Category: General

Initial Review Of Nexcess

Things have moved fast since all of you helped make it possible to switch hosting providers last week. As I may have mentioned previously, I had actually decided to go with a different provider, but was reminded of why I left them before (major attitude/snottiness and slow/poor service). Instead, there were a number of recommendations for Nexcess that seemed to check out. So, I decided to give them a try.

First up, I will state up front they are pricey. In fact, their basic package was not only higher than the similar package at the people who talked themselves out of my business, but significantly more than similar packages at other peers. That said, more than one review pointed out the amazing service you got from them for that fee. So, I decided to go over-budget and give them a try after talking with them.

The migration from Dreamhost went fairly well overall. For most things, I don’t think I spent more than ten minutes per issue (and there were very few issues) as we moved the site over. The responses were fast, professional, and the net result was that we had a functional site up and running very quickly. Admittedly at one point there was an issue on some WP/database files that took far longer than I expected to resolve as over the weekend the great support went away for a time and I didn’t hear back from them until Monday not near the start of the day. That was disappointing. Before that, my largest complaint was that I wasn’t getting enough feedback on what, if anything, I needed to be doing to help the migration and get things set-up. As it was, the missing files created a behind-the-scenes/under-the-hood issue that in no way impacted the public viewing of the site. On the migration overall: A-.

Steady traffic seems to be handled well. Pretty much as expected from any decent provider. Spike traffic is the issue for me, and one reason I went with them was a guarantee they have regarding resources to handle spikes. Yesterday put that to the test as I got an Instalanche (augmented by a link at Victory Girls and a Twitter link from Leslie Eastman of Legal Insurrection) sooner than anticipated.

Okay, the site did slow down and was down for a minute or two a couple of times in the next few hours. I did not open a trouble ticket immediately as Nexcess seemed to be handling a good bit automatically and I wanted to see how they did. I did eventually open a ticket and this time we were open well beyond ten minutes as they worked to handle the traffic. In fact, there was a pretty good silent gap at one point. I will add this: even when the traffic was handled, they were not happy with the slowness and worked to mitigate it.

Net result: the site was down for a minute or less twice that I know of; the site did bog down badly a couple of times, but bounced back; and, when slowness was detected, Nexcess worked to speed it back up. As a result, more people got through in the first 30 minutes than got through in 24-hours (on average) under Dreamhost. To top it off, a new traffic record was set with app. 3,700 visitors coming in from the referring sites and some 4,300 page views. I’m going to give the response a solid B. It would be a B+ but for one thing and that goes beyond just this incident.

Holy cow these people are into upselling. Anything and everything gets an upsale pitch. I got my first upsale pitches when talking to them about their service and my needs. I’ve gotten upsale pitches pretty much every flippin time I’ve talked to them about anything for any reason. Wondering if it is new because it is NOT mentioned in any of the major reviews (almost all of which seem to be a year or more old at this point, and prices have gone up quite a bit). Given that their prices are already significantly higher than their peers, this is not a good thing from my point of view. In point of fact, it already has me looking around for other options for either now (30-day money back) or when my paid-for year is up.

If it were not for that, I would probably be giving them a solid A at this point instead of a B+/A–. Initial contact and migration, with the one period of silence, was good and fast overall. The response to the link from Insty was solid, and so much better than Dreamhost (which took literally days to resolve tickets) it was/is not funny. Instead of being down hours, the site was down around two minutes total all day.

Oh, a note on Dreamhost: when I told them I would not be renewing my account was terminated immediately, not on the date I was paid to. Nor did they offer to refund any difference. To my mind, once they knew I would not be continuing, I got the big FU. Not that their service was that good to start with, to be polite. Put them on my highly NOT recommended list.

If it weren’t for the upsale, upsale, upsale routine, I would be extremely happy with Nexcess. As it is, if it weren’t for the upsale, upsale, upsale routine I would be giving more consideration to a possible upgrade as I can see some benefits. Just a hint to them, whoever decided that high pressure was the way to go is an idiot and a long-term detriment to the company. It may work in the short term, but it never works out well long-term.

