Oh ..... bugger!! again

The temporary bridge came off at about 4 O'Clock this morning.... :-(

The way it sat in my mouth was just a little proud of the surrounding teeth, and when I rubbed my nose whilst half-asleep I put pressure on it, and I felt th glue bond break immediately.

The plate is back in, and I will have to try and get back to the dentist today.

Yippeeee... The plate has gone!

Went to the dentist this morning, the denture has been scraped and a temporary bridge fitted. It feels SOOOOOOO much better, there is a slightly rough lump on the back of the tooth it's attached too, but I will live with that for a few weeks.

I now have a date for the implant surgery - Thursday April 14th. I was advised to book the Friday off, as I may well be in some discomfort for 3 or 4 days afterwards - Gulp!!!

Oh..... bugger!!

For our trip 'up north' we are planning on all going in the Scenic - 4 adults, 3 kids. This leaves the obvious issue of where to put the luggage. The solution was simple: a roof box. I know at least two people with roof boxes who are more than happy to loan them out for the week, so all we needed was a fitting kit - Oh I don't know about £10?

Huh! The standard roof bars on the Renault are a completely different profile to all the other after-market roof bars on the market...

Two solutions: 1) Buy another set of roofbars, about £100 for bars, kit, locks etc, or 2) get a roofbox from Renault, which comes with all the bits required to fit Renault bars £225

The Renault box is 320L and is finished in 'Brushed Aluminium", is side opening with two locks, so I have decided to take the plunge and get that one. It's two days to get one in stock, so I should be Ok to collect it on Saturday - I HOPE!!

Just Filled the Car..

That's the first tank full of fuel used, and not to bad....

It's averaged 42 MPG over the 3 weeks since we had it, almost all of it short shops/school/home trips. The megane was managing about 32MPG for the same sort of journeys.

Yesterday, we did a bit of 'run out' for an hour or so, just a nice and steady ride around the county lanes nearby, and so far I have been pulling 56MPG!! Now that I like..

I will be taking the trip to Penrith soon, some 200+ miles each way of Motorway driving... Lets see what it can do then!

Computer Helpdesk Questions - Or why some people should not have PC's

Helpdesk: What kind of computer do you have?
Customer: A white one...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Helpdesk: Have you tried pushing the button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Helpdesk: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note ...
Customer: No ... wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my desk... Sorry....;
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.
Helpdesk: Would you click on start for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says it can't find it....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Customer: I have problems printing in red...
Helpdesk: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah....................Thank you.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: What's on your monitor now ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me in the supermarket.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Helpdesk: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Helpdesk: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: Okay.
Helpdesk: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes.
Helpdesk: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah...that one does work!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: Your password is the small letter a as in apple, a capital letter V as in Victor, and the number 7.
Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A customer couldn't get on the Internet.
Helpdesk: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Helpdesk: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape.
Helpdesk: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has put a screensaver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Helpdesk: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Helpdesk: OK, and, what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?

So you think you kow the highway code...

http://windward.nodalpoint.net/doc/media/liikenne.swf - That may not be such a great way to drive....!

Now tonight I felt like a geek!!

Tired of sitting at the desk in the front room, working away on the desktop PC, yearning for the comfort of the couch in the living room - and to reming the wife that I do actually exist - I considered spending some time working thro' the CSS level 2 training package on the laptop...
Th main problem with that, is that all the support files and bookmarks etc. are on the desktop - and to be honest I couldn't be bothered to move them across.... Hmmmmm what to do....

I then remembered reading an article in this months PC Pro about using Remote Desktop Connection... So I have spent a couple of hours in the living room, using the desktop PC remotely... complete with my iRiver H140 playing me the collected albums of Tangerine Dream.... Lovely!!

Oh, BTW, I have now completed the course, so will be thinking about rebuilding my own website soon with Standards friendly XHTML & CSS Level 2 code.... Come on MS - lets be having IE7 with better support.

On the other hand, I may just spend a couple of weeks playing with Visual Studio again, and see if I can write any C# applications... I noticed when it installed last night - it includes the bits to run on a Windows PDA... Uhmmmmmm

Got Firefox? You need FireTune!

Confused by all the options in Firefox, attempted to get better performance and screwed it completely? OK, it may just be me and everyone else thinks it's easy... but I suspect not.
Why else would TotalIdea Software have produced FireTune?

IT automates the tweaking of Firefox 1.x based on your computer and bandwidth speed - Just look here for some details

Oh, By the way, you have upgraded to 1.0.2...

Finally got around to it

About 5 weeks ago I treated myself to a copy of Visual Studio.net (2003) - yes I know 2005 is out soon, but I don't really care! - Tonight I finally got around to installing it.

