Unfortunately, they are only 'Domestic' not tech toys :-(
The Dyson that we have been using for a number of years is starting to show signs of age, and the kettle has started to leak, so off to Comet we go....
[Update] We are now the proud(?) owners of a new Dyson DC14 - Overdrive vacuum cleaner and a Russell Hobs 'Colour Change' kettle - Oh Hum!
Yesterday was my last working day of 2007, I know some of you think I don't actually go to work as often as a full time worker should - but...
The Late guys came in two hours later than normal, and Angela and I left approx 2 hours earlier than normal, so I was home, washed, changed and ready to go out again by 16:00.
Amanda's mom had picked up the kids earlier in the day, and was not bringing them back till Saturday afternoon, so a night to ourselves ;-)
Our first stop was Frankie & Benny's where we had a very nice meal - service was a little slow, but the food was excellent, and the place was rammed!
Next - Currys, The Epson Photo 950 has finally been retired, two cartridges are now reporting empty again and I an not prepared to wait over a week for delivery from a few online sources, and pay £11 a colour anymore. I now have a nice, simple, Canon Pixma iP3500 (£55). It's installed and a test page has been printed - first reaction- set up/warm up time is slow, but the printer itself is very fast. No idea on Photo Quality yet, but I very rarelt print photo's at home anyway.
Final stop of the evening, the cinema. We went to see the new Will Smith film "I am Legend" - really enjoyed it!
From the Digitalspy.co.uk review
Smith conjures up enough laughs, drama and old-school action in this one-man show so that the cinema cash tills will keep ticking over nicely this Christmas. Audiences will lap up the special effects and amazing shots of a desolate New York, but at the same time they certainly won't be thinking of the film's various subtexts after they've made it out of the theatre's front doors. It's a better-than-average blockbuster, which sweeps around some large ideas and interesting themes, but never delves for long enough to make this film a true classic.
Overall - a really nice night out.
Today makes it 4 weeks since I reported my handset loss to BT, and I *still* have no replacement SIM - OK Christmas did get in the way for the last week, but it is getting rather silly now!
Seems that this shade of purple has been declared by 'Pantone' as the color of the year - Click on the image for the full Press Release
Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, selected PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris, a beautifully balanced blue-purple, as the color of the year for 2008. Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.
Seems that the song "Requiem for a Soldier" was the main title music for a mini-series called 'Band of Brothers' - personally I have never heard of it.
But in the course of searching for a bit more information on this really moving song I came across this video clip on YouTube filmed at this years 'Festival of Rememberance'... It really touched me, that woman's voice is truly a very special thing.
Whilst you are there check out a live rendition of 'Time to Say Goodbye' or 'Music of the Night'
Hehehe, Humbug eh?
It's almost lunchtime on Christmas day, and almost over for another year. Just the trip to both Mom's to do now, a few more pressies, and then we can relax.
This year there is a definite 'Golf' theme to my collection of received goodies:
Kid's are happy watching "Mr Bean's Holiday" on DVD, Amanda is in her element organising the lunch, and I have spent a pleasant morning on the PC listening to Katherine Jenkins & All Angels between assorted Xmas songs. So far quite a good day.
2007, for me, has been the year of the Podcast. I knew *of* it some time ago, but didn't really *get it*, but these days - podcasting accounts for about 70% of my DAP usage (Digital Audio Player).
Current fave's include:
Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott
What's happening in the Windows/Microsoft world
Webbalert with Morgan Webb
All the latest Tech News
Play:Digital with Katharine Fletcher
Game Reviews for PC & Console
Unwired with Will Harris
All the latest and greatest from the world of 'Gadgets'
Discus with Justin Gayner
DVD reviews
PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy
Just how good is the Adobe suite of applications!
Security Now with Steve Gibson
A fascinating look at windows security
Each of the links above will allow you to trackdown the shows I am reffering to, but they are all also available viw the iTunes store (for free) if you have an iPod.
Last night, we took our now annual pilgrimage to Symphony Hall in Birmingham to See Katherine Jenkins. This year was however a little different, she was starring with Darcey Bussell in an original song and dance show called Viva La Diva.