All that said, solid. A huge improvement over Dreamhost. If you decide you are interested in trying them, let me know. Other than the upsale, upsale, upsale thing it’s been a pretty good experience so far. We will see how it goes.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Kroger Fuel & I Are Done

It was nice to have some funds this morning to do a little shopping after the wonderful joys of two different fasting blood draws to start the day. Nothing huge, but some things I’ve been needing to pick up like coffee for next week and other bits and pieces.

After having a wonderful breakfast (more on that in a separate post), I hit Kroger as my first stop and on the way out I decided to get fuel, as I’ve done for years. I got my $8.32 worth of gas, and went on my way. Yes, keeping the car as full as I can while I can.

Now, normally on an errand day I’m checking my online banking before and after each stop. It lets me make sure things have been correctly charged, keep up with my balance, and make sure nothing has gone awry. Today, I didn’t do that and it bit me.

I stopped at Fresh Thyme to pick up a couple of things, and when I got to the checkout, my debit card was declined. Given my balance at the start of the morning, and that I hadn’t spent all that much at Kroger, I was on the phone to the bank rather quickly, fearing that someone had somehow gained access to my card. Someone indeed had. Kroger.

In all the years I’ve shopped there, much less bought fuel, I’ve never been hit with a hold that showed up online. As noted, I tend to check as I shop, and I’ve NEVER, let me repeat, NEVER seen a hold from them. Is it possible one has hit? Sure. But, again, never seen one for fuel. In this case, per Kroger policy (as stated by them) they are now putting a $150 hold on all debit card purchases at the pump.

So, I found myself dead in the water as they had taken an additional $150.50 above what I had already legally paid, and had not returned it. Kroger blamed my bank and/or Visa for that. The bank and/or Visa said it was on Kroger. To a certain extent, I don’t care. Since I had paid for the gas I bought, and verified Kroger indeed had the money (which they agreed that the did indeed have that whole whopping $8.32), I wanted my $150.50 back.

An extremely verbose internet rando on Twitter explained at length, then condescendingly and smarmily continued to expound at length on how it was just business and I peasant should just deal (until I muted the mouthy thing who doesn’t apparently do well on social skills since even my “I don’t care” went over his head). He may be right, but again I’ve never had this done before. Yes, some other gas stations have put a $1 hold at the start, but I have never had one, esp. Kroger where I’ve been a regular customer for years, put a $150.50 hold on me before.

And, they are never going to do it again. Done. Don’t care how things are done, supposed to be done, or are done on the fly by the Queen of the May. I’m not going to do business with someone who takes my money even after I’ve paid my just debt, and then doesn’t return it immediately. Again, don’t care if it was Kroger, who cheerfully notes that holds can last 24 hours (so be glad if it gets back sooner peasant), and then blames all holds on the banks and/or Visa. I don’t care if it is the banks and/or Visa at fault, because they didn’t demand $150.50 for the hold, that’s on Kroger; and, they say the hold length is on Kroger. A pox on them both is my response.

And, yes, I know that they will give it back, for all that I am reminded of the bully who steals from you and then eventually gives it back because the teacher or someone bigger than them found out and made them give it back. Has that feel to it, you know? They will give you your ball, cash, lunch, whatever back when they are done with it. So deal.

Nor do I care if it is legal, done legally or otherwise within the way the banking system works in real life, or whatever. Fact is, taking someone’s money to which you are NOT entitled and then not giving it back immediately is wrong. Period fucking dot.

For now, the one place I know who is doing the $150 per go is Kroger. So, I’m not going there anymore and want you to be aware of what they are doing. Up to you if you want to deal with this or not. Yes, if I jumped through some hoops I might could shop there without getting hit with a $150.50 hold every time, but I’m also tired of all the people who want to see how many hoops they can make you jump through, as well as those who are good with it. Both groups do not have individual liberty, liberty, or your best interests at heart. Again, period fucking dot.

So, I’m shopping elsewhere for fuel. If this becomes a problem elsewhere, there are other options. There are options that may become much better given the way cards and such can be tracked — and fucked with officially and unofficially. Yeah, I’m one of those who is laughing at the idea of a federal crypto, and noting the move towards Chinese-style control over funds and more. Only idiots think that’s a good idea. Hoping Zelazny was right about what happens when cash is banned.

