Month: February 2012

Looks like Google are running the Change Bat over blogger …

There’s a couple of positive changes but a few where the instigator needs shooting …

Positive – favicons. I change my normal avatar often and without warning 🙂 Check out the latest (more below). He’s a Pocket Dwagon called System Cwash, which I chose in honour of how well our work IT performed yesterday. That bad. However, the favicon will always be the “Another Monday” ZombieDwagon :

(I may tidy it up a bit more though as favicons are tiny)

That fella will always be my favourite Pocket Dwagon. It’s a shame the Pocket Dwagon hatchery shut down in 2006 but here’s a link to more about them. Sadly, Evil Ex won custody of most of our Pocket Dwagon collection when she left, so I only have a few to choose from for avatars.

Where was I …

Oh. Blog template update : This is going to generate a fair bit of hate as control of the comments template has been taken away from us. To be honest, the new one looks a) horrible and b) isn’t compatible with the IE6 we’re forced to use at work. So when it comes to checking that a new comment isn’t spam, I have to use my mobile.

That’s another change that got my goat – when I got my Android phone, it forced me to change the Google sign in to a Gmail account. That’s not so bad but it’s irritating to have some comments go to Gmail and other comments go to the email address in my profile. (I’d repeat it but that’s how you spawn junkmail).

Happily, a while ago Google enabled cutdown templates for browsing blogs via Mobiles which works pretty well. So I can still check comments (for spam) at work despite the efforts of Google to break stuff. Actually, not so sure why I check for spam as I can’t do anything about it anyway until I get home ! (There’s no way I’m exposing any home passwords to the potential at work for keyloggers, insecure access or data monitoring)

So – I’m not impressed by what Google have been up to, it breaks the first rule of enforcing a change on people : Always ensure your change is complete and correct before unleashing it.

Last change for now : System Crash. Here’s the original :

The prep work for that involved :
Placing System Crash on top of my subwoofer (after dusting it)
Using the plastic base for my last PC as a flat black backing (think greenscreen technique).
Hoping I could remove the t-shirt on the radiator behind.
Standing the little fella on top of a couple of pennies to get the right angle.
And standing my camera on the subwoofer so it would be stable enough for a no flash, long exposure shot. (Next time I’ll use a non-reflective backing)

By the power of Photoshop (Elements), that becomes :

The black backing can be quickly removed by the power of the Magic selector thingy tool. It’s very handy for selecting around the edges of what you want to keep, so you can delete what you want gone. The trick is to get good contrast between image and background, black works well for Pocket Dwagons. I could have tidied up those lines a little more but I was happy enough after 20 minutes fiddling with Photoshop.

But I think I still need a new camera as the other 6 pictures I took were garbage : washed out by flash or blurry due to long exposure.

Felt like there’s a blog post bursting to come out but what to write … what to write …

Found a new artist to get hooked on, courtesy of Craziequeen. Just listen to “I Do Adore” and try not to sing along. You will fail. I’ve had the chorus bouncing around in my head all day, which kinda balanced a horror day otherwise. Someone … decided to implement a change which forced every user on the system to download their full inbox. The network actually survived. But almost no-one had their inbox available and doing things with stuff outside email was incredibly slow due to all the inbox downloading traffic.

I suspect that whoever decided to implement that unnecessary change is currently being skinned by the boss. And there’s a baying mob with pitchforks gathering.

Diet – this is still going ok.

The average weight is still steadily reducing at a sensible and sustainable rate. I’m getting less issues with cramping up which hopefully means I’m getting that mineral balance better. I have problems when I’ve not had enough salt (like everyone) but I also have issues with too much salt.

At school age, after getting home from a day’s cricket I’d typically have :
Coke/Diet Coke in the pub after the game (it’s a diuretic)
Dinner with lots of salt

And I’d usually be lucky to not get cramp so bad I’d tear a leg muscle. I call it the Salt Bomb now … Chippie dinners are bad for it as well. The lesson is to make sure that salt intake is balanced, i.e. drink lots of water to replace sweat or to offset the salt. And coke is bad because it does funny things to that salt/water balance.

