January 2007 Archives

The End Of A Winning Streak?

TigersSo Russell's not letting this one lie in the office today, and I know Mum's going to be getting similar grief from my Uncle Jeff, after all Tigers lost to Leeds last night. Playing at home, the local derby, and we were expecting to win.

Still, we're above Leeds, and Leeds United they stand, Leeds United they fall... ;-)

My Kinda Music

Another site pointed to by Ian, a music site that works by listening to what you like, and play back what you might like :-D

Pandora is the result of The Music Genome Project, a project to answer the question, "Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?". And quite good it is too :-D

It's currently a US only site, in so far that you must be a US citizen to use the service, and so need a valid 5 digit US postal code, such as 94102, in order to register, cough ;-) There's plans to expand it internationally at some point. In the meantime, move to the States ;-)

Err, We've Lost Your PC...

We moved offices this weekend just gone. A military operation, no surprise, with boxes and boxes, labels, bar codes, floor plans, blueprints, and no doubt somewhere a GPS. So, imagine the reaction at work this morning when I came in to find, no computer :-O

Now, you'd possibly expect it if we were moving from one part of the country to the next, or maybe from the other side of town. But, no, I moved down one floor, to exactly the same position in the office downstairs.

The best part was that everything was wired ready to go. Power cables, network connection, and wires hanging out of my KVM switch. Makes you wonder that no-one thought, "Hmmmm, you know, there's something wrong with this workstation..." I won't name and shame the corporation that looks after our computer sciences, as that would be wrong of me after all ;-)

You Should've Seen The Other Guy...

Least that's what I think Spitfire's trying to say. As I mentioned on Friday night, he came in with blood pouring from his head, looking like he'd been in a pub brawl. Now, recently he's been coming home of an evening with the odd cut and bruise, but nothing as bad as Friday. Cleaned it all up, despite his protests. And, again with struggle, took him down the Vets on Saturday. £40 later, he's all better :-D

Now, a question. Why is it that animal tablets ALWAYS come in HUGE sizes and you have to vainly attempt to break them into the 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16 pieces the vet says is the correct dosage. Surely, they could make them small to start with? I'm wondering if it'll do anything if I just give Spitfire 1 HUGE tablet now, and 1 at the end of the week, would it matter?

Pic in the extended bit...

Jules Online

Finally, after getting a decent PC with sound, I've downloaded all my vids off the mobile. And, one by one, I'm adding them to YouTube. Today, Jules Don't Know (sorry for those at work, but I don't ban the sites).


You can rate the video's, and like here, leave comments. 22 viewings so far, I hope everyone finds them enjoyable, and that they bring back happy thoughts and memories, like they have done for me ;-)

The FiP Awards 2006

are over. Another year beckons, and we await starters orders in a few weeks time. For those unaware, FiP is our work's Formula One Predictions league, run by a regular mention on here, Sy "Predictable" Older :-D

Interesting discussing the different techiques used, such as bookies, the weather, a damp squid, and F1 magazine. None of which seemed to improve matters last year, as the season was pretty much turned on its head by Schuie not performing as well as expected.

Sy, or Rims Noodle as he's known in FiP circles, dazzled everyone in the pub afterwards with lots of detailed analysis. "It was like being in the ITV studio", remarked one bystander, until it was realised he was actually commenting on the Chelsea game during the week ;-)

Home after lots of beer, to find the cat looks like he's had his head kicked in. Off to the vets in morning then :-O

And The Quote's In

Well, the first quote for getting the car fixed is back. And, not surprisingly, it's a lot. £1,500 or thereabouts, to be precise :-(

Basically a day's labour to strip the car, a day to prep and paint, and then a day to put it back together. So, I reckon there's at least £700 I could shave off doing stuff myself.

I've the approved repairers booked for this Saturday, so we'll see what they come back with. But I'm guessing they'll probably write the car off, as I suspect. Although Nige has had some encouraging news on the jag, with a £3,100 repair bill approved, and given the go ahead, You never know, I might be lucky too ;-)"

It's Windy In Hull Once More

TigersSo the rumours are true, and Tigers have Dean Windass on loan 'til the end of the season. What's surprising is that Bradford let him go, after all he's scored 12 goals this season alone. Guess their financial difficulties really are difficult.

