D minus... one hour and counting!?

Yeah, okay, I wasn't going to put up another blog post before the hard launch, but I figured I ought to say what I did in the last day, and I didn't want that to be the first post seen by anyone who came here because of the hard launch, so I figured I'd make an extra post just before. This makes the first time I've made two blog posts in one day, and quite possibly the last. I'll make this post quick, because I still have some prep I need to get done.

So, I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked to the last day, largely because I was still waiting on the site migration to my new VPS hosting plan. Which still isn't complete, and while the agent I originally talked to from my hosting company said it should be done within twenty-four hours, a different agent I spoke with about an hour ago said that it usually takes seventy-two hours. So... that's frustrating. Does this mean the site may go down just after the hard launch? Yes, I suppose. (I tried to cancel the migration, if it wasn't going to be done in time, but apparently it's too late for that.) Does this mean it's possible the site might go down before the hard launch? Yes, I suppose, and I'm really, really hoping it doesn't. Does this mean I should delay the hard launch? Yes, probably. Does this mean I will delay the hard launch? No, for reasons I've already explained. Stupid reasons, mostly, but reasons nonetheless.

Anyway, with the migration still imminent, I didn't want to try to do too much on the site, because I wasn't sure whether the admins had already exported the databases and it would all be undone after the migration. But at this point I'm guessing not, and even if it is I have my own exported copy of the databases and can restore the changes.

I also slept more the last day than I really should have when I have so much to do for the hard launch. Part of that was probably stress (over the migration being done in time, and over the hard launch in general), but part of it was no doubt just because I... hadn't gotten much sleep the previous few days, and I kind of needed to catch up. Though I probably could have (and should have) staved that off one more day.

Regardless, one thing I did do since the last blog post that I said at this point I probably wouldn't do is redesign the site. This was something I figured I could do even if the site went down, anyway, since I could do it on my local copy of the site on my desktop and just upload it when it's done. Here's a before and after:

Before

After

So it's certainly different now. Is it an improvement? Well, that's subjective, but I think so. It still needs work, though, especially the main blog page, and also the logo, as well as the opening blurb, the about page, and, well, everything.

Speaking of the blog, on a more minor note, I didn't get time to edit all the old blog posts as I'd hoped to, but I did at least add short names to all of them that could be used as keys in preference to the date-based keys that were used before. So that's something. It's not much, but it's something.

And speaking of everything, is everything ready and where I'd hoped it would be by the time of the hard launch? No, of course not. Not even close. Am I going through with the hard launch anyway? Foolishly, yes.

D minus one hour and counting...