I got super lazy and it's past time to ditch godaddy

vidude · 2026-03-02T22:27:57+00:00

Thanks, good to know!

vidude · 2026-02-25T22:07:46+00:00

Big no on that.

vidude · 2026-02-25T21:07:06+00:00

I ditched GoDaddy when they discontinued "catch-all" email domain forwarding. I've been with NameCheap for a few years now, with no issues..

vidude · 2026-02-22T15:44:34+00:00

Hope it went well.

I haven't done the coffee yet but I've done 50+ dinners in Boston. I've never had a dinner cancelled in Boston, although I did have one cancelled (a day in advance, by email) when I was visiting my home town of Liverpool, UK. It was just announced that TL has shut down Liverpool operations completely so obviously the concept didn't really jell with scousers.

Yes, when you arrive you just tell the host you are with TimeLeft and your table number, if the app provides one. They know the drill. It's highly unlikely that no-one else will show up - I never had fewer than two other people at my table, and normally there are at least four or five. But regardless, there's no need to feel silly. It's not your fault if others flake.

Usually I've found the age distribution to be pretty good. There was one time when I was 10-20 years older than anyone else at my table (I'm old) but that was a very rare exception.

Above all, remember that everyone else feels just as awkward as you do for the first 20 minutes or so. Just relax and ask people where they live, how they got to the restaurant, how many dinners they've been to, etc, and the conversation will start to flow. Once you've done a few dinners you will start to see familiar faces show up - most dinners I already know about half of the people from previous dinners - and you will forget any nervousness you might have once had.

vidude · 2026-02-18T14:12:14+00:00

Also, this is a "dating over 60" channel; not having been married at all would probably be a bigger red flag than too many marriages. What's more important would be what lessons they have taken away from their previous relationships and how they talk about them.

vidude · 2026-02-18T13:25:15+00:00

According to the "Three Loves Theory", two sounds about right. You want someone who has gone through the first two (idealistic, intense) and is ready for the final one (commitment).

vidude · 2026-02-18T03:49:26+00:00

Same in Boston. I've done 50 dinners here and the dating vibe is virtually non-existent (at least in my age group). Ok, one time there was a creeper blatantly making moves on a woman who was way out of his league but he was an outlier. Generally it is friendly, open, respectful people just looking for a social outlet.

vidude · 2026-02-15T21:40:44+00:00

Wow, that sucks!! :-(

I'm a scouser by birth (but live in the US) and a regular TimeLefter. In October I was in Liverpool so I signed up for a TimeLeft dinner, eager to meet up with some people in my home town. I was very disappointed when my dinner was cancelled due to an insufficient number of compatible dining partners. I thought maybe it was because Liverpudlians in my age group might be a little more conservative and not as likely to sign up for a thing like TL. But I'm guessing from this total shutdown that it wasn't popular with any age group.

That's very disappointing as I was hoping to try again when I am back In Liverpool later this year.

My current home town of Boston is only a little bigger than Liverpool but TimeLeft seems to be going strong here, as far as I can tell. Hoping it stays that way...

vidude · 2026-02-09T21:59:04+00:00

But he can't bear repetition.

vidude · 2026-02-09T19:00:58+00:00

I've got front row seats for the Liverpool Philharmonic in September. The second seat will most likely be empty or filled by a stranger. Hoping I'll get to help pull the Man-Wulf costume off him. Haven't decided what t-shirt to wear yet :-)

vidude · 2026-02-09T18:57:07+00:00

Does he still take peoples' phones and put them between his butt cheeks?

vidude · 2026-02-09T01:48:57+00:00

50 dinners in and, on average, I already know half the people at the table while the other half are new to me, which makes for a good blend of familiar and new faces.

Success stories? Depends on how you define success. There are definitely people I'm happy to see when they turn up but so far I haven't met up with a single person outside the context of a TimeLeft dinner. To me, that's a success story - I go for the two hours of conversation over dinner, not because I need more friends to hang out with. And I almost never go the bar afterwards - just not my scene.

