One cool thing about my new host is that I can (once again) personalize my error messages. So far, I’ve only done the 404 error (which is, usually, the most common to occur).

So, if you want to see my new error message, just check out a page that doesn’t exist. Try http://pagefillers.com/nothere.html for example. (I’ll eventually get it to the same font as the majority of my page.)

If you think it’s too sarcastic, let me know. If it’s not sarcastic enough, let me know. 🙂

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: “Tubthumping [Original Mix]” by Chumbawamba

Isn’t it the way? You finally contact the technical guru, and the problem clears up… As the network adminstrator, I see this happen often. (I think, at work, the computers are just afraid of me and behave when they think I’ve been called – after all, I know how to do format c:!) And, of course, it happens to me too. So here I am, waiting for RoadRunner’s LiveChat to start, and I think “I’d better check to make sure my page doesn’t make me a liar…” And guess what? The new page has finally arrived! (15 minutes ago, I was still getting the old one.) So RoadRunner must have had one DNS server that was just a bit slower than the others.

No idea if it’s propagated throughout the world yet, but at least I’m finally able to see my new page. The URL, in case you haven’t been paying attention (ha!) is http://pagefillers.com. I’m happy! Yay!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: “All Mixed Up” by Chumbawamba

Hmmmm – still no new site here. Yet Pegasus is finally having problems with the old mail server (mail.pagefillers.com). Being the geek that I am, I did tracert both here and at home. Indeed, I’m getting the old pagefillers (216.29.207.22) after 21 hops. Dad and I separated after 15 hops when he went onto ATL while I went onto JTK. His total hops (minus his hop to his home network router) was 25 (ending at 66.250.128.11). So I need to go four more hops to get to my new site.

In other geek searching that I did, he seems to only have 2 DNS servers from RoadRunner, while I’ve got 3 in my settings, from what I can see. (I was using WinIPcfg here and had to use his router software at his place cuz ipconfig only told me his local network settings.) What is his primary DNS is my secondary, and vice versa. And I’ve no idea what the third is as it’s a completely different set of IP addresses. (But it’s from the same set of addresses as my DHCP settings.)

So I, for one, am perplexed. If I’m feeling up to it, I’ll contact RoadRunner support to see if they can assist.

OK – now onto my non geeky rant. There’s a local “free” paper that’s just recently started up. I don’t like getting the newspaper (despite one of my best friends working for one – but she’s in Detroit and I’m in Ohio), let alone the freebies. All of the other free papers have been nice enough to stop littering my yard when I’ve called their (not always local) phone number. Yes, it’s a waste of my time, but it beats the waste of time (not to mention paper) throwing the damn things away every week. Well, two weeks ago I called this new freebie paper (the Miami County Advocate) and asked to have my address removed. The lady who answered was gracious and said to call the next week if it appeared again.

Well, I guess it’s my fault, really, because, even though it arrived again the following week, I didn’t call. (Too busy, for one.) It’s the next week, and sure enough, it arrives again. This time I do call. I’ve no idea if the same lady talked to me today, but she informed me that if I want to have my name removed from the list, I need to fill out and send in this “coupon” to the address listed on it and then (and only then) I’ll stop getting this trash thrown onto my property every week. I don’t like this arrangement. I’ve already wasted my time dealing with this with 2 phone calls. I don’t want to waste more time filling out the “coupon” and then spending 37cents to mail it to them.

I asked the lady if she could forward my call onto someone who could deal with this problem, since I didn’t want to bug her any more – she’s only trying to do her job. Of course, the fellow who’s “in charge” was in a meeting (probably devising new ways to irritate the people in their jurisdiction) so I left a voice message. If this persists, I may complain to the village council on this company that keeps insisting on littering on my property. Very, very annoying. (Can you guess what’s going to be my mood?)

