Geoff Who?

I went to add an entry to the blog earlier today. As is usually the case, I clicked a bookmark in my web browser. Because there’s a ‘cookie’ set, I don’t have to offer up my username and password every day.

The username and password screen appeared. Uh oh.

I entered the requested data and… same screen, except there were red letters telling me my name and password were unknown. This is not the kind of red letter day anyone wants!

I tried again… and again… and again. Each time the result was the same.

Maybe I had forgotten which of the myriad of passwords I use was assigned to geofffox.com? I hit the page which is supposed to email my password to me.

Please enter the maiden name of the street your elementary school was on when you got your first pet, it asked?

“User unknown.”

Beads of sweat were beginning to glisten on my brow.

I went to the website of the company that writes this blogging software. Certainly someone else had experience this fate?

One of the hints was to check the database which serves as the nerve center for the blog. I did and found no databases. This was starting to look serious.

If you’re technologically savvy, you can skip the next two paragraphs.

For everyone else, geofffox.com is on a computer with dozens of other websites. It’s similar to the computer you’re using now, except for some specialized webhosting software.

Geofffox.com sits in a ‘server farm’ near Chicago. I control a very small part of this computer. Anything serious demands a user with more privileges than I have – someone who works for the hosting company I contract with.

I spent around 20 minutes chatting with Jason in tech support. It was a simple problem, he said. But he couldn’t fix it.

He asked me to send an email which he’d kick up to Level 3 tech support. Jason was admitting there were support guys even geekier than he! More importantly, they had even more privileges on my server than he had.

As you can see the problem did get solved.

Hi,

this issue has now been repaired. Mysql should be fully functional.

Thanks,

John F.

It was a ‘simple’ permissions problem.

Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?

I asked John F. if it was something I had done… something I needed to avoid in the future. Nope, It was just a sh*t happens kinda thing.

For much of the afternoon, all I could think of was the grief I’d experience if I had to redo the entire site. There are thousands of entries and nearly as many photos and images.

As it is, I stay 5-6 versions behind with my blogging software because I’m afraid I’ll ruin some precarious balance of nature and crash the whole thing should I go current.

I’m beholden to the Jasons and John F’s of this world. Without them, our modern society would surely grind to a halt.

I’m sure it’s difficult for them to convince women of that.

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