Ye Olde Rad Blog II

Last year I moved the site to a new host > Lunarpages. The new Radified server is physically located downtown Los Angeles (where you'll find the nation's most polluted air).

Today, I received a note from the girls at Lunarpages, saying they raised the amount of disk storage for clients enrolled in their Basic hosting plan .. to (an incredible) 350-GB (still $6.95/month).

As you can see, the number 350 remains the same, yet now it's followed by GB, instead of MB (1,000 X more space for ¼ the co$t). The times, they are a-changin'.

Recall a few days ago? When I mentioned the idea of getting another domain name, so I could split-out site content related to my adventures as Rad-Dad?

Actually, that post was sort of hijacked by the subsequent comparison of Drupal vs Joomla (two of the best open source Content Management Systems).

I've since been pondering various domain names, such as rad-dad.com (which is already taken, tho I could buy it for a price) and radfather.com (which is available). But none felt right.

Until today, at Newport Dunes beach park, where I was playing Rad-dad with the bug. (Gorgeous day, btw.)

Found myself visualizing what the new site might look like .. beginning with a simple title & logline, such as > FATHERHOOD: Harder Than it Looks .. or .. FATHERHOOD: It's Hard Enough .. in place of where I currently have RADIFIED: Indulge Your Technolust.

Then I thought, "That's it! > HardNuf." In other words, it's hard enough to raise children, without parents bickering. And it's hard enough for kids to grow up in two different homes, without undue tension between parents.

Been reading a new book on XHTML/CSS. O'Reilly claims its books in the Head First series represent a "learning experience." (not a reference)

Normally I just want the facts .. stripped of extraneous info. (For example, I've never cared for preachers who infuse their sermons with much emotion, which I feel is manipulative.) So it surprises me I'm actually enjoying this book.

The introduction (12-pages) addresses the book's theory on learning. Below I've listed the key points (many of which I've long subscribed to, and tried to implement here).

Their main theory centers upon the notion that » your brain craves novelty .. continuously searching for something unusual (like a hungry tiger, hiding in the bushes, waiting to eat you).

Your brain, consequently, does everything it can to stop ordinary thoughts from interfering with your attention to "things that matter" (hungry tigers, fire, etc.).

So you need to trick your brain into thinking the material you're learning is impotant. "How?" you ask. Good question.

Returned to the gym yesterday .. first time in 6 months. You might recall, 6 months ago, when I tweaked my back, how bad that suk'ed. (See entry titled » Falling Apart at the Seams.)

Felt good to throw around some iron. I went straight to the BACK exercises, beginning with deadlifts.

Felt surprisingly strong, considering. Used moderate weights (not light, not heavy). Resisted the urge to push it. I did tucker out pretty quickly, tho. I'll see how I feel in the morning. (Hope I can climb out of bed.)

Until recently I had no desire to workout (only bike-rides). But this week, it felt like my body was asking to get back in the gym.

Another factor » my eyes been bothering me lately. Been reading the Head First book on XHTML/CSS, which I've been enjoying .. more so as I get into the more advanced chapters.

Played Rad-dad this weekend. This was the first time the Bug didn't want to go back to his mom. He actually cried (tears). That's never happened before.

Can't think of a reason for the change. My rock-climbing buddy (Tom) said a similar thing happened right after his ex weaned his daughter.

"Come to think of it," I said, "the Bug hasn't mentioned the m-word since he returned from his trip back East (earlier this month)." So maybe that's what happened.

"If he's been weaned," he said, "that would explain things .. cuz it would put you on equal footing with his mom."

Haunting Images 

I know it's not a problem, and he'll be fine soon as I leave, but it really bothers me to see the Bug in distress. The sight of him holding out his arms, crying, "Dada," as I drove away .. ugh » it's haunting.

"I don't get him today," I'd reply. And they respond with some encouraging comment, and share insightful observations about seeing us together. I could tell their comments were genuine & heartfelt.

There's a difference between knowing something (intellectually), and internalizing it. I've always known I was a good dad, but I never really felt that way. (Until today.)

Perhaps the reason for this delay is cuz I've always felt I could do a better job .. or cuz I don't get to see the Bug as often as I'd like. I mean, days go by without seeing him. Sometimes weeks.

How good of a dad can you be if you're only together a fraction of the time? Or maybe it's cuz my parenting techniques are frequently criticized (.. by one person in particular).

1. the books you read, and
2. the people you meet."

I joked by adding, "And the lotteries you win."

Joking aside, I never forgot that saying, tho I doubt Matto was the originator. He claimed the reason books were included was because » you can meet people thru books. [Matto was an extrovert (Sales), so I could understand his attraction to the phrase.]

Taking his concept a step further, I feel the *real* reason behind this principle is cuz » both people and books carry ideas. Ideas are really the things that change people.

Another saying I once heard goes something like » a mind stretched by a new idea can/will never fully return to its original size. This is why I've always enjoyed meeting people from other cultures » they often carry new (stimulating, interesting) ideas.

Free Books

Along these lines, I stumbled upon a new site yesterday called » Wowio, which offers free books (for download, PDF format). I was skeptical at first, but it actually seems legit.

You have to register (via valid email addy), and you can only download 3 books/day (enough for even the most voracious reader). In the spirit of Matto's maxim, I downloaded the following 3 titles:

1. Einstein in His Own Words
2. Engines of Creation 2.0. (See the Wikipedia entry for more.)
3. The Art of War (Sun Tzu)

You might recall when we were booted off our server .. for using excessive resources (CPU/memory). Banished .. to the bad-boy "stabilization" server. Unfortunately, we're still there. (Lunarpages is my web host.)

Since then, I've been working to lower our resource usage. Upgrading the forum to YaBB v2.2 was part of that effort.

Every once in a while, the support crew at Lunarpages will notify me that our usage has dipped below the allowable levels (each account is allocated a max of 1% CPU/memory), but they always wait to "monitor" the account to see if it stays that way.

So far, it never has. And I'm almost out of tricks.

They keep telling me I need to move to a VPS account, which costs a lot more (~$500/yr vs ~$100/yr for a Shared account), and which allocates more server resources to each account (2.5% vs 1%).

But unlike Shared hosting, you have to administrate your own VPS account .. which involves the Linux operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database, PHP & Perl scripting languages, etc .. which can be daunting for the uninitiated (like me).

So I've been talking to Magoo (whose guides are hosted here, such as his Intro to Linux) .. to see if .. we have to go that route .. he was still available to administer a VPS account for me. (That's what he does as part of his day job. He said, "I ain't scared of no VPS.")

Even tho having your own VPS is very cool, I'd rather stay Shared, primarily for the co$t. But if we have to go that route, I want to understand what's involved. You can eavesdrop on the dialogue here » Magoo: VPS Admin.