Candle changes

[PJ]

Hi All,

 

First of all, I would like to thank a certain wonderful member for a very generous donation that will cover the hosting costs for Candle for at least the next 5 months. I would love to thank him publically, but I am never sure how people feel about such things. Figured I would dash him a quick email and ask if I could thank him on the board before I said anything.

 

I also wanted to let everyone know that I am switching to a lower cost hosting plan with the same hosting company. Originally I thought I would build out a dating section for the single visitor to the Candle site, but that really has not taken off. This is the only part of Candle that is written in Java/JSP/servlets. It seems that the discussion forums provide the most use to people. By switching to a PHP-only plan, (intro statement, forums, chat, links are PHP) I can greatly reduce costs of Candle's hosting. I have contacted the hosting company, Supplehost,http://www.supplehost.com about this, and will be removing the Java/JSP/servlets components over the next few days.

 

At this point, it does seem prudent to request donations to keep the site running, since I will be in China for at least a month (hopefully longer, but at present I do have return tickets for October since I got such a great price for round-trip tickets, probably cheaper than I could get for one-way). As I mentioned, I did receive a donation that will cover hosting costs for the next few months, but beyond that I hope we could implement some sort of donation system to share the costs of Candle. Especially if I decide to stay a while longer in China and no longer am able to support Candle from a lead software engineer salary. Not sure what I would do in China, but I suspect that my salary would be considerably less.

 

It truly is difficult to let go ... in a way, I am glad that I do have return tickets. I will be honest. I am constantly stressed-out at work. Besides writing software, I am also involved in project planning, resource management, and of course, the never-ending office politics. I do not "play politics" trying to get ahead, but even the simple task of getting another team to look into something in their "territory" that impacts my project involves an incredible amount of politics.

 

But this stress is also very familiar, and although not comfortable, something I can manage. And furthermore, something I know I can manage. I was telling my good friend recently, "you know, it's really going to be something. When I am in a distant land and my biggest stress is trying to explain to the train attendant in my broken Chinese that I need to find a restroom. At that moment, everything I've learned about Java, Systems design, none of that will matter. The only thing that will matter is that I figure out some way between broken Chinese and body gestures that I need a bathroom."

 

Well, I will keep everyone updated on my trip (and on my personal prospects of hopefully finding the right girl) ... I wish everyone the best and I am happy to hear that so many people are sharing the stories of being together with their soulmates here after all those delays. I hope everyone will also remember that there are still some people who are on-hold, and I would encourage everyone to offer their support. Over the next few days, I will be posting more about this.

 

Sincerely,

 

P.J.

[Guest R2D2]

Good luck and God bless. We should institute a fee for the candles service. Does anyone else have any ideas? Many come here to look so it is wise to keep viewing public, but many of the looky loos do so while harboring the belief that we are stupid in trying to change the system and the laws, while at the same time they benefit from us. They seem to have forgoten that freedom is never free and that they should pay the price like everyone else. These are the same type of people that could not defend their country unless they were drafted and now look down their noses at the people who did. Yes, we were stupid in not hiding in Canada or getting a college deferment.

[wolf]

PJ,

I wish you the best while you are in China and I hope you can find this true love that you would like to find, but mainly try to enjoy yourself and look at each day as it come. You are in a new adventure and you should make the most of it. Remember you ticket can always be changed on the return for a small fee, so keep your options open. Please keep us informed as to how your trip is going. Maybe if you told the members what area you would be in next, some of us could help with connections for you.

I would personally like to thank you for candles, if has been a valuable tool to help me and support me alone the way.

A suggestion for donations, since many people come here for only a few posts, maybe after a certain amount of post candles could ask for a donation. I would be happy to offer one for all the help I have gotten. Maybe $ 10 to $ 25 each month from members could help candles keep going.

[Jatuke]

PJ,

 

You should definitely consider staying in China more than just one month, in order to get the full flavor and the true experience of China. That's just from my experience. Before I went to China to teach English, I didn't think I'd last a month, but I stayed for a year, and I wish I could've stayed longer. If you have the opportunity to experience China for a long period of time, take advantage of it.

 

Thanks for hosting this site, and its creation. Good luck and have a blast in China.

 

P.S. how about using a free hosting service, like freewebz, and URL forwarding?

