Virtualisation and a decade of death

Today is a bit of an odd day. It’s the tenth aniversary of my dad’s death. I decided therefore it was a good day to carry out a few changes, say goodbye to a few things and move on.

Started off with breakfast as normal, then I decided to do another vlog, so sat in bed and recorded another one off the cuff. It was back to virtualising my old PC. This was a machine running Windows 2000 and probably dated back well before that OS came out. I only ever used it to run Microsoft Money on. Last night I’d left it so it could boot, this morning I was trying to change the display resolution. After an hour or so I had to give up and take the dogs for a walk. Came back and had a light lunch, then it was off to Staverton.

It’s been about three weeks since I’d flown so was really looking forward to it. Today, really was all about circuits. Considering I’d hadn’t been up for a while and there was quite a strong wind I didn’t give a second thought to hovering, it just came completely naturally. I took off to the North West and we flew over the flood planes, this was a very different view to what I’ve seen before, it was really quite strange seeing a lot of Tewkesbury under water. We did an auto-rotation from 3,000ft and then returned to the airfield. It was then about a solid hour of circuits. So doing a 360 lookout, taking off to the North West, right turn, climbing to 700ft, levelling off, then turn again, carb heat full, down to 15 inches and start the descent. Keep it at 60 knots until 300ft then keep the landing spot in the middle of the windscreen with the collective and keep it coming towards you at a constant rate with the cyclic. Must of done about ten circuits, okay so a few were too quick, too high, too slow etc. But I need to get the hang of it. But every single one I landed unaided, I don’t think James had to touch the controls once. Really enjoyed that one, it was getting very dark towards the end so even got some night flying in. Really must sort my medical out now as it’s getting very close to solo time.

Came back and Sarah popped round to pick up some lights. It was then back on that PC virtualisation. I installed VMware tools using a later version of VMplayer and then everything was fine. I uninstalled a load of stuff that was no longer required and that was it, old pc working perfectly in a window on my big machine. It was time now to wave goodbye to the old PC. I disconnected it all and moved the monitor the bathroom. Nothing wrong with it at all, £400 worth if IIyama and it’s about to be escorted to the tip. I moved the iMac over to it’s position and gave everything a thorough clean. It was a shame to kill the old machine, but really anything running Windows 2000, it was really time to say goodbye. The iMac is now in a good position where I can actually use it. I had a play around with some paint shop type programs to try and do a back ground for my YouTube page, boy have I got a shit load of learning to do. I’ve ordered a book on iMovie, I may look at getting Photo Elements or something as well. I enjoy the playing around.

Had a good tidy up. Cleaned out the lizard tanks. Printed out all the stuff for New Years. I think that’s going to be good fun, tacky, but good fun.

And now here I am, typing this on the iMac. It’s quite nice. Early start tomorrow, think I’ll head to bed shortly and do a bit of reading.

Anyway, don’t forget, you can follow me on twitter @mannmansion or now you can go to my new YouTube channel MannMansion and watch video of my talking about my weird life with a bonus nipple shot.

There will probably be no update tomorrow as I’m in London, but certainly over the next few days I’ll be doing a bit of a review and a round up of the rather strange year.

A time for virtual retirement

So today started fine, my neck is a lot better now. Had breakfast and then cracked on. A list of things to do today. First thing I wanted to do really was to move the iMac, but this requires creating some space. Now I have a very old PC in the corner, by old I think it dates back to probably about 1996. It’s still in use. Every Saturday I crank it up and run Microsoft Money on it. It runs Windows 2000, an operating system that hasn’t had an update in at least five years, Internet Explorer no longer works on it, the only browser that does seem to work is FireFox and that keeps on moaning that it’s out of date. I installed Microsoft Money on my main PC and restored the backup. I’ve now got that all working, instead of backing up to a couple of dodgy floppies it now backs itself up to DropBox in the cloud. I didn’t want to destroy the machine completely though as I’d certainly like to keep a copy of it. So I installed VMware converter and let it do it’s thing. I forgot that this PC is so old it only has a 10mbps network card in it, so it’s happily creating a virtual image of itself at 7.8MB/sec. It’s taking a while, and the first attempt failed at 97% with a registry error, I fixed that and now have to go through the whole bloody thing again. Still, progress. I cleared up under the bench ready to move the iMac, but it will be tomorrow now before I do that.

In other news, Jamie has yet another cold, I’m sure it’s the same one he’s had for about four years though. Walked the dogs. Forgot to have lunch. Picked up the dog poo. Sterilised an awful lot of bottles and buckets. Transferred my Chardonnay, it will need doing again as it picked up quite a lot of sediment. Put the stabilizer in the Pinot, that will require a lot of beating.

We ate out at Frankie and Benny’s, the new one by the MOD. It was very nice, had a lovely burger. Cokes were pricey though.

Came back and created a new YouTube webpage, so this is the one my videos will be logged under. Still sorting out uploads and stuff at the moment, but with Jamie’s help it’s actually getting there.

Flying tomorrow, I’m sure I’ve forgotten everything now though as it’s been about three weeks.

