Yep, XT is your friend here.

Must be fairly rare still, I got the only Air-9 I've ever seen on eBay in large a while ago. Finally decided I need an XL one so one day I might swap my large one for an XL….

Personally I wouldn't bother with a partitioned hard drive as a 'back-up' feature. If the hard drive itself packs up you've lost both copies.

If he just wants to backup some Powerpoint presentations I'd suggest either burning to CD/DVD, or getting an external harddrive and backing up to that. (or both).

If he's a wireless router then he'll be laughing with regard to portablility. If not, then it's probably cheap-as-chips to buy him a wireless one. If not I'd recommend a homeplug system – you plug it into the mains and it'll create a network over your mains cabling. Only downside is he'd have to plug in another homeplug device beside him in the kithcen so he'll not be able to wander around, but no problem unplugging it and plugging in again in another room.

Never go wrong with a Dell in my opinion. Maybe not the most exciting.

And just order Office from Amazon or something if they don't bundle it in for a decent price.

http://www.safetysupplies.co.uk/trolleyed/3/

The Bolle Contours are pretty good for £6. The ESP is a decent tint.

p&p was a little steep but a whole bunch of us at work bought some just for winter so it wasn't too bad.

Had the same thing a while ago, Campag shifters and mech, on a Shimano cassette.

I kinda worked, but there was always a couple of gears that just felt like they weren't indexed properly. So I just flogged the Shimano wheel and bought a Campag one and cassette. It was a lot better.

Stick to one or the other, or the fashionistas will be onto you.

I thought, 'Well, how are you going to be around to post it off?'

Erm, ever thought he works miles away from his house, but very close to a Post Office next door to his/her office?

That's why I always just put 'standard sellers rate' instead of Parcelforce etc., to stop pedants pulling me up on postage, not that I over charge.

Sounds like a genuine mistake, if it's a shop they'll be selling loads of stuff so somethings are going to slip through the net.

Report him to Paypal saying you never received your parcel. He won't have a leg to stand on as he hasn't got proof he sent it Parcelforce 24h.

He'll soon start sending stuff out with the advertised postage method then
Well lets hope he doesn't read STW, otherwise eBay might take a very dim view of that proposed action…

And besides, if he's got proof of purchase from the post office they'd be covered for their costs anyway so it'll not make him/her think at all.

Could be worse. I think it's actually illegal to go overdrawn in some other Euro countries!

What you gonna put on the neutral feedback – "not as described so he offered full refund and I refused the fair refund as I wanted to flog my car quickly and couldn't be bothered to ebay another mirror"?

If you don't put the full story then basically you are as bad as him, misleading the people reading the feedback.

Are you buying from a shop – if that's the case do you have a choice over what courier they use?

CR520 are £17 at CRC at moment – you might just need the front one – shouldn't have the same judder problems with the back one.

You'd probably be hard pressed not to get a condensing boiler IIRC – not sure if you're allowed to find any other type of combi these days. Just be prepared for great jets of steam coming out of it – best not have the exhaust coming out into your kitchen window!

Really happy with my Worcester boiler. We know the fitter and he'd only work with Vaillant and Worcester Bosch.

Just a case of getting the right model for your needs in their range.

Why does the sheepdog magically lose his watch/sweatband when he runs but it always appears again when he stands up to whistle/have a cup of tea/drive a tractor etc.

Not that you can tell I've been watching far too many episodes……

aP – I have every sympathy with you fella, I'm in exactly the same boat, maybe about a month ahead of you, by the sounds of it.

Great job (if I sit down and think of it positively), healthy, lovely missus, beautiful daughter etc. etc.

But I've taken to waking up at 3 or 4 every morning, tied throughout the day, knackered at home. And repeat. You start forgetting sentences, getting stressed about things that never worry you before, no enthusiasm for things.

I went to the docs after one bad day at work. It actually helps if some says, "actually there may be something wrong with you". Talked to work, they've been good and swapped a few of my duties amongst others (who should really have been doing them anyway).

