Thought No.33

Well everyone, it's been a few months but lets get a blog post in.

After months of being pestered by Paul Isaac, I agreed to play tennis with the gang at the pavilion. It was exhausting but jolly good fun. My serves were so good they were literately over the fence!

The iPhone 4 is awesome, however, the jailbreak is taking forever to come out. It seems I've been spending too much money lately. What with the new HD Set top box and then today....

Today the battery in my car died, and wouldn't you know it. My breakdown cover had expired two months ago. So I had to pay nearly 100 bones just for them to come over and give me a jump start. When lunchtime arrived at work, I went to start it again to see if the battery had been revived, but it had not. Bobby drove out in his Honda and hooked up the jumper cables, but no matter how much he revved, the damn thing wouldn't get going. Also tried the Care Van which did the same.

So Bob phoned AA and told them it was his car, unfortunately he didn't know which button on the key remote unlocked the vehicle, so they picked up on the fact it wasn't his. Still the nice AA man gave me a jump start and gave me a discount for breakdown cover. Later on I purchased a new battery which Aftab kindly installed, even though we didn't have a spanner.

So a much poorer Simon drove home, lets hope he stays mobile.

Thought No.32

Well there are so many interesting things going on in my life, it's difficult to choose what to talk about, lol.

Lets just start with the weeks leading up to my Birthday. My parents have spoiled me and have puchased me a server of my choice to replace that stoneage thing that was lying in the corner of my room. I decided to go with the HP Proliant ML150 G6. As you know it has excellent features such as hot swappable hard drives and integrated lights out. One thing they didn't include though were the drive caddies to house the hard drives. Long story short, it's no longer hot swappable for now. I put in an extra 6gig of RAM to make 8gig. The physical server itself is running Server 2008 Standard with Hyper-V and it is virtualizing two other servers, one running Server 2008 Small Business Edition and another Server 2008 standard 32 bit.

I won't bore you with any more detail on that, because you need an unheathly interest like mine to find it interesting.

Now for my actual birthday, or the day before rather. I wanted to go to the Hungry Horse, not just because of their large portions but because of their Candymainia Ice Cream Sundea. I wanted to finish it. But alas, as usual people are too busy at university and what not during March so this was not possible. I did however, get a couple of the guys together for bowling. Which was good fun, although the cheeky waitress tried to overcharge me for my food and drink. We retired to my house to watch Harry Brown, an excellent dramatic film which accurately reflects todays society.

I took a week off work, just to get away from all the stress there. I really like my job but sometimes I just get too involved and try to do too much etc. Just lying around for a week can do a world of good. Then I got a nasty letter from the Thames Valley Police, accusing me of speeding. I am not amused, I slammed on my breaks when I saw that mobile speed camera van. Typical that they go after a respected tax payer like myself instead of those kids having death races on the motorway. I ask where was the old bill when Paul Isaac's father was mugged. Although I don't blame the constables themselves for the most part, it's a broken system.

Thought No.31

Snow! There has been too much snow today and last month. This wouldn't be so bad if people didn't drive poorly, I drive at the same speed and slow down for the corners, only lost control for a few seconds a couple of times. I recall that evening last month where the traffic going from Windsor to Bracknell via the B3022 was not moving. The only reason the traffic appeared to be moving forward gradually was due to people turning round and giving up.

After a few hours stuck there and relieving myself behind a tree, I eventually turned round and in the end found another way out and got home after 5 hours of being on the road. People, it's time to learn how to drive a car properly!

Christmas was boring. New Years Eve, even worse. It's odd, everyones phone appeared to go to voicemail despite apparently there being no parties. Well, when move out things are gonna change in this town. Once the final burst of extra income comes through, I can at least start thinking about it.

