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[27 Feb 2012|02:06pm] |
go me, four years no cigs....
shouldn't I feel a sense of acheivement about now?
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[29 Aug 2011|08:42am] |
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mood |
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 pissed off |
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someone remind me why I do the social thing when all it does is remind me how few people I actually know? And just when did I become such an isolated grump?
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[25 Aug 2011|08:34am] |
since I've not seen anyone on my Flist post this yet, here is something cool...
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| sat on a netbook... |
[30 Jul 2010|05:45pm] |
...because my laptop gave up the ghost sometime around 1pm, it's DEAD. Has power but won't POST. Thankfully the HD was okay, so I've snagged the irreplaceable stuff, and transferred off the settings... but it's still a devastating blow. I'm now on a loaner - beths netbook, since the p3 is really rather pants, plus the screen is loose so won't stay put.
And runs linux.
I'll learn about that stuff later, just not today. Today is a bad day.
still, it could be worse I guess. Not sure how, but it could be worse.
on the technically geeky side,when it died I didn't even think about it, just got out screwdrivers, and swapped ythe hd to see if that was the issue. It wasn't, but I did a geeky thing!
rest in peace acer aspire 9300....
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| phobile moaning |
[14 May 2010|08:13pm] |
Today came that most vexing of questions. Do I want to update my phone? my current phone is a tiddly little skype phone on three, but it does, after all, all I use it for is making emergency 999 calls, and to stay in touch when I'm at the local shops, in case there's a good bargain. Yet I'm over a year out of my last mobile contract and starting to wonder about the possibility of expanding my handset...
Now as people who read this self indulgant gibberish know, I've already had it rubbed in my face that when it comes to exciting dynamic powerful phones, with apps and internet and always on, texting, twitter I am... Well, quite frankly, the sort of person who sits at home with two yoghurt pots on a peice of string happily making blu-tack dice. That one was a very miserable realisation, so... today, since understandably, still quietly coming apart at the seems over money and lack thereof (thanks ever so much DSS, still stressing, send the damn appeal info please, you're starting to give me ulcers and chest pains...) so to the three website I went.
Now I don't need all that uber spiffy stuff, I just need a very cheap telephone, and hey - there's one that's dirt cheap, the Nokia E63, a peice of kit more notable for the fact it comes with an internet package and one of those blackberry-esque keypads than any other point of particular note. Also, it's five smackers a month cheaper than my current one. Though it's got a 24 month contract.
Yes, I kid you not, this ancient ass phone (okay, 18 months since release, but it's hardly the most exciting piece of kit - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_E63 ) has a 24 month contract. You heard... that is a DAMN long time to be tied onto a phone whose main attraction is apparently it does email. When am I ever going to need to make a major email at the corner store, will I ever find myself whilst on the way to the post box seized by the urge to do something exciting on a mailing list? it's all terribly depressing isn't it... Once I worked a call centre, and everyone will tell you that I'm actually very good at being on the other end of the phone - but stuff all use at picking the damn thing up and calling anyone (assuming there's anyone who'd want a call from me, I know I wouldn't ^_^ )
So now, I find myself looking at phones going "I'm never gunna need that, I have a laptop - I can DO all of these net type things, I don't need this sort of roaming ability, I can watch my stuff on a 17 inch screen, why would I want a phone to do it for me? It's all terribly depressing. Because the thing is I want the phones that do all these spiffy things, but what's the stuffing point if I'm never going to use them, and worse, be so scared of loosing them, or damaging them, or even taking them out in public, that frankly, why bother?
Sorry, this post was a lot more coherent on the way back from the shops, when I was making it up to distract from the blinding headache, but well, the headache isn't g0ing away ^^; sorry to rant everyone.
(so - do I want a phone that is basically good for email when its main function is to call the ambulance if I get knocked down, have an asthma attack, spot a person in medical distress? but it is cheaper... [sigh])
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| Power, having and having not. |
[26 Apr 2010|02:27am] |
Power cuts are truly terrifying things, and, should we believe the hype, something we really ought to prepare for more in the UK. Still, it doesn't stop them being any less scary when they come unexpectedly plunging the world into darkness, no cheery blue of led, no bright yellow glare of the bulb, the dull electrical hum that permeates our whole lives almost inaudibly but subtly recognised on the edge of perception is suddenly gone and eerily, scarily.. . quiet, the breathing you barely notice suddenly the loudest thing in your world, almost blasphemous to breach this utter SILENCE...
