Jim Alfredson

So far the paypal route is working just fine. For all those who donated, you'll be offered a swingin' deal on our next CD.

Unfortunately, Paypal takes a cut, so there are some odd values in there.

No, a dedicated server would probably make posting images less of an issue.

I don't think any of my butt whoopin's were motivated by annoyance. I always remember my parents telling me exactly why they were punishing me. The only time it got out of hand was once when I really pissed off my mom when I was about 12 and she came after me with a broom-handle and hit me on the elbow. She felt so bad about it she never laid a hand on me again. I agree with the slippery-slope idea. Even with the best intentions, I think it would be too easy to go too far or to use violence not as punishment for doing something wrong, but as a way to get the kid to shutup or calm down or whatever.

The forums don't have enough for you to read?

ss1, you see that UofM, MSU game yesterday? That broke my heart.

It has come to my attention that folks are having a problem uploading images (including avatars). I've looked into this and it seems to be on my end. I think what happened is when the transfer took place, the folder permissions were reset. Basically I have to manually give the uploads folder the go ahead to write data by anonymous users or else I'm the only one that can write to it. Unfortunately, my password no longer works so I can't get to the folder to change it. I've emailed tech support about this and hopefully they'll respond soon. Argh.

I think the biggest problem is that it can easily escalate. I got my butt whipped when I was a boy and I don't think I'm emotionally scarred from it. My dad always told me exactly why he was doing it, what I did wrong, and I don't remember him ever over-doing it. It was usually just a couple of smacks. I think it upset me more than it hurt me because I realized that he was really angry with me for something I did. And it definitely changed my behavior. Case in point: The only time I ever got the whip it was because of a really dumb thing I did in second grade. The teacher's parking lot was right next to the playground, with no fence inbetween. One day at recess, it had been raining earlier and the area around the parking lot was really muddy. My "friend" at the time had the great idea of throwing mud at some of the cars in the lot. Then he found out that one of the cars was unlocked. So then he had the brilliant idea of putting a pile of mud on the seat. Of course, he wanted me to actually do the deed and, being stupid and not wanting to look chicken, I did it. Well, I got ratted out by a classmate. When my dad found out, he wasn't mad at me for putting the mud on the seat, per se. He was mad at me because I did something that I knew was wrong because someone told me to do it. In other words, I followed someone instead of thinking for myself and acting independently, because I was worried what my friend might think of me if I didn't do it. He explained this all to me very carefully before he made me go pick out the switch and get my ass whipped! I have never forgotten that lesson. That said, my wife is completely against it and has forbidden me to engage in it, which is fine by me. I can't imagine ever spanking little Zora anyway. I'm sure as she gets older she'll do some things that just piss me off, but I still don't think I'll feel the urge to hit her.

Wow. You all almost brought tears to my eyes. Really. I came home from the gig tonight and saw that there were 11 messages in my hotmail inbox. "That's odd," I thought. "Probably just spam." Boy was I wrong! Thank you, everyone, for the donations! In the last two days we've received almost $300! That puts the grand total to exactly $909.72, which is just about enough for a years worth of service on our own dedicated server. I can definitely kick in a hundred or two myself and I also have some checks here to add that would bring us to about $1000. Everyone here keeps proving again and again why this is the best damn jazz bullentin board on the internet. I love you all!!! Yes, even the ones I disagree with politically. You're all right in my book. As for wesbed's ideas, I will consult with my brother about it. Someone would have to program such a graphic and make it so it can tap into my paypal account and see what donations have come in. Maybe paypal has something like that. I'll do some research. I know that I can download a spreadsheet of all activity, which is where I got the total above from. I don't know what else to say. Where's the "happy crying" smiley?

Shrdlu, are you asking about my personal finaces or the donations? The donations have netted about $650, which is really fantastic! As for my personal finaces, I could probably afford about half of the monthly costs for the board. Maybe. The gigs have been slipping, but it's starting to pick up again.

I've always liked B&W. I love my speakers and don't really want to sell them because I won't replace them with anything, but at the same time, I don't have time to listen to music anymore nor a good space and they're just sitting here gathering dust. Here's some reviews: http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/444_printreview.htm http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/444_printreview.htm

Ya want my B&W CDM-SE1's?

We will be back at the Firefly in January, I believe. I don't have the date in front of me right now, but I think it's like the 29th, or so.

I asked about backups. There are several options. The most cost-effective is for me to backup the database myself to my home PC every day or every week. I'd probably do it every night. It's not hard to do. The other would be to have them install another harddrive and do a RAID array. I'd still backup the database myself (which I have been doing every week since we've been up anyway). They also have server admin software as well that allows you to setup IP addresses, websites, etc. It looks pretty cool. I agree that a year pre-paid is probably not the way to go, just in case something happens and the support or the actual server itself is not what it is cracked up to be. I'll probably go for a three to six month option. The cost of the server is expensive compared to what I've been paying, but if it means stability and quickness, then it's worth it to me. I'd also like to stay away from companies based in Michigan just because as much as I like my state, it's not exactly known as a technology state.

Or "strategery"? I learned when I was five or six and played through elementary school. I was never great (I couldn't beat my older sisters) but I could beat my classmates.

Yeah, it's not a club, it's an art gallery so there is no booze. I was actually talking to a fellow at a memorial service the other week (which had just about every musician from the Lansing/Jackson area present) and he lamented the fact that the Creole Gallery is basically the only real venue in this town to see good jazz and that it's not a real club. But it is a great space to have a show regardless. I'm sure the 'no booze' thing keeps some people away (you don't drink anyway, right?) but I would think most jazz fans here in town would rather see the show than worry about getting plastered! It's gonna be a good time!

All right, so I just got off the phone with CI Host and we talked at length about the needs of this site. The conclusion is that a dedicated server is the way to go. Having other, non-related sites sharing a server and accessing different databases leads to hang-ups, slowdowns, and crashes. I'm going to go with their Dedicated Server 0 which will be far and away more than this site needs in terms of speed and bandwidth at the moment, but will give us plenty of room to grow. As the database gets larger, it'll demand more resources from the server and this way we will have those resources. The cost is $99 per month plus a $200 one-time startup fee. Right now they are running a 15% off deal plus three months free at the end if pre-paid for a year. But that's only through the weekend. I'm waiting for a new CC to get here that I just signed up for (for band related purchases) so I'll probably miss that deal. But my rep said they usually have 10% off deals running with the same three months free deal. So, total cost to get this up and running for a year with the 10% discount would be about $1250. Right now in the donations fund we have about $620. Word up! The other option is to pay monthly which overall will be more expensive but might be more manageable for me. Ideas welcome!

UP, because it's this coming Friday!!

Happy B-day, Greg!! Hope to see you at a show sometime!

The batteries on the original iPods die and you have to send it back to Apple to get a new one and they cost $$$.

And that, as they say, is that.

Ok now we need Alexander to stop by and tell us all we're silly because words are just symbols and we shouldn't get upset by them. Waiting...

Coleman looked pretty good in the game I saw. Can't wait for the season to begin!!! I need to make it to the Palace this year at least once. I wanted to last season, but it never happened.

They don't use tape anymore, folks! That's so 1980! If it was the drummer, he probably forgot to load up the next tune on his laptop or something. I'm still of the belief that they (the band) did it on purpose.

Hey, we were down since Monday morning until last night at about 12:00am so that's only about 4 days, not a week! Rainy, with all due respect, you don't have "come back to this nonsense". Just don't click on this topic!