Jul 27
Ben KingBusiness, Internet, Life License, Music Downloads
So finally the dense powers that be have realised that a fixed annual license to download whatever you want is a good idea:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2008/07/24/dldownloads124.xml
Really they should put me in charge, as I first suggested it here – http://www.benking.me.uk/2008/01/11/drm-copyright-the-saga-goes-on/
Even so it is still being reported as a ‘bad thing’ i.e. naughty people will get taxed/fined £30… Get it into your thick heads, I want the flexibility to download what I want from wherever I want, whenever I want, I don’t mind paying for that privilege.
So wheres the form, where do I sign up?! I tell you what call it £60 per year and throw in movies and TV…
Jul 21
Ben KingBusiness, Internet Hotmail, Live Messenger Hacked, Recovery
I have in the past posted about my experience when I got my Hotmail account hacked and how I subsequently recovered it. To save everyone the hassle of wading through my blog for the answer (and earn me a few quid hopefully), I have now written a handy document that helps you understand:
1) Why and how your Hotmail/Live Messenger was compromised in the first place.
2) How to go about getting it back.
3) How to stop it happening again.
All for a mere $10… you can buy it here.
P.S. I appreciate the irony that if you have had your Hotmail account compromised you have probably lost your Paypal account as well, so can’t actually pay me! Unfortunately its a chicken and egg problem you will have to sort out, as I can’t be arsed to set up another payment mechanism – sorry!
Jul 04
Ben KingCustomer Service, Food, Life FOOD FAIL., Pizza Express Coventry
After our first food fail and followup discussion with the Pizza Express operations manager, Debbie Phillips, I thought that maybe we had the issue resolved.
Last Tuesday evening we went back to test the theory.
The first failure came early in the day when Jake popped in to check what time they were shutting that evening (their website says 10.30pm), Jake was in fact told they were shutting at 10pm that evening.
7 of us turned up at 9.45pm (i.e. giving them a bit of slack), the conversation went like this (I have bolded the fails):
Me: ‘Good evening, please can we have a table for 7.’
Pizza Express Waitress 1: ‘Hold on I will just check.’ Fail 2 (The answer we were looking for was ‘Yes of course, I will see what we have available’).
Pizza Express Waitress 1 (who from now on will be known as ‘The Nice One’) runs off and has a chat with Pizza Express Waitress 2 (who from now on will be known as ‘Short Angry One’), there is obviously some debate as Short Angry One returns to talk to us.
Short Angry 1: Yes you can come and sit over here.
Me: Thanks, but that is only a table for 6 and its in the corridor, next to Kitchen, can we just go and sit upstairs.
Short Angry 1: Sorry, the upstairs restaurant is closed this evening. Fail 3 (The answer we were looking for is ‘Yes, no problem, please come this way’.
Me: I am sorry I don’t really want to sit in the corridor with one of us on the end of a table, please can we go upstairs.
Short Angry One: No, as I said upstairs is shut. Fail 4 (We gave you a second chance, you should have taken the hint).
Me: Do you mind if we have a quick chat in private… (we both move to one side).
Me: I wouldn’t normally argue any further, but your boss, Debbie Phillips assured me that we would always be able to be seated upstairs and it would never be closed, now please can we sit upstairs.
Short Angry One: I DON’T CARE, I SAID UPSTAIRS IS CLOSED, NOW PLEASE STOP INVADING MY SPACE. FAIL 5 (Don’t raise your voice to me or any other customer ever, plus you just passed up you third and final chance).
Me: Okay, as you wish.
We were shown to our table in the corridor. We then tried to shoot a video message (Tracy has blogged and posted it here), and Pizza Express Waitress 3 (Slightly taller angry but marginally concerned one) told us to stop filming! Incredible!
Anyway we ordered, and the food was good, so that was okay.
We decided then to keep drinking and stay as long as we could (just to see how long it would take them to kick us out), we asked when they would be shutting the bar, they said 11pm, so at 10.55 we did the right thing and ordered a round, this consisted of:
3 x Double Jack Daniels and Coke
1 x Double Vodka and Red Bull
2 x Peroni
1 x Coke (for the designated driver).
Now I am willing to bet there isn’t much change out of £25 at Pizza Express prices, however Short Angry One said ‘Sorry, I am not serving you anymore alcohol, you have had enough I think’. Which we hadn’t and was, IMHO, purely an act of bitterness.
Sigh… Another call to Debbie coming up.
Jul 01
Ben KingFood, Life Chinese, Chinese Restaurant Coventry, Coventry, FOOD FAIL., Take Away
Last night we decided to have a cheeky Chinese take away. Our usual take away, the Ruby House, is shut on Mondays so had to find another.
We decided on trying the ‘Net Mayflower Chinese Restaurant’ in Cheylesmore, it used to be okay a few years back, it isn’t anymore.
We ordered:
- Crispy Chicken in Chilli
- Barbeque Spare Ribs in Chilli and Salt
- Beef Black Bean Sauce and Green Pepper
- Egg Fried Rice
The first worrying sign was in the car driving home, when the smell was something that we can only describe as ‘rotten wet bread’.
When we got it home, the ribs were dry and tough, the chicken was dry, tough and tasteless, the egg fried rice looked very brown and manky like it had seen better days…
The icing on the cake (I wish it was), was the beef which appeared to be the source of noxious odour. I put the first piece of beef in my mouth I actually had to work hard not to be sick.
We disposed of the entire meal immediately.
Worsed take-away ever, a definite FOOD FAIL!
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