Twunts.

My BT bill is currently available to me online. Wanting to double check the details, I found I was locked out (five incorrect login attempts - how queer!).

So I email BT and ask what to do. Chappie who responds is quite helpful, but advises me that he needs to know my account number. "Fine", says I. "Where do I find that?"

"Your account number can be found on your telephone bill."

As I said. Twunts.

Doom.

Actually, this is pretty cool.

Imagine a slow, lingering death as you watch the video I am aout to present you. What happens occurs over the course of many months, but you cannot escape it - it will catch you. And there may be some linen in the background too. Sorry about that.

The video is here.

Breaking News.

It's a big old world, and horrible things happen all the time for reasons well out of anyone's control.

But seriously, why?

Hairy Palms.

I'm in the minority in my family in that I don't wear glasses. In fact, I'm the only person in my immediate family who doesn't. My right eye is messed up (it has a broken muscle, so effectively can't move much) but I can see out of it just fine.

Or at least I used to be able to.

Over the past few days or so, I've noticed that I'm finding it harder to focus with that eye than I could before. In fact, there is now a mrked difference between the sight in both eyes (I tested this by trying to focus on those nubby bits in the ceiling by closing one eye, and then the other).

Hm... a trip to the optician's may be in order...

Firestarter.

I seem to have inadvertently started a bit of a flame war over on the B3ta Qotw board.

You can read my post here, but in case you can't be bothered I'll summarise...

After stating that (when I worked in a shop) I used to be a bit of a jobsworth with customers who acted the arse and then tried to pay with Scottish notes. I used make them walk the reasonable distance of 100 yards to the nearest bank to exchange the notes for the Bank of England equivalents. As I noted at the end of the post, any customers who were polite and courteous and wanted to pay the same way I was more than happy to oblige.

Unfortunately that appears to have been interpreted as "I hate all Scottish people and laugh in their faces when they flash their poncy monopoly money around".

Oh, well.

What is interesting, however, is the number of people who think they know what they are and aren't allowed to do during a transaction (on both sides of the counter) yet end up getting it so painfully wrong. I can't pretend to know it all, but some of it is surely common sense?

I remember a chappie who bought a pair of workboots and after wearing them on a worksite, he decided to clean them overnight wedged in a bucket of water. He later came in expecting a full refund because they had "worn out" (or rather, gone mouldy and fallen apart becuase he hadn't dried them). And I don't believe he was just trying his luck either, judging by the redness of his face and the amount of spittle he covered me in.

This time the chappie in question paid in neither English or Scottish currency, but was instead promptly shown the nearest alternative shop where he could possibly buy something more robust. Like bricks, perhaps.

Bike.

Isn't it odd how when you dispose of something you don't particularly need or want, that you still feel a little sadness for it?

Today I took Ween's old bike to the dump. To be honest, I was lazy, and couldn't be bothered to dig out the bike rack, mount it to the car, and drive it the whole couple of miles up there, only to return and pack the rack away again, so I rode it to it's final resting place.

Within a few minutes both tyres were flat (I didn't take a pump with me) and only one gear was working. The front brake cable was no longer attached to, well, pretty much anything and the saddle felt like it was made out of alabaster. Various trucks carrying skips trundled past, and I contemplated flagging one down and asking to chuck the godforsaken thing in the back, but instead I carried on.

The thing was a deathtrap, that was for certain, and I have no idea how Ween has managed to put up with it for so long.

By the final hill, I was knackered and I got off to push it the rest of the way. When I finally reached the dump, I wandered past the sign that said no entry - lorry changing bins but I knew she was having an interview so figured I would be OK. I left the monstrocity on the pile of other discarded bikes, and started the walk home.

Like I say, it's odd when you feel sadness for something you don't particularly want or need. It's so much better when you feel joy instead.


In other news, I've started reading some cycling blogs, partially down to Jack Jenkins who posted a comment on this blog the other day. So many are so inspiring that they have me itching to get back in the saddle again. I'm trying to challenge myself to ride at least once a day - I dont know how I will fare when the rain comes, so I make no promises.

But so many of these people are so in love with their bikes (and for good reason) that they seem to live for the thrill of riding. I'm not there, and I don't think I will be, but what great reading it makes!

Best blog I've read today: Through The Wall from Saturday, May 7th.

Tagged!

I've been Tagged!

