I was thinking of you when I rang our internal IT help desk when my PC took 45 minutes to boot up on Monday and then I couldn't find either my personal folders (what we call the Z drive which are stashed on a server somewhere instead of being on a local C drive - this is so they get backed up etc overnight) or the servers to which I am connected.

So I rang the desk and I was on hold for 25 minutes before I got through. The guy (somewhere in the Baltic - yes I work for a UK company) was harrassed. It seems they'd incorrectly migrated me and a lot of other people onto different servers and it seems they got a few things wrong. It took him half an hour to sort me out. His phone queue had 85 waiting and he said his neghbour had 150+

I reckon he was in for a tough day....

Our entire network went down today and all I did was take call after call from users about this. When I left a 5, Heldesk closes at half 5 we had recieved 372 calls. we also had 103 emails needing attention as well.

We are located on site in Sutton, Surrey and support both the hospitals in the NHS Trust I work at.

Generally when a PC takes ages to boot up we get an engineer to pay the person a visit and usually re-image the PC.

If there is a problem with someones Z drive as you call it, U drive where I work then I would try to remap the drive in Active Directory and then reboot the PC. If that fails then I would log a ticket to our systems team for them to check permissions etc for that drive.

I have drunk a litre of juice

*slosh*

Fermented grape juice?

Ever looked at things you were proud to have in the past and now find absolutely cringeworthy?

When I was 18/19, this was my pride and joy now I look back and cringe beyond belief! It cost me an absolute fortune and I don't know to this day why I *HAD* to have it at the time.

Thing is I had a beautiful MGB before the Porsche addiction started that went on for a number of years, wouldn't thank you for another now.

Funny how life changes, eh?

When it's almost impossible to get altissimo notes up to pitch it's time to put the reed in the bin.

It was rather nice apple and watermelon juice, very drinkable. And unfermented

Nor has my mother - but she has an excuse - she's 91!

My telly actually works now! Reception through the aerial was rubbish but now it's excellent. I must say I'm quite surprised, I expected to have to throw everything away and buy new kit.

Wish Alpha Male Jazz Cat woz 'ere to make Bag a cup of tea.

Goes-to-Make-Own-Tea-As-Too-Early-For-Wine-Bag x

OMG I've fell back in love with playing the clarinet

That'll stop you feeling down!

It looks 'alright' to me. OK, I would agree it is a hairdresser's car, but it looks alright to me. I have never been a great fan of Porsche styling. Jaagwaars have always been more to my liking.

Frankly, I find a lot of cars on the road today look simply hideous, and if you take the badges away you have no idea what they are.

I was following a new Astra one day last week when a Renault Megane or somesuch joined the convoy of cars crawling into town. From behind they both looked identical! Perhaps the bodyshells come out of the same factory? I just hope the Astra's headlight bulbs are easier to change.

SB

What is it with London and SE with the switch off? We didn't get the media blitz that's been running for months when it switched over round here a year or so ago!

Has indeed I have gave myself three months to get Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy for Clarinet ready for a forum concert, lol!! so that should be fun!!

Why do we have to have cupcakes instead of buns?

I really don't know what it is with cupcakes either.

Our son is downstairs listening to a new CD of organ music that he is enthusing about. I cannot hear the music, but I can feel the bass notes through the house! I suspect there is a Double Open 32' drawn.

SB

A bird just flew into my sitting room.

Sitting behind stack of CDs, chirping rather nervously. Poor thing. I'm not sure how best to help it out without giving it a heart attack.

I remember when a small bird managed to get into the library at college many years ago, which caused quite a scene. The only thing they could do was just hope it would find its way back out the way it came in, which it eventually did...

Car Expert

Can you put a light cloth over it so that it can't see, and then pick it up gently???

Birds tend to fly towards the light. How about opening the patio doors, or failing those a window, turning off the room lights and hoping the street lighting will attract it? If it's pretty dark outside you could go out and shine a torch near the window (keeping clear of the opening so that the bird doesn't fly into you).

I remember getting butterflies emerging in my room at college One evening one appeared and kept flapping round the light and I couldn't think what to do...opened window, switched off main light, move desk lamp to windowsill...and it worked!

i forgot about it on the actual day. but friday was my forum birthday (i.e. it's been a year and 3 days since i joined the forums)

This one turned out to be quite tame. After about half an hour it flitted down onto the floor and without too much ado I was able to pick it up and put it outside.


"Happy Birthday" Rach123!

We used to have occasional visits from young birds which would fly down the chimney into our lounge, only to get trapped behind the gas fire. Why or how I don't know, but the gas fire could be moved slightly to let them out.

The next problem was that trapped birds usually try to fly towards light, which means that closed windows can be dangerous for them. I use two tactics:

Firstly, if possible, close the curtains except by way of an open window, so the bird can find its own way out.

Secondly, if a bird flies to a window, but cannot get out, or is on the floor, it is easiest to catch them in a bucket, (putting the upturned bucket over them). Slide a piece of card or similar between the top of the bucket and the floor/window or whatever, so you can safely take it outside to freedom.

It's a wonderful watching a trapped bird flying away into the sky.

SB

anyone else experiencing a broken forum???????

not me.

how strange

it's working now

figured it out, somehow it had got onto linear instead of standard format

I may or may not have had to walk into the physics department barefoot because I forgot to turn in an assignment until minutes before the due time and one of my sandals broke while I was running there...

Seems quiet around here recently.

SB

My morning has included:
Get out clothes I'm going to wear. Chuck on bed.
Get out running clothes. Put them on.
Go out for run.
Get back.
Find cat comfortably curled up on the jeans I was going to wear.

Oh well, I work at home and it's dress-down Friday - I can work without trousers on until she decides to sleep somewhere else

I once worked from home during a tube strike and stayed in flannel pyjamas all day just because i could.

The good thing about my cat being an ex-stray is that she is not used to things inside a house being good to sleep on, and so has be trained to sleep on a rug by the stairs, or a manky towel on the end of my bed. I hope she never figures it out...

My random for the day: I've gone off Mahler.

grade 6 sightreading looks fun

This sounds like a definition of fun I have not previously encountered

All sightreading is fun

I think my jeans grew in the wash.....

I thought they usually shrank !

I've heard of growing on trees, but not that before.

Mine always shrink in the wash. Always.

SB

All the Proms I want to go to are on weekdays

Can you use some of your annual leave to go to a few?

Mine always stretch, I have to tumble-dry them to shrink them down again!

For various reasons, I probably won't have much annual leave left to spare.

Aren't passports expensive...

But you can go to exciting places!

I'd much rather use the excuse of an expired passport to get out of doing that....

OMG I want you http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Roadster...a#ht_500wt_1287 soooooooo much Anyone want to lend me ?20,000 ....

Looking at eBay can be bad for you (or your wallet!)

I thought you posted recently that you had broken your Triumph, which if I remember was a GT6, and you want an even older one!