Tag Archives: phone

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 3:56 pm on 16/11/2016
Tags: , , phone, ,   

Some more changes

As usual, it’s been a while since I did a blog post. I know I keep saying I’ll do them more often, but stuff happens.

So, the work subject. After the short trial thing I had at McDonald’s, they let me go. So I’m currently unemployed. Again. So I started handing out CVs.

I gave one in to a cinema down the road, and left. And the security guard dude came running out after us (Tracey was with me) and asked if I considered a job in security. I did once, but I didn’t get the job for reasons I’ll explain in a minute. I told him I applied for a security job before but didn’t get it. He then told me I could do a security course and if I passed, he could get me a job in security, and gave me some details about it.

So I did the security course. It took up a few days over a couple of weeks and cost me €250. I passed. I actually got a much higher mark than I thought I’d get. Anyway, long story short, I’m now a qualified, soon to be licensed security guard. Minimum pay for it is €10.75 an hour. McDonald’s was €9.20. I didn’t know that the security guards at McDonald’s were making more than us, more than the managers I think.

I already have 2 jobs lined up. One is fairly close in Swords, the other is across the city in a place I can’t remember the name of. Well them are the places I’d be trained in anyway, they’d put me in a store or something in a different place.

So yeah, that’s good. I just have to wait to get my license to work for the close place, but the across-the-city one got in contact with the governing body of security, the PSA and asked them to make an exception for me, with a letter that lets me work for 90 days without a physical license, but only with that company. But my license shouldn’t be too long anyway. I’m hoping to work with the close one of course.

That’s enough work talk for now. I’ve got a new phone. Well, newish. I’ve had it for a few weeks and it’s been around since last year, but you know what I mean. It was really cheap as well, because it’s actually a Chinese phone. It’s called a Timmy M9. It has good performance for it’s price. It was €45 I think, and has 1GB of RAM, a 1.3GHZ quad core processor and an 8 megapixel, 1080p camera. Not bad for €45! It’s a surprisingly good phone. It even comes pre-rooted, so that’s saved me the job.
Of course a new phone is going to be one of the first things I buy when I’m working, after a computer, a phone for Tracey, a PS3 for Tracey and a PS4 for me. And I’m sure I’ll be getting baby Daniel lots of toys and stuff. The spoilt git.

Anyway that’s enough for now. I’m trying to get the baby to sleep. Toodles

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 2:50 pm on 22/01/2015
Tags: annoying, , cold, free to play, , , list, , orientation, people, phone, , star trek online, vertical, , , windows update, winter, wood   

Things That Annoy Me

The title of the post says it all really. This is just a simple list of things that annoy me. Things people do, things that just happen in nature, anything really. The list WILL get longer as things enter my head. I won’t be able to think of everything now. Here you go. In no particular order, other than the order that they come into my head as i write it

