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October 22, 2007
Network Changes
I've signed up deltos.com at Webmasters.com, and for the first time since 1994, will be moving my website and e-mail server out of the house an onto a hosted service. I've been using these guys for the McKinney band sites for two years now and I like them.
There's going to be the usual snafu and hangups, so please be patient while I untie all this stuff from home and reconstitute it on a blade server somewhere in Florida. Those of you who use deltos.com for CGI stuff needn't panic. I will work out arrangments for you either on the new service or you can contiue to use my home server (but I'll have to make DNS accomodations for you).
I'm taking a chance on Time Warner and moving everything to TW this month. I've already got a cable modem, but I'm rolling back from "Business class" service to RoadRunner Turbo, which (not surprisingly) is faster and cheaper. I'm switching from Dish Network (after ten years to TW Cable HD, mostly because my new Tivo HD works best with CableCard services and neither of the satellite receivers (Dish, Direct TV) support them. And the most insane thing I'm doing is also rolling my land line over to TW VoIP. The total cost savings of doing this is enough to pay for the iPhone, so I really have no choice.
After all the dust settles, my e-mail will be more reliable, my home cable modem will not be smoking hot serving as much content as we download, and I'll be rid of that damned TW Business router that I have no control over. Throughput at home should be wonderful at 1Mbps upload and 10Mpbs download (is that FIOS territory?) and I'm probably kidding myself if I think that TW can deliver all this reliably for any stretch of time.
Posted by Steven at 12:12 AM | Comments (0)
Job Update
The good news is that I have been offered a job with Hotels.com, which is part of the Expedia.com family. Hotels is located in Dallas on Central Expressway, just south of the High Five, putting this commute (27 miles) in between the awful drive to Irving (45 miles) and the sane drive to Richardson (20 miles). I had hoped to start this new job (well, today) but I don't think that this will happen. Instead, I'm going to be on the bench up to another week and will officially start on 10/29.
The downsides to this new job are having to drive into Dallas, and taking a noticable pay cut. I am hoping to make up some of the difference with a "go-to" attitude and fortunately I will be eligble for some bonus/raise early next year, which will put me on the path to restoring my previous pay.
Charles Forsythe works at Hotels.com (abbreviated HCOM by the staff), and so I hope to revive an old Micrographx tradition and play Nuclear War at lunch. Eating out will be something of a luxury, but since Charles is getting a nice finder's fee for my joining HCOM, he has graciously offered to pay for Friday lunches. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the saddle with a stable company that doesn't sell phone service ;-).
Posted by Steven at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
Thunderbird Skate Rink in Plano
Alanna and I went to the Thunderbird Rink in Plano, which JW told me was still in operation. Alanna didn't remember it until we pulled up to the very small, very full lot -- she had last been there in 1999, the last ACT Academy event I attended with her.
We dropped $10 and went into a den of chaos.
This rink was swarming with kids, and they were skating in all directions. Adults were chasing kids in all directions. The floor was divited with hockey stick dents and was very slippery, even with my really nice wheels. In short, it was an awful, awful experience. There were no rink guards, and kids were crashing into each other and the walls all over the place. Children were screaming in pain in some cases, and I couldn't tell if their parents even noticed. I had to dodge and even pick up kids to avoid hitting them, and nearly totalled two different kids who popped out from behind an adult while going the wrong way (i.e. directly at me).
We stayed barely over an hour, and vowed never to return. Thunderbird Skate is only the second worst rink in D/FW (Lewisville's one is the worst) but I'm increasingly convinced that Chuck's rink (White Rock Skate Center) is a real gem in this day of few and far-between rinks.
Posted by Steven at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
Boyd Beat North
Tonight McKinney Boyd HS beat McKinney North (Alanna's freshman HS, the one you keep reading about in the newspapers and Penthouse Letters) to become the town champion football team. The Boyd Band also did very well against the North Band at UIL Region on Wednesday. We meet in competition next Saturday (Oct. 27th) where Boyd has a shot at going to UIL State Competition on Nov. 5th in San Antonio. This is quite a turn around from last year's "Boydageddon" when North pummelled us 63-7.
Posted by Steven at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)