Blog: Ramblings and Rants

After every flight, pilots fill out a form called a gripe sheet, which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The mechanics read and correct the problem, and then respond in writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken, and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews and engineers lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.)
(S = The solution and action taken by the mechanics.)

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

My maternal grandmother passed away Saturday night before 11 PM EST.

The wake is scheduled for Tuesday evening in Quincy, MA, with the funeral the following morning. I don’t know if I can or will travel from Oregon in time to make either the wake or funeral.

At the moment I’m just trying to finish my column for InDesign Magazine as a means of ignoring reality and remaining functional.

I’m in total denial, and am therefore maintaining my composure quite well. I honestly don’t know how I’ll react when I allow myself to accept the fact of her passing.

My grandmother, Sarah Taylor, is dying. Last weekend she was brought into New England Medical Center hospital for extreme low blood pressure, which her regular doctor said Tuesday was a relatively innocuous byproduct of recent medication dosage changes. Ma—I’ve always called her Ma and have been more like her seventh child than her first grandchild—was slated to be discharged on Wednesday. That was before her lungs began filling with fluid, her kidneys began to shut down, and her blood pressure dropped even lower than 60/80. All of this after discovering an inoperable anuerism in her aorta in May of 2007.

She’s so doped up at the moment that she can’t even remember her children or discern how many people are in her room.

On 2 February 2008 Ma turned 90 years old. Her only husband, George Taylor, died thirty years before in December 1977. She never remarried nor even dated, and often cried over her late husband’s grave despite the years.

Although she’s been pronounced dead a few times, given Last Rights more often than I can count, and spent cumulative months in the hospital over the course of her 90 years, this time I don’t think Ma is coming home.

Her passing, so near after my uncle Rick’s death at Thanksgiving 2007, will be a tremendous blow to the Taylor family, one that will almost certainly splinter the already strained family relations.

For me personally, well… Ma’s passing is the event I’ve dreaded all my life, the one that could break my will. I’m stronger, healthier now, but I don’t know how, if, or in what state I will emerge from what seems will almost certainly come to pass in the next few days.

Despite my best efforts, it’s gotten ugly.

I moved out as fast as I possibly could, into a temporary apartment with the minimal furniture and items I need to work and sustain myself and my two cats (I don’t even have a bed; I sleep on the floor). Infact, I moved out more than 2 weeks ahead of the date I expected to leave. Once in my own place I thought, “out of sight, out of mind,” and we could both move on with our lives. I was wrong, of course.

I’ve been taking her complaints and criticism without defending myself because I wanted to keep it from getting ugly, and because I don’t need to rehash everything for closure. I’m a turn-the-other-cheek kind of guy, particularly when there’s really nothing to be gained by arguing back. And, my life is going all right since moving out. Not great, not horrible, but doing all right. I’ve met some ladies, made some friends, gone to work, visited with my kids, and enjoyed me time. Yet no matter how much I try to avoid conflict with Strawberry Blonde, she seems hellbent on bringing it to my door—literally, to my apartment door.

Dammit.

I worry that, no matter how hard I—and hopefully she as well—try to keep the kids out of the middle of it, they’ll wind up hurt.

I just want to move on with my life and let her lay in the bed she made while I lay in mine. Why does it have to be ugly?

My long-time girlfriend, whom I often referred to in recent years as my wife, has asked that we split up (I keep wanting to say ‘divorce’). I’ve agreed that that’s for the best. Timing, they say, is everything. Though splitting up is in both of our better interests, the circumstances and the timing suck. I don’t want to get into details, and I certainly won’t speak ill of Strawberry Blonde. Again, I agreed: it’s time we stopped living together and trying to have a romantic relationship. Still, even with understanding, acceptance, and agreement, it’s emotionally difficult for us both.

The only reason I’m writing this is to let my friends and family know that the next few weeks, as Strawberry Blonde and I continue to co-habitate while I pack and look for an apartment, are going to be rough for me. I may be silent at times, not calling when I should, but I’m all right. I just ask for your patience and understanding.

Today we got a new TV, and it reminded me of something I just can’t get out of my head. It’s something unpleasant, and it keeps rattling around in my head.

(I’ve begun posts on this topic before, but I kept getting too far into details no one would read—not that I expect anyone to read even this shorter, narrower post.)

I began this blog to share my thoughts and feelings; it’s a place for me to vent. That was years ago, before the “blog-olution” and the idea that a blog is a mandatory component of every good marketing campaign. This site was never part of marketing Brand Me. This is my personal blog, but for someone in my industry no part of the Internet is personal.

