you can do something with it for a change. There’s something fun about posts that fit the season. I am hoping to maybe read a Halloween themed cozy or two this month, but then I would most likely review them next month and then they are still after Halloween instead of before it. I am looking forward to read your seasonal posts!

    Oh I like your blog button! Do you know how to get the code for the image? If you have that just add before it and after it and it should give you a text box with the code instead of showing up as the image. I hope you’ll have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I know it’s not the hosting company’s job to deal with WP problems, but this was literally about the hosting. This was about changing the primary domain associated with the account and moving the files within the hosting. And there was nothing in the help, the tutorials, the Q&A, etc. that covered my specific situation.

      Haha, do have some weird dreams. But yikes, that zombie one sounds terrifying. The other one doesn’t sound too good either. I don’t have nightmares too often, at least ones that are really truly scary. Though one that I still remember off the top of my head was about polar bears being on the loose and killing people and there was blood everywhere and then I was hiding in a bathroom while they were trying to get into the house. Why polar bears? I have no idea lol. But I actually have had at least one dream in which I was flying, it was awesome!

      Yay, that’s fun that you made a fall-related recipe post 🙂 It is fun doing things with the seasons! Whether it’s reading or blogging. My reviews aren’t strictly scheduled though, so if I read any vampire books or whatever this month, I should be able to get them posted quickly. But it’s not like you *have* to post Halloween-ish books in October, we all read books set in various times all throughout the year.

      Thanks! I did the text area thing, it’s just that it’s changing my code within the text area when it’s posted on the front end, and I can’t figure out why. It’s very weird. Thanks, you have a great week too!

  9. Lampshade Reader

    LOL about your dream! I haven’t had any weird ones lately.

    As for books, I just finished an ARC of Viking Warrior Rebel and I loved it. Just take your urban vampires and insert immortal Vikings walking amongst us and there you go! I’m loving the series so far. Hope you have a great week! ~Aleen

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol that was definitely one of my stranger ones.

      Ooh, sounds interesting! I’ve never read about vikings. Glad you’re enjoying it! You have a great week too 🙂

  10. tonyalee

    Hmm.. I can’t say I have had any weird dreams – esp since weird as being a LEG. LOL

    That sucks about your host. I hate it with anything when you call for assistance and you know more than they do. I love your button! It fits your blog nicely. Have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol yes, that was definitely one of my weirder ones.

      Seriously, the people who are there for support shouldn’t know less than I do! And thanks 🙂 You have a great week too!

  11. La La in the Library

    I want to read that Leg book by Lil Shit! Hahahaha! My last weird dream as last year. I drempt the road to my mother’s house had been repaved in pancakes and you had to park your car in a huge parking lot at the bottom of the road and walk. Ha ha. Have a fabulous week. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lmao, right? Whoever made that image is awesome. A road made of pancakes?! You could just, like, reach down and scoop of handfuls of pancake along the way if you got hungry! You have a great week too 🙂

  12. Let's Get Beyond Tolerance

    Wow, a dream where you were a leg! I have not heard that one before. haha

    Sorry about all the tech/website issues. That’s crazy the tech support doesn’t know what they are doing – they really need to work on that!

    -Lauren

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol it’s probably not a dream that people have often 😛

      Thanks. It really is aggravating when the people who are supposed to be there to help know less than you do -_-

  13. Jordon @ Simply Adrift

    Hahaha that’s so funny about the dream about being a leg!!

    I keep forgetting about making a button for the blog! But then I keep thinking I want to change my layout up. But then I remember I have no time to do that right now lol. Seriously wish I could just spend a month at home working on blog stuff! It would be so much more fun! Screw the 9-5. blogging is wayyy more fun.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol yes, definitely one of my weirder dreams.

      I totally get you. Seriously, why can’t we all just make salaries from blogging?! But I’m pretty sure buttons aren’t entirely necessary, it took me over a year to finally make this one lol, so you probably are better off just waiting until you have more time.

  14. Stormi

    That is horrible that you are smarter than the web hosting people! Glad you got it figured out. Have a great week and Happy reading!

    Stormi

    1. Kristen Burns

      Being a leg is probably stranger than most dreams. Haha, oh man, I’d love to know what he thinks that means.

      Thanks, I agree, I’m paying them, isn’t their tech support supposed to, I don’t know, help with technical things? And thanks about the button! You have a great week too 🙂

  15. Di @ Book Reviews by Di

    I like your blog button! 🙂 I’m sorry about your struggles with HostGator but I’m glad you managed to sort it out yourself!

    I have absolutely zero seasonal posts planned. Oh dear. I’m just not organised enough!

    Hope you have a better week ahead of you!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! About the button and the hosting problems 🙂

      Haha, don’t worry about it, even with all the posts I have planned, I still end up scrambling to make other with ten minutes left to midnight 😛 You could still make some themed post if you want to!

