iPod Repair

I mentioned previously that my iPod broke and UPS came and picked it up yesterday. You can track its progress on the internet. It arrived @ Apple in Holland this morning and according to their website it says "Issue Identified" and "Product Replacement Pending". Hopefully they will ship me another tomorrow and I might get it back on Thursday. Would be nice if they sent me a nice new iPod Video seeing as the bastards brought it out 2 weeks after I bought my iPod Photo for the same price (bastards). I'm not that lucky, as long as I get a fully working iPod I will be happy at the moment.

Having said that my trusty Zen Micro has been doing a resonable job the last few days, although I can't upload all the songs I've listened to on it to Last.Fm :-(

Progress?

Doesn't seam like I'm exactly getting very far at the moment with the house. A lot of waiting around and driving to places to buy stuff but not a lot of actual work :-(

This morning I had a bloke service my gas fires and boiler, which are all working fine. Switched the heating on and that worked no problem. Was good to feel some warmth in the place. It's been freezing the last few days.

I went to Bishop and bought some plumbing stuff (copper pipe & fittings), electrical items (wire, breakers) and once again swapped my shower. This time all the parts appear to be there, just hope it works when it all gets fitted. Oh, I got a pole and mounts to fix the WiFi antenna to the house.

This afternoon we cleared all the debris from the bathroom after pulling the old suite out last night. Then chased the wall using my dads new toy he bought from ALDI last week (an Angle Grinder) it only took a few minutes to chase the wall, normally you would of been on for ages with a chisel, only cost him a total of £15 for the grinder and loads of discs.

While my dad was doing that IC Davison came out to measure up my doors and will drop a quote in tomorow for me. Hopefully it wont be too expensive and I can get them done quickly. Asked them for prices with and without fitting. If its too expensive I will fit them myself. Not paying loads of money when both my dad and Brother-in-law have fitted their own before!

We have made the pipe up that goes up the wall and into the back of the shower with all the fittings, it just needs connecting to the mains pipe now. So tomorrow we've gotta do that and run a new mains power cable, this is one serious shower pulling 10.5 kW, the cable is very thick and weighs a ton. I better not stand in the shower all day like I normally do or its gonna cost me a fortune in electricty.

My gas meter is being changed tomorrow morning between 8 and 1, getting rid of that stupid pre-pay meter and having a normal one fitted. Well I hope its tomorrow, the bloke said on the phone the 1st March but he also said "Thursday, 1st March" so I hope he got the date and not the day right. He did say the 1st more than once!

About 3 tomorrow afternoon I'm gonna have a look down the Auctions at Bishop (viewing day) to see if there is anything of any interest. It just says household items on the internet. Normally that means a load of junk, but you never know might be something of interest?

Wireless Signal Testing

While waiting for the boke to test the gas fires and boiler I tested the WiFi signal by pointing the antenna out the window and walking down to my parents garage with my laptop this is about the same distance as to my house.

I've copied 2 pictures to compare the signal strengths. The higher the green bars the better the signal. Between the Red lines shows the strength in the house and between the yellow lines shows the strength down the garage with the new antenna.

The second picture shows the strength comparing the standard Antenna and my new directional antenna. The green bars between the yellow lines is the directional and the red is the standard antenna.

You can see that the directional antenna strengthens the signal and this will be even stronger because I will have antennas on both houses rather than using the week one built into my laptop. The first picture also shows that the signal doesn't change to much when down the garage compared to the house.

mind buzzing again

I can't sleep my mind is buzzing too much with stuff I need to do and would like to do.

Decided to get up about 20 minutes ago and started testing one of the WiFi antennas I have received from Poland. The plan is to create a wireless link between my house and my parents. So we can share files and an internet connection. I noticed that my Access Point isn't as good as my dads. His is a newer model and seams to have a more stable connection, so I've ordered another one from Dabs. I was intending to get another anyway, although there aren't any in stock so might have to wait a while for it.

Started to think about other stuff and ended up looking at cheap IP cameras. These let you connect to them from anywhere on the network or internet and view the images. They were always expensive but you can get some cheap ones for just over £50. Don't look bad either, although a nice moterised one would be nicer ;-)

I better try to go to sleep, need to be up early in the morning.

Bloody showers

I have no luck with showers the replacement I got from Argos today now has a missing copper ring where you insert the pipe (no smutty comments). Durham doesn't have anymore in so will have to take it back to Bishop and hopefully the 3rd one from Argos will be OK.

I have a bloke coming out tomorrow to check my gas before I turn it all on and service the fires and stuff. My bathroom suite is being delivered as well and a guy is coming out to give me a quote for 2 new doors.

