Snow and an Apple XP

Woke up to snow this morning so put my trip to Hull on hold thinking it wont be the best to drive there. Here is my car about to be started:



Have not loaded Vista on yet but tonight I did manage to get XP on just to have a play and it was quite easy BUT I did have to plug my keyboard in from my iMac (usb) to get the install to run correctly and I used to think having windows running through Citrix was "strange" on a mac..............

Get your motor running.....

head out on the highway.

Built this bike at the weekend:


Probably best with Max on it though:


Max is getting better and better at walking now the only problem is that he does not want to go in his buggy anymore. Takes hours now going round a shop !!!

On another note I might be able to blog a bit more because I have replaced my Powerbook with a nice new Macbook Pro. Hooray !!!

First impressions is that it is quicker at processing anything in iLife then my iMac (G5) but I need to spend a bit more time with my other applications. It will be brilliant when I am away with the built in iSight as I will be able to get internet access and then use iChat or Skype to video back home.

I have downloaded boot camp and might look at getting a beta of Vista installed, I dont want to buy the real version just yet (probably never !, it's out next week). I was actually at Microsoft on Friday and had a preview of some of the future applications and a quick look at Vista. Looks like OSX :-) actually some of the things in Vista (for the business) look very very good.
To be honest I was surprised at just how good some of the business applications seem to be.

Food for thought

We received a bread maker for Xmas and it's really good. We, well I !, have made a white loaf using the ingredient's and setting the timer plus have made a few diff types using bread mixes (bit easier then getting all the ingredient's) and over the weekend I set it to make dough and made some rolls. It's a Panasonic one and I rate it. Best ask in a couple of months though to see if we are still using it !!

Here is a picture of the rolls:


Max is getting better at walking and this is a picture of us in the wood:


And yes I have a beard at the moment :-0, just fancied a change.

First Steps

Well it's been a while since my last blog. We all had a great Xmas and we are looking forward to a great 2007. I got the Tomtom 710 :-)

Max has started taking his first steps and here is a video posted on YouTube it's almost 7 meg but if you are on a good broadband connection you should be OK.

I see that the UK are going to start to look into going to the moon. Once we get there though do you think the English spacemen will start drinking and kicking off while eating a greasy spoon saying that they hate all this foreign moon muck and cant wait to get home coz it's too f@cking "bouncy" and dusty. Not at all like the good solid gravity and concrete we have back home.

Take care,

Nintendo listens to Palace Fan

Well maybe not BUT they are replacing all straps now and all future ones will have a better strap.

Story on BBC here.

Wii

I have been lucky enough to have played on one of the new Nintendo Wii consoles, acually played it before it hit the shops last week.

Nice bit of kit:



I work for a large electrical company and we have one in our head office foyer to play with. It's in a sealed display with it's own TV so I have not had a chance to play it on a large screen BUT been very impressed with it. It's loaded with the sports pack and does actually make you sweat ! You run, swing, jump and allsorts. Its a really fun console although when I start thinking about it in the confines of our lounge I think it will be lethal.

I have been reading this website http://wiihaveaproblem.com and some the injuries to people let alone the TV's are quite a worry. Most seem to be from bowling so it makes me wonder that because the americans are so used to playing bowling they are releasing the controller out of their hands. I have not played that game yet.

IF I could get my hands on one it would be a hard choice of getting one or not (Not for me of course but for Max :-0) because I think I would wait for it to be established and for these little problems like the strap to be sorted. I would also be tempted to get an older TV, rather then our nice new LCD, to play it on!!

Check out this website http://wiihaveaproblem.com for the pictures and stories behind the picture.

All the best,

That was quick

Well just over a year ago I became a dad and blimey that was a fast year.

I have loved every minute of it and recommend it to all as it is the best feeling in the world and better then seeing Palace win something, not that we win too much :-), nothing will ever beat that feeling inside you get when you come home after a long shitty day and you get the cutest smile and a shout of dad dad.

It has been a year of growing up and change as in the last year Faye and I have become parents, moved home, got cars and started to look at what schools are best !

It has been a great year and the link below will take you to a rather large (CD quality 16-17 meg) movie that I have put together. I did use lower quality (web streaming 5meg) but it just never looked good because of the changes.

I hope you enjoy it........here

Free Sky TV....

All you need is a Ford Focus radio OR so some idiots seem to think.

This story has come from a Welsh paper.

