July 21 General Rambling
I'm back after a couple of months and a lot of miles. During June I visited family in Manitoba and Nova Scotia. I've added pictures to the Albums in my PhotoServer, and new cards to Cards From Ogden Point. The links are at the bottom of this page.
The joys and challenges of running a web site and keeping computers running haven't been forgotten. During the time I was away, Microsoft "did everyone a favor" and had one of the Windows Automatic Updates reboot any computers that downloaded and installed the update. My server computer stalls on a reboot because it recognizes that there may be other people logged on to the computer via the web page. It just sits there half way through the reboot -- after it shuts down the server program. Fortunately my house guardian was able to do a forced reboot and put me back on line. Thank you Christine for the help. My webcams were a casualty of the reboot since they have to be manually restarted. Cards From Ogden Point was in the middle of the Father's Day Contest, and was being used for Father's Day cards at the time. Fortunately that site returned to service after the reboot and went on to place 5th in the contest.
Since returning home, my main computer has lost its video card due to failure and was subjected to a Browser Hijacking and a Virus. The computer is physically separate from the server computer -- it is however where I edit and compose all the web pages that get uploaded to my various web sites. So nothing got edited nor especially uploaded while there was any chance of file contamination. Then the backup computer which is used to move the files from the main computer to the server, and which contains various backup copies of the web site files literally "went up in smoke." It is currently in hospital awaiting surgery. It went to the shop one week short of the end of the one year of warranty. I expect it will need a new motherboard if it is repairable.
And to add insult to injury, my internet connection has started acting up. My history as a Telecoms Technician tells me that the "repairs" that were done last October were temporary at best. The cable feeding telephone and internet service to my home is old and very likely it has taken on water at one or more points along its length. One major difference between this cable and the ones I experienced in my days in Manitoba is that this one is not subjected to being frozen each winter. Ice expansion often makes the damaged areas of overhead power and communications cables much easier to find as the ice will break open the protective insulating jackets. (It doesn't make breaks easier to find in buried cables -- the one in question is partly underground and partly overhead.) My fear is that there will be more temporary repairs before the offending cable eventually gets replaced.
Cards From Ogden Point continues to be used and continues to grow in popularity. The visitor count for 2006 has grown from 5,605 at the time of the last posting to 7,277 two months later, and the page view count has grown from 71,287 pages to 91,849. There has been a steady input of encouraging guest book signings from all over the world for 2006 as well.
In July the most common entry page to the site has been the card pickup page. That is very pleasing because it says that people are not just visiting the site, they are visiting because someone sent them a Card From Ogden Point. The pickup page was the second most accessed entry point in each of the first 6 months -- often with half or possibly two thirds of the number of entry hits that the Welcome Page got.
So far, in July, 31% of the people who visited Cards From Ogden Point have come because they are picking up a Posty. Thank You to those people and to those who sent them a card.
Click the links for the new card pages:
May 2006 pictures page 2.
June 2006 pictures.
July 2006 pictures.
July 1 2006 fireworks pictures.
June 2006 Maritimes Pictures.
Click here for my recent pictures album.
The joys and challenges of running a web site and keeping computers running haven't been forgotten. During the time I was away, Microsoft "did everyone a favor" and had one of the Windows Automatic Updates reboot any computers that downloaded and installed the update. My server computer stalls on a reboot because it recognizes that there may be other people logged on to the computer via the web page. It just sits there half way through the reboot -- after it shuts down the server program. Fortunately my house guardian was able to do a forced reboot and put me back on line. Thank you Christine for the help. My webcams were a casualty of the reboot since they have to be manually restarted. Cards From Ogden Point was in the middle of the Father's Day Contest, and was being used for Father's Day cards at the time. Fortunately that site returned to service after the reboot and went on to place 5th in the contest.
Since returning home, my main computer has lost its video card due to failure and was subjected to a Browser Hijacking and a Virus. The computer is physically separate from the server computer -- it is however where I edit and compose all the web pages that get uploaded to my various web sites. So nothing got edited nor especially uploaded while there was any chance of file contamination. Then the backup computer which is used to move the files from the main computer to the server, and which contains various backup copies of the web site files literally "went up in smoke." It is currently in hospital awaiting surgery. It went to the shop one week short of the end of the one year of warranty. I expect it will need a new motherboard if it is repairable.
And to add insult to injury, my internet connection has started acting up. My history as a Telecoms Technician tells me that the "repairs" that were done last October were temporary at best. The cable feeding telephone and internet service to my home is old and very likely it has taken on water at one or more points along its length. One major difference between this cable and the ones I experienced in my days in Manitoba is that this one is not subjected to being frozen each winter. Ice expansion often makes the damaged areas of overhead power and communications cables much easier to find as the ice will break open the protective insulating jackets. (It doesn't make breaks easier to find in buried cables -- the one in question is partly underground and partly overhead.) My fear is that there will be more temporary repairs before the offending cable eventually gets replaced.
Cards From Ogden Point continues to be used and continues to grow in popularity. The visitor count for 2006 has grown from 5,605 at the time of the last posting to 7,277 two months later, and the page view count has grown from 71,287 pages to 91,849. There has been a steady input of encouraging guest book signings from all over the world for 2006 as well.
In July the most common entry page to the site has been the card pickup page. That is very pleasing because it says that people are not just visiting the site, they are visiting because someone sent them a Card From Ogden Point. The pickup page was the second most accessed entry point in each of the first 6 months -- often with half or possibly two thirds of the number of entry hits that the Welcome Page got.
So far, in July, 31% of the people who visited Cards From Ogden Point have come because they are picking up a Posty. Thank You to those people and to those who sent them a card.
Click the links for the new card pages:
May 2006 pictures page 2.
June 2006 pictures.
July 2006 pictures.
July 1 2006 fireworks pictures.
June 2006 Maritimes Pictures.
Click here for my recent pictures album.
posted by ...ron... | 12:01 AM
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