Joe Bourne's Brain Dump Blog!

Shift+Home, Shift+End not selecting text in UBUNTU

2011-08-16T20:38:00.003+01:00

I Installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu 11.04 on my new SSD, and discovered that pressing Shift+Home or Shift+End didnt do as i was expecting (select text to beginning of line, select text to end of line from cursor position). a quick google search didnt solve my problem so i started digging about...
Eventually i found the solution:

In the Keyboard Layout Options, there is a setting called
"Shift with numeric keypad works as in MS Windows" <- Tick this box and it all works fine :)

New SSD for my old Asus M50 Laptop

2011-08-16T19:33:00.003+01:00

So my old Laptop was starting to get a bit slow, Windows Vista was taking ages to boot, and i've recently tarted using UBUNTU as my OS of choice. I wanted to make Ubutu my main OS, but didnt want to format my HDD and lose my windows installation, so my solution was to buy a new hard disk... So I did, but I took the opportunity to buy a new Solid State Disk (SSD) to see what all the hype was about.

A quick visit to Crucial.com and a few clicks later i'd ordered the "128GB Crucial m4 2.5" SSD with Data Transfer Kit"

Well today it arrived, so out came the screwdrivers and in went the SSD. Took about 5mins, to pull out the old disk and insert the new SSD - My old trusty Asus M50 laptop was reborn!!

Unfortunately i've not yet not had the time to test it out fully, but suffice to say that Ubuntu 11.04 will now shutdown, and restart in under 30seconds and most of that time is the BIOS checks so i'm very pleased so far :)

“Code execution has been interrupted” in Excel vba macros.

2010-11-29T11:35:00.002Z

This morning I started to get this strange error in one of my Excel spreadsheets that was working perfectly well last week! seems Excel has a "bad case of the mondays!"

So i searched google for a fix, and the only solution seemed to be to add the following line of code to the start of the function:

“Application.EnableCancelKey = xlDisabled”

This was a quick and dirty solution, but it didn't explain the root cause of the problem.

After a bit of investigation i found that on another worksheet i had some cells referencing a function that no longer existed, and for some bizarre reason my macro on a totally different worksheet that was getting interrupted was triggering those cells to update - no idea why!

So i deleted the cells that referenced the missing function, and the problem went away.

Not 100% sure if that was the route cause, but it did seem to solve my problem on this occasion :)

happy coding guys and girls :)

Viessmann Boilers - Beware of bad installations!

2010-11-29T02:23:00.005Z

So i had a new Viessmann Vitodens 100 30kW Combi boiler installed in my loft, and tonight i had it removed under Police supervision!

I didnt even get a chance to try the boiler as the Viessmann trained installer (who shall remain nameless for legal reason) made such a mess of the installation that i refused to pay him!

How did i know it was a bad job? well when i emailed the photos of the installation to the local Building control office, thier exact words were:

"As discussed it is essential that you pursue your complaint with GAS SAFE and request that they carry out a site inspection as a matter of priority."

And when the inspector from the Gas Safe Regisiter saw the installation, he deemed it unfit for purpose and disconnected the whole house from the gas supply as it was leaking!!

Even Viessmann themselves apologised for the "inconvenience" but were unwilling to assist as it was an issue between myself and the installer.

It all came to a head last Sunday when the Viessmann trained installer whos details are listed on the Viessmann website as a prefered installer turned up on my door step brandishing a plumbers wrench, assaulted me, and then proceeded to rip out all of my gas pipes!! Naturally I had him arrested for assault, something that Viessmann dont seem to care about as so far they have chosen not to respond to my emails.

So word of warning. If youre buying a Viessmann Combi Boiler, be careful who you have to install it. Not only may you get a bad installation, but you may also get assaulted by a crazed plumber.... and will the manufacturer help you out?? no way - they wont be interested in the slightest...

Want to see what a bad Viessmann installation looks like?? bear in mind that this install was completed by a Viessmann trained installer - see the pics below....

