I have been displeased with the back-end operation of Mount Sutro for some time now. I had made plans a while back to overhaul the software I use and to rewrite my custom code. It never happened. Well, I have decided that I am sufficiently displeased enough to assign some time to this task. The last major code change was done in September 2002, one year after I started publishing the site. Though the purpose and direction of the site have changed over the course of the past three years, the underlying way it operated has not.

Starting this week, I will be redeveloping Mount Sutro from the ground up. Instead of posting the blog (currently sub-titled "One Last Breath") to the phpBB-powered Forum and syndicating it on the main page via PHP script, I am going to install and customize a more suitable publishing application. WordPress and Textpattern are my top two candidates for this task. A retool of the Forum is planned. I continue to be happy with the performance of Coppermine, the software driving the Gallery, so aside from a fresh install (new version) and tidying up of my custom code, no changes are planned there.

I have no plan to entirely redesign the visual look and feel, but some changes will be made. Invalid links will automatically be redirected to their new destinations or to a 404 page containing a search feature and site map.

I welcome any comments and suggestions.

It was a nice and laid-back day wherein I did very little productive. And it was good. I just got back from dinner at Charley's Steak House (full review soon). Suffice it to say, the meal was quite enjoyable and our waiter was someone I know. He gave me a free tiramisu for my birthday. Now, before the entry sounds any more like a LiveJournal, I am going to go have a few beverages at Saint Andrew's Tavern.

Cannabis grandmother's book hopes
[original article]

A grandmother on a drugs charge who cooks treats using cannabis has written a book about her activities which she aims to get published.

Patricia Tabram, 66, of Hexham, Northumberland, bakes cannabis-laced biscuits, soups and casseroles for herself and friends.

She hopes her book called Grandma Eats Cannabis will be in print soon.

Ms Tabram appeared in court this week after admitting possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Proceedings were adjourned to allow for the preparation of reports and she was remanded on bail until 11 March.

The grandmother-of-two began cooking for friends using food laced with the illegal drug after being introduced to it last year.

Police raids

Mrs Tabram, a former chef, said: "I suffer from depression, whiplash in my neck and back pain. I went to bed and the next morning I felt so much better. I didn't know what I had taken so I asked my friends. They said it was cannabis.

"But I don't like smoking so they said I could cook with it."

But Northumbria Police were tipped off and twice raided her house in May and June last year.

They seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her loft and another one from her hallway table.

She said: "When the police came to my door I invited them in. I told them to look in the loft and I offered them some tea and biscuits."

Mrs Tabram, whose home contains cookery books and books by convicted drug dealer Howard Marks, is hoping Marks' publishers will take on her book.

It is easy to forget how nice the weather in Florida is whilst the rest of the country enjoys blistery winters. The following quote from the Library of Congress website made me giggle just now:

The Library will close today, Saturday, January 22, at 2:00 due to snow.

Fun, fun!