My job description says that I am a web developer. I am responsible for developing web applications.

The reality is that I am here to facilitate scope creep.

Since things are moving quite slowly, due to the fact that I also work 8-5, we have decided to launch the listing service first.

Now….since we are only launching with the listing service, we cannot really charge for anything. Which means that listing has to be free.

Benefits: we don’t exclude smaller companies with cash-flow problems, we are able to sign companies up more quickly and perhaps automate part of the process by working on BBBEE verification companies( more on this later).

I really enjoy working on  Broadside  much more than anything else at almost every level. Even the mundane things that I would really hate at my day job are not so bad. Which makes perfect sense. I reread an interesting essay by Paul Graham today which kind of  explains all this. All what?

Well watch this space for updates on Broadside and perhaps a glimpse into my next project as soon as I have time to start some kind of work on it.

• They don’t seem to know much about hosting.
• They seem to know even less about services.
• They made our lives hell for the last five weeks…. let me tell you this story, but I must warn you, unlike the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, this story is not widely inaccurate… although I really wish it was. It also reminds me of a certain charatcter in Catch 22: Major Major. You will soon see why.

We developed a web management system/online catalogue for our client. We developed it using PHP and MySQL on one of Hetzner’s shared servers. It worked there… This project took a while to complete: you know how it goes, delays from our side, delays from the client, delays lead to more delays etc. Well finally the day came to actually put the site live and it was much to our horror that the client insisted on it being hosted at MWEB.

I have a friend who worked at MWEB and I have heard so many horror stories about MWEB’s telephonic support services and the way the people there work… the whole escalate it to the next level paradigm. SCARY if you are planning on hosting an actual website for your business because if something goes wrong you want competent people dealing with the issues, apparently MWEB is severely lacking in competent people.

Well, how hard can it be? We tested the site on the Hetzner server, then on my own set up which is just apache2, php5, mysql 5.0 and it worked. So it works with php5 and apache1.3(Hetzner) and on apache 2(me), so it really shouldn’t be too hard to get it working on MWEB’s server right? Since they advertise linux hosting.

WRONG

We get the server details from MWEB, open up ftp client and try and upload. Only the folder is read only…? mmm not very encouraging.

After a phonecall or two and some time waiting the folder is made writable, yay, but something seems a bit off to me, the folder’s parent is called wwwroot? Isn’t that a windows standard? mmm….

Well we uploaded anyway, and what do you know, nothing appears… at all. Seems the DNS went away. So we called MWEB and spoke to a tech support guy, who wonder of wonders, couldnt sort the problem out because he didnt have access to the necessary tools and had to escalate it. That problem got sorted out 3 days later and when going to the site url we could clearly see unstyled content with a few php errors. The cause? Apache didn’t have mod_rewrite enabled. Or so we thought…. Using the developer toolbar in firefox, i viewed the response headers and what do ya know? The MWEB professionals put us on an IIS server. Windows 2000 We were in for another week’s worth of waiting before we would be contacted by MWEB again and be posed the brilliant question: ” Why do you want to be on a Linux server? “… Well they put us on a Linux server finally and now the site either gets sent into an endless loop of redirects or nothing displays at all. This is the same code that I have running on 2 different subdomains on my own Linux computer. Yes..

Learn from our mistakes. Don’t use MWEB for website hosting if you need things like adequate support. We got the ball rolling communicating with MWEB more than a month ago. It took me an hour to set up my own accout with www.webfaction.com, no mess no fuss.

It’s as if the MWEB support staff are not trained to do anything but escalate. What is the POINT people?????!!!

Private companies must apply the codes if they want to do business with any government enterprise or organ of state – that is, to tender for business, apply for licences and concessions, enter into public-private partnerships, or buy state-owned assets.

Companies are also encouraged to apply the codes in their interactions with one another, since preferential procurement will affect most private companies throughout the supply chain. – quoted from link above.

So as you can see, a companies BEE rating will greatly affect the business etc that they might acquire and also it will affect which companies are willing to use them, since everyone’s BEE rating affects the rating of companies they do business with.