In Darkness you go for the torch you memorized the position of, go to the emergency candle stash, all set up and ready for this occasion, light them, and sit back in the golden flickering of candles, thanking goodness for gas hobs, permitting a couple of cups of hot drinks to be made in the otherwise emptiness.
Then you get down to being good and bored. There's something of the waiting room in the dentists in a power cut, sat as you are waiti9ng for goodness knows how log for your number to come up, and something to happen, mixed in with a certain dread. In the dentists this is understandable, in a power cut, it's the utter terror that the power isn't coming back and this is going to be the way it is, for the rest of time, and dammit your on a night time zone, there aren't enough candles, you miss you tech toys, no tv, no computer, no internet (though Bethy did okay on her iPhone, it's not really the same as having a big powerful laptop in front of you).
Eventually, after 25 minutes, the power came back and the electronic world that immerses in itself was back, but it's always one of those odd things when it comes along and scares the pants off you. Sitting here in the light of an electric bulb, typing on a laptop on an online blog (and LJ, hi folks there!) instead of recording it in a paper diary, it suddenly occurs how much we take it all for granted. And how utterly primally we are freaked when one of these key underpinnings of our lives is taken away. For instance, I quite enjoy a scheduled power cut while they do maintenance, I get extra candles, maybe a deck of those silly top trumps cards, make sure the hand held consoles are charged, and sit down and have fun through it, maybe if it's a daytime, have a good book to hand, or some chores to do while my time isn't being spent being distracted from the world around me by the bright glare of plasma and neon, diode and cathode.
And listen to the world around me, its bird noises, the terrifying buzz of flying insects, traffic in the distance, the people in the flat below walking into the walls and relax.
I used to like camping out in the countryside, it was fun, lots of merry people, the buzz of distant generators power burger vans in the distance, and a beautiful starry sky. Today, I probably still like that. I just don't want to ever contemplate that in my own home, or the possibility of the rolling blackout they watrn is coming down the line, energy poverty, and wondering will the lights every come back on?
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| why i hate elections |
[26 Apr 2010|02:00am] |
Seriously, every damn time we have one I get to watch everyone sit down and stop being the people I suspect I don't really know as well as I should, and get replaced with terribly bitter, partisan people, bitterly denouncing their own friends as evil or less worthy for espousing views too radical, or not radical enough, or the wrong party, or the whole core of someone's party as being a lie, or that whoever you're going to vote for are lying gits and not only can't be expected to keep promises but shouldn't have the chance to see if they will...
In short, I'm tired, I'm ill and I'm pig sick of all the nastiness, incipient or otherwise
Aren't we all on each others friends lists because at some level we all, y'know, LIKE each other? It really gets to me when everyone gets nasty about the whole affair instead of being somewhat mature and sitting back, "y'know, don't agree with that, but that's cool," and letting it ride, not like last election where I know there's STILL people who won't talk to each other because of the political back-biting.
It just utterly depresses me, and I've got enough shit on my plate at the minute.
I'm still waiting on a damn appeal, I'm exhausted all the time, I've got a fever right now, I'm freezing and I feel utterly bloody miserable, so please feel free to ignore me, or defriend me or whutever floats your boat, but lets not have world war three again, and I can see it starting to build around the edges...
What can I say, I don't handle stress well [wry]
(really, is poorly, feel free to ignore, or whatever)
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[11 Feb 2010|12:49am] |
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is it possible to stay logged in for more than 15 blasted hours?! that's the third time I've had to re-log in in two days... [peeved]
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| Google, and the BBC... not related! |
[10 Feb 2010|02:26am] |
And now google enters the market. Which market you may ask? There are after all so many that the californian company is getting into these days, mobile telephones, netbooks, slate pc's, online video streaming, os delopment, browsers, book stores, the paypal monetising system, web servers, email.. SO may things from a search engine company who managed to find a neat niche in targeted advertising.
