It's Sunday evening and my legs ache. Been playing football rather a lot with Jake, taking advantage of the dry and mild weather. We've been playing outside whilst Chelsea were on the telly, and the last Jake heard they were 1-0 up. Now he's playing on FIFA10, and at some point I'm going to have to let him know that Blackburn got a late equaliser! The football question that I'm contemplating is whether it is still to soon to start daring to dream that Spurs might bag the 4th place spot in the league and get into the Champions League next season? They won away yesterday, and Villa only drew, and today Liverpool have lost. Come on you Spurs (and an FA Cup quarter final replay in the week as well) - it's all too much!
Garage clearance is coming on really well in advance of our new garage door being fitted this week, and then Mike making a start on the games room conversion as soon as we get back from holiday. I'd like to claim some credit, but don't really deserve any - Nicky worked like a Trojan whilst I sat by the side of the pool this morning watching Jake swimming. No blogging from the side of the pool today as my phone battery had died, so I carried on with reading Chris Evans' book (trying not to cry when he explained how his Mum told him that his Dad wasn't going to get better). Jake and I supported the effort in the garage when we got back from swimming by playing a game of pool now that we can walk around the table easily.
Only twelve days to holiday now. Nicky has sent an e-mail to our San Francisco hotel to ask them about the best way to get from the airport to them - their first customer service challenge from us - I wonder whether we will accept the first room they offer us when we get there!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Zizzi
Enjoying a meal at Zizzi in Bluewater. Taken on Nicky's iPhone and emailed straight to blog.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
By the way, the original post was done from the iphone whilst we were at the restaurant, but the photo didn't come out properly on this page. Need to investigate some settings and get this sorted out, but for the time being I've uploaded the photo to Flickr, so here it is!
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Swan and swim
Today was the next of Jake's big swims, and this morning he did 24 lengths, or 600m, to get his next badge. Nicky and I both went along to cheer him on. We were a bit annoyed (as was Jake) that he wasn't given a lane of his own to swim in, so he probably ended up doing a fair bit more than the 600m he needed to due to the dodging of other swimmers that was required.
He might do some level badges next rather than moving straight on to the next distance, but anyway, I was certainly very impressed with this morning's swim - about 23 lengths more than I would manage.
After coming home and taking the dog for a wander in the woods (which are now passable again thanks to a few days of dry weather) we picked up Nanny and Grandad and headed off to the Swan in West Malling for Sunday lunch. Scrummy as always - I particularly enjoyed the braised beef!
We were back just after kick off in the last of the cup quarter finals, although Jake and I went and had our own game outside rather than watching it all. After the game it was the draw for the semis, and the good news is that we're still on for a Chelsea against Spurs final, provided that Chelsea can beat Aston Villa in their semi, and Spurs beat Fulham in the replay and then beat Portsmouth it their semi. Could be interesting, although we will be in California when the semifinals are being played.
In Apple news, Nicky has finally got her iphone up and running, after several calls to Vodafone, and I'm still loving the Mac. I've been importing some photos today, and have also downloaded the Delicious Library software, and we've been enjoying scanning barcodes from some of our books! Finished the latest Nick Hornby book, Juliet Naked, the other day. A good read - thanks for the birthday pressie Heather.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Jersey
Attached is a picture of the sunset taken in St Helier across the road from our hotel.
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
iHappy
Today Nicky and I had our trip out to Bluewater, with the intention of treating ourselves to a number of things that we had been promising each other that we would get once the Haig sale had been completed.
As a result, I am now typing this entry on my new iMac, which is just terrific! So far I've transferred some of our music into itunes, some of our photos into iphoto, and had a bit o f a play with some of the other features. Lots more still to discover and I haven't even installed the iwork disk yet.
We got a few other things as well whilst we were there, including an iphone for Nicky, which is currently charging up and which should go live with her number on Friday, and also a couple of Radley bags.
