Captain Chaos

Evening all, I hope that I find you all well? I've had a nose through the forum, but couldn't find the answer, so I'm hoping that you can help. My Superb has now done 72000+ miles and I strongly suspect that the front shock absorbers have worn out as the ride isn't as good as it was and the wheels feel like they're rattling around under breaking and over bumpy roads. So, I plan to head off to ATS Euromaster tomorrow to get them sorted, but was after an idea of a) how much I should expect to pay, (I'm thinking £175ish) and whether another garage or KwikFit would be a better idea than ATS Euromaster? Many thanks, Chaos

Woohoo, good stuff Chris, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist posting pictures! Looks great. Nice colour and I do like the new red Fiat badge. Tasty wheels too. Chaos

Delivered on 15/03/04 and just approaching 47,000 miles, just fitted second set of front tyres - but have just discovered that the front wishbone arms are worn, so back to the dealer next week!

Thanks for the updates, all, good to keep an eye on how it's being used and policed Cheers, Chaos

Ooops, sorry, I think I was meant to say Ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and maybe foooooooooooooooooooooooooorfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkee! Chaos

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chaos

Ooops, double bugg@r... couldn't have made tonight in the end either. Chaos reigns...

Many apologies for my absence this evening, hope that it went ok. This is the first time I've been near a PC today, so unfortunately I couldn't leave a note earlier. All the best, Chaos

Yeah, I think it will, especially since they announced that despite being funded by American money that they are going to use the British cast. I'm also hoping that with Doug Naylor at the helm, that it won't turn into a US sentiment / action / effects film, and that it stays focused on what was good about Red Dwarf, i.e. the characters and the comedy. www.reddwarf.co.uk has some info on it, including : Red Dwarf - The Movie may be shot in Australia. Preliminary design work is currently underway. Pre-production proper will begin in mid-July, and shooting is slated for January 2005. Can I just say at this point though mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Chloe Annett... Chaos

I thought it was Wireless Fidelity but invented to sound like HiFi... This is from http://wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/w/Wi_Fi.html Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Any products tested and approved as "Wi-Fi Certified" (a registered trademark) by the Wi-Fi Alliance are certified as interoperable with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers. A user with a "Wi-Fi Certified" product can use any brand of access point with any other brand of client hardware that also is certified. Typically, however, any Wi-Fi product using the same radio frequency (for example, 2.4GHz for 802.11b or 11g, 5GHz for 802.11a) will work with any other, even if not "Wi-Fi Certified." Formerly, the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in place of the 2.4GHz 802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet" is used in place of IEEE 802.3. The Alliance expanded the generic use of the term in an attempt to stop confusion about wireless LAN interoperability. Chaos

So, this evening on the way home from Bracknell to Chaos Towers, here in Bordon-on-the-Ridiculous, I passed through Frimley, and M3 J4. Having happily blasted down the Blackwater Valley Relief Road (oo-er), with a Scooby, some kind of mega sorted Polo GT and a Toyota of some sort, when we all blasted past a 3 series Beemer who seemed to get upset at being passed en masse, and pulls out to follow us. The Toyota broke off to join the M3, but at the next roundabout which is actually 4 lanes across as it joins the M3, A331, and the A325... lined up sat at the line with the lights at red are the Polo, the Beemer, me and the Scooby... green light... the Polo and the Scooby get away clearly before me (sorry all, but I did catch up quickly) leaving the Beemer behind all three of us. So, Polo breaks off and heads off the 325 slip road, meaning it's the Scooby and me side by side as the road becomes 2 lanes... the Beemer is behind us, weaving from one lane to the other and back again, so I gently pull in behind the Scooby as we approach traffic in the inside lane, as we clear that car, the Beemer pulls into the inside lane, in an attempt to undertake the Scooby and I... no way, we accelerate together making sure he gets stuck in his lane until he has to brake to avoid a car on the inside... again once clear, I pull into the inside lane, again Mr. Beemer one lane and the other... it was like ballet though, as though there was some kind of telepathy between the Scooby and I, that though we had cars of different marques there was no need for us to settle our differences, we just both knew that we had one common enemy... an unspoken bond between motorists... it was beautiful. The Beemer quickly gave up leaving the Scooby and I to have a very quick, and very courteous journey home through the wilds of Hampshire. Chaos

Adrian, Count me in for the Wednesday night, I'll make sure I work in Boringstoke that day, so I can come across and bore you all with my bog standard Furby vRS. All the best, Chaos

Hmm, aahh, well, you seem to have missed my subtle irony there about Portsmouth... I'm afraid that we both know the same slightly less than salubrious place. However, I was really have a dig at Chris, as we both work for the same fly-by-night two-bit operation, although to try and cover the Portsmouth comment a little bit, the office is actually in Cosham (which is on the mainland and not Portsea Island!). ...and hello Scrutineer! Yes, I'm afraid that the much more exotic location of Southwater / Horsham where you live, in the heart of the Sussex commuter belt probably does explain your high mortgage, but it is a jolly nice area! One thing you can say about Andover though, is that it does seem an easy place to get out of... not sure that is a good thing or a bad thing? I live in a town shared by the locals, the Army (REME/SEME) and a RAF radar outpost, and while it does keep the house prices down, it really doesn't live up to the reputation that forces towns seem to have. I imagine this reputation is due to really busy army towns like Aldershot and Colchester where Army v Locals street fights do seem to be a regular occurence, but if Bordon is anything to go by, don't let the Army presence put you off. Long winded answer there... Chaos

