MiFi

Hmmm - I'd like on of these: http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=183117. You put your 3G data SIM in it and it acts like a mini router so you can connect several wifi devices to it. Would be great in hotels or whilst travelling. Or, even as a backup home internet device should the BB fail.

Massive Storms

Since around 09:30 this morning there has been nothing but thunder and rain. Not the usual stuff either - massive trpoical downpours and incredible thunder. Internet has been down twice, Vodafone died for 30 mins - am worried the power might go later :(

Renault F1 @ Silverstone

K and I were invited to Renault's World Series at Silverstone. Had a great day with the hightlight being K getting to sit in Alonso's car from last year. Thanks to RS for making the day so awesome! Pics linked in title.

12 Hour Night Ride - Knebworth Nights

12 Hours - night ride - for charity :)

OK - I'm in alongside J, A and S. We've created a 4-man team called Knebworth Nights and although I'm never one that does much of the sponsored thing we created this page if you fancy throwing some cash to the BHF: http://original.justgiving.com/knebworthnights

Snapfish Photos

With V-Media I get 50 Snapfish photos free a month. I just recieved my first set - they are ok but dissapointing.

When there is an outsized picture, instead of shrinking it to fit, they crop it. So, nice landscapes and tall photos get made into rubbish. Not happy :(

MacBook Pro

K got a slightly early wedding anniversary present yesterday - a shiney new 13" MacBook Pro. Took 6 hours to transfer her info from the old one to this and most of today for its first timemachine bachup. Seems nice though - I like the backlit keyboard!

Monkey Island Returns!

After 10 years it is back: http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland

If you are quick you can order the special edition pack ;)

Tiki Bar Gains Fridge

K bought a fridge for the car recently - it will keep the contents 20C below ambient - it also warms to around 60C if needed. It uses a solid-state heat pump making it quite economical. It just plugs into the 12v car socket to work. Best but - she also bout a 240v mains to 12v transformer - so we can use it in the Tiki Bar in the summer :)

Sailing Holiday

Dad turned 60 last week and to celebrate we went sailing in the Greek islands on a 44 foot Bavaria yacht. We had a great time and I managed to eat calamari every night apart from one.

Day 1: Flight left on time - S remembered which airport we were leaving from. Arrived in Greece mid afternoon and made it to the Alimos Marina an hour or so later. After some fun finding the yacht (there are hundreds in this Marina) we went through the various checks and forms before being haded the keys. Kids sent to fetch supplies whilst the adults did the paperwork. As a result we returned with way too much beer :) We spent the night on board and dined at the nearest taverna.

Day 2: The engines started at some ungodly hour - Dad could wait no longer. We slowly edged out of the marina before being able to set sail on our way to our first stop on the island of Egina. Lunch was spent swimming whilst moored near a small taverna. We spent the night in Perdika and ate lovely seafood in a place owned by a man who spent half the year working on big ships and the rest of the year in the taverna. The table-clothes had maps of the island on them - which proved useful for plotting the next day's adventures.

Day 3: We awoke and had champagne with breakfast whilst wearing silly hats and sang to celebrate Dad's birthday - much to the amusement of the other boats. We left on a tip from the previous night for a bay a few headlands along where we stopped for lunch and swimming. In the afternoon we sailed south for Methana where we had a birthday meal amongst the occasional whiff of sulphur from the mountain.

Day 4: We left Methana and headed back north searching for a bay. In then end we went most of the way around the 'island' until we discovered the small port of Vathy. Here we enjoyed a fantastic lunch whilst watching a cat stealing fish from a recently arrived boat. That evening we headed across the bay for Epidavaros - we moored in the bay and took the tender into port for dinner. S hit another boat on the way out, nearly fell in on the way back and received applause from the nearby diners.

Day 5: We left mid-morning and caught light winds heading east. At one point we were under sail at 1.5kts - all of us in the water behind the yacht (on auto-pilot). Unusual but fun. We managed some serious sailing today as the winds hit force 7. The girls were hanging on for dear life at the bow whilst the boys winched and tacked from the stern. That afternoon we moored at Agistri to avoid the high winds that had built throughout the day. We found a taverna for lunch that didn't do calamari - but this was more than made up for at the evening meal when we found a taverna owned by a fantastic lady that cooked us a feast.

Day 6: Caught the bus to Skala first thing for provisions. We sailed north for the island of Salamina and had lunch in a bay on it's south coast. By evening the wind was picking up so we stowed the two anchors we had out and headed west to find more shelter. We moored in Kanakia and ate a a strange taverna where our food came out a piece at a time over a 90 min period. I had finished before others had started. We spent a rough night as the winds shifted about.

Day 7: We set sail at first light to try and find shelter for some more kip. In the end we spent a lovely few hours in a sheltered bay near Ais Klab before heading back towards Alimos. We arrived back at the marina mid-afternoon and decided to take a trip to the Acropolis for a culture hit. Entrance was €12 each - apart from me - free with student card! We had our last meal back at the same taverna we had first eaten at.

