Uh-ohhh

Yesterday (Thursday, January 12, 2012) I decided to fire up my MyCast® weather-radar before taking our dog the nearby Boughton (“BOW-tin;” as in “wow,” not “oh” or “who”) Park for a walk.
It was raining lightly, and I wanted to see if we were gonna get drenched.
MyCast was good for this.
Their weather-radar is animated, perhaps four scans at earlier 15-minute intervals are displayed. So you can see if a storm is coming.
I used it to decide whether to mow lawn, and take the dog to the park.
One of the locations I have is The Mighty Curve near Altoona, and I could access it with my SmartPhone. It saved me from a downpour once — an approaching thunderstorm.
Instead of what I usually get, I got a welcome-page.
“Why am I getting this?” I asked.
“We have made major enhancements to MyCast.com, adding several new features and providing you with a better web-viewing experience. We think you will like the changes we have made!”
“Uh-ohhh....” I said.
“Where’s the log-in?” I asked. “There isn’t any!”
I tried various log-in procedures with my Internet-browser, but each time I got the welcome-page.
Quite a few of my weather-locations were set by geodesic coordinates, got by standing in place with my cellphone, and getting them from the GPS satellite.
Places like Horseshoe Curve, our house, and nearby Baker Park in Canandaigua.
Other places are ballparked, De Land Fl (my mother-in-law), Fort Lauderdale Fl (my recently deceased sister), Wilmington DE (my younger brother), and Boston MA (my other brother).
I never had a chance to get the exact geodesic coordinates for these locations.
My old weather-radar showed a 90-mile-wide display, but it was centered on my location.
90 miles displays way more than the immediate location, but it looked like all my locations got zapped.
I fired off an e-mail to their “Feedback.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“It looks like all my locations got zapped.”
I got an immediate response.
“We have updated the MyCast web-site, you can still get weather forecasts and maps through the new site: www.my-cast.com. The old site is no longer available.
We did eliminate user accounts completely as they are no longer supported, but you can still save any number of locations simply by bookmarking the locations you’d like in any browser!
To do this, just search for a location you’re interested in, and when it’s found, make a bookmark.
You can enter a latitude and longitude right into the search box like... 44.85,93.5
You can also share locations with others by just sending them the link.
We hope you’ll enjoy our new features like weather maps that you can pan and zoom, the interactive StormWatch map, and bookmarkable, sharable locations. You can learn more about what’s new here.”
“No longer supported” Hmmmnnn.......
Why thank you MyCast! Like I have all those geodesic coordinates memorized.
If I had any idea you were gonna do this, I woulda stored those coordinates.
Thanks for warning me MyCast! —Outta the clear blue sky!
Last night I fired up the new MyCast yet again, and cranked “West Bloomfield” into the search-window.
It brought up a radar-display covering most of western New York.
Well, I can deal with that, but it’s way more than I need.
The radar was also static, as it could also be on the old site.
The old site had a means to animate the display, and I discovered a small arrow on the new display animated the new display.
Progress, I guess, but it ‘s still showing way more than I need.
A while ago I used to e-mail through MyWay®, a web-mail; and it was pretty slick.
Then they went and “improved” their site, making it a royal pain.
It was so bog-slow I had to flee it.
I went back to my old Netscape e-mail.
This laptop has an even better e-mail I use: AppleMail.
Apparently MyWay still exists, but like before it hung upon loading after I logged-in.
Now I’m tempted to trash MyCast, although maybe not.
There are other weather-sites.
And it looks like with the new MyCast I need an app for my Smartphone!
Previously my Smartphone was accessing my MyCast Internet-site.
Will the new MyCast save me from a drenching?

• The “Mighty Curve” (Horseshoe Curve), west of Altoona (“al-TUNE-uh;” as in the name “Al”), PA, is by far the BEST railfan spot I have ever been to. It was a trick used by the Pennsylvania Railroad to get over the Allegheny mountains without steep grades. The railroad was looped around a valley to climb the mountains without steep grades. Horseshoe Curve was opened in 1854, and is still in use. I’m a railfan, and have been since age-two (I’m almost 68). The viewing-area is smack in the apex of the Curve; and trains are willy-nilly. Up-close-and-personal. —I’ve been there hundreds of times, since it’s only about five hours away.
• “Canandaigua” (“cannan-DAY-gwuh”) is a small city nearby where we live in Western NY. The city is also within a rural town called “Canandaigua.” The name is Indian, and means “Chosen Spot.” It’s about 14 miles away. —We live in the small rural town of West Bloomfield, southeast of Rochester.