thepedersons.net

I just made the switch.  If you see this, you’re viewing this page from our new server!

We’re paying a monthly fee for hosting this web site (and 1 other).  The hosting provider (site5) has been running into a lot of reliability problems lately.  Most of the issues are with email.  For example, right now, nobody with a thepedersons.net email address can connect to the server because it is having problems.  This is about the 5th problem we’ve had in the past month.  Up until then, things have been pretty stable, except for some emails being blocked by spam blockers.

Given all the problems, we’re looking at migrating our site(s) to another hosting provider.  I’ve found one, but the process of moving stuff is a little daunting.  There are 5 email accounts (with LOTS of data), 2 web sites (one with 2 web applications) which also have a lot of data on them.  It is going to be a process, but I think it is going to be worth it in the long run.

For some reason, the host decided to block my IP address at the firewall.  I’m not sure why and I’m trying to find out.

For some strange reason, we can’t get to our web site or email via normal means. I’m working with the company who hosts our information to try and fix it. There is a bunch of email that we can’t get access to. Hopefully I’ll get it fixed shortly!

A while back, I posted about a new way to handle logging into websites. That new method is called OpenID and is starting to gain traction on the internet. Yahoo, Microsoft and Google have recently started OpenID initiatives. That is great news! The next version of Firefox is also going to include OpenID integration, which will make it even easier to manage logins.

Hopefully we’ll start seeing more web sites which take OpenID for logging in. The more that do, the fewer userid/password combinations we’ll have to remember.

There is a chance that you already have an OpenID account!  Check out this site for more information on how to get an OpenID login.

I was talking to Mom the other night and asked her if she saw the “Ouch!” post of my head injury.  Dad told me the site was ugly and that he couldn’t read it.  It turns out the theme wasn’t showing up properly on his computer.  Hopefully their computer is the only one having issues!

So, here is a new look.  Hopefully this one won’t cause problems for anyone.  Let us know what you think!

The comments on the site now work. I set it up so we (Deb or I) have to approve them before they appear. I had to do that to keep the spammers from posting vulgar things on our site.

So, comment away!

There is a new way to manage passwords on the Internet, and I believe it is going to take off as more people learn about it. OpenID is a mechanism for creating a single login ONCE and use it on ANY web site that accepts OpenID. I know… sounds scary, but it isn’t.

The idea is you create a login at an OpenID provider (mine is at myopenid.com). Once you have that login setup (userid, password & personal information) you can go to a web site (this will be one of them soon) that accepts an OpenID userid and type that into the OpenID user id section. When you click the login on that page, you’ll be redirected to the OpenID provider you setup your account with. I know… kinda strange, but it makes a lot of sense. Anyway, you login there, a site that you trust, and that site then presents you an option to add the site you started at to your list of sites to access. Once you indicate that you want to trust that site, the provider (myopenid.com) will send you back to the site you started from and you’ll be logged in! Now, here is the cool part. If you indicated that you want to always trust that site, you’ll never be prompted to login again!!! You can just type in your OpenID and BOOM! Your in.

Here is a simple step by step description:

1. 1. Setup an OpenID account at a provider (mine is linked above)
2. 2. Come back to this site (in the future) and type in your OpenID in the login box
3. 3. Click the login button
4. 4. Login to the provider site with the password you setup in step 1
5. 5. Add this site to the list of sites to allow access to
6. 6. Done!
7. 7. The next time you come back to this site and login, you’ll only have to do step 2 and 3.

It is a thing of beauty! I’ll set it up here and those adventurous soles can give it a shot.

Welcome to the new face of thepedersons.net!

We simplified the site in hopes that it will be easier to manage and keep up to date. For those who have been visiting in the past year, you know what we’re talking about!