Expensive Scotch

A reliable source informed me about a very expensive Glenfiddich whiskey sold at the Bascule (V&A Waterfront , Cape Town).According to the chap a shot of the whiskey is selling for 15000 ZAR ...hefty price when the budget is tight.To afford it one have to move up the masses and dock the shiny toy at the Cape Grace. I didn’t think of double checking before I spread the word and when the listener(s) responded with dismay I couldn’t lay down the facts.

I googled it and found an interesting article listing the worlds most expensive scotch. This gave me hope and the Bascule story didn’t sound that far fetched. I found the Bascule Whiskey list and there was a GLENFIDDICH selling for 15200 ZAR on it !

GLENFIDDICH (Speyside) 50 Years – Bottle no.362 @ 15200.00 to be more precise.

Only 500 bottles of this rarity were produced.This malt matured for 50 Years in cask in which it has developed a full bodied, some lightly chocolaty flavours without excessive oakiness. Definitely the prime of our collection -From the impressive Bascule whiskey list.

So if you have the dosh the following list will come in handy.

List of most expensive scotch from wine and alcohol.com :

1. The Macallan 1926 $75,000
2. The Dalmore 62 Years $51,000
3. 1937 Glenfiddich $20,000
4. Balvenie Cask 191 $13,000
5. Macallan 1928, 50-year-old $11,900
6. Black Bowmore 1964 $6,000
7. Bowmore 1957 $2,300
8. Bruichladdich 40-year-old $1,970
9. Ladybank Distillery $ 4950/membership
10. Kinclaith 36-year-old $415 per 2-ounce pour

Best viewed with Firefox….

I’ve been playing around with the blog template due to headaches caused by Internet Exploder. Finally got the new title image to display better ….but I had to adjust the margins plenty for Internet Exploder cosmetics.I recommend that the blog be viewed using Firefox !

Firefox V 2.0.0.8 was released today - get it here and check out the useful add-ons while you are at it.

Honda CR-Z : Compact Renaissance Zero

I'm not a huge Honda fan but the new Civic caught my eye the other day and fugly was my first impression.After spotting a couple more it started to grow on me.I won’t rush out to buy one but I’ll consider camping in front of a dealership when the Honda CR-Z hits the floors.

The CR-Z is causing some mixed emotions out there - you either like it or you hate it! Honda was never on my list of automobile desirables .It seems that they are starting to get ahead of the design bandwagon -especially when it comes to the CR-Z.

Extracts from the press release:

'CR-Z' stands for 'Compact Renaissance Zero'-an expression intended to capture the idea of a renaissance in the design of compact cars that begins a new from fundamentals.
This design research model of a lightweight hybrid sports car features advanced technologies that deliver enjoyable driving for all while reducing the vehicle's environmental footprint.

Designed to be 'Futuristic and Dynamic', the CR-Z combines powerful performance in a compact form with a futuristic image. For its frontal view, an over-sized grill with a high-performance look is offset by openings on each side that lighten the overall feel. In the rear, tube-shaped rear combination lamps ensure better rearward visibility. Design details emphasizing the CR-Z's advanced image include door mirrors that provide high visibility in a stylish form, LED headlights patterned after luminous bodies to convey a sharp impression, and jaunty fin-shaped.

The key words for the CR-Z's interior design are 'Hi-tech and Sporty'. The goal was to create an all-new sporty interior that fuses the liberating feel of airy spaciousness with an advanced interface that brings out the fun of the drive. Mesh material on a simple framework construction is used throughout the interior to convey a light, sophisticated image without being oppressive. In the cockpit, the meter unit conveys the image of advanced technology ensconced in a piece of glass artwork, offering the functionality of immediate recognition while enhancing the driving experience with a futuristic and exhilarating feeling.

RADIOHEAD – IN RAINBOWS > FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD ;)

Radiohead is giving away their new album In Rainbows - no lies ,I just downloaded it (49.5MB ).I’m a big fan and sure that I'm not alone on this one , so I recommend that you get it straight away !

They let you to decide what it's worth , starting at £0 ! A pre-order "discbox" is available for £40 - it contains extra tracks and a lyric booklet. What are you waiting for - GET IT !

MS Exchange : ESEUTIL > Fixing a corrupt / inconsistent Exchange Database ;)

I do a lot of testing on exchange servers. Exchange gets tricky at times and cause unnecessary headaches. One of them being Storage group(s) that fail to mount due to a database corruption / inconsistency.

The error below is a typical database corruption error:

Using ESEUTIL will fix most corruptions but there may be situations where a database is so badly corrupted that it may not be repairable :(

ESEUTIL is supported on the following Exchange servers :

- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition

Following the steps from this article should fix it. I will go through the steps covered in the article and include the output in this post - helping first time ESEUTIL users to know what to expect:

1. Repair the information store:

At a command prompt, change to the drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\Bin folder, where drive is the letter of the drive on which Exchange is installed. Use one of the following commands:

1.1. Restoring a mailbox store: type eseutil /p "drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb", and then press ENTER.

If the restore is successful the following output is expected:

Initiating REPAIR mode...
Database: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb
Streaming File: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.STM
Temp. Database: TEMPREPAIR2924.EDB

Checking database integrity.
The database is not up-to-date. This operation may find that this database is corrupt because data from the log files has yet to be placed in the database.

To ensure the database is up-to-date please use the 'Recovery' operation.

Scanning Status (% complete)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+
...............................
Integrity check successful.

Note:
It is recommended that you immediately perform a full backup of this database. If you restore a backup made before the repair, the database will be rolled back to the state it was in at the time of that backup.

Operation completed successfully in 27.125 seconds.

1.2.Restoring a public folder store, type eseutil /p "drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\pub1.edb", and then press ENTER.

