It really has been quite sometime since I last posted anything in this blog. Some people might have thought that I'd quietly put it to sleep. Others may even have thought that I myself had passed on. In actual fact, neither my blog or I are dead. Whilst I haven't actually published anything in an age, I have done the odd bit of writing. So now, after more than a year, I'm publishing what would have been my posts from the last few months (if only I'd got around to actually sticking them on my blog). I hope you enjoy it. It's not all fun and games, unfortunately, in fact some if it's downright depressing, but as such, I think it's a reasonably accurate representation of my life, such as it is.
Please do feel free to comment. Regardless of what your mother might have told you, even if you don't have anything nice to say, I'd still like to hear from you. Do try to be constructive with your criticism though. If my self esteem does have to take a bruising I would at least like it to benefit my writing in some way.
Oh, by the way, I'm thinking of adding a few appendices to my blogs for reviews of Technology, gadgetry, games, pubs,films books, music, and whatever other subjects about which I feel moved to write. I can't guarantee they'll be coming soon, but when they do appear I'll be sure to include appropriate links on this very blog. I may even allow these sections to be open to other contributors who will, no doubt, have a wider knowledge of things. It would, after all, be a shame to have the reviews section shackled by the constrains of my ever diminishing budget.
All that remains for me to do is to thank you, gentle reader, for putting up with my continued absence from webloggery. I can't promise I'll write more, but I shall certainly try and, after all, that's as much anybody can ask of a person.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Lost and found (or Finders Keepers...)
5/10/08
And on the subject of Macs, I found one by the side of the road. It sounds odd, I know, but, on a grass verge no more than 50 meters from where I live I found and old style Apple eMac. After I hefted it home, struggling to carry the 17” CRT based machine across the road, I switched it on and was surprised to find that, with the exception of an easily correctable software flaw (the screen appeared only in the centre few 8” of the screen. By easily correctable, I actually mean that it took until 4am that morning, plus a few hours the next day to get fixed) it was in perfect working order. This was obviously something of a godsend as far as I was concerned. The previous day had been my last working for Hertz and frankly I could probably do with the money (probably upwards of £100) that selling the thing on eBay would have got me. You've probably noticed the past tense. Unfortunately my somewhat overly cautious mother was uncomfortable having it in the house. Despite that fact that, to my mind at least, it was obvious that the machine had been abandoned, probably because the previous owners couldn't get it to work properly, she insisted that I hand it in to the police. Given her illness, I thought it might be best to acquiesce. According to the police records, it hasn't been reported as being stolen, so, if nobody claims it within the next 28 days, I can go and pick it up. All that is, if you ask me, an awful lot of hassle given that all signs seem to indicate that the Mac was simply abandoned.
Anyway, I touched upon it briefly a little earlier, but I have now finished working for Hertz. Oddly enough I was actually a little sadder than I had been expecting. I wasn't sorry to have to say goodbye to the job, but I will miss all the people. Anyway, I was allowed the customary 2 hour lunch break during which I was bought and subsequently drank four pints of Fosters. Surprisingly, after a brief pit-stop at McDonalds, I was actually able to get through the afternoon. Is it strange that I feel bad for not having been able to finish off all my work? I left work with a £20 voucher for HMV and a promise to meet up with everyone for drinks on Friday.
So, what have I done since then? Well, aside from trying to clear out my bedroom, scavenging for things to sell, I've really just been catching up on TV and films that I hadn't got around to watching before. I've tried to get some exercise done too in a probably vain effort to get back in to shape. So far I'm stalling on 2.5 miles of cycling coupled with 50 sit ups. Yes, I know it's not a lot, but it's a start.
I've had a quick look at going to America again. I won't say too much right now, but I've found a few cheaper prices, so a mildly cut down trip may yet be a possibility.
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I might end up changing to the dark side and going all Mac. Well, the experience I had with the eMac has kind of put me off. Whilst OSX is quick to boot, it seems far less adaptable than Windows. I think, for now, I'll be saving my money and going for a Windows based laptop when my current 3.5 year old machine finally gives up the ghost. Hopefully it'll keep going for another year or so and I'll be able to skip Vista and head straight to a machine pre-installed with Windows 7, a Centrino 2 package and a blu-ray drive. For now I'll have to hope that my recent gadget purchases will sate me whilst I ride out the leaner times that lie ahead.
And on the subject of Macs, I found one by the side of the road. It sounds odd, I know, but, on a grass verge no more than 50 meters from where I live I found and old style Apple eMac. After I hefted it home, struggling to carry the 17” CRT based machine across the road, I switched it on and was surprised to find that, with the exception of an easily correctable software flaw (the screen appeared only in the centre few 8” of the screen. By easily correctable, I actually mean that it took until 4am that morning, plus a few hours the next day to get fixed) it was in perfect working order. This was obviously something of a godsend as far as I was concerned. The previous day had been my last working for Hertz and frankly I could probably do with the money (probably upwards of £100) that selling the thing on eBay would have got me. You've probably noticed the past tense. Unfortunately my somewhat overly cautious mother was uncomfortable having it in the house. Despite that fact that, to my mind at least, it was obvious that the machine had been abandoned, probably because the previous owners couldn't get it to work properly, she insisted that I hand it in to the police. Given her illness, I thought it might be best to acquiesce. According to the police records, it hasn't been reported as being stolen, so, if nobody claims it within the next 28 days, I can go and pick it up. All that is, if you ask me, an awful lot of hassle given that all signs seem to indicate that the Mac was simply abandoned.
Anyway, I touched upon it briefly a little earlier, but I have now finished working for Hertz. Oddly enough I was actually a little sadder than I had been expecting. I wasn't sorry to have to say goodbye to the job, but I will miss all the people. Anyway, I was allowed the customary 2 hour lunch break during which I was bought and subsequently drank four pints of Fosters. Surprisingly, after a brief pit-stop at McDonalds, I was actually able to get through the afternoon. Is it strange that I feel bad for not having been able to finish off all my work? I left work with a £20 voucher for HMV and a promise to meet up with everyone for drinks on Friday.
So, what have I done since then? Well, aside from trying to clear out my bedroom, scavenging for things to sell, I've really just been catching up on TV and films that I hadn't got around to watching before. I've tried to get some exercise done too in a probably vain effort to get back in to shape. So far I'm stalling on 2.5 miles of cycling coupled with 50 sit ups. Yes, I know it's not a lot, but it's a start.
I've had a quick look at going to America again. I won't say too much right now, but I've found a few cheaper prices, so a mildly cut down trip may yet be a possibility.
I mentioned at the end of my last post that I might end up changing to the dark side and going all Mac. Well, the experience I had with the eMac has kind of put me off. Whilst OSX is quick to boot, it seems far less adaptable than Windows. I think, for now, I'll be saving my money and going for a Windows based laptop when my current 3.5 year old machine finally gives up the ghost. Hopefully it'll keep going for another year or so and I'll be able to skip Vista and head straight to a machine pre-installed with Windows 7, a Centrino 2 package and a blu-ray drive. For now I'll have to hope that my recent gadget purchases will sate me whilst I ride out the leaner times that lie ahead.
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