Chris M. Ayres

Thank you GHoST61 for hacking the index.html of all of my websites. I’m actually not mad at you for this. Quite the opposite really. You’ve done a very simple hack that was, for the most part, non-destructive. In fact, you’ve taught me 2 very valuable lessons. The first is that I should always backup the content of my server to my harddrive. Fortunately, of all the sites I have, only 2 needed to have the homepage reloaded. The second lesson is that I need to more tightly secure my server. If it was that easy for you to hack in, who knows what else could have been done by someone with more malicious intent than your own.

So, you’ve been hit by GHoST61, what do you do now? All that’s happened is that your index.html file has been changed. If you didn’t have an index.html file but rather an index.htm, index.php, etc, then all you have to do is delete the 24byte index.html file and your other index file will take back over and you’re fine. If you did have an index.html file and he overwrote yours, then you will have to re-upload (hope you keep a backup on your computer) your index.html to your server.

The next thing you have to do is secure your server. Below are some sites where people have mentioned how they fixed their stuff:
http://www.kisaso.com/technology/hacked-by-ghost61-my-blog-got-hacked/
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=948590&page=2
http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

Can’t connect your Android phone to your WiFi while using a Linksys WRT45G router? Try updating your firmware via the Linksys website. As soon as I updated mine and turned my Android WiFi back on, it connected immediately. Give it a shot, might just save you some time.

I’ve set up my Facebook page for Chris Ayres WebDev. Click on over there now to check it out!

 

Much like my last post, I could never get my footer to stay at the bottom of my main content area without hard coding it at the bottom of each page. This time I figured it out based off of something else I was researching. So again, with only 1 CSS ID selector, I’m able to keep my footer in the same place on every page, no matter how much content is there. Here is how it works:

This is the CSS part (your numbers may vary, of course):

#container {position: absolute; min-height: 600px;}
#footer {position: absolute; bottom: -10px; left: 50px;}

This is the HTML part:

<div id="container"> Your content here.
<div id="footer"> Footer here </div>
</div>

Basically, we’re setting the position to absolute so that it stays where you tell it to. The ‘min-height’ attribute allows the container to scale with the content. Because you put the #footer inside the #container div and you set it to be positioned at the bottom, it will always stay at the bottom of the #container div, no matter how far down it scales.

 

I’ve been working with CSS for a while on my websites but one thing always plagued me; I couldn’t get the height of my page to scale with my content automatically. I always had to write a separate ID selector for each page set to a fixed height. I don’t know why I never just google’d it, but for some reason, 6 websites later, I did. It wasn’t rocket science, it was a simple

#container {min-height:###px;}.

Once I set the min-height, no matter how much content I added, it scaled to fit. Presto! Problem solved and lots of time saved. Make sure that any content you put in here is set to position: relative; not absolute. If it’s absolute, then the container won’t scale.
 

I’m posting this from my new Droid phone. How awesome is that?

I got the phone call that my motorcycle was ready to be picked up this afternoon.  After work I headed over there to get it with Michelle and Lilly.  Per the phone conversation that I had with the shop manager, we were expecting about $200 for the repair work + parts.  All I needed was a new tube, the labor to mount the tire, and the labor to fix the spokes.  When I got there, he said $304.05..  I ask why it was $100 more than I expected and he told me that they did the rear brakes too, something I didn’t ask for.  He told me that we talked on the phone and I said that as long as the rear tire is off, to go ahead and do the brakes too, something that I didn’t even really need yet.  After some talking back and forth, I was able to assure him that he must have had some things confused and he eventually agreed to take off the charge for the brakes and got my bill back down to what I thought it would be.  He later told me that there were 3 similar bikes in the shop over the last 48 hours that all had the rear tire off and that it could have easily been someone else, though he swore it was me.  I felt bad because it always looks like the customer is trying to get away with free work, but it was honestly not me.

This little bit of miscommunication cost the shop about $90, not a big deal to a shop like that, but to us it would have been a tough blow to the ole pocket book.  I see this as God saving us money to make my motorcycle even safer.

My motorcycle had a slight wiggle to it for a long time before my tire went flat.  I just avoided the interstate since it was pretty bad over 50 mph.  After I took my bike into the shop, they explained that almost all of my spokes had broken loose and was the cause of my flat tire as well as the wiggle in my bike.  The wiggle was extremely amplified after I hit the pot hole that caused the flat tire and the rest of the spokes to pop in the first place.  My rear brakes were getting thin and starting to squeal, which I would have to replace within the next 3-4 months anyways.  So due to the awful Maryland roads and the mistake at the shop, I got my bike fixed and new brakes put on, making it much safer to ride my motorcycle.  Heading into the winter, that’s a necessity.

