There's no better preparation for Halloween like good horror stories. A few years ago I shared some spooky stories of Web site content horrors. So forget getting trapped in a car and hearing scratching sounds on the roof, as these stories of misadventures with domain names will certainly curdle your blood! Names have been changed to protect the innocent... and frightened.

Gone Killin'

Preparations were going well for the launch of the new Web site. In our weekly meeting we agreed we could confidently schedule a launch date and all marked our calendars. When launching a new Web site with different hosting than the current site, changes are required to the domain name settings (DNS) of the domain name. In the case of this client, the domain name was managed by their current hosting vendor. Knowing this at the beginning of the project, I tried to convince the client to transfer the domain name to their own domain registrar account. Sadly, my advice was not heeded, and that decision almost came back to haunt them.

With the date in hand I contacted their current vendor, who was aware of the project, told him the date and asked for confirmation he could make the necessary DNS changes on the launch date. He acknowledged, though I left the call with a queasy feeling, one I felt after most conversations with their vendor. It was a combination of what he said and how he said it - always very casual and somewhat dismissive. "Yea, I can do that" with someone whom I've yet to have a track record with doesn't give me a lot of confidence, but it's the best I can work with. I decided to send multiple reminders leading to the launch, all of which he responded to in the affirmative.

On the launch day I contacted their vendor with the DNS change information – I sent an email and followed up with a call that went right into voicemail. The email had a read receipt request I never got. I gave it about an hour, and then called again, and got the same voicemail. In the interim, several times I checked if he just made the DNS changes and failed to reply to me, which wasn't the case either. I then called the client to tell them the situation. They were prepared for this as I had shared with them my gut feel on their soon-to-be ex-vendor. They then gave me his mobile number – he was a small operation - and I called, again with no answer. This was followed by a text message and another call, which was answered.

In short, he forgot he had to do this and since it was a nice day out he decided to go fishing. Where he called from had poor service plus he did not have a computer and as he was out on a lake. But he said he would be able to take care of it later in the day, the time depending on how well fishing was going. After I hung up I decided I still needed my phone and throwing it across the room was not prudent. I called the client back and told them my news, to which they reluctantly accepted as we both knew we were at his mercy.

Later in the evening he made the changes though he did not call to tell me he did it. In subsequent days, after the shiny new Web site was up and running, I later facilitated the client transferring their domain name away from this scary vendor.

Frankendomain

As I monitor domain names and Web sites for my clients, I was alerted a Web site went down, and upon further review I found the domain name had expired. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence, but one that can be quickly remedied by logging into your domain registrar account and renewing the domain name. That is, if you can log into it.

Right away I emailed and called the client and advised them of this, and offered my help. Later I heard back from them that they were not able to login, as their domain registrar account was challenging them with two-factor authentication and it was trying to text the code to the previous head of the firm who was let go under less than acrimonious circumstances. After that leader had left, nobody bothered to change the contact information on the domain registrar account, and thus their peril.

The quickest way to resolve this issue was to get a hold of the previous leader and ask them to send an authorization code when texted to them. The chairperson of the firm tried this to no response (maybe as they were the one who let go that person had something to do with it?). What to do next?

Following that failed Plan A, Plan B was to contact the domain registrar, explain the situation and submit payment over the phone so the Web site would come back to life, then try to retrieve the login account later. For some strange reason I was never able to understand, they wouldn't take payment over the phone - we weren't trying to take over the domain name, just reactivate it. They said the only real Plan B was to reclaim the account.

Reclaiming a domain name account is something I personally have been through too many times myself, as it is a straightforward but long, arduous process of submitting paperwork proving who you are - individually and as an organization. This typically requires items like a copy of your driver’s license, IRS EIN letter which lists your tax ID number, articles of incorporation, state or federal licensing information, et. al. With this proof, you should be able to get back the account within a few weeks. Yes, weeks - which meant the site would be down that long.

But there was a wrinkle, a huge, ginormous wrinkle - the firm did not have a copy of its IRS EIN letter. They knew their EIN number, but didn't have "proof" of it in their vital records file (well, I never asked them if they had such a file, as I did when I had my own business, but I digress). They then contacted the IRS in order to get one. Now here's where the ginormous part comes in - this was June of 2020, the country was in the midst of lockdowns, the IRS was working remotely and not issuing anything in paper form or digitally for that matter. In short, the firm was not able to prove who they were!

