Monacle Request

I just sent this out this morning to 'All Users' at work:

"Hi everyone, this may sound like an odd request but I’m doing a murder mystery thingy-ma-bob this Saturday and my character is Otto von Pinklewurst – a Gestapo agent. As such, to get into character, I’m in need of a long black trenchcoat and a monacle. I may be able to get the coat, but if anyone has a monacle I can borrow then it’d be appreciated ;)

Cheers, and apologies for the weird email…

Matthew"

So far I have been offered a fully working replica Beretta 9mm automatic pistol but no monacle. I've also been told that it was the strangest email request anyone has ever sent out. Two good ideas (well, one idea but from 2 different people) was to use some old glasses and cut them up to make a monacle. Sounds like a good idea to me - especially as I have an old pair in my drawer at work.

MaFt

I Am Otto von Pinklewurst

"I am Otto von Pinklewurst. I am an officer of the Gestapo, fanatical and quite possibly mad. I don't understand why I'm here in Africa instead of in a posenior staff post in Berlin."

Just had an invite to a murder mystery night in which my character is Otto von Pinklewurst. My suggested clothing is a long black leather trenchcoat, boots and a monacle.

Having never done one of these things before I'm a bit apprehensive. The last time I dressed up in fancy dress was as Spiderman with brother-A as Superman:




















I'll let you know how the hunt for an outfit goes and how the evening as a whole goes!

MaFt

Updates and Upgrades

Well, it's been a fair few days since I posted anything... Had a nice long weekend off from work (off from Thursday, came back today) for no particular reason other than I could. Well, it was our wedding anniversary Thursday but we just went for some food in the evening.

The extra few days meant that I had time to finish the fireplace tiling as well as start emptying the attic and dumping it at Mum & Dad's! This is going to be a huge job - not only emptying it but getting all the building work done. The worrying part is that the point of no return is the first part of the project! As soon as the hole is knocked through the landing wall to make space for the new stairs then we can't really change our minds... All will be well though!

It turns out, too, that my interwebnet hosting package has been upgraded at no extra cost. Thanks to Blackfoot Hosting I now get 500MB space and 10GB bandwidth (used to be 200MB and 5GB respectively). This doesn't really effect any of you but it just means I have extra space for hosting photo's for Mini-MaFt's site as well as more mp3's of my music (when I get some done!)

Ta-ra for now

MaFt

Phase 3

Just needs 2 bits at the bottom and the grouting doing :) Huzzah! I am a master tiler.

MaFt

Guess The Google

Having no access to my email at work today has resulting in me finding this: Guess-The-Google.

This is a great time-wasting game where it shows you 20 images and you have to try and guess the google search term that gave those images before the time runs out. It's not that easy, I managed to get 123 points on my first attempt - there are 10 rounds in total. One day I'll reach the leaderboard :)

MaFt

Phase 2 Complete

Phase 2 of the tiling has been completed but I forgot to take the photo off the camera so you can't see it yet! All that's left now is to tile the very bottom/front of the fireplace and then do the grouting. Should be done by the weekend!

Annoyingly I can't log into my webmail today for some unknown reason... this sucks, as it means I don't have any easy time-killing options while I'm at work.

MaFt

Work Time

Finally got around to starting tiling the fireplace:














The cream ones are the new tiles and the green ones are the old ones. Not bad for my first attempt :)

MaFt

You're A Winner!

Yesterday I got an email from "Mark" with the subject header "You're A Winner!". Needless to say I was rather skeptical and a bit annoyed that it had got through the usually very good junk mail filter in Thunderbird. For some unknown reason I decided to read what I had 'won'. My skepticism turned out to be unfounded as it turned out to be an email from Mark at Punktastic ("it's punk, it's fantastic, you work it out") informing me that I'd won a copy of the new My Awesome Compilation CD. Pretty chuffed actually, as it was one CD that was on my list to buy sometime soon. I enter pretty much every competition on Punktastic (well, they're free and all you do is click a button - there are no questions) and this is the first time I've got something. It was a nice surprise seeing as I haven't won anything since I got a frisbee at Haven Holidays in 1989...

Mine, All Mine!

MaFt

Home Improvements

I'm knackered, aching and my hands are cut to shreds! Over the weekend, with the assistance of Mr-T for some parts, I have:

• Cut some tiles and my fingers to put around the fireplace (the tiles that is, I'm not planning on some sick phalangeal fire-surround)
  
• Got wiring in place for some amendments to the burglar alarm and took a chunk out of my finger in the process
  
• Chiseled out some mains cable in the lounge-wall where I drilled through in a previous episode (this is now ready to re-wire it and plaster over etc)
  
• Made the final(ish) arrangements with the builder regarding getting the attic converted into a nice room with a window and some stairs

So there you have it, my hands are sore and aching now!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekends as much as I did...!