You wanna get a proper job, working for a proper company mate, somewhere exotic and cosmopolitan like where I work in Portsmouth, or really posh like Horsham. Don't be wasting your time in some back water in Winchester mate... and you know that shoddy outfit you work for will never come to anything. Otherwise, there's a guy called Noel Vanstone (yes, that really is his name), who works for IGS up in Frimley, who I know, lives in Andover, so he could probably give you some tips. Chaos

The Furby vRS definitely has a low washer warning as mine has gone off quite recently... and it makes that ever so slightly grating "ping" warning noise accompanied by an orange light on the dash display. Chaos "piiiiiiiinnnnng"

Denis, Thanks for sorting that out for me... Plus, I thought Phil had bothered doing that in Photoshop or something. He's still a cheeky **** for dissing my Furby. I look forward to hearing from Donald Bumsfelt on the issue, will tune into CNN now, and watch out for soldiers being court martialled over this outrage. Chaos

That's cheeky worker, or in this case, co-worker. In my department at work, we have a "team room", which is a Lotus Notes forum for posting work and non-work related issues. One of the sections is for posting recommendations about what people should buy as a company car. Now, obviously, I posted a glowing report on my Furby vRS, including the video of Fifth Gear's Furby v Mini and I blathered on about value for money, performance, fuel economy etc. However, in reply, my cheeky co-worker, Phil, posted this rather creative picture... Chaos

Hey Kentish, I'm on my second ATI All-in-Wonder graphics card, having first had a Rage128 based one and now have a Hercules made ATI Radeon one. It's a combined graphics card, TV card, DVD decoder, Video-in etc., card and I think they're great, minimises hassle, and the Radeon based ones are good 2D/3D cards as well. The ATI drivers and software sometimes a bit fiddly to get used to, but once you've got a stable setup going they're rock solid. The TV image is very clear, and because it's all done on the graphics card, the image is resizable, zoomable and has the "Always on Top" feature as well. Also, a nice feature is the ability to do hard disk recording, like a TiVo, probably not relevant for your daughter, but useful for capturing Fifth Gear when needed Chaos

Most online play for me is Desert Combat, the Battlefield 1942 mod, which can't be beaten for fighting with bang up-to-date weapons and technology in fantastic open and urban environments against "The Opposition" (for that read "The Iraqi's"). Runner up fave games are UT2004 (particularly Assault maps) and Call of Duty. I do have Need for Speed Underground that has net multiplay, if you are looking to do multi-driving stuff? I play LANgames in a Network Gaming club in Winchester on the last Saturday of every month in anyone ever fancies joining us they'd be more than welcome. Chaos

:confused: Well, I'm afraid having just spent nearly a week in Spain, I can sadly report that despite seeing a few privately owned Fabias, the only Octavias that I saw in the whole time, were indeed taxis. I was surprised to see as many as I did, as I'd imagined that the favourite taxi choice would have been the Seat Toledo, but it looks like Skoda's must be as aggressively priced against Seat in Spain as they are here... :guapo: :confuse: Chaos

This is childish, I know, but things like this amuse me... a rather unfortunate number plate spotted on an A3 in Barcelona... Chaos

Can I add my voice to the many and say many, many thanks for a fantastic day. Even as a spectator, I had a great day, meeting lots and lots of friendly people, and saw more steaming engines and amazing components than in a whole lifetime! Thank you to you all as well for making a newbie and non-driving participant feel so welcome, plus what a great location and fantastic weather. I too have lobstered arms, neck and face despite wearing a hat and sunglasses although hearing the news of Jenson's pole on the radio on the way home certainly helped me ignore the warm glow from my forearms! All the best, Chaos Pics: http://groups.msn.com/CaptainChaosPhotoAlbum/_whatsnew.msnw

Manny, Good idea on the piccie thread... I've posted my pictures into an MSN Group (hey, why use my web storage when you can get it for free from Micro$oft!). Hopefully you can see them at http://groups.msn.com/CaptainChaosPhotoAlbum/_whatsnew.msnw Let me know if you have any problems, enjoy the pictures... Chaos

Image of the Q-mobile... as requested, one from rear and one from front with photo including DaveU and co-pilot. The stripe was certainly a nice touch and certainly distinguished the car from the other black Octy's. The best thing though was the fact that Quinten's son had put an orange stripe down the middle of all of his toy cars as well! Chaos

Well, in a week there I saw a diesel Felicia Estate and a diesel Fabia Estate(with stick on flowers on the back), but the only Octavias that I saw were around Calais and they were all British. One thing that did cheer me up was that as Tavia said that they the French do seem to buy predominately French cars, this does thankfully limit the amount of Fords on the roads. Entertainingly, all of the Barryboys over there bomb around the town squares on scooters or on Sh1troen ZXs. Did I mention how good their roads are? Chaos