Thursday, December 27, 2007 - Tuscaloosa AL
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Later: I had continuing problems off and on all day accessing Coxontool.com. Late in the afternoon I got a voice mail from the tech at my web host saying my websites are back up but that it might take a day or two for DNS information to propagate throughout the web, that my problem accessing my sites might be with my service provider's not-yet-updated DNS servers and that I might need to call them to speed up a local fix.
DNS means Domain Name System and serves as the "phone book" used to translate alphanumeric URLs we humans can relate to into the numerical IP addresses the system uses. I'm guessing my host changed the IP addresses for Coxontool.com and jhcoxon.com and I understand it can take as long as 72 hours for changes to propagate to the many many DNS servers around the world.
There is one other piece of equipment between my computer and Verizon BroadbandAccess, my internet service provider - the Kyocera KR1 Mobile EVDO WiFi Router I use for my RV hot spot. Maybe that has something to do with my problem. I need to call the fine tech support at 3Gstore.com where I bought my system on another matter anyway; I'll ask. After a quick call to cousin Ken to have him verify for me that Coxontool.com is indeed up and running I call 3Gstore.com. The tech gave had me add a couple of IP addresses for OpenDNS servers to my Airport System Preferences for the KR1 network. That fixed it; I can now access my sites. OpenDNS servers tend to get updated more quickly than others. Now I wonder how many people will have to wait 72 hours to discover my site is back up. I haven't a clue.
Night camp
Wal-Mart Parking Lot in Tuscaloosa AL
Wal-Mart Supercenter in Tuscaloosa AL
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #715, 1501 Skyland Blvd E, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 - (205) 750-0823
This Wal-Mart is one of my favorite parking lots for overnight dry camping. There is good, level parking and access to lots of shopping and services useful to the traveler.
- Good level parking, reasonably quiet
- Books-a-Million & Michaels Craft store across the road
- U-Haul propane nearby, Lowe's and Home Depot 1 mile
- Major shopping centers nearby
- Verizon cell phone service is excellent
- Verizon EVDO Broadband service is excellent
- Find other Wal-Marts in the area
- Check the weather here
Emptiness
Emptiness shouldn't be thought of as a negative. A lot of people misconstrue that as meaning the opposite of something is nothing. But this is something slightly different. I don't want to get into comparative religious things because that's a complicated topic. But if we were to think about it, the problem of life and death has to do with what comes in between, and what comes in between is an awful lot of suffering. We're not just talking about the pain of suffering, we're talking about suffering. Our common everyday parlance it's called stress. That's a kind of suffering and we die from this. From the standpoint of Zen Buddhism this life isn't some sort of stage mock-up for something else that comes after this. This is what we have. We're right here and we're being in this present moment. What you want to think about when you think about emptiness is a way in which to stay present. Just as, in a way, in a very strange kind of concept, there really is no such thing as time. There's no dress rehersal for anything.
The Artful Mind, Reverend Sohaku Flagg, Rinzai Buddhist priest, in an interview with Nanci Race, Jan/Feb 2003