It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

kennys party 071, originally uploaded by BagRat.

Kenny reached the grand old age of 50 last week along with Andy reaching the 40 mark, so they had a joint party to celebrate and used the oppurtunity to get everyone back togeather again.

It was good to see all the faces from the partys togeather again having a laugh and just generally getting on, party kicked off at of all places Stretford Cricket Club, then moved onto Lisa’s flat, where drinks flowed and people talked bollox (mainly due to what they’d had).

We left fairly early on in the morning 5:00am so maybe not so early, but the party carried on after we left, ending only when John, Ben and a few others decided to place most of Lisa food stuffs in the freezer . . . oh and after Ben had emptied a full bag of flour over the sleeping Lisa’s head (not nice Ben).

Gotta say Kenny was looking good for an old man and no doubt has many years left in him, all the best Kenny and Andy

so here it is, this evenings post . .its been an exciting week in the life of Vince, to start the week I had 2 PC’s at work infected by what I’ll call the DHL email virus.

This was a little bugger of a trojan/malware that came via a zipped file attached to an email purporting to be from DHL, the body of the email went along these lines :

Dear customer!

The courier company was not able to deliver your parcel by your address. Cause: Error in shipping address.

You may pickup the parcel at our post office personaly!

Please attention!
The shipping label is attached to this e-mail. Please print this label to get this package at our post office.

Please do not reply to this e-mail, it is an unmonitored mailbox.

Thank you.

DHL.

once the zipped file was opened it contained what appeared to be an excel spreadsheet, however upon clicking on this spreadsheet you discovered that it was in-fact an executable file, which within and instance had disabled/uninstalled your Anti-Virus software and proceeded to install a fake Anti-Virus program which was now telling you that you had 70+ virus’s that it could clean, but only if you bought the full version for $49 by entering your credit card details, it also installed a number of backdoor trojans and probably for good measure a key-logger.

Well after the 2 users informed me (happened to 2 people on 2 different days, even after I’d sent an email after the first instance warning people of this email) I downloaded Malwarebytes and Superantispyware onto a USB stick and booted the PC’s into Safe Mode (follow the link to learn how to boot into Safe Mode.

Once into Safe Mode I installed both programs and run one after the other, which resulted in over 80+ virus/Trojans hiding on the PC’s, so as instructed it removed them and rebooted the PC, however this wasn’t the end of the problem as one of these nasty little buggers messed about with the registry which resulted in first the Logon/Logoff screen looping every-time you entered your User details and also once this issue had been resolved denied access to the Task Manager and Display properties for the desktop.

After googling for a bit I found these instructions for changing the Registry settings back to there original perameters (details here, much thanks go to the  Ian Luke Kane for posting this info), there are 2 solutions to resolve the issue, me being me went for the Tricky one, I suggest if you have a Windows disc as it asks to go for the easy one as if you don’t know much about Registry editing you could do more damage than good.

Once I’d completed these steps, just to be sure all the virus’s were gone I removed the hard-drives from the infected PC’s and attached them to my PC as secondary drives and ran Malwarebytes, Superantispyware and Mcafee Virus scan on them, which resulted in about 6 more infected files being found, after running one more time with a clean bill of health, reinstalled the drives back in there original PC’s, then reinstalled the Anti-virus software . . .  I then sent out an email again warning people of this DHL Virus Email . . .  touch wood no one else has so far fallen  for it and got infected.

After the excitement of virus infections at work it was time for some relaxation and downtime for Vince, how better than to get on Twitter and chat to various people I know on there and it was thanks to these Twitter types that I made a wonderful discovery which has swelled the 38,000 tracks I have the option to play in my iTunes library to well over 100,000 tracks.

So what is this discovery then ?

Well its a piece of software called Simplify Media, which lets you share your  music on your PC using  programs like iTunes and Windows Media player, its like Spotify in a sense, but different, once you’ve installed the software you can invite other people you know who use it to share your library and vice-versa, once you’ve added them you’ll need to ensure that you’ve turned on view shared library’s in iTunes, wait a little while for the information for their library of music to be updated on your machine and then you can simply click on a track in their shared library in your itunes.

