Category: Personal

New Web Hosting

This is the first proper post on my blog since December 2009, or May 2018 if you count the recipes posts I imported from a separate blog earlier this year.

After 14 years of hosting with Hostgator I got fed up with the sky high renewal fees of 172 USD, about 150 GBP not including the currency exchange fee from the bank.

Last year after I renewed the hosting with Hostgator I decided that would be the last time and that I would find hosting someplace else. That gave me a year to sort out my blogs and other websites I run.

With a new resolve, and a deadline, I started by reorganising my blogs. The first thing I did was to get rid of the recipes blog and import the posts into the main blog. I then moved the JavaScript section from the main blog onto a new site.

Next I started working on Linux Links. I had originally built the site from scratch but now I wanted to move it into WordPress. The first task was to export the data and import it in to WordPress, which to be honest was quite easy! The next step was to get the new site running exactly like the old one but by using WordPress functions.

To be honest I haven’t quite finished Linux Links, the front end works as I intend, but I still have to finish off an admin section I added.

With the change to a new host I could also publish a new site, Bristol’s Lost Pubs, I had been working on this for a couple of years after the original site closed down.

Here is a list of all of my sites.

And with that my new hosting is OVH. Welcome.

Christmas is Over!

It’s official, Christmas is over! I have seen the first Easter eggs!

I had thought they wouldn’t appear until Boxing Day, but no, it was today!

I had also thought it would be Cadbury Creme Eggs, but no, it was Cadbury Mini Eggs, and later on in the day Cadbury Caramel Bunnies and Maltesers Bunnies also made an appearance!

What’s next!

Quote of the week

Here’s my favourite quote of the week:

A skirt on something built like a brick

The was from the George delivery driver on Tuesday, and we were talking about the new trailers.

It started off with the driver slagging off about how slow the tail lift is, and then it moved on to the skirt around the trailer.

I mentioned that it was probably to help with aerodynamics, and the driver replied, “a skirt on something built like a brick”

In the end, the best thing about the new trailers was the magnet on the back of the control box!

Hey! The things you talk about while waiting for a tail lift to lower!

Just stuff!!

It’s November now! The time of year that I start changing stuff around on my website and blog, but I’m not going to this year! I think I’ve found a design I like. But I still need to tweak the homepage though!

I’m not updating my website this year, but that’s not stopped me from changing one of my websites! I’m currently working on an update to Linux-Links.co.uk.
I’m working on adding screen shots of the websites. I think I’ve got it working, I just need to do more testing on it.

To keep page loads and image display fast I’ve split up the retrieving and display of the screen shots

First off all the screen shots on the page do is a couple of checks. If there is no screen shot, or the screen shot is older than seven days, then the url is added to the queue, it then either displays a place holder image or the screen shot.

The second part does most of the heavy work, and it is a little icon at the bottom of every page. All it does is grab a url from the queue and fetches the screen shot. If everything is good the icon displays Tux’s head, otherwise it’s the Windows logo!!

Halloween has been and gone, but not the pumpkin pie yet! I’ve made the last pie out of the goo from this years jack-o-lantern, but it’s still to be eaten!

Fireworks night has also passed us by! Even though we’ve not had the weather for fireworks we did manage to get to a firework display before the rain fell!
It was a very nice night, the field was packed, and the setting off of the fireworks was delayed because there was still people queueing up to get in! But the fireworks themselves were good. And it was mine and my girlfriends first firework display together!

And that neatly brings me on to the next subject! It is our three year anniversary tomorrow, or today by the time this is posted! So yes, me and my girlfriend have been together for three years!

Here’s to the next three!

The house is still standing, and so are we!

Ok, it’s been a good couple of months since I have last posted on my blog, but that’s because I have only been able to snatch a few minutes a week on the Internet at my mum’s house.
But we now have the Internet installed at our house, so here I am!

Not much as changed with the house since the last post. The kitchen is still not finished, but we do have a sink, and I have been painting the ceiling! I’ll post up photo’s of progress on flickr soon.

We have managed to strip the wallpaper in the hallway, and have wallpapered half-way up the stairs already! It’s only lining paper, but it’s much better than the pink woodchip that was on the walls!
And again expect photo’s soon!

