On a roll

So, fixing the tv meant I could take an old crt tv to the recycling plant, along with two old BT Homehubs - that BT claim they can't recycle - so that's cleared a bit of space, especially in the spare room when the tv I fixed had been taking up floor space.

Next to get a going over was my books.  I basically had a quick look and on first glance, books I knew I wouldn't read again went in a bag.  This included a wee pile of Ken MacLeod and Iain M Banks.  I have kept a couple of books by both, as they're signed.  The rest now have a new home with a friend, who also got some Alistair Reynolds.

I've since decided that the China Mieville books can go as well, except for the one he signed and dedicated for me when I met him at a convention in London.  The rest WILL be replaced, but on the Kindle.

Clive Barker took a pounding as well.  All my Barker books (again apart from one signed one) are now in a bag and waiting to go to the charity shop.  Again, these may be replaced at some point by Kindle versions.

Initially, getting rid of books was hard.  I'm a hoarder, and I love the look of a shelf full of books, but seriously, keeping them for the sake of having them, when I know I probably will never read them again, is just plain daft.  The best thing to do is pass them on and let others get the pleasure from them that I got.

Broken broadband and knackered tv's

A while back our Samsung tv started switching itself off and on when you initially switched it on.  Gradually the problem got worse.  From a few seconds of on/off/on/off to minutes, before finally staying off.  So, my wife went out and got us a new (non-Samsung) tv.

We hadn't got rid of the old one yet, as we weren't going near the recycling plant, which was fortunate, as a friend told us they had had the same problem, as had a lot of people, and help was online.
One Google search later, and it appeared that this was a worldwide issue.  In the States, it appears that the company were offering repairs, but no so in Europe.  Help though was at hand.  On youTube there are literally hundreds of people posting videos of what components need replace (only four capacitors).  Having worked in electronics when I first left school, I'm a dab hand with a soldering iron, so problem components identified, and out they came.  Replacements were ordered, and last night I popped them back in, and RESULT.  The tv is once again working.

Then there's broadband.  Last week I got a new phone.   At home I tried to connect it to the wifi network with no joy, so took it back to the shop, where it connected to their wifi no problem.  I tried the guest network in work, and you guessed it, it connected to that too.
Back home and the laptop seemed to be not connecting either.  So I tried the netbook with the same predictable result. So, I called BT.  Over an hour on the phone, and they told me the hub wasn't faulty, but my laptop.  I asked how they explained  the fact that my phone and netbook weren't connecting either, and apparently they were obviously faulty as well.
This wasn't explaining the fact that the network map showed that my laptop WAS connecting to the hub, but the hun was not connecting to the internet.
I demanded a replacement hub, and they proceeded to tell me how much it would cost.  I pointed out that it was going to be a free replacement, as I was out of contract, and wasn't going to pay for something that I could get free just by simply switching provider.  Suddenly my free replacement was going to be in the post next working day.

I set it up this morning, and surprise surprise, it works.  And yet according to BT it was laptop that was at fault....

The lesson for today is, if you KNOW what the fault is don't be fooled by a someone from a call centre who is reading from a script.

(Not) the new bike

A combination of factors mean there's no new bike for the moment.  The main factors were, (a) there were two bikes I fancied.  Both had exclusive distribution deals with a major chain.  So in I popped.  There were none in stock, the advice was "Decide what one you want.  Order the biggest frame size, and we'll get it in."

Erm.....no.  Would you buy a car without a test drive?

So I went looking again, and found another that I liked, although it wasn't a cyclocross, but a road bike.....decisions......

Back in the major chain for something unrelated, and I got talking to one of the guys, who explained that there was a stock issue with one of the bikes, and the other was so new he hadn't seen it yet, but he could get both bikes in, in my size, so I could compare them and decide if either was for me. (see the difference a decent sales person can make?) So now I have a real dilemma.  Do I still want a cyclocross - and if so, which one - or do I go for the road bike?

If there's one thing worse than no choice, it's too much choice, so I've put the decision on hold until I'm 100% sure what I want.

To put it in perspective, I was initially intending to get a mtb for off-road fun and games, so you'll see why I'm not prepared to rush into things.

As for my current bike?  It just got a free service courtesy of Dr Bike, and is running like a dream.