The Nightmare is Over!

OH, MAN!!

As many of you may have (hopefully) noticed, I've been missing completely lately. The reason goes back to the fact how one tiny little thing gave have such drastic consequences.

Let me first apologize for not being here for sooooooo long. It wasn't intentional. Believe me!!!

It all started back in 1966, when.....OK, it didn't start that far back, but it almost feels like it. :)

Nearly a month ago, Blogger (who provides the service that allows me to bring you my blog) decided to go and 'upgrade' their service. Now, did they ask me about this? Heck no! They just went ahead with this grand scheme to make their service 'better'.

Well, one day, I logged into my blog and found a spankin' new interface (they really did do a nice job with it). At the time, I was pretty darn excited! I thought this was going to be the beginning of something great! For one thing, I had had trouble with the Bloglet service for months (which is supposed to send out daily updates of my blog, but hasn't) and was hoping the upgrade would magically fix that, since no one was really sure where the problem was coming from. I can't tell you how this 'unknown' factor drove a control freak like me up the wall. Unfortunately, I don't run the service, I just use it, thus my ability to fix problems is limited.

I was hoping to see a fix to a problem I was having with my archives. They were getting updated sporadically.

Anyway, after spending a little time getting familiar with the new interface, I wrote my blog entry for the day. Nothing special really, but I was eager to take the new Blogger for a spin.

I hit the 'Publish' button, eager to see my new entry get whisked away, and...and...and...ERROR!!

Hmmm..., I thought, let me just try again. There must be an network jam.

I tried once again. And once again I was hit in the face with a big ol' ERROR message.

Being the optimistic person that I am, I decided to try it again later, which I did: later that day, the next day, and the day after that.

OK, it took me a few days to admit that there was a definite problem.

I contacted Blogger, who within days told me that their new system had a few new required settings in order to upload blog entries I make to my server at derekfranklin.com. They had run some diagnostics and found out that my hosting provider did not have these settings enabled. No more blog entries until I got this fixed!

The nightmare begins.

I contacted my hosting provider, presented them with the info I received from Blogger. I was told by them that the settings they mentioned were enabled. I thought, oh no! No one *really* knows what's going on here. Blogger is going to say it's my hosing provider, and my hosting provider is going to say it's Blogger.

After getting off the phone with my hosting provider, I contacted Blogger again (via a support form) and let them know that my hosting provider said that the settings that needed to be turned on were turned on.

I guess, due to the holiday, I waited to nearly 10 days to hear back from Blogger. All the while, I'm not able to post any new entries. My blood pressure is increasing to unbelievable levels!

I submitted *another* support request to Blogger, begging for their assistance. They contacted me the next day saying that their resident guru was *sure* that my troubles were due to my hosting provider. CRAP! So back to my hosting provider, who again told me that everything was fine on their side. I don't know about you, but I can't stand incompetence!!

I was sick of playing point-man between two services I needed, but weren't playing well together. Ever been in this unbelievably frustrating situation?

I stepped back a few days to regain my composure.

On a whim, I decided to once again contact my hosting provider and speak with an upper-lever person. After a short conversation, I found out that, indeed, the problem was with them. But here's the stinking icing on the cake: What was required, they couldn't make happen! I needed to find a new hosting provider, and move my entire site there.

Although I was seeing red at this point, it was kind of a blessing in disguise. Although I had been with this hosting provider for several years, there had been several issues in the past that resulted in my increased interest in jumping ship anyway. I would have sooner, but it's just such a big hassle. I was at a point where hassle was no longer a factor - I needed to blog, and if that meant I had to find a new hosting provider, then so be it.

After a few days, I found a new one, signed up, moved my site, and woke up this morning, eager to see if my nightmare was over.

I logged onto Blogger to write this entry, pushed the 'Publish' button, and...and...and...ERROR!

My heart just sank. I thought about getting out of the Internet business altogether at this point. Fortunately, I'm a stubborn person who doesn't give up that easily.

In a moment of inspiration, I realized that due to getting a new hosting provider, my Blogger info might need updated. Yep! It did.

If you see this post, it means it worked!

AHHH! It's good to be back in business.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. And have a great day!