The Contractors Club

Sonny Lykos Legacy :: RE: In memory of Sonny

capebldr — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:23:18 GMT

Author: capebldr
Subject: Re: In Memory Of Sonny
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 09:23 PM (GMT -5)

I was sorry to hear about Sonny's passing and am amazed at the impact that he had on so many people. His voice lives on.

Nice job Josh on the topic page. Thank you Chuck for the document postings.

Liz

Industry News & Site Announcements :: Site Downtime

Josh — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:44:42 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Site Downtime
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 08:44 PM (GMT -5)

Just wanted to let you know that the site might be down for a few hours here soon. When I went to pay the bill I noticed hostgator was running a 20% off special for new customers. Long story short I paid for year because of the deal but I have move to another server.

Just letting you know. It should be pretty smooth but in case it's not I wanted to let everyone know ahead of time.

Michael C. Stone's Blog :: RE: Short Weeks in the Summer is not Customer Service

Jason W — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:05:58 GMT

Author: Jason W
Subject: Re: Short Weeks In The Summer Is Not Customer Service
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 03:05 PM (GMT -5)

This one has me thinking as well. I have the guys in Millbrook working 4-10's so it keeps the out of town expences down. The guys love it and so does the home owner when I showed them what they were saving over a 6 week period.

We are now two weeks in and right on schedule so I'm not so worried about production but when I had a large crew working on a Casino in NY 10 years ago I could see little to no improvement in production working 5-10's. Some of the guys were piece workers so it was easy to calculate. 25% more hours and 10% more production.

I think the only bad part to working 4-10's is that if things fall behind it will be very obvious that the crew is missing for 3 days.
_________________
Jason Whipple

New Venture LLC

Vermont

Michael C. Stone's Blog :: RE: Short Weeks in the Summer is not Customer Service

Josh — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:47:37 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Short Weeks In The Summer Is Not Customer Service
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 02:47 PM (GMT -5)

I'm on the fence with this one myself.

I'm known for rolling up at lunch on Friday. Until recently I've always done it.

But if duty calls I'll work no problem. I wouldn't leave a customer hanging because I want to play on Friday. I guess that's one of the good things about being small. I can decide on Thursday if we are taking Friday off.

Construction Informer :: Stunning Commercial Properties Showcase Sustainability

RSS Bot — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:43:29 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: Stunning Commercial Properties Showcase Sustainability
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 02:43 PM (GMT -5)

This futuristic design of the ALDAR Properties Headquarters building in Abu Dhabi won "The Best Futuristic Design" award from the Building Exchange Conference held in Valencia, Spain. The spherical building is said to be the first of its kind in the world. Designed by MZ & Partners it is 360 feet tall and is built [...]

Read more...

Construction Informer :: Questioning the Four Year Degree

RSS Bot — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:43:28 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: Questioning the Four Year Degree
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 02:43 PM (GMT -5)

The call to rethink the country's fascination with sending everyone to college gained some support recently in a series of articles in the Summer 2008 Issues in Science and Technology. That publication is a joint endeavor by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine and the University of Dallas.

The idea [...]

Read more...

Michael C. Stone's Blog :: RE: Short Weeks in the Summer is not Customer Service

S. Donato — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:32:47 GMT

Author: S. Donato
Subject: Re: Short Weeks In The Summer Is Not Customer Service
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 12:32 PM (GMT -5)

let me start by saying i didn't read his whole article yet but...

if your guys want to work 4/10 thats fine but spread them out so your company still functions 5-6 days a week. it keeps action going on all your sites. instead of just sitting idle for 3 days. i personally love 4/10 and even 3/12 but thats just me.

i work usually (when i am home) 3/12 in the field and 2/5 days in the office to keep everything moving. unfortunately while out of town i am working 6-7 days a week 10-12 hours per day. and i am still behind schedule
_________________
-Sal

--------------------------------

You have to be one with the prazi.

move with the prazi...

feel the force of the prazi...

be the prazi... na na na na na

... but what ever you do...

don't cut a dam limb off.