[Guest R2D2]

PJ,

 

You should definitely consider staying in China more than just one month, in order to get the full flavor and the true experience of China. That's just from my experience. Before I went to China to teach English, I didn't think I'd last a month, but I stayed for a year, and I wish I could've stayed longer. If you have the opportunity to experience China for a long period of time, take advantage of it.

 

Thanks for hosting this site, and its creation. Good luck and have a blast in China.

 

P.S. how about using a free hosting service, like freewebz, and URL forwarding?

We are trying to maintain the 001 china board so that they will have access.

[beishan4]

Aloha from Hawaii,

The best of luck to you PJ.

Myles

[tparrent]

PJ,

 

I'm not sure where you are headed in China but I suggest a long stop in Lijiang. If I was young and adventureous that's where I would head for a month or so. Lodging is cheap and interesting and you'll meet a lot of other young travellers. The rainy season is not the best time to be there (August) but it's supposed to be real nice the rest of the year.

 

Give us some idea of the cost of supporting Candle and it will be much easier to figure out a support scheme.

 

Fair winds,

 

Tom

[Guest R2D2]

Good thinking. Give us the monthly cost. We will divide it by the numbers and charge accordingly, or ask for donations accordingly. We will need a treasurer to collect the fees and their address, or your address, so that we can send you the money. I don't think, PJ, general delivery Tampa, FL is going to work.

[Argyle]

Hi All,

 

I certainly want to do my part to support this board. PJ has been very gracious in creating it and supporting it so far. I am willing to do my part in keeping this board alive. One person should not be expected to create, administer, and fund this website.

 

This board has been invaluable to me in the past, and I am sure that it will continue to be as my fiancee and I move on to the next phase of our lives.

It is only fair that we help support it.

 

Let me know what you decide PJ.

[Mick]

I wish you great success in your China experience PJ. I would also suggest, if possible, you stay at least a year. It is a great experience to say the least. As for Candle, thanks as always for your efforts and expense. You are a blessing to us all.

[king]

PJ:

If you are coming through Guangzhou, look me up for a cup of coffee (latte) and a chat. Perhaps I can get some donations for the site. I believe you have my e-mail so you can contact me directly if you want.

[whoever]

I would give my support too. I can't do much. But, I can stop buying games for at least one month .

 

Please PM me with some details.

[PJ]

Hi All,

 

Thanks everyone. About the idea of moving to a free hosting site, when last I checked, there are not any free PHP/mySQL hosting sites. I believe that the free sites are only for basic HTML/JavaScript. Also, many of these sites cap bandwidth and limit the number of visitors / amount of time and they are slow to load. I have been happy with Candle's hosting and do not really wish to change that.

 

Actually, ever since switching to a new plan, the recurring costs are $12/month. Adding in the domain name costs, (which I can't remember what it works out to be per month, but I think it's $2-$3), that works out to be around $15/month.

 

Like I said, before on a lead engineer salary in the U.S., this was not much, but somehow I suspect I may be in China for quite some time, and I think that money will be a lot tighter for me in the future.

 

I did receive a donation that should carry the site through at least the end of 2003. However, for 2004 and beyond I would like to find 15 people who would be willing to donate a dollar a month, or maybe $12 at the beginning of the year, probably set up some sort of paypal system starting 2004. I think we do need some sort of treasurer, good idea, hehe, like I said I don't want to profit ever from my site, I just want it to stay up for future people and to help people today.

 

Thanks everyone for your support and ideas!

 

P.J.

 

[Guest R2D2]

Just let me know where to send my $15 and it is on the way as I type, PJ. The site has helped so many people cross the threashold. I was just telling Don that we should make a movie and call it, Band of Brothers.

[JerryL]

Actually, ever since switching to a new plan, the recurring costs are $12/month.  Adding in the domain name costs, (which I can't remember what it works out to be per month, but I think it's $2-$3), that works out to be around $15/month. 

 

I noticed this domain is registered through NSI which charges $35 a year on a year-by-year basis. For whatever it's worth, there are a number of ICANN accredited registrars that charge significantly less. I've transferred several domains from Network Solutions to GoDaddy (yeah I know the name is stupid :-)) without any problems. They even update the DNS entries automatically using the old values. They only charge about $9 a year. There are many othern registrars that charge in that range but I've no experience with them.

 

Jerry (No affiliation with GoDaddy other than a happy customer :-))