Google recently publicized the ability to send posts via text message to Blogger. Tried it out for a few days before deciding that, yes, it fits my needs.

The posting is almost instantaneous (not like Twitter where text messages get delayed by hours) and checking online doesn't mean waiting for a page to load or spotting a fail whale.

Searching is easy, and I like how I can group my tweets (!) daily or weekly or monthly and see at a glance my updates. I can later edit the post to expand it and even add labels.

Best of all, I can send a text message longer than 180 characters from my iPhone and it doesn't get truncated -- Google posts it whole!

U is for Updates http://u.sunnyinla.com

WOKE UP TO  FIND SITE DOWN AND THIS EMAIL FROM GODADDY
(am now wide awake even without caffeine running in my veins)

It has come to our attention that your hosting account for sunnyinla.com is causing an overload of the shared resources on this server. This, in turn, affects the usage of the server by other customers. To protect the overall health of the server, we have suspended your account while we migrate you to a different server to provide you time to resolve this issue.  After migration finishes, FTP access will be re-enabled.

Unfortunately, we are not able to troubleshoot custom scripting, and therefore, we are not able to provide specific solutions. However, we have traced the issue back to your RSS feeds.  If you want to serve as much content as you currently are providing you will need to move to grid hosting.

Grid Hosting is a flexible hosting platform that matches performance with demand. If your site's traffic spikes, Grid Hosting responds by allocating more resources and keeping your site live. If your site is growing, Grid Hosting grows with it so you don't have to manually upgrade to handle occasional large traffic peaks and experience any unnecessary downtime. With Grid Hosting, your site's content resides on multiple servers; those server resources are pooled for optimal response times. This networked system helps achieve a high level of reliability because if one server experiences a large influx of traffic, Grid Hosting has resources in reserve which are allocated as necessary.

Additionally, other causes to this issue can include, but are not limited to, non-optimized scripts, high traffic, form spamming, etc.

Once you have identified the cause of the issue, please reply directly to this email with the steps taken to resolve the issue. If you are not able to resolve this issue, you should then consider the need to upgrade to a Dedicated Server.

UPDATE: I've cancelled my hosting accounts at GoDaddy and moved to HostGator, which is not perfect but is definitely a better alternative to GoDaddy in terms of cheap shared hosting.

Thought I was going to need a lot of hand-holding with Joomla. But despite its innate glitches, it's pretty manageable really. And GoDaddy, unbelievable though it may sound, nicely automates the installation and backup. If only their uptime were as great.

Work in progress: http://sunnyinla.com

UPDATE: I've cancelled my hosting accounts at GoDaddy and moved to HostGator, which is not perfect but is definitely a better alternative to GoDaddy in terms of cheap shared hosting.

I took video of line at Denny's Restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Posted it on Flickr.

Denny's is offering a free Grand Slam breakfast from 6 AM to 2 PM. To everyone in America!

I took this short video clip on Tuesday with the intention of uploading it to a video site associated with Twitter. But they did two things that really irked me. (Will tell another time. Too tired now.) Anyhoo, I decided to go with Viddler.

For those who are wondering , Revver still owes someone I know $500 from last summer, which is why I stopped uploading videos there.

Oh, dear, I forgot all about Flickr!!! They process my videos very, very well. How could I have forgotten? Will upload there...  SunnyinLA on Flickr

What a great day! Twittad was running a contest asking Twitterers to guess how many times Obama would say "change" in his inaugural address. I tuned in to listen to the speech hoping to hear the bloody word eleven times (my guess) but the new president used it just twice.

A few minutes later I received a direct message from Twittad telling me that no one had guessed correctly, so they decided to do a random drawing from among those who had sent entries. My name was picked!

Moreover, they gave me a choice between a $50 gift card and $50 via PayPal. I picked the cash! And within minutes of giving them my email address, I received "payment" -- the contest prize really. Fifty bucks just like that!

:)

I had heard of Twittad back in October (?) but I had never gotten around to signing up with them. I reasoned that since I didn't have thousands of Twitter followers, there was no point in either selling my Twitter background or promoting them as an affiliate.

Now... you can imagine how this all has influenced my current perspective. I signed up with them this evening, and as soon as I go back to blogging regularly, their ads are going to appear on my pages.

I want to say THANKS to the Twittad team for holding a cool contest. I do think there's something to their business model. A single ad in the background is as unobtrusive as an ad can get on Twitter. The user even gets to give a thumbs-up or -down to advertisers.

Sign up! There's nothing to it.

My Roomba died a while back, and I'd been relying on an old handheld Dirt Devil, w/c started throwing off sparks from the cord attachment. Just a few weeks ago, I bought a Kone, w/c unfortunately has pretty weak suction. (Waste of money, seriously.)

Finally, I got a Hoover S2220 Flair Bagless Upright Stick Vacuum with Power Nozzle." Reviewers rate it highly, but they say that it dies after a few months of doing an excellent job. Ordered a red one anyway.

I miss my red Roomba. She was like my pet. I'd talk to her and she was with me through my darkest days... Boo-hoo... Oh, well...

So I assembled the Hoover Flair, which was three parts out of the box. The fitting of the body to the nozzle was challenging... actually I haven't gotten it to click all the way through... but it works already. Shouldn't be as dangerous as having sparks flying onto the carpet from a handheld vac.

Getting new stuff is so much fun!!!

No, no, no!!! Shop gifts for me!

Thank you ~

MWAH :)

Zeituni Onyango, the "Auntie Zeituni" in Dreams from my Father, Barack
Obama's bestselling memoir, has been found living in public housing in Boston.

For some reason, the senator's campaign declined to comment or acknowledge a relationship. But Auntie Zeituni says she'll tell her story after the election.

Federal Elections Commission records show that she donated at least
five times to the Obama campaign in July and September of this year.
Three of the donations were for $5 apiece, and two of the donations
were for $25. She listed her job as a volunteer resident health
advocate. Other records show she gave a total of $260 to the campaign.

"...that Ms Onyango made a contribution to the Obama campaign would indicate that she is a US citizen."  If she weren't at least a green-card holder, how would she be able to donate, right? Unless of course...

Boston City Hall confirmed Zeituni Onyango’s birthdate as May 29, 1952

The investigative work was done by The Times of London.

My favorite palindrome of all time:

Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog!