Thank-you HM!
This is a departure from my normal content here, but I wanted to take a moment to thank the wonderful folks at HostingMatters web hosting. Looking at my file modification dates, it seems that I officially migrated to HM two years ago today. I haven't regretted it one bit.
I've gone through a lot of web hosts. I've used seven (five commercial), and over the last two or three searches I also created a 20-something point questionnaire that each host was inspected by — and I inspected a lot, something to the tune of probably 800-1,000 companies in 1999 and 2001. Very few hosts met my criteria, even fewer earned my trust to actually deal with them.
I've had ups and downs in commercial web hosting. I first moved away from free web hosting to DataRealm. They were fine, although there plans were just too expensive for what they offered. After spending most of 1997 with them, I moved on in April 1998. I then moved to SmartHosting.com. They started out great, but my site was down a lot, their control panel wasn't very good, and it was often impossible to get a response — after one issue in early 2000, I finally had to phone them long distance after having my site down for a week. Things got worse and the whole deal ended with a $90 overcharge in July of 2000 (I hadn't been really using them since October 1999).
I had known things were going down hill for awhile so I had already started migrating in the fall of 1999 to BurstNET. They were fairly big then and are now much bigger — they have their own datacenter, etc. But in July 2001, things went from sort of unreliable to bad. They were constantly breaking Perl modules with oddball upgrades. They'd deny problems that I clearly demonstrated, etc. Nice people, but they wouldn't fix things. Finally, everything just died during the week of August 13, 2001. They got the web sites back up a day later, but after four days they were still denying the fact that e-mail was down. I needed a new host.
I tried one, which I'll not name because there was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't for me, but they turned out to be a reseller for HostingMatters still at Alabanza (I noticed HM's domain in the e-mail headers of the welcome message). I jumped over to HostingMatters and everything looked like exactly what I wanted and more. So I signed up.
And what a great decision that was. Annette set me up with exactly the plan I wanted with reseller features (rather than having to get the normal reseller plan), answered all those questions I had, and got me started. The rest of the staff (or sock monkeys as they called themselves at the time) was great too. And as an added bonus the HM client community on the HM forums was delightful too!
Since part of my time with SmartHosting I had already migrated away but was still paying because I wanted to keep the subdomain I had been renting, I was really with them less than two years. Likewise I've never made it with any other host two years… except for HostingMatters. There's a reason too — they really genuinely seem to care. They are great people (I now consider one of the HM employees a friend, but that's another story), fast to respond, and their servers are ultra reliable and at a discount hosting price.
Oh, and did I mention that OfB.biz, a site of mine that is “Slashdotted” (hit by thousands of users from Slashdot.org all at once) a few times a year, is hosted there and fairs fine under the pressure? It's so good, we awared HM an award last year and at least one other large GNU/Linux site now uses HostingMatters.
If you need a host, check them out.
Question Game
1) What is your favorite little known restaurant in St. Louis?
That's tough! I guess I'd have to say Faraci Pizzeria on Manchester Rd. They have the absolute best St. Louis style pizza! Their house pizza features pepperoni, sausage, bacon, onion, green pepper, and mushrooms, and all of the flavors just meld together. It's so good that the 40 minute drive home to St. Peters doesn't ruin the taste at all (alternately, you could just eat there).
A close second might be Chuck-a-Burger, a drive in on St. Charles Rock Road near St. John. I just realized I must be hungry for pizza — 'cuz one of their specialties is the Pizza Burger. That's a delicious burger topped with sweet onion and a sweet pizza sauce. Mmmm….
There's lots of more “restaurant” restaurants, such as Madison's, that have tasty menus, but nothing that really shouts St. Louis like a good St. Louis-style pizza (and I'm a thick crust Pizza Hut Pan Pizza kinda guy).
2) What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
That's got to be squid. I was at a large family dinner at the Olive Garden and didn't hear when the appetizers were ordered. It was only when I was munching on my second or third helping that someone leaned over and said “you know that's squid, don't you?” Uhg. I didn't eat any more after that.
3) Have you ever turned a hobby into a moneymaking opportunity?
There was this one summer I had too much time on my hands and went “hunting” for recyclable cans. After weeks of blood, sweat, and tears; weeks of being covered in dirt from walking around construction sites and smelling from spilling old soda and beer cans on myself by accident, I turned several dozen bags of cans into… $100. Needless to say, I found other persuits to use my time on.
On a happier note, my consulting/web design business emerged out of a hobby. That one actually makes money without ending up smelling like two-day old soda and beer.
4) What can you tell me about yourself that would surprise me?
I always surprise people that I've never been up the Arch. When I went there to go up it, it was shut down for the day and I never made it back.
Years ago, when my dad wanted to get me my first computer I was completely against it. I'm not sure why… I just didn't want one. Go figure.