  1. People who drive with their headlights on. Even in the sun, sometimes. Ok, it may be a bit cloudy and dull, but not to the point where having headlights on increases visibility for you
  2. People who make no attempt to get out of the way when you’re walking past them. No, it’s ok, I’ll move. I’ll walk on the grass and mud. Every time.
  3. When people don’t indicate when you’re trying to cross the road at a corner. Then make it look like it’s your fault. If i’m crossing the road and someone tries to turn in my direction without indicating, they can wait for me. Not my problem, I can’t mind read. If you hit me, it’s only your fault.
  4. The sun being low when the floor is wet. It’s obviously blinding. And not in the cockney way. Because that means it’s good. But this isn’t. Although there isn’t much I can do about nature. Maybe go out less.
  5. Wooden floors. Especially in bedrooms. They’re cold in winter! (Or British summers)
  6. When jobs ask for people with experience. Which seems to be ‘most every job in the ‘verse (extra points if you get that reference). So obviously it’s hard to get experience at it when they all want experience. Yeah, i know there’s internships and junk.
  7. Windows Update. More specifically, when you update Windows, and it prompts you to restart. I don’t wanna restart right now, i’m doing something. I know i can postpone it for an hour, or 4 hours, but then it asks you again. Just piss off. That’s why i try to use Linux. Linux rarely asks you, only when there’s a kernel update, and even then you can click on “Restart later”, and it’s gone for good.
  8. Free to Play games when you get something very useful, REALLY SLOWLY. For example, i play Star Trek Online. I sometimes get a lock box for killing enemies. To open the lock box (which is obviously locked, hence the name), i need a key. To get this key, it costs a currency called Zen. I need to buy Zen from an exchange with refined Dilithium, which i get from doing missions, getting from an asteroid near Deep Space 9, and things like sending crew members to do missions. It costs a lot of Dilithium to get a Zen, and a lot of Zen to get a key, or you can buy Zen with real money. So as you can imagine, it takes a long time to do. This is a long point!
  9. When people (usually Americans) use times for their timezone for something the whole world uses. Let’s use Star Trek Online again. Obviously it’s an American company. Despite it being an MMO that countries around the world use, they mostly use their own timezone (PST) to give times for maintenance. People not in that time zone will have to work it out, which can be more difficult for non-Americans. They should just use GMT. Everyone knows the time difference from there to where they are. It’s mostly 5 hours ahead, of the east coast of America. If that makes sense. Speaking of time, that brings me to another point.
  10. Americans using doing the date the wrong way. It’s DATE (like 22nd), MONTH (January), YEAR (2015). So that makes it 22/1/15. Americans do it 1/22/15. How does that even make sense. If they’re going to screw things up, they might as well do the time as 45:23:55. (11.45pm).
  11. Religious people. “It says it in a book. That’s proof it’s true”. Also “I don’t like that bible quote, so I’ll ignore it. Look at this one instead, it says the opposite.”
  12. When people reverse into driveways or parking spots. Wouldn’t it be easier to drive forward into the small space, and reverse out into the large space? An exception would be if the boot (or trunk, as they say in ‘murica) would need to face inwards.
  13. Drawn on or fake eyebrows. What’s the point? It doesn’t EVER look natural or normal. Just stop it. You look ridiculous.
  14. When people record videos holding they’re camera vertically. That’s not the natural orientation of videos. It makes videos look narrow when you play them. Except on a phone of course.
  15. The word “homophobe”. A phobia is a fear. They aren’t scared of gay people. They’re just judging bigots. Not like it’s got anything to do with them anyway. Gay people should make a word for the fear of straight people. Heterophobe. “I’m scared of catching their heterosexuality”.
  16. Hackers, modders and cheats in games. They can’t do good properly so they cheat their way victory. Especially in GTA 5 and Call of Duty.
  17. When sellers don’t categorize things right on eBay. It’s going to be harder to find the item if it’s not in the right place!
  18. Minions and Frozen. I see that crap EVERYWHERE! Mothers go on about Frozen all the time. I’m fed up of seeing them. And minions are just overused on social media. They’re used on quotes that they actually didn’t say, and are nothing to do with them. Stop using them.
  19. When people call Tesco “Tesco’s”. Tesco’s what? Tesco’s shop? No. It’s just Tesco. you don’t call Asda “Asda’s”, or the Pound shop “The Pound shop’s”. So stop it. It only seems to be with Tesco. No other shop that i can think of. Oh, Marks and Spencer! People call that Mark’s and Spencer’s. It’s not actually called that.
  20. When people take pictures of pictures to put on social media. Just scan it! it’s much better quality! It wouldn’t even be so bad if they actually made what they’re taking a picture of take up the whole picture (if you know what i mean). But it’s usually at an angle or at a distance, giving it a border so it’s hard to see.
  21. When you’re queuing up at a checkout, there’s people in front and behind, then another checkout opens and the people behind go to that checkout. YOU’VE JUST GOT HERE. WHY DO YOU GET TO GO TO THE NEW CHECKOUT? I’ve been here longer than you!
  22. Over simplified versions of words. Like “thru” and “lite”. Probably Apple’s fault about the use of “lite”. What they mean is “demo”.
  23. I see lots of shenanigans as a security guard. One thing (actually two) that annoys me that people do is take clothes off hangers, look at them or whatever, then throw them back into the clothes without putting them back onto the hanger. Or just take something, walk somewhere with it, then decide they don’t want it and put it somewhere else. Although I’m occasionally guilty of that.
  24. CYCLISTS THAT MAKE UP THEIR OWN ROAD LAWS! If you’re going to ride your bike on the road, you obey road laws. I see them running red lights all the time, even when I’m crossing the road.
  25. People that take up 2 seats on a bus. Either with a bag, by sitting on the inside seat, or with their elbows out, like the woman next to me right now (I guess you could say she’s the inspiration for me adding this one in). They’re just selfish people. If they won’t move and there’s no more seats, I’ll tell them I’ll just sit on their lap. I haven’t needed to resort to this yet. YET.
  26. While we’re on the subject of buses, people who just get to bus stops, usually as the bus just arrives, and just jump ahead of everyone else. A bit like the checkout one.
  27. Since becoming a security guard, I’m getting annoyed by more things. People who take an item of clothing off a rail, look at it or whatever, then throw it on top of the rail, usually without even putting it back on the hanger.
  28. People who come in with a drink or something that’ll end up with rubbish when finished, then just putting it on a shelf. That’s not where rubbish goes. Having said that, we could do with a customer bin.
  29. “ATM machine”. THE M IN “ATM” STANDS FOR MACHINE!
  30. When people don’t push the handle down when they close the door and it slams.
That’s all I can think of right now. There’s more here than I thought I would think of actually. I’ll add more when i think of them, so it’ll be updated occasionally, so keep checking back. For now, though , live long and prosper.
Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 5:22 pm on 23/10/2013
Tags: 50, ferry, house, , , , , , , phone, , slum, , ,   

