gigamatic

so, today, in between server reboots, i backed up the rest of my files off one of my hosting accounts at phpwebhosting.com. They've got a handy form for you to tell them why you're leaving, and I did.

so, now, i have an OLM account to back up (and move over to dreamhost), and then i'll only have one site left... the alumni site, which is the bear of the bunch.

two sites to go, and they're the two biggies. it's a parallel to work this week.

only one day left -- and two hurdles left before complete server transfer. man, am i glad for working on house stuff sometimes, just to clear the mind.

Posted by gigamatt at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

you all might remember my plight of ordering one single desktop from JCN. You know, the company which is no longer JCN, but now Wenobo? Yeah. Them.

standard desktop, cost a couple hundred dollars more than Dell (whose desktop wouldve shipped in 6 days), took over two weeks for me to get a status on, and even then i was told they were out of parts, so that's why they were running behind.

last thursday, three weeks after i placed the order, they told me it shipped and i got a tracking number. only it didnt ship. until yesterday. which means, when (if) it ever arrives, it will have been 4 weeks since i ordered it.

4 weeks. for a desktop machine. which will (if history teaches us anything) be incomplete (parts missing). argh!

these wonderful drugs my doc gave me have put me permanently on edge, which makes it great when dealing with these bastards, or any other idiocy at work. buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. i'm really hoping to feel better soon, so i dont get fired for biting somebody's head off.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so, i changed two of my remaining troubled webhosting accounts over to dreamhost today... but... thanks to shoddy service from the current isp, i cannot access the server they were on, to be able to transfer files. it's down. and their nameservers dont even recognize either one of my domain names. thankfully, i dont think i was storing ANYthing i actually needed there, save from a few versions of my resume and some preliminary family tree data.

i cant move off these guys quick enough. i still need time to move one more domain over, and it's killing me, since that one requires the most work... setting up ikonboard and movabletype and doing restores of both. ack. thankfully the movabletype install goes incredibly smooth (as i've seen on Jay and Kelmeister's sites.) It's the ikonboard install that worries me.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok... so i went to the doc this morning. he loaded me up with lots of good meds. buzzzzz.

buzzzzzzzzzz.
buzzz buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

as well as some antibiotics. fantastic.
trouble concentrating, of course. more than usual.

getting a haircut on the way home. and then... taking even more garbage out and stuff downstairs to the basement. and and and.

buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Posted by gigamatt at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so. in amongst the recompiling of the POS-POS system, I managed to quickly get kelmeister's site, kpduty, moved from http://www.gigajournal.com/pickettage to her new home at http://kpduty.gigajournal.com.

and it almost feels like a Friday. almost.

congrats, mrs. p.
K-P stands for KRRRAAAAPPPP!!!

Posted by gigamatt at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.gigajournal.com/jay is now Jay's Tiki Palace. Yes, it's not got the full aqua-tiki facia yet, but, it's up. And there were some graphics issues. But, it's installed and up.

And of course, today, MovableType announced new version 3.2, which means I should make an upgrade. Of course.

I'm just happy to say Jay's in his "new home" and it seems to be working ok.

Now, Kelly needs to get me what she wants her new URL to be, too.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

many many thanks to Chuck, Sooz, Sparky, and especially Dallas for guiding me thru the maze of hosting options and solidifying my choice to go with DreamHost. Yesterday I set up my account, and today, I started moving over several of my domains. The next step will be to install MovableType, and to import/export entries there, and then to install and attempt to restore IkonBoard from the alumni site.

Jay and Kelmeister: you will be getting your own subdomains... let me know what you want them to be (example: kpduty.gigajournal.com, djdj.gigajournal.com)

It's an exciting time. Lots of changes afoot.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

what do you say when a coworker is diagnosed with a brain tumor? "get well soon!" apparently.

Posted by gigamatt at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ok, so, maybe they didnt say it quite that strongly, but 9 northeastern states have signed an agreement to freeze greenhouse gas emission levels and lower them by 10% by 2020, in opposition to Bush not signing the Kyoto agreement. The charge was led by Gov. Pataki of New York, and includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

California, Washington and Oregon are exploring a similar regional agreement.

Story here.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

ok... so back in 2000, while in Boston visiting other web geeks, I got to hang out for an evening with the "head honcho/founder" of Dreamhost, Dallas.