To quote from the shows website:
Tonight we will take you on a journey about inspirations and pay tribute to all the divas who have inspired us to do what we do today. So Judy, Maria, Doris, Marilyn, Shirley, Barbara, Grace, Edith... I salute you! You transfixed and transported me. You captured my heart and gave me my dreams. Viva La Diva!
Amanda really enjoyed it, my reaction was a little more mixed: Katherine was as fantastic as ever, and it was a joy to hear her singing in different styles. The 'Song and Dance' routines were fun and well staged, but the Solo Dancing routines were - quite frankly a bore. Don't get me wrong, technically superb, but not what I enjoy.
Ah well, here's to next years show ;-)
Called BT again today, seems that the latest attempt at placing the order failed too, and the case is now with the "Offline Team" to investigate further. I have pretty much given up any hope of getting the replacement SIM before 2008.
In the meantime, I have started to use the KRZR anyway, but with my 'works' SIM installed... I hardly ever make calls, and when I do they are generally very short, but even so It's nice to be able to go off on my own again at the shops!!
Only 9 holes again today, Partly due to the fact it was pretty cold out there, and partly down to advice from the hospital physio who advised me to stop when my Achilles started to get sore.
This time, I stayed on the holes around the clubhouse, avoiding the steepest holes on the far side of the course. Several of these are holes I have never played before, so some element of 'Learning the hole', so a 51 was quite pleasing - being my best 9 hole score at Halesowen - even if I did make a mess of the last hole!
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Par35 |
| 4 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 51 |
The phones arrived within two days, but after a week I was still one SIM short of a Service Contract, so I got back in touch with BT Mobile.
There had been a problem with the order, and it was 'stuck' in the system. "No Problem sir, that's now sorted, a new SIM will be on the way in the next few days"
Severn days later, I called again - "Ahhh, there was an open order on your account and the new order failed to go though, I've closed that now, and a new SIM will be on the way in the next few days"
Not holding my breath!!
On the plus side, I did get a £5 rebate on my next bill as compensation.
Dateline: Sunday Afternoon
Location: Star City Cinema, Birmingham
Event: Film - The Golden Compass
Conclusion: Read The Book!
I must confess, the rest of the family enjoyed it, and yes the cinematography is fantastic, and for the most part, so are the special effects.... but
This is NOT a film of the book, it is a film loosely based on the story of the book, with all the meaningful bits removed! Oh, and it ends about two chapters early, which for me, removed the whole point about the 2nd half of the film.
The acting was fine, but casting Gandalf as the bear was just wrong! One of his scenes involved attempting to cross a narrow bridge over a chasm - I just kept hearing the words "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" all the way thro!
Conclusion (the longer version) If you have read the book(s), avoid this film - if you haven't read it, you may well enjoy it, but then - READ THE BOOK AFTERWARDS!!
Dateline: Friday Night
Location: NEC, Birmingham
Event: Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds"
Conclusion: Fantastic!
As magnificent as last year, but with improved visuals for Richards Burton. The guy playing Nathaniel was fantastic, everyone else was as good as you would expect them to be.
Dateline: Saturday Afternoon
Location: Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Event: Phantom of the Opera
Conclusion: Bravo!!
This is the 5th time I have seen this show, and it's as great as ever. The 'Phantom' was probably the best I have seen, and although see was good, Christine was the weakest I have seen.
Earlier this week, I realised that I have not seen my mobile phone for at least 5 days... After checking every pocket in every pair of trousers I own, and every jacket; turning the house upside down; searching the office; searching the garage etc. I had to conclude: I've lost my Motorola V3iM :-(
Yesterday I called BT Mobile to report it 'Lost or Stolen' and they have blocked that SIM, I then spoke to the orders department and confirmed that I am in fact eligible for an upgrade on all four handsets on my calling plan.
The end result is that
All in all - I am now a happy bunny again
Engineer arrived this afternoon, and left a little later leaving behind a nice new 80GB Thompson PVR3 ;-)
I now have a new box, with double the capacity of the old one, and have already entered all the series link info into the planner...