It’s a fact: if you do business with someone like me, you Google the person’s name before—and sometimes during—the professional relationship. Wherever a name like mine appears, in whatever context, clients, prospective clients, collaborators, and colleagues consider the source part of my resume and references.

As my name was Googled with ever increasing frequency, as more and more business associates commented on the content of IamPariah.com, I wrote less in this blog about the real me, my real thoughts and feelings.

Screw that.

If you want to hire me, work for me, partner with me, interview me, or whatever, don’t bother reading this blog. It’s not indicative of my business acumen or professional skills. If you want to know about the professional Pariah S. Burke, Google me, but ignore links that lead to IamPariah.com. Google will turn up pages and pages of other links where my name appears in a professional capacity; pages from Amazon.com, QuarkVSInDesign.com, Designorati.com, WorkflowCreative.com, REVDrink.com, IndesignSecrets.com, Creativepro.com, InDesignMag.com, and a few dozen other places. There are things I’ve written and things written about me. It’s all more than enough to get a clear picture of the professional me.

This is my personal blog; it’s not a professional reference. Here, I swear and express opinion on politics, religion, sociology, psychology, and morons from all walks of life. I don’t do any of that in my books, proposals, training classes, or pitch meetings. Nothing here has any bearing on how well I write books and articles, consult, train, design magazines or Websites, or work with you or your company.

However, if you’re here solely as a human being looking for a glimpse into the mind of another human being, read on. That’s what this blog is about, not selling Brand Me.

The GetHuman Project is a volunteer Website devoted to improving the quality and speed of telephone support and service systems in the US. The Website offers general tips and advice for speeding through and getting the most out of dealing with any company over the phone. For instance, did you know that most companies’ Spanish support queue is often a potentially much shorter wait than the English queue, and that most operators on the Spanish queue are bilingual, offering support in English as well? Chose uno and maybe you’ll be helped and off the phone faster than you would if pressing two.

The most useful advice provided by GetHuman is the GetHuman 500 Database, an invaluable resource listing specific methods to cut through phone system menus and voice prompts to—you guessed it—get a human on the line. America On-Line, for example, who no longer even lists a customer service phone number on their Website, has a primarily voice-only telephone system. If you can’t enunciate to the system’s satisfaction your problem, secret question answer, desired department, probable problem area, and favorite Spice Girl, then you’re out of luck. The system doesn’t even offer the ability to press buttons for most of its prompts. Fortunately, the GetHuman 500 Database has the secret finishing move code—up, up, left, down, right, right, down… Whoops! I mean: 0 (zero), repeatedly while staying silent during all requests for vocal interaction.

Even with the secret codes, there’s no guarantee of reaching a competent human, just that you will reach a human.

Next time you have to call your ISP, cable company, credit card issuer, airline, or just about anywhere else, check the GetHuman 500 Database for the fastest way through to getting to a human.

This past Friday, Strawberry Blonde and I surprised Mojo by checking her out of school to go see Ghost Rider on opening day. Mojo, whose grades had been suffering the first part of the year, worked hard and brought D’s and F’s up to A’s and B’s in the last grading period, and seeing the movie was her reward.

While I’m at it, here’s a quickie review of the film:

Ghost Rider was a fun ride, but jarring leaps in scenes, character development, and logic were disorienting. Willing suspension of disbelief couldn’t be maintained because every few minutes I found myself asking: “Wait! Did I miss something? I don’t recall stepping out of the theatre…”

Lead by Nicholas Cage, who, as lead Johnny Blaze, wore an obvious digital facelift, the acting was excellent, hitting all the nuanced highs and lows expected during the story. Unfortunately, the jerky editing made it impossible to become emotionally involved with the characters. Whereas other superhero films of recent years—most notably Spider-Man—gripped the viewer’s heart and, in many, even elicited tears, Ghost Rider carried the same deep character development and universally heart-gripping themes, but too much of it wound up on the cutting room floor. All the poignant moments remain, but the connecting scenes, the subtle moments that make the poignant believeable and engaging were omitted.

Although an extremely fun ride for all audiences—not just comic book fans—Ghost Rider was a two and one half to three hour movie chopped to run in 1:50, which is more than apparent in the stuttering theatrical release. I’m looking forward to the restoration of numerous scenes in the director’s cut DVD and the opportunity to care about the characters.

MSNBC’s Keith Olberman speaks directly to Mr. Bush about the BBC news report stating that Bush will announce the commitment of 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq.

It’s a powerful, empassioned response that sums up the frustrations many of us feel.

Watch Here.

Yup, calling something the Holy Grail is pretty bold—and overused. In this case, however, it really does apply.

Yesterday I released Page Control, a plug-in for InDesign CS and InDesign CS2, developed in cooperation with DTP Tools. Page Control answers a need left open for 22 years: The ability to create a single document with multiple page sizes in a top-end desktop publishing and page layout application.

Adobe’s InDesign is that top-end application, and InDesign is used in hundreds of different types of layout and publishing workflows in hundreds of thousands of agencies around the world. A fair percentage of InDesign users need to put a fold-out or oversized sheet into a multi-page publication with page numbers somewhere, at some time. To date, they’ve had to do that by creating at least three InDesign documents—one for the normal pages leading up to the oversized page, the oversized page itself, and the third to handle normal pages following the oversized. Every over- or odd-sized page in the publication required two more InDesign files. I’ve seen more than 50 InDesign files being created, edited, and juggled soley because it was the only way to work around InDesign’s one document:one page size limitation.

I devised and partnered with DTP Tools to create Page Control specifically to prevent the waste of time, money, and brain power imposed by that limitation within InDesign. Now the one-document, one-page-size paradigm has been broken. It’s time to work smarter.

We announced Page Control 24 hours ago. The response has already been phenominal from those publications limbre enough to report about it in such a short time. And more keeps coming.

Page Control is in a public beta phase—you have the chance to try it out free and shape the final result. We’ll release the finished product in 3 weeks.

Care to read the official press release and download your copy of Page Control for InDesign CS/CS2 on Mac or Windows?

You read about this sort of thing in Reader’s Digest or in a Chicken Soup book and you wonder: Would my pet react like that? Could my pet save my life? My cat did. She saved the lives of my girlfriend, my daughter, and myself.

Today, while searching for a different WordPress plugin, I ran across this troubling post from John TP from last week:

My blog posts have been reblogged a few times in Splogs in the past and that too directly from my feeds. After switching to partial feeds, I never faced this problem until recently a few splogs like http://weblog-pla.net have started it again. This raised my curosity as to how they do this and that too automated…I found two WordPress Plugins that these spammers use- Autoblog and FeedWordPress….I highly recommend that you do not use these WordPress Plugins. Earning money through these methods is not safe and can get you banned by the Adsense team.

John’s discussion of these plugins is ambiguous at best. In fact, given the space he devotes to their features and functions, one might even think his goal is to encourage their use without being overtly encouraging. If John really didn’t want to encourage their use, he should be stronger in his condemnation of them.

In addition to “I highly recommend that you do not use these WordPress Plugins. Earning money through these methods is not safe and can get you banned by the Adsense team” John should note that losing out on Google Adsense advertising revenue the least potential consequence.

RSS feeds are published for individual, private consumption; they are not a blanket license to, or waiver of, reprint rights. Taking and republshing content—no matter how much or how little—without the original author’s permission is a violation of U.S. and international Copyright laws. There are exceptions, of course, detailed in the Fair Use doctrine, but such exceptions are very specific and do not apply to the vast majority of sites using FeedWordPress, Autoblog, and the like. In fact, Charles Johnson, the creator of FeedWordPress is in constant and frequent violation of copyright law because the apparent majority of his blog’s content is stolen without the original authors’ permission.

This entry, for example, does meet Fair Use criteria because I have quoted John TP’s content as part of a critical discussion in which I respond to John’s work instead of republishing it as if it were a native part of my blog. In over-simplified terms for those newbie bloggers:
blockquote = has a chance of being okay
adding complete RSS/Atom feed items to your blog without permission = definitely not okay.

Calling a site “an aggregator” does not exempt it from the laws or prosecution to enforce the laws protecting other content creators and owners.

Anyone contemplating “splogging” or even just pulling others’ related content into their blogs should know that, for each and every post or excerpt incorporated without the original author’s permission, U.S. federal law allows for a fine of up to US$50,000 plus potential damages to be awarded to the victim of the theft. In addition to the monetary cost, each post stolen could earn the thief a year in a federal penitary—and that’s if he can pay; if he can’t, the amount of potential prison time increases.

Contrary to popular Internet misinformation, copyright infringement is prosecutable regardless of any or all of: one’s ignorance of the laws, one’s intents, or whether one actually makes money from the theft. Stealing a blog post and reprinting it on a site without ads can net you a $50,000 fine and a year as Bubba’s wife as easily as reprinting onto a site with ads.