Viessmann Vertical Flue System.. pretty!

Viessmann Vitodens 100 pipework

Viessmann Vertical flue system - not so vertical!

New Viessmann Vitodens 100. Combi Boiler installed..

2010-11-13T20:41:00.000Z

I just had a new Viessmann combi boiler installed in my house this week. I'd not heard of Viessmann boilers before and I was originally going to go for a Worcester Bosch as i've heard very good things about them, but a local plumber explained that Viessmann have the same reputation in Europe as Worcester Bosch have in the UK so i decided to try one out...

So its now all fitted. mounted in the loft to save space in the house, with a vertical flue going up out of the roof and an RF remote control to contol it with to stop me having to climb up into the loft to change the settings!

Today was the first time i'd been able to see the installation in daylight. First impressions are that the boiler its self looks great. The plumbings isnt the neetest job ive ever seen but its functional and its hidden in the loft so not a big deal. However, the roof looks a mess! There are broken tiles, and it looks like one tile has fallen off. The flue look like someone just poked it through the roof from underneath - not finished well at all so i was pretty upset!

Photos to follow tomorrow as i didnt have my zoom lens with me today, but after shouting at the plumber, and shouting at the roofer, I'm pretty certain they now understand that im not happy with the job...

Photo of the plumbing.. not that pretty, but its hidden in the loft!

Viessmann Vitodens 100 Plumbing

My recent experience/review of the AA breakdown service

2010-11-10T23:57:00.001Z

The other day i was driving along and my temperature gauge shot up so i stopped, popped the bonnet (hood) and sure enough clouds of steam were coming out - 'not good' I thought so called the AA.

I was told by the AA operator that all the AA men were busy so they would send a "local approved agent".
40mins later a guy arrived with a tow truck. I explained what had happened, and he started to take a look. This is where the fun started...

Given that it was a dark, moonless night, one of the most vital bits of equipment for a mechanic to carry would surely be a big powerful torch - But not this guy - the torch he had looked like one of those lights the doctor uses to look in your eyes to see if you're dead - not much light, and certainly not much use!

So by the dim light of his pencil torch he proceeded to look to see how much water was I had left... good plan, but he looked in the screen wash bottle and told me i had plenty of water left so there couldnt be a water leak! i didnt even comment....

It was at this point I started to realise what I was dealing with here... this guy obviously was not a mechanic, and had no intention of or ability to repair my car. No, his sole objective was to load my car onto the back of his truck and drop me off at the garage so that he could move onto his next breakdown. Obviosuly the AA's locally approved agents are simply paid by the number of cars they recover and not the number they fix!

So thats what we did. we loaded the car up and began the slow drive home....

Since i was pretty sure the problem was a simple issue with a water hose, i had the car dropped to my house, and when i eventually got rid of the tow truck guy, i called the AA and told them exactly what i thought of their incompetent "approved agent". I also insisted that they send one of their trained AA staff to diagnose the fault the next following morning in the light of day (a sunday) after all, the AA boast on their website that they fix one car every 12 seconds, and i pay my membership feed to have the car looked at by a trained mechanic not some local bloke with a tow truck!

So the following day at 10am i got a call from a lost AA man. He was trying to locate my house...conversation went a bit like this:

AA: "Hello im having problems finding your house"

Me: "ok where are you now?"

AA: "Road xyz... Southampton,"

Me: "ok, we i'm in Kent.... over 100 miles away..."

AA: "Oh...."

So not only do they send untrained incompetent 'local agents', when they actually do send a proper AA man, they send him to an address i've not lived at for over 5 years!! great...

So my review of the AA - not worth the money. i've cancelled my direct debit, and they wont be seeing another penny from me again!!

New Sun Solaris M4000 Server to play with

2009-10-20T23:48:00.007+01:00

I took delivery of a new Sun M4000 server along with a J4200 storage array.

Unfortunately its not mine, its for a client, but its still pretty cool as its going to be my test database server for the next 6 months.

