Christians Together Blog

Tutorial - Setting up your forum profile

2011-05-20T16:00:00.004+01:00

January Newsletter

2011-01-07T19:20:00.004Z

In Today's Newsletter

New Year, New Programme
Shop discounts
Member list spring clean
Donations update
New Projects
Hosting Opportunities
Prayer Team

Firstly, A very happy New Year to everyone from Steve and the team at Christians Together. We've had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to an exciting 2011

2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

New Year, New Programme

Following the popularity of the Monday night general quiz night, we've decided to launch a Tuesday night Bible Study. Bible-basha is the ideal person to lead these and she'll be holding them at 8pm on Tuesday evenings in the newly created Bible Study room. All are welcome, no matter what your knowledge level. If you'd like to delve a bit deeper into God's word, then Tuesday nights are for you.
The first Bible study will take place on Tuesday 11th January at 8pm, we'd love to see you there!

Monday night quizzes will continue this year with the first one back being Monday 10th January at 8pm in the Fun room. The guest host this week will be Saintly68.

If you're interested in hosting the quiz one Monday, please have a chat with Sammy who'd be only too willing to let you know what's involved and give you a slot.

If you've any other ideas of what you'd like to see in chat, any other events and happenings, please let Steve know at his email address which is steve(at)christianstogether.co.uk. Just remember to replace the (at) for the @ sign!

Shop Discounts

In lieu of a January sale across the board, Steve's decided to reward members of the site by offering a 10% discount on all shop items in our www.christianstogether.co.uk/shop. Just pop into chat for the discount code which is scrolling through the Lounge on an auto bot message. The code can only be used once per member, so make sure you stock up!

Member List Spring Clean

Our member's list is looking very healthy still, although mostly with users who've not been online for 6 months or longer! If you're registered with chat and haven't been in for the last 6 months, drop us an email to let us know why and if you'd like to remain registered. For those who are no longer wishing to be a part of Christians Together, please let us know and we can remove you from our mailing lists. At the end of January, we'll be going through the lists and removing any members who've not logged on in 6 months, so if you'd like to come back, now is your chance!

Donations Update

A great big thank you to everyone who donated towards keeping the cams back in November/December, we managed to raise enough to pay for the license not only for the entire year, but forever! Please feel free to pop into chat and use them!

Steve's done a lot of work lately to bring our chat onto our own server to minimise any down time and keep the costs for hosting down, but we still need help. Any donations to the site are grateful and we'd appreciate it if you remember us in your tithing efforts.

New Projects

2011 is going to be a very exciting year, with the return of our Christian dating site. Site membership will be limited to UK users primarily and international users if they are active members of Christians Together to minimise the risk of attracting unsavoury types who are not interested in finding real love.

If you're single and looking for lurrrrve keep an eye out for our launch in February.

Hosting Opportunities

We now have web hosting and web design services available, priced very competitively from our very own huge server! If you know someone who is in need of some web hosting please contact Steve. And if you know someone with an unaesthetically pleasing (ugly) site, please point them in our direction and we'd be happy to help!

We also have some advertising slots available on the site with all income generated being put towards keeping chat going. If you know anyone who has a business who'd be interested in advertising please contact Steve via the contact page on the website www.christianstogether.co.uk/contact.php and he'll be able to put together a quote.

Prayer Team

And lastly, but by no means leastly (if that's even a word!), thank you all so much for your prayer contributions. We might not appear to be a site that's actively pushing our faith, but just from the answers to prayer so many of us have had, it's a clear sign we're certainly active in praying for one another.

One of the main objectives of Christians Together is to provide the support and fellowship that our lives can often hold us back from having and the prayer support you provide is so invaluable, we really can't thank you enough.

If you'd be interested in becoming one of our prayer team members then pop on over to www.christianstogether.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,279.msg1884.html#msg1884 for some more information.

If you're not able to commit to joining the prayer team but still want to offer support, keep checking the advise, support and prayer threads in the forum for specific requests. All prayer gratefully received!

All that remains for me to say now is once again Happy New Year, and see you on chat!

Regards,
The Christians Together Team

Quiz results

2010-11-29T23:36:00.000Z

Q1: Which of the six noble gasses comes first alphabetically?
A: Argon.

Q2: What is the third major Balearic Island with Majorca and Minorca?
A: Ibiza.

Q3: Who won the men's Australian Open Tennis Championship in 2009?
A: Rafael Nadal.

Q4: Which three letter word can come before 'row', 'king' or 'rage' to make three new words?
A: bar (barrow, barking & barrage).

Q5: What Christian season takes it's name from the Latin word 'adventus' which means "arrival".
A: Advent.

Q6: What is the national dance of Brazil?
A: The Samba.

Q7: In which country would you find the world's largest pyramid by base area?
A: Mexico.

Q8: Who was the first woman to win a Nobel prize?
A: Marie Curie.

Q9: Which country is hosting the Rugby Union World Cup in 2011?
A: New Zealand.

Q10: When advent was first introduced in the 5th century, what date did it begin?
A: 11th November and was a 6 week period of fasting.

