What next?
A man has been attacked by a hooligan group of cows running riot in a field. That said, they were perfectly fine before he invaded their space. Maybe they just didn't like the fact if him being a police officer, but do we blame them?
The lies, the corruption, the violence - it goes on. That said, they're not all like that, but it depends on where in the world you are.
I hope Inspector Chris Poole has learnt his lesson and refrains from invading the privacy of the usually calm and collected cows among us. When bizarre events like this occur, there is usually more to it - so what really happened?
I was picking apples from the apple tree in my garden the other day, they were quite nice. I'm going to grab some more and make an apple pie. It made me think, yes these apples are as fresh as I am going to get any fruit. I'm in the process of growing some strawberry plants, which will fruit next year and deliver some lovely strawberries to have with various other things. It's a shame we dug the rhubarb up, but we had other plans.
I think in the future, I'll try growing some other stuff.
Whatever happens, I think I'll pass on this 116 year old orange as the stuff I produce will taste fasr better.
Fancy that, a 1970 painting that has been found dumped on a New York street has been identified as work by Rufino Tamayo and is reported to be worth around $1 million (£488,000). I wonder if the person who dumped it was aware of the valuation?
Probably not, but I bet they are gutted now.
For anyone that is interested in buying it, it's going up for sale at Sothebys Latin American Art aution on the 20th of November.
This is my first post in a while, time seems to pass so quickly, but I'm going to try and make an errort to blog more. There has been a lot happening around the world as always, but some news today that I just read:
Singapore Airlines are selling seats on their first commercial flight of the new Airbus A380 on, of all places - Ebay. These tickets will obviously be sold for well over the odds, but I'm sure there will be plenty of takers.
It will be nice flying on this beast, the question is - Which airline will provide the best entertainment and use the space in the best possible way? That all depends on what they think customers will want, but I bet none of the airlines bother to even ask any consumers though.
Just having plenty of space to move around and chill in would be nice, at the moment this is something that is hard to come by, without paying over the odds. Anything else would be a bonus.
Well, it has already been 2 months since my last post. Time really does fly, but not so much if you're clock watching. I was planning on posting in April, but had a lot of thingd going on and never did.
Anyway, the Snowbombing trip was excellent, I'll be going back next year. Next month it is Beachbombing, I'm in the process of sorting this out. It's only £69 for 3 nights so well worth it.
There is a lot going on in the technology world as usual but there are a few interesting things which have caught my eye. The firmware hack for the XBOX 360 DVD drive is one of them, it'll be interesting to see how that pans out and how MS plan to combat the up and coming piracy. Check out the video of a hacked unit playing a copy of PGR 3.
There is plenty of activity in the PSP world as well. Lots of interesting applications are being released, including alternative shells, emulators and a VNC type application. I've downloaded updated firmware versious a number of times, but it's always a choice between upgrading by choice and being forced to by the desire to play a new game which demands the upgrade. Forced upgrading is a smart move by Sony, partly to try and stop people running custom code and also to provide new functionality.
The days are getting longer warmer, so it'll be more of a reason to be outside with the portable gadgets and less reason to be inside on the computers. I'm wondering what my next gadget purchase will be. I've been meaning to get a portable GPS navigator for my car, probably the new TomTom GO 910. Although I think they are still a bit on the expensive side for what they are, but worth it when you're doing a lot of driving around and there is usually more of this going on in the summer.
Summer is coming, enjoy it!
The cable has just bee installed, so now there are more channels to watch. It was more a case of just delivering the decoder and testing really as the cables were already in place. Telewest are providing us with a phone line and TV then will get ADSL from Bulldog which will also require another phone line. As soon as the postal issue is sorted out, I'll be able to get my DVD subscription from Screen Select sending through more movies to watch so there will be plenty of entertainment.
There were some very nice cars on show yesterday and after leaving London after Jenson Button oficially started the rally, the drivers headed down to Dover to catch the ferry. If the party on Friday and the rest of the fun that has been going on is anything to go by then the rest of the rally will be a storm.
I got talking to a number of people and that is a lot of the fun, meeting people and such, which is what life in general is all about really!
I'm condisering taking part next year, if not it won't be long until I do as it'll be a great experience. I'm back home in Solihull now and had a nice lunch down at Yo Sushi earlier. When I eat out, I like to try everything which isn't usually possible in the one single visit, for a number of obvious reasons so I'll have to head back there soon. I was meant to go out last night, but could not be bothered in the end and I did want to head back to London to support a march that was taking place and listen to the speakers, but that never happened either because I was too lazy to get up early.
There is always next time of course, a good weekend regardless!
