Wait! There's a Pulse! Brinkster's Alive!

After my rather scathing report of the recent service provided by my web and email hosting service, Brinkster, I decided that maybe I needed to provide a slightly more balanced view of my experiences. I wrote that blog out of sheer frustration. I was just fed up with the thought that I was losing email. Every time I got on my laptop and wasn't able to check my email, I spent that time looking at other hosting services. I didn't really want to leave Brinkster but I was frustrated by the lack of information that was being shared with me in regards to their most recent network issues.

I have been a loyal Brinkster subscriber for over two years during which there have been a few bumps which support has been able to fix. The first bump came when the server my website was on was either starting to fail or someone else on that server wrote some bad code which was causing the server to hang. I'd have to contact customer support to have the server rebooted. After a couple of reboot requests, I asked what else could be done. They moved my website to another one of their servers without any additional costs to me. Actually, they moved me twice because the first server they moved me to didn't support a scripting technology and I needed that for my website. Other reviews I've read recently stated that people had lost files when Brinkster moved them from one server to another. I can say that that was not the case in my experience. All my files made the two moves successfully. The second bump was their email servers. I'm not sure what was going on there. Again, I had to contact customer service a few times to have them reboot the server that ran my webmail application. Brinkster just completed an upgrade in their email system which included a feature rich AJAX webmail application which Mike adores. His laptop is company owned and he has to use webmail to check his personal email.

I really didn't want to leave Brinkster. I was scared that I'd have to re-experience the bumps that they had already fixed. Had I had a blog back when these other bumps happened, I'd have probably written scathing posts about them, too. I have been assured that the network equipment upgrade has been completed and they are not anticipating any future outages. Based on past experiences, I'm willing to believe them. I have and continue to recommend to my friends that Brinkster host their websites.

Update: Passport Woes

Megan reported that her contact at the State Department seems to remember something about having passports reprinted and is trying to track down a form. :)

Megan is trying to rush this through because her contact at the State Department has mentioned to her that the extension until Jan 2008 to be able to travel by land and sea on your birth certificate will expire at the end of September and that Ben WILL need a passport to cruise in October. :(

I'm Ready to Pull the Plug...Brinkster Flatlines!

I have not been happy with my website/email's hosting company, Brinkster.com. The internet connection between their servers and the world wide web has been sketchy over the last couple of weeks. Every time I get a chance to get on my laptop, it seems that I can't get to my email or website. The following is the slightly modified to protect the innocent transcript from my latest communications with Brinkster Support. I'm not sure that English was this guy's first language from his later responses and that it took forever for him to type a short response. Plus, they aren't offering hosting credits for the inconvience.

UPDATED 8/27: This post was not fairly balanced to show my overall experience with Brinkster.com over the two-plus years that they've hosted my website. I have removed the transcript with the customer service representative. I am still not convinced that English was his first language. In today's global marketplace, I should not be surprised that that would be the case. I just feel bad for anyone who has to copy and paste what I say into a translator. There's not a translator that's been made that could keep up with my gobbledygook and run on sentences. I'd love to know what the translator told the customer service representative I was saying. Talk about lost in translation! Check out my fair and balanced review of Brinkster's service.

So Far So Good

Ben's been accident free up to today. We had a bunch of corn on the cob this weekend so his stool was a little looser than normal and he got a little bit of it in his underwear before putting the bulk of it in the potty. I'm chalking today up as a learning experience.

Update: Passport Woes

It's been two weeks so I decided to call Megan and get an update. Hopefully things are looking promising. I had to leave a voicemail and I haven't heard back from her. I'll give her a couple of days and try again.

I Love You But Quit Spamming Me!

To my friends,

I love you but you have to quit forwarding emails that promise money or gift certificates. They're scams.

I once saw a video on the web that expressed the way I felt. I found it and reposted it within my blog. You can watch it here.

Before you are tempted to forward something, check Snopes to see if it's a hoax or not.

By Jove! I Think He's Got It!

Fortunately, Ben did start pooping again on Wednesday after not pooping since the Sunday before and he's been pooping once or twice a day ever since!

Today marked a week of pooping in the potty (with no accidents on top of that) so we celebrated by having lunch at Chuck E. Cheese.

Passport Woes!

This is what I submitted to my local US Representative:

Back story: My husband, Michael, who works for xxxxxxxx, had an opportunity to go to France in October of 2005. I was all set to go with him until I realized that Benjamin, our 1.5 year old son, didn't have a passport. We did not go with him on that trip but I immediately applied for a passport for Ben in case this opportunity presented itself again. When we received the passport in December of 2005, I had noticed a little pucker in the lamination over the picture but I didn't think anything of it. I put it in our safe and didn't think about it again.

Present day: We are scheduled to go on a Disney cruise in xxxxxxxx. Mike pulled Ben's passport from the safe and touched the pucker which promptly cracked. We do not feel safe traveling with that passport and have been advised by the National Passport Information Center not to do so. Fortunately, the overwhelming number of passport applications have caused border security with the Caribbean to remain relaxed enough that Ben will be able to travel with his birth certificate.

Upcoming dilemma: It's looking like Mike will be getting another opportunity to travel to France xxxxxxxx and we might be able to join him. I contacted the NPIC on what to do about the cracked lamination. They told me that I'd have to apply for another passport and pay the full replacement amount. It does not seem fair to me that I have to pay to replace a passport that was defective from the time that it was given to me. A new minor passport will have an expiration date of 2012 which is two years past Ben's current passport's expiration date. I'm willing to compromise and pay 40% of the cost of a new passport because that's how much a new passport will extend Ben's passport (2 years of 5 years = 40% of total) although I'd prefer not to have to pay anything at all since the problem was that I received a defective passport in the first place. Since the passport is "damaged," we have to include Ben's birth certificate with the passport application. In order to get a new passport back in time to go to France, we have to put in the application almost immediately but we need the birth certificate to go on our cruise which means that we would need to purchase another birth certificate.

