PHP 8.0!

Hosting, Miscellaneous, Technology

So I’ll start by saying that honestly – I haven’t personally kept in the loop as to what changes and improvements PHP 8.0 brings over 7.X. I would generally assume that it’s similar to what 7.X promised over 6.X etc.

That said – we did just make 8.0 available today on our shared platform and I did move this site, my own personal little rant-hub, over to 8.0. Not that my site is very heavy or anything – but the site does seem nice and quick. Well…. I’m running the LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress too ;).

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WHMCS – Half Implementing Features since 2007

Business, Hosting, Miscellaneous, Rants

I’ve been using WHMCS as a billing and support platform for web hosting since 2007, for over 13 years now, and as near as I can tell WHMCS was founded in 2005. There have been issues over the years where there was unexpected behavior or unexpected changes during upgrades but every software vendor is going to roll out a bug here or there. Even companies with the best quality assurance and testing are bound to have something slip by – and I understand this.

While I do not and have not ever expected perfection and I do understand that bugs can happen sometimes feature implementation is just poor at best or processes are not well thought-out and planned. The most recent instance of this that has caused me problems is Premium Domain Support in WHMCS. This feature was added to WHMCS in version 7.1 which was released over 4 years ago.

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WebHostingTalk.com – Where you can break the rules without breaking the rules.

Hosting, Rants

I have been a member at WebHostingTalk.com, or WHT for short, since December of 2007. I can’t say that I haven’t run afoul of their rules on several occasions since then because I most certainly have. Although I have always personally done my best to make sure I understood and followed the rules there have still been situations where I have mistakenly broken the rules.

In the situations where I accidentally broke a rule it was always very helpful to be able to discuss the incident with the moderation staff in order to get a clearer understanding of what I did wrong and how to avoid it in the future. I’m human and by nature fallible – I will make mistakes – I am not perfect. What is important is that I am able to learn from my mistakes to avoid making them again in the future.

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The Small Business Administration – The Disaster during The Covid-19 Disaster

Business, News, Rants, Reviews
U.S. Small Business Administration Logo

I’ll start by saying that the company I own and operate has been in business since late 2007. In nearly 13 years of being in business we have never applied for funding through the SBA or anywhere else as we didn’t need it. Personally I absolutely hate owing money be it to a person or to an organization.

I have heard from other business owners that working with the Small Business Administration, or the SBA for short, isn’t easy and that even if you qualify you’ve got a 50% chance of approval. I do know a few small businesses that have SBA loans for business property.

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Time, change, and goals.

Miscellaneous

MichaelIt’s been almost a year since I wrote a post and life has a way of keeping you busy.  I’ve gone through a lot of changes both in my personal as well as my professional life.  I would say I’m not the same person I was a year ago and that isn’t a bad thing.  Over the last year I have become far more tolerant and understanding than I have been in the past.  I’ve been learning to be happier with who and where I am and less worried about where I want to be.

Having goals is obviously a good thing and it is helpful to have something driving you forward; something to drive you towards growing and improving.  It is also important that once you achieve a goal that you set a new goal for yourself and that you always focus on moving forward and not being stuck in the past or even the present.
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AT&T Business Internet [u-Verse] – Slow to replace lightning-damaged equipment

Business, Miscellaneous, Rants

Dead AT&T DSL ModemAt the office where I work unfortunately there are no fiber optic options.  Before we signed the lease we reached out to the local ISP that provides fiber connections for our area and confirmed that they serviced the location we were looking at leasing.  The ISP told us they did service our building and we didn’t find out until after we signed our lease and arranged to set up service that they do not actually service this location.  Sadly enough the only option we have here is AT&T vDSL [AT&T uVerse Business Internet DSL].

We experienced some pretty intense storms today / this evening and experienced several very close lightning strikes.  At least a couple of strikes were within several hundred feet of our office and one of them managed to take out our AT&T uVerse DSL Modem.  Being that AT&T has numerous corporate stores within a short driving distance I really didn’t imagine getting this damaged equipment replaced would be an issue.

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1-800-Flowers.com

If you want to show somebody you love them – avoid 1-800-Flowers.com

Rants, Reviews

Depending on how well you know me you may be aware of my aversion to talking on the phone.  It’s not so much that I hate talking on the phone as much as I hate how it totally destroys my ability to multi-task.  When I am working I will be handling a dozen or two different tasks at once on my computer without issue but the second I’m on the phone that all goes out the window.

Generally if I want to look into something or accomplish something I’ll find a way to do it via my computer which I can do without putting everything else I’m working on on complete hold.  Realistically I should have taken the time to find a local florist and called them up to arrange for the delivery of some flowers for my wife.  I instead went to “1-800-Flowers.com” to see if they could deliver today – and they could!

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SPAMMERS – I have a question for you…

Hosting, Miscellaneous, Rants

While I don’t really expect to get any answers – I am a little curious.

I know that the reason spammers send spam is to make money.  I don’t think anybody sends spam for fun although I am sure some people have ‘spammed’ others to annoy them/etc.

With that said we get a lot of spam to “support@”, “abuse@”, “sales@”, etc…  Do you actually see a return on sending spam to these addresses or are you so readily able to send the spam that it really doesn’t matter?

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National Hotel in Miami – Elevator fell 7+ floors, One guest injured.

Reviews

Elevator Injury at the National Hotel in MiamiMy wife and I are here in Miami for a good friend’s wedding and we are staying at their chosen hotel – the National Hotel in Miami.  Needless to say we’ve been having a wonderful time sharing this event with our friends and their family.  Overall the hotel is very nice and looks to be well maintained.  Our room is a tad small but ultimately we’re not spending much time in the room.

Last night the whole wedding party was meeting at Mango’s Tropical Cafe and identification was required.  My wife, the groom’s brother, and myself got in the elevator and went up to the 10th floor so my wife could grab her ID.  After grabbing her identification we left the room and proceeded to hail an elevator to our floor.

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If at first they refuse – harass, harass, harass, and threaten! [Updated 07/11/19]

Business, Miscellaneous, Rants

Brick WallIt has been roughly 10 weeks since “The Professor” sent a Cease and Desist letter to the company I work for concerning content on one of our client’s sites. We refused to bow to this individual’s demands and that was the beginning of the harassment.  At this point I count no less than 20 individual messages in my inbox.  The Professor has called the company I worked for numerous times and asked the same questions and received the same answers.

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