Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 10

Thursday 10th January


It is perishing cold this morning, so we can safely say that winter has returned. In fact the frost settled last night, so I suppose I’ll have to be careful this morning when I take Rusty out. Talking of which, almost an hour ago she awoke and raised her head to look around. That’s good, I thought, let’s get her out. So saying, I put my shoes on and, by the time I had done so, she’s gone back to sleep. And she’s still asleep! If she deigns to surface at 7 o/clock, that will be 9 hours without a pee. I should be so lucky!

O.K. I have now downloaded Apache Open Office and the far bigger Ubuntu. The latter because the disc was making an awful noise and I don’t want to chance it. I might just install one on the Toshiba later today, just to see what they’re all about.

Sunday 13th January

Firstly, Open Office and Ubuntu, neither of which I have installed as yet. But there’s no rush for either as I’m still sorting out the Sony. And, along with that task, I’ve been trying the new WiFi unit but, as with my past problems with Outlook, this thing is not a lot of good either, so I’m still using the dongle. Thanks goodness I didn’t chuck it.

Anyway, the WiFi unit does work but, with it being surrounded by metal, and not just that of Shiralee, but our neighbours two boats as well, the signal is no better than the dongle. In order to see if it’s faster than the dongle, as the staff at the ‘Three’ shop claim, I will have to mount it on a stick and stand it outside, on the roof. This also means it will have to be plugged into the laptop, because it does need to be charged up, unlike the dongle.

Today winter has arrived with a vengeance. We have a really heavy frost and it is darned cold out there. Still, better late than never.

As of Thursday morning we had both lost 3lb in weight. This is pretty good for the first week I think. But we made a huge mistake yesterday and bought a new set of scales. These are electronic and also measure body fat and water. Don’t ask, I have no idea how they do it. It’s something to do with an electronic pulse that the scales send through the bare feet. The scales have to be set with height and age and they show me as being about 5lb heavier than the old scales. But that’s no surprise as the old ones belong in a museum.

So, all is going well with the Hairy Dieters book. Yesterday we had roast chicken with roasted vegetables, a most enjoyable meal. For anybody reading this, who needs to lose weight, I can’t think of a more enjoyable way of doing it. A truly inspired book. What surprises us most is that we don’t feel hungry between meals.

Tuesday 15th January

The good news is, I’m getting there with the transfer of info from the Toshiba to the Sony. The bad news is, although the Transfer Cable info suggests it is possible to transfer emails, I can’t see how and, what makes it worse, there’s no Help File with the programme. So, I am still in the process of copying my emails into Word for safe keeping.

You may remember me telling about my recent experiences when ordering a book from Amazon? Well, this morning the same thing happened with eBay. I tried purchasing a book on Archaeology for my sister Carole but, as I was filling in the delivery address, the page disappeared. I immediately assumed that the sale had gone through and, sure enough, when I checked on my Purchase History, that was indeed the case. But that’s not all, it seems I had purchased two of the same item.

Of course, I checked my PayPal account and found there were no new transactions, so I haven’t actually paid for them. My next step was to contact the vendor because, with the apparent sale of both his books, the listing had, to all intents and purposes, ended, so the book was not now available.

Today has started very cold, colder than we have seen so far. Luckily for us we only had a smidgeon of snow yesterday, but we are assured that more is on the way.

I have, as you all know, upgraded my dongle to a WiFi unit and, I have to say that, within the confines of the boat, it’s no better than the dongle. The only way I can get a signal is if I tie it to a stick and stand it by the window. It seems then, that I have once again been lied to. When I was told that it will overcome the confines of a boat, they lied because it does no such thing. Well, not for me anyway, because I’ve tried at several points within the boat, and can’t get a signal at all, except on the end of the stick.

Obviously being surrounded by boats here, the WiFi is struggling but, since I can pick up the local marina WiFi signal, and that’s outside the boat and I’m picking it up even though my unit is surrounded by metal, why can’t I pick my own signal up?

Anyway, in order to solve this problem, at least while we’re still at the marina, I’m making a box in which to house it and, by attaching a magnet to the bottom, I should be able to stand the box on the roof and receive a decent signal. I’m nothing if not versatile.

In November 2011 I purchased a pair of varifocal and a pair of reading glasses from Boot’s. I was not completely happy with them, simply because the reading part of the varifocal glasses was not as efficient as the reading pair. So, when it came to having them adjusted, I mentioned this, in two separate occasions but, on both occasions my concerns were ignored.

Just recently I received a letter inviting me for an appointment for a sight test. But, instead of attending said appointment, I wrote to Boot’s telling them I would not be doing so, and why. I received a telephone call from the manageress of the Burton store, asking me to pay them a visit, at which time she will attempt to sort out my problem. Who knows, I may get satisfaction, but I’m not holding my breath.