We all know special offers are a good marketing trick, but for the consumer they can also help you to save a lot of money. A lot of the time most people shop online at shops they know and trust, the same goes for when doing the shopping at the local shops down the street. If only people would spend more time searching around for the best prices, a lot of money would be saved. It's convenient to not have to do this, but for the sake of a little effort it will save you money.
I've made lots of nice little savings by visiting a number of shops to check the prices on certain items and also the price differences are not that great, when you add the savings together they soon mount up. Even when there are no special offers taking place, you can still save money. From the business point of view the special offers to tempt people to buy and thus for the businesses are a great idea. Sometimes people would be tempted to buy a product or service because it looks good and is about to run out. You purchase and check back in a week or two only to find the same deal running, but has now been extended!
That is a nice trick, which is used all of the time. There is a nice offer taking place at the moment for the Internet access that I'll probably get in the new apartment. The offer actually ended earlier this month but has been extendede until the end of May now.
Certainly be sure to shop around and take advantage of the best prices and tools such as Froogle.
I just thought, I wonder when Gmail will hit 2600 megabytes per account? Place your bets! Try guessing without calculating it by using the current rate at what it is increasing to help you.
I'm going to guess at the 25th of August. I might be way off, especially if the size starts to increase faster or more slowly than the current rate but that is what having a guess is all about. I did a quick rough calculation but that involved figures that were very rough, in my head. Have a guess and don't cheat. If you feel the desire, post your guess.
I've not heard anybody ever say this, but it seems that it is quite a long running thing, proven to be a myth. Multiple forms of scientific evidence are available to show that we do indeed use different parts of our brains spread out of the entire geographic area covered inside our skulls.
Various people have claimed that we don't use most of our brain capacity because most of the physical area is not used. Not used all at once maybe, but generally speaking through an average day all of the different parts are used as we do and experience different things.
As discussed in an article I have just read, which explains why the "10% rule" is fundamentally flawed, you can see that because of how news speads, when people talk about things that they generally don't understand, they can't form a proper calculated opinion based on fact, even if those facts are present because their understanding of the subject is missing.
Due to this, when people discuss topics that they don't understand, they will be more inclined to believe something when they are told it, even if not proven to be fact. In the case of the "10% myth" because so many people are talking about the topic and don't understand it and have not looked at proven scientific evidence, the wrong information spreads. Even though incorrect, because more people are saying the same thing, more people believe it. Unless of course they have looked at the evidence and done their own research to find out the truth.
That's the problem with a lot of things these days. People have their opinions that are biased and not based on fact but rather what they believe to be fact or what they have been tolod by someone who they think knows what they are talking about. Really, it boils down to ignorance. What is the solution?
Education is the solution. People in the know, should correct people they hear misinforming other people about any subject for which they know about or know enough about the facts. Uninformed opinions are biased and unfounded. People should know the facts or keep quiet. There is no excuse for ignorance.
One day something that is a myth, really will be just that instead of turned from a myth to something that appears to be the truth because of too many people spreading false information around.
I've just read an article which provides some information about how to blog and not get fired as well as how to write a blog and keep your identity anonymous. The number of people being fired for their blog content is rising so of course being sensible is a must. There are various actions you can take, such as excluding your blog from the search engine indexes for example, if you desire. The article only touches the surface of the issues but it's a nice guide for people that are interested.
Google has acquired Urchin Software for an fee which has not been disclosed. The idea itself is interesting, Google states it wants to be able to provide better statistical reporting for customers, amongst other things. Obviously for AdSense and AdWords publishers and customers respectively, they'll see some improvements.
A lot of people will be having a long weekend this weekend, so whatever you are doing, enjoy it. If I had of sorted it out earlier, I'd have done to Miami for the Winter Music Conference this week and Ultra Music Festival this weekend, but being my usual last minute self, I didn't arrange it and flights were limited. I'll just have to listen to the BBC Radio 1 coverage and look forward to next year. I don't think the weather will be as nice over here in the UK though!
There seems to be a lot of bugs going around at the moment, a lot of people I know have come down with various things. I've not had any issues yet but these things spread around easily ans quickly so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Some of it has to do with the weather so reducing the amount of time being spent out in the cold should help.
Ebay are giving away loads more items starting on the 10th of March 2005 and running through until 21st March 2005. All you have to do to be in with a chance is buy or sell items in the specially selected categories and then enter via the Ebay site and complete a short brain teaser. If you answer the question correctly, your entry might be picked as a winner, winning entries are picked at random on a day to day basis.
Check out the promotion pages for all of the information about the competition and what prizes are available!
I've just received a cheque from Google, payment for being part of the Adsense program. With the way the exchange rate is at the moment, since it's paid in American dollars, it does not work out as nicely as it could have done when converted to pounds sterling.
