If you can read this, the DNS changes have propogated and the site is being presented to you from the new VPS, not Gradwell, let me know if you see anything weird.
Author Archives: tony
And another thing
While I’m moaning – why the hell did the previous owners of this house put different light bulbs in every damn room, I know I’ve moaned about that before. The kitchen lights are really pissing me off though – 50w halogen spotlights, two sets of 4 (we run them with 1 or 2 in a most) and the lamps last about 8 weeks before popping. They blow the old fashioned ceramic fuse wire in the old fashioned fuse box, and we have to power the whole house down and re-wrap 3amp fuse wire in the dark.
Yes, one went again this evening.
So, I need to 1. replace those damn lights, the sooner the better and 2. see if I can find a resettable fuse thing to replace the cermic ones. I need to go to B&Q.
It’s March
My birthday is in March, and the NHS gets me the same thing every year – a set of annual diabetic check-ups. I get some retinopathy checks (they dilate your pupils and then photograph the back of your eyes). I can’t see very well for a while after that because everything is too bright. I get a visit to the nurse who checks my feet to make sure I can still feel them and that I didn’t cut a toe off without noticing, she tends to also nag me about not losing weight, having high blood pressure, and then asks me if I’m depressed. Before all that I also have to have a blood test and provide a urine sample, did those today. Bled pretty easily, was awkward last time but the nurse suggested it was because I hadn’t had a good breakfast. This time I made sure I ate early and I sprayed the inside of the two tubes quite happily when she stuck the needle in.
Then I get to wait and see how my average blood sugar was over the last three months. I’m not expecting a good result this time – I’ve had bouts of being ill on and off which messes with my control and emotionally I’ve not been strong enough to exert enough control either, so I suspect I’ll be having a talk with the doctor. I’ll resist attempts to change my meds – I can control my sugar when I’m strong and I just need another kick up the arse. I guess his concern will be that after too many kicks I’ll be blind and missing a foot.
On the virtual move
I’m tired of Gradwell’s slow performance, sloppy change management, undelivered promises and apparent change of direction. The final straw oddly though, was an unsolicited sales call, only days after total failures of their infrastructure. I may have stuck around longer if not for that call. In an attempt to not store my eggs in the same basket, I’m moving domain registrations to gandi.net and hosting to a virtual private server with 1and1. I’m sure their support is no better than Gradwell, and the net result is that it actually costs me a little bit more per month, but I get full control over the server where my sites are hosted, can host as many sites as I like and don’t have to put up with being told ‘things are fixed’ when they’re clearly not.
So far, www.bookthing.co.uk, www.onelinemoviereviews.co.uk and www.gemmellmania.co.uk have moved across. The .com’s are a little more annoying, for various reasons so they’ll be going more slowly. I’ll be moving darkstorm last because there’s a lot of mail forwarding happening on that domain and I don’t want to mess it up.
I’m really happy generally with gandi.net and 1and1 are ‘ok’.
Criminal Minds – Finally!
Criminal Minds is finally back on in the UK this week on Living! Normally I don’t look forward to TV programs this much but CM is just excellent. Really looking forward to the opening episode after the cliffhanger at the end of last series.
Rain
Feels like it’s ages since it rained, where-as when we first moved to Nottingham it rained for almost the whole of February and most of March, non-stop. Personally I don’t mind a bit of rain although the cats clearly disagree, but I think it’ll be good for the garden and the water table.
Wall-E
Exceptional movie making and superb story telling make Wall-E a totally unique and memorable experience that is moving and funny and full of heart.
Rocknrolla
Much like a surfer who spends a long time waiting for the right wave, only to have it vanish beneath them just as they’re about to rise and finally reach the sky, Rocknrolla never gets a stable footing despite several attempts and misses the crest too often.
The Sunday Tree Massacre
I picked up a book earlier and nearly made it into the lounge to do some reading, when on a complete whim and mostly because the sun was out, I dragged my lumbering body outside and pruned our two biggest trees. By pruned of course, I mean heavily chopped back. And by heavily chopped back I mean massacred. They do look a lot better though – hopefully I got them before they expended too much energy waiting for spring and they’ll survive. I suspect they will since the huge tree at the bottom of the garden was ‘removed’ and it still manages to grow back each year. Grabbed some photo’s of the trees, the pile of wood we now have to get rid of and our troll, who’s settled into the garden nicely. Click for full size pictures.
Kung Fu Panda
A lowly noodle chef dreams of being a mighty Kung Fu champion, turns up during the selection of the Dragon Warrior and ends up joining the Five Kung Fu heroes he has idolised for his entire life. It’s a common enough story (down and out turns good and saves the world) and it needs a strong cast and some solid writing to really give it any life these days. Kung Fu Panda comes close to nailing it but falls short at the final bout. Everything is flawless, the animation, the voice acting, the humour is excellent, the story is interesting enough.
But there’s something missing. Some heart, some soul and a huge act from the second half. Where is the scene with Panda and the Five taking on the enemy together? Where is the scene of them training together and finally coming to accept each other? Where is the team work? Instead we are left with the Five setting out on their own to defeat the enemy and Panda training in their absence, becoming the Dragon Warrior while they are away.
It feels like something was left out. Which is a true shame. I really enjoyed watching it, I laughed, and it was suitably touching, but it was too short, and subsequently too hollow to be a classic.