We removed the old bath, toilet and sink tonight. I got Nigel (brother-in-law) up to help carry the bath and he managed to smash the bath in half and we carried it down the stairs. He said if I need any help at all just let him know, asked if he was sure and said it got him out the house. Think he is pleased to get some time away from the kids to be honest. He is good at tiling so will set him on doing that once the bathroom suite is fitted.

I've been writing down a lot of the stuff I need to do, entering it into Outlook which then syncs it to my phone. I then get constant reminders when stuff is due and people are turning up (Me and technology) this certainly helps because I have a shite memory.

Better so far

Today has been a better day than the last few. I have been stuck in my parents house waiting for UPS to come and pickup my broken iPod but been busy. I have managed to order my Fridge Freezer from Appliance Deals with Free Delivery, I had to phone up because the website still isn't working. I still got the Free Delivery and it will be delivered next Monday.

My bathroom suite is being delivered tomorrow as well, so I can get on and fit that. When my dad comes back from buying some parts we will lift out the old bath, which is cast iron and very heavy. Just a shame its blue or it would of been OK.

I have someone coming out to give me a quote on 2 new doors tomorrow at 3pm from IC Davison.

I have also just taken back the second shower because of a missing part and got it replaced. I checked outside the shop that everything was there this time. Probably looked a bit strange sat in the car with a knife and screwdriver.

One thing I will have to mention to the neighbours is about the garden path. It's supposed to be shared between our houses but when you get towads the bottom of the garden next door have fenced over the path. So it looks like its their property but it isn't. I will leave this until I have actually moved in to the house before I start causing hassle.

Thinking Time

I've had a frustrating weekend. After finding out my second shower had a part missing. Then finding out Kelly who I used to see a year ago was about to split up with her partner or had split up. I though I've had enough of this weekend and decided to go for a drive up the dale in the dark to clear my head.

I was hoping the headaches were behind me now I have the keys and don't have to deal with the solicitors anymore but it appears they are only just beginning!

I mentioned Kelly is/has split up with her partner, this is a very complicated situation which isn't anything to do with me other than we are still good friends. When I was seeing her she was still with him (bad I know). She was gonna leave him when we were together but I told her to think about it and make sure that's what she wanted. Think I wanted the time as well, not long after that I guess I ended it. Its more difficult because she has a 3 year old son with him, if she stays with him she is nuts because she doesn't love him and only stays with because of their son. I say only but I think its wrong to stay with someone when you don't love them.

I guess I'm gonna have to be a good mate and help her out. Although don't have much time at the moment for obvious reasons.

That wasn't really why I went for a drive but did get me thinking about things. I can remember writing a few months ago saying that all any of us want is to be loved and to love someone. Maybe that's just me but I often think that's why people stay together because they are afraid of the unknown and scared of being alone. They stay together because its easier even though it makes both of them unhappy.

I can remember saying to my best mate that he falls in love easy (don't normally talk that openly with my mates at home), he agreed I was right. Maybe I'm the same or when I think about it I'm probably not because I push some people away without ever giving them a chance.

I think I sorted myself out by going for a drive and came back wondering what the hell I was twisting about. I have excellent family and friends and now own a house and own all sorts, I have no reason to complain only reasons to smile :-)

Yet I believe the happiest person is someone who has someone to share their life with...

On my way home I nearly ended up crashing into a Punto and 2 police cars maybe that had something to do with me realising how lucky I am (thank god for ABS). There had been an accident near Wolsingham and the police cars had stopped just around the corner and its a fast corner. They should of stopped before the corner so any approaching cars could see well before, that would involve them having a brain cell!

No luck with Showers

I have no luck with showers the one I got today from Argos has a part missing. Its the connector you are supposed to connect your mains cold water to, it should have a fitting in the shower but its missing. So gonna have to drive to Argos after UPS have been. Another waster of an hour, not gonna get anything done tomorrow :-(

House Progress Report

It was a long day yesterday and not a lot seamed to go right. I found out on Thursday thar the bath I wanted was too long to go into the position where the bath currently is in my house. The bath that is in there is smaller than normal (1680mm) most new baths are a standard size (1700mm). We came up with a way to get one in by knocking a plasterboard wall through behind the bath and rebuilding it but that wasn't gonna be simple. When we smashed some of the plasterboard out we realised it was gonna be even more complicated because of where the wooden lats were. Hopefully we have figured a way of fitting the bath in. I say we but I mean my dad!

I was intending to take some pictures again so you could see how we have smashed out some of the wall and stripped the paper from some of the rooms but forgot to take my camera with me. Will take some tomorrow.

