food

food what to have on the last day of the year?

do you go for a curry? fish and chips or a sit down meal or as we are have a hotbuffet meal?

One thing that i can say  and confirm is that anything is better than nothing as at this time I am hungry. 

why are ipad cases expensive?

why are ipad cases so expensive from apple?

i could not belive the cost of a case for the ipad air, 65 quid why?

in the end i found a case that i like complete with a bluetooth keyboard for 25 quid and its leather. I am still trying to work out why the huge mark up from apple.

Things to be said

I have to admit that I seem to write more posts to this blog when I am not at work. I suppose because I have more free time, which allows me time to do something that I don't do enough of and that's to just think random thoughts.

I happen to think that a bit of random thinking does you good it allows your brain to just let go and not worry about things, that must be something that we all need. I am sure that day dreaming is good for you so I shall carry on free thinking or day dreaming when I have the chance.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is....

Coffee again and it's nice to have a relaxed cuppa before going out and about.

Last day of the year

So it's the last day of 2013 and I had a lie in again to 0700 am!

I know isn't great!

So I have only a few hours left to blog in this year, luckily I do have things I want to blog about today, so there will be more than one blog post today.

And why not is a day off for me and the weather is not great and there is not that much on the telly and I am not reading any books at this time so why not keep this notebook of mine going?

Reading

In an earlier post I said that I was having trouble reading any of the 17 books in my reading pile.

Well I have to report that today I brought a book and I have read it!

The book is called 1339 facts to make your jaw drop, I can report that it does have facts that will and did make my jaw drop and on more than one occasion.

Reading

Just had a look at my book reading pile and the news is not good I still have 17 books to read. For some reason I just don't seem to pic up a book and read it anymore.

 is it because I need glasses so that I can read the small print?

 Is it because the iPad takes up my free time? 

Is because I am lazy? Is it bacuse there is too much other stuff to do?

I don't know which or all of these is the reason all I do know is that I am not reading as many books as I used to. What's more annoying is that there are some great books in the pile that I do want to read!

Rain and rain

Wow there is a lot of rain today and it's rather cold which is something I really was not expecting but I suppose considering the time of year it should not be a surprise.

 The good news is that finally the nights are starting to get shorter and that is always good in my book.

Spelling

Why is my spelling so bad and I have a spell checker......

Lie in

To day it had a lie to seven in the morning bliss!

End of the year

So the end of the year is approaching and there is very little of 2013 left.

I suppose there will be websites full of looking back at the year why?

Do will all suddenly forget what has just happend?

Rain

Just how much rain is there up in the sky at any one time?

Billion liters ?

I have yet to find an answer to this question.

American pancakes

So what to eat on a Xmas Saturday?

Yes that's right American style pancakes, which I have never made before.

I am happy to report that they turned out well and will have them again.

Games

As you know I have an iPad air the 128Gb model, don't ask but it has a lot to do with composing music and writing books on it.

Anyway as I was saying I play very few games on the iPad mainly due to the fact that I get board or stuck or just plain loose interest in the game.

But one game that I do play is real racing three I am just good enough to get through a level or two, which is nice as getting stuck in a games sucks, I could emanation here that game call candy crush with I got stuck on a level for more than 2 months but I won't as it appears that I am not the only one to get stuck on a level. It also turns out that it's the main reason why people stop playing the game.

Any way back to real racing 3 which I seem to play at some level of competence it's fun and it's nice just to complete a race, wining is always also nice but for me that does not always happen.

I have found that the game is not fair in that to win on some of the events the car really needs to be fully tooled up and that cost game credits that you can win or buy with real cash. It goes without saying that if you don't win then you can't get the credits you need to upgrade your car.

As I moly play the game now and then I have so far not spent any real money, but I have spent hours and hours playing the game.

The other thing that is no about it is that they do updates and some of them have even good for me at the low level I am playing at.

So if you have an iPad. And you are bored why not download it and give it a go its free as long as you don't get greedy and want it all.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is.....coffee that's a real surprise not!

I just have to say that the coffee is one of those expensive fine ground instant ones, that have over the last year or so become popular for some reason or other.

I have a horrible feeling that they are really over priced fro what they are but, sadly I have to report they do taste better than the normal cheap instant coffee so may be that use better flavourings or something?

I don't know the answer all I do know is that it tastes nice and that's what I want in my coffee.

Today's meal

Don't normally record what meals I have but today it's cold gammon with homemade chips. This is normally something we have on Boxing Day but as we had our Xmas meal on Boxing Day everything has been shifted a day or so to the right.

