Archive for March, 2008
Monday, March 31st, 2008, 9:16 pm
The Ribble nearly deafened me on the way to work this morning with all the noise coming from the drivetrain, so about 6 months after I bought it, I finally got around to fitting the new bottom bracket. Hopefully it’ll be a lot more peaceful tomorrow.
Update: The clunking and general wobbliness has gone, but not all of the creaking.
Posted in Bikes | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 31st, 2008, 3:33 pm
Posted in Bikes | 14 Comments »
Monday, March 31st, 2008, 1:25 pm
I’ve got rid of the litter tray that Mulder and Scully had been using. They’ve not used it much since I let them out, but will it’s absence cause a nasty surprise on the carpet somewhere?
At least the house should smell nicer now it’s gone.
Posted in Mulder and Scully | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 30th, 2008, 7:33 pm
Wordpress 2.5 is out. It installed cleanly on my development site, but the flickr manager plugin seemed to hang. Eventually I worked out that there was an update available for it which hadn’t been announced and that seemed to solve the problem, so a quick svn sw http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/tags/2.5/ later and everything was upgraded cleanly.
The newly redesigned admin pages take a bit of getting used to, everything isn’t quite where I expect it to be, but I assume I’ll get used to it fairly quickly. The new dashboard view is better now that it includes a stats widget.
Posted in Tech | No Comments »
Sunday, March 30th, 2008, 1:07 pm
Obviously it’s not staying to watch the Olympics.
Timing Site Status
2008-03-28 14:00:00 WEIFANG Posting
2008-03-28 18:49:01 WEIFANG Arrival at Sorting Center
2008-03-28 19:35:52 WEIFANG Despatch from Sorting Center
2008-03-30 00:16:39 BEIJING Arrival at Sorting Center
2008-03-30 06:00:18 BEIJING Despatch from Sorting Center
Posted in Courierwatch | No Comments »
Sunday, March 30th, 2008, 12:47 pm
The grip and hot shoe cover for my G9 arrived yesterday from Lensmate, the grip fits perfectly and makes it slightly easier to handle the camera, the hot shoe cover just looks nice.

Posted in Photography | 1 Comment »
Saturday, March 29th, 2008, 6:25 pm
1. Evening Of Swing (Has Been Cancelled)
2. Bad Losers On Yahoo Chess
3. Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show
4. Ode To Joyce
5. Blue Badge Abuser
6. Totnes Bickering Abuser *
7. King Of Hi-Vis
8. Lord Hereford’s Knob
9. On The ‘Roids
10. Petty Sessions
11. Little In The Way Of Sunshine
12. Give Us Bubblewrap
13. National Shite Day
* I suspect this should be “Totnes Bickering Fair”.
Posted in Music | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 29th, 2008, 5:48 pm
It’s made it to Beijing now.
Timing Site Status
2008-03-28 14:00:00 WEIFANG Posting
2008-03-28 18:49:01 WEIFANG Arrival at Sorting Center
2008-03-28 19:35:52 WEIFANG Despatch from Sorting Center
2008-03-30 00:16:39 BEIJING Arrival at Sorting Center
Posted in Courierwatch | 5 Comments »
Saturday, March 29th, 2008, 1:48 pm
Just for Matt.

Posted in Mulder and Scully, Photography | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 29th, 2008, 8:48 am
This time it’s coming from China.
Timing Site Status
2008-03-28 14:00:00 WEIFANG Posting
2008-03-28 18:49:01 WEIFANG Arrival at Sorting Center
2008-03-28 19:35:52 WEIFANG Despatch from Sorting Center
Posted in Courierwatch | 2 Comments »
Friday, March 28th, 2008, 1:54 pm
Posted in Music | 3 Comments »
Thursday, March 27th, 2008, 8:15 pm
Your payment is achieved.
Followed by
Your order in our shop is confirmed and is being shipped soon.
And
Your order in our shop is sent out. Please check and wait to receive it.
Courtesy of Pansh Kite Inc. All shopping sites should be this polite.
Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008, 9:24 pm
Seven seasons watched in five weeks, partly thanks to a long easter weekend and a bout of flu. All finished off with the realisation that season 7 is absolutely dire, and season 6 isn’t that much better.
Posted in Television | 5 Comments »
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008, 10:15 pm
Since letting Mulder and Scully out on Friday morning I’ve not seen them much. They are spending most of their time outside, only popping in for an occasional bite to eat, or a quick nap somewhere warm.