Losing Adsense eligibility will seem like a very insignificant consequence while defending against a $5 million lawsuit in a far away state.

How likely is it that someone will actually sue if his article winds up reprinted on you blog? Well, it depends on whose work you steal. A professional content site like the ones I publish will sue to protect its intellectual property—in fact, I have sued for that very reason and prevailed. Under the law, content creators/owners are obligated to aggressively protect their intellectual property, up to, and including, prosecution.

While the average content thief (a classification that includes “splogs” but also any blog or Website using content not of its own creation without permission) may steal from hundreds of other content creators and see no suit or other consequences, the difference is not the thief—it’s the content creator. Every victim of content theft has the right and obligation to go after the thief. More and more creators are learning this, which means the odds of content thieves being sued—even by the average Joe blogger—are increasing. One may steal one hundred RSS feeds with no reaction, but that one-hundred-and-first could put the thief into an orange jumpsuit and with a lein against his wages for the next fifty years.

If you use FeedWordPress, Autoblog, or any other automatic content republisher, employ it only with the permission of those who own the content you want to use. It’s a simple process: Go to the blog you like, find a contact e-mail address or form, and ask: “I have a blog at http://yoursite.com, which covers this, this, and this. I’ve been really impressed with your content and know my readers would like it, too. Could I get your permission to reprint your RSS feed content within my blog as individual posts—with links back to your blog, of course?”

As always, I am not a bar-certified lawyer, nor was I educated as an attorney. Do not believe me. Do not believe any claims about copyright or other intellectual property law you find on the Internet—from anyone. Do your own research into the subject. Google is not a research tool on copyright law and do’s and dont’s; there is so much confusion, misinformation, and, occassionally, disinformation that the truth is buried too far down in Google’s results. Go to the source for copyright law information, the United States Copyright Office. It’s free to get the information you need to protect yourself and remain legal.

If you have more specific questions about copyright, buy an hour of a intellectual property lawyer’s time; you’ll find them listed in your local Yellow Pages under the heading of “Patent & Trademark Attorneys” (copyright, trademark, and patents are all intellectual property law served by the same attorneys).

Lately, I’ve been working late into the night for two reasons: First, I’m doing a lot of server work, which is better done during periods of least activity (Midnight to 4 am Pacific Time). Second, I’m working on an instructional DVD for VTC. With the kids still on summer vacation, the middle of the night is the only time I can get a fully quiet house to record.

I’ve been working on WordPress templates and content management restructuring for David Blatner’s and Anne-Marie Concepcion’s InDesignSecrets.com. I got up Wednesday morning expecting to finish my report on the reprogramming and layout revisions, and to deliver the new site to them. Later in the day, I was going to finish off the Quark VS InDesign.com rebrand and put in some work on my new InDesign book.

The day didn’t go as I had planned.

Happy Bastille Day! Happy birthday, Pam!

I was happily working when my random MP3 play began strumming out the sadly melodic notes of Nickelback’s “Photograph.” It got me thinking and oscillating between joy, longing, sadness, fondness, reluctance, acceptance, and nostalgia.

As the song is still in heavy rotation on top 40 radio stations, I see plenty of people singing along in their cars, front yards, or even standing on line at the bank. Most of those people smile, content in the nature of the song as upbeat and warming. It isn’t.

Listen to the lyrics. It’s a deeply emotional song about letting go of one’s past.

It’s hard to say it / time to say it / good-bye / good-bye

The song accounts the emotional ordeal, a moment in time, faced eventually by everyone who has left home. Distance can cool even the most passionate relationship, suck the comfort from any intimacy. Bestest friends who share each other’s deepest secrets, can suddenly realize that they haven’t shared secrets in many years, and that what they once knew, no longer has relevance.

Everyone faces good-byes, but for someone like me, who has left home and gone wandering, there are frequently more good-byes than good-to-see-you-agains. Stay in your home town, and you stay and grow with the same people; good-byes are fewer and less frequent. Move away, however, and keep on moving to different places, and the good-byes pile up.

