The events, both positive and negative, which deeply mark my life include: the death of President John F. Kennedy, the death of my father, the night I met my future husband, my wedding day, the births of both my sons,  the Challenger space shuttle disaster, Hurricane Hugo, and now the attacks of September 11, 2001.

There are the things that come before and after these markers – for instance “There were 20 trees in this yard before Hurricane Hugo” or “I moved to the Isle of Palms after my father died”.  Most importantly, we always remember exactly where we were “when”.

I had just walked into the MUSC ER break room to put my lunch in the refrigerator and noticed several doctors, nurses and techs standing completely motionless while staring at the television.  A feeling of dread washed over me, and I turned just in time to see the second airplane hit the second tower.  I believe everyone said “NO!” in unison.  I was in complete disbelief.  I  kept telling myself that everything would still be alright – right up until the first tower started to fall.  My brain still could not accept the images my eyes were sending it.  When the second tower started crumbling to the ground, I felt overwhelming despair.  I was in South Carolina – over 700 miles away – but felt as though I had been personally attacked.

I don’t remember the rest of the day or even how I got home.  I do remember it took DAYS for me to even accept that what I saw on the television that day really happened.   I  kept hoping that it would eventually be revealed that the entire broadcast community had collaborated to pull off an elaborate hoax.  Tragically, it was all too real.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 have obviously changed the world forever.  Now when discussing issues like civil rights and air travel, our daily realities are divided into “before 9/11″ and “after 9/11″.   But today is not a day to discuss politics.  Today is a day to remember the thousands of lives lost and to honor the emergency responders who ran into instead of away from  burning, collapsing buildings, and to celebrate the passenger/heroes of United Flight 93.

This is what I remember.  Where were you on 9/11/01?  I’d love to hear your story.

So, here is the new incarnation of Moonshadows.  But, something seems amiss.  Does the photo above say “Moonshadows” to you?  No.  It is the default photo. And even though I have to admit it is kind of shadowy, it is just too sunny to suit me.  I am unable to upload my appropriately dark blog logo because I am  missing the necessary “permissions” from EasyCGI.

So…. I go to the Support Console and try to create a Support Ticket.  I enter the error message I got when I tried to upload my image,  hit “submit” and ……. nothing happens.  I try clicking on the large 24×7 Live Support graphic and …….  nothing happens.  So I call the number at the top of the page.  I speak with a very nice support person who immediately figures out what my problem is, but unfortunately he is not “authorized” to give me the necessary permissions.  He kindly offers to create a Support Ticket for me.

Twenty-four hours later my ticket is still open.  This time I notice a tiny 24×7 Live Support link at the top of the page and decide to give it a click.  Surprise!  It works!  A support person tells me hello and asks how I’m doing.  I decide to skip the niceties and get straight to my issue and ask when I can expect my ticket to be resolved.  He tells me 24-48 hours.  “To clairfy”, I type,  “I should expect my ticket to be resolved by 9:30 am tomorrow morning at the latest?”.  No answer.  No answer.  Hmmmm…  “hello?”, I type.  you are not in a chat session my screen responds.

I check my Support Console and see that the elusive support person has at least added a note to my ticket:  “Clarice requesting to fix the issue soon.” That should get things moving.

Fifty-six hours after my request for support my ticket is STILL open.  I call support again.  I give the responding support person my ticket number and ask when I can expect my issue to be resolved.  “Issues like your’s are usually resolved in  24-48 hours.”  “It’s been LONGER than 48 hours – it has now been 56 hours and 15 minutes. ” “I will place a priority on your ticket and you should see it resolved withing 48 hours.”  “It has ALREADY been over 48 hours.  Am I going to have to wait ANOTHER 48 hours?”

Is it unreasonable to expect that an application installation offered and proudly promoted by your webhost from their site include whatever “permissions” are necessary to make it work correctly when you install it?  I have now contacted EasyCGI Support 3 times over a two day period and still do not have a customizable blog.  By the way, it is now an hour since the last time I spoke with Support and there is still no “priority” set to my ticket.

This is only the most recent in a litany of issues I’ve experienced since my hosting service migrated from the competent and dependable Webstrike Solutions to EasyCGI a year and a half ago.  Minor as it may seem, this issue is the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back”.

Bottom line is EasyCGI is NOT easy and I WILL be moving my website in December.

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UPDATE: September 5, 2010 3:54 p.m.  Up to this point I have been dealing with “Tier 1″ support staff.  I just received an update to my ticket from a :::GASP!::: Tier 2 support person!  And he says:

I will need to hand your issue over to a different department for further analysis. We will update this ticket with more information as soon as it becomes available. Thank you for your continued patience.

He thanks me for my patience.  They really are NOT paying attention.

UPDATE: September 6, 2010 8:15 a.m. My Support Ticket status claims my issue is now resolved.  Unfortunately, it is not.  My ticket is now 96 hours old. Tier 2 Support FAIL.  Can I have a Tier 3 Tech please?

UPDATE: September 9, 2010 6:06 p.m.  DAY SEVEN!! My ticket is CLOSED and  and once again listed as RESOLVED.  Again,  my issue is NOT RESOLVED.   A link has been added to my Support Console requesting feedback for this ticket.  OK.  I managed to give them a blow-by-blow of my very negative experience without resorting to profanity.  I’m pretty proud of myself.  Three hours later my ticket is re-opened without  comment from EasyCGI.

