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My Dad's Tablet PC
After his Tablet PC broke, and was sent off for repair, I knew I'd have a whole lot of software to reinstall when it came back. So I ordered a DVD/CDRW drive for his docking station from Misco. During the phone call I was told it'll take 3-5 days as the item was out of stock, but this morning it turned up way ahead of its scheduled delivery date. Very impressive!
I've spent almost all day reinstalling EVERYTHING from Windows XP, to Office, to all the hardware driver updates it requires.
Almost done! I hope!!
Posted in Computers at 17:39 |
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Firefox 1.0 RC1
We're getting closer to the final release! \o/
I installed RC1 tonight, and discovered a few of my extensions were disabled automatically. Easily fixed though, by editing extensions.rdf and changing the maxversion of the offending extensions to 1.0 from 0.10. I'll be so glad when they release the final version, and get rid of the stupid 0.10 version number completely.
Whose idea was it anyway to go from 0.93 to 0.10? In the real world that's a BACKWARDS step!
I won't give a link to the RC, as it's not being pushed by the Mozilla Foundation, 1.0PR is still the main release.
Posted in Firefox at 22:12 |
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3 New Blogs Already!
I've now got 3 new members of BlogPlace. Lewis, Deb and wookit!
Want one too? So what are you waiting for? Join today!!
Posted in Blog at 16:38 |
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BlogPlace.net
I've just registered a new domain name. I'm going to let a few friends use subdomains for their blogs, if they want one.
Posted in Blog at 09:24 |
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Kelbie Gets Pwned!
While I was in Canada this summer, I met loads of new friends... people from the IRC Channel #Hottub on DALnet.
I would have to say that the all-time funniest moment of 2004's Hottub Party involved DougE naked, and the phrase "but I've been a good boy".
This however was a close second:
Posted in Humour at 23:10 |
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Firefox NY Times Ad
Just donated $60 to the campaign, and should have my name in the paper ;) I just hope Pam can get me a copy on the day so I'll actually be able to see it for myself!
Want to donate to the cause and get your name in the paper too? Head over to SpreadFirefox.com then!
Posted in Firefox at 16:21 |
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Sidebar
I've finally inserted my sidebar onto all my blog pages, instead of just the main index. Should be much easier to get around now, plus it all looks the same. Which is nice.
Posted in Blog at 01:34 |
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Fun Little Flash Games
These 5 little games hail from France, not sure if there's any real point to them, other than to get the best score possible.
The first two games require you to parallel park your car between two others. You can use your handbrake in the 2nd, which makes for some stylish sliding turns. Try to do it as quick as possible, without hitting anything!
The 3rd game has you driving around on the ice, again it's against the clock and stay on the track!
The 4th game puts you in charge of a car with a caravan, you have to park the caravan in the shade between the trees. Not as easy as it sounds/looks by a long shot.
Lastly, a boat on the water. You need to slalom around the buoys as fast as you can.
Enjoy!!
Posted in Humour at 23:38 |
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IE Users Only
Just added a clever little thing to my blog that adds a bar across the top of the window that only IE users can see. If you're using a proper browser (Safari, Opera, Firefox) then you won't see it... which is a good thing™ by the way. ;)
Posted in Firefox at 22:42 |
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Firefox Wallpaper
Want some rather nice wallpaper for your desktop? Check out rakaz.nl for some tasty ones. I use the Ice one at work, and the Light Strings at home.
Posted in Firefox at 20:30 |
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Blondes Not So Stupid After All
A blonde and a lawyer sit next to each other on a plane. The lawyer asks her to play a game. If he asked her a question that she didn't know the answer to, she would have to pay him five dollars; And every time the blonde asked the lawyer a question that he didn't know the answer to, the lawyer had to pay the blonde 50 dollars. So the lawyer asked the blonde his first question, "What is the distance between the Earth and the nearest star?"
Without a word the blonde pays the lawyer five dollars. The blonde then asks him, "What goes up a hill with four legs and down a hill with three?" The lawyer thinks about it, but finally gives up and pays the blonde 50 dollars. Then the lawyer asked her what the answer was and without a word the blonde gave the lawyer five dollars.
