As you can see the background is back. It’s a photo of our precious garden at Haagsche Suites.

The logo is back with another photo of the same garden.

The Avatar is back, a bit bigger in size. The main reason is it fits the design of the blog better, but I was also thinking about enabling my readers to recognize me. Whenever you meet fellow bloggers or tweeps, or even maybe guests, many people complain that they cannot recognize people form their avatars. I wouldn’t like that to happen when you meet me :-)

Missing posts are back. Only some comments are somewhere in the cellar yet.

Some links have to be added here yet.

At the same time I installed Thesis theme’s version 1.6 (b2 to be exact). I fine tuned some bits and pieces. It has now color included in its core. I used it to sbring back the page navigation an slightly enhanced the visibility thereof. I lost pagination as it seems to interfere with the Thesis theme now.

I believe the ability to quickly navigate is much more important than the loading speed of the site. Therefor I brought back the full visibility of the archives and categories in the site bar. I cannot get rid of some widgets I like, because they enable me to keep contact on several platforms with my readers. These widgets also make the site a little bit slow.

In the meantime I noticed that my Google PR (Page Rank) went down from 5 to 4, but on the other hand I got back some site links that now have their own Google PR.

Curious how the SEO will work out in the future. The migration caused many errors, but the XML-sitemap generator works fine now as the server works on PHP an MySQL versions 5 which WordPress advises.

I said no migraine, but I’m not so sure about that anymore.

Off to sleep a bit and then ahead with the blog again.

Server Migration completed – Migraine stayed away is a post from: Happy Hotelier

WordPress Spelling by Lorelle
I had fun during the Dutch WordCamp. I learned from Lorelle that you should write WordPress with two capitals and not with 6 like I do in the header of this post. I’m teasing her again.

WordPress Future
At WordCamp Lorelle predicted a great future for WordPress. I teased her with my prediction that the future of WordPress will be gloomy, as it is much too technical and people wouldn’t want to go under the hood like I do sometimes. And I know Lorelle, you told us that you blogged long before WordPress even existed and had a hard job with manually copying and pasting thousands of your old html based blog posts into one of the first WordPress versions. My prediction remains that people will rather use the likes as Tumblr or Post It, because they do not have such stamina as you have and sometimes I have – to a certain degree off course.

I believe my adventures with the migration of Happy Hotelier and Chairblog prove me right. It is too time consuming! In addition I believe that you longer yo blog, the more chance you have corrupting your blog through serveral updates. I had far less problems migrating the Chair Blog which I started much later than Happy Hotelier.

It is easy to predict WordPress will have a great future if you are a star blogger like Lorelle who stayed blogging at the WordPress.com platform. It is freely available and very easy as the updating is being done almost automatically. The only problem is that you’ll never be sure when they will close down the service. Recently one of my fave free applications has announced that they will close as of January 1, 2010 their services unless somebody steps in… I’ll be back on that later.

I really have put a couple of hours (too many!) in trying to find out what is happening exactly when moving from one server to another server.

Okay you faithfully back up, but do you know how to restore?
Back up Back up and Backup is the credo for all. But did you ever try to restore your WordPress installation?

There are a couple of issues nobody tells you when working with MySQL. There are several ways to make a backup of a MySQL database. If you want to find out you have to really dig into MySQL. Nobody tells you what the best way is. Nobody tells you you can get a restore so cluttered with wrong pointing links that you might as well throw it away. Nobody tells you there are limits of size involved. If your content is over a certain size you have to pull tricks to restore the stuff in parts. I didn’t manage to grab the moves involved and abandonned the experimenting. I would tell you if I knew the best way. In addition nobody tells you you can lose stuff underway. Nobody tells you you have to adhere to several different procedures with respect to posts, to pages and to attachments as photos or videos you publish on your blog.

I have the Wiley PHP5 and MySQL bible ( over 1,000 of pages) next to me for reference. Do you really believe I have the time to read and understand all that stuff?

It is not easy to simulate a restore and get a blog working again. About 2 years ago I tried that once using XAMPP a suite to simulate PHP and MySQL on your own computer. You can use it for testing purposes. But it handles only small installations.