Anyway cold home cooked gammon and home made chips are always very nice.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day was fun and the food was good

Year end

So it's nearly the end of the year and I am glad that I don't go to work until 2014!

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is....

London Prode a real ale that chilled just a bit is rather nice....

Read the reviews on the internet they do a better job than me.

It's just a nice real ale to have and on Xmas eve even better I can chill out.....

I think you need to chill out and as it's been a while since my last holiday why not?

Drink of the day

Today's drink of the day is.... Chocolate Carmel and very nice it is too. It's the first time I have tried such a drink and I like it.

Yesterday's drink of the day

The drink of the day for yesterday is... Old speckled hen which is a real ale, the good news is I brought a 5liter keg of it and it's very nice thank you very much.

Winter solstice

So today is winter solstice this is good news for me as I love light and these dark nights and mornings are doing my head in.

Rain

Rain we have had a lot of that today.

Pantomime time

Have just seen my first pantomime in a few years. And I have to say that it was rather fun.

The panto was at the new Victoria theatre at Woking and the panto is Cinderella we'll work going to just to hear all the kids and adults joining in.

Work

I have for the first time in years been thinking about work while at home, this is not good and I want it to stop.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is..... Coffee

 and why not ?

It is good for you first thing in the morning.

Happy

Are you happy is this a question you ask yourself?

Shortest day

I see that the shortest day is not that far away this does make me happy as it means summer is on its way!

Water and iPads

It's come to my notice that condensation inside an iPad is not good. As the wife decided to use her iPad while having a long soak the condensation in the bathroom has some how managed to get into the iPad. The end result is that the iPad is now working its self with out the need for anyone to touch the screen.

This does of course make it a tad hard to use.

So before having to try and find the money to buy a new iPad, we are trying the old trick of dry rice in a bag with the iPad in it. So far it's been 24 hours, bit scared to get it out of the rice bag and see if it has worked.

But I suppose I will have to bite the bullet and see if it has done the trick.

If not I know what I am sadly going to be doing on Sunday......

M40

Went on this today, I think I was a lucky chap in that the traffic was flowing freely.

Tesoc

So from tesoc I ordered the following whisky Dalwhinnie 15 year old but they did not have that and provided me with Highland park 12 year old which one is the better whisky?

Home made

Just a note to me that home made curry is always good, even if you can't be sure what you are going to get at the end of it all.

Colder

So the weather men are saying it's going to get colder. Not happy about this.

Sunrise

So sunrise was different to the sunset last night in that it was a red sky sunrise, which if you believe the old sayings means bad weather is due soon.

Other than that the red sunrise was nice to look at.

Sunset

Tonight was one of those sunsets that has the clouds highlighted but not a lot of reds, mostly yellows. Either way it was a once sunset and that's alwYs good in my book.

San Francisco

San Francisco is a really nice place to visit, the things that I remember about it are the Golden Gate Bridge in fog  and the fact that in hot weather the main span between the towers sags by upto five feet!

That in strong winds the golden gate can sway by 27 feet!

San Franciso has 43 hills and covers 49 square miles. That the hills really are much steeper than they look on the tv or in the movies.

More later.

Roast chicken

The smell of roasting chicken is nice, probably not so good for vegetarians.

Dark

Wow it dark rather quicker than I thought it would do tonight. I suppose the fact that we are just a month away from the shortest day might have something to do with it.

Back

Back from a beak in the USA. All was good Las Vegas is an interesting place and so is San Fransico more later.

Winter colds

I still hate winter colds and ones that take ages to get rid of. So I still have the lingering effects of the cold and a raw red nose just to add to the fun.

One the the coughing fits that I had did something to the mussels around my ribs because it hurts now when I cough, which is not good, so I can say I am not happy.

Sunlight

So we are loosing daylight hand over fist as we rush towards winter.

Cold

So I have the first cold of the winter.

Sunrise

Really noticed this morning that sunrise is getting much later, had to have lights on to drive in at 7 today.

G Live

Went to G Live last night, and I must say the 20 odd million that it cost to build appears to have been well spent.

The show we went to se was called Jackson and was very good it was just sad that the place was not full but there were enough people there for it to be okay the lead singer called Ben was very good and seemed to have a lot of energy and appeared to. Be word and move perfect through all the songs.

I shall look out for more shows at G Live, the only snag with it is that old chestnut of parking, and the local council thinking that motorists should play through the nose for parking at night. Although saying that the parking was only 1.50 for the evening after a certain time.

Cat

So we have two cats and very nice they are, but lately the younger cat has taken to being rather aggressive in wanting his ears being scratched. How does he do this? By head butting you to get your attention and nudging you if you stop.

