davidrickard.net

Random stuff, randomly updated.

Archive for October, 2006

Plug it in, oooo

Sunday, October 22nd, 2006

I added some plugins to my blog today. A nice list popped up on Digg a few weeks back, and I duly stuffed it into my del.icio.us bookmarks. I decided to use two: Related Links and Google Sitemap. The related links only show if you view a blog entry on its own. They don’t show on the front page, mainly because I thought that looked a bit stupid. The Google sitemap is a mainly background plugin, in that it works its magic behind the scenes.

There was a couple of others I was interested in, but didn’t bother with in the end. One was a Google Adwords plugin, which I think I might still pay with. I think it’s chiefly geared towards putting Adwords into blog entries, rather than just as part of the site proper. I don’t fancy flooding this site with ads. After all, I don’t earn a living from it, so it doesn’t matter that I’m hardly getting any clicks. The second plugin added a Digg link to posts if they ever got dugg. As I think this is unlikely (the notion of me writing something actually worthwhile is somewhat laughable), I didn’t bother putting it on in the end. Nobody will ever see it. I also think people flooding their blogs with buttons for every social bookmarking site going is a bit naff. I’ve got my del.icio.us tag cloud, but that’s it.

I’ve got some new templates I’ve looked at, and once I get around to hacking them about a bit, which I’ll do offline on my test rig, I’ll put them up.

Me Vs Zen Vs BT – Part oh I don’t care any more

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

Well, the saga continues.

I’ve had three BT Engineers visit, test the line, and find no fault. The line had been stable for five days. I closed the fault with Zen, and lo’ in the evening, it fell over again! So back on the phone I went, and re-opened it. I’m coming to the conclusion they think I’m making it up!

Trouble is, I’m stuck really. I have two options; swap ISP, and hope when they move my connection they connect me elsewhere (unlikely, I think the changes are software based on the DSLAMs), or move to cable. I looked at NTL’s offering, and I’m uninpressed. Besides, they run all sorts of inline caching and other junk, and basically run a rubbish network. Fine for Joe Average, but something I’d just find fault with. I can’t help being so fussy!

I’m still placing faith in BT/Zen to fix the fault. I think BT try to string it out for as long as possible to avoid having to do anything that might end up costing them. Zen are stuck in the middle – they listen to me rant on, then just pass it onto BT, who seem to pretty much ignore everything. I just know they’ll do another test-and-say-it’s-ok process.

I’m considering switching to an ISP offering the older IPStream services, rather than MAX. If I do that, it won’t be before I go and whinge at Zen first and try and persuade them to move me backwards. I don’t fancy paying their rediculous price for their IPStream products.

Weee! Concert!

Monday, October 16th, 2006

Yes, it’s true, the world’s greatest band are touring the UK! OK, so it’s not until next year (March/April), but I have my tickets booked. Being the überfan I am, I’m booked up to see two concerts; London and Southampton. Should be pretty cool! I’ve booked seated tickets too. It means not having to turn up incredibly early to get to the front, as the seats are numbered. I’ve managed to get dead centre, right down the front for both – OK, row B for London, but even so, pretty good seats! So we can pretty much just turn up, swan in and sit down. Great stuff!

Ooo, candles

Wednesday, October 4th, 2006

I got older today.

Time to update the ‘about me’ page.