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Speaking of keyboards, I'm toying with the idea of getting a Dvorak keyboard and learning to type properly on it. It seems a bit silly that we are still using QWERTY layout keyboards when the reason for them has long since passed into history.
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quote:Originally posted by mart: You don't have to buy a specific Dvorak keyboard. You can use any keyboard and swap the keys around, and then tell Windows to be Dvorak.
Sorry about work Hippy.
Are all the alternate characters the same then? So shift plus ' will still give me an @ even if the key is in a different position?
I've seen you can get replacement labels for the tops of your keys, but I didn't realise all the keys were basically the same but in different places.
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I'm not sure about punctuation. The generic Dvorak layout is designed for ANSI 104-key layouts (that is, US keyboards), so I don't know what happens when you do it with a UK/ISO layout.
In order for improvements to happen with Dvorak, you need to be able to touch type, with all your fingers resting naturally on the home row (which is what Dvorak does -- concentrate 70% of key use to the home row, with vowels on the left and the most common consonants on the right, so you alternate hands much more). If you can't touch type properly, I doubt Dvorak or Colemak will improve things much.
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: Rinog's going to be a homeowner. If only Ralph was still alive to see this.
We exchanged last friday. Moving on Monday.
Ironically we are looking at temporarily moving in with my parents with most of our stuff stored while I spend two weeks from the start of September to totally gut and decorate the flat.
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Two weeks to gut and decorate a flat sounds pretty ambitious. We've taken 5 weeks now and have managed to get everything plastered but only painted upstairs and the living room.
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Yeah but I don't have any crazy paving or floor-to-ceiling artex to deal with.
It's just a two bedroom flat.
In the first week we'll be going there in the evening to rip out the old carpets, clean everything as best we can, and measure up for new carpets. Then with it empty, I'll take the following week off work and spend the whole week repainting the walls, papering two walls, regrouting the bathroom tiles, and possibly ripping out the old storage heaters (assuming I don't get time to do it the week before).
So yeah it'll be a lot of work. It'll be me and my unemployed mate in there from early morning to late evening every day, but I reckon between us we'll be able to do pretty much everything.
Then the following weekend the carpet people will come in and fit the new carpets. No rush on the new heaters, that can wait until everything else is done. Once the new carpets are in we'll then be able to start moving in furniture.
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Sounds like you've got it all sorted. Make sure you take lots of before and after pictures. Good luck with it Ringo, really chuffed for you.
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Cheers dude, I'll make sure i take lots of pictures and put them all up on Facebook. The flat's going to be relatively spartan as we're leaving a lot of furniture with the intention of buying more when we've got the money, but so long as I can get a good standard of decorating sorted, I'll be pretty happy. It's certainly a lot of work to fit into a fortnight, and at the moment there's a bit of a cockup with the mortgage offer because apparently the provider forgot to put my middle name on it so the confirmation of the credit check isn't valid, or somesuch, so that needs sorting before we can complete.
It'll be pretty touch and go now as to whether we'll get it all signed off before the end of August. Hopefully we will though otherwise it'll become a real drag.
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quote:Originally posted by Cherry In Hove: We've taken 5 weeks now and have managed to get everything plastered but only painted upstairs and the living room.
Yeah - it's a lot harder work than it sounds. We've been in the new place for over a week and all I've managed to do so far is unpack the television and the pornography.
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I've got the computer set up and the wireless working, but this is all set up in the breakfast room with a window which faces onto the neighbours back door. As we haven't painted the breakfast room yet, we haven't put the curtain rail back up so I haven't risked using it for pornographic purposes yet.
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We got a piano delivered yesterday! It's horrifically out of tune and probably needs some work, but it's a nice looking 1920s upright (Monington and Weston) and it fits nicely into the living room.
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You should get saloon style swinging doors on your living room, and stop playing the piano every time someone new walks in.
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For anyone who hasn't seen on facebook, my decorating project has more or less come to a finish. Still need to replace the old fixtures and fittings (light fittings, plug sockets, etc) but it's basically all there now. Bloody hard week though, never again.
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I enjoyed looking at the pics on Facebook - seems like a ton of hard work has gone into it. It seems quite weird that everyone's doing these big house projects at the same time. Anyway - good job in getting it done in two weeks. Some friends of mine moved into a new place a fortnight ago and they still haven't sorted out a phone line. They keep emailing me asking for the numbers of workmen and then staring at them, wondering what to do.
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We were sort of forced into the situation really, so didn't have a lot of choice. We could have taken longer getting all the decorating done, and certainly it would have been done to a better standard if we had done (though it's by no means bad) but that would have meant staying with my parents longer which is frankly unbearable, or moving into a house which constantly reminded Reema of her ex. Something I was keen to avoid.
It's amazing the difference putting a bit of paint on the walls can make though. The irony is that the place was on the market for months before we did this and there was very little interes, with just a few offers quite a bit lower than the asking price. But the state of the place would have put anyone off as it was. One week of effort and it's like a completely brand new place with a totally different character from before. We've spent around £1500 so far on decorating items and carpet. We expect to spend another thousand or so on new heating, and then the cost of the new furniture on top, so the budget has rather gone out of the window. But since we're going to be living there, rather than being shrewd and trying to make a profit, it's worth investing a bit more and turning a fairly bland little box of a flat into a place which is warm and welcoming and you're happy to call it your home.
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quote:Originally posted by MiscellaneousFiles: I, on the other hand, am putting moving plans on hold for a year and thinking about buying an MX-5...
Make sure you get plenty of advice about that before you commit. I can put you in touch with a mate from Uni who knows all about sports cars. I know it's a bit weird getting in touch with strangers, but no-one else I know of knows fuck all about this kind of thing.
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Thanks Ringo. I asked you for some info when my dad was thinking about buying one a few years ago. I've just read through your reply again and it's very helpful.
Briefly, I'm thinking of an MX-5 1.8i mk2 and I have a budget of up to £2,500. Ideally I want a UK car, not a Eunos, and something stock as I have no NCB. Does that sound possible?
ETA: I'd take this to email, but let's face it TMO needs the posts these days.
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Plenty out there for your budget. Don't bother looking at the 1.6 if you're only looking at UK models as the UK 1.6 was a de-tuned version with <100bhp and not much cop to drive.
If you can find a 1.8iS then it'll have a torsen limited slip differential and a few extra bits of chassis bracing which will make for a sportier feel through corners, but they're pretty much all good.
Here's what I could find on pistonheads from a quick search
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I can't believe that ebay no longer gives you the name of the top bidder on items, so I can't find out what thorn is bidding on and outbid him and win a piano that I don't want. This sucks.
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