Ios7

Just a small note to me that now that I have Ios7 installed for a week or more I really don't notice any changes in the way that it works other than it just works most things work the same or perhaps a bit better.

One thing that they still have not changed is that the screen keyboard still does not have cursor keys which makes it a pain when trying to correct a typing mistake as you often end up having to retype the whole word again.

For some reason there also appears to be two different coloured keyboards why?

Any way for me it works which more than can be send for some of the apps that I use on it.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is.....

tea!

I don't think I need to say anything more do I?

Weekend

At last the weekend is nearly here, and I must say that I need the lie in even if it's only until 7am!

Grey sky

So all that we have had this weekend is grey sky all week end no less!

It's not cold just dull grey

Reading

Still reading which is good, currently have two books on the go. The first book I have been reading for some weeks now and is called The A303 Higway to the sun this book is okay to read but for some reason I have found that parts of it are not what I wanted to read about eg there is politics about road building ect when all I want to know about is the A303 and it's history, but apart from that it's interesting in that some of the places you pass through on the A303 are places that have a history even if they don't or did not change history.

The second book that I am currently also reading is an anthology of science fiction stories which date to the last thiry or so years the book is in kindel format and so far the stories are ones that I have never read but there are stories by authors that I have read before if that makes sense?

As a book goes it's huge 700 pages and the cost on the kindel 39 pence! I know!

At that rate even if half the stories are not to my liking it really does not matter as I am sure I will have read more that I do like.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is......

Tea!

Yes again! 

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is.....

Tea!

Why not?

It always some how hits the spot.

iOS 7

So I have taken the plunge and have upgraded my iPad to the new so, it works and has given me more memory. What I find hard to believe is that people are having problems with how to use it why?

It's the same as before just that it looks much nicer!

Tanglefoot

Tanglefoot is a real ale that comes in cans and bottles. It's a strong ale but it is easy to drink and has a nice complex taste, which is the reason that I like to drink it.

The thing is does it come in draft, and if it does does it have a differ in flavour to cans and bottles? 

Does it have a different strength?

I don't know the answer to these questions.

All I do know is that it's nice to drink.

Reading

I have been able to do some reding which is nice, it's something that I have always enjoyed, so it's great that I am getting the time to do some reading and also that I am having fun and reading stuff that I have wanted to do for some time.

Mostly at this time I am reading on the iPad using the kindle programme, which for some reason is better and easier to use than the iBook programme.

 Why?

No a clue it's just what I have found that works for me.

So I am glad to be reading again after months of not reading.

Sleep

Sleep is something that when we don't get enough of it we miss it, so I am missing sleep I think I need at least 6 hours a night to function okay the next day.

I know some people need more sleep and other less but it appears for me 6 hours is just about right.

Lost light

Just noticed tonight how dark it's getting so early in the evening. This means I suppose that  autumn  is due soon.

Post holiday

Well holiday is over and that's not good as I have gotten used to the idea of having a lie in to 7am!

Missing

It's funny but we had our daughter and boyfriend say for a couple of days with us on our short break and she went home to today, don't tell her this but I missed my daughter !

It's a very strange sensation missing one of your grown up children!

It can not put into words the feeling of loss ? That one has

It's even stranger in that daughter live with boyfriend a and has now done so for so e time but still I feel a loss when she went home!

Is this normal!

I think it's something that all parents who are close to the kids feel but how you describe it to others is the problem!

So I shall say it here for me to look back on when I am older I miss my kids.  

Relax

How to relax?

I don't know how to relax but after a couple of days when I have no alarm clock telling me when to wake up I find myself awake at 7 in the morning instead of 5 so I suppose that's what a lie in is called.

The fact that I am also not wearing a watch and constantly checking the time must I think mean that I am relaxing, if this is the case then I am relaxed.

Hot tub

Why is it that a hot tube is just so nice after a long walk?

I don't know the answer but I do know that I can recommend a hot tube after a long walk especially if you end up 1377 ft higher than when you started!

September

So it's the ninth month of the year and I find myself on a short break and very relaxing it is too

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is ..... Pepsi max and nice it is with ice and a tall glass to enjoy it from.

Making money on amazon

Do people make money on amazon if they entire books that are not self help and not fiction?

I have not yet found an answer to this question....

Projects to think about

One of the projects I have been thinking about and have talked about here is undergoing a slight change in that imam thinking that a ten book project may be the way to go.

The problem with this great idea is that I don't yet have 10 projects or books that I want to do!

