Thursday, December 24, 2009

Busy, busy, busy?

Things to buy, files to convert etc. It all adds up to a rush in the end. Yesterday I went for my swine flu jab and when I mentioned that I had not had my ordinary flu jab yet I got that as well. I sit before you with two very sore arms and a mild case of the runs.
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Saturday, December 19, 2009

The fall cometh!

I said it was too good to be true, I got my come-upance yesterday in spades. Just befor we left the house, I warmed up the Merc engine and added 20 litres of chip oil. Then we drove off to collect Ian. We reached the end of the road and the engine died. I panicked for a while and then realised what had happened. The freezing weather had turned the oil to syrup and it was clogging the filter and/or pipes. So we came to Yate in the Galaxy.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Still rolling

I am quietly adding people to my Excel family tree and it's beginning to look a lot more like my original concept of several years ago. The whole point about it is that it is a research tool and not just a view of the tree. The view only version will be the master file converted to an XML web site.
I finally got the new digital speedo installed yesterday and most impressive it looks. The little reflective panel is very useful as, although the windscreen does reflect quite well, it has a tendency to produce a double image due to refraction. I will post more on this product on the janis blog.
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Monday, December 14, 2009

Oh dear.............

BEIJING, CHINA-OCTOBER 23: The new operating s...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

On Friday, whilst trying to persuade my test PC to raid, I damaged the bootmgr file. As Saturday was a grandsons day, no repairs were attempted until Sunday. To my surprise, Windows 7 came up smelling of roses  yet again! I ran the boot disc to see what it could find, it found a missing or damaged bootmgr and offered to fix it. I said yes and it just did it. I continue to be impressed by this OS.

I have been continuing with my Excel family tree and it is now beginning to show how much better a tree can be when carefully designed. With Excel, I can cut and paste large blocks of data very simply and insert whole lines or columns at will. This is beginning to look very good indeed. The major problem is the lack of automation that a gedcom based genealogy system would give, but the major advantage is the three dimensional linking and beautiful graphics.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

A macro electronic diet?

Microsoft Excel Logo
I have long been a user of Excel and have often pondered what I would use a macro for. Now I know! I have set up all my graphics as key strokes and it all works............... Something has to go wrong soon.
I knew it, the version of Excel I am using (2010 beta) has greater graphics possibilities than my old 2007 and the lovely new macros don't work in 2007. Oh well, I am not giving up the superior images so I will just have to only work at home for a while.
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Three steps forward........

and none back, so far.
I persuaded the missing sata drive to find itself again, I have begun to organise the big USB drive, I am again using the 40Gb pocket drive, I am leaps and bounds ahead with my Excel system and I have managed to use HEAT to do two logs today. Sooner or later, something has to give!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Over the top

Is where I pushed myself yesterday. I moved all the wood from the old wardrobe downstairs and then decided to shift the bed back against the wall all on my own. Wrong! Our own bed, whilst heavier, is easier to move due to castors. The bed in the front bedroom is all wood and I totally drained myself shifting it. Not my greatest performance.
Later, I finally cracked the sync problems with .wtv files by purchasing a clever piece of software that converts them for me with perfect sync. I also bought the HD version for half price and I am now equipped to tackle the whole PVR area with gusto.
When I finally staggered to bed, I had to beg Hazel to massage my neck as it was in spasm due to my exertions.

It is now past the midday hour and my muscles are complaining around the lumbar region. This is lumbago and I don't like it.

In anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means ...Image via Wikipedia
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Monday, December 7, 2009

What a weekend.......

Well, as usual, things change rapidly over weekends. Ian is a lot better and wants to get back to work asap. Rio now has the dreaded lurgy and Hazel feels a bit unwell. I, on the other hand, still feel pretty dam' good so there is something to be said for taking a cocktail of drugs after all! This morning, I decided to tidy my desk and throw out all the old paperwork............It took me over an hour and I can now see the carpet again. At least that's it all over for another three years! Russ had a friend in need on Saturday so, with time on my hands, I did some more work on the attic. The two shelving units are in but not yet attached to the walls and I have fixed the large dish in a more meaningful way in order to stop the wind from moving it out of alignment quite so often.
Hazel and I took Lulu out on Sunday and bought a new oven for the house. £180.00 quid and only runs on a thirteen amp socket............... That the new gov regs for you!
Whilst sorting out my desk, I found some addresses etc and have now put them all into my contacts at gmail, and not before time too.

