Cycle Shop Owners

A few weeks ago I asked one bike shop to replace the bottom bracket, chainset, cassette and chain on my now aging bike.  He took it off me, gave me the quote and I left the bike with him.  A few days later I ring the guy up and ask him the situation 'I can't do it' he says 'the bracket's seized in'.  So I walk up, pick my bike up and roll home disappointed. 

I don't give up easily and decided to try another bike shop near me; I get to the shop, explain the situation and he relunctantly takes the job on, face like a bloody fiddle!  This was 2 weeks ago and I have yet to hear back.  I've been in twice, still not done; claims to have a backlog but does seem to spend a lot of his time sat in front of a computer - sure the shop's website looks great but he's not taking notice of local interests.

I've done a lot of retail, I actually enjoy serving people and I have a small ethos; every customer no matter if they're spending or not deserves the same attention as the customer paying £2000 on something.  if I go into a shop and pay out 20p on something I expect to be treated well, a nod, a smile, a thank you.  Thing is if I don't get that I go elsewhere when I want to pay out some decent amount of money.  I am more than understanding when it comes to feeling depressed at work - been there done that - but for crying out loud customers are there for a reason, smile!

Simple Shortbread Cookies

I see too much of the online recipes that are full of pointless bull you just don't need so I'm going to start adding my simple, cheap recipes that anyone can do. The first one is a very basic cookie recipe that your kids will love.

What do you need?

Mixing Bowl - quite a large one but I used an old pyrex dish for a while. You can also get very cheap plastic bowls from discount stores.
Wooden Spoon - Nah, you're using your hands! It gets messy, perfect for the kids to join in with.
Some extra bowls - just makes it easier to move things around.
Kitchen scales - you need to weigh things.
Small cup - this is used for cutting our your biscuit shapes (use bakery cutters if you want or whatever shape you like)
Non-Stick Oven tray - I use round cake trays, does the same job.
Rolling Pin -

Ingredients

325g Plain Flour
200g Butter (I use low fat margerine)
125g Golden Caster Sugar
2 Tea Spoons (tsp) of Vanilla Essence
2 Egg Yolks - if you're not sure how to get egg yolks check out Youtube, it's a simple but messy procedure!)

Put the flour and butter into the bowl, mix it with your hands until you get a crumbly mix. Add the egg yolks, caster sugar and the vanilla essence. Now it gets really messy; some suggest using a mixer if you have one, great, if not get your hands in there. This mix will stick to your hands like mad; a light dusting of flour on your hands will solve the sticking though.

Once you have a dough you can start breaking large lumps off and rolling them out. Flour the surface you're rolling out on, also add some flour to the top and bottom of the dough ball. Start rolling until you get a flap pancake around half a centimetre thick; thn using your small cup start cutting out the shapes; place each shape onto your baking tray.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (180 deg/350 Fah). Place all your cookies/biscuits into the over on the top shelf. Leave them for around 15 minutes, but keep checking on them. Once thy start looking light brown on the top get them out and control the urge to nibble on them (very hard I know!).

Optional Extras:

I like to add strawberry jam to the top of each biscuit and then add coloured sprinkles. You could also melt some chocolate and either dip the cookies in or coat them with the chocolate. These biscuits go well with pretty much anything and are simple to make.

As always make sure you wash your hands before you start.

The Military and the Olympics

Just a short post today, and yes I know I've been slacking.

Over the past few weeks I've been getting more and more into watching what's going on overseas, and whilst I don't completely agree with how it's done I have to say I have developed a lot of pride for our soldiers over in Afghanistan. I know none of them will ever read this but thanks guys for everything you're doing. Having seen some of the heart warming videos on You tube and various other sites it makes a change to see positives coming out of this war, watching troops handing out footballs, giving little kids bread and generally showing the people they're trying to help a real sense that we're not occupiers - yes I know there's some nasty shit that doesn't get shown and that's deeply depressing but at least there's some 'light' out there.

Anyway onto something else; the Winter Olympics! My heart goes out to Nodar Kumaritashvili's family over his terrible death whilst on the luge. He spoke to his father 3 days before the Olympics saying he was scared of one of the turns. More information below.

Daily Telegraph Article about Nodar-Kumaritashvili's accident.

On a more light-hearted note it's surprising how interesting it is to watch the Olympics, even if it's a sport you don't actually do. I found myself glued to the TV watching the Luge events where 2 Germans came out on top, the speeds they hit is unbelievable and downright scary; it takes some serious testicular fortitude to do that. Looking forward to the skiing along with the Biathlon; not sure I can get excited about Curling though.

Wikipedia Info about the Winter Olympics

Eve Online: The Online Spreadsheet?