In the top photo, he's sitting next to my friend Annalisa, and in the bottom, he's between me and Frances, looking very scared. I remember discussing blogging directly from email and from wireless devices long before common systems existed to do that.

Also pictured in the top photo: Matte of Fotomatte.com (to name just one), Sooz of Sooz.com (and many others) and Michael of bunkosquad.com.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

i know, i'm mixing my hunger references, but i just had a homer simpson moment. i overheard the consultant in the next office tell someone on the other end of a phone conversation that "the proof is in the pudding."

i swear to god i said, out loud, "mmm, pudding"

thank god it's lunchtime.

Posted by gigamatt at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

so, I've decided on a new hosting company, I think. Thanks to Sparky, I've found a new love of Dreamhost. They used to be priced out of my range, but now it seems they're priced just right.

They're running a sale till the 29th. I wish I had the cash to sign up for 2 years, because they give you an even bigger price break (15.95 instead of 19.95). Right now, by switching all of my sites over and going month-to-month, I'd save $20/month. And more bandwidth and storage space than I could ever use.

Of course, if I do month-to-month, I also get killed by a setup fee. But, $70 now (setup + 1 month) vs. $240 for 1 year (vs. $380 for 2 years)... even the $70 will be tight right now.

The other places I've been looking have either been too expensive or too unreliable. I googled one and found TONS of bad stuff. The other is my current host, who I'd love to stick with, but have just priced themselves out of my business. To stay with them, and roll my other sites here, it would cost me a minimum of $60/month, and that's $20 MORE than what I pay now.

So, dreamhost seems to be the better deal. For once. And having known someone who worked there, and known a bunch of folks who hosted there, I feel fairly comfortable it would be a good switch.

Now I just need to find the cash. (oh, and yes, i know, if i refer someone, I get $$...)

Posted by gigamatt at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

so, i work at a large (18000 employee) institution. why is it that different departments (parking, hr, etc.) having valid need for general HR info (address, phone number) do not use the same database? how can that be? they each maintain their own? why? so that whenever I move/change phone numbers/change email addresses, I have to update a half-dozen databases with my employer?

that's my monday wtf of the week.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Emory and Oglethorpe? Were not invited was the rest of THAT sentence.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still sick. Can't take off from work. Driving me ccrazy.

Lately, I've been feeling like Oglethorpe... "Death, it surrounds me!"

Just got word though my mom, who got it thru my uncle, who read it in the fucking newspaper, that their uncle, my grandmother's only brother, everett, died august 6. Between uncle everett and aunt addie's latest affliction, I fear the worst for my grandmother being just around the corner.

I never got to see everett on my big trip north. his service station in errol was closed, it was late in the evening, and I needed to get back to the coast for a place to stay (which was then denied). Of course, I found out later his house is on the backside of the service center. What luck.

Dammit.

The big reunion this weekend will likely be depressing, so I'm not too upset about not going. There's very few folks left in that generation... Everett's brother Dana, and sister Mary Lou, and then my grandmother and her sister, neither of which is in any shape to attend.

Theraflu is helping a little. I really need some time off, though, just to rest and bombard this damn cold with meds and sleep instead of stress and activity.

Posted by gigamatt at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

most of you know, gigamom quilts. she's made two quilts for me, and numerous ones for my cousins, and cousins' babies, and friends babies, and on and on.

picketts got one (and matching shams) for their wedding. chadalan got one for maddilynn. zan got one for acadia, the boneses got one for their wedding AND one for evan. cousin jeff got one for lucy. and now, geoff and lorie have one for david (who is due any day).

let me tell you, it's weird walking into someone else's home and seeing something your mom made. but it's pretty cool, too. thankfully, she's not a grandmother and great-grandmother (yet) like her friends, who have had to crank out seemingly thousands of baby quilts in the last couple years.

i loved listening to kelly talk about turning the quilt over and finding the hidden butterfly (a signature my mom puts on every quilt she's made since 2000).

i do know how to sew. it's something i learned out of necessity, and partly from my mom. but, the patience for even machine quilting is something i do not yet possess.

Posted by gigamatt at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

this is driving me nuts. i may just have to take a day off to sleep and cook this thing out. it's just enough to be irritating. i want to be well.

my boss's boss has been out with it for a week and a half.