To be honest: It may be becoming less and less important to know how that works as the WP functionality with the XML export and import are getting better each WP version.

Some people who have been following me, know that I have experimented with Linux time after time and time a new version was released, but time after time I have gone back to the not so much appreciated Windows system…because I don’t want to spend the time to grasp everything I need to understand to run a proper Linux system. I have the same feeling when working with WordPress sometimes.

Just a couple of random ranting thoughts.

What induced this ranting?
Yesterday I asked my ISP to make the change from my (their) old server to my new server. The change would take 24 hours because the DNS servers usually are being updated once every 24 hours….

In the meantime I had been experimenting with some necessary redirects on the old server and then on the new server all to prevent this blog from being inaccessible for some time… and then I ended up with a Happy Hotelier installation on the new server that did not work. So I re redirected the URL of Happy Hotelier back to the old server to keep my readers in the loop.

Currently this post is on that installation….

This morning I reinstalled WP and did a second export and a second import on the new server…. I don’t know how but this second installation got the comments right and also the categories…..It was ready just before the DNS servers really flipped the URL from the old server to the new server. The blog remained in the air during the transition which was somewhere around noon November 19, 2009.

So far so good.

Just by accident I have made the second installation with the use of a second database on the same server with another prefix than just wp_ .

During the afternoon I had other things to do and was busy. But my readers had something to read…

Tonight I thought “Hey! I have two different databases on the same WP installation…Why not try to reuse the former installation by simply swapping the wp-config file?”

And that worked and so today you see installation number 1 on the new server….

Tomorrow I will try to merge the best of the two….

I’ll keep you posted.

In any case I believe this is also a good trick to keep in mind if yo want to simulate a crash and be sure your “backups” are really working.

In one WP installation you can run two versions of your Blog as long as you make sure both versions have a different Database prefix… you simply flip your config file in.

Off course you cannot run the two installations simultaneously…but it is helpful. It is an alternative for experimenting with a WP installation in XAMPP, especially if XAMPP limitations will curb you.

My 2 cents for today…

Last edited by GJE on November 21, 2009 at 7:09 pm

Tricking wORDpRESs when moving from one server to another server is a post from: Happy Hotelier

This is the second installation on the new server after a mess up with a redirect into the cellar of nowhere.

I now miss a post that I had made in my prior installation on the new server, but as compensation it seems now do I have my comment counts back and my categories…don’t understand what went wrong. But this seems workable…

Bare with me:-)

Update November 21, 2009:
I’ve found the post and manually inserted it here below.

Last edited by Happy Hotelier on November 21, 2009 at 7:06 pm

Hello world! Happy Hotelier again on the New Server is a post from: Happy Hotelier

After I imported the posts of Happy Hotelier from the old server to the new server, this clip of an interview with Robert Pirsig came up as my first draft in my drafts ghetto.

Whenever I see or hear the term Zen I associate it with the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance.
Currently I’m awaiting the DNS switch from old server to new server as the two have been in the air next to each other. In the meantime I have replaced a keyboard because the w key kept hanging because of ash with coffee in it.
Well I was pondering the new set up for my categories as they seem to be misfits anyway.

Three notes to self evolve:

1. Zen will remain as category
2. Art as well
3. Have to read this book finaly

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

The interview: Robert Pirsig

The Seventies bestseller Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the biggest-selling philosophy book ever. But for the reclusive author life was bitter-sweet. Here, he talks frankly about anxiety, depression, the death of his son and the road trip that inspired a classic.

Now and Zen

Born 6 September 1928, Minneapolis.

Family Father was a law lecturer and mother was Swedish-born. Pirsig married Nancy Ann James in 1954. They had two sons: Chris, and Ted, now 48. Now married to journalist Wendy Kimball, with whom he has a 25-year-old daughter, Nell.

Education Judged to have an IQ of 170 at age nine. Went to University of Minneapolis at 15, but joined the army in 1946, serving in Korea before returning to the university to study philosophy. Then studied at Benares in India.

Last edited by Happy Hotelier on November 21, 2009 at 6:59 pm

Real Zen – First post on the New Server is a post from: Happy Hotelier

Hi.
This is the last post on the old server where Happy Hotelier used to hang out on line.

