Probably the most powerful hand drill in the shop

Tried to fit a security light at Grandma Gandalf's house today, but came across the major stumbling block of being unable to drill a hole all the way through a brick wall. (I did try to use an existing hole where an old ariel wire was fitted, but found that the hole followed a staggered route behind plastic fascia. so I couldn't draw my wire through it).

Popped into the B&Q sale on the way home and picked up this little 1100 Watt beast ex-display and under half price in the B&Q sale - plus a 40 cm long 14mm diameter drill bit to go with it, and a laser spirit level for a fiver.

Ready to tackle the wall again tomorrow. "Go ahead punk. Make my day..."

Holiday Chaos (hopefully avoided)

It's become a bit of a tradition with us, that whenever we book a holiday something threatens to cancel the whole thing - usually the outbreak of World War III in the area that we're visiting.

This time it's a BA cabin crew and check in staff crew strike over absence management and pay.

And of course one of the proposed strike dates dates is slap bang on the day we're due to fly to Rome.

BA's advice last night was to re-arrange flights so lots of hasty phone calls last night to BA, travel agents, insurance and today to airport parking. We're now flying out the day before instead (we were already due to return the day after the potential strike finishes).

Had to fork out some more money for airport car-parking and another night in the hotel (losing a "free" day from the original deal in the process), with the only compensation being another day in Rome (checked insurance and we're not covered for this one).

Angry letters of complaint will be on their way to an airline and a travel agent very soon - also possibly the skivers union ;-)

Finally my Blog came good...

... and provided some useful information to somebody!

"Misirlou"

The "Black Eyed Peas" version of "Misirlou" (i.e. snatches of the tune, with them rapping "Pump It!" over the top) was just playing on the radio, which prompted me to Google for the origins of what I always thought was a relatively modern (i.e. 1950's/60's) classic.

The Wikipedia entry reveals a longer history and (IMHO) fascinating history.

(which explains why the Bazouki player at a Greek Restuarant I frequented in Brum used to break out into this tune on a regular basis).

Sometimes computers just really piss me off

Instead of a quiet night website building I've had to spend a good few hours recovering and reconfiguring Novelist Supermum's email, after her aging laptop crashed when the wire was pulled out (the battery is knackered so it didn't like the sudden power loss).

Somehow Thunderbird had lost the email account settings. It was simply a matter of reconfiguring the account settings, but most of the time was spent checking and double checking that the profile was still intact on the disk, and backing up the profile before I started. Once the account settings were back ta-dah! all of the emails were where they should be.

Library Thing

I've followed up cha0tic's post and started my Library Thing book catalogue.

Windy Miller

There's gale force winds all over the country today.

The Mersey is looking pretty rough. Sheets of water are being blown right across the top of the Albert Dock.
The ferry has given up trying to cross and is being buffeted about on it's moorings.

Cars that turn into Aeroplanes

A discussion at work about whether or not anybody had really invented a car that turns into an aeroplane resulted in me Googling up the moller skycar website.

Much debate about whether or not this thing is real. We expect that the concept is real, and they're trying to get investment. However take a close look at some of the "vertical takeoff" video's. Is that a wire I see above the skycar?

Even if it does work, and you can afford one, you'll still need a pilot's license to fly it.

Ikea Roller Blinds - Aaaaargh!!!

Make exact measurements as per instructions. Drill holes in correct place. Plug holes with screw fixings. Fix plastic blind fittings with screw. Click blind into place. Test by gently pulling on pull cord. Whole thing comes crashing down! Unscrew one of the plastic blind fittings. Drill new holes 5mm from the old ones. Repeat fitting process. Whole thing comes crashing down, crumpling the bottom of the blind and making a tear in the right hand edge. Rant and rave at blind, tools, crappy instructions and any sympathetic member of the family who happens to cross my path. Drill a further set of new holes. Repeat process. This time the blind works, but the fixings look as if they are straining. Run the blind up and down for about 15 minutes like some sort of manic semaphore until I'm convinced that it isn't going to free itself from the over-strained fixings. Fit the pull cord bottom guide (2 more holes into solid brickwork). Novelist Supermum then hides the tear buy the strategic application of planet, alien and robot stickers (the blind is in Frodo's room).

Decided to leave the more difficult, larger blind to be fixed in Samwise's room for another occasion. Probably need to book an Anger Management course first.

Xmas Thank You's

OK, I've got some pictures of gratefully smiling hobbits, and have pasted them into the top of a word document, with a large THANK YOU logo in the middle.

Now all I have to do is write a letter, and adjust it to suit relatives/presents as appropriate, with a little information about what the hobbits have been up to this year . Also how much they are enjoying the present that was given (not mentioning any that have been broken already), or what worthy goods they have spent the gifted money on.

Then print it off, bung it into envelopes, add stamps and post.

Why do I do this arduous task every year? Mainly because showing gratefulness ensures the continued supply of future presents :-)

Also it's actually a nice thing to do, and keeps me in touch with several relatives who did a lot for me when I was younger, and are continuing to be good to my kids.

