Tag Archives: Stuff that sucks

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New Host, New Server, New Everything

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You might have noticed this page being down for about two weeks. 
That's because I decided to move from my self-hosted solution with a server in the apartment to a professional hosting solution. I've been thinking about this to and from for a few years now, but what set it all in motion was the fact that I am going to move in about two months (more on that later).  I didn't want to worry about the mail server being down while moving, setting up the DNS to to a new IP address etc. In retrospect, the server would probably be down less time if I had just stuck with the previous solution. But this also gives an additional peace of mind if there were to be a hardware breakdown or power outage at home during a vacation etc. 
Since the domain name killersnail.com has been down for about two weeks, any mails sent to me or the other people with killersnail.com addresses has NOT been delivered.
I'm sorry about that, but there is not much I can do. That domain name is still not fully functional, so emails will still not be up. Meanwhile, you can reach me by simply writing a comment to this post. If I know you and it's of a personal nature, just leave your name and address (will not be seen by others) and I'll contact you by other means. 
So, how did the transfer go? Well, I first signed up with One.com. Big mistake. After reading through a lot, they seemed like a good choice with good pricing. So I went ahead and transferred the main domain name (killersnail.com) there, since it was the one most important to get transferred first on account on being the mail server as well. Then I was going to transfer my other domain names (like frankjohansson.com), to add to the same account, acting as CNAME aliases. 
Turns out they can't handle that. Basically every other serious web hosting company offers the ability to add several domain names to one web hotel, except One.com. They COULD do it, but then I would have to pay for web hosting for each domain name, and the domain names would likely just be redirects instead of aliases. In other words, the price went up 8 times. 
Yes, I know I have many domain names, but they are not all for me.
So I asked for a refund, on account on their 15-day money-back guarantee, as well as the domain name unlock code so that I would be able to transfer the domain name to another host as soon as possible. Their support department told me that I had to send all my bank details to their British office in order to get my money back, and I could not get the domain transfer unlock code until everything else was processed. The details I had to send them were:
  • Bank name
  • Bank address
  • Account number
  • Name on the account
  • Swift code
  • Iban number
  • Clearing number for the bank. 

So I sent it all to their british office as instructed, and asked for the domain name unlock code again at the same time.

After two days I got a reply, where they asked for the following details:

  • Bank name
  • Bank address
  • Account number
  • Name on the account
  • Swift code
  • Iban number
  • Clearing number for the bank.

AND MY ORIGINAL EMAIL WHERE ALL THIS WAS STATED WAS LISTED BELOW. They couldn’t possibly have read more than the subject of the email. I politely pointed out the fact that I have already provided all the necessary information, in the email they themselves replied to, and asked for my domain name unlock code a third time. A few hours later I finally got the code, and transferred it to another host. It then took a week after that before the transfer was actually approved by One.com.

Today I got a letter stating that the money I demanded back from one.com has been deposited into my bank account. From One.com in DUBAI. So I signed up for a service and paid a company in Sweden. I had to request the money back to a British company. I then get paid from a company in the United Arab Emirates. Tax evasion, anyone?

My new host, Surftown, have so far been great, and the support crew seems friendly. Getting a domain name unlock code from my previous DNS service, Loopia, took less than a second since you can do it yourself from their control panel. The entire transfer to Surftown from there took about 20 minutes. In comparison, One.com once again shows their lack of competence.  Surftown is a bit more expensive than One.com if you want the extra features I require (MySQL, PHP, support for multiple domain names etc). However, they currently have a campaign where you get all of this for only 10 SEK/day for the first year, so it’s actually cheaper right now.

In conclusion:

  • Domain transfer almost complete
  • Email not yet up, use comments in this post instead
  • One.com sucks monkey balls.
Gadgets, Motorcycles

A package arrived today. Or actually, it didn’t.

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I got a package today, stuff I ordered about a week ago as a birthday present to myself. Motorcycle stuff from Louis.de (good online store).

But first, let me tell you about the Swedish postal system and how complicated it can be to get a package, especially if you order stuff from abroad.
Here is what I learned today from a disgruntled (but very helpful) employee at Posten‘s (The main Swedish postal service) helpdesk:
What most people doesn’t know is that the mail part and the parcel/logistics part of Posten are two separate companies. They do have the same name, logotype, homepage etc., but they are in fact separate. And more, they are rivals. Even though they seem to work together, they apparently don’t. Or, at least not very well.

Example from today; I awaited a large package, around 1 x 1 x 0.5 meter, arriving from Germany. I followed the current location of the package online, using my tracking ID at Posten’s common homepage. When I checked the status during lunch, I could see a new note from 11:49, saying “The recipient’s door code is not stated on the package. The postal item is notified”.

