Month: September 2009

Today just happened

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Quite an uninteresting day today. A fall out from a disagreement, that I was expecting did not happen, which was unusual. I was just about ready for a fight. Never mind, it is bound to happen sooner or later. The problem is, that I’ve been sat opposite the same person now, for nearly four years. It has been getting very tiresome for the past twelve months, and one day it will snap. I thought it was going to happen yesterday, but I really bit my tongue and held back. There are issues here, and I should bring them to the attention of a higher authority. But that could make it worse for me. It is a fine balance, but if I’m pushed………

   No quiz tonight. Eldest did not turn up, and I was not really bothered about going on my own. We had bit of a bad turn with the youngest, and I did not feel like leaving Mrs H on her own with him. He seems to be okay now. I don’t really have a problem, going to the pub on my own. There are a couple of people I could chat to, and possibly do the quiz with, but maybe next time. If he comes up for his drama tomorrow, we will probably go then. Tried texting him tonight. It was his first day back at Uni today, but he may just be tired. He had to be there for 10:00am, and even earlier tomorrow. His flatmate did not go Uni today. It is not good, missing the first day. S**** has said himself, that it is not going to be as last year. There are deadline that they have to meet this year.

   Just been chatting on MSN to my American friend. We’ve not had much success, MSN kept throwing her out. We have not chatted for quite a while. We never seem to be both online at the same time these days. It’s funny, we used to chat every evening, and often during the day too. strange how things change. Mind you, there are a lot of people, that I used to chat to a lot, but I do not like it when they get too close and serious, and start opening up with their secrets. It then becomes a bind, and the fun element is lost.

   There was a message on Twitter yesterday from the classical ‘Boy Band’, Blake. Their new album is out next week, and so for their Twitter and Facebook followers, they had posted a free mp3 on  a website. I downloaded it, and it sounds very good. Just for a laugh, I sent a DM back, thanking them for the freebie. To my surprise, one of the guys tweeted back !!!!! I was well impressed. So that is the 3rd famous person, that has tweeted back to me. First is was Maggie Philbin, then Sarah Brown (the PM’s wife) and now Blake. Where will it all end !!!!

…and it’s only Monday

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   It started good. Then seemed to go downhill very quickly. It is quite difficult working with some people. Some people are so sanctimonious, and “ne’er do wrongs” that they become impossible to actually get on with at times.

   Youngest had a bit of a do tonight. Everyone still seems to think that is his computer that causes the problem. So, if that is the case, then why did we have no problems with him on Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday, when he was never off the thing ???? My opinion, for what it is worth, is that the computer acts as the release for the anger that built up during the day.

   Eldest is back at Uni tomorrow. That will be a bit of a shock to the system. I don’t think he will be up for the quiz, tomorrow night though. I also have some doubts that he’ll be up for the drama on Wednesday. His friend B** did not turn up last week, and did not turn up at the Beer Fest either. The split up, between B** and R** may cause more problems than everyone thinks. If B** does not take part, then I think the eldest, may find some reason to drop out too. I do know, that he is not too happy with the subject matter of the panto. It will be a shame if he does not pop up, as I am beginning to get to like my Wednesday night out !!

   By the way, I’ve started a group on the National Blog Posting Month blogsite. It called Grumpy But Content, and it is open for anyone to have a moan and a whinge, without anyone criticising them. You can find a link on my Blogroll, so go on, sign up and have a good old gripe, just keep it clean, as it I don’t intend to moderate it.

Another weekend down

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   Today went very well. Youngest has been in a great mood all day, with no problems whatsoever. He has only had one dose of his medication, and that was around lunchtime. He’s been very co-operative and happy. We thought he was going off a little, about ten minutes ago, but nothing came of it at all. Very unusual.

   Apart, nothing much doing today. I did manage to watch a movie though. A film called ‘300’. A very ‘blood ‘n guts’ story that turned out to be. More so in HD !!!!

Christmas parties ……

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   The subject of the works Christmas party/night out has begun to raise it’s ugly head. First of all, it was discussed, that we should join with another team, in our department. That was going to cost in excess of £40.00, so the discussions on that quickly dissipated. Then we got a ‘Blues Brothers Party’ offered. Sounded interesting, and at around £30.00, a bit better price. But we are not doing that. Instead, we seem to have opted for a sumptuous feast (?) at a major hotel in the city. That is going apparently going to cost £34.95.