Mind you, as soon as they learn to read and write I'm getting the boyz to do the writing themselves - although by that time they'll probably just be sending a text message "Dr Anty. Thx 4 Prez. F&S. L8er Dude!"

Conspiracy Theory

So Mr Blair was supposed to break his silence regarding his thoughts on the execution of Saddam Hussein this week?

Do I detect some diversionary items in the news? - problems with Home Office records, interest rates going up etc.

Thanks for a shitty working week Tony. I must have one of the few jobs where I can turn on the radio and find out exactly what I'll be asked to do when I get into work.

Evidence of a God with a cruel sense of humour

I think that I've finally found a true WYSIWYG HTML editor that generates decent XHTML and CSS code to ensure browser compatibility. It can use templates to easily apply similar styles to different web pages, and can save whole sites to disk or publish to the web with a couple of mouse clicks.

There are other editors around that claim to be WYSIWYG, but many are just a front end to HTML text editing, rather than a pure drag and drop layout/publishing editor.
Others have the drag and drop editing, but produce naff results and poor code.

This means that Novelist Supermum should be able to edit and modify her own website, without having to enter into the darkart of HTML and CSS editing (or bothering me to do it for her).

And what is this editor? By a cruel twist, given recent events in our household, it's called Goldfish!

It was originally produced for Mac, but there's a trial Windows Beta version available. Hopefully this will be ready for purchase soon (The Mac version costs just over 20 quid).

We've managed to create a basic template based on the Romance Fiction Website in a couple of hours. We need to spend a little time revamping this template, but once the template is set up the way we like it Goldfish should be a really useful tool.

Hammer of the Gods - Final Blow

As suspected, found Thor dead in the water. Buried him first thing this morning.
That's it - all gone to Fantail Goldfish Valhalla.

I don't think that we'll try keeping any more fish for a while, and then it's probably going to be just two bog standard, super hardy, no frills goldfish, rather than fancy, disease-prone fantails.

Ragnarok

Angraboda now dead and buried, which means that Thor is the winner of Aquarium Ragnarok.

I suspect that this will be a short lived victory though, the fish medicine doesn't appear to be having too much effect. Looks like he's given up the will to feed and is lurking at the bottom of the tank, rather than actively swimming.

Depressing fish news.

Fenrir died yesterday afternoon. Buried him last night.

Angraboda looks a little better in quarantine, but still can't right himself. I suspect that the methylyne blue cure may just be prolonging the agony, rather than providing a cure.

Thor is starting to show the same symptoms as the rest of the fish - so it looks like I'm going to lose all of them.

I've tested the tank water and all Nitrate, Nitrite, Water Hardness and PH levels are showing as being OK. Perhaps they've just had too many cycles of various diseases and cure, that have taken them to the point of no return. I can't pin down what's killing them off. I've removed the plants from the tank - which may have been the initial source of the bacterial infection, since we planted new ones from a shop we hadn't used before a couple of months ago. Previous plants had all come from the same shop that we bought the fish from.

A financial thought - the fish cost about 2 quid each. I reckon I've spent about 3 or 400 quid on them, but then that's what you do with pets, the cost doesn't matter, it's the care that counts.

The thing about pets is that they teach you about life and death. Mainly death.

I suppose that we've had them for 2.5 years, which is a little longer than the average hamster.

Twelfth Night

Christmas decorations all taken down. Got the hobbits to help me drag the sacrificial tree (we kill one every year in the name of Christmas) to Calderstones Park where it will be "recycled". The Park Rangers chip up the Christmas trees, and use the chippings to renew parkland pathways.

Quarantine

2 fish now in quarantine - Fenrir and Angraboda. 1 fish still in the tank - Thor.
Thor still looks OK, but is now on his own.

Fenrir was in a really bad way, and I didn't expect him to last the night. He looked almost dead this morning, floating on his side, but still breathing, and I could see that Angroboda was starting to go downhill fast too, with signs of infection.

Took Fenrir out of the tank water (treated with anti-bacterial medicine) and into quarantine in water treated with the traditional sick fish remedy "methylene blue". He is able to right himself in the water - although he still spends time on his side, and may be fairly exhausted. He is also feeding, from the bottom as well as the top of the water.

Angraboda is in a worse state. I'm trying the same remedy, although initially he was in the anti-bacced tank water, which has now been changed to just water with methylene blue. He's quarantined from the other fish and is still breathing but has taken to lying upside down.

Farewell Odin

Odin got steadily worse throughout the day today.

He was feeding a little, but gradually lost control of his ability to swim, so kept on adopting a position reminiscent of Shrek's goldfish. I kept on adding small amounts of food at appropriate intervals and noted that he was swallowing them, but I'm sure that he was labouring to breathe - I suspect that the infection has led to gill rot, as well as fin rot.

He was still alive when we left for the Panto (which was great by the way) at 17:00 today, but had finally expired when we returned just after midnight.

Dug a grave in the garden, and buried him near Loki - with the Police Helicopter hovering overhead, no doubt checking what I was up to ("I'm burying a body officer").

