It started at 11:15am on the 2nd of August, where we actually had the service at Georgian House, Lancaster. It was in attendance of just under 40 people, including close friends and family. The service seemed to fly by, and photographs were taken before and after the event.

We then went from Georgian House to The Eidsforth Hotel (Morecambe), where we had our wedding reception. We had a hot buffet, and did all the usual itinery of speeches etc. First to do their speech was Ruth, then my dad, then I did, and then last but not least, Wayne did his.

At about 5pm (ish), most of the day guests left and Wayne and I went and relaxed in our room at the hotel. We then freshened up and came downstairs for 7pm. Guests started arriving shortly after.

The evening reception was invite only, so all the guests that attended were those that we had invited, and their +1’s. The owner, Andrew, told us that he had done a headcount (for fire regulations) a couple of hours into the event, and came to the conclusion that there were 165 people in the venue.

During the night, I sang to Wayne (which was video’d by our friend Jamie), and quite a few people cried… I wasn’t that good!!! LOL

Wayne and I went to bed just after 12:30.

Our good friend Pamela took our wedding photos - she did absolutely bloody marvellous! She really did us proud. If you want to see our photos, goto my Bebo account and check out the photos on there (add me to your Bebo Friends list first).

So Wayne and I have been married now for 17 days - and it’s brilliant! I love you loads babe!

The conversation started polite, the user asked me how I was, to which I replied I was fine, and I asked how I could help the person.

Then I got a message back with the person asking if I had any web design projects; this is where I recalled the prior e-Mail. I simply said that I wasn’t interested, sorry - and closed the MSN window.

I then got another message from this user with the smiley showing an angry face, and why not below it.. I ignored the message and closed the window.

The next message just astounded me; it quite simply said “Fuck You” .. that was it - nothing less, nothing more. I wrote back “Excuse Me?” but the message was bounced back to me; i’d been blocked.

Personally, I’d advise everyone to keep away from this person/organization.. highly unprofessional to say the least. I just hope now that anyone googling this guy’s MSN comes across this post and steers clear of said user.

They vary from sleep walking, sleep taking/arguing to not actually being able to sleep.

It started a few years ago, when I was living above a public house (aka Pub). I somehow sleepwalked all the way up the middle of street in the middle of the day (I was having a cat-nap). Yes, I managed to get myself dressed first. When I got back, I was still asleep, and got undressed and back into bed.

Sleep is a funny thing, isn’t it. You either can, or you can’t. If you are on-and-off throughout the night, then you may as well have not gone to sleep. Well for me, this is the case; often when I wake up, I have a really bad head - a splitting headache. It puts me off for the rest of the day, and nothing seems to shift the pain either.

Often, I can be sat up in bed till 3 or 4am, trying to get to sleep; it just doesn’t seem to want to happen. I can sit there counting sheep, or sit there on my laptop; both outcomes are the same - I stay awake.

So this week, I’m trying two new things. I’ll outline them below.

(1) BreatheRight Nasal Strips

These strips relieve nasal congestion, according to the box. Made by BreatheRight, they are a sticky thin strip that goes across the bridge of your nose. The strip is reinforced with plastic strips that physically pull your nostrils outwards, allowing more oxygen up your nasal passage.

The reason I’ve decided to try these is because I wondered if the headaches in the morning were caused by a lack of oxygen getting into my brain/system whilst I am asleep. This could be caused by my nose “closing up” whilst I’m sleeping. It could also explain why I sometimes stop breathing in my sleep (luckily my partner has woken up at the precise moment I stop breathing) It’s certainly worth a try - So far, I’ve been using them three nights in a row, and have been unable to decide if they are working or not yet.

The good thing about these strips, is that they are completely drug-free. I’m not pumping my body full of crap to cover up symptoms.

(2) Pzizz Sleep and Relaxation Software

This software (MacOSX & Windows compatible) seems to be really good - I’ve used it for two nights on the trot now. The first night was uncomfortable for me, as I was using my iPod’s headphones (and I nearly strangled myself). The second night, I used my newly-purchased speaker pillow, by SilentNight (£8/$16 from T.J.Hughes in Preston).

Anyway, about the software. It’s made by a company called Brainwave Enterprises. The software, downloadable from the website, generates sound files that you transfer to your iPod/MP3 Player. I was reading somewhere not to use CD, as it doesn’t work as good on it (To do with the Hz’s that stuff runs at).