   I of course, being a ‘miserable sod’ (their words, not mine), have again, declined to grace the proceedings with my presence. For many years now, I have failed to understand why we go through this annual rip off.  By December 28th, everybody is sick of turkey and stuffing, so why on earth do we insist on paying huge sums of money to have more ????? It is, apparently, the social aspect of the evening, that is important. Really. I have also, never understood, why after spending five days a week with people, even ones that you actually like, you would want to waste good money, being with the same people in a ‘social arena’. Nothing, that anyone has tried to tell me about this ‘social occasion’ has ever convinced me that this would be an enjoyable time.

  Maybe, I am the ‘miserable sod’ that people say, or maybe, just possibly, I have better things to do ?????

   Ranting done, although this subject may be revisited.

Bramham Beer Festival (pt2)

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   As I said before, It all went quite well. I was there from about 3pm until 4:30pm, and it was very very busy. There seemed to be a lot of money being spent, which was good, and everyone was having a great time. The prices were extremely reasonable at £2.50 for a pint and £1.50 for a half pint. I think that was the only thing that could have been a little wrong. With it being cheaper to buy a pint, rather than two halves, I think many people would have bought pints. As a consequence, they will have either drank far too much, or not had the opportunity to sample more ales. Maybe £1.30 for a half would have been better. Another idea could have been to have 1/3 size glasses at, say 90p a glass, which would have encouraged people to try more different ales. Still just minor points.

   The entertainment !! Well I did not see much of it at all. In the time I was there, there was just one act on, an acoustic singer, who on the whole was quite good for that type of music. The stand-up comedian, who should have been on when I got there, was not on. He was sat in the audience. There had apparently been some issues with the microphones ???? The bands did not seem to have issues !! Again minor points.

   Leeds Utd won again today. For a change, they snatched the win in the last ten minutes of the game. In the past 5 or so previous years, the last 10 minutes of the game is where Leeds usually lose. Things are looking very well for the side. If they keep this up, then they will fly into the Championship League next year. I then predict (but don’t put money on this) that two year in that league, and they will be in with a chance of the Premiership

An odd day …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   It has been one of those days, when nothing has gone wrong, but nothing has happened to make it memorable. It just happened. Of course, the idiots were still idiots, and still did the stupid things that idiots do. It gets me quite angry, when they do stupid things after four/five years. Grrrrrr !!

   It’s the 2nd annual Bramham Beer Fest tomorrow. There are over 20 local real ales on sale, with entertainment and food all day. If last year is anything to go by, it should be a good day. They got about 200 customers last year, and are expecting in excess of 300 this year. Eldest is coming up, and we think he may bring his flatmate, but that changes by the hour. I don’t think either will stop the night, as S**** indicated that he wants to go out in Leeds afterwards.

   The online training course and quiz, at work is turning out to be a disaster. We are moving from Lotus Notes to Outlook 2003 (2003, I ask you) next month, and we all have to go through this so called ‘training course and quiz’. The course is online, and consists of, what looks like a PowerPoint presentation. No interaction, and it is supposed to take 2 hours to get through. Everyone (except the numpties) got bored after about 20 minutes. It is not a good piece of training. Then there is the ‘quiz’. Everyone needs to get 80% on the quiz. There are 10 questions, and they are either single word or multiple choice answers. But there seems to be a problem with the results. My first attempt got me 60%. Second go, and I realised 70%. Third time, and I’m down at 50%. Problem is that the feedback from the quiz, does not tell you which questions you got wrong !!!! So, attempt number 4. This time, I am armed with the ‘official’ training handbook. Every question, and I look the answer up in the manual. Cannot fail. Result …… 70%. See the problem !! Methinks that IT need to do some work on this one.

   The  non-recyclable bins got emptied today. It will have been private contractors that covered the job. I’m not too happy about the use of contractors, but I think the unions have shot themselves in the foot here. The council has to get the best deal, and have been looking at outsourcing for some time. This strike has made them look harder. And I think, the longer it goes on, the more the public support will dwindle. I don’t think they had that much support anyway. A lot of people remember how hard the ‘binmen’ of old used to work. Carrying those steel bins on their shoulders to the bin wagon, and then putting them back in the garden. No wheelie bins in those days. What it will make people aware of, is exactly how much stuff they put in the bins on a regular basis.

