adventures of an idiot

NERD Alert (hack checklist)

2011-03-24T17:52:00.000Z

Look For Signs That Your System May Have Been Compromised

Examine log files for connections from unusual locations or other unusual activity. For example, look at your 'last' log, process accounting, all logs created by syslog, and other security logs. If your firewall or router writes logs to a different location than the compromised system, remember to check these logs also. Note that this is not foolproof unless you log to append-only media; many intruders edit log files in an attempt to hide their activity.
Look for setuid and setgid files (especially setuid root files) everywhere on your system. Intruders often leave setuid copies of /bin/sh or /bin/time around to allow them root access at a late time. The UNIX find(1) program can be used to hunt for setuid and/or setgid files. For example, you can use the following commands to find setuid root files and setgid kmem files on the entire file system:
```
        find / -user root -perm -4000 -print
        find / -group kmem -perm -2000 -print
```
Note that the above examples search the entire directory tree, including NFS/AFS mounted file systems. Some find(1) commands support an "-xdev" option to avoid searching those hierarchies. For example:
```
        find / -user root -perm -4000 -print -xdev
```
Another way to search for setuid files is to use the ncheck(8) command on each disk partition. For example, use the following command to search for setuid files and special devices on the disk partition /dev/rsd0g:
```
        ncheck -s /dev/rsd0g
```
Check your system binaries to make sure that they haven't been altered. We've seen intruders change programs on UNIX systems such as login, su, telnet, netstat, ifconfig, ls, find, du, df, libc, sync, any binaries referenced in /etc/inetd.conf, and other critical network and system programs and shared object libraries. Compare the versions on your systems with known good copies, such as those from your initial installation media. Be careful of trusting backups; your backups could also contain Trojan horses. Trojan horse programs may produce the same standard checksum and timestamp as the legitimate version. Because of this, the standard UNIX sum(1) command and the timestamps associated with the programs are not sufficient to determine whether the programs have been replaced. The use of cmp(1), MD5, Tripwire, and other cryptographic checksum tools is sufficient to detect these Trojan horse programs, provided the checksum tools themselves are kept secure and are not available for modification by the intruder. Additionally, you may want to consider using a tool (PGP, for example) to "sign" the output generated by MD5 or Tripwire, for future reference.

Check your systems for unauthorized use of a network monitoring program, commonly called a sniffer or packet sniffer. Intruders may use a sniffer to capture user account and password information.

Examine all the files that are run by 'cron' and 'at.' We've seen intruders leave back doors in files run from 'cron' or submitted to 'at.' These techniques can let an intruder back on the system (even after you believe you had addressed the original compromise). Also, verify that all files/programs referenced (directly or indirectly) by the 'cron' and 'at' jobs, and the job files themselves, are not world-writable.

Check for unauthorized services. Inspect /etc/inetd.conf for unauthorized additions or changes. In particular, search for entries that execute a shell program (for example, /bin/sh or /bin/csh) and check all programs that are specified in /etc/inetd.conf to verify that they are correct and haven't been replaced by Trojan horse programs. Also check for legitimate services that you have commented out in your /etc/inetd.conf. Intruders may turn on a service that you previously thought you had turned off, or replace the inetd program with a Trojan horse program.

Examine the /etc/passwd file on the system and check for modifications to that file. In particular, look for the unauthorized creation of new accounts, accounts with no passwords, or UID changes (especially UID 0) to existing accounts.

Check your system and network configuration files for unauthorized entries. In particular, look for '+' (plus sign) entries and inappropriate non-local host names in /etc/hosts.equiv, /etc/hosts.lpd, and in all .rhosts files (especially root, uucp, ftp, and other system accounts) on the system. These files should not be world-writable. Furthermore, confirm that these files existed prior to any intrusion and were not created by the intruder.

Look everywhere on the system for unusual or hidden files (files that start with a period and are normally not shown by 'ls'), as these can be used to hide tools and information (password cracking programs, password files from other systems, etc.). A common technique on UNIX systems is to put a hidden directory in a user's account with an unusual name, something like '...' or '.. ' (dot dot space) or '..^G' (dot dot control-G). Again, the find(1) program can be used to look for hidden files, for example:
```
        find / -name ".. " -print -xdev

        find / -name ".*" -print -xdev | cat -v
```
Also, files with names such as '.xx' and '.mail' have been used (that is, files that might appear to be normal).
Examine all machines on the local network when searching for signs of intrusion. Most of the time, if one host has been compromised, others on the network have been, too. This is especially true for networks where NIS is running or where hosts trust each other through the use of .rhosts files and/or /etc/hosts.equiv files. Also, check hosts for which your users share .rhosts access.

Yamaha Off-Road Experience Vs Trailworld home counties tour

2011-03-24T12:13:00.000Z

Firstly this is my opinion from my experience at both but you can go and see for yourself,

Trailworld: http://www.trailworld.co.uk/homecountiestour.html
Yamaha Offroad: http://www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk

Bikes: YOR: Yamaha WR250's, 450's and Honda 230's that no one used
TW: 2xCCM230's, the rest Honda 230's

Signing on and briefing: The YOR briefing was fun, informative and all about the day, bikes and what to do / not to do when out and about.
The TW focused more on "dont f**k our bikes up or you'll pay" type attitude and to be honest when it started going down this road I switched off and felt a bit apprehensive about the day and that there were bound to be additional costs at the end.

The bikes at YOR were cleaner, better maintained and the TW bikes felt abused with a few bikes popping out of 2nd gear, one bike failing due to a clogged fuel pipe and tyres that were on their last outing so bikes definately better at YOR.

Day and terrain: (YOR)The Welsh mountains were fantastic with no on-road work just excellent technical bits with the odd forrest access road, the instructors were professional racers, very good and personable and the day as a whole was perfect!
(TW) I would never expect that the green lanes would start where they do, randomly at the back of housing estates, turn left off the carriage way etc was bizarre (in a good way), an enjoyable day but seemed (may be normal) that there was an equal mix of road and offroad work but I suppose thats what you get living in the south, highlights were the bombhole? and the two water crossings.

in Summary, both were enjoyable, the Yamaha Off Road experience is better run, better prepared with better bikes and better terrain and well worth the trip;
Trailworld make the best out of what they have, showed me what I could expect when I get a bike living in London and was good to get another fix, ride a different bike off road and join another internet forum.

next is getting my own bike but if I was to chose when paying my own money (TW was a gift) then it would be the Yamaha day no doubt about it.

long time no post

2011-03-24T11:29:00.002Z

Well, lots has happened since the last post;
I've worked in Kent for ages, driving a effing piece of s**t Renault Megane automatic for 3+ hours a day, managed to sell aforementioned car and now looking for something decent (260bhp Audi TT convertible?)

The fireblade spat its spark plug out when down in Sussex chasing Al on his Busa, then "fixed" (for 5 minutes) by now an ex-mate and is now getting a new head to fix it once and for all.

In the mean-time, I purchased a Yamaha Diversion 600 to get me round and had to replace the fuel pump and tap for it to go anywhere without several calls and hours by the side of the road waiting for different AA dudes to come and get me (log story)

Have been green laneing again at a place called trail world (will review and compare next time) and have secretly smuggled in a host of related clothing into the flat ready for when I sell the Divvy and buy one of my own :) - brilliant fun!

After a year, then monkies from a company called CET bodging the spare room, it finally looks like its going to be sorted, the wifey is now working in the family business and really enjoying it compared to the gallery and the recruitment agency.

The worst thing though has been the two ectopic pregnancies which has been devastating, especially when you see so many chavs smoking, drinking and taking drugs then popping out more chavs with no problems

I got my current 7 week contract via www.peopleperhour.com which was a lot more professional than the usual agency monkies and I am securing a network with a largely opensource solution, I should be done at the end of next week then off on holiday to the Hilton in Egypt;

anyway, the sun is out and I have to look like I'm working

...oh yeah and I cycled 90 miles Oxford to Cambridge! and passed my Prince 2 practitioner exams (the old brain can still boogie!)

Tims stagdo weekend

2010-07-29T11:36:00.000+01:00

View Larger Map

560 miles coming up!

Domain names and gazillions of pounds?

