Pleasanton Web Design

1&1 Internet is probably the largest Web hosting company in the world. Compared to the other Web hosting companies I’ve used, their uptime and powerful control panel makes them one of the Web hosting companies that I would recommend to other Web designers and Web developers. Unfortunately their customer service is outsourced, and is so bad as to be useless. If you already know what you’re doing though, 1&1 gets the job done and they offer a great value for the money.

Most Web hosting companies offer applications that are free to use with your package. For the most part, these are either open source software that is free for anyone to use, or limited versions of commercial software, and you need to pay extra to gain full functionality.

in2site Live Dialogue

With one of my 1&1 packages I get a free, limited version of an application called “in2site Live Dialogue.” It is supposed to add live customer service capability to your Website. The process is supposed to go like this:
1. A web surfer hits your homepage.
2. The in2site Live Dialogue window on your computer alerts you that there is a visitor on your Website.
3. You click the “Chat Window” button, and a window opens up on your visitor’s computer.
4. You can then start a chat session, which greatly increases the likelyhood of making a sale, or providing technical support.

Unfortunately, when I finally got it installed, no thanks to the horrible documentation, it didn’t work. The window on the visitor’s computer opens as a pop-up, but since most people have pop-up blockers on, they won’t see it. Even when I turned the pop-up blocker off, the chat window didn’t function correctly.

If you have the free version of in2site Live Dialogue from 1&1, be warned, you could spend a lot of time unsuccessfully trying to get it to work. Certainly don’t try to call 1&1 technical support for help (ever).

Try these alternatives:
Provide Support (free trial)
Craft Syntax (open source)

I’ve just created two new blogs! I’ll be recording my personal entries, such as event, beer, restaurant and small business reviews, and other thoughts of a personal nature in my new blog Plate O’ Shrimp.

This blog will now be called “Pleasanton Web Design Blog” and will host my technical, and business postings. I’ll be recording my entries related to genealogy and family history at Persons Past – Family History and Genealogy.

It seems like a natural progression to split the blog into pieces. The basic reason is so that Web searchers, as well as my regular reader(s) will be likely to find more articles of interest in close proximity, rather than having to wade through the variety of diverse topics that I have previously posted in the same blog.

This is actually a long terms strategy, as I will undoubtedly lose hits in the short-term by siphoning articles off to less established blogs. Hopefully though, once the new blogs are established, the result will be more pageviews per visit all around.

My heart was broken tonight. Not my careless heart. My regular one. About a year or so ago I went to the Blank Club in San Jose to see a band called the Swingin’ Utters, and was blindsided by the hard, almost heavy metal 4 piece psychobilly support act called the Cacti Widders. With a stand-up bass, pro skateboarder Tom Knox on drums and fronted by charismatic guitar god J.D. Goodwin, I haven’t been so pleased in quite some time. I went to the merch table right after their set and plunked down the $10 for their album “One Way Ticket.” Although the production isn’t great on the album, the songs carry it. I recommend it, if you like rockabilly/psychobilly, and don’t mind some “swears,” and if you can find it (Fallen Angel Records).

When I heard they were playing tonight at the Blank Club, and I actually had the evening free, I was down. I arrived too early, and to kill time I had an excellent cheese quesadilla down the street. When I got back, the Muckruckers were playing their set to a handful of people. It was good solid punk rock. Energetic execution and good original songs. They also did a great cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.”

Next up were The Careless Hearts. They were country sounding, but the kind of country I kinda like. Johnny Cash-like, with excellent vocal harmonies and musicanship all around. I was particularly impressed by Guitar player, Derek See. The more I looked at the bass player though, the more he looked like Andy Rigali, the bass player from my past bands Love Gone Mad and Big Nose. I got up close, and his stance, his ill-fitting clothing and his Fender bass had me convinced that it was Andy. I went to the merch table to ask the lady, who was undoubtedly the girlfriend of one of the band members, what the bass player’s name was. As soon as I got up there though, everybody got excited because they thought I was going to buy a CD. One guy pointed to the back and said “That’s a great song.” The girlfriend got all smiley, ready for the sale. When I asked about the bass player, she didn’t know his name, because he had just joined the band. She went into the crowd and asked another girlfriend, and it turns out his name is Bob Morton or something. So I bought a CD. It’s good. Production isn’t great, but songs are strong. I’d really recommend seeing The Careless Hearts live though.

Finally it was time to see, from Visalia California, The Cacti Widders.

First I spotted pro skateboarder and drummer, Tom Knox, setting up his sparkle green drum kit. Then the stand-up bass player with the headband, then the rythym guitar player with the black Les Paul. But no lead singer/guitar player/frontman J.D. Goodman. Maybe he was out in the car or something. But no, he wasn’t. He was gone. The band started, and the rythym guitar player was now the lead guitar player and singer. He got through it, but it wasn’t the same. I went to the merch table to ask the guy what happened to the other guitar player. He had landed a job with the CDF (California Department of Forestry). Then I noticed the singer for The Careless Hearts was at the merch table, so I asked him to sign my CD:

His name is Paul Kimball, and he wears Elvis Costello glasses like the ones featured in the liner notes.

Last year I started getting emails complaining about the traffic situation in the area where I live. They definitely had my ear, because at the time I was driving my daughter to and from her elementary school, and really didn’t enjoy the gridlock I encountered every day. I had to time it right, because if I got there too late, after the middle school and high school let out, I’d be sitting in traffic for an additional 15 minutes. My boss couldn’t figure out why it took me 45 minutes to an hour to pick up my daughter, when her school and our apartment were 5 minutes away from work. Of course she could have easily walked to school herself… if the traffic wasn’t so bad as to be an unacceptable hazard.