Posted by gigamatt at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

it's at least 90-degrees and humid as hell in my office. apparently the A/C for the whole building went out this weekend (AGAIN). we've opened windows to the outside (since it's cooler out there) but GODDAMN I'm soaked with sweat already, and it's only 7:25am.

The words "balls nasty" don't even do it justice.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ok... i updated. go peruse. photos from August 2002, from my trip to Maine and NH. meeting addie and visiting the places from when my mom was young were the highlights of the trip.

Update: I tried to sort them into sets now... there's a set of Pemaquid. There's a set of maternal family. There's a set from generic places from the trip. And then there's a set of cemetery photos, mainly for my reference.

Posted by gigamatt at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two nights ago, I had a dream which involved not only Palochi, but also Nala, and Chico Evebird. For some reason, Nala and I were on vacation with Chico, and were staying with Palochi in his swanky (and HUGE) warehouse-sized apartment, facing an elevated train. Chico was all excited to see the train go by outside, and couldn't shut up about it! When Nala and I looked at him in amazement (jaws wide open because he actually spoke), he said something to the effect of "What?! Why would I bother with talking at home?!" and then suddenly aged to about 10 years old.

And then I woke up. None of that made any sense. But it was cool.

Posted by gigamatt at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

So I uploaded tons of photos to flickr late in the day, but because of a perceived work emergency, I had no time to label or organize them.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

that's right. i'm getting old, and so it follows that all of my relatives are getting old too. the last few remnants of a generation are falling apart. My first-cousin-once-removed just sent out this email:

I received an email from [other cousin] saying that Aunt Addie, who is 88, has had congestive heart failure for 5 years, has been diagnosed with advance stage of non-hodgkins lymphoma. She is still seeing specialists and a decision will be made on the 18th. They are very concerned on how she will tolerate the treatments.

For those of you who know Addie (Lee, Karl, etc.) and want to send well-wishes, I have her address here (email gigamatt at gmail). For those of you who have hiked the AT in Maine, Addie used to run Addie's Place in Andover, a greasy-spoon known for Addie's homemade pies and homemade bread. A few years ago, she gave away the restaurant (supposedly) to the winner of a poetry contest.

Posted by gigamatt at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

y'all know i used to be in radio. and by "in" i mean "worked at a student run commercial station" (key word being commercial). i had wanted to further my radio career when i moved to the big city, but, if you know me, you also know my path changed... starting after i interviewed at Jacor and their willingness to pay me less than a retail chocolate-schlepping job for about a billion times more stress.

and you all can see where that line of work went.

at any rate, i've missed radio and party/club djing. a lot. and, had my computer not died, i'd be doing some podcasting work of my own right now.

it is coming. seriously. the gang from the alumni site I run is on board with a plan to start podcasting from that site, complete with music and archived commercials and on-air talent from days gone by.

now, in the meantime, my friend anthony has been podcasting for a few weeks. last week, he moved into his new home, and was too busy to actually record one. but, he had asked around to see if anybody had a mixing board, and i did. it wasnt getting any use, and i thought "why not donate it." so, i took it over to his new place as a housewarming gift, and we ended up recording a belated weekly podcast with a substitute crew.

the first time i listened to it, i thought "wow, i dont sound too bad." the second time i listened to it, i thought, "damn, i need to shut the fuck up." and finally, i just think i need to find a balance.

balance is good.

i might start making an appearance occasionlly on these things, now that he's only about 10 minutes away. but i think i might stick to what i was best at: producing.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

our local (republican, of course) congresswoman's email address had been bouncing for a few weeks, meaning all of my recent letters to her were not received. i was not happy, but not unhappy enough to find another route.

until today. i just re-sent a half-dozen messages to her via her website in hopes they reached her. with each, i requested a response. her responses in the past have ranged from (paraphrasing) form letters saying "i got your letter" to "your views are your opinion and i'm voting otherwise" (of course, with no explanation).

politicians claim to have our interests at heart. ha. well, i can honestly say unless something HUGE happens to change my mind, i'm probably going to actively campaign AGAINST her in the future.

Even Bob "Freedom Fries" Ney had the sense to vote against CAFTA, and you KNOW i almost never have anything nice to say about him.