2010-07-20T16:59:00.000+01:00

just tried to reserve www.glaxosmithklein.co

via these guys

so if you dont see me it means I've made gazillions of pounds and am currently hoofing accross Europe in a Lambo :)

bangernomics and Thorpe Park

2010-07-20T16:54:00.001+01:00

just ploughed a £170 into the Renault Megane crap heap to get it through its MOT and still the window is knackered but as yet any thieves are taking pity and not nicking anything from it :D

Thorpe Park on Sunday was awesome and the SAW ride and maze were worth the visit alone, had a brilliant time.

then a 25 mile bicycle ride along the grand union canal to Greenford station yesterday - god bless working from home :) only crapper is having to be in next Monday as the US boss man is around and I had intended to 'work from home in Devon' bah!

we're just starting to make plans for a holiday finally... and the folks cat kicked the bucket after 15 years - RIP Bruce.

bored

2010-07-08T15:12:00.000+01:00

I'm bored at work
I'm bored with the future
I'm bored and want to go on holiday
I'm bored with having to work for a million years, and the retirement age going up with our coalition government
I'm bored with working hard off and getting penalised for it
I'm bored with people
I'm bored with trying when others don't
I'm bored with people who are empty behind the eyes
I'm bored with wasting my life at a desk
I'm bored with wasting 5 / 7 days so I can see the same people and do the same stuff all the time
I'm bored with saving
I'm bored with raising finances over the long term to be flushed by bigger versions of what I have now
I'm bored with coming to work, drinking coffee, smoking fags, not talking to the rude prick in the corner
looking at

www.pistonheads.com
www.therevcounter.com
www.londonbikers.com
www.ukbusinessforums.com
www.lifehacker.com

reading the newspaper in the canteen, cycling home and watching videos.

I guess after travelling and experiencing brilliant things every day for a year, sitting at a desk rotting away until I'm too old and fucked to do anything is a bit depressing

July Update

2010-07-08T14:54:00.001+01:00

So I've been married for over 7 months and things are brilliant, we have had the bathroom renovated (which Juliet has managed) and the result is excellent

we used these guys

http://www.diliset.co.uk/

and I cant recommend them enough but, on the other hand, I think that my focal point for Nottinghill housing is the biggest waste of public sector space I have ever had to come in contact with and our upstairs neighbours need neutering to prevent our gene pool from growing the number of village idiots; but ho-hum, my Midlands based buddy has crawled back under his rock after sending a summons to the wrong place.

London to Brighton and cycling update

2010-06-08T13:39:00.000+01:00

Well, the London to Brighton bike ride has come and gone with me raising a not too inconsiderable £460! and doing it in 4hrs which I was more than happy about and the fact that I managed to cycle up Ditchling beacon near the end

the only downer was a 48 year old guy dieing at the foot of Ditchling beacon (massive 1:10 hill near the end)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10362762.stm

I had to wait for half an hour for Iain 10 miles from the start and then on top of that finished over an hour ahead of him :) I did explain that my diet of beer and fags was infact carb-loading and lung conditioning.

I really enjoyed being out there on the bike and the exercise and have cycled to Juliet's parents since, have been keeping up the cycling to work but did have to take the bike back to Halfords for repairs as the rear gears (don't know the real names of the bits yet) snapped off and really missed it for those few days and used the Fireblade instead (which I have been neglecting)

I have greater plans of more bike rides and have been looking at the Dunwich Dynamo which is 120 miles through the night and I've been looking at sites such as www.bikeradar.com and find myself looking at
road bikes as an upgrade to my Carerra Subway bike

...but it serves me well for what I need it for but like everything else "lates and greatest" is on the list; as is a wireless bicycle computer.

Official London to Brighton!

2010-03-18T14:47:00.001Z

SPONSER ME!

mothersday bike ride

2010-03-14T14:53:00.002Z

well, with nothing to do until lunch at 3:30, I decided to jump on the bike and head to the nearest reservoir but found that it wasn't open to the public and cyclists!

so, all in all today I've done half was London to Brighton!

View Larger Map

this afternoons bike ride

2010-02-20T15:47:00.002Z

So between now and the last post, I tried a test run to work (an 8 mile round trip) and today cycled round this route whilst Juliet caught up with Eastenders

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It doesnt show the route where I rode down the canal the other way from last time which takes you via the rear of London Zoo and through St Johns Wood with the jaw dropping houses!.

It was a beautiful day and a really enjoyable chance to just be out and about ...and the exercise of course.

After adjusting the seat, the bike is more comfortable and I dont really see the London to Brighton ride being a problem - even the hills back from work and from Camden station are getting easier with me being able to hold lower gears.

1st bicycle ride

2010-02-13T14:51:00.002Z

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well, after donning my rather fetching cycling shorts (under my jeans obviously), I jumped on the bike and headed off for a ride.

It was a brilliant ride albeit cold at first and 1/4 of the London to Brighton distance so not too bad.

The semi slicks on the bike are slippery when it comes to stopping and the motorbike method of using mostly front brake definately helps.

The cycling shorts make you feel like youre wearing a nappy or have majorly crapped yourself!

but they really help.

running and cycling

2010-02-10T13:24:00.002Z

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Well, above is my personal best achieved yesterday and I think I only need to find the ability to run for another 10mins hopefully this will come with the proper Asics running trainers which replace the heavy white Nikes, the gym session tonight and Friday and cycling on the Carerra Subway 1 bicycle I've ordered from Halfords Which I am picking up tomorrow.

Running round Regents Park

2010-02-02T15:05:00.001Z

So, after my honeymoon, birthday and Christmas excess, I thaught it time to get back to my finely honed self.

This is getting back to running three times per week with a mixture of round the block 4 times or preferably making it round the entire 3.5 miles or so of Regents Park.
Now as a larger bloke, who loves food, alcohol, smoking and his sofa with a weekly regime of hopping on a bus outside his front door and into the office to sit at a desk for 8hrs, this isnt an easy transition and I could have hid behind the fact that "its a bit cold" too.

Anyway, onto my 2nd week and every run is getting easier, my leg muscles are waking up as is my respiratory system and my heart that's usual rythm upping action is either litres of black coffee, questionable films or other things that a married man does (not DIY.

The first Regents Park visit had me hacking up all sorts and a real dismal performance!

the last (yesterday) I ran the route below and much of it back.

View Larger Map

my aim is to make it round the whole lot.

...then buy a road biased bicycle and cycle to / from work
....then to the London -> Brighton bike ride

and get into some shape as I really feel better for it and hark back to the days I used to run, row, cycle and play rugby.
It also helps clear my head from the day at work and gives me more energy for the next.

What I also want is to be able to enjoy my family (when mini-me's come along) as I cant think of anything worse than working all day in a poxy job and not physically being able to enjoy the very things you are working for!

XBOX 360 Strict NAT

2010-01-05T16:47:00.004Z

If you are having problems with World of Warefare 2 on the xbox with there being hardly any "good" games available, then it's your routers fault.

What you need to do it log in to it placing by clicking this: http://192.168.1.254

then put your xbox 360 into the DMZ or enable upnp (universal plug and play)

either way, the end result is the following ports will be open

TCP 80
UDP 88
UDP 3074
TCP 3074
UDP 53
TCP 53

much better :)

Isle OF Wight

2009-12-21T13:51:00.003Z

We hopped in the mother in laws Smart car (ironic name that) and drove down to Southampton on Saturday morning;
There was no snow, the roads were clear from traffic and we made such good time that we got the 9am ferry.

we booked cour crossing using a voucher code Juliet found on the net and ended up around £27 return for both of us and the car / shopping trolley!

The place is beautiful!

a short trip to the floating bridge, chain ferry or "chainey thing" as Juliet called it and we were in East Cowes, parked the car and headed to the high street for coffee, a mooch around the shops and a quick coffee and pastry before meeting Mark and Lilly.

the place he's renting is cool, spread over 3 levels and would cost less than our shoebox back in London so I've added the IOW to the long list of areas all over the world that I say "we should buy a place here"

Saturday was spent being shown around the Island then drinks with the neighbours in the evening after a brilliant curry "in town"
The people were friendly but quite far up their own bottoms! and everyone seemed to celebrate the fact that they're seen as inbred :)

Sunday was when we met Marks family for an amazing lunch and 2 bottles of wine between me and Uncle / Cousin Ray and was a good laugh and everyone was great which was in keeping with the friendly attitude of the people we came in contact with over the rest of our stay on the island

It was a pitty to leave but we'll be back!

Christmas Pressie to myself

2009-12-16T12:12:00.003Z

After wanting one for years, selling the bike and the gift from the Dutchies, I finally purchased the watch I've always wanted (pics in last post)

I done lots of research including drooling in many shops such as Watches of Switzerland and on various forums on the web - predominantly The Timefactors Forum

who then led me in a roundabout route to Blowers Jewelers in sunny Hull where I saw the watch I wanted (2009 Rolex Submariner date), paid for it and it was with me in the office the following afternoon!

