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Why I will not be using SiteGround to host my WordPress Site! – HaliPawz

Today was a reminder I cannot trust reviews all the time.  I have learned reviews can be bought for a price and I am beginning to think SiteGround hosting positive reviews were bought and paid for.  Maybe not, maybe it is just my situation, but I can guarantee I will not be going back to them to host my WordPress Site.  I will continue to look for a host!

I have been pondering switching to a host so I have more control over my site than I currently do with WordPress.com.  Don’t get me wrong, it has been a great site to begin with and I do not have enough positive things to say about them for someone new to blogging.  The key is, I wanted to be able to add plugins, I wanted to be able to talk to advertisers, and with the free WordPress, it just isn’t an option.  I know they offer the WordAds once you have a certain amount of traffic, but let’s face it, if I have that much traffic, I don’t want to share the advertising dollars, I want them all for myself!

I read quite a few reviews on WordPress hosting sites and many of them pointed to SiteGround over BlueHost.  I spoke with their technical support the other day via live chat and they answered all of the questions I had.  Then today, before I signed up, I remembered a few additional questions, contacted the live chat again and asked those.  I was happy with the answers I had received and, I’ll admit, I asked two of the same questions I had asked previously and received the same answer.

The thing I was assured about was the transition from WordPress.com to SiteGround would be seamless.  I was informed by both technicians they had WordPress experts on their team and I would have no issues with it what so ever.  I understand speaking highly of your company, but when two of them basically tell me the same thing and their home page says the same thing, I begin to think there is some truth to it.

The $3.95 a month for the basic plan was a good starting price for me.  It wasn’t the cheapest I had found, but it was reasonable and with the reviews being so favorable, and the ability to grow in plans as my traffic grew, I figured it would be the best choice for me.

I go through and input all of my information.  There were four options, one of them was $3.95 a month plus $14.95 domain transfer charge, another was $3.95 for 12 months, then for 24 months, or for 36 months.  With the 12, 24, and 36 option, there was no charge for the domain transfer.   It had defaulted to the 12 month option and I looked at the cost, $84!?!? What?  How did it go from $3.95 a month to $84?  I looked at it closer and saw they had added additional options including Hacker block and more back ups.  When I read the information around it, it appeared they only backed up once a day and if I wanted it backed up more, I would have to pay.  Once a day wouldn’t be bad for me since I usually only added one or two blogs a day and I usually saved them to word first, so if something did disappear, I would be able to upload it again.  I did like the idea of the Hacker blocker but it was adding $12 to the order, not breaking it down per month, so I went back to the live chat yet again.

As I was talking to him, I learned I would have to pay the $12 for the year.  Breaking it down per month wasn’t an option.  I also learned the $3.95 a month was just a trial price and if I chose it, in 30 days, I would have to pay the regular price $9.95 a month, not the $3.95 like they advertised.  The only way to get that price was to select it for a minimum of 12 months.  Of course, I chose the year route, it just made sense!  Before I hit submit, I asked him once again how quickly it would take place and would there be downtime?  He assured me it would be seamless and no downtime.  He offered to stay in chat with me until I finished the purchase so he could help me.

I hit submit and then the questions began.  I had to ask the technician a few more questions to confirm I was doing it correctly.  I guess I had thought it would be easier, but the questions were a little confusing.  After finally navigating everything, I was told I would receive an email when it was complete.  I closed the chat and went back to doing other things online.

About 30 minutes later, I received and email with a “ticket number.”  When I clicked it, it took me to some technical jargon about my transfer being part of the WordPress network and they needed my permission to proceed.  My permission?  I thought I had given it to them when I clicked the options after purchase.  Confused yet again, I clicked “Live chat” and while I was waiting, I noticed one of the lines said the themes wouldn’t transfer.  Wait?  The themes wouldn’t transfer?  Hmmm, I loved my theme but more than that, a lot of the websites about growing your audience made it clear to not change your website too much in the first 90 days.  Ugh!  The chat technician came on and started talking in circles around my questions.  I finally stated I felt I had made a mistake and maybe I should just cancel the order.  She then tried explaining it to me once again, told me how to reply to the ticket, and sent me the link to look at the available themes so I could tell them what I wanted in the ticket so they would make it happen for me.  Looking through the theme, I didn’t love any of them.  I finally decided on one I liked the best of the least and sent it through on the ticket, hoping for the best.