Here’s what Simplify Medias FAQ says about how it works :

Simplify Media software lets you browse and play remote music using the iTunes, Front Row, Winamp, Windows Media and Rhythmbox players, and remote photos using the Simplify photo viewer, iPhoto, and Windows Explorer. Specialized music and photo applications are also available for the iPhone and iPod touch mobile devices.

Media is streamed directly between computers over the Internet within small groups that you control. Your group can be made up entirely of your own computers, for example home and office or home and iPhone. You can also invite close friends and family to join. Once an invitation is accepted, you will be able to view and play each other’s libraries when online. See more

All I can say about this piece of software is go and download it, its fucking amazing, there’s even an app for the iPhone which lets you stream your music onto the iPhone(download it here , which for me is great, I’ve so far used this app to stream music to my iPhone and then using the Blue-tooth connection from my iPhone  I’ve streamed this same music through my car stereo, so instead of being limited to what CD’s or waht tracks I have on my iPhone I now have 100,000’s of tracks to choose from while driving my car . . .  how fucking cool is that.

The other good thing about Simplify Media, is that if I’m at someone house and there music’s shit, as long as they have an Internet connection and iTunes (just a case of downloading it) I can install Simplify Media on their PC logon using my details and I have access to my music to play . .  get innnnnn, no more shitty music . .  (not saying all my friends music is shit by the way)

Heres a screen shoot of the app open showing just how many tracks I have access to stream now (names  blacked out for obvious reasons)

Simplify Media Library

If you haven’t got this app, what are you doing still reading go and download it now and if your a friend or mine email me your Username and I’ll invite you to share my library.

Now after that immense plug of Simplify Media, back to the mundane part of my life.

Wednesday was spent at electriks helping Luke Unabomber with Mac problems/issues again, actually I can’t call this mundane as it was a laugh doing it, Lukes a funny guy when your trying to teach him Mac stuff, anyway just a case of showing him how to move files from one Mac to another.

Thursday was curry night were I prepared my body and soul for a rather nice Tandoori Chicken Masala which I must say was very very tasty, though it has repeated on me throughout the day . .  but it was worth it.

And now to today Friday . .  well believe it or not I’m ending the week resolving  Virus infected PC’s again, this time, its a laptop that’s suffering, not from the same virus, but one very similar i.e. it installs fake software and Trojans, again I’ve run much the same procedures as with the previous machines and thus far its discovered about 80+ infected files, I’ve cleaned these off and now am just in the process of running the secondary scans, they should be finished in about another 1/2hr, which has given me all this time to update my blog.

Hoping that once the scans are finished it’ll just be a case of installing some free anti-virus software on it and passing it back to the owner and seeing how much he’s willing to give me for doing it, I usually charge a bottle of Bombay Sapphire and 4o Lambert and Butler, which I think is fairly reasonable  . .  don’t you ?

As for tomorrow I’ve got to pick up an PC from Amanda at the Nook which again is virus infected, so after walking Blue grabing a Latte in Electriks I’ll spend a couple of hours sorting that out and by the most of my weekend will be gone, but hey I enjoy doing it and one day I might need a favour doing which they can help me with . . .  what comes around . . goes around as my old mate used to say . .

There as promised a post to my blog, hope its to your satisfaction and isn’t to long and boring . . .  if it is tough shit I’ve typed it now so there  . .

Good night

later this evening . . .

that’s what I am, just not had the energy to post on the blog on a regular basis for quite a while now, think its been the winter blues that have been causing it, all these dark nights when I’ve been getting home from work’s to blame.

I shall attempt to remedy that by telling you about things that I’ve done int the week that’s been and gone . .

Sunday was spent walking Blue and then heading over to electrik bar in Chorlton for a most enjoyable night of Sundays 1 Deck Session where the DJ on the deck that night was the wonderfully moustached Andrew Weatherall . . . and boy what a moustache he has . .

