Sirbendy

WTF is an "Spectran Analyzer Test"? SpecTRUM analyzer, maybe.. "Website by $abunchofmonkeyswhocantspell". Lots of errors on there too. Loving this: Are the PhoneShield and The Wi-FiShield safe to use? They are absolutely safe to use and suitable for adults and children. The micro-crystals are non-toxic and harmless if accidentally swallowed. Plus, when nature takes it's course and they come out, they're still sh*t.

My girlie is 14 months, and whilst we're still at randomly disturbed nights, I wouldn't change it. The last 2 months or so she's totally changed personality wise..I now very much have a little person learning about the world with me, not a baby as such. I've enjoyed it from day 1..even the thrice weekly nappy wash (we use real nappies). My favourite bit in a lot of ways is the co-sleeping, which we'll keep doing until she sees fit to stop herself. Done that since 2 weeks old.

Prelude - no resale value, but not bad motors. Something Vauxhall with the C20XE or similar? very tuneable, cheap bits..

Congrats! I remember those days.. Lots of hospital trips in our case, but it all worked out fine. Birth is an amazing thing to see (if you've the stomach for it)...scary too though. "Would dad like to hold the baby?".."erm...er..yeah, ok..erm..now? erm..how? She's so tiny.." etc. And yes, 14 months on we've got walking, climbing, tantrums, pointing, signing, reasonable communication (I can understand 99% of what she's trying to get across), lots of lovely cuddles (especially when we wake up)..it's brilliant and so much fun.. This morning she toddled off into the kitchen, came back with her water. Drank some, put it back on the table again. "would you like a biscuit?".."yes". "YES?!" Where did THAT come from? You didn't say that yesterday, yesterday was "ta"..and I'm sure we had a "please" too last night. Trust me, it's great fun. I had the head in sand issue once too..heh. Wouldn't change her for the world now.

Can't advise much here, as we're Cisco VoIP throughout, with callmanager, ARC console etc.

ye gods, the old laserdiscs and the DD project..my school (was 7ish at the time) did a bit for that, and we had a player on loan...I remember that beastie.. I'm digitising a lot of ancient (turn of the century-esqe) family photos I've had from relatives..black and white/sepias, some damaged, some just time aged..all with no negatives. Hundreds of the things. It'd be a shame to lose them, and the relatives that could provide info on them are dying off now as well. I was thinking DVD archives, refreshed every couple of years to beat disc rot, with master compilations on external large capacity drives, only started when needed to minimise wear. Brother is thinking safe deposit box too. It's true though, we are effectively trying to tapdance on quicksand! However, who better than us to do so? Heh.

A good question! It's all currently in HUGE MP4 format (all done on my Flip Ultra HD), I'm pondering a re-encode down to WMV for size/ease of storage, and maybe then burning to DVD month by month (or however much I can fit to DVD). Then again, DVD is an old standard...I can see it being progressively remastered over the years to keep it playable. There's no real easy solution.. At least the web pre/post birth/milestone blog that the missus is keeping should be easily ported to newer formats. And as to shots of the good lady...don't bet on it. I bought the flip as she was so spaced on Entenox and pethadin that she can't recall much about the delivery, and is quite gutted she can't remember the first few minutes post birth etc. She said "next time, I want it on video". So that's the flips ultimate purpose. In a year or 2, possibly..it'll be used for that. Until then, it can do video diaries, parties, and things like last nights "first footsteps, first run, first "the door is shut, I will open the door whilst standing unaided and wander off"" duties. I've got a lovely vid of our big cat (who loves Izzy dearly) looking at her running toward him with hugging intent in a sort of "Oh my god, you're mobile.." way, eyes wide and ears flat.

Indeed..one of the reasons the diary I'm keeping for Isabel who is now 14 months has gone from being paper based to video based. Heh. Easier to show things that may or may not be around when she's old enough to understand it. All 3 lots of snow (excluding todays) are in clips. My car is in one, along with the engine etc explaining that IMO, the petrol engine is on limited life now, and cars in "my" day ran on fossil fuel, etc etc. A 2000 Astra-G will be somewhat antique by the time it applies to her.. There's a clip on there of me explaining my job, what I do, current tech of the day, showing our ADSL etc. I can just imagine that being veiwed in the future with amusement. Our CRT TV is on there, and so on. Grandmas have their own little clips on there, as do pets and so on and so forth. Hopefully it'll give her something to look back on in years to come and see that stone-age we may seem, but it's all good. Plus it's easier to give advice and opinion to a camera, I find. I doubt she'll remember the cottage we're in now either, so that's in there. First place she lived in.