Posted in Humour at 17:57 |
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Movable Type 3.121
Yet another update to MT, so I've upgraded to it :) Mostly bug fixes, but a few new backend features including some new QuickTag buttons on the New Entry page.
I noticed in Firefox that they were sitting on the left side of the entry box instead of on the right where they used to be, IE displayed them in the normal place oddly enough.
I worked out what needed to be fixed though:
1) Open styles.css
2) Find the line: #edit-entry .field-buttons {
3) After it add: float: right;
And bingo, the buttons now sit in the right place again.
I posted that fix to Movalog, in case someone else needs to do the same.
I also added the Image and Encode HTML QuickTags to my site, so I can easily insert an <img> tag without having to do it by hand - yes I know I'm lazy :)
Posted in Movable Type at 15:16 |
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Firefox 1.0 Final Release Soon!
I just got an email from the SpreadFirefox team stating the release date of 1.0 will be the 9th of November. Start the countdown!!
They're running a new campaign to gather donations and all donors will have their name added to a full-page advert in the New York Times, it only costs $30.
I can't wait for the final release, it's time to take back the web.
Posted in Firefox at 16:34 |
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Saw
Loved the movie by the way, apart from Cary Elwes' typical overacting. The only movie I've seen him actually act (reasonably) well in was Robin Hood: Men In Tights.
It was a nice twist on the typical serial killer genre, well worth seeing imo. Some nice gore for the added shock value. I don't want to talk about it too much here, because I'll just end up ruining the entire movie for those who haven't seen it yet.
I'll be buying the DVD when it's released. :)
P.S. I've been working on this entry since the 18th, but I kept deleting parts and changing everything. I am finally publishing it on the 21st. Originally I was going to mention parts of the plot, but decided not to. If you want to know what happens in Saw, go see it for yourself.
Posted in Movies/TV at 17:41 |
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Cinema Rant
Last night I decided I wanted to go see the movie Saw in the cinema. So off I went to the Crawley UGC, which was ful of chavs, which is so typical of Crawley nowadays.
I was hoping to find a seat away from everybody, I hate having to sit next to someone I don't know, especially if I'm in there alone. No such luck, 2 people decide they want to sit next to me... oh well I thought, I'll be fine.
Wrong!
The twat in the baseball cap next to me had already seen the movie, and kept talking about to his mate (who hadn't). Thanks to him I knew the identity of the bad guy 10 minutes before I would've been able to work it out for myself.
Posted in Rant at 17:25 |
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Oh Crap, I'm Broke!
I was trying to replenish my allofmp3.com account balance but it kept being rejected, so I logged into my online banking account, and discovered I've got zero funds left! I can't believe it. I've managed to empty the entire damn account out!
There's just £42 left in there, but that's already been earmarked by debit payments due to go out in a few days. I will go overdrawn this month, for the first time in over 4 years. :(
I cannot believe I've managed to spend it all. If I had known the situation was so dire I would've started using my other card instead; my Cahoot current account has over £400 in it! *sigh* Plus I don't get paid for another 10 days.
I'm well and truely screwed.
Edit: I managed to get an overdraft authorised via my online backing facility for £200, which will last 3 months; more than enough time to sort out my finances. I also transfered £300 back from Cahoot to go in on Monday that'll get me back in the black. Not so screwed now. ;)
Posted in Life at 01:04 |
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Microsoft Partner Action Pack
I can understand why people like to pirate Microsoft software - the price! Their software is extortionately priced... for a copy of Windows XP Professional and Office 2003 Professional you're looking at around £620. That's way too much for most people, including me!
So what I do is sign up for the Microsoft Partner Action Pack. It costs around £200 + VAT per year, and you get over £16,000 worth of Microsoft software. You may not ever use most of the pack, but you do get XP Pro and Office 2003 Pro included, and you can see the saving!
£234 a year is nothing compared to what you would be paying if you bought everything separately.