I've wanted this for ages as I have said but with me getting married at 30, being 30! - I also wanted to get this at 30 (sadly missed out by 10 days but ho-hum)

as soon as it arrived I was off to Rolex HQ in St James square to have a link removed from the bracelet so it fit me and to also get the professionals to give it the once over to make sure all was OK with it which it was then to show Juliet which went fine as she knows I've been working hard and have made it my priority that we have the best start in things.

off to the Isle of Wight Saturday morning to see the Jones' and hopefully get a haircut before then!

...oh yeah and went to the NEC bike show which was absolute crap with no Honda or Aprilia stand - shant be bothering in future!

2009-12-16T12:05:00.009Z

Turning 31, getting an "extension", the recruitment process and the Christmas pressie to myself

2009-12-15T15:00:00.001Z

Its been a busy time with my work colleague leaving for better surroundings in Malaysia and me handling everything in his absence so the fact that I turned 31 sort of slipped in there amongst all the paperwork.
Turning 31 felt like the era of celebrating my birthday has given way to my own sense of mortality, that what ever I'm going to do I need to do it now, that kids and more responsibilities are round the corner and this year I just went round a couple of friends for a meal, some bubbly and a chocolate fountain.
It was a nice evening but not on the level of normal debauchery of every other year past from around the age of 15.

....aaaaanyway, married life is still fantastic (bloody hope it should be after only 7 1/2 weeks :) ) and Juliet is applying for positions as a trainee recruitment consultant or as we call them Pimps

and is getting some good insider information and training at the moment which should (since she has been there 3 days being graded and scrutinized) lead to a job which in turn will help us hit the ground running next year or the year after.

I say possibly the year after as I have just been given a year extension at my current position which is high praise in the current financial environment.

In other news, the Dutch tax office decided to give me more money from back in 2006, I managed to sell the Triumph for a profit!

Happy Thans giving

2009-11-27T15:29:00.002Z

Me next weekend

2009-11-25T15:51:00.000Z

Here's a photo of me when I turn 31 in 2 weeks

More pics added

2009-11-24T12:40:00.000Z

I've added more pics of wedding and honeymoon in the "our pictures link"

I done it - I did it!

2009-11-20T13:03:00.002Z

Yup, the day was fantastic and my feet never touched the ground all through the honeymoon in the Maldives until I got back to sunny London and straight to work.

The photography was taken care of by www.studiomarsh.com who were excellent

and photos from our guests can be found on the link in the top right of this page.

"The Wife" went straight on another holiday for Angies 30th to Las Vegas! and is off to Brighton this weekend - so I've hardly seen my wife since we've got married!

ho hum

work is getting tougher as we approach December and my team mate legging it back to Malaysia, the bike's speedo cable has broke and is hardly being used, my shares are taking a pummeling, but all the time I'm drooling over this

lets hope santa has been saving!

My wedding speech

2009-11-18T15:19:00.001Z

witty, funny and very well thought out naturally :)

Hi everybody

I just want to start by saying how beautiful the bridesmaids look

thank you to my groomsmen who have helped with the pre-wedding celebrations , for letting me keep my hair, eyebrows and to escape with only a few dubious looking bruises and for helping out today.

Thank you to my oldest friend Lydia, Amy and Bonnie for the lovely readings and to my brother and best man Mark for having everything prepared months ago.

Thank you to everyone for coming especially for those who’ve come from Israel, and those from Holland and as far away as Scotland who came to see that I would be here today J it means a lot to Juliet and me and wouldn’t be the same without you and I really appreciate it

thank you to Daniel and Avril for everything they have done for me and us and for my Mum and dad for their constant love, support and guidance and to everyone for looking fantastic.

Now on to us, Juliet and I have been together for a long time and its hard for me to remember before we met or us ever being apart.

We have been on many adventures together and everyone has been brilliant and today is the most recent,

I knew she was a keeper early on when I used to drive to Leeds where we would always have a brilliant time, she would cook the best breakfasts and then put a large bag of peanut m&m’s in the car for my drive back. On top of this, she is beautiful, intelligent and the only woman I’ve been with that I ever looked at as my partner or other half

she always says or does the right things whether it be making me a cup of coffee after a long day, sitting me down and putting everything to rights or using her powers of making me laugh just by looking at me

Over the last year after the initial shock that I finally asked her to marry me, she has worked long and hard to arrange today and the only thing she hasn’t had direct involvement in is this speech

So I’d like to say - this iss my wiiife (borat style)

She is gorgeous and fun to be around, and one thing that sticks in my mind is people call us the Michael and Juliet show, this and that I’m obviously more academic is proof that opposites attract J

I now look forward married life, to dinner being on the table when I get home, my shirts for the week being washed and pressed along with the rest of my clothes and the constant smell of baking in the kitchen

Ladies and gentleman, can you please raise a glass to my Wife

I love you

Last working day as an un-married man!!!!

2009-10-23T12:07:00.003+01:00

It's been in the grand plan to be married when I'm 30 and I'm doing it!

Today is my last day at work for over 2 weeks, the last day that my ring finger will be naked!
and 2 days before Juliets name is relegated to being her maiden name!

Im am really excited about being a HUSBAND and cant quite believe its all real!

People are / have flown in from France, Holland, Israel and down from Scotland and 172 people at last count!

Everything is now done and my suit from Prenuptia fits and looks very dapper as does everyone elses.

I've had last beers and my last "un-married man Phal" and am looking to 2 fantastic weeks away with my WIFE!!! to be on the beach in paradise away from the cold weather, work, the crackberry and the rat-race in general

BRING IT ON!

Best Business Savings Accounts for Small Businesses

2009-10-15T12:21:00.001+01:00

Whilst digging around, I found this interesting article for those who have a business.

Best Business Savings Accounts for Small Businesses

Shared via AddThis

Some knob-jock is trying to take me to court

2009-09-28T17:37:00.002+01:00

...which is nice, cant say much at the moment except the bloke is an idiot and no wonder he is in the position he's in at the moment!

will update as things do or don't progress (except if he ends up wearing concrete boots then you aint seen me right :D )

I kept my hair and eyebrows!

2009-09-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

so I dont look lke this bloke although I did have some brilliant bruises courtesy of some paintball action.

It happened like this:

leave work early Friday - jump on bike for 130 odd miles to Yarmouth, get there before my brother and Dad, have fish and chips, mince around the local bike meet at the Swan.
Then meet them at my sisters caravan for Dads car to then brake down (turns out to be distinct lack of fuel lol).

Then Saturday comes for the main event(s), firstly getting sent 40 miles in the wrong direction to the wrong paintball site (blamed on the "girls in the office"), then drive 5 mins from where we started and then proceed to shoot eachother - the army boys namedly Marko and Gareth despite their "strategy" lost 2-1.
Then back to shower and change, off to the dog track, much food, lager and shredded betting tickets later we go walkies around the local pubs which was good fun - I even managed to make a fat bird's evening :D
followed by a strip club till 3am-ish (everything was very general at this point) :)

What cant be conveyed here is how brilliant the day was so a massive thanks to Mark, Marko, Dad, Simon, Phil and Gareth!

My Stag weekend!

2009-09-18T09:23:00.002+01:00

The time is upon us, I'm getting married in 5 weeks so better go and blow my brains out in propper time honoured tradition.
The only things to remember are to keep the hair and eyebrows ...bring it on!!!!

so....

Please god let today go quickly
Please let the Triumph make it there and back with me on it
Please help my liver for "one last time with feeling"
Please let me aim straight and true should there be anything shooting related
Please let me not see Bob drinking bottles of beer or Gareth pass out after 2 pints
Please let the strippers be fit ones and not look like an old man
Please teach me this "pacing"
Please let no one see any tactical chundering
Please let the photos be censored before general viewing
Please let any locals, bouncers and law officials be lenient

simonsimon2003

2009-09-07T21:02:00.003+01:00

Beware the above ebayer simonsimon2003 who provides a public telephone number as his contact details and doesnt respond to emails!

everything is brilliant again in the world

2009-08-25T11:16:00.002+01:00

After Juliets swine flu came and went (and me not getting it despite being with her every day in the time between work), I landed the job on the Strand and this is my 3rd week!!! - on top of this, it is the first time in years where I actually dont dread going to work.

Time has gone quickly, I've been using public transport and am not dead yet either!
It takes 35 mins door to door which is fantastic compared to the 5am trip up to Telford, it also means I am at home every night so can enjoy the flat at long last and see Juliet more than at the weekend which is all good considering we are getting married VERY soon!