Late nights and early mornings ……

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   These late night and early mornings are beginning to disagree with me somewhat. In my youth (if I can remember that far back) I would have thought nothing of getting to bed at 12:30 and up again at 06:30. Now it is a little different. I suppose one late night that a week is reasonable, but three in a row … I struggle.

   Youngest been great again. No problems at all tonight. It’s difficult to get your head around the difference he can be. He can be like two different people sometimes. May have spoke too soon. He sounds like he may be going off a bit.

   Work went quite well today. Had enough to keep me going, but not too much. I succumb to temptation this morning though. I’d had a large bowl of cornflakes at around 07:00, but by 08:30, I was getting hungry. So I thought a bacon butty was in order. I know I should not, and I should have had some fruit, but…

   I was right about the youngest. He is kicking off a bit. He was fine 10 minutes ago, and now he is not. I think it was getting him to shut his computer down. I don’t think he was quite ready. I’m convinced too, that when we tell him to stop, it just makes him worse.

   Nipped into ‘Chat’ for a few minutes, but I do not seem to be bothered about it now. I can remember when I used to sign in every night, sometimes into the very early hours. It is not the same now though. Many of the people I used to chat to no longer use the site, and those that do are very predictable. (Youngest seems to have calmed down now … fingers crossed) There are just one or two, that I still like on there. What I mean by like, I suppose, is that they don’t bore me. Mind you, people on ‘Chat’ take on a different persona, to what they are when on MSN Messenger or even when on facebook. I suppose on ‘Chat’ you are anonymous, so you can be whatever or whoever you want to be.

   I’m thinking of getting a new page on MySpace. I want to give it a try again, as I have heard it has had a bit of a makeover, and the speed has got better. I’m not convinced yet about MySpace. It does seem to very American, whereas facebook, whilst it is obviously American, has a massive English contingent.

   Right, I think I have moaned on long enough now.

A quiet evening

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   Not much to say tonight. Out around 21:45 to the pub to meet the eldest lad. It is a very pleasant evening, with his friends from the drama group. Dr J*** is funny, yet serious when he needs to be. As for St**** and Yv****, well they are just really nice people. It is a shame, that we don’t know them more socially, as I think Mrs H would get on well with them.

   Youngest seems to have been fine tonight. Lots of laughter, and very little in the way of anger. There was a couple of times when I thought he was going to get upset, but it amounted to nothing.

   Work … well it happened. Very little to be said really. The numpties were still the same as they always are. Nothing more to add.

Lost ……

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   Leeds started well, and a shameful disallow of a, perfectly good, goal did not  seem to upset them. Snodgras played a blinding game, but Beckford had an unlucky game. Then a Liverpool goal from Ngog sealed Leeds’s fate. Leeds held their own, and put a on good show. Lets face it, Liverpool are a leading Premiership team, and Leeds are starting the long climb back. Liverpool 1 – 0 Leeds.

   I tell you what, I hate, what I call “pseudo experts”. You know, they are the people that think they know what they are doing, but are not quite as clever as they think they are. It is like this. We have a number of shared files, on our computer system, that are used by all or most of the office staff at sometime or an other. To help people, I have created shortcuts to the files. This, of course makes them lazy somewhat, as it negates the need for them to locate the file for themselves. Computing at it’s very basic level. So of course, they cannot find the files without the shortcut. They manage to search and find their ‘facebook’ and private email accounts, and those addictive flash games that are all over the internet. But ask them to find stuff for work, and they turn into gibbering wrecks. Now I can add the shortcuts again (they lost them when they got new computers) but they are going to have to wait until I have the time to do it. They all want/need/like different shortcuts, so it will not be a quick two minute job, but it will get done. Enter the pseudo expert !! Now my idea would be to right-click on the file and ‘create a shortcut’, then copy and past the shortcut to the users start menu. Not so the pseudo expert. She/he, being clever, decides to drag and drop and in so doing, simply creates a copy of the file onto the start menu. Thus giving everyone their own copy of a shared file. You can see what the problem is going to be !!!

   Of course, IT and me share the blame equally. IT for changing the PC’s in the first place, and me for not running round like an idiot, putting the shortcuts back when they had done.

   No quiz-nite tonight. Well it was on, but the eldest was not coming up, and I wanted to see the footie. It does make a great difference watching it on a big screen in high definition. Mrs H was not too pleased I think. Still it does not happen that often (22 October is the next Leeds match on TV), and she will have to get used to it for World Cup.

