Dijamissme?

So. Had a whole week offline and off work....and I feel refreshed. Spent some extra time with Flo and managed to get through a number of house chores *and* I achieved the ripe old age of 33!

Can't be arsed to type much, so here's a few highlights:

• Bob Marley playing over the tannoy in the supermarket...Flo following me round dancing...every single shopper dropping dead at the cuteness
• Flo saying "Happy Birthday to you" virtually out of nowhere while I was making her breakfast on my birthday
• Flo being 33 inches tall on my 33rd birthday
• Pear harvest FTW!
  
• Flo singing "Londons Burning" down the phone (must get an audio of that) to M&D
• Playing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" on the piano
• Flo rushing off to find a guita every time Woody says "I love to play guitar"

So there. Here's some selected images....

Far Too Long

Been a while since I saw the flopsy one as she's been on holiday with her ma.


Had a lovely evening, a good nights sleep and porridge and grapes for breakfast...watched Clangers for a bit and then played her some nursery rhymes on the "ano" (piano) and then pottered round the garden before Rosie picked her up on the way to school and I headed into work (boo!).

Pia Pia Pia....

...Noooooo!

Huge thanks to M&D who brought down a load of "long lost" books, some records and my piano this weekend.


I am more than a little rusty to say the least.

The Vom' ne'er com'

So. Apparently Flo upchucked a couple of times yesterday...Rose forewarned me so I made her a special dinner that would be easy on the belly.



Thai Sweet Rice, slowly cooked with milk, a couple of cloves, a small stick of cinnamon and a cardamom...she ate 2 whole bowlfuls and it all stayed down!





Then we watched In The Night Garden (as recommended by many of the dads at work)...ho' fuck is that a trippy programme! We both love it!!!

Nah...

...it can't be, I thought to myself.



Short Story: I "know" Comedy Dave!

Given that I only found out today, this is testament to:

• I don't listen to Radion 1. Call me a fuddy-duddy but I prefer Radio 4...and Radio 2 sometimes...
• I don't keep in touch with anyone I went to school with...
• ...except recently (and in a similarly random fashion) my old mate Robin and I got back in touch
  
• I'm crap at recognising names, faces, or voices

Longer Story: Back in the day (oh, the days....we're talking when I was 15-18....those oh so formative years) I played bass in a band called "Garden Party". Robin was in it too, playing keyboards, doing all the technical stuff (drum machines at one point I remember) and guitar.

As most teenage bands are wont to do a few members came and went, people swapped instruments and...well, it was like pretty much every "a few local gigs and massively hormonal" teenage band I've seen since...Drummers were hard to come by, but at one point we had a drummer called Dave for a rehearsal or two, but lack of a gig killed that "line up"...Dave and I were in a few classes together and he was a cool guy, so it was a shame...

...I digress; I was, for some reason, looking at the Wikipedia entry for one of the schools I went to (at the risk of digressing again it was an article on Bamberg that got me there) and while looking for my own name in the list of Notable Old Bedfordians (hahah, that would be a longshot....and is not one of my prouder moments*) I saw a few names I knew at school...The Cricketer, "Jakey Moon" (aka Dawn's boyfriend in The Office) and the Rugger-Bugger I knew about, but...that drummer I mentioned earlier...he's Comedy Dave?!

(no I'm not posh honest...see, Paddy Pantsdown went to my school too...and I met him...once)

*I got kicked out BTW

This is not a hint!

Do Want!

Specifically the $450 (sooo cheap with the quid = 2 dollar) developer version.

It's my birthday this month; I'm not expecting anything. I originally wanted some kitchen chairs...then I was thinking a new mattress (you don't want to know)...the loan of a van so I can clear the garden waste...A couple of extra days with Flo are in order with my week off so surely the only other thing I need is an open source, linux-based phone with a touch screen, AGPS, MicroSD, USB (Client and Host!!!), Bluetooth....agh!

I saw this a while ago and unfortunately it's been released just before my birthday!

Did I mention it's my birthday soon and I want one of these?

I may have to sell all extraneous electronic kit (anyone want any mobos, ram, hard-drives, an indoor helicopter, cat-5 cable, neodymium magnets or 3v button batteries?)....

Sun!