Here’s some copied and pasted information from their website:
A new kind of insomnia treatment
pzizz is a powerful new kind of insomnia treatment that’s perfect for you if you have the kind of sleep problems where you can’t switch off when in bed. You’ll find pzizz gently eases you into restful sleep.
pzizz is non-addictive — there are no drugs. And because it’s possibly the most effective sleep treatment available it gives you back your sleeping and waking hours like no other remedy!

Increase energy and performance
In as little as 15-20 minutes, pzizz can help you control your day. It clears your brain, improves focus, lowers stress and lets you get on with your work by helping you take a short performance break.

High-powered corporations that subscribe to the idea
nike, british airways, great dane trailers, trc, gould evans goodman associates, u.s. army, burlington northern santa fe railroad, union pacific railroad… Read More

I set the software to generate 10 versions of the MP3’s, and left the other settings all at the defaults.
It took about 15 mins, and the software then imported it into my iTunes. I connected my iPod, synced it, and I was ready to go. Now, to try it out.

The first night, I did not like it at all. I couldn’t concentrate on listening to the voice, or relax. The earphones I was using (in-ear buds), were just to damn uncomfortable to lie on a pillow with. Then, I rolled over and nearly strangled myself.

Last night, however, was a different story altogether. I was using my new speaker pillow. It’s a normal pillow, with a speaker built into it. The speaker doesn’t turn up too loud, just loud enough to hear (and not irritate anyone else in the bed). It’s ideal for this use.

So, last night, I was laying on my bed, with my eyes closed, listening to my created MP3. I’ve got a playlist set on my iPod, where it’ll go through all ten of the MP3’s that I created, before switching off.

I don’t even remember getting through the first MP3 before I fell asleep. I actually fell asleep! Of course, I’d got my nasal strip on too. I woke up this morning, feeling nice and refreshed.

Don’t get me wrong, the Pzizz program isn’t for everyone; they’ve got a Safety Warning at the bottom of the site: “Do not use the pzizz product if you suffer from epilepsy, clinical depression or any other nervous or psychiatric condition. If you are in doubt please consult your doctor/physician before you use the pzizz product. The pzizz product should not be used when driving, operating machinery or at any other time when full alertness is required.”

So I’m going to try it for the next 7 nights (as that’s the amount of nasal strips I’ve got left), and then I’m going to update this review to let you know what my findings have been.

Check Back in 8 Days

• 8 sausages (or 4 large ones)
• Mustard
• 4 tablespoons of beef dripping OR lard
• 115g / 4oz plain flour
• Large pinch of salt
• 4 free range eggs
• 300ml / half a pint milk
• 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves / sprinkle of mixed herbs
• Small tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the batter, sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Gradually beat the eggs into the flour using an electric mixer and slowly add the milk until the batter is thick enough to coat the mixer’s blades. Stir in the thyme and season with black pepper. Cover and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 220c / 425f / Gas 7.
3. Cook the sausages a large frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown all over (not completely cooked though otherwise they will burn). Remove the sausages from the pan, brush with the mustard (not too much otherwise it will burn on the sausages) and set aside.
4. Put the dripping into the roasting dish and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until the dripping is hot and almost smoking.
5. For this bit, you have to be quick; add the sausages to the hot roasting tin and pour in the batter. Immediately return the roasting tin to the oven and bake for 35–40 minutes until well risen and golden. If the batter is becoming too brown on the outside reduce the oven to 190°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5.
6. To serve, place a portion of toad in the hole on a plate and serve immediately.

19 Hours ago (last night), I decided to take the plunge and sign up with HostNine as a Reseller.
I’d spent an hour looking around the site, which I was very impressed by. I logged into the LiveSupport Sales section and asked when the RC brief userguide would be available, and was told it’d be ready within the hour for me. I thought, “ay up! guess I won’t be signing up with these guys”.. I was more than shocked to come back an hour later and the guide was on the KB. [+1 H9]

So I signed up, and sent the PayPal payment straight through. 10 Minutes later, I had all the login details and the domain name I had requested had been registered. [+1 H9]

So, I cleared the schedule for the evening and printed out all the login details.