3 survivors left. The infection appears to have pretty well cleared up on Thor and Angraboda, and they look OK, however Fenrir has an infected spot that is gradually clearing. He isn't carrying his tail too well, although the trauma of a dead fish in the water may have been causing distress. I'll have to keep a close eye on them.

Happy Birthday

To Novelist Supermum.

Flowers and main gift have already been handed over. Rest of pressies, cake plus meal and theatre trip (OK - so it's the Everyman Rock'n'Roll panto) to follow.

Touch and Go for Odin

I've had the light off on the fish tank whilst the bacterial infection medicine does it's stuff. This morning I decided to turn it on again, and leave it on for the best part of the day, to give the plants a chance to grow.

This could have been a big mistake, since the light warming the water appears to have started up the bacterial infection again. By teatime fungus was appearing on the fish, and Odin looked in a really bad way.

Hastily I changed two buckets of water, and applied the next dose of bacterial control medicine. By my reckoning the next dose was due tomorrow, but today could be on the fourth day, rather than just after so this should be OK. Odin was still breathing, but could barely swim upright whilst I changed the water. After the water change he lay gasping on the bottom of the tank for a while.

Eventually he moved, and came up to the surface and appeared to be trying to feed. I've been monitoring him most of the night, and supplying small pinches of food when it looks like he's searching for it. He's managed to eat a few flakes and perked up a bit, and can manoeuvre himself better than he did before, but still gets swept around the tank a bit, and is having trouble righting himself. He does seem to be able to swim under the swamp root ornament for a rest though.

Hopefully the medicine is clearing his gills and stopping the fin rot / bacterial infection. I didn't think he would last an hour at teatime, never mind the night, but it's looking a little more promising at the moment.

The other fish appear to be OK and the fungus is clearing.

Wireless Central Heating Thermostat

Our central heating doesn't have a thermostat.

I've considered installing one myself in the past, however the thing that has put me off the most is lifting a number of floorboards and trying to route a wire from the kitchen, through the morning room, through the hall and into the living room.

I discovered the answer in B&Q - a wireless (radio frequency) thermostat for 50 quid.

I've managed fit it myself, and surprise surprise it appears to have worked first time.

The fitting was hastened by the discovery of four little holes in the wall above the boiler heating timer/controller, fitted with wall plugs, and the words "RF" pencilled beside them. The previous occupant/owner had one fitted, and must have removed it before we bought the property.

The RF receiver that I had bought fitted these holes perfectly (the thermostat and RF receiver are sold together). Had some trouble figuring out the wiring diagram for the timer controller and the receiver (and checking/confirming that my assumptions were correct), but essentially this was simply a matter of connecting live/neutral feeds from the fused supply that goes to the timer/controller to the receiver as well. The common terminal of the timer/controller is already linked to the fused live supply. I connected the switched live from the timer/controller to the common terminal of the receiver.
(previously this had gone directly to the boiler). I connected the switched live from the receiver to the boiler.

So the heating timer/controller switches on the supply to the thermostat, which switches on the supply to the boiler.

Followed the manual, tested the receiver hard wiring connection, then tested the radio frequency connection from the thermostat to the receiver - all OK.

The beauty of a wireless solution is that we can easily move the thermostat around whilst we determine the optimum position for it in the living room (or we can easily move it to any other room). There is a bracket that we can screw to the wall and clip the thermostat on and off this as required. I'll fit the bracket once we're happy with the best location.

Hopefully this should save a little money on Gas Bills - I wonder how quickly I'll get my 50 quid back?

Fish update

Odin is still alive. Still lurking for most of the day under the mangrove swamp root ornament, but definitely looks a little healthier. He still doesn't appear to be feeding much, if at all, but he's had the odd little swim around the tank, so perhaps the medicine is working. Second dose in a couple of days.

It's 2007!

Just poured myself a Bourbon Whiskey and Coke, (Novelist Supermum had another glass of wine), shouted Happy New Year!, snogged Novelist Supermum, kissed the sleeping Hobbits, then went outside with drink to watch the impromptu firework display (there's a house at the top of the street that puts on a spectacular 10 minute show every New Year).

Met some of the neighbours, who like me were in the street, glass in hand doing the same. Shook hands with the bloke from number 5, kissed his wife (at least I think that it was that way round) then chatted whilst watching the fireworks. Found out some new info i.e. their names - they've only been living there for 10 months or so, and I've met them at 2 parties. Should remember this time (hopefully).

Got back in to find Marc Almond singing on the telly - Aarrgh! Somebody I've never grown to like - even though he's singing a good song ("The Games People Play") with Jools Holland.

Roland Rivron (my hero - some people say that we are similar in look) didn't manage to predict anything for 2007, but has promised to do more for "Global Worming" (not a typo).

Speaking of predictions, where are the 80mph winds? Probably just as well that they haven't materialised.

Ade Edmondson has just trumpet played and sung his way through an easy listening, big band version of The Sex Pistol's "Anarchy in the UK". This went down a storm.

Also I thought that Seasick Steve was superb - this guy played a 3 string electric guitar and provided a rhythm section by stomping on a wooden crate - the song was "Dog House Blues" (reminiscent of John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Blues").