Day: 18 January 2005

Visiting Friends

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I traveled long and far (15-20 minutes) to Time Square last night to meet Joe & Karen for dinner. Jayson & Gretchen also joined in. Joe is in NY to help Karen move, so we all decided to get together. We ventured out in the freezing cold to get some food. We ended up at the Olive Garden on Broadway near 49th Street. It was a nice low key dinner.

We were able to catch up. Joe was in a few weeks ago, and we hung out but we don’t get together that much so it was nice to have a long relaxing dinner with everyone.

Joe tried to give me a lesson on wines. He was attempting to culture me a bit, but I still do not like the taste of wine. Even though what they were drinking was not as bad as other wine I tasted, I still was not ready to begin drinking it.

We also had an interesting run in with someone while walking to the restaurant. We were on the street and we passed by Ice Cube as he was going to his limo. A bunch of people were standing around as he was walking by. We were smarter than that and continued on our way since it was SO cold out. Of course it is my luck I get to see Ice Cube but Sunday Jayson & Gretchen stood in line with John Stewart while at the Apple store. John is like my new comedic idol, and he was in one of my favorite stores. That is what I get for sleeping in on Sundays.

Joe was prodding me to come visit him sometime down south. I want to go, but I know if I go during the work week I will not relax but end up working with him at his company for a few days. I have been known to do that before. I don’t mind it, but I need a real vacation! Karen did tempt me with being able to play Halo all I want. She pointed out that I suck as bad as her in the game so I could possibly kick her ass in it. Hmm tempting!

Web Hosting Dilemma

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I currently host my blog at Typepad. I have been very happy so far except for one technical limitation (i will go into that later). I host my regular (old) site and photo album site on my friend Miguel’s server. The problem is due to space constraints a few months back I don’t have the full site up there. My email is hosted elsewhere (also free).

My issue is I am at the mercy of others because of the “free” status of my service. I am looking at cheap hosting options. I have been thinking about it for a month or so. I am not sure if what I gain is worth $5-8 a month. Granted that is cheap, but free is cheaper. Because of how Typepad had me setup my domain name it also poses some issues. Most web hosting companies require you (or REALLY like it if you) use their DNS servers so they can setup all the records for your account properly. Because of Typepad requiring me to point an A record for www.Scott.ac to it prevents me from using my main domain I use (i use Scott.ac for everything including mail) to any web hosting company. I can get mail configured but it requires non standard setup from any provider. I would have to select another of my domains to use as the primary domain name. That is not so bad, but any “non-standard” setup’s worry me. Anything that requires custom configuration is asking for things to go wrong.

Jayson and I had the idea of splitting a server over at godaddy.com. For $40 a month (20 per person) you get a decent sounding setup. Granted it is a virtual server, but I have no issues with that. I am pushing VMWare with my company so why would I have issues with VMWare for my use. I am still pondering my options.

Knowing myself as I do I will dither a while longer and then make a spur of the moment decision that will not take into account most of the research I have done over the past month or so!