It's been a little bit of a pain, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing, but I have left 1and1 after 8 years due to their complete lack of customer service. My new host is WestHost; and I have to say, I've gotten more (and better) customer service and tech support over the past few weeks than I got over the past 8 years with 1and1. Tech support answered today on the second ring, a real live person who KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT, not someone following a script. Don't get me wrong... 1and1 isn't bad if all you need is cheap webspace, but if you need ANY tech support they're absolutely useless. Hats off to WestHost for moving all of my files and migrating my databases for no extra charge. I can't say enough good things about them. I've only been with them for a few weeks, so I can't say anything about uptime or speed or server quality, but as far as customer service goes they rock. Check them out if you're looking for a new host.

Gotta love 'em. I woke up this morning to see that my primary (Windows 7) computer had rebooted because of system updates. Ok, no big deal, happens all the time. This time? It doesn't see my RAID, just the two individual drives that can't be accessed. Annoyed, I went to tech support (Google) and found out that Microsoft pushed a Promise driver to my computer... for my Intel ICH10R RAID. *sigh* There were several suggested fixes, none of which worked for me. I wound up needing to install new Intel drivers, then reboot and rebuild my RAID. Now I'm about halfway through the lengthy process of copying my backup from the server back over to the drive. All 390 GB worth. If you're wondering, it's almost 2pm here, and I've been copying this stuff since 9am... on gigabit ethernet, no less. I'm definitely glad we upgraded to a gigabit switch, this would have been eternal on 10/100 ethernet. This moment of geek brought to you by the letters M and I, and the number 2. Backups. Never forget your backups.

... without pissing people off. I'm sure all of you have at least one family member or friend who forwards every cute little joke, kitten email, or conspiracy theory to you on a regular basis. This is something you can send to them to help them understand the proper way to forward junk mail. Feel free to copy/paste, and make any changes you feel are necessary. __________________________________________________________ So you want to forward an email to all of your friends? There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Let's go over the basics.

1. Type all of the addresses into the BCC field. This is the Blind Carbon Copy option. This will allow you to send it to everyone you know, but still allow you to keep their email addresses private. Type your own email address in the TO field. Do not type everyone's addresses into the TO or the CC fields. This exposes everyone's email address to possible viruses on other people's computers. It's bad manners. Please avoid doing this.
2. Edit out all of the >>>>> and the extra email addresses. This will make the email more readable, and will (again) keep everyone's emails private. If you don't know how to do this, ask. Someone will show you how.
3. Take the time to check Snopes.com and make sure the email is accurate and not a hoax. Do not assume the email is correct if it says "I checked this on Snopes.com and it's TRUE". Check for yourself. Seriously. If Snopes debunks it, don't send it.
4. Do not assume everyone who is receiving the email has the same political/religious beliefs that you do. If you're not sure, don't send it.
5. Chain letters or letters that beg you to send them to everyone you know are spam. Nobody wants them. Nobody. Ever. No, Bill Gates is not going to start charging you 10 cents per email if you don't forward that chain letter immediately. I promise.
6. Take the time to put something personal in the email. If you can't be bothered to write one sentence explaining why you're sending something, it's probably not worth sending.
7. Be selective. Don't forward everything, and don't send every forward to everyone in your address book.

Right way: The wrong way: Notice I have edited the email addresses in this photo for privacy. The best way to respect everyone's privacy is to remove these email addresses before you forward them. Thanks for listening, and please take the time to clean up your forwards... the internet will thank you!

Feel free to ignore this post if you're not into Android phones. ;) I finally got my replacement Eris on Friday, and I've been playing with it off and on since then. If you're familiar with Android phones, you'll know that Android 2.2 (Froyo) has been released and is rolling out on most phones. Unfortunately, the Eris is not one of them. Too old, too slow, not enough power... even though it could benefit immensely from the improvements in Froyo. I haven't been very happy with HTC's "Sense" UI, either... so I decided to take the plunge and root my phone so I could install Froyo on it. I followed this easy, step-by-step guide to rooting any Eris (this includes anyone who'd installed the v3 leak), then installed the engineering bootloader to take it to stock rooted. If you don't know what any of this means, it's not important unless you want to do it yourself. The fun part, for me, was picking a ROM to use. I tried a couple of 2.1 ROMS (including EvilEris 3.0 and ErisLightningBolt), but I really wanted to try Froyo. Currently there are only a few Froyo ROMs for the Eris, and the most complete one seems to be KaosFroyo. The stock camera isn't working at the moment, and there are a few other little bugs, but holy crap... I love it! I've overclocked it, and it's running silky smooth. MUCH better than it was running before I rooted it. The battery is lasting at least 30% longer, which is a huge deal... these little phones suck battery juice like it's crack or something. I put my phone on the charger every single night, because it won't make it through an entire night and a day. I didn't charge it on purpose last night, and I think if I babied it I could make it all day today on what's left. Impressive. Conclusion: If you have an Android phone, root it and overclock it. If you can get Froyo on it, even better (try CyanogenMod if you have a Droid). If you have an Eris, by all means do this. It's a huge improvement. Disclaimer: I am not responsible for what you do to your phone. This possibly brick your phone, void your warranty and/or kick your cat. If you do not understand any of the instructions I've linked above, read them until you do understand them, or do not root your phone. Rooting your phone may lead to terminal happiness. Your mileage may vary. Offer void where prohibited.