Since having Internet installed at our house, my girlfriend has been addicted to Facebook. In fact she on my computer right now, and all I can hear is the music of FarmVille, and the occasional pop of the chat window!

Building Kitchens!

Ok, it’s been a while since I last updated my blog, and it has also been a while since I’ve been on my computer!

The progress with the kitchen has been slow but steady, but, the sink is in!!!

On Saturday we were finally able to wash up downstairs in the kitchen for the first time!

Today I’m going to replace the wiring to the sockets in the kitchen and dining room and wire in a new socket for the washing machine.
I will also hopefully wire in in an additional socket into the small bedroom so that I can finally move my computer to our house!

I have uploaded some photo’s to my flickr account, I don’t have any photo’s of the sink in place, but there is one where the worktop is marked out ready to be cut for the sink.

That’s all for now!

We’ve got a house!!

For the past month me and my girlfriend have been in the process of buying a house.

Yesterday (Thursday 18th June) we collected the keys to the house!

It has been an up-and-down journey. Thinking: “Will we get it?”, “Are we doing the right thing?”

It started off pretty fast, with instructing the solicitor, arranging a mortgage, getting quotes for all of the insurances that we will need, and the survey.

Then it seemed to go dead.

Then suddenly, more paperwork to sign! Followed by the exchange of contracts, and a rough estimate as to when it will all complete.

Then on Thursday I got a phone call from the solicitors saying they had the money from the mortgage company, do we want to complete today?

Two hours later, we were told it was all done, and we could pick the keys up!

We are now the proud owners of a 1960’s mid-terraced three-bed house in Lawrence Weston!

We are hoping to move in around the start of July.

More details and pictures to follow…

The bit the Haynes manual forgot to mention…

Yesterday I was trying to work on my car replacing the clutch cable, the Haynes manual made it sound so easy

8 To refit the cable, thread it through from the engine compartment, place it over the self-adjusting cam, and connect the inner cable end to the quadrant. […]
9 Refit the inner cable guide to the top of the pedal.

Easier said then done, luckily I tied some string to the end of the old one so I could just pull the new one through.
Now, try doing that when you are led across both front seats with your head and shoulders cramped into the foot well.
Oh yeah, you are also upside-down resting on your neck, and you have your hands weaving their way through pedals and other bits of car designed to get in your way!

10 Working in the engine compartment, slip the other end of the cable through the bellhousing bracket, and connect the inner cable to the release fork […]

Yep, done! Only its down there, and you need hands as small as a childs to get to it, and fingers as strong as a professional finger weightlifter!

11 Depress the clutch pedal to draw the outer cable into its locating hole in the bulkhead, ensuring it locates properly. At the same time, the inner cable guide will be automatically pulled onto the top of the pedal to hold the inner cable in position.

Only the outer cable doesn’t move! The self-adjusting cam doesn’t lock, so the quadrant springs back and the end of the cable springs free.

Back to step 9!

Oh what fun!!

Family!

I’ve just started doing some research into my family and finding out where I am from!

Ok, I have only just started, so I’ve got my mum, dad and sister so far!

I thought I’d start by following my dad’s side of the family.
I’ve got some information on my granddad, it helps that he’s still alive! Lol!
I just need more information on his late wife, parents and family.

For now I will only concentrate on my dad’s side, but I will at least get my great-grand-parents on my mum’s side!

Where have I been?

To be honest, there hasn’t been much happening!
Apart from the fact building work has begun in the part of the garden we sold last year.

It is now day 32, and it doesn’t look much different to what it did last week.

At the moment there is two people on site, and they seem to be doing some work, probably building up the level of the base ready for the flooring, but there is a six foot wall up stopping us from seeing what’s going on!

To get a better view we need to go along the road at the top, I’ll try that on Sunday when no one is on site and get some photo’s uploaded to Flickr.

On Sunday I went karting at SupaKart in Newport with a few mates from work. We raced in the mini endurance, which was a 10 minute qualifying race followed by a half hour non stop race.

I went out onto the track in 9th place, got placed 6th on the grid after qualifying, and finished the race 5th.

There is no photo’s as we were all racing, but there is a video of the podium on Facebook though.