UPDATE: September 10, 2010  5:45 p.m.  I notice my ticket status is once again “Resolved”.  I try once more to upload my logo, and….. unbelievably it WORKS!  And it only took EasyCGI EIGHT DAYS to correct a simple “permissions setting” issue.  Impressive. NOT!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This wasn’t exactly what I expected. I expected the story of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair to be just a backdrop to the story of the atrocities of serial killer Henry H. Holmes. It turns out that Larson was telling two separate stories that just happened to take place at the same time in the same city. At first I found the abrupt switching back and forth between the stories a little jarring, but I eventually became immersed in the narrative which was a tale of two architects – an architect of beauty and an architect of death.

Larson’s contrast of the two charming and attractive men – one designing and building a castle of fear and death and the other designing and creating a city of awe and beauty – was fascinating. Surprisingly, I found the story of the World’s Fair much more interesting than the story of the serial killer. The two main stories are also peppered with appearances from historical celebrities and other memorable news events from the period. Larson weaves primary source material such as newspaper articles, correspondence, contracts and other legal documents, and menus and programs from events to really bring the people and their stories to life.

I wasn’t very impressed with Larson’s writing style. He tended to be very repetitive. Either he didn’t remember that he had already offered certain facts or observations before, or he has a very low estimation of his readers’ intelligence. He also used foreshadowing verbiage throughout the two stories that was reminiscent of the script for the sensationalist television crime show “City Confidential”. But Larson IS a good story-teller, and if you can overlook the repetition and his almost comical foreshadowing technique, you will enjoy this tale of two architects.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Larry Niven’s “Stars and Gods” is a collection of excerpts from his novels, short stories, blog posts and essays. Most certainly a treasure trove for Niven fans, but also plenty of interest for readers new to his work. As an avid Sci-Fi fan, I have certainly heard of Larry Niven, but have somehow never gotten around to reading any of his work. I was so excited to win this advance copy of “Stars and Gods” from GoodReads – it was a wonderful introduction to the writing and thought processes of Larry Niven.

Part One “Excerpts from the Novels” reminded me of the Coming Attractions teasers at the beginning of a DVD. These excerpts provide a 1-2 chapter preview of Niven’s most recent novels. It had the intended effect, as I will definitely be checking out the Ringworld series. However, I am especially fond of short story collections and consider these to be the Main Feature of “Stars and Gods” with the essays and other offerings being the Bonus Features.

Niven certainly knows his science, but he also has an extraordinary understanding of human psychology which he uses to add depth to his characters – even the non-human sentient beings. His stories are populated with real people dealing with the realistic struggles of being human – usually in alien environments. There are a few stories that are quite cerebral, but there is also plenty of action, drama, and occasionally a little comic relief.

When I truly enjoy a story or a novel, I often wonder what inspired the author to write it. That is why I personally found the author’s introductions to many of the pieces to be the most appealing bonus of this collection.

Even if you are not interested in essays, excerpts of larger works, or what inspired the author when he was working on a particular piece, anyone who appreciates good Sci-Fi will find the short stories make this collection worth the price of the book.

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was prepared to LOVE this book, but as hard as I tried and as hard as Justin Cronin tried, it just didn’t work out. I guess we’ll just have to be friends.

“The Passage” promised to be everything I love in a book: epic proportions at 785 pages, a post-apocalyptic theme, and even an endorsement by Stephen King. There were really excellent parts: a good story and detailed character development (in the beginning anyway), but all the lovely, well-written pieces and parts just didn’t hold together to create a unified, consistent work.

Maybe this novel simply suffers from bad editing. I often got the feeling that there were chunks missing. Several times I stopped to check and make sure that I didn’t accidentally skip a page or two. In addition to the “missing chunks” there were many pages of details that didn’t provide any useful information about the characters or further the plot along. The first, most extreme example of this is 4 tedious pages describing, in excruciating detail, the birth of Wolgast’s daughter. This description seems redundant at this point he has already been established as a very sympathetic character who loved his daughter very much. The fact that his wife had a difficult labor and delivery has already been mentioned in less detail earlier, and nothing in these 4 pages adds to what the reader already knows about Wolgast.

In Part III, when the story fast-forwards to approximately a hundred years later, missing chunks of information and useless details seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Starting abruptly with Part III, ALL the characters fall flat and the plot meanders. Many times the action sequences were so difficult to follow that I found myself re-reading them several times to figure out what had actually just happened. I usually gave up and moved on.

Many elements of the story are very reminiscent of Stephen King’s “The Stand” – a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility which releases a genetically altered virus thus destroying most of the population, the uninfected survivors having the same dream, and the whole final battle between Good and Evil scenario. But other than these elements, it is nothing like “The Stand.”

The compelling quality of the writing in the first part of the book somehow pushed me through the less satisfying second half. So, 5 stars for Parts I and II and 2 stars for the rest of the novel = 3 stars.

I wouldn’t consider this a “must read”, but I think it is decent Summer reading.

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