I love vegetables, for the most part, but I can't stand peas (but I love split pea soup). I'm not crazy about honeydew or cantaloupe either.
I've been all over the state of Missouri, but I've never been to Kansas City or Lake of the Ozarks.
It's been at least three years since I last set foot in a theater. Well, I think I've mentioned that before, so perhaps that's not shocking.
5) So what is the answer to life, the universe and everything?You know your missing socks? Those have been taken to a secret hiding place by cats. Finding the secret hiding place used by cats the world over will yield infinite happiness, not to mention never having to buy socks again. Just don't go while holding catnip.
On a more serious note, here is my real answer. I'll answer through quotes.
Everything:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.”— John 1:1-3 (WEB)
Universe:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”— Genesis 1:1 (WEB)
Life:
“There is none righteous, no, not one.”— Romans 3:10 (KJV)
Uh oh: “For the wages of sin is death,”— Romans 3:10 (KJV)
But wait: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”— John 3:16 (WEB)
How's that work? “That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”— Romans 10:9 (NIV)
So how'd I do? And who is ready for some questioning?
Putting on My Pajamas to Swing on Trees!
Rest of the day is spent taking Jeannie to Mecca for ancient custom to avoid having her disappear into genie limbo. After successfully saving Jeannie at last minute, she asks where she should blink Captain Nelson to. “To Dr. Bellows' office.”
Scene: Dr. Bellows office, Roger on couch, clearly late at night. Dr. Bellows sitting in chair taking notes. “So, you say you have this repeating dream where you are a camel?”
Roger: “Yeah, sometimes a one hump, sometimes a two hump.”
“And then what?”
“And then I wake up thirsty.”
[Boing] Captain Nelson appears in behind Dr. Bellows.
“Well, Captain Nelson, I didn't see you come in. I'm afraid I'm not going to have time to talk to you tonight.”
Roger: “Well, I guess I'll be going.”
Roger picks up his cap and heads for the door.
Dr. Bellows: “Yes, but I'll see you every night this week.”
“What for?”
“Captain Healey, when a man tells me he has an unstoppable urge to jump out of his window and swing around in trees in his pajamas and has a reoccurring dream of being a thirsty camel, they need psychoanalysis!”
Tony: “Roger! I had no idea!”
Roger: “So, how long?”
Dr. Bellows: “Oh, well, probably three years.”
“Three years, huh?”
“Three years.”
“What I told you I made it all up?”
“Five years.”
“Ah.”
Roger pats Tony on the arm.
Roger mumbles to Tony: “Do a friend a favor, huh?”
Tony: “Where are you going?”
“I'm going to put on my pajamas and swing on some trees!”
From “Get Me to Mecca on Time!,” I Dream of Jeannie, Episode #16.
OK, maybe you had to see it to get the gist of it.
Stuff I've written.
Well, I've been busy writing, just not here. So, I thought, perhaps I should just post some links to what I've written elsewhere. Below are links and some thoughts on my interview with Richard M. Stallman and a little set of thoughts I had on the transition from summer to fall and its relation to the Gospel (got you intrigued?).
GNU Questions: RMS on SCO, Distributions, DRM — Want to understand the philosophical movement that got the ball rolling for GNU/Linux? It's not socialism, its Free Software. The Free Software movement was founded by Richard M. Stallman (RMS) in 1983 and has, in large part, succeeded because of the foundation RMS laid in its early years. In fact, much of the software that makes “Linux” work today was created by RMS's GNU Project, thus why I always call Linux “GNU/Linux.”
In the Open for Business article I linked to, RMS discusses with me a variety of topics including ethical questions within the context of Free Software philosophy and also questions on Digital Rights Management (DRM), the SCO Group lawsuit, and much more. There is also a link to my older interview with RMS which can be seen sort of as a primer. In fact, you might want to read that first to understand Free Software philosophy.
In essence, Free Software Philosophy argues that within the computer world there are ethical imperatives — the right to use, modify, share, and redistribute (even for a cost) the software you use. This flies in the face of the proprietary software licenses companies like Microsoft use. While many supporters of the parallel “Open Source” movement support these things for pragmatic reasons, RMS and his supporters believe it is the morally right thing to do. I respect that in this day and age of relativistic morals. Read both interviews, they are thought provoking even if you don't plan to use GNU/Linux.
While Free Software philosophy is secular in nature (RMS is an atheist), it does have some interesting connections with New Testament theology. RMS notes that the ideology behind his movement is very compatible with the concept of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” because you aren't signing contracts that prevent you from helping your neighbor get his computer doing whatever it is that he needs it to do. It's very interesting, I think.
Note: As I alluded to above, Free Software philosophy is often thought to really be socialism by those who have only a cursory knowledge of it (or who listen too much to Microsoft). It is not. Free Software supporters, unlike some supporters of the more “liberal” Open Source movement, insists on the capitalistic ability to turn a profit on Free Software. Red Hat, Inc. is living proof you can make money with Free Software.