These really are substantial bits of kit. It came on a wooden pallet and weights almost as much as i do!

The finish is really nice, and it looks really well constructed but then it should be for the amount these things cost. This is just a baby with only two of the four processor slots filled up, but still, with the external disk array and even with a substantial discount it still came to over £45k!

However, the cost of the hardware seems cheap when you look at the software we're going to be loading onto this bad boy.. Oracle Database Enterprise edition.. a cool £11.5k per CPU, so thats £23k in Oracle licences and thats before we have to pay the annual support costs!! (which you have to pay)

Once aspect of the server that seemed like a bit of an after thought was the CD/DVD drive. The rest of the server is a nice metallic silver, but the CD drive is black - it really looks like an after thought. Also, just about every other component on these machines is hot swappable. Not so the CD drive. So we have hot swappable PSU's Hot swap internal disks, hot swap fans, but if the CD drive fails we have to shut down the server to cold swap..crazy!

Banned For Life from the WarriorForum

2009-08-26T00:35:00.006+01:00

Banned from the WarriorForum

Well it looks like im another victim of the Warrior Forum's banning of innocent people.

Tonight i posted a thread, it got deleted, and next thing i know i get a message saying:

You have been banned for the following reasons:

Spamming WarriorForum - internet Marketing Forum

Date the ban will be lifted: Never.

So i guess thats it then. Banned for life!

I've send a helpdesk request to ask why i was banned, but i dont really expect an answer.

In the meantime, as a paid up member of the WarRoom ($37 lifetime membership) which i can no longer access, Ive filled a complaint with PayPal to get a refund, afterall what use is a lifetime subscription to a site i cant access!!??

This is the second time ive been banned now. It would seem the the mods over at the WarriorForum really are a little trigger happy with the Ban Button...

But nevermind.. Their loss, not mine. I can still browse the forum, take all the good bits and not feel any obligation whatsoever to contribute anything back.. Next time i see a post from a newbie strugling with something, i'll just have to let them suffer safe in the knowledge that i would have loved to help them out, had it not been for those pesky mods...

Sunday Computer Fair...

2009-07-26T15:09:00.003+01:00

It was a nice day again today, so went for a drive. I headed into London, but on the way i saw signs for a computer fair!

I attempted to follow the signs but to no avail, as they all seemed to be pointing in different directions. Frustrated i pulled over and resorted to googling the name of the computer fair on my phone. I found the address and set the sat-nav, and i was away...

The GPS got me there in just a few mins, I parked up, entered the building, paid my £2.50 and i was ready to buy some serious computer bargains...

How very dissapointed i was. The fair comprised of two seperate rooms setup with about 10 vendors stands in total. All vendors seemed to be selling exactly the same things, cheap laptops, high performance graphics cards, and stupid neon flashy bits to decorate your computer case with.

Where was all the good stuff?? The last time i went to a computer fair must have been a year or so ago, but im sure they were selling much more interesting stuff, i mean where were all the cool gadgets?? and who on earth wants to stick neon flashy lights in their desktop computer anyway??

I think i'll be giving computer fairs a miss for another year....

Domain Flipping - my first attempt

2009-07-26T00:31:00.002+01:00

Tonight i bought my first domain name with the sole intention of "flipping it" for profit.

Ive bought and own many domains, but ive never bought a domain name specifically for flipping.

In case you dont know, "Domain Flipping" is the practice of buying a domain name, with the sole intention of selling it at a profit. Domains are very cheap to buy, only a few pounds each, however the correct domain name can be worth a fortune!

My idea for this domain name came from the front page of a local free news paper. On this weeks edition there is a large advert on the front page (not a cheap advert!) for a company close to me.

In fact there are two very similar companies advertising, both with large expensive adverts, so i know the market is competitive, knows the value of advertising, and also has money to spend on large adverts. One of the companies advertising includes a website, but their email address on the advert is a googlemail address (i hate that!) Their own website doesnt rank in google, even if you type the name into the search box!! (thats bad!)