Conclusion: RESULT!!
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par35 |
| 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 55 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Par34 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
A man is arguing with his wife who says he is far too fat and unfit.
"Get in shape!" she yells at him
"Get in shape?" the man shouts back. "I AM in shape. Round is a shape."
For all those Lightroom users out there, version 1.3 is now available from Adobe
From the Readme...
Lightroom 1.3 includes corrections for the following issues:
Lightroom 1.3 includes the following enhancements:
I have just taken delivery of "Rejoice - Special Edition" by the very lovely Katherine Jenkins.
I have to say it's my favourite album of hers to date... My iTunes rankings for the tracks are:
and that's not bad by anybodies reckoning!
Over the last 12 months, I have been experiencing a problem with my Amstrad PVR2 Sky+ box... When it's recording, and you are watching another channel, or even just pausing a channel and watching a few minutes behind, there is a major 'skipping' and blanking of the audio track.
It seems, according to the forums on DigitalSpy that this is a known issue, with a significant number of these Amstrad boxes, caused by a software update last year.
The forums are full of success stories from customers who have received new boxes free of charge - even when the original box is well past it's warrantee period. There is a very useful template supplied, along with the email address of James Murdoch (CEO of BSkyB) to request a replacment.
I sent my e-mail off tonight, i'll keep you posted as to the outcome. If they don't change it, I have to decide if I pay £150 for a replacement unit myself, or take up the free offer of a BTVision box for BT employees.
From BBC Newsnight
There were these two monkeys in a bath.
One says "Ooh, ooh, ooh, aah, aah, aah"
The other one says "Well, put some more cold in then."
"Raising Sand" by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
From the Amazon.co.uk Description:
American bluegrass star Alison Krauss and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant team up for one of contemporary music's most unlikely partnerships, and in doing so create a memorable and diverse collection of lovingly crafted songs.
The MusicOMH review expands on this:
It's a curiosity that, just as the Led Zeppelin revival is reaching fever pitch, Robert Plant is sneaking out this album of reverential duets with Alison Krauss. What it does, though, is show the singer's softer, sensitive side - something not all that apparent when atop thunderous Jimmy Page guitar riffs.
In his recent solo career Plant has tended to keep an open book, as last album 'Mighty Rearranger' testified, with its variety of loosely world music-influenced songs. Raising Sand narrows the parameters a little to concern itself with lightly bluesy music, but at no time does either singer sound restricted.
Quite the opposite. Krauss is an ideal vocal foil, and at times the two really do sing as one. The real revelation is Plant's ability to sing quietly, with exquisite tenderness, for long periods of time. Whilst there were occasional hints of this with Zeppelin this is uncharted recorded territory, and the accompanying textures are parted in respect of this.
Finally, the BBC review:
The first thing you notice about Raising Sand is how the pair's vocals compliment each other. Krauss’ honey-sweet chords can be saccharine on her own work at times, but here she's balanced by the mature grain of Plant's almost whispered delivery. On "Killing The Blues" or Gene Clark’s "Polly Come Home" they nudge up against each other, buoyed up by Greg Leisz’s floating pedal steel. And this from a man renowned for going ‘baybeeee, baybeee’. Phew...
From BBC Newsnight
Patient: Doctor, Doctor I feel like a moth
Doctor: What?!
Patient: I feel like a moth
Doctor: You don't need me, you need a clinical pyschiatrist
Patient: I know, but your light was on.
I have decided it's about time I actually tried to get some sort of order to my iTunes music collection, and step 1 of that process is to 'rate' as may of the tracks as I can.
Stage 1:
Decide the definition for each of the 5 star ratings.
Stage 2:
Create 6 'Smart Playlists' based on each of the above ratings
That only leaves 9067 Tracks (27.5 Days!) to be rated!
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par35 |
| 4 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 54 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Par34 |
| 7 | 8 | 7 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 54 |
Just checked the site stats for www.rockbox-themes.org, Visitors to date this year: 1.3 Million
The data volumes downloaded from the site this month amounts to almost 170GB!