I have managed to keep myself busy playing a classic game called Dungeon Keeper (Gold Edition with 3D patch of course and the expansion pack). It's actually quite easy to run on Windows 7 x64 when you know how. Here is the secret:

1. Install VMWare Workstation
2. Setup a virtual machine with 3D acceleration enable and Install Windows XP (What ever edition)
3. Rip the Dungeon Keeper Gold disc into a bin/cue file, install daemon tools on the virtual machine and mount.
4. Install Dungeon Keeper and 3D patch, copy the contents of the D3D folder into the dungeon keeper install folder (otherwise it doesn't open).
5. Set compatability mode in keep3d.exe to Windows 95, also in the Vmware options set the display to stretch the guest operation system in full screen mode.
6. Finally, start dungeon keeper. If you get just a black screen, minimize the game and force the program to close then run it again. Do NOT go fullscreen until you have started a game, it takes ages to go from the main menu into levels when you stay in fullscreen mode in wmware.

Yes, I think everyone will go for that, probably do wonders for other classic games as well. Also reinstalled my iPhone today as I was snowed in which is now running nicely.

HAPPY 2010 EVERYONE!

Thought No.30

Well, I'll admit the iPhone is very good in some aspects. However, I think it's too trendy, and too many people have them now. I can't go anywhere now without someone having an iPhone.

Now look at this photograph on the right. This is the Motorola RAZR2 V9. Now for me this is the best looking phone I have ever encountered. Also the most powerful flip phone I have encountered. This thing does 3G and everything. I've had a couple of Motorola's in the past and I think they suit my personality. Acquired taste, uncommon and possibly even unpopular. I don't know what draws me to Motorola's but I love them. I'll keep the iPhone as I might need it in the future for something.

I got in second hand, on Ebay. Excellent condition, and unlocked. Only one thing, the person that had it before had no concept of how to treat batteries. They obviously think it's fun to partially charge a phone battery like there's no tomorrow, never using all the charge. This thing went from full charge to low within half a day. I let the battery full discharge yesterday (complained of low battery and went another 14 or so hours before it died) and recharged it completely. Battery is still pretty full so it looks like I've sorted it. Also tweaked some of the settings to get more life out of it. Yup, awsome phone.

Thought No.29

I'm sure you have all been wondering where my American Sweets have got to which I ordered at the beginning of last Month. I initially emailed the Candy Company asking if they knew where it was, they told me to get in touch with the local sorting office to see if it was there. After calling the general enquiries number and trying to battle through their amazing switchboard with absolutely no human operators, I sent my dad over to the sorting office instead.

It turns out it has been mysteriously lost. However, I suspect there was someone at the post office with a sweet tooth. I emailed back the Candy Company explaining the local sorting office had no parcel for me. Here is the body of the email they sent back to me:

"We are very sorry that your parcel has been lost in the post.We will ensure that we re-dispatch your goods today via Parcel Force."

I was pleased with this response, this Emma Baker is the same person that sent me the original email. She seems like a nice person. As soon as I get my parcel I will email back with my gratitude.

However, not out of the woods yet. They sent it yesterday via Parcelforce 48 service. Which means they don't have to deliver it until next week. So I probably will have to retrieve it form somewhere anyway. I am tired of all these delivery companies, why must they deliver during working hours, do they not realise that most of us work too?

Also I may have accidently purchased a MacBook pro from Ciaran O' Brien. However, it is necessary for me to have a decent laptop.

My bank account has been drained this month, not just for the laptop but for the outrageous amount of KFC I have purchased. Although on half the occasions, John Maguire consumed half of the bucket meal.

Jonathon Moore proved last week that I have destroyed my body and rendered it nearly useless. So I have decided to stop eating fast food for a while, as it is expensive anyway. After this weekend, I will be complaining that I am hungry constantly, just to give you a warning in advance.