If the restore is successful the output will be the same as the expected output from 1.1

2. Verify the consistency of the store that was restored:

2.1.At the command prompt, type eseutil /mh "drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb" (or pub1.edb), and then press ENTER to verify the consistency information that is returned.

If the consistency check is successful the following output is expected:

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /mh "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb"
Microsoft(R) Exchange Server Database Utilities Version 6.5 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating FILE DUMP mode...
Database: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb

File Type: Database
Format ulMagic: 0x89abcdef
Engine ulMagic: 0x89abcdef
Format ulVersion: 0x620,11
Engine ulVersion: 0x620,11
Created ulVersion: 0x620,9
DB Signature: Create time:02/20/2007 15:25:23 Rand:2953079 Computer:
cbDbPage: 4096
dbtime: 157891 (0x268c3)
State: Clean Shutdown
Log Required: 0-0 (0x0-0x0)
Streaming File: Yes
Shadowed: Yes
Last Objid: 204
Scrub Dbtime: 0 (0x0)
Scrub Date: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
Repair Count: 0
Repair Date: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
old Repair Count: 0
Last Consistent: (0x5A,1A,CD) 06/20/2007 16:33:10
Last Attach: (0x5A,1B,13E) 06/20/2007 16:33:09
Last Detach: (0x0,0,0) 06/20/2007 16:33:10
Dbid: 1
Log Signature: Create time:02/20/2007 15:25:22 Rand:2913863 Computer:
OS Version: (5.2.3790 SP 2)

Previous Full Backup:
Log Gen: 0-0 (0x0-0x0)
Mark: (0x0,0,0)
Mark: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
Previous Incremental Backup:
Log Gen: 0-0 (0x0-0x0)
Mark: (0x0,0,0)
Mark: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
Current Full Backup:
Log Gen: 0-0 (0x0-0x0)
Mark: (0x0,0,0)
Mark: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
Current Shadow copy backup:
Log Gen: 0-0 (0x0-0x0)
Mark: (0x0,0,0)
Mark: 00/00/1900 00:00:00
cpgUpgrade55Format: 0
cpgUpgradeFreePages: 0
cpgUpgradeSpaceMapPages: 0

ECC Fix Success Count: none
Old ECC Fix Success Count: none
ECC Fix Error Count: none
Old ECC Fix Error Count: none
Bad Checksum Error Count: none
Old bad Checksum Error Count: none

Operation completed successfully in 2.109 seconds.

2.2.At the command prompt, type eseutil /d "drive:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb" (or pub1.edb), and then press ENTER to defrag and to compact the database.

If the database is successfully compact and defrafmented the following output is expected:

C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\bin>eseutil /d "C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb"
Microsoft(R) Exchange Server Database Utilities Version 6.5 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Initiating DEFRAGMENTATION mode...
Database: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb
Streaming File: C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.STM
Temp. Database: TEMPDFRG4412.EDB
Temp. Streaming File: TEMPDFRG4412.STM

Defragmentation Status (% complete)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+
...............................

Moving 'TEMPDFRG4412.EDB' to 'C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.edb'...DONE!
Moving 'TEMPDFRG4412.STM' to 'C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\priv1.stm'...DONE!

Note:
It is recommended that you immediately perform a full backup of this database.If you restore a backup made before the defragmentation, the database will be rolled back to the state it was in at the time of that backup.

Operation completed successfully in 6.94 seconds.

3.At the command prompt, type ISINTEG -S Server_Name -FIX -TEST ALLTESTS, and then press ENTER. Repeat this several times until it reports zero fixes and zero errors.
4.Mount the store.
5.Back up the store.

17 Signs That You're A Drunk !!!

1. You lose arguments with inanimate objects.
2. You have to hold on to the lawn to keep from falling off the earth.
3. Your job starts to interfere with your drinking.
4. Your doctor finds traces of blood in your alcohol stream.
5. The back of your head keeps getting hit by the toilet seat.
6. You sincerely believe alcohol is the elusive 5th food group.
7. 24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?!?!?
8. You complain that you have two hands and just one mouth to drink with.
9. Every woman you see has an identical twin.
10. You fall off the floor.
11. The shrubbery around your house is drunk too, from frequent watering.
12. Your idea of cutting back is having less salt with your tequila.
13. Every night, you're beginning to find your neighbor's cat more and more attractive.
14. Roseanne looks good to you.
15. You've fallen and can't get up.
16. You don't recognize your wife unless seen from the bottom of a glass.
17. You have a reserved parking space at the liquor store.

I see stupid people….

1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time.... I know where my watch is pal, where the hell is yours? Do I point at my crotch when I ask where the toilet is?
2. People who are willing to get off their ass to search the entire room for the tv remote because they refuse to walk to the tv and change the channel manually.
3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too". Damn right! What good is cake if you can't eat it?
4. When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why the hell would you keep looking after you've found it? Do people do this? Who and where are they? Gonna Kick their asses!
5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". No Loser, I paid $12 to come to the cinema and stare at the damn floor.
6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?".... Didn't really give me a choice there, did ya sunshine?
7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new, then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement, then there must have been something before it, couldn't be new.
8. When people say "life is short". What the hell?? Life is the longest damn thing anyone ever does!! What can you do that's longer?
9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks "Has the bus come yet?". If the bus came would I be standing here, dumbass?

Inadequate ....?

Do you have feelings of inadequacy? Do you suffer from shyness? Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Tequila®.

Tequila® is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. Tequila® can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.

You will notice the benefits of Tequila® almost immediately, and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past, and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Tequila®.

Tequila® may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Tequila®. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.

Tequila®.... Leave Shyness Behind!!!!

The Bathtub Test

It doesn't hurt to take a hard look at yourself from time to time, and this should help get you started.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized."Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub.""Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"