The Squamidian Report – April 5 / 08
Issue #306
Including:
From the Shores of Lake Huron
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Over the past week or so I’ve spent a fare amount of effort re-organizing my web sites. I’d had all my web pages spread out over 4 different servers and locations. It was becoming a bit of a hassle just to keep track of where everything was. To make matters worse, I’m becoming frustrated with my Internet Service Provider. Shaw Internet is our provider and we’ve been plagued with outages and interruptions. I can go for days at a time without being able to send or receive Email or without being able to access the Net. I’m not at the point just yet where I’m ready to jump over to Telus but I’d like to have that option. And to have that option means I can’t be held hostage to the fact that I had live web sites and pages on the Shaw server.
So the logical first step was to migrate all the files from my b1 and b2 Shaw sites over to my .net site where I have tonnes of space. (This is all done first on my hard drive where I keep the working copies of everything and then mirror it onto the servers). Both my .ca and .net sites are housed under my ‘thedougsite’ names on independent servers and are therefore unaffected by who my service provider is. However, moving hundreds of pages, many containing numerous embedded JPG files is no easy task. You can’t just copy them to a new location. Well, you do just copy them to the new location but then you must go in and check every link on every page. Some links are ‘relative’ and point to files that stay in the same ‘relative’ position. They are fine the way they are. Other ‘relative’ links point to files that have moved in relationship to their old location and must be fixed. Others file links are ‘absolute’ and if they point to a page that has not moved, they are fine. But if they point to a page that has moved, they must be edited to reflect the new location. And so on.
Then all the changed and moved files must be uploaded to the new location on the .net server and all the files that had made up the sites on the Shaw server must be deleted. After that it was just a matter of going through the ‘new’ site locations live on line, checking for bad and broken links that I’d missed. So now my old Brubacher Family Site files are no longer sitting on the Shaw server. If you have a bookmark to that site, just go there and click on the link to the new location and then set up a new bookmark. Or, just go to http://www.thedougsite.ca/ and click on the Family site link. If you do find yourself poking around in the ‘moved’ site and come across a broken link, let me know so I can fix it. While I was at it I spruced up some of the Home Pages just to give things a fresher look.
But the main thing is now the only hold Shaw Cable has over me is that as long as they are my ISP, my main Email address is through them. And even that could be rectified by setting up addresses through one of my domain name locations, but I’d still need the POP3 aspect of an Email server for sending mail and those servers do have that. Using Shaw for my Email doesn’t pose a problem though. If I were to jump ship over to Telus, my Email address would simply change over as well. No big deal. At least now I have the option.
*
Well hey, I saw my first bear of the season. It was a big black creature, strolling up an embankment about 500ft from where we were working. I guess that means they are or have woken up from their winter sleep and are out and about looking for food. That also means we have to be on the lookout for them, for their sake. And also on the wild animal topic, conservation officers are on the lookout for a large cougar that has been stalking house pets up here in our neighbourhood. I guess pets make for easy pickings.
*
And one last thing, Sue and I popped up to Whistler last Sunday morning for breakfast and on the way back I started snapping pictures out through the car window. Just for the heck of it. Now taking pictures through the dirty window of a car makes for dirty pictures (pardon the pun) but some of them actually turned out not too bad. So if you want a look at the scenery along the highway leading back from Whistler, just click on over to this web page I’ve posted.
http://www.thedougsite.net/F&F/Pictures/Misc/breakfast.htm
doug
****
Greetings everyone,
Another interesting week in Bruce County. Between the heavy rain and April fools day it was very surprising. We as did most of southern Ontario got a huge amount of rain which in turn melted almost all the snow except for the huge mounds that got piled up in parking lots etc. Almost all the rivers and streams were extremely flooded and some still are. The first time in the life of the town of Formosa the little creek that runs through there spilled over its banks and flooded the main drag which had to be shut down. If the Saugeen conservation hadn't built up the shores of the Saugeen River in Paisley a few years ago that town would of been under water. They did the same a few years ago in Bridgeport also which saves that part of Kitchener now. New Hamburg also got flooded out in a lot of areas. The only good thing about the rain is that you don't have to shovel it but I guess some people wouldn't agree that got flooded basements or whatever.
The local radio station 98 The beach on Tuesday morn had a news broadcast that the annual large fall bash known as Pumkinfest was being Changed to Cowfest as per a report from the Ontario Bovine Association starting this year. I kinda figured this was a hoax but they managed to convince the Mayor and deputy mayor and a fair number of people such as people involved with pumpkinfest to join in on the prank. Well while working on a basement in a house in town and listening to the radio it's amazing how many people can be fooled into believing something like that. Even the 1-hour talk show host that morning had a 1/2-hour session on that subject. I had lots of laughs listening to some of these upset people. They finally said on the noon news it was an April fools joke. Some people told me it wasn't as good as the one the newspaper print on the front page about eight years ago when they said that the Ontarion lottery corporation had got permission to build a casino next to the lighthouse on Chantry Island. They even managed to get an Architects proposed sketch of what it was to look like. I guess we all have been caught as an April fool one time or another.
