Info and forum posts by 'Gerald'

RE: help with handheld radios/ walkie talkies

Argos sell a few, not sure how good they are, if it is just to listen to music how about Infra Red headphones and use a headphone splitter to allow it to run 2 sets.

Should be much better quality than a walkie talkie but would be one way only.

Ger.

RE: Vauxhall Astra - Removing the radio, or not as the case is!!!

The vauxhall stereos are quite easy to get out when you know how they come out.

Where you took the 4 allan screws out you should have 4 holes.

Now you need the removal keys, as said earlier you can get these in halfords for about £1.99, they are U shaped metal rods with a little notch in the tops of the U. They are called Ford or Philips removal keys.

Now armed with your keys insert them into the 4 holes in the front of the stereo very slowly, after about half an inch or just over they will get tight then all of a sudden with a little more pushing they will click into place. when both keys are clicked in, bend them outwards while pulling them towards you, the outward bending pushes the locking pins in on the stereo allowing it to be removed, might take a bit of force to get it moving but it will come out.

One other thing you might need is and aerial adapter, there are 2 different aerial fittings so its a good idea to remove the stereo while still in halfords car park then you can see what fitting is in the car and if neccassary pop back in to buy the appropriate adapter.

The wiring connecters in the vauxhall should plug straight in to your new stereo, providing both car and stereo are less than 5 years old or so. They are called ISO connectors and are pretty standard now, in vauxhalls though the speaker and power plug are fixed together where as on the stereo that will be seperate, they will fit in just need a bit of pursuasion, and if you not sure which connector goes where, look at the locking clips on the side of the plug, one is in th middle and the other is at the bottom so no chance of getting them mixed up.

One thing you may find especialy if you are putting a Sony in is that you loose your preset stations everytime you turn the ignition off, if this is the case then remove your new stereo and swap the red and the yellow wire around, this will sort the problem for you.

Good luck, if you need any more help just post back or if your in cardiff area i don`t mind doing it for you. already got the removal keys and probably got an adapter to.

Ger.

RE: optical lead advice

How about this happy looking fellow.

Looks pretty robust so won`t fall apart after a few days like some splitters.

HTH

Ger.

RE: Toshiba SD220e can it auto-select DTS?

Thanks Andy, I gave it a try with Jungle Book 2 and it worked.

Then tried Fast and the Furious, ET and Back to the Future but it didn`t want to know on those could only get DTS by going through the menu.

Thanks anyway

Ger.

Toshiba SD220e can it auto-select DTS?

Hi everyone, still very pleased with the Tosh as recomended by almost everyone after my Philips packed in.

Just one thing I can`t work out on it and can`t find in the manual, on DVD`s with a DTS track, is there anyway of getting it to play the DTS automatically, instead of having to go through the menu`s looking for the option.

Probably isn`t as sure it would be in the manual, but no harm in asking is there.

Thanks in advance to all who reply.

Ger.

RE: Yawn.....2 a.m. question coming up

I was always told vinegar free glass cleaner, thats what I have always used and it does a great job, nice and clean sharp picture.

Never be tempted to use a stronger cleaner like alchohol as this will take the protective layer off the screen as I discovered on an old monitor, woops.

Ger.

RE: Know a good site to buy online beds?

I recently bough a set for the girls, again looked all over the place as was after a bargain.

I found that if you find a cheap set then it usualy doesn`t include the matresses.

Ended up buying ours from argos of all places, they were by far the cheapes as their prices include matresses and they had the best selection, we have had them now for about 2 years and they are still very solid despite being taken apart twice to move from room to room as to to big to go through a door way.

This is the one we bought, went for it as it came with the underneath storage, very usefull to hide away spare bedding and toys etc.

Hope it has been of some help.

Ger.

RE: Why am I constantly tired?

I agree with what Rob said about getting to much sleep, I did a night job a few years ago and as I was not used to working nights I figured I should get as much sleep as possible.

I ended up feeling dreadfull, I would sleep for an hour so then wake up feeling even worse. A few days later it was a friends wedding, so I got up early for the wedding and had a very late night as sat in the all night bar talking rubbish, as you do, anyway the next morning I got up early again and I felt great, I`d had about 3 or 4 hours sleep instead of the usual 10+ hours. I then limited myself to 8 hours and as westy said getting into a routine made things so much easier.

As others said, sorry can`t remember who now, I found it realy usefull to have your days free, spend a couple of hours in the garden, wash the car, pop down the shops and so on, all the things you can`t do when you work mon-fri as your in work when the shop you need to visit is open.

I recently had the same problem, constantly tired and so on, tried everything I could think of but nothing helped, ended up going to the doctors after a few tests it turned out I was slightly low in Iron, aparantly a good supply of Iron helps carry oxygen around your body fueling muscels etc. so less iron equals less oxygen. I took some multivitamins with Iron and within a few days they sorted me out.