I have several that I have spoken about here before but not ten.

I was also thinking of putting them on the amazon kdp system. With that in mind I have joined it almost.

I say almost as there are a lot of tax questions to answer, and not being from the USA a lot of the questions don't make much sense. I rather like the idea that they think I am going to sell shed loads of books....

Sadly I know that that will never happen as non fiction books just don't sell in that kind of numbers, and as my books are also not self help the market for my kind of non fiction books must be small, but you can only write what you are interested in and sadly I am not a fiction writer or a self help writer.

Any way so it looks like I shall have to answer more strange questions aimed at people who live in the USA and also come up with more book ideas.

I have to admit to reading some books on how to publish on the kindle and it looks like I can do most of the things they suggest apart from the fact that I don't write fiction or self help books which are some of the biggest sellers on amazon!

Nice

Nice what's nice?

Well I shall soon have a break from work for a few days and that is always good, and I must admit that I do need it.

As is usual on these sort of things I shall be having a lie in in the mornings at least to seven in the morning!

Yeah a real lie in, I say this because I will not sleep much later than this even if I try real hard...

Bank holiday

Spent the bank holiday relaxing.....

Snooks

I have had a couple of ideas for a series of small snooks, which would be a fun project to do. I don't think they have any commercial value but they would be fun to write. The other thing would be the amount of research that I would have to do for each of them.

I have looked if I could put them in a format so that any device can read them, sadly it looks like kindle is the way to go these days but and this is something I will have to check is can you give your books away for free?

Does amazon like the idea of people giving away books, as it means they don't get to make any money. As I don't expect to make any money it's not a problem for me.

So you may be asking what are the series of books then?

Well, the first series of books would be on citrus fruits, the second series would be on the worlds favourite four drink that are not alcoholic the last series of books would be on the top five metals in the world.

As you can see each series is very different from the other, with lots of research needed.

I don't know how long these books in each series would be but I a thinking that ten to fiery pages is looking good.

I think I shall have to give theses ideas a bit more thought and see if they are do able.

Reading

Currently read a book called Electric Sheep by Alex Boese the first part of the book was very good but the second part I have struggled with, for me it just does not flow as well as part one.

Other than that its a nice read.

Summer

Has summer now happened?

No 

I think it's still going on but it's now back to being a standard British summer!

Reading

I have to be a little bit proud of myself in that I have managed to finally after months of trying managed to finish a book, I am so happy that I managed this.

It still leaves me with ten or more books that I have to read some of them I got to page ten or so and then for one reason or another gave up.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is......

Tea!

And as I have said here many times why not?!

Ontology

New word of the day for something that I think aloof use have and do do on or even several times a day and that knowledge storage.

It's a strange word ontology all them o just look strange to me.

Hot plume

The weather people earlier in the week said and this was as it was raining cats and dogs that on Thursday we would have very high temps of 33 or more centigrade and you know what?

They were right!

I know scary......

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is....

Innis & gunn oak aged beer the original 

I must admit that this is a beer that is hard to get hold of and that it needs to be about 4 centigrade when you drink it otherwise the beer is not at its best to drink. It's a strong beer 6.6 percent but for all that its a nice beer to have now and then.

New month

A new month already!

Where did the time go?

Well time to get on and enjoy

BBQ in the rain

BBQ in the rain make sure the umbrella that you use stops the rain hitting the grilling plate, and try to hold the umbrella at an angle so that the hot air rise not into your face.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is..... Tea with milk and no sugar, and why not its a good way to start the day.

Dark sky

So it's all change gone is the blue sky now it's Gerry skies and dark....

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is.....

Orange squash with fizzy water and ice and its nice, not very very nice just nice.

BBQ Saturday

So our second attempt to have a BBQ this summer with the family does not look to good, the first one got stopped due to rain and the very high winds, this Saturday it's forecasting rain!

Just can not win with the weather here in the UK!

It's no use moaning about it as that's just the way the weather is here in the UK.

Warm

Still warm which is nice as long as the humidity stays low, as feeling like you are melting is never good.

Live book

Not to sure if live book is working correctly, should it take more than 3 days to index 600GB of data?

Nikon flash

The new flash is working well with the d600 what more do I have to say?

My book live

My book live is working again, in hot weather don't leave it stuck in a cupboard without ventilation. Took ages to get the computer to see the drive again, in the end turning the drive on and off worked!

It's still indexing after two days I know I have a lot of of files on the drive, it does not help that I have 250000 files on the drive I suppose !

New phone

Finally got the discount from O2 fourth attempt.

