Spoiler Alert: Do not let Booster Gold touch your computer!

In honor of Booster showing up for a whole page in this week's Blue Beetle #2, I *finally* bit the bullet and bought an SSL Certificate for Boosterrific.com, as Google has been urging me to do for a decade, so that Booster boosters can feel secure when they... um, leave comments.

I didn't really think that this site needed an SSL Certificate yesterday, and I'm not convinced that today is any different. But I had the money, and... well, you know what they say about fools and money.

Quick aside here about buyer's remorse: in the year 1997, I impulsively spent all my savings on a used '95 Jeep Wrangler with 47,000 miles on it. That could be considered a dumb decision, and I berated myself quite a bit about it for a while. Fast forward to 2023: I still have that Jeep, and I am very, very attached to it. Which goes to show that not all decisions that seem in the moment to be a waste of money are.

(Although, it should be noted that not 30 minutes after I pressed the button to commit to purchasing the SSL certificate, the Jeep overheated and shut down in the middle of the road; it's now sitting in the mechanic's lot waiting for parts. Isn't that always the case? Just when you think you have enough money to upgrade a hobby website, you have to take out a loan for the mechanic.)

I still can't say as I see much value in an SSL certificate for Boosterrific.com given the kind of content I deliver — should I start charging ya'll for something? — but if it makes even one person more comfortable contributing to our community and celebrating Booster Gold, it's probably worth it.

Anyway, it's now installed, and I think everything is working correctly. Please let me know if you see anything that seems to be malfunctioning.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

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It appears there was some data loss on the host server, and I've lost everything since Tuesday morning. Which, thankfully isn't much, as I haven't even gotten around to adding Action Comics #1057 to the database yet. So maybe it's a good thing that it's been a slow month for Booster Gold.

[For future reference, the lost post was a link to a custom Super Powers Collection-styled Booster Gold and Goldstar action figure by SuperPoweredCustoms at www.etsy.com.]

Here in the wee hours of Friday morning, I'm still finding a few glitches in the web hosting services. I'm not sure what all this means exactly (hardware failure? user error? malicious action?), but rather than risk losing another post, I'm just going to backup the database again and call it a week. See you Monday, I hope!

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If you pay any attention to the statistics on the Boosterrific.com homepage, you might have noticed that last last week, the Boosterrific Database registered the 1,000th comic book to include Booster Gold. In fact, it now says 1,001.

However, that's not because Booster has appeared in anything new. It's merely because I finally got around to adding a few reprint collections with very minor Booster Gold appearances. Specifically, those are 2009's Justice League America, Special and 2013's Necessary Evil: The Villains of the DC Universe, both with appearances so small I hesitate to call them even cameos.

I'll be adding another reprint collection later this week, when DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War Part 2 comes out, and another next week for DCEASED: The Deluxe Edition. If anyone spots Booster in any other books in the near future (or ever), let me know.

UPDATE: Booster Gold makes a one-panel cameo appearance in this week's Action Comics #1057!

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I've sliced my thumb rather badly on a food processor — while putting it away, no less; it wasn't even running! So posting might be a little light for the next week. Sorry about that.

Justice League Task Force #13, 1994

I'll try to be more careful next time.

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I was planning on asking my readers if the lack of an SSL certificate here at Boosterrific.com was hindering their enjoyment of the site (because Google really, really wants me to have one), but connection problems are getting in the way. Completely unrelated to the SSL question, Boosterrific.com won't resolve on my local network.

I have spoken to the hosting company representatives, and they assure me that the site is running just fine. They probably haven't blacklisted my IP, though there's still some wiggle room on that. More likely, the problem stems from my ISP. I have spoken to their representatives, too, and they admitted that there are some weird things going on with my account configuration. They seem to have lost track of my router, which they gave me just weeks ago. It's sitting right over there, but they can't see it in their system. And because it's not visible in their system, no one can tell what it's doing.

Since we can't talk to the router, even though it otherwise seems to be doing everything else just fine, there's an open question whether it might be what's keeping me from reaching Boosterrific.com. Or maybe it's something else. At this point, who knows? Isn't living in the future great?

Meanwhile, until a new router arrives and is properly configured — which I am assured will happen sooner than later — I'm locked out of Boosterrific on my home network, reduced to uploading this from my phone via a slow cellular network hotspot like a caveman!

Anyway, don't worry too much if you don't see anything else from me this week. I'll be back when I can. Whenever that is.

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