Irony or Poetic Justice?

I fell asleep around 1AM and woke up 45 minutes later... and couldn't fall back to sleep until after 4:30AM. Slept until around 10 and woke up beyond tired. Happy Earth Day. Can't somebody around here give me a full normal night's sleep?

I had a list a mile long of things I needed to accomplish today including, at the bottom, Stay Off The Internet. That is definitely something I want to do for 24 hours...but it couldn't be today. The note for today was that I didn't want to hang on Twitter or Facebook. As much as I love them both, they are a creative juice suck.

First thing I did was check my email. There were a bunch but nothing after 7:15AM. I didn't really think anything of it until I went on Twitter (yeah, I didn't even make it 10 minutes) to answer a couple of DMs. That's Direct Messages for those unfamiliar with the Twit lingo. I was answering one with a link to the two Zappa photos I have up on my website. That meant I had to go to my website and collect http://www.cheshercat.com/store-eisid-prints.html then go to the tiny url site and turn it into http://tiny.cc/gRzkm so it wouldn't eat up all 140 characters I get to use on a Twitter message.

After a minute of watching the progress wheel spin 'round and 'round going nowhere, I ended up on the Road Runner page. That's where I go when I enter a url that doesn't exist. I rechecked...same thing...opened a different browser, tried again and still got Road Runner.

My website had disappeared, as in evaporated or never even existed. And that, my friends, is a sinking feeling. Where could it have gone? Will I ever get it back? I went back to my email and checked for mail - still no new mail. I sent myself an email but it didn't come back. I checked the webmail online that routes my mail from my site host to my email software. Nothing in the inbox. I went on my gmail account and sent myself an email...it didn't come.

Then I went to my web hosting company's site...their's had disappeared too. Oh my God, it's Armageddon. I called the company. They weren't accepting phone calls. The lady on the recording said if I needed assistance to go to their website where I could participate in an online chat with them. Really? When your website has vanished into thin air?

Now, you're probably thinking that I am a complete dumbass because I must have I signed myself up with some rinky-dink-fly-by-night web hosting company and they've now emptied my bank account and run off to Tahiti. Well, you'd be wrong.

My website is hosted by one of the major companies. A company that couldn't possibly go completely down. Especially today. Today of all days. It just doesn't make any sense...can someone please explain...

How could EARTHLINK crash on EARTH DAY?

So, I ask, is that irony? Or is it poetic justice for the company trying to take over the universe. My website eventually appeared back on the scene around 3PM. Then I started to get some of my emails. It wasn't that I clicked Get Messages and was bombarded with 100 emails. There probably were that many, but they literally trickled in. I'd get one that was an hour old, then a few minutes later there would be a couple for the early morning, then a brand new one. I have no idea if I got everything. Hell, I just got one with an *:29AM time stamp. And I'm sure they obliterated the one from that guy I used to know that said, "If you call in the next 30 minutes you can claim the $100,000 I owe you."

Such is life.

If any of you wonderful people out there know a really reliable webhosting company that doesn't rake you (I'm really missing the arm and the leg I've had to give up to Earthlink) please let me know. I've been loyal too long.

Finally, don't forget, there's only 48 hours left to enter to win the $300 Zappa print. Don't miss out.

Pertinent to the film vs. digital debate, I took the above picture on slide film. It's the kind of gorgeous sky that you can only find in Alberta or Montana.

Happy Earth Day. Now go hug a tree.