I ordered my bathroom suite on Saturday, I had originally seen one in Trade Direct in Meadowfield for £199, cheap but actually look suprisingly good. I went o order it and the lass showed me some other in the showroom out the back. I decided I liked some better taps ao ended up paying another £80 extra for the taps. Unfortunately its not gonna be delivered until Tuesday at the earliest. I will ring tomorrow to make sure its gonna come Tuesday or its gonna hold me up.

I also bought a mixer shower on Saturday from B&Q for £129, it was supposed to be more than this but when I got to the till it came up cheaper so I wasn't gonna say anything. I also needed a pump but decided we would get this elsewhere cheaper. I started to lookup how to fit it all onthe internet and showed my dad. He realised that it wasn't gonna work with my water system because of the location of my tank in relation to the shower. Basically its because the drop from the tank to where the shower is would only be a couple of feet and this wasn't gonna be enough. If my shower was down stairs it would of worked. I think my dad was quite happy that it was't gonna work because it was gonna be a lot of work and a massive headache to fit.

I took the shower back today and got a refund, then went and bought an electric one from Argos. I'm not exactly happy, I always wanted a really powerful shower but instead I'm stuck with an electric one :-(

The picture to the left shows the shower I bought from Argos, which I guess for an electric shower looks OK but no where near as good as the original one I bought. Suppose it saved me some money with not having to buy a pump and will be easier to fit. This cost me £149.

I don't seam to of done very much in my house yet other than strip wallpaper.

I tried unsuccesfully to buy a Fridge Freezer all weekend, I think I mentioned I tried to buy one from Currys but it had gone up by £50. I went back on Saturday and was going to buy another I liked but they only had the display model left and it was scratched to hell. So again I walked away without one. I then started to searching the internet and found a Frost Free Bosch model that I could get from Appliance Deals for £264 with free delivery but I got all the way through the purchase process and when I tried to confirm everything I got a web site error, Bollocks!!

I tried several times and the same thing kept happening. I then tried on Boots Appliances web site which was slightly more expensive, when trying to purchase it I noticed the site looked very similar with the exact same layout and fields to fill out. I got exactly the same error again. The same people must run both web sites. I sent an email to Appliance Deals but there is no one there until tomorrow to answer my query. Will give them a ring tomorrow, the free delivery ended this weekend but not my fault the website is broke :-(

Tomorrow is going to be a frustrating day as well, I have to wait for UPS to turn up to give me a box to return my iPod to Apple in. They have already been out twice and this is the last time they will come out. So I'm gonna have to stay in my parents house until they come which is normally after 1pm. It means I'm wasting most of the day. My dad is gonna try and pull the bath out on his own and blank off some pipes, so that we can fit the new one on Tueday as long as they deliver it then.

To continue with the frustrations I found out that I will need to run another mains wire for my Cooker, the current wire was originally by the back door and was run around to the other side of the kitchen to where the cooker was located under the extractor. The previous owners just ran a wire around the kitchen in some crappy looking plastic trunking. Not only did it look rubbish but its also not very safe. So this means we are going to have to run a new cable from the fuse box at the other side of the house up throught the ceiling and under the floor boards above, then down into my dining room and through the wall into the kitchen where we will have to fit some skirting board to hide the cable behind. The kitchen is tiled and we dont want to damage the tiles.

Nothing is ever easy but I'd rather have things done properly than bodged together like it appears most people do. I seam to be taking several steps back at the moment but will get there in the end. All this work means its gonna be ages before I'm at a point where I could move in.

My mother is going to continue to pull paper off on a night after she has been at work and will help fill in the holes in the walls. She will then paper them with thick lining paper, the walls are no where near good enough to paint direct and don't really want to pay someone to re-plaster them all. I might have to skim some of them in a few places. Once that is done I will have to choose some colours and paint them. Will feel like I'm getting somwhere once this is done.

What is this?

Dining Room
Originally uploaded by stevenhorner.

What is this metal frame against the wall? It's a square tubular frame.

I would give a prize to the person who can tell me for certain.

Although the prize would be a pedestal drill that is under my stairs at the moment and you would have to collect it.

Some celebration

Tonight I got some fish & chips and a few cans and sat in and watched a film on my own. some celebration, guess I've got this to look forward to when I'm all moved in so may as well get used to it I suppose.

Having said that it was good to relax and enjoy my own company without any hassle from anyone and no one asking me questions :-)

The Man

The Man: I watched the this tonight, decided I wanted something where I din't have to think too much and hopefully there's be a few laughs.

I guess that's what I got, Eugene Levy is just funny to look at nevermind anything else. Although he wasn't particularly very funny in this. The story was just rubbish and I guess he didn't have much to work with.