The amount came to just over $100 which is from when I joined back in May 2004 until near the end of February 2005. As they say, every little helps. It's good that Google extended the program so that more people can take part.
I've reported a number of issues that are really annoying, such at messages being filtered to the spam folder that already have rules. It happens quite a lot to some of my messages from certain mailing lists and although I have reported it a number of times nothing has yet been done to fix it. Come on Google, sort it out!
This year is going really fast, although we are not that far through it, if it continues at the current rate that it seems to be progressing then it'll be the end of the year again in no time. I'm like most people in that I have a number of things to achieve this year that relate to various things. Thinking about it now, I should start planing some of them, such at holidays and such like. Some things are open at the moment so I've got to hurry up and decide upon the plan of action for them.
Like Jeremy was recently saying about calendars, I need to start using one so that I can enter dates and see what clashes and then make decisions. There is a lot I want to do this year and next and with a little bit of planning it should all be possible.
Even if time is going faster than normal.
I'm having to send a few faxes off, but not having a fax machine makes it hard to do and although it is possible with some software, I'd still need to connect the modem, which is too much effort. Why is that some companies insist on using fax as a method of sending information when I could easily scan something in and email it?
It just makes things a lot more difficult.
Good news for all X-Files fans, it looks like there is going to be a new film which will be released during 2006. The film probably will not carry on from the last ever episode for a number of reasons, one of the main things is that the film will need to be one that can be watched by everyone rather than people that were interested in the series. Check out the full details of the interview with David.
When you have an expectation, no matter what it is you would like it to be met. In business this is even more important. I've learned via previous experiences that setting the expectation of a customer is one of the most important things you can do in relation to the entire customer experience that a company can provide.
Of course, meeting the expectations of a customer is good, but beating them is even better. The problem is that most of the time no expectation is set by a company and even when it is, sometimes it is broken. In this situation, depending on the circumstances it may be more appropriate not to set any expectations rather than set some and then fail to meet them. Aiming to beat what a customer expects by over providing is the key. More often than not I find that my expectations, although usually clear, are not met.
One of the worst things a company can do is agree something with a customer and then fail to deliver. Something as simple as being told you will get a call back shortly & then not receiving one is something I find annoying and I also find that it happens to me quite a lot. I've had banks do it & various other companies. I have no problems in saying great things about companies who can deliver a good service but generally when people experience good things with a company then don't always talk about it.
When someone has a bad experience with a company they will talk. I know I usually do. It's just how the system works. Due to the technical customer facing roles I've worked in, I have learnt a lot about the whole customer relationship topic and because of this I probably notice issues more than a standard consumer might.
Due to the recent bad experiences I've had with a number of companies, some not even responding to comlpaint letters, I've come to a number of conclusions. The bottom line is a lot of companies need to get their acts together because the customer service provided is definately not what it should be & being able to provide a half decent service is not really a hard thing to achieve, even when the company is large and has a lot of customers, they are all as important as each other but with some companies they don't have this view towards their customer base.
I've just watched a number of videos that were filmed by people in various locations that were affected by the Tsunami. After watching these videos, I now realise the power of the ocean. The destruction that was caused in a matter of minutes will take so long to be cleared up and the lives that have been lost can never be replaced.
When events like these occur it makes you really appreciate it when you live in places where these things do not happen. There are more videos and links relating to the Tsunami incident available here as well as many more sites that a quick Google search reveals.
Just a quick message to wish you all a happy new year. I'm off out now to party all through the night so I hope you have a good one and enjoy it. I got up late today so should be awake all night tonight and full of energy!
Happy new year!
The bets were in, thinking about it now I wish I had of had a bet. The odds were recently reduced as word was spreading that we were going to have a white Christmas. After reading about snow on Jeremy Zawodny's blog and seeing a picture of how thick it has been falling in some parts of the world, I took and quick look out of the window and was shocked to see show on the ground and falling from the sky.
It's not very thick at the moment, but this is the first time we have had any snow on Christmas day in a long time. The climate is changing globally so we have not seen snow fall much for a long time, but a little is better than none!
That has put the icing on the cake for many children this Christmas. I'll probably get some pictures plus take some with my Nokia 6600 and post them on my moblog. I've been meaning to setup the handset and make sure it works with my setup so this is an ideal opportunity.
It was snowing here in January and March earlier this year, we'll probably see it fall from now through to around the same time next year so we might be lucky and see it fall quite a lot for the first time in ages. I should have some pictures to come later hopefully.
I'm going to London tomorrow during the day to do some more things but more about those things later. I've got a load of things to catch up on, maybe I'll spend some time over the next few days getting on top of them.
The London trip should be good, but more on that later.