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: “Stitch That” by Chumbawamba

I always loved that quote from Postcards from the Edge. Indeed, it’s the story of my life. I have no patience. And yet, it’s the antici…………………………………………………..pation that I probably love the most. Usually. Advent is probably my favorite time of the year because it’s the time to anticipate Christmas and the Holidays and time spent with family and friends (and let’s not forget Christmas Break). But when it comes to technology, not only do I dislike anticipation, but I hate any sort of delays. I can explain the same problem 15 times to a student and not strangle the kid. But if a computer acts up, I have no patience. I swear (as long as I’m not in a classroom – I hope!). I know a lot of swear words now. I think it’s because of the computers. 🙂

So why this discussion of impatience? Cuz now just about everyone I’ve talked to have seen my new page – EXCEPT ME. What’s really weird is that dad, who lives in the house next door and also has RoadRunner, can already see the new page. Perhaps after I reboot my computer it’ll show. Perhaps…

Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: “Song For Len Shackleton” by Chumbawamba

It’s the waiting game. Interestingly, I checked my webpage at work and it showed the new front page. Here at home, it’s still the same old, same old. I have RoadRunner at home as my ISP, but at school we have 2 bonded T1 lines to MDECA, which is our school’s A site. They’re our ISP, our grade warehouse, our student database store, our Internet filter (Bess – gah!), and many other things. Plus I’m getting some of the e-mail captured by InMotion and some by Sharp. So if you send me any e-mail and wonder if I got it, wait a day or so and ask.

I would like to take a moment to apologize to any family members who might happen to be reading this. Yes, I *am* a geek. You’ve known it for some time. And my LiveJournal is even more evidence of it. I suppose it’s the nature of the beast that when I post to my LJ, that some of it (most of it lately, I’ll admit, but that’s cuz of the host change) will be geeky. I shall endeavor, however, to not *always* be a geek in my posts. (Aw, who am I kidding? Once a geek, always a geek!) 😉

Leo, meanwhile, is happily playing with a twist tie. What’s the opposite of geek? Whatever it is, it’s Leo. 🙂

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: “Give the Anarchist a Cigarette” by Chumbawamba

Well, the InMotion transfer is now in motion, as it were. I’ve copied the old site to the new host and have informed NetworkSolutions of the new DNS server addresses. Now it’s up to the Propagation Gods to start directing people to the new server. The hardest part of the transfer, IMO, is the e-mail part. Not only do I use Pagefillers e-mail, but so do my parents and my sister. This enables them to have a stable e-mail address regardless of ISP. It’s also a stable e-mail address regardless of webhost, but the propagation time is Hell for the e-mails. Some will get picked up by Sharp and some by InMotion. Hopefully, all e-mails will be accounted for in the end.

Pegasus should handle things well – I use it now and have convinced dad to use it too, so it should be easy for us, relatively speaking. Amy, IIRC, uses Outlook. I have NO clue about Outlook myself, and have to rely on online tutorials to walk her through things. I’ve told her to give me a call should my directions suck – which they might well do – and I’ll do what I can to walk her through. If anyone out there is really familiar with Outlook (from Office2K, I *think* – possibly ’97) that I can go to with questions, just e-mail me or make a comment after this post. (As the Network Administrator for my HS, I refuse to let Outlook or Outlook Express in my building. Could that be why we have so few virus problems? Well, I think that’s one reason. Our obsolete technology helps too. :-))

So, are there any other features of this new webhost? Well, it has 5x the storage space of the old one. It has an SMTP server. (We’ve all been relying on our ISP’s SMTP servers for the past year and a bit.) It can handle php database (which I don’t have, but might eventually). It has tech people who actually respond – that’s a plus!

How will you know when things are fully propagated? Well, I did what I did last time. I updated the front page of my site! And the REAL shame of things is that the *last* time I updated my site was when I switched from Yahoo to Sharp. Whoops! The new site is titled “New Webhost Part Deux!” and tells a story about the latest move. It also has links to this LiveJournal. And promises that things will be different in 2004. Heh. (Now don’t come visiting on Jan 1 2004 expecting a new page – I’ll be in Orlando then! So Jan 4, 2004 – that’s the date to watch out for.)

Current Mood: geeky
Current Music: “Dr. Jazz” by The Bonzo Dog Band

Darn, it’s a shame I’m not up to “C” in my music listening. I could use the Chenille Sisters “Howlin’ At The Moon” playing right now. Yes, I’m watching the Lunar Eclipse from my seat in my den. Leo’s watching too – but I think he’s more interested in his reflection in the window and the Venetian blinds cord.