Only 4 days to the weekend

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   It was an okay day today. Spike was in a good mood, which is always worrying. Nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. Quite boring really. I did manage to get 3 bottles of £7.98 wine for a tenner at Asda, which was good. They were also doing 660ml bottles of Cobra lager at £1.00 a bottle. That is under a £1.00 a pint for a premium brew.

   Youngest is kicking off. Twenty past eleven at night, and he is bouncing round his room, hurting anyone he can get his hands on.  It is like the weekend never happened.

   Leeds Utd are playing Liverpool tomorrow, at home. A reliable source informs me that Liverpool won’t be playing their best team. They can always take us when we get to Anfield. The match is on Sky HD, so I may get to watch it. But then again, the best laid plans etc etc. Leeds are doing really well in the league. If I have my stats correct, it’s eight wins and a draw. However, there is a whole lot of difference between beating Gillingham 4 – 1 and taking on the top end of the Premier League. Football eh !!

   We are not sure if S**** is coming over for the quiz tomorrow. He said last week that he might, but that may have just been to keep Mrs H happy.

   Think the youngest has calmed down now. It has gone very quiet, but that is sometimes the quiet before the storm. I don’t care what the experts say, there is not always a trigger. Then again, they will always argue, that just because we do not see the trigger, does not mean there isn’t one. How many times have we heard that one ? It appears to me that the ‘trigger’ is telling him to ‘stop’ or ‘no’. That seems to make him react more. But what do you do when he is driving his chin into your shoulder, and telling him to stop makes him worse ?

Another weekend over

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Not a bad day, all round. Youngest has been in a good frame of mind for most of the day. He has only had one lot of medication, which is very surprising. However, he seems a bit tense at the moment. we shall see what happens.

   I had a strange problem with my mobile phone today. I only noticed it when Mrs H rang. The ring tone was distorted. The sound seemed to be rising and falling in volume and slowing and speeding up at the same time. I ran a Google check on the forums, but there was nothing there. I tried updating the firmware, but it seems I have the latest. In the end I reset the factory settings, and that seemed to work. A bit strange though, and I’m blaming the free ringtone I got from the internet.

A good day….and a recipe

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   Well, we did not think it would be. Youngest was in a very good mood last night, but was awake at 6:00am this morning, and we were expecting the worst. However, we have had no problems at all. It’s 10:30pm, and we are trying to get him to settle down. Fingers crossed !!

   I did chicken for tea tonight. It was a made up dish, that worked very well. I have not got a name for the dish, but it is copied below:

Chicken & Tomatoes

Serves 2

  • 2 chicken legs, divided into thighs and drumsticks
  • Half an onion, diced
  • 2 medium sized mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 clove of garlic, diced
  • 1/2 a 14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 1oz of grated cheese
  • 1/2 oz of white breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 oz butter
  • 1 tblsp oil
  • seasoned flour
  • salt and pepper to taste
  1. Coat the chicken in the season flour, and brown quickly in the oil and butter. Remove to an oven proof dish and keep warm.
  2. Gently fry the onions until soft, but not browned.
  3. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes
  4. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes, and a tblsp of water. stir until mixed well. Season with the salt and pepper.
  5. Pour the sauce mix over the chicken legs, and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and cheese.
  6. Place the dish in a pre-heated oven (180 F) for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
  7. Serve.

   Unfortunately, I did not get a photograph, but it does look and smells good. We had it with pasta, but it could equally well with a green vegetable and potatoes. Or possibly a salad.

Weekend again

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   The end of another working week. Quite a steady day today, with just Mobile barcode enough to do to keep me occupied. I managed to work out what the barcode scanner on my mobile does. It scans the  barcode (like on the left) and converts it into some that can be read by a human. In this instance, the code would be converted to the phrase ‘this is a mobile barcode’. What they are used for in many cases’ is creating a link to a mobile website. The one on the side bar, is actually a link to this blog. The image was created on the http://www.barcodelink.net/ website, and pasted into a text widget. I’m very impressed. I’m sure, given time, I’ll think of many uses for this (!!)

