Earlier this week, Boots had a great deal on. They were offering the Inverto IDL7000 reduced from �219.99 to �179.99. Using a discount voucher, this was further reduced to �161.99. Taking off the Boots Advantage Card points I would receive (the voucher gave 1000 more) *and* buying it through Rpoints - I managed to get it for �138.32! A complete and utter bargain!

And boy is it good. Pause live TV, record 2 channels at once, supports "chase play", 14-day EPG, etc, etc

Shell was not impressed when I unboxed it (she would have preferred a silver one) but after using it for a bit, she was raving how it was "the best thing ever". Which is nice :D

I am not coping well with the heat. It is too hot and I unable to sleep properly. Even sleeping with the windows open does little to help when there is no breeze to move it around. If I had the money, I would invest in some air conditioning of some sort - but I think I might have to plump for a fan (if I can find one, considering most places have probably sold out!)

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[link]   Posted @ 16:50

Friday afternoon saw Shell and I at Rhiannons Sports Day. She did 4 races I think and managed 1st in the Ball and Spoon, 2nd in the Skipping and 3rd in the Sack. Maybe I should start getting her training for the 2016 Olympics...

Saturday night - Shell and I went out seperately. I drove into town and deserted the car (leaving the keys with Shell) and then we went our different ways. She went to The Back Bar, I hit The Imperial (unfortunately, there was no live band, just a terrible DJ) and then went to Scallys. They had a live band on, so I bought a drink and settled down to enjoy it.

What a mistake!

Roadhouse Revisited were, erm, crap. Utterly. Virtually every track they played, was too fast and I dont know whether to blame the bassist/singer or the drummer. One of the guitarists was damn good - even playing slide. The other (older guy) played his guitar with all finesse of eating spaghetti with a hammer. I stayed through to the 2nd set, but had to leave when they started slaughtering (and I mean slaughter of gendocidic proportions) "Here I Go Again" by the mighty Whitesnake. Frankly, Richard Clayderman on acid, playing the spoons could have done better. So I left, as I really couldnt take anymore, regardless of the amount of alcohol I had imbibed.

That saw going into the new pub - ICE. Oddly, until recently, this was a jolly little pub called Junction 21 and the change is more than dramatic. One good thing about what that my DJ friend Mark has residency and we chatted for a while while he "burned the wheels of steel" )groan!)

With a pizza in my hand I walked to my home, only to get a phone call halfway from Shell asking if I was still in town and wanted to share a taxi! As it takes just about an 1hr to walk home (in a tipsy state)... BUGGER!

Anyway, while I was sat in Scallys I was staring at my old primary school (across the car park) and could see the roof of the kitchen. And that got me thinking about school dinners.

So my questions are (with my answers):
1/ What was your favourite school meal?
Chicken Supreme with mash and peas
2/ What was your favourite school pudding?
Crispy chocolate sponge with mint custard
3/ Do you remember where you used to sit for dinner?
Not when in Infants. No matter how hard I try I cannot envision sitting in the infants school hall. It may have been that we went over to the Junior school hall and ate there but I just cant remember. The main hall was split in 2 - one side for hot meals and one side for sandwiches.

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[link]   Posted @ 11:10

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[link]   Posted @ 10:27

So, another day, another update.

Nothing techy or net related today. Just some personal thoughts about life, the universe and the debilitating effect of being lactose intolerant.

My mate Jon is currently going through the grinder in his relationship. He has an unstable partner, 2 kids and a job with responsibility. If anyone cares to read through my archives, they will know that I have been through a similar situation in the past.

One thing I have learnt from that and from peoples interactions with me, is that no-one really knows what you are going through. My experience qualifies me to empathise with his situation - it doesnt give me the right to criticise his choices or give any advice. So to those persons that are trying to - back off and shut up. Unless you are him (which you aren't), you don't know what is going on inside his head. In fact, I doubt if he knows what is going on inside his head - I know I didn't.

