h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Whoops, got distracted from posting here.

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*drifts in between failed cake attempts and forages for chocolate*

So I got my amazing new laptop on Friday afternoon and immediately set to work to install my software -- I had an image to finish for the guide. It was all going beautifully, and I was even settling in with Windows 10. I closed the lid and let it sleep through dinner, then opened up and resumed the process of making the machine my art tool.

And then I decided to uninstall Norton, a trial version of which was pre-installed. I was doing this from within Revo Uninstaller. Norton would not go quietly but after flicking off a couple of are-you-sure messages, it proceeded with the uninstall... and then ordered me to reboot. No options to defer the restart.

And that was the last time I saw my desktop. Instead, since that click, I have been getting the BSOD.

Six glorious hours I had, and then it was Friday night and the vendor was closed for the weekend. Argh! I took pictures of the error message and have emailed the vendor. Although I can do email and a couple of social media sites, this Fire is feeling the pain of trying to meet my demands. So many sites that haven't revamped their front end to accommodate tablets!

You should still be able to boot into safe mode, or reset to factory Asters


So, er, yeah, I've had a piece of *potentially* very good news for the brewery today.
A bar in town is very interested in me supplying their house beer. This is mostly in part to the guys I currently share a railway arch with, they're a beer wholesaler (who don't deal in cask beer, just bottles and kegs) and supply a lot of beer to this bar. When their main sales guy (who runs the company in the North) was in the bar last week, he got chatting to them about having a house beer, and how I'm capable of brewing one specifically for them, not just putting a new label on a beer that's brewed normally.
They're very keen on this, and I'm going to be doing a test batch this week.

What makes this rather exciting is this, they're mostly a keg bar. By far and a way the majority of beer they sell goes out in kegs. However, they sell about 15 to 20 firkins (standard cask size) of beer each week. To put that into perspective, that's my full brew length. If I can get them to take this beer, they'll be taking an entire brew length of beer from me each and every week. That one order alone would cover *all* my running costs!

So, er, yeah, I *really* hope this comes off!

That's fantastic news! Congratulations!

Just got to turn it into a deal now! But the opportunity is there, which is the hard part!

I'm currently working on another house beer for another pub, the test batch of which went down very well, and the big batch is going into casks today. They'll be looking at a brew a month rather than one a week, but I'm not complaining!

Sat in front of telly wrapped in a sleeping bag, lemsip close to hand... yup manflu.
Bad luck with the laptop Lil, soon sorted hopefully.

Brilliant news, Pastey! Keep us updated. Next thing you know, you'll be needing an employee...

Regarding the laptop, I had a long exchange with a support entity, nice lad, and he had me try a few things, but the boot process itself is borked, so they issued a return label and it's gone back to the vendor. It will be three weeks before I see it again.

Tod, hope you feel better soon -- that flu sucks.

Meanwhile, I have discovered high-definition video on my Kindle, through my prime account, and am watching Downton Abbey. I loves me some Maggie Smith...

Ah yes, Maggie. She has the black belt in playing excentric old english gentry

Ah, don't you just love kindergarteners that share their colds? And when your sinuses feel larger than your skull? Though at least they're finally draining...

Even more fun is sleeping funny or something... The small of my back was so bad that I had to ask PaperKid to tie my shoes for me this morning (all my slip-on shoes are open-toed, and I won't wear those to work in a school unless it's just too hot for socks).

Of course the best time for them to share colds and flus is half term week and inset days. I took Friday off as it was an inset day, having planned a fun-filled family day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, but instead was at home looking after kids who couldn't get off the sofa. Valentine's Day consisted of my wife being stuck on the sofa all day too…

<BB<

Today consisted of me doing the same thing too.

*blinks*

Oh hello everyone...

*phases out again*

Was that a Beeblefish?

A beeble fish is the sort that is cool to know but not necessarily invite home to meet the parents.

Beeblefishes are the ultimate cool.

Since my new laptop has been obliged to embark on a long journey in order to be redeemed, I have decided to name it Frodo. It will arrive at Mordor tomorrow, according to the scrying page at UPS.

Re Downton Abbey, I have finished season three and just launched season four. Maggie Smith gets all the best lines, doesn't she!

Colds are definitely a feature of life at Ladera, along with the annual norovirus lockdown and occasional C diff quarantine...

Maggie Smith is always amazing, and she does indeed waltz away with some truly cracking lines in Downton Abbey. Below stairs, Mrs Hughes and Mrs Patmore get some zingers, but nothing to compare with hers.

May I be permitted to jump in here without a formal introduction and, while people are talking about Maggie Smith, recommend that everyone gets to see "The Lady In The Van". My wife and I where looking for a way to escape the Edinburgh rain the other day and found a cinema showing it; Maggie Smith and the story of the lady are amazing but what Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner have created is quite extraordinary - definitely a classic of British cinema.

(surely not) ... came a voice from the shadows behind a comfy couch.