My Aastra 480i phone at work decided to start playing silly beggars – it wouldn’t recognise when I picked the handset up, so I had to use it as a speakerphone.

Eventually I had enough, so (with my boss’ permission!) I took a screwdriver to it. Turns out it was a really easy fix.

Step 1:
Use a crosshead screwdriver to remove the 5 screws from the back of the unit – one in each corner, one in the middle.

Step 2: Behind the off/on hook button you will see a bent piece metal acting as a spring. Remove it – it just pops off when you squeeze it gently

Step 3: Gently bend the spring so that it at a slightly greater angle than before – i.e.: so that the two “legs” are spread further apart.

Step 4: Replace the spring, put the back on, and screw it all back together again. You’re done!

I tried this and it has solved my problem first time! Be careful, I doubt this is covered under warranty, and it’s not my fault if you break your phone or go frying your hand off!

There’s a meme going around that goes like this:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

These are my results (from Taking your Talent to the Web, Jeffrey Zeldman, 9780735710733):

You will hear this mathematical arrangement of web safe colors variously referred to as the Netscape Color Cube, the web-safe palette, and variations thereof, many of them unprintable in a family publication.

Just a brief note – I’m decomissioning my domain “matt-fletcher.co.uk”. I hardly use it and it’s due for renewal later this month – a bill I can do without.

Therefore if you happen to have me in your address with that domain in the email address, please note that I’m no longer using it.

If you don’t have my new address, it is simply the name of the town in which I live (think of the famous Ernie and Eric comedy duo, or look at the youtube video I posted recently), AT Google’s mail domain. If that’s a bit cryptic for you, add me on Facebook, where my address is clearly listed!

PS: This doesn’t affect my BB or Church email addresses – yet!

To help encourage me to blog a bit more often, I’m trying out some of the blogging clients that are out there. This post has been written in Windows Live Writer, which is written by Microsoft. My first impressions are really good. It’s very well featured, and the plugins available are simply awesome. There’s a website screenshot plugin, so rather than just talk about websites, I can SHOW you them.

There’s a Wikipedia plugin that lets me select a word/phrase and click a button to turn that word into a link to the relevant page. Here, look at the entry for Morecambe.

My house! The Insert map function (no plugin needed) lets you embed images from Microsoft virtual earth. Round where I live the aerial photography is nothing compared to Google Maps/Earth, but MS also go and provide their “Bird’s Eye View” imaging, which gives you a really high res image from all four compass points. I have to say, I’m pretty impressed.

This looks like a truly great blogging client. I’m just hoping that Ubuntu has something as good for my laptop!

Following my theme of lazy posts – here’s another video made by other people.

Yeah yeah, it might be silly, and the acting’s perhaps a bit off, but it’s good for a giggle at Morecambe’s expense!

Here’s some code I’ve used to backup my home directory to a remote FTP server. Have a look through the code to see where you need to replace things – you’re going to need to change the home directory name, and the FTP server details for a start. It’s pretty unpolished, but it’s working for me. Leave a comment if you’re stuck and I’ll try and help you.

nano ftpbackup

/usr/bin/lftp -f /home/matt/ftpbackup.settings

nano ftpbackup.settings

open ftp://username:password@ftp.server.address
mkdir /mattshomebackup/
mirror -Rc /home/matt/ /mattshomebackup/
exit

export EDITOR=nano
crontab -e

0 3 * * * /home/matt/ftpbackup >/dev/null 2>&1

I can never ever find this information on the web when I need it, so I’m recreating here to save my own time, and that of anyone else who stumbles upon it.

$datetime = date('Y-m-d H:i:s') ;

Non-geeks, you can keep on walking, thanks.

Meet my niece, Jodie-Ann Frances Lees. She was born at 9:51am on Sunday 30th March at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. Congratulations Donna and Graeme.

Before we start, an apology. I know I said I’d aim for a post a day, but yesterday, not even a week in, I slipped up. My broadband is down at home right now, so I’ve been posting in my lunch hour, and yesterday I had to take the car in for its MOT, and plain forgot. I’ll try my best in future though I promise.

My next hobby is railways. Now don’t worry, my interest in railways is fairly casual. I don’t have a notebook listing engine numbers, and I’ve never checked the numebr of rivets on a model train. But from an early age, I’ve had a healthy interest in rail.

I never met my Great Grandad, but I’m sure that it was his miniature railway that circuited his garden that caused my Nana’s interest in trains. And through her I developed my own passion for them.

As a young boy I used to love visiting Steamtown, a railway museum just up the road from me which has sadly long since shut. When I was eight my Nana got a job working in the buffet carriage there, and I whiled away my summer clearing plates away. During the quiet times, I was allowed to wander round the museum, and it was during this time that I got to ride on the footplate of the Sir Nigel Gresley, pictured below.

My next influence was the Boys’ Brigade. For some unknown reason, there has always been a connection between the BB and trains. Up until recently there was even a locomotive named The Boys’ Brigade. At my local company, we had (and still have) a model railway. It is what you might call a work in progresss, but I used to love spending my free time on a Friday night laying track, wiring points, and seeing how far we could get the loco to run before it derailed itself.

Rob, the captain of my BB company, has a strong interest in the old railway lines, many of which we lost in the 60’s. He’s passed much of his knowledge on to me, and I now love to find out about forgotten lines and quietly mourn their loss.

Now, I’ve bought myself a little train and a few short lengths of track, and I’m hoping to build myself a layout once I have my own house. It will be a modern layout based on my local area. I’ve not planned it much more than that for now though.