I've not been at work today, so I have spent the day doing nothing. It makes a change. I've not bothered with Ebay today either since the prizes are mini iPod units and I'm getting one of the 60GB units soon.
I'm off out clubbing now, so enjoy the hunt or whatever else you are doing!
I always end up spending a load of money on vinyl when I go searching for records. I'll only be looking for one thing and end up buying a load of records. It's not just with ordering vinyl though, it happens when I am shopping online for other things too. I know what is to blame though. Something we all know and love, the good old search feature. It allows us to find what we want, but along with features such as personal recommendations and information about what other customers purchased it can become and deadly tool. I've noticed this quite a lot, on various sites. It is great marketing and using my own experiences as an example they really make me end up spending more money.
I bet I am not the only one who has fallen down in the path of these marketing strategies. The problem is being able to resist the temptation. I sometimes find this hard because when I have desire for something, I get it. When it comes to buying things, cost usually does not form part of the equation to deciding on the purchase especially when the techniques above have been implemented.
Since it is so easy to point and click, is it any surprise that Internet based shopping is growing on a massive scale? Not really. I've read that online shopping may well overtake traditional methods this Christmas due to the fact people can find better deals online, search for exactly what they want instead of spending time going to stores & locating the goods and then waiting around in queues for hours. Online shopping is a lot more attractive in these respects and since more people now have broadband at home it means that the whole experience can be a good one.
As time goes on I can see more things being implemented to allow for quicker and more prodictive shopping to happen online and along with these features will come more purchases, simple because it's so easy which is not something you can hold off if you really like buying things. It's time to destroy and credit cards you might have!
I wonder if there have been any cases of people suing companies because they allowed someone to spend too much money and cause them problems?
As mad as it sounds, I bet there has been.
I've had it with trains. In this country, the service seems to be getting worse. If it is not one thing, it's another. When you have to rely on trains or any form of transport you would expect the service to be half decent. It is always the way that when you are in a rush, some issue appears that causes a delay. Maybe these delays are always or mostly evident but we don't notice them so much but they really stick out when you need to be somewhere at a speific time.
The most annoying thing is that I can be on time, waiting for the train but because something out of my hands happens which causes a delay, the rest of my trip plan becomes viod and I'm then running late which can be very frustrating when it continally happens. I'll consider making it part of my daily routine soon so that I change my journey plan to incorporate the fact something is going to happen.
The national rail services have to deal with more than the tube networks so more delays occur but even so, there are other countries that have a really good national rail service far better than the one found here in the UK.
Now, one would normally come up with a plan or change a current plan, as I have done. What would be a lot better is being able to not have to use public transport all the time. It would be nice, but I don't have a choice at the moment and it is not having the choice which is the most annoying part because if I did have a choice I'd obviously choose the other or one of the other options.
What fun it is going to be over the up and coming holiday period. I'm not going to name and shame a certain provider on this issue as it is a combined effort of a number of providers and industry regulators that are to blame. Not very good timing of track works and such all add to the problems.
Sort it out!
The guys over at Ultima Sports have achieved a new world record, the Ultima GTR is now oficially the worlds fastest production road legal car, taking the title for the fastest time from 0-60, 0-100 & 0-100-0 MPH.
It clocks in at:
0-60: 2.7 secs
0-100: 5.5 secs
0-100-0: 10.3 secs
It beats the Maclaren F1, Ferrari Enzo, & Porsche Carrera GT to name a few. One of the main differences with the Ultima GTR is that it is a kit car but you can buy one in ready made if you desire. The price tag on the GTR is also more affordable for most people as with the other cars and indeed most things, you're usually paying mostly for the name but if you would rather go all the way on specifications and statistics with a car, you'd be better off going for an Ultima GTR.
Being made in Leicester it is a British Company and quite local to me. I'll probably get one myself when I have the money, I'm not sure if I would go for it before or after the other car on my list, a Techart GT Street S or maybe by the time I can get either, I'll have changed my mind again. Check out some videos to see what the GTR can do.
Another year nearly over and the summer here has long gone. With only Christmas left, it will soon be time for people to start thinking about their resolutions for the new year. I don't tend to bother, bt maybe I will think of something to start or stop doing soon.
Since it's the time to stsrt buying presents, lets of people will be out shopping a lot and thinking of things to buy. I tend to do things last minute. More people will be doing their gift shopping online and I don't blame them. For a start, you will save hours simply by using search features on sites and also being able to easily compare prices on sites such as Kelkoo will mean savings will be made. It is a lot more trouble comparing prices when you are actually out shopping but online it could not be easier. No wondering around, no time lost going from store to store & no waiting around in a queue.
There are times when going to a shop is better. Some things, although you can buy online are better being seen in the flesh. Some items are still worth buying online for cheaper prices, but initially check them out in a shop first. Examples might be clothes or electronic goods, for me personally anyway.
