[590] I couldn't do anything...

console

< Piro >

"learning to fly"

Sunday - August 1, 2004

Well, by all accounts the new MegaGear store should be up and running. Unfortunately, when we launched the store Saturday afternoon, we discovered that the two servers running the store (Mai and Sayruri) didn't have anywhere near the capacity needed to handle the load.

E-commerce sites do take at lot of horsepower to run, and given our setup (one chosen to provide the best level of secure shopping i could afford and pull together) the problem is just a question of horsepower. We underestimated what we would need, by a lot it seems, and as a result I'm in a panic trying to pull together a plan to acquire the additional servers needed to handle the load. I am looking into getting the additional servers we'll need ASAP as well as working with keith and others to find the best way to optimize things so that we can handle the traffic. Luckily, i think this can be fixed, it's just gonna be a little painful on the plastic. ^^;;

I apologize for the problem. We should have done a better job of assessing what we'd need. When you consider the fact that the servers collapsed and i never even announced that things were open - it was only reported in the forums - Mai and Sayuri need help. We have been working very hard on the store, and no one is more disappointed than we are that it's not up.

In fact, after exhaustive talks with a lot of people, and trying desperately to figure out what we should do, we reached a point where it was clear that nothing could be done until monday. It's kinda hard to describe how i felt. Depressed, angry, frustrated, tired, sad, an odd mix of all those things that really left me feeling oddly blank. Sarah and i went home and dusted off and unwrapped a few of the DVDs that have been sitting on the coffee table. By four AM we had sat through most of Kino's Journey... for some reason, it made me feel better about things, i don't know why. There is a bizarre, surrealistic feel to this series. This is not a beautiful world indeed. But maybe that's part of what gives it a kind of beauty. It was just the kind of somber, oddly twisted and tweaked story you will find on the disks.

Today it's sunday, and i feel drained, and tired, and after spending most of the morning talking with many people (including several people who have experience with the system are using and are really helping us figure things out :) i need to turn over and start working on Monday's comic.

If you tried to visit the store yesterday - thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the problems. We will do everything we can to get things online and working properly as soon as possible.

we'll get this thing off the ground eventually. We just need a bit more road. :P

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< Dom >

"Crawling up"

Monday - August 2, 2004

[Dom] - 15:30:00 - [link here]

So! A lot has happened since I last ranted. Not the least of which was San Diego Comic Con, cut short by my duty as a pallbearer at my grandmother's funeral.

But! Between freelance work for Wired Magazine and a whole lot of hanging out, I feel almost human again. I'm taking a break from taking care of my mother (who had toe surgery on Friday and is immobile) to let you guys know that I'm still around.

And! I'm starting every paragraph with an exclamation. Not even an exclamatory phrase, just an exclamation.

BASEBALL! Yes, while my Giants are currently floundering (Ricky Ledee? Who trades for RICKY LEDEE?), I'm personally in a hyper-baseball kind of mood. Why? Well, I've been thinking of re-reading Adachi Mitsuru's Touch lately, especially after seeing a strange, strange OAV called Azusa, o-tetsudai shimasu!. It's about a maid robot playing baseball, and surprisingly enough, it's not that bad. It's not earth-shaking, but it's sweet and has the least fan service I've ever seen in any show involving a maid. Although anything involving slow-motion baseball and high school kids dreaming of Koushien is fan service to me, that's not really the same. But there you have it. Maid robots playing baseball. Making me want to read about baseball, while baseball is going on. I'm such a fanboy.

Yes! You must all also watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Despite it being a stoner movie (or perhaps because it's a stoner movie), it's great! And I'm not just saying that because John Cho and Kal Penn do absolutely no martial arts during the movie, and are not villains. Ebert and Roeper gave it a thumbs up. Princess and I sang along in the theater. Hodge-Podge tried to will himself to die during the East Asian student meeting because it was US! See this, dammit. It's better than Catwoman, and deserves better than Catwoman gets. So go see it! Not just because I said so, but because it's 72% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a full 28% more fresh than The Village.

Oh yeah! I've also started playing the Spycraft CCG, with many thanks to Hamusutaa and his obsessive urge to buy a box of any given card game that comes out. It's a lot of fun, especially with good bluffers--you know, people who aren't like Hodge-Podge, a man who likes to declare "Dammit, why can't I draw agents!" before clearing his throat and trying to bluff that his card's an agent.

Anyway! I'm done for now, but I'll be back soon to talk about San Diego Comic Con and my usual collection of miscellany. It's gonna be good to be back!