And here's where it starts to get spooky - they've gone into social networking market. They call it Buzz, and it's going to happen to your Gmail in the not too distant future whether you want it or not. Or at least that's the way it's currently looking.
http://www.google.com/buzz is where you can find out more, so lets think - we have about 160 million users who are just going to be placed into this really rather creepy system, there are all sorts of thing in facebook that let me nail it shut so I don't get all sorts of people reading what I say that I don't want to. Not that I'm defending Facebook, I just need one to stay in touch with my mum, but the way google will seamlessly integrate every fucking thing you do into your mail so that every fucker you ever sent a pissy email too will be able to share in your life and creep you out because well, WE'VE GOT YOUR CONTACT LIST.
excuse me for being little freaked out here.Lots of people don't like me very much for a start ^_^;
It does all these wonderful things with your video and photo's (really must write that damn post...) all jammed into your inbox, shared with your nearest and dearest, prefetched so it's JUST THERE IN THE FULL SIZE AND ORIENTATION YOU EXPECT!
(as a side thought of sheer amusement, this ought to cut down people using their gmail at work lest a friend sends their dirty pics to their very close list... you can imagine the hilarity. and the lawsuits. and the P45's. Yeah, spot the cynic... "thou shalt not fall out with your email list as they will get your ass CANNED, capesh?" ^_^;
But mostly I'm pissed because I want my email to be my email and my IM client to be my IM client, and my social networking site to be my social networking site, and NOT ALL THE SAME GODDAMN APP! Mostly because it's bloaty, but just a little bit because it reminds me I don't actually know that many people who I have conversations with and calls friends because I am at heart an utter coward with the friend making skills of a flatulent skunk.
more importantly, google has a nice line in targeting stuff, for the ads... i don't want that advertising algorythm applied to my private life thankyou very much.. it's just creepy. Really. think about it. creaped out yet? ^_^
Side note from a conversation I had whilst writing this post - When the BBC went 24/7 wasn't that more or less the death of bedtime and being able to realise that you needed to go sleepies now? wouldn't it be so lovely if the BBC did a shutdown, national anthem, testcard, ceefax, or some new equivalent - I'm not fussy, before joining news 24 at the next hour or half hour break so we got that feeling of the end of the day back? This is of course spurred by a side thought about the way that the radio has a se of people who form a community for the night workers or people who have to be up- at this time of night rather than we're all just up because without the artificial breaking up of our days by such things as shut-down ETC we no longer obey our own bodies requests for sleep, or the idea we shut down now because we're ruthlessly trained by the 24/7 nature of the modern consumer world into no longer acknowledging the need for down time - it's ALL uptime, we need to be up and consuming information or entertainment and cultural norms all the hours of the day to keep up or be thought 'different'...
just a random side thought that nearly took over the post ^_^
I miss test cards and the bbc shutting down for the night, the cheery hello's when it all came back, that feeling there was a FIXED start and end to the day you could rely on...
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[27 Oct 2009|07:23am] |
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are jaws supposed to open at a slant? [worried]
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[25 Sep 2009|04:57pm] |
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just had a miserable failure to interact with citylink moment. Blogged it on my bloggy thingy. ask for link
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[19 Aug 2009|10:12pm] |
just because I'm updating everything...
I has a fallen apart tooth so dentistry needs arranging tomorrow, plus aren't ukuleles fun? just listening to the ukulele orchestra of the uk doing their prom on the listen again thingy... and it is so much fun! linky here
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| HSBC |
[17 Aug 2009|12:03pm] |
Today I went to pay some money over the counter so the recipient would have it instantly. It’s a bit of a hike to the local branch, but thats okay, I’ll run down first thing monday, and pay it in, no hassle eh?
So I get there, and the queue is long. Not in there’s many people there, in fact there’s two people at the counter, and one in front of me. The two at the counter are doing incomprehensible things with bags of copper coins, and I’m stood there thinking “I’ve managed to get chewing gum in my sole, whilst I’m stood in the damned bank cos it wasn’t there on the walk in!” I listen to some b5 music to kill the tedium.
This music is REAL good.
After a while the manageress gets up from her cubby at the front of the bank, goes behind the security door, into the cashiers cubby, talks to them a minute and walks out. “Anyone need money paid in, should clear in the next thirty minutes to an hour!” She pauses, looks at me, clutching my little paying in slip, “come here!”
