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This is where you find out what is ringing my chimes. This is also where you get insights into my life. I rant. I rave. I basically let off as much steam as I want here.
You will probably find references to CentreLink, Australian ISP, Ombudsman, Religion, Australian Politics, and Globalisation.
This Wiki is currently served from a 31.2kbps dialup connection. Don't blame me.
Blame the Australian Government and the monopoly called Telstra for it being so slow.
I have had the Customline advertised on [[eBay?]]. I wanted what I paid for her. But looks like as usual I probably paid double what I should have.
Look at this...
Not looking good is it?
I dunno what come over me. But in a moment of madness I decided to put the Customline up for sale on ebay.
Sigh.. I really am a poor car salesman. Looks like I have overflowed the info on the car. My guess is that too much bad info upfront will have potentially driven off many prospective, but skittish, customers.
I should have been more like a profesional ebay seller.
Supplied only Name, Rank, and Serial Number.. Make everyone ask everything..
Ohh well... My first ebay sale... (If it sells.. and I think it might..)
If not.. *Shrug* Next time I advertise it on ebay.. I will design my sales page offline.. Rather than edit the stupid thing over and over...
I wont devulge my Reserve price in the listing.. I think now that was a bad idea.
But maybe not if it becomes a true auction, with a few bidders becoming involved. It could be fun to watch the listing in the last few mins.
It might not be fun at all if the Customline doesnt reach my reserve. But I had 2 buyers call me on the mobile today. They had seen my mobile number in the ebay ad. Both were from Victoria.
One fellow is from Ballarat and the other from Cranbourne.
The guy from Ballarat drove across and viewed the Customline today!. We started her and took her for a quick spin down the road and back.
Started pretty well first click with the jumper battery. Unfortunately the Customline battery still didnt hold any charge after the quick spin.
So the Auction could get interesting. Depending on the buyers real interest and finances. Some people are dreamers. But the guys who go to the trouble of viewing a car thats interstate, arent.
The guy from Cranbourne should be turning up around 2pm Thursday. (If he turns up - I've heard this before from Car buyers)
My system is virused.. I just know it..
Avast hasnt found anything..
A squared hasnt found anything..
But the system is s.. l.. o.. w.. opening a new document.
Or even right clicking a file. The system takes FOREVER to do it..
Earlier tonight I couldnt browse. I did 2 reboots and eventually a system restore that failed!!
But the system started browsing again..
Sad. I will have to restore the backup.
Another INFP day. Another Telstra cue. Another bloody Telstra session!
This time I'm trying to get someone to take notice that Telstra are doing some false advertising.
Mainly their hours of operation for Home and Business customers. Telstra claim to have services available for Home and Business customers on the Weekend.
What they should claim is that they only provide automated service. They should inform their customers that the Home and Business areas of Telstra are unmanned on weekends.
Instead they make no mention of this and in fact mislead everyone by claiming to be open for business till 7pm on weekends, (8pm for businesses) on their recorded messages.
If you ring 132200 on the weekend. And wade through the endless automated options. Eventually you will find an option to speak to a consultant/operator.
The automated system will then get you to enter your Telephone number. Verify the number to you. If your lucky (like me) you may get an extra message telling you how you have been upgraded to a new system and that your record cannot be accessed. Then you will be passed to the next automated system.
A few cues, recorded musaks, and rings later. You will eventually end up at a system that informs you that you have called outside of the hours of operation. Suggests that you call back when Telstra are open for business.
Instructs you of what the office hours are. But surprise surprise. Your actually within the hours that they are specifying.
This is false advertising. In my opinion this is normal operation for Telstra. To mislead the public and their stockholders.
Trying to get common sense from Telstra is like trying to extract a tooth from a deaf and blind elephant that has lost it's grip on social interaction.
So here I am. In a cue on Tuesday trying to tell Telstra that is is wrong for them to operate this way.
After informing the initial contact about exactly what was wrong. I was put in another cue. Ive already told a Telstra employee what is wrong. Why arent they just handling it?
Why do I have to be transfered to the department that I am complaining about?
To bring to that departments attention that something is wrong? so they rectify it? On past performance I really doubt it.
It's just corporate butt covering because no-one higher up the ladder wants to know or is ever briefed about the complaints.
Aparently it is your job, as their customers, to wait in endless cues. All this? Just to inform this dracconian company that their services are broken?
I guess so.. (We humans are such sheep)
So eventually I speak to someone in the correct department. I am told that they do offer specific services to the public within the timeframe specified.
So what am I complaining about? Not being able to speak to someone on the weekend? "Well Sir, Not all services are operational on the weekends. Is that all I can help you with today Sir?"
I really hate the way Telstra is run.
Dont ever let Telstra direct debit you 1800686662
Fax # for Telstra direct debit 02 8211 7922 attn kay.
1am and I'm out in the kitchen cleaning up. Next thing I hear the Windows Startup Music.
What the...???
So I put the cleaning aside and go to the computer room.
There sits the pc.. As I left it.. Minutes before.. Except its done a reboot all by itself.
The bios isnt setup to allow a restart after a crash..
hmmm.. thats weird.. Why did it wait till it wasn't busy to crash??
I dont understand how it even restarted itself after a crash..
(I must remember to check the bios settings next time I restart it..)
Most unusual..
Now its telling me PERL has an error and must be shutdown?
Geee.. Whats happened to PERL?.. Is my webserver gonna work?
have I been "got at"? Hmmmmmmm...