Slum Life

Hello friends.

So as I mentioned in my last post, I am now living with my mom. But fortunately, i got paid on Saturday, so I’ve booked the ferry tickets to see +Tracey Ryan. And I damn well can’t wait to get out of here. It’s been horrible.

  • There’s no working vacuums
  • The hot water takes ages to warm up
  • Most parts of the house don’t have a carpet
  • You have to put money in the TV to watch it. Luckily i have my TV
  • Nail clippers are very hard to find
  • My bedroom (which used to be my sister’s, so is pink and has glow in the dark fairies on the wall) is full of my sister’s stuff. When i first got here, it had loads of junk, most of which was moved into the attic or thrown out. There’s still some junk in there now
  • No-one opens the curtains. I have to do it
  • No-one closes doors behind them. I have to do it
  • No-one does the washing up. It’s always “someone else’s turn”. I usually end up doing it
  • There’s junk everywhere. Even before i brought my stuff here
  • Pretty much everything is dirty. I’m literally scared to walk around in bare feet. I’m always in my slippers
  • My sister is a lazy, stupid, uncaring git who only gives a damn about herself and whatever boyfriend she happens to be with at the time
  • There’s always stuff left around the floor for people to trip over. Mostly left by my sister
  • When people finish off a toilet paper roll, no-one changes it. I have to
  • There’s no space for my few toiletries (razors and the like). They have LOADS of it
  • They’re both female smokers. They are constantly coughing. Especially mom with her “chest infection”

That’s all I can think of right now, but I’m sure there’s more i haven’t thought of. I might add more later.

For a while there was no internet, but being the genius I am, i used a SIM that my mom uses in a “broadband” dongle, and put it in my phone and used it as a wi-fi hotspot, so now we all have internet instead of just one computer. Although obviously it’s slow. And signal is usually quite bad, and sometimes didn’t work at all. Another problem with the T-mobile/EE SIM is that they block content which they deem “adult”, and when you go over the unfair fair usage policy (which isn’t much), they also stop you watching YouTube, even when the videos are embedded on a website or something. Chances are, if you use YouTube a lot, you’re going to get through that fair use policy very quickly.

I also didn’t have any internet on my phone because I’ve used it all and it doesn’t get renewed until 4th November. So for several days

Because of the lack of internet, I wasn’t able to do much for job searching. I told them that at the job centre and they seemed to let me off. Especially since it’s their fault. But eventually they paid me, and now i have a decent amount of money (for now). I’m going to try not to spend too much of it. I might buy a PlayStation Vita when the knobcentre pays me again on Monday, but other than that, not much else.

On an unrelated note, this my my 50th post. I think I’ve done pretty well. I’ve got over 13,700 views. To other people, that may not seem a lot, but it is to me. I’m sure there’s more popular blogs out there by normal people like me, but ah well. I do seem to be getting several views every day. It’s pretty consistent actually. Just today I’ve had 8, and yesterday I had 7. Last month i had 354!

Here’s my latest stats for the past month:

Stats from the past month

And stats from all time:
Stats from all time

Anyway, that’s all for now. Next time i blog, I’ll be living in Ireland with my girlfriend. Until then, chums. Toodles

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 6:20 pm on 26/07/2013
Tags: boxes, , fan, , , gumtree, , hot, , , , , , phone, simpsons, summer, sun, tapped out, ,   

Hot and Fast

Hello again comrades.

