Oldies: Sunday, September 8 - Saturday, September 14, 2002...

Friday, 13 September 2002: Well, the last couple of days have been fun to say the very least. I tried to login to my website yesterday only to receive an error message saying that the URL could not be found. Any of you who tried to login yesterday or early today probably got the same message, right? Anyway, I figured initially that Geocities (who hosts my site) was just doing some server maintenance. But I was nervous all the same. So I tried to login to my file manager. I got in, but all the data it showed me was completely different than I'm accustomed to seeing. In fact, I was viewing the sort of file manager given to people who have free Geocities accounts. I was pissed. My site had been shut down by the powers that be.

A little history... remember back on July 10th I was griping about my NextCard being canceled right out from under me... no warning whatsoever? Well, I had been using that card to pay for my website. They would just charge me each month for their services (okay, I admit that sounds bad).

Near the end of July, I received an e-mail about my credit card no longer working. However, they never explained how to go about changing my credit card information. There was no way in hell that I was going to just e-mail my credit card number to them when e-mails are notoriously unsecure and easy to hack into. So I e-mailed them asking how to change my info. Then I e-mailed them again a week later. No response to either e-mail.

Around the beginning of August, I received another e-mail with the aforementioned message, but this time there was an ultimatum stating that my site would be shut down. On August 13, with no help from Customer Care, I finally discovered a way to login securely and change my card info, so I did. Then I replied to the e-mail asking if they got my new information and to please respond upon confirmation of my new account info. They never did. Not surprising to anyone who has tried to deal with Geocities Customer Care Center.

Well, I just assumed (incredibly incorrectly) that either my info had been verified or I would have received another warning e-mail. Nope. They just shut down my site. Bastards. So, yesterday, I scoured the Yahoo/Geocities website looking for a phone number to call since I had never received a response to my e-mails. The only phone number I could find was one to the Copyright Department of Yahoo, so I called it. The recorded message I got actually gave me the number for Customer Care, so I called it as well. I finally got a hold of a human being a few minutes later who agreed that I had, in fact, changed my credit card info over a month before and that the shutdown should never have occurred.

She said she would check with a supervisor to find out what needed to happen next and she would call me back sometime last night or early this morning. I never heard back from her. So I called them back and had to explain my situation to another person entirely. He told me that I had to re-register for my site and service entirely. But, he added, that the setup fee would be waived since it was their mistake. Damn right they're waiving it. It's not my fault. So, about an hour after I spoke with him, my site was back up and running. Had a lotta hurdles to leap through, but it's finally done and I should not have this problem again.

On another note, I stopped by Kiss the Sky today (a local independent record store) and purchased a couple of throwback albums -- Extreme II Pornograffitti and Anthrax Attack of the Killer A's (no, not Attack of the Killer B's... A's is a hits album... good collection). God I missed those two bands. It's been a while since I've heard any of their stuff. Not that Anthrax has disappeared, they're still around, just in a totally different incarnation than they were when I used to listen to them. Extreme, on the other hand, is a bit defunct and has been for a while. I wish they'd get back together, though. It's not that Gary Cherone doesn't have time on his hands since leaving Van Halen. Same goes for Nuno Bettencourt whose solo album did worse than bomb.


Wednesday, 11 September 2002: Not that there's any way you could possibly forget what today marks the anniversary of. But, just in case, don't forget to take a moment to remember all the lives that were lost one year ago today to the attacks perpetrated by a bunch of radical, hypocritical, militant, anti-humanitarian, anything-but-truly-Islamic, dreg-of-society terrorists funded by the world's favorite asshole Osama bin Laden. It may take a while my friends, but you will be avenged.


Tuesday, 10 September 2002: So, while many people return home from a long day at work and crash (which is what I prefer to do), what do you think Katie and I did today? We hit the road to head down to Bloomington-Normal and pick up a graphing calculator that she had loaned her brother Scott and now needed back for her calculus class that she started yesterday. And, lord knows, that the drive from Geneva to Normal is anything but exciting. Especially when nighttime is starting to set in and the little to no scenery that can typically be viewed along Rte. 39/51 becomes even less worth looking at. But, to be honest, driving down and picking up the calculator is a helluva lot cheaper than buying a new one for just a single class. Besides, Katie is good company. We talked the entire way down and back. Didn't even bother with the radio.

Now, while we were down there, her brother Scott helped us save $12 by cutting my hair for me. You know me, I like to give props where props are due and they are definitely due here. Scott did a great job on my hair (or what's left of it).

One last thing to point out about the trip... when we got back to Geneva, we were driving behind a car with one of the coolest license plates I've seen in a while. This is one my Uncle would love. The plate read "STE V RAY" as in Stevie Ray Vaughan the legendary blues guitarist who died in a helicopter wreck outside Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wisconsin over a decade ago. What are some of the coolest license plates you've seen?


Sunday, 8 September 2002: I will admit that I was sweating there for a bit. I wasn't sure if the Bears could pull it off against the Vikings. But, as has become true to form, safety Mike Brown came through in the clutch allowing the Bears to pull ahead in the last few minutes and triumph 27-23. Would anyone else like to join me in a collective cry of "Mike Brown for President!" Okay, so maybe that is going a little overboard.

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Oldies: Sunday, September 1 - Saturday, September 7, 2002...

Sep 7
Friday, 6 September 2002: Okay, first, an apology. To all you people who have been trying to access my Photo Album pages using a modem, I'm sure you're cursing and swearing up a storm at me. The problem was that...
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Oldies: Sunday, September 15 - Saturday, September 21, 2002...

Sep 21
Friday, 20 September 2002: Oh, c'mon. Don't tell me you didn't see this one coming a mile away. Yes, that's right, another "Darwinism Missed Me" winner today. Sorry, I should say "winners" - plural. It's been a while after all....

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