I got my quarterly update today, which included the latest XP Pro with SP2, Office 2003 Small Business Edition, ISA Server 2004, SBS 2003 Premium Edition (on 3 discs instead of 5, I'm not sure how they've managed that), and Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005!
The full contents can be found here.
Not to sign up for a subscription truely is madness. :)
Posted in Computers at 11:55 |
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TypeKey Registration
I just noticed Emily posting in my shoutbox saying she was having trouble getting signed in to comment.
You need to visit TypeKey and Register there.
Once you've done that you should be able to sign in and leave comments. :)
Posted in Movable Type at 21:59 |
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Bored
I'm bored. I can't think of anything to write about right now... at least not anything I would want the entire world to see.
Not yet anyway. Might have something to write about on Monday :)
I love you Pam.
Posted in Life at 21:55 |
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War On Terrorism
How to fight the war on terrorism:
1. Take over a foreign country. Preferably one with some decent natural resources and not technologically advanced.
2. Install a puppet government.
3. Anybody who objects after (2) is obviously a terrorist, so build up a nice high body count to impress the voters. Remember the Geneva Convention doesn't apply.
4. Goto 1.
Posted in Humour at 11:14 |
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Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve, best known as Superman who was paralysed from the next down when he broke his back 9 years ago, has passed away at the age of 52.
The man was an inspiration to all, especially those also paralysed like him. He NEVER gave up hope that one day there would be a cure for his condition and he would walk once more.
He is walking now, in Heaven.
RIP Christopher.
Posted in Life at 11:09 |
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Steam
Valve Software's Steam software is pretty darn cool. I installed it today in advance of the imminent release of Half Life 2. Then I typed in the CD keys of Half Life 1 and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.
I was a little worried about this part, as some people I know have had their CD keys stolen and they've had to buy new ones just to play the games they've bought previously on Steam. I needn't have worried though, both my keys are now permanently assigned to my account, so the only way I could lose them is if I lost my entire account. :)
Now to decide which HL2 package I want to buy!
Posted in Computers at 18:24 |
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Blimey
Started to reinstall XP with SP2 last night on my PC... all went well. It updates from my SUS/SBS server no problem, thank god. One of the reasons I killed my server was because I couldn't.
Now I can start reinstalling all my software and stuff and get my PC into something that works reasonably well again!
I am a happy duck.
Posted in Computers at 14:08 |
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SBS Links
I have no freaking clue why I was having so much damn trouble over the weekend trying to install SBS. I managed to finish the entire thing by 2am last night! Only took 6 hours, instead of a little over 2 days!
Anyway, here are some handy links for my information, or anyone else who happens to be installing SBS 2003:
WaitToKill - Bug fix.
smallbizserver.net
sbslinks.com
msmvps.com/bradley
OWA on HTTPS only - Info on redirection to SSL site.
Time Server - Needs to be enabled manually if you connect through a router.
Deploy SP2 for 884032 - Need to extract SP2 before installing this hotfix.
Change the 2003 SMTP Banner
Everything appears to be working perfectly, so far. One final test will be to see if SUS is still working properly. One reason I decided to format and reinstall SBS was because it wasn't.
At least I can still download my email!
Posted in Computers at 16:50 |
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More Boring Windows Stuff!
I ghosted the Standard 2003 tonight, then stuck in the SBS 2003 CD and started the install over. After it was done with the text and graphical parts of the install I ghosted the drive AGAIN.
So far so good!!
I decided I wanted to have SBS installed as it's sooooo much easier to set up Exchange on it. Hopefully I'll get most of it done tonight. Probably have to leave it partly done till tomorrow night, at least I'll be driving myself so I can leave at 5:30 instead of 2 hours later.
P.S. 45 days 1 hour!
Posted in Computers at 23:08 |
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Thank You
I called Pam just before crawling into bed and let her know I was finally happy after the last few days of being extremely pissed off (at my computers, not her! I've never been pissed off with her).
I love you so much Pam.
Thank you for listening to me moan about my computer problems, and helping me stay sane as everything seemed to be going wrong. I know you probably didn't understand a word I said, but I hope I didn't annoy you too much by spouting confusing jargon.
