Our website has been down for almost two days. Apparently our database outgrew the capacity of the server it shared with other sites (nearly 5,000 items will do that) and needed to move to one with larger capacity and fewer sites to share it. The news that we would be going dark was almost an afterthought comment by the guy from our provider – it wasn’t until I followed with “What was that again?” that I was informed that it takes time for the World Wide Web (for those of you who never knew what “www” stands for) to find us again – and that “time” was likely 24 to 48 hours. I vaguely remember this from seven or eight years ago when we did this – like then, I hit the refresh button every couple of hours to see if we have come back to life.
As I type this, it has been 44 hours – so it looks like it will be much closer to 48 than 24. But hopefully soon . . .
Meanwhile, I am getting ready for the annual trip to Sunny Florida next weekend. Twenty years ago tomorrow . . . June 25, 1997 . . . Ryan and I left Dayton in an overloaded Dodge Caravan (with the middle and back seats removed and the tailpipe about six inches off the ground) and headed south to meet about 1,500 pounds of paper that we had shipped ahead to what was then called the Sheraton World on International Drive in Orlando.
One of these days, I will find the original pics and tell that story – for now, this is the only evidence I have of that first booth. But I do recall that the Caravan was almost empty on the trip north after the show.
One other tidbit . . . from the 30+ vendors at that first show I attended, only two others besides Marco’s are still on the show circuit 20 years later – Just for Fun (Rick and Debby, of course, are the promoters of StampFest), Art Gone Wild! (Ted was in a single 15-foot booth then – a far cry from today’s Art Gone Wild!, Inky Antics, Stampers Anonymous, Darcie’s, and Verses traveling in that enormous motor home and trailer).
Here’s an unrelated item in case you have been dreaming of a pilgrimage to our store in lovely Dayton – Ken Oliver is coming to do three classes on July 28 & 29. There is info in the store now – it will go on our site once it comes back to life. Stay tuned . . .
YAY! Going to look right now . . . I've been watching Ken's Facebook posts jealously, particularly since his last "class" -- offered at his home studio! -- was not far enough in advance for me to make plans! I already am circling those dates on my calendar. So glad Marco's is having him back! (I took one of his classes last year at the store.)
ReplyDeleteDon't rush just yet -- website was down until Sunday afternoon and I'm just finishing working on a couple of glitches. Should have Ken's classes on the site by early afternoon. Thanks!
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