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Friday, 07 November 2003. That's me had another tooth out - bottom set, and in the middle.
See here! Half my top set have gone - courtesy of Nifedipine! I'm going to have to get them all sorted out, me molars are in a bit of a state - have to look after me 'andsome looks! (spend a penny or two?)
Bought a 19" monitor for £133, and sold the 17" one to Lil for £30. Also had a sort out of the layout of the complete computer set-up. Looks a bit better. The room looks more like a living room than a shed now!

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Kevin has been writing his thoughts on the development of mankind, based on the assumption that it has been optimised by adaptation. (Did I hear someone say, "Darwin."?) See what he has to say here :-

http://www.anasoft.co.uk/replicators/index.html

Adapting to the environment requires adaptable physical action. Adaptable physical action requires programmable emotions as emotions instigate physical action. Emotions (gene traits) are programmed by morals (meme traits). Morals are programmed by the environment. Emotions require consciousness.

I do not have a great interest in doing a lot of reading. Seems a shame that he emails me about his philosophical musings, but does not converse with me about us or the family. I am a bit concerned that he is becoming obsessed (monoidic?). Is it a reaction to the apparent failure of his 'SPICE' project, and his recent marriage trauma.
My bit of thinking about humanity is here -
http://www.ted-aylward.com/root/ramble03.htm

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Friday, 14 November 2003. Ian has now taken command of his site, and is making an excellent job of it. I will keep my version of
his site here. His site can now be found at www.Ian-Wragg.com
Been having a prob with Lil's computer. Ran it in diagnostic mode and it seems that McAfee Virus Scan is causing conflicts when it loads at start up. I have disabled it at start up and it is running OK (I hope!).
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Monday, 24 November 2003. I thought that I had better let you all know that I am alive and kicking.

Just visited the Northlands Park 'official' site, and it is dead in the water. Not a thing put on there for at least a month. It's supposed to be an organ of information. (An organ it is. It is the one I sit on!) What with all the money spent on it (fiddled!!??). Proves that I have always been right (yet once again!) and that the site was set up to get money out of the system. My Northlands Park site is here.

Had my washing machine plumbed in properly, (after having it for two years!). Got talking to the chap, and he mentioned that he was interested in having a web site, so I have started one for him. See here.

This bit of info is difficult to frame - but, here goes. I have exchanged emails with a person who shared some years with a member of the family. I was asked to change some of the pages on this site. I have always maintained that the site is set in stone. Nothing is put here without me thinking a great deal about it. As the person seemed to be quite distressed, I have made three minor changes. Perhaps, at a later date, I will be able to re-instate them, and relate the full story. Sorry! But that is all I can say.
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Monday, 01 December 2003. It's coming up to Christmas, and I was thinking of that film with James Stewart, where he was going to jump into a river to commit suicide. An unconventional 'angel' saved him, and then took him back on a journey in time to show him how the town would have suffered if he had not been born.
(See my Rambling Thoughts here)
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Saturday, 06 December 2003. At last, I have managed to get my living room looking less like a work shack! I have never been content with the computer in the living room as it made it more like a shed. Strange though, Lil has hers in her living room, yet it looks OK. She has a proper computer work station. I ordered one from Argos, but it got lost on the way, so I cancelled it. I did arrange with a chap to build shelves into my living room cupboard, then I had a 'brainstorm' and decided to have a go at it myself. In no way am I a DIY man. Did put up a shelf for the VCRs
(see here), but that was a rare success! Is this a success? (see here).
Orderd a Panasonic DVD recorder from Tesco for my own Christmas present - £249 delivered. It only has an analogue tuner, but I have a digi box to plug into it. It can also do 'time shift' using the DVD-RAM. Records up to six hours on a DVD-R disc. Should be here for next Friday. Also ordered DVD-R, (£1 each), and DVD-RAM (£18 each) discs from Maplin. Should have been here by now. I have sent an email enquiry to Securicor. Some parcels have been delivered to a similar address, and we have never seen them again. Ho, Hum!
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Thursday, 11 December 2003
. Got a bloody steaming cold! Up most of the night. But, I could not stop myself finishing what I started yesterday - a program for "I Ching".
(See here)
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Thursday, 18 December 2003. Seasons greetings to you all. If you have the correct privacy settings on your computer, you will NOT have seen the Christmas message on my home page. If you DID see it, CHANGE your privacy settings!
The bloody cold lasted a week. Just got the tail end of it now.
Got the Panasonic DMR-E50 DVD recorder from Tesco - £249. All is OK, except that I made what should have been a standard DVD disc, but it didn't play on Lil's player. Strange, because it's a great player! It plays the VCDs I do on the computer, as well as MP3s. Will have to sort it out.
The
evil one's birthday is on Saturday, the most evil night of the year (longest night!). She is 67yo. She makes me think of the Oscar Wilde saying, "There is only one thing worse than not having your wishes fulfilled; and that is having them fulfilled." She got her wish - she has CJ - she has her 'White Elephant'. My heart goes out to CJ, but there is nothing that I can do.
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Tuesday, 23 December 2003. I have done some notes about my DVD recorder -
see here.