I already had a copy of VB.net on my desktop PC, but I really want to have a play with C#.net... So with a week's holiday coming up, I have decided to install studio on my desktop and laptop PC's. Thing is, In a lodge with 7 people, I am the only early riser, so I will take my laptop and attempt to work my way thro the "Begining Visual C#" book that has sat on my shelf for a month and hasn't even been opened yet!! I recon I should get 2 hours clear each morning... Ah well, that's the plan at least.

Mixed News

Job Application
Good News : There have only been three applicants, so the chances of success are good.
Less Good News : There has been a review of the 'Reward' structure for this level of post. And Free Health Care and the Company Car have been removed. Basically it means that I could end up working an additional 15 hours per week, fo no extra cash!
Even Worse News : There were two posts agreed for that staff, one for each of the level one managers... The first manager interviewed and awarded for his post, but had two people who were both excellent and he could not decide between them - so he awarded BOTH posts: Basically the job I applied for has gone!!

Tooth
Good News : I had an appointment on Monday to replace the currect denture with a temporary bridge, at last - this thing is driving me potty!
Bad News : The impression that had been taken to allow the bridge to be made, was basicically not good enough! So on Monday, I had to endure another impression taking session.
A Bit Better News : The dentist has promised to try and get the bridge made ASAP, and at the absolute latest will be available for Wednesday AM next week.

Health
Good News : The shingles has almost completely cleared up from my back, although I am still getting quite a lot of discomfort from the "Post Herpetic Neuralgia"
Bad News : I seem to have picked up a throat infection... The glands in my neck are very sore and swollen, I ache all over, aand I jst cannot regulate my body temperature... I spent most of last night dropping in and out of sleep, waking in a pool of sweat, and dithering uncontrollably..
Slightly Better News : At least I get a day off work, and have managed to get an appointment to see the doctor at 11:30

They Cannot Be Serious!!

Taken from "Digital Spy" :

• Brian May and Roger Taylor have spoken about Robbie Williams' near-inclusion in the legendary band's new line-up.


• While Queen are set to embark on a tour with Paul Rodgers on lead vocals, there was a time where the Angels singer was mooted to play the role.


• According to May and Taylor in an interview with Capital Gold, Williams approached them over the possibility after working with them on a re-recording of We Are The Champions for movie A Knight's Tale.

I still am not happy about Paul Rodgers 'joining' the band, but Robbie would have been an even bigger mistake!!

An "Irish Album" by the Corrs this autumn?

Taken from "The Corrs Online" :

The band are working on it in Dublin ... The new recording will include traditional, folk and contemporary Irish music. A Corrs spokesman said: "People are always asking for more of an Irish element from them. So they plan to do all that including covers by contemporary Irish songwriters. They began playing Irish music with fiddle, tin whistle, bodhran and piano. It's what they've done for years and they love it."

The Album will feature the BBC concert orchestra on several tracks and The Corrs will record with them in London next month before finishing the album off in Dublin in April and May before release in the autumn.

Bring it on!!

OK, I now have a 'PhotoBlog'

I have downloaded a copy of Picasa and Hello, both free from Google, and created a new blog http://boffsdigitaldomain.blogspot.com/

To start it off, I have posted a random selection of pictures from the archive, in no particular order.

For Example...

This is a sample taken from Firefox 1.0.1 (background - left) and Opera 8 (background - right) both of which render the 'fixed' menu panel on the left correctly. The foreground image is from IE 6 - not too impressive really. The HTML / CSS are both fully W3C complient...

CSS Support continued...

I have recently downloaded and installed Opera version 8 (beta), and this browser displays my test pages as intended, if anything I would say it makes an even better job than FF. Seems to confirm all the general web grumbling about IE's "lack of standards support".
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, improved in this area with the forthcoming IE 7...

BTW, I still prefer the Firefox 'User Experience' so I don't think I will be changing my default browser again anytime soon.

IE 6's lack of CSS support starting to show...

I have been continuing with my experiments in "Standards Compliant Web Page Design" on my test page http://www.redbreva.com/ and I am now starting to run into issues with IE6...

The latest version uses a 'fixed' menu at the top of the viewport, allowing the contents of the page to scroll up below it. In Firefox, this works fine (And yes, I know it's a long way from being a finished layout), but in IE6 the menu scrolls right of the top of the screen.
In addition, the 'watermark' type image in the middle of the page should be static, allowing the text to scroll over it. In FF it is, in IE it isn't.

OK, I realise that it doesn't 'Break' the page in IE6, but it is an annoyance when you know how it is supposed to work. Testing the HTML / CSS via the W3C test page shows that my code is completely standards compliant, so it's not my code at fault....

