Ross

 

Ross & Wye

Just one of the many pictures I took while in Ross & Whye

More than 2007

This the 85 post of this year now put's me ahead of the posts I did back in 2007

3G

Just found out me and the wife have 3G phones, and no I don't know what that means either.

Old TV Shows

Just caught a program on the Discovery Channel about painting by a guy call Bob Ross, he made painting look so easy, so I decided to look him up on Google, only to find out that this quietly spoken man died back in 1985!

So watching tv can take you back in time.

Stuff

Progress on the Dirk Maggs Book project have been put on hold while I try to find the USB stick with the files on!

Yeah I know.....

English Bluebells

 

Yes I know this is yet another picture of bluebells, but and there is a but, these are the real thing. By that I mean these are your actual English Bluebells and very nice they are too.

Stuff

Well stuff has been getting in the way again of my Dirk Maggs book. Have just been away on a hard course that has lots of night work and exams.

I am very happy that I have passed the course and now don't have to do that one for another 4 years.

But being on the course has meant that the Dirk Maggs book is now halted for at least the next few weeks as I have catch up to do at work, and then I am holiday for a week, and yes I really do need a break.

So all being well and all that sort of stuff the book project should then start back up.

I have been told that Dirk has been in the studio again and that there is some new stuff to be broadcast very soon, so that means even more work for the book project.

Bluebells 3

 

This is a close up shot of a bluebell

Bluebells 2

 

Yes the bluebell hunt was a great success and here is another shot

Bluebells

 

So its bluebell season here in the UK and as it was a nice day we went bluebell hunting

Note to Me

Ap Mech 1 week Devon

75 not out

I see from looking at when I started on Blogger back in 2005 that I managed 75 posts in that year so today I have got to 75 yeh....

Bluebells

 

The Bluebells are coming

Edition 4+1

Just had a slight snag on this edition of the book. How do I easily make sure each production for each year in the book is up todate?

I have a very nasty feeling that I will have to compare the paper page with the digital page, if that's true then it's going to take ages

Rats

So I have put the same picture on this blog twice, so it's my site and I can do what I want.

Flowers

Flowers, originally uploaded by davew1.

Not a clue what these are called

Edition 4

Edition 4 work has been going well in that it has been spell checked and lots of corrections made. Which in one way is good and in another bad( as it means there must have been lots of mistakes) personally I think the previous spell checker was as good as the new one, well that's how I am kidding myself!

The book stands at 330 A4 pages and 80 thousand words!

I know! even I was surprised and I have yet to add all the Dirk Maggs productions from 2008 and those so far produced up to this time for 2009.

So at this time I don't know what size the book will end up at.

So at this time I am happy with the Dirk Maggs book

Stuff that I have Done

It's good news this time!

Yes it's true

I have started on edition 4 of the Dirk Maggs Chronology as a said in an earlier blog post here, I have stopped work on edition three after it got stuck in edit hell, and have decided on edition four that the thing to do is to work on the content and worry about the indexes later if at all, yes I know that make the book a lot harder to use but, if I don't do that then I would never get another edition of the book completed.

As like the other editions of the book it will not be for sale but it will be printed, so that it acts as a reference of what the website was like in 2009.

I must admit that I am if anything looking forward to doing the edition of the book as there is a lot of new material and also lots of revising old material to do. If I am also lucky I think that I will also add some new spelling mistakes and also remove some.

Ant

 

Strange Flower

 

Strange flower who's name I have forgotten

Updates and all that

It's been a while since I reported on the various projects that I do here and there on the Internet so as I have some free time, I thought that I would do an update on what's been going on or not as the case may be.

The sad fact is that having started a new job with a new company the process of learning new systems and new ways of doing the same tasks has been a bit, well actually, very traumatic and at this time I still don't know when things will settle down, I am assured by those in the know and also those that have gone through this sort of thing that yes indeed it will get better, I just want to know when!

Anyway enough of my troubles and struggles

The main Dirk Maggs Production website has been updated with his last audio production, which was on 1 st April 2009, I did not get chance to hear this live or on playback, which is a bit sad.