It looks like today I will get the bike out for My first ride of 2008. It won't be a long highway ride just around town but I sure am looking forward to it. Greg I imagine your new bike is either at your place now or soon to arrive , have fun ok!
Well the Rangers took the first game of round two of the playoffs against Sarnia Sting Friday Night. Hopefully they play this well the rest of the series and through to the Memorial Cup. GO RANGERS GO!
Well as it is after Midnight I am going to sign off. Until next week everyone have a safe and happy week
****
Hello
everyone!
Aaaaahh
Spring, a time when every young man’s fancy turns to L O V E! Hmmmmmmm……… wait
a minute!!! Did I say LOVE? I meant
“MOTORCYCLES”! With the snow on the melt here in Kitchener we’re actually
beginning to see these romantic vehicles on the streets once again. The big bug
about motorcycle riding here in Ontario is the cost of insurance. We’ve been
paying large sums of money to the companies every year for the coverage we need
to legally ride our bikes. This year I have just bought a new bike and wasn’t
looking forward to my upcoming Insurance increase. I received a pleasant
surprise when I called my broker and was told that my insurance would only
increase by $180.00 / year for more coverage on my new bike than I had on the
old one even though the new one is 8 years newer with not a kilometer on it! I
was quite happy to find this out. A few days after I got this news, I received
an e-mail from my cousin who is also a motorcycle rider. He was given the name
of an insurance broker in Mississauga (ridersplus.com) that specializes in
motorcycle coverage and he passed it on to me. NOW, I know that there are only
a couple “Squamidian Members” that ride motorcycles but I want to pass this
info on to all of you anyway, just in case you have a friend that rides. I
requested a quote on line and was shocked to find that they offered me full
coverage for $300.00 LESS than my present agent that I’ve been dealing with for
36 years. I haven’t been able to beat the price and coverage on our cars and
house with anyone else over all these years but the bike insurance is a
different story. My present coverage is in effect until August 15th
2008 and will only cost me about $80.00 to cover the new bike until then. At
that point, I’ll be switching to the other company if my present one can’t
match the quote. The company we are with for the bikes right now is called
Kingsway and the new one is called Echelon Insurance. I found out that a very
old friend of mine from high school is selling insurance for Erb and Erb Ins Co
in Kitchener and they can insure my bike with Echelon. So, I will not have to
go to Mississauga to get the better rate. If you have a motorcycle and are
looking for great rates with a reliable company, give Erb and Erb Insurance on
Duke St in Kitchener a call and ask for an agent by the name of Rich Wamil.
He’ll give you great service and I promise you he’ll make sure you get the best
coverage for the best rate!
I found
out that it makes one heck of a difference who you deal with for bike
insurance. If you just go to your usual car/house agent and they don’t
specialize in bike insurance, you’ll pay through the nose. Erb and Erb has an
agent that works with Rich Wamil that IS a specialist in insuring motorcycles
and he knows all the discounts that are available when insuring your bike. You
get a discount for belonging to a motorcycle riders club (you can join one of
these clubs on line for free and it saves you 15%), you also get a discount for
having an alarm system on your bike, you also get a discount for belonging to
CAA, you also get a discount for being of a certain age and riding a certain
type of bike. This agent knows all the ins and outs and will treat you right!
Give him a call and tell Rich I sent you!
*
Well,
we’re finally into the above 0 temperatures here in Southern Ontario and it
sure feels good! A week ago we still had 3’ of snow on the front lawn and now
it’s down to less than a foot in most spots. The roads are getting wider and
wider every day and it’s becoming safer to drive again. There is lots of
flooding on the Grand and Nith rivers these days due to the melting. The April
showers have yet to materialize but I’m sure they’ll show up soon. We here in
Ontario are supposed to have sunshine and warm temperatures through until
Tuesday of next week. That ought to take care of the rest of the snow and bring
us that much closer to constant spring weather. We all know that this time of
year can surprise us with sudden flashbacks to winter in the form of freak snow
storms. So, we may not be out of the woods yet weather wise. Let’s hope we are
though! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for continuing sunshine and warmer temps
in the weeks immediately ahead. I can’t wait to get that new bike on the road!
I hope
you all have your spring outdoor cleanup plans in the works. I know we do and
I’m actually looking forward to it this year.
That’s
about it for this week. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to
you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Almonds
are members of the PEACH family.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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