About 15 – 20 minutes later, I had another email saying the transfer was successful but I would have to go in and change the DNS because they couldn’t do it.  Wait, what?  I had to change the DNS?  I don’t even know what the DNS is!  What happened to seamless?  Back to Live Chat yet again.  Sigh….for a seamless transaction, this is becoming a headache.  The technician appeared to know what he was doing.  He said he could fix it for me, I just had to give him my user name and password for WordPress and he’d take care of it.  He said he would send me an email confirmation when it was complete.  Finally!  Someone helpful.  I waited for the email.  While I was waiting, I went to preview the site on SiteGround with the new theme.  I HATED IT!!!!  It was so ugly, the font just sorta ran into the page and each other.  It was ugly.  Not to mention they had added a blog post I didn’t type.  They removed my HaliPawz title and replaced it with “Blog Post” so I was going to have to go in and fix everything.  OK, I can customize it when it’s all fixed.

Email came through, DNS change complete, I am good to go.  Yes!  Time to start customizing as best I could.  I toggled back and forth between my admin site and my home page to make sure all the changes were taking affect.  Nothing would take.  I tried changing the font color, it would show as changed in the admin page, but it wouldn’t change on the home page.  I went into the categories page to correct something on the home page and I noticed my permalinks were all messed up on my blogs.  The permalinks had Siteground in it and had a “~” in front of HaliPawz.  That didn’t look right!  I logged into twitter to pull up a tweet, clicked a link and sure enough, page not found popped up.  Are you kidding me?  I couldn’t go back and delete and change all of my links everywhere.  I was done!  I was beyond annoyed.  I clicked “Cancel” and said I wanted a full refund.  It, of course, took me back to live chat.  The technician assured me she could fix it easily, left for a few minutes, then came back and asked me to clear my cache.  I did and, of course, it canceled my chat session.  So now I knew the trick, if they keep cancelling the chat session, I couldn’t cancel!

I logged back in and tried a couple of links before I logged back in to SiteGround.  Nothing was working except the home page.  I tried cancelling AGAIN and was taken to chat.  She kept insisting it had been fixed, I kept explaining to her only the home page was working.  I logged into a different browser to try again and the link took me to the old version, not the new version, which, of course, I preferred, but I knew it wasn’t right.  She kept trying to show me screen shots of the home page but I kept saying the home page wasn’t the issue.  Finally I sent her a link from one of my tweets and she came back to say yes, she received the 404 site not found….but insisted she could fix it.  I lost it.  I just kept typing No No NO in the chat, over and over.  I took up the whole window saying I wanted to cancel and please just cancel.  Finally, after 23 minutes of my trying to cancel the SECOND time, she cancelled my order.

Going off on SiteGround support

Going off on SiteGround support

Now the fun begins though because the DNS change still had to occur.  I knew they weren’t going to help me with it.  Luckily I was on the phone with someone who had website experience in the past but he was not quick to help me now because he hated website technical problems.  He said it would cost me, to which I laughed and said, just go fix it.  He went in to look and said there was nothing wrong with the DNS and it pointed back to WordPress.  I didn’t understand how that could happen but thought, ok, maybe if they cancelled it, it goes back.