Being a bit of a planner, and potential problem analyst, I decided to insure against having no heating or cooking if there were an outage for maybe 12/24 hours. There have been several programs on TV about the state of the national grid, and power reserves. Also, the weather forecasters are saying that we are soon due for an exceptional winter. (I can still remember 1947!)
I have bought a gas space heater, and a dinky (tho' serviceable) camping gas ring. Everyone here will think that I am crackers! Never mind! It all cost me £167. I have worked out that if I live another six years (some hope!) it will have cost me £0.50/week for the insurance. Come on ..... all together ...... "You bloody idiot!"

On the matter of being a clever boy ......... I have managed to avoid 65% of the spam sent to me. I get over 150/day. No, I will not tell anybody how I do it, because if I do the bloody spammers will find a way to beat it. So .... Na, na na, na ,na !

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Monday, 05 January 2004. That's it all over for another year, thank goodness! All it does for me is intrude on my peaceful routine!

I have had a few email exchanges with, Mark (not my grand-nephew), about my DVD recorder. It has all been very helpful. The main thing that has emerged is that the systems have not converged sufficiently for complete compatibility.
Following me posting my comments on
http://www.thewholewideweb.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1485 I have had quite a few hits from all over the world. It's surprising how a small item can bring so many hits.

For those interested in wierdo things, I have again taken action against 'bad' people. (See here)

What a to do! Was just asked by the warden if I would like to go to the common room as there was a film crew doing a bit on the people in the area. I make a point of not getting involved as it seems that most of the people involved in spending the cash from the Deputy Prime Minister's Office are on the fiddle. (See here) But, I thought that this was an independent crew doing something for the local TV. I asked a couple of questions about the funding, and found out that it was the same funding cache as the Northlands Park Neighbourhood Committee.
For info, I have been keeping an eye on the
'official' web site, and absolutely nothing has happened for months. That's over £5,000 down the pan! I couldn't stay in the common room and see another £5,000 go and join it, so I left!
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Saturday, 17 January 2004. There is an update on the bottle Totem story
here.

There is a chance that Carl, my son, may be able to move from Peterborough to here by getting a mutual exchange. It would be good for him, but could be a strain for me. I have had a chat with him and he understands. Snag is that the 'Evil One' may follow him. I don't want her near me!

I actually went into town and did some shopping yesterday. (First time in, at least, a year!) Enjoyed it, BUT, bought £8.50 worth of meat and left it on the bus. Go on! Say it! "Stupid git!"

My McAfee v.7 anti-virus prog is coming to the end of the free year's update service. I keep getting a window pop up telling me to "Purchase/Cancel/Help". The 'Purchase' does nothing, and the 'Help' takes me on a confusing tour. So, I have ordered v.8 from Dabs for £31.13, and I will get it Monday. It trapped a virus last week, so it has earned its keep.
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Friday, 23 January 2004. Bit of a frustrating time! My McAfee Anti Virus was due for renewal - 20 days to go - and all went peculiar. The calendar was re-set to 2080, and the installation date of McAfee was set to 31st January 1883! This caused 'out if date' messages, and was very worrying, in case the computer was vulnerable. It seemed that the problem was caused by a virus. So, I ordered version 8 from dabs.com on Thursday 16th, and it was despatched the same day by first class letter post. It got to me yesterday, Thursday 23rd! When I ran it, it found two Trojans, though it is unlikely that they caused the date problems. Never mind, all seems OK now - I hope!

Carl phoned to say that he may be moving to Basildon. He is arranging a mutual exchange with a person who wants to move to Peterborough. I told him that I did not want him near me! But, we understand each other, and won't get on each other's nerves. It will make it easier for Carl Jnr. and I to get to know each other. Snag is that the 'Evil One' may make a move to get to Basildon. I don't want her within twenty miles of me! But, again, if Carl Jnr. is still with her there will be more time for me to get to see him. Maybe, he will decide to live with his dad down here! That would be good, and Chloe would lose all the cash benefits she gets via him. She is trying to get him classified as autistic so that she can get more money!