I have also done lots of small corrections all over the website that only I can see the results of, but I know that the website is better for them, honest!

On the pod cast front nothing has happened apart from the hosting site loosing everything!

which was a bit of a worry, the good news is that the backups worked, well they did for me and my pod casts are back up, but due the the stuff that I said earlier, I have not had the time to do any more, and to be a bit honest I don't know if I want to do any more at this time, as I have found that talking to a microphone is a very intimidating experaince, maybe I will have to find a book or a website that could help with getting over this problem?

The DMP wiki's both 1 and 2 are still no further forward at this time, but are still working well with what they have, so that's good.

The James Follett website has had a few internal changes that make the site a bit smaller without cutting down on the content, talking of content there has been no new content now for several years as James appears to have stopped any work on novels, radio shows or whatever, but you can see him on the Internet newsgroups winding up lots of very gullible folks, and it's always fun to see some of them walk right into it!

So that's how the projects stand apart for the last project and that is the Dirk Maggs website book.

This book is still stuck in edit hell and I have not got any further forward with it, and as so much time has gone by it is now very much out of date.

So I have decided that the best thing to do is to freeze it where it is and archive it and start on a new version or edition, which at this time without looking it up could be edition 4 or 5.

So my plan for later this year is to get on with the new edition and not have an index or two in it until the main work is complete, as you can always add an index later can't you?

D90

So I have now had my new camera for a few days and I must say that so far the experaince that I have had with it has been great.

I have not got all the new things that this camera can do in my mind yet, it will take time...

One thing that I have found is that a lot of the images coming off the camera, to me look a lot sharper than on the D80, why this should be so I just don't know, but I am glad that there is a noticeable difference, otherwise you do begin to wonder if your money has been well spent.

The other thing that has made a lot of difference is having an external flashgun on the camera the difference in the pictures is well, wow!

So all I need now is some nice weather so that I can get out there and have some fun, as its Easter as I write this, you can tell that the weather is well grey and wet, about what you would expect for Easter in the UK

Easter

So Easter in the Uk is either wet or sunshine, can you get which one we have this year?

Yes?

Your right if you said that it was grey cloud cool and wet.

Am I surprised?

No

New Camera

I have a new camera, a bit early for my birthday but as prices where going up it was time to get it now.

The new camera is a D90 by Nikon and I must say that it works real well, well as far as I have been able to test it so far, I even have a flashgun with it so that's cool as its something that I have not had on a camera for years apart from the built in flash and I don't think that counts? does it?

MissyB

 

Action shot, which is something not seen with MissyB

Swallow

I think I saw my first swallow of the year.

Dandelion

1st sighting of a dandelion in Hampshire today. Spring equinox as well.

Spring Cold

Just in time for spring I catch a cold, bum.

Daisy

So it goes on spring is I think on it's way finally this year and so I like to report my first daisy of the year spotted in Hampshire

Butterfly Alert

So my very first and I hope of many butterfly's today at Ropley Hants

Watercress Line

 

My very first visit to the Watercress Line and what a great day the weather was great and I got to see lots of trains.

AE35 Podcast

It looks like the site that I host my ae35 pod cast's on has gone bust. Which is a bit of a bummer, luckily I have kept a copy of all the pod casts and honest I was going to do another cast real soon.

So I now have the problem of finding another site to host my pod casts that will do all the hard stuff for me at no cost, and I suspect that in this day and age with the way things are that is something that I will not find.

There are lots of sites who will charge you and I do have a hosting company that does give me the bandwidth and storage but does not give you any of the other stuff that you need to run a pod cast.

Not that the pod cast got lots of listeners, its just it was another part of my website, may be what I should do is keep recording them and archive them until such time as I have somewhere to put them and then put them all up when I get somewhere.

Steam Gala

Well the weather is looking and so today could be a great day in that I am going to a steam gala.

Now I have never been to one so I am not to sure what goes on at a steam gala, the other thing is that it is being held at or on the Watercress line, which is the nearest steam heritage railway, and I have never been on it!