Wine and pain killers, the ultimate combo

So the day started fairly slowly with my neck killing again and couldn’t sleep at all. I took an absolute shed load of diclofenac or there was just no way I was going to be able to move and be the life and soul of any party. That slowly kicked in. So I did something rather weird and quite fun….I sat there with my iPad and made a twelve minute vlog with no editing, straight off the cuff. That was pretty good going. Then spend ages trying to work out how to upload to YouTube, using a combination of iMac’s, iPad’s and PC’s. Using more processing power than launched the first space shuttle I finally got it p there. The channel needs a lot more work, so I’m not going to broadcast any links yet.

I took the dogs out and found a dead cat. So I drove out afterwards and picked it up and dropped it at the vets, hopefully it was chipped. I then had lunch and trundled down to Whiteladies Road. Picked up a new wall planner and a Richer Sounds catalogue. Wandered back and got stuck in traffic. Got home, downed a load more anti-flams and had a shower.

Mother picked us up. Arrived at Sarah’s. Visited Daniel in his lair, he was orgasming over his PC. I visited Connor, gave him £20 for drugs or whatever and admired the smell. Meal was very good, yet another roast, but this time it was duck. I consumed a bottle of wine, was the life and soul of the party, ripped into mother at every opportunity. I gave the boys an Xbox One, aren’t I nice. I then spent two hours over the thrown feeling rather dizzy, this is the second time I’ve mixed diclofenac with alcohol, I should have really learnt the first time. You don’t really feel drunk, just very disorientated. It’s a bit like MDMA but without Modanna. After one or the other worn off I was fine. Played some odd game. Came home, ate cheese, read a book for a couple of hours. Actually managed to get some sleep.

Well this reunion worked out just fine

Didn’t sleep much last night due to my neck, a muscle in spasm apparently. So stayed in bed in a comfortable position to try and get some sleep. Soon time to drive over to Gloucester Road area and meet up with an old friend.

We met in the ‘Tinto Lounge’ which is one of these ‘uber’ cafes. It was lovely to see him again, hasn’t changed a bit. We caught up on eighteen years of history. He had fish and chips and I had a chicken burger, food was very good. Conversation flowed freely and it brought back a lot of fond memories. I still reckon it was the best job I ever had. (For those that don’t know, it was a company called ‘Cyberdrome’ and we installed large scale Crystal Maze’s in bowling allies all over the world). I think the only odd part of the conversation came after about an hour when I had to explain that Jamie, wasn’t in fact my brother:) We nattered for about two hours.

Came back and walked the dogs. Then I set-up my new iPad Air. All pretty straightforward. Did a few maintenance bits on the PC and took some power readings, ready for the tax return. Also played around with iMovie for a bit and did my first ten second youtube video (it’s a private channel, so know you can’t see it).

Then I retired to bed to rest my neck with a hot pillow and the first three episodes of Dexter Season 7, all good so far. Now must be time for a bath.

Well that was also fairly painless

I stayed in bed while Jamie went to work and read a book. The problem now is my neck is killing me. Jamie came home and put on nice pants. We eventually got up, had a light lunch then took the dogs over to the field where we chucked a ball about for half an hour.

Came back and I fitted a gyro to a CP2, it has interesting behaviour. I want to give it a try in the open really.

Tidied up. Mother arrived. We fed her curry. There was awkward small talk and ancient anecdotes. Food was fine. She was only here a couple of hours, it was painless and bless, only once a year. Now I really have to have a bath and get some heat on my neck. Tomorrow should be fun, meeting an old friend.

Actually that was quite enjoyable

So this morning started off with a stocking, which contains amongst other things, a giant inflatable penis, a cock ring, some chocolate bums and some cola cocks. Still could be worse. I gave Jamie a couple of presents, some headphones and some socks.

I had breakfast, the dogs had theirs, Jamie eventually got up and had his. We packed the car up and set out. A boot full of presents and two dogs. We arrived in good time. The dogs started to be a pain in the ass from the outset, we gave them bones and stuff but they were full of it. After a couple of hours we settled down to dinner.

Now after the piss take we gave Alison a couple of years ago for her Yorkshire puddings and mash we were a bit shocked. Okay, my started consisted of a bowl of fruit from a can, but the prawn starter everyone else had look excellent. Then on to the main course, she had put some serious effort in there. Turkey slices, chicken leg, pigs in blankets (mine was only pigs, plus points there), red cabbage in apple, carrots in honey, real roast. It was gorgeous, I was stuffed. This was then followed by home made Christmas pud which was also fantastic.

We took the dogs out for a walk with Megan, while they cleared up. We were about half hour. Then came the present unwrapping. I got an engraved wine glass from Alison and a book on helicopter accidents, which really is my kind of thing. Jamie got me a new G-Shock watch, which is cool as the current one the buttons are knackered. I don’t like the strap but that can be changed. I also have an angry birds helicopter and a boy-band calender. Alison got her Kindle and a coffee machine. We were out in the kitchen when Jamie gave me another present, it was an iPad Air, so top points for that, and the special cover as well. It’s engraved, “From your loving husband. AKA Bum Boy”. Ah, he knows me so well. We stayed a bit longer but it was baking and the dogs were getting fidgety, so we made a move. Journey was all fine.