My diabetes has been giving me cause for thought. I have been going a bit 'hypo' before my main meal. This should not happen with TypeII. I reduced my medication, and all was OK, but in the week I had a reading of 15.0 - quite high. All seems OK now. When I came off my heart medication, I had a similar phenomenon. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
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Saturday, 31 January 2004. Well, would you believe it!? Referring to the prob, as above, about the (virus?). It re-appeared a few days ago! Thro' Google, I found a reference to the error message I was getting with the McAfee AntiVirus about its renewal date. It took me to the Symantic site that develops the Norton anti virus prog 'Stinger'. (No reference to McAfee!). I d/l a little prog from there to disinfect the virus. The notes said that it might delete infected system files and that would mean me re-installing Windows! ("Oh, **** I thought!") But, 'shit or bust' I ran the prog, but it did not find the likely virus. I then emailed, and used McAfee's expert chat line. The chat line had big delays. Then I found out that a virus was doing the rounds affecting anti-virus progs. An email from McAfee gave me more info about a suspect file, and an up-to-date version of 'Stinger'. I did everything recommended, but, at no time, have the disinfect progs, or a full scan, told me that they have found any virus. As I have just switched on, the error window has not appeared .... Again I hope that that is the end of it! It seems that the computer world has gone crazy about this particular virus, "MyDoom". For me ... I have always been just about paranoid regarding computer security.

The alcoholic upstairs, after a three week break, has started to dump bottles in my garden again. I got the warden to have a word with her. She denied that the bottles were hers, but the warden told her that it was strange that they were the same bottles that she got from Sainsbury's. My voodoo dolly still has a job to do!

Carl has put in the forms for the house exchange. Looks like he may be moving to Basildon.

I have again re-considered my diabetes, and have decided to aim to be at the low end of the range of normal, rather than the high end. So, I have upped my medication to that recommended. This first week has been good, with a reading of 4.3 before meals, and 6.7 two hours after. This compares with an average reading of 8.7 two hours after a meal.
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Friday, 13 February 2004. Black Friday!

They've done it again! The Basildon Council have got my rent/CT rebate wrong again. When will everyone accept that I am always right ... no .... I am not a megalomaniac! I tried to explain, but they see me as a 70yo fart. When the incident has run it's course I will put the write up in the BDC section of this site. Just in case they visit here, here is the answer, "You have applied my income for 2004/5 to my claim for 2003/4. You were advised by the DWP of my income for next year, and you have applied it to this year! OK!"

Still with BDC .... I am getting a lot of hits on my Northlands Park web site via the BDC and Essex County Council servers. All very interesting. I am wondering if it is as a result of a resident of Felmores East sending me an email about the blight to their property values. It's taken a hell of a time for the 'penny to drop', but perhaps they will all wake up to my clarion call and challenge the BDC about the manipulation of the catchment area and included them in the "One of the twenty most multi deprived areas in England and Wales."

Still with the BDC .... Some good news. My warden has reported the depositing of bottles in my back garden by the 'piss artist' upstairs. (Though she does have my compassion - "There but for the grace of God, go I.") She has received a letter, and had to go for a personal interview. She was told that she would lose her tenancy if she continued to do it. She had the audacity to tell them, it was I, who deposited the bottles in my garden! Ho hum! Let's hope that that is the end of it. I did calculate that in the period June to January she dumped over 250 bottles in the garden! If she drinks the way she is going, she won't see 2005.

Re the apparent virus -detailed above- it wasn't the MyDoom virus. I cannot explain the date change, but the constant pop in window telling me to renew the software was from "Quick Clean" that I installed with the v7. I deleted it and all is OK.
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Tuesday, 24 February 2004. I see that the rats have left the sinking ship
HMS Northlands Park. They have resigned as committee members, so they will not be able to claim their £15 a session for attending meetings! I won't embarrass them by giving their names. I expect that they will be in the 'Water Mill' spending some of the five grand (or more?) that they have fiddled from the community funds. (Told you all that I am always right!) It's just that I am too old now to do the follow up. There are people in Felmores East who know what's happening, but they are keeping their heads down. Their problem!? The official web site has now been abandoned! I have not bothered to maintain my Northlands Park site. They are not worth the bother!

The 20th February saw the 50th anniversary of my marriage to "The Evil One". It is also 27 years since I went to murder her, and failed. I expect that the kids have forgiven me for failing! Never mind, I can't always be perfect!
Looks like Carl and Kevin will be moving to Basildon, and CJ will most likely move in with Carl permanently. How will Chloe manage without his benefits? I have suggested to Carl that I give CJ £80/month to help him over the first ten months. I am paying half their moving costs - nice to be rich!!

There are attempts at reviving the old ITV/On Digital pay TV system. They have launched "Top-Up TV". You pay £7.99/month, supposedly for ten extra channels. Snag is that only a maximum of five are available at any time - and most of the time, only four! They need 250,000 subscribers to break even ...... don't think that they will survive. Lil, my friend, has subscribed. She has an old On Digital digi box. They say that new boxes will be available in a few months for about £70, but who's going to buy them? I'll keep you up-to-date.
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Wednesday, 10 March 2004. I mention on Friday 13th above, about my probs with Basildon Council. I have put the update
here. Let's hope that all is well in the future.
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Friday, 12 March 2004. Updated the
stats here. Less visitors this year. Though, I must say that the quality is excellent!
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