Welcome to NullMind's Lair, the blog of a cranky Web Hosting Geek

Van on Blocks …

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

I tough this only happened in the movies, but I woke up this morning to find my Van .. on blocks

wheelsgone.jpg

Somebody took the time to lift it up during the night and steal the 4 15″ OZ alloys I had .. when I first saw it I started laughing .. to be honest it was quite funny to see it on blocks, but now I’m just pissed, as the realization of what is going to cost me sets in.

Sandbach is a lovely place, but we are close to the M6 .. so it’s also a good target for a hit and run robber.

I’d love to see the idiot’s face when he realizes two of them are badly warped.

In the meantime, it’s back to ebay to find some wheels and tires … bummer

RC NUT Van

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

I just realized I never posted a followup to my new van posts of last year

Well, there is is, I quite like how it came out, very sporty with the OZ wheels and low profile tires, Beanhead (buddy of mine) did the decal work

rcnvan.jpg

I literally just stuck the camera out the window to take that pic now, did not even had to leave my desk :D

Van got broken in ..

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Last night I went out for a few pints with my friend Terry from Cardiff, he comes to the area twice a year, so we try to always for for a cold one.

The pub we go to is called The Borough Arms, great place and it’s affiliation free, so they have dozens of different lagers, bitters, etc etc ..

Anyway, on my way there I decided not to park on a secluded parking lot a few hundred feet from the pub, I was weary that since it was very dark, somebody might break in, instead I parked on the front of the pub (yes, on a double yellow line) on a well lit area, I tough it was safe .. yeah, right.

After a great night of conversation and drinks, we returned to the car to find the passenger side window smashed and my TOM TOM gone .. yes, the downside of parking on a nice lit area .. crooks can see inside the car .. dammit.

I was too happy with the effects of a few pints of Weissbiers (white beers) to care, so I drove to the RC NUT shop and taped some bin bags to the broken window frame .. in case it rained .. with this being England .. there is a good chance it will.

This morning I took a good look at the damage, broken window and £150 TOM TOM gone .. could have been worst, in the back of the Van I had a £300 Helicopter new in the box and a close to £1000 RC racecar .. thankfully the back of the car is dived from the front by a protective mesh .. no back access without a Key :)

So I went on the phone to try and find somebody to change the window .. I was disgusted by something I saw, I called 5 or 6 different companies, they all quoted me between £100 and £115 to replace the glass .. but there was this company simply called “Autoglass” in Crewe that quoted me £240 .. and insisted I used my insurer to pay .. basically they are in the business of sticking it to the Insurance companies … then we wonder why premiums are so high.

Anyway, I found a Car Breakers that have one for £15 :D .. I’ll go pick it up tomorrow (Hopefully) and install it myself with Dave’s (painter next door to RC NUT) help .. £100 saved is more stock on the shop .. :)

New OZ’s

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

The wheels for the van arrived today, they are OZ 16′s .. look great on it

Unfortunately it was not plain sailing .. those alloy’s cost £599 plus tires, I got them off ebay with tires for £230

And sure enough, 3 of the wheels where buckled and one tire has some sidewall damage .. so the guys at Sandbach Tires had a massive job to balance them properly .. they seems to hold OK .. but it’s the old saying … “beware of a bargain”

Oz16

Regardless, it was still worthwhile .. :)

Stripes

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

A friend of mine asked me “why ?” today, I reply “why not ?”

Yes, why put racing stripes on a .. van .. but heck, I tough it would look cool.

It was quite cheap also, in total the big middle stripes and the side small ones costed less than £15 .. me and some of the speedway rc guys put it up at the track, took a little over 1 hour, and for a bunch of guys that had never done it before, i think it came out quite nice.

Stripe1 Stripe2
Now .. I am waiting for my new OZ 16″ Wheels/tires that will arrive Tuesday :D

New (Used) Car

Monday, July 23rd, 2007

For the past 4 or 5 months, I have been driving around on a old 1994 Fiesta Van … I bought it at the beginning of the year as a carrier for all my RC gear.

While it works great, the fiesta was a bit old, it had a great engine, but the rest left some to be desired .. and above all, it had no power steering.

Still, I was happy, for what I need, it was fine. But then I started to use it more and more, and my RC addition grew as well, to the point the fiesta became too small for all my gear.

I was also worried with long trips, as I now will do more traveling between Sandbach and Blackpool, time was to get a newer and bigger Van.

Well, here it is, it’s a 2002 Citroen Berlingo

Car
Plenty of space for all my stuff, it’s a nice reliable modern van, next .. get rid of those hideous tires and rims and put some 16″ alloys.

yay .. it’s 777

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

Wow .. just the other day I was posting the fact it was 666 .. now it’s 777 … how time flies.

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Parabems

Wednesday, July 4th, 2007

it’s 8 minutes past midnight, on July 4th ..

I was doing some late night work when i got this e-mail

Hello NullMind,

We at GOT NITRO would like to wish you a happy birthday today!

Its one of those stupid e-mails automatically sent out by a message board, such as Vbulletin .. anyway, I looked at the message and was a bit baffled.

what do they mean, happy b-day ?” … I was thinking the date on my profile is probably wrong .. when it hit me … “it IS my b-day!!

I had completely forgot … and I dont mean like you forget the day before or the day of thats it’s your b-day, i mean, it just snuck up on me, I haven’t tough of it since .. well … last year.

Later today, I would have been reminded when the cards and presents from the wife and the girls show up, but still … I just .. forgot ..

Is it a sign of aging ? a few years back I always looked forward to the date .. it was a stamp of merit to be one year older .. but then you hit 30, and before you know it .. your no longer seen as a young professional .. your just one of the “old and experienced” people around the office … (the uncool ones)

Bummer … I want to go back to be the young “know-it-all with an attitude to match” that made the old guys cringe and scared of loosing their jobs for the young generation… Now I am just the “know-it-all with a bad attitude that can fire you himself” .. well, I guess it’s close enough ..

So how old am I ? .. I actually had to think about it .. and ashamed to say … count the years also … I am 33 !!

Yes .. I’m not that old .. but why do I feel 53 ?

Kojack

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

I was browsing thru our latest picture batch, and I saw these ones we took of Kojack not long ago, he is sporting some shirts the wife bought him :) .

Love the pictures, he is a great cat, but sometimes I wonder if he thinks he is a dog … most cats shy away from people hugging them, this one just wants to be cuddled and hugged by the wife and kids al the time, except my youngest daughter, he runs when he sees her, she is a little “rough” with him, hehe :D

Kojack-3 Kojack2-1
Im too sexy for my Hair

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No Coal for me, must have been a good boy.

Monday, December 25th, 2006

Ok, so what does a 33 year old Managing Director (Thats Chief Executive for the US folks) of 2 very tech companies gets for XMAS ?

A nice briefcase ? a laptop ? a silk tie ?, one of those “how to become a better manager” over priced books ?

Naah .. Santa (AKA the wife) got me not what I needed, but exactly what I wanted this year .. a Nitro Powered, 1/10th dual gear automatic RC Car :D

Img 2440-1 Img 2442-2
Look at that engine .. cant wait to power it up this weekend and go play…

I was impressed .. every year she tries to impress me with tech gizmos, the kind of stuff the Executive in me should have, this year she decided it was the inner-child on myself that really loved XMAS and it was time to please that child instead .. and pleased I am :)

So now it’s time to buy some nice alloy’s for it…

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