(In case it isn’t obvious, she’s playing Phantasy Star Universe. That’s all she does in her free time.)

One of the sites I maintain in my free time got hacked. When I looked at the site after a user reported it to me, I initially smiled and said, “at least these guys had a sense of humor about it and didn’t do much damage.” But then I thought about it a bit more, and then started to dwell on it.

That hack was a punch straight to my balls, and it hurt.

I should have kept up with upgrading the software. That simple act would have stopped this from happening. But I didn’t. I used the fact that this organization doesn’t pay me for my work as an excuse to not do my job. Now this site, which they use as a communication tool, is no longer available to them. This speaks volumes to my skill, and how much more I need to grow.

I have to spend time to fix this and make it right.

To be fair to myself, I set up that site in 2000 before I knew shit about web development. I had read a few PHP articles and fancied myself a web developer. I didn’t know much of anything, let alone security. When I moved all of my sites to a new webhost, I at least had the foresight to employ a security method that we use at my job to prevent hackers from coming across extremely sensitive data (like database usernames and passwords), so the damage was pretty self-contained.

On Nadia’s birthday over a month ago, she received a helium-filled balloon to commemorate the occasion. It took only two days for one of the cats to jump up high enough to tear off and eat the red ribbon that dangled below it. For over a month, that balloon was firmed pressed against the ceiling in the living room.

After it lost some helium, it got bored and started moving around the house on its own.

It snuck up behind Nadia as she did the dishes, it got caught in the light fixture above the breakfast nook, and made its way up the stairs and into the bathroom (pictured above). I also found it in the bedroom hovering over the bed. When I walked in, it turned to face me (the “Happy Birthday” side being its face) and moved toward me. I brought it back into the living room because it was creeping me out. Hours later, it was back in the bedroom.

It is now hiding behind the couch, peering over the side (only the “Happy” can be read).