Monday, March 12, 2007

Phoenix5 is Down

You name it and it's gone wrong . I was moving Phoenix5.org to a new host yesterday and ended up spending 6+ hours fixing things and trying to solve problems that cropped up.

A little background . . . Phoenix5 was originally hosted on queencity.com who was purchased by goodnews.net. The domain name (i.e. phoenix5.org) is registered with Network Solutions and the information was never reset to goodnews. I don't know why Robert had it that way but when I talked with goodnews they said it was okay.

You need a password to get into Network Solutions and change the information about where the site is located. Robert left me almost all his passwords but not this one. So, in order to get the account transferred from Robert to me I have to provide all kinds of hard copy documentation including death certificate, marriage license, drivers license, my birth certificate and I forget what all else. Every time I started to do that I would start crying and kept putting it off. But I finally found the death certificate and have ordered a marriage certificate that I'm still waiting for.

I called Goodnews and their phone, fax and toll free # are disconnected. Their web site is down. I spent several hours looking up the name of the man I've talked to for technical assistance to see if I could find him somewhere in Cincinnati. I found a possible match and was able to send that person an email through the web but I have no idea when or if I'll get an answer.

Since that didn't work I decided to move Phoenix5 to a temporary home which I've named phoenix5journal.org. My old computer died and the files aren't on my new one but this shouldn't be a problem since I have it on a CD. Now here comes the "but". I have 3 CD's of backups and none of them will work on my computer. They work on Robert's computer which has the files on the hard drive but his computer isn't hooked up to the internet. So I try and transfer them the files to a CD again. Something goes wrong during the process, the computer locks up and won't restart again.

You’d think I’d be fine with triple backups but no such luck this time.

I have a Windows XP system and Robert’s is Windows 98 so I searched for information and found a program that will allow XP to recover the files from a Windows 98 CD. Of course it has a free trial but to actually use it costs money which I don’t have any of. I spent the $30 anyway. It works but (yes, another but) doesn’t recover very many of the files.

The only thing left to do is have Robert’s computer fixed by a professional and get the files onto something my XP machine can read or hook it up directly to the internet. I won’t be able to do that until I get my tax refund and that’s several months away.

So . . . If anyone would like to make a donation to help get Phoenix5 back online that would be helpful. Let me know and we'll work something out. In the meantime, I'll continue to try and get the files off those CDs and put up something at http://www.phoenix5journal.org/.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long missive.

P.S. I love blog comments so I'll hope you'll let me know you've visited. If you prefer to contact me privately please send email to caren@fuse.net.

10 comments:

ProstateCancer said...

Hi Caren: You certainly have done brilliantly to keep Phoenix5 rising up and up. I wish to repeat the offer I and the nonprofit Malecare Board of Directors made to you a few years ago. We would be honored to host and maintain the Phoenix5 website on our server, free and for all. Please contact me at darryl@malecare.com Warm regards, Darryl
Darryl Mitteldorf

Terry Herbert said...

Hi Caren,

It may be easier to recover some or all of the site (I think the latter) by going to http://www.archive.org/index.php and entering the Phoenix 5 website. Downloading the pages should then be simple.

But why don't you take up Darryl's offer. The site will, i am sure be retained as is in memory of Robert and all the wonderful things he achieved without giving you this kind of hassle.

Caren said...

Terry,

Thanks for your comments! It's good to hear from you. Phoenix5 is hundreds and hundreds of pages so it would take hundreds of hours to manually download each page and each graphic. It's good to know it's there but I'd have to consider that as a last resort. It will be a lot simpler to retrieve a good copy of the files from Robert's pc.

Caren said...

Darryl,

Thank you for your offer. I responded to that in email. The monthly expense for maintaining the site is $8.95. I can handle that much. It's the paperwork that's making me crazy and I have to do that regardless of where the site is hosted. Thanks again for commenting!

Donna Pogliano said...

Caren --

I was copied in today on an email sent by my friend Chuck Maack of the Wichita Chapter of Us Too! International to the head of Us Too!, Tom Kirk. He is asking that Us Too! provide financial help for Phoenix5.

There has been a similar offer from Skip Lockwood of the National Prostate Cancer Coalition in the past. They wanted to put the site on their server, I think, where their technicians can be sure it's always available.

I understand that it will take some cash to fix Robert's computer and get his computer registered again with an ISP so it can be connected to the Internet and I understand that your finances are very tight. I'm wondering if you have a figure in mind that might get this part of the job accomplished while you're waiting for the State of Ohio to give up the copy of your marriage license.

I wish I had a copy to give you, but all I have is pictures. It was a wonderful day. I'll never forget how Robert looked that day. Much happier than Kees's wedding day photo that now seems to crop up everywhere, portrays. The cruise picture of the two of you is a much truer representation of the Robert I knew.

On your wedding day, there wasn't a dry eye in the house, including Robert's. He kept saying over and over again after the ceremony -- this is my WIFE! My WIFE! It was as if he couldn't believe that you were REALLY now truly man and wife.

I saw a three tiered serving dish at T J Maxx the other day and thought of you and how you had to create one for the wedding because you just absolutely had to have a three-tiered server for the petit fours and how you said at the time that it was so unlike you to insist on that, but you just wanted it that way.

I ran across Robert's book on my bookshelf the other day. The one where he still used "Vaughn Young". It made me remember when Robert told me, based on his experience with writing that book, that collaborations are like bad marriages.

Robert seems to crop up everywhere for me. I'll never forget meeting him for the first time at the Cincinnati airport (which Robert was always quick to point out is really in Kentucky) on my way to Florida. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him or something he wrote or something he said or the way we used to laugh together or how he phrased things, awkward or not, using "one" as a pronoun. Robert laughed alot. He had a great sense of humor. He loved to laugh and he had a great laugh. But he really had a stubbornness about him -- and that, and doing meaningful work, and having you by his side, helped him cope with whatever life handed him.

I know how much you must miss him. I miss him too. His legacy to us, Phoenix5, is in good hands.

Hugs --

Donna

Anne said...

Hi Caren. It's good to see you back in action. If you will post your address, I will send you a check to help with your expenses.

Anne

Caren said...

Anne,

Please send me email at caren@fuse.net so I can send you my address privately.

Thank you so very much!

Caren said...

Donna,

Thank you for reminding me of more wonderful memories. I didn't realize that photo of Robert had been posted elsewhere. I'll find another one. Thank you most of all for your invaluable support.

ProstateCancer said...

Nice to see the Phoenix5 has successfully entered the new year. I hope that one day, we at Malecare , will be granted the opportunity to either maintain or at least, update it. Meanwhile, here are some useful websites that are not yet listed:
http://www.malecare.com
http://www.outwithcancer.com
http://www.lgbtcancer.com

ProstateCancer said...

Hi Caren: I just thought to check in, say hi. Great that Phoenix5 continues to be online, but sad that some content is terribly outdated. It continues to be our hope that you will honor Malecare with stewartship of Phoenix5. Do let me know. Meanwhile, warm regards, Darryl
darryl@malecare.com