Also, I’m going to be taking as much of my business as I can for groceries elsewhere. Nice thing is, there is some good competition here. Which is nice, as I don’t like to reward what I consider bad behavior. Don’t care what Kroger or anyone else calls it, I see this as very bad behavior.

Sorry to be wordy and even a bit preachy, but I am more than a bit pissed. I did finally get my money back after multiple calls with Kroger, my bank, and others. Actually toying with the idea of a small-claim court filing as this wasted several hours of my time, deprived me of my funds for a period of time, created the potential for damage to my reputation, and a few other things. We will see.

For now, I’m going to raise a proper toast to Sunny, and try to relax a bit. Meantime, caveat emptor, esp. with Kroger fuel.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Tap, Tap

Okay, maybe this time we are on. 🙂

First up, thank you all! Your kind gifts have just made some really great things happen.

Yes, the monthly bills are covered. Even better, we now have a new host, Nexcess (part of Liquid Web), and so far I am extremely pleased with them. I had actually been looking at a different hosting provider who talked themselves out of the gig. I had used them once before, and was reminded why I left them (snotty responses and slow service). So far, I’ve had extremely good and fast customer service, issues are resolved while I am on with them, and I think the most we have spent working any issue was less than ten minutes. If they can handle the traffic, all is good.

While it ended up costing more, it’s been worth it for the service and the huge increase in speed I’m seeing. I did go over the budget I set, but again appears to be worth it, and I’m paid up for a full year. They have a 30-day guarantee, so let me know of any issues you see, and hopefully we will get an Instalanche in that time to truly test the system.

I’ve put the focus on the blog, and dropped hosting for my photography/professional site. Which has also dropped an e-mail addy, possibly two. Not too worried about that for now, site needed to be re-done anyway. 🙂

I also, thanks to your help, do have the new shoes I so desperately needed. I am walking for exercise and more, and while I hit a personal best of 7.48 miles the other day (best since being hit by lightning), I also had problems of which blisters were the least. So, I went shopping for new shoes. I hit the running store, the zebra store, and more. The running store used the super-scanner and every effort to get e-mail, upgrade, upsell, etc. The zebra store ignored me, and when queried said they didn’t have my brand in stock despite their own site saying they did. The other stores, well, they had limited stock and proud-of-this prices.

Something told me to check out Stout’s southside location (oldest shoe store in America according to them). Walked in, Ally (sp?) looked at my shoes, recognized the model, recognized that there have apparently been some significant upgrades in the four years (I think) since I bought them, asked me about use and other factors, discussed budget, and then measured both feet mechanically. A few moments later, two sets of shoes (one my brand one another) were out, we tried, I stayed with my brand, and stayed within the budget I had set. The difference in the skill level, customer service, and product knowledge was amazing. Highly recommend them. Oh, and if we do need to do extra orthotics to handle where the lightning exited my body through the ball of my foot, they can handle that in several ways, including 3-D printing. Nice. Feels weird having all the support…

And, that is true here too. Thank you so much! You have kept me going in this crazy year plus since getting hit by lightning. Your gifts have kept me afloat financially and are letting me work on trying to get moved. Your prayers have sustained me. Your kind comments and interesting responses have added to the food for thought here nicely. I can’t say thank you enough, and right now pushing to get some cushion to put towards moving. The problem is just getting enough at one time and in one place to get me out there. Working on it, and looking at ways to get creative so as to sidestep some issues and get on with it.

Thank you so much! Sound off if you see any hosting issues, and do sound off if you see speed and other improvements. Good with the bad. Now, to write something worthy of a link at Instapundit and see how they handle that. 🙂

Onwards!

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

An Update

The other day, I posted a plea for assistance, and I want to say thanks to all who responded! Today, I have a brag and a minor update to that article.

The brag is simple: Saturday saw me take a 7.48 mile walk, a personal best since I got hit by lightning. Really enjoyed getting out, stretching the legs, and pushing the cardiac recovery. Glad I did it when I did, as it has been a bit soggy since then.

