Diary of a Network Geek

No, not this blog or website.

Do you remember the days when we were building websites so fast that we couldn’t keep up?  Back when it was actually sort of pricey to buy a domain name?  Do you remember the days when as soon as anyone bought a domain they threw up a quick “Under Construction” page?  Ah, those were the days….
Honestly, I don’t know what we were thinking. No one had a plan to actually make money from the web, but we were all so excited about what this new medium, this new technology, might do for us, that didn’t seem to matter.  And, we were in such a rush to do something, anything, that the idea of running a test site that wasn’t live hadn’t really occurred to us yet.  So, we’d make these pages that were filled with breathless text about how the next great thing was coming soon and how excited we were and “please excuse our mess while we build the future”.  And we littered the page with these awful “Under Construction” graphics.

Well, prepare yourself.  Give yourself a little time to adjust.  Have a cup of coffee and get ready to have internet startup PTSD flashbacks, then go look at all of the Under Construction graphics known to the web.  They’re all there.  Even the ones in Japanese with the little anime characters.  They’re all there.
Look on these works and despair!

No, seriously, go have a blast of nostalgia and take a look at them.  Just don’t use them ever again.
And, happy Friday, y’all!

Or, fired even.

Okay, so no one wants to get fired. (Well, that’s not quite true. I actually had someone ask me to lay him off once, but that’s another story.) Still, sometimes, market forces back employers into a corner and they have no choice but to “help employees find other opportunities to excel”. So, what do you do when that happens? Well, an article over at TechRepublic has several suggestions:

#1: Get everything the company owes you

#2: Get your resume updated and out the door

#3: Search company Web sites

#4: List your sources of income

#5: Prioritize expenses

#6: Don’t forget insurance

#7: Don’t burn bridges

#8: Avoid raiding your investments

#9: Get out

#10: Keep up with your debt

#11: Pay attention to your feelings

Thankfully, it looks like not only am I not getting fired, but I’ll be getting a reasonable “cost-of-living” raise this year.  But, with some of the stuff going on at Motorola, I thought my brother might make use of the tips.  (Yes, he reads the blog, too.)

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
   --James Baldwin

So, I’m not entirely happy with my webhost.

After bouncing around from place to place, I finally found a great webhost who had competitive prices and super-responsive support. Even when I had issues with some particularly unruly scripts, they worked with me and got everything working just right.  Granted, the company was run by the cousin of a friend of mine, but, stll… Unfortunately, they also sold the business to someone else who’s not quite as good as the folks I was with for so long.
Normally, I wouldn’t just jump ship, but I have a little project that I’ve been toying with and it would be a perfect test case for a new web provider. Naturally, I thought I’d ask you all, my faithful readers, before just closing my eyes and picking someone, if any of you had any suggestions. So, do you? Are there any of you who have had particularly good, or bad, experiences with any web hosting companies?
Inquiring minds want to know!

And, yes, this little “project” is also why I’ve been thinking about blogging software and search engine optimization.  Funny how all these things seem to tie together with me these days.