I am still in a state of inertia concerning the hosting of my last two domains (MyRetirementDream.com and Thai-Iceland.com) after I relinquished ownership of the other four domains I had, which I had been paying for possession rights over the past decade or more.
HostGator had taken the websites offline early last week ─ for that decade or more, I had hosted them with HostGator. Or at least, five of the six domains had been there on one 'baby' account.
So, fed up with this perceived affront, I radically cancelled my account with HostGator, and also rid myself of the aforementioned four domains because they had all been denied Google's AdSense. I was never even earning an occasional penny of affiliate income from any of the four. Therefore, I saw no reason to pay money to keep them any longer.
They were 'money pits'.
Anyway, I now need to decide where to host my two remaining domains. Presently, I am leaning toward DreamHost. The other two candidates that have been in the running are Hostinger and Bluehost.
The reason I am leaving toward DreamHost is financial. Sure, Hostinger has the cheapest hosting offer for the plan of interest to me, but the cheap rate ($3.99) only applies if a new customer signs up for a four-year contract.
That's a total of $191.52 U.S. ─ I am Canadian, so that jumps to a little more than $250 CAD.
I only have a monthly pension for income, I am heavily in credit debt, and my home is heavily mortgaged and I will never be alive to see the mortgage paid off.
The best I can dare rack up a charge for would be a one-year contract, and with them it would come to (at $6.99 monthly in that contractual scenario) $83.88 U.S. ─ or c. $111 CAD.
Bluehost's similar hosting plan already has its pricing adapted to Canadian currency, and so I would be presented with a one-year fee of $116.31.
DreamHost's similar plan goes for $59.40 U.S. ─ or just over $78 CAD.
Then after the year is up, regular pricing sets in. And from what I understand, this is what would be in store per month:
DreamHost: $9.95 U.S. ($13.19 CAD)
Bluehost: $18.20 CAD
Hostinger: $9.99 U.S. ($13.24 CAD)
If that monthly renewal rate for Bluehost is truly correct, then it's absolutely ridiculous. But what also puts it out of the running is that the same organization that owns HostGator owns Bluehost, and I prefer being free of them (Endurance International Group).
And since DreamHost's introductory first-year contract is $59.40 U.S., why should I go for Hostinger's $83.88 first-year fee?
I 'penned' the above late in the afternoon on Monday, October 6 (2020). As I type these words now, it is 2:38 a.m. October 7 ─ and yes, I have had some sleep, albeit rather little. I got to bed at 8:44 p.m. last evening after noticing my younger brother arriving home from wherever he had been drinking.
He has an 8:30 p.m. curfew or deadline with me that he is wholly unaware of. If he shows up even one minute after that deadline, then I'll not risk his condition and try to sit up watching T.V. with him via our Android TV Box that only I operate.
My wife was home, but she was shut up here in the small room next to our bedroom where I keep my computer. She is accustomed to these sudden early retirements of mine to avoid my brother, so there was no need to intrude upon her to let her know what was afoot.
But I'm getting sidetracked. I wanted to add a fourth candidate for web hosting that I have now learned of which I am giving the weight of consideration toward: InterServer.
From what I have been led to understand through various reviews, InterServer has a flat $5 U.S. monthly rate ─ i.e., no subscription or contract required. So in Canadian terms, that's under $6.75.
And if I go through HostingAdvice.com to apply to InterServer, I can even get my first month for 1¢ U.S.
If this is all true, then why would I bother racking up a year's subscription rate as a credit debt on my VISA card by going with DreamHost, even if it is only $59.40 U.S. (or $78 CAD) that first year? Once the year is done, I would then be faced with a monthly rate of $9.95 U.S. ($13.19 CAD).
Besides, a year with InterServer at full monthly rates is essentially identical to DreamHost's introductory subscription rate anyway, and I can just manageably pay month-by-month with InterServer and avoid any sudden big escalation of credit debt.
As well, from the end of the year's introductory subscription rate with DreamHost, I would then have been getting charged almost double per month what InterServer charges ─ I would immediately begin losing out financially.
One thing ─ apart from price ─ that is of concern to me is what versions of PHP a web host has on offer. WordPress wants everyone using their product to obtain the latest 7.4 version of PHP; and it seems that InterServer does offer it, according to a July 7, 2020 article at WebHostingCat.com titled What Version of PHP Does your Web Hosting Company Support?
Thus, it is not as if InterServer is running their system on inferior scripting technology. Jeepers, according to that article, as of July even the mighty HostGator was only offering PHP version 7.3. They did 'up' their version thereafter, I believe, for I recollect personally making the upgrade myself last month ─ HostGator doesn't automatically always go right ahead and do this sort of thing.
HostGator didn't automatically convert my websites from HTTP to HTTPS either (and grant me free SSL certification) ─ I had to figure out how to do it on my own through external means.
Anyway, I am going to leave this topic for now, but when I get the opportunity to have some of my life back, I think I will go for InterServer.