Thank you Lord for allowing me to get my bike fixed and free brakes.  I feel bad that it happened the way it did, but I am not complaining!  Now if only You could have saved us all $200 too   Ah, I kid!  I know You’ll give it back to us somehow!

Saturday we went to our friends Brian and Nicole’s house for our first experience with Maryland crabs!  It was something on the list of things we wanted to do in Maryland and when I mentioned it, Brian made it happen, that night.  I have the same allergy to crab that I do with shrimp, so it was a little annoying to eat them, but it didn’t stop me!  After we got past all the gross parts of breaking them open and picking through the lungs, intestines and other guts we got to the meat and it was mmm… mmm… good!  Nicole always does an amazing job making very delicious meals that put most restaurants to shame.

On Sunday, Michelle and I took Lilly to Harrisburg, PA to meet our friends Bobby and Jennifer and their new little baby Thomas Rex, or just Rex.  We had a great time getting to see them and catch up for a bit.  Oh how they get so big so fast!

After they headed off to the airport, we made the short drive over to the Hershey Park where we took the Hershey World Tour.  It was pretty cool for being free.  It’s like the rides at an amusement park where you sit in a small car that moves forward and spins around as it takes you through the “factory”.  Lilly had a blast looking at all the moving parts, bright lights, and smorgasbord of colors.  It was very cute to watch her face.  At the end of the ride we got to sample the new Hershey’s Meltaway Kisses.  They were very good.  It was kinda like eating a Hershey Kiss that had been sitting in your pocket for a while, but without the heat.

On our way home we stopped at the Antique Auto Club of America Museum just a few minutes away from the Park.  Unfortunately it was a $10 per person entry and it was later in the day already so we decided we’d just go if we ever came back this way again.  Really neat cars from what I saw in the lobby.

Enjoy the pictures!

Crabs for dinner!

Gimme my crabs!

Lilly and Rex hanging out together

We took the back way to Hershey and saw this great sign

Close up of the sign.

Michelle and Lilly at the Hershey Park sign

Lilly during the tour.

Heading into the factory

Family photo on the ride. Lilly is focused on the factory

Look at all that chocolate!

On our way out

The cool design on the floor

It’s with great sadness and at the same time great joy that I have recently joined the Patriot Guard Riders.  PGR is a group that upon request attends the funeral of our men and women who have died in combat and veterans in general.  When requested, a message goes out to members in the area of where the funeral will take place.  The team of men and women will ride to the location (or drive if you don’t have a bike) and will form a “wall” around the outside of where the viewing or burial takes place while holding 3′ x 5′ flags to honor the soldier and their family.  It’s such a great opportunity to be able to show your thanks for to the families of the ones who have given the ultimate sacrifice that we may be free.

I will be participating in my first ride just a couple miles from home on Monday.  The viewing of this young soldier who gave his life fighting in the Helmond Province of Afghanistan will be in Abingdon, MD and he’ll be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetary.  I look forward to doing my small part to give the family comfort and support as they go through this difficult time of burying their child.  It’s the least I can do to give my thanks.

I encourage you to sign up and go if you are in the area of one close to you.  You don’t have to have a motorcycle or even a flag.  Many riders have multiple extras that they will lend you, which is what I will be doing too.  Take some time out of your busy day to honor those fighting to keep us safe.

God Bless!

I love our 3 day weekends, it makes Sunday’s so much better! Michelle went shopping really early and bought $77 worth of groceries for $37!! She saved $40!! She also saved 51% on groceries at Wal-Mart yesterday for a total savings of $70 on our grocery (& household) shopping! I love it when she saves $$$

This has been a very satisfying and exciting week. Lilly went to the doctor on Friday and had some shots. She’s 14lbs and 23 1/2″ now. She’s doing so good! She laughs and smiles all day long, she’s starting to roll around some too. Very great to see how well she is doing!

Here are a few pictures so far this month:

Lilly and Brendon at the Farmers Market

Lilly flying with Mommy

Lilly flying with Mommy

Lilly sleeping with Anna

Lilly hanging out in her crib

Mommy makes Lilly smile

After the bath we have a happy baby!

14 pound baby!!

Sleeping right before her shots

Sleeping on the couch this morning

Sleeping on the couch this morning

Looking up at Daddy while playing cards

Playing in her crib while Daddy tried to fix her toys

Playing in her crib

Playing in her crib

Playing in her crib