You used to be able rely on Samuel L Jackson to be in good movies but these days he just does any movie that pays which is a shame.

Having said all that the movie isn't bad if you want a light hearted comedy action film, just don't expect your sides to hurt from laughing. I gave it 6 out of 10.

Got the Keys

I finally got the keys to my house at dinner time today. I obviously straight away went and had a look around my new house. I could hardly get through the door not just because the door is shit but because of the post behind it.

Started to realise that there is a lot I want to do. I think I must be a perfectionist never realised it now but I was looking arounfd and thinking I need this fixing at that. Then later on my sister and borther-in-law came over and they said it was OK and wasn't bad. Nothing major, think I jsut want everything to be perfect.

I ordered a bed yesterday, they turned up before I had the keys so had to put it in my parents house. Then carried it up with Nigel (brother-in-law).

I measured up to see how much room there was for a fridge freezer and then went to have a look at Currys. Unfortunately the one I wanted has gone up by £50 and they wouldn't budge on price. So didn't buy one, do like another which is cheaper so may buy that.

I called in at the bathroom place and measured the bath but I had forgot when in the house. So went back home and measured up. The bath is an inch bigger than the space the current one takes up. The airing cupboard with the water tank is straight behind the bath. Maybe able to alter it to save some space but not sure. My dad will better at telling me when he is back tomorrow night. Hope I can fit it in as it definitely needs changing the current one looks shite. See the pictures at the end of this post.

I've been a bit stuck today with the power not being turned on until tomorrow. All I know is they are turning up to reset the meters both Gas & Electric sometime tomorrow hope its ealier rather than later. While I'm waiting, I'm gonna strip the walls in the bathroom, the paper is already coming off them so hopefully this shouldn't be too hard. Famous last words I bet!!

I decided I might be a good idea to take some pictures of how the house looks now before I do anything. You can see all the pictures at my flickr site here. I've copied a few below.

See what I mean it's horrible and the wallpaper is already half off.

The main bedroom where I will sleep, it's quite large but can't tell in this picture. Purple not really my colour either.

This is the spare bedroom, can't see it very well. again paper has already started to be pulled off.

The kitchen which isn't bad!

View of the garden and beyond from the main bedroom. The garden is a jungle at the moment and looks like next door has stole some of the shared path at the bottom!!

Setting up utilties

Today I rang around to organise the Electricity, Gas, Water and Council Tax. I wasn't sure who I had to ring about the electricity and gas. So after a search on the internet I found a couple of numbers to ring which would tell me who the suppliers are for the house.

My supplier for electricity is nPower and the gas is British Gas. When you first get connected you have to stay with the current suppliers but can change afterwards. I managed to arrange for the electricity meter to be read on Friday, tried to get him there on Thursday but they said they needed a whole day and I don't get the keys until dinner time Thursday.

I tried to organise with British Gas but they said you can't do it until at least 48 hours before moving in. So could ring tomorrow at the earliest but will leave it until Wednesday and organise for him to come out on Friday as well.

The water and council tax were easier and took seconds if they have done it right!!

The only problem I have is that both the electricity and gas meters are pre-paid things where you have to get top-up cards like a pay as you go mobile phone. I don't like this and have asked to change them. The electric I'm stuck with for a couple of weeks but the gas I can supposesdly get changed when I ring up on Wednesday. Wil be getting them changed as soon as I can.

Hopefully I will either go and get some temporary seats (inflatable) or go to have a look at a bed tomorrow lunch time. Haven't decided which yet probably better looking for a bed first.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly: I've been meaning to watch this for ages and just never got around to it. I enjoyed it, yet to see a Clint Eastwood film that I really don't like. I don't think there is another actor who has the presence he has.

This is excellent even if you're not into Westerns you will still most likely enjoy this. I didn't realise just how long this was on until I had been watching for nearly 2 hours. This was the extended Engligh version and was on for nearly 3 hours.

Definitely worth finding the time to watch. I gave it a 9 out of 10.

French Fry Spam Casserole Recipe

I just saw this Recipe and thought I might try that without the cheese, sounds like I might actually eat it. So decided to post it here for easy finding again :-)

Title: FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE
Categories: Main dish
Yield: 8 serving
1 pk Frozen french fry potatoes,
-thawed (20 oz)
2 c Shredded Cheddar cheese
2 c Sour cream
1 cn Condensed cream of chicken
-soup (10 3/4 oz)
1 cn SPAM Luncheon Meat, cubed
-(12 oz)
1/2 c Chopped red bell pepper
1/2 c Chopped green onion
1/2 c Finely crushed corn flakes

Heat oven to 350'F. In large bowl, combine potatoes, cheese, sour cream, and soup. Stir in SPAM, bell pepper, and green onion. Spoon into 13x9" baking dish. Sprinkle with crushed flakes. Bake 30-40 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Original link here.