After learning this, I contacted the domain registrar myself, explaining the situation and asking if we can simply make a payment. They refused. What? I was pissed. I won't say what I said to them, but it wasn't civil. I slammed the phone down and vowed bloody revenge. But we still had a domain name to deal with, and it was getting close to the 30 days after it expired. Why was this important? At the 30-day mark the domain name would be listed for auction by the registrar as an abandoned domain name, and 15 days later it would go up for auction.

Thus Plan C was crafted to "win" the domain name auction and get the domain name back. Yes, it meant a month and a half of the Web site being down. Sure, we could have gotten a new domain name and started over, but then search history and SEO gained over the years would be lost. Plus I have never, EVER lost a domain name and was not about to now, lockdowns be damned! I explained all of this to the chairperson of the firm, who agreed with the approach and authorized the expense.

Daily I monitored the domain name until the auction took place, and let the games begin. I previously registered as a bidder with the registrar, and then entered the auction with a low entry bid. I forget the set duration of the auction but it was maybe 30 minutes to an hour. As the domain name was a longer, unique name, I did not expect many if any additional bids. Interestingly with about 10 minutes left in the auction a few additional bids came in, which I quickly outbid. Some registrars have been accused of having staff bid in active auctions to drive up prices, but I don’t know if this was the case here. In the end I "won" the auction with a high bid of around $30, but with all associated fees it went just over $100. Within a day I had the domain name in my personal account at that registrar and the Web site was once again alive.

After the 60-day transfer hold following the auction I transferred the domain name back to the client, but in a new registrar account with a different registrar with their new and accurate contact information. Where the registrar that refused to help gained from the auction process, they lost a customer for life.

Deconstructing Domain Name Horror Stories

The tales told here were indeed scary, but in both cases certainly avoidable. You should always have your domain names in an account you control. Setting a couple of calendar alerts and verifying the login and contact information on a domain registrar account semi-annually is the largest hurdle. Logging into the account and setting a domain name on auto-renew and verifying the credit or debit card will not expire before the auto-renew date will ensure the annual renewal happens. You can even extend the registration out a decade so you don't have to pay for a while. All of these steps will ensure you have no domain name skeletons in your closet.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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As I have talked about before at great length, when I entered the world of livestreaming I literally dove head first into the pool and checked for water afterwards. Pun intended, as I have been livestreaming swim meets going on 2 years now. Within a short amount of time I was able to learn the basics and do a good job with that knowledge.

Through all of this I knew there was more to it, especially as there’s a number of resources available online about livestreaming. Where searching on topics has yielded me decent results, I also wanted to put some structure around my learning journey.

My quest led me to the book The Unofficial Guide to Open Broadcaster Software by Paul Richards. It is based on a class his firm Streamgeeks offers on the Udemy learning platform. As I have watched several of his videos and this was one of few printed books available on the OBS software we use to manage the livestream, I decided to buy a copy of it. Note you can request a PDF download of the book for free by filling out a form.

This book did not disappoint – it provided in a narrative style a top-down approach to livestreaming, chock full of examples and diagrams to provide a complete package of learning. As I went through the pages, I had the following takeaways from this book.

Provided the structure I needed – As a GenXer, my historical approach to learning is far from digital-first. Where I have taken many online courses that had no printed or tangible materials, it was refreshing to be able to have this printed book, carry it with me and read from cover-to-cover. The organization was just right and it gave me structure I would never have gotten from a YouTube playlist.

Validated a lot of what we are doing – With the approach I took with livestreaming, coming at it from all angles, I wondered how much I wasn’t doing that I should be. After reading this book, I did find a few things I wished I knew up-front. However it validated much of what we had done, and that gave me a great feeling. Granted we got compliments from many people on the end-product, but it’s also good to know we have used best practices to that end.

Learned plenty of tips – As I read the book, I took a lot of notes. Many notes were on things we haven’t done, and others were on what we were doing and options to consider. The list is something I am now working from to enhance our livestreaming process.

I highly recommend The Unofficial Guide to Open Broadcaster Software to anyone who is thinking about livestreaming or is already doing it, like myself. Certainly there are technical aspects to the book that may be beyond someone’s comfort zone, but if you’re looking to getting into livestreaming, they are important to learn and explore. There is a second edition to the book that I have also read, OBS Super User Guidebook: The Best Open Broadcaster Software Features & Plugins, that builds on the first edition and a writeup of takeaways from that would be similar to this one. This book too is available in print format or as a free PDF download. I plan on writing a follow-up to my original blog post on what I learned of livestreaming swim meets and will include these tips in that post.

