This is my third term with Hive.com.my and I am getting irritated with the hosting speed. Dont know why, of late, my site have been loading so slowly that I could not get it validated at Google Webmaster Tool. the site loads > 10s, while some of the other top sites like 5xmom.com only loads within 3s. She was on a dedicated server and not sure how much her host cost. Hive.com.my can be considered on the entry/budget level, with only USD40/year, you get 5Gb of space, 50Gb of transfer, a whole lot of stuff and one free domain. Best deal around. Technical response was also fast and reliable. But all these doesn’t mean much if the site takes forever to load. Everytime I clicks any button on my wordpress, it takes almost a minute to load. I was listerning to ‘Arigatou’ from Kokia and it was half a song before I get to the write post page. Tell me how I can tolerate this.

I have feedback to the technical team over at hive and they responded that the speed was normal from their end. They have also tried to move me to another server and still the same. So, if they can’t work it out for me, I will work it out with other host. Then again, moving host is like moving home, full with ordeals. So, if you are looking for a host, do ensure you want to stay with them for long, else, it is much hassle to migrate. Like all moving homes events, there are head aches at every steps. Hey, maybe there is a business for this, professional moving, where we do the work, you just relax at the beach or listen to your favorite tune without any worry. Once done, we will notify you of your new password, etc.. sounds like a plan…

I have finally beaten God of War: Chain on Olympus today. The game is actually not that tough. I played the Medium difficulty settnig and took me a week with an hour or two of play time a day to complete the entire game. Ofcourse, when I get to the respective bosses, I dies a few times and some incidents, I almost completely gave up. A day later, I pick the PSP up again and whola, proceeded to the next level. Sometimes one just need a little break to move on… philosophy learnt from gaming….

I have to thank gamespot for providing some of the essential walkthrough. Without the walkthrough, I would have been caught at a few scenes for ages. Now, how would I know that I must whack the statue head to peak through… glad that the guys at gamespot figured this out for me and allowed me to proceed with the game without spending too much time.

Finishing the game unlocks the God Mode, which is the hardest difficulty setting. I have started that and currently stuck at the first boss. Upon finishing the god mode, you will unlock all the treasures.

In the course of my trip planning, I found Answers from yahoo to be absolutely indispensable. I searched for a few days on how to get from Gora (where I was staying) to Kamakura. I could not find any bus linkage nor train linkages. Guide books and online travel guides only touches on popular routes and this is an abnormal route. As a last straw, I posted a question over at Yahoo Answers and whoala within12 hours my question was answered. It was not th exact answer i wanted, but I got an hint that lead me to what I wanted. I asked if there is a direct bus connection. A local guy ask me back, whey I want to take bus, while I can take the train, taking the Tokaido line. With this Tokaido line, i was able to search the train time and cost. Yahoo Answers are for anything, and there are many odd questions there. It is not that user friendly and fall below my expectation as a web tool. in fact, Yahoo web tool, apart from it’s mail, all fall below expectation on user friendliness. Trip Planner for instance, do not have easy sort features, and the ajax are not dynamic. Every time i change something, i have to wait for the entire page to reload. However, there are no other web applications like it, so Trip Planner is still the only one that gives a good flexible trip planning capability. Back to Yahoo Answers, each users are given points, to encourage participation. You can only asked this few questions with the given points, and if you want to ask more, you need to answer other people’s questions or vote for the best answers…

When the Gwen Stefani’s Sweet Escape concert were first announced, we wanted very much to go. I had the Maxis One Club membership and wanted to purchase tickets at a discounted price. Since the concert were rather expensive, we decided to go for the second cheapest seat (@ RM154.80 after 10% discount). Just days before we go down to KL to purchase the tickets (which could only be purchased at One Utama), I notice that my One Club card expired about a couple of months ago. I called up Maxis to ask if I can purchase the tickets without the card and with just the membership number since I have not received the replacement card yet. The initial response was disappointing as I was told that I was no more a club member. Not satisfied with the response, I complained through the web about how ineffective the loyalty program is and receive a response only after I my trip to KL and M’cca. The response was that I could still use the old card as Maxis was in the mist of revamping their loyalty program. The news came a little too late as I was already back from KL. Disappointed, I gave up hope for the concert and moved on.

Then a couple of weeks later, I notice pan global rocks had arena tickets up for bidding and I went for it. We were totally happy for winning the bid for Arena A tickets which cost RM770 for two person for only RM284, which is less than half the price of the tickets. Totally ecstatic, and now counting the minutes till the event.

The site also has the latest news about webhosting, from convention updates to latest hosting news from around the globe. It’s the best place to get the latest jives. All you need to do is just subscribe to the RSS and let webhostinginformation do all the work by scouting them from around the globe and presented to you through the RSS the minute it is posted. The site also boast a podcast that summarizes the latest news, so that you can bring the content with you on your mp3 player or ipod and listen to the latest news when ever you are not in front of a computer.

I find the tips or hosting articles the most valuable. These tips will come in handy someday, even if they don’t benefit you now. For example, you are bound to move host, unless the existing host can give you the benefit that makes you smile till the day you die, you are bound to move host. And when you do, you will need ‘A Checklist for Moving your site to a new Server’. Bookmark this site, you will need it.

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I was installing a wall mounted table from Ikea and when I was done drilling, the floor was filled with dust. I just cease the opportunity to do some self promo…

Polariod-0-nizer

I was looking for ways to create little thumbnails of photos that sits in polaroid frames. Initially I was thinking of building them with photoshop, I was dismayed by the tedious effort, or rather lack of photoshop skills. I then came across this online o-matic tool, it keep me being stupid, as now, I dont have to learn the new skills. With just a little press of a button, whoala… polaroid-o-matic.. ops, I mean polaroid-o-nizer… the picture is done.

Above photo is from my last week’s entry to PhotoFriday’s theme: Orange.