Friday, December 4, 2009

It never rains but...........

Yesterday Ian felt unwell.............. NHS Direct say he has swine flu. Oh boy. Lulu had to take Rio to his grandmother (not Wendy) and then go and get Tamiflu for Ian. It would seem to be a very bad idea for either of his parents to visit him at present so she is stuck with it until further developments deem it otherwise. Fortunately tomorrow is Saturday and we can at least do some shopping for her.
Yesterday I also managed to obtain a beta of Windows Office 2010. Very nice, the Excel additions are everything I hoped they would be and seem quite easy to use. Today I had a bit of a brainwave and I investigated using a 3D games engine to run a family tree in cyberspace. It looks as though it might work so I have signed up as a developer for Multiverse.
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Out with the old................

No sooner has Ian changed to working full time then Lulu is made redundant again. Not only that, but Keane and his dad have swine flue so Lulu now has Rio full time until Saturday. Ian is flogging himself very hard at present to earn as much as possible before the new year when all things retail slow down.
Titch is completely back to her usual self and leaping around all over the place so that worry is over. Hazel continues to be not very well but at least we are fairly certain it's just the medication in this case. I felt very 'umpty over Saturday and Sunday and I am assuming it owes a lot to the lack of fruit on Saturday. As soon as I began to eat fruit again, I began to feel well.
I did my last expert patient session today. I was able to give feedback to the rest of the attendees as well as the two leaders. I made the point that, for me, it would have been much more appropriate in my first year of living with the condition. Eleven years on and I am already following most of their ideas already. Some were very kind and pointed out that some of my insights were of help to them. I also pointed out that there may be a need for a similar course for people who are moving into retirement with the emphasis on keeping all the good work going.

Monday, November 30, 2009

A full weekend

We stayed up late on Friday to welcome Sarah and Paul for a weekend with us, tiring but worth it.
Saturday was pretty good too with everyone but me doing their own thing away from the house. I sat and vegetated until I had to fetch Sal and her surplus furniture. Then we both sat and vegetated. I took Sal to work and chatted to Russ and went to bed early.
On Sunday, we all visited Ian and Lulu for a while and then Paul and Sarah drove home whilst the rest of us took Samuel home. Then Hazel and I took Ian and Lulu out to Southway to spend the afternoon with Wendy. Then we went shopping! After the shopping, we went home and had a meal before Ian arrived all ready to help me unload the spare furniture from Sal at their place. In all, a busy weekend.
I was a bit concerned about Titch on Saturday as she was very quiet and drooling a bit for most of the morning. However, she perked up a bit after tea and by Sunday seemed to be back to her usual self. I will keep an eye on her though.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Early to bed..........

I actually got to bed by 22.15 yesterday. Some sort of record in the immediate past. I did very little apart from moving bags of Christmas pressies around and a tiny bit of tidying in the back room. I feel so much better for that.
Unfortunately, Hazel is still not well. She is suffering from what appears to be a cold but may be caused by her new medication. Either way, she is not a happy bunny. Ian is still enjoying working hard at T. K. Max, he has also had a brilliant letter from Warrens to say how sorry they are to see him go and any time he wants to return etc.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Oh well.

Early Fleetwood Mac song.

I did my last overtime, I hope, yesterday and I am shattered. I don't seem to be able to concentrate on very much and I just go home and sleep after work. Yesterday, I had my fifth Expert Patient session and, during a relaxation session, I fell asleep! This was either very good or very bad.
Plenty of rain yesterday but no apparent sign of the leak so it would seem to be wind direction that causes it. The strength of the wind currently is so high that I am not too worried about the leak at present. I am more concerned about the directional sat dish as it is constantly being blown awry.
Todd has now joined us on Google Wave so I look forward to more chats with him in the future,

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

And then again.............

Sally's laptop is here and working well, she will probably collect it today. Sadly, it looks as though Lulu will be redundant again by the weekend. She will stand a better chance than most of getting another job but that won't heal the hurt. Ian is loving his new job and that will help with the finances but Lou is a worker and wont be happy until she has another job.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Such a night.