Resolution: I'd like Congressman Chabot to mediate this conflict between myself and the US State Department. If possible, I'd like to have Ben's defective passport fixed with no further cost to myself. I'd like to have the "damaged" passport be enough proof of citizenship so that I don't have to purchase another birth certificate.

Megan, the Staff Assistant in charge of passport issues understood where I was coming from and I'm hoping she'll be able to persade her contact to rectify this.

Thank you, Woot!

Just an update. I did receive my Random Crap much later than expected because they lost my original shipment. I received a bar of Batman soap, a mouse pad with an eagle and American flag on it, and this EarCheck Ear Infection Checker. I also received a backpack as a nod to my complaint that I received a new backpack from LLBean that was monogrammed and ordered several days later faster than my Random Crap from Woot! although they were both sent via SmartPost.

We Have Splashdown!

After almost a most of month of potty training h-e-double hockey sticks, Ben has been pooping in the potty since Friday morning. He's been peeing like a champ for many weeks and has been keeping his big boy underwear dry. He's been napping in his big boy underwear with no accidents. He's also been keeping his pull-ups dry overnight for the last few nights. A couple more nights of dry pull-ups and we'll let him sleep overnight in his big boy underwear.

The only problem now is withholding. He hasn't pooped since Sunday afternoon. If he doesn't poop tomorrow I'm not sure what to do.

It's the End, My Friend...The End

This post recounts the time I spent purchasing and reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from start to finish...

6:30-10:30 PM: I arrived at Borders and received a blue wristband which placed me in the third group to purchase my book (orange - which was gone at 10 AM, silver, blue, green, pink, and purple). I found a comfy chair in the cafe where I could get a good vantage point on what was happening around me and do my sudoku. Many people showed up in costumes included some who were older than I. They, the older ones, were "casting" spells, talking about how great Alan Rickman is in the movies and in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (which I did agree with), and actually turned and ran screaming from another person dressed up as Voldemort. I got up to get a drink and treat at just the right time because as soon as I'd gone through the line, the line had a long wait for the rest of the night. Some dorks came by and taped spoilers to the window. I made a phone call to Mike at 9 pm to see how he was doing. Ben, who normally goes to bed at 8 was still awake playing with his cousins.

10:30-11:00 PM: I began roaming the store to see what was going on. There had been several announcements over the intercom system which could not be heard in the cage. Perhaps the most important announcement was a door prize drawing where the top five prizes were the first five spots in line. After getting my ticket, I returned to the cafe to inform all the people I'd been hanging with on the couches about the door prizes. After that, I continues roaming the store looking at all the costumes and tables set up where kids could make doorknob hangers and other crafts. Go figure, I ended up in the computer section. I flipped through a book on iPods and gleaned some information from books on .Net and Photoshop. I meandered over to magazines and learned all about Posh and Beck's American invasion and about Katie and Suri's day at the beach.

11:00-11:40 PM: It was then that I realized that the magazine rack had not been pushed back against the windows after the last round of posters had been placed in the window. I tucked myself back between the two and had my own "Quiet Space" to relax, listen to the announcements, and do sudoku.

11:40 PM: Security told everyone to assemble either in the back corner of the store opposite the cash registers or to go outside. Not really wanting to get smooshed in the back or go outside in the cold I stayed in my "Quiet Place." Door prizes were drawn and I was 10 tickets away from winning movie tickets and concessions.

12:01 AM: Book sales started. After waiting through most of the blue group, I got out of my "Quiet Place." When the staff had finished up handing out wristbands, they'd left 5 glow-stick giveaway wands hanging from the back of a chair. After waiting 20 minutes to see if they'd come back for them, I picked them up and put them in my purse. About half way through the silver group, I decided to mosey toward the back of the store and see if I could get in line. A security officer was the back of the silver group and I'd noticed some other blues who had had the dame idea I had. I was probably the 20th blue person in line. Another 10 minutes passed before the blue group was called to assemble.

12:48 AM: I purchased my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and drove home.

1:15 AM: I arrived home, fed the dog dinner, put the dog out to potty, grabbed a drink, brought the dog in and put him away.

1:30 AM: I began reading.

4:30 AM: 200 pages later, I laid down for some sleep.

9:30 AM: A phone survey solicitor woke me up. I fed the dog, put the dog out to potty, and ate breakfast.

9:45 AM: I played with the dog with my right hand while my left hand checked my email, visited Woot! to see if they were still wooting off, and checked to see if my hold of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on CD was available. The online library catalog showed that there were two copies of the CD on the shelf.

9:56 AM: I put on clothes and drove to the library.

10:15 AM: I was not successful in retrieving the CD...I was 70th on the waiting list for 25some copies. I filled Mike's gas tank on the way home for $2.76 a gallon.

10:30 AM: I recommenced reading.

12:30 PM: At page 362, I broke for lunch. I checked the Big Brother 8 live feed blog to see what was going on and updated our finances.

1:15 PM: I continued reading.

2:49 PM: I took a break at page 502.

3:15 PM: I continued reading.

4:15 PM: I was at page 589.

6:26 PM: I finished reading the book, content with the end of the series.

Total Reading Time: 9 hours 45 minutes