I keep meaning to take them everyday but usualy forget, if I`m feeling a bit under the weather I`ll take them for a few days and will again feel ok.

Hope you feel better soon mate, nothing worse than being overtired.

Ger.

RE: Which broadband Service would you recommend...

I`ve been on the Pipex Solo 2 Go system for about 5 months now and think it is great, you get a full 576k connection, downloads are usually around 60-70kbps.

I am paying just over £23 a month for it, when I signed up they had an offer on so that connection, setup and the modem were free, so all you pay is your first months subscritpion, not sure if this is still on or not.

Only thing I would say is, I put off broadband as didn`t use the internet that much, we only got it as the phone would get tied up and it was cheaper than a second line, but now it is on all day, we are definatly getting our moneys worth out of it.

Ger.

RE: Gerald is King of the Throne!

So I`m Quote:
"King Of The Throne",

big thanks to everyone who voted for me, I`m really pleased,

much better than my last title Quote:
"Barry Island`s Mr Knobbly Knees 1986".

Happy Cr4pping

Ger.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 18th June 2003, 14:57

RE: Name Jokes

Corrected - well done for spotting the deliberate mistake.

Ahem!!!

Ger.

RE: Name Jokes

What do you call the other russion prostitiue
Knickerson Andoffalot

What do call a russion with the flu
Ivor Nastycough

What do you call a women with one leg shorther than the other
Eileen Dover

What do you call an Indian with one leg
Balan Singh

What do you call a Welsh assasin
Dai

What do you call a russion with 3 testicles
Who`dyouknick Abollockoff

What do you call a russion with 1 testicle
He`stheoneI Knickedthebollockoff


All the best

Ger.

Ps sorry to any russians, indians, welsh (I`m one), people with wonky legs and anybody else I`ve insuted lately.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 17th June 2003, 14:36

RE: Laptop question

Hi rik, I bought a Tosh from Pc World just after christmas it is the 1900-305 which was built just for dixons stores.

Have to say 6 months on I am still realy impressed with it. It is a satelite model not a sat pro, but didn`t think I needed the features the pro offered

It is a 2.4Ghz pentium 4, 512mb ddr ram. 30gb hard drive, 15 inch screen, 32mb graphics card and the best thing is both the cd/dvd rom and floppy are built in which you don`t find on many of the lower priced ones. It was £1499 at the time and was a lot cheaper that a similar spec model from the internet companies.

The only thing against it is that it doesn`t have a serial port on the back so can`t plug my phone into it but thats not a great loss, my own fault, should have got a phone with infrared if wanted to link it to the pc.

I was able to get them to chuck in a carry case and optical mouse as don`t get on with the track pads, just told them the salesman in currys next door was offering a mouse and case and they said they would match it.

good luck with it all, havn`t looked at the one you are thinking of getting but sure it is good.

Chris, I also used to work for a 3rd party of Dell`s 2 in fact, wang global who worked directly for dell and burnham logisics or bti they were also known as. Did we used to work together?? this is going back about 4-7 years ago now though.

All the best.

Ger.

RE: Poster Hangers- where to buy

I bought one of those frame-less frame types for my Star Wars poster, It is a perspex front also to keep the weight down.

Got it from the range for just under a tenner if memory serves me right, but I think you can get them in Woolies, Dunelm, Makro and Asda.

Looks really nice with a glass (plastic) front
.

Ger.

RE: weird al yankovich?

Hi Chris W,

Most of those songs were done by bob rivers, very funny and voices are spot on, have a look at http://www.twistedtunes.com for the full list.

Walking round in womens underwear is one of the funniest on there.

Ger.

RE: Homebase 20% off between 6 -9pm tonight Wed 4 June at some stores

Thanks Niteowl, the better halfs aunty works on the tills at our local homebase in Cardiff so after a quick call she put aside a ticket for us.

Bought 2 bathroom cabinets, normaly £50 each and a wooden laundry basket, normally £30

Been needing these for a few weeks, didnt realise how expensive they are, thought a nice bathroom cabinet would only be about £20 and laundry basket about a fiver so have been putting off buying them.

Saved nearly £25 off the bill.

Royal Mail packages going missing : Some info that might help

We recently ordered Buffy series 6 from play and waited patiently for it to arrive.

A week later it still hadn`t turned up so after remembering stories of packages going missing / disshonest postmen and so on I expected the worst. Mind you I have beed ordering from play for nearly 3 years now and this is the first thing to not arrive so better luck than most have had.

One morning just on my way to work and the posty is walking up our drive, he`s a nice enough bloke and been delivering to us since we moved in 5 years ago so decided to ask if things went missing often or if there was a un-deliverable property section, incase the address label had been damaged or something.

