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Welcome, New and Renewed Members, Grab Iron Notification List

Written by Cliff Green
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Cliff Green

Welcome, new (and renewed) 4th Division NMRA members! I’ve updated the Grab Iron e-mail notification list with new members as well as members that have renewed or changed their e-mail addresses. Any time a Grab Iron blog post is created and published you will receive an e-mail notification. If you do not wish to receive these notifications, let me (Cliff, cliffg@codewrangler.net) know and I’ll be happy to remove you.

Many train related events are happening over the next couple of months. A list of events in the NMRA Pacific Northwest Region (PNR) can be found here. Events of particular 4D interest include:

  • The Narrow Gauge Symposium is less than a week away, their website is http://www.sn3symposium-2015.com.
  • The 4D spring meet will be held on June 6th in Bellevue.
  • Portland Daylight Express, the NMRA national convention, will be held August 23 – 28, 2015. Additional information is available at www.nmra2015portland.org.
  • The annual Olympia area layout tours will take place May 16th. Per the NMRA Pacific Northwest Region calendar, additional information will be available from Scott Buckley, sbuckley54@comcast.net.

There is a wealth of model railroading expertise available in this area, and a good place to encounter it is at one of the 4th Div clinics (see the 4D web site “Clinics” page for more info). I urge everyone to take advantage of it whenever possible. Most of the clinic organizers provide overviews and reports in the Grab Iron, but reading blog posts can’t compare to attending in person.

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Grab Iron Editor E-mail Back in Service

Written by Cliff Green
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Cliff Green

(If you receive multiple notifications about this post, please excuse the duplication. I’ve been trying to figure out how to “re-publish” a post, but am running into difficulties.)

If you tried e-mailing me (Grab Iron editor Cliff Green) sometime in the last week and it bounced back to you, my e-mail (cliffg@codewrangler.net) is back up and working. A re-send is appreciated, and I’ll respond as quick as possible.

I learned a lesson: When switching a domain name from one service provider to another, and they say it will take up to seven days to switch, they really mean seven days. In this day of (almost) instantaneous transactions over the Internet, apparently there are some things that move at the speed of … ummm, not-light (as in, slower than snail mail!).

Why does it take so long?

Why does it take so long?

If you’re curious about what a “domain name” is, it is the “abc.com” or “xyz.net” or “whatever.whatever” identifier used for web sites, e-mail, and other Internet functionality. People or organizations can register their own domain names instead of using one provided by their Internet service provider (e.g. Comcast) or e-mail provider (e.g. gmail). My personal domain is “codewrangler.net”, which I use both for my own web site (currently under construction – it will soon include a software development blog and a model railroading blog, among other things) as well as my personal e-mail. The 4th Division’s domain name is 4dpnr (and there are other 4D domain names including 4dho.com and 4dntrak.com). We manage these through a hosting and domain provider named 1and1.com. A couple of additional definitions for domains names are here and here.

What is the advantage of a personal or organizational domain name? It’s unique and will always be your own (as long as you keep it current and paid for), no matter who you use for your actual Internet connection (e.g. Comcast, CenturyLink, Frontier Communications, etc).

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