So ... I haven't had any e-mail all day (Tuesday), with either of my business accounts. I can't get to my website either, so I guess that's been down too.

I called to check, and was told they are waiting until they can get a "human" down a man hole to get to the fiber optic cable. Glad that's one job that's not on my list. So; somebody's got a lousy evening ahead of them. Check the Baltimore news for updates. haha

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2009 09:11PM by barnespneumatic.

I just tried the website (the daily brief page) and it won't open. My considered opinion is that you are not being well served by your ISP. As if you didn't know that!

It's time to make a change. I'm sure it will be as much fun as sun burn....

Jerry


Gary sneaking in here ... I edited the post (based upon new information) while Jerry was already answering without the "water main break" part.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2009 09:26PM by barnespneumatic.

Hi Jerry,

Yeah. I've had all sorts of problems there. However; this one isn't theirs to fix. I got thru and said I hadn't had any mail all day ... and couldn't get to my site either ... so I guess that's been down all day too. The guy says ... "Yep ... since 8:05 this morning". And ... then he didn't say anything for an awkward pause (during which, I had already wondered if I'd been 1) black listed, 2) terminated, 3) hacked, 4) pranked ... and was well into coming up with number 5 ... when he said ... "There's been a huge water main break in Balt., took out the fiber optic cables".

The rule of thumb is such: If I have trouble ... and tell myself to just be patient ... they're working on it ... it always turns out that they don't even
know about it. If I have trouble ... and immediately call ... the problem will have taken place 30 seconds before, and I'll appear to be an
impatient jerk. If I have trouble, wait all day, and call with a sort of tired ... "what now?" tone ... it will be an alien attack, which wiped out 2/3rds of city, and the one guy who chose not to go home to his family, but steadfastly stuck by my server instead, will answer the phone and apologize that he was unable to get thru the stack of dead bodies to reset the breakers.

So ... some poor slob has to sort out a horrible mess tonight. And, this time ... it's not me!

Gary

Oh sure, a water main break, like I've never heard that one before!

OK, maybe it's true this time but why do you have their number memorized? (You didn't say that but I expect it's true.) All those other times it has been one thing or another and in the meantime they changed their email program, offer lousy tech support and charge a fortune compared to competing firms. On top of that, they can't even send you a simple sheet with all the server info required for the painless connection that millions of folks do routinely! As far as I'm concerned your ISP seems to be subsidizing some sub-par support company. But that's just my observation...

It's in process, Jerry . . . that one's on me.

BTW, I have a server in a cage at the Tidewater complex across the harbor, and I'm sure my ISP owns or leases lines that run through downtown. I haven't had any downtime today for what it's worth.

For those of you playing along at home, this site is hosted by an ISP based out West somewhere, which is why it's up but Gary's main site is down.

-- Jim

And ... to toss gas on the fire ...

I'd dearly LOVE to not spend soooo much time fighting entry level IT stuff. I have airguns to make. However; there's never a week that goes by where there isn't some loose sparking cable dancing around on the floor of the office.

Here's a good one for you, if you like stuff like this. I was introduced to computers and set up my website, thru a person who was a real Apple fan. Therefore; I learned, as I worked, in the Apple world. I didn't attend computer classes ... I figured it out as I went. Asked what I knew to ask. Read what I knew to read. Researched what I thought might apply. And ... everybody seemed to think I did pretty well. Even made a few airguns on the side!

As I made my site, I'd update pages. Sometimes, I'd desire to keep a copy of the original page (for reference). Well, the page title was linked throughout the site; for instance - Widgets.html. If I wanted to keep that original page, but direct those existing links to a newly created updated page; then that updated new page had to now take the exact name of the original version. That met changing the name of the original page (which I now wanted to archive) - but not to something completely new, which I'd never remember. So; I started just changing the old ... Widgets.html page to .... something like .... *Widgets.html. Or .... +Widgets.html. You get the drift. And, the Apple program was completely happy ... and life went on for the next ten years. THEN ... the lightening strike!!! ZAPPPPP!!!!!! Computer went PHOOOOF!!!

I find a newwer G4 Notebook, but I can't change my Apple G3 programs over to the newer Apple G4 I got. New Apple programs were quite expensive, and I'd need a whole bunch of new ones. Used PC laptops were nearly free. And PC programs were too. Having just a few AIRGUNS to make ... haha .... I made the change to an IBM laptop, and a basket full of programs off the shelf at Staples. Got set up to work on my website with PC programs ... and ..... WHoooooooh there partner!!!!! You named some of these pages WHAT???!!!!!! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!!! Are you some sort of DIM DOODLE!!!????? Why ANYBODY knows you can't do something THAT stupid. HA hahhahah HAR har HAAAA!!!!! hhahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahhhaha!!!!!!!! You get the idea. Well, I hadn't gotten the memo during the past ten years.

So ... all 4 of the PCs I've used since, have steadfastly ignored the existence of the pages STUPIDLY named *Widgets.html .... and the hundred or so other DUMB names trapped on my server at my ISP. And, since the tech support at my ISP practically choked up blood every time I told them I used a Mac over the previous ten years, I knew I couldn't get any help there. So, the PCs wouldn't pick up my old pages. The old Apple computer had a lightening strike burnt out ethernet modem (which ... or course ... is integral to the motherboard), so I couldn't get in to rename them. It's gone on and on ... for three years now. One of the reasons I've stayed with the ISP holding my archives hostage in names Apple had no problem with.

It's always "What you don't know that you don't know" that gets you. And ... it goes on and on, as you try to untangle simple knots which have been pulled tighter and tighter.

Gary

...and everyone laughed at Donald Rumsfeld when he mentioned "unknown unknowns!" Of course, those words describe a problem all too familiar to Gary now and also to thousands of others who get trapped by an "unknown unkown." Unless you're a "reporter" at the Times or CNN where everything is taken care of for the "talent!"

OK Jim, get those files renamed! We don't want to lose them forever.

Yeah - he's worked on it. He copied them - put them on a drive for me. But - of course - my computer still wouldn't recognize them. So, he's copied them onto a DVD. It's somewhere in the mail.

Eventually, we'll get them renamed, and have the stuff in a workable format.

Amazing how much time you can absorb with something that seems small. And, it will drag on for months, which become years. All the while ... there are those airguns I'm making too, ya know.

Gary