Cricalix.Net

The KM5D has been acting up a bit in the past few months - after idling (sleeping) for more than a day or so, the chances that the shutter won’t fire properly upon waking are quite good.  This means I end up with a totally black photo, or at least a very dark photo (almost as if the shutter is firing at the fastest it can fire).  The UK KM repair centre happens to be just down the road from me, so I just contacted them about it.

Problem number 1: Proof of purchase, such as receipt or credit card statement is required.  I bought this on a credit card line that no longer exists, and thus old statements (it was all online) are unobtainable.

Problem number 2: It takes 4 weeks for service, as the camera goes to Germany!  I’m going to a cricket match and RIAT 2006 in 2 weeks time, so sending the camera off now isn’t an option.

I do have a full warranty on the camera though, with a claims number etc, so I’ll probably ring that instead and quote the policy number at them.  That should solve the issue of needing a proof of purchase, but doesn’t solve the time frame issue.  I guess I’ll send the camera after the cricket.

My main server is weird.

If my DSL router is rebooted, there’s a chance that the server will continue to accept TCP connections, but won’t actually process them fully.  So SSH sessions, for instance, connect all the way to the point of ‘interactive session starting’, and just sit there, twiddling.  It’s very irritating, as the only thing I can do is shut the server off with the power switch, as it won’t even accept a reboot command from the console.

I initially thought it was the network card flaking, because the port it was plugged into had gone away, so I dug out my 10/100 switch and daisy chained it off the back of the router.  No such luck - server still behaves weirdly.

What’s even weirder is that the other server (same OS, but different application stack) doesn’t behave like this.  Nor has any other server I’ve ever run with Linux.

The mind boggles.  I’m suspecting something to do with DNS, as the main server runs my LAN DNS.

It’s truly amazing how much work I can get done when there are no phones ringing with support calls, no salesmen punching speakerphone (for reasons I cannot fathom), no people asking me to look at this or that or the other. Went in to work on Saturday, sat down and in 6 hours, cranked out the foundation of one of the bespoke projects we have on the go right now - server OS, application software, configuration and custom web interface. Had I tried to do the same work during this week coming, it’d have taken all week.

Dad dropped by today on his way up to Leeds - I had repaired part of his lamp with some epoxy during the week. He remarked that I seem happy in the kitchen, and I’m not surprised. I love the new kitchen, and I love cooking. As with most people I dislike the washing up, but there’s got to be some downside to cooking I suppose. Lunch was a nice slab of roast beef, perfectly pink in the center, fresh picked peas from my garden, sliced carrots, yorkshire puddings and gravy - traditional English roast lunch. Next on the list of things to cook will be a stir fry tomorrow night - noodles, bean sprouts, carrot, fresh peas, pork, satay sauce. Then perhaps a treacle tart…

Went to B&Q to find a plate for mounting and sealing the bathroom vent, but had no luck, so Mum will check around for me. Ended up buying a set of 10 solar powered lights though, so they’re now installed in the garden. Should see in about 15 or 20 minutes how well they light up. Also spent yesterday afternoon dozing in my garden - pleasantly warm afternoon, warm breeze, birds and bees bouncing around. Nice and pleasant way to relax. Then shot about 80 photos of birds in the garden that evening - I need to offload that card and see if there are any good ones.

The season finale for Doctor Who is next week, and based on the trailer from this week’s episode, it’s going to be a scorcher.  Robots, Torchwood, space rifts, confisaction of the TARDIS and out and out war.  Should be good!

This week was a definite ‘hide behind the sofa’ episode - I admit to hiding in the kitchen at points!

The first pods of peas showed up on my plants a few days ago.  They were promptly turned into a stir-fry, along with some chicken, broccoli and corn :)  There’s a certain type of satisfaction that comes with knowing that I grew that food in my garden, and that the furthest the food had to travel was 10 feet onto my chopping board.  They’re quite good raw too!  (Hell is scheduled to freeze over soon.)

Talking to someone on an IRC server I frequent, he mentioned that he used to grow all the ingredients for a good salsa in has garden - that’s a tempting idea for next year.

All the onions are looking in good form, there must be about 50 of them!  Enough onions for a year if I’m lucky, and the packet only cost me a quid or so.

Meet Ellen Sherman, Cleveland housewife and mother.

Hi, I’m a nuclear physicist and commissioner of consumer affairs. In my spare time, I do needle point, read, sculpt, take riding lessons and brush up on my knowledge of current events. Thursday’s my day at the day care center, and then there’s my work with the deaf. But I still have time left over to do all my own banking and practice my backhand, even though I’m on call 24-hours a day as a legal agent.

How does Ellen do it all? She’s smart, she takes speed, the tiny blue diet pill you don’t have to be overweight to need.

… and then I collect these paper bags, and I have them right here, all folded and everything in case anyone needs a paper bag I have one.

Yes, speed.

These words, and more, can be heard in the Chillits 2005 set by Mike Bee, around the 22 minute mark.

Cracks me up every time I hear it.

Plumber has been and gone, all of 30 minutes to switch out the old pump (which didn’t want to budge), switch in the new pump and bleed the system.  I used to be able to hear the old pump when it was running - I can’t hear the new one at all.  110 quid in the end for parts and labour, but that’s not bad really, and at least it wasn’t winter!