I ended up driving out to where my server is colocated at 8pm last night because my server wasn’t reaponding. I had recently installed APF (advanced policy firewall) and BFD (brute force detection) and wad confident in it’s functionality. Note: I installed and tested it while away from home.

Geeky stuff: APF is a CLI Frontend for iptables. You can deny/allow IP addresses with simple commands. Pair it with BFD and what you have is a nice little security system that scans server logs every few minutes looking for repeated failed logins and other suspicious activity and automatically blocks access to the offending IP (and tells you what it’s done in a nicely formatted email. End of geeky stuff.

Once I had it up and running I walked away confident in the security of my server. I knew of a few IPs that had been hacking away at me for months, so it was only a matter of time before the emails came telling me they were blocked. I added a few manually just to get the feeling for it. Happy with myself I went out with my lovely wife for dinner and a movie.

Then I tried to access my website from home…

No http access, no ssh, no FTP, and no reply on pings. Shit. I call the office and have them reboot my server. Nothing.

I only live about 10 miles away so I drove out to take a look. Looks like it’s running… Better reboot again to make sure it was done right. A few minutes later and we’re back in action! I head home.

Wake up at 6am. No response on my site or email. No FTP. No ssh. DAMMIT!

After a few cups of coffee it dawns on me to try something. I Vpn into my desktop pc at work and pull up my website. Works fine. Try it again from my local browser, fail.

A feeling starts to nag at me.

I use my remote desktop to SSH into the server. Success.

The feeling gets stronger.

I disable the firewall…

Everything magically works again.

The feeling begins to redden my cheeks.

I check the firewall rules.

Out of the eight IP adresses I manually denied, my home ip was first on the list.

The day before I installed the firewall I had forgotten that I had changed my password. There were several failed login attempts due to this.

That feeling? Stupidity. I has it.

When that didn’t work he started crying for mama but HA! I had given her earplugs! After a grand total of 45 minutes we all got back to sleep. Up at 6:15 to start our day. We’ll let mama sleep in today.

Daddy 1, Isaac 100.

I’ll catch up some day, right?

I have my wisdom teeth.  They’re in, they’re through, they dont’ bother me.  Dentists however have something against them.  It took me a long time to grow these teeth, and now that jsut want to take them from me?  And they want me to PAY them to do it?  Does anyone else see anything wrong with this?

I used to have bad problems with TMJD, but it went away too, after several consultations and discussions of surgeries and whatnot… I left it alone and guess what, it went away after a few years.  Wasn’t easy, sure, but it fixed itself.  The human body is made to do that, ya see.

So whatever.  Maybe they can pull them if my insurance covers enough of it.  They’re a bitch to keep clean, and it’s not like I can chew anything back there.  I may not be using them very much, but I am attatched to them in more ways than the obvious. ..

I mean, they’re WISDOM teeth… if they take them, will I no longer be wise?  Would I be so un-wise, that I won’t realize what I’ve lost?  That seems the most likely outcome, because all of those who have given up their wisdom teeth don’t seem to mind…

Ignorance is bliss.