I’ve not posted much the last week as I was under the hood moving this blog to another server. It is possible you have seen or will see some hiccups today and tomorrow.

If you have commented during the last couple of days it is possible the comment is not migrated.

I hope it works and that I may welcome you back.

Last edited by Happy Hotelier on November 21, 2009 at 7:01 pm

Happy Hotelier is moving to another Server is a post from: Happy Hotelier

Philip C Wolf of PhoCusWright

What the hell is Moxie?

One of the gurus in travel marketing is the very passionate Philip C. Wolf, president and CEO of PhoCusWright, a travel marketing think tank. At one of his conferences, at ITB Berlin 2009 he teached his audience that under the present economic circumstances “You need a lot of Moxie”. I didn’t have a clue what that meant. It was later explained to me that maybe you can translate this into “You need a lot of balls” or, “You need a lot of creativity”, or “You need a lot of perseverance”. So far so good.

Until today another passionate marketing guru and gifted blogger and speaker, Seth Godin posted a story on his blog: Everyone is clueless about a guy with a lot of Moxie, John Ness of Galoco’s Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles:

You don’t want to [adress] everyone. You want [to address] the right someone.

Someone who cares about what you do. Someone who will make a contribution that matters. Someone who will spread the word.

As soon as you start focusing on finding the right someone, things get better, fast. That’s because you can ignore everyone and settle in and focus on the people you actually want.

Actually that’s my whole point. That’s what I’m trying to as a hotelier when I want to convince someone to stay in my little luxury hotel.

At the end of the video below John Ness explains where Moxie comes from. You can drink it and he sells it: “It’s is the only soda that made it into the dictionary with it’s own meaning”.

Great story of John Ness. Wow! If only I could get such a thumbs up by Seth Godin:-)

So I learned a bit more about Moxie. Thank you Philip, Seth and John Ness for sharing this. (afterthought: John would be an excellent blogger)

How would you explain Moxie?

Moxie is a post from: Happy Hotelier

A rare photo of this photographer in action at WordCampNL.
Thank you Henk-Jan Winkeldermaat of PunkMedia.nl, of Flickr | Eventbranche and  @Punkmedia !

General
I attended the first ever WordCampNL. It stands for a Dutch WordCamp or a WordCamp in the Netherlands.

At first I had decided not to go, because I was very very busy. I do have to admit I thought a WordCamp would be a gathering of WordPress Newbies and/or Geeks and/or Nerds only. However, this first Dutch WordCampNL proved me wrong in that respect and in many other aspects! The people attending were normal people like you and me, some savvy and some very savvy, but all passionate in reaching out, connecting and sharing.

Unexpectedly three people gently nudged me to come… so I decided to come… eventually and last minute.

I’ll wind down in three posts:

1. My Heroes part 1 – The Organization of 2009 WordCampNL
2. My Heroes part 2 – The Speakers of 2009 WordCampNL
3. My Heroes part 3 – The People of 2009 WordCampNL

Lessons Learned
WordCampNL confronted me and made me realize a couple of important things about myself in relation my attempts in proper blogging here at Happy Hotelier.

I’m not so much a talker by nature and I have to admit I’ll never be a talker. In addition I’m a two fingers typist. I’m more of an observer. I’m a reasonable photographer and I’m more than averagely interested in people. Portray photography is I the type of photography I like most. So I have to stop behaving as if I’m a writer. ll have to admit I’m more an observer who shares his observations. I think that is also important with respect to the styling and the lay out of this blog to acknowledge this more explicit that I did before. Thank you WordCampNL.

I’m not so good in multitasking as I would have liked. I cannot listen to presentations and tweet about it and make photos at the same time. It means that I also won’t be taking my eee book to future events and will not be twittering live from events. I will concentrate on taking high quality photos and adding some observations to the photos I’ll publish after the event.

The third thing is that it was a great opportunity to connect more with fellow Dutchman. Not that I didn’t connect already, but now even more so.