I love this statement from Mr Rob Bull:

One victim Bob Bull, of Burwell Close, Pontprennau, Cardiff, woke to find the radio had been ripped out of his Ford Focus mobility car on Sunday morning.


Mr Bull, 60, who will now have to pay £75 excess on his insurance and will lose a £200 no-claims bonus, said: 'We were about to go Christmas shopping on Sunday morning when my wife Lynn came upstairs in a terrible state saying the radio had been stolen. I feel sick and fed up.


'Our house was burgled in June, the year before our donkey was stolen, and now this.

A Donkey !!

Story can be seen here

Threshers Wine Shop 40% Discount

There is a voucher doing the rounds that starting tomorrow and running through to 10th December will allow you 40% off wine and champagne.

At present they are knocking off around 33% using the 3 for the price of 2 offer. So all they are doing is giving an extra 7% BUT the free marketing they are getting from the offer is mind blowing. What a marketing genius whoever thought of the idea !!!

I have a copy of the voucher so if you want it drop me a line OR just do a google as it is out there. I can not host it because I can not FTP it to some space from work.

Personally I find Threshers prices slightly higher to accommodate the discounts it gives and usually use Majestic (If I'm bulk buying, as I am tonight :-)) or supermarkets.

Fayes labor started 1 year ago :-0

Been there

Was using my fave browsing application of the moment, Stumble, when I came across a site with the following fact: Cant tell you the site as it will help me blog when needed :-)

The longest place-name still in use is
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu, a New Zealand hill.

Been there:



Only just got SkyHD through a staff deal and they bring this deal out :-0

A TomTom 710 for £239.00 retails at £349.99. The question I therefore have to ask is.... Is it worth it? I will have to do some serious wingeing (thats what Faye calls my adult discussion on the benefits of it) to Faye and I'm still not hopeful of getting it.

Also need to find the money for my new season ticket at the Palace.
Oh yeah and something called Xmas is next month.

Where's Wally... I mean me !

Been in that cant be arsed to blog frame of mind for a while now. It's not that I have not had anything to blog about because since my last blog the following has happened:

Went to a wedding in Denmark.
Went for a midnight swim in the sea at Denmark.
Got asked to "swing" by a couple in Denmark.
Never went swinging with a couple in Denmark.
Missed a wedding in Oxford.
Went to a wedding in Hull.
Sold and bought a car.
Missed a couple of footy matches.
Been to a couple of footy matches.
Been drunk quite a few times.
Remained sober at a work meal with free drink.
Got Sky HD (with plus).
Been to Wales.
Been to Preston.
Finally had a night out with Faye in Berko.
Went to a couple of baby first birthdays.
Missed a baby first party, due to going to footy.
My sister and also her husband both have had birthdays.
My dad has moved house.
My mums husband has been in hospital (now out).

I guess though that pictures paint a thousand words so here is ALL the photos taken on our camera since my last blog. Now some are rubbish in fact most are and should be deleted and there is even some ebay photos in there. There is also a couple of photo booth ones.

I impoted them into iMovie on the mac with the settings: reverse ken burns and the time set as 0.03. It makes you go a little dizzy !!!!
Click here for video

James

Sky HD

Due to a rather good offer through my work I have today ordered Sky HD.

What was the deal, I got the box for £99, free install and also get 12 months free subscription to the HD package.

We have to wait until the 1st November for an install but I can not wait. Really looking forward to getting the most out of the TV. Looking forward to a better picture from SD (Standard Definition) as well.

Now I have not ordered the movies and sports and have just gone for very basic 2 mix thing and have NOT gone for Sky+ for an extra tenner. Now if you was me would you get the plus feature?

The problem with Sky is that it all starts to add up !

Max Art

Did this earlier but not sure if I did it before Joanna's Diary It's a pic of Max eating his jelly


I think it is really cool.

Are you Dave Gorman?

I found this blog post that I never posted and was sat in draft, I did email Dave Gorman if he minded me me using his photo / link to his page but he never got back........... originally created in Oct 06

Earlier on I was looking at my flickr page and thought I would look at Flickrblog and save the site etc. etc. anyway I scroll down and see the following post:

I recently visited the car wash tag and discovered that there is a car wash joint in Seattle Washington whose neon sign is so photogenic that a cluster has developed around it: see tags/carwash/clusters/elephant-seattle-neon/. Link here

Now show me a man that does not want to see a neon car wash sign with elephant in it ! So I clicked and looked... scrolled down and saw a photo that caught my eye on the first page.
Here it is...
URL Here



More interesting though was once I clicked on it I noticed the name of the photographer was Dave Gorman, thats funny I thought I wonder if Dave Gorman the TV guy knows there is a Dave Gorman on Flickr. Actually he looks a bit like him, well stone me it is him !