I am not allowed to comment on my experiences (due to a court order) but I can imagine what he is going through:
1. going to sleep makes you nervy - because you don't know what the next day will bring
2. waking up is nervy - from the moment you wake up, you are on tenterhooks waiting for something to happen
3. there is an inability to have a conversation with your partner that doesn't degenerate into a shouting match
4. you spend your whole time thinking about what you are going to say next, in the vain hope it doesn't get taken the wrong way
5. you worry about leaving your kids with someone who is unstable on a daily basis
6. your work suffers because you are pre-occupied or "working from home" in order to keep an eye on your kids
7. you start fantasing about splitting up (cos it would be easier) and working out plans in your head
8. you worry about the money situation if you split up
9. you worry about seeing your kids if you split up
10. goddamn it - you worry everything whether you stay together or split up

In short, it's tricky, stressful and soul destroying.

I bless my cotton socks that I am now in a relationship that is so different than my previous ones. No longer do I worry about walking through the door from work and having utensils and food thrown at me for no reason. No longer do I have to worry about random abuse and physical attacks.

In my experience, things get worse before they get better - and generally, the outcome is never what you expected.

Anyway, onto different matters. Shell has complained that I don't mention her on here anymore. But when I did, she complained about that. She has however, congratulated me on 2 things: 1/ not mentioning things as boring as shopping lists and 2/ being completely boring.

Thats why I would like to make some progress with my 2 other sites - with one of them being a collaborative blog about all sorts of anything and one being techy (because 1/2 the people I know are geeks).

I keep trying to get Shell to start blogging as well - she could do an entry on each pair of shoes she has ever bought, telling you where she got them, how much she paid, why she bought them, which outfits they go with, etc, etc. If she started today and did 1 entry per day, she would just about finish by the end of the year...

The only other news I have, is that since Saturday, Shell and I have been trying to rid the house of cat fleas. With 3 cats and a heatwave combined - things have got a little crazy. The cats have been treated, the carpets and beds have been sprayed and we are now mopping up the existing generation (the spray/cat treatment kills the eggs and stops more) through the use of bowls of water on the floor (fleas have a knack for being attracted to water although they are incapable of swimming in it and drown within seconds) and using ourselves as honeypots. We stand there - wait for them to jump on us and then do them in. Its brutal but it has to be done.

And now - lactose intolerance. Its a shitty thing to have...

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[link]   Posted @ 14:55

So. Where have I been and what have I been doing?

Home and work. Thats pretty much it. Been busy though.

On the week I was my course, I passed my "BlueCoat Certified Proxy Administrator" exam with 93.2%!!! Kiss my ass! Just need to take the "Professional" exam now and that is much harder...

Speaking of Bluecoats, we had one fail on us last week and I have been desperately trying to rebuild the replacement one - what a pallava! This file, then that file, then the first file again, etc, etc

The good thing is, my good friend Mischa is working for them now. He used to work for them before, when they were called CacheFlow...

Anyway, some links for you and a little update on my "Web Applications" testing that I have been doing.

First up, I am now using GoogleMail and GoogleCalendar along with NetVibes, so thats my first setup sorted out. Next will be testing out some todo list sites.

Oh and I found another IM site that is waaay smart - koolIM. Very nice!

So, some links for y'all:

RipIt4Me - allows DVD Decrypter, etc to rip the new protection mechanisms being used as DVDDescrypter is no longer developed.
Convert .BAT/.VBS to .EXE
Play the Zidan game
Learn the basics of UNIX in 10 minutes - dead handy crib notes

And finally - How not to dress!

Also - another mention for one of my favourite sites. Orisinal - full of little games that are both odd and addictive. If you have young kids on the net - go here and let them enjoy. Nothing nasty, cute graphics and gameplay to die for (in some of them).
Be back later!

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[link]   Posted @ 09:59

I am now using a new application to write my blog entries. I've been writing them in notepad for a while now and then pasting them into my blogging application.

Today, however, I saw a link to a new application and tought I would try it out. That application is DarkRoom.

When you fire it up - there is nothing on the screen - just a black screen with a flashing cursor. You start to type and it appears in green - just like the word processors of old.

Some people have said it takes a bit of getting used to, but found myself loving it within about 20 seconds.

It takes me back to my S/36, S/38 and AS/400 days - and back before then to my Dragon 32, Olivetti word processors, etc - which I used to adore using.

As I do all my coding in a plain text editor this is just fine for me. So I recommend you go download it and fire it up. But prepare to be shocked - it isn't like a normal Windows application!

It's possibly the most refreshing program I've used so far this year.