Based on my target customers and the location, i selected my domain name. I then used Market Samurai to get an idea of the qty of searches performed. I found a few hundred searches for the keywords per day so i know its a popular market. I also found the market value for monetizing the domain before its sold with PPC adverts (will easily cover its costs)

Next stage is to build the landing page. i'm going to fill the page with keyword rich text and PPC adverts. there are enough relevant adverts showing up to show the business owners their competition, and my theory is that the companies i contact will all hopefully click the adverts, thus generating cash to cover the purchase price of the domains. Quick look in the yellow pages and there are loads of companies in the same line of business who would all benefit from my chosen domain name. All of this confirmed, i pulled out the credit card and bought the domains.. My challenge - to see if i can flip them before the credit card statement arrives :)

Affiliate Windows ASP.NET API.

2009-07-17T14:54:00.003+01:00

I've got my AffiliateWindow API working. it took a bit of effort as the guys over at Affiliate Window all seem to be die-hard PHP developers and know nothing about ASP.NET and C#.

One of the problems i had to overcome was that MS-Visual Studio didnt like the SOAP based webservice offered by Affiliate Window. Once i cracked that problem i was able to use a tweaked version of the wsdl file to generate a C# class library.

However, the resulting library isn't very intuitive, so ive wrapped the whole thing up in my own, more object orientated class library.

The result is that i have a nice easy to use Affiliate Window API written in C# and designed for use in ASP.NET websites.

Big question now is what to do with the API?? build some sites? create a review site? who knows... was actually thinking of releasing a version con CodePlex as open source to help other people who are struggling with Affiliate Window and C#... if i get any feedback, then that might be an option, in the mean time, i guess i better start using it myself and build some "money making sites" :)

If you want to find out more about Affiliate Window, take a look at thier site - easy way to make a bit of affiliate cash!

AffiliateWindow">www.affiliatewindow.com

Bored...

2009-07-15T22:55:00.002+01:00

Ok, so i got myself banned from the forum earlier today for starting a poll about GetResponse...

Ive not been on the WarriorForum for long, but its funny how im looking forward to my ban being lifted tomorrow... some really good stuff on that forum, well worth a read..

Anyway, in the meantime, since ive not been able to waste my day on the forum, ive been creating some code. Been meaning to write a C# library for interfacing with AffiliateWindow's webservice for a while. Finally got round to doing it today, and after a couple of hours slaving at a hot keyboard, i finally got something that works pretty well.

Ive built in some nice features like caching to try and reduce the number of calls i make to the webservice, this should reduce the load on their servers as well as speeding up the response time of my site(s).

planning to build a few sites using the same core engine. if it works, then i have some more great ideas that i can use the library for...

Watch this space!!! :)

So much for Freedom of speech!!

2009-07-15T10:42:00.005+01:00

LOL, I just got banned from the Warrior forum for starting a poll about GetResponse Autoresponder.

Following on from their disastrous upgrade which has not only dropped loads of features but also resulted in a price increase, i asked the simple question to the good people of the Warrior Forum:

"will you be staying with GetResponse"

The possible answers where

Yes, i'll be staying with GetResponse,
No, i'll be moving to Aweber
No, i'll be moving to another auto responder company
Not decided yet.

Now considering the amount of pain that the GetResponse 'upgrade' has caused people, i think that's a totally reasonable question to ask dont you?

I mean, come on, banned from the forum for that?? surely a deleted poll and a private message would have been sufficient right? - nope, i get a ban...

Do you get the impression that people moderating the forum are very much "in bed" with the people from GetResponse?? i certainly do.

If that's the case then its simply another reason for me to move away from using GetResponse as my chosen autoresponder.

Any company who deliberately suppress freedom of speach is, in my opinion, not worth getting involved with. Dictatorship, Communism, all words that spring to mind when i see things like this happening in public forums setup specifically for conversation like these...