Oh what it is to have an insomniac wife!
I spent most of Saturday with Samuel and we had a pretty good time until bedtime. Then, all hell let loose for an hour of tears and whining. It transpired that what he really wanted was his teddy that we bought for his birthday and which he had accidentally left at home.
We managed quite a lot of our Christmas shopping over the weekend as well so all in all, we had a pretty good time..
Some serious rain over the weekend resulted in a few tiny trickles of water. Better but still not perfect, I shall have to investigate further.
This morning, the new HUD speedo arrived and, wow, it's better than the original model was. More about it on the janis blog.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Fiddlesticks!

(Ancient Plymothian bowdlerism)
It's been a busy week and it's getting busier. I worked two and a half hours overtime yesterday and got home totally shattered. I will be doing overtime again today.................
I found a hole in the terrace yesterday after several days of dry weather and was able to block and seal it. We had some rain overnight but no leaks, fingers crossed.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Wish me luck as you WAVE me bye bye................

I'm not actually going anywhere, it's just that I got my WAVE account yesterday and at least one of my nominees got his this morning. This is good news as we can now test the system properly.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Speed flitting?

I managed two loads from Southway to the new house and another of immense dimensions from Laira Street on Saturday. The two sofas were finally moved complete with door removal at both ends and a lot of sweating. I did about five hours on Saturday and we still went visiting in the evening to help out with a few small things. Molly is not very sweet at present, she is peeing anywhere she fancies in order to get her message across too. Saturday evening, I looked like death warmed up but still managed over 90 minutes talking to Russ.
On Sunday we did a major shop and topped up the fuel tank on the Merc again, 22 litres of chip oil and about the same of diesel.
This morning, Hazel had to be at Derriford Hospital for her check up results and I had a bloods. So I took her to work and drove straight to the surgery thinking I would have a pee and sit and read for twenty minutes. Whilst I was in the toilet, my name was called. The first appointment had cancelled and I was there so I went in first.

Friday, November 13, 2009

There are good days. And then there are bad days.

Yesterday was a happy day. I'll get that out of the way first, just in case you think I am depressed. I am still not depressed in spite of the things that happened. The Galaxy didn't just need a new belt, it appears that either the air conditioning pump seized and took out the belt or vice versa. The result is a bill for £400.00 so the service is out of the question this month. The gas man didn't come and when Hazel rang them to find out why, it seems that whoever took her call didn't finish the booking so we just disappeared into limbo. Whilst eating a meal with my wife and daughter, the chair I was sitting on collapsed and broke up around me. My back went out and I have a few bruises. The bruises don't bother me too much but the back problem had only just gone away and now it's back. Hey ho.
The gas man should come this morning and the Galaxy is being done next week and I am feeling a little better this morning so, all in all, things are on the up again.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Whatever is happening at Redmond?

I have been having problems with the MSDNAA licences for Windows 7 that I issue to students for a while now. Some of them aren't "Taking" as they should. The software seems to accept the code but after a couple of weeks, it starts throwing wobblys about the Specific product key could not be used and error code 0xC004C008. As this error code seems to be usually associated with volume keys and we are using retail keys, I was at a loss for a while. So far, I have only managed a sort of work around answer to the problem. Don't put the code in when you install, wait for the OS to nag you a few days later. Then, making sure you are on line, input the product code and it should go through the full checking routine and accept the code. In addition to our problems, I met a student today who had almost exactly the same problem installing on an Apple with a purchased code. He will be phoning MS and creating merry hell.
Yesterday, our combi boiler went awol on the radiators so we have had to call in British Gas and the Galaxy has finally gone to Vospers for it's service and new belt. Another month without money.....................
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

And there's more...........

As a final test, I tried using AVS converter to convert from drv-ms to mpg2. It works but it trashes the audio sync. I went back and ran the same file in the command line program and I lost minimal sync on over three hours. That program runs on a gui  front end and is ffmpeg running under Winff.
I also checked out the hole in the ceiling to terrace while it was fairly dry yesterday. It is a bit squishy and quite deep so it will be fairly hard to plug unless we have very dry weather for several days at least.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Slow and steady.......again!

