Off of

I listen to Chris Moyles in the car every morning. I do genuinely think he is funny and enjoy listening to his show.

However, because I have not yet bothered setting any radio stations on my car radio, I am stuck on Radio 1 all the time, which means that on the way home I am stuck listening to Scott Mills.

He can be funny, but he is mostly irritating. He's quite puerile, and I can imagine he would be the sort of person you would really want to slap in person.

There is one thing he keeps saying that is really annoying me:

"Off of"

It's the sort of thing Americans say - e.g. "that's Rachel off of Friends".

Occasional use I think is excusable. I'm pretty sure I have said it in the past. However, he seems to be making a point of saying it as often as possible, which is really annoying. All of his radio team seem to be saying it too, presumably sub-conscious copying.

What really gets me is when he uses it in other situations, e.g. "We have James off of Oxford on the line now". WTF?!

What is he doing? He just sounds like a desperate idiot when he speaks like that. I'm not saying BBC radio presenters need to use Queen's English, but they could do with not being morons.

Nonspherical femoral head shape

I went back to Wimbledon Clinic the other day to see the consultant physiotherapist who specialises in patella-femoral problems.

This was in fact the longest consultation I have had - 90 minutes. Went through quite a lot of the usual tests, but then she also started testing my hip strength. Apparently my left hip is super weak. I had to lie on my side and raise my leg, then she pushed down on my leg and I had to resist the movement. On my right side I could resist the push, on the left side - nothing.

So she thinks what might be causing my problem is my left femur is turning inwards due to the weakness, which then puts the kneecap under pressure. That, coupled with my dodgy gait, means sore knees.

She also put me forward for a hip X-ray as I also complain on hip pain. In the mobility tests I had extremely immobile hips, but it didn't seem to be due to muscle tightness - just the physical limitation of how far my legs could move.

I got a CD with the X-rays in the post the other day. What a lovely pelvis I have! I got a phone call from my consultant the other day to talk me through the results. So, apparently I have nonspherical femoral head shape, which explains why my hips are so inflexible.

That would explain the following:

• When everyone else was doing side-kicks at Ju-Jitsu aiming for the solar plexus, I could only aim for ankles.
• I can't really sit with my legs crossed.
• When rock climbing, I can't spread my legs with my feet facing in opposite directions when bridging. I had to adapt and have both feet pointing the same way.
• I have real trouble getting my leg over a motorbike.
• On some bikes, I get incredibly uncomfortable as the fuel tank spreads my legs too far. I can only ride skinny bikes!

It doesn't change anything and the consultant says it's nothing to worry about unless I start getting more hip pain, but it's nice to know what has made me so inflexible all these years.

So now I am a bit more of an intense physio programme to build up my left quad as well as my outer hip muscle. I will also be having more physio in Oxford to follow a new programme that my London physio has drawn up for me after seeing the X-rays.

Only problem is that I only have £88 of my BUPA out-patients money left, so hopefully I don't need much more done this year or it could get pricey!

My left foot

Smiling thumb :)
Originally uploaded by Pitel

One curious side-effect of the orthotic insoles I am now wearing, is that I have started going through my left socks at an alarming rate.

I bought some new socks a couple of weeks ago, and I am going through the left sock after about 4 wears!

This could end up costing a bit!

Note: that is not my foot in the pic. :)

BBC Complaint Response

I received a reply to my complaint to the BBC:

Dear

Thanks for your e-mail.

I understand you feel we show a lack of understanding and disrespect for the people of Scotland through our coverage of Scottish Premier League football and our specific coverage of Rangers and Celtic.

It's worth noting that over time supporters from a number of different clubs contact us about the placement of their team in the programme. It proves that we cannot please all the fans all the time.

I do understand that this is a matter you feel strongly about and to this end please be assured I've registered your complaint on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's circulated to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers.

I'd like to reiterate that all feedback we receive, whether positive or negative is always appreciated. We're committed to developing better links with you, our audience.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us with your comments.

Regards

BBC Complaints

Basically - tough luck! I doubt Rangers and Celtic supporters ever have cause to complain. Just all us diddy teams! Oh well. Business as usual.

