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.

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.

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.

I failed the test due to cutting a few sharp right turns a bit too early on a country road.

One month waiting period and another 7600 SEK before I get another try.

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.