Q11: What is the largest landlocked country in the world?
A: Kazakhstan.

Q12: What does P.S. Stand for at the end of a letter?
A: Post Script.

Q13: What is the state capital of Florida?
A: Tallahassee.

Q14: Which games console hit the shops for the first time in 1995?
A: Playstation.

Q15: In which century was advent reduced to it's current length?
A: 6th Century.

Q16: A word I know, six letters it contains, subtract just one and twelve is what remains. What is the word?
A: Dozens.

Q17: What did Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach invent in 1885?
A: Motorcycle.

Q18: Which animal's name means 'river horse'?
A: Hippopotamus.

Q19: In the world of physics, what is a capital 'V' the abbreviation for?
A: Volt(s).

Q20: What do evergreen branches of an Advent Wreath symbolize?
A: Eternal life .

Q21: Which 'T' was the surname of the subject of the first of the Mr Men books?
A: Tickle.

Q22: Who was the director of the FBI from 1935 until his death in 1972?
A: J. Edgar Hoover .

Q23: The French do it on a Sunday, the Americans do it on a Tuesday and the British do it on a Thursday. What is it?
A: Vote.

Q24: Which 'P' can go before 'piece' and 'line' and after 'garden'?
A: Party.

Q25: Which feast follows Advent?
A: Christmas.

Q26: Who provided the voice of the princess in the film 'Shrek'? (no it wasn't Steve)
A: Cameron Diaz.

Q27: In the game 'Cluedo', which room can be accessed via the secret passageway from the study?
A: The Kitchen.

Q28: Why are there only 13 stripes on the American flag?
A: America only had 13 states when it was founded.

Q29: What is the name given to a sound with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing?
A: Ultrasound.

Q30: What does a Christingle explain?
A: A Christingle is a symbol explaining Jesus' love for the world.

The Christingle consists of:

an orange representing the world;
a red ribbon around it representing the blood of Jesus;
dolly mixtures or dried fruits skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons (the representation of the four seasons was a later addition, not of Moravian origin.); and
a lit candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing Jesus Christ as the light of the world.

Q31: According to the lyrics of the song by The Weather Girls, it will start raining men at just about what time?
A: Half past ten.

Q32: Which Japanese toy was all the rage in 1997?
A: Tamagotchi.

Q33: What is the name given to an adult female hog?
A: Sow.

Q34: In which country is Interpol based?
A: France.

Q35: Which European country is the largest consumer of beer per head?
A: Czech Republic.

Bible Studies

2010-11-20T18:04:00.000Z

Hello again chatty cherubs and forum funsters! We hope you are all well.

Our freshly revamped homepage went live a week ago and has met with approval so far. We hope you like the changes too and find the site easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye. We'd like to thank God for a smooth transition from the previous site to the new and for putting the right people in place to get the job done.

A message from Bible-basha:

"As you may be aware we are looking to run weekly bible studies here but I need to know firstly if this is something folk would be interested in. Also I need to know the best night. I haven't given Monday as an option due as this is quiz night and on Thursday I have bible study/house group at my church.

So if your interested please register your vote. Any comments or suggestions are also welcome."

Register your vote on the forum here.

God bless

The Christians Together Team

Christians Together Calendar 2011

2010-11-20T00:11:00.000Z

Message from Sammy:

Hello lovelies,
I've come across a lovely place printing professional desk calendars and wondered if we'd be interested in putting together an official Christians Together 2011 calendar to help raise some funds for the site.

The calendar takes 12 personal pictures so I thought we could have entries submitted by ourselves and then Steve and I can have a chat and decide on which photos are printed into the calendar.

I've put a poll at the top to see if anyone's interested in buying a calendar and if so then how much you'd pay. We'd not be looking to make a huge profit, just enough to contribute a little amount to the site to keep it running and help ourselves towards our target of financial stability.

If you'd like to vote please do so at the top and if you'd like to submit a photo for consideration please post it below. It doesn't need to be full quality below, as if you're successful then we will contact you for a high quality version. This high quality version can be copyrighted when printed if you'd like, just tell us when you send the high quality version.

Please state which season you'd like your photo to be considered for.

All entries in by Monday 29th November as time now is of the essence!

Thanks lovelies xx

If you haven't already, please visit the forum and take our poll here

Quiz results

2010-11-15T21:28:00.000Z

Question 1: What was the name of Britney Spears' debut hit single?
A: Baby one more time.

Question 2: What is the name of Dame Edna Everage's husband?
A: Norm.

Question 3: In golf, what is the name of the trophy presented to the winner of the British Open?
A: The Claret Jug.

Question 4: Name the shorts made famous in the discos of the 1970's.
A: Hot pants.

Question 5: Which book follows Colossians?
A: 1 Thessalonians.

Question 6: Which new English coin was first introduced in 1983?
A: £1 coin.

Question 7: Which part of London is famous for its diamond trade?
A: Hatton Garden.

Question 8: Who starred as Rosemary in the film Shallow Hal?
A: Gwyneth Paltrow.