The above graph shows the number of visitor per month for this year, Octobers figure being over 267,000.
Katherine Jenkins and Andrea Bocelli on BBC One's "Strictly Come Dancing", performing "Time to Say Goodbye"
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par35 |
| 5 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 64 |
So a rather disappointing 29 Over Par...
At http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/ you can view a 16 BILLION pixel rendition of this classic work of art...
The interface is pretty slick, and if you are unlikely to get chance to see it in the flesh anytime soon, it may be the only way you will ever get to see it in detail!
From the BBC News site:
An Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reported that a sophisticated monitoring and filtration system introduced during a restoration of the chapel in the late 1990s was not preventing particles or substances that could damage the work being brought in by visitors.
The Last Supper was painted by Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th Century and, because of the experimental techniques he used, parts of the masterpiece subsequently peeled off and were badly damaged.
The BBC's Frances Kennedy says the paper reported that equipment monitoring air quality inside the refectory showed that levels of fine particle pollution had tripled in the past two years.
It quoted experts suggesting these particles could settle on the work, eventually creating a dark misty layer.
Almost forgot to mention, the Bright family are now the proud owners of a Hamster called 'JaffaCake'
The kids have brought it between them, and he spends 1 week at a time in each of their bedrooms.
Well, I've gone and done it! - I've just joined Halesowen Golf Club. Not the greatest time of year, you may think, but it does have it's advantages.
1) Membership is from April to April, so it's not such a large initial outlay for now. 2) It will be a lot quieter around the course over the next 3 to 4 months, so I can potter around without too much embarrassment.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE | This weeks golfing trip was to Himley again... It was a little on the cool side (10 degrees!) and we were racing to get finished before it got dark... Ok excuses over! We were both dire!! Every Tee shot put us in trouble!
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Par36 |
| 9 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 59 |
So 23 Over Par...
I did at least manage a draw with Neil!!
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par33 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 52 |
So 21 Over Par...
Still managed to loose to Neil by one shot!!
Today I submitted 30 days notice to cancel my Membership at the Gym, thereby saving me in the region of £600 per year. I also requested an application form for joining Halesowen Golf Club as a member, costing approx £650 per year.
That is not including the joining fee, which you actually pay over THREE years, and only covers WEEKDAY usage. Full membership to cover weekends is an extra £150 per year, and given the limited chances I would have to get out to the golf course for any length of time in a typical weekend...
I am also considering letting Alex join, that's £120 for the years - 7 days, so I could go with Alex on a Sunday afternoon etc, and caddy for him over a few holes?? Not too sure about that yet tho'
I had an appointment with a specialist at the Royal Orthopedic Hospital last night...
Seems the problem with my Achilles for the last 7 months is Tendonosis. Basically the degeneration of the fibers in a specific area is faster than the ability of the tendon to repair itself. This is down to a lack of blood vessels in the particular area, and it seems that some controlled strength training is the way forward. This will, apparently, increase the blood flow in the problem area, which in turn will increase the tendons ability to repair itself!!
Just waiting for an appointment from the Physio at the RHO so that I can get started.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par33 |
| 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 58 |
So 25 Over Par...
On the plus side, I actually beat Neil by one shot!!
Today is my last day at work this month!!
Amanda's mom is having the kids from this evening till Sunday afternoon as Amanda and I are going to Stoke for the weekend. It's Andy Finikins 40th Birthday, and we are going to celebrate with him - Chinese Meal and a few drinks.
When we get back on Sunday, it will be time to pack for CentreParcs... Ready to leave around 09:00 Monday morning.
Fitted the roof box back on the car last night - that was not without it's complications - the fixing mounts on the car roof have got a little corroded, and I can't lock the box down tight! There is a good dose of WD40 soaking at the moment, and I am tweaking my nuts at regular intervals - so it should be OK!!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1770138
hehehe, well worth a look...
Click on Logo to visit the new web site
Click on the Poster for a full size HiRes version
The number of visitors to www.rockbox-themes.org per month...
