pelf-ism is contagious

Joanna of Confident Writing brought to my attention that The Giving Hands was down. I logged on and found that it wasn’t exactly down, but there was indeed an error:

WordPress database error: [Can't create/write to file '/tmp/#sql_d0f_0.MYI' (Errcode: 13)]
SELECT t.*, tt.*, tr.object_id FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN ('category', 'post_tag') AND tr.object_id IN (132) ORDER BY t.name ASC

I’ve done some research (on Google, where else?!) and found that this error is associated with the MySQL database on the host’s end. I have already sent my webhost an email, so hopefully they will be able to settle it soon.

Meanwhile, I have also found some instructions to change the permission file on the /tmp directory, since Errcode 13 says that the /tmp directory isn’t writable, but nope, the problem persists.

Anybody knows what else I can do, apart from waiting for a response from my webhost?

UPDATE: It’s fixed! Hooray!

This post is written in response to the group writing project hosted by Pablo Pabla at Blogsreview.net. You may want to read The story behind my blog for a somewhat related history of this blog.

Why do you blog?

Image credit: Question mark block cookies by rayeosunlight.

I think I’ve been asked this question many times before, especially by non-bloggers who haven’t found the fun in blogging And I don’t remember giving the same answers because I don’t have a “default set of reasons.”

When I started my first blog in October 2005, it was to keep my family and friends updated on my whereabouts and the things that I do on campus and off. Before long, I realized that only a couple of my family members dropped by my blog, and (at that time) none of my friends were into blogging and blog-reading. Hence, I reverted to keeping in touch via emails.

After a while, I found that I enjoyed blogging and editing my themes and networking. I’ve also found that I loved to learn new things everyday, mainly because I have always liked working with computers and I seemed to have a little bit of passion for writing, so I gradually moved from writing on (two separate) free blogs to hosting my own personal blog in June 2006.

As with other learning opportunities, the most important lesson was learning about myself, and what I loved to do. So I started two new blogs in March 2007 — one on creating, raising and spreading awareness on issues that we should all be concerned with (The Giving Hands), and one on turtles, which died after a while due to the lack of direction. I very recently revived my turtle blog, The Turtle Talks, and I would like to build it to be a resource blog for turtle lovers or for anybody who would like to learn more about turtles.

What do you hope to achieve by blogging?

One of the best things about blogging is that I get to meet many people whom I later call my friends. I may not have met many of my blog readers, but they’re still my friends nonetheless. So I hope to be able to continue meeting people and making new friends

But of course, I hope to influence my visitors and readers with my other two blogs as well. The Giving Hands is hoped to instill a sense of responsibility in ourselves when it comes to our environment, or even our own health. And what better ways to do that than constantly sharing eco-friendly tips and health-related issues? The Turtle Talks, on the other hand, is the beginning of my personal journey to create and spread awareness on the plight of our turtles. Like I’ve mentioned above, it is hoped that the turtle blog would be one of the resource blogs for anything turtle-related

Additionally, I would be delighted to know that anybody who drops by leaves the blogs knowing that s/he has learned something new that day This would be my greatest satisfaction!

How much time do you spend a day doing blogging related work?

Image credit: Networking by skampy.

This really depends on how much time I have to begin with. If it’s a Friday (and since Fridays are our off days in Terengganu), I would spend a big chunk of my time blog-hopping and leaving comments and basically networking. On top of that, I also usually roughly plan my schedule for The Giving Hands and The Turtle Talks because I am in the middle of developing these two blogs so I would like to ensure that those two blogs aren’t left high and dry for too long. For posts on these two blogs, I usually take between 30 to 60 minutes to draft and publish a post, though I may sometimes take more than 2 hours, especially on subjects that I am not familiar with.

I generally take anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes to draft and publish a post on my personal blog. These refer to posts that do not require much research (or any research at all). And I don’t plan the posts because it is meant to be a personal blog, not a resource blog. Plus, I’m not a superstar, so I don’t lead a very exciting life, hence I don’t have much to write about on a daily basis. Plus, who would want to read about MY LIFE all the time?!

A couple of days ago I announced on two blogging forums my decision to sell The Giving Hands. It was a very difficult decision to make because I initially started it to do what I really loved to.

But due to the lack of attention that I’m putting into the blog, I thought perhaps somebody out there could dedicate the time and energy into the blog that I couldn’t. But Mohsin thought otherwise. He doubted that I could find a buyer who is “as passionate as I am, and who is willing to write on a subject that doesn’t pay.”

So I thought, OK, perhaps I should give it another try.

So right now, I am looking for guest bloggers who can commit one post per week to The Giving Hands. As a guest blogger, you may write about anything at all, pertaining to the environment, or charity, or health, or nature. Your posts can be in the form of a blog post, or poem, or an image with some description, or a list of tips, or a list of links. So you see, it is really very flexible.

If you can’t commit to one post per week, what about 2 posts per month? You could send me your write-ups, and I would publish them, with full credits back to you, of course..

However, as a guest blogger, you will not be paid a dime because I can’t afford to pay you. I wished I could, but I can’t However, you could be proud to be doing something that your son/daughter would come across one day many years down the road, and they would be proud that their Mum/Dad championed for the environment/charity.

Please let me know what you think, OK?

Waiting in anticipation..