Which is letting the feet feel better. Definitely moving shoes up the priority list, as Saturday’s walk left me not only tired and sore, but with blisters on my feet. Knew they needed replacement, but didn’t realize how bad they had gotten. Can’t complain, got 3+ years out of them of almost constant wear. Just hope the next pair don’t cost too much more and will last about the same.

Posting Delay?

Any serious posting may be delayed until this afternoon at the earliest. I’m scrambling on several fronts, not including bills and other delights.

The other delights. Well, they are interesting. I rent a room in an older home. In fact, when my landlord bought the home I was asked if I wanted to move with him to the new place. I did, though I really wasn’t thrilled with the location but it is larger, inexpensive, and overall the landlord and I get along okay. Perfect, no. Good enough, yes.

However, I mentioned older. As in we discovered that the sewer drains were original terra cotta. That the relative he bought from had done a lot of “repair and upgrade” work themselves. I will simply note that even if buying from family getting a reputable inspector to look the place over is a good idea. We’ve had flooding issues in the basement where my room is located because of the drain issues. Thankfully it only got into my room once, but that was once too many in my book. Replacing the line out to the property line was pricey, but along with an emergency sump pump strategically placed (outside) to handle rain/flooding we’ve not flooded since.

Monday saw flash flood warnings in the area and the weather was indeed interesting. Since then, we’ve had kitchen sink drain issues that may or may not be related. The long-needed sealing/resurfacing of the driveway is underway. There are some other minor things going on as well. As in I’m having to make some hard decisions on a couple of different issues. One of which involves social security in light of some of the ongoing issues from being hit by lightning. I will admit to being very pleasantly surprised at how nice and friendly the lady at social security I spoke to was during our talk. One of her suggestions truly surprised me, as it was not what I expected. The good plumber my landlord found will be out today to work on the drains.

And before I forget, there has been concrete work done (much needed) on an exposed porch and some other repair work as well. All in all an interesting week that has us parking all over the neighborhood (can’t use the driveway until Saturday or Sunday) and other delights. Also, I really need to go take a good walk today while the weather is nice. In fact, may take a long walk as I’m not getting enough exercise thanks to the weather, and I can’t afford the gas to go walk at a mall.

So, more soon. Just not sure how soon.

UPDATE: This is likely it today. Went on my walk and decided to explore a trail I’ve not been down before. One thing I will give Indy (and it pre-dates the current admin FYI) is that there are a lot of urban trails that follow old railroad lines. Instead of my normal 3+ mile walk, I ended up doing between 7-8 miles (forgot to cut on my walking map app until halfway through). I feel good, though body is letting me know I have not been doing this enough lately.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

No Free Ice Cream Today

Sorry, have been feeling bad this week and today it caught up with me a bit. Also didn’t help that I’m still waiting on that huuuuge announcement from the special session of the Duma that so far is crickets chirping. Keeping an eye on things, esp. the nuclear reactor, but think there will be no free ice cream today. Standby, more to come though.

Update: TTC

First up, sorry for yesterday. You couldn’t reach my site, I couldn’t reach my site, and I couldn’t even log into the appropriate site to report the problem. As noted before, my current provider Dreamhost sucks. I appreciate the suggestions I’ve gotten, and am at the point I think it may be worth giving up buying groceries for a few weeks to go ahead and switch to a competent and effective provider. Need to lose weight anyway. FYI, got an e-mail last night from then, telling me how to change the password on my webmail, which honestly was the only part of their service that did work yesterday and was not a topic of discussion. Love that competence and reading comprehension!

The plan is to start Nuclear 201 next week. I’m reaching out to some people to solicit inputs, guest posts, and such. We will probably start with some history, as far too many don’t know it and you need to know at least some to understand current discussions. For example, a callow person complained on social media recently how whenever anyone talked escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war that it automatically went to nuclear without considering chemical, biological, or tactical nukes! The historical ignorance of that (and of current U.S. policy) is breathtaking, and one of several topics that we need to get into so that people have a realistic understanding of policies, doctrine, and more. After all, how can you truly screw things up now if you don’t know how they screwed them up before?