Looking at there site it look like they will have lots of different types of steam trains, so it will be nice to see all these old machines doing what they are best at and that is moving under there own power.

It appears that these events can get very busy so it should be fun.

I shall take the D80 and hope I get some pictures that are worth putting up on here.

Spag Bowl

Why is spag bowl called spag bowl

Not Word

I used to have word 2000 installed on my old machine, since the failure of it I am slowly reinstalling all the old software that I had on it on the new machine.

As I have written here before some of the software I use is old, I mean really old, so it has come as not real surprise to me that I have lost the installation discs for Word 2000.

So I have looked for a free ware alternative to word and I think I may have found it in Free Office version 3.0.

Its a bit download, so I will report back when I have downloaded it, installed it and finally used it.

Fleet Pond 2

 

More of Fleet Pond from this mornings walk, note the sky and that blue stuff, I could do with more of that.

Fleet Pond

 

So this is Fleet Pond overlooking the reed beds which are a feature of the fresh water pound in Southern England, I have read somewhere that it is the largest natural fresh water pond in the south.

The reed beds are also rare these days.

2.75 Miles

Yes folks that's the distance walked today with wife and daughter, and all in blue sky and no rain, cos that came later when we were at home.

So a good result, and just to add to it I took my camera and actually took some pictures for once.

Phobia

Just been looking back at some of my earlier Blogs posts and I notice that I have for some very good reasons been going on and on about indexes.

I wonder if there is a named phobia for the fear of indexes?

Return

I think it has something to do with the extra daylight or something, but I keep wanting to get back to my different projects and get something done with them.

I noticed that this appears to happen every year at about the same time, it just that I have never in the past bothered to note down and record the fact, so here am I recording the fact that I feel an itch or even a compulsion to do something to each of my projects that have sat now, some of them for months.

The big and burning question is which project should I have a go at first?

At this time I do not know which one would be great to start with first.

I must admit that one problem that I have not yet solved for some of the projects is that I am now on a new computer which runs a new operating system, which is called Vista, now to me XP was better and you knew where things where and how it worked.

For some reason stuff has either been renamed or even moved and for what I can see I can't fathom why some of the changes have been made. It also appears that I am not the only person who also thinks this, but this is all a side note to the fact that some of the software that I used on my old machine was already old on that so you can imagine just how old it is and so when I tried to install it the end result was, well no result in that it did not install. As you can probably tell this did not make me happy, to add to the fun? some of the software I use has suffered in that the company that used to make it have been taken over and the new company does not offer any patches to allow their software to run on the new operating system, in fact I think they want you to buy the latest software at their very latest price.

Now some of the software I used was brought cheap, I mean Knock down prices, because at that time it was old and near end of line and there was a new version of the software out which had the latest bell and whistles and all that sort of stuff.

So as I can't affored to spend 600 uk pounds on software that I only use perhaps once a month or so I shall have to spend some time on Google and find out how other folk out there got there old software running on new hardware and operating systems, I mean I can't be the only one with this problem surely!

Anyway I think I have ranted enough, I am also sure that I have said all of this before in an earlier Blog, but as this is my space my words I can repaet myselft as much as I want.

Mind you if I keep doing this I will not get on with the projects will I?

Snow

Yes,

there was snow this morning which was just a bit of a surprise.

Bumble Bee

Just want to record here that at 15.21 on 4th March 2009 I saw my 1st bumble Bee.

I just hope the weather forecast for him goes his way.

Ipod Touch

Just an update to myself that the touch is working well, as I got it mainly for podcast's it works very well.

Lost

 

Just found this picture from last year on the hard disc. The flowers were in our garden and I don't know what the name of the flowers are, I do know that they are pansys of some type.

Green

 

Winkworth again, just like all the green's that are in this picture, this is straight from the D80, it's a great camera and with how little I use it I am glad that it can still produce great images like this, at least this is what I saw through the viewfinder at the time. I don't think the D80 came with the sunshine and optional blue sky button if it did I would have surly used them.

Day off

1st day off this year, and yes the weather is not playing fair a tall. But needed the lie in and the chance to catch up on music and radio play's that have some how passed me by.