Question 9: What was the name of the asylum seekers' holding camp near Calais?
A: Sangatte.

Question 10: Who wrote the book of Acts?
A: Luke.

Question 11: What type of animal is Penfold, the sidekick to Danger Mouse?
A: Hamster.

Question 12: Which group of islands were the first discovered by Columbus in 1492?
A: The Bahamas.

Question 13: What is the capital of the United Arab Emirates?
A: Abu Dhabi.

Question 14: What is Roosevelt's Mount Rushmore portrait wearing that the other three faces are not?
A: Glasses.

Question 15: Proverbs says,"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own _____."
A: Understanding.

Question 16: Who was Queen Elizabeth ll's first Prime Minister?
A: Winston Churchill.

Question 17: In which sitcom did Saffron and Bubble appear?
A: Absolutely Fabulous.

Question 18: Who was the first member of the British Royal family to give birth in an NHS hospital?
A: Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

Question 19: Which movie brought stardom to Jamie Bell?
A: Billy Elliot.

Question 20: Which book follows Ezra in the Bible?
A: Nehemiah.

Question 21: In computer terms, what is an FTP when you are online?
A: File Transfer Protocol.

Question 22: Between 1714 and 1830 all British monarchs shared which first name?
A: George.

Question 23: Which planet appears brightest to the naked eye?
A: Venus.

Question 24: Opened in London in 1954, what was the first burger fast food restaurant in the UK?
A: Wimpy.

Question 25: Where was Paul when he wrote the book of Philippians?
A: In prison.

Question 26: Which Russian space station was visited by American astronauts?
A: Mir.

Question 27: Which game features a top hat, a boot and a racing car?
A: Monopoly.

Question 28: Which chocolate bar was launched in 1978 by a long-distance lorry driver called Martin Fisk?
A: Yorkie (it's not for girls!).

Question 29: What was the name of Ernie's straight man in Sesame Street?
A: Bert.

Question 30: What is the first of the ten commandments?
A: You shall have no other gods before Me..

Question 31: What is the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury?
A: Lambeth Palace.

Question 32: What form of sentence was introduced to the UK by the 1972 Criminal Justice Act?
A: Community Service.

Question 33: What does the 'DC' stand for in 'Washington DC'?
A: District of Columbia.

Question 34: According to Greek Mythology who was the first woman on earth?
A: Pandora.

Question 35: Which famous scientist was born in Germany in 1879, became a Swiss citizen in 1901 and later became a US citizen in 1940?
A: Albert Einstein.

Bonus:
Which US President freed the slaves?
A: Abraham Lincoln

What does IMF stand for?
A: International Monetary Fund

How many states are there in the US?
A: 50

How many major political parties are there in the US?
A: 2, Republican and Democratic

When was the USA declared independent from England?
A: 1776

Who said: 'We hold these truths to be self
evident that all men are created equal'?
A Thomas Jefferson

November

2010-11-08T16:06:00.001Z

Hello chatters and welcome to November! We hope you are all well and enjoying the new season, whatever that may be where you are in the world.

If you've been in the chat room lately, you may have seen an appeal for donations appearing in large red letters on your screen from time to time. To clarify: we are currently looking for £200 in order to purchase and keep the webcam module. If you like using the cams and would like to donate towards keeping them please visit our main page and use the Paypal options to the left of the screen. Thank you.

The Christians Together Shop is now open for business! We offer a variety of clothes and gifts ideal for birthdays, Christmas and other occasions. Or if you prefer, pick up a treat for yourself all lovingly made, reasonably priced and currently shipping with a free Curly Wurly!

Thanks for reading, God bless you and we'll see you in the chat room very soon.

The Christians Together Team.

Quiz results

2010-11-08T15:22:00.000Z

1: What is calzone?
A: Folded over pizza

2: what is the term for a group of seven performing musicians?
A: A septet

3: what psychic shot to fame by repairing watches and breaking cutlery?
A: Uri Geller

4: Where in a church would you find a nave?
A: In the centre (it's where the congregation sit)

5: Where was Jesus born?
A: Bethlehem

6: Arches, loops, whorls and composites are all types of what?
A: Fingerprints

7: What are the two largest countries in the continent of Oceania?
A: Australia & New Zealand

8: What is unusual about the meat served in Steak Tartare?
A: it's raw

9: How old would the Quiz Master be today if you added the two numbers of her age together?
A: 10

10: Where did Jesus grow up?
A: Nazareth

11: If the Greenwich meridian is at 0 degrees, what is at 180 degrees?
A: The international date line

12: What was Al Capone eventually imprisoned for?
A: Tax Evasion

13: What metal is combined with copper to create bronze?
A: Tin

14: What was the name of the Lone Ranger's horse?
A: Silver

15: What is the name of the religious leaders who continuously tried to trap Jesus?
A: Pharisees

16: What is the term for singing without any musical accompaniment?
A: A Capella

17: What would Napoleon have found it almost impossible to do tonight, or any other night, in bed?
A: Sleep (he suffered from insomnia)

