File under: "Are we done yet..?"

Filed by: Darren on January 9, 2007 at 17:38
Filed In: Life, Work

Blimey. Apologies for recent radio silence, but I've been tied up for the last few days and no mistake. Last Wednesday, Mark Chadbourn's forum was hacked by a gang of ~~script kiddies~~ l33t hak0rz. Damn, etc.

Mind you, they were actually surprisingly polite about it - just left a sort of "your forum isn't very secure, you know..." message, and changed the colour scheme. I don't know, maybe they felt a bit guilty because it was such an easy system to break into. Which, whilst obviously rather irritating, actually turned out to be just the kick up the arse I needed to get the forum upgraded to a better software platform; something I've been trying to find time to do for a good six months or so. So I suppose they actually did me a favour, of sorts, when you think about it.

Anyway, net result: shiny new forum.

However, installing the new software did take up the best part of the two afternoons that I had originally ear-marked for clearing out my massively over-stuffed inbox and generally sorting out the office; something else that was long overdue and marked 'urgent' on the to-do list. So there went the weekend...

Won't be sorry to see the back of these things... At least, there went whatever was left of the weekend after Jo and I had spent the bulk of it feverishly slapping paint on the remaining few dozen square metres of upstairs walls and woodwork, in preparation for the remaining carpets being fitted yesterday. Not to mention all the dusting, vacuuming, shifting-of-furniture, rearranging of piles of dusty boxes etc. that went with it.

Still, the Evil Decorating is 95% done now - just the porch and hall to finish off, plus snagging (a builder-standard technical term for going round and doing all the odd bits that are always left at the end of a job, and one that I'm going to adopt for website work henceforth) - and just in time for Jo's folks to visit on Thursday. They're staying for the weekend, which means that I get to cook for Jo's Mum, for a change. Quite daunting, actually...

Oh, and just in case there are any doubters out there who don't believe we've really spent the last two years of our lives planning for, working on and generally living through this extension project - that it's all been an elaborate hoax for me to use as an excuse for not doing tonnes of constructive and productive stuff with my time - here are the before and after shots...

...oh, hang on, no. They're on the old PC. Which reminds me, I'll have to rescue those before it goes to the recyclers... maybe I'll post them another time, unless enough of you beg me not to... but they do exist, honest.

Right, that's that. Something more bookish to follow shortly, I promise - more New Arrivals to tell you about, and the start of a new (maybe even regular) feature: the 'Where Are They Now?' Files.

Filed on: January 9, 2007
Filed under: Life, Work
Tagged with: house-extension | l33t-hak0rz | Mark-Chadbourn |

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2 Responses to 'File under: "Are we done yet..?"'

Ed on January 9th, 2007 10:28 pm

So is that what the new MMS forum's going to look like?
Ariel on January 10th, 2007 6:46 am

Well, in terms of improved functionality and features, yes. Colour scheme will be different, obviously...

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