Monday, February 25, 2008

Spam Years Are Like Dog Years


I spent a few hours this weekend moving the first of many files from the AOL servers to the FatCow servers.

I'd started uploading web material to my personal AOL space in the mid-90s, when it was a bargain that AOL gave you free server space as a perk of keeping an account with them. Years went by. Eventually everyone offered this perk, and then competition made server space cheaper and cheaper.

Nowadays, the only excuse I have for not consolidating all my websites into one place is laziness. It's a pain to sort through all the files, download them, clean them up, and upload them to a new spot. But when I went to my accountant last week, I realized that I was spending $179.40 a year on AOL just because I was lazy, and another $99 a year on .mac for the same reason. Time to act. Fatcow is only $88 a year.

I uploaded my Comic Book Cows, but then I made myself dizzy editing all of the e-mail address out of the guestbook. This took ages. In 1997, when I first made this site as a class exercise in using frames, people were still happy to type their e-mail addresses into a public forum. How the world has changed!

12 comments:

Marie Javins said...

Before anyone e-mails me about GoDaddy.com... yes, I know about GoDaddy. I didn't go with their service because I have had a lot of trouble getting my e-mails to friends who use their servers. Seems I look suspiciously like spam.

Ed Ward said...

So does everyone to them. I got rid of them last year and all is well except for the occasional invitation to extend my, uh, well, you know, which slips through.

Does this mean your e-mail address has changed? If so, send me a quick note so I can change things.

Marie Javins said...

No, I have the same half-dozen e-mail addresses. I'm just consolidating all my websites.

Linda said...

I have a note on the fridge to remind me to back-up my old sites that reside on AOL and cancel the paid service. The note has been there two months... I really need to do that.

Turns out that having an internet presence is like having a house - you spend a lot of time on maintenance.

Marie Javins said...

What's funny is how little stuff I wanted to move once I sat down and looked at it. Most of it will go onto the hard drive of history.

Linda said...

Nice URL for Comic Book Cows!

That guestbook page needs a link back to the main page though. And maybe a link to your blog too.

Marie Javins said...

How sad. I didn't update my blog yesterday and today I have absolutely nothing to say.

A strange byproduct of working the day job nonstop: my brain becomes numb and I lose the will to be creative. I can see why people end up watching TV all the time after work.

This numb-from-work brain effect isn't actually acceptable to me as a lifestyle. Must work on this.

Anonymous said...

Hi Marie I'm new to your blog. I'd like to ask a question, which is your favourite place to live and why? And which is the least favourite? M.

Marie Javins said...

I know this will sound like a dodge, M, but I am totally fickle about my favorite places. I usually end up liking where I am, and then two months after I leave it, decide I like somewhere else better.

For example, I did not want to go to Cairo at all. And once I had been there a while, I liked it and did not want to go home. Then I got home, missed Cairo, and after a while wanted to stay home and not go to Cairo. Then I had to go back to Cairo. And I liked that, and then just when I didn't want to leave, it was time to go home. After a few months home, I was happy to stay there and not go back to Cairo.

And I didn't have any interest in Kuwait, and by the time I left there, I liked it all right. Though it has been proven that money alone won't get me back there.

Of the places I've lived outside the US (Berlin, Australia, Barcelona, Uganda, Namibia, Cape Town, Kuwait, Cairo, and Finland), I would not go back to Kuwait real fast. Barcelona is probably my favorite, though the others were all pretty swell too.

Anonymous said...

Cool. But it also ties in with my theory that the anticipation of travel is the most exciting part, and then afterwards nostalgia kicks in. kind regards, M.

Marie Javins said...

Wait... I *lose* interest in somewhere after being gone from it a while, and before going, usually have little interest in going. But while I'm there, I adapt and enjoy it.

Sara Kocher said...

I think you've got it right, Marie. Getting to appreciate where you are, but not missing it too much when you're on to something new. Maybe not so much with the "not wanting to go" part, but you do go, so that doesn't seem like such a big problem. It's not as though not wanting to go makes you stay home.

Unlike, say, me. I was recently appalled to discover that I've lived in the same town for a dozen years. And I don't even travel anywhere interesting. I think I need to get a new passport...

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