As anyone in the UK (and in the USA so i hear) will know, it has been hot a lot recently. I know it’s summer, but here in the UK, we don’t usually get sun in summer. But this year, mother nature has made up for all the cold or mild summers we’ve had and has given us sun. Lots of sun. Seriously, we’ve had it for weeks now. My fan has been pretty much constantly on the whole time, even when i’m out. Problem is, i kind of prefer it to be cold. It’s a lot easier to warm yourself up when it’s cold, than it is to cool yourself down when it’s warm. I’ve actually started drinking water instead of juice. And that’s unusual for me.

Anyway, i can’t remember what i previously blogged, but i had an alright graphics card in my now complete computer, but i wanted to upgrade it. So i did, i got a pretty decent graphics card for a pretty low price. Let me see what it was… It was a PowerColor Radeon AX4870. It looks like this:

My PowerColor Radeon AX4870 Graphics Card
Isn’t it beautiful? It takes two PCI-E power cables, i only had one so i had to order a molex to PCI-E converter off eBay. No big deal, didn’t cost much. But anyway, it’s a pretty powerful beast. It can handle my games on almost the highest settings. Beautiful. My computer is how i want it now. Damn, i should have took a screenshot of my Windows performance rating. I might add it in later.

Edit: I screenshot my Windows performance thing. Here you go:

My Windows Performance Index

As you can see, the main thing restricting the base score is my slow ass hard drive. I should have installed Winblows to my SSD instead, then it’d be a hell of a lot higher. I’ve installed Ubuntu to the SSD and from the bootloader (where you select which OS to boot) and the login prompt, it takes less than 10 seconds. Pretty speedy, eh?

I’ve also been dong some Let’s Play videos on YouTube. Mostly different games every time but I’ll continue some. For those that don’t know, my YouTube is here

Also, plans are in motion for moving to Ireland. I’ve got a rough estimate how much it’ll cost, i just need to pack the stuff I’m taking, and for that i need boxes. It’s going to be hard to find a box to fit my 32 inch TV. I don’t have the one it came in anymore. But everything else should fit in boxes. Even my desktop should fit in one.

I’ve been thinking about selling my Galaxy Note and Nexus S. I do love both phones but the Note is too big and the Nexus is too slow. If i sell both phones i could get a Nexus 4, which I’ve been wanting for a while. I’ve been selling some old computer parts on Gumtree (unsuccessfully mostly), and my old HTC Hero. The little cute thing. I’ve actually been thinking of switch to my Nexus S for a while, just because it’s better sized and it’s more beautiful than my Note. I still might.

If you want to see my ads on Gumtree, click here. It’ll open in a new tab.

Oh yeah, I’ve been playing The Simpsons: Tapped out on my Asus tablet, so if you have it, add micol25.

That’s all for now I think. I’m going to watch Silent Running on Film4, then get some food. Toodles

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 3:04 pm on 28/04/2013
Tags: communicator, deep space 9, , , galaxy s4, , , , mini, , next generation, phone, ,   

Jobcentre, Star Trek, Moving, and Phones

Hello my children.

This is just a little update to what’s happened. So I’m still unemployed. I went to the jobcentre the other day and signed up for jobseekers allowance. It all seemed to go well. Except they forgot to give me my passport back and i had to go back for it. Luckily i wasn’t too far away. I have to go again on the 8th May. Woo

I got my redundancy pay and lieu of notice pay. It came to just over £2000. Not including my work pay. After deductions (tax and National Insurance), it totalled £2,504.48p. Not bad but not quite as much as I’d hoped.

Anyways, one of the first things i did with it, except pay rent and stuff, was buy a Star Trek Communicator badge off eBay  Actually 2. With the rank pips that go on the collar. That must be the geekiest thing I’ve ever bought. This is it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390528832938?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

It’s beautiful. I can be Captain Picard and Tracey can be Captain Janeway. Good price as well considering how shiny they are. Ooh maybe i should buy a couple of phasers and give one to Tracey and we can have a phaser battle. Oh god, what am i saying? I’m 28.

I think the fact I’ve been playing a lot of Star Trek Online and watching a lot of Star Trek has got me in the mood for it. I never really got into Deep Space 9 before but it’s actually pretty good. Next Generation was always my favourite though.