Anyway. Diet is getting the calorie intake discipline going better, although I’m not exactly being scientific with it. I’m just sticking with “don’t eat if not hungry”. Can’t remember last time I ate a dinner on a Friday night, as bacon sarnie + late lunch baguette means I don’t need dinner.

Been stiff & sore lately, enough to go “ow” when people aren’t looking … But I still have full power available in the legs. Actually more than full power, as I’m a stone lighter now compared to when I started the diet. And that lower weight means I can start moving quicker and adjust quicker. Because of the way my legs are set up, it takes time for them to start moving but when they do, I can move extremely quickly. And less weight means less reaction time.

I’m not sylph like (never will be) but I’ve dodged out of the way when ever someone’s come running around the corner.

Hmm. That means I’ve missed being run into by pretty ladies. (They seem to be the ones rushing around a lot at work)

I may have to rethink that dodging out the way thing.

Oh – diet stuff. I’ve got to a point where I can play around with what I eat a little more, while keeping within that discipline. So like today, Mini Eggs in the afternoon let me blast through work frustration enough to get stuff done late. But that’s balanced by me not having a teacake for breakfast this morning. And the pizza will be balanced by me resisting cookies for as long as possible tonight.

It’s not so much looking at packets and adding up calories, it’s more keeping to a discipline. Like not knowing how long it is since I had a dessert … It’s been a while.

Still a little sore though. I vaguely remember that getting poked by strong fingers was awesome for relieving stress and tension. With the vaguely showing how long it is since I knew someone willing to do that for me. Last expert I knew was Mad Alyse from uni, who worked wonders with the back injury I picked up at school.

Part of the problem is the ability to apply the extreme pressure …

It's in an awkward place for the grippers I have. I think I need more tools 🙂

Of course, applying extreme pressure to wing nuts often results in it just becoming a nut sans wings. Good luck!

He has assorted weaponry and knows how to use it 😉

Been meaning to tackle one of the house repair jobs for a little while now, finally got the chance (and inclination) today …

My loo has a problem with its flusher. It’s a siphon type that doesn’t siphon at the moment. It’s broke. (But not icky because I have a workaround that lets the loo function). So this repair job is going to involve either :

Replacing the loo
Replacing the siphon thingy

I’m hoping I don’t have to go as far as replacing the loo as I’d have to get someone in to do that for me. And while it’s not spotless, it’s not beyond my abilities to get it that way. So I’ve been looking to replace the broken siphon thingy.

But … (there’s always a but). There’s a problem.

2 problems in fact – 2 rusty nuts.

To do the repair, I have to take the cistern off the wall to be able to replace the siphon because the bits to unscrew are hidden between cistern and loo. I can do the prep work :
Identify problem & get bits – had ’em ages and I understand how to fit them.
Empty cistern of water – fine. I have a suction pump thingy.
Keep cistern empty – sorted and I can decouple those pipes too.
Get cistern off loo ?

That last is where the problem comes in, there’s 2 wingnuts that are rusted to the bolts. I’ve had them soaking in WD40 on and off for a while but it begs the question :

Why the hell use corrodable bolts in the most corrosion friendly area of a house ? You’ve got the water, fresh air plus warmth from when you use the hot water. The only place in a house that’s more corrosion friendly is the kitchen. Plastic wingnuts would have been far more sensible.

So – frustration today cos those wingnuts just refused to budge.

I’m hopeful I can get them loose though without having to resort to heat. Using heat almost certainly getting a plumber in to replace the loo as I doubt the porcelain would survive. WD40 is usually the universal answer so I’m trying that + time.

In the meantime it’s back to that temporary solution which is one reason I’ve not offered to share the surround sound + movies with anyone lately …

PS I also have that scent of liquid rust in my nose that the moment that comes with all that WD40 … with the window open upstairs to take it away too.

Lol – rumbled … Although there should really be people like A-Ha, Snow Patrol and Dire Straits in there too … I guess it's because I imagine the female voices are singing just to me.

Picking out some for an alternate one of Age 0-10, 11-20, 21-30, 30-21again now 🙂

Oh – Julianne Regan = always been voice of Menolly for me

I thought that was an AK47 ? 🙂

Nice choices. It is so hard to narrow it down to 3 tracks for each decade!

I suspect you are a fan of female voices?

My basement cat has a cricket bat too 😉