Over the course of the evening he played everything from Rockabilly, the Clash, the specials and just about anything else that took his fancy, thoroughly nice man and thoroughly good entertainment was had by all who attended, these 1 Deck sessions at electrik just get better.

Should also point you towards @undeleted’s Blog were you can find a much better write up of the evening and who is the man responsible for this pioneering new camera interview technique “The Chest and Chin”

Monday through to Wednesday weren’t all that exciting just the usual drudgery of work and wondering if we’d be hit by another white out with the snow, the only highlights were watching the new series of Survivors starting on the BBC, which gave me and no doubt a few other dotted around Manchester the opportunity to play spot the Mancunian location, the most obvious was the exterior of the Midland Hotel, where they took Tom to operate on, didn’t recognise anywhere else, but that’s probably down to the fact the BBC have moved production of the new series to Birmingham, so expect to see local shots around there in the coming episodes.

Also spent some time uploading a few more videos onto YouTube . .  yes and they were of the dog Blue, but do you blame me, she is after all the prettiest dog in the world

First up in her new video adventures is the quilt sucking episode, it seems that when you leave Blue alone in the bedroom she has a habit of bunching up the quilt and grabbing it in her jaws and just  “Sucking”

She treats it like its some sort of security blanket or something, anyway here’s the proof and just check out the so serious face when she clocks the camera filming her

Next up there’s Blue enjoying the summer in Longford Park, filmed this earlier on last year, but just never got around to uploading it

Then came Thursday and today, not much to blog about I’m afraid.

As for tomorrow there might be more to blog about, as I’ve instituted #DogClub on Twitter and will hopefully have a few peeps joining me and Blue on our Saturday morning walk around Ivy Green, though this might change to another location as yet undecided.

Also I must say hello to Adrian or to his friends Eddy Layton, who I’ve recently discovered reads my blog from time to time, so Eddy if your reading this say hello to my mum next time you see her and say hello Mrs L and Paul for me.

As mentioned earlier headed across to Chorlton to take Blue round Ivy Green, met up with Luke at Electriks then headed across to Ivy Green, anyways decided to head along the Mersey to Jackson’s boat for a beer, absolutely stunning views with everything totally whited out by the snow, like being in another country.

Met a few other dog owners along the way and just generally enjoyed the walk and then it happened . . . Blue headed for her favourite bend in the Mersey, where she usually goes for a drink of water, but the edge was all iced up and Blue being Blue didn’t bat an eyelid, just went storming onto the ice, well ice and a 7.5 stone dog don’t exactly miss and the next minute there’s the sound of ice cracking and Blue disappears into the inky black water of the Mersey to reappear a few seconds later out of the ice hole she’d just created.

Soon as I saw her disappear I dropped my camera and dived down the rivers bank trying to get to her, she was a couple of feet out, way beyond my reach, but luckily for her and me there was a fcuking big branch log just laying nr the bank, so used this to smash through the ice and create a passage for her to get to the side, scariest 60 or so seconds I’ve experienced in a long time while smashing that ice I can tell you.

So managed to get her to the side and she was back to her normal self in a few minutes, though slightly damp for her ordeal, she soon shook it off, then headed to Jackson’s Boat so she could warm up and me and Luke could get a beer.

Apart from the unexpected dip in the Mersey it was a pretty good afternoon, nothing like trapping through snow and cold bracing fresh air to make you feel alive, finished the afternoon off with some very tasty French Onion soup at electriks, now at home watching Blue chilled out on the bed with Mel pampering her.

Might head out that way again tomorrow, but this time stay away from the ice . .

I may be some time . .

Yep thinking of braving the cold winter scene that is Manchester and heading to Chorlton to take the dog Blue for a walk round Ivy Green and along the Mersey to Jackson’s Boat for a nice warming bowl of soup . .

Anyone car to join me, hit me up on Twitter

P1040905, originally uploaded by BagRat.

and what has it left us with . . . about 8″ of snow and an almighty hangover that’s what !

I can honestly say in the 12 years I’ve been living in Manchester I’ve never seen snow like it, this is what I’d call Yorkshire snow, the sort of snow that used to cut Market Weighton off from the outside world for days at a time.

So how did Manchester cope with the snow ?, not very well to be honest, in the 3 days since it fell I’ve not see one road gritter out and about, seen plenty of people struggling to get into work, myself included, but no gritters to help us on our way.

Where are all the gritters ? if you spot a gritter please let me know as I’m beginning to think there imaginary creatures.

Apart from the snow then, what else has been happening in and about Manchester, well there was Electrik Bars NYE party

Which I must say was a resounding night and only £5 to get into, cheap at 1/2 the price, I arrived there around 10:30pm and immediately got into the spirit of things or at least the spirit got into me, about 1/2 bottle of vodka and redbull to be trueful, along with a couple of Sambucas and some Vedett, which all went along to making me dance like a mad fucker.

Mel was going to join me after she’d had a meal with her sister and dad at Chez Nou in Sale, but sadly never made it due to her own spirits inbided NYE, but luckily I had managed to sort myself out some good company for the remainder of the evening in the shape of Sean and Lauren, 2 twitters I know and follow.

Electriks eventually kicked everyone out around 3-4:00am and I decided I’d best venture home and see where Mel had got to, though on the way stopped off at Bernies annual NYE Party which was in the middle of winding down by the look of it when I got there, did the usual hello’s and caught up with a few people while I was there, but to be honest I was starting to lag by this point and decided I’d best get home to my 2 favourite ladies Mel & Blue.

After flagging down a black cab and persuading him I was’nt going to be sick all over his cab or mug him I eventually got home to find both ladies snuggled up on the bed with the quilt, Blue woke up as I walked up the stairs which in turn woke Mel up, then spent about 1hr discussing our nights adventures and wishing ourselves a happy anniversary (10 years ago on NYE me and Mel started going seeing each other) and then just both sort of drifted off to sleep.

So that was my NYE 2010, hope yours was a good one

Well what can I say except that the Unabombers End of Year Riot at Electriks at Legends was a belter of a night . .  the venue the DJ’s, the music and most of all the people were fantastic, not had a night out as much fun as that in god knows how many years . . .  has definitely set me up for tonight’s NYE party at Electriks Bar.

I took a few picture of the night and am still in the process of uploading them to flickr, should hopefully have them all uploaded later on today, so keep checking back, didn’t get any video footage as it was way to dark in there to film.

Highlights of my night apart from the music and the people were the lovely Gemma who I know from going to Electriks Bar was recognizing me and asking where Blue was and some absolutely bolloxed up guy ambling across to me, grabbing me by the hand, shaking it profoundly and saying he was very upset that my Essential Mix on Radio 1 hadn’t been voted the top mix of the decade . . .  looking a little bemused I asked him who he thought I was . .  apparently according to him he thought I was Brandon Block . .  made me laugh . .

Anyway the night was a right good laugh, met some really nice people, who I shall hopefully bump into again at some point . ., guessing the same will happen tonight.

So before  go better wish you all a Happy New Year and hope to see you on the other side later

and yes and most of them contain Blue our Cane Corso . . heres a sampler

If you’d care to see the rest there on my YouTube page

Are you going ?

I managed to get hold of a set of tickets this afternoon, just starting to get myself ready for it, looking forward to this night as not been out in ages, line up looks exceptional as well

Should be heading across there round abouts 10-10:30pm and not coming out of the place until the early hours if all goes well

Will be taking the camera and videocam to catch the night and will no doubt post proof of the tom-foolery on here at some point, so check back or just look at my flickr/youtube pages.

This will be my first time at an Electric Chair night so should be fairly special me thinks . .

Highlights for me will be Kelvin Brown, the Unabombers, Greg Wilson, Jason Boardman . .  what the fcuk the whole lot of them will be highlights of my night . .

Anyway best be going and start prettying myself up and stick the talc in me back pocket  .