Thought No.28 - Meat Loaf Review

As some of you may have noticed, I have begun listening to Meat Loaf. Who as we know, currently holds the 4th Bestselling Album of all time. So I have decided to get it out of my system and write a few short reviews with what I think. Enjoy below:

Bat Out of Hell - 1977
Well, I'm just gonna start and say my favourite song of all time is currently "Bat out of Hell", this album is 4th Bestselling of all time and for good reason. The other songs I like on this are "You took the words right out of my mouth" and "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". The rest are average. Bat Out of Hell is just under 10 minutes long, the intro is a massive piano solo and lasts around 2 minutes which is awsome in itself.


Dead Ringer - 1981
As we well know, Jim Steinman composed Meat Loaf's best music. This album as the previous, is all Jim. Inarguably the best song on this album is "Dead Ringer for Love" which is a duet between Meat Loaf and Cher. Other songs I like on this album is "Peel Out" and "I'll Kill You If You Don't Come Back"

Midnight At The Lost and Found - 1983
Probably Meat Loaf's worst album, as most of the songs he wrote himself (stick to singing please Meat). Most the these song's sound like a cross between rock and country which does not mix well. The few songs I do like are "Razors Edge" and "Keep Driving".

Bad Attitude - 1984
General all round good album this. Surprisingly not much of it is composed by Jim. My favourites on this one are "Bad Attitude", "Jumpin' the Gun", "Nowhere Fast" and of course "Modern Girl". This album was only a minor success back in the 80's and I think it is still greatly underrated.


Blind Before I Stop - 1986
Another greatly underrated album which I feel represents some of Meat Loaf's best work. My favourites include "Rock n' Roll Mercenaries", "Blind Before I Stop", "Rock N' Roll Hero" and "Masculine".


Bat Out Of Hell II - Back into Hell - 1993
That's right, this is considered one of the greatest musical comebacks of the Century (released after Meat went bankrupt and got all his money back). This album featured the famous "I'd do anything for love" which is my second favourite song of his. It is 12 minutes long and like Bat Out of Hell it features a 2 minute intro. Also on this album is another top favourite of mine "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Throught" and "Objects in the rearview mirror may appear closer than they are" both of which are very moving. Infact there are only about 2 songs on this album which I would rate below fantastic.

Welcome to the Neighbourhood - 1995
This album did go platinum but I'm not a huge fan of it. It has a couple of good songs but nothing too substantial. The ones I like on this include "I'd Lie for You", "Running for the Red Light" and "Original Sin". Not a lot of Jim Steinman on here also to note!



Couldn't Have Said It Better - 2003
I would say this album is similar to "Midnight at the Lost and Found" for me. There are a couple of good songs and at certain points there is some good stuff. However, in general this album goes toward the bottom of the pile for me.



Bat Out of Hell III - The Monster Is Loose - 2006
Now we're getting back to basics, this album is Meat Loaf's latest and of course is primarily written by Jim Steinman. I love this album, just like Bat Out Of Hell II there are only a couple of tracks I don't like. My favourites are "The Monster Is Loose", "What About Love", "If God Could Talk" and "Alive".



Meat Loaf is due for a new album next year. Oh and a quick bit of trivia for you, his real name is Michael Lee Aday.

Thought No.27

A heatwave has struck the county of Berkshire. If we didn't have air conditioning at work then I would have feigned a hernia.

On Tuesday evening I was ambushed by an unexpected visit from Craig Stanley and Nicholas Edward Sheppard. Granted they called beforehand but they failed to mention the whole party of people following. Despite the unexpected circumstances, I was glad for the company.

Next evening, I was the host of a poker game. It has been a while, however, I think the evening went okay. Although James Leather broke the Cuckoo clock, which is still being repaired.

I have missed a few hours of sleep these last few days. I almost fell asleep on the way home from work today, even with the air conditioning running it was still a little warm, and my eyes were getting a bit heavy. Also I think my car was leaking transmission fluid the other day. Now I am paranoid when shifting gears if the gearbox is about to explode. No where in the manual does it show you how to check the transmission fluid. Oh well, maybe it will be alright.