bookmark_borderWrong side of bed

*ping*

Awake at 7.48am.

Not sure why.

Last time I saw on the clock was 2 summat…

Long day ahead.

But hey, it’s the weekend and we have few plans. That’s not strictly true, I do have some things I’d like to do but as a married man I have to compromise. Can’t lounge about on the sofa, drinking beer, farting, eating crisps and generally being a slob ALL day…

bookmark_borderMaking Money

The geezer with the numbers tells us there are only 100 days until Christmas. I knew this because I live with the original “Crimbo nutter”. She has a countdown printed off and stuck up on her wall at work. She made it up a month ago.

Anyway, 100 days until the big glittery, sparkling day when we all eat too much, drink too much and avoid the Queen’s speech. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little extra cash around Christmas this year? A few extra quid?

Well why not join me in my revolutionary new scheme and you too could be in the money for mistletoe-time (he says, grasping for an alliteration. I do apologise, that was awful). It’s very simple, and is not related to anything even slightly triangular shaped, let alone pyramidular (is that a word?).

The idea is simple.

Dig out the change in your pocket/wallet/purse.

Count it.

Is there at least £1 there?

Good (if not, ask to a friend or colleague if you can “borrow” enough to make it up to that amount)*.

Put it in a tub marked “Xmas Saving Plan”.

Do the same tomorrow.

And the next day.

And the next day.

Continue doing this every day until it’s Christmas.

Next thing you know Auntie Ethel is smearing her warm, waxy lipstick all over your cheek, you are wearing a hideous jumper, are the proud owner of ANOTHER twenty pairs of socks but you won’t care because you’ll have £100 in your backpocket!

It MAY be an idea to change the coins into notes otherwise your backpocket may end up pulling your trousers down. Ladies, keep the coins, put them in your purse and if anyone tries to snatch it they’ll be stopped dead in the street as gravity kicks in (it’s two great schemes in one, save money AND protect your handbag!).

I’m offering this AMAZING scheme free of charge. Why? Because I’m a nice guy, that’s why.

It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact I’m sitting here watching progress bars on a 20 minute install, and have had 5 cups of coffee already… honest guv…

* It is not advisable to continue asking friends for £1 everyday. Unless you have a lot of friends/colleagues/family who don’t mind being taken for a ride. If you do then best of luck! Why not ask for £2!?

This post is brought to you by Humbug Productions. No responsibility for the safe-keeping of your savings is offered. If you happen to pilfer it to spend down the pub in late November DON’T COME CRYING TO ME!

bookmark_borderYeehhaaaaaa

Apparently they are only with us for six weeks.

Unfortunately I’m not sure when that six week period began, but either way, get yourself to a BP garage (other outlets may sell them too) and purchase yourself one of these delicious “blasts from the past”.

Yum

Yes, they are every bit as good as they were when I used to buy them on a Saturday morning on the way back from my piano lessons.

bookmark_borderUpcoming

Anyone used Upcoming?

The end of the year is already starting to fill up, with concerts, birthdays and whatnot. So far (and I’m missing some birthdays off here):

Add in a couple of weekends of Christmas shopping, a few items on my To-Do list (draft draught-proofing* the front door being the main thing) and I’ll soon be wondering why the rest of the year has disappeared.

I have 10 days holiday left as well, and I think I’ll work through Christmas this year, so I’m considering asking to take every Monday from mid-October onwards as a holiday. Four day weeks from then until the end of the year? Certainly sounds appealing!

* Corrected, thanks Lyle. You’ll never guess what I’m doing at work today! DOH…

bookmark_borderiPod Nano

Our current (now “old) iPod is a 3G model. It holds 10GB of music, and is quite large and chunky. It’s not TOO big by any account and it does what it does well enough. The iPod Photo is nice as it has a colour screen but I don’t see me ever wanting to carry around 1000 photos on a gadget… that’s like the worst “wallet” photos ever.

