bärn~nĕt~lănd

Nikki (1994-2010)

2010-02-01T17:34:00.000+01:00

Dear Nikki
You were everything a dog owner could ever want - and much much more. Forever smart, determined, funny, loving, you spent your younger years bossing Sam around in the US before being shipped over in a crate to sunny Switzerland.

A year in Lugano was what you would have ordered had you been able to order things...!

After that, you were moved up to Zurich and this is where you found your enlarged family.

Add on a few years and Artù was added to your pack.

As you aged, you became more single-minded (some would say hard-headed) and tried to boss the show.

Your attention, usually short and demanding something of us, was always appreciated.

Your heart, your amazing heart kept you going well into your 16th year - more proof that you were not just another Amstaff (and yes, the runt of the litter). It was 2006 where we started adding glucosamine to your diet as your hips were stiff and, more recently, we've added anti-inflamatory drugs to the peanut butter and Nutella we were giving you. Most recently, we added heart medication, anti-biotics and some drugs for your brain to the cocktail.

But the time came that we had to make the hardest decision every; the one every dog owner must make - to let you go. Remember the times you've been uncomfortable, unable to settle and generally not happy? The reason is that you're old.

We'll never forget you, baby. There will never be another Nikki, Stinky, Big Girl, Nikki-Wikki or any of the other names you've been called.

We love you, Nikki
Love
Mommy, Daddy and Artù

Mobile Options....

2010-01-22T19:13:00.000+01:00

Hmm, there are many questions I have and one is how I can be online all the time. So I ordered an EU870D on eBay for my PC....well, guess what - it does not hold a decent connection. Damn!! And, in the meantime, they boosted my online costs by 30% - so I cancelled the contract....I'm like that.... :)

Sooooooo what next? I just got a BlackBerry Bold 9700 (lovely, thanks) and I've used that as a 3G Bluetooth modem. Guess what....? Yes, drop-outs....I think they're related....it's the inbuilt Windows 7 connectivity I am using (although the WWAN card dropped out on the sofa and the BB on the train).

So what next...? Back to basics - Expresscard/34 and Cardbus 4-in-1 3G adaptors.

I feel such a failure...can anyone help?

You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight....

2009-12-22T20:31:00.000+01:00

I love how everyone's told to get off the street - which is blocked by the Hummer and other cars. Lots of cops. It's just snow.

And check out his right ear. He seems to get one in the kisser during the early stages....thrown from just left of camera. Check it out at 44 seconds or so.

Wardriving.....what a change!

2009-12-16T22:43:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely session (if you can call it that) Wardriving around Zurich today. Well, when I say Wardriving, I really mean Wartraining, Warwalking and Wartramming....public transport is marvellous.

Using my trustly Dell Mini9 running Windows 7 (Ultimate...hey, I am a MS Technet Plus subscriber!) and, most importantly, inSSIDer, I managed to scan nearly 4500 unique networks. Only 15% of them were insecure (plus the 19% running WEP, of course!!).

inSSIDer, though, is an interesting tool which can get bogged down. I managed to practically freeze it up as I set APs to never expire and that makes it run like a dog. A tip for geeks like me: inSSIDer has settings to "Delete Inactive Networks After a given time....don't set it to "Never Delete". Anther tip is to "Enable Logging"....do this and save more often than you purge old APs....you can open the GPX file into Excel as a read-only Worksheet and then chop out the details you want.....you will thank me later!!!

Aha! Google via the UK rather than being localised...finally!

2009-12-14T19:13:00.002+01:00

Great find! Simple and effective.....no more blinking .ch search results when I use the search bar in Firefox.

You're welcome, Greg ;-)

Tiger Woods, LOL?

2009-12-13T16:15:00.000+01:00

Seriously, Tiger - what are you doing? You must have seen how it went with Bill and Monika - you try to sweep it under the carpet and more people look right there....under the carpet.

The injunction against the UK press is just a laugh. We're not supposed to know that you don't want pictures of you, naked, all over the world's press. We actually did not really care that you have been playing away from home (I assume to aid the recovery after your hip problems!!).

Now you have to understand that the whole world is looking for the reason that you're taking this action.

Congratulations.

I'm not going to go into how I think some of the 26-year-old models are not really models - you just are like most men and love bit t*ts, right? If you only came out and said this, nobody would care. FAIL?

Windows 7 Ultimate N - where's my Media Center?!

2009-12-02T21:54:00.000+01:00

Having a Technet Plus subscription, I wanted to test Windows 7 Ultimate on my Dell Mini9. It works really quite well - but when I looked for Windows Media Center, it wasn't there (hence the "N").

Eh? Silly EU-based somethingorother, I think....

Anyway, I found I needed the Media Feature Pack for Windows 7 N and Windows 7 KN (KB968211). Download, validate, reboot, enjoy....!!

Sky Italia?

2009-11-29T09:32:00.001+01:00

I think I might have Sky Italia HD before the World Cup. Now there's something nice to read on a Sunday morning, huh?! As long as the missus allows me to have a satellite dish, that should be ok...!

Everyone should have one of these PCs!

2009-11-25T19:18:00.000+01:00

This is just too cool:

Dell XPS M1330 with Windows 7

2009-11-10T19:26:00.000+01:00

Alright, step back and relax. Stop installing the Upek software.

Why?

The included MS-certified driver is great and Windows 7 can manage the device. If you, like I, installed the Dell-supplied driver then UNINSTALL it. I think I uninstalled (and deleted the driver), rebooted and then repeated the process (which did not require a reboot).

