Host problems + lack of time

It took a week and a half to get the FTP info for the centre's current host and last night we discovered that the host (dmd) is likely to not support php (a code language essential for Silverstripe to function). So we went into problem-solving mode and at 1am started looking for a suitable new host for the centre's website. We were quite concerned because we didn't want to have to make the NSWC fork out a couple of hundred dollars for a new host, and we began feeling quite guilty that maybe we'd blown it for our challenge.

Then, taddaa! After looking at many costly hosts we found www.hostican.com. At the moment they have a deal where they will pay off your old contract, so that the centre wouldn't have to pay 2 hosts at the same time. Also, they have waived the set-up fee and their monthly rate (about $6-$7 depending on the contract) is very reasonable.
One hiccup however, the site says that after payment it takes around 24 hours for the contract to come into effect. So at the moment we are encouraging the centre to act as soon as possible, in the hopes that hostican is the centre's host by Friday so that we can migrate the site before the 6pm deadline. Whatever happens we will be working right to the very end, as this will delay us quite a bit while we wait.

This also means that we aren't able to disseminate our badge. This is quite heartbreaking as we were looking forward to seeing whether it would succeed and people would like the idea.

One positive aspect: all 3 of us are driving over to the centre tomorrow to teach Cathy how to use Silverstripe. We are very excited about this as the moment the centre staff are able to update their own website will be very triumphant! We've asked her to prepare a topic for the 'important issues' page or a news bulletin for the home page so that once we are all confident she can use it, Cathy can attempt to update the site herself while we are there to give any assistance needed. We are hoping all goes smoothly and she requires no help, so we can sit back and relax knowing the staff will have no problems after we're gone.

Can't believe the end is only 2 days away. Whoa. I keep telling myself the other teams are just as busy as we are, which kinda helps calm me down, but if the hosting problem isn't sorted out then we really cannot fulfill our brief... and that's all out of our hands.