The scene, two travellers sitting at a bar in a hotel, chatting about life and family:
“So, you got pictures of your kids?”
“Yeah, let me just dig out my wallet, here ya go…”
“They’re cute, hang on and I’ll show you a few photos of mine”
Takes out iPod Photo. Bores the other guy to death after the first 274 photos. Is a bit miffed because there were another 561 for him to see.

I digress.

The iPod mini is about a third of the size of our old iPod (the 3G one, do try and keep up) and comes in a lot of nice colours. My sister has one and it’s very nice indeed. However the justification for buying one just wasn’t really strong enough. It was a little smaller but held a lot less music – the discussion about the ideal size for an MP3 player is still open, suffice to say that I only once managed to fill the 10GB iPod and didn’t listen to even a third of the music.

Then along came the Nano. Aside from the weird name it was teeny tiny, you can see it here next to our “old” iPod, had a colour screen so it can handles photos (if that floats your boat) and display CD covers. Sure it was only 4GB but it was soooo much smaller than our “old” iPod that I felt there was some justification into begging and pleading discussing the possibility of purchasing one.

Yes I was aware that my birthday was coming up but I figured we’d have to shuffle some cash first to make a nice “iPod Nano” sized gap in our budget – we’ve got a busy couple of weeks coming up with wedding and birthday presents to buy, not to mention that looming holiday season in December (yes we DO think about that now, rather than have to survive on rice and water in January!).

Anyway, enough of that, what’s it like!? I hear you cry. Well there is little else to say other than it looks very small and fragile. OK, I’m lying, there’s a lot to say, but not much of it is new.

First a couple of photos, one to show you the size difference compared to our “old” iPod and the other to show you the difference between the screens (this photo doesn’t do the Nano screen any justice, it’s very crisp and sharp).

If you ever used ANY iPod the Nano will feel very familiar. As I’ve not used any of the newer varieties, there are a couple of things for me to get used to, not least the lack of buttons as every thing is controlled from whizzing your thumb round the scroll pad – which feels ohhh so very subtley different from the rest of the fascia – and the newer features of the iPod software.

One addition, which I THINK is new, takes its cue from the iPod Shuffle. At the bottom of the main menu is the option to “Shuffle Songs”. Select this the iPod will play through all the tracks in random order. Smart. That means I can have albums as playlists, and listen to them in album order, or just hit “Shuffle Songs” and have my own radio station.

Sound wise it’s as competent as ever, no surprise there, but I would suggest getting better headphones – I have a pair of Sony MDR-ED21s which suit my ears just fine.

Most of all the iPod Nano BEGS to picked up. I still can’t really get over how diminutive it is, and how fragile it seems*. I think, now, Apple has one of the better MP3 players on the market. Previously I’d have agreed that they were trading on the name, the hype, the marketing but now, with improved battery life, ENOUGH space for most people, and a true “put it in your pocket” portability the rest of the market will need to catch up.

One thing to note: no more firewire support. USB only (2.0 preferred). And the only reason I bought a firewire card for my PC was…. for the “old” iPod! Guess I’ll need to get me a USB 2.0 card now.

More info:
* Thankfully Ars Technica have “stress tested” an iPod Nano
iLounge review (was iPodLounge)
AppleXnet – iPod Nano Dissected
Top 10 Reasons why I need an iPod Nano

bookmark_borderMork calling Orson

Louise and I aren’t really that big on birthdays any more. We’re happy enough that we have (had) each other for another year. Ohh we still buy presents but it’s not really a “big day”, which is probably a sure sign that we are getting old or something (would any of my older readers care to comment? For the record I’ll be thirty-two next month..).

The reason I mention this is that I got my first birthday present last night, over a month before my birthday. Why? Because my wife is a wonderful woman who knows me well. She figured that there was no point holding onto to what she had bought me for a month, I may as well get the usage of it. Very practical my wife (although she did admit that she wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret).

This is what she bought me. More about this later.