Friday 23rd March 2007

This was not how I intended to start the weekend. I could handle even a minor problem, something manageable but this was crazy and completely unexpected (as most computer problems are). My 200 gigabyte Maxtor drive, has become corrupt and unreadable. Do not fret, it is not my main system drive but my secondary drive which is just a dumping ground for all types of media, but specifically audio and video. I am gutted and have already tried several options over the past couple of hours (before Eastenders at 8pm) to get it back up and running. The drive is detectable fine under my BIOS and Windows XP but I just cannot gain access to it. CHKDSK ran itself first time and cleaned up some of the drive but every time I have run it subsequently, it remains stuck on 0% at the verifying file stage (part one of three) which is annoying. I am currently downloading the latest version of Knoppix to see if that will resolve the problem, or at least help me get most of my data back. Even though I am extremely annoyed by this technical blip, it is not as bad as you might at first glance believe. After the sheer stupidity of my actions back in early November last year, I went through a paranoid phase and backed up quite a significant amount of data. Most of this was onto DVD but I also had a external USB caddy with a 320gb hard drive to take some of the strain! However, even considering this, if I was to lose the data on the so called Media drive, I would still be out of pocket on quite a few important files. Particularly videos as I had recorded most of Arsenal’s last two seasons, finale salute to Highbury and other bits and pieces. I could live without them I suppose, but even my world famous mp3 collection could be a handful to bring back together. I have backups from 2003 on DVD and a few backup of files here and there but I would be starting again in some cases and have to catch up on some 4 years of downloads. That would take some time, but at least I did the clever thing of updating my listing last weekend.

So, here I am. Having to switch back to the trusty CD and listen to BBC Radio One Live Lounge album on my stereo as I do not have access to any other music on my machine. Depressing to go from a choice of over 3000 songs and over 200 albums, down to a track listening of 20 tracks, from disc one. Oh well, never mind, worse things happen at sea, as I’m often told. Right back to the important things, close at hand. The weekend is here! I think officially this will be one of the biggest weekends of the year so far. I am sure I might have said that before, perhaps as recently as mid February but trust me on this one. We have football, clubbing and then maybe getting around to cleaning the car on Sunday afternoon but no piano lesson as my tutor is on holiday.

Wembley tomorrow, for the first officially game even if it is Under 21s and not senior level and just a friendly against Italy, being there again, just a week later will be amazing. I am most looking forward to hearing the national anthem being pumped around the stadium and bellowed out at the top of some 80,000 voices! I am really looking forward to it, my first ever experience of an England international and my first game at our national stadium. I cannot really say much more, you will just have to wait until perhaps Sunday evening when I get around to uploading the photos and perhaps writing my feelings down onto the web page.

Saturday evening, brings with it another first. I will be going into London, to Fabric for my first night clubbing in the capital. Should be a good laugh and interesting to watch an hour disappear from our night as we party on into the small hours.

Sunday, will be a me day, where I try and resolve the problem with my computer, or throw the hard drive against the wall. I hope the weather remains fair for Sunday, so I can get out and wash the car. (Checking BBC Weather, it states cloudy, which is good enough for me!) It is several weeks over due and I am not just going to hose it down with the pressure washer, I want to spend some time getting it clean and pristine, but perhaps not quite showroom finish. Pav will take care of the detailing sometime in late April.

Switched to listening to music on my Zen now, as I have been writing this and my Knoppix download has got up to 51%, just another 56 minutes remaining. I was hoping to switch over to Sky Broadband today. I received my written confirmation last Saturday and my router at work on Tuesday morning. However, on Wednesday, received a letter that my MAC code had been rejected, so I had to go back to Orange and get my code confirmed once again, then call Sky back and replace the order, including repaying the £40 connection fee, as my previous order had been cancelled. Strange system. You would think they would just put my order on freeze for me to ring them and then complete the final part of the process. However my MAC code was successfully cleared by BT and I am just waiting for my switch over date, which will hopefully be sometime next week. The process has not been too bad and I have been impressed with the level of customer service from the media giant. I am glad to be leaving Orange, after being a customer for over six years and nearly five of those on broadband. Perfect timing, as they just came up as the worse broadband provider in the UK following a BBC Watchdog viewer survey.

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