Monthly Archives: October 2007 - Page 2

Outsourcing email hosting

Posted by on October 23, 2007 Comments Off

I’ve hosted my own email for years–probably well over 10 years at this point.  I’ve used a combination of shared hosting plans, VPS and now I’m on a dedicated box.  However, it just takes too much time to keep the box up to date.  Server software, antivirus software, spam software and the list goes on.  By the end of the day, I’m not sure its worth the absolute control.

So I’m on the hunt for a decent outsourced email hosting solution for my domains.  I’m leaning toward Yahoo’s professional email packages because I’ve used them in the past and it just worked.  I have also trusted Yahoo for years and like their interface.

If you use something that works and allows me to connect via IMAP if I’d like, I’m interested in hearing what has worked for fellow hosting geeks.

Catalan on Washington (Houston)

Posted by on October 21, 2007 Comments Off

One of my coworkers recommended a tapas restaurant called Catalan.  Being single and in a fairly metropolitan city, it’s difficult to make dinner for yourself when you have such a fantastic variety of food available at such reasonable prices.

I went to Catalan with another coworker and his girlfriend who came into town for the weekend.  Valet only parking–something to be aware of if you don’t like handing your car off.  We walked in without reservations and the host told us that we could eat outside, but the table would need to be available within an hour or we could eat inside and we’d have an hour and a half.  So that was somewhat of a poor experience, but we didn’t have reservations so expected.

We sat down and ordered a bunch of appetizers and a bottle of wine.  And then we get another bottle of wine for dinner.  By the end of the night the time limit didn’t matter and we have the general manager’s card and floor managers kept coming by asking how things are.  It turns out that if you know about good wine and drink it, you quickly get the attention of others who appreciate wine.

In the end it was a tremendous experience and I suspect that anytime we go back there, we will always have a table.

If you’re in Houston, be sure to add this restaurant to your list.

ISPCON

Posted by on October 14, 2007 Comments Off

I’ll be at ISPCON this coming week in San Jose.  If you’re attending or you’re in the area and you want to meet up, drop me a line.  Contact info is here.

Artista

Posted by on October 14, 2007 Comments Off

If you’re ever rolling through Houston,  be sure to eat at Artista.  I went there with Kevin last night and it was by far the best meal I’ve had in Houston to date.  Just enough food to fill you up, but not too much where you’re in a food coma.  Be sure to save room for desert.

Update on the last few months

Posted by on October 7, 2007 Comments Off

The last few months have been pretty crazy for me to say the least.  Back in June I decided that I needed a change from the everyday.  I felt like life wasn’t progressing as quickly as it should have been so I started to reevaluate my life and where things were headed.

After several weeks of thinking things over and going over offers from various companies, I decided to take an offer from a company in Houston.  I locked up my work visa in a couple of days and then I packed what I needed into one roll on suit case and boarded a plane headed to Houston.

For the last couple of months I’ve been getting used to Houston (never leaved there before) as well as working in a large organization.  The last 7 years or so I’ve been used to working in companies less than 40 employees.  So walking into a company with 500+ employees seemed like a big deal–when it really wasn’t.  It has just taken time to get used to finding the person that does this or that.  Small in the grand scheme of things.

During the move I was planning to be home in Montreal at least once a month to visit friends, family, business associates and the like.  Unfortunately work has been tremendously busy and I haven’t been able to escape as much as I’d like.  I’m sitting in Chicago right now (love the United lounge) heading back to Houston.  Got a chance to get back to Montreal this weekend for Canadian Thanks Giving.  I’ll hopefully be back up for American Thanks Giving in a month or so.  Although, I’m sure Montreal will have snow.

I’ll keep this short.  I just wanted to give an update to all my friends, family and the like who read this blog and wondered where in the world I was.  Everyone knows I like to travel and move around; so this is where I am today  :)