We took advantage of the sun this weekend. Went to the Farm with Sammy Sausage and her little boy Dylan...mooched about the garden and chased each other round the Werbs going "woo woo woo"!







Might add a video later if I get round to it...

Songs Of Praise

Heheheh

The Unconscious Nerd

Seeing some clean washing that needs to go upstairs to the cupboard I think to myself, "I'll upload that later"

My windows were rattling in the wind last night; there was no paper to hand, but I found (shamefully easily) some 5.25" floppies which I used as wedges.

I use a Mobile Java Programming Book as a doorstop.

While searching for my laptop power cord (found btw) I came across no less than 4 PSU's.

I cut my own hair.

I took my laptop to the toilet because I was enjoying reading someone's blog.

From the mouths of babes....

...and, it seems, children in general.

So, Rosie and I are chatting while Flo pulls herself together after her nap. Then....

Ez : Ben, can I ask you a question?
Me : Sure thing.
Ez : What's knowledge?
Me : [stunned silence]

Then this morning I dropped a baking sheet which made a kind of crashing, rumbling noise on the wooden floor.

Flo : [running in to kitchen] Bunder storm?....Oh. It's daddy [hops (?) out of room shouting] Pirates Daddy Pirates!

The Tubez Are My Biotch!

This post is mainly dedicated to Rosie, apropos of a chiding I ranted the other day. I'll try not to geek out too bad:

So. Essentially it's a tips & tricks guide. Little things I've learned...some of it will work on most platforms, some of it will be limited to Mac, some to Linux. Most of it is based around doing "internet stuff"...I'm trying to link loads of stuff - so if you follow my advice....use the "open in new tab" option with Firefox ;)

• Use Firefox
• Except on Mac...Camino is better
  
• It's insanely customisable and has some extremely useful plugins/features, of which more later....
• I have my RSS reader (see below) as my homepage
  
• I only have a couple of bookmarks stored and they're stored with keywords ("work" takes me to work Exchange webmail, "blog" takes me straight to a new blog post...you get the idea).
• Use Linux
  
• I use Ubuntu...hey, I want the easy life dammit!
  
• It! Just! Makes! Sense!...but you will need to know a little more than just "click icon"...that said, something like Ubuntu (of any flavour) or if all else fails Knoppix will easily suit most.
• I should point out that I'm working on a separate "how and why my home network is cooler than yours" post, so for all/many/some of my customisations for Ubuntu Linux and OS X you'll just have to wait sorry.
  
• Firefox Extensions and Add-ons
• AdBlock Plus
• Greasemonkey
• Lifehacker BetterGMail
• ChatZilla
• Google Toolbar
• Use RSS
• OK, you can accuse me of being a Googlewhore now...I use Google Reader as well as GMail
• I have something like 100 subscribed feeds...what can I say? A bonus feature is that by looking at the "trends" option I can soon see what needs trimming or which feeds need to better organised by folders etc.
  
• I really, really appreciate shortcut keys here; much easier to navigate and less "growling" from my mouse wheel as I scroll past the dross. My RSI and Dupuytrens is thanking me on a daily basis.
  
• I'll probably post some select sites here soon, but if you use the "Read More..." link on my Dump Bucket over there on the right you'll probably get a good idea of what sites I think are worth sharing with people
  
• Use GMail
• I'm even beginning to bore myself with the googledom now. So? I can't help it if they are actually doing some cool stuff.
  
• Use Keyboard Shortcuts
• Reader
• GMail
• Firefox
• Mac
  
• Windows XP

That's your lot for now, I'm all geeked out...and if anyone's seen the power cable for my laptop I'd be grateful if they can tell me where the fuck I put it!

OK, that's enough rain now thanks!

Yeah. Boring aint it?

I realise I've not really posted much of note recently other than pictures and stuff. Deal! I'm very busy with work and actually have something of a social life right now. Couple that up with some DIY and helping a luvverly laydee sort out a PC and you don't get much leeway for blogging.

I promise something "meaty" soon...Am working on a "Rule The Web" type post for Rosie. In other news I now have Analytics running on this site, so yeah, I'm watching you....biotches!

Here's a couple of pics from the weekend.


Puddle Tubble....


I bought her a 99 (which was actually 120p) from a passing ice cream van....yes it was raining.


Painted the workstore (as it will be known)....Flo considers it to be "mine house".