My plan is to keep it on a high level, though more in depth than the last time. First, I don’t want to scare off readers who are not familiar with concepts, science, etc. In fact, I want to hook them and reel them in. So, my approach remains to keep it accurate but not too in the weeds. Honestly, I modeling this on in many respects on science education, particularly physics education. You don’t start first graders out on quantum physics. You start with basic information, then each time you take it up a bit more. You can also provide a means for those students who get it to dive in deeper. As a physicist explained it to me one time, you teach basics even though you know portions of it are technically incorrect on some levels. The point is, make it understandable. Even though on some levels it is incorrect, it also forms a basis for understanding that next level and eventually moving up to a truer understanding.

On some levels, I hate the need for these discussions. Honestly, I had hoped a lot of this was in my past, not my future. My thoughts on how we got here and the opportunities lost are close to being unprintable. Putting that aside, people need to understand the thoughts, theories, and reality of nuclear war, and nuclear weapon and war policy, if we are to have a good chance of navigating the next few years without something stupid being done. Because, the fact is almost every stupid decision comes from ignorance, and, to some extent, bias if not bigotry. Nor do such screw-ups happen in isolation. The mistaken idea that everyone thinks as we do (mores, aka cultural blinders) is at the heart of that bias and bigotry on all sides.

For all that I hope for some knowledge and sanity to prevail, I also adamantly believe in preparing for Murphy’s inevitable appearance and dealing honestly with the Toddler Law of Governments. Keep in mind that in a crisis, the Good Idea Fairy also often shows up with the best of intentions and at the worst possible moment. Dealing with/preventing that means sharing knowledge and the means to acquire more on the subject. It also very much means sharing knowledge and ideas on surviving if any of the toddlers currently running the world stage do something stupid. Okay, more stupid than normal even for them.

I may even share a tale or two, both for educational purposes and to lighten the mood a bit. Sometimes, even in a dark event, a moment of unintended humor, if not hilarity, can shine forth. Also, I want to remind everyone that we’ve made it this far relatively intact. With knowledge, preparation, Devine guidance, and perhaps a bit of luck, we will continue to do so. Despair not that darkness looms. Light a candle and help drive it back.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Things To Come?

Based on e-mail and a lone comment, looks like there is interest in a Nuclear 102 series along with some more on preparedness. I’m actually going to look into some possible guest posts for the former, will see. Meantime, I’m trying to push things along for my fundraiser as it is headed into the end of the month and I want out of here!

I would have loved to have moved months ago, but all the health issues kept that from happening. I do well most days, the coping mechanisms for the brain issues work well and it could be imagination but I swear I see/feel some progress in the healing. I don’t want to wait three years, I want to be good now! 🙂 So far, we have most everything under control as far as we can tell. Working to keep it that way. Please help me keep my head above water and get out of the hellhole that Indy has become.

Meantime, there is more to come besides Monday’s pun! May take a day or two to get the new series moving, but it will happen.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Lite Day

The world is plowing along, and on some levels it’s quiet. There are a lot of things happening, but at least for today nothing earth shattering.

Rumors and more continue to bounce around the Kremlin, pretty much business as usual save for that one group that is still keeping quiet. Internal or external politics is the question on that, and the magic 8-ball says ask again tomorrow. This story may have rolled a verbal hand grenade into the room, but from what I’m seeing no one there seems terribly surprised at the story. As with a lot of stories, taking it with a huge grain of salt for now.

A number of things continue to puzzle me about all that is going on in Russia, and with it’s response to the West. Vladimir has, reportedly, kompromat on a number of Western politicians and leaders (as does Zelensky, again, reportedly). Yet, there has been no open use of it and RUMINT says no covert use. Surprising, as this is one more area where full use of existing “weapons” is not taking place.

Now, a question for you the reader: would you care to see a nuclear 102 series, more on preparedness, or something else? Honest question, though I am leaning towards doing more preparedness posts as a means of driving the book project forward. The sad fact is the majority of the public remains sadly ignorant on things like nuclear war, nuclear diplomacy, etc. Heck, it even extends to space as people talk about living and working in space, on the moon, and elsewhere without understanding the changes that will occur to human physiology in the process. Hmmmm. That may be a post later in the week.

So, let me know in the comments if you have a preference, and let’s see where life takes us.

*****

If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, feel free to hit the tip jar in the upper right or the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo. Getting hit by lightning is not fun, and it is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.