Spring Delayed

Just seen the weather forecast for the rest of this week and I am beginning to think that spring is going to be a bit late and that all this mild weather that we have been enjoying is all a bit of a fluke.

I suppose only time will tell if spring arrives when it is supposed to.

Which is a bit of a pity as I was just getting used to the idea of it being warm and bright out there.

Sunshine in a flower

Sunshine in a flower, originally uploaded by davew1.

Same as before but I have corrected the colour

March 2009

 

 

 

Well it's the 1st of March 2009 and this is what we saw at Winkworth

5.41 Miles

Just a memo to me, do not try and break you record for cycling uphill after a tough bike ride, as it hurts and you will pay for it.

Caz

 

Caz my daughter

Sunshine at the top of the world

 

Rare event this year so far, yes sunshine, so we took advantage of it and went for a walk to the top of a local hill.

Oh Where's the Sun Gone

So one whole day of sunshine on Friday and now because it's Saturday is all gone grey cloud

Projects

I have just noticed (and is a note to me) that I have not done any updates or work for that matter on any of my projects, mainly because the change of job ect. has left me cream cracked at this time, I am hopeful that in time I will get back to doing them.

One project that does need to be moved forward is the AE35 pod cast which I have not touched since Jan and it's now very nearly March (oh where has the time gone) I do have enough material for another pod cast but don't seem to have the time to record it and upload it(the other reason is that the new computer still needs to have the software)

Post 500

500 posts to this blog in total, I know that for some that 500 is not much, but me I am happy to have got to this milestone

Grey

The sky is grey, there is no light why

Spring

Just a note to myself really that I saw my first crocus, snowdrops and a tree in blossom.

Grey Sky

Just want to record here that today was a grey sky all day and that it **** me off!

Grey Sky

Just want to record here that today was a grey sky all day and that it **** me off!

Past Blogs

I have just made a mistake of looking back at what I was saying in my Blog from back in 2006, one thing that struck me was the amount of stuff that I was doing and all the different projects that I had on the go, what I now want to know is what happened?

I mean the computer I had then to the computer I have now must surly mean that I can now do more, and do it quicker?

I still have lots of ideas for projects but some how they never ever get started now, while back then at least I started them why?

Looking at other folks blogs from back in the early days there does seem to be a very simular thing going on, why?

And before you say that it's to do with the country I live in and the credit cruch or Banks getting too silly with my money, the trend was in place as far as I can see before these events even happened.

So I am left wondering what has happened and what can I do to get my unfinished projects completed and also get my great ideas started?

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: Daily Photo #442

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: Daily Photo #442

Saw this picture on Trav28's blog and i have to admit I love the clours in it, not sure when in the year it was taken, but I love the way the clock dial is such an intense blue.

Will have to find out what the secret is to getting such strong colours, so I can get something like this when I get back into picture taking.

DSCN1951

DSCN1951, originally uploaded by davew1.

Looking back of some of my kite pics from a few years ago, I did not remember this one.

Its the fact that I got it with a camera that was hard work on moving subjects that makes this pic rather special to me.

Blue Sky

How is it that having one day with lots of blue sky can make you feel much better.

_MG_0163

_MG_0163, originally uploaded by Trav28.

This image from Trav28 has made me put the Canyon on a list of places that I have just got to go and see.

Blogs A Minute (BAM)

Just been doing some updating of the main Dirk Maggs website, all stuff that you can't see but should make the site run just a bit better (or so I hope!)

Just had a thought just how many Blogs a minute are being created, started or have stopped but the owners of the Blogs don't know that yet?

Is there a blogs a minute rating?

should there be? me?

I don't think it matters really!

I also happen to think that how could you collect this data anyway?

Not all blogs are hosted by large web hosts are they?

Well that's enough of all this I have an Above and Beyond set to listen to.

Edit Hell part more than one

As you know I have been writing a book on all of Dirk Maggs audio productions, in fact I have been doing the Dirk Maggs web site for a few years now, but it has only been in the last few years that I thought it would be a great idea to have a paper version of the website.