      Thanks, you have a good week too!

  16. Bookworm Brandee

    Omigosh! I can’t believe you had to endure that mess with your hosting company! I’m glad you got things figured out – for yourself and FOR THEM! I’d have been majorly screwed because I’m tech-challenged. 😉 I hope October brings good things, Kristen…good reads and no bad companies! Maybe no more leg dreams?? That’s pretty hysterical though. You do have interesting dreams. 😛 And I love the song you shared!!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks. And lol, I’m pretty good with that kind of stuff. Not an expert by any means, but I’ve spent enough in the files that I pretty much figured out how they worked in a general way and was able to transfer things on my own. But haha, I don’t know, more leg dreams might be interesting 😉

  17. S. J. Pajonas

    I pay extra to be hosted at a company IN the United States that uses support people IN the United States, and they’re all trained server geeks. I know people that pay for cheap hosting and they either get someone who is clueless or someone in India that they can barely understand. Nope. I pay extra for the good stuff. 🙂

    1. Kristen Burns

      Understanding them isn’t a problem because HostGator has online chat, and I always use that when I need to contact them. It’s just that no one ever seems to actually have answers to my questions -_- But honestly, so far I’m doing alright figuring things out on my own, and I shouldn’t have to change anything in the foreseeable future, so I’d rather save money.

  18. Jessica

    I am now reading Ignite Me, and I’m not really liking it so far. I’m hoping it gets better. After I read/listen to Left Behind, I’m going to go back reading Laurell K Hamilton’s books. Yes, I had some weird dreams lately. I think it’s the book series I’m reading on is the cause of one weird dream. I dreamed my fiance was a psycho and a billionaire had a crush on me tried to program my fiance to kill me, but he wouldn’t and a guy that looked like Haymitch from the Hungar Games was helping find out who bought a house.

  19. Barb (boxermommyreads)

    I’m really wanting to read A City Dreaming so I hope you enjoyed it. That is one odd dream, but I’m no stranger to odd dreams. Last week I dreamed I was stuck on an island, about as big as a car, and a grizzly bear kept swiping at me and every time he did, I turned to bees. Not quite as good as the leg dream but I’m sure it still means something weird and abstract. Hope you have a wonderful week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Well, my review just went up for A City Dreaming, so you’re welcome to check it out lol. And hahaha, I love that you turned into bees. I’ve never turned into bees, but I once had a dream in which someone else turned into bees and started attacking me and so I ran and jumped into a car and was like, “Go, go, go! Just drive!” like I was in a cliche action movie lol.

  20. Rowena

    Ugh, I’ve been shopping around for a new hosting company as well because I’m so tired of crap going wrong with my blog and hearing from the hosting company that it’s not their fault, it’s mine and they can help me fix the problem but only if I buy more services from them. Blah. Sucks donkey balls. But good on you for fixing your own blog. I need to be better about figuring stuff out on my own too.

    I love your blog button. Nice, clean lines and sleek. Love!

    Have a great week!

    1. Kristen Burns

      That sucks :-/ I don’t have too much go wrong, it’s just that whenever I do need to do something, they seem clueless -_- But anyway, I’ve got no rec for a good hosting company.

      Thanks!

      You have a great week too!

  21. AngelErin

    Oh my gosh your dream sounds hilarious! I’ve been having a bunch of crazy ones myself. I seem to go through periods of crazy dreams and then not really any that I remember. Of course most of the time I end up forgetting the majority of my dreams eventually anyway. I did have a crazy one the other day about a ghost trying to kill me in my bathroom. ??

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol but your dream sounds more scary than crazy! I get you though, I seem to go through phases too. I used to write down all my dreams that I remembered, but lately I’ve stopped because doing that only encourages your brain to remember more, and at this point I don’t even want to. The dreams are just exhausting.

      1. AngelErin

        Luckily for some reason it really wasn’t scary! Dreams can be exhausting that’s for sure. 8 agree with you there. I write down some, but only the really scary/odd dreams that I think would make good stories. I’ve written a few horror stories or poems based off my freaky dreams lol!

        1. Kristen Burns

          Yeah, it’s weird, sometimes a dream seems like it would be scary when you recount, but for some reason it just wasn’t while you were dreaming. It just, like, normal lol. Ooh that’s a great idea, I’ve never written any stories or poems based on my dreams!

  22. Got My Book

    Sorry to hear about your continuing “technical difficulties.” I really like your button, it is nice and clean. I have been wanting to redesign my blog, but I just did it in May and don’t have time right now. I am hoping to do one Halloween “creatures” post and one of things I am grateful for.

    Sunday Summary #22

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks, about the technical difficulties and the button. Redesigning is rather time-consuming, but I’m sure you’ll find time for it! Seems like we’re all in a perpetual state of redesign with our blogs anyway, haha. Ooh those posts sound fun!