The one problem we will solve with Broadside is that of being able to find companies in certain sectors, which offer certain services, but also being given information about their BEE rating. For instance, if I need to set up a new office and need a network to be installed, I would log on to broadside and do a search for companies which provide that service, and I would be able to view all those companies’ BEE rating, thus enabling me to make a beneficial decision for my next rating.

This means that the companies signing up on Broadside will benefit by being hosted in search results on a website made for companies who want to use/hire/procure business with BEE rated companies.

Watch this space!

Ok so ABSA offers to upgrade my credit card account, cool right?

Well I went to pick it up… the guy behind the desk gives it to me and tells me that in order to activate internet banking and link it to my savings I have to talk to the woman next to him… which i do.

“I would like to have this credit card linked to my other accounts and have internet banking activated please.”

“Ok, give me your other card, i will do as you requested.Its done, thats it.”

“Thats it?”

“Thats it “

“So my accounts are linked and I can access the new account via internet banking?”

“yes!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Ok thank you, goodbye.”

well 15 minutes later (i drive to the bank) i’m back at the office and I log onto internet banking, and guess which credit account i see listed? THE OLD ONE!

So i call the customer care number 012 317 7000 and i speak to someone who puts me through to the internet banking section.

“Hi i would like to check if internet banking has been activated for my account ##########.”

“Mr Christianson it has.”

“It has not… im logged in i dont see it….”

“Are you sure you have logged in?Did you get prompted for your password?” *rolling eyes, dying of exasperation*

“It’s not there!”

“Yes it is …account number ########”

“Erm, lady, thats the old account which has now expired!”

“OOOOOH you want to activate the NEW one!”

———can you guess what i was thinking by now?

So now i have to drive all the way to an absa branch to have my card activated again, after doing it once before! This whole thing has happened tome before!

Take my friend Le Roux’s advice and check if intenet banking works at the bank before you leave!

ABSA SUCKS!!

I once read in an article that speed limits should reflect the average speed of drivers. That makes sense… If in the fast lane on the N1 most people are driving at 140km/h the speed limit should be 140km/h and not something stupid like 120km/h(for any readers who don’t understand km/h, it means kilometers per hour… get with it! use the metric system!).

Well in South Africa the powers that be don’t agree…

On the N7 leaving Mitchells plain, the speed limit is 60km/h. Who drives 60? Most people would drive at a reasonable speed and slow down just before the camera and then after they would speed back up again…

What is dangerous is someone braking hard to avoid getting the dreaded fine for doing 80 in a 60 zone!

Its obvious that tons of people get caught, and the government gets alot of money from these fines … R300 a pop under 85, and R400 from 85 to 89.

This is a pic of me getting caught doing 84 in a 60 zone, going downhill heading South along the N7…after logically speeding up alittle to get up the hill…

Bye Bye R300.

I took it in to Vodacare to have it fixed… but they told me that the phone had water damage and thus they couldnt attempt to fix it. It’s actually as if they have a long checklist of things to look at before even trying to diagnose teh problem! After throwing my toys for a while and realising the brain dead manager wouldnt have it fixed although my phone has NEVER been dropped in water, i took the phone and left…To my surprise it was working again… Since the phoen was ther for 2 days i assume it miraculously got healed on the 2nd day and the guys didnt pick it up because they were just looking for signs of water damage, OR they fixed it but couldnt tell me because of procedure? The latter is a bit of a fairy tail i guess…

Tip to anyone buying cellphones, take it directly to the brands shop and make them check that it is free of any water damage just in case!

Now i turn left over there and usually just check right to see if anyone is headed my way, if not i just go, but today a car was parked pretty much in the road and the woman in the Hyundai approaching from the right was forced into my turning lane.

So i came to a dead stop. Waited. She wanted to cut the corner, but saw me… She ACTUALLY saw me! I thought she would try to avoid me, but she drove straight into me…Right into the right hand corner of my baby.
Paint scraped off my bumper, bumper bent on the side and paint scraped off under my light…

The other night i dreamt that my car was smashed…
Go figure