Day 8: Taxis at 09:30 and off the the airport. A 40min delay to the flight but back in good time. Exhausted - but a fantastic holiday.

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakh1/sets/72157620652132388

Videos: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=322A99C6CF457998

Energy Saving

A small package turned up in the post this morning from our energy supplier. It clips into the mains supply and wirelessly transmits to this monitoring station. We can now see exactly how much energy we are consuming at any one point and historically what we have used.

K took one look and immediately turned off all the lights :)

SkyHD Installed

Huzzah - today the Sky man came and installed HD for us - not quite the 3 month wait we were told to begin with. One small problem though - my sky account is showing as £1M in debt so they won't turn the HD on!!!! Turns out this is a known bug with Sky's system. Took an hour or so to remove the £1M charge from the account and now I have glorious HD :)

Tumble-dryer Dismantle

K was away last night and I got bored - so I took the tumble-dryer apart to try and fix it (the timing mechanism had stopped). Took an hour to disassemble and 4 hours to fix and put back together. Think I fixed it in the end - only time will tell...

Primrose Hill

k, L and I went to Primrose Hill yesterday for a picnic (link in title) and farewell party for one of K and L's friends. It was fantastic weather and a great view of town. I even played some frisbee...

Encoding for AppleTV

I've been encoding some old 720x576/1.25 AVIs in order to get them on my AppleTV. This has taken a few attempts - here's what I've learnt (I'm using Handbrake):
- max resolution is 1280x720
- max framerate is 24fps
- max bit rate is 5Mb/s
I'm using the H.264 codec and am using Handbrake's 'decomb' filter to remove the interlace artifacts. They show up in the ATV as HD content and actually look pretty good.

Cupcakes

Whilst I was out on the mountain-bike K decided to make some cupcakes. They are very chocolaty and covered in all sorts of sprinkles.

Only problem is eating them all before they become too old - anyone want to pop in for coffee???

T's RS4

T popped in at lunchtime to show me his new toy - a black RS4! What a car too - looks mean, feels solid and sounds awesome. There's a 'S' button on the steering wheel - when you press it the exhaust valves open and the seats move to grip you more. We took it for a little run, the speed is amazing (0-60 in about 4.5s). It pulls like a train despite being naturally aspirated. I now have major car envy...

Sky+HD - 3 months!!!

We ordered Sky+HD to compliment our new TV. Got an email the next day saying there is a 3 month wait. I phoned and asked if they were serious - they are! I did get a month's free subscription as compensation though....

APM

I received in the post today confirmation of my membership of the Association for Project Managers. The APM is the UK equivalent to the PMI in America. I've become eligible for this membership due to my Masters degree.

Merc Service

After 7 months the Merc is due its 15k service. Only niggles so far are a couple of quiet rattles and a rubbish rear wiper. Best part of the service is it gets returned cleaned! :)

Aberdeen

I'm working in Aberdeen again. This time it is a through-the-night server change. Got up at 04:30 on Tue to catch my flight up, worked until 15:00 before heading to the hotel for some sleep. Then back in at 01:30 until midday. It's nearly 05:00 at the moment and the two websites:
www.eveningexpress.co.uk
www.pressandjournal.co.uk
are now back up and running so we're nearly done. Tired :)

Samsung LED UE40B7020WW

K and I picked up our new LED TV this morning from RicherSounds - the guys gave us a great deal with a 5 year warranty. As you'd expect it's got all the current tech and being LED has massive contrast and uses less energy (link in title). We're testing it with IGOR in HD tonight on the AppleTV :)

UPDATE: ATV HD was brilliant! Sky HD might be needed!

Virgin Media - thanks!

Just had a call from Virgin Media. Special offer to long term customers. Upgrade from 10MB to 20MB broadband, add-on free calls evening and weekends to any UK land line and all free as long as I sign up for another 12 months. Was not going to change anyway - so thanks!

I now have 20MB down and 750K up :)

UPDATE: another £5/month gets you unlimited online storage, so I'm going to quit my S3 account and will use this instead (nearly half price for me and I get to backup everything - not just my 50GB of photos).

Roomba Arrives

Here's some footage of its first run - it didn't get stuck once, which surprised me, espeically with the chair legs - and made it back to its dock once done!

Twikini

Today I downloaded Twikini (link in title) for my HTC Windows Mobile Diamond2. Simple to install and easy to set up. After signing in it displayed my timeline and images very quickly. The controls are intuitive and easy to navigate with your thumb. The only problem at the moment is that it will not find my GPS in order to post with coordinates - something I hope (as their FAQ states) future updates will address.

Replay Jeans MV 950A - cut hand on sharp rivets

K bought me a very nice (and expensive) pair of Replay jeans a while back. I've noticed that small metal shards unwind themselves from the rivits near the pockets and you can catch your hand on them. Last night I sliced the ball of one of my fingers open on such a shard. Anyone else got a pair of these and had similar problems??? I no longer have the receipt from the store but wonder if Replay themselves will exchange them? I've written to them via their website - will see if I get any reply.