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Christmas has come early

MishY — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:01:01 GMT

Rage Against The Machine - Killing in the name of #1 :)

AT&T - "Reach Out and Touch Someone"

Jintan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:54:22 GMT

About 8 months ago I opened a small shop. I initially relied on my cell phone for all business contacts, but after a few customers mentioned trouble locating my business phone number I arranged for local phone service from AT&T.

Although I installed all my own internal wiring, the install cost was still $170. Then a second bill that also reflected some adjustment and overlap expenses (not in my favor), and finally two months of stable billing where I could finally get an sense of what my regular monthly phone service bills would be.

$100. Per month. For one phone.

One hundred dollars per month, for only one phone, and the use of AT&T's call-forwarding service. And as a one-man shop, I always had the phone set to call forward, to my cell phone.

One hundred dollars per month also for a phone number that was rarely being used, with the exception of the daily calls from Visa companies testing to hustle a new customer:

"Hi, do you accept Visa?"

"Yes, I do."

"Okay, thanks". click

No other calls, as the phone service was set up after the phone directories had been printed, so no listing until next year.

I decided $100 was just too much, and also just not worth what little it was providing the business. So I contacted AT&T, and after surviving the phalanx of machine-generated questions, account number key-in requirements and redirects, I was able to reach someone to discuss the situation.

Nice person, who agreed that $100 to just have a telephone was pretty expensive, but that this was what my bill added up to.

When I told them to go ahead and close out the account, they came up with an alternative - just use AT&T for call forwarding, and not have a physical phone line at all. For $18 per month this would maintain my assigned number, as if the phone line to the business existed, and all calls to that number would instead be forwarded by AT&T to a number I chose. I would not be able to have fax services with this plan, but was not using those anyway, so I agreed to this novel idea, and had them set the service to forward all calls to my cell phone (which is what I was doing anyway).

A few days later a local person came to my shop. They had been trying to call my AT&T number, but kept getting the requirement to dial 1, and after doing that got looped back to that same requirement again.

I contacted AT&T, survived the phalanx again, got bounced by one support person once, then again got a nice person to discuss the new issues with. Apparently my AT&T "number" is assigned to a specific phone tower, and now all calls from that tower to the one my cell phone is assigned to happens to be long distance. Although it hadn't been when I had the actual physical phone line.

When I told them to go ahead and close out the account, they came up with an alternative - I could pay $28 per month for 500 minutes of long distance service, and then all calls from AT&T to my cell phone would be automatically forwarded, of course now as an extra charge for me.

I could not think of any alternative other than shutting off the service, so again I agreed to this novel plan. And yes, almost immediately I began to receive forwarded (now long distance) calls:

"Hi, do you accept Visa?"

"Yes, I do."

"Okay, thanks". click

Soon to be followed by daily calls from AT&T "Customer Support" (Sales) personnel, telling me they called to review my plan with me, to ensure that I was getting all the benefits I was due. I admit wanting to tell each of them that I could barely walk after having received all the AT&T benefits I had so far, but instead took the time to explain to them I only have a call forwarding service, and them calling me costs me a long distance charge.

And today I received three letters from AT&T. One is a close-out bill for my former phone service. The second was a $85 check, as payment for the amount AT&T owed me for funds I had overpaid on that closed service. And the third is my new call forwarding/long distance bill, amounting to $87. It is more confusing than the earlier AT&T bills, including such items as a $14 credit for a remote call-forwarding prorated period between last month and now, and a $27 charge for a remote call-forwarding prorated period between last month and now (again, the math obviously not in my favor).

I guess I could again contact AT&T, survive the phalanx again, and ask a nice person what these many charges are (the $28 long distance charge actually became $33). I will have to think on it a while.

From what I can tell though, I am now paying AT&T about $30/month to not have a telephone, and an additional $30/month for long distance service for that. And now receiving regular calls from AT&T, and being charged long distance for that.

A plus is that I am not being charged extra for not having a fax service.

"Reach Out and Touch Someone".

I feel touched.

Waiting for release canadiate version of Windows 7

rynprov — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Since I missed out on the beta release version of Windows 7, I'm awaiting the release candiate version of Windows 7, with some improvements (I hope). I do not know when it'll be released, but I hope they'll release it soon. I'll keep an eye on it.