So as I have said before the paper version has got to version/edition 3 I think ( see even I don't have a clue where I am at times) any way the last version has got stuck in edit hell as I have know idea on the indexes that this book really needs I mean by that with so much information in it you need more than one index to help you find what you are looking for and things only get much much worse(is that a word) as the book gets bigger as I update it with new material.

As I have said before the book is not for public publication as I have a feeling getting copyright clearance on some of the pictures ect. would be a nightmare.

The strange thing is that this is a project that I do like doing and I hope one day that one of the versions/editions will be printed up so that I can give it to Dirk( so that he can then tell me what's right and wrong with it) currently the book is in an A4 format as that is what I tend to write my book projects in.

The publication cost for privately printed book sits at about 15 UK pounds which for a 300-400 page book of that format does not look to bad.

So I will have to get on with it, I think what I might have to do is abandon version or edition three of the book and move to version 4 as Dirk has now produced more shows that are on the website but not in the book.

Projects

Projects

Some work has been done on starting up the Citrus Project, I have got as far as starting to redo the website.

Dirk Maggs book, this is still stuck in edit hell with no further progress at this time, although a journalist did as for a draft copy of it even though I told him that it was a draft and that it was stuck in edit hell. So far I have had no feedback on what he thinks of it yet. It is also becoming very clear to me that I am going to have to revise the book even before I have completed it, as Dirk is not standing still and is still producing very good work(must remember not to say that bit to him!!)

So as always it comes down to time, time is very precious and is always in short supply and to make thing worse as you get older it speeds up and passes you by must faster.

Citrus Book

If I ever get a block of free time one book project that is now well over due is to revise and update by Citrus book. It did get to edition 5 and then for some unknown reason it stopped, not to sure why that is but there you go.

Old editions of the Citrus books are on my main website under the writing bit of my website.

I hope that edition 6 would be bigger and a better book by adding some extra stuff, like what recipes the different Citrus fruits can be used in. I also want to talk more about some of the different sub species of the Citrus fruits.

Things go Slow

Well one of the ideas this year was to do more with my book writing and publishing. The way things no look that might not happen as a change in the job has happened and as with all things new there are lots of hills to climb.

I do have one book project that has been on hold since June 2008 mainly due to the fact that I can not get the book's index sorted out.

The other little snag is that before I have completed the book it is already very much out of date and so I will need to revise it before I even get around to the problem with the index.

The only other problem with it is that I can't sell the book when its done anyway, due to copyrights that would need to be cleared and also because I don't think there is a market for such a book.

Saying that an earlier version/edition of the book was one Lulu for a while due to a mistake that I made when editing the project page and I can safely state here that it was the most expensive book on Lulu at just short of 1million pounds, for some strange reason there where no takers at that price.

New car

Today I brought a new car

Yes I know its a mad thing to do in this credit crunch time and all that sort of stuff, but you do need these days to have wheels and where I work there is no other way of getting there, especially if you discount walking.

So I can hear you ask what car did I buy?

I have brought a Vauxhall insignia exclusive 5 door 1.8 litre petrol car, why? well it's the nearest replacement to a Vauxhall Vectra which is what I have at this time.

I need a car of that size so that all my kite bugging stuff fits in it.

I am told I can have the car in March so that's good

How is it

How is it that sometimes when you want to work on one of your pet projects, like for instance in my case my Dirk Maggs chronology book things and life get in the way?

Do others people have this same problem of stuff getting in their way and the projects that they want to do?

At the rate at which I am not doing the Dirk Maggs book I will have to revise it before I have completed it as it will be out of date.

Dunfyboy's Mixes: Dunfyboy's Trance Mix 7

Dunfyboy's Mixes: Dunfyboy's Trance Mix 7

This is just a great mix

New book

I have a new book out on Lulu how cool is that?

I know it's great that I have some how or other finally got to publish a book that has sat on the old hard drive for far too long but the job is done and it's also a hardback.

This is what I have said on lulu about my book.