I still remember the solar eclipse that we watched while I was teaching at Eaton. I took my students outside and we made pinholes in 3×5″ cards in order to view the eclipse. And the coolest thing was the leaves of the trees acting like little pinhole cameras. There were millions of little crescents on the sidewalk and grass. It was fascinating. Lunar eclipses are a bit safer to look at, I will admit. 🙂

In other news, I’m finally giving up on Sharp Web Services. They’ve been my webhost for over a year, but their e-mail hosting has been the biggest problem. They continually play with their spam filters (or something) and all of my (and dad’s) yahoogroups e-mails are bounced. And their tech support is nonexistant. It’s a real shame as the company is based in Columbus – it’s nice to support Ohio businesses (seeing as how I live in Ohio). But I’d prefer not to support second rate Ohio businesses.

So, I’m going to try InMotion Hosting now. I’ve even been called by one of their tech folks to say their going to start on my setup already. Cool! Hopefully the transfer will go smoothly. My folks and sister rely on the e-mail, and Robert Smith? hosts the Doctor Who Ratings Guide on Pagefillers. So it’s not just me that’s affected by this move. Here’s hoping it’s a smooth move!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: “All Together Now” by The Beatles

I figured that as much as I’ve been crooning about the Christmas Panto that Sylv will be in this season, I ought to update my Sylv web page to indicate it. (And remove the “Book now” link for Noises Off, now that it’s finally finished its run.) I’m a new convert to the joys of Macromedia Dreamweaver. Before Dreamweaver, I did code in either Notepad or WebWeaver (which is like Notepad for HTML geeks). But the one thing I’d never gotten into, but wanted, was CSS. I got started in web design back when HTML2 was still prevalent. And it’s been hard losing some of my favorite code. *sniff* But CSS (Creative Style Sheets) are wonderful.

I will admit, I still don’t know how to write the CSS code (though I’m learning) but Dreamweaver’s able to do it all for me. So, slowly but surely, I’m converting my web pages over to CSS. The Sylv site gets the treatment first, in particular the Stage Page, which is what I’ve been updating the most lately. Feel free to comment on the new page style. (Eventually, all of the pages will have photo captions like the Stage Page has now.)

Current Mood: energetic
Current Music: “Rocky Raccoon” by The Beatles

Thought I’d check out the Semagic posting tool. Always on the lookout for new things!

Oooooh! This is compatible with MusicMatch! I love it! I’ll take it!

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” by Beatles

Well, I said earlier that I was a bit sleepy, so I took an evening nap. And during this nap, I ended up having a very odd dream. (Is there such a thing as an un-odd dream?)

It played upon some “current in the brain” thoughts, such as Thanksgiving coming up and my current DVD purchasing obsession. Then it added in some Doctor Who and Monty Python, for good measure. And as often occurs in my dreams, my family was involved. I’ll try my best to recreate it.

It’s Thanksgiving and we’re at my sister’s. (The folks and I are going to be flying to the Twin Cities to visit with Amy this year.) And for entertainment purposes, I’m showing off my new DVD purchase. Yes, it’s the new Doctor Who movie. I’ve been known to buy DVDs, sight unseen (Bend It Like Beckham being an example of a great one), but a Doctor Who movie sight unseen? And this particular Doctor Who movie was produced and written by Eric Idle (my favorite of the Python crowd, of course). The star? Well, the movie, as is wont to happen in my dream, starred the 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors. Focusing mainly on Doc5 (Peter Davison) and Doc7 (Sylvester McCoy). Hey, if you’re gonna dream it, you’re gonna populate it with your favorite actors/characters, right?

So we all sit and watch the movie and it’s funny and entertaining (with some cringe-worthy moments, of course) and poor Colin Baker (Doc6) gets very little airtime. And there’s a side-plot about the daughter of some American General (played by someone like Tommy Lee Jones – the general, not the daughter) and her mother. And there’s an old little Japanese guy in it and I’m not sure what he was there for. My mom said she at first didn’t get that side-plot, but eventually figured it out that she was the daughter of the general. Dad said he really enjoyed it. No idea what Amy thought, even though this was supposedly at her place. Then I woke up to try and puzzle things out.

Well, I think the dream is an improvement over the Are You Being Served? dream I once had. I sometimes think my brain is truly f*cked up. But there ya go. 🙂

Current Mood: confused
Current Music: “Tell Me What You See” by The Beatles