I'm going to try and restrict my spending on items for myself and try and save more money in 2005, since I'm going to be investing a lot in the markets and other areas as well as investing in my business operations. In the end, my plans shoud allow me to build up a nice portfolio and supply the financial backing for me to buy and do pretty much anything I want to.
I recently ordered a few games, including Halo 2. Out of the ones I ordered, Halo 2 was the one I wanted to get more quickly than the others as this was new and the only one I had not yet played since it has only just been released.
Over two weeks later and it has not yet arrived, either lost in the post or stolen by someone. I've requested that another copy be sent, but it'll not be here until next week. I've had other things go missing in the post before. No idea where, but it does not help when some companies put their name all over the package and then also don't send the package recorded delivery. It's just asking for trouble.
NASA has recently announced that it's X-43A Scramjet has broken a speed record. The figures are pretty amazing. It was flying at nearly Mach 9.8 which works out to about 7,000 miles per hour as it was 110,000 over the Pacific ocean.
Imagine flying toa nother country at that speed? Maybe it will be the next generation Concorde? Of course that is a long way off. The flight of course was not manned and after departing from the carrying B-52 at 40,000ft is then increased speed and height for around 620 miles before falling to the depths of the sea.
It's a record breaking achievement and lets hope the data gathered can be used in many ways in the future to continue development of this craft and others.
Check out the Hyper-X project site.
At the moment I'm in the process of moving some of the company related things that have been setup, to be part of the limited company status. It seems it would have been better getting the company incorporated first and then setting up the bank account and such. The way it has been done, it means more trouble moving everything over to being limited.
Everything is nearly sorted though, that is the main thing.
There are loads of places that you can rent a DVD from these days, some just online based. I've looked at a few in the UK and one of the best appears to be Screen Select. Of course there are that many free trials about you could probably go for about a year without actually paying just by creating accounts and enjoying free trials. I'll gather some together and post them up. I watch a lot of films and Screen Select appears to have the biggest selection to choose from with 25,000 titles as well as:
* No due dates
* No late fees
* First class postage
* Freepost returns
* Rent unlimited DVDs
* No commitments
* No cancellation fees
If you continue and become a paying member after the free trial, which currently lasts 14 days it costs £14.99 a month, which is pretty good. Other sites allow more rentals at once but even so, if you are limited to 3 at a time because of the quick service you'll easily be able to get 100 films per month if you watched and returned titles quickly but most people would probably not watch that many in that time.
I'm going to try out the free trial and then check out some other ones too, probably. But when it comes to paying, I'll probably go with Screen Select due to the large collection & no charges for late returns and such.
Renting online via the post can be a lot easier as you can search for what you want easily, amongst other things. With Screen Select you choose titles and then select a priority for them and then will be then sent to you when a copy is available so if you keep the number of selections on your account high, you'll constantly have new films being delivered!
When opening tickets with some companies, I've found that if it is a sales related request, they keep asking for updates from you, asking if you are going to buy a product or upgrade a service and such.
If it is a technical ticket or support request, it takes a lot longer to get a reply from the company providing the service, not always but sometimes. Some companies are better some are worse. The only way to get around this is to ensure that you are covered by a decent SLA plan. Of course this usually costs a lot more but as they say you do get what you pay for and for the majority when you do pay, things do get delivered most of the time to within agreed service levels.
It is just funny that when you're not covered by an SLA the techincal things take longer to get sorted, but the sales people are always on your back for updates to any enquiries you have made. It does make business sense for the sales people to work like that, but still.
I keep forgetting to post the letter to Vodafone I have written. It's not that often I post anything these days, it would be so much easier to email but for a fomal complaint the letter is the tradtional and correct way of addressing a company or possibly by fax.
Are things going to change, where the more common method of using the postal system is replaced by email when relating to issues which would have usually required a letter. We'll see, but for now I guess we'll all have to stick to the more professional and accepted method of using the postal systems. We'll just have to remember to actually post the letters and such.
I've been having problems with using my mobile phone abroad, ever since I first got one back in 1999. Back then, there were various issues that prevented me from receiving calls but I could make calls. Ever since I moved over to a monthly contract in 2002, I've had problems making and receiving.
I've been through a number of handsets and they all have the same issue. I've changed SIM cards and had all of the barring lifted from my account. The issue so I am told now is barring on my handset. I've tried other SIM cards belonging to friends in my handset when abroad and theirs work fine so you would think that rules out any barring on the handset. Vodafone customer services seem to think it is a problem with my handset though and even after providing me with a number of codes to remove any barring, the barring still shows up on their system.