Jan 43,000 (1397 per day)
Feb 58,000 (2084 per day)
Mar 85,000 (2765 per day)
Apr 91,000 (3062 per day)
May 107,000 (3463 per day)
Jun 128,000 (4282 per day)
Jul 137,664 (4440 per day)
Aug 167,847 (5414 per day)
My subscription to McAfee expired today, but I have not been too happy with that application for a while, it seems to be really eating memory and CPU cycles.
Added to that the latest edition of PC PRO did a group test on security software, McAfee only managed to detect 78% of the test infections! The winner was Kaspersky Internet Security with 98% - and it's cheaper (£66 for a two year subscription with anytime download) - having just installed it and started it running, it's already found one e-mail virus that McAfee had missed!!
Secunia have released a BETA version of their Personal Software Inspector - Find out if you have been keeping up to date with all those little apps you have scattered all over your hard drive.
Wow! It's August already... Soon be Holiday time, we received our welcome pack from CentreParcs today, so only a couple of weeks to go before we head off to Cumbria.
This morning Amanda and I were up early, as we had to be at the local scout hut for 07:15! Today is the 100th anniversary of the first scout camp on Brownsea Island. To celebrate, scout troupes all over the world held a special sunrise ceremony today at 08:00 where they all renewed their promises. In addition breakfast sandwiches & tea were provided to anyone who attended.
Alex is very tired, they had a 'sleepover' at the scout hut last night, and it was almost midnight before anyone got any sleep, they were all up and dressed by 07:00 this morning.
I have suggested he gets some sleep this afternoon, as this evening we are going to Old Trafford to watch a pre season friendly (between ManU and Inter-Millan) with Neil, Ryan & Nial - so another late night!
Well we had a nice trip 'down south' for the weekend. Saturday was spent in Cardiff, walked around the town, then an hour or two around the waterfront area, finally back into town to see 'Die Hard 4' - well it seemed appropriate as we were in Wales...
Back to the Hotel and a very nice Rib Eye stake and a bottle of red wine finished the day off nicely.
Today, after a very hearty breakfast we drove to Bath. Spent a couple of hours around the Roman Baths, took in the Waters - Urghhhh! and headed home.
I think a nice early night is in order - I am shattered!
Mother in law is having the kids, and Amanda and I will be spending a night in.... Cardiff! Not sure why, but Amanda seems to think it looks nice on the TV - Too much Doctor Who & Torchwood I think. Hope the weather improves a bit between now and then!
I collected my new glasses tonight, and they are a *big* improvement on my previous pair... The lens is a little larger, which allowed a higher positioning of the reading portion - this makes it significantly easier to read with them, and the new prescription is also working better.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Par36 |
| 6 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 64 |
I have just set my alarm to go off at 04:45 tomorrow morning! Amy is going away to France for the week with school, and she has to be there by 06:00.
Luckily, she has already packed her hair mangling gear, so it should be relatively easy to get here up, washed, dressed, fed and out of the house in under 1 hour! If only it was so easy on a school day!
D&A called to say my new specs were ready for collection... When I went in, we found that they had screwed the prescription - big time!
It was supposed to be Bi-Focal Intermediate/Reading, but was in fact Bi-Focal Distance/Intermediate where Distance = Clear Glass!
D&A have to phone the lab tomorrow to try and get the correct lenses ordered - so another two weeks!!
Amanda has today ordered a BOSS 1512078 for my birthday next month:
Gents Hugo Boss Stainless Steel Bracelet Watch in Black
Nice ...
There was a very nice Tag 'Links' watch I liked, but that was about £1100 too expensive :-( Nice to try on tho'
My current printer is an Epson Photo Stylus 950, a *huge* beast of a printer that produced stunning photo prints, but costs an absolute fortune to run... seems that almost all 7 cartridges run out within a week or two of each other and they cost £8 (7dayshop) to £11 (everywhere else) *EACH*
But it seem that the end is in site for the 950, Epson are stopping producing the ink cartridges for this printer (Seems to be a unique design for this model), so once this last set expire, I need a new printer.