NO SUCH LUCK!  I went to my page and it said the site is being hosted by SiteGround but not available.  Ugh!  This is a nightmare.  After searching through many forum posts on WordPress, I finally found the solution, I think.  The problem is, it says it can take up to 72 hours to change.  It amazes me how quickly it works to switch out of WordPress but to try to go back to WordPress, it may take up to 72 hours.  During the time I spent typing this, I went back to look and I am still getting this image when I type my page:

So, it clearly was not fixed and my website is now down.  I went from wanting my own site to having no site!  So, something I started around 2pm has been a thorn in my side off and on all day.  It is now 11:30pm, I have a new blog to post, but no site to post it to!

So, when I am ready to try again, I will either find someone to help me with the transition or I will upgrade using the WordPress upgrade option, paying a little more, but making sure it is truly compatible with everything I currently have!

Wish me luck!

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Dogs, Medicine, pairing the overpopulated shelters with the needs of the people – HaliPawz

As I was reading an article today about a a German Shepherd trained to sniff out thyroid cancer, it make me realize we are not using our natural resources as well as we should.  We have animal shelters overpopulated with dogs waiting for forever homes, many of them are smart dogs, dogs who should not be in a shelter, all they want is love and companionship.

We have an unbelievable number of homeless and underprivileged in the US right now.  There are currently over 600,000 homeless Americans as of 2013.  Many of them do not take the time to seek medical help or, in some cases, do not have the time to go to a free clinic.  Having done volunteer work with organizations that help the homeless and underprivileged, I know the care in the free medical clinics still need a lot of help.  In many situations, there is an expectation of arriving early so you can get your spot on line, only to sit and wait all day.

My proposal is to have teams of dogs trained to go to these clinics, to walk the streets of the homeless, to be the first level of diagnosis for cancer.  Dogs can also be trained to detect low blood sugar, low blood pressure, notification of a seizure coming on, and, in some cases, the onset of a heart attack.  While some of these abilities wouldn’t help in a clinic setting, the whole point is to get involved with partnering the right dogs with the right handlers to work in areas to cut down the costs of the medical testing.

Using a dog’s ability to detect via scent would help with less evasive screening tests.  It would also allow the handlers to walk the streets with the homeless, those not able to afford a bus or a a way to get to the clinics.

Would it solve every medical problem?  No, of course not, but it is a start.  It is a way to give more dogs in shelters work and a purpose, it is a way to help those less fortunate just a little more.

In addition, more dogs can be trained to detect seizures and oncoming heart attacks, and be given to those in need along with free food and pet care.  In the long run, this care would be cheaper than the medical costs a person will incur IF they have a seizure or if they have a heart attack and it isn’t caught quickly.  There are so many wins to this!

For further information, here are some good articles to read:

Dogs Detect Cancer

Medical Detection Dogs

WebMD pet detecting illness

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Puff, Puff, Pass…..the Pufferfish; Dolphins getting high – Paula Halifax

Pretty soon we are going to have to have animal jail.  In a previous article, I discussed rabbits getting high on marijuana, now we learn dolphins have their own recreational drug activity; pufferfish!

In  a study done by BBC One which included over 900 hours of footage, it was discovered dolphins have perfected the art of making a pufferfish puff up, turning them into the shape of a ball, where they will pass it back and forth, playing with it.  When the pufferfish is fed up with the game, it will release their toxins into the water.  In the video footage, you can see the dolphins then playing in the toxin and getting “high” off of it.

While toxin in pufferfish can be lethal to humans, it appears the dolphins have perfected this “puff puff pass the pufferfish” game.

***Warning, do not try this at home!***

If you liked this and want to stay up to date with me, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Sing along with Stewie; When Characters sing ‘Uptown Funk’ – Paula Halifax

Covers of popular songs are done every day, all you have to do is search YouTube for your favorite song and you will find multiple versions ranging from some of the best cover artists to some of the worsts.  It isn’t often you get the opportunity to hear some of your favorite characters, like Stewie, singing the popular songs quite in the way Mikey Bolts shows us in this YouTube video.