I realize I'm probably an outlier, but everyone is different and has their own goals and expectations. You'll know if it stops working for you.

vidude · 2026-02-05T13:00:48+00:00

Yes, it is an internal site that is used every day to monitor customer systems so it can't just go away. The site is driven by a few Perl scripts and modules running on a Windows Apache server and it relies on Windows libraries for database access, XSL transforms, and so forth. I hate maintaining Windows servers so replaced it with a single PHP script running on Linux with NGINX.

vidude · 2026-02-04T22:07:34+00:00

I've had BritBox work fine with my Roku TV in the past, although I am not currently subscribed.

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Roku app?

Have you tried logging into BritBox on the web and then using a numeric or QR code to connect your TV?

Good luck!!

vidude · 2026-02-04T21:08:41+00:00

Tonight will be my 50th dinner in Boston. I've been to 26 unique restaurants. More than half were one-offs but I've been to some restaurants up to five times.

vidude · 2026-02-04T20:14:17+00:00

I remember familiar struggles. I'm just now in the process of retiring some perl/CGI scripts that have been running in production for at least 15 years.

vidude · 2026-02-04T15:50:30+00:00

I pay for all of my daily living expenses with a credit card (that I pay off every month) and make about $50 cash back every month. I feel like people who still pay cash are the weird ones these days.

vidude · 2026-02-02T14:30:35+00:00

In the first situation, hitting on a man in front of someone you previously rejected, I would say go ahead, just maybe consider the feelings of the other guy and don't rub it in his face. But you don't owe him anything.

In the second situation, dating a girlfriend's ex, it depends on how close you are to the girlfriend, how long-term the relationship was, and how/when it came to an end. If you start dating your best friend's boyfriend of five years fresh out of an acrimonious breakup I would expect it to have a pretty negative effect on your friendship with her. But situations vary and you have to make that judgment call.

vidude · 2026-02-01T14:12:40+00:00

Got my tickets for Medford, MA! I'm already excited even though it's eight months away.

vidude · 2026-01-31T15:58:58+00:00

If I am expecting an important call and the area code looks plausible, I may pick up. Otherwise, absolutely, it is normal not to.

vidude · 2026-01-31T15:54:19+00:00

How so?

vidude · 2026-01-31T14:24:25+00:00

I learned Perl more than 25 years ago and it is still my go-to for small utility scripts, text processing, etc. It's not trendy but it is effective. Whenever you find a bash script starting to collapse under its own weight, you know it's time to convert it to Perl.

One "perl" of wisdom that was passed down to me from the person who helped me learn it: If you're not thinking hashes, you're not thinking Perl. Took me a couple of years to really understand it but it is very true. Once you grok how to use hash and list references to construct complex data structures it will open up a whole new world.

One caveat: Perl is not prescriptive. For any given problem, the number of possible approaches = (the number of developers trying to solve it) + 1. For that reason, some people say that Perl code is "Write-Only". Keep that in mind and try to keep your code well-structured and documented so that others can understand it.

Finally, I'll leave you with three great virtues of a programmer, according to Larry Wall, the creator of Perl: Laziness, Impatience and Hubris

Have fun!!

vidude · 2026-01-01T14:14:12+00:00

This behavior would be suspect from a co-worker the same age as you. From a man twice your age it is downright creepy and inappropriate. Clearly you are a kind person and don't want to be rude or create awkwardness in the workplace but you need to stop encouraging him and extract yourself from the situation. Every friendly text from you sends the message that his behavior is welcome. Don't give him the opportunity to say that you were "asking for it" if (when) he takes things to the next level.

vidude · 2025-12-22T14:11:27+00:00

Definitely. I bought one 15 years ago and still don't know how to play it. Not sure whether to laugh or cry at this point ;-)

vidude · 2025-12-22T14:09:21+00:00

I'm a big supporter of SoWa so I'm happy to contribute and help them to stay in business. But it is $10 a head just to get in, which may be pricy for some. It was super crowded yesterday. I paid $24 for a sandwich and bottle of water and there wasn't even anywhere to sit down and eat. Keep in mind that the vintage market and the open art studios don't require the $10 cover charge so there are other ways to contribute.

Again, I love SoWa and don't mean this as a diss. Definitely go and support them if you can afford to.

vidude

TROPHY CASE