   No sight or sound of the bin-men yet. I know some crews have been out this week, and some areas have had there bins emptied, but not here. It’s a shame really, as we seem to have a good crew on this run. It is a difficult one, this one. It is a hard, dirty and dangerous job, but they do not have to lift and carry the bins like they used to. On the other hand, there is a lot more rubbish going in the bins these days. It makes you think about how much waste we are producing. I do get quite annoyed about the amount of packaging, that supermarkets and manufacturers use. There still seems to be a great deal of goods, that are double wrapped, that do not need to be. Here is a suggestion, instead of having a ‘multi-pack’ of beans at £2.45, get rid of the extra wrapper and just sell four tins for £2.45 !!!! It is not rocket science, and everyone wins.

Interesting

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   It has been a very interesting day. That is, after I had recovered from last night. It was almost midnight when S**** and me came out of the pub, and although I had not had a lot to drink, I had a bit of a bad head this morning. It was a good evening though, and it seems I may now be part of the ‘group’ now. Or as St**** put it ‘one of us now’.

   We had the software house ‘User Group’ meeting today. Spike had arranged it, and it seemed to be going very well. Then, the guest speaker overran on her presentation slightly, and the question and answer session raised a number of issues, which delayed the remaining parts of the meeting. We had to be out of the meeting/luncheon rooms by 2pm, and by 1pm Spike was beginning to look like a headless chicken. All good fun. the lunch buffet was fine, but there was nothing to drink !!! Not even water, which did not go down well at all.

   Eldest went back to his place tonight. I think Mrs H is beginning to start to get used to the whole idea now. He brought loads of washing with him, and she is going to take it back tomorrow, and try and get him signed up at the Uni’s  gym. It apparently costs £100.00 for the year, or £4.00 per visit. Well you only have to go once a week, and your already making a big saving. He seems to think, that he will go a couple of times a week, and go swimming too. Swimming will be good for his back.

   It should be a reasonably quiet day tomorrow. Spike is off, and I do not have too much on at the moment. I need to try and sweet talk the software house into either giving us 4 user license for one of our applications, or at least letting us have it cheap. I do not know how that is going to turn out. They want us to upgrade to a different piece of software, and it is not something we are in a position to do at the moment.

Different night in the pub

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   Not my usual pub night, but S**** was up for the first rehearsal of the panto. He mentioned that I should come along for a drink afterwards. As R*** seemed to be quite calm, I went along. It was a good laugh. Of course when Dr J*** is there, it is quite outrageous,and with St*** being there also, the jokes just seemed to flow.

   So here I am, at quarter past midnight, trying write a blog for yesterday. Oh well !!!!

Another day over

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   More IT upset today. All the PC’s that were not replaced, had their memory upgraded to 4gb. Mine only had 1gb, so I’m expecting great things.

   It’ll be a bit of long day tomorrow. The two supervisors are out on a training day, so I’ll have to be there until close of play. I’m then going to pick the eldest up, so it’ll probably be around 6pm when we get in. If I need any shopping, I may have to go at lunchtime.

   That’s about it for today. Not much I know.

Monday, over and done with

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   It’s been, shall we say, an interesting day. It all started very well, then the IT lot turned up. A large number of computers were being replaced today. They get ‘refreshed’ about every 3 years (or 5 in our case) and today was our day. Of course, everyone had something to complain about !!!! Screen too big, PC in wrong place, don’t like the mouse, don’t like the keyboard, why can’t i have a new one and one even said ‘why do I need one!!!!’ Now tomorrow, I have to start and get their shortcuts back. Not one of them will have the same shortcuts, and not one of them will know what shortcuts they had !!!

    Youngest is back from respite. Bit of a knife edge, as we don’t know which way he is going to turn. One minute he is okay, and then next he is looking angry. Nothing serious has kicked off though, although it remains to be seen how he will be when he goes to his own bed. He is being very vocal at the moment, but we are not getting the ‘droning’ sound, which is usually a precursor for one his ‘incidents’. Fingers crossed.

   Just been checking the stats on the blog. I cannot believe that somebody hit my site using the search term “personal appliance tester”. Who is that sad ??? Still a it is a hit, as they say. What I don’t get is, I can write a 450 word post and get 4 hits, yet a 100 word quick post get 15 hits !

Another weekend over

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   We had a trip to the Designer Outlet at York today. I did not buy much, but have got me Christmas cards sorted. Mrs H got some shoes and a few other things. While we were there, we say Harry Gratian from Look North. He does not look any different from when he is on the TV.