I logged in, and was impressed with what I saw - it looks like a lot of effort has gone into this. It had all the familiarity of WHM, but super easy to use. It would be later that I learned how super easy to use is would be a trade-off (at the moment) for the functionality that I’d become accustomed to on my VPS.

I was bitten once with a previous host, PowerVPS - they assured me when I signed up that everything would be 100% safe and that they had all the failsafe stuff in place to keep my data secure. 1 day in (yeah, just my luck), the node dissapeared into a cloud of smoke, along with all my data. It turned out that the failsafe stuff had failed on me.. luckily the people I was coming from hadn’t destroyed the data I had and I had to transfer it all back again.. a 1 day job took 2 days, and client’s sites were offline for hours.
Then it happened again not long ago. Luckily, I was prepared. I’d setup WHM to FTP every account on the server off-site to another hosting account I’ve got. It does it every night, and then weekly and monthly. So my clients data was safe, but it was a PITA to set back up. Anyway, this is why I was skeptical when I realized I couldn’t get to WHM with RC. Remember all this for later.

Anyway, I rely on automation. It soon dawned on me that I couldn’t have it.
I logged onto LiveChat and got the more than helpful Ben (Sorry I kept you tied up for so long).
He told me:-

• ModernBill integration wasn’t done - it was coming very soon.
• Backups aren’t possible yet - it’s coming soon (he offered to create me a custom script though).
• Skeleton Directories aren’t possible - it’s on the cards.
• RVSkin Admin isn’t possible - they’ve hit issues.
• I don’t want all the options in cPanel for my clients - there’s more for them to mess with. And some of them don’t even work. I can’t remove them yet - it’s coming soon.
• rDNS isn’t completely working on the UK node - it’s waiting to be fixed.
• Fantastico doesn’t work on the UK node - it’s waiting to be fixed.

I’ve also hit some issues since:-

• I had setup the main hosting account, lets call it domain.tld. I then created another hosting account, lets call it secure.domain.tld. RC completely messed up the main DNS entry. Now when querying the DNS Server, sometimes it sends the correct requests, other times it sends incorrect data (like ignoring my nameservers stuff). Because I didn’t have access to WHM, I couldn’t add manual entries to the record incase I knackered it completely.
• I tried adding new subdomain DNS zones in the RC - it accepted it, but then they sort of disappeared into the RC mix; never for me to see them again. I tried adding subdomains via cPanel, but it complained they already existed and I wasn’t the owner.
• Modernbill - Firstly, I went round and round in circles looking how to get my hands on it; maybe you should add to your welcome e-Mail how people should get their hands on the free stuff. Then when I did get it installed, it refuses to work; I’ve checked on the MB forums, and it’s because we don’t have Globals on?
• SW SiteBuilder isn’t working right from the outset - it’s the SQLite issue(s).
• The submit support request link doesn’t work in client’s cPanels.

Some things you guys need to address (taken from your site):-

• Site Builder - Y [If everyone's having issues, and it isn't working right, you shouldn't really be advertising it]
• Web Host Manager - Y [If RC has replaced it, and we can't get to them, then you shouldn't really be advertising it]
• Automatic Sign up - Y [Again, it's not complete and available, advertising again]
• Automatic Creation - Y [Same as above]
• RVSkin - Y [Same as above]
• Client Backup/Restore - Y [Same as above]
• A lot of http://future.hostnine.com/ is not available, yet it gives the impression it’s already complete and ready for me to use.

Ok, now for some bugs in RC:-

• It says at the top it’s secure, even though it’s not - maybe you should switch to https only? or make it first choice.
• Viewing a long domain name on the list of accounts in IE7 results in a scrollbar instead of the domain name
• The Add DNS thing didn’t assign the subdomain A entries to me
• There’s an exclamation mark constantly next to Suspended Accounts
• The Open Tickets has nowhere to be configured, or is it in progress?

I’ve read other threads on the board, and they all seem to be having similar issues as me (across the board) - have you guys contemplated setting up a dedicated Bug Tracker (what about the Free Arctic by Olate?), so that others can quickly scan if there’s any bugs that are affecting them already listed, and it’s good for client collaboration.

I like the features that you have in place, but for me they aren’t quite polished yet enough, and therefore aren’t ready for Prime Time. Some of the offered stuff just isn’t working, or if it does, it’s giving me issues.