I have played World of Warcraft for a number of years, pretty much since Pre-Order beta back in early 2005. Prior to that I had played Star Wars Galaxies, had a great time until Sony decided to screw over a huge percentage of its player base by introducing a terrible new combat upgrade. Quitting SWG wasn't really hard to do I just found myself wondering what to do next until a friend showed me WoW and suggested I try it. So I got into beta and the rest, up until Eve came along, is history.

I'd tried Eve twice before but the combat just seemed so limp and weak, target a ship, press the gun button and shoot the target down. It just did not appeal, but the game had a strange draw to me. I love the idea of the universe, travelling around it and seeing the sights; it just kept calling to me. Eventually I quit WoW after 5 years of playing and gave Eve another go, this time determined to stick at it and give the game its proper attention. Eve is beautiful, yet it runs exceptionally well on my aging 2004 PC; sure the visuals are a little 2003 but CCP have upgraded it nicely and downloads for it are tiny compared to some of the other MMOs out there (Everquest 2? 10gb!). Don't judge this game off the visuals alone, but even if you are a graphics nut you will find something oddly beautiful when you cycle your camera around your vessel.

I slowly got into Eve, but found it incredibly complex. You don't just shoot things, you need to take into account distances, damage types, shields, resistances, ship types and that takes some time. Thankfully CCP have introduced an excellent tutorial system and it eases you into the game extremely well. Although PvP is pretty accessable at an early stage, you will find yourself up against vastly superior ships and players; however don't let this scare you off. There are plenty of players willing to teach you the ropes, not only combat but also mining, manufacturing, salvaging, piracy, along with so much other stuff it's quite astounding.

I don't intend to do a 'review', this is just a post to people who have yet to try it, or those who have tried it and not liked it, to give it a go (again). There's more to Eve than numbers, although it does play a heavy part. It's the intelligent person's MMO but it also caters for those of us with a penchant for making stuff explode! Just to wet your whistle have a gander at some in game shots.





Here's a short video of the first section in Left 4 Dead 2. I was experimenting with Fraps at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdHTESLOZ8A

Theft

Back when I was a kid the idea of stealing was drilled into me as 'wrong', that if you stole you'd piss off God and you'd have to repent. I remember as a 8 year old boy I went to the shops and bought some half penny sweets, but instead of using real money I used a plastic half penny. I'm sure the shop keeper would have noticed but she never said anything and I got myself a sweety. Thing was I felt guilty and never stole from a shop again.

As I grew older my interests changed from sweets to Transformers (I'm talking proper Transformers not the cheap plastic shite we have today). I was having my haircut at a friend's house (his Mum was a hairdresser), when she'd done I was usually bustled into the living room whilst the grown ups chatted about something and nout. In that living room was a box of toys and I loved rooting through it. One haircut day I came upon a Rocklord, a form of Transformer but not a true one but man it was COOL!. I thought about it and played with it, then I put it into my pocket and went home... For years I felt guilty about that, stealing from people who trusted me, from a friend specifically - this is where I believe I could have gone either way. I could have gone down the path of theft or as I have done, gone down the straight and narrow - I haven't stolen anything since. Some of us will likely have had a similar point in our lives, the time we first steal and it's interesting to see which way we go in terms of 'to steal' or 'not to steal'. Seems to be an intergral crossroad which many of us have or will face at some point.

It now seems society is pretty much leaning towards 'to steal' aspect of things, much more than we have ever done. I work for a small charity shop, have done for around 2 years now and it's somewhat disturbing to see people who'd you'd expect not to be thieves to actually steal. The current recession, which in my eyes is a fabricated event, has seen more and more people resorting to theft in order to support their dwindling lifestyle; yet I can't help but wonder what happen to the 'we'll make do' attitude of the 40s and 50s. People want for more than they have ever done. I was brought up on second hand toys at Christmas, but I never complained; I was just glad I had a loving home. Now some kids want everything, they want everything on TV and if they can't have it they will steal it, the same goes for some adults. It's a disturbing change in trend and it seems a lot of these thieves will go to any length to get what they want.

Recently people have been stealing from the charity company I work for, and thefts have risen sharply from other charity shops too. We have people who steal jackets priced at £2.00, people stealing CDs priced at 20p and some bringing their child pushchairs in with no kid, only to steal things. At one time I could point the finger at the type of person doing this, it was usually the drug ridden, alcoholic who needed to fund his/her addiction, or the scrot/chav types who steal to prove they're tough enough, and sadly some of the Eastern Europeans, who I found out run gangs to do such thefts in our area. Now I'm watching everyone with suspicion, from the single mum with her pushchair to the old gentleman with a shopping bag.

Charities are now prime targets for shoplifters, even more so than usual. It's time we were protected better. More police on the streets, more equipment available to help the smaller charities who can't afford the fancy electronic tag devices.

