This morning, there was a power blink at home, and the computer reset itself.

At work, I got a call from a remote site that also had a power blink, and they were having problems with a printer because of it.

Later in the day, due to some server configuration work being done, stationv3.com was unavailable for a little while.

Tonight we had our first PodWarp 1999 call-in show - and Talkshoe froze up on us.

Then after that, a thunderstorm knocked me offline for about half an hour.

The site should update automatically at its usual time (about two hours from now), and you can see tomorrow's strip then. But if anything goes wrong with that, I think I'm going to have to blame Technical Difficulty Day!

Labels: other things, podcast, site status

I haven't had too much to say here this month! (But there might be something soon enough.) I did renew the stationv3.com domain name for another year, and this time the comic paid for the domain name itself (and is now working on the hosting) through sales of the book - so thank you to everyone who bought a copy so far, and I hope you enjoy it!

In other news, there are two new voting bonuses today - A sprite strip in which the past/present/future Ebb/Neap situation is (sort of) resolved, and the third season of Rumormonger Idol begins. Thanks for voting!

Labels: books, site status, voting bonus

The host I'm on was doing some emergency server maintenance over the weekend, so you may have had problems connecting to the site (I did) - but everything should be working now.

Labels: site status

Last January I made some comic-related New Year's Resolutions. I think for the most part I managed to keep them:

• Update Station V3 every day - yep, did that.
  
• Update Z7 at least 50 times - I wound up putting up 98 new strips and getting it back on a regular schedule.
  
• Update Ebb's Children at least 10 times - Update 13 times.
  
• Make a few changes to the site - Yep, made a few. Maybe not as many as I planned, but a few!
  
• Finish putting together the first Station V3 book - Did that! (And you can buy it here.)
  
• Keep things interesting - I certainly hope I did that!
  

...And I also did a few things I hadn't planned to do! For example, starting Silence in the Darkness on Q16, the third Station V3 spinoff. It actually had the most visitors of the four comics last month, thanks to visitors from StumbleUpon, and various German web sites, such as this one. (Though Station V3 still had the Pac-Man share of the site bandwidth pie chart, and is back in the lead this month.)

Plans for 2008 include hoping the comics will earn enough through Project Wonderful ads and book sales to pay for their hosting, doing more guest strips for other comics, and generally doing pretty much the same thing I did in 2007! (Except for putting together the first book - I'll have to work on a second one instead.)

...So keep checking this year and see how I do, and I'll have a followup post on the subject this time next year. :)

Labels: books, comics, new year's resolutions, site status

You may have noticed it's been a little quiet here lately, apart from new strips still going up every day. Due to some computer problems last month, I've switched operating systems (to Linux), and put in a new hard drive. Fortunately, this hasn't affected the update schedule here (or at the other strips in the "V3 universe") - the first thing I did was get the scanner and printer working, and the GIMP works as well as any of the programs I was using before. Also fortunately, I didn't lose any data along the way, but it did delay work on the Station V3 book, which is a little frustrating, since it was very close to being done. At this point I can start getting back in to finish work on it - It looks like I may have a few formatting issues to work out with the different program (OpenOffice) I'm using now, but hopefully it'll be ready soon.

In other book news, The Kid's Book Project is almost done, with all the pages in.

In other other news, November is National Novel Writing Month - I've signed up at nanowrimo.org, since what's one more thing not to have time for? :)

And finally, I've put up two new voting bonus sketches today - in the first one, a book is being written, and the second one is a preview of what might happen once V3's crew gets their new replacement station. Thanks for voting!

Labels: books, computers, site status, voting bonus

Apparently stationv3.com isn't pointing to the new host for everyone just yet (and the server at the old host finally went down), since I've been told there were some connection problems here and there this morning. So if you couldn't connect today and were wondering what was going on, maybe you'll see this message in a few days and get the answer to your question!

In other site news, apparently the bonus archive reverted back to where it was before I updated it earlier this month, since my backup of the site was from before I did that. So I've re-updated it, and also added in all the bonuses so far this month except for the two new ones that went up earlier today.