I checked out the direct method of using re-maker to open the dvr-ms file and it didn't work for me, I ended up with an un-openable file. So back to the tried and tested formula of converting with a command line program and then editing in re-maker. The quality of all these recordings is, however, marvellous and bodes well for the future.
The leak is beginning to shrink at last, it dripped all night but has only dripped into the bucket and everything else is slowly drying out at long last. I may be able to do a bit more proofing on top this evening again.
We drove down to Coads Green after work yesterday and picked up 100 litres of wvo from Tony. Nice man and nice price, I suspect we will do more business there.

Monday, November 9, 2009

A blog of bits or a bit of a blog?

I spent a lot of Saturday working. We began quite early by going down to 238 with Lulu and letting her see the house for the first time. Fortunately, she likes it a lot. Then Lu and I went to collect Nicky, Robbie and Keane and we all went out to Southway to load up. This took a while (in the pouring rain) so we stopped for a breather and then three vehicles drove down to 238 and we began to unload. Once I was empty, I left the rest to it and went home to start work on the terrace into bedroom leak. There was good news and bad, the good is that my hoped for result is that the only place that water is entering is through the nasty hole drilled through the pantiles. The bad news is that there is no obvious way of blocking this up other than removing the tiles laid on the floor of the terrace. However, I have laid a goodly amount of PVA glue down which has soaked into the floor and permeated all the way through the hole so I am hoping that when this sets it will stop up at least some of the minor channels there.
On Sunday, we began in a lazy fashion and then went shopping at about midday. A fairly simple food shop and some work slacks for Hazel and we were home by about four.
I also played with the "Super PVR" this weekend. I have installed two sat tuners in the test PC and have done some serious recording using the facilities of Media Centre. The whole thing is working very well indeed but needs a little more work in order to edit and store the results easily. I have found a very good quality freeware converter that will take the dvr-ms files and output mpg2 files for editing and storage. Windows 7 is already able to convert wtv files into dvr-ms so that works quite well now. I am also experimenting with AVS remaker importing the dvr-ms file directly in order to edit that but I have some reservations about speed of loading.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Too wet to dry up

Sadly, the rain continued to fall yesterday after work so I didn't do any PVA-ing. I did, however, manage to change the outside lamp that needed replacing so that will help no end when I finally get stuck in.
I also had a play with the satellite card in the dual core desktop test PC. I couldn't get it to work at all for a while and decided to see if there were newer drivers that might help. Yes there were, and in spades! The new drivers are optimised for Windows 7 and they have even re-written the applications in order to take advantage of the new OS. It's all most impressive. Best of all, however, is the integration with Media Centre that it allows. I am so impressed, I am considering using this PC as a super PVR.


The above was written yesterday, Thursday, but only published today, Friday. Now for today's words.

I spent a while yesterday recording and converting a movie in order to check the Media Centre. All went well, but it is a bit long winded and I lost audio synch towards the end of the recording.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

There's a hole in my ceiling, dear Liza, dear Liza

On Tuesday, I finally removed all the books and paperwork from my bedside unit. Oh dear, very damp and beginning to be quite wet in places. I removed the internal panels and the ceiling was a bit black! poked it gently to see how spongy and whoosh, a pint of dirty water straight down my sleeve. So, I have removed the ceiling in the unit and can now see the extent of the damage. At some time in the distant past, some idiot had wanted to run, probably, a water pipe down through the ceiling to the, long removed, boiler. I now have to pick up the pieces. We dropped in to Wickes yesterday after work and bought a giant sized tub of PVA glue and I hope to begin using it after work today.

Monday, November 2, 2009

And a good time was had by all.........

Not!
Well, that was my lost week for this year. I went home that very morning and did practically nothing until today.
It was just a cold but even the lovely Hazel admitted I was pretty poorly and not just suffering with a "man cold".
I'm still not feeling much better, but have reached the stage where if I don't clear my lungs soon they will get worse again. As I am forbidden to have any truck with decongestants  or anything of that ilk, I will just have to exercise myself well. It felt strange driving in this morning and parking was weird, it took me several goes just to line up in the bay.The Merc smells of chip shop most of the time now, and constantly reminds me of how much money I am saving.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Another early night!

Well, it was a Monday.
We always have trouble staying awake on Mondays. I did manage to stay up a bit later than usual in order to see the credits of a sitcom on BBC3. Waste of effort though, the actress in question was not the same girl that Ian and Sally had been at school with. I checked out the new card reader as well, very nice, exactly what I needed and less than a tenner, thanks Gizoo.
I seem to have developed a dry cough in a very short space of time, hope I'm not starting a cold.
I think I am starting a cold.
I have got a cold, my head is heavy, my eyes are squinty and my cough is no better.
I now have a bit of a throat as well,
Oh b****r!
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Monday, October 26, 2009

Busy, busy, busy.............

Nick proving he is a true iconic figure.pngImage by Laura Whitehead via Flickr
Friday evening we went to Southway to spend some time with Ian and Lulu......... Dropped into Asda when we left and stocked up for the week ahead. Heavy rain that night and a big seepage leak in the bedroom. It seems to be coming from the old boiler chimney on the wall. It will be fun sealing that.........
The usual Saturday with Samuel for most of the day and a few jobs around the house. Chatted to Russ in the evening but very tired so we cut it short. ooVoo still looking good as a replacement for Skype. Sunday was "rubbish and top up the Merc with diesel and chip oil day". Only wasted a small amount on my shoe.................
I spent quite a lot of time re-building and testing the software on our Navman iCN530 satnav unit on Sunday. The new interface is much easier to follow and takes account of a lot of variables. I have yet to see it in action on a journey, but if it performs as well as it looks, it will have been the best upgrade ever.
We watched Doc Martin and went to bed early, this is beginning to sound like Samuel Pepys.
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Friday, October 23, 2009

Catch 22 again.

I installed Server 2003 R2 64bit yesterday, all went well until I needed to go online. No driver! With Vista and Seven, the OS uses a generic driver in order to make the LAN work instantly. Not poor old 2003. So today, I have downloaded the latest drivers from Gigabyte and burnt them to a CD as, with no floppy drive these days and USB needing drivers................
I also changed the RF channel on the relay for the sat to the bedroom, channel two works well so that may well be where I leave it. Woke up to BBC1 London this morning and no bangs or whistles.
Pete and I had a bit of luck yesterday, we each went looking for a cable adaptor to convert a nine pin mini din to a standard s video input and struck gold. A Hong Kong firm is selling a 9 pin to S video/composite/component lead for less than a pound and doing cheap postage as well. To give you an idea, we bought four and the total price, goods and carriage, was less than a fiver. I just hope they don't get lost in the postal strike.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The day after..............

Last evening, I installed server 2008 on the test PC. Maybe not such a good idea. The whole interface has changed and moved on from very easy to fairly complicated. In addition, the drivers for the motherboard won't run in 2008 at all. I have chatted to a student about 2003 R2 and he has decided not to upgrade from it. I think I will just kill 2008 and install 2003 again.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A very good evening.


I discovered the problem with the sat system fed to the bedroom was very simple to rectify, put the cable back in the plug! Either cat or wife had pulled hard enough to completely remove the coax from the F plug. I have also moved the two working PCs around in order to work on the test model. This is now intended as a server for the outside world. We shall see.
Spent most of today at an away-day at the National Marine Aquarium here in Plymouth Not a bad day, all round. The aquarium is magic, of course, but the conference was pretty good as well. Most of it interesting and some helpful information as well.
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Sometimes, the good stuff happens.

Well, a very good weekend. Samuel and Keane on Friday into Saturday. Spent some time installing Win7 Pro 64 onto the PVR dual core Atom in the afternoon and it worked so well I chatted to Russ via ooVoo in the evening. Whilst talking, we had an exchange that set me thinking about servers and, lo there was an awakening. I am going to try putting an outward facing server on my system at long last. It may or may not work, but it will be fun trying.
Sunday is just a black hole to me now, I've completely lost it. Oh, I remember watching Doc Martin at nine.
On Monday, we took a day off as I had bloods and Hazel had a hospital appointment. We did all that and went on to check out Plymouth Bio-fuels. It's a bit of a farmyard site but they are very friendly and try to be as helpful as possible so we decided to invest £40.00 in some fuel and a couple of containers.I hope to use the first 20 litres tonight and see how she runs over the next couple of weeks. I moved Sal back to her new digs last evening and we have quite a bit more room in the house again.
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Friday, October 16, 2009

Here we are again, happy as can be,

All good pals and jolly good company. (End of pier song from 20s and also sung in the great war 1914 - 1918)

I watched the first of the new Albert Kahn series last evening, The Twenties In Colour. Wonderful, it must have been an almost magical time moving away from the great war and expecting everlasting peace. Shame about the 30s.
We went to see Sal after work yesterday whilst on our way to the vet to pick up some anti flea stuff for the girls. The girls are annoyed with me for treating them although it's a very specific anger. They both spent over an hour last evening on my lap or chest enjoying themselves. This morning, however, they both avoided me and Fluff even widdled on a towel right in front of me to show her feelings.
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Don't some people mature quickly?

Bit of a fuss with number two great nephew yesterday, mum and dad having a barney as usual. Ian and Lulu with Dave attended and between them the problem was solved without fisticuffs and too much bad feeling. Whilst I would have expected this level of success from Lulu, to see it from Ian and Dave was enlightening. And Ian keeps on about, "You would think they would know better at their age". They are, almost exactly, the same age............

Monday, October 12, 2009

May you have an interesting weekend..

Old Chinese curse (Paraphrased).
Hazel and I went shopping on Saturday, nearly missed Ian and Lulu. Sal came around later to see them and did miss them. Hazel and I went to see them at the flat on Sunday instead. They both said they enjoyed their birthday gifts but Ian was a bit under the weather and Lulu was somewhat upset as well. They went to a party on the Saturday night and there was a big family row. Ian and Lulu ended up comforting all the little ones and just trying to keep some semblance of propriety. Both they and Wendy are outraged by the behaviour of the rest of the family and Nicki wants to take her dad to task as he was responsible for Keane and forgot all about him when the disturbance  began. Alfy was looking very sorry for himself as well but his concern is to do with his stomach more than anything else. The diet is biting hard and he doesn't like it.
The bedroom sat system failed this morning without bad weather so I must assume that the dish has moved in the wind again.
Russ and I tested the ooVoo video chat system on Saturday and we were quite impressed. It works as well as Skype but the display is, from our point of view at least, somewhat better and easier to work with. In light of the rumours circulating about the possible demise of Skype, we are thinking we may move to ooVoo permanently.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Oh Calamity!

Catchphrase of the late Robertson Hare.

A double check on the sat system confirmed it, it was weather.
After work, drove home and decided to move the Galaxy. No steering! Now we know which belt was slipping and burning. This is a double edged sword, in that the repair will be fairly cheap but we now have to get the car to Vospers without any steering.........
When we eventually entered the house, we found Wendy and Alfy there. It seems that poor Alfy is morbidly obese (19Kg) and needs to lose at least ten kilos.He has been put on a medically enforced diet of prescription only dog food and has to attend doggy weight watchers once a week. This is not a joke!  He will not be a happy doggy for a while. Hazels back is bad again, it seems to follow no pattern - just goes out for three days and causes intense pain.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Rain, rain, go away........

Nursery rhyme.

Went up to bed last night and tried to watch a program on the sat receiver. No good, pixilation on all channels. Finally decided it was weather related and read until tired. This morning, all channels fine again so it would seem that I was correct about the weather.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

USB PVRs are great!

I re-formated the drive successfully yesterday and transfered some .mpg video files onto it. They are found instantly and play very well on the Technomate system. This is a major shift in the direction of helpful, moving movies around will be a doddle with this system. I may even buy another Technomate just to get the PVR part, it's cheaper than most and works better than most. Other than that, I napped for most of the evening as it was a Monday.
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Monday, October 5, 2009

Three steps forward...................

I have now managed to find the correct arc for the sat positioner. I was just two degrees out at the furthest point  but that was enough. Also, finding the satnav helped enormously! I have set up about eight positions and scanned them so I can now watch German channels selling American products and dubbed into their own language. All very interesting, but Mr T selling kitchen equipment in German is a bit off putting at first. Currently, I am formating a USB drive in FAT32 in order to use the tuner as a PVR. That's when it gets interesting.
I think I also have a better understanding of what's happening when my work station is doing what it's doing. It looks as though there should be a small file on the boot drive to tell it what it is...........and there isn't.
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Friday, October 2, 2009

The ups and downs of sat tv.

I received the Technomate 5200 tuner yesterday and eagerly took it home to set up. It was all I had hoped for and more. I had Astra 2 and Astra 1 working fine but the dish was slightly off so I attempted to re-align it. WRONG! I have lost all birds and now have to begin again. The Technomate is now plugged into the Sky LNB and runs in the bedroom to give us BBC1 news in the mornings. How are the mighty fallen.
Equally awkward is the work station. I have tried to install Windows 7 on an IDE drive and it hits the same brick wall as all the others, once past the first part and into re-boot it dies. This has to be a raid issue but I'm b******d if I can work out how. I may try a hard reset on the bios as the ultimate test.
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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Collar and no cuffs...........

Tag of a very bad joke.
On closer inspection, the head of the screw hadn't come off. It was the exact opposite, the brass collar moulded into the plastic had pulled out. I stuck it back in with super glue and re-fitted the LNB and all is now well again.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Oh Lordy!!!!!!!

Simple job, go up and connect two more feeds from the Sky LNB. All was going well until the head of the retaining screw flew off and the hinged part of the collar followed it. Over the wall, down onto the ground floor roof and down into the dark that is our covered yard. No chance of finding it in the dark so I strapped the LNB up with cable ties. It didn't work very well and we lost the signal. Hazel was not impressed. I tried a few things but nothing worked well enough so I went to bed. This morning, I found the offending piece of plastic in about fifteen seconds..................Doh!
Previous to this, I had some success when I moved the test PC down to the lounge and plumbed it in. I also spent about two hours, on and off, fiddling with the work station PC only to discover that it was the raid drivers that had been compromised by the MS update. This may be easier to do if I simply put in a new drive and start all over again.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Very little work done but an improved kitchen system.

Not a song title..........

I spent all of ten minutes yesterday re-connecting the cables on the kitchen set up and it's now very tidy and neat. After that, I simply ate, watched TV and recorded the first episode of a new SF series onto the test PC. I have decided to install it, the test PC, in the lounge this evening and that will clear space for me to re-build the work station in the den. The new multi sat setup will start in the den but may move to the bedroom until we have our second Sky box activated.
The tenants in the other house have found somewhere to move to and are leaving us on November 5th. This gives us an opportunity to do some extra maintenance before Lulu and Ian move in. They should now be in by Christmas though. 

Monday, September 28, 2009

A curates success.

Re-tread of a very old Punch cartoon.

On Friday, nothing was written due to it being Sally's graduation. She is now officially a BA(hons) and is going for her masters.
Well, I was correct about the network sync, it all works perfectly again now including both NAS boxes.
I have also played with the dish positioner and software and I have come to the conclusion that the software isn't currently working. As it was working fine before I stuck my size tens in, I am thinking of moving to another setup and beginning again.
Whilst talking to Russ on Saturday, I had a sudden brainstorm and worked out a method of setting up all the various pieces of technology I need to litter the house with. So, on Sunday, I did it. I have made a lot of space, been able to place gear where I wanted it and it's cost me nothing. Naffi breaks, chuffed to.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Life gets teedjus, don't it?

Song title.

I proved my fix on the test PC yesterday by running the fix in reverse and then forwards again. There was also a problem with seating the RAM as in the early days so I have fixed that too. The network seems to be flaky though, the second NAS box will not reveal its contents and the working one seems to time out. This must be a boot sequence problem surely?
The positioner motor should arrive tomorrow and I will get that fitted on the mast and the dish fitted and then try to set it up. Once I have it working, I will push the assembly up the mast to give me some extra height for H to H working.
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Settling back in

After the excesses of the wedding, Hazel and I moved on to our shakedown holiday in janis and took off for Dover on the following morning. But that's another story!

Here, it's business as usual with my report on last evenings result with the test PC back in working order after some jiggling with the BIOS. I also set up the third LNB output on the Sky dish and used it to record a movie to watch this evening. One of the NAS boxes is now back on line and it can only be a matter of time before the second is on line again. Once I have checked out the test PC, I shall attempt to do the same with my work station and once that is resolved, the test PC will get a new OS (Windows 7) and a complete re-build. And, of course, the eight Sky/Eutelsat feeds have to be run in and the big dish fitted and connected.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The reception.........................at last.


