Polish 404

Log from yesterday when I decided it would be a good idea to hide my ip address.

Search, plenty there, chose one
Install the program, it looks reputable
I see, it uses proxy servers
It must have found a Polish one as I am now in some Polish isp site
I don't want Polish language
Not a great idea, over it
IE will only show a 404 message in Polish, no matter what address is put into the address bar or bookmark clicked on
Try various things, still I can only get Polish 404
Uninstall ip address program
Still Polish 404
I want browser to work so that I can chat to cute guys and check my email
Outlook Express still works, weather stats is not
Now, did I keep Firefox?
Yep, and it works fine
Run adaware, spybot, AVG virus checker. No result
Call Telstra tech support, uninstall IE they said(this is impossible) and reinstall. You have a virus. Tried to reinstall IE but was told I already have it
Happy enough to give Firefox another go. But I don't understand it's bookmark system and I want weather stats to work.
Chat to cute guys via Firefox
Sleep, sort it in the morning
Morning. Everything is still the same. A good rest for the pc fixes nothing
Still IE shows only Polish 404
Am I so stupid to download a malicious program or a virus, probably. It looked reputable
Msconfig shows nothing untoward starting up
Early morning chat with cute guys using Firefox
Have a bit of a good look at Firefox
Check anti IE site using Firefox, it does looks much better
Back of brain works
Reinstall ip hide program
Have a good look at it
Exit search ip hide
IE now works ok and weather stats are back. No more Polish 404
Self flaggelate
Like what a saw at Firefox, there are a couple of issues, but I have worked out it's very superior bookmark system now. I don't always want bookmarks ordered alphabetically though
Will stick with Firefox, R allowing as he will have to get used to it too
Compare anti IE site in IE and Firefox and I really can't see any difference now
But more on screen, big clear buttons, more screen showing, stylishly simple, and fast as
Waiting for Firefox Word

Another tag

Two in a week. Thanks M!key. I won't do any for a while now.

Two Parts of Your Heritage
1. France
2. Scotland

Two Things That Scare You
1. Weird scary people
2. Sometimes I am on a footpath and I feel very vulnerable to passing traffic. Especially if there isn't any street furniture nearby.

Two Fears You Overcame
1. None, all still there
2.

Two of Your Everyday Essentials
1. A decent shower, with a non water saving shower head
2. Air conditioning

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. 2Xist underwear
2. A tee with a picture of an Indian taxi with Bombay Taxi written on it

Two Things You Wore Too Much This year
1. Trainers
2. Every shirt I buy I wear it to death for a month or two

This year's Favourite Bands or Musical Artists
1. Not taken notice of new music since 2000
2. Well, I did belatedly discover Fine Young Canibals


Two Things You Want in a Relationship
1. Respect
2. Generosity with his money

Two of your Favourite Movies of the Year
1. Look Both Ways
2. I have seen a few, but no others come to mind

Best Movies of All Time
1. Diva
2. Cabaret
3. Mary Poppins

Two Things You Hate
1. People who know too much
2. People who don't know enough

Two of Your Favourite Hobbies
1. History
2. Buildings


Two Things You learned Last Year
1. How to cut and paste html
2. That when you have good, long term friends, you are fortunate

Two Accomplishments You are Proud of (from this year?)
1. Learning how to ride a bike again
2. Keeping my 'urges' under control

Two Things You Want Really Badly
1. Money of course
2. To be very old and see what happens in the world and what is invented or cured

Two Places You Went Last Year
1. Nothern Territory
2. The best place, home

Two Places You Want to Go on Vacation
1. Vietnam/Cambodia, again
2. Goa

Two Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Stop working
2. Have enough money to pay for sex

Two Ways that you are a Stereotypical Example of your Gender
1. Reluctant to ask directions
2. Disappearing flat stomach

Two Things that Make You Stand Out (from your gender)
1. No sport
2. No chicks

Two Things You Normally Wouldn't Admit
1. I'm actually a reasonably nice person
2. I like very trashy people

Two Goals for the New Year
1. Reduce debt
2. Improve diet and exercise

I tag thee:
I don't know enough bloggers to do this a second time in a week

Sydney Transport Pt 3

The nicest aspect to Sydney's transport are the ferries. Big ones, little ones, busy ones, quiet ones, old ones, newer ones. What a lovely way to travel to work. Of course we had to go to Manly for a visit. More ticket trouble.

