I’m traveling this weekend and has to share some pics from a brief stop at Disneland. The sky looks very strange due to the fires out here. For most of the afternoon ash was falling from the sky continuously. I’m glad I wasn’t wearing a dark shirt as most of those people looked like they had bad dandruff by the end of the day.
We woke up this morning only to see it was officially going to be cold for at least the next six months. See the proof for yourself.
On my podcast, I sign off each episode by saying “Rock on!” I’m not sure why I do that. Just something I did once that stuck, I guess. What’s funny is how many times I’ve heard that phrase used since I started doing it nearly 3 years ago. The most recent example was when I visited the Original Pancake House in Maple Grove, MN (which by the way, is one of my FAVORITE restaurants!). They had the latest issue of a local magazine featuring rock work…
Netcot.com (my Disney site and the source of my alter ego) has been around for a LONG time. Like since ‘94 or something. In that time, we’ve been with a lot of different ISPs. Infact, in that time, we’ve even been KICKED OFF of at least two of them (one for traffic, one for content).
And now another ISP (anhosting.com - whom we’ve had for well over a year) falls into the category of ISPs that once were. I really liked this company initially but in the last few months I’ve lost count of how many odd problems have occurred on their servers leaving Netcot.com off-line. So, last week I made the decision to pick up and move shop.
Only one problem: the day I scheduled the move, the ISP went down again. Doh!
Last night, I began the move process to GoDaddy.com, which is an ISP LOTS of people use. Because of the size and amount of hits (traffic) the site gets, I was forced into one of their higher plans, meaning more out-of-pocket cash on a site where I just haven’t been able to translate a big audience into big revenue. I ran into two issues right out of the chute and the tech support left something (more than something, really) to be desired.
I woke up this morning with sudden clarity: this one isn’t meant to be. I’m having trouble setting things up; tech support isn’t helpful (and takes a LONG time to get back to me); and its costing me nearly 4X what the previous service was.
So this morning, I went to plan B (which, for the record was plan A - but as I did research, I realized nearly all other Disney fan sites use GoDaddy.com - so I thought I’d do the same). I’m now in the process of finalizing the setup of Netcot.com on the new ISP and I’m anxious to see how things go now.
I don’t want to admit how much effort I’ve put into moving this site - its been a lot of work. Hopefully it’ll all be worth it.
I feel like I’ve been trying to find the “perfect” design for this site for some time now. Its a work-in-progress to say the least. This week, someone at the office shared a link with me to a really cool design (the one you see in front of you now — unless you’re reading this a year from the posting date, in which case, its probably changed again).
I figured it was a good time to adopt this theme and freshen things up around here. And, hey, it looks very “Mac” so that’s cool too.
My car (Nissan Murano) has a lease that’s up in just a few days. As I near the end of the lease term I can’t help but reflect on what a great car its been. Its a great value, excellent size and gets really good gas mileage considering how big it is (ave: 21-24 MPG, depending on who’s driving).
Its also one of the most clever cars I’ve owned. Everything is laid out really well. I can rip apart any car design, but this one causes me to list only minor complaints (like the color of the background behind the instrumentation).
Speaking of clever, check out the picture below. Note the “Pause/Mute” button. This is brilliant! Let’s say you’re in your car listening to a CD. Your phone rings and you need to take the call. You can simply hit “Pause/Mute” and the tunes stop and screen blinks until you press it again. Sure, you could turn it off, but that would require the CD to have to spin up again when you are done with your call. This way, you can quickly get back to your music.
Brilliant feature! The number of times I’ve used it: 3.
I always remember that feature is there after I hit the power button. Doh! And I bet some point in the future, I’ll complain about how my next car (TBD) doesn’t have it!
As the great Stitch (from Disney’s “Lilo and Stitch”) once said:
‘Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind.
After spending 15 days with my mom, dad, sister and one of my brothers, you’d think I might have had enough of my ‘Ohana. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We all had a great time. Highlights included looking around the house for Johna, only to find her playing “Rock Band” with Rob and Katrina. We also watched Kyler become quite the conversationalist since there was always someone nearby who wanted to spend time with him. Add to that a warm location (and not having to work) and you’ve got yourself a great time “at home.”
Which is odd… I never lived in their house in Dallas. Nor the one before that. Nor the one before that! Still, there’s something about going to visit your parents that always makes it seem like its home, despite its location. Because of that, it was really cool for me to bring Kyler to what was once my “home.”
The worst part of the whole thing was leaving. Its very hard for me to be so far away from my family. You can’t hop in a car and easily drive there. And, while the flight isn’t too long, planning for it (and paying for it) makes it just complicated enough that we don’t do it often enough. Because of that, the irony of ‘Ohana is that while no one is forgotten, we do have to be left behind from time to time … thankfully, its not a long time, but its always longer than any of us would like.
Earlier this month I posted an entry about seeing a cup from Raising Cane’s, one of my favorite restaurants from the south, in Plymouth, MN. I quickly learned (like, within an hour from 3 different people — the fastest response to any blog post EVER!) that MN actually has one.
And now, I’ve been there.
Its in Apple Valley, MN. And it was delicious! Since the only time I’ve ever been to one of these places were when my parents lived in Louisiana and now that they live in Texas; going to Cane’s felt like going “home” for some reason. Its odd to think that, since I’ve never called LA or TX home. It just goes to show that “home” is less of a place and more of a feeling.
And it took Cane’s delicious chicken to make me realize that. See… its some powerful stuff!
Disclaimer: the author of this post does not assure you of having a similar enlightening experience by dining at Raising Cane’s.
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