That and I might be moving away from relying on my Amiga for mail and IRC as I have found a new email client for XP. If you loved YAM on the Amiga or recently used Simplemail - then check out i.Scribe. I will continue using it for IRC though, or I could sell it and make about a �1000...

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[link]   Posted @ 22:12

I have decided (through a discussion with Troggy) that I would find out more about "web applications". The intention was, that I would find a few, sign-up to them and test them. Then I'd write a brief review of each (with screenshots, etc) and then suggest a solution to provide an online office environment.

Then I started looking. Oh dear!

Here is the list so far.

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[link]   Posted @ 19:37

After the course yesterday, I headed across London to my hotel and booked myself in, before heading straight back out again, but not before I managed to break my Palm E2. It just sat there with a "Fatal Error - MemoryMgr.c - No Free Handler" error with an unusable reset button. But I didn't have to fix it, so just left it on and ran off to get the Tube back into the city.

Met up with JFW in Southwark. We had a few shandys, told a few jokes, laughed about nothing and swapped technical crap, in the way only Jon and I can.

I got back to the hotel around 10, made some phone calls and then started on trying to find answer to my Palm crash. Pressing the "reset" button on the back just sent me back to the same error - and the only other thing I could think of doing was a Cold Reset, but that deletes everything and puts the machine back to factory defaults - which wasnt what I needed at all. So after a little searching, I found another possible reset - a "warm reset". You hold down the "Up" button, press the reset button and then let go of the "Up" button when the boot screen appears. Magically, this worked and within a few minutes, I was back up and running and putting on some useful software - Tube from Visual IT. No more getting lost in London or trying to find a route around the tube network.

This morning, I woke up at 7am, had a cup of tea and ciggy, then fell asleep - not waking up til 8.38! So I washed, dressed, packed my backpack and ran down to breakfast, panicing that I might miss the start of my course. Following a glass of juice and a croissant, I managed to walk to Stratford station, get a train and get to the training place by 9.20...

Anyway, enough of me, here are some England (as in our national football team) jokes:

Saddam Hussein has been found guilty and has been sentenced to be shot. His last request is to name his own firing squad. He's chosen Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher from 12 yards.

Q: Why aren't the England football team allowed to own a dog?
A: Because they can't hold onto a lead.

Q: What's the difference between the England team and a tea-bag?
A: The tea-bag stays in the cup longer.

Q: Why do the English make better lovers than the Portuguese/Germans?
A: Because they are the only one's who can stay on top for 45 minutes and still come second!

Q: What is common between a 3-pin plug and the England football team?
A: They are both useless in Europe!

Q: What's the difference between O J Simpson and the England football team?
A: O J Simpson had a more credible defence

More updates later...

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[link]   Posted @ 10:42

Its just after noon on a gloriously sunny Monday and I am in London, the jewelled capital of our fair land.

And I'm in a basement!

Admittedly, I haven't been kidnapped but I am on a training course. In fact, it might not be sunny outside anymore - I havent seen daylight for a couple of hours - so it could quite easily be pissing it down!

I was up at 5am, left the house at 5.30 (leaving a teary-eyed Shell in my wake), was sat on the train at 6.40 (the delayed 6.31 from Bristol Parkway) and arrived in Paddington at around 8.15.

So, there we have it. I am in the basement of a training company doing a course and starting to feel sleepy. Lunch should sort me out though. And then a combination of coffee and mint imperials should keep me awake til hometime.

Then its off to try and find my hotel, get changed, get back into the city as quickly as possible, and meet up with Jon, etc for some drinky-poos! Huzzah!

The one slight issue I have is this - being in a basement, there is no mobile signal, so I am stuck to communication via the intranerd until I can get outside for a fag break (whereupon, I will be deluged with text messages and voicemail)...

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[link]   Posted @ 11:08

I am not in Shells good books and frankly, it really isn't my fault!

Wednesday evening, I hit the record button on the VHS so that The Bill would be recorded and when I returned home - I stopped it.

It was late by then, so Shell decided to watch it on Thursday. Mid-morning I get a phone call saying that the recording hadnt worked - we had the picture but the sound was from a previous recording!

Now this has happened a couple of times now - on different tapes (it plays back perfectly, but just doesnt record properly) - so I think the VHS is knackered!

So, on the way home, I am thinking about getting one of these from Argos:

Thomson DHD4000 40GB Twin Tuner DVR

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[link]   Posted @ 11:53