I did not buy the ticket but R bought some heavily reduced ten trip ticket or something like that, which covered the four of us for a return trip for a lesser price than eight individual return tickets would have cost. While in Melbourne, you can't share a ticket like that, evidently you can on the ferries.

The idea is one person goes through and hands the ticket back to the next person to go through the turnstyle. Fine until the last person tried to go through. The barrier would not open. Shoved the ticket in again, still would not open, try again, and again. Eventually staff indicated to move away from the barrier. There must be a sensor so that it won't open if someone is on the other side. Ok, fine we are all through. Give me the ticket I asked. Sure enough, we had used eight of the trips with the mucking around. We need four to get back.

I saw the ticket person at the other end and he told me to explain when we were returning. We did and did not have to use the ticket at all.

Sydney Transport Pt 2

I knew it was not going to work as I was doing it. You know how as you are doing something and you know it is not right, but you press on.

We were at Kings Cross Station and we wanted to go to Circular Quay via Town Hall Station for some shopping. I bought tickets to Circular Quay. As we went through the ticket barriers at Town Hall, the led said 'Ticket Captured' which is the normal message if your ticket is not for further use. (What do Melbourne's turnstyles say when they keep your ticket???) We sould have stayed withing the station confines if we wanted to go to the Quay. But that would entail two tickets it would seem. We had to buy two anyway, although the first one would have been cheaper to just go to Town Hall.

Ok, I am a pig headed male who won't ask questions of staff. There were plenty around the city too, but not really at the Cross.

Sydney Transport Pt 1

As previously mentioned, during our visit to Sydney, we used a lot of taxis. We did not have one bad experience. It was usually cheaper and faster. The exception was to get to the centre of town. We always used the train. It might be four minutes by train to Town Hall Station, twenty by taxi. Apart from the first train we caught, they were all air conditioned. They were clean, quiet, comfortable and no graffiti, except for that which was scratched into glass.

Of course we took the o/s rels to Bondi Beach and we caught the train to Bondi Junction, had lunch and then the bus to the beach. You buy one ticket for the whole journey and can break your journey at Bondi Juction.

But what a farce it is. You have a seated train load arriving every fifteen minutes and probably more that half want to go onto Bondi Beach. Packed bus load after bus load. You have no chance of getting straight on the first bus as there will already be a queue of those who could not fit on the last bus.

I heard that the locals did not want the Eastern Suburbs railway to continue to the Bondi Beach as it would attract too many people. Well, news for them, it does anyway and it is a thriving and lively area, unlike the first time I visited in the early eighties. I would describe it as seedy and down at the heel back then.

This situation is ridiculous and needs rememdying promptly. Bugger the tram in the city. The train needs to be extended.

Sydney Kings Cross

'The Cross' has changed a bit over the years. It doesn't feel quite as sleazy as it used to. Backpackers abound and there are plenty of average type tourists like us as well. There didn't seem to be the number of str8 aussie blokes there for the strip clubs or the number of strip clubs. The only time I saw girls hanging around in doorways was early one morning.

It is quite a pedestrian friendly area. The traffic all moves very slowly and it never gets congested, well not that I saw. At one end of the main area is the Al Alamein fountain set in paved park and the other end the huge messed up interesection of William Street and various minor streets. There are lots of trees for shade and it feels comfortable.

Most of the trees look to be London Plane trees, but the growth habit is not the same as in Melbourne. They have longer more spindly branches and seem to be reaching for the sky. The canopy is more open. I can only guess that this is because they grow more quickly in warmer climate.

