Jewel of the South

A close thing

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:16:25 -0700

Summer Mist 2007

Summer Mist 2008

I've just had a look on the website for the bike I bought Summer Bicycles and am very thankful that I bought this year's model. As far as I can make out it's only the colour scheme that's changed, but I really prefer the silver to the yellow!

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Is this a good enough reason?

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:09:11 -0700

My Summer Mist

Yes, this is the reason I haven't blogged lately. A couple of blogs ago I explained we were buying bikes. Mine was delivered five weeks ago and I have literally spent every spare moment riding it.

Unfortunately my only spare moments are at the weekend, so I've been out every Saturday and Sunday since it arrived. Last week I took two days off work and rode it offroad in the forest and it was MAGIC!

My only question. Why didn't I do this years ago?

I've been about 15 years without a bike and now I just can't understand why.

My man has just bought one too and he's going through all the same feelings. I'm not sure either of us is going to last through the winter months if we can't ride regularly.

I took this photo at about 8.30am after a 30 minutes ride to the beach a couple of Saturdays ago. There aren't many things that get me out of the house that early at the weekend.

I think I've found my passion.

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How can I justify this?

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 08:41:05 -0700

iPod nano

I have two iPods. An iPod Photo which I've had for about two and a half years and a silver Shuffle which I got pretty much on the day of release last November. I love them both for different reasons.
The 45 Gig Photo means I can take loads and loads of music with me in my day to day life without having to think what I'm going to listen to before I leave home. (My first MP3 player was 128 Mb and held two and a half albums worth of music. It was fantastic at the time, but without iTunes to fill it, it was laborious and I just got sick of hearing the same songs after a while).
I have a whole list of Podcasts that I regularly listen to, that are automatically transferred to my iPod whenever I plug it in to my computer, so that's cool.

I use my Shuffle when I'm going for a walk or I'm at work outside office hours and I need something to lighten my mood. It usually does the trick and it's so small and light it takes no effort to have it pinned on my clothing.

I have been very satisfied with them both, until two weeks ago, when the new Nanos were announced and my cousin went out and bought one and I'm jealous as hell! The form factor is very solid and I understand that the resolution of the screen is so good that even viewing video at that small size is not a problem. Now I could justify a purchase as my other iPods don't do video and I would use it just for that I think. But what's going to happen when the iPhone is introduced to the UK sometime in the next few weeks?

How will I go on to justify that purchase?

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Life Posters with Posterino

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:49:18 -0700

Posterino

I wanted to sing the praises of an app. I've been using for about a year now. Posterino is one of those brilliant Mac applications created by an individual who is passionate about his subject.

Those of you familiar with the instructions given by Mike Matas for his wonderful Life Poster idea back in early 2005 will be delighted that the steps that include iPhoto and Photoshop have now been shaved down to a single, inexpensive, beautifully coded and presented application which is Posterino.

However, Life Posters are just one of the many ways to display your images and Posterino lets you use standard templates or lets you create your own for a really individual style. Earlier this year Posterino made it possible to send actual postcards via the Swiss Postal Service for 2.99€. Imagine sending postcards home from a vacation with photos of you and your family on picture. I've used the service many times and the quality is amazing.

Over the last 12 months Christoph has done some wonderful things with this application and I think it deserves to have more attention. So pop over to Zykloid and be impressed!

Below is the first poster I made and then had printed by my usual photo print company. Posterino is fully customisable for background colour, frame size/colour, number of photos. You can include graphics and text anywhere on the background. It's brilliant. Try it!

Life Poster

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I'm baaaaak!

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:40:22 -0700

Yes I know.
I thought this blog might be dead too, but I'm attempting to have another go before it completely disappears through lack of content.

Summer Mist 2007

My biggest obsession at the moment is quite a surprise. Not at all techy, although that may change.

We've decided to buy bikes. There are several reasons for this. I haven't ridden a bike for a fair few years, but as soon as I sat one one in the shop I realised it's something I've missed (geddit?)

Not happy with getting the first one I saw I found this and fell in love. It's taken quite a bit of research. But I want what I want.