  We had lunch at The White Horse (I think it is called that) on the road to Selby. Mrs H had her usual Chilli Pancake, and I had a Roast Beef sandwich. All very exciting, I know.

   And that’s about it really. S**** said he managed to get up for work okay. He’s been on car park duty today, which could have been interesting.

A good day

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   A very enjoyable day in York, today. Pizza Express, YorkWe had a good look around the shops, then lunch at Pizza Express. No bargains for me, unfortunately, but we got 3 pair of trousers for R***, in last bit of the sale at M&S. Lunch was followed, by a walk around the city walls. It was quite exhausting in the heat. You are very exposed to the elements, on Hare & Hounds - Stutton the walls, and the sun was very hot. Another stroll round the shopping area, then back home, with just a little stop at the Hare & Hounds pub, in Stutton. Now this used to be a great place to eat. However, the brewery, Samuel Smiths, seem to have imposed a set menu on all their pubs. As a consequence, the Hare & Hounds food is not as good as it used to be.

   Eldest was working today. We have not really heard how it all went. He texted around lunchtime, but we’ve not heard anything since. He is either out spending his earnings, or else he is having an early night. I know which my money is on ! He does not seem to be online at the moment, and he has not answered the texts I have sent. I may be wrong ! He could be in bed. If the work has been a hard slog, then he could be tired. We may hear tomorrow.

Nearly the weekend

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Well, the eldest did not manage to get up at 07:00 this morning. It was never on the cards really, and I don’t now why we thought he would be. He did not get back in until gone midnight, and was posting messages on facebook at 02:00am. We need to be a bit more forceful when he is here, and try and make sure he is up by 09:00 at the latest. The problem is, that because he has not had to get up for Uni, he sleeps late. It then follows that he is not tired enough at what is a ‘normal’ bedtime. And so, his body clock is completely out of synch. He will have to be up early on Saturday and Sunday though, as both him and his flat mate are working those days.

   Another IT disaster today. This time is was the whole council wide network that had problems. It started around 12:00, when people found they were having problems logging into the network. Those that did manage to log in, were having difficulties accessing certain applications. By 2:00pm most of the council was affected, and the IT help desk, was pushing out a message to the effect, that all the servers needed to be restarted,which would be done tonight. And that is how it was left. Of course, many of my colleagues thought they knew better than me and continued to try and log in. It is getting increasingly difficult to explain to some of these people, that when I say ‘the whole network is down…’ that it also applies to them too, and that they are not a special case.

   Youngest goes on respite tomorrow. Sad though it seems, both Mrs H and me are avidly looking forward to the break. He will be back on Monday, after school, so not too long. It is strange, though. Although we are ready for a short rest, we will miss him when he is not there. When he goes for a week, it seems a lot longer, and we start to look forward to him coming home. Then he kicks off, and we start looking at the calendar for his next respite (joking). I just hope that the current bout of good weather holds out for the weekend. We both need to get of the house for a while. R*** always says a firm ‘No’ to any suggestion that we go out. Even if it is something he enjoys, it is always ‘No’. We do get to have a walk round the village sometimes, but it is a struggle, and often can be painful.

   Right, that will do for now. Wish me luck for work tomorrow.

England – a step closer

/ Tony / 1 Comment

   So we qualified !!! About time too. What will happen next, is that we will win the group stage (just), then lose at the quarters, because the player we are banking on the most will have to miss the most important match, due to a sending off ! Job done ! But not to worry, there is always next time. Am I being cynical ???

   Crap morning at work. There were problems with the server, and the client software was not connecting. I could ping the server, but could not logon to it through Enterprise Manager. IT were onto the case, but all the usual people that I would normal contact were off on leave or courses or working from home. You get the picture. D*** had logged the call first thing, but because it was before 08:00, it was the relief team on the ‘help-desk’. The person did just that, logged the call. It was when I tried chasing the call up, at around 08:45, that I found that we had a lack of IT staff. However, someone did call back, and I was able to explain the problem we were having. It took then about half an hour, before they came up with the classic solve all … ‘we are going to turn the server off and then back on again’. This, of course, took another two hours, as the server is located on a different site. By 11:00, all was well again. So not such a bad problem after all. No the ‘crap’ part comes in with the office staff. As usual, they blame the software. The software was working as best it could, without the server. At least the client end opened. I tried explaining to one of them what the problem was, but they just can’t, or don’t want to, understand. ‘Imagine’ I said, ‘that your car has had it’s engine removed. It will not work … is it the car itself, or is it the fact that the engine is missing ?’ This analogy was lost on them.