That’s a tough song for me. More than a decade past my high school days, I’ve said good-bye to some old friends, but with others, I’m not ready to admit closure just yet. Saying good-bye is a hard thing, and people don’t do it easily. A small, naive part of us always longs to return to the moments of the past and the people and places who made up those moments. That spark of innocence freezes those people and places in time, refusing to recognize that they, like we, have moved on and formed new moments. Like everyone else, I have that spark of naivete fooling my heart into remembering Brad, Jennifer, Jenny, Carla, Terri, Johnny, Chris B, Debra, Dawn, Naomi, Chellie, Odette, Elaine, Chuck, Jason, and a dozen others exactly as they were in high school, as if they did not exist but suspended inanimately in my memory, waiting for me to restore them to exactly the same state when I wish to relive our moments together. Of course, it’s not like that.

Carla got married, had children, and divorced. She was my first, you see, and there’s never a way to say good-bye to someone like that, not all the way. I was not her first, so I am not as well cemented in her memory.

Odette disappeared into a bottle. After his father died, so did Johnny.

Elaine leaped into so many men’s beds that I eventually lost sight of her, hopping under the covers on the horizon.

I saw Brad five years ago, just before I moved to Oregon. I tried to say good-bye to him then, but it didn’t seem as final as it should have.

I still keep in touch with Chris B once in a while, but we haven’t seen each other in six years.

I hear Debra, arguably the most level-headed of us, got married and lives in the same town somewhere—that town being Lakeland, Florida, where most of graduated from Lake Gibson High School.

Someone told me Chuck is doing time in Tallahassee for drug trafficking.

Jennifer, the first girl I ever kissed, is brought pointedly to mind by the lyrics of “Photograph.” (Coincidentally, Def Leppard’s “Photograph” also reminds me of her.) Last I heard, Jennifer was doing just fine, married, I think. She’s the kind of person that wouldn’t settle for good-enough, and I wish her the best of everything.

Jason and I, once best friends, had a falling out about his wife, whom I had been seeing when he started up with her. They’re married now. Between the situation back then, as well as all the imagined justifications we’ve heaped upon the reality, we haven’t spoken in ten years.

Despite immolating desire and a few attempts at correspondance, Terri I found out we didn’t really have much in common once we put our clothes on.

Dawn and I were penpals for a while, never meeting in person, but getting pretty close through letters and drawings. She’s a famous painter now, with her own Website.

Naomi, aka Jasmine, and I were also penpals. With both of us moving around, losing touch was easier than it should have been. The same is true of penpals Chellie and Wendy, whom I also miss intensely. Chellie became a mom, but we lost touch when she fell in with some bad people. Wendy, whom I have met in person, got married and went back to school to become a doctor. I hope she followed through; she was a fantastically compassionate nurse.

Other people I miss, not named here, were drawn away from me by time, our careers, families, or travel.

As the song goes, it’s time to say it. I recognize that. And, to some of the above, I have already said good-bye, at least within the confines of my heart, if not within their earshot. Others, though, still tug at my soul. I’m not quite ready to say good-bye to them yet, to squelch that little spark of naivete that keeps them alive and frozen in my memories. Foolish and naive as it is, there’s a part of my being that believes I’ll find these people again, that they’ll greet me with hugs, kisses, and a mischievous plan to get us all into trouble—just like the old days.

If you happen to be reading this, wondering if the 7-year old picture in the top-left corner is a particular person you once knew, let me make it easy. When I was in high school, and for a time afterward, I went by my middle name, Scott. Throughout school I also alternated my last name between my father’s, Burke, and step-father’s, Cardarelli (and occassionally hyphenated them both as Burke-Cardarelli). So, if you know a Scott Burke (or P. Scott Burke) or Scott Cardarelli who looks kind of like the picture up there, then you’re probably thinking of me.

Drop me a line, let me know what you’re up to and how you’ve been. I’ll welcome the contact, even if we’ve both already said good-bye to who we knew in the past.

If you plan to attend the InDesign Conference or Creative Suite Conference next week, or will just be in the Chicago area, stop by and say hello to me.

Meet Pariah S. Burke

I will be teaching two sessions of the InDesign Conference on Tuesday, appearing on panels throughout the week, and working the Q&A Table with Anne-Marie Concepcion Friday afternoon.

Stop by and ask me your InDesign, QuarkXPress, InCopy, Illustrator, Acrobat, or Photoshop questions, or tell me about your wackiest design experiences or if your cat farts, too.

Bring your copy of my book, Adobe Illustrator CS2 @WORK, for a signature.

Location and scheduling for the InDesign (May 15-18) and Creative Suite (May 18-20) Conferences may be found here.

I’m not one for bathroom humor, but this is extra special, and simply must be shared.