This is what I want.

We've had nowhere to keep a bike (or two) so we've been clearing out and tidying space around the house and garden so that we can order them as soon as possible.

It doesn't help that there's a car in a state of disrepair in our garage that hasn't been touched for three years. If only I could persuade my man that his priorities have changed and he's never going to want to work on it ever again.

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This is how bad it's got.

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:14:07 -0700

I'm one of those people whose computer launches loads of social/communication software on startup.

Skype, iChat, MSN IM, Twitterific etc. I like to keep an eye on what my friends and family are up to on an hour by hour basis.

Well guess what? I've been so busy with work that I've switched the whole lot off! I can't even cope with being invisible. It's not enough now that people don't know I'm online. I can't be doing with all the beeps and rings when other people log on and off. It's just way too distracting. I've had complaints too. My friends have said "You're never online these days, I can never get to IM you". So I've told them that if they want me, to phone me because I can't see things calming down any time soon.

Ok, so I've just realised why I haven't been blogging for two months Duh!

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Two Months Ago?

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:03:58 -0700

I know I've let things slide here but TWO MONTHS?

I've had some truly great things happen in that time too. I took photos to prove it, but I didn't get around to actual blogging.

We went to see Frank Sidebottom and he was fantastic. Last time we saw him was about 9 years ago and some of his act was the same. But it's all good and I literally cried laughing at how incredibly lovable and funny he is even with a big papier maché head! I spoke to a friend who knew someone who'd walked out of the gig after half an hour. I felt genuinely sorry that they didn't get him, because they are really missing out...

We also saw Kristin Hersh who was amazing. It's been ages since we saw her last too, but I was blown away by how consistently great she really is. I had a really crap view (being a bit on the short side), so I went to the side of the stage where I had a brilliant view. Not only could I see the whole of Kristin, but just off stage I could see two of her children (who looked identical, but different sizes) and her husband Billy who kept rushing on stage whenever Kristin needed assistance. It was a superb gig which stayed with me for several days (as good gigs should) and I've been listening to her latest album 'Learn to sing like a Star' lots and lots.

Apart from that, work has been just crazy busy. Several changes have happened which means that I can't seem to do anything but work all the time. I do twelve hours at the studio and then come home and do twelve more. I can always get to sleep when I go to bed, but then I'll wake up at 3am and can't get back to sleep, so I end up coming downstairs and doing more work.

I am so looking forward to later this week when I'm taking a short trip to Spain with some friends. It can't come soon enough (although I have tons of stuff to organise before I go).

Bring it on!

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Isle of Wight Festival 2007

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:04:49 -0800

IOW Fest

Last year I found out that the Foo Fighters were playing the IOW Festival.
As soon as I discovered this I was desperate to contact my gig-buddy to see if he'd like to accompany me. On checking the dates on the website I discovered that it was the same day as two of my best friends were getting married! Why oh why oh why oh why...

So, this year there's Snow Patrol, Keane and Ash and I'm tempted. Especially as my cousin lives on the island and we'd get a comfy bed for the night! (Forgive me, I'm old and don't like sleeping on the ground - my back is hurting just at the thought).

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Headlights

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 12:15:02 -0800

Headlights

We've been driving a lot in the last two days. Yesterday we left home at 2.30pm and arrived in Manchester at 9.30pm after horrendous holdups quite close to home. Roadworks and sheer volume of Friday evening traffic, the culprits.

This morning we left at about 9.45am and with a stop of just over an hour in Worksop, we drove home. Only five hours on the road today, but mostly motorway driving. I had to stop for about 20 minutes as I came over all tired and just needed a power nap before starting again. It did the trick and I felt refreshed enough to drive most of the journey back.

I took this photo while I was a passenger, however.

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Frog Spawn

nobody@vox.com(Jewel of the South) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:10:32 -0800

frog spawn

After about ten years, our pond has at last, been deemed a suitable place to bring up baby frogs.

We are honoured indeed!

(It's that sort of grey bit in the centre of the photo)

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