I am so glad that you are my best friend and the absolute love of my life. I would go totally insane without you. I love you!
Posted in Computers at 11:10 |
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Reinstalling Windows Server 2003 - Part 4
Now that Exchange was installed, I could start trying to restore the mailboxes and get my email back up and running.
Following some instructions I'd downloaded from Microsoft I realised I would have to dismount the stores, run Backup and restore the backup I'd made on Friday evening.
Posted in Computers at 11:04 |
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Reinstalling Windows Server 2003 - Part 3
In the morning I try the Ghost again, and finally get it working. I had to boot into Windows and format the spare hard drive in NTFS before I could actually use it for backing up onto.
So... I start the 3rd part of the install again and leave the server doing it's stuff, occasionally checking to see if it needs a new CD. I wander back in an hour or two later and find the damn thing has blue screened! God, I was so pissed off.
Posted in Computers at 10:52 |
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Reinstalling Windows Server 2003 - Part 2
When I got home I checked the screen to see what had happened to it... blue screen! No wonder I couldn't access it any more. A complete reinstall was most likely in order, as it had never been quite right after having to repair Windows when I did the hardware upgrades a few weeks ago.
I wanted to try setting up a new Directory Controller and replicate all the user data to it, so I could keep my user account and SID the same - if possible.
So, I installed 2003 on my spare PC and ran dcpromo, joined it to my domain and let the users replicate. Backed up the email files a final time, then I set to work on formatting and reinstalling SBS on the server.
It crashed part way through the 2nd part of the install (the graphical bit after the text bit), so I rebooted and tried again, this time it managed to get into Windows and then crashed on the 3rd part.
Posted in Computers at 10:42 |
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Reinstalling Windows Server 2003 - Part 1
Still at work, wishing I could go home now and check what's going on with my server. Has it crashed completely? Is the data intact? Have I lost all my email? Can I get it running long enough to get a backup? I hate not knowing the answers to these questions.
Posted in Computers at 14:06 |
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Birthday
My 25th birthday is coming up in November. Eek!
My mum just rang me and said there was a special offer on a printer on QVC, the Photosmart 145. Funnily enough I'd actually looked at the same model in PC World and thought about getting one, but didn't fancy spending the cash at the time. The offer comes with a USB cable and carrying case included, both of which wouldn't come with the PC World model, so that's good. The printer is very small, as it's only for printing photos on glossy paper. It has memory card slots so you can plug in your cards from digital cameras and works without a PC attached, so you can print photos from ANYWHERE! Basically it's a fantastic little photo printer, but it won't replace my current A4 size printers.
I suggested that this could be my birthday present, and my mum agreed, so that's what I'm getting. :) Yay!
Posted in Life at 13:59 |
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ARGH!!!
My bloody server has crashed AGAIN! And I'm stuck at work 30 miles away from the damn thing so I can't get it up and running again. I am getting so fucking pissed off with my computers... why the hell can they just not work properly???
I think a complete reinstall of SBS2003 is in order, it's never been quite the same after I changed all the hardware and repaired the installation. *sigh*
Posted in Computers at 11:36 |
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Stupid Computers!
Why is it so damn hard for me to get my PC up and running perfectly again? Everytime I think I'm getting somewhere I hit a brick wall and have to start again. It's stressing me out badly.
Why does my server keep crashing? Last night I was using it remotely from my bedroom and suddenly the connection was lost. I tried pinging it to see if it was still online and it wasn't, so I wandered downstairs to see what had happened to it... blue screen! UGH!
I rebooted it, and for some reason it didn't boot from the hard drive and attempted to boot off the on-board NIC, which of course it can't. I rebooted it again and this time it just sat there not doing anything. It was getting late and I couldn't be arsed to stay up too late fiddling with it, so I turned it off to try again in the morning and went to bed.
When I went downstairs this morning to turn my server back on I got a huge shock... it was already on and booted into Windows! WTF? I leave it turned off and it somehow it's turned itself back on again! I really cannot see how that is even possible. My house haunted or something?
Posted in Computers at 09:10 |
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