right on bro!

Tech homies - would like to request your advice again. I’m interested in moving my Web presence to a dedicated server, any recommendations for providers in the sub-$100/month range? I’d like Linux and cPanel or Plesk. Don’t have any specific size or bandwidth requirements at this time (all of the dedicated hosting plans seem to be fine). Been told about serverbeach and cari.net so far.

Applications on the server will not be high-traffic or extremely resource-intensive (unless you count my crappy PHP code as being resource-intensive), but I would like to able to run:

* two FTP connections into the machine every 30 seconds for nowcali.com
* movable type
* a few different cron jobs running an RSS parser every few minutes or so
* whatever web traffic sits on top of all of this

My understanding is that any dedicated box should be fine with this?

Thanks!

Another trip down memory lane: I bought the new R.E.M. anthology, “Unauthorized Duplication is Prohibited,” that came out this week. I used to be a big R.E.M. fan back in the day (came in around Document and left after Automatic for the People), but somehow managed to loan/lose most of their entire CD catalog.

Well, actually, it’s called “And I Feel Fine…The Best Of The I.R.S. Years 1982-1987.” But this album wins the award for “Most Number of Anti-Piracy Message On a CD.” The funny thing is the CD and packaging are stamped with six different anti-piracy notices. There’s even an FBI seal on the back of the CD cover. It feels creepy, but I guess it’s better than having a rootkit on the CD.

Anyway, the anthology itself is pretty good. They remastered all of the songs, and it sounds absolutely fantastic - loud and warm, and I’m hearing a lot more detail that I never heard before. The second disc contains a bunch of rarities and outtakes which are pretty cool as well, including both sides of the original Hib-Tone single for “Radio Free Europe” that I was never able to get my hands on.

So good job boys, and thanks for the memory trip.

Spent a long weekend in Chicago at the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary show. Despite it being cloudy and rainy (the third day) at an outdoor music festival, I had a really good time. I got to see a few bands I listened to over the years and check out a bunch of new (well, old) ones as well. It’s been ages since I’ve been to a show where the bands just solidly rock you and the music readjusts your outlook on life.

The weekend was also boosted by food. Thanks to two gracious hosts, we got a sampling of Chicago at its finest - pizza, barbecue, and Italian beef sandwiches. I’d never even heard of Italian beef sandwiches but they absolutely rule the planet. It’s too bad I forgot to take pictures during the entire time.

Now for a bit of a downer. I’ve come back to LA to the realization that the company I’ve been working on for the past five months is about to totally disintegrate. There isn’t much to do about it other than let it happen and try to salvage the ton of effort I’ve put into it and leverage it into whatever’s next. I’m not really angry about it, just more highly disappointed, as I felt really good about the idea and tried my best to keep things going. But well, quite frankly, things went to shit, and the the best thing to do is just to try to find something new to do. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve, so we’ll see.

Labor Day may have come and gone but I’m still feeling a bit of the summer doldrums. Things are relatively okay overall though, buoyed by various weekend gatherings and a long drive through the desert a couple of weeks ago. Life could be a lot worse.

Supercomputer (the HTPC) has been upgraded to an Athlon 64 3500+. I had real problems getting Linux to work on the new hardware (tried FC4, FC5, and Kubuntu, all had various issues), so I switched to Windows MCE and am currently running the trial version of BeyondTV. I also wanted to try streaming shows to the Xbox 360 downstairs, but the wireless connection ain’t so great. It’s kind of working, but not really. BeyondTV needs some Windows services disabled in order to work on MCE, but MCE needs those services to stream to the Xbox, so it’s kind of an irreconcilable standoff. (This goes for other third-party PVR softwares as well, such as MediaPortal or GBPVR, by the way.) I really don’t want to get an Ethernet jack installed just for this, and I don’t want to drop any more money on this to get 802.11a equipment, so I may switch back to MythTV at some point.

Off to Chicago tomorrow for the Touch & Go 25th Anniversary Celebration. Time to get my indie rock on. Hope all is well with everyone.

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