Harrie's Saturday Food Tip

Harrie — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:42:27 GMT

Like peanut butter? Think you know the best brand? Well think again! Try Naturally More, you can get it at Walmart. It's advertised as "more" than peanut butter, and it is! The ingredients are roasted peanuts, wheat germ, flax seed, cane sugar, egg whites, honey, and flaxseed oil. So there you go, you get your omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids and can feel good about that, but to heck with that really, it tastes great! I tell no tales. Do try it! :happy: And oh yeah, NOT connected in any way to Peanut Corporation of America and their problems. :wave:

PS on the cheap

zipulrich — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 02:18:42 GMT

Every once in awhile, the rig I built a few years ago sounds like a puking Howler Monkey for a minute, then the sound goes away. Narrowed it down to the power supply.
The other day, I stopped at my local used-PC-parts store, found a dual-fan Enermax (rated 100W higher than my puking monkey) for 5 bucks. Bought it, took it home, installed it, and all works beautifully.
Just thought you should know.

Well how about that!

bAdWaYz — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 11:59:58 GMT

Wow CTH has a blog for its members now. I don't know what is better the internet or spam. Now all the CTH folks can blog away with what life has dished out from day to day. With all the things going on here at CTH however, I wonder if anyone will ever actually see a blog or bother to read it. Only time will tell on that one. Well thats it for now stay tuned there will be more to follow....

To Google or not to Google

z1p — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:47:31 GMT

I have been a bit of a fan of Google for a while. I don't mean just the search engine, rather what the company puts out in general. Unlike so many companies out there they seem to think about how people use their products. Now I don't think all their stuff hits the mark and some definitely fall flat. But, even those that don't take off can be fun and of some interest.

There was a recent release from Google of a new feature related to their book search. A while ago I looked at the book search and it was interesting, but I didn't have a big use for it.

Now, Google is letting you create your own list of books. With it you can review, label and rate your books. Once that is done you or someone else can search the library. For someone like me that seems to keep increasing their pile of books, the 'My Library' feature might be useful. I just need to find a way to get all my books entered. I wonder if I can get my children to type the information in or would that violate child labor laws.

Well, I hope that Google keeps coming out with more toys for me to play with. Maybe next they will come out with a 'Google Beer' and we can use to track lufbra's stash. :D

Random Ramblings

PurestLight — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:19:03 GMT

*Tip of the Day*
Youngest son sat on some chewing gum while we were out shopping the other day, great lump of it stuck to his derriere, and even after following the well known trick of putting his trackies in the freezer and trying to chip it off it stayed put. I found the solution though :) Sprayed copious quantities of brake cleaning fluid on offending stuff and after a good rub, off it came :thrilled:

=================================
*Pesky Things*
I was bitten by a mosquito yesterday. Never had a mosquito bite before and now Ive scratched it and it hurts :sad: I didnt realise we had the biting kind (or any kind actually) here. We've had quite a lot of them in the house just recently, seems to be pretty common in these parts at the moment. I'll just blame the weather shall I? Is anyone else having bother with them? Its getting much cooler now though, maybe that will kill the blighters.

Followup....

zipulrich — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:42:53 GMT

So today I'm hobbling around at work, probably look like I'm half drunk. I get asked "Dude, what happened??" I said "It's just a 'male' problem."

Everyone's leaving me alone. Nice.

And my dog grins every time he sees me.

Labor Day

zipulrich — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:29:27 GMT

Running on the beach with my dog today, I broke my toe on a rock. Trying to show off to my dog.
He was really impressed.:disgust:

HOWTO: Install Django with Postgresql on Vista

MishY — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:54:47 GMT

About Django

The Django Website

Quote:

Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.

Developed and used over two years by a fast-moving online-news operation, Django was designed to handle two challenges: the intensive deadlines of a newsroom and the stringent requirements of the experienced Web developers who wrote it. It lets you build high-performing, elegant Web applications quickly.

Few notes about this howto

This howto describes the basics of getting django up and running on Vista. I wrote this because I couldn't find any one source that had everything I needed that was up2date. This tutorial does not cover many of Django, Python and Postgress intricacies but should be enough to get you started. I am currently learning Django, but am posting this in the hope it may be useful to someone.

Preparation

The first thing we need to do is download some software:

Postgresql
SVN
Python
MX-Extensions
Win-Pyscopg

Postgresql

Go to http://wwwmaster.postgresql.org/download/mirrors-ftp and pick the location closest to you.

You will need to download the win32 version of Postgres with the installer. At time of writing the file was called "postgresql-8.2.4-1.zip".

SVN

Because Django is always under heavy development it is advisable to install SVN so you can regularly update your copy of django easily.