18: When is Haley's comet next due to pass near Earth?
A: 2062

19: Who had most hits simultaneously in the UK Top 30?
A: Elvis Presley (with 8 in 1957)

20: Who went on missionary journeys to preach to the Gentiles?
A: Paul

21: Which monarch was officially insane for the last nine years of his reign?
A: George III

22: What natural phenomenon would a seismograph record?
A: An earthquake

23: Who invented the cylinder lock?
A: Mr Yale

24: What is the most populous native American tribe in the USA?
A: The Navaho

25: What is the last book of the Old testament?
A: Malachi

26: What does the word 'terracotta' mean?
A: Baked earth

27: What is an aria in an opera?
A: A solo

28: Why is ethylene glycol added to car engines?
A: To prevent them freezing (it's an antifreeze)

29: According to the nursery rhyme, what are little girls made of?
A: Sugar and Spice and all things nice

30: Which of the 12 apostles was the tax collector?
A: Matthew

31: What country used to be called Siam?
A: Thailand

32: What film had moon river as its theme music?
A: Breakfast at Tiffany's

33: Who is credited with writing the Iliad and the Odyssey?
A: Homer (not Simpson)

34: What game is played on a diamond?
A: Baseball

35: What famous West End musical is based on the opera Madame Butterfly?
A: Miss Saigon

Why do you need Jesus in your life?

2010-10-03T18:36:00.006+01:00

Jesus loves you! He desires to have a relationship with you and to give a life full of joy and purpose.

Reason 1 - You have a past

You can't go back but He can. The Bible says, 'Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.' (Hebrews 13:8). He can walk into those places of sin and failure, wipe the slate clean and give you a new beginning.

Reason 2 - You need a friend

Jesus knows the worst about you, yet He believes the best. Why? Because He sees you not as you are but as you will be when He gets through with you. What a friend!

Reason 3 - He holds the future

Who else are you going to trust? In His hands you are safe and secure; today, tomorrow and for eternity. His Word says, 'For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray I will listen' (Jeremiah 29:11-13 TLB).

If you would like to begin a personal relationship with Jesus today, please pray this prayer:

'Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. I ask for forgiveness and now turn from everything which I know is wrong. Thank you for dying on the cross for me to set me free from my sins. Please come into my life and fill me with your Holy Spirit and be with me forever.

Thank you Lord Jesus, Amen.'

text courtesy UCB

Mid September Update

2010-09-12T14:59:00.004+01:00

Greetings and salutations once again to you all. A quick update this week.

Website ideas. We are currently re-vamping the Christians Together homepage. In this thread you can put forward your thoughts and ideas and learn about what we hope to achieve with the new design.

Explore the heights (or depths) of your wittiness in our latest Caption Competition. To the winner goes the praise and adulation of all and sundry.

The near-legendary quizzes have now resumed on Monday nights! Bring along your brains primed and ready or just come to bask in the sheer volume of human intelligence amassed all in one place. Kicks off at 8PM. Prizes to be decided.

Finally, we are delighted to welcome the following new chatters into the CTUK family: victoriaa, aussie jojo, funkychunky, JosephLong1992, Methos, reviveurspark, joan mutesi, ross and MEGZ.

See you next time! God bless you and have a great week.

This week

2010-08-29T14:27:00.003+01:00

Hello to all you chatters out there in Internetland! We hope you've had a blessed week.

Firstly, an appeal on behalf of Steve and his wallet: As you may know, the web-cam facility in chat costs an arm and a leg to run. At the moment Steve is paying the lion's share of this out of his own pocket. If you like the web-cams and feel it's appropriate to do so, please donate whatever you like through PayPal. You can access this from one of the donate buttons on the left hand side of our front page. Thank you!

A note to you brain-boxes (and Googlers): there is no quiz this Monday but they will return in September!

Please join with us in welcoming our newest members: TheBreatheOfLife, rsylvesterraymondu, Slowbyte Sally, -claire-, BreatheofLife, risaiasguzmanr, Col4, nativepoet, ocean and kittycat

That's all for this week folks. God bless you and we'll see you in the chat room and forums!

The Christians Together Team

Christians Together Blog

2010-08-22T14:25:00.003+01:00

Here at Christians Together we believe there is one God, and we believe that the Bible shows God to be three distinct persons, namely God the Father, Jesus, who is God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus is God, and that He lowered Himself to be born as a human. He lived a perfect life and ultimately died at the hands of his enemies as the only perfect sacrifice for sin. We also believe that He was raised back to life again, to show that death is not the end.

The purpose of this blog is to strengthen the Christians Together online community and provide an arena for us to learn more about God's church and one another. It is important that the community stay informed and in touch with one another and in doing so remain united in Christ. It is our desire that everyone feel welcome and none feel left out.

Therefore, we will be posting site news and other relevant information on a weekly basis so that everyone can be kept properly up to date rather than gleaning random bits and bobs from the grapevine. The intention of this blog is to compliment the Christians Together forum and provide an enduring platform for now and future reference.

We hope that you will enjoy the blog and find the content interesting and informative. Please leave comments if you wish to do so!