I hope that you can learn from my experiences, and they aren’t all negative.
I like the ideas that you’ve come up with, and once completely finished, it really will be a true reseller platform to be proud of. Once you’ve implemented a few more things, then you will almost be completely transparent from the End User’s point of view - which is what we all want.
I found the support from you absolutely brilliant; you helped me get things clear in my head when most people would have told me to bog off.

What I’m looking for is something that is 110% perfect for me to really promote as shared Etomite hosting, that can be completely automated.. I don’t think I ever did mention to Ben via LiveChat that I’m one half of the OpenSource CMS Etomite owner (I know I mentioned that I needed the skeleton stuff before I could transfer some on).. I usually tell the prospective host and they do everything they can to help me and get me on board promoting them, and then when it comes to the new clients, they don’t live up to what I’ve been promoting. Ben was different - he wanted to help me even without knowing what I do; he wasn’t thinking with the company wallet in mind.

Ultimately, it’s been a learning curve for me. And I’ve enjoyed taking part in the HostNine experience. I wish you guys all the best with what you have - I can see a lot of other hosts jumping on the bandwagon soon. You should try and protect what you have. What you have, when completed, has huge potential.

Advertisement: Lancaster Pride

It wasn’t only aimed at Children, but there were plenty of things for the Kids to do - they had stalls that had Kid’s things going on, and a Punch & Judy Show.

I’ve been reading up, and it turns out that the move to Glasson Dock was a bid to save the festival - I think it has done that! It was packed! You had to wait 15 minutes just to get your food from the LockKeeper Chippy - the queue was huge!

The buses were excellent - they certainly get you into the mood of attending the festival!

There were some Living Statues - they looked just like they had been dragged out the canal - there has been a lot of work gone into them.

Needless to say, I will be going next year - It was a fun day out for everyone.

I have taken some pictures - take a look on my Flickr account.

The Official Page for the Festival is Here.

Advertisement: Lancaster Pride

Sorry, no demo this week!

In the first lesson, we were learning about loops, and how to use them.

Loops are usually used for making the background music that you hear behind vocalists.

After the first lesson, I have managed to produce the following MP3 Cool huh?

The MP3 is 5.3MB in size, but it’s encoded at the highest possible level outputtable by iTunes.

Download MP3

We’ve got a new bugfix and security release for both of our actively maintained branches of WordPress. Version 2.1.1 includes about 30 bug fixes, mostly minor things around encoding, XML-RPC, the object cache, and HTML code. It’s available for immediate download on our download page.

Version 2.0.9 only includes the security update, which was around the code we use to prevent XSS. You can download it from our release archive. As a reminder, we’ve committed to proving security updates to 2.0 through 2010, but all new features and development are going into the newer branch, which is at this time 2.1.

This is a low-to-medium priority update recommended for all WordPress users. After the break is a list of changed files.

Files changed in 2.1.1 from 2.1:

• wp-includes/post-template.php
• wp-includes/cache.php
• wp-includes/formatting.php
• wp-includes/category.php
• wp-includes/post.php
• wp-includes/version.php
• wp-includes/js/scriptaculous/wp-scriptaculous.js
• wp-includes/js/tinymce/tiny_mce_config.php
• wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php
• wp-includes/js/tinymce/tiny_mce_gzip.php
• wp-includes/capabilities.php
• wp-includes/cron.php
• wp-includes/functions.php
• wp-includes/bookmark-template.php
• xmlrpc.php
• wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
• wp-admin/admin-functions.php
• wp-admin/custom-header.php
• wp-admin/options-general.php
• wp-admin/edit.php
• wp-admin/index-extra.php
• wp-admin/options-reading.php

Files changed from 2.0.7 to 2.0.9 (version 2.0.8 was tagged for Debian, but never announced):

• wp-includes/cache.php
• wp-includes/wp-db.php
• wp-includes/version.php
• wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-mce-help.php
• wp-includes/js/tinymce/tiny_mce_gzip.php
• wp-includes/classes.php
• wp-includes/functions.php
• wp-includes/rss-functions.php
• readme.html
• wp-admin/edit-form-advanced.php
• wp-admin/link-import.php
• wp-admin/link-categories.php
• wp-admin/user-edit.php
• wp-admin/options-permalink.php