Hmm what else has happened? Well I’ve decided I’m going to move to Ireland. Probably this year, within the next few months. I should start looking for jobs in Ireland as well. That reminds me, i need to do some research into international movers. It’s not like I’m moving my whole house, just a few things from my room. And it wouldn’t need to be quick, I’m not in a rush to get my stuff.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that my Galaxy Note is too big. I think I’d be better suited to something about 4 inches. I want something fairly compact and powerful, like a Galaxy S4, but smaller. That’s 5 inches as well. The S4 mini is supposed to be 4.3, maybe that’d be better but it’s “only” quad core instead of octa core, like the big S4. But quad core should be enough. I’ll do some research anyway. But i definitely want one about 4 inches.

I think that’s all for now. I’ll make another post when i have something else to say. So bye for now.

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 2:11 pm on 23/02/2012
Tags: advertising, adwords, £75, blogspot, , carphone, , , phone, warehouse,   

Google AdWords Monies and Another Broken Phone

So (notice how i start most of my posts with “so”?), this morning (actually this afternoon, but it feels like morning because i’ve already been to work and come back home by 12), I received a letter from a company you might know. This small company known as Google. Yeah, them. In it was an introduction to Google AdWords and a pretty decent £75 coupon. Unfortunately it can only be used for advertising in AdWords. I got excited when i saw it at first, then i thought “OK, don’t get your hopes up”.

But i got £75 for something, and who can’t get excited about that? It’s money i can use for something, not Monopoly money. So i set it all up. I set up text ads for my blogspot (the one you’re reading) and YouTube account. So hopefully you’ll be seeing ads for them occasionally. I’m hoping 25p a day is enough to get me some more views, subscribers, followers etc. That’d be coolios.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Guess what? No, go on, guess. Wrong, try again. Nope, one more try. Wrong again. My phone has broke AGAIN. So i took it back to the Carphone Warehouse to be repaired. It’s been a while, i can’t remember how long, let me get the whatsit… It went in the 14th and it;s now the… 24th? no, 23rd. I’ve been checking the website to track how it’s going. And i just checked now and they’ve fixed it and it’s being sent back to where i sent it in.

Carphone Warehouse Repair Tracker

So hopefully i’ll have it back over the weekend. So yeah, that’s all the news for now. Now i have 3 days off work.

Here’s a song to see us out…

 Lavly jubbly

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 6:00 pm on 04/10/2011
Tags: , gadget, , , insurance, Lost, , phone   

Lost

So yeah. You know how i more or less fixed my HTC Hero (or at least improved it a bit)? Yeah, i kinda lost it. I don’t know if it fell out of my pocket on the bus or it may even be in my bedroom under the bed (maybe i should check). Either way, i can’t find it. A thought occured to me last night. I may have insurance on it.

My bank account gives me gadget and mobile phone insurance called First Additions. Only problem is i can’t log into it. I can’t remember what my log in details are. So i can’t do a lot about it. I could phone them up but i hate phoning companies. . Maybe i’ll go into Barlcays and do it.

Anyway i think that;s all for now. Time to play Black Ops with the missus

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 9:07 pm on 23/09/2011
Tags: apps, fix, , , , , phone, ulcer, wireless   

Fixed

I’ve somehow managed to fix my Hero. WOO HOO! All i did was uninstall a few things. The bigger apps, that take up the most space. And it seems to have fixed it. However, i have encountered a new problem.

I have been cut off. Again. i did get cut off before (since i have a £700 phone bill), so i paid £50, then they got paid normally by direct debit (£15), which seemed to have got me back online (i only want it for internet anyway). But lo and behold, a couple of days later, it’s gone again.

I should be able to use my Nokia N95 as a wireless access point, but i tried it today and it didn’t work. And then i had to restart the phone because the internet wouldn’t work, so i’ll try it again if i need to.

Anyway i just wanted to make a quick blog saying that. Oh, and i also have an ulcer on my lip. That hurts.

That’s all, byeee

Unknown's avatar Michael Collins 11:32 am on 11/08/2011
Tags: , , , first, intro, , , phone, riot,   

The First

ok so this is obviously my first blog. as you can tell by this being my only one. i didn’t want to name it “my first blog”. That’s too common. So what i plan to do is occasionally make a blog telling anyone that looks at this thing things that happen in my life. the interesting things. not a lot happens in my life so don’t expect many.

I’m currently typing this on my android phone. it doesn’t seem to work very well with it so i should remember to go on it on my computer when i get home.
ok well I’m out of things to say now. when I’m on a computer I’ll use better grammar and punctuation. i just cant be bothered on mobile. next time i’ll tell you more about myself. also i have a youtube account on youtube.com/user/micol19 (i think).

Have fun and no rioting!