My short list so far is
Epson Stylus DX6000 - £63 (Amazon.co.uk)
Takes 4 cartridges at £25 per set
HP Deskjet 6980 - £85 (Amazon again)
Takes two cartridges at £27 per set
Cannon Pixma iP5300 - £85 (Once again - Amazon)
Takes 4 cartridges at £30 per set (includes 50 sheet 6x4 Photo Paper)
The advantage of the HP printer is that it can be network connected (Ethernet or 802.11b wireless), so would be easier to use with the laptop, but the Cannon won the recent PCLabs for quality, speed and economy. I need to investigate running costs, speed and quality on these two, and keep a look out for any other serious candidates in the meantime... I should have a month or two before the 950 runs out of ink again....
...having to pay for a new pair of glasses!
Had my eyes test again this week, and my reading prescription has been increased. It wasn't much of a surprise, as my arms are rapidly becoming too short to allow me to ready anything without glasses!!
I have picked another pair of 'rimless' bi-focals, and in two weeks time I will be £240 lighter in the wallet. The annoying this in the previous pair are only two tears old - that's £10 per month!!
Put the feeding station up in the garden last autumn, and it has been well used by both a family of robins and several varieties of tit. This is the first time I have managed to get a good picture of any of them feeding. They have got used to us being around now, and will continue to feed when we walk past them - as long as we don't get too close of course.
This time we were off to Blackpool for a couple of days. It was originally supposed to be last month - in place of a birthday party for Alex - but Amanda was sent to hospital with suspected DVT, so we postponed till this weekend.
We arrived at the hotel (up by North Pier) at 11:00, and after a quick check of the room, and unpacking the overnight bag, we set off for a walk. The weather had been forecasting a rather cold day with lots of showers, but it was lovely - so nice that I managed to get sunburn on my head!!
We had an 'Edwardian' photograph taken on central pier, spent an afternoon on the Pleasure Beach, and finished of with the Hot Ice show, a tram ride back to the hotel for 22:00, and a couple of drinks in the bar. Alex was fantastic, it was the first time he had been old/tall enough to go on any of the 'decent' rides, and we started him with one of the best - The Grand National, followed up with the Revolution, the Avalanche, the Big Dipper and few other assorted rides. He absolutely loved it, and now cant wait to go back next year when he should be tall enough to take on the remaining rides - The Big One, Infusion, The Mad Mouse and the Ice Blast (he is about 2 cm too short for those four at the moment)
This morning, the weather was most definitely looking wetter, so after an early breakfast we all went to 'The Sandcastle' where Alex again had his first experience with a decent water slide, and again loved it. The journey back took in a shopping trip/lunch at the Trafford Centre, and a steady run back down the M6 to arrive back home at 19:45.
Personally, I am glad to have a couple of days off from work to recover!!
The background *may* have been digitally amended to remove a 'blue' colour cast !!
Amazing the things you find at Gardeners World Live!
One of the benefits of the new combined "Gardeners World Live" along with the good housekeeping show etc. was the wider variety of exhibitors on show. Even Alex found thing to entertain him.
I had a go too, but no one got a camera out in time to embarrass me ;-)
Windows Live Writer: Works fine with Vista, seem to be easy enough to set up, and will upload images to my FTP folder when I attach them to a blog... Have a look at it, it's free
Neil managed to get finished early today, and I am off (Working a 12 hour night shift tonight) and we returned to Warley Woods for a rematch.
All in all we both felt that we played much better than a few weeks ago, even if we did still have an occasional poor (well, OK very poor) hole.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par33 |
| 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 51 |
18 over... So, close to my target round of 50!! And even better was with Neil also scoring 51, it was a draw ;-)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | HOLE |
| 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Par |
| 7 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 55 |
| OLD | NEW | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 3.9 | 5.3 |
| RAM | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| 2D | 5.0 | 4.5 |
| 3D | 3.4 | 4.4 |
| HDD | 5.3 | 5.9 |