French John has been over and it was really good having him around and perfect timing with me starting the new job the day after he left, it also gave me a great excuse to drink more beer, eat pizza and play the xbox360 and Gears of War until the wee hours.

The Triumph is going well despite it screaming out for me to adjust the drive chain (single sided swing arm is a pain in the arse), the suspension desperately needs setting up and I'd like to be able to get it out on track before we lose the weather which has been brilliant.
- I've got my eye on a Kawasaki ZX10r or a KTM Superduke for next year, my shares are looking to make this a near certainty which is more good news.

My mate skinny Tim managed to bin his Kwak in Germany and I need to get up to Wales to see him, the list of people I want to catch up with is endless, but I did meet up with the boss from my last job and I look to up the "professional" networking to stand me in good stead for the future - either for continued contracting or for my agency.

more pics and bits next time!

pics of me trumpet

2009-08-05T17:16:00.002+01:00

2009-08-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

does anyone actually read this?

2009-08-02T16:48:00.001+01:00

let me know, I know I get a few hits and the odd advert click so someone must be

mickymellon at hot mail dot . com

no work, no bike, no worries

2009-07-24T21:58:00.002+01:00

Juliet jacked her job in because her wanker boss, my contract came to an end last week and the charging system on the R1 fried it's self.

To repair the R1 would have been 600 squid, so I flogged it yesterday to a bloke on ebay :)

"good 'ole ebay"

so waiting to hear about another contract on the strand which would be PERFECT, otherwise we'll be off somewhere or doing something when she gets better and will have a look again later

helping someone with swine flu

2009-07-24T21:54:00.002+01:00

Well, Juliet managed to get it, were both off so I am "the helper" and so far, I've not got it!!??

you can get tamiflu as a preventative measure but I'll wait and see.

keep 'em hydrated
make them eat
keep them rested
make sure they
make sure they take their meds!!!

2009-07-24T21:52:00.000+01:00

2009-06-17T22:52:00.003+01:00

Bored (rant)

2009-06-17T17:56:00.003+01:00

Well, no one has spoken to any of us, no one has given us any additional work so I'm getting in for 9am, sitting on my fat arse bored out of my mind, skulking around the shit town center like one of the million scum dole merchants there and then leaving "work" at 5pm.

Why am I doing this and not leaving?, well, because they're paying for my to be there for the last 4 weeks written in my contract - I wish they would just give us the cash so we can fuck off, not like we are or will be doing anything.

and then there's the same shit of going round the agencies who dont have a fucking scoobie do about anything either!

this is going to be the longest four weeks of my life.

So long (Telford) and thanks for all the fish

2009-06-16T21:50:00.003+01:00

After successfully delivering my project, me and my team have been "four weeked" meaning after 7.5 months, I'll be out of this god forsaken place and back to good ole Londinium where I'll be looking for another job, playing the xbox, starting up my recruitment company or doing lots of trackdays on the bike.

so I got nearly all I wanted from Shitford and every night I've wished it would come to and end and now someone has made the decision for me :)

so, onwards and upwards as they say.

One day you will be mine - Aston Martin DBS or DB9

2009-06-11T20:38:00.001+01:00

Donations and contributions gratefully received (top right of this page), hell, I'd be happy with an Aston Martin DB9

2009-05-07T18:49:00.001+01:00

Trixel

2009-05-05T18:04:00.001+01:00

I'm putting this here because it rules and you should buy it

Adept Games' Trixel [App Store] is a seemingly simple logic game that involves flipping tiles on a board to match a tile pattern. That, however, is not what makes this game stand out.

What makes Trixel different is its blend of twists, obstacles and power ups that gives this game its edge in this genre. Trixel has a terrific soundtrack by a band called Prison Diet and the layout and graphics which are elegant yet functional.

A local scoreboard is included that tracks your progress in terms of stages completed, medals awarded, number of moves, and time spent.

The game offers two modes: "Puzzles" and "Race the Clock". In Puzzles mode, you have a limited number of moves to match a tile pattern. There are 3 levels of difficulty: easy, medium and hard with a total of 100 puzzles. Easy is unlocked by default, and you will need to complete all the puzzles in this setting before you can access the Medium and Hard levels. Even in the Easy mode, Trixel can be quite challenging.

Trixel offers a medal system where you’re awarded gold, silver and bronze medals based on your success in matching the pattern within a limited number of moves and you’ll need to score all gold medals in order to unlock the bonus puzzles. The gameplay is pretty straightforward: A cursor appears over the square that you’re moving, and arrows show which directions are available. You simply tap to flip the next tile.

In Puzzles mode, the top of the screen shows you the pattern you’re to match, the level, the number of moves you’ve made, and the medal diagram illustrating the number of moves you need to qualify for the various medals. At the bottom of the screen are your various power ups (that you have to earn)—Warp, Undo, and # of Crystals—and your standard Pause button.

In Race the Clock mode, you have 12 maps and 4 modes: Relaxed, Fast, Frantic and Furious. Think "speed round" because as soon as you finish one puzzle, another one is immediately thrown at you all of which must be completed within a time limit. The objective here is to think fast and complete as many as you can. A counter at the top of the screen provides a count of how many puzzles are in the series and how many have been completed. The scoreboard tracks your progress, and you can easily rack up 400-500 moves from a series in the span of 1-3 minutes as you run through puzzles.

Now I get to the part where Trixel shows its true colors… the special tiles, obstacles and power ups. At every 8 levels, special tiles and obstacles appear. In terms of special tiles, there are several that you’ll need to understand and master.

Diagonal tiles allow you to move diagonally in addition to up/down, and right/left
Wormhole tiles will transport you from one wormhole to another usually on the other side of the board.
Sequence, which you must land on in the order indicated (e.g. 1st, 2nd)
Nuke which creates a chain reaction flipping of tiles
Counter which counts down the number of times you need to land on them until it reaches zero
Rollback which resets the entire puzzle to its initial state
And more special tiles can be found in the game, but I’ll leave you to experience those for yourself.

During the game, crystals will randomly appear on the board that can be collected for power ups. Most of the time, I wind up starting over because they appear right at the time I’m about to finish a puzzle. Of course, if you try to go back and collect it, you’re usually toast. As I mentioned, an Undo option isn’t just handed to you; instead it will cost you 2 crystals. A Warp power up which enables you to move from one spot to another of your choosing runs you 4 crystals; while Skip Puzzle which allows you to move to the next puzzle will take 8 crystals. In "Race the Clock" Mode, the primary power up is a time increase of 5 seconds to the clock that will leave you 2 crystals poorer. It’s a creative set up that adds a significant level of challenge and replayability to Trixel.

Trixel is challenging and addicting as is, but it could use some tweaking to appeal to a broader audience. While not impossible, achieving gold medals for each of the single puzzles to unlock bonus puzzles may be asking a lot especially of casual gamers. Aside from this, another thing that could be changed in an update is to offer the Race the Clock — at least the Relaxed mode — unlocked to start so that players can have the option right away. It could open up the game to those who like the pressure of a timed environment.

Having said that, Trixel is easily one of your best bets if you’re into puzzles and logic games and should provide hours of gameplay

moving on

2009-04-23T20:56:00.002+01:00

we've got the venue, we've got the florist, we've met the photographer we're using, I've given the shirt off my back as a contribution, we've both now registered our intent and in 16 days we could get married!

it's all very exciting!!! as is me and the people at work making it through the first 3 months, then the second lot too!!! all without a rate cut (but with mental scars).

I'm in a few rowing races this weekend with the Telford rowing club which is cool and beers afterwards is obviously the best part, rowing/"bored mans hands" are a byproduct though, not surprising as hands used to keyboards will be a bit girly soft.

Despite the lovely weather making an appearance and trying to get involved in outdoors stuff, unfortunately with Telford, you just cannot polish a turd no matter how hard you try and I'll be glad to hop on the R1 and see the back of this shit hole and my landlord here who is a bit anally retentive to say the least;
He moans and leaves letters constantly (which I f**king hate), doesn't seem to have a personality and is pretty cold with it; fortunately he's not been here a whole lot.
I do feel like sticking his notes up his arse but remembering the grimness of the b&b's here and the bottom of the barrel lurkers who stay there prevents me.

Anyway, keep clicking, fingers crossed for Sat and for my last day in 4 weeks :)

(and dont get me started on recruitment agents and a job at Virgin!)