Question 1: Why didn’t the guy delivering the package have the door code, when his colleague that delivers letters and smaller parcels every day have it?

Answer: Because they are rivals, and rivals don’t share information. The competition between the two parts of Posten is so stiff, despite the fact that they work under the same umbrella, that they will not even share the door codes, allowing the delivery men to enter the apartment building.

Question 2: So if the door code is not known on the first round, when will they actually deliver the package?

Answer: They won’t. It’s not possible to schedule a new delivery time, even if you provide them with the door code and stay home for an entire day. Instead, you are forced to go to Posten’s company center, 6.6 kilometers away. And 1 kilometer to the closest train station. During business hours. So if you don’t have a car and can leave work early, you are pretty much screwed. Unless you want to carry a big ass package a kilometer, then try to get it aboard the train, followed by the walk home. Luckily, I could get away from work earlier today and have a brother that could give me a ride.

But seriously, do they really expect people to be home in the middle of the day (and they will not inform you before which day or time they are coming)? And do they expect that there won’t be any door codes in apartment buildings whatsoever? Even so, they have probably made a number of deliveries to this very address this year alone, and should have the code by now. They didn’t even bother to call, even to just get the code. If they would, the package could actually have been delivered since M was in fact at home that time today.

All of this for a package that you actually paid for to be delivered to your doorstep.

Seriously Posten, get your shit together.

Ok, let’s move on. Oh yeah, what was in the package?

First off was a set of saddle bags, about twice the size of my previous bags (27 liters each). They are also better looking and more practical, allowing you to take them off without unscrewing the passenger seat. They should be more water proof as well, but just in case I also bought a set of rain covers for them that can be rigged as shower caps. Or actually, I bought two sets. I thought they were sold one by one, but them came in pairs so now I have a spare pair.

Since the saddle bags are removable, I also bought a matching 3 liter tool roll. I generally don’t like the looks of them, but this was pretty clean. I intend to use it only when the saddle bags are off, to keep a first aid kit and some emergency items like tire spray and cable ties in. To go with that roll, I also bought a water proof inner bag in roughly the same size. Wouldn’t want the first aid kit to go bad.

Additionally, I  bought a lightweight nylon cover for the entire bike to protect it from the weathers when it’s standing outdoors.

Aside from the luggage and covers, I also bought a new set of mini bullet turn indicators since the original ones on my bike are huge and not very stylish.

The last items were some valve caps with built-in pressure monitors. If the tire pressure drops with 0.2 – 0.3 bar, the indicator in the valve cap turns from green to red. I had a slight pressure drop in the front tire last summer, so this should be useful as I won’t have to stop by gas stations every 500 kilometers to check the pressure – a glance at the indicator should be enough.

On a side note, I have started to assemble my roadtrip music album for 2011. I did this last year, and had a great selection of around 130 songs that went great on the road and got good feedback from others who received a copy. I might write a separate post about that later.

All I need now is for spring to come.

Candy for my bike

Personal, Photography

Rome – The good, the bad and the ugly

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The last week I’ve been in Rome, Italy. Monday to Friday I’ve lived in Frascati and worked in Morena, and during the weekend I’ve stayed near Termini in central Rome together with M.

Frascati was okay, I guess. Small, worn down but not completely without charm. We found one good restaurant there with both good food and nice staff.

Work went well and the clients appeared very happy with my part, so no worries there.

The bad and the ugly
Going into central Rome, I realized that the worn down thing was not specific to the suburbs but the city core as well. The streets were very dirty and we often came by areas that smelled very bad. The traffic was horrible, and the subway stations felt like nobody has bothered to renovate or otherwise improve them since 1986.
Everywhere on the streets people were trying to sell us cheap imitation bags and various crap with a very intrusive attitude. This was worst when eating at outdoor seatings, we often had to tell the peddlers at  least 3-4 times that we were not interested before they gave up. And came back again 30 minutes later.

Speaking of eating; I don’t know if we just had bad luck, or if the italian restaurants really are very bad. About 3/4 of all meals we had were a major disappointment. Service was most of the time terrible, and even though we always tried to be friendly and start the conversations in Italian, we were often treated with arrogance and not the smallest of smiles.

The good
The ice cream/gelato was good and the wine was cheap.

Sure, Colosseum was impressive and there were a lot of ruins, fountains and statues that would probably be reason enough for some people to go there, but after a while things start to look the same everywhere.

For us, Rome was all together quite a bad experience.