MaFt

I Smelled A Scam Earlier, Now It Smells Stronger!

Got an email this morning seemingly from Bid Pay regarding payment for my phone to send to the 'Prophet' in Nigeria. However, it was riddles with spelling and grammar mistakes and included the dead-giveaway line:

"some of our custmers are not sending items straight away even though they have been paid for. We have receved the payment from your buyer so you must send the item now pls. Then when you give us the tracking number we will release your official Western Union postal order"

Yeah right! Regardless of what I did I've lost a bit of money in listing fees cos the prat bought it as 'Buy It Now' I couldn't even cancel his bid. So, anyway, I've relisted th eitem with a small disclaimer at the top; check it out here.

Well, other than that, I managed to get a 'Listening To' thing on the blog. It's an edited version of Currently Hearing that I've set up to work with Media Monkey (I got fed up with MusicMatch <-- see, it doesn't even get a link!). It only works when I've got Media Monkey open though, so if it says 'Nothing' then it's safe to say that I'm not listening to any music at home - I'll probably have my MP3 player on at work though ;)

So, if you really want to know, I'm currently hearing "Relient K - Which To Bury; Us or The Hatchet?"

See ya

MaFt

Fools on Ebay

I've just sold my old phone on ebay and put, quite clearly, in the listing that I would only ship to the UK or Europe. SO, I get an email this morning saying that the fella who bought it, although he has a UK email address, is currently in Malaysia and would like the phone "sent as a surprise birthday gift to (his) Prophet in Nigeria". What the hell?! His Prophet in Nigeria? Last time I checked Nigeria wasn't in Europe...

Anyway, I thought I'd milk it rather than have to relist the phone. I emailed the guy back and gave him 4 statements he had to agree with before I would accept his payment these were:

1) I will not be held responsible for any customs charges that his Prophet may incur
2) I will not be held responsible if the phone is not compatible with the Nigerian phone network
3) I will not be held responsible if the phone charger is not compatible with the Nigerian electrical system
4) I will not be held resposnsible if the phone gets damaged on it's (rather long) journey to Nigeria

Oh yeah, I also told him that it'd cost him thirty quids for delivery :) May as well make some money from it! I'm yet to hear from him though...

MaFt

Too Much Chicken Takes It's Toll

Last night we went to Burger King and got Chicken Royales. Three lots of chicken in as many meals, good job I'm not addicted. However, if I am what I eat then clearly I've been a chicken lately. This afternoon I was a ham salad sandwhich with no tomato but lots of salad cream and a pork pie. Tomorrow? Who knows!

Anyway, after all this chicken my stomach's a bit off. It's hard to pin point it though, I mean, look what I've had: home made barbeque chicken (potential for food poisoning), chicken chana curry (potential to be anything) and fast food chicken (again, could actually be anything). So, I'm just going to have to blame the chickens. Poultry: be warned, give me the squirts again and I'll be forced to kill you. But if I kill you, I'll have to eat you, which may not be such a good idea... Dammit, you always win.


Chicken: evil little blighters, they are.

MaFt

Mmm... More Chicken

I like my job. Especially when the boss's boss takes the team out for a curry at dinner. I had a Chicken Chana, which was gorgeous. I'm full now, so don't feel like doing any work... Although, because he paid for my food I feel I should work harder. Life's full of difficult choices. However, this isn't one - the obvious choice is to not do much work this afternoon :)

MaFt

Mmm... Chicken

We've had Captain P's gas powered barbeque since last Friday and last night we decided to make one final use of it before he collects it. So, at 10:15 last night I was stood outside cooking skewered chicken in the dark! If any dog-walkers gave me any funny looks I wasn't too bothered 1) because the chicken was lovely, and 2) because I wouldn't have been able to see them.

There's something to be said for having an impromptu barbeque in the dark.

MaFt

Integration

Scrap Multiculturalism

Being from Bradford I think this is a fantastic idea. If people from other countries are allowed to live here then they should be grateful of the fact and integrate with the communities they live in instead of creating a 'pakistani area' or a 'polish area' or a 'ukranian area' of a city. Like the report says, if people live together as an integrated community then there'd be less chance of anger between cultural groups simply because these groups wouldn't exist.

I think if a bunch of English people moved to Mongolia and stayed in their own group then the locals would be a bit annoyed that they weren't integrating. So, why do we let it happen here in England? And why does it get seen as racist to make such comments? Yes, there traditional values are important to them but if they're living in another country then that's not very traditional is it? So why not update their traditions to include being a part of English society and not keep defining themselves as a minority group?

That's all for now!

MaFt