So I reboot it again.. Because it's really not playing the game...
SIGH*
Same error with PERL when I reboot it. The OS is still telling me a serious problem occured. it's still trying to report the error to MicroSoft?.
So is System Safety Monitor...
Hmmm Hmmmm.. Most unusual...
The Internet isn't the sum total of human knowledge. Not by a long shot. Yesterday I purchased a Rover Colt 5 Lawn Mower.
I been searching for information on it. A service manual would be nice. :)
But. I have been rather dissapointed at what I have found. Basically nothing. I found a reference to Rover Colt on ebay. But it wasn't the right model.
From there I went to the Rovermower.com.au website. Thinking they would be sure to have it. Although they seem to have comprehensive support for their current models. The Colt model isn't mentioned at all.
I noted that they are an Australian company that have been manufacturing lawn mowers for 50 years. I was dissapointed that there was no 'history' published at their website. I was hoping to find a mention of the model and therefore work out the age of the unit.
I tried a few different search engines. Coppernic, Iboogie, google.
I eventually dug some of the information I required from PDF files. Ended up having to keyed it in myself. See : Rover Colt 5
It just goes to show. The Companies dont wish to provide information about old models any longer than they have too. This is especially true for computer equipment too. (And probably nearly everything when you think about it)
How are they going to sell their latest models if customers just keep repairing the old models? (sigh.. if it is broke.. do fix it.. I thought..) Rather than waste more of the earths resources by trashing units that just need some TLC.
This is where people like me come in. I will crate a webpage on the Rover Colt 5. I will take some pics and publish them on the Internet. Down the track one day. Someone will appreciate it.
The lawn at Clovelly has become a problem again. I hadn't been maintaining it due to the Victa 160cc Sportsmans Deluxe 2 Stroke loosing a blade and the circlip that holds the front wheels up. Damage to the plate under the Mower has prevented me from replacing the blades easily.
So I have been looking for a solution for some time. (Meaning a RIDE ON LAWN MOWER - Cos the Victa is getting too hard to push around Clovelly)
Unfortunately up until now all the Lawn Mowers Ive seen on ebay and the trading post. Are either too far away or too expensive. (Mostly both)
So I have been watching the grass grow and getting worried about it.
Two weeks ago the owner mentioned to me that the grass was getting too high. I told him then that I would take care of it. (But its a bit difficult..)
Anyway.. A couple of days ago. I met a man who lived in Robe. (34 Klms away) During the course of our conversation, I mentioned that I needed a Ride on Lawn Mower. This fine gent then offered me a Rover Colt 5 for $150.
So this afternoon, I emptied the garbage we had been collecting in the car trailer at Furner. Then headed to Millicent and Fueled up (I was real real low on gas). While at the Service Station, I went to the carwash and High preasure cleaned out the trailer. (Ewww.. Im not gonna elaborate) Headed Home and then to Robe and picked up the Rover Colt 5.
After an uneventful drive home. Dan and I Got the Rover Colt 5 unloaded. Of course it wouldnt start.
So out with the tools. (In the dark and the cold.. DUH!!)
Took out the spark plug. Cleaned it. Good spark now. But still not going. Took off the airfilter. This allowed me to see the operation of the choke. (Or lack of operation)
Hmmm...
So I manually operate the throttle at the carby end to activate the choke.
Grab that (*@#$%) pullstart again... (Puff Puff..)
and
Putt Putt Putt Putt..
No worries.. Looks like I worked out how to start it..
So I check out the trottle cable. While looking at it. It somehow breaks. Dunno how. It wasn't me. Ok.. It was me.. But it must have been ready to go at any second. So I take the unit off. Bring it inside and repair it. (Using swearwords, screwdriver, sidecutters, electric drill and grinding stone.)
Reinstall it.. (With many misgivings about its remaining life)
Test it.. Hmm well it actually works.. Still gonna be manual starts with a hand override on the throttle at the carby though. I will need a new cable. Maybe then I will be able to get the choke to operate as designed.
It goes forward. It goes backward. It actually cuts. (I tried it on a weed on the verandah) I'm in Lawn Mower Heaven. The owner of Clovelly is gonna forgive me when I get them lawns down (Sigh).
Last year my Mercury 32 email server crashed after some nasty exploit had been rendered against it. Shame.. I'd just worked out some configuration issues with it too.
Since then I've basically ignored email. Only rarely even checking my top 3 providers. (my isp, hotmail, and yahoo)
But readers may be pleased to know that I have installed the latest version of Mercury 32.
http://download-us.pmail.com/m32-462.exe
This version addresses the security flaw that was uncovered last year. (June/July 2007)
Having an email server running here again. Allows me the capability of quickly verifying users.
So I expect I will have to reconfigure the various CMS systems to operate with email again. (Hope I remember the admin passwords.)
This gives me the incentive to start 'playing' with the php and mysql again.
Made the Telstra, Telstra BigPond, [[Australian_ISP's?]], VBMYSQL, and SPAM entries today.
I should blog more.. yer yer.. I know. I get like distracted with life. So I forget. No one basically reads my dribble anyway. lol..
(I know I keep the server offline 90% of the time..)
So what can I tell you dear reader.
You want an insight into the life of lazerzap? You want some truth to take with you from your visit here?
I dont have much for you.
Look out for yourself on the net. Many people may claim to love you. Actions speak louder than words. If they are telling you they love you. But your feeling bad about how they are treating you. Then they dont love you.
But don't give up on finding the right person.