Posted in Mulder and Scully | 4 Comments »
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008, 9:25 pm
Thursday was Father’s 60th birthday, so we celebrated with dinner at Casanis in town, the food was superb, highly recommended. Friday I finished season 5 of Buffy and started season 6. Saturday was Alex’s birthday, I declined an invite out for a curry to celebrate that and watched more No Country for Old Men, and lots more Buffy. Today is easter Sunday, and for a change we went for lunch in Bar Ha! Ha! in town, then up to Mum and Dads for the obligatory easter egg hunt.

More photos.
Posted in Me, Television | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008, 6:10 pm
Another familiar voice crops up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, last time it was Kathryn Joosten who played Dolores Landingham, this time it’s Kirsten Nelson who played the young Dolores Landingham in one episode of The West Wing.
Posted in Television | 2 Comments »
Friday, March 21st, 2008, 4:27 pm
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2008, 11:07 pm
They’ve been with me just over a month now, so it’s time for an update. Scully is still very nervous of people, and if you move towards her she’ll back off. Mulder is a little bolder, sometimes you can stroke or tickle him, sometimes he’ll back off. Anything at floor level which they can move has been chased all over the house, they’ve even recovered some of Hobbes’ old table-tennis balls that hadn’t been seen for years. Provided the weather isn’t too bad, I’ll let them out for the first time tomorrow, they keep looking longingly out of the windows at the outside world.
Currently they are play fighting with each other, and chasing each other and anything else they can find around the house.
Posted in Mulder and Scully | 4 Comments »
Thursday, March 20th, 2008, 9:30 am
Happy birthday to Father. He can go and pick up his free bus pass now.
Posted in Misc | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008, 9:40 pm
I picked up a Canon Powershot G9 on the way home from the doctors earlier, first impressions are that it’s nice and solid and seems to work very well.
A couple of grab-shots of Mulder and Scully.


Posted in Mulder and Scully, Photography | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008, 8:56 pm
Following a trip to see a doctor this afternoon, I’m being referred for physiotherapy to see if that helps.
Posted in Me | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008, 1:05 pm
Well actually I haven’t yet, but if Steve picks up the tickets for Half Man Half Biscuit at Rock City in April, you never know what could happen.
Hopefully they’ll play “Tonight Matthew I’m going to be with Jesus” from which the title of this post originates
I’ve been up to no good,
I’ve been dissed in the hood,
I’ve been locked in the Rock City, Notts,
Posted in Gigs | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008, 11:51 am
| My work PC has died, I can’t log in to it any more. |
Posted in Tech | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008, 6:37 pm
New LP CSI: Ambleside is on the way - 28 April is the release date
http://www.hmhb.co.uk/
Or order from Amazon
Posted in Music | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008, 9:07 am
Total photo views last week: 367
Total photo views yesterday: 3677
Oddly, the highest view counts were for photos from last year.
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2008, 5:04 pm
It was a bit muddy down on the Rec for the Bath Half Marathon. The toilet facilities were interesting though.