   A bad episode with the youngest late last night. No apparent trigger. He had been fine. Laughing and joking, and then all change. Extreme to say the least, and it took a good 40 minutes before he calmed down enough for us to go to sleep. And then he was okay today and has been all evening. There just seems to be no rime or reason to it.

Whiskey is all gone .. Shock .. Horror (but don’t tell the Dr)

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   When I say that that the whiskey is all gone, I mean nearly all gone. Just a smidgen left, of which I am sampling now. If the medics have their way, it will be all gone. Question: how does making alcohol more expensive for me, stop the pissheads from buying the stuff in Europe, packing it into a van, and then selling it cheap to kids when they get back home ? So why not round up all the idiots that fall out of pubs and clubs totally wasted, and lock them up. Pay for their keep out of the exorbitant tax that is levied on alcohol. Rant over !

   Eldest has just texted me. He wants picking up tomorrow afternoon when I finish. He wants to go to drama. I think though, that he wants to see some of his friends. I have a strange idea, that he may have forgotten that is was ‘quiz-nite’. He seems to have got himself a few days work though. Sounds like it is luggage hauling at a hotel in the city. We will find out a little more tomorrow. He took his phone into the Three shop today. They could not do anything, and they did not have a replacement. So they packed him off to Carphone Warehouse, who will get it fixed under warranty.

   I needed to get a new battery for my bluetooth headset today. I thought it used AAA batteries, and it came a bit of a shock the find that I needed AAAA batteries. I did not know that they made AAAA size. Neither Asda or Tesco had them, so I tripped off to Maplins at lunchtime. £4.99 for a pack of four !!! It was either that or £3.99 for a pack of two. Ridiculous price. Still I’ve got them now.

   I must try and remember, that I do not really like whiskey from Islay. I do not know what it is, but it tastes like a some form of medicine !! I understand that it is the peat in the water that gives it the taste, but it is rather strange.

   Done for now.

A new week …. hurrah

/ Tony / 2 Comments

   K**** was back at work today. Everyone has missed her, well at least I hope they have. It was good to see her back. All went quite well. No problems with the PDA’s, although I’ve logged 11 for repair, and have only received quotes for 10 of them. I know what will happen.  I’ll raise an order for 10 repairs and get it emailed off, then the 11th quote will come through, and I’ll have to raise another order. If I wait, I’ll have to ring the help-desk and ask what is happening.

  I got a random email for an MSN friend this morning. It had a link to a web based software called Status Checker. This is apparently a piece of software the is supposed to check to see who has blocked you on MSN. My Geek instincts told me not to open the thing, and to let the person who sent me it know. It turns out that I could have been right. MSN Status Checker is a valid web service, that tries to do what it says. However, as all Geeks and Nerds know, never click on links on emails, unless you know what the link is. Even then, I’m very wary. This thing could be a variant of the ‘koobface’ virus.

   S****’s back seems to be no better. He’s seen the doctor, but we don’t know what he said really. It would appear, that he needs to register with a doctor nearer where he lives, and then needs to get some physiotherapy. I’m not too sure about that though. It would be different if he was going to be living in Leeds for a long time, but he could be back at home next August, which is his work experience year, or more likely even further away.

   I seem to be getting quite a bit of pressure fro the candidate for the local Labour Party. Our MP is standing down at the next election, and I’ve had the three candidates contact me over the past few weeks. One of them, Karen Bruce has been in email contact, another one, James Ellis (I think) even came to see me. The third sent his CV, but he was so unremarkable, that his name has not even registered. I have to ask myself, where is all this interest when the General or even Local elections are happening. This is such a safe Tory seat, that they just don’t even bother to show their faces. How can they expect to get new voters. And by the same token, the Tories are so confident here, that we don’t see them either. At the last local election, the only literature we got from any party, was from the BNP, and that was pushed through the letterbox after 11:00 at night. As for the Lib-Dems, well the words ‘chocolate’ and ‘teapot’ spring to mind. I will not be voting, as I am no longer a party member, but if I did, Karen Bruce would be my choice.

   All done.