Whats the matter GetResponse? are you worried that someone like Aweber (who havent just alienated all of their clients with an aborted upgrade) might take some of your market share??

Or maybe, the prospect of another company coming along and knockin you off the top spot worries you so much that you're prepared to take measures like this to defend your market position?

Well let me give you one great bit of advice:

TEST YOUR SOFTWARE BEFORE RELEASING IT TO THE PUBLIC!!!!

I would be ashamed if i'd released a product with as many problems as the latest version of GetRespone - you only need to read the posts from other unhappy members of the forum to realise that im very much not alone with my opinion.

"All's fair in love and war", and any company who expect not to lose customers after delivering such a messed up product upgrade is deluding themselves, no matter how much you try to silence your critics, if you still have a buggy product, how can you expect not to lose customers??

Door handle broke :(

2009-07-13T14:54:00.001+01:00

Went to get out the car, and "Crack"!! a loud noice came from the drivers side interior door handle.

Not really sure what happened, but now the door handle is all floppy and the only way to open the door is from the outside.. very embarrasing!

So what can i do? if i take the car to BMW, i know they're going to charge a small fortune to fix it - dfont fancy that, so been searching the web for anyone else with the same problem.

So, has anyone else got a floppy door handle on their BMW E46 convertible? if you have and you know how to fix it, i'd be very greatful!!

Summer is here!! ideal convertible weather.. or is it?

2009-07-05T18:17:00.003+01:00

This hot weather is great isnt it!? thermometer on the car has been showing 27degrees+ on a regular basis, ideal weather for getting the roof off the old BMW..

Ive had the convertible BMW now for over 3 years. E46 330cd M-Sport, Black Saphire with black leather. Its my first convertible, and also my first BWM. Before owning a a convertible i always used to look at other convertible drivers and wonder why they didnt have thier roof off on hot sunny days... now i know why!

The only draw back about driving a convertible seems to be when you get stuck in traffic jams. With the sun blazing down, the air con just isnt straong enough to keep me cool. I end up having to decide weather to continue to look cool with the roof down, or actully stay cool by putting the roof back up!

Windows Live Writer?? Whats that then?

2009-06-01T23:55:00.001+01:00

Ok, this is a test to try out the Windows Live Writer application that ive just downloaded..

Looks like a cool way to edit web pages.. lets see if it works..

2009-04-18T09:02:00.001+01:00

ok, so some of you may know that im always looking for a great way to earn a bit of cash. it seems no matter what i earn i can always manage to spend it. sound familiar?

well the other day i started getting emails from "The Rich Jerk", a pretty obnoxious sounding character who claims to have made millions of dollars from the web using his various money making techniques.

To cut a long story short, i read a few of his emails, checked out his site, and eventually decided what the hell, and gave it a try.

what i recieved back was actually pretty interesting. it was a well written pdf file categorised into sections

Buying Property in Spain.

2009-03-31T10:56:00.003+01:00

A good mate of mine sells property in Spain, and from what he's been telling me, there has never been a better time to buy a place in Spain!

And after reading this article on the Halifax Website, im beginning to see his point of view!

http://www.halifax-international-expats.com/international-property-buyers-drawn-to-spain-19092950/

This may seem crazy, and you might be thinking that investing in Spain wouldnt be a good idea, but let me explain why you'd be wrong.

Firstly, we all know the big Spanish property boom is over. A few years ago people were buying plots off plan in the hopes of flipping them for profit once complete. A few people made a lot of money doing this, but unfortunalty for many, they didnt manage to achive the price they were hoping for and had to sell for a loss.

What that means to potential investors like you and me is that we can now buy property in spain at very low prices. In many cases its possible to buy a brand new apartment for a little over half their original price. Thats a 50% saving! And best of all, there is no waiting about for it to be finished - you could move in right away and stay there this summer!

Spain like the rest of the world is in recession, but prices really have never been cheaper.