Random thoughts i guess

I must be on a mission to beat my most posts in a day, this is my 8th so far.

I'm sat in bed in the dark with only the light from my laptop and the visualisation my Xbox is displaying on my TV. The Beastie Boys - Intergalactic has just started playing on the Last.FM radio station I'm listening to on the Xbox.

There's not much chance of me going to sleep because I didn't get out of bed until nearly 11 (I think it was). I know if I lie down my mind will start working overtime as usual. Maybe I should and then write what I'm thinking of, sure it will be more interesting than this post is at the moment.

I mentioned last weekend that I had drove one of Kelly's friends home who she was trying to set me up with. I was fairly blunt with her that I wasn't interested in going out with her. I felt really guilty afterwards as I'm not normally like that. I ended up texting and apologising earlier in the week. She was a bit pissed off at first, which is understandable. But she then text me the following day apologising for being so harsh and we have agreed to be friends. I need as many people to help me with my house as possible, only kidding just didn't like being a twat.

That brings back memories, being called a Twat, sorry for the language. When I first started talking to Lisa she had me stored in her phone as Twat. Not exactly sure why, think it may of been because I knocked her back a few times at first and said I wasn't interested. I should of stuck to my guns. Would of saved a lot of heartache and hassle. Talking of Lisa I heard a few weeks ago she is getting married. Good for her, hope she is actually happy for a change. She used to be very negative and depressive at times (well most of the time). Anyway would wish her all the best but have managed to avoid her since the middle of last year!

With the peace I will hopefully have the beginning of the week I should plan some stuff for the rest of the year. Would be a good idea to work out a training program to prepare me for the Great North Run and set some targets.

This post is turning into random thoughts which is how I think all the time, jumping from one subject then another.

I'm gonna try not be negative myself this year, at times its hard when things are going wrong around you. Yet what have I really got to complain about, my life is good. There are million of people out there a hell of a lot worse off than me. Will try to think about that the next time I'm complaining. That'll be tomorrow most likely!!

Well I think I've wrote about enough random shit for one post, roll on the next...

Peace

I should get some peace at home this week, my parents are going to Wales with some of my Uncle and Aunties. Llandudno I think there going to!

This should at least give me some quiet to sort my finances out and plan what I wanto to do when in my house. I think my dad is under the illusion that I'm not gonna move in for weeks. I dont mind waiting a couple of weeks while I do the major stuff but as soon as I can I want to move in.

There is no way I'm gonna be paying a mortgage and all the other household bills and not even live in the house. As long as I get the bathroom fitted and any major work done then I'm gonna move in. I better go order a bed, did see one I liked at Saturday but didn't get the chance to compare it else where because I couldn't leave the TV in the car unattended.

Anyway hopefully I should get some peace or I may invite a couple of mates over instead!

House & Work

I got a letter yesterday confirming that I have successfully exchanged contracts and that I needed to sort some stuff out to happen on Thursday. I have to get the gas & electric meters read so I can get them turned on.

I also have to contact the Council and the water board.

The only problem I have is that I might not be able to pickup the keys until after dinner according to the leter but I need to arrange for the meters to be read but not sure what time I can arrange for them to be there. Will ring the estate agent and see if they will let me pick the keys up on the morning, probably not :-(

I received another letter from Friends Provident for my mortgage protection. Not really sure I even want this, seams a waste of £18 a month to me. I will have a look and see if I can find cheaper, seams a waste of money to me. I have 30 days to cancel to get a full refund will check that I can cancel it at anytime as well.

I was going to be going to our Teesside office tomorrow because they have a problem with IT cover (there IT isn't really anything to do with us), they are having problems with a Finance server installation. I was happy to go until I found out that the lad who is supposed to be the same level as me is back from Holiday tomorrow. I thought it could be difficult me being brought in when he is there. Seams easier if my boss goes at least they can say they needed someone at a higher IT level to supervise. Rather than whatever the real reason may be ;-)

Maybe I should take Friday off as well as Thursday, seams daft coming back in for one day. Especially when I might have hassle trying to organise electricity and gas readings.

Not the best day

I don't seam to of had the best day today. Went for a run but couldn't run very far and felt my knee giving way. Before that had a problem with my oldest MP3 player. Then checked on the internet for the Fridge/Freezer I wanted and its gone up by £50 now there isn't a sale on.

Now I've got my iPod f*cked. I guess it could of been a lot worse but could of done without it at the moment!