Sat down and had a glass of wine. Will now have a shower and probably follow it with another glass.

Jamie has one more surprise, but he will have to sleep on this one.

Ding dong merrily on low

So this morning started at about 6:15, both dogs had already been out twice, I’d been out about three times. Joys of not drinking anything I was up like a shot. Dogs were in the car by 6:20, we were there by 6:30. I was back in bed by 7:00.

I was frozen, Jamie was warm, he warmed me up, in a similar way to which you would start a fire with a stick. He went to work.

I started at about 10, as the cleaners rang to say they were on there way. Got stuck into it pretty much straight away. I was on a mission of something I wanted to complete so just got my head down and got on with it.

Not to say that twitter didn’t get in the way. Dan Howell (Danisnotonfire) tweeted some fun thing about 22 not being old (I think one of one direction had hit this age). It went along the lines of “~youth is a state of mind not a number~ well until you go grey and wrinkly but that’s what surgery is for jk”, to which I posted, “@danisnotonfire You’re only as old as the boy that you feel. (Or 25 in my case).”. To which in great surprise I got a response, “@mannmansion as in groping or a mental state sorry that was silghtly unclear”. I replied and said it was the former but it was okay because we are married. It got 183 favourites and 49 re-tweets so it made my day anyway. The stalking will continue.

Finished work. Had a bath with Jamie. Drank wine. Now waiting for the takeaway to turn up. Fun times.

So I carried a car bonnet across Japan

So first thing this morning I towed the kart to a field and met up with the other guys. Somehow I’d manage to acquire a stash of nyloc wheel nuts so I was handing these out. I walked back to the car and decided I’d go for a walk. But I thought I couldn’t go for a walk empty handed so I unscrewed the car bonnet, stuck it under my arm, it was quite comfortable as the bracket sat under my chin. I got on a small cushion and started hovering, I was getting strange looks just outside the petrol station but I continued on my way until I got to the Trocadero Centre. I then decided that if I kept turning left I would end up where I started. So I turned left and headed for Shinjuku, then left again to Harijuku. At this point I ended up in a small office where there was woman negotiating with a couple of kids about fly posting. I soon left here and turned left again, all was fine as I was back at the petrol station, still hovering on my cushion with a car bonnet under my chin.

I woke up. The rest of the day just wasn’t as interesting. Work was quiet, so I got a few bits done. Weather has been awful, so briefly took the dogs out when it was dry. Did more work. No gym today as it closed early. Tidied up the house, as the cleaners are coming tomorrow. Repaired the arcade cabinet, it had a weird fault where the ‘up’ was only operating on release, so I’ve rewired it to another channel. I’ve also changed the joysticks so they work properly on diagonals. Now I’m waiting for Jamie to bugger off so I can wrap up the Christmas presents.

Today I had a ‘me’ day, this is how my mother must feel every day of her life

So this morning started off with letting the dogs out, not that it did a great deal of good as Dillon shit on the floor later anyway. Had breakfast for three, coffee and emails and shit. Got up eventually. Thought about starting on the lounge, then thought sod it, I’ll have a play around instead. So I set up the CX2 extreme on the DX6i and got that all going. Then I disassembled the E-Sky 4-in-1 on one of the CP2’s and installed an AR6100, so that was compatible with the DX6i. That was actually really good fun. And it seems to fly okay. I’ll take that one outdoors over Christmas and give it a good blast.

Walked the dogs with Jamie. Then played on the arcade cabinet. Did a bit of re-wiring, so we have an extra player 2 coin slot, also fixed the exit game button. Played ‘Dragon’s Lair’ lots. Played with all it’s settings. Had a bath while Jamie wrapped presents. Will now get the tea on. Work for a couple of days, but I think it’s only me in, so I can just get on with it. The gym is closed. So may go for a walk or do some running or something.

If you put your costume on you can call me Cersei

So today started once again how I like to start a Saturday. With coffee, cereal and a warm dog. Once that was out of the way I looked through the Christmas radio times and worked out what I’m going to watch and when the Royal Institution Christmas lectures are on.

Got up and walked the dogs. I surprised Dillon with a bit of a Pincer manoeuvre with his harness. As soon as he had it on he was fine.

Came back and then went over to Tesco’s to pick up a couple of bits for a couple of meals this week. Bought a couple of large bones for the dogs. Saw Jamie and game of thrones boy. They are off shopping again tomorrow. I’m sure they’ll end up in the back of a car park somewhere, with “Oh Tyrion”, “Oh Cersei”, being shouted out as the suspension creeks.

Had lunch. Went into town, which wasn’t as heaving as I was expecting. Picked up a couple of small presents. Visited mother, listened to her talk about herself. Showed her how to use her Amazon account to buy books. She will have forgotten by now and will no doubt be phoning me later about it. Have a nice iced Christmas cake though. Fruit cake always makes me fart a lot.

Did the accounts, paid bills. Renewed my virus killer. I’m cooking tonight, yay, Fajitas. Think I’ll play on the arcade cab for a bit, have a bath and then get the food on. Jamie’s out tomorrow, so I may do something really Christmassy and start looking at decorating the lounge.