More Photos
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2008, 9:43 am
I can hardly move today. It took me 15 minutes just to get out of bed.
Posted in Me | 1 Comment »
Sunday, March 16th, 2008, 7:29 pm
Very wet, very cold, very very muddy, very delayed, very chaotic.
I left the house at 8, and got home a bit before 7, my back is ruined and I need refueling with pizza and beer. I didn’t even get to take many photographs.
Posted in Scouts | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 15th, 2008, 11:24 am
A number of people are attempting to do "30 from 30" which means riding for at least an hour each day for 30 consecutive days during March. In my own way I beat them to it, I did 30 from 29 in February. That’s 30 miles in 29 days. Quite impressive really.
Posted in Bikes | 4 Comments »
Friday, March 14th, 2008, 3:13 pm
Not only does our new web filter have a problem with Scunthorpe, it also dislikes Clitheroe and Middlesborough.
Posted in Tech | 8 Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 8:30 pm
My new BlackRapid RS-2 camera strap arrived today. It’s a bit different from a "normal" strap in that you wear it bandolier style, and the camera hangs upside-down behind you when you aren’t using it. A quick living-room test seems promising, it’ll get a proper test at the half-marathon on Sunday.
Posted in Photography | 8 Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 5:52 pm
Posted in Mulder and Scully | 5 Comments »
Thursday, March 13th, 2008, 1:28 pm
“The larvae lamps, free food and games are all part of the Google culture. It is informal and a structure that isn’t dictated from the top,” he said.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Google your way to a wacky office
Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008, 9:21 pm
I had the pleasure of spending the evening in the Roman Baths at a Civic Reception with Councillor Ian Dewey, the chairman of B&NES council, and fourty or so scouting people. If you are going to hold a Civic Reception, the Roman Baths makes a perfect location, even though we were outside for the first hour or so.
The wine wasn’t entirely to my taste, but the stew and mash, risotto, and sticky toffee pudding were a nice surprise.
Posted in Scouts | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008, 4:36 pm
I popped into the sorting office on the way home to pick up a package from yesterday, only to get home and find another bloody red card on the floor telling me there’s another parcel to collect.
Posted in Me | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008, 1:28 pm
Duties on alcohol will go up by 2% above inflation for next four years.
BBC NEWS | Politics | At-a-glance: Budget 2008
There’s a better budget report available here: The Daily Mash - BUDGET LIVE!
Posted in Misc | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008, 10:23 pm
I’m now four sevenths of the way through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I’m taking advantage of the Play.com sale, and have ordered all five seasons of Angel for £9.99 each. That should see me through until the summer.
Posted in Television | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 10th, 2008, 9:39 pm
A familiar voice crops up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s Dolores Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), albeit looking somewhat different.
Posted in Television | No Comments »
Monday, March 10th, 2008, 6:59 pm
I left my new light tent out on the table last night and Scully obviously decided it would be a nice place to sleep, so it’s now full of black cat hair which isn’t particularly useful.
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 9th, 2008, 9:09 pm
Posted in Cats | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 7th, 2008, 4:36 pm
My new phone is on it’s way.
Posted in Courierwatch, Me | 6 Comments »
Friday, March 7th, 2008, 2:24 pm
I ordered a nice shiny new phone yesterday to replace my aging K750i, reassured by the promise of next-day delivery I opted to pay extra for Saturday morning delivery as I was guaranteed to be in then and it gave them an extra day to sort things out.
I should have been slightly concerned when the order never appeared on my account, but I was still getting emails saying it was being dealt with, however I’ve just had a cryptic email which after telling me what to do about returning faulty handsets, seems to say that rather than deliver when they said they could, they might send it within 5 working days if I’m lucky. Time to cancel the order and go elsewhere I think.
Posted in Courierwatch, Me | 1 Comment »
Thursday, March 6th, 2008, 5:41 pm
A couple of weeks ago I enabled SPF checking on my mail server to see if it actually did any good or not, and the answer is a resounding "no". In the time I was running it it only blocked a couple of mails, which almost certainly would have been dropped via other methods anyway, and actually blocked at least one legitimate email. I’ll stick to using a combination of the zen.spamhaus.org DNSBL and greylisting which works perfectly well.
Posted in Tech | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008, 7:21 pm
After some 17 weeks, I’ve finally finished watching The Sopranos on More4 where they’ve been showing it every weekday night. Having watched the last episode I must say it came as something of an anticlimax, it’s almost as if they ran out of tape and didn’t bother recording the last few seconds of the episode. I’m left with no feeling of closure.
Posted in Television | 4 Comments »
Saturday, March 1st, 2008, 9:01 pm
Mulder and Scully are currently doing laps of the television, making it somewhat tricky to see the picture at times.
Posted in Mulder and Scully | 1 Comment »