This page contains blog posts from my now-obsolete MSN Space that are either philosophical in nature or pertinent to the evolution of The Chucksphere. Post have been placed in foreward chronological order for browsing ease.
Hello. My name is Chuck (aliases Charles, Charlie, Chorlie, Chaz, Phillip) and I have many hopes and dreams, the foremost being to successfully host a wargames website. I've always been interested in web design, and have even taken a class on it (first period of my freshman year.) I am also an aspiring writer. Yet, something stands in the path of my dreams: Sloth. I was just too fucking lazy to write a wargame to put on my website. Apparently, I can exert the time to play them, tabletop or computer, but I just couldn't get past starting the writing. This is an excerpt from my first website (second incarnation) about my frustration:
Monday, August 1, 2005
I am, without a doubt, the shittiest webmaster on the face of this Earth. Seven month's tardiness in inexcusable. I finished my Web Design class in June, and the programming isn't the problem. It's the content. I have the ideas for it all penned-up in this head of mine, but I can't seem to tear myself away from my other doings to work on it. (My other doings, by the way, being: moping about being too lazy to make content for my web site, moping about not being able to persue a writing carreer [again, all penned-up in my head,] moping about not having a girlfriend, etc.) So, I can make the same hollow promises to you that I made 6 months ago, and hope that you will find it in your hearts to be patient with me.
-Chuck's World O' Wargames (angelfire)
Two days later, I was able to finish my first project. Everything was compiled, and just as my luck would have it, Freewebs.com, the new host I'm using to symbolize a new start, was "undergoing maintenance" when I finished. So, I waited a day and posted it on the fourth. A project that took me nearly a year to sit down and do, and about a day to finish, was finally up.
August 4th, 2005 - Yesterday, I completed The Wheel of Time Miniatures Wargame. Unfortunately, Freewebs was performing maintainance, so the Grand Opening of Chuck's World of Wargames was postponed for a day. Well, today is it. Enjoy the game.
-Chuck's World O' Wargames
Then, now, on the seventh, I find that Freewebs has fucked up my new web. Damn. So, of course, I'll be looking for yet another free host. I think I've used everyone but Geocities. If my site gets any traffic, there's a possibility that I'll move to a paid server that I have some control over.
At the rate this is going, that's a really big "If."
The site has been up for a good long while (www.chucksworld.e2u.cc) and I am in the process of getting my Norse domain name. I don't really know why I'm going to bother, as it is only one character shorter than my current address. Lots of stuff (school) is going on, so I won't have the opportunity to write anymore content for a while. That goes double for stories.
F2U...I mean, E2U webhosting (here) has infuriated me. They switched to this "new system" whereby you have to post on this forum to get "points" so you can keep your site up. I don't post on forums, I lurk. Even then, I only lurk on the good ones. I don't think I broke 50 posts back on Dreamers of Dune, even though I was a member for a little over a year.
So today, I was trying to access my website, and was redirected to this shitty forum. I knew this was there (read one of my previous posts) but I had never previously had trouble actually viewing my site. I found this post and it explained all. I just don't have the capacity to post on that forum in copious amounts, and I'm not evil hearted enough to spam. So, I'm moving the site. I'm transferring the files (I can still access those no problem until Dec 2015) back to my hard drive, and I'm going to seek out a good host, one that relies on your money for income, so they won't pull stupid shit like E2U.
And another thing:
Every time I open up a text file in WordPerfect, it decides it's time to play "Let's Fuck with Chuck." Fonts get changed, bullets get out of whack, pictures get deleted, etc. If only I didn't rely on it to convert my wargames into .pdf files...
www.chucksworld.e2u.cc is dead
The Corel Corporation is cursed
The World Wide Web will go Chuckless for a period of time
The files are there, sitting on the E2U servers. I can see them. Nobody can get at them from the outside, but I can't even get at them VIA MY FUCKING ACOUNT! I can't salvage my damn site from those...those...I can't think of a vile enough word. I didn't loose much permanently, just a links page I can easily put back together, and an updates page which is only useful for "historical purposes." Due to my habits, everything else important is already sitting on my hard drive.
All isn't Lost
Just enough to give me The Red Ass
(Wow, three blog posts, all on the same day, within a span of 2 hours.
Is it possible to spam your own blog?)
The files from my site on E2UHosting was salvaged via FTP. The potential new hosts have been narrowed down to Canaca.com, EHostPros, and DreamHost. If I throw money at a server to host me, it will most likely be EHostPros, based on the ratio of price to services provided. Just as soon as I can get payment set up with my parents (to send them my money), the site will go up.
Long Live Chucks World O' Wargames!
Yesterday (Feb-13-06), I attempted to sign-up for the EHostPros Beginner web hosting. I had to use Ma's credit card, and I made the mistake of letting her participate in the ordering process. So, part of the way through the ordering, Ma does something to close the screen, and I get an E-main telling me that the credit card info has been accepted and that no more payment is due. This is all fine and dandy, except that I never got the log-in info that I was supposed to. So, I'm being charged for server space I cannot access. Peachy. Also, the domain name I registered is still available, so I know the thing didn't go through. I wrote an E-mail this afternoon requesting that the situation be rectified, and that I either get my log-in info or my money back.
I have received my log-in information from the nice folks at EHostPros. My domain should be available for consumption in 24-48 hours.
February 16 4:24 PMDomain successfully up. All things are go at www.chucksphere.com. I'm going to try to create a subdomain to host Chuck's World O' Wargames, as I am planning on expanding and creating more sites on different topics in the future.
This, the 25th and last post on this MSN Space, will be a list of that which I plan to do with my site, and when those goals seem achievable.
First item of business: a new blog. I am considering a public-open blog, possibly on MySpace. I will use this blog to vent my spleen on any topic that vexes me, and to make public my shitty announcements about my shitty website.
Second: I have received RPG Maker XP from Tom, and I am currently designing one of the games on my To-Do list--Under Fire. This may take a long time, considering concurrent projects and school work.
Third: The Three Kingdoms board game development has halted due to lack of focus. I will get back on that as soon as my schedule clears. Look for it around the middle of April.
So, that about wraps it up. Look for my first MySpace post, “So what’s the Deal with Blogs?” sometime around the release date of Three Kingdoms.