About a year ago I started surfing the web looking for a web host to host my blog, my fiance’s blog, and eventually the Bloggerstock website.  Spent some time on Google and I landed on JustHost.com.  They gett pretty high ratings when you search for hosting reviews.  Almost always in the top 10 if not in the top three.  They offer a pretty darn good price for unlimited everything (which isn’t truly unlimited), and they make some pretty bold claims about their customer service right on their homepage.  They even provide a “secret link” at the bottom of their page which if you click, will get you a discount on a few months of hosting (oops, it no secret anymore).  In my humble opinion, all this comes with a giant BUT….

Over the past year I have not really had any cause for concern with my web hosting. Everything was working, the sites were up, and life was pretty good.  The backend was a little tedious, but many hosting companies use the same c-panel software, so there was no reason to really care about that.  Once I had the sites set up and working I rarely went into the back end other than to make backups.

Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I started getting emails from JustHost.com telling me that my account had been suspended and that I was violating there TOS.  How?  Well, apparently something in my account was using too much processor time.  Somewhere in the TOS is a little line that tells you how LIMITED you actually are when you pay for UNLIMITED.  Of course, instead of just putting a CPU limit on your account, they actually just suspend your account if you spike over 10% CPU usage.  They don’t provide a means to monitor your CPU usage, nor do they give you any warning.  It’s just BAM! “Sorry, we suspended your account.”  Of course this means that you can’t even log in to make adjustments to try to correct the problem.

The first time this happened, I replied to the email and the tech asked for my IP address so that he could open up access for just me.  Response time was fairly quick, within an hour or so.  Fine.  He also sent some suggestions, but nothing really useful.  I followed all the suggestions he gave, and they re-opened my account.  However, they forgot to reset their monitoring software so within two days I was locked out again for the same exact case.

This time, I called their 24/7 support phone number.  Guess what, I got straight through to a real person!  But, hold the phone, this person could not do anything but tell me that I should send an email to their support team!  WHAT!?  So, I tried their online chat support.  Again, got right through to a support person but the answer I got was exactly the same, I had to email support.  Can someone please explain to me what the point of having on call support people readily available if they can’t help?  I would rather sit on the phone for an hour to talk to someone who can help then instantly talk to people who can’t.

So, I fire off more emails to support.  It took an entire day this time to get a response.  In fact it seems like it took a little threatening to leave their company.  At this point they said that it had been a mistake, that they had not reset the monitoring software and that my account would be re-opened immediately.  While this made me feel a little better, I was still very frustrated by their support system.

Which brings us to the end of last week and this weekend.  Once again I get an email about server overload and my account being suspended.  I am sorry, but while I would love to have tons of people visiting my sites, it just doesn’t happen.  I haven’t changed the code here beyond updating to the latest version of WordPress, so I just don’t understand what changed.  In any event, since friday, my account had been suspended and despite my multiple emails to JustHost.com support, I received to a single response until the wee hours of this morning.  I talked to two online chat techs who both claimed to elevate my case to highest priority, but  nothing came of that.

One tech actually told me that the only way you can ever talk to a high enough level support person is through email.  I am sorry, that is just no kosher.  If I can’t actually talk directly to someone who can help me then your support system is flawed.  I don’t care if I have to wait, I would rather wait if it meant getting the service that I need.

So, with a few quick clicks I had a brand new hosting account with GoDaddy.com. With a little bit of fighting with JustHost.com I was able to get them to give me a download link for a site-wide backup of my account.  The domains that I purchased through them are being transferred to GD, and my blog is up.  My fiance’s blog is back up, and bloggerstock is coming back soon.  My account with JustHost will be cloased, and in theory I should get some money back.  I better get money back or I will make their lives miserable.

Moral of the story, don’t always believe internet rating sites, and don’t use JustHost.com unless all you need is hosting for a super simple website and you don’t want any kind of customer support.  They are temptingly inexpensive, but not worth the frustration in my book.

While I don’t normally advertise on my blog, I kind of want to rub this in JustHost’s face.  So, to show how happy I am with Godaddy.com:

I had no idea what to do with myself this morning, that is what happens when the skiing is over and I am tired from hiking yesterday and I don’t have to be at work until the evening. So, I figured, what better time to go see the new StarTrek movie (http://www.startrekmovie.com)? Everyone has been saying how great it was, I had to see for myself. I certainly had my doubts since I heard that they were making the film. I have become wary of prequels, there is often too much to live up to. One major thought I had before seeing the film was that there is so much in the StarTrek universe that could be explored without going backwards in time.

My first gut reaction to the movie was this: If you are not a hardcore Trekkie this would be a great movie. In terms of almost everything I would rank this film as better than Star Wars 1-3. My biggest problem with the new Trek is plot. Too many holes that could have been filled a lot better than just wrapping it up (very discretely mind you) as an alternate reality due to time paradox. I just don’t see how this movie really fits into the StarTrek canon. In my opinion, even Enterprise fits better than this as a prequel.

Putting aside my issues with the story and how it actually fits with the story we knew, StarTrek is excellent. The cinematography is exceptional, the film is beautiful. I loved everything from camera angles and lighting to overall composition. The scenery was great, and I certainly did not miss the original Enterprise bridge. I also thing the action sequences were executed very well. There have been a few recent films I have seen where the action sequences were so fast and dizzying that I think it took away from the film; not so with StarTrek.

I also enjoyed the way that all the characters were introduced. It is much more interesting when a random confluence of events brings people together compared to having them all meet in the academy or being assigned to the same ship. I think that in general, the choice of cast for the movie was great. The biggest thing I had to get over was that it was Spock and not Sylar.

Here are my problems with the story. If this is supposed to be a prequel or a story of the origins of the characters we know, it isn’t. It is only mentioned once, and almost in passing that what was created when the Nero first came through the black hole was an alternate reality. Spock Prime also tells us of how the Kirk we know from TOS and the original movies actually has a different history, as such, presumably so does everyone else.

If you look at this movie as a prequel then it leaks more water than a strainer. They destroyed both Romulus and Vulcan, and they killed Spock’s mother. We know from TOS and TNG that Vulcan was not destroyed, and Spock’s mother appears in both TOS and StarTrek III. We already had alternate reality episodes in both TOS and Enterprise so why feed the fan base an alternate reality backstory that really has no bearing on the characters we know? I suppose maybe it is the only way to attempt to explore that part of the story without pissing off fans.

What’s the bottom line? This is a great film, totally worth going to see. It is fun to watch and a good portrayal of the characters. I am just a little miffed as to how this fits in with the StarTrek canon.