Dom Barnes’s Blog

Today, finally, my MacGyver moment came. Katie’s car was puffing out smoke when she came home from work so I went out with a bottle of water to cool it down. She called her dad who said to block the hole up somehow and get the car over to his so he could look at it more. So as I walked back, with only the suggestion of bluetack and selotape, MacGyver struck me.
I had read some articles from Lifehacker about emergency kits, and stuff to keep with you. One of those was a strap like you get on backpacks, with the strap doubling through a plastic bit. I thought, with one of those, some bluetack and some plastic, I could fashion a band to go around the hole in the radiator pipe and hole it closed. So I set to work on my plan, cut up a bottle for the plastic sleeve, found the strap and bluetack, and then proceeded to spend ages fiddling with it in a very tight space, trying to get this to work. And it did. To some degree. I got the strap around, and it worked a bit, but water was still coming through. I didn’t really wanna drive in that so Katie called her dad who said just use bluetack in the hole and selotape or something like that. So I then spent about 20 mins putting this together to get the car about 7 miles to Katie’s dad’s.

Final outcome, I was proud of my MacGyver idea, and then proud that I managed to botch the car so it was running on selotape and bluetack.

I then spent the rest of the evening, helping to fix the pipe more temporarily, and then getting Katie’s dad’s new router and network all running with his new laptop too (running Vista. Looked good, fast, not bad really).

All in all, a very helpful evening on my part. Although I didn’t get a chance to do that ironing

tags: macgyver, lifehacker, diy, car repair

i hate tiscali. i pay for 8Mbps unlimited download speed and because of “fair user policy”, and cos i download a lot of podcasts and tv, i have had my speed capped during peak and off-peak times.  it means even loading webpages is dog slow.

i could do with finding a cheap cable service that offers high speeds, no caps and no fair user policy.

i don’t understand why when the phone lines can actually support up to 24Mbps speeds, only one company i have seen will actually supply that speed. they’ll give you as much as you can handle, and my netgear dg835g router can take that much.

i’m curious to know what the typical net speeds are in the usa and other places cos i’ve heard some places say they only get about 4Mbps.

This could be the first of at least a few blogs from my mobile. Now i can blog from m.wordpress.com
i love technology

why does snow cause such problems to travel and the world?  two reasons:

1. because people think they can drive the same as normal, and go sliding all over the place
2. because other people try to jump traffic by performing stupid maneuvers that cause more trouble for everyone else

today is another such day. the second day of snow in birmingham this year, and my first snow in birmingham (look at my flickr pics), and people are really struggling. the gritters were out but it takes more than grit to make the roads work, and as my girlfriend pointed out, you can’t grit when the trucks are stuck in traffic.

i think a few things are needed. if more people would be prepared to scrape the footpaths, then at least people wouldn’t fall over so much, and there would be a bit less trouble. if drivers were a bit more prepared for cold weather (not even all the time, just when we’re warned about it in advance) and took ice scrapers, de icer, a blanket, etc, then there wouldn’t be so much worry about being stuck in snow.

of course some snow plows would help too. but since we’re only getting about 6 days of snow a year, is it worth it? but global warming is another matter.

So I’ve been using Wordpress for longer than I realised. And I’m just not happy with it. The software is great, I just don’t like this theme, or any of the other ones available. I’m ok with hosting my own site, (I’ve got it running on my Powerbok) but I don’t know if I really want to pay for hosting and maintain it that way.

I think I’d like to, but there are three things I need to decide first.

1. Who shall I host with. GoDaddy is the obvious option. But there are probably plenty of others cheaper.
2. What domain name do I wan’t? Its set in stone forever so it has to be good.
3. What theme of the many thousands, and plugins, do I use?

I think I could probably run it fine. Just get a copy of Cyberduck to FTP everything to the server, and keep a local copy just in case. But is it more work that its worth?

On friday I took a trip from Birmingham, to Leicester, and down to Dorking. Firstly, this was not my suggestion. Secondly, I had to get a train to Leicert at 6.37am.

The whole trip was ruined by the horrible driving of my escort, Matthew. His driving, coupled with a lack of any sort of food that morning, lead to one sick man. I haven’t suffered this badly from travel sickness since my boat ride to France in Year 9 and the ferry made me feel aweful. So to suddenly feel like I was gonna pass out our throw up was not good at all.

The driving I was subject to was a constant change from sudden acceleration, to cruising along, as Matthew put his foot on the pedal to speed up, then took it off to cruise. Unfortunately, this created a very unpleasent rocking motion, not unlike the waves, and I didn’t enjoy it. We had to pull over to avoid me chucking up, and I felt a bit peaky all the way down there.

Luckily the ride back was better, and I felt fine, so the food was a big issue. But next time, I’ll take some travel sickness tablets.

Also, Dorking is a bit dull. Very sleepy.

I joined Three in Feb 2006. Big mistake. I signed up for a 18 month contract. First I changed my mind about the handset, from the N71 to 6280. I also called 3 to change to a 12 month contract, which they “did” and confirmed over the phone.

A short while later, my phone started playing up. It was restarting, not receiving text messages, giving me false voicemail alerts. Useless. I sent it back, it came back, I loaded my contacts, calendar, messages back on, redownloaded the apps, and carried on.

Shortly after, same thing again. Sent it back, came back, new firmware, loaded my contacts, calendar, messages, apps, carried on.

New problem. Message centre deleted. Checked on the website, found this was a common problem with my phone, and reinput the message centre details, could text again.

