On January 3, 2012, WordPress released their latest version – 3.3.1. I know many of you are reluctant to upgrade because you think perhaps that your plugins or themes won’t work.

First of all, it is very rare that a theme won’t work with any WordPress upgrades. I have old themes that I developed in 2006 and 2007 that still work perfectly fine. They are just missing the threaded comments. That’s all. Not such a big deal, right?

Plugin compatibility is quite another challenge when upgrading WordPress. I have found that every plugin I use still works fine, though, and I tend to keep everything up to date.

But one visit to the WordPress support forums is enough to realize that I am very fortunate. Because there are always many people who have problems with upgrades.

I often wonder whether some of their woes are caused by crappy web hosting providers running out of resources to host robust database-driven web sites and last year I mentioned that switching to a web host that has LiteSpeed, made all the difference in the world to me. After all, this blog is 6 years old. That’s a lot of content and database queries. So I needed a more stable hosting solution.

Enough about web hosting and let’s get back to the question of whether or not to upgrade your WordPress version. My personal opinion is that no matter what glitches you may run into, always upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. Most often, upgrades include security fixes that are really important – more important than if your favorite plugin works.

Plugins are great to have but isn’t your site’s security more important? Always backup your blog’s database before an upgrade, so that if something drastic happens, you can always revert back fairly easily.

WordPress is still, in my humble opinion, the best open source software for the web ever released. Don’t neglect the little maintenance issues, and you too will have a a great website that will serve you and your site’s visitors for years and years.

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For me, 2011 was enlightening. I have come to know myself a little better and know that there are some things that I am going to change because of this new understanding.

In 2012, I am not expecting doom and gloom, the end of days, or any other scary prediction. I believe that I will continue my spiritual path and that many other people in the world will awaken to their own spirituality, and they will all understand, as I do now, that nothing matters but love and the freedom to live our own lives in peace, harmony, and dignity.

I have complete faith in the inherent goodness in all humanity while others continually try to paint humanity as mostly evil, for bad stuff always sells more, doesn’t it?

Why are people so attracted to the dark side?

And the answer is because we must all face the dark side in each of us, and determine the correct way to live. It is one thing to watch violent movies or play violent games – it is quite another thing to act in a violent manner in our real lives.

So despite all the doom and gloom in 2011 – the failing economy, the violence, the dirty politics that never seems to end, the corruption, all that bullshit – it just doesn’t matter. For the truth is the world is awakening. And I have great hope for our world in 2012 and beyond. There is nothing whatsoever to fear and a lot to look forward to.

In short, I am at peace with what has transpired in my world in 2011. I see a lot of new beginnings in 2012. I am excited. Are you?

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I’m a real sap when it comes to Christmas. I love buying and wrapping presents, I love decorating, I love cooking and baking holiday treats, I love singing Christmas carols. Over the years I’ve listened to some really beautiful voices singing songs for this time of year. I’d like to share two special voices singing one of my favorite carols with you. I hope you enjoy this holiday musical interlude as much as I did.

cheers!

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