You can get SVN from here: http://subversion.tigris.org/servlet...st?folderID=91

Get the latest version. At time of writing this was called "svn-1.4.5-setup.exe".

Python

You can get Python from here: http://www.python.org/download/

Download the Python 2.5.1 (or latest version) Windows installer.

MX-Extensions

Go here: http://www.egenix.com/products/python/

Click on the eGenix.com mx Base Distribution link.

Scroll down the next page to the downloads section. Here you should download the version that matches your Python version.

Win-Psycopg

You can get win-psycopg here: http://stickpeople.com/projects/python/win-psycopg/

Download the version that matches your Python version. Because I'm using Python 2.5.x I downloaded "win-psycopg25.zip".

Installation

Postgresql

Extract the Postgres zip to your desktop.

In order to install Postgres on Vista and not have to disable UAC, click from the start menu:

Start > Programs > Accessories.

Right click the Command Prompt shortcut and click "Run as Administrator", and then click "Continue" when prompted.

Navigate to your desktop folder.

Code:

cd c:\users\your username\Desktop

Then run the postgres msi (not the one that ends -int).

Code:

postgresql-8.2.msi

Progress through the wizard with its default options and specify both a password for the postgres user account that will run the postgres service, and also a password for the postgres database superuser.

SVN

Run the SVN exe. It should by default install to C:\Program Files\Subversion or C:\Program Files (x86)\Subversion for 64bit Vista users.

Python

Run the Python MSI. When I install Python I always install to C:\Python. It is important that you remember here where you install Python to.

MX-Extensions

Run the MX-Extensions MSI. It will ask you where to install it. This should be installed into your Python folder. ie. C:\Python (if you followed my preference).

Win-psycopg

Unzip the win-psycopg zip file to your desktop. Copy both the libpq.dll and pyscopg.pyd files into your Python\DLLs folder.

Important note on PATHs

Both Python and its scripts folder needed to be added to your PATH variable.

Hold down the Windows Key and press Pause Break.

Click the "Advanced System Settings" option from the sidebar of the window and continue on the following dialogue box.

Click on the "Environmental Variables" button.

From the 2nd Window that is entitled "System Variables" scroll down until you see Path.

Double click on PATH. A box will come up detailing the locations currently in your PATH variable.

Scroll to the end of that list and add the following:

Code:

;c:\Python\Scripts;c:\python

Note the ; at the start. Each location needs to be seperated by a ;

Please also note that you must alter the locations above if you chose not to install python as I have. For example it may need to be:

Code:

;c:\Python25\Scripts;c:\python25

If you followed the default Python install.

If your PATH variable already has a ; at the end you do not need to add it.

This is my PATH variable for example:

Quote:

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\Sy stem32\Wbem;C:\Program Files (x86)\Subversion\bin;c:\Python\Scripts;c:\python

Now we can proceed with downloading Django.

Install Django

Close any command prompt windows you have open. Command prompt windows need to be closed and reopened after PATH changes.

Open up a command prompt (Start > Run > type "cmd" hit enter). Note that this command prompt does not require administrative priviledges.

Traverse to C:\

Code:

cd \

Type this into the command prompt:

Code:

svn co http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk/ django_src

SVN will then pull down the latest Django svn.

Now CD to the django_src folder.

Code:

cd django_src

Type the following to install Django.

Code:

python setup.py install

When the install has finished we'll CD back to C:\

Code:

cd \

Now create a Django folder.

Code:

mkdir django

and CD into this new folder.

Code:

cd django

We can now create our first django project:

Code:

django-admin.py startproject testproject

Now CD into the new project that has been setup by django:

Code:

cd testproject

The first thing to do to make sure that the project was setup ok is to run Djangos built in test server. To do this type:

Code:

python manage.py runserver

You should see a message like this:

Quote:

Validating models...
0 errors found.

Django version 0.97-pre-SVN-unknown, using settings 'myproject.settings'
Development server is running at http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Quit the server with CTRL-BREAK.

To see your new project fire up a web browser and go to: http://127.0.0.1:8000/

You should be greeted with:

Quote:

It worked!
Congratulations on your first Django-powered page.

The install should now be completed so you can start your first project. I suggest following the tutorial on the Django website:

http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/

My test blog entry is better than yours

degsy — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:21:02 GMT

I also have nothing to say in a blog so...

if you also have nothing to say then post it here!

Test blog

zipulrich — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:24:44 GMT

Well, I've tried to do a blog a few years ago, never had anything interesting to say. Maybe this time it'll be different......we'll see. :happy: