Crazy and Frustrating

Note: I’ll be attending a graduation at 6 PM. Might not be done with the updates, since we obviously have to leave earlier.  Wait for the email to be sure.


Wednesday of this week I had an appointment with a web designer who is and will be doing some work for me. She lives about a half an hour drive away. I planned on leaving my home at 10:30 to make an 11 AM appointment.

That morning I was moving around on the site making notes to discuss with her. When I arrived, I opened my laptop, and proceeded to go to PrudentTrader.com so we could discuss different things about the site. Error – could not open page.

I proceeded to call my web host to see if there was a server problem. There was not and he said, Bill, I have your site up right now. Hmm! I gave him the ISP I was working from and he did some trace routes. It’s not uncommon he told me for finding a site for you to go through a dozen, two more or more routers. Think of them as switches. After about 7 routers we are timing out in the Cox cable network. We both have Cox cable.

I came home and attempted to pull up the site again. No dice. I checked email and found an email from my web host. I found a minor problem with the DNS propagation (Don’t ask  😛 ). So I’m resetting or whatever your DNS. Bill, this could take 12 to 24 hours to work. Until that time it’s pure hit and miss.

I could reach the site using a proxy server. If you’re not aware of what a proxy server is, from Wikipedia:

a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server and the proxy server evaluates the request as a way to simplify and control its complexity.

Google publishes a daily list of proxy servers. You can access these lists HERE!

I try and publish the Notes around 8 AM give or take. Yesterday it was after 10. The proxy server worked great and even got me into WordPress, however, trying to publish from the proxy was not working. I simply had to wait it out or go somewhere else and see if I could reach it there.

As I was preparing a trip to a local Starbucks I decided to try to connect one more time and it worked.  😎

Lesson for us all: if a site appears to be down, try and reach it through a proxy server. If you can reach it that way then there is a minor problem that I’m sure they are trying to work out!



Talking Points and How to make hard choices: 

Amazon Unveils the Fire Phone (Re/Code)
Do You Have Your Plan B? (James Altucher)
Your genes affect your betting behavior (Berkeley News Center)
Who Is Selling Stocks?  (Sigmond Holmes )
How to Spend the First 10 Minutes of Your Day (HBR)
Why stock markets keep shrugging off crisis after crisis (Wonkblog)
It’s a New American Dream and it’s only for the Super Rich (MarketWatch)
Monkeys Are Better Stockpickers Than You’d Think (Barron’s)
Bye-bye: Harvard Money Managers Exit After Years of Subpar Returns at $32.7B Endowment (Bloomberg)
Why Elon Musk Is Doubling Down on Solar Power (Business Week)
Credit rating industry dodges reforms, despite role in financial meltdown (Public Integrity)
Are you a good capitalist? (Humble Student)
Why you shouldn’t drive slowly in the left lane (Vox)
Uber Isn’t Worth $17 Billion (FiveThirtyEight)

Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices

Have A Great Day and Weekend!