Monthly Archives: March 2007

Auction Tonight

Posted on March 23, 2007 | 1 comment

Usually I post this earlier but I forgot this year. Tonight is the South Redford Schools Auction (actually it’s run by another organization but it’s for the schools) and you can always get a pretty good deal on donated items so if you’re not doing anything tonight…

As usual a basket with a few Cat in the Hat goodies that includes a visit from the Cat in the Hat for a party or just to read stories. I’ve been doing this one the past few years.

New this year (and I’m going to start doing this one) is a basket of goodies from my vacation to Costa Rica. Bags of coffee, some muchs, chocolate covered beans, a hand made box (with a toucan on it) and a few other oddities. Assuming this sells, I think I’m going to make a package of stuff each time I go on a trip from now on.

1 Comment

Tagged , ,

Mmmm….. Philly Beef and Swiss…

Posted on March 19, 2007 | 3 comments

So I have this killer headache (all day) and don’t feel like cooking so I head up to the bar around the corner (it seems like I eat there a lot on Mondays, but without the headache). Actually, I was on my way home, so I didn’t actually go “around” the corner. I popped in to the restroom first thing and when I come out the bartender/waitress has a menu and accessories (napkins, silverware and drink serviette) all set up at my favorite table (one of the 2 spots I pick as a first preference) and I like that. Plus, they had what I wanted for dinner, a philly beef and swiss sandwich (with a LIIT), actually I would have preferred the prime rib dip sandwich but this was a close second (they’re both huge sandwiches).

This is my regular place but I’m not a regular, I’m only semi-regular. This means when Jane left (6pm shift change) I wasn’t one of the people she said “see you tomorrow” to. And I have to say some of these people are here every time I stop in…

Now I’m off to Circuit City to see if they really have 24 minute pickup for my Buffalo WHR-G54S router. Yes I need two, now that I’ve discovered how cool it is, I want to play with another one. Then to the library (a book is in) and a quick trip to the grocery store. Then home to relax with a snack and last night’s Battlestar Galactica!

3 Comments

Posted in general

Tagged , , ,

Why I hate 1 and 1 web hosting!

Posted on March 18, 2007 | 2 comments

I love 1 and 1 web hosting, I really do. Great features, great price, all sorts of configuration options and cheap domains ($5.99 a year). They’ve got decent reports and now they’ll automatically mail me stats. Some of their web interface stuff is a little slow (it’s too fancy) but it’s got lots of options so I can live with it.

What I hate is their lack of customer communication:

  • They need a blog just to keep us up to date of the cool stuff they are working on.
  • They need a status page to let you know what problems are up.
  • They need their staff to know what problems they are having (it shouldn’t take 3 calls over 3 days to find out they are migrating some servers).
  • The need to let us know when they have problems or in advance when they plan to migrate servers.
  • If thousands of pages are generating 404 errors take a minute and alter to the 404 page and mention to the viewers (my readers) that it’s a temporary problem.
  • Even the utility companies can automate a hold message to say there are problems and they are working on it.

    • Continue reading →

    2 Comments

    Tagged , , , ,

    Technical Problems with 1and1

    Posted on March 15, 2007 | 1 comment

    There are web problems with my host 1 and 1 which is causing 404 errors, these are not my fault, but they are affecting you. I’m sorry for that…

    I love my web host 1and1 but what I hate is they have no kind of status page that customers can look at to see what problems are happening with the network. If they just had a page where they could list something like “many customers are having 404 problems and it may take hours (or days) to fix it” I’d be happy (not if it happened all the time). Then I wouldn’t waste time checking on it (on the chance it is my fault) or bather calling them (or waiting on hold). It seems like customer service common sense to me…

    1 Comment

    Tagged , , , , ,

    Brandi Carlile’s “The Story”

    Posted on March 13, 2007 | 1 comment

    Brandic.ThestorySo this week’s free iTunes song is Brandi Carlile’s “The Story” (it’s only free ’til the 20th). If you watch Grey’s Anatomy then you’ve heard her, I think she’s had three(?) songs on, but it might have been the same song a few of the times (Tragedy, the acoustic cello version). This free song is has a little more beat than some of her other stuff, I think of her a being a little more mellow than this one. She’s got a lot of different tracks at the iTunes store, different singles and some acoustic tunes.

    I’ve seen her in a small venue (Ann Arbor last year) and she was wonderful up close and personal. She seemed very excited that we were all there to see her :)

    1 Comment

    Tagged , , , ,

    Buffalo High Speed wireless router – Mini-review (and DD-WRT info)

    Posted on March 12, 2007 | 1 comment

    So I picked up a Buffalo WHR-G54S Wireless Broadband Router because you can never have too many routers in your house but mostly because ever since wireless existed I’ve wanted someway to bridge across my house (mostly to hook some old non-WiFi equipment that was in the living room hooked to the stereo) for older equipment that wireless wasn’t an option. So I just wanted a box with an ethernet and an antenna that would then connect to the network. The stuff I tried was too expensive (although that was a few years back) didn’t work as advertised or didn’t pass Appletalk packets. In general, my favorite home router is the Netgear brand wireless routers but I thought I’d try thing.

    So the packaging on the Buffalo WHR-G54S made me think it would work (or that I could make it work). It seemed like a nice wireless router but it looked like it wouldn’t do what I wanted, but more importantly I knew I could make it work with the DD-WRT project. This is pretty much a way to put a different OS inside the router and it supports a lot more options, it’s kind of a mini-linux (it might actually be all linux now, mildly confused on that) and there are a few projects like this out there. The most important option (for me) is by being a bridge (a mega-bridge that I can hook 5 computers up to). But it’ll also support radius authentication (if you need it, it’s a big deal), a mini web-server and even a way to power (and charge) your internet cafe.

    Warning the content gets pretty geeky from here on. Continue reading →

    1 Comment

    Tagged , , , , , , ,

    You can be on Battlestar Galactica!

    Posted on March 12, 2007 | Leave a comment

    Bsg LogoSo you can be in your own mini episode of Battlestar Galactica! Here’s a few sample videos (both with a Cylon fetish). But if you go here you can get footage, music and sound effects to create your own video. Kinda neat, especially since you can probably use any editing software to put it all together.

    Leave a comment

    Tagged , ,

    Las Vegas – Season Premiere

    Posted on March 9, 2007 | Leave a comment

    Yes, I said Season Premiere. We all just watched the finale so now it’s time to reveal the next season. I think it’s kind of obvious that there is only a few ways this can go.

    Unfortunately, I cannot speculate without giving away the season finale, so beware the spoilers!! Continue reading →

    Leave a comment

    Tagged ,