That leads me right back to the original question, why am I doing this? I'm doing this because I need to put my thoughts down on paper, real or virtual, so I can look at them, mull them over, consider them, and make the best decisions I can. I need to tell the tale of my search for happiness and balance in my life. If others can glean some useful thoughts from my tale I am happy to tell it.
That is why I am doing this...again.
I lied, I signed the contract to move my server tonight. The actual move won't happen for at least a week (one of the sites I host is going to be mentioned on TV and it would be poor form if it were down when people looked for it).
So, in several days the server will reside in Manhattan, just off Wall Street at New York Internet. They had everything I was looking for and then some. Heck, even their backups have backups. I was impressed. Of course my costs are quadrupling to get all of this so if anyone needs cheap hosting feel free to drop me a line.
Well I have hit the limit of my patience with my current colocation provider. I have had some nagging reverse DNS problems ever since I moved my server in and they have been unable to solve the problem. Add to that the service outages that have been growing more frequent and longer in duration as time has gone on and you'll understand why I'm at the end of my rope.
I have run my own server for a number of years giving away space to some friends and local non-profits, providing hosting to some of the local EMS agencies at a greatly reduced price, and continuing to provide service to some of the clients I had when my consulting business was going full speed. For the most part it's easy work that doesn't require much hands on administration so when I closed the business I kept the server just because I like to have the freedom to do whatever I want.
Over the weekend I decided that it was time to move the server somewhere where they could keep the connection up, have dependable power, and give me some tech support when I had problems. So I started looking and found several providers some local to me and a few based in New York City who had the features I wanted.
None of them were going to be able to match the price my current provider had given me, about $300 a year, but then again, I got what I paid for.
All the local providers were quickly ruled out either because they were very expensive (I'm sorry but $400 a month for the amount of traffic my site and the other sites I host generate is ridiculous) or they would only rent me a quarter cabinet minimum (I'm sorry, my server is about 1 1/4" high, the idea that I would need to rent almost 2 feet of cabinet space boggles my mind).
So now I'm down to two providers that I am considering, both in New York City, both very reasonably priced both with multiple levels of redundancy for power, connectivity, climate control. Oohh, and the crowning touch? Neither of them are located in someone's basement.
Both are about equal on price and services provided but one offers better security and the one service that I really need to have if the server isn't going to be close to me. One of them will let me leave a "Care Package" with the server with replacement parts like a power supply, fans, hard drive and the like. If a part croaks all I need to do is let them know and they will handle the replacement of the part for me. Sure they'll charge me a fee to do the work, but it sure beats me having to drive down to New York City (a couple of hours each way) to spend 10 minutes replacing a part. Besides, if something goes that I don't have a replacement for chances are they can find the part pretty quick even in the middle of the night, I mean, hey, it's New York, the city that never sleeps, right?
The kicker? Earlier this week I sent another email to my provider complaining about the reverse DNS problem. The reply was friendly but the message was pretty clear. They're going out of the colocation/hosting business and it just ain't worth trying to fix it now.
The final decision hasn't been made but I don't think it will be too much longer before I make a decision and then the only delay will be finding a time to remove the server from one place, drive to New York City, and install it in the new one. Sounds good to me and I'm hoping to be signing a contract early next week.
I am so glad that I upgraded my Movable Type installation to 2.661. Tonight I got what an email with this subject:
"[The MacMedic] IP Banned Due to Excessive Comments"
The message?
"A visitor to your weblog The MacMedic has automatically been banned by
posting more than the allowed number of comments in the last 200 seconds.
This has been done to prevent a malicious script from overwhelming your
weblog with comments. The banned IP address is
80.58.46.235
If this was a mistake, you can unblock the IP address and allow the visitor
to post again by logging in to your Movable Type installation, going to
Weblog Config - IP Banning, and deleting the IP address 80.58.46.235 from
the list of banned addresses."
Yes I had been spammed but since the new version of MT has a feature to reduce the automated psoting of comments there were only 6 spam comments to delete instead of the dozens that have been there from previous attacks.
If you use MT and haven't upgraded to the latest version you really should!
Yeah, it doesn't take much to make me happy some days. After a fibre optic cable cut somewhere in New York City left my server unreachable for almost 24 hours it's connected once again.
I haven't stopped making entries and they will be added in the proper chronological sequence over the next several hours as time permits.
My boss found my blog online.
Kind of strange but that's is what happened. He didn't tell me exactly how or why but he had some concerns that he and I needed to address. It was actually a very nice conversation and went much better than I had been suspecting. It always injects a lot of anxiety in to my life to have a message on my answering machine that my superior wants to talk to me. It really doesn't matter who that is or what job it has been for messages from the higher up in the chain are always a cause for an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach.
After we talked I had to agree that his concerns were valid and need to be addressed. Even though I had talked with a friend of mine who is an attorney before I started blogging publicly there were and are some things that should be made clear to anyone reading.
Even though I am paraphrasing the what my attorney friend said it still sounds like a legal mumbo jumbo. I apologize for that but this stuff needs to be said and then we can carry on.
1. The opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone. They do not and should not be considered the opinions or positions of my family, employer, friends, or enemies. If I say, it I own it, nobody else.
2. This weblog represents my life as I see it. Others may, and probably do, see the same incidents differently. I can speak for myself and nobody else.
3. Identifiable information about coworkers, patients, other responders, and the people I encounter during the course of my day to day life will not be published. Enough information will be given to provide the flavor of what I am writing about but no more. In the same vein, the actual identity of my employer will remain unpublished. Information regarding the system that I work in will be enough to allow for understanding of the unique nature of my job but the actual identity will not be published directly.
4. Blogging will be done on my own time, not that of any of my employers. This is not to say that entries will not be composed while there is down time during the course of my day, but publication will only occur on my time. Entries that are composed in this fashion will be "backdated" so that they are in proper chronological order. The computers and networks belonging to my employer will not be used for the purpose of making any weblog entry.
5. Comments on any entry are appreciated and welcome. However I reserve the right to delete any comment that I find detracts from the value of the entry. After all, this is my blog, people who don't like it are welcome not to read it.
A standard disclaimer boiling what I have listed here down to a few sentences will be placed on the front page of my blog so that it is available to all readers.
There was more to the conversation but it was of a more personal nature and will not be repeated here.
I appreciate the fact that my boss did not ask me to stop what I am doing, he did not ask me to explain why I am doing it, and he did not allow this to become a major problem before talking to me about it. Curiosity makes me wonder how he found and indentified me but in the grand scheme of life it is information that makes no difference.
I also want to take the opportunity to publicly thank my boss for allowing me to take a few minutes while on duty to go to the synagouge and say Kaddish for my grandmother. I deeply appreciate his sensitivity.
As most of you can see I have upgraded the blog to MovableType. After the first month I realized that client based blog management software was the pits. As of this morning MovableType is installed and almost functioning at 100%. I still have some problems with the search module to work out but hope to have those done within the next week or so.
The MedicCam will also be making a come back at http://www.themacmedic.us/~macmedic/webcam.html.
Still in the planning stages are the roving MedicCam and an audio stream of the MacMedics radio frequencies.
As always comments, and suggestions are always welcome.
So much to do, so little time.
The domestic stuff pretty much complete it's on to the geek stuff. I have made the conclusion that I need to move to new blog software. Everyone I have talked to has recommended Movable Type so I have made arrangements to have Movable Type installed on my server. We'll see how smooth the transition goes.
I'll keep everyone updated on progress as it is made.