The spade is not a spade

We Aussies are proud of the fact that we live in a bribery free society. Even when we are operating overseas in business, we never pay bribes. Federal Minister Ruddock says we do pay 'modest facilitation fees' and they are tax dedcutible for the company paying them. But Australian companies paying bribes, nah. What was the Australian Wheat Board, has paid some 'modest facilitation fees' of a rather large amount. No matter how the Federal Government is implicacted or proved to be involved, nothing sticks.

It is the marginals you see. Hurt them, and the government will lose office. The marginals care not two hoots about corruption overseas by Aussie companies. That is nothing to do with their world or life, ob, house, car, childcare, Chadstone, Ackland Street on Sunday, movies, dvd.

Apologies to those who live in marginals and do care.

Sydney Buildings

In some ways Melbourne is so terribly different to Sydney. One early morning R and I took off for a long walk around the environs of the Cross, Potts Point, Darlinghurst and there is really nothing like these areas in Melbourne. Flat block after flat block, old and new and in between. Spic and span or neglected. Jammed up against each other. Every space maximised.

We caught a cab to Woolloomooloo for dinner one evening and returned in one as well. We twisted through streets and I knew enough direction that I knew we wern't being cheated. But the cab driver on the way home asked us why we did not just walk up the steps? Sure enough, had we walked down Victoria Street, there are steps down to Wool...forget it. Ok, a bit of walk and excersice on steps, but still. Cab fare total for evening, $20, divided by four, equals $5 each. Most of the time it was cheaper for the four of us to catch a cab to go anywhere.

But where in Melbourne can you get from one suburb to another by climbing some steps?

I am learning

Well I now know what <(no space)li(nospace)> does. It makes a dot. See last post. It is quite logical when you think about it really.

Don't ask me to write your html

I will display my total ignorance of writing code for the internet. I don't even know if that is the correct phrase for making a web page do stuff. I have an idea that the code is called html, although I also have an idea that there are other types.

I made a few changes to my blog page. I added a couple of worthy bloggers and finally filled in my profile details, to a point. I had some difficulty with the blog page edits. Why is

showing on the page after adding a blogger. Ignore it and it will go away. I add another and another

appears. While I used to quite good at pick the difference in the two almost identical pics and I am not too bad at proof reading, it took a lot of staring at the code to realised I had added something extra and then copied the mistake in the next line.

That fixed, why won't the last added blog show as linked? Maybe it needs a www in it. Nope, no difference. More staring at the code. href, not herf. Idiot.

I am not used to to having to be so accurate. I rarely use a spell checker and I am quite happy for typos, spelling and gramatical errors to be published. Well, not in anything important, but for a blog I don't feel it matters too much. If I had to take so much care, I really wouldn't bother with a blog. If it was your private written diary, would you spell check it? I do re-read what I have written thought, because I often leave words out, especially prepositions and conjunctions.

In case you think I am extremely talented and that I would be an asset to your business, make me an offer, but not to write computer code.

Smoking

The o/s rels are smokers so when we went into a bar in Darlo Rd, they immediately lit up. It was obviously not an eating area. No, they were told. Move over to that very crowded area and smoke there. We did. We went to another room to donate some money to the NSW government via the electronic machines. Everyone smoking, which is not allowed in Victoria. Stupid o/s rel partner went to change some money at window with a cigarrette in his hand. Can't smoke at the window, he was sharply told. In five minutes, lass who told him he couldn't smoke at the window, left the booth and lit up herself. All very odd.

1900 Phone Scam

I had heard about a phone scam involving a 1900 telephone number and a supposedly free ringtone. Then it was mentioned here. My phone bill arrived recently so I checked it carefully. 76 sms by 25 cents equals $19. And that was the figure on the bill, so I guess I wasn't scammed. The idea of the recipient being charged for an sms seems strange to me.