Trading shares

2009-03-26T22:29:00.003Z

Since the bottom has fallen out of the economy and savings interest is worth a pittance, I've given stocks and shares a go with some success (if it wasn't for RBS :) )

some useful sites I'm adding here for my future reference and you may find useful:

http://finance.google.com <- main one I use
http://www.advfn.com
http://www.sharecrazy.com
http://www.sharecrazy.com/share2607share/share.php?disp=exdiv&order=0&epic= dividend info
http://www.iii.co.uk <- maybe take a look at their portfolio builder or use to trade NYC stocks

Comdirect - useful for watchlist and tracking stocks http://focus.comdirect.co.uk/focus/marketf...ists/index.html

Yahoo beta Finance - page for Stock information
http://uk.beta.finance.yahoo.com/
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/

Digital look - Some Good info with heat maps/stock screener. Usually a good first point of research into a stock.
http://www.digitallook.com/

MSN Money - fantastic resource for comparing stocks and getting all those ratio. Contains annual reports of most companies for the last 4years or so.
http://uk.moneycentral.msn.com/investor/quotes/quotes.asp

MoneyAM - promising but the Stockwatcher is very good for a quick glance at the damage happening in one's portfolio. (also free streaming info on trades - useful on a day you want to buy your to know what is going on. This feature is limited as it will time out)
http://www.moneyam.com/

Hoodless - Have a research page for aim and ofex stock useful for general info.
https://www.hoodlessbrennan.com/index1.htm

Keep up with all the RNS from companies you follow by email especially those that release them after trading hours.
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/newsalert

I know some people don't like IC that much but I find it a good read and for finding out about other stocks. Good reference point - has info dating back to 2001 at least.
http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/content/home.html

Some Good research papers
http://www.brokerlink.co.uk/

Evolution Research Group
http://www.evbgresearch.com/

Charles Stanley Research
http://www.charles-stanley.co.uk/Research.jsp

Hemscott - Some Good Comments here
http://www.hemscott.com/hstoday/1999/companycomment_body.htm

KBC peel Hunt
http://www.kbcpeelhunt.com/home.asp

Planetmong Screener - useful
http://www.planetmong.com/screener/

New place

2009-02-25T22:32:00.002Z

Since I accepted to stay here despite the agency trying it on looking to cut my rate by 20%,

I decided I'm not staying in any more shitty b&b's with fucking idiots, nutters, wasters or pikeys and have looked and found a brilliant house with a cinema in the basement, a real double bed and not an alcoholic in sight.

It's my first night and it is so nice to just have a sofa, nice surroundings, a proper bed and things like a kitchen which isn't from a skip, a dining table and not live out of a car and rucksack.

I'm also looking forward to taking a bath during the week! - hopefully this will make things a little easier and also give me an environment that will kick me up the arse and get www.lazerit.co.uk up and working.

...oh and The Mondeo is STILL working albeit with no front indicator lenses -1 wheel and a crack in the bumper (but that's another story)

....aaand, one more venue to see this weekend and we've decided where and when we're getting married HARAAAAHH ! :)

Engagement Party Barbican conservatory

2009-02-25T22:24:00.002Z

What a brilliant day and weekend!

A mate came down from the weekend so we drank in Camden all day and didn't get in trouble which from our past escapades was unusual;
then the Sunday was spent getting the girls nails done in Holloway Road and then to Tony and Guy hairdressers before the main event which surpassed my expectations with both of our families there and a total of around 140 guests all having fun.

Another pub session afterwards was both unexpected and a laugh although driving and being at work on Monday was no laughing matter - next step The "vedding" :)

Also, I'll put some pics up when I get my camera returned

look at my extention

2009-02-20T20:17:00.001Z

Well 3 months has just come and gone, with me getting slightly more used to Telford.
I organise pub/curries every now and then to break up the monotony and have stayed at another b&b for a while but back at pisshead Shelia's in Oakengates with PJ who sums up many of the people of Telford I've spoken to, Dave who works at the Dairy, Michael the fruitcake who is a lazy bastard and other stragglers.

Since I have the wedding and everything else to pay for, I'm kind of in "prison for pay" and every month chips away a bit more.
However, I had hoped my stretch here would mean I could take some time off, relax and get my recruitment company together but it looks like I'll not be far off breaking even!

Anyway, due to this credit crunch, there are no jobs in Londinium and so they've offered me an extension and I'm here for one last stretch

- last day now is 22nd May ...only 11 weeks left :)

"Miss Qaio Yun Xue" Miss Qaio Yun Xue

2009-01-11T16:04:00.002Z

I finally got the flat back after months of waiting for the courts, lies and general headache;

When I did, she (Qaio Yun Xue) had stolen all the kitchenware, cutlery etc and left the place covered in a thick layer of filth which was both disgusting and unhygienic especially as she was dragging up children there.

I hope that no one ever has to go through the financial and emotional ball ache and distress caused by her and I have put this here for google and other search engines to index in a hope that If she does enter your life, you know what to expect (for her not to pay, leave your property like a tip, not answer your calls, pretend she cant speak english when you finally get her and her solicitor to court, say you are harassing her ...)

I have learnt some valuable lessons and I sincerely hope what goes around comes around

Adsense payout

2008-12-19T19:32:00.002Z

FINALLY!

am just waiting on £50 from google adsense so I'm happy that some of the ads here have been worth a click and thanks for clicking!

The other links on here are worth a look, otherwise I wouldn't have them!

Telford, Shropshire

2008-12-19T19:14:00.002Z

I've been in Telford for a month and im there a minimum of two more possibly another 5!!! at the outside.

It's town center is a shopping center which gives you an indication of the type of place it is

with the outer bits made by swallowing up nearby villages.

I'm staying at a B&B just over and mile and a half away and it is shit, well for £20/night you kind of expect that but this place has the dregs of society... and me.

I really feel like writing a book about my life and travels but I cant even get a smooth flow to this blog so I wont :)

The landlady of this place is an alcoholic, Michael, a bloke placed there by the social services is the majority of slices short of a loaf;
I dont think it will be funny or character building for long!

The One

2008-12-19T18:58:00.003Z

There is always one

on the last contract it was a 55 year old ex politician and sexual deviant

on this one, Kevin tops the list

if anyone's motto was

"If you cant blind them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit"

then it's this man.

We're working on a particular project which has already been set out but firstly, this man seems to want to reinvent the wheel and keeps boring me with his horrible northern accent (Lancashire or somewhere).
He was never a picture of health but has quickly lost what was left of any sign of colour or health to the level where I cant see where his white shirt ends and his head begins.

He has a superiority complex which irks others too and he's not taken a day off since he was 11, he doesn't do holidays including christmas which is very much upon us.

He wants to work christmas and christmas day and his face turned "funny" when it was explained to him that no one works on christmas.

He truely is the definition of a sad case.

He's ALWAYS moaning so we've dubbed him "sunshine" :)

He prefers drinking Vodka in his hovel rather than socializing with the rest of us and doesn't even bother turning up to meetings.

The fact that he is such as miserable workaholic is the obvious reason he's been through two wives and has f**k all to show for it, I've only included this so I cant always be reminded of what I never want to turn into and maybe the slow demise of this man who if he keeps on belittling people will be told a few home truths.

the only other things to note are another team mate who needs a volume control and doesn't know what personal space is and that 2/4 of the team have been caught drink driving!

The Telford Shonker

2008-12-18T17:46:00.000Z

Well, I've made it through my first month at the new job, they're already talking about extending me for another 3 months, the Ford Mondeo is still going strong (as strong as it's gonna go)

It was purchased off a dodgy Polish bloke for £400, the slicks replaced with £20 remoulds and it's been wanging me up and down the M40 / M6 M1 in warmth and dry ever since.
The road tax will run out at the end of this contract (if the iffy clutch lasts the course) then I'll be looking for another shonker to get me around.

What I'm looking at is to flog this for anywhere round £200+ and therefore get 6 months motoring for under a grand which will basically be free transport :) Vs me not being able to get to work due to snow and ice on the bike!

So far I would have frozen to death and no doubt crashed the bike in the last month as it has been very icy and the gritter trucks hadn't bothered doing there work on one day meaning lots of crashed cars and mine sliding into the curb and sacrificing one of the rather fetching plastic hubcaps.

Massive update!

2008-11-28T21:25:00.001Z

With everything that's happened since South America, working in Basingstoke etc things have been extremely hectic!

But some fantastic and life changing things have happened to me since the last blog post such as Juliet saying "Of course!" when I asked her to marry me when were went to Israel (which was fantastic and surpassed any expectations)

me turning 30

and getting another contract straight away albeit in sunny Telford in Shropshire - (not Essex as I thought)

so things are pretty damn great

especially as we're all set to get the scum out the flat on the 6th January :)

Zopa (Lending and borrowing off other people)

2008-10-30T20:39:00.003Z

Just came across this site which is from the people behind Egg credit cards where you can either invest and lend people money

or

borrow money at cheaper rates than the banks.

With the credit crunch and banks being tighter to lend people money, It looks to be good for everyone and has been around for three years now.

I've researched into it from the various money sites and forums and it seems all good except that your money can be tied up for the length of the loan (but you can vary the length you offer out.

I've given it a punt and will see what happens.

If you use the links on this page, I get £50 if you lend £2000 or if you borrow any amount.

I'm happy to split this 50/50 if you let me know who you are

Hyde park "No to motorcycle parking charge demo"

2008-10-24T17:33:00.002+01:00

Here are a few pics from the demonstration against charging motorcycles to park in London

all info here http://www.notobikeparkingfees.com/

and some pics here

It's a joke as on top of motorbikes easing congestion, they also take up relatively little space to park;
It wouldn't be so bad if there were additional bays or they were made secure, but they're not!

Court today

2008-10-23T13:34:00.002+01:00

I WON!

...we'll she's taken the piss and now she has two weeks before I can get the bailiffs to kick her doors in (I'd love to be there when that happens)

She put on a big show requesting an interpreter but if she doesn't know anyone in this country, where were her children?

Anyway, she's a lieing f**k and will be out of my life (and my flat) soon.
So next is to find out how best to get her dragged out and hopefully bankrupt her too.

Apparently, she only has one more year before she's deported so it may be one down, most of London to go :/

now I can go on holiday and relax a bit knowing I'll be a few weeks closer to having a bed and my sofa.

I 'ate spiders

2008-10-22T16:38:00.000+01:00

!!! Bird catching and scoffing spiders !!!

Mallory Park, getting my license back and tomorrows court case

2008-10-22T13:19:00.004+01:00

Well, since the last post, I went to Mallory Park in Leicester on a trackday with the R1

Gareth booked us in to the fast / advanced group where there were racers, lots of slick shod race bikes etc
But we done alright on old shonkers of roadbikes on shitty touring tires lol
I had a couple of slides and was constantly riding off the tyre, something that would be remedied by putting proper sports tires on i.e Pirelli Supercorsas and the like but I had my first go in the rain on a wet session that wasn't nearly as bad as I expected; smoothly on the power and brakes does it;
I'm sure I'd have been absolute crap for the fact that I ride in all conditions, we had a good time.

I hired the transit from here with the only downside being that you only get a daily milage of 100 miles!!!! and extra milage is 10p/mile

here's the van which was also our mobile hotel for the night :)

thank god it was ply-lined!

the sleeping bag I got for my Wales outing done a good job, probably helped by a few beers the night before.

This morning I finally managed to get through to the people at DVLA Swansea and got my license back which now only contains 3 points!!!!!! not the number that was on it and now has no scrawls and doesn't resemble a wrap sheet :)
So I can now rest a bit easier knowing I can show it if (hopefully not) required!

It will even be point free from the end of this year!!!! 0 points!!!! a full 12 to play with again hahaha

so I just have to get my international license from the post office and I'll then be driving on the Israel Rally 2008, or getting a hire car to get us around Israel. whichever term you prefer.

Now I'm going to Shoreditch county court tomorrow to see everyone's favourite asylum seeker and fingers and everything else crossed I will finally be off the sofa and into my god damn flat once more!!!

and if anyone fancies paying me for anything, IT or motorcycle related get in touch as this credit crunch means less/no jobs at the moment

ciao

M

thumb love and sending stupid emails

2008-10-08T09:51:00.003+01:00

People, myself included often send stupid txt messages when smashed or emails to the wrong people late at night / early in the morning

google have recognized this and using their "mail goggles" you can schedule it to kick in after a certain time so before sending a mail, it comes up with this screen

I think its genius! now if only ebay would come up with something similar :)

New time low for recruitment companies

2008-10-01T12:48:00.002+01:00

Not only are they on the whole useless, but I have just called one of the main ones who have asked me to do their work for them!

If I could fill out their cover letter, grade my skills, highlight specific keywords then they will send it straight off, I even had to call them, all they are doing is forwarding my email over and not even checking it!!!!

Their excuse was that there has been a large response for the position!!!

Timesheet

2008-10-01T11:45:00.003+01:00

IT Jobs, recruitment agencies, AFAM chains, the R1 and things

2008-09-21T11:17:00.003+01:00

well as per normal, the agency and outsourcing company I work with show their continued arrogance and stupidity and now I will be out of work in 2 weeks time,

the current market for

Technical Project Managers
Unix / Linux Admins
Security Consultants

has dried up since "The credit crunch" and things are looking gloomy, but we'll see what this week brings in the way of interviews etc as in the last week, I was pipped to the post for a job at Virgin Media.

I've been to www.fwr.co.uk and had a chain and sprockets fitted to the bike (down geared too!)
which solved the noise of dragging a bag of spanners down the road.
~Yesterday saw me and the Welsh waif fixing bikes and me having a blast on a modified Suzuki TL1000s with flat bars and an aftermarket swingarm, it was cool having a go on a V-Twin again but a bit unnerving as I managed to get the side stand down - oops, and then there was a little waggle of the bars leant over when I hit a bump :oO

Ive book to see a dentist next week ( I fucking hate dentists) rather than let my back tooth rot in my head and with the sun reappearing am thinking of getting back out on track again :) (hopefully this time not crashing)

I've been working on www.lazer-it.site88.net and comments so far show it's a better effort than the Drupal made effort which was good config wise but aesthetically rather cack.

I've just aquired an Ipod nano which should save my HTC phone's battery and supply tunes on the bike (probably a bit of Slipknot and Metallica's new album Death Magnetic)

for this, good old Winamp has an ipod plugin which is beavering away as I type consolidating mp3's.

hopefully I'll have a +1 for my karma after helping a girl who forgot she had a chain locked to her bike (lifted the back clean off the ground and lifted it to the side of the road etc)

Free Web Host!!!

2008-09-11T23:47:00.002+01:00

Now I have paid hosting from these guys

but if you want some FREE web space, then check these guys out as they're pretty good and you get more than what you pay for :)

Night Shift, Capital One and recent things

2008-09-11T18:39:00.004+01:00

Well, the night shift is getting easier and it looks like I'm turning into a Vampire slowly but surely.

Tim has been online through www.facebook.com with IM getting increasingly sloppy with his local supermarkets 3 for £1o Wine deal :)

I'm off to Israel for 12 days at the end of October and will hopefully be squeezing some diving in (Dead Sea?).

The bike is still brilliant and speeds at 3am etc are creeping up (topped out a few times :o )

Gareth (the jammy twat) has a NEW 2008 K8 Suzuki GSXR 1000 on order and should pick it up on Saturday (git)
so now he may stand a chance in keeping up lol - take a look at the specs here

My squatting bastard's section 8 is up tomorrow so more calls to arrange a court date (will be fantastic to be back in my flat).

I've also set up a review website

WWW.TELLUSALL.CO.UK

and will try to see if that works and if I can get a small amount of cash from it via adsense to cover hosting etc ( www.tsohost.com are proving to be brilliant as always and are recommended).

I'm currently looking on jobserve with the agencies still proving as useless as the British government (good since Lazer IT recruitment will clean up )

Ole Mad Dog has been in touch and looks like I'll be on the piss in Holland end of November and will catch up with everyone which will be brilliant and my current contract may be extended another month which will be good.

however www.realit.co.uk are still a bunch of retards with our contact being about 10 years old.

but things are good, but best of all today, I learned my mum was worried about money, I found one of her credit card bills and payed the whole lot off for her :)
Her face was a picture and wish I could plug my head into a usb port and upload that pic!

I think though I am developing an addiction to buying domain names though

lazerit.co.uk
lazer-it.co.uk
tellusall.co.uk

2008-09-04T18:30:00.001+01:00

More Funny Pictures

2008-09-04T18:14:00.001+01:00

More Demotivators

2008-09-04T17:24:00.001+01:00

Funny Demotivators

2008-09-04T17:22:00.001+01:00

Demotivational Posters

2008-09-04T17:13:00.001+01:00

Demotivator

2008-09-04T17:12:00.001+01:00

More Demotivators

2008-09-04T17:10:00.001+01:00

Demotivational Pictures

2008-09-04T17:07:00.001+01:00

Demotivators

2008-09-04T17:06:00.001+01:00

Motivators

2008-09-04T17:05:00.001+01:00

Funny MySpace Pictures

2008-09-04T16:46:00.001+01:00

Demotivational Posters

2008-09-04T16:38:00.000+01:00

Funny Forum Pictures

2008-09-04T16:34:00.000+01:00

More Demotivators

This week

2008-08-26T09:35:00.000+01:00

This week I'll be be-issuing the section 8 and this time waiting the full 14 days then starting court proceedings AGAIN so the cunt gets more time in the flat.