Google Latitude: Creepy but Cool?

I've just added Google Latitude to my phone. Latitude is an new addition to Google Maps which allows you to see where your friends are at any given time. Your phone's location is determined by your triangulated distance from phone masts (to give an approximate location) or your phone's GPS.

You can change you privacy setting so certain people, or no-one can see where you are, or you can limit it to just say what city you are in.

In theory it sounds quite cool - you can look at your map and see that mayeb your friends are nearby and might fancy meeting up for a drink. It would also be quite cool for companies that want to track field engineers but don't want to shell out for expensive fleet tracking software. You can integrate Latitude with your iGoogle page so see where all your "friends" (or employees) are on your computer.

On the other hand it is quite creepy. Always being tracked? It takes Facebook stalking to the next level. With this you literally could hunt someone down! Hmmm... dubious.

I have added it for now. I doubt I have enough techie/geeky friends to make much use of this!

W makes a good point - this is a bit like like the Marauder's map from Harry Potter.

/edit - now that I think about it - for all the paranoid parents out there this will be a god-sent!

OM NOM NOM NOM THE NOO!

Haggis
OM NOM NOM NOM

Ringgo result!

I'm happy to report that Ringgo got my PCN cancelled! :)

Knee progress

I went to see a new surgeon today at the Wimbledon Clinic.

The surgeon I saw was very good and agreed my case was a very difficult one. He has referred me to a consultant physiotherapist who specialises in kneecap overload. I will apparently be getting a 1h session in a couple of weeks, through which I will be given a pretty intensive physio programme that I will have to follow.

He does think that that should help the pain in my knee and return strength to my left leg.

I also had a follow up for the orthotic inserts and had my foot force measured again, and they do appear to be helping my dodgy gait.

So, I have high hopes for the new physio regime. Positive mental attitude!

Ringgo my arse!

Originally uploaded by salimfadhley

Like I said I love technology but it hates me.

I've been using Ringgo for a few months to pay for parking by SMS. Usually I use it when I am travelling for work to London by train. There is a code displayed on the platform which lets you get the parking for a bit cheaper so genuine commuters benefit.

Occasionally when I am out and about I will use the service to pay for my own parking (the charge goes to my personal credit card).

Today I used it when I went to visit Robbie in Chiswick. When I went back to the car there was an attendant giving me a ticket. "But I've used Ringgo", I protested in vain.

Turns out I entered my reg. number wrong. Clever. I was able to show him the payment confirmation on my phone but he had already written the ticket so I have to appeal. I am assuming I will win the appeal, as I did actually pay for the parking.

I should have just paid for a normal ticket. I'm not sure why I didn't. You have to pay extra for the "privilege" of using Ringgo.

My fault, but once again I am getting bitten in the arse by my eagerness to adopt technology. Maybe it's a sign?

LoveHate Technology

I love technology but technology seems to want to kick my arse whenever I get near it.

Take my relationship with TomTom: almost everytime I try to rely on it, it let's me down. I spend ages with back and forth emails to TomTom support trying to get the damn thing to work. Eventually I gave up and told them I wanted to send it back for repair. I'd only used it about 2 dozen times in its lifetime.

TomTom received my SatNav (in Glenrothes!) but then I heard nothing from them again. I asked them the other day what was going on and they replied that they had meant to tell me they were going to charge me for an out-of-warranty repair, but seeing as they had forgotten to they would do it for free. Nice one! Actually, they sent me a brand new unit!. Result! Shame I don't actually have a bike anymore, but I have bought the car adaptor kit for it.

I test it on the way home from work and it is fine. Then when I plug it in to the computer and it says it needs to do an update. Okey-dokey I let it update away, thinking taht with a clean new unit everything will be ok.

Then this morning I have to drive from Oxford to Wimbledon for an appointment about my knee. I decide that this time I can rely on TomTom to guide me there. Except now the damn thing won't turn the GPS on! I drive all the way down the M40 with it unable to find any satellites ("Poor GPS signal. Are you indoors?" No, I'm flippin' not!). Eventually on the M4 I pull into the services, where lovely Anita from WH Smith gives me her name badge to reset the TomTom (from now on I will always carry a paperclip in the car!). After two goes I give up and walk back to the car - lo and behold it gets a lock!