As I share all books I read, I passed this copy along to one of my fellow livestreaming Swim Dads, someone who has been a great partner with me on this broadcasting journey, so he can share in the information and motivation to improve our livestreams.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Recently I began recalling thoughts and taking notes to write on a series of events that, though they happened over 2 decades ago, I remember fondly today. In 2000 and 2001 as President of the Boston Jaycees I was involved with a partnership between my Boston chapter and the Belfast Jaycees in Northern Ireland. These events included hosting a delegation from Belfast in Boston, and being part of the delegation from Boston who went to Belfast. To say it was a truly unique experience is an understatement.

One experience of my trip to Belfast came to mind in the last week when word that the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II died. As guests in Belfast, we were invited to the Jaycees’ President’s Banquet, a black-tie affair at Belfast City Hall, which was the setting of this particular flashback.

Something I was told of before arriving in Belfast was the formality that surrounded people in leadership positions. As I was the “president” I was to expect heightened attention and ceremony that there goes with the role. What I experienced was something outside of what an average American would observe, even someone in a leadership role. At the Banquet, I was piped (as in bag pipes) into the hall in a procession and sat at the head table along with Belfast’s Lord Mayor and other leaders of the Belfast Jaycees and dignitaries. If only there was video of this.

As I sat down at my appointed seat, I was made aware of the various drinks in front of me and told not to drink them until the proper time. The menu for the event listed the toasts of the evening that had a corresponding drink to go with it.

One of the toasts listed was “a Toast to Her Majesty the Queen” as shown above from the original menu. Upon seeing this, I figured this would likely be a grand toast, even in the capital of Northern Ireland, which was just a few years into the peace as agreed to in the Good Friday Agreement. Of all the toasts, this was one I was most looking forward to... even more than the toast I myself would be giving afterwards.

When the time came for the Toast to the Queen, a past President of the Belfast Jaycees went to the podium. As he approached the microphone and hoisted his glass, I watched with eagerness as he started to speak the words of the toast:

“To the Queen!”

And that was all he said. Three words, followed by a drink and a round of applause. That was it. Next on to me.

I recall leaning over to the person next to me and saying, “that’s it?” to which she laughed. With all of the pomp and circumstance that I experienced in the short week I was in Belfast, this paled in comparison to it. But that’s all it was, and if anything, it saved room for my toast which I was told was a tad longer than what is standard.

As across the pond from me the life of Queen Elizabeth II is being celebrated along with all the drama of her heirs accompanying it, I raise the cup of dark roast coffee with whole milk I am drinking as I write this, thinking about my time in her kingdom, and say a humble, “to the Queen!”

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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If you peruse the pages of this humble blog you will find many posts where I share things I do to keep productive. A couple that come to mind are 30h30d and using Kanban boards. Where some of these approaches have come and gone, some have remained, along with my on-going interest in discovering others.

My latest “hack” if you will has been one I have been using for a few months now and with some success. Unlike others, this one is three-dimensional and requires batteries. It’s a timer cube, as pictured above.

Simplicity In Its Solution

The cube is a straightforward device – turn it on and flip the cube until a desired time is facing up. A red light will start flashing indicating the clock is running. When the selected time is up the cube starts beeping and can be stopped by turning it off. It’s that simple.

So why would I want this? When I first learned of it, I saw one benefit right away in helping me focus for a fixed period. A “trait” of mine I am not totally fond of is that I can start in on a task and be heads-down on it, not realizing hours have passed by. Where it is good that I can concentrate on something, I can end up doing so for too long and thus not managing my time wisely. The cube has been helpful in this regard. For example, if I am not sure of how to solve something I will set the cube to 30 minutes and dive in. When the alarm goes off, I can decide to stop where I am, continue or move on to something else.

An added benefit I quickly discovered is it also reminds me to not sit on my butt all day and move around! I typically set it at 30 minutes, then when the alarm goes off, I will save where I am and take a short walk around the block. As a result my joints don’t completely seize up from prolonged inactivity, plus I have the walk to help clear my head. During these walks I have often come up with ideas I didn’t think of when I was staring at the screen or other inspirations. This 5-10 minute break literally gets the blood pumping, especially to my brain, and I am then ready to take on my next 30-minute sprint.

With one device about 2 inches square, I have helped myself keep focused with a little exercise to boot.

But Don’t You Have a Timer on Your Phone?

