My helper Rich stopped by the "colocation facility" where BookMooch sits, and today installed a new gizmo onto the BookMooch server, which I wanted to tell you about. The server was down about 30 minutes today as this was done, and I also backed everything up for good measure.

Every once in a while (maybe once or twice a year) "something weird" happens on the BookMooch server. Perhaps the operating system crashes, or a network card suddenly "goes bad" and we moochers have to wait until Rich drives out to see what is on the screen.

Back in August, Rich hurried back from a wedding one sunday to solve one such random problem, staying up until about 3am to resolve it (and then off to his day job on monday!).

The new gizmo we just put in is a "remote KVM", ie this:
http://www.lantronix.com/it-management/kvm-over-ip/spider.html

and it allows me, from home, to see what's on the BookMooch server's screen, even if the entire machine has crashed. It's essentially a very, very long cable to the keyboard and screen on that server. Pretty neat!

That hopefully means that I won't have to get Rich to get out of bed as often.

So... my thanks to those of you who "give a little" http://bookmooch.com/m/give_a_little , as that's where the funds for the few hundred dollars to buy this gizmo came from.

A few of you previously said you wanted to send Rich a "thank you" for his help these past years.

Even if it's just a postcard with a few lines of unreadable scrawl, or some chocolate to placate his wife for all the late nights he's been away to solve some mooch emergency, I know he'd appreciate it.

If you feel moved to send something, post it to mooch headquarters at:

BookMooch (attn: little helper)
454 Las Gallinas Ave #142
San Rafael CA 94903

You're always making things better, and I appreciate it!

A possible improvement.

Sometimes, I want to search my records to see if a particular book was sent out, or if there's a title I might want to order, but (sadly) can't remember if I already mooched it. In that case I have to page through and scan.

Many databases have a feature whereby you can click at top of a list and put it in either ascending or descending order by the field. Do you think this would be difficult, useful to members and, more importantly, easy for you to accomplish?
Tiz Cooley

PS

I love the numbering of requests. Sometimes, when there were many, I would package and address a book only to find that it had a companion I had missed. No more, thanks to you!

Also, because I'm not a typist and have to look at the keyboard, I really like that when adding books, my cursor is already in the box. I hated it when I typed an ISBN only to doscover that I had forgotten to place my cursor.

Another suggestion - not a criticism. You're always improving, and this would help me, off venue.

I would like to be able to print my wishlist to take with me to the various used book outlets that I haunt. Is that possible, or is it already there, and I'm too ignorant to have found the answer?

Thanks again for everything. This site it outstanding.

Tiz Cooley