Taking the fun, chart topping, song like Mark Ronson’s ‘Uptown Funk’ replace Bruno Mars with:  Family Guy characters Stewie, Peter, Joe, Herbert the Pervert, Quagmire, Neil Goldman, Bruce; From American Dad: Director Bullock and Roger; and throw in Hank from King of the Hill and you have a true cast of characters belting out the popular song in a way you never imagined. 

It appears Bolts was having fun with this video and his impressions are great.  You could see different aspects of the characters coming out as he sang. 

Imitation is the purest form of flattery and I say Bolts would make all parties proud.

 

If you liked this and want to stay up to date with me, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Eight Year Old Calls and complains about missing Sunday Comics – HaliPawz

Imagine, if you will,  8 years old, sitting down on a Sunday morning, drinking your hot chocolate, opening up the Sunday paper, getting ready to read your favorite section, the comics, only to discover your favorites were gone!   What do you do?  You get mad!  At least one 8 yr old did.

Mac, a resident of Bloomington, Illinois, was mad and decided to do something about it.  He reached out to the editor of the Herald-Times of Bloomington, Bob Zaltsburg and demanded the comics come back to the Sunday paper.  According to Zaltsburg, the cuts were due to budget cutbacks resulting in fewer comics overall.

Impressively, Mac didn’t just demand which comics were to come back, he also offered up the money to PAY for them to be back!

https://soundcloud.com/the-herald-times/a-comic-voicemail

Now, in fairness, I admire the parents for making the call.  I do, however, have an issue with the language the young man uses at the end of the call, calling them, “idiots, jerks,  sh*tholes.”  Saying “sh*tholes” more than once, perhaps for emphasis, is a little extreme for a child, but I’m sure he got his point across!

If you liked this and want to stay up to date with me, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Artistry in Nature – Paula Halifax

It is often understood an artist creates beauty for themselves and then share it with others to enjoy, but imagine creating true works of art for over a year, knowing over time, all you would have left are the pictures?  That is exactly what artist Spencer Byles did.

After obtaining all of the necessary legal documents, Byles set out into the unmanaged forest of La Colle Sur Loup, Villeneuve Loubet and Mougins with just basic tools to create far from basic pieces of art.

forest-land-art-nature-spencer-byles-72

Byles learned to enjoy working by himself, learning to appreciate the quiet peace the forests in France  had to offer.  He spent time locating areas for his work, but set out with no real plan in place as to what his designs were going to look like.

forest-land-art-nature-spencer-byles-110

Byles worked to make sure the photographs would capture the true essence of the pieces he created.

forest-land-art-nature-spencer-byles-191

He used only natural pieces as well as things he found with minimal effort, such as keys, nails, things left behind by animals or people.  ‘

All in all, I would say he captured nature in a beautiful way.

To see more, visit http://frenchforestsculptures.blogspot.fr/

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The Hares Likes to Get High; Rabbits getting high on Marijuana – Paula Halifax

In the never ending battle of why or why not marijuana should be legalized, another caveat has been thrown into the mix.  High Hares, rabbits that is.  DEA agent Matt Fairbanks has expressed concern towards the wild rabbits living in the Utah.  He feels they are getting high off of the marijuana plants and are losing their fear of humans because of it.

“I deal in facts. I deal in science,” Fairbanks stated in his testimony to the Utah Senate Panel.

Fairbanks went on to share his concern about growing marijuana and the damage it will have on the natural resources of the mountains of Utah, including erosion, contaminated water, and damaged flora.

While there may be some backing to his concerns, the problem lies within those who are growing it illegally, not with the companies who want to grow it legally for medical purposes.  Those proposed growths would happen inside or within contained areas, much like any farmer grows his or her crop.  As with any farming situation, there is some damage done to the land, but it is contained and watched, like any business.  A business owner isn’t going to want his crops going to the wildlife, that will affect his profit!

All in all, illegal activity is illegal activity and can affect those around it, even the rabbits as they sit back, munching on the new green leaves introduced to them.  With regulated growth of the plant, let us embrace the positive it can do for those who are suffering and get the rabbits of Utah into a detox program!