Shortly after, still same problem as before. Called 3. Explained problem to foreign sounding customer service representative. Asked if i had the message centre input, I said I did, but didn’t before, (was talking about the text message problem). I said it was fine, and I had checked all that, he told me to go to Nokia service to get a fix. I got put through to a Nokia recorded message, which told me how to reinput my message centre. I didn’t need to know this. Waited for a Nokia technician, explained the problem again, and was told to go back to 3 as it was their problem. Called back 3. Explained problem as well as being put through to a number that would help me with a problem I already explained I didn’t have. Finally got it arranged to have my phone sent back, got the envelope, sent it back through the Post Office. Phone came back, newer firmware, reinstalled contacts, calendars, messages, apps, lost access to Eddie Izzard videos I had downloaded from 3.

Its all runing fine now, and as I was coming up to 12 months, I contacted 3 to cancel my contract. Wrote them a nice letter, asked for PAC code, sent it off. Called up to check it was being dealt with. They told me, much to my surprise, I was on a 18 month contract. I explained they were wrong, it was 12 months, they looked at their records which said I was told I had to go to Phones4U and change it there. No I wasn’t. I sighed, explained the problem, how I’d had loads of handset problems, got no compassion, just “18 month contract” and “expires in August”.

I went searching the net for ideas. Got one. Ask for a copy of the contract. They often won’t take copies, so if they can’t prove your contract, you should be ok. So I’ve asked for that. If that comes back and they have a copy, then I have a backup plan. I will call 3, and ask them to replay me the telephone call. I know what they told me, they have their records, if they can prove that I was told to go to Phones4U then fine, if not, then I want my contract cancelled. I’m gonna give them till tomorrow to respond, then I’ll call them on saturday. I don’t wanna wait for another 6 months. I want to change my phone now, get away from 3 and to a nice network, like Orange or T-Mobile.

Some complaints about 3:

1. Initially, they restricted internet access on the phone to sites 3 had “approved”. Useless
2. I can’t use my phone to get online with my laptop. I wanna use bluetooth and take advantage of the 3G download speeds on my laptop. Doesn’t work. Its blocked unless you pay a hell of a lot of money.
3. I can’t call and speak to someone who understands my problem, and I can communicate with. I’m not racist, its just frustrating trying to sort a problem with my phone when I have to repeat myself, or go through a series of questions to establish my problem
4. They spend ages answering calls. Same can be said of a lot of places though
5. They deleted off some 3D games from the handset before distributing it (3d snake, 3d rally)
6. They put me through to a Nokia helpline for a problem I had already told them I didn’t have.

So I’m annoyed with Three, to say the least. I advise anyone out there not to use them. Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, all have great plans. There is no reason to use Three. I won’t, and a I won’t recommend them ever.

Technorati tags: 3g

Ok, I’ve been really slow in posting about practice recently so I’m combining 3 in one.

Date: 17 January 2007
Location: Red Room, Rich Bitch Selly Oak

This was probably my worst practice yet. I got back from my work conference at 12, didn’t sleep much the night before and was slightly hungover. But dedicated as I am, I went to practice. And it was shocking. I was so lathargic when I was there, I completely forgot how to play Nick’s new song. Shit. I just stood there not knowing what I was meant to be playing, confused, although I think I came off as pissed off more than anything, the guys certainly thought I was. The Red room was different, it was downstairs, had a small stage for the drum kit which was nice, gave me something to wander around, although the amps were on the stage as well so it was kinda weird, kept thinking I’d pull mine off if I walked too far away. Didn’t feel like I got much done. We didn’t get anything new done, it was more just playing what we knew.

Date: 20 January 2007
Location: Lilac Room, Rich Bitch, Selly Oak

Much better! The old favourite room. So much better. Bilby was there at first (he’s the old bassist, left to join a different band, I stepped in), and he sat there for a while and listened to us. Got a good response, although we were a bit off at first, some drum slips, and a few forgotten lyrics didn’t make us look all that impressive. Anyway, Bilby went, and we carried on. Mainly worked on the two new songs, didn’t write anything new, jammed a bit. We’re getting more structure to Nick’s song (still nameless I think) and played the Cursive like song, which has partially been named Hope/Birdclock. James and I though Hope was good, cos it is a slightly sad song but gives you hope when you listen to it. Nick just liked Birdclock as a song name. Anyway, went to the pub afterwards, then mosied on home.

Date: 24 January 2007
Location: Lilac Room, Rich Bitch, Selly Oak

Another good session, although it got off to a bad start. I got there on time, if not early, and Chris was having drum problems. The latch on the snare drum was broken so the springs weren’t staying tight. So I ran around trying to find a spare, and was told to switch it with the one in the Burgandy room, so we finally got that sorted out. Before that, before I even arrived, the stool was already duff and had been fixed as well. So after wasting about 20 mins fixing stuff, we finally got started, played the set through, went through a few hiccups, some bad playing of Gouge Away, and more work on Hope and the other one (it has a name, I just can’t remember it). In between playing and resting though, James thought it would be fun to play his guitar with a drum stick. Bad move. Broke the high E string so had to run off, get a new one, and string it up, only the old string end was stuck in the casing so we had to mess around trying to get that out. Finally did, and then it was completely out of tune, and he and Nick both struggled to get it right. But there was no time to sort it as Mark came along to listen too, since Bilby came before. Again, not the best session to promote us, James messed some words up, and was out of tune, I missed a few notes, and went a bit awry a few times on Gouge Away.

We finally finished off in the pub for a drink, which usually helps relax us. No practice this week, as Nick and Chris are away so we’re on two week hiatus. Which might give me a chance to blog about something else. Look out for my Three saga coming soon.