Dysmey Post Archive > Pages for 2001 > Early August 2001 Edition
Sirius is looking down on us with a most malign glare this year. It is highest in the sky during the part of the summer when the days are hottest, which is why they are called Dog Days.
These days have been their hottest in years, and have been perfectly miserable. I have been spending so much time indoors, under air conditioning, that I am starting to develop bronchitis as if it were winter.
Anyway, I ended my job of housesitter when my sister Tina returned home at the end of last month. Everything is cleaned up and all cats are accounted for.
I reassembled my network, this time with both computers on the floor (well, on wheeled platforms on the floor). I decided to rebuild my Windows box this past weekend and have it ghosted—only to have to do it again now that my connectoid (the Windows app that lets me dial out) is useless! I'll explain why in a moment.
At work my boss has been off on his two-weeks-a-year in the Army Reserve. He has returned today. During his stint I installed ten computers without any major glitches. I would have installed more except that I had to take time to fix several computers in our newer branches, which took advantage of my boss's absence to die.
Yesterday I came home after work to be told by my sister (via my folks), that my Internet service provider was gone! Gone! I can't dial into the Internet. I can't reach my web site. I can't get my mail. My sister's proofreading pictures are trapped in my account's space.
It turns out my ISP was sold off by my telephone company. I don't know why that meant that my account (and those of my sister and scores of others) should vanish, but I've never been so miffed since ECICNet stiffed CIOE, my old ISP, over two years ago, leaving me without access to the Internet for days.
I will try to retrieve my sister's files from my old account and preserve them on CD-ROM. After that, the account can go to the Pit for all I care.
I will certainly need to find another ISP. I have no confidence in the two ISPs serving Fairmount, Comteck and what used to be NetUSA1. I could go back to CIOE*; they have very good service, but the nearest dial-up is a long-distance call. Internet cable is too expensive even if it is available in Fairmount (which it is not).
I have successfully retrieved my sister's files from what was once my Frontiernet site. All files will be cleared from there. I hope Global Crossing doesn't send me a bill this month; like, how can they bill me for something that they do not believe exists?
Anyway, I decided to sign up for Internet service from Comteck, which my sister and folks use. It's two bucks a month cheaper than Global Crossing, and it promises 24/7 technical support (which my sister confirms). The account should be up by this evening.
I tried to find CIOE, but their site is totally absorbed by WinStar, which itself has sunk into bankruptcy during the big hi-tech economy meltdown. I hope that does not mean CIOE itself will perish. It was such a good ISP.
My hosting service, HostPro, has just merged with Interland of Atlanta. In fact, It is Interland now. Its vision statement:
We have seen the future, and it is hosted.
That's what I thought two years ago when I set up my site on VServers—which was swallowed by HostPro—which has just been swallowed de facto by Interland. Any guess as to who my next hosting service will be?
Actually, I do not care who runs my service as long as it remains static or even improves.
*Not anymore: WinStar, which bought out CIOE a
few years ago, itself collapsed in the Internet bust of 2000.
I saw a PBS news report showing its routers and other
equipment being auctioned off. The CIOE building is now
empty; its web site is non-existent. Ah, what a sad day!
—Andy West, 4 June 2002.