Posted by gigamatt at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

well...

i just found out they're "letting go" our favorite copier-leasing lady. luckily, she just turned 62. today, in fact. i'd buy her a beer, but she's not here.

this makes me really sad, not just for her, but for all the people here she supported since taking over the program so many years ago.

of course, it makes me a bit angry, too, considering she was nearly forced out of a job a couple years back, and then brought back to finish out her time till retirement as a part-timer because they couldnt legally get rid of her then. things have changed a lot since, new management and such, and they've told her it's time.

what that means is, the manager of the program will now have to start doing her own work. but, wait... that manager is moving to our new Sales and Marketing division. Um. Ok. Well... with two managers gone, that leaves: an IT guy, a fiscal guy, a meter reader, and a customer service gal.

Amongst the whole extended IT group, we've all said we'd like to see the customer service gal be put in charge. The decision hasnt been made, but honestly, she's the hardest worker and knows the most about the program overall. The fiscal guy is a great worker, and so is the IT guy, but their knowledge is limited.

at any rate, sad to see Jo Ann V. go.

Posted by gigamatt at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

i swear, next time i order anything thru our parts and peripherals vendor, i'm paying the extra $5 to have it go thru fedex or ups. the half-assed tracking system used by the yellow courier (and the non-standard delivery times, and the delivery of items to offices a couple miles away) is reason enough to go elsewhere.

here i sit... 4 shipments due in today.
RAM, dvd burner, OSX 10.4, and airport extreme card.
cant use anything but the dvd burner till i get the other 3 computers.

and i still have 4+ orders in our purchasing system waiting for purchase orders to be generated. a week after i put them in. argh.

today, i'm ordering some media for the dvd burner... just enough for testing.

Posted by gigamatt at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

so 4 of 9 of my hardware orders have been placed, and are shipping by 3 different couriers, on 3 different timetables.

of course, my software orders and JCN orders havent been even placed yet, 4 business days later. our purchasing agent is still SWAMPED. poor gal.

i wish i could help her. hell, i'd do it all myself if i could.

i mean, my extra RAM is going to be here 4 days before the computers arrive, but even then, i wont have any software. and god knows, JCN probably will take a few weeks to ship my replacement second monitor. hopefully my current (and now only) one won't fail before then.

ah well. lunchtime, i think.

Posted by gigamatt at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

thanks to kelmeister for pointing out YET ANOTHER 'gator story in the news. this is the 5th or 6th in recent months. these things seem to be ALL OVER Cowtown, and this simply SHOULDN'T BE.

so, I say, SEND 'EM BACK!

Send 'em back before we end up with gators in the sewers!

Posted by gigamatt at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

yet another vacation plan has been shot to shit.

i had planned to drive to Maine with my mom for the big national family reunion on the third weekend in August. Yep. That'd be sweet. But, of course, between things going on here at work, training, and some vacation overlap with another coworker, I'm not going to be able to go.

and god only knows when/if i'll be able to take any time off between now and october. more than 1 day per month at least.

i didnt really want to spend the money anyway... about $800 total, between gas, rental car, hotel, and food. if i still had the geo, i'd have gone in a heartbeat, saving gas and rental car money. even the cheap hotels/inns are $45/night, and that adds up. i could drive, but 2000 miles round trip in MY truck would be a little harsh, with no place but the back for luggage (and without a cap, if it rained, that could get soggy.) i'd go by myself, but i might feel lost. at least with my mom, she would know her cousins. i would know nobody. and it's no fun being an outsider.

i could talk myself back into it, but it would also kill the savings i've worked so hard to put away these last 3 months. living on $3/day is killer, but completely possible (outside of gas money, rent, and other monthly bills that is).

Posted by gigamatt at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

at work, i've been doing nothing but gathering quotes and talking to vendors and (lately, finally) ordering equipment. but, it's all for naught because we have one purchasing agent on vacation, and the other is now swamped by what seems to be an unholy number of supply orders for paper.

i just want my computers to be ordered before apple runs out of them. i'd like my new monitor. i'd like the jcn desktop to show up before i retire. there's just so much to do once they get here.

operating system installs, software installs, network configuration, yadda yadda de yadda. 8 orders. 2 software. 2 parts. 4 hardware. sometimes i think our purchasing agent just likes to watch me squirm.

Posted by gigamatt at 9:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)