Thankfully it now manages to guide me to the clinic with only 15min to spare.

Then I use it again afterwards and it manages to guide me to Chiswick where I meet Robbie for lunch. Then, when I try to use it to get out of London, it fails again. Cue phone call to Robbie asking if I can pop in to his school to nick a paperclip. I will forever be grateful to the acting urchins on Chiswick for donating a paperclip to me.

Without TomTom I would not have found the clinic, nor Robbie's school. I am now going to have to get back on to TomTom support to report this latest problem, and I am sure they will have me plugging the damn thing in to the computer to roll-back the upgrade. Fantastic!

TomToms should come with a paperclip as standard.

BBC Complaint

I've just sent in this complant to the BBC. I'll post up any reply I get:

There is often a perception that the BBC is too London and England centric, and ignores Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A typical complainant might say that Andy Murray is referred to as British when he wins and Scottish when he loses. I think this type of accusation is generally unfair.

However, there is one area where the BBC shows a lack of understanding and disrespect for the people of Scotland. That is in its coverage of the Scottish Premier League football.

I have got used to the fact that you will only ever seen footage of Rangers and/or Celtic on BBC news programmes. I can just about justify that with these two teams having the largest support in Scotland.

Although the SPL is in general treated like a sideshow, what does particularly annoy me is when you treat the rest of the SPL as if it does not exist.

For example today on Radio 1, I twice heard the newsreader mention that Celtic was playing Aberdeen. Not once did they mention that Motherwell were also playing Dundee United.

To be that shows a complete disrespect to Scotland and Scottish football (granted the quality isn't great!) - the assuption that there are only two teams in Scotland is both insulting and patronising.

I suggest that if you are ever going to mention a Celtic/Rangers game in the SPL, you have the courtesy to mention the rest of the teams playing.

CB500 Winter Hack for Sale!

My trusty CB500 is for sale on Ebay. Bidding currently stands at £45.

Bid now and get a bargain!

Domain Name Scams

If you are contacted by a company called Euro Systems www.es-systems.com then you may want to consider reading the following websites:

Domain name scam link 1
Domain name scam link 2
Domain name scam link 3
Domain name scam link 4

Interestingly, Euro System's phone number (08445442955) is listed on a website which reports scammers.

I'm not saying they're scammers, but their pitch was nearly 100% word-for-word the same as the domain name scams listed above. I'll let you make your own mind up.

Meanwhile, if you do want to register more domain names associated with your company, then I recommend 123-reg.

Along came a Spider

Well after looking for a car for about... a year now, I finally took the plunge and got one.

Say hello to my 2001 Alfa Romeo Spider 3.0 v6. Not bad for a first car!

It does about 145mph and 0-60 in 6.5s. I reckon I will be taking it a bit easier than that though as the fuel economy is terrible. Sadly I have given up my bike insurance and transferred the NCB to the car policy, so I will probably be getting rid of the bike.

More pics here.

Cheques taking longer to clear

I have been waiting for a cheque from a car finance company to clear with the garage from which I am buying a new car.

So far the bank has had the cheque for 6 days and it has not cleared yet. Apparently the garage had a letter from their bank telling them that cheques would now take 7 days to clear.

Pretty scandalous, considering the OFT were meant to be cracking down on it when it was 3-5 days as standard.

Can I have my spider back?

Nice weather for a convertible

I was meant to be picking up my new car today, but it turns out I can't. The garage only received the cheque from the finance company yesterday and they have to wait for it to clear so I will probably have to wait till Tuesday or, more likely, Wednesday.

What a bummer. It is a pretty gorgeous day today and it would have been perfect for picking the car up. Oh well - I just hope the rest of the week is as nice.

Just as well probably as I'm no affy weel today.

Is Africa a continent or country?

Yes Sarah Palin really was a thicko thickie!

Coming soon...

Phew!

America in "Not voting in another idiot" shocker!

My political analysis: the world will now be hoping that the USA makes the transition from being a "baddie" towards being a "goodie".