It is shingles...

Not been feeling too good this week...

Since the weekend I have been feeling a little under the weather... Yes my mouth is still driving me mad, and is getting quite sore again, this is obviously not helping things, but I don't think that's my main problem.

Under my left armpit, around the shoulder blade and the front of my chest has been feeling very sore to the touch, and is itchy. My shoulders hurt if I lean back in the chair, and I am generally feeling a bit off colour. This morning I made an effort to see if there were any visible signs to explain the soreness, and found I had a large red patch... I got Amanda to have a look, and she thinks I may have shingles..!! Great!!

The doctors surgery was shut today, so I will have to give them a call to try and get seen some time tomorrow.

On top of that, I need to get to the dentist in Halesowen by 17:00 - he is taking another impression of my mouth.. He suggested that I give up on the plate and have a 'Temporary Bridge' fitted. This is a false tooth that is 'glued' to the back of one of it's neighbors. It should be more comfortable, and can still be used when the implant is fitted - Apparently a plate cannot be work once the implant is in place, and I would have to spend two weeks with a gap!

New Reference Book

As you may be aware, I have been working my way through a couple of computer based training packages on XHTML and CSS in an attempt to improve the quality of my Web Page coding.

These courses are excellent, and have really helped. However, I have found them not to be very good as a reference source...! That is, when I attempt to put some of my new found knowledge into practice on my own test site, I cannot remember the details of HOW... and trying to find the specific bit in a course that covers it is tricky. Hence, this site may be in various stages of 'broken' at anytime, as I play with new methods of presentation.

So yesterday, whilst killing time in Waterstones, I purchased "HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bilble - 3rd Edition". It looks to cover the same sort of stuff as the online training, but with an index and thumb-thro'-ability (tm).

The iRiver SO NEEDS Rockbox!!

I took the iRiver out with me today (Bus ride into Birmingham to collect the car), and yes it does sound great, and yes the remote is a fantastic aid to usability, but the navigation is AWFUL...

I really don't think it will be used very much until Rockbox is working on the iRiver platform - hopefully not too far away now.

Finally...

At 4:30 this afternoon I took delivery of a nice shiny 'Flame Red' Renaulkt Grand Scenic....

The hand over took almost a hour and a half!! There is just so much to learn about this car, auto this, auto that, flick this to lock that, twist this to switch that on.... the list was almost never ending!

Pulling away is still a very strange experience, with no 'Handbrake' your left arm feels lost - It has an automatic 'Parking Brake' switch on the dashboard - and I need to get used to the very different way the diesel engine drives.
Initial impressions are that this is a superb vehicle, and it has already managed 42 MGP in heavy rush hour traffic!

Out for a trip to Evesham Garden Centre in the morning to give it a bit of a run out, and let Amanda get used to it, after all, she needs to be able to drive it too....!

Mixed News this morning...

Bad News...
So far, my insurance cover note has not been recieved at the dealers - that means no tax, so no car!! Andy has promised to call be back once the post has been delivered and sorted to let me know what's happening.

Good News...
My quest for a HiFi based MP3 jukebox system may be coming to an end, thanks to Engadget... They posted an article about the Hermstedt Hifidelio Music Server which looks almost exactly what I am looking for. They even have a distributer in the UK - Computers Unlimited

It's available in Silver or Black, plays (and records) Mp3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, FLAC, WAV etc, has an 80GB hard drive, 10/100 and WiFi network conectivity... The only downside would seem to be that it is ID3 database driven (iPod etc.) - I really prefer to navigate folders and files....

Oh yes, the price - £510... would be nice to be able to listen to one and generally play with it for a while before outlaying that sort of cash.

The good news train continues...

Firstly:
Amy heard today which high school she will be going to from September : The Earls, she is really pleased as this was her first choice.

and Secondly:
I now have the iRiver... It works fine, sound good but I really cannot use it in anger until Rockbox is ready to run on it...

All I need to do now is confirm with Renault Birmingham, that the car is in fact OK to pick up tommorow. I will have to give them a call first thing and agree a time.

Things are looking up...

MP3 Walkman...
Phone call today from someone at RussAndrews... My H140 has been dispatched and delivered, the bad news is that it was not sent to my address!!, the good news is that the customer who took delivery lives in the same street, and is going to bring it round...

New Car...
I called the dealership, and our new car is in fact there, and has passed PDI, so I can go and collect it on Friday, not too bad - only 3 days late!!

But it's not all good - I have to go and get my eyes tested again on Monday... I am noticing a distinct reduction in my ability to read without glasses - Hope I dont need a new pair!