The Prazi Master

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Chuck NJ — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:26:55 GMT

Author: Chuck NJ
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Wed, Jul 23 2008, 07:26 AM (GMT -5)

It's been an intermittent thing.

Slow for about 5 days straight. Did the Safemode options that FF offered and suggested, but nothing worked. Came on this morning and it's back up to speed....

Maybe it's something from the server to me. Don't know. Hope it doesn't continue.
_________________
Chuck

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Josh — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:52:59 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Tue, Jul 22 2008, 06:52 PM (GMT -5)

It shouldn't, I upload and download stuff all the time.

The pages load almost instantly for me.

Have you tried the obvious deleting of cache?

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Dennis L — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:45:35 GMT

Author: Dennis L
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Tue, Jul 22 2008, 06:45 PM (GMT -5)

Chuck,

Is this site consistently slow, or only at times? I know the other day I was uploading on the new ftp would that make performance drop? I was uploading at 170kb per sec.
_________________
Warrior With Wood

"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere."

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Josh — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:02:19 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Tue, Jul 22 2008, 06:02 PM (GMT -5)

Yes firefox has a safemode.

I honestly have no clue Chuck. If everyone else is fine it has to be on you end.

Contractor talk is giving me a database error right now.

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Chuck NJ — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:57:01 GMT

Author: Chuck NJ
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Tue, Jul 22 2008, 08:57 AM (GMT -5)

Josh wrote: [View Post]
The pages load faster than JLC or CT. Mainly because we are not pulling ads from 3 other servers and there's less users.

It could be the data i'm downloading off your hard drive when ever your logged in though.

Or maybe a firefox addon. Try running firefox in safe mode or try IE.

IE is even slower. UNREAL SLOW! Feels like dial up.

Safe mode? The computer safe mode, or does Firefox have it's own version?
_________________
Chuck

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Josh — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:03:14 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 11:03 PM (GMT -5)

The pages load faster than JLC or CT. Mainly because we are not pulling ads from 3 other servers and there's less users.

It could be the data i'm downloading off your hard drive when ever your logged in though.

Or maybe a firefox addon. Try running firefox in safe mode or try IE.

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Ed The Roofer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:20:05 GMT

Author: Ed The Roofer
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 09:20 PM (GMT -5)

I have not experienced any slow load time on this site recently.

Ed

P.S.

Update regarding ContractorTalk from post by Nathan:

Server Issues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm sure some of you have noticed that we have had some down time in the last week or so. The last couple of mornings the server has gotten really slow and then crashed. I have been working with some server admins to figure out the issue and resolve it.

Right now we think (or they tell me) one of the hard drives might be having problems and about to fail. Every morning we run a backup script for data protection and that is what is causing the slow site and then the crash.

Anyways, we are doing our best to make sure we have everything backed up correctly and to get the problem fixed as soon as possible.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Link for the thread is here:

http://www.contractortalk.com/showthread.php?p=468334#post468334
_________________
This Space For Rent!

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Chuck NJ — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:11:01 GMT

Author: Chuck NJ
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 09:11 PM (GMT -5)

Anyone here experiencing unusually long download / upload times from this site.

Takes forever for a page to open, post a reply, upload a pic, and I'm not seeing it anywhere else....meaning other websites.

Any ideas?

TIA
_________________
Chuck

Ford Harding :: No Extra Points for Originality in Rain Making

RSS Bot — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:35:18 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: No Extra Points for Originality in Rain Making
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 08:35 PM (GMT -5)

In a previous posting, I observed that if there is an easy way to do any of the many tasks that business development requires, use it.� There are no extra points for doing it the hard way.� There are also no extra points for originality.�

Doing something that is tried and true is usually faster, cheaper, [...]

Read more...