Each time I call I have to explain the situation to a new person and most of the time they don't know what they are talking about. Everything has been changed. I've tried different handsets & different SIM cards but the problem still remains. I ever tried to get my pin reset so I could check my voicemail from other phones when away but even this was not completed.
Whilst I was away in Germany recently I had to buy a handset with a German SIM card so that I could be contacted. It really is an inconvienience when I'm away that I can't easily make calls or be contacted and I have put up with it for long enough now. Firstly I just got a SIM card, a pay as you go one which did not work in my handset due to locking in place so I had to buy an all in one package.
I've written Vodafone a letter now as it seems that is the only way to get this registered properly as a complaint and get my problems sorted. No other person I know has any issues at all on Vodafone when abroad. I'm going to claim back the cost of buying a new handset and also the money I have spent on making calls from other phones since it has not only cost me more money doing this but it has also caused me inconvienience and lost business. I'm also paying for ICS - International Call Saver - which is a waste of money since I can't even make use of it & in the process of people changing things on my account they managed to remove my ability to send MMS messages, but that has been sorted out.
I will hopefully claim this back in the way of free line rental for a period of a few months. I'm going to have to wait to see what Vodafone say, but if the issue is not sorted and they don't reimburse my expenses then I shall have to investigate other means of getting a result.
I've had to make so many calls and speak to so many people, it really is a joke that it has still not been sorted out yet. On another side note, looking on the Vodafone UK site they are now offering new special deals which can probably only be purchased via the website as new contracts which cost the same amount as what I'm paying but include a lot more. I'm going to have to see if I can get moved over to one of these as it really is annoying when you see these packages advertised but are then told they are for new contracts only.
People are not informed that Vodafone contracts online and purchased from a shop are handled and billed by different companies. It really makes things more complicated for the end user. I'll await the reply from Vodafone and see how this is going to unfold.
Other than this issue I've not had any problems with Vodafone but really will have to consider other options if this is not sorted out. As I see it, the only thing that can be causing this is something on my account. If it is a lock on the handset then why does it work fine with other Vodafone SIM cards abroad?
I'm going to Google for some information on the Nokia 6600 and get it unlocked if it is a code only issue, else I'll have to get a cable for it. More to come as I receive something back from Vodafone.
Feel free to post any experiences you have had with Vodafone alnog the lines of getting issues resolved, both good and bad.
The guy I share a lift with to work has just left as he has got another job. I'm also actively looking for another role as the main issues I have are time wasted on travel every day and also the hours. Now the guy I share a lift with has gone, although I have arranged a replacement, it is not good as the previous arrangement.
It is going to take me 2.5 hours to get home when working on the night shift now, then add on the time taken to get here as well. That is far too much. That combined with the fact the shifts have changed and I'll be working on the night shift every 3 weeks gives me even more reason to find another job that does not have these issues.
I could of course find some accomodation closer, but that will involve extra costs and since I would like to find another position for a number of reasons that option is not viable. It would be a lot easier if I was able to drive, but I've got to wait until January next year to be able to take my test.
I'm looking for roles based in London as a simple train journey from where I live or from another location nearer to London, would not be an issue. I certainly would not mind a train trip since it would give me a good reason to do some reading - I've got quite a number of books to complete in relation to various certifications and other things.
I think I've done well to stick with the travel situation for this amount of time, but now is the time to find something more reasonable.
Nevermind if they bite. I suppose most of us are not so bothered about things we cannot see. Bugs and insects that we can see generally affect us more. For instance, I spotted something running over me earlier when I was in front of the computer. I moved quickly and it fell off but I could not see where it went.
They must cover right distances and in short amounts of time for such small things, be it ants or other crawling bugs. It has just appeared in my bed while I was using the laptop! So, I managed to get it this time and put it outside. I think it liked extreme sports as this one had no idea what running off the ends of the paper was going to cause, luckily for it I kept the paper low to the ground.
It makes me wonder though how these things get in here in the first place. Obviously they always find a way, but if it has been inside for quite so time it is probably starving and in need of some food.
I've learnt from this that is it always best to keep on your guard, from even the smallest of intruders.
I've just purchased three tickets for the December draw of the Spanish El Gordo lottery. The prize fund for this draw is the biggest out of all of the El Gordo draws - a massive 2.1 billion US dollars. The first prize is $468 million USD, more than anyone would need. The tickets are limited and as they say you have to be in it to win it so fingers crossed. It'll be a great winter for anyone who does win & indeed a great life too. I'll have a long list of purchases to make if I do!
I'm sure you would agree that we learn a lot from books. There is one thing however which you need when planning on reading and completing a number of books - time. I've got quite a few books that I have purchsed on a number of subjects that I'm interested in. I have found though that I start to read a new book I buy and then leave it for ages.