I'll also be sending a section 21 and this will get the bitch out at the end of her term... or now a month after

I'm am so pissed off with her and she's not doing my views of immigrants any good, just re-enforcing them to be honest.

George Michael and the Solicitor

2008-08-26T09:27:00.000+01:00

My bank holiday consisted of helping a mate to move house in Camden, us discover mouse crap and then halt the move.
Lots of stressing about my lovely tenant who I'd like to shoot to be honest and going to see Mr Michael on his last date of the 25 Live tour which Juliet loved and while not really being my bag, it was brilliant seeing her so happy and the seats were pretty good.
I did feel a bit sorry for the bloke I sold the spares to on ebay as he may aswell be sat at the bus stop outside.

anyway, for the upcoming trip to Wales, along with the tent and sleeping bag, I've ordered one of these to keep my arse in one piece,
If Its good enough for Ewan and Charlie on the Long way round etc, then it's good enough for me;
I can't see it doing any harm and man I need it, an R1, a race seat unit and compacted foam doesn't equate to anything near comfort.

so bring it on!!!

2008-08-23T20:28:00.000+01:00

2008-08-23T20:26:00.000+01:00

tenancy contract

2008-08-23T20:22:00.001+01:00

here it is in all its glory

officer letters

2008-08-23T17:27:00.000+01:00

Thanks for your reply. I understand your situation caused by my client. I have sent a financial and housing supports NASS application to the Home Office for my client. I believe the case is still being handled on the way. As soon as I got the information of my client’s Home Office case worker, I will let you know.

Thanks!

From:
Sent: 14 August 2008 17:15
To: xxx xxx
Subject: Re: annoying and anxiety

xxx,

Firstly, what about my anxiety living on friend and families floors, borrowing money to pay for my mortgage, frustration at being kept in the dark after your client continuously refuses to pay her rent or call me informing me of any developments.

It shouldn't be down to me to call her and as yet I have all my call records which show her to never answer or return my calls.

Maybe you could answer my last email or give me an update as to what is happening?

also can you please forward me the contact details of the representative at the Home Office who is dealing with case so I can speak to them directly.

please remember all this stress originates from your client, her not informing me of her situation and breaking her contract.

I could / could have lost my property souly as a result of your clients actions so please don't write to me about anxiety and depression.

who is going to help me!?

please reply as soon as possible and feel free to call me on the number provided.

2008/8/14

Dear M

Re: annoying and anxiety by your high number of calls.

I am writing on behalf of above-name client.

M called me yesterday afternoon, stated that she has been annoyed by your highly frequent telephone calls, which make her feel anxiety and depressed, She, as a result, asked me to deliver the following information to you: 'Please don't call me with so high frequency, I will keep living until 9^th of September and will see you on the court'.

If you have any question, please contact me.

Regards,

Chinese Information and Advice Centre

From: : 23 July 2008 09:53
To: xxx xxx
Subject: Re: Thanks reply!

Does this mean she will be able to pay her rent?

Thanks

Thanks for reply. What I helped her to apply was the National Asylum Seeker Support application. I did contact the Home Office and the official told me that entitled to the NASS housing and subsistence supports according to the term Section4 of NASS. The application form sent and if she succeeds the NASS support her income circumstance shall be changed.

I also suggested must try to contact her partner as soon as possible, alternatively to seek other friends or relatives to give her any possible supports.

Please do not hesitate to contact if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

From:
Sent: 22 July 2008 17:36
To:
Subject: Re:

Hi

The first I knew of her partner leaving was when upon the annual rental renewal, one name was removed from the agreement, further more, rent has been paid within the last eight months and indeed for last month.
Her Rental arrears total three months (nearly four) showing she is receiving money from somewhere and is not as insolvent as she appears.

Now, I could have made allowances if there was any contact made on her behalf and especially more recently as I have left several voice messages / emails asking her to let me know what is happening; and the fact that she only came to see you yesterday is testament to this fact.
I had also sent the letter required by law stating my intent to start court proceedings on the 15/07/2008 which means the nearest court date will be 29/07/2008
I have been to see her on several occasions and she explained that her partner is still in the UK but is not in or answering his mobile phone

Also, I am paying rent now on my current residence as well as hers which is not part of the agreement.

for her or you to ask me to halt proceedings after several months of non communication or payment is un-reasonable and I have to be able to afford to live myself and I am working extremely long hours and borrowing money just to be able to do that.

What exactly is she applying for and will this result in me being paid?

otherwise, as I told your client, it is my intention to take her to court to get back-rent and reclaim the property via eviction and if necessary for bailiffs to attend as I have no alternative.

Regards

2008/7/22 I

22/07/2008

Dear

Re: Ms destitute circumstance for rent arrears payment

I am writing on behalf on my client Ms regarding to her difficulties to pay her rent arrears and Council Tax.

Ms came to our centre on 21/07/2008 to request income help and possible welfare benefits sought. In accordance with evidence documents and statement made by Ms My client has been suffering destitution circumstance since her partner left 8 months ago. All she has is the only £150 to support her daily living costs with her two children (aged 4 and 8 month old). However, Ms xxx told me that you are urging her to payback all the rent arrears and will bring her to court shortly if Ms fail to pay outstanding rent payment.

I have applied Home Office NASS for my client and the application has been sent today. The result will take a period of time to wait and Ms claims no supports and incomes can be available because of no friends and relatives she knows in the UK. In addition, Ms is not entitled for Housing and Council Tax benefits due to her Asylum Seeker status for 5 years.

I would be most grateful if you could postpone Ms rent arrears for a suitable period of time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions and requests about my client's case.

Yours faithfully,

Tenant update

2008-08-23T16:34:00.000+01:00

Here is a scanned copy of the letter I received today from my tenants solicitors

Meanwhile in the news....

2008-08-21T16:10:00.000+01:00

-Juliet's nan in Israel isn't doing too good
-I'm on easy street 'till the end of this contract
-www.lazerit.co.uk is still in development with mostly making-pretty being done
-I'm going out tonight getting mongoed with Lyd, Tim and Tricky
-I ended up making £100 on the spare George Michael tickets I had on ebay.
-I've discovered www.lifehacker.com which is proving very distracting.
-I'm still taking my lovely shits of tenants to court in 2 weeks.
-I am looking at Hotels for Israel and have to sort out my passport and poxy driving license.

This rat-race lark is shit and the sooner I win the lottery the better

then there's speaking to Solicitors, finishing off moving from Abbey etc

ah well, beer soon

Sun - Portsmouth interview

2008-08-21T15:57:00.000+01:00

Pah!

Solaris Live Update
Solaris 10 Containers
Solaris 10 Zones

are all things I need to read up on, for the first time in years I was reduced to a babbling gibbering buffoon.

Managing projects makes you lazy and turns you into a retard, I'm pissed off especially as I was broad-sided by questions I didn't think were related to the job spec sent over :(

Ah well, it was in Portsmouth, miles away and I would have needed SC Clearance, something I don't think they gave me on the beach in Brazil or anywhere travelling around Latin America.

I would have bought a BMW tourer though to do the 160 mile/day trip which would have been quite nice.

--But then I've been offered jobs when I didn't think I'd get them so who knows

good to get my head back into it though and again a job at Sun eludes me (one day I will work there and have only been offered a permie job before).

PHWOOAOAAAARRRRRR!!!

2008-08-15T20:08:00.000+01:00

Hangover and professional networking

2008-08-15T18:29:00.000+01:00

After going out last night and boosting Beck's profits in Browns for Angie's leaving drinks and obligatory kebab, this morning I was useless

however I called around trying to generate a meeting with an accountancy company whom I could generate referral profits from and came up trumps, went along and not only did they agree to this but they said they could provide me with cv's of people on their books and from India and also there is the potential of them generating leads to contracts haazaaah!

so what's left is to get the website completed, and work out some form of percentage for them and of course speaking to a few solicitors about what they can do for me and for how much!

