Grumpy Old Men - again

[oldrocker]

we've never successfully put anything through it.

Despite many attempts?

[allypally]

Good lord yes, we've tried. I dropped a computer box (as in the main box with the CPU in etc as opposed to the cardboard kind!) up there and it just made a loud bang with no further damage. Also dropped a bardic lamp with same effect.

Very useful stuff chipboard!

[Lad491]

Seriously grumpy today It was a beautiful day this morning, sun shining and nice and warm, not too hot for me. I couldnt go out as I was expecting my gardener to come as he couldn't come yesterday because it was chucking it down.

So i waited and waited and waited. And the skies grew darker and darker and darker. And just as it began pouring with rain he phoned to say he wouldnt be coming today as it was raining now So ive wasted a whole morning when i could have made the most of the nice weather, for nothing. And the man ive got coming later to repair some cladding he put up last month and which blew off in the weekend storms, probably wont come either now as its raining bucket loads.

On top of all that, if that wasnt enough, I spent a couple of hours tweaking an activity and then ran it for just over the hour to test the changes i'd made, and one minute before I arrived at the spot i needed to test I got a broken coupler - never had that before in a hundred zillion test runs

So im really grumpy now. If I had a cat or a dog i'd go and kick it, but i havent so i'll just go and swear at my fish instead

[Lad491]

And the man ive got coming later to repair some cladding he put up last month and which blew off in the weekend storms, probably wont come either now as its raining bucket loads.

He didnt either he called at 3pm to say it was raining and he'd come on Saturday morning instead. So a whole day wasted

The fish seemed pretty laid back about it all and just told me to go and buy some fresh plants - which i did, and where i encountered a case of bull of the finest order. A young man who will go far as a salesman

It wasnt raining when i went out

[Easilyconfused]

Where shall I start ?

MS Vista seems a good place ! I am busy transitioning onto a Vista laptop at work using our finalised corporate build. Works fine in the office and at home via my work supplied ADSL. Tried to switch the default gateway tonight from 192.168.1.1 (BT ADSL router) to 192.168.1.3 (Virgin Cable router) so I could download all the bits and pieces I need for MSTS (UKFS / Xtracks / Bristol - Swansea) etc. Can I make it use the Virginmedia connection ? Not a chance so instead of 20MB downloads I am stuck at my "upto 8MB" BT that is in fact about 2.25MB if I am lucky, the rain is coming from the west and there is an "R" in the day of the week

The silly woman next door is playing car parking games again. They rent the place and the owner has a Range Rover on the driveway so they can't use the drive or garage to park their 2 cars (a new Mini and a Smart Car). She manages to take up 2 spaces with a Smart car. Just how is that possible ? They had some sort of row with another neighbour last week and now when he comes from from his night shift he is aiming at the prime spaces in the turning circle rather than the end of their drive. That means she gets the space over their drive. Trouble is she can't park for toffee - a good 18 inches out from the kerb from a straight in approach. No manoeuvring required - just pull up 18 inches from the kerb and get out

Still revenge is best served cold - I am off to Germany next week so I will grab a prime space on Monday before he gets in from night shift and after she has gone to work. Then my car is stationary until I get back the end of next week.

[Lad491]

Can I make it use the Virginmedia connection ? Not a chance so instead of 20MB downloads

Oh if only i could get that When i was on the 4Mb service i usually got pretty close to that. I upgraded to the 20Mb service at the beginning of the year and now im lucky to get 4Mbs. The only time i can get close (18.3Mbs is my best) is at 4am in the morning. Last night I was downloading from here at the amazing speed of 70Kb/s.

Personally i think the 20Mbs service is a scam and im just glad im not paying any more for it, thanks to an attractive deal I got from the sales staff. We are supposed to be going up to 50Mbs in June - Fat chance I say.

Later .....

I was about to run msts and started closing applications to free up memory space. When i closed Outlook Express Windows asked me if I wanted to compact folders to free up space, so i answered yes. It then said it couldnt compact folders because one or more folders were in use, and told me to close Outlook Express (which I had just done). So I ok'd that message and then it said it couldnt compact folders as Outlook Express wasnt running. Duh

[oldrocker]

I was in Asda tonight and they have one of those macines that sort your coins.

