I didn’t get an opportunity to see Hollywood Homicide as I had predicted in a previous blog. Mostly due to the fact this this was Father’s Day weekend and a lot of family-time took presidence. Any free time I had was spent sleeping. I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many naps in a two-day period.

My excessive sleepiness was probably due to one of the most stressful weeks I’ve had on record. Being the crazy, compulsive person that I am, a lot of things remained bottled up until Saturday. When the cork came off, I was exhausted.

I won’t get into all of the details of my hell week, but I’m prepared to share the tale of one of the contributing factors – which has everything to do with Theater Hopper.

If you came to the site at all Wednesday night, Thursday or Friday morning, you might have noticed that the site was down. It is natural preference that the site not go down at all, but if I ever find myself in the situation, I would have at least hoped it was because the site was “too popular” or perhaps a massive demand that my hosting provider could not compensate for.

No such luck.

As it happened, I received an e-mail from my hosting provider informing me that my account had be CANCELED(!!!) for “lack of payment”. The final notice also made me aware that several attempts had been made to contact me and that I should have received warning both before and after payment was due. I could reinstate the account, but only after paying for that month’s hosting as well as a $25 “processing fee”.

Immediately I knew this was B.S. because all of my hosting costs are automatically charged to my credit card. Well aware of my credit’s good standing, I contact my hosting provider and asked what was up.

As is usual, I received a reply within minutes. They informed me that my credit card information did not carry over after I had converted TheaterHopper.com from a “resold” account (or an account I received at a discounted price) to a regular-priced, full account. Totally an accounting error on their part. They said I could have the account back if I paid for the month of hosting that I missed up front.

Cognisent of the previous cancelation notice, I replied that I would gladly pay the one month of missed hosting, but would the $25 “processing fee” be waved. I stated firmly that I would not pay for their error and wanted this confirmed.

At this point, I did not hear from my hosting provider for 2 DAYS!

As you can imagine, I was freaking out. Having the site down on a Thursday (while still unacceptable) at least gave me some time to right the situation before the comic day on Friday.

Feverishly, I wrote to my hosting provider at regular intervals throughout the day. Accustomed to receiving prompt attention in the past, I became more paniced as Thursday ebbed into Friday.

Still no word.

By the time Friday came into view, I was in full freak-out mode. It wasn’t until about 1:00 that day that I finally heard back from them. I won’t bore you with what was said, but rest assured there was a little back and forth. I expressed my frustration over their delay, my confusion on what I owed and what I did not. Ultimately, the site came back on-line around 2:00 CST Friday.

I prepared a strip in case such a miracle took place, but admit it’s not the best. I was so preoccupied with worry, every line I drew felt muted by distraction.

In the aftermath, my host followed up with me to explain that the suddenly stopped receiving e-mail from certain providers (I use Hotmail) and that is why I went so long without hearing from them.

And while I swore up and down that I would move my hosting the minute I was able to download everything off of their servers, I now find myself much more complacent. After all, it was an honest error. Why uproot the entire operation?

Still, it was a scary two days. I’m glad it’s over.

I want to send a shout-out to Carrington from Movie Punks who offered excellent support and friendship. He was definately a calming influence and was kind enough to pass along information to his readers about the status of my situation.

Also, big-ups to Tim from Bug & Slug who checked in with support.

To the rest of you who sent e-mail while the site was down and even after it returned with your positive comments, thanks. It really means a lot to know that, in some capacity, Theater Hopper would be missed if ever the plug was pulled.

If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is. Thanks again.