Prague and N's 30th

We went to Prague for the weekend to celebrate N's 30th birthday. Had a fantastic time, went karting, drank beers, did tours, drank beers, saw the castle, drank beers, ate great food, drank beers, watched the F1, drank beers and soaked up the cluture (and drank beers). Brilliant! More pics on Flickr - link in title.

Pink Floyd Covers Band

J and I went to see a Pink Floyd covers band on Fri. OffTheWall were playing at Stevenage and for £16 we thought it'd be fun. The band were excellent and I managed to get a front row seat right by the lead guitarist. The only let down was the venue - it was an indoor gym hall with seats and worst of all, no drink allowed in!!

Busy Lunchtime

Had a manic lunchtime today, acomplished the following: jabs for holiday booked, medical travel questionaire picked up, passport/visa photos taken, passport renewal form picked up, visa forms downloaded. I have to get my passport renewed before I can send off for the Egypt visa, we have plenty of time but better to get this all done earlier than later! We also had the holiday docs and the travel guide and DVDs about Egypt delivered this morning. Busy busy busy...

New Car Decision - Mercedes

So, I made my mind up for my next car. I went for the Mercedes (a close contender last time actually). The new new MINI was good but just not as exciting as the last. The Merc is obviously quite different but the major benefits are how quiet it is on the motorway and how comfortable it is over long distances. In fact one of the main reasons for this decision is that the Merc has a place for your right foot when you are on the motorway with cruise on. The MINI had none so your foot was hooked uneder the clutch/break pedals. This meant you sat with a twist - not nice to your right knee in the long term.

As standard the car comes with fogs, ABS/ESP, Hill-Start, selective damping suspension, one-touch direction indicators, multi-function steering wheel, parametric steering, trip computer, lots of airbags and a tyre pressure loss warning system. The new 2009 MY that I am getting also comes with a stop-start engine management with regenerative breaking to cut down emissions.

Here's the car I have chosen: Mercedes Benz A-Class A150 3-door

Classic SE in Night Black with Black Interior
Exterior Sight and Light Pack (auto mirror/lights/wipers)
Seat Comfort Pack
Speedtronic Cruise Control and Limiter
Leather Steering Wheel, Gearknob and Handbreak
Central Arm Rest with Storage
Luxury Dual-Zone Climate Control
Parktronic (front/rear audio/visual parking sensors)
Steering Column Adjustable for Reach
Speaker System Upgrade with Centre Speaker and Bass
iPod Integration

I know, I know - the Sat-Nav is missing but I am going to get a TomTom 930T this time round. I also had to forego heated seats - to be fair I hardly use them on the MINI. The car will be delivered September 1st (first day of new 58 registration plates) - can't wait!

Dentist

I had to go to the dentist this morning to get an old filling replaced. Those of you that know me will know that I am a little bit of a big girl's blouse when it comes to dentists. I have been dreading it! However, I explained my worries to the dentist (the fact that usually the numbing injections hardly work) and she took it into account (or used a horse tranquiliser). I felt nothing! It was brilliant! Downside - the whole right side of my face is now so numb I can hardly talk :)

Egypt

It is all very exciting - K and I have booked a holiday in Egypt. We will cruise along the nile, spend days visiting pyramids and tombs and relax on the beaches of the Red Sea. We will visit Luxor, Aswan, Ciaro, Sharm El Sheik and a few other places in between. I think the camera is gonna be on overtime!

Award Winning

I was presented with an award today by the Chief Superintendent of the Eastern Area Police. I was given the award for being the Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator of the year. Very nice! Presented at a local hotel and I believe pictures going into the press - could I be in the paper twice in one month???

Sweden Elk Safari

K an I went to Sweden last weekend for a surprise. Turned out the surprise was an ELK SAFARI! How awesome! We spent the weekend travelling the length of south-west Sweden and stayed in a hotel/spa overnight. Check out my flickr for photos (link in title). Caught up with K's folks on Sun night for a meal before jetting back home. Unfortunately we then spent the next 3 days being VERY ill (hence this post being so late). Think we got a bug at the airport.

I'm Famous!

After litterally years of trying (well, ok, not that hard) I made it into a newspaper. I am featured in the local Comet (link in title) as part of my Neighbourhood Watch activities. I think you'll agree I look suitably cheesy in the photo :)

Haircut

FINALLY I managed to go and get a haircut - it was somewhat overdue! K will now be happy :) Here is before and after - ooOOOoo, don't I look nice!

Pink Floyd Covers Band

Huzzah - just booked tickets for a Pink Floyd covers band playing in Stevenage on the 25th April. J is coming with seeing as K cannot stand them. Link in title...

40D new firmware

Canon released a new firmware for the 40D today. It fixes some problems with IS lenses, an issue with the image preview and some language issues. Get it from the Canon website.

More Snow

Well, it is early April and of course - it is snowing! Rasmus has been a little more brave this time and has ventured out to see what this white thing is all about - although he looks a little guilty in this shot?! Forecast is for more later - if I get my work done in time I might even be able to go out and play :)

Time Capsule

A new toy arrived yesterday - an Apple Time Capsule (500GB). Before OS X 10.5.2 I was happily using a network share and with a small hack to get Time Machine to work on K's laptop. I figure Apple got wise to this and the 10.5.2 update killed it. So, I took the plunge and ordered this. It is about the size of the Apple TV but a LOT louder when in full swing (there is a fan inside). It took nearly 4 hours to create the initial snapshot from K's Mac but it seems to be working just fine. Only annoyance is that (for an unknown reason) my Axis 207W IP-Cam cannot see the radio on it??? Very strange - am all over the forums at the moment trying to figure it out. Currently have two wifi routers in the network to get everything to work - K's is called VIKING and mine SAXON :)

Canon G9

I got a new toy today - the Canon G9. I am going to use it when it is not convenient to take my main DSLR along. It is very rugged, compact and packed full of features. Battery is charging ready for first use as we speak...

MINI Update and 0 miles :)

MINI released a new firmware update for their sat-nav just the other day.  Now version 10.  Took all of 3 minutes to load.  It is meant to be faster and more stable.  However, I have not noticed any real differences other than it tried to take me a different way home the other night... 

Whilst on the subject of my MINI - I managed to finally get the fuel counter to report 0 miles left :)  Luckily (and rather by coincidence) this happened whilst pulling into a petrol station - I know, hard to believe but K was there and she'll vouch for me.

Coursework

I feel I am going to be a little busy this month. I have 4 lots of coursework (2 group and 2 individual) that need to be in in 1, 2, 4 and 4 weeks. This would not usually be a problem - however, 2 of my 4 weekends have gone. I am off to Sweden for one and Prague for the other. Gulp - guess my evenings are going to be fairly busy for the next month!