Firewall Script

by Andy on April 29th, 2008

Security for your site on any form of shared hosting is ALWAYS going to be a pain in the padded behind. I mean, no host in their right mind will give you root access to the box, as you could easily bring down the whole thing, and that’s a number of customers that are going to be mightily pissed off.

Step up: Firewall Script. DaveN (a relatively reknowned SEO) first mentioned this a number of weeks ago, and it is slowly building up popularity. For just over £40, this PHP based firewall will plug into just about any php or mysql based site, giving you protection against the baddies of the world, including: xss and sql injection! Vbulletin, Wordpress, InvisionPB, Mambo, SimpleMachines and Drupal are all covered, meaning you don’t have to worry about applying the latest updates, etc.

First Week

by Ben on April 18th, 2008

Well this week was my first week at my new job. Its gone rather fast (unsprisingly) but the good news is that I have already charged my first day to a customer and am booked solid for the next 4 weeks! The people are fun and the work’s going to be hard but rewarding and I’m being pushed out of my comfort zone which is awesome.

The commute’s a real killer though as the office is in Clapham, so it takes about 2.5-3hrs to get to or from work not to mention the SouthWest extonsionists they call a train company charging me £54 a day to do it! Fortunately, Lucia’s mum lives in Battersea, so I’m staying with her when I have to be in London and that is £3 and 20 minuts from the office by bus. The only downside of that is that I don’t get to see my girlies during the week and what with Olivia taking her first steps at the moment, I’m a bit down… Still, its only for a month or two.

After all sorts of depressing failures to sell our house, we’ve decided to rent it out and move up to Kent anyway, so if anyone knows anyone in Southampton who wants to rent an end of terrace 3 bed house in imaculate condition for 6-12 months at £1100/month, please let me know.

Noisy Neighbours

by Dan on April 17th, 2008

Everybody has noisy neighbours at some point. Some people shout loudly at each other. Others play techno till 5am.

For the last week or so, we’ve had a good one though. A 21-tonne Tyrannosaurus Volvo eating its way through the office complex next door. And it is quite noisy. Not to mention the fact that every time it munches through something particularly well bolted down, the block of flats starts shaking.

Still, it is kinda mesmerising… I keep finding myself staring at it as it happily tears a section of roof away, or pulls steel reinforcing rods out of concrete blocks like spaghetti from bolognese.

Now if only they could do it quietly…

UPDATE

I took a nice little video.

Just beyond 1m25s you see a large section of roof collapse. It took out the garden fences and one shed of the 3 houses behind…

Andy’s Catch Up

by Andy on April 15th, 2008

I thought it best to start a string of threads where we can all post what we’ve been doing, what we’re up to now, etc. Mine’s going to be reasonably lengthy, so apologies up front! Ohh, for the rest of the authors, please, no “categories” just yet, I’m trying to avoid them for now as they duplicate the content available to the search engines, and that’s a bad thing ;)

So, the SEO job came crashing down, and although I’m still maintaining a vested interest in search engine optimisation and have a minor SEO sub-role as part of my new post at bet365, I’m not doing consultancy, etc at the moment… although I’m never one to burn my bridges ;)

“Crashing down?” I hear you ask… yes, crashing down. The company started experiencing repetitive and more and more frequent cash flow issues, the CEO (only one with access to finances) became harder and harder to contact, the head of the Israeli office was apparently (an unbeknownst to me) put in control of the business, and then the phone started ringing. You name the company connection, I probably heard from them during January/February. Clients? Check! Suppliers? Check! Auditors? Check! Banks? Check! Lawyers? Check! Investors? Check! All asking the same question: Where is Iain Davidson? For those still curious, to this day I still don’t know, nor do I reckon I’ll ever know. The last time I saw him was when he, his newly acquired Brazilian girlfriend, her sister and brother-in-law came to MY house, drank MY beer and ate MY food on new years eve. I’ve sent him numerous emails, including a “so long, and thanks for all the fish” style communication, and as yet, nothing back.

That’s the job story covered, I’m now an affiliate manager at the aforementioned bookmakers, dealing mainly with casino clients.

Engagement, relocation, heirlooms and babies.

Siobhan and I had got some money together to buy a ring. The deposit was put down at a local diamond centre, where you select the diamond and they build the ring for you. The money we saved up however, was then used to move house. With Shiv having been made redundant at the end of January, and my employer doing a runner, we had no option but to leave our apartment, and move into my parents’ disused flat in San Roque. It’s taken some doing up, and we’re a long way from the finish line, but it’s a roof over our heads, and somewhere we’re happy to call home. It’s a lot smaller than the penthouse in Alcaidesa, but we knew once we left there that we wouldn’t live somewhere as luxurious for that price again in a long time, never mind for free (thanks Mum & Dad!!)

Shiv’s Mum came over for a week at the end of March, and brought with her Siobhan’s Grandmother’s engagement ring, a family heirloom. Siobhan, Judy, Emily, my Mum, Dad, Brother and I went out for a family get together/dinner, and amidst a sea of nerves, even after numerous beers and plenty of food, I asked Shiv to marry me. Champagne was bought, coins put in corks, smiles all round :) Thursday the 27th of March, she knew it was coming, she just didn’t know when.

Skip forward 3 days, and after a long trip up the coast to Almeria for a rugby game, a well deserved win, and back to the hosts clubhouse for some post match food and drinks, I give Shiv a call to see how she’s doing. She had news… I hate to be Mr Modern Man 2008, but “we’re pregnant” again :) Although poor Shiv will be doing all the work again. We’re both over the moon, and can’t wait for December to roll around, as the wee one is due during the first week!

I do believe, that’s enough for one day. Welcome one and all to the new, new, new look site, let’s see how well this goes, and for how long this time!

Welcome to the New AB & Friends…

by Neil on April 15th, 2008

Hi I am Neil and here is my first post to say hellooooo to the forum!! :D