I hope I don’t have to go here again very soon. It will be really good to go home tomorrow.

Personal

Good day, Bad morning

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Yesterday I had a very good day, for a number of reasons:

  • A big project I’ve been working on for the last month or so took a huge step forward, and this will mean a lot for the company if everything goes according to plan.
  • We had a very nice (free) lunch with wine on the company, plus a cake for dessert.
  • My vacation application for this summer was finally approved, this will be my longest vacation ever. And hopefully I will have taken the MC driver’s license and bought a bike by then.
  • After several years of hinting, asking and convincing I finally got to  order the latest version of the Adobe Web Suite (CS5), to replace the ancient Photoshop v5.5 (from 1999) that I’ve been using up until now at work. I’ve been using Photoshop CS4 at home, and am constantly reminded of a lot of missing features when I use v5.5 at work.
  • I managed to write a nice little script that automates a common procedure at work. It only saves a few minutes, but it will give a consistent result and after a year or so those minutes will have added up to much more than just a few minutes. Those are my favorite scripts.
  • I went out with some friends after work and had an excellent dinner, good drinks and a very nice time, followed by a cab ride home.

Today, not so good.

I woke up with an intense cramp in my right calf, and it felt like the muscles/tendons would snap. At first I could hardly breathe, and then I started hyperventilating instead – which also made me nauseous. After two minutes or so the cramp started to go away, but as soon as I touched the leg it came back. It’s been about three hours now, and I still cannot support myself on the leg without getting the cramps back. The calf feels tense all the time, and massaging the leg doesn’t help.

It’s a pretty bad experience waking up almost screaming of pain, and at the same time desperately needing to go to the bathroom. :p

Update: It’s now been 16 hours, and I can still not walk without limping, and get that tense pre-cramp feeling as soon as I put some weight on the leg or stretch it out to much. 🙁

Personal

Cast away

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Stiches removed
Stiches removed

This monday I got to remove my cast and stiches. It felt really odd but it’s sooo good to be able to scratch (and wash) again.

Unfortunately, I can now hardly move my finger.  There was a 20-25° angle missing when trying to bend the finger backward/straight out, so it got a little crocked (sidewise as well). But the worst part is that I can’t close the finger either. The tendon that was mostly damaged leads to the top joint in the finger and when I try to move it it feels like there is something in the way. Same thing with the middle joint, but I have slightly better movement there. I now have to wear a special plastic rail around the clock to prevent the finger from stiffening in a crocked position, and it also protects the finger from impact. The rail will be adjusted regularly to adjust the angle and shape of the rail.

This also means that I will have to do a lot of  physiotherapy and special hand exercises every third hour for at least a couple of months, probably more.

Sensitivity-wise, it’s very odd. Below the scar it feels pretty much normal, but above it is no fun. If sliding a finger nail or something from the base of the finger upwards, I get a tiny jolt every time it crosses the scar, kind of when you hit the nerve in your elbow. In the area above that, half the finger feels like it’s sleeping. In that kind of way that when you’re trying to walk when your foot is asleep, and it almost burns when you touch the floor with it.

I have no idea if this is going to disappear or if it will always stay like this. I tried typing on the keyboard with the rail off, but its too unpleasant for that. I assume the same thing will happen if playing the piano or guitar, and that is a little disconcerting.

The ring finger is at least better for this kind of damage that the thumb, index finger or little finger.

Personal

Surgery needed

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As suspected, my finger needs surgery. Tomorrow morning I will go to a hospital in Nacka where they will open up the finger again and try to stitch together the severed nerve bundles. The doctor I talked to yesterday thought that I would have to have a plaster with braces for about three weeks, which would suck. But I’ll know more about that after the surgery tomorrow.

On another note, the tetanus shot has made my left arm and shoulder all sore, even now four days later. Is that normal?

Personal, Photography

Sliced finger

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Yesterday my brother and his fiancee were over at our place for dinner with wine. Afterwards we were going out and thought that we should take the empty bottles with us since we were passing the recycling cabin anyway. While there my brother threw a bottle hard into the glass bin to make it crash. Unfortunately, part of the bottle ricocheted back up and came straight for me. Instinctive I put up my hand to protect my body from the whirring glass, and it hit my right ring finger.

And there were blood – lots of it. In fact, I even had an arch of blood across my face, going all the way into my right ear. The floor in the recycling cabin had blood splattered on an area about two meters wide.

We rushed back into the apartment, pressing the finger together, putting three compresses and a makeshift tourniquet made of tape while M called for a taxi.

