Adventures in plumbing
I fixed the cistern in our toilet this evening. For the last few months it has been making a noise like a tuba every time it fills up. Turns out the valve just needed dismantling and cleaning. While I was in there I found an alternative valve insert which the manufacturers had provided in case you have low water pressure. Well, our water pressure is really high, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway. I connected of all up and flushed, and it was an amazing spectacle. It filled the cistern with a deluge of water in about 20 seconds. I decided that the valve probably couldn’t cope with that long term, so I put the old one back. At least I silenced the toilet tuba.
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Wireless networks
I can see loads of WiFi routers from my house these days. A couple of years ago, mine was the only one.
Oh yes, this post is also a test of the new Skitch Beta.
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Glasses Direct review
I’ve got some new glasses! I had my eyes tested in August, and the prescription had changed so little I didn’t fancy spending £200 to replace my old glasses (which I’d had for nearly 3 years). Then about 3 weeks ago, I was using my PowerBook in bed (calm down at the back there! I was designing a website…) and I realised I’d misplaced my glasses. I found them under the PowerBook, with the lenses scratching against the underside. The left lens picked up a big circular scratch almost exactly aligned with the centre of my eye.
I procrastinated for 2 weeks, then last Monday (21st November) I ordered a pair from Glasses Direct. I ordered frame S019 in matt black, and on the order options page I selected thin lenses (£ 40), anti reflective (£15), UV400 (£15) and scratch resistant (free).
I got a phone call from one of the technicians at Glasses Direct, querying whether I really wanted to pay extra for thin lenses, when my prescription was so slight it probably wouldn’t make much difference. So I cancelled that option and saved 40 quid!
This morning (Saturday 26th November) my glasses arrived in the post, and the lenses are almost imperceptibly thicker than the lenses in my last pair, so that was a really good call by Glasses Direct. None of the opticians I’ve used in the past have ever thought to point out to me that the “thin lenses†option isn’t much thinner than normal lenses for my prescription.
The glasses were supplied in a proper case, with a cloth and a small sticker on one of the lenses reminding me that it was my own responsibility to ensure that I was wearing the correct prescription. Around the glasses case was the receipt, confirming that I’d paid a total of £87.50 including post and packing. That’s the cheapest pair of glasses I’ve bought since I was about 16, and they only took 5 days to arrive.
The glasses fit perfectly, look great, and the prescription seems to be spot on, so I’m a very happy customer. If you live in the UK and need some new glasses, why not browse the styles available on the Glasses Direct website? All you need to place an order is a recent eye test (they say no older than 2 years, my prescription was only 3 months old).
They have a cool feature on the site where you can upload a picture of your face (without glasses) and overlay images of their glasses over your face so you can see what they look like.
Posted in General | no comments |
Glasses Direct review
I’ve got some new glasses! I had my eyes tested in August, and the prescription had changed so little I didn’t fancy spending £200 to replace my old glasses (which I’d had for nearly 3 years). Then about 3 weeks ago, I was using my PowerBook in bed (calm down at the back there! I was designing a website…) and I realised I’d misplaced my glasses. I found them under the PowerBook, with the lenses scratching against the underside. The left lens picked up a big circular scratch almost exactly aligned with the centre of my eye.
I procrastinated for 2 weeks, then last Monday (21st November) I ordered a pair from Glasses Direct. I ordered frame S019 in matt black, and on the order options page I selected thin lenses (£ 40), anti reflective (£15), UV400 (£15) and scratch resistant (free).
I got a phone call from one of the technicians at Glasses Direct, querying whether I really wanted to pay extra for thin lenses, when my prescription was so slight it probably wouldn’t make much difference. So I cancelled that option and saved 40 quid!
This morning (Saturday 26th November) my glasses arrived in the post, and the lenses are almost imperceptibly thicker than the lenses in my last pair, so that was a really good call by Glasses Direct. None of the opticians I’ve used in the past have ever thought to point out to me that the “thin lenses†option isn’t much thinner than normal lenses for my prescription.
The glasses were supplied in a proper case, with a cloth and a small sticker on one of the lenses reminding me that it was my own responsibility to ensure that I was wearing the correct prescription. Around the glasses case was the receipt, confirming that I’d paid a total of £87.50 including post and packing. That’s the cheapest pair of glasses I’ve bought since I was about 16, and they only took 5 days to arrive.
The glasses fit perfectly, look great, and the prescription seems to be spot on, so I’m a very happy customer. If you live in the UK and need some new glasses, why not browse the styles available on the Glasses Direct website? All you need to place an order is a recent eye test (they say no older than 2 years, my prescription was only 3 months old).
They have a cool feature on the site where you can upload a picture of your face (without glasses) and overlay images of their glasses over your face so you can see what they look like.
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Fertility problems?
This unfortunate yet hilarious typo was received by a colleague. He’d reported a bug to one of the developers of some software that we use. Her emailed reply was simply:
I have testes and I cannot reproduce.
This is now our standard in-house response to any bug reports.
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Site configuration
This evening I went through my log files and identified a load of URLs from my old site which are now invalid, and made them redirect to the new pages.
My 10 most popular articles are:
- Electric rear blind repair
- Rear seat removal
- Door lock barrel replacement
- Ultra-bright glovebox torch LED modification
- Thermostat replacement
- Water pump replacement
- Removing the ignition lock barrel
- Quick fix for M30 engine oil leak
- M30 head gasket replacement, part 1
- Squeaking steering wheel
If you’re reading this on my RSS or atom feed and you haven’t had any updates for a while, it’s because the old RSS and atom URLs were two of the ones that were broken.
I get loads of links from BMW forums such as 7-Forum.com (German) Roadfly and bimmer.info. Hi guys! I might get another BMW one day. Maybe when the second hand price of the E65 comes down a bit.
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Cuddly toy sparks sick dog panic
From the BBC comes a report about various false callouts that the RSPCA have attended over the last year.
My favourite was this one:
A woman rang to say the ‘beast of Bodmin’ had been asleep on her doorstep for 24 hours. It was actually a new telephone directory wrapped in black plastic.
This one was also quite amusing:
A member of the public reported a dead horse in a flooded field, which was actually a large plank of wood.
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Another change of blog software
I’ve switched to Typo, after a frustrating couple of days spent trying (and failing) to configure the Math Comment Moderation Plugin of Blojsom.
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Adulation
For three days in the week, I take my 4-year-old son to nursery in the mornings. Just lately he’s been doing something that gets me very strange looks from the staff.
I say goodbye, and give him a kiss. Then I move away from him, and he throws himself up at me so I have to pick him up. Then I say goodbye again and give him another kiss. When I put him down, he prostrates himself in front of me and kisses my feet.
I have no idea where he got the idea from, but the staff at the nursery must think I rule my house with an iron fist.
“Hi kids, I’m home! Come and worship me, now!”
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Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
Finally I have stopped procrastinating, and repaired my broken mouse. The cable must have had a break in it where it exited the mouse, so I’ve shortened it by about 5cm and resoldered it. I know it’s an ancient mouse but it now works again and it’s saved me the hassle of buying a new one. Also it saves it from adding to some landfill site somewhere.
At work I use a Logitech MX1000 laser cordless mouse, and as soon as they do a bluetooth version I’m getting one. It’ll work great with my PowerBook and I won’t need the USB docking station thingy.
Currently listening to: Speak To Me / Breathe from the album “Dark Side Of The Moon” by Pink Floyd. Wasn’t it great to see them back together at Live8?
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