Construction Informer :: Monday Morning Mumblings for 7/21

RSS Bot — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:35:17 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: Monday Morning Mumblings for 7/21
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 08:35 PM (GMT -5)

It Must Be In Stone, Not Concrete: More than 2500 years ago Buddha became enlightened at a temple at Bodh Gaya. The Bodh Gaya was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2002 and a master plan was drawn up to control development around and in the sacred spaces there. It seems that three [...]

Read more...

Michael C. Stone's Blog :: Short Weeks in the Summer is not Customer Service

RSS Bot — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:35:15 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: Short Weeks in the Summer is not Customer Service
Posted: Mon, Jul 21 2008, 08:35 PM (GMT -5)

When your employees tell you they want to work four 10-hour days because they want an extra day to play during the summer months, please consider more than just the needs of your employees.

If you only work four days a week, that means your jobs will sit idle for a day. How will that affect [...]

Read more...

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Josh — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:59:40 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sun, Jul 20 2008, 12:59 PM (GMT -5)

It does get to be a pain keeping a webserver online. Especially if you have several that are configured differently. I had 30 servers I was footing the bill for and only the web server was a pain. The rest were windows 2003 and ran like butter. With a web server there is so many different little configurations and modules etc. It's gets pretty nuts. I can do it's just time consuming. I love it though.

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Ed The Roofer — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:49:54 GMT

Author: Ed The Roofer
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sun, Jul 20 2008, 12:49 PM (GMT -5)

I asked Nathan if there was any problems or if an update was going on and here is his response.

Ed

"No, this has been an issue the last two mornings. The server has had a huge spike in load and then crashes. We think there might be a bad hard drive and are planning to take a look at it Monday morning (around 3:00 am EST). Hopefully we wont crash Sunday Morning.

The crash is synced to a backup process that we have shut down until we can figure out the hardware issue.

Did I just sound like I know what I'm talking about? Because I have no idea... that's just what my server admin tells me"
_________________
This Space For Rent!

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Jason W — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:39:20 GMT

Author: Jason W
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sat, Jul 19 2008, 04:39 PM (GMT -5)

Between 6:45 and 8 am this morning. Kept cutting on and off. Is that system getting over loaded? I know about the other thing but, it seems like there are a lot of slow down load times and interruptions from a slow server or an over loaded server as of late.

Not knocking the site at all for it. It can't be easy keeping up with the constant flow of new members and the advertising to keep it running.

It does seem to be jambing up a lot lately.
_________________
Jason Whipple

New Venture LLC

Vermont

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Ed The Roofer — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:32:13 GMT

Author: Ed The Roofer
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sat, Jul 19 2008, 04:32 PM (GMT -5)

When did that happen?

I know about the server shutting it down for some BS reason a couple of days ago, but I didn't notice anything as of about 8:30 am today.

Ed
_________________
This Space For Rent!

General Discussion :: RE: Crashed Again!

Josh — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:47:21 GMT

Author: Josh
Subject: Re: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sat, Jul 19 2008, 07:47 AM (GMT -5)

It's up know but I did notice it was down the othernight.

General Discussion :: Crashed Again!

Jason W — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:17:39 GMT

Author: Jason W
Subject: Crashed Again!
Posted: Sat, Jul 19 2008, 07:17 AM (GMT -5)

Looks like C/T has crashed again! Seems to be happening a lot lately.
_________________
Jason Whipple

New Venture LLC

Vermont

Construction Informer :: Photovoltaics Due For Efficiency Increase

RSS Bot — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:43:06 GMT

Author: RSS Bot
Subject: Photovoltaics Due For Efficiency Increase
Posted: Fri, Jul 18 2008, 08:43 PM (GMT -5)

If you have solar arrays that are sometimes shaded their electricity production can drop by up to 50 percent. Other factors that affect them as much include dirt accumulation and even panel mismatches. Now, National Semiconductor has power management technology it is introducing that will increase the overall energy output of photovoltaic systems and help [...]

Read more...