Then you simply need to scan for new hardware in Computer Manager and let Windows download it from Windows Update.

Once installed, click on the Start Menu and type "fingerprint" and wait a second; "Use your fingerprint with Windows" will appear and that's what you're after. Enrole your fingerprints and get ready to log in with the your finger!!

No need to thank me ;-)

Windows 7

2009-10-22T23:17:00.000+02:00

Well it's here and I've installed it - gone is Vista (though it was not so bad) and Windows 7 64-bit has replaced it.

I've used the chance to drop lots of software as I really did not use certain things.

How hard was it? Well, truthfully, not very. If you know how to create a USB key for installation, it saves time (my 7 Pro is a downloaded version).

If you don't get good drivers installed on your rig, look for the Vista ones; I have fingerprint reader running nicely on my XPS thanks to that.

The BIGGEST problem was to get my Swisscom Mobile Unlimited card working. I've dropped the POS UDM software (did I mention POS!??) and am running with the Option Globetrotter Connect software. It works and I only have to manage the connection (much better, they say!!).

Marvellous. It even claims I have 40 minutes extra battery right now (15% improvement)...!

Whitby in September

2009-10-21T09:46:00.002+02:00

Chuffin' cold:

But it's a lovely town and always worth a visit....

Little Boy Blue update

2009-09-30T08:20:00.002+02:00

Favourite Son is now at 21 weeks and growing. Kicking seems to be an integral part of this!!

Still, we seem more and more prepared; pram, pushchair, babyseat, one of those bouncy-chair-things, bottles and accessories, an England kit for next summer, electrically-powered milk-remover-thingies.... the list is endless!!

I think Christmas is just around the corner and then we're nearly there. When should we start worrying?!

Call me Maxi Cosi

2009-08-13T12:46:00.004+02:00

Just call us Maxi Cosi. We've ordered a Mura stroller, soft pram attachment, a Cabriofix car seat and the pogostick thing to fit it onto.

And, with the £ exchange rate, it's rather well-priced.

Watch out for us racing down a path near you!!

Sold!!

2009-07-30T10:00:00.003+02:00

The house is sold! We now are no longer homeowners :-(

It's a bit sad but happy at the same time. Who would've thought that we would be here today, now if we look back 4 months or so?

Anyway - if you're planning to visit, don't! We don't have much room anymore.... :-o

This Ol' House.......

2009-07-26T09:20:00.001+02:00

Sob :-(

Happy New Home

2009-07-15T22:01:00.003+02:00

Before the addition of most of the furniture, here's our new, little place...

United Airlines broke a guitar.....

2009-07-10T08:42:00.004+02:00

quite publicly:

TV Stations fall for Air France hoax shots

2009-06-22T12:34:00.013+02:00

Anyone recognise this from Lost?

TVersity, Xbox360 and .mkv.....

2009-06-17T06:33:00.002+02:00

Indeed I've had mixed results with .mkv files and therefore had only sparodic results in playing HD via the Xbox360 thusfar.

So.............research.......!

I found Xmedia Recode, a lovely bit of freeware, which seems to do the job. It even has a profile ready for the 360 - and the results seem good. It does seem to recode down to 480 lines from 720 but then the resulting files plays without a problem.....and still looks good on 32". It does claim to be using a h.264 codec but playback reports an "avc1" codec being used. Still...... at least I can play it now!!

Investigation? To continue! And to test if the DM can play back these alleged h.264 files ;-)

DM7020Si, DM500s - RIP

2009-06-16T14:35:00.001+02:00

The 7020 is staying with the house so I know it will have a good home. I'm sad about leaving it but, after 18 months and many motor movements, it's nearly time to say goodbye :-)

The 500 is very interesting; fried tuner (I believe - it spent two weeks trying to move the dish whilst we were on holiday and the LNB melted a little!) means it does not really work but it is out there on Ricardo and people want it. This amazes me a little - but they might want the remote, the power supply or even think they can fix the box. This makes me very happy - better to do this than take it to recycling!!

Maybe I need to get the Proliant on Ricardo too!!!!

Garden redevelopment

2009-06-15T20:14:00.001+02:00

We've now modified the garden to be all grass. Lovely :-)

Out with the old, in with the new.....

2009-06-10T12:47:00.003+02:00

....and streamlined...! My Yamaha DSP-A5 is no more and my Sony speaker set will soon be no more....

Also leaving home is my old CD/MD deck, the two DVD recorders we now never use, a broken DM500s, two 15-year-old hifis and some ethernet-over-power adaptors. Even the PS/2 is leaving us.

Ricardo - I love you!!

What I am looking forwards to is a simplified home cinema setup. Sadly with no projector - but with HD. Next challenge is to get >32" HD...!! SWMBO - are you listening?!

Boo-Hoo - no more motorised dish!

2009-06-04T20:00:00.003+02:00

It is today, with great sadness, that I've taken down my motorised dish. The Dreambox is no longer touring the skies for my enjoyment.

Well, it's not the end of the world - the Dreambox is now running Gemini 4.6 and receiving signal from 28, 19 and 13 east.

And, of course, I won't mention the other Dreambox..... ;-)

I feel sure that my liaison with Dreambox S-models is not over ..... just taking a holiday :-)

Claiming Expenses? Learn a lesson here.....

2009-05-31T13:01:00.001+02:00

This made me laugh. Let's make an old chum a YouTube sensation!!