Labels: site status, site update, voting bonus

I see in the site logs that people are visiting here looking for information on Jatol.com - unfortunately, I don't have very much. The server I was on stayed up, so I probably wouldn't even have noticed they were down except it was time to renew a domain name with them! There's a discussion about them on the Web Hosting Talk forums, and another on Slashdot. And apparently their registered agent in Kentucky (where the company was incorporated) just resigned.

Now, for those of you visiting for the comic (no longer hosted on Jatol) and not interested in any of that, there are two new voting bonuses today! A sprite strip in which Linton discusses the possibility of losing every round of the simulation tournament, and a bad translation of today's strip. Thanks for voting!

Labels: site status, voting bonus

Everything seems to be more or less straightened out now - I've got new hosting (Vexxhost), I've got comicostrich.com and stationv3.com pointing at it, and it looks like most of you are seeing the site up and running here now. (And those of you still seeing the site on what's left of Jatol aren't reading this message...)

Today's first bonus is a sprite strip in which Linton finds out the simulation server crashed, and the second one is a very bad translation of today's strip (though the third panel came out okay) - thanks for voting!

Labels: site status, voting bonus

I got the comicostrich.com domain name renewed, so Z7, Ebb's Children, Silence in the Darkness on Q16, the forums, etc. are all back online, at least for now. Now I just have to find a new host to move them to, since I don't know how much longer this server is going to stay up!

Labels: site status

As far as I can tell, Jatol.com, the host Station V3 and all the ComicOstrich sites (including Z7, Ebb's Children, Silence in the Darkness on Q16, the forum, etc.) is going (or gone) out of business. The server's still up, at least for now, but I'm going to be moving to another host soon. And unfortunately, they were also the ones I had the comicostrich.com domain registered with. I first noticed a problem when I went to their site to renew it, and they weren't there! The domain has now expired, and the company they were partnered with for domain registrations now has a parked domain search/advertising page up at all the ComicOstrich sites. I contacted them yesterday (before they did that), and they told me they've passed my problem on to their partner Jatol.com and to please wait 48 hours (they told some other people formerly on Jatol 24) for a reply from Jatol. I've forwarded one of my bounced emails to Jatol to them to see if that speeds things up at all.

Hopefully this will all be straightened out soon! In the meantime, the current Z7, Ebb's Children, and Silence in the Darkness on Q16 strips can be seen here.

Labels: site status

August was a pretty busy month here - a lot of people reading through the archives lately. New readers? Looking for answers for the trivia quiz? Going back and re-reading some of your favorite strips? Whoever you are and whatever the reason, thanks for reading! And point your friends here if you think they'll like it! (If not, maybe some new friends...?)

So, about the Station V3 book, and that trivia quiz... Since this is September 1st, I can tell you someone has posted the right answers to the quiz, and will be getting a copy of the 'prototype space pod' version of the book. And since September 1st isn't over yet, you can go see those right answers, post them yourself, and win a copy of the photocopied-and-stapled Station V3 mini-comic I put together for this year's Free Comic Book Day, featuring a slightly revised Third Planet story. Do it now! Or if you'd rather wait for the book, it'll be going on sale later this month. (Of course, you can always get both... That's allowed!)

On the technical side of things, the host I'm on seems to be having a couple problems today - which fortunately aren't affecting things here at this point, but if the site is suddenly gone, that may be the reason. (Of course, if it *is* gone, you most likely aren't reading this.) The LiveJournal feed should be unaffected even if it does disappear, though, so you can always check that. I'll try to get everything back up and running as soon as possible if it does go zap.

And finally, a big Thank You to everyone who voted for Station V3 last month and kept the comic in the Top 100 on TopWebcomics and buzzComix - it does seem to help bring in at least a few new visitors, according to the site logs! I've got two new bonuses up today to get this month started: A sprite strip in which Linton is not especially pleased with how he did in the first round of the Security Simulation Tournament, and a bad translation of today's strip. Thanks for voting, and if you have a bonus request, let me know!

Labels: books, contest, site feed, site status, voting bonus