Hot

Still rather hot 31 centigrade 

New phone

So I have a nice new phone a galaxy s4 the UK version, so not as hi spe'ed as what the rest of the world gets for some reason, the good news is that we are charged more for this than anyone else... Yeah go figure!

The is good the speed is good and the screen is nice, it is a bit of a change from a Nokia but I am sure that I will get used to it.

I already have my kindle software on it and its great being able to read my books anywhere.

I have been looking at plugging in extra memory into it to make it a bit future proof, so I have found that the s4 can use sdxc cards so I am looking for the largest one of them to install.

New phone

So finally I have a new phone, no thanks to the module companies making it so confusingly as to this tariff   and that-tariff    when all I want to to do was have a new phone that just works.

1 hour to get a new phone and I had to pay 50 quid for it.

So I have a s4 just hope it will last 24 years.

Ascot

So for the first time we went to ascot on Saturday. It was a great day even though I am not really into horse racing. Saw seven races and was impressed by just how quick a horse race is. The only sad thing was to see a horse pulled up lame right in front of  the main grandstand.

The good news about all of this was the speed at which the horse was sorted out.

As for betting I think not is good for me as it does not do anything for me.

The other thing about ascot was the numbers of people there! Lots and lots is not really telling you just how many people they were there but thousands is a good start.

So people watching is something you end  up doing at a place like ascot and I did see things and sights that will be with me for years.....

Any Murry

Andy Murray has won what does he go for next? 

BBQ

So as its rather warm this evening we had a nice BBQ

Hot

Yes finally a hot day!

Going Tivo

So I have bitten the bullet and have gone Tivo on my Virgin media service. Due install next Monday I get a speed increase from 20Mb to 60Mb .

My service charge goes down  3 pounds a month! while my internet speed goes up.

Only bad thing on the deal is that Virgin want you to use their super-hub 2, which when you read reviews on it are if you get a good one its really good and if you get a bad one then you are going to have a bad day.

So only time will tell which we are going to end up with.

On the speed front Virgin say they give me 20Mb and guess what? they do! and its more than 90% of time that speed so I hope that the 60Mb I am paying for will be just as good.

Drink of the day

The drink of the day today is .....

Tea!

Why not?

It's a nice drink and an a lot of the world seem to agree with me and drink it as well, so that's not so bad is it?

Happy

What is happy?

Is it the opposite of not happy?

Do you have a right to be happy?

I know silly questions to which I don't have the answers but I wanted to record these stupid questions somewhere, so that perhaps one day in the future I can have a look at all these questions and see if I have any answers to them.

Flash gun

So I have this nice Nikon 600 but don't really have a flash gun that can keep up with the camera. The good news is that I have been paid my bonus this year and I have enough money for a flash gun and a new iPad.

As the iPad 5 will not come out to October this year that only leaves the flashgun. Luckily I know just the flash gun that I need and it's a speed light 910 made by Nikon, why its so expensive I don't have a clue but from reading the reviews it appears that you really do get a lot for your money. I will soon see, as soon as it gets delivered.

The iPad 5 is supposed to come out in October, it had better have more storage, as 64gb is not enough, I know they do an iPad 4 with 128gb, but I will need something with more storage than that as it will have to last 2 to 3 years before I can buy another one.

Month 7

So it's already month 7 it doesn't feel like it but I just hope we can have a few warm days as a sort of summer this year.

Gallery programme

I have a web host who offer one click installs, and nice that it is I am beginning to wonder when the last time they carried out an update of the programmes that they provide.

Why you may ask?

Well I wanted a quick and diry install to have somewhere to easily show off the pictures I took at daughters engagement party.

As I did not want to go to the trouble of installing a database and all the work that that can entail I saw in the one click section that they had a gallery programme that required no database. Which is just what I was looking for.

It installed no problem, I found that the 600 photos had to be reduced in size as they were far to large for the programme and the upload to the Internet as each image is some 24mb in size, so it would take some time to upload, and more importantly it would also take a while to download, and as I don't know what kind of connection or device people are using to get at the photos it made sense to down size them.

So I have gallery 1.6 working on my machine it appears to date back to the 2000's?

I am not sure what date it goes back to, the main thing is it works, I just hope it has not got to many security holes and stuff in it, and that's the point of this blog post. 

Is okay to offer one click installs but shouldn't they be up-to date so as to reduce the chances of the bad people using an old exploit ?

The good news is that the gallery will only be on the net for a short time, just long enough for all to see the pictures before I delete it.

Engagement party

So my daughter had her engagement party it was fun and it was great to meet loads of new people from his side of the family.