Matt’s Journal

Irony…

Posted by Matt under Angry, General, Internet, Spendage

The call me Mr Internet, Internet is my game. If there is something cool, I know about it. If there is something new, I have already used it. Never been hacked, never been conned, never been victim of credit card fraud with my online payments………until now.

I have recorded the message I got on my voicemail, you can listen to it here.

They said that because I hadnt used the card for 6 months it was probably a credit card generator, they knew I was genuine and that I was liable for the purchases, they will send me notifications on what they will do, I sign them and it should all blow away. The account is closed, I never used the card and didnt intend to, I should have closed it earlier.

Doh!

Finally!

Posted by Matt under General, Happy, Tech

OK, this is a geek moment. Every single person who has ever installed an update for their Windows XP will have encountered this annoying popup box. It’s the popup box that when you have installed all the updates they allow you download, it asks Restart Now/Restart Later and then proceeds to popup every 30 minutes until you finally decide to restart.

Well the answer is here. It’s not new, big, clever, infact it’s really simple and most people dont know about it. Here’s how:

Start / Run / gpedit.msc / Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations

You can configure how often it will nag you or completely disable it like I did.

[Source]

edit: This only works for XP Pro.

Enjoy!

Damned if you do and damned if you dont….

Posted by Matt under General, People, Sport

I go to the gym three times a week, I work out as hard as I physically can. There is a dude down there who is physically massive, he has calves the size of my thighs and attends competitions for bodybuilding every month.

Well, he died today. He was in the Sauna at the gym and collapsed with a heart attack. Turns out he was 52, when he only looked 30-odd.

You can do no exercise and live 80 years or goto the gym and die at 50…….if it’s your time, it’s your time.

Current music tastes…

Posted by Matt under Music

I thought I would share some [tag]albums[/tag] and songs that I have been enjoying lately, if you like some of my suggestions, feel free to point me in the direction of the [tag]music[/tag] you like.

The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home
The Kooks - Inside In Inside Out
Keane - Under The Iron Sea
Fort Minor - The Rising Tied

I will add to this later..

Woah…

Posted by Matt under Happy, Update, Work

Another addition for today, this is a very good one!

I had my yearly review today, I had taken an early lunch because of it and came back to face the music.

When I walked in, my boss was surprised that I hadnt taken anything into the meeting with me, I said that a lot of the information that was needed is stored all in my head, “no worries” she says and the review begins.

She starts off with what was said by my old manager in my 3 month review, in big black capitals it says:

“THE INTERNET IS HIS” (wtf!!)

She goes on to explain how I tend to let myself work in isolation, I am told that more delegation is needed if I am to 1) take on more work 2) stop getting stressed when things dont work. It made me chuckle and she enlightens me as to what she has witnessed since I had first joined. From there she basically says that I dont have any job roles set on paper, I should make my own, as the one’s that were first given to me in no way actually detailled what I did. I am allowed to write my own……result!

My then open’s a dossier and says, “Now we have got the crap out of the way, onto the good stuff.” She goes on to explain how I will be made a team leader of a new project, awesome. I have 2 hours to work out if a clients idea is worth using. This to me is great as it is something outside of my normal job and it is a role (consultant) that I could fill as I progress up the working ladder.

We finish with some question and answer’s and I ask if I would be allowed a rise in my pay. She asks me what I think I should be on. Looking after my interests, I say a figure and she tells me that she will up my current pay check by £4500 and upto £6000 if I manage to get some of my projects completed by a set date. A £6000 pay rise is something I could not have imagined, I have gone from being unhappy in my job to suddenly having a whole new set of angles to navigate, awesomeness in a can.

Redirecting Web Pages

Posted by Matt under General, Internet, Tech, Work

Whilst visiting Digg, I came across this site, basically it allows you to redirect people who have come onto your site via Google only to find a 404 error to a valid page (damn, I dont think even I can understand that last sentence!).

Its good if you, like me, have taken over a website from another coder and dont know what pages are actually in use (mine is a particularly large site) and want to keep users on your site and viewing valid content.

Anyways, take a look @ http://www.stevenhargrove.com/redirect-web-pages/