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Ringling Brothers Elephants Leaving the Big Top – HaliPawz

Have you been a fan of the Elephants at the circus?  Well you better hurry up and go see them, because they are being pulled from all of the Ringling Brother’s shows by 2018.

It appears they have had a lot of negativity on the use of the elephants in the show.  For some reason, people are ok with domesticated animals being part of a show, but not wild animals.  The shift is for more human acts, more dog acts, etc.

In addition to the loud protesters, cities have jumped on the bandwagon and said they do not want a circus with elephants.   My question would be, why?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for animals being treated well.  I don’t believe any animal should be abused.  IF, in fact, the problem is the animals are being abused, that should be what is addressed, not getting rid of them entirely.

Kids LOVE the elephants.  Elephants are majestic creatures and love to work.  It is obvious when you see them helping out in countries where they are not necessarily in captivity, but are still used similar to how horses and donkeys are used here in the United States.  I like watching the elephants perform.  Again, I am not saying I want animals to be abused, and I do not CONDONE animal abuse in any way.  All I’m saying is, why can’t we have the Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My….but with proper care and consideration for the animals?

Yes, it is enjoyable but it also builds awareness of the plight of so many animals.  If Ringling Brothers would keep the elephants and put so much of their profit back into trying to keep those that are in the wild safe, instead of so many being killed for their ivory, I think they would have a much better response then just getting rid of them completely.

Not only that, but they eat a lot.  If they aren’t performing, WHO is going to pay to keep them fed and alive?  They have a median life span of 17 years.  I just think sometime, people yell without thinking about the whole picture.  I wonder how many of those who are cheering over this decision don’t look back and remember fondly, their trip to the circus when they were children, complete with all the animals!

Let’s work to keep animals safe, both in the wild and in captivity.  Stop poachers.  Stop buying fur. Stop buying ivory.  That is the true tragedy!

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The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Movie Review – HaliPawz

Last night I had an opportunity to attend the screening of the movie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at the Glenwood Arts Theater in Leawood, Kansas.  You can read my review about the theater here.

I received the passes the night prior and did not know anything about the movie.  I invited a friend to go with me and as we were sitting, waiting for the movie to start, I asked her if she had looked the movie up?  She had, but only briefly and was surprised I had not.  I quickly googled it from my phone and saw, what appeared to be a strong cast, a very British cast, and they were older.  Richard Gere was in it, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench.  It shouldn’t be bad, I thought.  Probably won’t be an award winner from the plot outline, but not bad.

As I was listening to the other movie goers around me, I heard one talk about the first one.  Oh no!  It’s a sequel and I have no idea what happened in the first one!  Fun!  The other thing I noticed about the group around me was that I felt young.  It was quite packed with an older crowd.

The movie starts and right away, Maggie Smith is winning with her lines.  She quips a few lines and everyone laughs.  A great way to start a movie when I have no clue what to expect.

While Smith’s character continues to win you over throughout the movie, both with her lines, her personality, and her delivery, I cannot say the same for the rest of the movie.  It was confusing in parts, but kept your attention.  It moved from character to character rather quickly.  Most of the story was quite predictable from beginning to end, with only one or two surprises. The characters won you over though.  They were charming, and you felt like you were part of the movie, not just an outsider watching it.

I loved Judy Dench’s character, Evelyn in as much as she admitted she was older, but she was embracing a new career doing something she loved to do.  What started as a hobby for her evolved into something so much more.  I think it reminded everyone to never stop doing what you love and follow the path it leads you.

As Sonny (Dev Patel) bumbly (yes, not sure if that is a word, but I’m using it!) goes between trying to make his dream of expansion a reality and prepare for his wedding, you cannot help but like him and it makes it believable why all of the characters formed a family here at the Marigold Hotel.

