Mike’s Rants and Raves

Approximately eight hours ago, the new version of WordPress was released. The upgrade has just been finished on this site and we are now running on WordPress Version 2.5

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So many times we hear the term - caveat emptor (buyer beware) - but the selection of a good Web host is one of those times we need to be extra wary.

When the Clan Lamont / Scottish Forums were first opened, the decision was made to go with one of those ‘too good to be true’ hosts. And the lesson was quickly learned - if it sounds too good to be true, there is a reason.

After about 12 months of really poor service, the decision was made to move to a host that offered an attractive hosting plan, but the price was more in accord with what was being offered. After being with this second host for about a year, we felt they had earned a fairly high mark for their service. They had a few shortcomings, but overall, the service was acceptable.

At about this time, the second host offered me one of those ‘too good to be true’ packages. And I had managed to forget the lessons learned with the first host. How’s the old saying go? ‘Fool me once, shame on you…’ Well, the shame is all mine, because I rose to the baited offer the second host made. I was gut-hooked and they jerked me cross-eyed when they set the hook. I spent a bunch of money on what was presented as a V.I.P. package. It was my mistake for wrongfully thinking V.I.P. meant something it quite obviously did not. But hey, they did ‘give’ me a second hosting plan for free and they even registered a new domain for me at no charge. I purchased a second vBulletin license and the T-Bucket Forums were brought into existence.

Service went down the drain, within a couple short weeks. And server performance was even worse. It was at about this time I discovered this host had indeed registered my new domain. In their name! It only took a few terse exchanges to get the domain properly registered in my own name.

After 5 or 6 months of really shabby service, the hunt was on to locate a new Web host. And after some patient shopping, I managed to locate the host every webmaster and forum admin dreams of finding. I was nervous about putting all my eggs in one basket, so I purchased a small plan from Downtown Host and we moved the Clan Lamont / Scottish Forums to one of their servers. Server loads have always been low and in the few times when a trouble ticket was necessary, DTH’s customer service has been outstanding.

After suffering all the lousy service I can bear with the second host, the decision was made to move the T-Bucket Forums over to Downtown Host, as well. Except the second host had locked the domain registration. Once again, it took a few terse exchanges to get the authorization codes to initiate the transfer of this domain into my domain portfolio with GoDaddy. The domain transfer has finally taken place and I’m hoping we will be moving into a new hosting package within the next few hours. I’m purchasing a large enough package to allow the Clan Lamont / Scottish Forums, the Clann Alba Forums and the T-Bucket Forums to all reside in one place, each with their own control panel.

For the time being, I’m planning to leave a couple of blogs residing on the second host’s servers, with an eye toward moving them to greener pastures, at the first hint of problems.

For those of you looking to establish a Web site, we highly recommend Downtown Host as your best bet in hosting. If you prefer to find your own company, just remember the line - buyer beware. When a host is offering 5 terabytes of disk space and 25 terabytes of transfer for only $2.99, I hope you’ll not be tempted to sign on the dotted line. When you’re paying a little bit of nothing for your hosting, that is the same amount of service you will be able to anticipate when problems arise. Don’t be shy about asking around about hosts and their plans. The Web Hosting Talk forums are a good source of hosting reviews. Spend a few days educating yourself before pulling the trigger with any host. It might take you a few days more to get your Web site up and running, but you’ll be thankful for that after the first few months.

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Several weeks back, I received an order from Giovanni at Barbieria Italiana. Giovanni had also enclosed six or eight razor blades from various manufacturers. I was really experiencing great shaves with Derby Extra Super blades, so I tossed the package in a drawer and pretty much forgot about it.

After reading the Leisureguy blog and seeing the results he was getting with some different blades, I decided to dig the package back out and give them a try. I’ve documented some of the results I’ve experienced with a Zorrick blade and a Sputnik blade.

A couple evenings ago, I pulled a Polsilver blade out and loaded it into a Gilette Super Speed. My first impression was the blade was definitely demanding when it came to angle. If the angle wasn’t just so, the shave wasn’t very good and the angle variation was a very narrow window.

Last evening, I lathered up with a Mama Bear Bonzai soap and then settled in for a very careful and exacting shave. I was focused on maintaining the blade angle, throughout my regular, three-pass shave. And the results were spectacular. The shave was smooth as glass, with no nicks or burning.

I checked the Barbieria Italiana site and Giovanni states the Polsilver is a stainless blade, made in Poland by Gilette. The Polsilver blades are a bit more money than the Derby and Sputnik blades, but the marginal price difference might be money well-spent.

I’m really happy that Leisureguy continued to encourage me to experiment with blades, as I’ve definitely found two blades that are giving me results as good as the Derby.

I barely mentioned the Bonzai shaving soap, from Mama Bear. A really nice scent and it also has that excellent lather that Mama Bear’s soaps are known to produce. If you’re looking for a wide selection of excellent shaving soaps, be sure to visit Mama Bear for some great products. I’m sold on her bath soaps, her shaving soaps and her aftershaves. And when you see her prices, you’re going to wish you had found her site earlier!

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I received a package from Mama Bear yesterday afternoon. Inside was a bar of the new Bay Rum-scented bath soap and a bar of the new Dragon’s Blood-scented bath soap.

I was torn as to which bar to try for this morning’s shower, but the Dragon’s Blood won out.

Rich, thick, cleansing lather that smells so good is probably illegal in at least three or four states.  Another two thumbs up for a great product.

Get thee to the Mama Bear Web site and order yourself some goodness of your own.

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