Web 2.0: Gaetan sent an invite to my email address to follow him on twitter, so I signed up finally. Honestly, I had actually been meaning to sign up with twitter and facebook … My older brother is terrified of facebook, he thinks Rupert Murdoch is after him … I’m particular in the information I share but let’s be honest, if someone like Rupert Murdoch wanted the goods on you, guess what? He’s going to get you …
There are so many times that I think of something to blog, but I never get around to it. I think of the situation, the story and everything, but then I don’t get to it. Or, maybe the paranoia of what I would be posting and the opinion that may come of it, or too much information shared … Blah, tough living in this day and age, isn’t it? The age of immediate consequences from something you may post online. The Internet is everywhere and immediate. Anyway, here are the current events:
Hosting: There have been several instances in the hosting area that have devastated me. One, I had a disk crash on a machine that I never thought the disk would crash. Like, I had it in my mind that that was a pristine machine and I didn’t have to worry about it. It’s where all my stuff was and where I could just ssh in or sit at its console and update code on the fly … No backups. Gone. Now I have everything important on RAID5 and my personal machines have Time Machine running.
Verizon is a huge thorn in my side. My last mile is Verizon. Verizon is copper. Verizon wants to run FIOS (fiber) in Philadelphia. Comcast rules the video market in Philadelphia. Seems contacting politicians is the only way Verizon FIOS will come to Philadelphia. There is nothing more than I want right now is FIOS to be in Philadelphia because my connection speed would greatly increase immediately. How this affects me now is that Verizon doesn’t want to run any new copper, they only want to run FIOS. I have had a terrible time as of late with my connection and this is the problem. It happened the first time in May and was dormant until Christmas Eve, from then on it was daily bouncing until the last copper pair change. Verizon has been on site over 3 times. It’s too late, the customers that this affected the worst have already found other solutions. Not cool Verizon, not cool at all.
Octane: Sound for Octane continues, but with almost every venue having house sound installed, I can’t rememer the last time I needed my PA. For that matter, the last time I had the PA in the trailer, the trailer was burglarized for one bass bin and one monitor. They took nothing else although much was in there as well as all the band’s gear that was strewn to just the outside of the trailer. Makes absolutely no sense. I still haven’t been able to sell the truck since replacing it with the van and trailer. I should try that on eBay again. While Octane remains booked fairly steady for a band in their position, there are weekend nights that I am sitting home.
Fosterchild: I have mixed Fosterchild a couple times since the lineup change and circumstances warranted it. It was a welcome change from the norm. Apparently we’re going on tour soon!
Out On the Town: I have started working with the paper again. This time I am doing the layout on the computer. Another reason for my Mac purchase. (Still steamed about that one [previous entry], but I will survive. I have rationalized some things away.) Hopefully this will help with the ultimate goal of sitting on my ass the rest of my life.
Windows: I found out that MS Access doesn’t scale, or self sustain. Don’t know how to put it, but left to its devices, a web site utilizing an MS Access database will cause ASP to hang on a Windows Server. The database needs to be regularly reorganized. I can tell you for a fact that this will not happen on any other platform. Thanks again Windows! Way to mess up everyone’s life on your server cause you can’t handle something and don’t report on it either.
Health: My health is getting better. I had my last cigarette September 27th, 2008 at 10:45pm. This was right before Octane’s first set (acoustic) outside at The Whiskey Tango. During the set, pressure mounted in the center of me chest and by the end of the set I was getting sharp pains. I didn’t go out for a smoke after the set, I took it easy but sharp pains came and went and I generally didn’t feel right. I was getting scared and I decided that I thought I should go to the hospital. I spent the weekend in the hospital while they did all sorts of fun tests. All tests were okay. I then went back to have a camera shoved down my throat and that turned up acid damage in my esophagus, stomach and duodenum. I was told to take 4 Prilosec daily. The anesthetic for the tube test was wild, like snapping your fingers, test done and two and a half hours went by. I haven’t smoked since and have started dieting and exercising. I may get a Brazilian and wear a bikini or thong to the beach this summer? … and everyone knows how I love the beach.
The Whiskey Tango: I went back to work at The Whiskey Tango May 20th 2008 to fill in the open nights with Octane and to do the off nights. Ronnie quit to go work for Spellcaster down the shore for the summer with more nights. Since then The Whiskey Tango changed ownership and management and those off nights aren’t happening anymore. Status there is up in the air right now.
Coding: I recently updated some old ASP pages I did way back in the day for the Bigg Romeo site. That was fun. I am progressing on new web development projects and I am very excited about that. Also thinking of ways to further promote the hosting through a better interface. The new trickles in slowly anymore and Verizon isn’t helping with the departed. Here’s hoping FIOS comes through. They are sure to support that endeavor more than they’ve helped me now, right?
OH! and the biggest thing about all of this is that anything new will be in a new location! All the servers, routers, switches, computers, etc. will be moved to a brand new location. We will be moving but still don’t know when yet. I am hoping for A.S.A.P., but that’s me.
That’s all I can think of right now. Any questions?
Bo Bice: On a lighter note (whew!) … American Idol’s fourth season runner up to Carrie Underwood was also performing at Guantanamo Bay as well. We even shared the 30 seat plane ride with him to the island. There was a problem with his sound guy’s passport, so he was left at the airport in Florida. Because of this fact, I performed double duty on New Year’s Eve day by sound checking Bo Bice at their venue and then going to the venue where Fosterchild was playing and complete that sound check. Bo Bice played that night with Tony, the electrician who is assigned to setup and break down PA systems at GTMO and his crew. I also had a monitor guy who worked with Tony’s department. It was a Venue system, and the next day, New Year’s Day they moved that entire show to another part of the base that is their outdoor movie theater and I was able to sound check and come back and mix that show. So, on New Year’s Day 2011 (1/1/11), I mixed Bo Bice in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – and I got his autograph.