Have some links:

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/756890.man_arrested_at_charity_shop_crime_crackdown/

http://www.pcsotoday.co.uk/news/detail.html?id=20473

Potato Hash - A Recipe

Feeding yourself on a budget can be a chore at times so I resorted to going back to my Lancashire roots and looked up recipes for Potato Hash.  There's loads of them but the vast majority are long drawn out affairs and require some expensive ingredients.  Here's my recipe, it serves one or 2 if you're having something else with it.

What You Need:
Cookpot of some sort, I use an old pyrex casserole dish, just so long as it's safe on the stove.  It needs to have a lid, it helps it cook better. 5 medium sized Potatoes, some recommend King Edwards but I just get any large multi-use spud from the market.  One medium sized carrot, again just your bogstandard carrot, nout fancy.  Some corned beef, check your supermarket for offers, it's not the cheapest meat but sometimes you can get lucky.  You can also use any other pre cooked meat if you prefer.  1 Stockcube or some gravy granules. Not Required but add flavour: Mixed herbs, I bought a tub of these from the local market for about £1.00 a year ago, still not run out.  Salt, add to taste or don't even bother it's not hugely important I find. 

Remember to wash your veg before hand, I don't tend to bother but it's worth doing for health reasons (dirt never did anyone harm though).

Peel your potatoes, cut them up into around half inch cubes, doesn't need to be exact, and whack them into the cookpot.  Peel your carrot and slice it into thin pieces, around 2-3mm.  Try and keep the size uniformed as much as possible as it helps them cook all at the same time.  Whack them into the cookpot too.  Grab your corned beef and cut around 100g off it, dice it into cubes - don't worry about being exact it falls apart anyway, this just lets it cook better.  Whack that into your cookpot too, then if you're using them sprinkle around a thumb and finger full of mixed herbs over the top of the mix.  Same with the salt.  Now we add the water, fill it up to just above the contents, so long as the veg and meat are almost drowning.  Add your stockcube, I use a beef one or you can use whatever you like.  You can also use gravy mix, just sprinkle it over the top, use around a level table spoon so it's not too strong.  This gives it colouring but it does give it a nice flavour too, plus you can dunk your bread in the gravy!

Place your pot over a low heat, do not cook it fast.  If you're using a glass pyrex pot a high heat will result in the veg and meat sticking to the bottom, and then burning.  Keep the flame low.  Cover the pot with its lid be prepared to wait an hour.  Make sure you stir the mix occasionally, it helps cook everything evenly and prevents things sticking.  I use a wooden spoon for this, but you can use a normal spoon or whatever you have available.  To be sure it's cooked taste a cube of potato and a carrot slice, if they're both soft it's ready.  Serve and enjoy; it's perfect for cold weather.

How much does this cost?

Potatoes can vary.  I picked up 10 potatoes at my supermarket for 30p, and 10 carrots for the same price but the prices do fluctuate.  A large bag of normal spuds from a supermarket will be around £1 and that will last you a couple of weeks.  Carrots can be a lot cheaper and last even longer.  Corned Beef isn't cheap, but again look for deals at your supermarket or check with your butcher - I got a 340g can for 99p and it will last me a week if I have a hash every 3 days which I don't.  Some people used cooked bacon or chicken in their hash, some even use that quorn so check around!  Herbs are cheap as heck and salt, well that's 30p for a 500g tub.  This meal will cost you around 40p to make, even if you count the gas/electricity used.

Hope that's an easier recipe, not much faffing about.  Peel, chop, dunk, boil, eat.  Sorted!

When is a troll not a troll?

Troll Paranioa

I'm not talking about those thingies that live under bridges, I'm talking about those people who inhabit forums.  Here's a quiote from Wikipedia:

'In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response^[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.^[2]'

^{I have started to notice that a lot of people are becoming overly paranoid about trolls or suspected trolls.  Someone can post a perfectly intelligent article or comment, then someone will come along and '1/10' them or just shout out 'troll'.  Thing is when is a troll not a troll?  Can people not post something without some bored jackass coming in claiming it's a troll?  A lot of the comments on forums are not 'off topic' nor are they intended to be inflamatory, it's simply people asking questions.  I've been branded a troll on occasion, yet it's on perfectly innocent posts which are asking for help or helping someone out.}

^{My request to you is to simply think before screaming 'it's a troll!'.  Think, ask yourself 'does this person have a serious question or comment?'.  Think about how you would ask a similar question.  I am fully aware there are loads of people doing this, but branding everyone a troll is just bringing everyone into the same mindset.} 

^{Later I shall address the 'your a gay' remarks from people insecure about their sexuality (I am aware 'your' is incorrect before you mail me, also check the rest of the post I'm sure you'll find other errors).}