This afternoon I was holding and petting my cat, Chloe. As is often the way, I held her like a baby—on her back, cradled in my arms. While my left arm supported her weight, my right upper arm acted as foot rest for her hind paws. Suddenly she gently pushed my arm away a bit, spread her hind legs slightly, let her tail droop away, and… farted. Pvrhhtt.

It was hysterical!

I have never before heard (or smelled) Chloe flatulate, yet she did it today—in my arms, no less!

I have to say, I really like Texas. Though I’ve never lived there, and my opinion might be different if I had, I’ve visited Texas more than a handful of times now. Each time has been a wonderful experience, whether it was a fly-in/fly-out one-day consultation in Dallas, two weeks on-site in Fort Worth, or a spontaneous roadtrip from Florida to El Paso. The big-smile-hospitality and come-on-in attitude of Texas has never disappointed me.

Down there, they even know how to drive well—trust me on this, I’ve driven in 42 of the United States, several Canadian provinces, parts of Mexico, and through most major North American cities. Texans in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area in particular drive well.

They speed—as a rule, not as an exception—and those who don’t speed (tourists) are quickly ostracized to the outside lane. Texans, though, know how to speed; they don’t rush and stop, rush and stop. Rather, everyone speeds uniformly within his lane. There’s a speed limit+10 lane, a speed limit+20 lane, and the holy-crap-I’m-late-for-work lane.

Cars sold in Texas don’t come equipped with turn signals, but Texas drivers are redeemed by their other qualities. They know, for example, the ancient Aztec secret of Highway Merging, and they practice it religiously. In Philadelphia, cars often sit stopped at onramps for several minutes before they find the space to muscle into the flow of traffic. When one is trying to turn left across a highway, Texans will stop and wave one through—in Boston, such heresy would be met with the cacophany of angry horns and shouted obscenities. In New Jersey, you’d be killed for it and your car stripped while you lay dying in it.

In Texas, one won’t be shot for anything less than stealing a man’s horse, dog, boat, or wife (in that order of importance). Avoid those activities, and Texans will treat a guest with absolutely hospitality.

This latest trip to Texas—to Fort Worth, specifically—is a return trip to teach the wonderful (and talented) design staff of Lockheed-Martin. Which means I also get the opportunity to be (happliy) buzzed by low-flying F-16s punching their afterburners 75 feet above the ground to set off a parking lot full of car alarms. Hopefully, I will also have the chance to tour the F-16 production plant again—a mile long stretch of factory that starts one end with giant blocks of raw steel and aluminum and ends with painted, ready-to-fly airplanes.

I’m also looking forward to some good barbeque. And, of course, being able to feel relatively safe on I-30 at 85 MPH.

After a week of preparation, iamPariah.com and several of my other domain properties moved to my very own server this past weekend. No more virtual servers or worrying about whether some other guy’s Website is going to take down mine. Nope. Now I get all the CPU time, all the RAM, as much harddrive space as I need, and my own DNS servers. With that, I also get the slightly frightening power and responsibility to be my own sys admin; it’s up to me to monitor the health of the server, manage backups (I’m a fanatical backer-upper), and restart the machine and its laundry list of services and processes.

I have used and managed my own virtual servers continuously since late-1994 when I launched my first Website. I understand FTP and all that entails; I can configure cron jobs; I can setup my mailboxes, autoresponders, stats reporting, and write my own .htaccess rules. All the typical tasks involved with managing Websites in a virtual or shared hosting environment, I can do with ease. But now… Now I’m still configuring and managing all those options and services, but I’m also managing the server—the entire machine—on which my domains live. There are tenfold the number of things I must now understand, setup, monitor, and modify.

For several years I owned a mid-sized Web hosting company. One would think this makes me an expert sys admin. Nope. I was the CEO and had the systems operational knowledge of, at best, a level 3 tech support agent. The company had sys admins that did the server work. I just made sure they had machines on which to do that work and customers for whom to do it.

This is uncharted territory for me—and I’m excited to be learning.

I’m not running the server at my offices, of course; it’s sitting in a server farm at a hosting provider, enjoying triple-redundancy power backup systems and a very large pipe that sits only about a mile from a major backbone hub. I manage it remotely, through HTTP, FTP, and SSH (which I don’t yet fully understand).

Following advice I received long ago, I have created another user account to make modifications to the system. This makes the Root user account a backdoor of sorts, enabling me a way to correct errors I may make in the other account.

What else should I be wary of? Any sagacious tips or advice you experienced sys admins would like to share with this humble neophyte sys admin?