Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 28, 2009 BUNCH OF YAHOOS II

"Yahoo!" sucks...BIG TIME!

Informed you last week of the imminent demise of GeoCities...the (sub)host for CAT Tracks.

Editor's Note: What follows is more than you ever wanted to know about website hosting and upkeep, but I just gotta vent a bit before moving on to "Plan B"...

Plus...you deserve a "Heads Up" on a probable interruption of service.

Yesterday, I had what I felt was a brilliant solution to said probable interruption of service when CAT Tracks is forced to change addresses.

How simple...just have Yahoo! (the epitome of computer gurus)...just have Yahoo! make a copy of my website (which resides on their computers as a file) and put a new name on it. I would be happy to continue paying for the old file until such time as they pull the plug...and I would also pay for the new file...giving me time to check it out, ferret out bugs and glitches, and make it available during the transition period. You know...a "beta version" of the CAT Tracks 2.0.

Silly me...

The computer gurus don't do "copy"...that feature is not available. They will pass on my "suggestion" to the research division. Yeah...right! (As I told them in my e-mail reply...the irony of the whole situation is that the site they are forcing me to...the main Yahoo! hosting site...has a glitch. The GeoCities site does not. In my humble opinion, they are closing the wrong service. However, as a former employee of Cairo School District Number One...I am used to being humbled...used to having suggestions for improvement rejected.)

BUT, gurus wouldn't just leave you stranded. Gurus will always provide you with a "fix"...

So, just what is it that the Yahoo! geek squad suggests to solve my problem...to create my "transition site"?

"Well, I'm glad you asked!"

That bunch of Yahoos advised me to view each and every page of CAT Tracks and manually copy it to my computer. I should also view and copy each and every picture that goes with each and every page separately...and copy them too! After I have downloaded each and every file...the veritable multitude...I should then use "FTP" to upload the files from my computer to their hosting service. (By the way, "FTP" is an acronym that stands for "File Transfer Protocol". Actually, I'll have to admit...another "F-word" entered my mind when I read their advice, followed by "This" for the "T" and "Plan" for the "P".)

Yes, FTS, uh, FTP...

In their e-mailed advice they did caution that if I happened to have a lot of files on my current website that their advised process could be "time consuming". After getting the profanities out of my system, my courteous e-mailed response acknowledged their concern...as in YES...it would be somewhat tedious to view 12 years worth of files - individually, saving each and every one to my personal computer - and then uploading them to where they already reside!

Folks...it does NOT take a rocket scientist to recognize that I do NOT have a life. Proof positive is the the hours and hours and hours that I have sat in the hallway of the Central Office during school board meetings waiting for the "powers that be" to discuss, to eat, to discuss, to eat, to eat, to eat.

I ain't' got nothin' else to do, but...

FTP!

So, Plan B...

For now, I ain't gonna do a thing...gonna leave CAT Tracks alone. Hey, who knows...we may have another negotiations session before the end of the school year. Enquiring minds...Curious CATs...would want to know!

When the school year concludes, your local webmaster...ME...will contact the aforementioned "Yahoos" and switch my account from GeoCities to Yahoo!. (Yahoo! DOES do sales...just no service.) I will then (fast and furiously if need be) work out the glitches and try to make the transition to the new CAT Tracks address as smooth as possible.

You, dear reader, will have to change your "bookmark" to access the new location for our "home page". Unfortunately, the "advanced notice" will be brief...like from one day to the next. For you "voyeurs" (like Cairo School District officials who claim to never read such sensational rags)...if CAT Tracks should disappear...do a "Google Search" for the Cairo Association of Teachers...and the new website location should appear. (NOTE: It will NOT be geocities.com/cattracks.geo...that's the current address. Look for a different one.) For you "subscribers", you will continue to receive CAT Tracks in your e-mailbox with a link to the latest posting.

Well, as I said in the beginning...this was waaaay more than you wanted or needed to know about website hosting and maintenance.

However, at CAT Tracks, we believe in making sure that you know "the rest of the story..."