Speaking of weddings…..I LOVED LOVED LOVED the wedding scene.  I think Indian weddings are so beautiful and I hope to go to at least one in my lifetime.  The director and actors did a wonderful job portraying it and you couldn’t help but be happy and celebratory during the scene.  I had watched a documentary on Indian weddings and preparations once and was fascinated by it.  It was a great “feel good” part of the movie.

Overall, did I love it?  No.  Did I like it?  Yes.  I can see why it would be liked by those categorized as “active boomers”.  It was filled with love, life, romance, and clear to all that age really is JUST a number!

If you liked this and want to stay up to date with me, follow me on Twitter @HaliPawz  or Like me on Facebook.com/HaliPawz 

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Glenwood Arts Theater, My Review – HaliPawz

Last night I had an opportunity to go see a movie screening at Glenwood Arts Theater 3707 West 95th St, Leawood, KS 66206.  It was my first time ever being there, so I didn’t know what to expect.  I had actually never heard of it.  As we were driving there, my friend thought it was at another location.  Come to find it, it had JUST moved to Leawood from Overland Park about two weeks ago, so it was a good think Google had updated their directions already because I just asked “Siri” to find Glenwood Arts Theater Leawood, Kansas.  As we were already running late, it could have been a disastrous!

My phone was telling us we had arrived, but there was NOTHING resembling a movie theater.  I was familiar with this shopping center because I go there at least once or twice a year with my mom so she can get her S.A.S. shoes when she is down visiting.  I’ve been in the ACE store.  I could not imagine where there was a movie theater.  After some discussion and looking at the sign, which did indicate there was a movie theater, we decided to go in the main doors and look around.

The minute we opened the doors, we knew we were close because you could smell the popcorn.  There is NOTHING like the smell of movie theater popcorn.  We went down the stairs and saw the entrance.  I am hoping they plan on marking it better for people to find, but, in talking to some of the other attendees, they remember going there as a child, so perhaps it is not marked to keep those who are not from the area away!

The theater had an old style charm about it.  You could tell it was not new at all.  The seats, while comfortable, were extremely narrow and leaned back quite a bit, whether you wanted to lean back or not.  The aisles were quite close together, so if someone was walking down the aisle behind you, it was very easy for you to get bumped with their hand or their coat.  One lady managed to hit my head at least three times trying to get to her seat!  Normally I would just lean forward, but remember what I was saying about the seats?  It was almost impossible to get away without actually leaning all the way forward in the seat, which I did after the second hit, but she still managed to connect with her coat one final time before passing and me leaning.

Because we were late, we ended up sitting up front.  Normally, in newer movie theaters, I would hate it, because it’s too close.  In this one, it was OK.  Perhaps it was due to leaning so far back!  Seriously though, it wasn’t bad, I was able to see the whole movie without feeling like I was IN the movie.

I went to get popcorn and have to commend the theater on the experience.  The two gentlemen behind the counter were extremely friendly.  They worked together.  They joked around with the customers.  It truly made me feel like I had gone back in time.  The prices were average, for a large popcorn and large drink, it was about $10, too much? Yes.  Normal pricing for a movie theater?  I would say so.  The nice thing is, the popcorn was good.  I cannot say what they do differently than the bigger theaters, other than it was popped fresh and the ingredients were put in all separate instead of a package?  I’m not sure, but even my friend commented on the taste of the popcorn.  They didn’t skimp on the butter either.  When you ask for extra butter, they give it to you.

My real complaint, other than the seats but I could live with them, was the sound from the other theaters.  When it was a quiet moment in our movie, you could hear the sounds from the other ones pretty bad.  At one point, before I realized it wasn’t our movie, I was trying to listen because I thought I was missing something.  I understand it is an older theater and the sound in newer movies probably overpower the walls, but it was a little distracting at first.

Overall, I would go see a movie there again, I loved the charm of the theater, you felt like you had walked back in time a little.  I wouldn’t make it my “go to” Movie Theater though.