Having found the time and all that sort of stuff I have some how managed to release the latest book that I have written, which has been on my hard disk for a long time and some how or other got stuck there.

Although the new book's title is very close to my older books on chemical elements, it is a completly new book in its contents and its layout. In fact I think I might be pushed to name or even find another book that has a layout like my new book.

The reason that I can say this is that the book has been set up or layed out in such a way that we go from the elements first known to man all the way to thouse elements only found in the labs around the worl in the last few years.

I have never seen a book on chemical elemnts set out in such a way. Beacuse of this layout the book is in some seven or so parts reflecting the fact that the discovery of the various elements went to some extent hand in hand with new chemical and technology techniques, by this I mean that say without electricty some of the elemnts we know today would not have been found.

For me it has been a fun project and as I am not a chemist it was a great learning all this new stuff and I did enjoy myself.

This is what the back of the book says
Description:
This is an almost complete reference to all the currently known elements, set in an easy to read style and at an easy to understand level. Each element has information on when they were found, who found them, how they found them, what uses the elements are put to and what effects some of the elements can have on humans and their health. This book has been set up so that it starts from the earliest known elements to man, all the way to the elements only found a few years ago. The book is therefore in 7 parts reflecting the major eras that most of the chemical elements were found.

And finally this is the link to the book on Lulu


Hope this all works.

Flying

 
Found this while getting the new computer all sorted out, in fact let Pisca loose and this is what it found on one of the USB hard disc's.

Taken some time ago at Butser Hill in Hampshire England.

Donna In Red

 

This is one of my fav pictures of Donna that I have, it was taken not that long a go and it's one that i also have as my wallpaper on my mobile.

I do remember that when I took it it was an unposed picture as she was going out to meet some of her work mates at a club or something, so a snatched picture but I like it any way

Backup & Why I use them

So start of new year, well a couple of days now into the new year and the USB HD that is about 18 months old has well, how do I put this died, it started with a noise like a machine gun when starting up, the noise would then go away and all was well, until the day that I when to look at the root directory where I keep such files as my current book, yes that one on Dirk Maggs, that has now been stuck in edit hell since June 2008.

When I looked at the root directory what was there was one item and not the several thousand that I have come to expect.


But for some strange reason when looking at the drive in Thumbs plus and Pisca all my pictures where there!, so I copied them to another HD.

It was at this stage that a sale at PC World caught my eye and so the end result is that I have a new cheap computer that some how or other seems to run Vista, with only 1G of memory!

I have since found out that if I put a fast 4G USB key in it will use it as memory and boost the speed of the machine, this I have done.

Reinstalling stuff from backups is fun, so I have all my data but a lot of programmes that do not run very well on vista, so most of my time has been spent looking for free ware versions of the old programs that I used to use.

I mean, some of the software I use goes back to 2002!

So the good news is I have all my projects data and I mostly have software that can do the job the old software that no longer runs on Vista.

But my Dirk Maggs book is still stuck in edit hell!

Bush

 

Not shure what kind of bush this is but it's nice and also a good picture and test of the D80

A head that hurts

So I am already behind on my Blogs for this year, and as I predicted earlier its all due to the new job that I started on the 5th of Jan.

Its a new company doing the same work in a similar fashion but with a computer system that rules you, so you end up working how the system wants it and not how the user and operator need it to work, so I think there will be some weeks of stress for all.

09/07/2008

09/07/2008, originally uploaded by davew1.

This is a real ale from Bath it was nice, but I have forgotten what it was called!

_MG_1252

_MG_1252, originally uploaded by Trav28.

I have never been to Kenilworth Castle but if you get good weather it looks like a nice place to visit and to slow the world down just a bit.

Cold

Now for some reason that I can not fathom it's been cold down here in the South of England for longer than I can remember for the last few years at this time of year why? don't know.

All I do know is at the rate it is going it will have been at 2 centigrade or less during the day for the last week or so, and at night we have had -8 centigrade! which for us is low in this part of England, as I write this the weather forecast is for it to stay cold until this Friday the 9 th of January.