That is another project of mine, to complete all these books before buying any more, I know that will not happen though. It's not that I get bored of them. It is more like finding some time when I am in the right mood and also having the motivation at the same time.
I suppose I have time during every day to read books, I have enough time to read stuff online so that's not so much of the issue. I'm sure most people would prefer some quiet time to read and also be in the right location. What I need is to get working to a routine again, with regards to reading these books. Once I achieve that, I'll be back on track.
After all, learning is important and fun when you are actually interested in what you are trying to learn - sometimes we are forced to learn things we don't care for, such as a number of subjects at school for example. Most people don't learn when they are not interested in the subject matter so the sooner some people understand that fact, the better.
I'm not sure which book shall I continue reading first. The one I have got through the most or one that is important, in relation to certification for example. Spending some time on a number of books, well that can be negative as information overload can occur. One at a time is better I think.
I've noticed 42 comments posted to the post about the billing system troubles and looking through them they are all relating to the same thing. Looking at the stats, there have been 264 hits to that post as of now, which is quite high given the time since posting.
A quick grep on the access logs shows the first access and then POST request coming from an IBM address.
Here are all the hosts that have submitted POST requests to that entry so far:
bi-02pt1.bluebird.ibm.com
vc1-232-1.adsl.indra.com
212.42.181.32
help.anu.edu.au
d9-89.rb.lax.centurytel.net
198.213.56.82
63-231-138-195.mpls.qwest.net
1-1-3-9a.kt.gbg.bostream.se
adsl-63-197-36-42.dsl.lsan03.pacbell.net
h36n1fls27o1079.bredband.comhem.se
65.90.52.195
152.160.7.130
wcs1-cbus.nipr.mil
blk-222-64-197.eastlink.ca
66-7-225-40.cust.telepacific.net
pool-162-84-160-10.ny5030.east.verizon.net
255.1.252.64.snet.net
hosta.sixcontinentshotels.com
redgate.kcc.com
adsl-64-108-125-78.dsl.euclwi.ameritech.net
207-171-180-101.amazon.com
12-202-217-219.client.insightbb.com
63-253-43-58.ip.mcleodusa.net
gate1-sandiego.nmci.navy.mil
63.119.250.95
host81-156-234-232.range81-156.btcentralplus.com
dial-156-112-113-216.megacom.net
69-167-181-191.snbrca.adelphia.net
customer-hmo-131-129.megared.net.mx
64.114.213.97
yymkcxxxix.dsl.saunalahti.fi
As you may have noticed, there are some interesting hosts there. What makes it even more interesting is the fact all of the comments posted by all hosts are about the same thing and all around the same time. If you have not already guessed, I would think these hosts are compromised & possibly being used as relays to spam and other rubbish. Either way, I'm not bothered. It's all junk and all gone.
Another interesting thing is that hits from the IBM host have been coming in for ages - so either a regular visitor or web proxy. Some Google searches have resulted in visits from that host, quite a number of varied searches in fact.
I'm not interested in looking over this any more, however I may just contact the appropriate contacts for the hosts above just to alert them to the fact that something could well be up.
UPDATE: 28/09/04
It would seem the reason for all the Betty comments, would be due to Suso. He's posted a number of comments in the past on here and decided to post a comment on this Slashdot post asking people to post about Betty on here.
I think this guy has lost the plot. I did notice references to him but due to past comments I ignored it. Maybe I should have trusted my own judgement before passing it off as some rubbish. It was logical to think a link must have been posted somewhere asking for such a stupid thing, why - I do not know.
So, Suso - As they always ask - What is your motive? And yes, of course I have heard of a page referrer, it's late here, you know.
I've noticed something strange happening with our billing system we are using for one of the upcoming projects. It has decided to stop billing a certain client and I cannot figure out why. It looks like I am going to have to create a service request to try and figure it out.
I suppose it is good that it is happening now, instead of later so we can get any or most problems fixed in advance of having to deal with a lot of billing. It is wierd in that other accounts are still being billed. I don't remember anything being changed so we will see.
I've started to see posters around, in restaurants and such talking about Christmas. It made me think how quickly this year has gone and indeed how quickly most years, in fact every year goes.
Maybe this is because I'm busy most of the time. I know it would slow down a lot if I were not doing much as when you have more free time you are able to think more about things and also clock watch.
It'll be my birthday again in a few months then the show will probably start falling and once again I know I will be wishing it was summer with some nice weather. I've already noticed how cold it is getting so it's time to get the coats out again.
Nearly here, but not quite. It has been a long week as it is the first full week of work I have done in a while due to being in Ibiza. This week I am working nights as well, which tends to usually go quite quick as I sleep more generally. The problem is that tomorrow will be virtually gone by the time I get up as I will not get home until 5.30am which means I won't get up until late.