Once we had all arrived at the venue, the getting to know you part began.


Ian soon got friendly with the guests and told them just how lucky he was.



Then the DJ decided to get the best man, Dave, up for his speech. Dave did very nicely and I was just settling back to enjoy the evening when  the b*****d DJ called me up for a speech. Nothing planned, not a thought in my head, told weak joke, toast to bridesmaids and outa there. Let the dancing commence.


The evening then progressed into the sort of  reception everybody hopes for but rarely gets, happy dancing and happy talking. A bit loud for me but most thought it tolerable. We continued until around 11pm and gradually drifted away. Wendy did almost all of the organizing and it's a tribute to her just how well the whole day went.





















Pounds House


We all followed the Roller from the church to the park and then waited whilst photos were taken in the car park.

Then on to the steps................



And on to the park itself.








This, of course, was magic for the boys and Alfie.
Mess was made and coats were removed.


And from here, to the reception..................

Monday, September 21, 2009

The wedding.


Saturday 29th August 2009


Lulu and Ian married at Central Hall in Plymouth city centre.
Most members of both families turned up from parts unknown and a high number of friends too.
For me, the day began with several trips out and about collecting and delivering things and bodies from and to various places in Plymouth. Once into my suit though I was able to relax somewhat and take a few photos.




The apparent snarl on Samuels face is his "Monster face" as taught to him by a member of the family who wishes to remain anonymous. And, no, it wasn't me. I only taught him "Pull my finger" in a restaurant on the previous evening.That was fun, eh Gill?


At the church, we forgathered and entered the building just ahead of the bride who was late but not quite late enough for some of the more elderly family and friends. She is a very keen girl!


The ceremony went without a hitch thanks to the various pieces of advice and instruction whispered from all areas of the floor. Then it was time for some photos.









Then, we thought, off to the reception......................
NO!
Off to the garden at Pounds House.






A Kentish plan or a plan of Kent?

We went on a holiday to Kent.The weather was good, in places.

The views had to be seen to be believed.

The trains were small and steamed a lot.

One of the trains was blue.At the end of the week, we came home




Nearly back to normal...................

For a given value of normal.
I have installed the new Sky dish and it is working well, I wish I could say as much for the magic eye remote system.
We have been very busy, one way or another, over the weekend. Samuel and Keane came to stay on Friday night and we have had a lot of football on the field and playing in the park as well. It's all very tiring for an old codger like me. I have also finally sorted the photos and have them re-sized and web ready now. the whole wedding set are on Picasa  and a small number of holiday pictures are also ready for this blog.
My keyboard has just died on me so I am typing with a Sun keyboard at present, very good quality but American layout.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Getting on getting on.

Spent a couple of hours fixing the brackets and mast on the terrace last evening. Got the holes in fairly quickly but had problems with the last two bolts. I need a socket set to do it easily and I couldn't find one in the dark yesterday. I am down at 238 this evening so it may not get done until tomorrow.
Then I fit the dish and octo LNB and orft we jolly well, as Jim used to say.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Back to the grind...........

Well, home again and whilst sorry to have ended our holiday, we have at least returned to very good news. Our planning application has been passed very quickly and I can, at long last, get on with finishing the terrace in time for Christmas. That means installing all the sat gear and generally cleaning the whole area up.
Sal had two wisdom teeth out yesterday, very subdued and sorry for herself when I arrived home. She did perk up a lot when the sedatives wore off but she will be on some fairly heavy pain killers for a couple of days.
Hazel and I went down to have a chat with the tenants in 238 last evening, wow, what a smell from their animals. It's no wonder they have mice problems........... 

Friday, August 28, 2009

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

The Ren and Stimpy Show
Image via Wikipedia

We picked up janis yesterday and, wow, she is looking good. The furniture is all completed and installed and the sink / hob has been fitted. Sadly, Paul didn't have time to do the plumbing or fit the gas kit but that is something I can do myself so no problems. Hazel and I are pretty tired after three hours out last night but we have to keep going for the next three days and then we can relax for our holiday.


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