Our apt building has been without hot water since Saturday. It will not be back on until Tuesday. (We were also without hot water Friday morning.) Annoying. We’ve been heating water on the stove in order to bathe in the tub. Today we use a gas stove. I don’t think I would have bathed if I had to fetch the water and cut the wood that went in the stove.
I’ve researched and installed a ton of WordPress plugins recently. These plugins are used to extend WordPress’s capabilities. Using WordPress plugins, I’ve added search engine optimization, automatic similar posts functionality, links to social bookmarking sites, intelligent SEO Ajax-powered Google Search to 404 pages, etc. I now even have a mobile version of the site. Be sure to check out GreenEggsAndSam.com on your mobile phone - it actually works pretty well!
To prove that I have gone overboard, I just installed a plugin that will automatically display all the plugins that I have installed. It can be found on the credits page.
I’ve read the Lifehacker blog for some time now. (They give tips and downloads for getting things done.) I also recently read their new book, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better. The book is a hard copy some of their better articles. After reading one article, Cheap and Easy Velcro Ties, I went and bought Velcro ties on Amazon. I’ve since wrapped virtually every cord in my apt and office. I am not really much of a neat freak, but wrapped cords have made a big difference.
Now that the blog is back up and running, I decided to create a new New Obsessions category. The category is intended to share whatever I am using/consuming/geeking-out on at any given point in time.
Last week I was without Internet service at home. It turns out that my line had been unplugged from the building’s service box. I have to assume this happened when one of the neighbors moved out.
I would have written about the resolution earlier, but then my website went down. I’ve included the official notice below, but basically they lost everything that was not in a database. That means unless I can find the original version on my laptop, I will have lost years worth of photos/images, as well as various hand-coded HTML pages. Fortunately, the DB is still intact, so after a WordPress reinstall, the GEAS.com blog is back up and running. The other frustrating part is that my site was down long enough that it appears to have been delisted from Google. I think it will come back in a few days, but I am not really sure. (Yes, I will likely change hosting companies after this, but I guess there’s no real hurry since I pay a year in advance and they already have my money.)
Also this week, the fan stopped running on my laptop. When I took it to get it fixed, I found out that the extended warranty that I had purchased had just expired 6 days earlier. Fortunately, they said they would still cover it. Thank you, Apple.
Globat, you have a lot to learn.
————————-
Tom Cox <cs_manager2@globat.com>
to
date Thu, May 22, 2008 at 9:37 PM
subject Notice of Disk Failure on Globat.com Web Server
Dear Samuel,
On Saturday, May 17, 2008 Globat.com experienced a partial disk failure on a storage device attached to two of our web servers. Normally a disk failure is not catastrophic. Unlike most home PCs our web servers use a storage technique that allows for a drive to fail without loss of data.
The disk failed completely at some point during the night and we switched over to the backup storage device. After the failure and switching to the backup server, we began to discover that the backup procedure had been corrupted by the earlier partial disk failure and some sites had no backup available.
The backup process “copied” the data from the failed storage server to the backup server and essentially deleted the files on numerous websites before the error was detected. We think that your website was among these.
Most of the dynamic data including all email files, addresses books and all database files were not affected by this incident. The server is back online and running normally again and you can restore your website by uploading a backup copy of your website files. We are extremely sorry for this incident and our Technical Support will try to answer questions related to getting your site back online.
If by some chance you don’t have a current backup copy of your website files handy please consider these possible sources:
1. If you originally used a website designer they should have a copy. Most website
designers keep copies of the work they have done for clients.
2. You may have a copy on an older computer or stored CD.
3. Your site may be archived on the Internet.
4. You may have an older, non-current backup copy.
If none of these are possible, we can install a temporary page to explain that the files have been lost. Please contact our Technical Support department and we will see if there is anything we can do to help to get your site back online.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. Our attempts to identify the full scope of the problem, and those impacted, were hindered by the loss of data. We are in the process of creating several procedures to improve our recovery efforts for this type of problem in the unlikely event of it happening again.
Sincerely,
Tom Cox
Director of Customer Service
Globat.com
I posted some photos of 1997 MLK Scholars Trip to Brazil.
On a side note, I don’t really like posting photos in Facebook. I had rather use my Flickr account. But posting to Facebook makes it easier to share with groups on Facebook.
Yesterday my computer stopped working - it wouldn’t connect to the Internet. Thinking it was something I somehow caused, I spent more than a hour checking the computer’s settings, router and cable modem. Finally I got frustrated enough that I decided to take a break and turn on the TV for a few minutes. Then it hit me. Our cable is out.
I called the cable company and while I was on the phone, they sent a couple new signals to the apt. Neither worked. Now they have to send a technician out to take a look. That means I’ll be without Internet access at home until at least Thursday. Also, I’ll have to take off work for them to come.
The same thing happened with my home phone a couple of years ago and I decided that it was easier (and cheaper) to turn off my home phone than to bother getting it fixed (especially when in that specific case, I was 100% certain that the phone company had disconnected my line when a neighbor moved out.)
In this case, there are several possible causes:
- several neighbors moved out yesterday
- they are doing construction all over my building
- there’s a good deal of street work surrounding my building
- there’s already a major issue with my account where they double billed me for several months
I kinda feel like the issue is limited to my account, or I think someone else would have posted something in the lobby of the building. I also don’t really think it is related to the billing issue b/c they would have noticed that when I was on the phone with them, or at least you would think.
Needless to say, I am going through Internet withdrawl and the BlackBerry is not giving me my fix.
—
Posted via BlackBerry.
There’s a guy at the subway stop near my office. He’s been there for years. I call him the Subway Socrates. He looks pretty normal, but he strolls around the platform pontificating about either 1.) current events or 2.) lesbians. When I passed him on Friday, he said, “Hillary is part of the lesbian conspiracy to control man.” I have no idea what that meant, but on an average week, he usually says at least one thing that’s so absurd that it makes me laugh out loud. That then makes me all self-conscious because I have to wonder what that says about me.
Read more about Carl Robinson.
Read more about angry Lesbians.
Several people have asked me about the house situation. It looks like the house in Bethpage fell through.
After the seller verbally accepted our offer, we secured a lawyer, engineer, inspector and lender. Everything was wham-bam for about a week and a half. Then we got word that he took another offer. We’re not really sure what happened. Anyway, we’re back on the horse and inching close to the 100th house.
From: D Peris
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 10:42 AM
To:
Subject: Invitation
Hello good people of NYC. I will be in town for a couple days next week and besides a good chance to see you, I would like to invite you to come out and see one of the most important films of our generation. I usually do not like politically charged documentaries, but this film is just too important.
Tuesday, April 29th
9:20pm
Union Square Stadium 14
850 Broadway
HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
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What I Am Listening To
