After putting it off again and again, I've finally sat down today and did the long-overdue update of the website again. In the end, it wasn't as bad as I had feared, but, ah, there's always something that gets toasted with a larger update... or something that quietly, with a short sizzling sound, fried itself a while before and then you do an update and discover that something is not looking like it should, or doing what it should. Plus... that it might have been in that state for a while as well!

So, long story short: The last slightly larger shop update that I did, a good while ago by now, totally fried all the template tunings that I had done when doing the migration to the newest Joomla version. That was a lot of work just made useless, and it irked me quite a bit. However, there was no time at that point to sit down and re-do all of it for the new version, so I only did a few tweaks to remedy the worst issues, tried for functionality, and then decided that ugly (or at least not looking like I had imagined) and functioning would be good enough, and is definitely better than theoretically beautiful but offline or looking nice but not working.

Today I was feeling a little brain-dead inbetween, and in that state I figured that it would be a great idea to do the site update. Because, as we all totally know, figuring out website stuff needs no brains at all, right? Yes, exactly. 

Of course clicking the correct buttons in the correct order (backup first, then updates of the extensions, then update of the system) doesn't need much brain power. But afterwards, it's time to check if everything works as it should, and looks as it should, and figure out what needs to be done where in case it doesn't. Which... well. You can probably imagine that these tasks do require some of the grey matter to be online, and a neuron or two here or there able and willing to shoot an impulse somewhere... 

Fortunately my little bout of frustration was remedied by a cup of coffee and some uplifting words from the Most Patient Husband of Them All (who also thinks that not-looking-perfect-but-functioning is a fine state), and then I sat down again with a bit more brain power.

And instead of trying, as I did the last time, to re-do the template more or less from scratch... this time, after the update removed my tweaks, I did some more tweaking in a similar manner, and now it's looking acceptable again, or at least I think so. Hopefully I've also managed, this time, to place stuff into the correct override folder so it will not have to be re-done next time.

And while I was at it, I've also updated the Textile Forum website (which was not that far behind, version-wise...) and finished sending out the latest Forum newsletter. Now I sort of feel on top with the technical stuff again - so tomorrow, I can get back to all the other, not-so-technical stuff!

It's time, again, for me to sit down and do the bookkeeping stuff. It's not a thing that I particularly enjoy, but, alas, it has to be done. And that in regular intervals, as I have to hand in the VAT accounting every quarter. (That's actually a good thing, for me, as it means that at least every quarter, I automatically get an overview about how things are going.)

Usually the hacking in of numbers and checking them, and jotting down reference numbers on slips of paper and putting documents into the document folder of the accounting programme goes fairly smoothly, and I'm done relatively quickly. Sometimes though, some little-but-nasty error slips in, and then it's hunting down what happened and where and when and fixing it. I had one this time around, and it took me a while to get where it came from... but now everything lines up again, and looks fairly good, and I've sent off the numbers and paid my dues.

Which means that I can give you a celebratory picture of the little cat with a very silly face:

and then get back to all the rest of work waiting to be done today. 

Thankfully nothing that involves heavy lifting, because I did get the booster shot with the updated vaccine (including the Omicron variants) yesterday, and though I have no other side effects, the area where the jab went does hurt some if I lift the arm overhead, or stretch it out completely.  Side note: The German StiKo, the committee giving the guidelines on who should get vaccinated, still lists only a few groups and people over 60 years of age. Even though there's enough vaccine to get a lot more people immunised. So when I went to get my shot, I had to get an "advisory talk" with a doctor, who had to ask me why I wanted the booster... which you can get even when not on the StiKo list, but only after that advisory talk. Next thing she did was tell me that she personally thought it rather stupid that they'd still not made the list longer, or recommended it to everyone, since the incidence numbers are rising and people still get Long Covid, and there's enough of the vaccine for a lot more people... 

Ah well. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, and nobody understands politics.