As I have noticed of the last few years I do not fair very well in the cold any more, in fact it gets to be painful, why? not a clue, no one else in my close family have the problem just little old me, so it goes without saying that I do keep a very good watch on the weather at this time of year, and now with my ipod touch it has become all to easy to check the weather.

Test one

This is a test of a new program on the iPod touch to do blogging on it instead of on the computer.

So far the only. Thing that i do not like is the size of the keyboard on the iPod screen it's to small and does not rotate but then the program does not cost anything perhaps what I have to do is find a better program

2008 a 100 or not

Not sure what is going on with Blogger as it now reports that for 2008 I did 100 Blogs? how did I do that when I last looked I had only done some 90 or so and with only a couple of days left I thought that there was no way that I would get to the 100. But it now appears that I have just done that.

So if the Blog count is correct I now have to chose a new target, which is 150 Blogs, looking back over the years I see that 150 is not that high a target so that's what I shall go for.

Other news that did not make my earlier Blog today was that I have updated the Dirk Maggs Productions Website, not a big update in that the only change has been the change of the copyright year!

Yeah big change... I know, but it is all part of keeping the website alive.

So What's Going on Then

I don't know what has come all over me, I mean this is getting out of hand, in that I have Blogged every day this year so far!

It will not last I am sure, real life and work will see to that and with all the changes at work I just know it will.

But as I have a 100% success rate in doing a Blog this year I thought I might just enjoy the moment.

I do want to say here that my and the ipod touch are getting along fine. the only thing that I have that I do not like is that when you are in the apps shop and ask for info on an app or download it the menu always takes you back up to the very top of the apps list, this can get to be very annoying when you have got yourself some 3 or more screens deep in the apps listing.

As with all new toys they overuse has worn off a bit and I find that I use it as an mp3 player more but now and then I can collect my mail and all that sort of stuff.

The unit I have is 32G and I have 11G free, yes I know that an awful lot of music but then I like music and also podcasts.

_MG_3171

_MG_3171, originally uploaded by Trav28.

This is an image that I like a lot, one of the reasons being that it is very similar to an image I took sometime ago. NY is a place that I would love to go to

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: Daily Photo #389

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: Daily Photo #389 Just seen this picture from one of the Blogs that I read when I have the time. My two cats Mizzyb and Ant both always seem to do this when I have a camera around, why, not a clue, glad that I am not being singled out by the felines of this world.

1 and 99 to go

So I did not make the 100 Blogs last year in 2008 so can you guess what I want to try and do for this year? yes you got it 100 for 2009.

I shall continue to use this Blog as a notebook to myself and all that sort of stuff. It really is amazing just how quick you can and do forget stuff from a few weeks ago so that's what this Blog will continue to be.

stone age

stone age, originally uploaded by M`s vision.

This for me is an image of a warm summer's day just drawing into the early evening and being in a place that has no cars or even lots of man made noise near you, even if only for a few minutes.

The last Post

Well I have made a last post of the year to this Blog, I see that I did not do 100 posts this year, but some 80 odd, so not that bad in the end.

May be next year I will get to 100.

Who knows

It will be fun finding out.

Time

So the end of the year is very nearly with us and I suppose that I should see if I can do a blog for the last few days of this year, will I do it?

_MG_4670

_MG_4670, originally uploaded by Trav28.

I like this image it does remind me of summer days long past.

Dirk Maggs Website

Updates again to the site, some how or other missed a show that Dirk produced called Growning up with the Goons broadcast on 25 th December 2008 I must admit that I think we were just a bit busy with Xmas stuff and all that. As Dirk produced the show it has gone on the site as it is something he did do.

All I have to try an do is get to hear it!

ipod touch

Well as I said earlier the touch is what I got for Xmas this year to replace a rather old creative mp3 player. So far I have found that it's all to easy to download free apps that you don't need, and the apps that you do want have yet to be written. I have also had the odd thought or two on how easy is it for Apple to redo the firmware in the machine as there as still a few parts of the software that come with the machine that just look like they have not been finished.

Other than that I have so far had lots of fun with the thing and have now only got 12G free...

