Art Galleries get it wrong
Why do Art Galleries not explain their exhibit pieces in more depth? I go there to learn about art and I like modern art because you don’t just learn about art but about society and human beings and yourself at the same time. But some pieces are complex and confusing and impossible to decipher without […]
Joy Luck Club (Amy Tan)
Fiction, 4/10 – June 2008 Perhaps this book was a bit too clever for me? I found following the several different characters hard and always assumed the relationship between them would either be explained or inter whine at the end. I was also aware of some more complex literature techniques being used that I’m sure […]
The Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Fiction, 8/10 – June 2008 Firstly, I realised with a shock that this book wasn’t going to have a hint of mathematics in it but I got over the disappointment because I liked learning about Zoo keeping and I found a boy wanting to be in 3 religions funny. The extreme situation that the boy […]
Wedding Anniversary in Rome (10/June/2008)
I took Chloe to Rome for our “cotton” anniversary where we found some amazing piles of rubble. We walked for miles and miles admiring the very rich history of the place. One of the most striking features of the the city is that every other building is a church. We watched “Gladiator” in our hotel […]
Living Room (02/Jun/08)
We’ve finally finished the living room: Before: After: It is much more laptop and console friendly. It used to have 1 socket, now it’s got 10. It used to have 1 storage heater, now it’s got 2 central heating radiators. It used to have nicotine coloured wall-paper, now it’s got new plaster and fresh paint. […]
Interface (Neal Stephenson)
Sci-Fi, 7/10 – Apr/May 2008 I didn’t know anything about US politics until I read this book. I’m not much interested in politics let alone US politics but the book did an excellent job of hiding any potential boringness in character descriptions, a fast plot and a single super interesting sci-fi concept which any cyberpunk […]
MyBook USB External Hard Drive – 20/Mar/2007 (Birthday present from Kix)
This quality half-terrabyte Western Digital external hard drive is to replace our now broken NAS drive. Instead of using a NAS drive we have created a Samba share on our server which we find more convenient. This 2nd drive is for backing up our files using rsync to mirror our primary hard disk. We map […]
Downstairs Plastering (19/Mar/08)
We are having the dining room and sitting room re-wired and re-plastered: Before Plastering: During Plastering: After Plastering: After Painting: It’ll be nice to not have to look at the bare brickwork any more. Plus having more than one socket in the room will be a real luxury.
French Door (07/Mar/08)
Since we are having our dining room re-plastered and have stripped the wallpaper, it is the right time to have our window replaced with French doors. We have planned to do it ever since we were looking round the house when it was still on the market: Before: After: It has made the room much […]
Charmeleon (03/Mar/08)
Chloe’s company, Panasonic, have made the whole Thatcham mobile phone development site redundant and are giving the staff their PCs which I’m thinking of as a leaving present. It is a Dell Optiplex GX270 which is a good upgrade but exactly the same form factor as the previous GX260 : CPU: Pentium 4 3GHz RAM: […]
Progress with the new bathroom (Jan/07)
We’re raising the floor to get a better fall on the waste pipe. Under floor plumbing will hide all the pipes. We’re converting the radiator into a towel rail. The new floor is nice and solid (25mm Ply) The Bath is now fitted and ready. We chose quite a clever design: no taps and a […]
His Dark Materials Trilogy (Philip Pullman)
Northern Lights Children’s Fiction, 8/10 – Dec/Jan 07/08 I love reading children’s books, you know you’re in for an adventure. I watched the movie at the cinema the same day that I finished the book – I can understand why they sweetened the ending because it’s horrible in the book. I find doing the comparisons […]
Cable Organiser Box (Jan/08)
We have a charging area in our house where the chargers for our phones, camera, Gameboy and Bluetooth stuff live. It’s always a mess of cables and adaptors so I decided to tidy it up. A bit blue peter – But it’s better than before: Before: After: 1) I bought a box from B&Q that […]
“Pegasus” – 15/Jan/08
I crashed poor Lance in a nasty high speed collision. I was driving down a duel-carriageway, came round the corner and saw the road was blocked with cars from a previous accident, couldn’t stop in time, went into a skid, spun 180 and crashed going backwards into a stationary van. There were 8 cars involved […]
Sony Vaio Laptop – 15/Jan/08
I feel sad that I’ve finally replaced my old PC which my dad gave me as a 21st birthday present. It was just too sluggish, even for browsing the web. I bought a widescreen Sony Vaio. It’s interesting to compare the specs because it shows how much technology has advanced in the last 7 years: […]