We saw Dave while we was in Melbourne during our year out in 2004 at the Comedy festival doing his googlewhack tour and a very funny guy he is too. I have also read his book Are you Dave Gorman? that he wrote with a guy called Danny Wallace and I have recently finished reading Danny's book Yes Man.

Well it freaked me out a bit anyway :-)

Anyway Dave Gorman's shots are very good and can be viewed HERE

Anyone else "know" any celebs on Flickr?

Haircut

OK I need another cut and I feel as though I should let a pro cut it rather then me again. For the last week at work I wanted to get it cut at lunchtime but have not had time. Anyway it got me thinking about this:


Why on earth do they have these poles so another google got me the answers that I knew I must have before I venture to the barbers;
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
barber pole is associated with the service of bloodletting. During medieval times, barbers also performed surgery on customers. The original pole had a brass basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin which received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff which the patient held onto during the procedure.

The red and white stripes symbolize the bandages used during the procedure: red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. Originally, these bandages were hung out on the pole to dry after washing. As the bandages blew in the wind, they would twist together to form the spiral pattern similar to the stripes in the modern day barber pole. The barber pole became emblematic of the barber/surgeon's profession. Later the cloths were replaced by a painted wooden pole of red and white stripes.

After the formation of the United Barber Surgeon's Company in England, a statute required the barber to use a blue and white pole and the surgeon to use a red pole. In France, surgeons used a red pole with a basin attached to identify their offices. Blue often appears on poles in the United States, possibly as an homage to its national colors. Another interpretation of these barber pole colors is that red represents arterial blood, blue is symbolic of venous blood, and white depicts the bandage.

MMMMmmmm maybe I will cut it myself..

PS Max is lots better and if you buy a thermometer I highly rate the ear one by Braun, saves loads of time and I wish our other one broke sooner so we could of got one sooner. Max broke the other one by moving his arm ! Strong boy I tell you.

SUBDERMATOGLYPHIC means

of or pertaining to the layer of skin beneath the fingertips' - Of course it is !!!

Why on earth would I know this or even "google" it is quite simple in a strange sort of way, We bought Max some foam letters that stick to the bath, 26 in total no letter the same. Yep now it's coming together, Subdermatoglyphic is the longest such word. I have also discovered that the term for such a word is called a isogram.

This seventeen-letter isogram is actually attested in a dermatologists' journal, but it was placed there at the suggestion of a word-buff, who asked the doctor to use it in print in order to claim it as the longest isogram.

Where would we be without the internet hey.

Max is actually quite poorly at the moment and has a high temperature, quite sure it is down to his teeth and the doctor has said not to worry and to just call if the fever does not go by tomorrow or goes above 40.

Try This

Saw this rather strange gif here while browsing using an extension of Firefox called StubmbleUpon. StumbleUpon is very good and you can get it here

School Boy humour

On the BBC sports pages - Murray V Henman in the tennis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/5383914.stm

Scroll down to 08.20

School Boy humour

On the BBC sports pages - Murray V Henman in the tennis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/5383914.stm

Scroll down to 08.20

Well we now have a dog called Jasper, he is 9 weeks old and is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Faye picked him up last week when I off in Portugal on a stag doo.

Here he is:


Portugal was very good but don't think I am going to go on another weekend stag doo, a bit too long but at least I have a tan :-)

Max has started getting his first tooth now and is coping really well with it i.e. still sleeping through the night and not being wingey. He has started to pull himself up all the time now and quite often when we go in his bedroom he is standing up in his cot !

My mum came round the other day and we showed her a load of photos we sent over to snapfish to get printed and out of all the photos she wanted this one:



Yep a bog standard shot of big ben that I took when we took our niece out not one of her son or grandson !

Looking at for a new car as the 206 is just too small so have started to look at a MG ZT-T they look good, bit of speed (about the same as the 206 anyway) and a big boot the only thing worrying me is that there no dealers left as they are no longer in business. Other choices at the moment are A4 or 6 Avant, Volvo V70 or Saab Estate.