Why I Like This 2.0

Yup… That’s right! Those #@%! Docx files…

It’s really totally unnecessary, burdensome and brainless hassle given by the great M to the rest of us minions on this planet Earth, ay? Well, I have this problem when I switched from the PC latest version (surrendering the PC to a friend) and now confined to the ever-elegant Mac. Guess what… it’s the 2004 version in the Mac!

When I backed up my data and burned them on CD-R’s in a hurry, I didn’t have the time to open each docx file and save them as doc files. I took the shortcut by just burning all of them on the disks!

Yea, serve me right. Now I have the headache of not being able to open the docx files!

So, I started Googling ‘convert docx to doc’ and the first thing that caught my eye was www.docx2doc.com! It’s an online conversion service. They charge a one-time fee of USD5 to use it! Then, there’s Zamzar.com which is free for files below 100MB. Above that, they have several monthly plans with multiple options! Beware… for free conversions, you have to wait up to 24 hours before they email them to you! (grr… can’t wait that long!) Besides docx, Zamzar.com also convert images, texts, videos, audios and compressed files!

Those are online solutions! What if you want a ‘local’ patch i.e. software plugin? You can download the free Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. This will help you open, print, edit, and save .docx files in Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003. If you are using Mac, you can get the Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac. But your Mac must use Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later. Now, isn’t that wonderful? I’m using 10.3.9!!!

So, back to the Googling ‘board’! Grrr… Keep searching!!

Then, there are email-based conversion services! Wow, these are so cool and fast! It’s almost instant! Just what I need!

Wait a minute… it says in the article that to convert, send an email with your files to be converted as attachments to …

• pdf@koolwire.com - Convert DOC, XLS or PPT files to PDF
• doc@koolwire.com - Convert PDF to Word or RTF
• iPhone@pdfonline.com - Convert Word 2007 (DOCX) to PDF

How??!! I need to convert docx to doc!

Aha! All I need is to send my docx files to iPhone@pdfonline.com first to convert to PDF. Then, I send the newly-converted PDF files to doc@koolwire.com to convert to RTF (similar to doc)!

Yes!!! I found the solution!

Although the files have to be converted twice, I got them within minutes! No need to pay money, no need to do it online, no need to install pesky Compatibility or Converter Packs from the great M!

Perseverance and attention to details saved the day!

Cheers!

Reference :

• Email Based File Conversion
• Open .docx files Without Word 2007

Listen up ladies! It’s Valentine’s Day and StyleList has a big present for you. What could be better than roses and chocolates? How about hot men in nothing but their underwear (or even less!)…   says the opening page of article in stylelist.com

Stylelist has compiled a list of 15 HOTTEST MEN in (ahem!) their underwear for your viewing pleasure. So who’s on the list? Take a guess…

• 50 Cents?
• LL Cool J?
• Paul Sculfor?
• Freddie Ljungberg?
• Keith Urban?
• Tom Cruise?
• Brad Pitt?
• David Beckham?

They are all on the list but who’s no. 1?

As for the guys, they have another section for you. It’s called Best Valentine’s Lingerie.

Cheers!

Before you upgrade your WordPress blog to the latest version, take this few easy steps to avoid messing up your configuration!

1) Backup everything! This is a 2-Step process i.e. backup the database and backup the WordPress program files. The database is where all your posts, comments and such are stored. To do the database backup, you need to access it thru your CPanel by using phpMyAdmin. For detailed instructions, see here. Next, you need to backup the WordPress program files. Using FTP software (i.e. Filezilla), copy the files on your server to a folder on your computer. Once there, you can zip or compress them into a zip file to save space, allowing you to keep several versions.

Remember, keep at least three backups on file, just in case one is corrupted or lost, and store them in different places and on different mediums, like CD, DVD, different hard drives, etc.

2) Deactivate your current plugins on your site. Some plugins might not be compatible with the new WordPress version, so it’s smart to check if there are new versions of them and deactivate any that may cause problems. You can reactivate the plugins one-by-one after the upgrade to see if they are working.

3) Download the latest WordPress program files here to your desktop. Extract them before uploading.

Use an FTP software, copy the new files to your server and overwrite the old files. However, be careful that you DO NOT overwrite the following folders : wp-content, plugins and themes. You may have uploaded earlier some third-party plugins and themes which you are currently using on your blog. Overwriting the folders will wipe out those! Instead, copy and overwrite the contents of those folders so that your third-party files will not be deleted!

4) Upgrade your WordPress site by keying the upgrade command in the browser’s address bar. It should be something like this : http://yoursite.com/wordpress/wp-admin/upgrade.php. This URL assumes that your WordPress site is in the /wordpress/ folder. Hit “Enter” and wait for the upgrade to complete.

5) That’s it! Activate your plugins to see if they work with the new WordPress. Should you face any problems, refer to the WordPress extended upgrade instructions here.

Cheers!