Carburettor? It''s been a few years now since I've owned a non EFi car, I'm afraid. Both my MK3s and the MK4 are MPi, so no carburettor or equivalent manifold unit. If you run it without the cap, you'll leave the cooling system under a no-pressure condition, which will lead to it boiling. Leave the cap on, let it run up until the fans cut in, maybe rev it a bit to push water around. Then off, let it cool, open the cap to release the pressure, top up if needed. The MK4 failed the MOT, bless it. 2 advisories - 1 tyre at legal minimum (bothered, I have spares), 1 brake valve rusty (bothered, I said show me when I pick it up, when I get it on ramps I'll sort it out). The Failure reason was the rear brake load adjusting valve, seized totally. Cost of repair is £18, I can have my car ready pre-4pm so I can pick up tiddler. Job done, and I'm happy with that. Last year was 2 new brake lines. Stupid non-copper standard fit junk.

Vx fans don't cut in until approx 95 deg. Certainly the MK4 doesn't. Mind you, my laptop couldn't communicate with the cooling system control module 2 days ago..hah. Problem with the lower temp stat is that they're hard to find. It's a Renault one in a Vx engine, and the old Renault lumps pretty much used the same stat throughout. The Systems are usually self-bleeding, TBH. I fill mine, close the lid, run it till the fans cut in with the heater set to max heat, then turn off. Wait for it to cool a bit, open the tank and top up if needed. Possibly squeezing the top hose may assist. I recall doing a Mitsu Shogun V6..that had a MASSIVE airlock after a refill..when it let that go it was like Vesuvius going off. Just dropped my Astra into a local garage who kindly booked her in for an emergency MOT at 9.30, after I realised mine had expired on the 4th..*cough*. Reasonably confident - all bulbs work, all ancillaries work, all ECUs check out fine, no DTCs logged, nothing outside of normal operating range in any readout, including pre and post CAT sensors..lets see, shall we..

aye, normal. I remember taking the Z16SE for the inaugural thraping down the new A5 at speed, and looking at the gauge followed by "oh***t! TOO hot. WHOA baby..". First one was an airlock..heh. Forgot that. Mine now goes to 100 then drops, same as yours. Only does it once per run, mind you. Sits lower than yours too..about 85-90. I have an automatic though, so I get a bigger radiator with an oil cooler, not sure if that has any impact. "normal" temp..not really sure. It ramps up because the thermostat has moved into a hose, and there's a delay imposed now before the wax stat opens up, so the gauge sender will see higher temps ramping up, then the wax stat opens, readings drop..however, I strongly suspect that the influx of cooler water then shuts the stat down a bit, so it may "bounce" once or twice as the entire coolant amount warms up to the same level. When was the system last flushed? Mine is apparently due a service in 80 days according to my laptop/the ECU (got to love ecoflex servicing). After this weather, that'll be a wheelramps jobbie. Engine oil, coolant, oil and air filter, plug check, and autobox drain and refill will be carried out. I'll do a full flush of the cooling system as part of that - I know I've got a ruddy air bubble in the heater matrix ATM..I can hear it.

We had a place like that (3 bed semi), a few moves back. Went for a viewing - writing on the walls, doorways missing, bodged plasterboard repairs etc..looked a RIGHT tip. Bathroom had a wee-soaked carpet etc. Put the other 3 couples off it mind. We thought "hell with it" and went for it. Landlord had the place fixed up and the bathroom carpet ripped out, a nice laminate floor put in there and a power shower, as he was so pleased we'd taken it on and weren't DSS, as he put it. Was a nice place! Wish we'd never moved, TBQH. Now on house/cottage/flat #4, and the next move will hopefully be a buy job. If we can get a mortgage. Properties by me are quite cheap!

Gods, scary thought! Missus is complaining as she turns 25 this year..heh. At 33, I fail to see what the fuss is about. Can't for the life of me get used to going out to the car in the dark. Nice run via the nursery into work though..all lights stayed green, all roundabouts were empty.. From one carpark to another in 4 minutes. My kind of start!

Heh. We co-sleep through choice (have done since day 1). 2x double mattresses on the floor, lots of pillows, several duvets. Spacious! She tends to end up rotating through the night, so it's not unknown for her to lie sideways across the bed come morning. That said, we have 3x molars coming in at once, a mild case of constipation and discomfort that seems to affect her sleep, and a possibly developmental milestone induced inability to lie still for longer than 5 minutes, leading to a 14 month old crawling round the bed/sitting up/falling over sideways whilst fast asleep. I reckon we got 2 hours tops the last few nights..argh. It'll all pass...

