ooh look, my website is down

I have this feeling that my free host, Fateback, has been quietly taken over. Since August, when using Internet Explorer, the domain name takes me to a Japanese host (NIC issues?). Oddly enough, this no longer happens with Firefox. The responses on the support bbs are few, far between, and a little sketchy. Do support people usually ask you to send them your login and password? Shouldn't they be able to help without needing user passwords?

Anyway, in an attempt to update my index page, the file got wiped from the server. While I have the ability to create folders and delete files, I don't have permission to upload files. So eclair.fateback.com is currently out of commission. I think I'll look around for a more reliable host. Before the secret takeover, Fateback was very reliable for a free host.

Santana, KISS, and... The Pussycat Dolls?

The Udo Music Festival 2006 has Santana and KISS as headliners. The Pussycat Dolls will also be performing, which I find to be rather incongruous. But whatever.

Chicken broth

Lately it's been difficult to find chicken broth at my local grocery stores. They used to carry Campbell's chicken broth, but it seems to have disappeared. I wonder if it didn't sell very well. There is a light chicken broth powder available, but the flavor is much thinner (and less fatty and salty) than the chicken broth that I am used to. Without chicken broth my risotto just doesn't come out very well. Ironically it's much easier to find risotto rice now, as the local Kaldi (specialty international foods shop) has started stocking it. I need to check out the larger grocery stores and food specialty shops; they probably have chicken broth. Can't find chicken noodle soup (canned) lately either, but perhaps that's because of the season. Much less call for that sort of thing in the summer I expect.

World cup 2006!

Good luck to U.S., Japan, and all the teams. May they all play their best.

Woot! Perfumes to be shaped by blog

Scentzilla, Perfume Smellin' Things and Nobi Shioya (S-Perfume) are collaborating to see what kinds of perfumes can be created when driven by a passion for perfume, as opposed to marketing.

We'll be able to read and discuss the development of the perfumes at Made by Blog. Katie and Marina's proposals are already up and look very interesting. I wonder what the perfumers will make of their desires!