The reason for the traffic appears to me to be purely political. Communities need to plan for growth. Pleasanton citizens did this in the 80′s when they put the Stoneridge Drive Extension into the General Plan. However residents that live near where the extension is planned don’t want it because it will impact them. They are apparently influential enough to gum up the works, to keep this planned and funded extension from happening. The result? Horrible traffic elsewhere.

Time to point out that I’m not an expert on this situation, just a citizen who has done as much research before an election as I have time to. A couple of weeks ago I was in an accident on Valley near Santa Rita, so this is really my cause now, and the deciding factor in who I choose to vote for in races for Pleasanton Mayor, and Pleasanton City Council. If you want to do your own research, go to Stop Pleasanton Gridlock. There is a plenty of good information, and links to articles to give you a fairly balanced view.

So who are my picks?

Pleasanton Mayor: Steve Brozosky – He seems kind of wishy washy on the subject, but appears to support the Stoneridge Drive Extension. The mayoral incumbant, Jennifer Hosterman opposes the Stoneridge Drive Extension. She proposes bandaid measures to appease the citizens angered by the traffic caused by failure to follow through on the General Plan. My opinon. My run-on sentence.

Pleasanton City Council:
Cheryl Cook-Kallio
Jerry Thorne

City Council candidates opposed to the Stoneridge Drive Extension are Brian Arkin and Dan Faustina. Funny that there were 3 people on the corner of Valley and Santa Rita last night waving red and white “Brian Arkin” signs. I thought to myself “That’s pretty distracting. They are going to cause another accident.” How true on so many levels.

Sometimes I think it’s kind of funny how ridiculous the Google Adsense ads on my right column are. They are supposed to be ads that would help my visitors based on the content displayed on my blog, but they are usually just downright stupid. I’ll have to change my name to keep the ads for “Bottle caps” from appearing. I guess ads for bar accessories and brewing plants come from the title of my blog too (along with my beer reviews). If Google would just allow me to block the keyphrase “bottle cap,” I might actually get some useful Adsense ads, and maybe even some clicks. Until then, I’ll have to settle for being amused by their absurdity.

Check out this page if you are interested in Holland: Holland and the Netherlands.

Looking for a reasonable rehearsal space in the East Bay? Colorblind studios could be the ticket. Owner Randy Gallerin is a cool guy, and very flexible about booking rooms to fit your schedule. There are basically 5 rooms. Room A is the big one, with a full stage and seating for guests. Rooms B, C & E are all ok for bands with 4 or 5 members. Room D is pretty much a closet. Might want to skip that one.

Colorblind Studios. Sign is kinda small, so easy to drive by if you don’t know where it is already.

Setting up in Room E, the outside room.

Seating for two! One happy. One not.

Rooms get hot, so having the door open is good. Downside is when the local bums want to join in the fun!

Colorblind Studios
1476 Franquette Ave.
Concord, Ca 94520
Studio: (925)825-1339 or (925)586-6255
Website: http://colorblindstudios.com/

When I think of street fairs, I think of:

• Heat
• Headaches
• A lot of walking
• A lot of junk I don’t want

The Pleasanton Antique Street Faire (“faire” with an “e” like we were in England) was different. Sure I got a headache. Sure there was a lot of walking. Sure it was hot. But I did want a lot of the junk displayed. Where your garden variety, run of the mill street faire has the current crafty “junk of the day,” an antique street faire is more like a distilled garage sale. The vendors scour garage, yard and estate sales and get the best stuff, so you don’t have to.

Porcelain Dogs

Deer Head

“Shinies”

We purchased some costume jewelry, a paperweight and two snow cones, and looked at a lot of cool old stuff.

CBSI-Cummings Construction – http://www.cbsi-cummingsconstruction.com/

CBSI-Cummings Construction is a full service General Contractor licensed to work in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. CBSI-Cummings Construction has been specializing in commercial construction, tenant improvements and facilities maintenance since 1977.

It’s also from Holland. Isn’t that veird? But since it said “Dutch Lager” on the label I was momentarily confused. I had just finished a lager from Holland – Bavaria Holland. Now I had a Dutch lager. Variety is the spice of life. Then I remembered the Dutch are from Holland. Sure enough, it is imported from Holland. That has always confused me. Couldn’t they have just been the Dutch from Dutchland, or the Hollanders from Holland? Anyway, this stuff is actually brewed in the Netherlands, and who knows what those people are called. I certainly don’t.

This beer tastes exactly like Bavaria Holland, so much so that I got a Bavaria Holland bottle out of recycling to compare. The shoulders are a little higher, so not identical, but very close. Same green glass. Same great taste.

Eindhoven Special Reserve Dutch Lager Factoids:

1. Imported by Logret Import and Export Company, City of Industry, CA, U.S.A.
2. Brewed at the Eindhoven Bierbrouwerij, Shinnen, The Netherlands
3. Imported from Holland (lie?)
4. Professed to be brewed in the great Dutch tradition, using only natural ingredients.
5. It is on sale at Safeway for $5.99 per sixpack.
6. It has a little label on the neck that is affixed to the bottlecap, giving it the appearance of being tamper-proof.
7. It’s delicious and you should buy some.