On the side it said 'Coinstar, changes coins into cash'.

[Lad491]

They've got one of those in my local Tesco's too. It should really say Changing coins into bigger profits for us, since it wont give you a £20 note for its equivalent in coin. It will only give you a voucher which you can then use to pay for your purchases at the checkout. Whats the point in that I have to ask. If ive got £20 in loose change to pay for my purchases i'll give it to the cashier. Just yet another ploy to tie you into their retail chain.

My local amusement arcade has the proper thing. Stick £20 in change in and get a £20 note. Bung a £20 note in and get £20 in change. Thats what the tesco machines should do.

[johndibben]

They've got one of those in my local Tesco's too. It should really say Changing coins into bigger profits for us, since it wont give you a £20 note for its equivalent in coin. It will only give you a voucher which you can then use to pay for your purchases at the checkout. Whats the point in that I have to ask. If ive got £20 in loose change to pay for my purchases i'll give it to the cashier. Just yet another ploy to tie you into their retail chain.

My local amusement arcade has the proper thing. Stick £20 in change in and get a £20 note. Bung a £20 note in and get £20 in change. Thats what the tesco machines should do.

There's one in our local Tescos but never worked out what it was for and didn't fancy looked an idiot trying to find out

Not happy about sticking my 'loose change' into a machine

[Pyromaniac]

No that's not what you do...

After with have paid in your money - and they've taken their 7p in every pound for themselves - a voucher is printed.

And you can redeem at customer services.

I'm a little annoyed for this is the second time this has happened.

I wanted to buy one of those little packs on Jaffa Cakes from a vending machine, so when the thing spins out, it gets stuck . Now when it first did it, i was at the Arriva Southend garage with my dad and asked them if they had a key for it to get it out. So one of the traffic office blokes comes out, puts his hand near the top of the machine and calls my dad over, and says "push". Pushing the machine back on its back two legs, letting it fall forward, and the Jaffa Cakes fell down. However i didn't have that option today, and didn't get my Jaffa Cakes.Still, at least i got my money back .

Cheers

Peter

[Lad491]

You were lucky to get your money back, usually its lost and your only solution is to put more money in, in the hope that the second will push the first out. At work the vending machine was always getting stuck like this and the solution used the first time is the best result. Tip it back and let it drop forward, to shake the offending item out.

I could never managed to shift it, not being a particularly beefy sort of bloke, but i could usually find a couple of big blokes (or women ) to give me a hand

[dkightley]

I could never managed to shift it, not being a particularly beefy sort of bloke, but i could usually find a couple of big blokes (or women ) to give me a hand

And I can just imagine the chat-up line:
"Excuse me, darlings. I've got my Jaffas stuck in this machine. I was wondering if you could help me get them out."

[Lad491]

And I can just imagine the chat-up line:
"Excuse me, darlings. I've got my Jaffas stuck in this machine.

Actually if i'd said "ive got my Jaffa stuck in this machine", their reply would be unprintable in a family forum

[dkightley]

Trust you to lower the tone......

[Anonymizeruk]

Can I make it use the Virginmedia connection ? Not a chance......

Do you happen to be using a Wireless connection? I had a problem getting my router to talk to my Vista PC (that is before I chucked it, and went back to XP!) because of IPv6. It would obtain an IP from the router, but couldn't get an internet connection. This is how I got round it -

1. Run RegEdit
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{GUID}
In this registry path, click the (GUID) subkey that corresponds to the network adapter that is connected to the network.
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
4. In the New Value #1 box, type DhcpConnDisableBcastFlagToggle, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click DhcpConnDisableBcastFlagToggle, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Close Registry Editor.

BT's 'HomeHub' router is one of the few that is happy with IPv6, so it would work just fine without the registry edit (it's also perfectly happy with IPv4, so should still work - the usual 'not my fault if it buggers up' applies though!)

Let me know if it does any good

Gaz