God Bless you

The Christians Together Team

Coming Soon

2010-08-18T22:25:00.004+01:00

The Christians Together blog is currently being revitalised.

In the mean time please visit the main Christians Together page.

God bless

The Christians Together team.

2010-01-14T05:55:00.000Z

so here we were in supposedly sunny suffolk in september and it was a horrid summer lol
Jackie was at her new school and was finding it a little hard to settle down
i wasn't working and we were broke lol
i got chatting to one of the holiday makers while doing the laundry and they commented on how dirty the place was
compared with previous years it had gone down hill
so i thought i'd better email the boss and let him know
He emailed me back saying the cleaner had broke her wrist the start of the season and they didn't have anyone to do it
he asked if Jackie would like to do it
but as she was a teacher i said no but i'd give it a go
he was reluctant to say the least, a bloke doing cleaning............ it wasn't right lol
He said give it a go over the weekend and see how it goes
so i did and the response was better than its ever been lol
so i got the job as cleaner on site
pay was basic wage but i didn't have to travel and the hours were early and late so it still left us day times free

meanwhile Jackie was trying to adjust to school life in suffolk
her previous school was very structured and strict
they always got outstanding results from offstead but this school was failing and nearly on special measures
the head had been on long term sick and they had a temp head who wasn't very good
suffolk's attitude was just push the boys and the girls while get pregnant at 16 and have babies lol
jackie's attitude was they will all learn if they want to or not and they will do as they are told
bless her she may be only 5 foot but she's a strict little teacher
they soon learnt not to mess with her and she built a good reputation as being a teacher not to be messed with

back on the marina i was settling in to cleaning fine and enjoying life on the boat
it was difficult to adjust to being on a marina in the fact of it wasn't MY house i had to do what the marina said
Jackie hung some washing on a line outside that was a camping line you could just put up in 2 seconds and take down again
but she left it out as it was easier,
the bosses dad died suddenly in late september so he took some time off obviously
i got chatting to one of the girls in the office about ppl mooring temporarily and she said that the young lad who collects the moorings
wasn't doing it all the time and ppl were getting missed and the boss was complaining
so i offered to do it as i was on site and walked about night times to check on security
so she gave me a receipt book and told me the prices etc
that eve i collected my first mooring fee woo hoo
i went in reception the next day with the ticket and money and all hell broke loose
the young lad who did the job normally his mum hit the roof and screamed at me
she rung the boss and had a go at him
i got dragged in the bosses office and got told off and he asked where i got the book from so i told him
the girl who gave me the book denied everything and said i must of took it myself out of the cupboard
luckily ppl who knew the girl knew i was telling the truth but the boss wasn't sure
he knew someone had given it me as i couldn't of got it otherwise
but the outcome was at the end of october when the season finished was i got an email
' thanks for all the work you have done but as the season is finished i don't need you anymore
and due to the past events i would like you to leave the marina at the end of the mooring season'
(which is april to april)
our world crashed around us
to find moorings to live on a boat is really hard around here and we were really lucky to have found this place and liked it too
and to be told to leave was horrid
we spent from nov to march trying to find somewhere and couldn't
it was then mid march 2009

2010-01-14T05:53:00.001Z

well the new reg worked a treat thankfully
we now have gas at all temps but still no hot water
what a pain i need someone to sort it for me as i'm stuck
i keep testing and checking dif things but it just won't work properly

2009-12-22T07:29:00.002Z

my boat..........

what a pain in the posterior we've been having with it lately
the temperature here has dropped to -6C at times
which generally shouldn't be a problem
i installed a a combi boiler in the summer to cope with this situation

the boiler it self can cope no worries
it's the gas bottles that can't though
we use 19kg propane bottles, mainly because
a. they don't freeze
b. its the biggest i can pick up and put on the boat (just, blast they are heavy)

so why is the gas freezing lol
propane shouldn't freeze until -15C
but ours is
we think its because of the regulator i was given it last year by a friend who had it knocking about
so we think its past its use by date so to speak
they can get worn so a new one has been ordered and should be delivered today hopefully

everyone i have spoken to has said it shouldn't freeze lol
i say 'I know'

so hopefully later on today it will all be sorted
annoyingly though the temp has risen above freezing so i might not be able to tell if it works yet
but watch this space lol

2009-12-22T07:25:00.002Z

Well its been a busy few weeks
firstly i have decided to swap servers
the new server i found that hosts the dating site is really good
so i have decided to put CT on to it as well
i have a friend on the forum called Charles and he is a comp wiz luckily

Bless him he has been working all hours swapping things over for me
and getting things running nicely.

so hopefully by the new year all the sites should be on 1 server
all pinting in the right dns direction etc lol

a HUGE thanks to Charles for all his help
and an even bigger one for his patience
i'm not an easy man to work with sometimes,
especially when i don't know too much about IT
and get asked question that i don't understand

dating site

2009-12-06T09:28:00.003Z

well the dating site http://www.christiandating.me.uk is going well we've had lots of people joining
and we've only been running a week about 12 members already woo hoo.