Cold

Just want to record here that it's cold here the stat says that it is 19.3 c but I still feel cold why?

itouch & all that

Can you guess what I got for Xmas?, yes that's right a new mp3 player, this time it's from Apple and it's a itouch.

My old creative mp3 player has done very good service, and it still works but as I am into podcasts it does not handle them, mainly because when it was made they did not exist!

So I am now in the Apple crowd along with lots of other folk and I must say for the most part the experance has been very good.

My podcasts are all where they should be and it all sync's nice.

What I don't like is that when i transferd some of my exsisting music it never seems to have the album artwork and this is for stuff that is in the shops and had been out there for folks to buy for weeks or months why is it? The stuff is very popular eg the albums are in the top twenty.

The other thing that I like about the itouch is how light and small it is and how nice the screen is.

As I have the 32G unit you can see why I needed one that big as I have already only got 14G space left on it!

So of course it goes with out saying that in early 2009 they will release the 64G unit, not that I need that much space yet!

Blogs and all that stuff

So for the first time in a while I have some spare time, and as it's very cold outside and I don't want to freeze on the mountain bike I start to surf the net and flicker and Blogger, and I have found some Blogs that have opened my eyes to how cruel and dam right nasty people can be to each other, and just because of choices and nature can get things wrong.

I have to admit to not thinking about some of the choices folks out there have to make, and what I have read, some of the things that they have had to go through I know that I could not.

So I have linked to them and I am going to follow their Blogs, their lives are very different from mine, but they are the same as me, in wanting the same things that I think all of use want, friendship, love ect you know the list of common things that all of us want and need, and most of us get some of these things, now as I am not that outward going in real-life and also on the net, I find that I don't have the guts to just drop a line or two, to these folk just to say wow your great in going for it and what you need to do to find peace.

So if you folk do some how fall over this site, I am sorry that I have not given you a nod to say go for it, but I have my own hurdles, I know they are nothing to what you have to go through.

May be one day I will be able to climb my own personal mountain...

Knowing just how bad I have been at doing this Blog, this could and I think will be my last Blog of the year.

Dirk Maggs Website Updates

Yes, I know that it has been awhile since the last update on this Blog. But truth if it is to be told is that there has been nothing to report.

Work on my other projects has stopped. The reason sorting out stuff in real life like my job.

The only two things that have now changed and hence why this post is that I have started a very low level off-line project DMP 3 which is a technology test bed for the main DMP site and so far progress has been very good and the results from it have been far better than expected and getting results so early into the project has been a surprise.

The only other bit of news has been that Dirk Maggs has another production out which is due broadcast 29th Nov on BBC Radio 4 its called Boscobel if yet have the time have a look out for it I know I will.

AE35 Episode 13

Just a note to me from me saying that episode 13 of the ae35 podcast has been done and published, or it should be by the time you get to read this.

Dirk Maggs Producer Web site

It has been a little while since I did anything on this Blog.

And has been even longer since I did any up dates to the Dirk Maggs Productions Web site, so I am pleased to report that the site has been updated yesterday (07.11.2008) as there is a new production by Dirk that is due to air on BBC Radio 4 next Thursday at 9 pm.

The show is one hour long and I will admit here that having had the chance to hear it I spent 15 minutes stuck in the works car park just so I could hear it all the way to the end. And I have to say it's time well spent.

I have to thank Dirk for the preview tape and the show is called The Johnny Cash Hi-Jack road show and if you can give your ears a treat they will thank you for it, the scripts and the production values and the actors all have combined in such away that it is an audio movie and the tension and fear that build up in the play, work very well. Dare I say classic Maggs?

It must be good as the Radio Times has made it choice of the day on Radio 4 so what more do I need to say!

Dirk Maggs Book Part 20a

The book is as I last spoke you in the last blog.

Some new news is that the firm that I was going to use to do the private printing LULU.com have changed the costs and stuff, the only problem is that if there email is anything to go by I will not stand a chance of working out what the costs or changes are.

So I am now going to have to put on the to-do list that I don't have find another book publisher...


Bum is all that I can say to this as it's yet more work.