Moving Forward » Site Administration

Looking for New Web Host Options

larry — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:18:21 +0000

My current hosting plan has me a little frustrated, and it is really my own fault. It has some nice pre-packaged applications, which would probably work fine had I not chose to customize them. Once I walked a few steps down the customization trail I should have realized that I was committed to a fully customized environment. The problem is my plan doesn’t support a fully customized environment — I can’t upgrade MySQL whenever I want, for example.

I realized this problem some months ago, but I didn’t do anything about it before my plan came up for renewal. So I ended up pressed for time and renewed with the same host and the same plan. I need get out of the middle of the road and decide if I can live with a fully prepackaged plan with little or no customization, or if I need to move to a host that can provide me with more control over the server. Whether I maintain my current enthusiasm for doing more with my site will probably factor into my decision.

I would love to hear some suggestions. I have more than I year before my plan is up for renewal, so I have plenty of time to prepare for a transition.

P.S. I should emphasize that GoDaddy, my current host, has been great — the plan is everything they promised it would be, the price is a bargain and they have provided me with terrific support. However, I am beginning to think that they just might not be the right host for me. It’s not you, it’s me.

Back to Work

larry — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:01:09 +0000

I have a few minutes to post a couple of lines before I have to rouse the kids from bed. Today is our first day back at work and the end of the kids two weeks at home. I think Jack is looking forward to it, but Millie would always prefer to stay home.

I had a strange half-waking dream last night about the Iowa caucuses and open government in the age of the Web. It might germinate into a post some day, which is the only reason I am making a note of it now.

Blogging in 2012

larry — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 01:11:53 +0000

Happy New Year!

Every year I resolve to post to this blog more regularly, and every year I post less than I did the previous year. I will give it another shot this year. Look for a lot of quick one or two line posts until I hit my stride.

Renewed my hosting plan (Update)

larry — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 23:45:50 +0000

I am not sure why I still have this blog — I never post any more. For some reason I just renewed my hosting plan for another two years. That will give me a lot of time to ignore it some more, or finally figure out what to do with it.

Update: I decided to throw more good effort after bad by upgrading my database so I could stay current with the latest WordPress releases.

Home Improvement Wiki

larry — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:46:30 +0000

I created a Wiki for planning some home improvement projects. If you would like to contribute, let me know and I will create an account for you.

August Updates

larry — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:20:44 +0000

Jack started Kindergarten this month. He is really enjoying it so far. He is wiped out every evening & falls asleep by 9:00.
Millie turned three this month. She is enjoying her time home alone with Mommy while Jack is away at school.
I recently deleted my Facebook account. I tried it for a little over a year — it just didn’t suit. You can still find me on Twitter.
We are glad to see the summer heat wind down. If you don’t already know, we live in a 104 year old home without AC. This was by far this most challenging summer. If I can find the time I will write up a full post on how and why we live without AC.
The Cardinals have been a never-ending source of frustration and disappointment for me this year. I am still hoping they can squeak into the playoffs. Their starting pitching is good enough to shut down almost any team in a short series.

Quiet Weekend – Update

larry — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 19:26:34 +0000

Laurie and the kids are visiting the Mackinaw McConnells today. Jack and Millie are really looking forward to going to the beach.

Update: Laurie snapped a ton of pictures. Only a few pictures are currently public, but if you are one of our Flickr contacts then you will be able to view them all.

I’ve got a little shopping to do today for Jack’s birthday. It is impossible to believe that our little guy will be five next week, and he will be starting kindergarten next month. Where did the years go?

Millie got her glasses this week — she looks cute as bug. She was excited at first, but the novelty quickly wore off once she realized that she was expected to wear them all the time.

This summer is putting our no-AC lifestyle to the test. We’ve already had more sweaty evenings that we did during the exceptionally mild summer of 2009. I’m sure we will all survive.

Finally I have a couple of minor site updates to report: I’ve added FeedBlitz widget for email subscriptions to my blog updates — RSS just isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Also I’ve opened up the site to search engine crawlers for the first time in years. I’m no longer worried about exceeding my bandwidth limits since most of my media content is now hosted elsewhere (Flickr, YouTube and so on).

Minor Updates

larry — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:13:00 +0000

I have been getting the itch to resume serious blogging. Why? Though Twitter and Facebook are quite convenient, I am a little skittish about ceding my online identity to third parties. Also I have a few topics rattling around my skull that I cannot express in a tweet.

So I have made some minor updates to my side bars and I am upgrading to WordPress 3 this weekend.

Check back soon.

Still here . . .

larry — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:46:51 +0000

I still have not quite yet decided what I want to do with this site. I would like to redesign it from the ground up as a hub for all my social networking stuff, with some occasional blog posts. But time is in short supply.

Token Post

larry — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:00:21 +0000

I am debating whether I still need this blog. I might just re-work it as a portal for all my social media stuff, and then do some very occasional posting of stuff that I just cannot squeeze into a tweet.