Jake had asked if he could have Band Hero for the Wii, but neither Game nor HMV had it, so we've ordered it from Amazon on express delivery instead.
Anyway, can't waffle on now, have lots more photos to transfer!
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Uploading backlog
Could, and probably should, be catching up on some work this afternoon, before the start of another busy week tomorrow. However, I've decided that there are better things to be doing on a Sunday, and that I will get into the office at a decent time in the morning and crack on with things then.
Looking at Flickr, I am a bit behind with the photo uploading. There are loads still to be put on from our December holiday (as well as other events near the end of last year, Wembley trip, Chris and Carolyn's party ...) and seeing as it really isn't long now until we will no doubt be taking hundreds and hundreds more on our first ever visit to California, I thought that I should get a few more uploaded now.
There are three separate folders-worth of photos needing uploading from the most recent Florida trip, as there is a separate folder for each of my camera, Nicky's and Jake's. Having previously discovered a problem with having shots from multiple cameras going into the same set in Flickr - that I sort them by the date/time stamp that the camera puts on the photo - I made sure that the clocks in each camera were telling the same time for this holiday so that when I upload each of the folders into the same set, and then sort by date/time taken, they will come out in the right order. Spectacularly nerdy I know, but keeps me happy!
Looks to me like the next thing with digital cameras is having built in GPS so that not only does it stamp the photo with date and time information, it also automatically provides location info as well. I think that I can opt to manually add the location information to the photos, but I'm not sure if I have the stamina to go back through all of the 8,000 or so that are on Flickr to try to do this.
Below are a couple of pictures from the ones that I am just uploading. The first one isn't upsidedown, it's a reflection of the castle, and the second one was taken at our wedding anniversary meal at Bice (at Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal). Given that I wasn't able to upload photos and put them on the blog whilst we were on holiday, I may go back through those posts once uploading is complete to attach some relevant piccies.
Maybe next time I am posting and I am uploading pictures, it will be from an iMac. Fingers crossed that everything happens according to plan tomorrow, and then Nicky and I have a shopping day planned for Wednesday!
Looking at Flickr, I am a bit behind with the photo uploading. There are loads still to be put on from our December holiday (as well as other events near the end of last year, Wembley trip, Chris and Carolyn's party ...) and seeing as it really isn't long now until we will no doubt be taking hundreds and hundreds more on our first ever visit to California, I thought that I should get a few more uploaded now.
There are three separate folders-worth of photos needing uploading from the most recent Florida trip, as there is a separate folder for each of my camera, Nicky's and Jake's. Having previously discovered a problem with having shots from multiple cameras going into the same set in Flickr - that I sort them by the date/time stamp that the camera puts on the photo - I made sure that the clocks in each camera were telling the same time for this holiday so that when I upload each of the folders into the same set, and then sort by date/time taken, they will come out in the right order. Spectacularly nerdy I know, but keeps me happy!
Looks to me like the next thing with digital cameras is having built in GPS so that not only does it stamp the photo with date and time information, it also automatically provides location info as well. I think that I can opt to manually add the location information to the photos, but I'm not sure if I have the stamina to go back through all of the 8,000 or so that are on Flickr to try to do this.
Below are a couple of pictures from the ones that I am just uploading. The first one isn't upsidedown, it's a reflection of the castle, and the second one was taken at our wedding anniversary meal at Bice (at Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal). Given that I wasn't able to upload photos and put them on the blog whilst we were on holiday, I may go back through those posts once uploading is complete to attach some relevant piccies.
Maybe next time I am posting and I am uploading pictures, it will be from an iMac. Fingers crossed that everything happens according to plan tomorrow, and then Nicky and I have a shopping day planned for Wednesday!
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Patience
I am reminded of the phrase "Grant me patience Lord, but hurry!". On the house front it's been ten days since we exchanged, and eight to go until we complete. It is so tempting to go out now and spend loads of money, but then I think that would be tempting fate, and something will go wrong between now and 1 March. So, we continue to sit on our hands.