He said he wasn`t sure but suggested I ask at the local sorting office as he was on holiday the week before and knew the person who stood in for him was a bit lazy and wouldn`t carry packages if he thought he could get away with it, bag to heavy raining etc..

Basically he said this person or group of posties would just leave the packages at the un-delivered desk in the sorting office and just post a ready filled out calling card through your door wether you were in or not.

I said we didnt get a card and he went on to say that it happens quite often, maybe they forgot to put the ready filled out card through your door, or if honestly did try to deliver maybe their pen wouldn`t work, didn`t have a pen or cards, couldn`t write on cards because of rain or whatever reason but he said to go down the sorting office and see if it was there.

Sure enough on my home that afternoon I called in and just said that I have been waiting for a package that should have been delivered a few days earlier and hadn`t arrived and just wondered if it was there and sure enough it was, package hadn`t been opened or tampered with in any way.

Just think it might be worth a try, you never know do you

Ger.

RE: weird al yankovich?

another good one is bob rivers, on http://www.twistedtunes.com listen to the christmas songs they are really good.

Simon Mayo used to play them when he was on radio 1.

Ger

RE: Poo is funny

Ok, I have been wondering about putting this on for the last few days but after the Jap eye story think it is probably about time.

When I was a kid, one sunday afternoon we were visiting my grandperants, and as usual you wern`t allowed to leave until my nan had fed us all so much food you couldn`t eat for a week.

Anyway, following morning, in school, it`s breaktime and I`m off for my morning dump. 10 mins later it`s halfway out and I`m having problems, It was the size of a small french stick, rock hard and stuck fast.

I did what I could to get as much out as possible, but there was something hanging out that just wouldn`t budge, so I tugged it with all my might and eventualy out it came, along with an ear piercing scream that could be heard all around the school and what seemed at the time to be every last drop of blood I had in me.

Next thing you know theres a teaching banging on the lav door, I opened the door and was quickly rushed off to the nurses room with this thing still in my pooey hand, told the nurse what had happenned and we decided to have a look at what it was, I realise now she thought it could me giblets.

She washed it off and nervously showed it to me asking if I had eaten something I shouldn`t have recently. I took one look at the offending item and all I said was "nobody said you were supposed to take the skin off"

The evening before at my nans banquet I had taken a fancy to this meat product I`d never seen before called salami and probably eaten 20 slices of the stuff, outer plastic skin an all.

Turned out the plastic had gotten stuck and with my tugging I had made a rip in my starfish 8mm long!!! now that is pain, it took weeks to heal, everytime I needed to go after that the wound would open up again and the passing mess would cause a pain which i can only think is like wiping your arse with a broken bottle.

So that`s my story, hope you enjoyed and tell your kids to never eat the stringy bit on salami, or garlick sausage for that matter.

An embarrased ger.

RE: Very important

logging on

was in a recent episode of the simpsons the one where Homer can`t stop screaming, Homer, Lenny and Karl were swimming in an old quarry, Lenny is telling everyone about the internet, that webbing in you bathers.

A little while later they find a body in the water they`re all very shocked and Lenny says "I think I just logged on to my internet" Classic.

Just to lower the tone a bit more, what type do you have today? after a cold kebab last night from McDonners (Fave of yours isn`t it Westy?) I am on machine gunners!!! pop popopop pop popopopopop

Off to find the industrial strength bog brush.

Happy Cr4pping

Ger.

RE: TEMPLE OF DOOM CUT?????? WHERE???

Hi all, just 2 questions for you.

1. Which is the best version to get, r1, 2 etc.

2. If it is region 3 or 4 do you know any sites that take switch as havn`t got a visa? I just use play at the moment for r1 and 2.

Would realy like to get the un-cut version is possible.

Thanks in advance, Ger.

RE: Phil Saunders (Barry) bargains

I live in Cardiff but was working in Barry this morning, what a small world eh!!!

Ger.

RE: Philips player skips and freezes

My Philips player recently had the same fault, tried cleaning the lense, blew the dust out of it and it worked ok again for a few weeks then the fault returned but worse, seemed to play up more on cold days and in the morning. Tried cleaning the lense again and it would work for a few days then only for a few hours.

Took it to a friend in the know to look at he said the same, possible laser out of alignment, he also said they sometimes have a pre-heater on the lense to get rid of condensation which can go faulty, like the dew sensor in videos.

To cut a long story short, worked out how much it would cost to repair baring in mind there was no guarantee this would cure the fault and it worked out cheaper to buy a new player. Went for a Toshiba SD220.

Philips is sat on shelf gathering dust now, probably still works intermitently but no spare telly to connect it to, will just keep as a spare for when the Tosh decides to die.

Ger.

RE: If you were given £10 million & you could jack your job in today - what would you do???