After arriving at the emergency room at the hospital, I only had to wait for about 5 minutes before getting my hand looked at. After removing the bloody compresses and cleaning the wound with salt water they cut off the blood flow with a rubber tube and a peang. Prodding the finger with what looked like toothpicks, the conclusion was that I had lost feeling in about half my finger. After two anesthesia shots in the finger (that really hurt), I soon didn’t feel anything at all.

Despite the nerve damage they had to close the finger to stop the bleeding, so they started to sew. It was a really odd sensation to see them doing it and not feel any pain. After 10 stitches they released the peang to let the blood through the finger, but immediately had to put another two stitches due to leakage.

The people who closed up my finger were really nice, and we even had a few laughs together.

After getting my stitches it was time to  x-ray the finger to look for skeletal damage (since the cut was so deep). For some reason this was considered a really high prio case, I got to go before people who had been waiting for several hours. Anyway, the x-ray turned out fine and the glass hadn’t damaged the bone.

A quick bandage and a tetanus shot later and I was on my way home again. Total time in the hospital was just above three hours, which was probably a new record for me.

Today the finger hurts quite a bit, and I will soon go the pharmacy to get the pain killers and antibiotics that I got prescriptions for.

Tomorrow I will have to go to another hospital, where a specialist in hand surgery will assess the damage and possibly open the finger up again to try to repair the damaged nerve(s).

Now, time for some (quite gory) pictures:

Gadgets, Personal

To buy or not to buy – regarding laundry

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For the last two years or so I’ve become increasingly irritated when doing the laundry.
What mostly bother me is the following:

  • About half the time people have been using twice the amount of detergent in the machine, resulting in leftovers that will go into the next wash that I have to clean up before doing my laundry. Since M has a very allergic skin we have to use a special non-allergic laundry detergent, and having to remove old lumps of strongly perfumed detergent isn’t fun.
  • People can’t read instructions. They often put powder detergent in the compartment for liquid detergent, resulting in it being completely clogged as this only uses a thin pipe for the detergent to pass. Which I have to clean.
  • People do not empty the fuzz from the tumbler-drier. Which I have to clean unless I want more fuzz, feathers and other stuff on our clothes.
  • People leave detergent powder on the clothes table used for folding clothes. Which I have to clean.
  • About everything that you should clean after laundry (machines, tables, floors…) is often dirty, sticky or powdery.

-So talk to your neighbors about it!

No can do. The wash house is shared on over 100 households, and the digital booking system doesn’t allow you to see who had the pass before you. And I doubt writing angry notes will help much.

Generally, it’s all about cleaning up after others in order to do our laundry that I’m tired of. So I’m thinking about buying my own washing machine.
A washing machine with A+ energy class costs about 5000 SEK including delivery and installation, so with the electrical cost and divided over 5 years (I have no idea how long you usually keep a washing machine so that is just a guess) it will cost about 25 SEK per week. After 5 years the cost drops to about 4 SEK / week based on todays electrical price. Water is included in the rent so that is not a problem.

The drawback is that it takes a bit of space and the clothes will have to dry in the apartment instead of in the washing house on the inner courtyard. On the other side I don’t have to go back and forth to the washing house on the inner courtyard every time. 😉 And I can wash whenever I need without having to book a time days ahead.

Has anyone ever regretted buying their own washing machine and prefer going to a washing room shared with hundreds of other people?

Update: http://www.lumien.se/regarding-laundry-part-ii/

Gadgets, Projects

The Typewriter Project – The End

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dsc00238I was working on my typewriter project today and had finally removed all the parts needed so that what I basicaly had was an empty frame.

One of the beams wennt into the area where the motherboard would be located and needed to be removed. This was held in place by a number of pegs. Using a hammer and an awl/center punch, I began tapping the pegs to push them out. As they wouldn’t move, I used a little more force.

And that’s when the frame broke. Both front and back, so it was now completely in two pieces. As it is made out of cast iron, the chances of getting it repaired and still look would cost many times more than I paid for the actual typewriter (which was 80 SEK).

dsc00239

Economically, it’s no biggie. It’s just the time I’ve spent on it that feels a bit sour. It took over 10 hours to get it stripped down to the state it was in before it broke.

To commemorate the moment, I took some pictures of just the screws that I removed from the typewriter when pulling it apart. Note there were more screws than this on the typewriter, including tiny calibration screws for each and every key. These are just the ones I unscrewed.

So now what?

There are a few options. Either I find another typewriter with a more suitable frame. Or I use a NES casing (I have two in storage for such a purpose). Or I build a custom case. Or I find something else to build my computer into.

Let’s see what comes my way.