Yet another year of much activity. Will things ever slow down?

1 - Blog

I made the decision this year not to record analytics data. Recording the data took about 2.5-3 hrs per month, time that I’d rather spend creating posts. However, I decided the last day of September that I should probably at least record visitor counts and visit duration data. I’ve also decided to record the top 10 pages per month.

The visitor count for my blog increased nicely over the year. The average visitor count was 10,157, thanks to an unusual increase over the months of May-July for unknown reasons. The visitor count dropped back to normal during the months of August and September.

I was only able to publish six posts over the year.

1.01 - WordPress 6.9 Bug

I upgraded WordPress to version 6.9 on Dec 05, 2025. Fortunately, I upgraded and tested on my sandbox site first. All of the images in the body of my posts were aligned on the left instead of the center. I reported the apparent bug on the WordPress Fixing WordPress forum, but eventually I was told that the issue appeared to be with my theme.

I reported the issue to the developer of my theme in February 2026. However, I eventually installed some themes that displayed alignment well enough for me to determine left from center alignment. The issue was apparent in those themes as well, so I replied to the thread I started on the WordPress Fixing WordPress forum stating that the issue was with WordPress 6.9, not my theme.

Toward the end of February, I got to thinking that the WordPress Fixing WordPress forum wasn’t the place to report bugs. After a brief bit of Internet searching, I found out that there are two separate places to report WordPress bugs . After a little bit of thought about the bug I was experiencing, I decided that the place to report the bug was WordPress Trac .

Someone responded the same day I posted my bug, stated that it was a bug, and recommended trying the Load Combined Core Block Assets plugin as a fix. The plugin fixed the issue. However, I spent quite a bit of time trading responses with Weston Ruter, a WordPress developer, in an attempt to determine the exact cause of the issue. Evidently, a change was made in WordPress 6.9 that causes some issues with classic themes . The theme I used for my site was a classic theme.

While looking at block themes, I discovered the Superb Addons plugin developed by Superb Themes . The Superb Addons plugin also resolved the alignment issue I was experiencing, so I opted to use that instead of the Load Combined Core Block Assets plugin because I thought I might switch to a block theme from Superb Themes in the future.

1.02 - WordPress 7.0 Bug

On May 20, WordPress 7.0 was released. I updated both of my sites only to discover another bug that had been introduced.

Gutenberg Editor under WordPress 6.9.4

Gutenberg Editor under WordPress 7.0.0

I downgraded my public site to WordPress 6.9.4, but lived with the bug for awhile on my sandbox site. Eventually, I grew tired of having to create new posts and edit existing posts by only using WordPress Code Editor mode, so I downgraded to WordPress 6.9.4 on my sandbox site as well.

The issue with not upgrading to a new WordPress release is that there may be security issues that are resolved by upgrading to a new release. Sure enough, on July 26 I received a Wordfence notification that multiple instances of admin users being created outside of Wordpress had occurred on 07/25/2026 on my public site. I checked under the Users section of my WordPress Admin dashboard and I found multiple users with the admin role that I didn’t create. I deleted the users and then a quick Internet search turned up a solution to hopefully prevent future occurences.

I also ran a Wordfence scan to verify that there was nothing wrong (malware or changed files) with my site.

After posting about the issue in the WordPress forums, I was told that I should definitely upgrade. Upgrading resolved the issue of user accounts being remotely created. However, I was once again stuck with creating and editing posts using the WordPress Code Editor mode.

The bug was finally resolved with the release of WordPress 7.0.3.

1.03 - Migration to Hugo

The two WordPress bugs I experienced this year resulted in my becoming negative again about WordPress. I had become negative once before , so I was familiar with other blogging platform options. In the middle of July, I decided to look at the other options again.

I ended up opting for Hugo . I spent hours performing research, finalizing the conversion of most of my posts to markdown format, and customizing the theme I decided to use. I felt comfortable enough with the results of all of my work to finalize migrating my blog to Hugo on September 29.

I almost gave up on the idea of migrating my blog to Hugo two or three times. I’m very happy that I didn’t give up. I find writing my posts in markdown format to be easier and quicker than using the WordPress Gutenberg editor. I also enjoy not having to frequently update plugins, being able to create my pages and posts locally on my computer, and testing locally on my computer.

2 - Personal Life

2.01 - Continued Dental Woes

I left the dentist I had in 2024 because I was told I had to reschedule an appointment because I showed up 19 minutes late. After months of searching, I finally found a dental office in October 2025 that was willing to perform manual cleanings (no ultrasonic scalers ) and that offered gold crowns as a crown option. I am a grinder and clencher, so gold crowns are highly desired if I should need a crown.

Unfortunately, I received bad news from my new dentist. My very observant hygienist could tell that I had issues with dry mouth ( xerostomia ) based on things she saw in my mouth. What the hygienist didn’t tell me was that I had a number of cavities.

When the dentist came in to perform the exam, he inquired about possible causes for my dry mouth. I told him I wasn’t sure, but that I’ve had issues with a dry mouth for years, although it had become worse toward the end of 2025. He then stated that I had a number of cavities, quite possibly the result of my dry mouth. I was shocked. The dentist recommended removal of three molars.

I had five teeth removed this year, six in total since 2025. I’ve become resigned to the fact that I may eventually lose all of my teeth.

2.02 - New Vehicle

My wife had been thinking about buying a new vehicle for most of 2025. In December 2025, she made the decision to finally purchase a new vehicle. She initially desired the BMW X3 SUV, but I talked her out of that option because BMW’s are not reliable long-term based on research I’ve done on the Consumer Reports site. I mentioned the Toyota RAV4, which has excellent reliability ratings on the Consumer Reports site.

