Let me begin this post with an apology. Some readers have complained in the comments about being redirected to another website while trying to log on here at LTG. I contacted my blog host this morning in an effort to find out what the fuck is up with that. After jumping the usual hurdles, I was eventually connected with a human being. I explained the problem, and he came back with something about my storage disk being near capacity, along with a sales pitch to upgrade for additional space. I asked what that had to do with my readers being redirected, and he told me that, with my nearly full storage, there was insufficient space for SiteLock to search for and remove the problematic malware properly. He told me all my problems would go away if I added space on the disk for “only” $500 for two years. Having no other viable options, I consented.
Thank you for your patience today while we addressed the security concerns regarding your blog, mccrarey.com.
I am writing to confirm that we have successfully upgraded your account to the Pro 200 Plan. As we discussed, this provides the 200 GB of disk space necessary to bypass the storage limits that were hindering our security tools. With this “breathing room” now available, I have officially escalated Case #03872324 to our specialized SiteLock team.
Our security experts are now performing a deep-level manual scrub of your files and database to identify and remove the malicious scripts causing those gambling redirects.
Hopefully, I didn’t just get scammed.
Alright, then. Here’s what I remember about Tuesday. It’s my shopping day, and one of the morning routines I engage in is baking some breakfast muffins. I share them with my support team (Swan, our helper, the driver, and street urchin “Mama” when we see her). For whatever reason, I spaced out doing the baking until it was too late to complete the task prior to departure. Oh well, shit happens.
So, we were well on our way down the highway (like twenty minutes) when it suddenly dawned on me that I had forgotten to put my credit card in my wallet. Shit, I had no other way to pay for the groceries, so there was no alternative but to turn around and go fetch the card. My driver shrugged it off, but I wasn’t happy about this latest brain fart. I guess that’s just part of life in the 70s. At least I didn’t have a cart full of groceries at the checkout when I remembered I’d forgotten my card.
Other than the chocolate candies we give the kids still being out of stock, the shopping went fine. I was feeling lazy, so I skipped my usual neighborhood walk. Then I spent hours on a picture-filled post about the Sampaloc Cove Hash outing that didn’t generate the interest I expected. That’s okay, it is what it is.
It being Tuesday, next on the agenda was our regular weekly outing to Baloy Beach.
A bit later, we headed ashore for dinner at Treasure Island.
Home by our usual 8 pm and in bed shortly thereafter. My weary brain needs its rest.
From the June 2016 LTG archives is a post where I write about a writer who writes about Thailand. I hadn’t been there yet, but I found some of his stories on a Thailand-based website I followed (sorry, the links to those stories no longer work). Steve Rosse and I briefly became Facebook friends, and I purchased some of his books. Why aren’t we friends any longer? Welp, once Steve discovered I didn’t adhere to the leftist dogma, he blocked me. Stephen King is another good writer, but just as indoctrinated.
Today’s YouTube video is about a Brit who wound up homeless in the Philippines. I can’t believe people come to a third-world country and fuck it up for themselves, but it happens more often than it should.
Humor me:
And on that note, the final post of the year is nearly complete. I’ll be celebrating New Year’s Eve at Tim’s hotel (he’s Scott’s brother and visiting from the USA). I’ve got a crockpot full of chili to share. Also, some brownies in the oven, and if I don’t forget to bake them, a batch of cornbread muffins. I don’t expect I’ll be awake to see the new year arrive (the party starts at 4 pm), but you never know. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Your blog is working fine now. Happy New Year’s ‘n’ Beers, John! May 2026 bless you and yours.
[second attempt—please delete the first]
Hopefully, I didn’t just get scammed.
Google the question, “Is [blog host] a scam?” Or—”Is [blog host’s Pro 200 Plan] a scam?” and I bet you’ll get some interesting answers. You can do that for anything that smells like a scam, by the way.
Otherwise, Happy New Year. Enjoy the final hours of 2025.
Kevin, I did Google the question and found a Reddit post saying that once HostGator started offering malware protection suddenly his blog was full of malware. Creating a market for their new service would be a profitable business model I suppose. I’m not sure I’m convinced that HostGator is the culprit, but it seems coincidental that, after I bought enhanced malware protection, I suddenly had to purchase additional data space so the malware protection had room to operate. Hmm…
Thanks, Tommy. Happy New Year to you.
It’s the old “gangsters making you pay protection money” thing.
Re: hosting
Not uncommon that web hosts will put a cap on the max size of your website. And since yours has been going strong for a number of years, not surprising that you have run up against that limit. As to whether or not that is the cause of your recent problems, I have no idea.
Question for @Kevin. Since you don’t really have your own domain, but rather a sub-domain on blogspot, do they have a cap on your blog size? Not being very savvy on web hosting, owning domains, etc, but I thought that one of the advantages of owning your own domain (thought having it hosted by someone else) was that you had control over the total amount of your content. Even if you wanted to move to another “location” that offered better pricing for more storage, all the content was yours. Is that something easily done with a website like blogspot?
John, what do you pay? I have domain, but dont really use it as a website. My web host (Tigertech) costs roughly $110/year for 50 GB of storage, 100 mailboxes, etc. Been happy with them so far.
Re: homeless Brit
Yeah, you know my thoughts. Loser in home country. Comes to 3rd world country. Still a loser.
Re: Stickman Bangkok
You are probably aware, but he is finally closing up shop on his website. Lots of interesting reads on there over the years. Never met him personally, but corresponded a few times on non bar Thailand stuff and he was always very personable and willing to give me pointers and suggestions.
Brian, well, apparently, 21 years of blogging nearly filled my 50GB of storage. With the $500 upgrade, I now have 200GB to utilize. I guess I’d better get busy or live longer so I can use it. Or maybe both.
I was paying around $135 a year, but with the recent upgrades in storage and security, it has more than doubled.
Yes, I was a big Stickman fan and was sad to see him go. I’m wondering if the website owners will look for a replacement. Regardless, it won’t be the same without him. I hope Stick doesn’t regret leaving.
Question for @Kevin. Since you don’t really have your own domain, but rather a sub-domain on blogspot, do they have a cap on your blog size? Not being very savvy on web hosting, owning domains, etc, but I thought that one of the advantages of owning your own domain (thought having it hosted by someone else) was that you had control over the total amount of your content. Even if you wanted to move to another “location” that offered better pricing for more storage, all the content was yours. Is that something easily done with a website like blogspot?
I rarely to go back to read comments on comment threads; you’re lucky I caught this.
As far as I know, the only upper limit for a free Blogspot blog has to do with the storage of my blog’s images (photos, drawings, etc.). I pay for that now; I’m on Google’s two-terabyte plan. Once I die, and someone cancels my credit card or whatever, I imagine all of that will disappear—everything of mine that’s related to my Google account.
For me, the real advantage of moving to my own domain would be the freedom-of-speech/TOS issues. Because Blogger/Blogspot is hosting me, random readers can read my material and report me, which results in my having to waste time and lodge a dispute and a please-review, which usually results in the reinstatement of my perfectly innocent post. But I’ve been too lazy to gather the hardware to host my own domain.
Otherwise, there is no known cap on my blog size, if by “blog size” you mean “number of posts.” I’ve been on the same blog since 2003, and there have been no usage-limit warnings.
As for moving content to another domain… it’s possible but a pain in the ass.