it would be good if people would activate properly and post pictures too though

on another note it was my birthday yesterday the 5th
i was 42 lol ( i know getting old)

i got lots of cards and pressies and had a lovely day
we went to norwich to look for another car
we have a chrysler sebring at the minute
its a nice car but we just don't like it
it's huge just too big for what we need
the road tax costs a fortune and we had to convert it to lpg as its so thirsty
the trouble is no-one wants a big car so its not worth a lot
one dealer said it was worth £5,000 lol i nearly told him where to go
we paid £16,000 2 years ago
the book price now is £10,000
but we have done twice the normal mileage and had the lpg done
which you'd think would be a good thing but nope he said its not
because of the lpg the main dealer can't service it so we had to go elsewhere
and now there's no dealer stamps in the book its brought the price down even more lol

but we'll find a way to sell it for the value its worth some how

the new car we'd like is a fiat bravo
nice little car and not a bad price either

so we spent the whole day driving round and then we went shopping lol
wifey took me out for a meal in the eve which was nice
and then we came back to the boat and watched a movie

so all in all we had a nice day
wifey had too much to drink lol bless her

the dating site

2009-12-03T06:28:00.002Z

Well after lots of hard work and pulling my hair out the dating site is now up and running
what a hassle i had doing it tho
my original host for the forum only gives me 100mb
so i tried to install the dating software on there and crashed it because its quite large
so he upgraded me to 200mb and i tried again still not big enough
i was told i needed gb not mb and unfortunately it would of cost me too much on my original server
so i set about looking for a new one
i googled web hosting reviews
and found lots of places reviewing hosting.
read and read the reviews and scoured through loads of websites to check on various dif ones
i emailed quite a few also and guess what no-one came back with a reply
so i was on the help forum for my forum and asked there
and someone came back saying this host was good and very reasonable
so i signed up with him and bought the domain name etc
at first he was helpful answered emails quickly and was on live chat
but once i'd paid he was terrible
i had a bit of hassle setting the software up and needed some settings which u get from ur host
he refused to give them to me......
so i cancelled and went elsewhere.
the new host is brill not badly priced and really helpful
the live chat is available 80% of the time and support through email is good also

they gave me the settings i needed no problem and hey presto it was up and running
the only problem i still have is the domain i registered with the other host
he redirected it to my new one and its not working properly
so its not accesible fully as yet so at the minute you have to put osdate after the /
so the website is http://www.christiandating.me.uk/osdate

but thats not too much of a hardship at present.
it was live about 1/2 day and someone signed up not sure where he got the info from but woo hoo

the site is free on certain levels normally
there are 4 levels
the 1st is just to have a quick browse
the 2nd is to join for free but you can't contact anyone only look
the 3rd you can contact but not do other things (its free for a limited time)
the final is gold you can do everything (thats free for a limited time also)

i have decided to give away free membership for a limited time to all levels
just sign up and i will upgrade you for free
this is to try and get some members on the site
it will take a while for it to get busy but we'll get there

and the forum and chatrooms are both linked to the other website also
http://www.christianstogether.co.uk

26th nov

2009-11-26T20:02:00.002Z

well i think i have the credit card scam sorted
vanquis cancelled my card and hopefully i'll get a new one any day soon
and i managed to contact the people who took stuff off capital one and have been sent a cancellation code
and capital one said as i have the codes if they take any more money off they will get it back for me

woo hoo

on another note i am in the process of setting up another website
its a dating site for single christians
i've just bought the new name which is
http://www.christiandating.me.uk
the server has been paid for
just waiting for the activation process to go through and i'll start loading stuff up

i also spent all day tuesday working on the homepage for the forum so check that out

http://www.christianstogether.co.uk
it looks nice but i'm still not happy
but its getting there

that's one trouble with me i'll try something and think its ok but its not right so i'll do it again and again lol

not a bad way to be i suppose because the end result is usually a better one

what a nightmare week

2009-11-21T08:42:00.002Z

well it all started a lovely week
things were going well i done some more insulating and T&G on the boat
some friends invited us over for a cuppa which was lovely.
as we were leaving i got a phone call from a chap named 'Quenton'
he said he was from the USA and from google........
and that as i have bought a new program called search for profit to help advertise on here and my website,
i was being offered a personal advertising campaign on a 1 to 1 basis.
and that they would get me earnings of $3000 a month easily in 3 months
too good to be true..................
yep it was
he was a friendly chap just like all americans are,
asked about my life and wife etc
asked some questions and i answered the best i could
the phone call lasted about 3/4 of an hour
and he gave me a website address of his to look at he said don't google it as i'd get loads of other sites come up
and to use the address bar to enter the details?????

so i did and yes his site came up,
but me being me thought i'd google it.
so glad i did the replies were unbelievable i wish i had read about some of these before i had bought the VERY cheap ebook
for only a few $'s

well that morning i had got a letter of my other credit card co. asking if a transaction i had made was ok.
so i rung them and said yes

what i had done a few days before was while looking at my emails on hotmail
there was an advert for white teeth free trial
only pay for postage, as i smoke and drink lots of tea etc i thought i'd give it a go
so i bought the 2 free trials
we had been out Christmas shopping and i had rung my CC balance to see how much i could spend if needed
and had thought i'm sure there should be more than that but didn't think a lot of it.