My wife ended up buying a 2025 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid XLE at the third Toyota dealership we visited. I was happy to have the purchase experience behind us. Shopping for vehicles can be exhausting.

2.03 - Winter Storm Fern

Winter storm Fern hit my area on January 25, 2026. I had prepared my snowblower in December, so I felt prepared for the storm aftermath. I went out in the evening on January 25 and began clearing the snow. I finished clearing all of the sidewalk, some of the area in front of our driveway, and about two and a half passes over our driveway. Then the snowblower stopped. I was able to start it back up again, but it only ran for about three minutes before dying again.

I had problems starting the snowblower initially. I wasn’t able to start the snowblower manually, so I used the electric starter and it started, but belched smoke, which hasn’t happened before. The snowblower didn’t seem to run right during the time I was able to use it.

I was able to finish clearing the remaining snow using my trusty electric Toro snowblower. Fortunately, we didn’t experience any additional significant snow events for the remainder of the winter.

2.04 - Weeds in Lawn, Added Too Much Oil to Snow Blower

The weeds in our lawn were just horrible this year. I pulled the weeds by hand in two areas of our lawn and my left knee gave me quite a bit of grief after the second episode. I’m going to have to rely on weed killer from now on because my knees just can’t take all of the squatting required to pull weeds by hand.

In July or August, I finally made time to check the oil level in the snow blower . When I changed the oil prior to the onset of winter last year, I didn’t measure the oil, relying instead on checking the dip stick. That turned out to be a mistake.

I drained all of the oil and the amount drained was 24 ounces, 8 more ounces than what is called for. As of this post, I’m not sure how much damage, if any, I may have done by using too much oil.

2.05 - Added New Linux Distro as a Daily Driver

I desired to add a fourth Linux distribution as a daily driver on my computer this year. I initially decided to try Nix OS . The way Nix OS is designed requires a custom GRUB setup, which I didn’t like. I also found /Nix OS/ to be way different from the other Linux distributions I’ve used in the past, so I ended up deciding that it wouldn’t work for me as another daily driver.

I viewed two or three videos on the YouTux YouTube channel early this year regarding Void Linux . Therefore, I decided to try Void Linux next. However, I couldn’t verify the digital signature of the checksum file, so I decided to try something else.

I next tried GhostBSD . While not a Linux distribution, GhostBSD is Unix-based. I was quite surprised and impressed with GhostBSD. I installed it without any major issues and it ran well. There were two things I didn’t like about GhostBSD though. First, it installed a bootloader that took over the GRUB bootloader I use for my Linux installs. I was still able to boot my Linux installs, but I didn’t like the hijack of the GRUB bootloader.

The second thing I didn’t like about GhostBSD was that it uses a different filesystem, so I couldn’t share folders and files the way I do under my Linux installs. I did find a filesystem that could be used for Linux that could be read by GhostBSD, but I didn’t want to change the filesystem I use under Linux ( ext4 ).

Next, I decided to try Fedora Linux . It took me three different tries before I could install Fedora Linux. You can read about my experience in my Short Bits 2026 post. However, after getting Fedora Linux installed, I was able to use it without any major issues. In the end though, I decided that Fedora Linux wasn’t a good candidate as a daily driver for me.

I had used PCLinuxOS many years ago, so I decided to give it a try again. PCLinuxOS installed without major issues. However, I could not get GnuCash to run after installing it. After a bit of research in the user forums, I discovered that the lead developer, who goes by the username texstar, had problems compiling it. Evidently, texstar wasn’t able to resolve the compilation issue because GnuCash would not run right every time I tried to use it.

I decided once again to try installing Void Linux . I discovered that the digital signature isn’t a file to download. You have to copy the second line of the digital key and use that to verify that the checksum file hasn’t been tampered with. I was able to successfully install Void Linux in July and I have been using it without any major issues since.

So now I’m using Debian Stable , Debian Unstable , EndeavourOS , and Void Linux as daily drivers on my computer.

2.06 - DIY Tasks

In 2025, I purchased a number of new electrical outlets and outlet faceplates with the plan to begin replacing many of the electrical outlets in our home. Quite a few of the outlets barely hold a plug due to age and wear-and-tear. Unfortunately, I purchased the wrong faceplates, so I put the project on hold after replacing one of the outlets in the master bathroom.

I finally got around to purchasing the correct outlet faceplates this year, so I was able to replace the faceplate on the outlet I installed in the master bathroom. Hopefully I’ll be able to make time this winter to replace more outlets throughout the house.

L - Old outlet and faceplate | R - New outlet and faceplate

The cold water shutoff valve for the soaker tub in the master bathroom has had a minor leak for quite some time. I finally determined the part number by removing the hot water shutoff valve knob and viewing the valve stem. I purchased two valve stem replacements at Lowes sometime over the summer.

In September, I finally made time to replace the valve stems for both soaker tub shutoff valves. I also decided to replace the existing supply shutoffs for the left sink in the master bathroom with SharkBite quarter-turn shutoff valves. I successfully installed everything, but the faucet in the soaker tub dripped with the shutoff valves completely closed. Howvever, the dripping stopped after a few days. I also rounded one of the corners of the bonnet nut that goes over the cold water valve stem when attempting to remove the nut.

I sent a support request to Delta Faucet about the dripping faucet, but soon after I discovered a question and answer section for the valve stems that I replaced. I discovered that a dripping faucet was a possible sign that a part called seat and spring needs to be replaced. So I’ll need to replace the seats and springs and I’m also going to replace both of the bonnet nuts. Unfortunately, neither Lowes or Home Depot carry the bonnet nut. You have to order it from Delta Faucet.

3 - Conclusion

I’m looking forward to creating posts in markdown format for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping I’ll be able to produce more posts this year than I did the past year.

2026-005