On Friday evening we were in Bluey for our painting lesson at GW. Jake really enjoyed it - we learned about drybrushing and about washes. We're booked in again in three weeks time for another painting session and a gaming one as well.
Whilst we were there I popped in to the Apple store (probably a mistake re the patience!). Had a chat with one of the staff members and learned a couple of useful things. He suggested not bothering with upgrading memory straight away when buying the iMac as I'll probably find that it comes with plenty. If I find that it is struggling later on it is apparently dead easy to upgrade. I also learned that you can't get a Vodafone iphone on pay as you go yet. So we will probably go for a 2 year contract when we get Nicky's phone. Makes the initial outlay lower but the monthly cost a bit higher. Shouldn't be a problem getting the number transferred from the old phone.
Nicky has organised getting a quote from Mike for some work at home. It came in at a reasonable cost, so plan is to be full steam ahead as soon as we get back from holiday. It's going to be great having a games room where the garage is at the moment, but we will need to have a bit of a clear out before we go away.
We've booked our San Francisco hotel (5 nights at the Argonaut at Fisherman's Wharf) and I phoned DVC last week to extend our Grand Californian stay to 5 nights, as we want enough time for parks and our LA Lakers game. This leaves us with 4 nights for inbetween. Nicky has been looking at hotels and attractions along the way. A couple of nights in Monterey looks like a strong contender. Nicky wants to go to the aquarium and spend all day watching the sea otters! I think that a vineyard / wine tasting trip could be on the cards as well.
Nicky is doing a great job of turning herself into a domestic Goddess! In a relatively short time her pies have attained legendary status. I think that she's making some more sausage and bean ones now, some to take over to Grandad at lunchtime (roast beef today) and yesterday we had scrummy homemade carbonara along with homemade blueberry muffins. Next on the list is homemade crumpets.
By the way it's my fault that it's raining today. I bought some new sponges yesterday with a plan to wash my car (first time after having it for 7 months) today. Sorry!
On Friday evening we were in Bluey for our painting lesson at GW. Jake really enjoyed it - we learned about drybrushing and about washes. We're booked in again in three weeks time for another painting session and a gaming one as well.
Whilst we were there I popped in to the Apple store (probably a mistake re the patience!). Had a chat with one of the staff members and learned a couple of useful things. He suggested not bothering with upgrading memory straight away when buying the iMac as I'll probably find that it comes with plenty. If I find that it is struggling later on it is apparently dead easy to upgrade. I also learned that you can't get a Vodafone iphone on pay as you go yet. So we will probably go for a 2 year contract when we get Nicky's phone. Makes the initial outlay lower but the monthly cost a bit higher. Shouldn't be a problem getting the number transferred from the old phone.
Nicky has organised getting a quote from Mike for some work at home. It came in at a reasonable cost, so plan is to be full steam ahead as soon as we get back from holiday. It's going to be great having a games room where the garage is at the moment, but we will need to have a bit of a clear out before we go away.
We've booked our San Francisco hotel (5 nights at the Argonaut at Fisherman's Wharf) and I phoned DVC last week to extend our Grand Californian stay to 5 nights, as we want enough time for parks and our LA Lakers game. This leaves us with 4 nights for inbetween. Nicky has been looking at hotels and attractions along the way. A couple of nights in Monterey looks like a strong contender. Nicky wants to go to the aquarium and spend all day watching the sea otters! I think that a vineyard / wine tasting trip could be on the cards as well.
Nicky is doing a great job of turning herself into a domestic Goddess! In a relatively short time her pies have attained legendary status. I think that she's making some more sausage and bean ones now, some to take over to Grandad at lunchtime (roast beef today) and yesterday we had scrummy homemade carbonara along with homemade blueberry muffins. Next on the list is homemade crumpets.
By the way it's my fault that it's raining today. I bought some new sponges yesterday with a plan to wash my car (first time after having it for 7 months) today. Sorry!
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