I've added a link to the right here in an attempt to raise a few quid and move this blog to a self managed domain and paid hosting so any donations are welcome.

- anyway, off to the middle of nowhere tomorrow to drink beer all day and pass out somewhere in the middle of a farm so I'll whack some pics up if I make it back.

2008-08-14T11:04:00.000+01:00

For the love of all things holy (job search)

2008-08-13T14:05:00.000+01:00

It's time to look for my next contract as I can see the end of the tunnel on this one.

Backing up the reason why I will soon be launching my own IT Recruitment company is the frequent (3/6 month /yearly) trawl of Jobserve , sending off hundreds of applications to probable CV farmers, the odd time I do get called it's about a project that hasn't got sign off, the IT manager has been abducted etc
In short it frustrates the shit out of me.

Even when you apply for a job you could perform with your hands severed, will they call you back!?
No, or there's the odd one with an auto generated reply which may as well read as
"I'm sorry, your application has not been successful on this occasion as we're just a bunch of cowboys gathering cv's for our database / marketing"

It is all a trade off for being a contractor but I've been in the office since 7am and I currently work with a bunch of mongs outlined in a previous post.

***and breathe***

The Building of lazerit.co.uk -> IT Recruitment

2008-08-12T14:06:00.000+01:00

Changes to base drupal install:

.htaccess : modify the file to point http://lazerit.co.uk -> http://www.lazerit.co.uk

which helps with SEO and search engine rankings etc

install the following modules:

- webform from http://drupalmodules.com/module/webform to handle callback requests, cv submission and soon job submissions.

- cck from http://drupal.org/project/cck for help with presentation

- views from http://drupal.org/project/views for help manipulating layout.

- nodewords to handle metatags and job_posting

I'll have to have a jig with Views to see what I can do about the job list output and use webforms instead for the callback request.

I'm going to have big problems tring to create my own PSD file then covert it into a drupal theme but I'm glad that the whole bones of the site are coming together

take a look on www.lazerit.co.uk :)

Asylum seekers and back stabbers

2008-07-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

Well thanks to Abbey not sending regular bank statements, it seems the lady in my flat hasn't paid the rent for some months whilst I've had my head down working and seeing friends and family, further investigation shows she's an asylum seeker of 5 years and has no friends or family in the UK (Lies) so she's going to court and will be evicted and have to pay back rent - thieving leech.

Also, my last post I went on about my boss, it seems that two of my "workmates" are far worse

they have huge chips on their shoulders, have tried to get the rest of us fired, said they wont work with us, that they are somehow better than everyone else; what's more they have continued meetings with BT behind everyone's back; for why I don't know.
This along with everything continually changing (usually for the worst) means I'm looking for work.

anyway, it seems that a proper British summer is upon us and it is hot! which means I've dug out the rust pile that is the mountain bike my folks got me as a present and attacked it with WD40, a air pump, a new inner-tube and a set of pliers impressively turning the rusted solid chan into something that looks brand new and have been up and down the Grand Union Canal

and today all the way to Putney Bridge and back.(shattered now).

My mate French John's just gone back home and it was good to see him, and another good thing is that I've registered www.lazer-it.co.uk and found some great free hosting in the shape of www.000webhost.com in the attempt to get a recruitment website together for my next project which means getting interested in nerdy stuff again, content management systems such as www.joomla.com, what is needed to pull it all together, mail forwarding, DNSey stuff, PHP and mysql etc and 'm looking forward to kicking this off, getting stuck in and seeing what I can do.

by my next post, I may have a new job, the R1 will have new suspension as it's like a see-saw and one of the front forks has sprung a leak ->

www.lazer-it.co.uk will be being developed and I'll be nearer to getting these leeching scum bags out of my flat!

London update

2008-06-20T15:33:00.000+01:00

Well, 3 months into the contract and things are still changing, Tim our team leader is as useful as a chocolate kettle and not particularly doing anything that benefits the team, but I have been "working from home" which on the most part has been a complete doss, well to summerise todays work, I watched "The Mist", kept an eye on some surpluss bike crap on ebay and sent my timesheet off :)

slowly and surely I'm getting paid regularly, am now normal again - I even have a phone
with tomtom, music! (nice since the insurance company still havn't paid out) and even a cool little 3m pixel camera.

Since the last post, I've been down to Devon for Katies birthday, up to North Wales to see skinny Tim and his brother Andy and caught up with lots of friends and family.

Yesterday was Juliet and I's 9 year anniversary and she took me for a fantastic French meal, im heading down to Sussex on the bike to see big Al then off to the Albion for a Sunday roast on Sunday

"working from home" Monday too.

so far the R1 has been faultless (well apart from a snapped clutch cable) despite being caned 111miles /day, wheelied lots and weekend blasts.

It's been through a set of Bridgestone 014's which were grippy but lasted 5 mins and now has Avon Storms! for £200 from fwr which turn slower but have about a mile of tread!

Pic Of Shame

2008-04-21T21:02:00.000+01:00

Just a post to save this moment in time and evidence of my brilliant wavey do :)

3 weeks in

2008-04-09T21:28:00.000+01:00

Well, I picked up the bike from Tim after getting the RAC out to jump start the fecker.
I managed to tax the bike on-line here , get a MOT and Gareth extremely kindly serviced it showing the oil was looking like mud.
And Lou made my first curry!

It's brilliant being back on the bike, in my first 300 miles to / from work, it's been faultless and I've just finished my 3rd day back in the Rat race.
But the brain is slowly waking up and unusually, we also have the first two weeks as training which helps ease me back into things.

I've enlisted the people at www.nixonwilliams.com as my accountants and already have my company up and running so just looking forward to getting paid now!

With paying for the bike bits, going out to meet friends and family etc, my credit card has been beaten to within an inch of its life.

Abbey have still to reply to the complaint I sent them from the account freezing episode and I'm enjoying a rare night in relaxing at the folks place.

...and I've just had the service charge increased on the flat which is nice!

Back home in Blighty

2008-03-25T12:37:00.000Z

Well we flew home taking 25hrs, arrived at the airport where Dad came up by train and all the Caspis were waiting.
Me and dad got the train home after a brief meeting of the parents then we went for a pint which was brilliant, I was so excited to get through customs and see my folks and had a massive smile.

Juliet wasn't so Happy and I expected tears but then home in the car and to see Mum and Mark.
Michelle's lives with Ian now in Bishops Stortford (ofcourse I knew this but it seems like shes gone out for the day and not living out).

The next day I was off down to Basingstoke for a job interview as a Project Manager which I got :)

Then there was the hassle of moving crap around at Juliets folks place, getting covered in crap trying to sort her Golf out and then seeing friends and family which is good.

Ive also been shopping for bikes and bike stuff to get to this job which involves 100 miles/day

Im buying Tims old R1 (looks like this) and have a lot to do to it.

I know the bike and have had a slightly older one so know it will be fun ;)

The suspension needs a overhaul, maybe a new battery and tax/insurance/MOT etc.

Ive just received a new lid (Shoei XR1000) which I again have had before, is light, doesn't mist up and crashes well (well I still have a face and a skull).

Also, my head seems only to fit in Shoeis, first it was the RX7 which weighed a ton and now thankfully this.

Boots Ive sorted and had Sidi Vertebrae II's which lasted years then went to Alan when I left Holland and he got his first bike.
So now I picked up a pair of Sidi Vertigo's which are pretty similar from Rex Judd in West Hampstead.

I was pointed to them from people at www.therevcounter.com which seems to be where all the people from www.visordown.com have been hiding now they have sold out to TWO Magazine.
Anyway, I got £30 knocked off, I have gloves and a back protector that's saved me and just need to replace my all weather trousers and jacket then Im done.

It is great being back but strange and Juliet likened it to watching a film of someone else, it also probably isn't helped that we both have lovely flemmy colds!

Anyhoo onwards and upwards and I'm looking forward to it getting out of the 0oC temperature range!

2 nights left

2008-03-14T13:57:00.001Z

Mama I'm Coming Home Video

Mama I'm Coming Home lyrics - Ozzy Osbourne lyrics

Ozzy Osbourne Music Videos

stop press: Ive found all the lost gingers

2008-03-13T13:28:00.000Z

They are all in South America.

Persecuted by people in their own towns and countries, these people both male and female have escaped to the continent of south america where at least here they cant understand the taunts and jokes at their expense.

And here they can amongst their own crowd.
And here they can travel in packs, leaving only red piles in showers and a red haze in their wakes.

Talks are afoot with leaders of countries here about giving them land, possibly reclaimed where they can live in peace away from normal society.