Death of Summer — This time of year is always somewhat depressing for me. I'm not entirely sure why. However, lately I've had a different perspective on it. I blog about that at the Sakamuyo Network. Let me know what you think.
A Visitor's Guide to Driving in St. Louis, Missouri
The morning rush hour is from 6:00 to 10:00 am. The evening rush hour is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Friday's rush hour starts Thursday morning.
Gravois Road can only be pronounced by a native.
Construction on highway 40, 70, 270, 44, 55 and I-170 is a way of life, and a permanent form of entertainment.
A St. Louisan from South County has never been to North County and visa versa. West County has everything delivered.
If someone actually has their turn signal on, it is probably a factory defect, or has been on for the last 17 miles.
There are 2 exits on Highway 40 for Clayton Road and 2 for Big Bend.
All old ladies with blue hair in Cadillacs (driving on Olive west of 270) have the right of way.
Laclede Station Road mysteriously changes names as you cross intersections. As do McCausland, Lindbergh, Watson, Fee Fee, Airport Road and Midland.
Drivers are starting to cut their OWN plates rather than go through the Mo. Vehicle Dept. to get new tags. You can purchase tags from dealers behind QuiK Shops in the city. They are cheaper, the clerks are nicer, and the service is faster.
You can go all four directions on Highway 270: North and South in West County, East and West in South County, and East and West in North County. Confused?
So are the St. Louis drivers.
No native St. Louisan knows that Lindbergh runs from South County to North County. And, if you tell them, they will not believe you. Lindbergh belongs to every neighborhood except Kirkwood, who had the nerve to creatively change the name to “Kirkwood Road”.
Never stare at the driver of the car with the bumper sticker that says,”Keep honking, I'm reloading”- he is.
Any car parked longer than 4 hours in the city, is considered a parts store.
Highway 270 is our daily version of the NASCAR circuit.
YIELD signs are for decoration only. No native St. Louisan will ever grasp the concept.
If it snows or rains? Stay home.
I Can Only Imagine
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine / When that day comes / And I find myself / Standing in the Son
I can only imagine / When all I will do / Is forever / Forever worship You
I can only imagine
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
— MercyMe, I Can Only Imagine
That's a powerful song — one of my favorites. I noticed the entirety of it is now online at www.mercymelive.com, an official part of MercyMe's web site. Rather than using RealMedia or Windows Media, MercyMe was nice enough to use Streaming MP3, so even GNU/Linux users can enjoy it without any issues. Streaming MP3's are also downloadable, here's the address: www.inorecords.com/columbia/icanonlyimagine.mp3.
While you are at it, if you like the song, take a moment to request it on your favorite radio station per the instruction on the site I linked to. Apparently this song has somehow managed to start playing on secular stations — I think it is worth letting those stations know we appreciate it!
Too much to do...
Well, it seems like every-time I start working on this one project I've been meaning to do for eons, I end up with something more urgent to do. It seems to have happened again — I finally started on the project and suddenly several clients need me and the church librarian has told me she needs a new inventory printer ASAP. Hmrf.
On a side note, I'm currently looking for a clock, in good condition, that has 15 hours on its face. If you have one and would like to sell it, please let me know!
Read My Lips: No Taxes?
Another fellow Missouri blog, Sophoristically Speaking, has an interesting entry. According to this entry, a Tennessee court has decided that there may not be a requirement to pay federal taxes. Interesting…
Thy Kingdom is the Fairest, Dear King
Your distinct personality, The Dreamer-Minstrel might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You can always see the “Silver Lining” to every dark and dreary cloud. Look at the bright side is your motto and understanding why everything happens for the best is your goal. You are the positive optimist of the world who provides the hope for all humankind. There is nothing so terrible that you can not find some good within it. On the positive side, you are spontaneous, charismatic, idealistic and empathic. On the negative side, you may be a sentimental dreamer who is emotionally impractical. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.Who are you? Thanks go to Tony for the link.
Also: ever think you've run into food that doesn't agree with you? Well, don't complain unless it is this bad.
The World as a Blog
Well, that's neat! I found World as a Blog, and when I signed on under my URL (to show I was online), I noticed Sisters' Weblog: It Boggles the Mind is also on… (hi Susan or Katie!). I thought that was kind of interesting that two b4G'ers were among the few people currently on that site. Even more interesting, for some reason it never dawned on me that the weblogging sisters aren't all that far away on the map (I should read their blogchalk entries better).
Blogging certainly does make the world seem smaller… I mean, who'd think that I'd end up running into a number of bloggers that are just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from here (Christopher, Pressed, and Le Renard)? For that matter, Jake isn't all that far from here either. Midwestern bloggers are clearly a force to be reckoned with! Perhaps we need to start a Midwestern Bloggers Association (MwBA).