But assuming you are a cyclist (as you are on here) just get out on your bike for a blast. Hell, if nothing else treat yourself to a set of waterproofs and just ploldge around the streets. I've got plans for a nice shiney road bike come the spring when I get back some winter fitness. I do feel so much better for going out.

And, yes, you are not alone.

As Glen says, there will be a sizeable number of watchers just interested in seeing how much it goes for, there'll be a number watching in case of a bargain and with either stop watching or ignore if it goes over a certain price.

Could be seen as a bit of showboating if you start telling everyone whos watching. And you'll look like a fool if the numbers drop. Not that anyone would probably believe your number anyway….

Doubtful you'd get any higher bids from 'serious' people just 'cos you've said 50 people are watching.

Think Gadget Show did a trial of a few internet photo processors – might be worth checking out the website.

If it's a one off image you might find the p&p is a lot, worth wandering down your highstreet and popping into the local camera shop/photo processor?

I saw them – are they much 'lite-r' than the originals? Suppose a wander to the LBS this weekend might be useful.

And don't forget the CSS background style will repeat like a tile effect, so you don't need a massive background image to get the effect.

The Cotic one on here is wide but very shallow and just repeats as lots of stripes on the page in effect.

There'll be little pain involved. You don't have my customers!

on the body style replace the background-color with an image to get the 'cotic' look.

Do whatever you want for the content.

The margin:auto will centre your content in any browser window size

http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/css/quickref/css_index.html is a good site for CSS reference – few simple examples too for every style.

Enjoy. Well, you will until you need to make everything work in IE6, IE7, IE8, FF, Chrome, Safari, Macs etc. etc., then welcome to my world of pain….

<head>
<style>
body {background-color:#ccc}
.content {width:500px; margin:auto; background-color:#FFF; border:1px solid red}
</style>

</head>

<body>
<div class="content">
hello world
</div>

</body>

Probably worth reporting him to eBay. Abuse shouldn't be tolerated regardless.

Then again, you do have his address don't you. How about some recorded delivery wee'd in slippers to sign for.

To be fair X Factor is a competition on who is the 'best' singer, voted by the public. The winner then records a pre-written song that is guaranteed to be Christmas number 1 as it's just had 15 weeks of high-profile promotion.

Talent often involves the drive to push yourself (and your band) to fame (and fortune) and not necessarily be the best singer. I don't think you could say Lennon, Jagger, Stipe, Bono etc. are great 50s/jazz/swing/blues and ballad singers. I've often heard Andrew Ridgley of Wham was the driving force, so despite having zero singing talent Wham made it big because of that, in some part.

X Factor was summarised by my mates wife last year – "I couldn't decide between the two finalists so I voted for them both."

Sigh.

I've got these on my Tahos
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/run/8/Lock_Laces_Elastic_Shoelace/5360009692/

Elastic laces! Just pull 'em off without any real faff.

Not sure if you really need laces on Celcius boots – the velcro straps seem to do the business, not sure a three point lace is much cop….

It's got to the point I had to buy the missus an old Rockhopper off eBay, and strip it completely down, clean, relube and fettled to perfection. She'll probably never ride it. But it was very shiney clean, even polished and waxed the frame!

I've also spent lunchtime pricing up some new Campag bits for a new shiney road frame I've taken a shine to.

I've justified it by not going out drinking as much these days!

Estate agent round ours reckons some of the do-er-uppas are fetching almost as much as sorted houses as people are paying stupid money again so they can "add value" to a property thinking they've got a bargain – they are in bidding wars to pick up knackered houses!!!

If you've got a bit of cash I'd sort the damp, tidy it up and maybe rent it out, or just keep hold for a bit until things look a bit better if it's close enough to pop round and keep it tidy/maintained – lawns etc.

Paypal is useful for eBay stuff, not sure if it's as useful for classifieds on here. IIRC the buyer is only covered for a dodgy deal if it's via eBay. Using paypal is just going to incur you fees and won't as a buyer guarantee me any better cover than bank transfer or even a cheque.

Being verified is only a benefit if you're buying not selling.

Like Clubber says you're covered up to 100x 1st class stamp (£39 currently) if you ask for a proof of postage.

A thing the Post Office keep quiet is you can insure parcels for as much as you want – it's a lot cheaper than special delivery etc. (admittedly it's not a next day service or anything). If things don't arrive then you claim off the post office.

The good, the bad and the ugly. Love spaghetti westerns…

Buy an iPod Clasic 160gb, get an iPod dock into your hifi. Forget the computer malarky completely.

Mate is a postie. He said the last time they got temporary workers in during a strike that the fraud department in the PO was so overwelmed with missing parcels they had to call in the police to investigate the sheer level of thefts.

Probably drop you bars by about 7 – 7.5mm (if my maths is correct). Depends if that's what you want – it might feel a bit different but probably not.

I'd like to know how WhatMTB can claim the 2010 Stumpjumper raised the bar to such a level that "all other trail bikes are like riding with Forest Gump leg braces" (or something like that) and it was the bestest thing ever ever ever in the world.

So then then proceed to put it in SECOND place in their top trail bikes section in the back. Sigh.

Still it was nice to read the same lights review in both WhatMTB and Cycling Plus. Presumably MBUK have dibs on the report next month….

Horse walks into a bar. Barman says "why the long face?"

—————————

Just found out my mother-in-law is Danish. Always through she had a face like a Norse.

Well, I'm on year three of 0% payrises. Next year ain't looking brilliant either.

Going back to the original post – it ain't just the public sector that are getting picked on. BG 'borrowed' billions from my pension fund amongst others to pay for his little schemes. And I used to work in the public sector too – pensions were often 'fiddled' – seen so many people working part time, then funnily enough work full-time for the last year of service – their pension is then based on a percentage of their last years salary.

I am starting to get sick of still blaming the Tories after 13 years of NuLabour rule – they've had plenty of time (and money) to get everything sorted, or at least in place to sort things. FFS GB was even denying they'd need cuts in spending until a couple of weeks ago. Just had his head buried in the sand for years now.

And don't get me started on all comments about these Tory rich kids looking after their own rich mates. I'll not ask how many rich Labour donors there are who seem to do well out of their contributions, the number of Labour MPs who'll now go (after the next election) into nicely paid jobs in the city. Nice to see Mandleson at the Labour conference getting in touch with the hardworking public whilst wearing his £40,000 Philipe Patek watch…

quote]bungalistic – Member
Didn't you agree on price and components when you went in.
[/quote]

Yep, ordered the A319 rims in the build.

Gonna have some lunch and have a think. Leaning towards popping the wheels back in and getting them built back onto TN719s.

I'd recommend trying a steel frame if you haven't already. It may be slightly more forgiving but you might never notice. I've a titanium frame, yes it feels like I've got 2psi less in the tyres but it ain't no sofa ride.

Nice shout MTT. The Stowa looks like a good call when my old Seamaster gets replaced.

Chatsworth – maybe a bit garish for you but I've got an Oakley Icon watch that's used and abused everyday. I love it. Not missed a beat for years now. I've got narrow wrists so it suits me fine, maybe the Timebomb is better for wider wrists but that does brder on garish.

Probably too expensive but I loke the look of the Omega Railmaster.

Niner?

Had a white one fitted, smashed it to bits within a fortnight, dentist said they are softer than the grey stuff, so put amalgam in without problem since.

Or find a nice MTB version and take the peak off for road riding. A lot of the (xc) mtb helmets are just the road ones with a peak.

Yep, they are the good 'uns.

And that the only certainties we can be sure of, is that bust follows boom follows bust follows boom.

No, Gordon said there wouldn't be any more boom and bust…..