Dagnabit packing sucks.
I mean, just when you think you have cleared a room, you find more stuff somewhere else that should be in the box you JUST FUCKING SEALED.
AAAAAAAAARGH
Still…I think I am getting there. Just need to figure out how to get 2 apartments full of gear into a Mercedes Sprinter van…seeing as the Eurotunnel won’t allow more than 3.5 tonnes.
Eurotunnel. Are. Bastards
Still, I always enjoyed tetris. Plus, I get to be “White Van Man” for a few days 
So on Friday 14th all hell broke loose due to my server being attacked. This in turn took down every site attached to it (around 15-20), a couple gameservers and a voice chat server.
At 21:03, I recieve this email
Hello!
Please stop this or your server will be disconnected.
“List of attacks to other server.”
I probably don’t need to explain that this was sent approximately 1 minute before they acted on their word and disconnected the server. The Laughing Wolf was offline.
I didn’t recieve this email until I got everything back online at around 03:20 the next morning. Based on the information recieved from the datacenter and from the logs on the server, my machine was an unwitting accomplice in a DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) to some company in the States (sorry America, I didn’t know I promise).
Now, techy and geeky as I am, my linux skills are just about on a par with my underwater basket weaving skills. Basically, after I thought it would be a great idea to get my own server and install linux on it, I then realised I had to get the thing configured. I managed this with a little help from people on the net, google and a whole lot of luck. As a result, when the box was up and working, I was terrified to change anything in case it didn’t work again.
I therefore subscribed to the mantra “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
Now, whilst this may work for your TV that you have to tape the power button down on, unfortunately, even the most technically naive soul will be able to tell you that security updates to software happen for a reason…
So anyway, after about 6 hours of work, trawling through logs and files that, frankly, I have no real understanding of, I start to see a pattern of new users, groups and services running on the server. I duly remove these and a weary Laughing Wolf limps back onto the interweb.
A day goes by and all appears well. Another day passes and I am feeling pretty confident. By Tuesday morning, the server is still up, I check my email, pat myself on the back and head to work as norml.
Idiot.
Arriving at work, I quickly check my email again….no response, server down. Bollocks.
A quick call to the server host confirms that the attack started up again.
So, to cut a long story slightly less long. I spent Tuesday night after work until Wednesday morning at 05:30 rebuilding the thing from scratch with a completely new (and up to date) operating system, with all new (and up to date) software.
Just in time to start painting my apartment for the impending move.
I better get going as there is more painting to be done. More stories from my past soon and I may even have something mildly amusing.
Ok, so after the break up I have been somewhat of a procrastinator – I haven’t quite packed as much as I had planned, nor have I started redecorating for the new tenant after I leave.
I have found time to blog recently, but seeing as I do that on my 2nd monitor whilst watching TV shows, that probably doesn’t count as an actual activity…
Now all of a sudden everything kicks off. I get a message from Sarah to tell me that they now have a house from Monday and to get my arse in gear, and get the stuff over to the UK. At the same time, I find a tenant to take over the lease when I leave.
Cool, thinks I, 6 weeks to get sorted – Nice one…not so, tenant lady needs to be in on the 1st of April
Holy.Fucking.Crapola
So, I now have 17 days to finish packing, decorate, deliver practically the full contents of a 3 bedroom house to the UK and move into my new apartment. Damn you procrastination, damn you to hell.
To say nothing of the fact that I have to work all day throughout the week, leaving all this work to my scheduled TV time 
Ahh well, back to The 4400 and Flight of the Conchords….
….Oh, as an aside – Just got this in my email
I have GOT to get me some of that
…happy – There is no other word for it right now.
Lets look at the contributing factors:
Not bad really, especially the Sarah thing.  As you probably gathered from my first post, I still care deeply for her. So I am very happy that I can still make her laugh, and she is still doing the same for me.
What does that mean? No idea, probably nothing. But it is nice and it contributes to me being happy right now. Of course, I have to head to work in a few minutes, so that could all change very shortly…
Just to talk about number 2 for a second (hahhah I said number 2), a few months ago I was cooking one of my favourite German junk foods, Fleischkase. For those of you with German language skills, this literally translates to “Meat Cheese”. If that sounds disgusting to you, you are probably a normal and well adjusted individual. However, it tastes….well…..genius, if I am honest.
Anyway, the best way to cook “Meat Cheese” is in a frying pan with a little oil and serve with loads of pimmel (sic) and then the junk condiment of your choice. I prefer what is referred to here as Rot/Weiss (Ketchup/Mayo). So there I am, heating up the pan with a little oil and the phone rings. I answer the phone (as most of you would have done..don’t judge me), but then do I
Tick tick tick - We are going to have to hurry you……
For those of you that picked #1, you clearly don’t know me very well. I opted for a well thought out sofa chat, whilst leaving an open frying pan with hot oil to catch fire.
I didn’t notice this fire until after the conversation, by which point the kitchen was entirely black.
Suffice to say, I am quite lucky to still be here and more lucky that the apartment is.
Meat Cheese flambe anyone?
* Yes I, like all men, feel the need to describe my favourite football team as if I am one of the players…or more accurately, owners
** Possibly contagious, but as yet unproven to be terminal (time and upcoming posts will tell though)
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