Our first strawberry

We picked our first strawberry today - only to find some bug had beaten us to it and eaten half of it :( (tried to focus on the fruit but the b***y camera would only focus on K)

Tiki Bar stuff...

My first batch of Tiki mugs arrived from the USA today - and they are fantastic! K and I also managed to find a couple of tiki-ish masks to help decorate the bar. The actual bar itself is due early next week - very excited!

Nick and Laura's pad...

K and I went to visit Nick and Laura at their new pad today. We arrived 5 mins after the Sweden game started to find Germany 2 goals up! Not happy :( Unfortunately the score did not change for the rest of the game despite our best efforts at supporting Sweden (hence shirts). N&L's pad was very cool with a massive bar running right the way through the kitchen area and views over the river. Had to leave early due to work and the fact I was on call and hence not drinking.

Nvidia 7950 GX2 - wow!

This is mad - a 2 gpu card with 1GB memory! All this and they reckon it'll pull only 143W of power. Here's a review with some pics...

My first YouTube

I figured I'd see how easy it was to upload to youtube - turns out it is VERY easy! This short film was my first ever video edit (and last ever use of MS MovieMaker).

You can view the film here

YouTube

Saw this on youtube and thought it was excellent - you need sound: Wherethehellismat

New Camcorder?

I've got my eye on one of these 'about to be released' camcorders. Finally a 3CCD solid-state true 16:9 with front facing mic solution.

More details here: JVC SITE

Maypole

K and I went to see Dad for Father's day on Sunday. It's been ages since we visited the farm but not much has changed. Still filled with aeroplanes and horses. We had a nice lunch at the local pub and basked in the sun. A nice relax!

Mom's computer...

I have been working over the last couple of week making a new computer for my Mom. Ended up with a Dell SX-280. It has a 2.8GHz P4 HT, 512MB RAM, 80GB S-ATA, DVD/CD-RW, built in gfx and sound with Win XP Pro. You may recognise it as a similar setup to that in our kitchen. I added to that a digital 19" TFT from Dell and the setup is complete - it is surprisingly fast actually and very VERY quiet.

Tiki mugs....?

If anyone I know is going to the USA soon can they let me know! I am desperately trying to source Tiki mugs but there are very VERY few in the UK and they tend to be a bit naff and very expensive. Ebay USA has loads but most are unwilling to ship to the UK or it is prohibitively expensive. Help me Tiki gods!

Vista Compatibility List

Found this nice list (wiki style) showing what works and not:
Vista Beta 2 Compatibility List

As a result have managed to get iTunes to work and even got the latest version of Nero all working. Currently using Vista as my primary OS :)

Updates

Some quick updates on previous posts:

VISTA:
Vista still looks good, however there are two main things stopping me from using it day-to-day. Firstly iTunes does not work 100% as it should and secondly Nero doesn't work at all. Sooo close yet too far. I hope that improvements will be made or workarounds put in place soon.

TIKI Bar:
We decided to go for the more curvey and less expensive Tiki Bar. Delivered in 2 weeks. I have the bamboo candle holders ready but am having trouble locating bamboo fronting and tiki items. USA Ebay is proving helpful but shipping costs so much.

What a lovely day!

It is days like today I am *SOOOO* glad I can work from home. It is 27C inside, more outside, and I have shorts, t-shirt and no shoes on. I have two massive windows in the study which are letting in a very nice breeze. Thought I would share the view of the garden with you :)

Vista Beta 2

I have installed Vista Beta 2 this morning and am happy to say it is an improvement over Beta 1. It appears a lot more stable and polished. Too early to say if it can be used day-to-day yet but it is looking promissing...

Which TIKI bar?

My plan is to make a Tiki-Bar area at the back of the garden and to do that I need a Tiki-Bar. I figure it is safer to start from a good solid base rather than make the whole thing myself (K still laughs about my shelves) and so I have been looking for such an item to start the project with. Below are the fruits of my searching - I have found two contenders.

The first is made in Indonesia (hence quality of pic) and is shipping now. It has a great 'original' look to it and the side swing in to close up. Problem is cost - £650!

The second is a mass-made bar (hence quality pic). This looks less interesting but has a better curve to it - cost £450.

My plan is to use either bar as a base and attach bamboo to the front and flaming torches to either end. I figure I'll then hang some tiki masks about the place and finish it off with a 'Tiki-Bar is open' sign ;)

What do you think? Comments or suggestions welcome...

The WHO!

Went out for a beer last night and heard the WHO were playing at Knebworth House for some charitable event - 'hedgefund' (I think it is some sought of trippy "trust fund hippy" thing). So, we decided to try and get in. However, it turned out to be rather more easy than we first thought. We approached the security guards at the back of the house seeing if we could bribe them but they simply pointed us to the main gates saying that locals were allowed in free. Sure enough we were waved through the main entrance and saw the last 30 mins of the set for free - that's right, we saw the WHO for free! Excellent night!

New book

I bought a new book today - a rare thing for me to do! I was getting fed up with scrabbling around trying to find the various CSS declerations so figured this would keep them all in once place. At first glance it appears excellent - a good introduction followed by pages of syntax.

It was sunny!

For the first time this year we had a real hot weekend. Perfect timing with our garden nearly being finished. Needless to say we had a BBQ or two and generally relaxed :) The plant pot you see in pic 2 is a 'tub-thumper' - one of two such items by the back part of the garden. These have a hidden speaker in the base and sound fantstic!

Sky - not the best customer service

Over the last 3 weeks we have had 4 sky boxes! Our original and trusty box died so we paid the £65 to have it replaced with a second. However, that box developed a fault within hours....and so did the 3rd box. Finally today the 4th turned up and it appears to be god (fingers crossed).

As a result of this *poor* service I called up and asked for the £65 back. The lady on the phone offered £36 (a month's viewing) - I asked to talk to the manager. A very snotty 'team leader' basicaly told me there was nothing he could do but offered instead to pay for the time I had been without viewing (only a fee days so worth nothing). I argued for 8 minutes but was getting nowhere so took the £36.

Not overly impressed....if only NTL had a PVR box!!!