Ebico are good, in that they don't discriminate between credit and prepay meters... However, sometimes other providers can beat them. Shop around. Our current cottage is with NPower for Gas and Electric. Currently working on a monthly bill for power of about £200, and gas the same...the joys of an 18thC cottage with solid walls and single glazing. That's only attempting to heat to 16 degrees too..it rarely gets to 14, never mind 16 in cold weather!

We're back today, as is my missus. Neither of us wanted to, not least because it means littly will be starting nursery too (in theory, although the last 2 taster sessions she's screamed the place down, and since the last one she's been unable to let us out of her sight...Jem went in with her for an hour this AM). I'm neither ready to see my girl grow up away from us, nor ready to walk to my car at 7am in total darkness. It's been an ace break...Christmas and New Year was a fair amount of driving, lots of food, eggnog, no drink until we got home. Lots of fun with daughter and the christmas tree/presents, and such a transformation in her, in just a fortnight...little people seem to go to sleep and wake up with new abilities. We've got walking unaided if distracted, walking holding my finger, stair capability, a large and ever increasing list of known words (even if she can't say them, she knows what they are). New signs, ability to get across what she wants 9 out of 10 times now etc. It's like having a small semi-independent weapon..you turn round and there she is. She helped me scrub the kitchen last night (using a baby wipe), and then in an amusing logical progression, she started scrubbing..the cats. 1 ran off, the kitten is used to it, and my eldest cat just let her get on with it, only objecting when she started tweaking his tail. Baby/toddler logic beats binary in fun factor by a mile..as does baby logic troubleshooting and fault diagnosis..hehe..

No snow until 3am today, about 2 inches. My hometown is usually pretty bad, so I thought that the main roads would (as usual) be OK. Foolish. The exit road (hill) I watched a Picasso go sideways out into a main road, then my Astra just let go and I honetly thought I was about to belt a wall. Recovered it. After that the roads were tracks in the snow. Until I got to the hill out of the valley. Fiesta in front with wheels spinning, wouldn't go forwards, did end up sideways obstructing the hill. Traffic crawling down it, I couldn't move due to this fiesta, traffic backing up behind me...we were sat there a good 20 minutes. Then a nice 4x4 flashed me out, and I was able to plod up the hill very gently, and plod into work at no more than 7mph. Fair few bent cars about.. Not sure how I'm going to get home - my backup route to avoid that hill (steep, cars parked both sides, not wide) is according to 6-7 of our staff "f*cking impossible to drive up, we could barely move". I hate the snow.

Grr...people like that really, REALLY yank my chain..if he's hiding behind being a spanner and crying "establishment oppression" on one hand whilst blatantly trying the system with the other, and using his condition as a publicity cry/crutch, he should get both barrels from the police. I can't STAND people who act like that - it gives others with the condition a bad rep. And yes, I called him a spanner. I also am a bona-fide, certificate wielding spanner, so it's allowed. More of a leg dragger than knuckle dragger, but still essentially a spanner. Heh. Proud of it too.

Someone a few years back got me a dell box..with a lacy thong in it! (ladies). Didn't half chafe, too.

I shall...just been to see my family doctor! "You're gurgling while breathing, that's not good...you have a chest infection, my son. Go and get these antibiotics and take 3 per day." Hurray! Glad I'm not going mad re: the site either..heh.

at 5am, I had a cup of readybrek, a cup of Lemsip Max, a paracetamol, a cup of tea, and a cup of water in succession, backed up with some Meltus...I suppose that won't help..heh.

damndamndamndamn....it's me then. FFS. Last 2 weeks I've had the sickness/cough bug, then I've had a cold to add to it...last night I couldn't keep food down, and this morning my thermometer says..oh, apparently I'm now down to 37.0 degrees. Before coming in I was at 38.6 and it was flashing red at me. I'm thoroughly tired of this cough, as it's scaring the daughter and I'm on night 4 of self enforced isolation on the sofa. Stuff it, I think I should call the docs..!

Has this site had a bit of a makeover or tweak since yesterday? Things looks a little different to me.. PLEASE say yes...I'm running a temperature of 38.6 here, and things are a bit..floaty.but surely to god my eyes aren't playing up as well...

I thought they were all a bit warped to drive? *cough* Or was that only the mk1..

I'm old too then. They were damn good units!