If you have a few thousand pounds sat in your bank, then chances are its not making much interest and with bank base rates expected to stay low for a while your money in the bank is doing nothing.

However, if you were to buy a spanish property while the prices are as cheap as they are now, and you were able to hold onto it for a few years, by the time we start to see an end to the Global economic downturn, your spanish holiday home will have rocketed in price!

Investment in property will always far outperform cash in the bank, so now really is a great time to invest.

Its something im considering. You can pick up nice two bed villas in spain, a few mins walk from the sea, from as little as €40,000! and that same villa will be worth double that in a few years time... seems a no brainer to me...

Watch this space....

Driving Through Kenya...

2009-03-26T01:44:00.000Z

Ok, so Kenya is a pretty cool place, but the driving over there leaves a lot to be desired.. Check out this video that i made back in 2008.

More Kenya vids to come...

Canary Wharf...

2009-03-25T23:24:00.000Z

I popped over to Canary Wharf today. What a crazy place that is. People in suits running about underneath huge sky rise towers. Kind of reminded me of a colony of ants running about in the complex systems of tunnels buried beneath the towering ant hills.

Everyone seemed to know where they were going, and everyone seemed to have a place to be. The more i observed the people the more i expected someone to walk past with a huge leaf on their head.

Worse still, maybe a giant spotty kid might come along and start burning us all up with the focused beam of sunlight from his equally giant magnifying glass?? Thankfully the giant kid must have had better things to be doing with his time as i didn't whiteness any city workers busting into flames.

But whats with all the wind?? is it always that windy in the wharf?? people who live close by have always told me its windy over there, but i'd never really noticed until today. Wonder where all the wind comes from? maybe its all the air from the city workers talking to much -who knows...

Ive not been in London for a few weeks and i'd kind of forgotten how expensive London was. Filled baguette and a can of drink - that's £4.98 please sir! crikey!

Well, id better get used to the place. all going to plan, my jobless stint should soon come to an end and i'll be joining the other ants in the daily rat race that makes up wharf life...

Blogging for cash..??

2009-03-25T00:02:00.000Z

Ok, so people actually make money from blogging? Tell me more.. how does someone earn cash from blogging???

Thats someing for me to figure out. Once ive figured it out, i'll blog about it!

Watch this space...........

Blog Followers.. whats that about then??

2009-03-24T23:53:00.000Z

So who reads these blogs anyway? how do i go about getting some followers??

DO i really want followers?? isnt that just like inviting stalkers into my life??

Followers = Good, Stalkers = Bad...

So i wonder what turns a folower into a stalker??

Well i guess time will tell. Currently i dont have to worry as i have no followers.

Anyone want to be my first??

Out of work at the moment - not fun...

2009-03-24T23:43:00.001Z

Ok, so one of the reasons ive decided to start a blog is that i've got way to much time on my hands at the moment. Yes thats right, im unemployed, out of work, jobless whatever you chose to call me, and to be honest its really not much fun :(

This is a weird feeling for me.. Ive never been out of work since i graduated from uni way back in '98 so whats going on? why suddenly am i not able to get a job??

Its quite demoralising actually. To know that a smart, intelligent bloke like myself is wasting away on the sofa rotting my brain with daytime TV when other, less capable people are still in their jobs struggling to look like they know what they are doing each day - do you know people like that?? im sure i could name a few...

Welcome to the world of Joe

2009-03-24T23:38:00.000Z

Hi guys, welcome to my blog.

I've been using the internet now for many years and i've ready thousands of blogs, but i've never really got into writing my own.

So here it is - Joes Blog! My very own part of the internet where i can dump my thoughts and ideas.

Im not planning to have any kind of theme to my blog, im just going to dump my thoughts onto the page in the hopes that someone out there in "internet land" finds my ramblings interesting.

So what should i post about?? thats the big questions... What do other people post about i wonder?? time for a bit of blog surfing to get some inspiration me thinks....

Back soon...