The box that this blog runs on was rebooted this morning, after 272 days uptime and being very reliable. It had to be powered down due to some work in the DC. We should have known about it, but due to us not setting up the email notifications, we were not. The first thing I knew about it was when I was doing a few things and then:
Broadcast message from root (console) (Wed Sep 15 09:57:21 2004):
The system is going down for reboot NOW!
Of course, now we will know if any work needs doing that will need the box to be rebooted. The DC uses a special reboot on demand system to allow for systems to be rebooted at a customers request but I assume they just plugged into the console port to reboot our server, well that is what it looks like from our analysis and what they said when we raised it with them.
The system was only offline for 9 minutes so it wasn't much of an issue that we were not aware of it but good that I happened to be around at the time.
The good thing is we now will know if anything like that needs to to happen again. It also allowed us to ensure the box still comes up, after all the changes that have been made. Soon we're going to upgrade the RAM and probably install another disk too and I'm currently in the process of getting tape backup sorted using Veritas NetBackup which will allow for daily incremental backup as well as a full weekly backup.
As I advised you recently, I have some Gmail invites to give out. I thought it would be interesting to use a riddle to make things a bit more interesting rather than just ask people to just request an invite.
What you'll need to do is solve the riddle & then email me your answer, comments are turned off until I'm out of invites to stop potential answers being posted. If I find your answer to be correct and in full, then I'll give you an invite. I'll advise you when I don't have any left, but hopefully I'll get some more and then I can issue something else for you to try your luck at.
---
A Pirate called Paul had been captured by a French general & sentenced to death by his firing squad, which currently consisted of 50 men. Paul was worried, as he knew their reputation for being the worst firing squad in the French military. They were so bad that they would quite often miss their targets, but eventually leaving them to bleed to death. The general only allows 1 shot per man to save on ammunition. The thought of a slow painful death made Paul beg for mercy.
"Very well, I have some compassion. You may choose where the men stand when they shoot you and I will add 60 extra men to the squad. Perhaps if they stand closer they will kill you quicker if you're lucky."
"Also they can't stand more than 25 ft away, they must be facing you and you must remain tied to the post in the middle of the yard & to show I'm not totally heartless if you aren't dead by sundown I'll release you so you can die peacefully outside the compound. I must go now but will return tomorrow and see to it that you are buried in a nice spot, though with 110 men I doubt there will be much left of you to bury."
After giving his instruction the general left. Upon his return the next day he
found that Paul had been set free alive and well.
"How could this be?" Demanded the general.
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Answers via email and should be as detailed as possible.
Of course, I decide if your answer is correct & detailed enough but I hope you will have a bit of fun thinking about it. It may seem easy / obvious to you, it may not.
I've been a personal customer of NatWest for a few years and since I don't realy use the account that much, I've had no problems with them. Now I also hold a business account at NatWest and have recently being trying to sort out various things, such as business cards on the account.
Not only was I told a number of times that I'd receive calls back regarding my queries and applications, I was also being given conflicting information each time I called. I had to keep calling back, because I never got a call from anyone even though I was promised someone would be in touch. Some of the customer services staff I encountered were very polite and professional.
I'd be inclined to think the same of the business managers who actually manage the accounts of business customers. In some cases I found them very understanding and dedication to helping me with my requests. Today I called NatWest and was connected to another business manager, who didn't really understand my concerns relating to the problems I had been having gaining the information I needed and processing of my requests. In fact, she was very rude. It's a good job I don't recall her name because I would name and shame her otherwise.
Amongst other things, she was debating what personal account I had with the bank because obviously their records were incorrect - like that is my fault? No and they could only go on what they had on record!
Now, since I was requesting business cards for the account they would need to see some kind of history, since there was not much on the business account because it had not been open long enough. That being no problem, but I stated I had already given the details of my personal account previously a few days earlier. They were not listed. I was also informed that my personal account was not valid because it had not been used in the last six months after providing the same details again.
I used the scenario: Say I have an account with £1,000 in credit. I have not made any payments or withdrawn any money in the last six months. As far as NatWest are concerned, this is not good enough for history purposes? I was informed this scenario as well as mine, would not fit the required criteria simply because the account has not been in use. They fail to take into consideration that my account has never been in any trouble, I have a switch card and cheque book (which they don't even think I have got) and regardless of balance, because the account has been idle it is not good enough.
What a load of rubbish. Pathetic in fact, combined with the fact I had to keep pointing out I don't have a Solo or Electron card on my personal account, since they are for chilren, yet as it stands this is all you are prepared to give me on a business account?
Does NatWest not consider customers with a personal account of a few years at least, with no problems ever, to b