so i started checking everything after this phone call with quenton,
i'm glad i did but what an eve i had.

it turned out this search for profit you buy the ebook for a few $'s and then after 3 days they start charging you as much as they can take out of your card each month.
they push that CC up to the limit.
so i rung the CC co. capital one, they advertise the best CC fraud dept in the business..........
i got through to a call centre in sri lanka and was told tough you signed up for the free trial you sort it out and hung up.

now if you google these things you'll find its impossible to cancel they don't have emails addie's they don't answer the phone and when they do you get through eventually to someone who doesn't speak english etc.
but because you HAVE to pay for the trial with your CC you have to speak to them to cancel it.
the CC co. cannot cancel it for you.
i only have a mobile so ringing usa cost me a fortune and never got anywhere.
i eventually spoke to loads of dif people on fri about capital one ie, the omnibus people etc to complain, i even spoke to the police.

i got a uk complaints dept number rung them and help at last,
they said try ringing the number for the fraudsters and log each call even if i didn't get through etc
and they will send me a form to cancel the payments
i can't do anything about the payments already taken out though but any future ones, they will hopefully be able to stop
they did say my card will go over the limit but i might get the charges back if i'm lucky.........
so we'll see on that one watch this space.

now back to the other teeth whitening scam
for that i put it on my other CC
i got 1 product through fairly quick but i couldn't use it as its a mouth guard and makes me gage lol

what happens with that is again there's a small print somewhere that says you agree to a 4 week trial and regular payments each month of varied amounts.
it doesn't matter if you tick this or not you've got it.

so they will keep taking money out
that CC co. 'vanquis' were brill they cancelled my card and said no more money will be allowed to come off that card
and have sent me a new one out.
luckily they only took $70 off that one
but i have to try and cancel with them as well lol

but they were helpful and the fraud dept are investigating for me

so after a lovely start to the week it ended in a nightmare time
its cost me over $150 and thats not good near christmas,
1 sleepless night trying to get it sorted and probable lots more to come
and even more money unfortunately.

so be aware of what you click on on the internet or sign up for
if they say you MUST pay by credit card only don't do it.
and google anything you want to buy BEFORE you buy it

and the same old thing
if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is

i'll keep you informed as to what happens

o and by the way all my ads are endorsed by goggle adsense
so they are all verified to be ok and any problems let me or google know

steve

15th nov

2009-11-15T21:15:00.002Z

well another weekend is nearly over
its been a funny weekend weather wise
fri eve was really stormy so was saturday
today the rain woke me at 6am
one trouble with living on a boat is no sound proofing, so its a bit like being in a conservatory when it rains you hear every drop land on the roof.
not too bad during the day but at night its really noisy.
so i crashed today while wifey was cooking tea i just couldn't stay awake and nodded while leaning against the wall.

poor old wifey has been ill she's had swine flu she thinks i reckon it was just normal flu.
she has spent most of the week in bed 24/7 just getting up to have a shower and then back to bed.
i've been the doting hubby and looked after her making her soup for meals etc.

how i haven't got it though i'm not quite sure although tonight i do feel a little rough with that feeling in your nose when you're going to get a cold.

i sure do hope i don't come down with it though its the last thing i need, at least with wifey she gets paid sick pay, i don't.
plus as i'm asthmatic if i get ill i really do get it bad and it always goes on my chest and i struggle to breath.
so lets pray i don't come down with anything.

the forum has been quiet for some reason it gets me down when no-one comes on-line and visits it.
i have spent a lot of money setting that place up and i have nearly 80 members
although only about 10 of them post regularly and even them regulars have been missing lately.
i did get a new member over night from the USA not sure how they got to the forum i have asked so we'll find out.

i am on the second page of google if you search for christianstogether with no spaces.
if you put a space i'm not sure where i come as i usually give up after around 15 pages because no-one is going to look that far anyway.

'i'm a celebrity' has just started and wifey is glued to the TV lol i can take or leave it, although if i do start to watch it i fnd it ok.

o well i'd better close now and go and watch the new people jumping off planes etc.
speak soon
byeeeeee

'Footprints' part 2

2009-11-14T09:05:00.002Z

We paid the chap the deposit of £500 and agreed that we could start work on her immediately.
the boat was a wreck basically it was just a plain fibreglass shell
all the electrics were all over the place the fridge was condemned and nothing worked
it had 2 engines and neither were connected no exhausts fuel lines nothing.

we used to leave wolverhampton at 5pm fri eve and travel over to sfk getting there at 8.30 ish.
and work all weekend and leaving at 8pm sun ready to go to work mon

we would sleep on the floor on some cushions and eat out of tins using a camping stove
it was definitely an adventure. but we loved it.

we would be scratching all week and treating the flea bits we were getting from sleeping on these cushions
so one of the first things i did was get rid of them and treat the place for fleas
i bought some new foam for the seats so it was more comfy and a better sleep

i managed to get the bedroom sorted first and ply lined it and put carpet on the ply
this helped insulate it a little and i built a bed
so we had a bed to sleep in eventually.