“But I have to get a receipt and I haven’t got exact money, I’ve only got £90, see?”
Two seconds later a fiver is pressed into my hand, along with the tear off slip, and she’s just dropped my money in the deposit box, having jammed a hsbc branded card in the thing.
“But I need a receipt!” I say in panic
the machine spits one out, I’m handed that and she’s off back behind the glass… its useless, it’s barely legible, and just notes the number of the deposit, not where it’s going or who to, or anything….
Problem is, now I think I’ve been ripped off, and I’ll never be able to prove that money went where it was meant to, or able to chase it up and I’ve been ripped. so not loving the bank ATM.
edit : amazingly the person intended has had their money, so, i guess it was a manic stupid panic for no reason. Don't I feel really stupid....
x-posted to my blog
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[14 Aug 2009|12:13am] |
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I has a wordpress bloggy thingy. I also has a cyberstalkers. the two are kinda related ^^;
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[29 Jun 2009|04:19pm] |
i've just cut the top of my left middle finger off, and decorated the kitchen crimson. bugger.
also, ouch!
(hey this is the most exciting thing to happen this week beyond buying a nice big stand fan...)
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[24 May 2009|10:55pm] |
[kathy bouncing around like a deranged idiot]
YAY! YAY! YAY!
I can has a laptop recovery disc for this 13 month old lappy? I can has? does not have to send off and pay for the darned thing? SWEET!
no fannying bout with windows anytime discs to reinstall vista on this thing, no panicking I'll loose all the drivers, I just have a recovery disc! YAY!
(can you tell I'm pleased?)
took me three attempts and three different brands of media, but I got one!
next, do I dare use the durned thing, and do I want to install the windows 7 RC, or just flatten and start again on this vista install?
(not loving the vista thing, it's hard to find microsoft update, used to just be in the start area... much getting used to here!)
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[05 May 2009|05:41pm] |
Okay, in due deference to the fact I refuse to install win2k on my old athlon pc, i've been waiting for windows 7 to go to RC so I can see what it's like on my (old, slow, tired, creaky, LOUD) testing box, to see if all the hype about win7 actually knocking vista into a cocked hat is hype or the real deal.
Hopped on the M$ site about 8am, downloaded both copies of windows 7 (there's a 64 bit box I coaxed back into life after a major failure floating about, it's basic, but thats because we scaveneged everything in it into our main PC's ^_^) and had them on the HD by about ten thirty. Yes you may bask in the awesomeness of our line lol. it's 2 gigs for the 32 bit and 3 for the 64 btw
I dug out an old cd with a copy of nero, atually installed it (first time for everything huh?) and burnt those puppies, and then, to be honest, went off, made a cup of tea, spent time staring aimlessly out the window, dashing out for bread and milk, ignoring the huge stack of dishes in the kitchen (I didn't use that many pots since yesterday so don't ask me... they're breeding I tell ya!) and basically not doing anything techy out of sheer embarasment that this new os might be smarter than I am.
the good news is that the OS install is so ridiculously suprisingly easy that even a PE teacher can manage it (apologies to PE teachers) you tell it who it is, set names, locations and bash in the activation, all the while staring at the pretty blue image that when the thing gets as far as failing WGA it's a bit of a suprise.
Yeah.
it fails WGA as part if the installation process, do NOT ask me why... a few minutes of frantically telling the thing to validate online and we're into the very very pretty desktop, which demanded i update windows defender, install an ativirus, and then proceeded to confuse me utterly as I just could NOT find the internet explorer icon so I could install firefox, looking at the thing, it's a lot like the interface and layout for vista that just looks NOTHING Like xp when you're trying to install apps.
First impresions of the new taskbar? it's exceedingly odd to not have the quicklaunch area, with those pinned thingies, but I DO like the bit by the clock which just looks and acts like a sensible reporting and feedback area (your pc is about to blow up/volume controls/info burts)
Initial feedback from someone who's never used vista? it's terribly pretty, but it's going to take some getting used to. I'll look into it more when I've got more than 5 minutes to sit there and complain "so where the hell do I go to get help you dumb lump of (very very pretty) festering junk!"
it's really VERY pretty.
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