Upon being questioned by someone who observed the cube on my desk and asking why I bought this little plastic cube when I have a timer on my phone, my answer was simple, “exactly!” My mobile device has had its own positive impact on my productivity (namely with apps that let me use it as a second computer) but it also can be a distraction. From texts from friends and family to email alerts to the latest transactions from the New England Patriots apps and so on and so on, using the phone’s clock app can be counterproductive to my efforts at increased productivity. I will often turn off the ringer and put the phone out of the way so I don’t sense its vibrate mode allowing me to better focus.

The Sources of It All

When I have told colleagues about the timer cube, many mentioned the Pomodoro Technique, something I was unfamiliar with. This technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo where he set a tomato timer (a timer that literally looks like a tomato) to 25 minutes, then taking a 5-minute break and repeating. Perhaps the concept of the cube was inspired by this – I don’t know, but setting the cube to 30 minutes is close enough for me.

Buying the cube was inspired by a video brand marketing guru Mike Gastin posted on his newsletter where he professes his own success with the cube. Check it out and in return for his recommendation I share his Amazon affiliate link for you to get your own timer cube. I also recommend subscribing to Mike’s newsletter for it goes above and beyond marketing, as you can see here.

Have I inspired you to try a timer cube? Or have you been a user of one or something similar already? I welcome your thoughts in the comments to this post.

Deconstructing Productivity and Awareness

Often the focus in work and life is on doing and being productive and not on taking mental or physical breaks, as these are seen as non-productive. But does sitting in one place and going from meeting to meeting to meeting mean you are productive, or simply busy? Taking time to regroup, reflect and move on is important. So is regular physical activity. Where this timer cube has not transformed my life completely, it has been a welcome addition and aid in it. Time will tell if it does change me.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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A couple of years ago my universe started on a collision course with another, as one of my kiddos decided to take up soccer. What started slowly quickly picked up quantum momentum to the point she had taken to the wing and goalkeeper positions, with the latter leading her to winning a local qualifier for a national goalie competition she played in this summer.

Where her and my other spawn were both swimmers, I had one body of knowledge to grow and learn about. Now I had another. Where I was picking up tips on the game from other parents who were lined up along the sideline of the field, I didn’t know all I didn’t know about the game. To that end, my wife picked up for me a copy of Coaching Youth Soccer by American Sport Education Program – not that I would be the team coach (we actually have some awesome coaches) but that I could understand better who was in what position and actually see an offsides before the referee called it.

Coaching Youth Soccer is a comprehensive book, talking about the type of person who can be a coach and all to think about, above and beyond who is kicking the ball to whom. Illustrated with diagrams and photos, I was able to easily follow along, noting takeaways as I learned what my kiddo has obviously already learned.

There’s a lot more to soccer than I thought – Your humble author actually played soccer for 2 seasons. As this is the first time I have ever mentioned it on this humble blog, you are accurate to assume I was not that good. Going into her playing and prior to reading this book, I did know you should not kick the ball with your toe and you should wear shin guards, among a few other basics. From the types of kicks, passes, formations and how they advance as the players age up, there was a lot to learn here. I can’t say after I finished the book I knew and remembered it all, but it gave me the foundation from which I can build on.

Teaching and coaching – Most of my exposure to sports coaches have been through swim and the NFL. Where for the latter I only had distant awareness of the actions of coaches, through swim I recognized what makes a good coach, not to mention what results in a bad coach. This book opens up talking about this and other aspects of the role of a coach – including as a teacher – long before gets into fundamentals. Though all styles are as unique as the individuals, there’s a common thread for good coaches that is obvious in the enjoyment of the game by the player and success of the team.

Not something I want to do – Where I have managed technical teams and software projects of various sizes, coaching a team of about a dozen and a half kiddos is not something I want to do. There are other aspects of the team I am more than glad to contribute to, but coaching is not one. Granted I have filled in when coaches were stuck in traffic on more than one occasion, but I will leave this to the people who are great at it.

Coaching Youth Soccer was a good read and one I actually have gone back to once or twice since I finished it. As it was endorsed by US Youth Soccer, the governing body of the game for kiddos, it is authoritative yet approachable. If you are new to the game or considering stepping up to be a coach, I recommend reading the book. Note the version I read was the fourth edition from 2006 and likely there have been updates, so picking up a more recent copy may be in order if you’re more than a casual reader of it like I was.

As I pass all books along to others after I read them, I am going to offer this to other parents on her team. There’s a mix of parents who actually played the game and those who haven’t, so there may be interest in someone to better understand their kiddos current (and future?) passion. In the meantime, I am still on the quest to see an offsides before it is called.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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