My Heros – Part 1 – The Organization of 2009 WordCampNL

The organization and the venue Seats2Meet in Utrecht were impeccable. What impresses me most is the “after sales services” offered. Unlike other events, the organization is still fully engaged and do their utmost to make the experience complete by providing after the event content. All keynotes in the main room were video recorded and will be published soon. There were approximately 170 persons irl and approximately 300 people following the event via live streams and twitter. I count already 465 photos of at the Flickr group WordCamp Nederland

The heroes of the organizing team:

Lisa Rouissi (@KoffieKitten) of KoffieKitten and Orange Buzz NL. I had met her already at the first ever #TweetUpTheHague that she had organized together with Suzy Ogé. I still have a post about that somewhere up in my sleeve. She was on the organizing team. Constantly yawning we drove together to Utrecht via a deviant way as the road to Utrecht was blocked due to maintenance that early Saturday morning. She was one of the persons who nudged me on Friday. Thank you Koffiekitten!

Then we have Kaj Rietberg (@KajRietberg) of Kaj Rietberg.

Joeke Remkus de Vries (@DeFries) of De Fries.

Erno Hannink (@ErnoHannink) of Erno Hannink NL and in English Erno Hannink Com a fellow Thesis Theme user. Boy has that man a big smile! Here he is in dire admiration for one of the speakers, Lorelle VanFossen, @LorelleonWP of Lorelle on WordPress, who was the second person who nudged me that Friday. Thank you Lorelle!. @Punkmedia here in the background.

And, not to forget Jean Paul Horn (@JeanPaulH) of Textopus and Iphone Club NL who I knew already, but that’s another story. He was part of the team, acted as a great speaker and also as a sponsor of the venue.

A Great Thank You! to all of you for a great event!

Last edited on Friday, November 6, 2009 at 15:10 hr. I hope they put the publish button somewhere else on the dashboard in a futur WordPress release. Accidentally hitting that button happens too frequent.

Winding down from 2009 WordCampNL – My Heroes – Part 1 The Organization is a post from: Happy Hotelier

Shortly after the first WordCampNL some WordPress die hards found Lorelle prepared to privately give some tips and tricks in Rotterdam in what was believed to be the first WP MeetUp of The Netherlands. It was Cool. Again first the photos.

The first photo shows the Unilever head office in Rotterdam. Behind that was the place of the meeting. While I took the photo It was a bit in remembrance of my late brother in law who was in charge of organizing the delivery of this building on behalf of Unilever and who orchestrated the moving from the old head office to this building by Unilever. That was eons ago. i also remember his sleepless nights when glass panels started to fall from the building…

WP Meetup in Rotterdam is a post from: Happy Hotelier

A proud hotel manager showed a couple of fellow hoteliers an me the finest rooms of the hotel. I noticed this curtain hanging loose and took this picture. I was utmost amazed that the hotel manager didn’t notice it and didn’t apologize with a: “Oops I’ll have to put maintenance on notice…” which I would have done.

I showed the photo to the hotel manager’s boss later.

The hotelier answered:

“Thank you! Thant is good to know! But you know, when I was younger and was managing housekeeping in a hotel, this is what always happened to me: Once a week I had to do the hotel tour, checking the hotel with my boss. I just had checked everything myself half an hour before I took the boss around and you know what? There would always be at least one light bulb that ceased functioning in the meantime and the boss would always spot it! Sigh”.

That is a wise answer.

My Dear Wife, mrs Happy Hotelier, has the keenest and sharpest eye for details, details and … for details: She nudges me every day: ” Seen that? Repair it! Make it work”. I’m learning every day.

It could have happened to me. Thank you Mrs Happy Hotelier for teaching me to have a keen eye: I wouldn’t have noticed this loose curtain prior to your lessons:-)

This is the main reason I always check our guests in personally.

Life of a hotelier is not easy….

I hope guests reading this could give hoteliers a little bit of leeway in the future…

Hotel Managers have to be Critical and see Everything is a post from: Happy Hotelier

I’ve finalized the uploading to Flickr of the photos I took at WordCampNL. I will devote one or two posts to the camp later. For the moment I leave it with posting this slideshow.  The reason I link to my own stream and not the entire pool is that it is chronologically organized from the checking in to the final one thanking Erno photo.
All photos are also in the WordCamp Nederland Flickr group.

2009 WordCampNL Photos is a post from: Happy Hotelier