Having my wife home is really quite nice, but I cannot accomplish anything. I cannot sit here at my computer for long periods blogging or working on any projects. I can't even have the day's full schedule of exercising because my privacy is absolutely essential, and that puts the bedroom off limits ─ she is in and out of it all the day through once she gets up. All I had the time to risk doing yesterday were a set of 181 repetitions of my version of Hindu squats, but I also had on schedule some upper-body activity that I just could not find the privacy to get into.
I don't like to telegraph when I exercise ─ again, it's that privacy issue. To me, exercising is no one's business but my own, and so I don't care to have anyone privy to what I may be involved with in that arena.
I know I'm peculiar.
By the way, I have a few photos I took of my younger brother around 12:43 / 12:44 p.m. yesterday when he was out in the backyard performing some chores.
Specifically, he wanted to lay down a good-sized carpeting of wire mesh on a part of the backyard lawn that suffered abominably through last Fall from skunk damage. One or more of them progressively went from leaving pock marks in the lawn, to tearing up clumps of sod, to finally ripping up massive lengths of sod and leaving enormous bare patches that were almost craters about a yard (three feet) across.
He finally hit upon the idea of buying a couple of rolls of that wire mesh to lay across the prime target area of the lawn. And now this year, the early damage has begun with numerous pocks starting to appear.
I took these candid photos of him yesterday as he was surveying the lawn:
Then just as I adjusted the camera to zoom in on him, he looked directly at me, and the surprise ofbeing found out caused me to inadvertently lose camera control:
He then beckoned to me to come out and give some assistance, so I had time for but one further shot of him:
He had gone out there shortly after we had watched a 2017 Saorise Ronan movie called Lady Bird.
I am quite a fan of Saoirse, and so I have over the past year or more been slowly watching most of her movies. She quite often plays a North American without an English (British) accent, and I'm always impressed by that.
It was an interesting enough film, and even my brother sat through it without complaint, and investing what seemed to me to be considerable interest.
I think he appreciated the unexpected supporting role of actress Laurie Metcalf playing Saorise's character's mother ─ I didn't know Laurie was in the movie until seeing her, either. We get a huge kick out of her manic character Jackie Harris, the T.V. sister of Roseanne Conner. The Conners is one of the T.V. series we watch episodes of via that Android TV Box and various 'apps' that I have downloaded into it.
I do recommend the movie Lady Bird.
Well, it's now 3:54 a.m., and I think I'm going to get back to bed quite soon, so I am going to take leave of this post for the present.
For the second consecutive day, we have had a sunny afternoon, but I have been unable to benefit. Early both afternoons, my younger brother has chosen to do chores in the backyard; and by the time he gets done, the afternoon is too advanced and I find myself to have declined too radically from inadequate sleep overnight to be able to engage in any sunning.
But at least I did manage to tackle the day's main session of exercising that was scheduled for performing in the backyard toolshed. I was just finishing up when I realized that my brother had appeared in the backyard, clearly done with his early afternoon bed rest.
Had I been any later in getting out to that shed, I would not have had my opportunity to exercise right along with the lost chance to sun ─ I had intended to sun immediately following the exercise session.
By the time he left for the afternoon to eventually resume his daily drinking somewhere, I had already taken my day's first meal and the decline was seriously setting in. And my wife was still home.
Even so, she had to work beginning this latter afternoon, so she was away on her drive to her friend's Thai restaurant just ahead of 3 p.m. All was clear for me to seek a nap.
But I foolishly did not. Instead, I spent two hours (if not more) 'playing with fire' here at my computer, wearing out my poor old eyes. I finally did lie down just ahead of 6 p.m., but conscience and desperation soon had me practically leaping out of bed. If I had napped that late into my day, there would be no chance of me getting to sleep early this evening if my brother fails to arrive home by 8:30 p.m.
And so I resorted to one of my powerful hot caffeinated beverages. Normally it is folly to indulge so late into the day, but since I never did nap today, I am of a mind that I ought not to find my ability to find sleep impaired later this evening if my chance arrives.
I should mention that late this morning around 11 a.m., I joined my brother for some T.V. and used our Android TV Box to tune in the final episode of season two of The Titan Games. We've been watching an episode per week beginning with the very first season.
As yet, there is no word on whether there is ever going to be a third season, but I hope there will be.
I think my brother and I both were probably rooting for 'country strong' Will Sutton to come out on top in the men's competition for the overall Titan crown, but he didn't quite have enough to handle fireman Matt Chan.
As for the women, the favourite with us may have been wine-maker Margaux Alvarez, but she too fell to second place, bested by burly blonde Dani Speegle.
And no wonder ─ here is Dani:
It's too bad that Jessie Graff never managed to break through and keep in the competition ─ I adore her! But a Ninja Warrior is not necessarily a Titan, and she honestly made just such a similar observation.
Okay, I'm going to close shop for today. My wife is unlikely to come home this evening, so perhaps I will finally be able to get cracking and sign up for an account at InterServer overnight if I do get to retire early this evening, or else tomorrow during the day ─ probably the afternoon.
We'll see.
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