the place were we bought it from was a weird bloke once we had paid him the remainder of the money he wanted us out even tho he had agreed we could stay there for 2 months.
so one w'end it all blew up and we left early. on the mon i rung another boat yard and they collected the boat for me.

i asked them to get 1 engine running for me and to sort the controls out which they did brilliantly bless them.
but the bill was £1400 (ouch)

i'm an ex-builder and thought doing a boat was just like a house.............
how wrong i was
you can't use a level anywhere as the boat never sits straight
and i done all the electrics in household wire and the way i would do a house

so at least i knew it was safe lol

we basically got it liveable so we could move in as soon as we finished our honeymoon at the beg of aug 08

we moved in and were happy although we weren't in the water
wifey painted all the outside and got it looking nice while i done the inside

it was starting to look nice and ready for the launching
we picked the day and everything was set

it was a cold windy day in aug the tractor lifted her up and carried her to the slipway
a big crane picked her up and lowered her in the water woo hoo.
he said did we want to check for leaks?
i replied no thats fine i haven't done anything to the hull so needn't worry.
so they put her in and moved her round to the pontoon.

we climbed aboard and went into the forward cabin.......
i wish i had taken his advice and checked for leaks there was water gushing in from an open pipe i'd forgotten about
all panic stations with me rushing trying to find something to plug the leak
after half an hour of panic and the bilge pump working overtime it was sorted
time for a cup of tea

we put £100 of diesel in and looked at the gauge and it was just out of the red lol
apparently it'll take about £1500 to fill both tanks (that won't be happening any time soon)

the time came to set off and off we went in the gale force winds

we pulled away from the marina on our maiden voyage, (and i had driven loads of boats but nothing this big)
so i was a little worried.
we got about 500yds away and the 1 engine that was working stopped
not good as we were being blown onto a rather large expanse of water known to be dangerous with sand banks, tides etc

i was panicking lol
thinking where's the handbrake lol the only way to stop a boat is with the engines
pig it the engine didn't work

i managed to stuff it into the bank and get 2 mins to think what to do
i managed to turn her round and head back to the marina by turning the key to turn the engine without starting her
and actually got all the way back like that
spun her round to moor up and the wind caught us and slammed us against the bank
BANG, SCRAPE, straight down the side
it put a massive scrape along the side of the freshly painted boat
how it didn't sink us i will never know

i was advised not to move again that day and wait til the next for the wind to die down......
i decided to follow his advise this time lol.

so the marina came aboard in the morning and got the engine running again properly
it was just an air leak thankfully.
but another £160

so off we set again on 1 engine
now when you have 2 engines it drives the boat straight
on 1 it pushes it at a slight angle which was fine going forwards
but when you wanted to stop..... or go backwards
instead of doing what u wanted it to it just spun us in a circle on the spot.

so when we had to wait for a bridge to be lifted and we were being driven into the bridge by the tide
normally u'd use the engine to hold you there.

not us we were spinning on the spot i bet the bloke was thinking what are they doing lol

so we approached the new marina and i'd rung ahead and said we were coming in on 1 engine
so they had ppl waiting for us and we managed to get into a very tight spot nice and easily with ppl pulling on the ropes etc.
a huge thanks to them for that

we turned the engine off and put the kettle on all safe and sound
( the boat has never moved since so far)
its now been here a year lol

'Footprints' my boat we live on

2009-11-14T09:01:00.001Z

Thought i'd let people know what is going on with my boat
as some of you know i live on my boat and its called 'Footprints'
wifey named it as its her favourite poem etc
it was called 'nell gwynne'
but not an overly nice name so we thought for a few days and wifey came up with the new one.

anyway i'm from norfolk originally and i met wifey on cc uk and i moved to the other side of the country to be with her,
i never really settled as it was a city and i lived in the country and prefered it.
the plan was always to move back here at some point.
a few things happened and we decided it was time to move smack bang in the middle of the recession lol.

we couldn't sell our house so decided to let her boys rent it off us cheaply as they are both at uni etc.
so we enquired about a loan and managed to get one for 10k and shopped about to try and find a new home
looked at caravans, houses that needed work etc but couldn't get anything in our price range.
it was then that i suggested a boat, wifey jumped at the idea, so we started looking.
we spent a whole weekend just driving round all the boat yards and brokers etc
everything was so expensive, most starting about 15k
and we came upon this one for 9k
i haggled and managed to buy her for 8k

the start of a new chapter this was in june 08

2009-11-13T18:21:00.000Z

I started my forum www.christianstogether.co.uk in april 2008i was struggling with my faith and thought what is a good way to connect with other christians and to chat and help my faith.i prayed and came up with a forum.so researched into it and contacted a friend who hosted webspace etc.so i parted with a few hundred pounds and away i went.found some nice free software and contacted a few people to join.my forum is free and it got around 50 people in the first few months.since then it has slowed down considerably and now has 75 people registered.around 3oo posts.