First of all I`d buy the company I work for and then sack the boss, that`ll teach the tw&t.

One thing I would honest love to do is to build my own car, one of those kit car projects.

I know they`re not that expensive but it`s finding the time, what with work, bringing up 2 kiddies, watching buffy, working as much overtime as possible for a few extra sheckles and so on, there`s not much time left for me to have a hobby of my own. With work out the way thats at least an extra 40 hours a week to waste.

Plus I would need a house with a big garage and a few grands worth of tools. Then give a nice wedge to all the family and let the wife look after the rest just as long as there`s enough left over to keep us in good living and to pay the bills I would be more than happy.

Off to spend my last £78 on lottery tickets. Sure the wife will understand!!!

Ger.

RE: I cant sleep in my Peugeot, any ideas?

After a recent barney my dad in law slept in the back of his car and was woken up in the middle of the night by 2 coppers tapping on the window.

Basically they told him to find a B & B saying it was againt the law to sleep in a car, he asked what law he had broken and they couldn`t answer so they just gave him a document producer.

Good to know the police havn`t got better things to do like catch real criminals, we must live in a very safe country.

Ger.

RE: Can anyone recommend a decent " Toasted Sandwich Maker?"

We bought one not long ago from argos, it is a Morphy Richards toast and grill, makes very nice butties

But best of all it is dishwasher proof so no more scapping cheese off it, also comes with a spare set of flat plates for griddling burgers or fish.

Here`s a link http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/commerce/command/ExecMacro/ols_prod_detl.d2w/report?prrfnbr=4212959&prmenbr=6970&type=big&thisMode=ols&cgrfnbr=774937

All the best

Ger.

RE: Whats the most blatant product placement you`ve ever seen in a movie???

Anyone seen Josie and the Pussycats,

It is just one long advert, it`s on sky at the moment, watch a few minutes (you`ll go insane if you watch any more than that) and see how many adverts you see.

Ger.

RE: Change of electrical current

You should have no problem at all,

If you check the input voltage on the back or base of your items it is usualy listed as 220-240v or even just 220v. You even find here our supply is usually around the 230v mark and can drop as low as 200v or as high as 260v.

One thing to watch out for is make sure the sockets are earthed, my perants moved to Cairo a few years ago and nothing out there is earthed.

Not a problem for most electrical items but things like computer equipment, washing machine/dishwasher & microwave need a good earth as they return excess power up the earth pin, a surge protection feature in computers but a safety feature in the w/m and d/w.

It doesn`t mean everything is going to blow up as soon as you plug it in just that you will get buzzed by them if you touch a bare metal part and have bare feet as they will earth themselves through you. Feels like pins and needles. Can also be dangerous should anything develope a fault.

One tip is take a couple of 4, 6 or 8 way extension leads pref the surge protected type (quite reasonable in argos) as power can go on and off a lot. That way you only need to buy a local type plug for the extension and just plug all of you equipment in to the extension leads, saves having to change loads of plugs. Also helps as the folks found that in thier apartment there was only 1 or 2 sockets in each room.

I got around the eathing problem at my perants by running a length of cable from each item, taking out a screw and scratching away some paint to make sure of a good connection, then put screw back in with the wire wrapped around it, then running the cable to the nearest gas or water pipe and wrapping the other end around that using an earthing clamp.

Good luck in Dubai, what are you going there for anyway, asume it is work and not pleasure?

Good luck,

Ger.

RE: The best music videos..... ever?

Foo Fighters - Everlong

X-ecutioners & Linkin Park - It`s going down.

& The Junior Senior one just for comedy value..

Ger.

RE: What Kit would you recommend for my bedroom????

How about this

X-Box - now reduced to £125
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RHQT/qid=1050071090/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

DVD playback kit £18
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RKPK/ref=er_ra_acc_dp_1/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

Sound Station Dolby Digital 5.1 audio system (includes input for your minidisk) £150
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000077W0Q/ref=pd_sxp_f/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

X-Box Optical/S-video/Scart Lead £13
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006FRKU/qid=1050070885/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3_3/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

Or the official advanced scart £18
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005TRYX/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l2/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

And then Pre-Order Region X for £18
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000063S36/qid=1050070963/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_2/202-6010885-7023827?tag=myrev09-21

Comes to £324, I know it`s more than you wanted to pay, but you get a good quality multiregion dvd player (eventualy) superb 5.1 sound as loud or as quiet as the other half will allow, plus an amazing games console chucked in to the bargain.

And what`s better, you don`t have to buy it all straight away, just order a bit at a time as and when you need it.

No radio though, but who wants a radio when you could be gaming away on Tony Hawks 4 or Halo.

I`m convinced, think I`ll order one for myself!!!

Happy spending

Ger.

This item was edited on Friday, 11th April 2003, 15:57