1. Total number of films I own on DVD/video: 74 (counting titles in box sets as individuals)

2. The last film I bought: Star Wars Trilogy Box Set

3. The last film I watched: Saw

4. Five films that I watch a lot:

K-Pax
Dogma
Signs
The Princess Bride
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Tag five people to put this in their journal:

el10t, Miss Sixty, MMM, Mort, Andy

In other news, we slept muchly last night (about 11 hours) and now feel much better. Weather has improved in Orange... but we're not going back! Nyah nyah!

Hollibobs Pt. 2

Arrived yesterday, psent pleasant evening with sister. Got cold as wind picked up, and drank champagne to celebrate purchase of sister's new house.

Got colder as wind picked up more, slept for about an hour fue to wind noise, temperature, and sound of pidgeon emptying entire contents of bladder and nearby sewerage plant upon car.

Announced intention to come home, causing minor family fracas.

Came home. Am going to bed now. Toodle.

Hollibobs.

Stu and Sarah are back safe and sound, now it's my turn. We're off camping, meeting up with my sisters and hopefully having a jolly good time, regardless of the weather.

I'm taking the new bike (which I failed to mention is a GT Avalanche 2.0, a reasonable entry level machine, or so I am reliably informed) and plenty of beer, food and jelly. Nothing will spoil this holiday.

So where are we going, I hear you ask? Why, Orange, of course!

Fucksocks. I might as well pop into the office while I'm there.

Oops.

I appear to have just bought myself a new bike, and it looks a little like this and was purchased from a proper Bike Shop. It replaced my old bike which looked a bit more like this and came from Halfords because I was a poor student and needed something to get me to Uni. I'm now a poor proper adult, and ride just for kicks.

Consumer items shouldn't make me happy, but they do.

BIOS

It never occurred to me that you can update your BIOS, but when somebody suggested that it may be the solution I need for my non-CD-bootable laptop problem, I gave it a go.

BIOS updated aboslutely fine, but still won't boot from CD. Hey-ho, you live and learn.

Vote.

Tomorrow is polling day - go out and vote.

If you don't know who for, vote for the good guys (whoever your idea of the good guys might be).

Knoppix

I suppose I better begin this blog by being honest (what I do after the start is open to debate).

I do not know what I am talking about with regards to Linux. I don't know what a kernel is, I don't know how to partition my drive, and I'm annoyed that nobody seems to make any drivers for Linux to make my printer work. But that's part of the reason why I want to do this - I'm no boffin, but I do like the idea of open source software - somehow I trust it more, simply because if I chose to I could in theory open it up and see what was making it tick. I can't do that with XP.

Not that I ever could, but you get my meaning.

Regardless, I did not want to like Knoppix. After my experience with Ubuntu, that was (and most likely is) to be the path my Linux usage was to follow thereafter.

But in the interests of fairness, I decided to give a few other flavours a go. First up (somewhat unsurprisingly since I've mentioned it by name twice already in this post) was Knoppix.

Actually, first up would have been Gnoppix, but that refused to boot, so I'm on to this instead. Knoppix in contrast booted straight away, and (get this) the sound works. I really don't like the KDE default desktop - it's not as intuitive as Gnome, and far more blocky. Unlike Ubuntu, Knoppix isn't a permanent solution - but like the Ubuntu live CD, it does give me a chance to get a feeling for different reeds of Linux before I make the big switch.

Surprisingly enough, though, it all works. All my favourite programs are there. I can happily write letters using OOo, browse the web on FIrefox, or if I could be fussed to set it up, read my mail on Thunderbird. I should be a happy chappie. I should probably point out that I already have the above (and more) on my WIndows desktop.

But I'm not a happy chappie. Call me shallow, but it isn't very pretty, and while it's all competent enough, it doesn't feel professional in the same way Ubuntu did. I don't like the blockiness and, well, it's all a bit meh.

What is interesting, though, is that my main complaint is aesthetic - both Live CD's that I've tried have demonstrated no real reason (at least none that can't be readily overcome) why I shouldn't move to Linux permanently. This, I must reiterate, is me we're talking about, the same me who doesn't really understand how the little man in the computer can draw all those different screens so fast.

My laptop, however, has different ideas. It refuses to boot from CD, despite the prompting of a sepcial disky thing designed to make such processes happen, and thus making Ubuntu installation impossible. I would go the whole hog on the desktop straight away, but I'm scared. I may even go down the path of paying someone to install it for me...

...or maybe I'll just keep playing with Live CD's until I build up the courage to make the leap.