Big game at the weekend, Crystal Palace away. Might see if I can get tickets from Dave The Palace Fan at work, since it's only down the road :-D

Woo Hoo!

I've just won a tailgate for my Golf off eBay, for £1.04 :-D

Ian's going to pick it up on the way down this coming weekend. And it'll be going straight in the garage in preparation for getting the car fixed. That's £125 less on the insurance quote, woo hoo :-D

Passed!

After all the prep work, I finally got the car dropped off to Jacks Hill Motors yesterday morning so they could do the welding and get the car MoT'd. Wasn't planning on walking back to work, but as I've become accustomed, you can't rely on the buses down here. And it was the same bus Jules used to get over to Letchworth that I needed to catch. Should've remembered, and made alternative arrangements.

Pic in the extended bit...

Finally

After chasing and chasing my insurance, details of a repairer I can take my car to.

Turns out I don't need to return the mis-spelt form, as all the details are on the system.

Snag? Well, of course - the garage is in Bedford. All the local ones don't do business with my insurance company any more...

I Want An Apple

Just catching up on the world's news, and apparently, for those hermitted away in the Outer Hebrides who may have missed it, Apple announced their new iPhone yesterday.

Jonathan's got a few bits over at t'Mill, and there's lots of news just about everywhere on the web, podcasted and all.

The strange thing for me is it's the first Apple product I've gotten excited about. Up until now I've not really gone "Wooooh" whenever there's been an announcement about iBooks, iPods, etc... But this, hmmmm, it's what I've craved and waited for, hence getting my N80, which I thought would be the pinkle in pocket communications technology. Just a simple thing, text messages, and being able to do several all at once, without saving to draft, re-reading, reopening time and time again. It sounds absolutely amazing :-D

Guess I need to start saving up. Wonder if Orange are going to do trials with this one? Hmmm, I feel a questioning email coming on :-D

Hmmm, it's a big hole

Spent the day stripping the back of the car, in readiness for sorting out the welding repair. And it's actually quite a big hole. So, I don't think I'm going to attempt it myself, I think I'll give Jacks Hill Motors a ring and see if they can do it as well as the MoT retest.

Pics in the extended bit...

One Way To Repair An iBook

Linked from Ian (he needs to get a 'blog ;-)), a DIY obsolete iBook logic board repair. Interesting methods, I think you'll agree :-D

He's Got The Job

TigersNews today that the Tigers have confirmed Phil Brown as the new manager 'til the end of the season.

Certainly from recent form, it looks like the team and manager have finally got it together. And talking to Andy from work, the football itself is worth watching again, they look like they're playing as a team.

Will have to see how they get on at the weekend in the FA Cup against Middlesborough. Would be good if we win, but I can't see it. Probably 1-0 defeat.

I'm A Fellow!

Apparently, it's true. Least that's what I've paid for in this year's Roayl Aeronautical Society (RAeS) subs.

Thought there was something wrong when I checked my bank balance yesterday and found it £257 short :-O Turns out they've billed me for Fellow membership, and not Graduate/Associate membership, which is only £78.

All sorted out, thankfully, and by a person on a 'phone, and not some automated email/phone computer system, as is the case with most things these days :-D

Failed

Car's failed it's MoT. Not really that surprised, after all it looks like it's been in an accident.

Fortunately, my boss at work just happens to have a MIG welder (don't ask), so he's said I can borrow it and have a go welding up the hole. Now I just need to learn how to weld ;-)

Pic in the extended bit...

And A Happy New Year To All!

TigersAnd a good start to the year for the home team - Hull City beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 away, so they're off the bottom of the table at last :-D

Spent the day so far going through all the mail and stuff that's accumulated in the last month. It still amazes me how much junk gets sent through the letter box. Also sorting out the paperwork for the accident, since that's finally arrived after the Christmas postal break. I'm still convinced the mail delivery this festive break is the worst it's been. So much for deregulation.

Off for another Lemsip - yes, the cold and flu is still here. Like I said, worst cold in years :-(

About Alan Bell

Lapsed: electronic engineer, scout leader, project controller.
Now: Oracle Primavera training consultant, business support manager, occasional website designer.

About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from January 2007 listed from newest to oldest.

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