Thursday 17th January

Hoorah! I have finally got the new WiFi unit to work in the boat, without having to hoist on a stick on the roof. Actually, it’s under the cratch cover, the other side of the front door. It’s pretty fast too, although, I have yet to test it with a download of any size. It’s a pity we didn’t try that spot before I made a box in which to house it and put on the roof. Still, I may yet need it when we’re cruising.

I have also managed to get Typeitin and eBook Starter set up in their Professional mode. But, in each case I have had to contact the programme makers before I could do so. What a palaver these people put you through. You’d think they would try to make these things easy for existing customers, but the reverse seems to be true. This especially in the case of Typeitin, or Wavget, as the parent company is called. At least eBook have a page dedicated to this problem and it’s easily fixed.

This morning doesn’t seem quite as cold as yesterday, and that can only mean one thing, snow! This might seem an odd thing to say, but experience shows that, in really cold weather – sort of hovering around freezing – when clouds build up and the edge goes off the frost, snow is on the way. Of course, I have the added advantage of the weather report from yesterday evening, which told us to expect snow by Friday morning. But, I wouldn’t mind betting it’s here before today is done.

Our water pump is now really misbehaving itself and, yesterday afternoon I counted 12 seconds before the water came through. Andy has promised to replace it within the next couple of days, but I’ve warned him that, should it stop completely, I’ll be chasing him up for an immediate solution.

Today we’re driving into Burton for Sainsbury’s shopping. Normally we would do so at Morrison’s but, since Wifey need a particular spice, that Morrison’s didn’t have, it’s Sainsbury’s. While we’re there of course, I’ll call in at Boot’s Opticians and see if I can get any satisfaction regarding these glasses.

Sunday 20th January

It’s been pretty darn cold here these past few days, with about 3 inches of snow on Friday, a few measly flakes yesterday, but no more overnight. As a result of that settled snow, along with the lack of gritting on our perimeter road, that road is now like a skating rink, a sheet of rutted ice, where the snow has been churned up by cars and has now frozen solid.

Our diet is going very well and, since purchasing our new electronic scales last Saturday, we’ve both lost another 3 pounds. The recipes are pretty good too, with very little fat and few carbs, so my blood glucose readings have stabilised quite well, apart from the occasional hiccup, caused by those lack of carbs. Anyway, we’re really doing quite well.

Our new WiFi unit is pretty good, now that we’ve found a suitable location in the boat. However, it’s still no faster in downloading stuff than the dongle. But at least I don’t have to stand it on the roof. Although, once this cold snap is over, I’ll be putting the unit in its little box and standing it on the roof, but only to see if it improves the download speed.

There’s an odd thing about this WiFi unit, and it’s all to do with the Security Code. Included with unit is a Keepsake Card, and on that card is the WiFi Key, which is needed in order to set the thing up and, if used on a different computer, that code would have to be entered, but only once. This card also tell me that, if I press the little ‘key’ icon on the side of the unit, I will be able to see the code on the screen. So much for security then! This means that, should somebody steal the WiFi unit, they will be able to set it up on their computer, simply by pressing the ‘key’ to obtain my security code. Isn’t that great?

I’ll be starting on a new pastel painting soon, this time it’s a Still Life, the subject of which is a pink flower with two Faberge Eggs sitting beside it. The detail on the eggs will certainly be tricky, but I’m looking forward to starting it tomorrow morning.

Monday 21st January

We had loads of snow yesterday, about 3 inches or so, and even more overnight. We were planning on taking the bus into Derby this morning, but I don’t fancy traipsing through the snow to the bus stop.

Well, I was going to do a bit more to this blog entry, but Wifey has just surfaced, so it’s time to do breakfast.

Tuesday 22nd January

My apologies for the shortness of entry yesterday, but Wifey must have her breakfast, this is of paramount importance. Although, if she were that desperate she would get up earlier. LOL

Anyway, after transferring all my emails from Outlook 2003 on the Toshiba, to Outlook 2010 on the Sony, I carried on with other things, thinking all would now be well. Noooooo! Oh no!

This morning, when I tried opening Outlook 2010, the darn thing would not obey me. Instead it complained that it was unable to find a certain .pst file. Now, I do know what these files are and, believe it or not, I also know what they do. (Just because I’m a mere man does not mean I am completely and utterly useless).

So, I have no doubt whatsoever that I did something wrong when I transferred my files from one machine to the other. I have now enlisted the aid of the very nice man who sold me the Sony. Incidentally, Dave, that’s the aforementioned nice man, telephoned me a couple of days ago, in response to my earlier email. Had I known I had made such an almighty cock-up, I would have asked for a few more details. I now await his reply but, in the meantime, I’ll have another crack at the problem.

Happy days from Dave Sheila and Rusty, from a very cold Mercia Marina.