Last Day At Work

Today is my last day at work for 2005. The week has been very busy trying to finish up all the projects and oustanding work by the end of the year. Even though I am off next week, there is no doubt that I will have to do some work for my job - there just isn't the time. But that's ok - we have some fun projects to complete.

Besides regular work, here's the other things planned for next week:

• more christmas shopping
  
• start planning ski vacation
  
• get in some good gym time
  
• write and send christmas cards
• wrap gifts
  
• write some music (I always say this, but sometimes it's hard unless the muse really hits you
• watch movies
• work on a Christmas podcast
  
• hmm, I know I'm missing something else
  

Shoko is working all week so I have time to myself. Productive? We'll see!!

Paris Trip

I went to Paris last weekend to help celebrate our friend's Wei-Hsing's 40th birthday in style. The picture above is the rotuna in the middle of the upscale department store Galeries Lafayette viewed on it's side with the dome to the left and the top of a huge christmas tree on the right.

Click for more pictures!

Temporary Site

As you can tell, I am using a temporary site for the Blog. This is a free webhosting account through Tripod. It's nice to have this but I hate the ads on the top of it. Hopefully Blogger and my host will get this thing worked out. As reported before I can't update my blog in my regular way because of some undetermined thing that happened two weeks ago.

Here is some correspondence from my host's help system:
-----------------------------------

Oestreich, Jeff, Sun Dec 11 21:19:00 2005
I use my various domains hosted by you to serve mostly blog content. I use Blogger.

This stopped working 1 1/2 weeks ago.

When publishing through Blogger, after about 5-8 minutes I get the following error returned

" 001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out2005_12_01_jeffrandomthoughts_archive.html "

The reason that I suspect strongly that this is on the Host Excellence side is that I can publish all of my current blogs on a free host that I acquired for testing this (ftp.tripod.com). They all publish just fine.

Blogger uses passive FTP and has worked well with Host Excellence for over a year.

I really suspect that the only way to solve this problem (it's a weird one I think) is to actually watch the activity on your FTP server while on of my blogs is being updated (or trying to be updated!).

My blogger account is:
username:****
password:****

The blogs I use are:
Jeff's Random Thoughts
This And That Podcast
This And That Podcast - Blog

(though currently I have This and That Podcast - Blog set to the free Tripod account - which you can validate - does work).

Thanks!
Jeff Oestreich
-----------------------------------

Bodapati, Srinivasa, Mon Dec 12 03:26:08 2005 ****
Ticket Status was changed from Open to Resolved
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for using our services.

Sorry for the inconvenience you have faced. As I have seen I am unable to publish the post given by you. This issue has been brought to the notice of our System Admins. They are currently try to investigate the issue and fix this problem because we have numerous enquiries concerning publishing from blogger.com. Once the issue gets resolved we will get back to you. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Should have any further questions,Please feel free to contact us 24/7.
-----------------------------------

Oestreich, Jeff, Mon Dec 12 16:15:23 2005
Ticket re-opened
What kind of time frame are we looking at? I can't update any of my blogs and need to post our latest Christmas podcast.

i.e. It IS a pretty big inconvenience as all I use Host Excellence for is for blogging and all my history is with Blogger.

Thanks!
-----------------------------------

Gasanova, Marina, Mon Dec 12 17:49:18 2005
Ticket Status was changed from Open to Resolved
Dear Valued Customer!
Thank you for your word to support

Please, take my apology for tenporary inconvenience , our admins found some problems with blogger software , they have changed some settings, They have already contacted with Blogger Team to resolve this issue, it will be resolved in nearest future.

Kind regards,
Marina Gasanova
Technical Support
-----------------------------------

Oestreich, Jeff, Wed Dec 14 13:42:40 2005
Ticket re-opened
Hey guys - thanks so much for the quick updates and summaries!

It still is not working properly. Has Blogger given you guys any indication that they are going to put in a fix to this?

There are two things here that just don't hunt with your explanation with the problem is on Blogger's side:

1) when I change the host on Blogger's site, it publishes fine. (I tried this with the free site - tripod). If this were a Blogger problem, why would this work?

2) If this were a Blogger problem, no Blogger blogs across the world would be being published and they would be extremely quick on sniffing out the problem and fixing it. There is no 'outcry' from the blogging community, none of the blogging boards are being 'lit up'. Why is Blogger only seeming to have problems with Host Excellence?

I'm not trying to be critical and,in fact, generally love your service and support. Time is just ticking away and I still can't update my blog. I would hate the think that this time is being wasted because of some neglected silly FTP setting you need to fix on your side.

Thanks so much,
Jeff
-----------------------------------

Rajesh, Y, Thu Dec 15 05:06:17 2005 ****
Ticket Status was changed from Open to Resolved
Respected Jeff.

Thank you for contacting us.

I sincierly apologize for the recent inconvenience that you have been experiencing due to the blogger issue. Our system administartion department is deliegently working on this issue . As of now our investigation proved us that there is an issue with the settings which is not getting compatible to publish through blogger. We value your input and appreciate it. Your investigation and keen observation on the issue should definetly help us to fix the issue as soon as possible. We request your patience and kind co-operation with us.I would keep you informed about the updates and as well as fix for this issue.

Thanking you
Rajesh
Technical support.

Blogger Problems

Wow - Is this a pain? All of a sudden Blogger (my blogging software) stopped it's ability to connect with my host. My host has 24/7 support but Blogger has zero support. It's a free service that offers to paid-for optional support.

What this means? I don't know. I probably won't be updating this for awhile until either Blogger fixes the problem or I find another blogging system.

I'm so frustrated by this. I was able to get Blogger to work with a free cheapie account (you know - the kind with ads all over it) to test with. But my host still maintains that the problem is on the Blogger side.

To get this post up and posted it to the free account and FTP'd to my local drive and FTP'd to this host. Ugh... I'm not doing THAT every time.

Be good kids, maybe we'll see you in the New Year, maybe sooner.

BTW - DON'T use BLOGGER!!! Highly NOT recommended.

Autumn in Dallas

Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day in Dallas. Well.. actually it get a bit hot for autumn - I think it got to about 80 degrees. But the air was cool and crisp when I snapped this shot down my street in the morning. Click on it for the full sized picture.