The Sturdy Soapbox

Auf Wiedersehen OBC

OBC's gone off to Germany on business til tomorrow, I took him to the airport and now have possession of EFPV, til I go pick him up again tomorrow night.

As I was over that way, I asked Charlie Chalk if he wanted picking up and bringing home as he was working Sunday, so that was my next port of call.  We came back over to Walsall and had a couple of pints, then he very kindly took me for a curry.

We ended up in a place in Wednesbury and I was surprised to find methi dishes on the menu.  Nice staff very kindly made me a mixed meat with prawn methi curry which was absolutely lovely in it's proper balti dish and served with a very nice keema naan.

I've not eaten out in a restaurant since last summer (down Padstow with OBC and the crew), don't get out much you see, so this was a very nice change and a chance to eat some curry I'd not made myself.

OBC said yesterday "Yo wo get any exercise apart from walking to and from the car".  Well that's where he was wrong. I didn't go out Sunday because I'd quite a few aches when I got up, then PMG rang from New Zealand and was on for a while, so I did pennance in the kitchen scrubbing the grill pan and a riffy oven dish.  Only had a sandwich at lunchtime because of meeting OBC so with the beer and curry, I didn't exceed my Sunday allowance of 2000 calories (not by much anyhow).

I was pleased to find I had lost 2 kilos after the disappointment of gaining 8lbs (just under 4 kilos) over Christmas.  I'm going over to my brother's for a meal on Wednesday night, so won't be within my 1500 calories then, so I am going to go out for a walk every day this week.

I started this morning with a drive over to Sutton Park, somewhere I've not been to in about 13 years.  I'd forgotten just hown big it is and how rugged too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This left me wondering if Jim and Kay's romance has endured these 23 years ?

 

 

 

 

It was pretty cold out there and I forgot my gloves, but I did 2.4 miles and I'm going back tomorrow as I enjoyed it over there so much.  Loads of dog walkers (who all seemed to know each other).

Still smitten by the quality of the camera on the smartphone.  Talking to the Chalkmaster last night, he's nuts about the music capabilities of his HTC, which came with some expensive earphones which I did rate very highly. Can't say the same for some of his music, chav takka takka stuff that sounds like a bloody car alarm going off.

In his defence, he had got some Patsy Cline on there too.  I'd like some decent phones for mine, but they aren't important enough with funds as they are, so are much lower down on the list than say a new telly, cos my old Toshiba is past it's best.  You'll be sitting watching it and suddenly the sound goes up as if someone is working a remote from behind you, then it will go down to a whisper. 

It's a touch over four years since I had to get rid of my car. In the main, I've not missed it, only when I have to carry heavy stuff like potatoes back home.

One thing I have missed is listening to music when I am out and about, so I made in advance some stuff to play whilst driving EFPV.  I made em for OBC too, one album being Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy by Elton John ( a mid 70's album in case you want to know), back when Elton actually made decent music and wasn't such a hissy old queen so angry at everyone.

I also did Joni Mitchell's Blue (1970) and Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (I am going to do the orchestral version too which was pretty superb).  That's the thing about music in the seventies, there was so much choice. Now it's boy bands, girl bands or black shit "slap yo ho bitch up" oh and car alarm music...

Popped in to Asda on the way home, made that a short visit, it was well after ten, so the place was full of chavs.  TIme for a sharp exit, but I did get some King Edwards potatoes, my favourite variety (especially for making mash with).

Posh lunch, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs 350 calories with the toast, lovely !

 

 

 

Naughty Mr. WInner

I've been exchanging tweets with Michael Winner for quite some time now and have to say he's one of the most genuine, funny and dare I say charming people you could exchange messages of 140 characters with.

Here's this morning's exchange:

Isn't he a scamp ?

in praise of new software

So OBC said after seeing the photos from Wednesday "be nice if we could have that in a slideshow to send out to everyone".

I dipped my paw into my fairy purse, fetched out the wand and lo, here it is...

 

Actually, it wasn't like that at all.  I've not made piccies into a slideshow in years.  I knew the welder had an interest in this kind of thing, so I sent him a text. No response!  If it had been a text saying there was some curry on offer, the little bleeder would have been round two minutes after I'd clicked send. Verdict: As much use as a chocolate teapot !

Then I stumbled across a free Microsoft program called Photo Story http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=11132

Have to say, I was utterly blown away by the simplicity of use for this proggy.  I have painful experience of stuff similar to this and the formatting of photos was one thing, adding music was a whole new experience in self tooth extraction, then there was the file format choice !

It took me about fifteen minutes to cobble this together, though my choice of music has been cross examined and suggestions of the good, the bad and the ugly and Happiness is a warm gun by the Beatles, suggested by Charlie Chalk.

Well, this was a first attempt and as the old song goes, the only way is up...

Because I've been e mailing this sort of stuff and the raw photos which were about 20 megs, coupled with the fact my ISP uses a Google interface which won't allow zip attachments, I had to find a way to send bigger files to "net novices" and spare myself the grief of explaining file transfer protocol and the likes.

I've used services like Sendspace and what pisses me off, is you use the service once and a bit like Vistaprint, once they have your e mail address, you'll hear from them every day, sometimes more than once.

I had some stuff printed by Vistaprint and they did an excellent job of the print and the delivery, but I have reached the point where I am pissed beyond belief with the daily shit always saying the same, but in a different way.  Just puts me off using them, I wanted to pay for a service, not marry into their fucking family.

Quite by accident, I stumbled across Attachmore who live at www.attachmore.com 

Their free account allows you a total of 100 Mb of data before they expect you to subscribe to their service, but you can send a gig of gubbins for $ 5 a month.

You really need to be sending larger amounts of data to people on a regular basis where normal e mail boxes will bounce (usually around the 5Mb mark), to get the use.

As I've used it four times in a week now, I am very warm to what they offer.  

All you do, is upload the individual files you want to send to someone.  Then it gives you a hyperlink and all the tools you might want to send that link to your friends.

They get an e mail with that link in which they click and then get a zip download right to their puter. So simple, even OBC failed to fuck it up (though we are still waiting on the Welder's verdict).

In these times when I find most software and service to be the same, I find this has the buzz I used to get from new discoveries back in the 90's.  These days, I really have adopted the "impress me" approach and this is one service which has.

Part of my voyage of discovery this week, involves a service I wasn't even aware of until yesterday, which is Google sites.  Like we all know about Google mail, G+ (which I am warming to), Google docs (cloud computing) Google nude cam (I made that one up).

Basically it's a free website with a sub domain.  Of course it interfaces with all the other google services (which is why I set up a You Tube account for the Coffin Dodgers) and I am looking forward once I get my head around laying out the site, to presenting them with a nicely themed home on the interwed.

 

 

The SOPA thing isn't just about Americans...

The basics are explained in this short animated GIF:

Proof that if you have enough biscuits, a dog will do anything

 

What's the difference between a constipated owl and a poor marksman ?

One shoots but can't hit (a bit like OBC below)

 

On Wednesday I found myself out in the cold English countryside with OBC and his crew of shooters, but unlike them, I was armed only with a camera, not a shotgun.

I did pose for this picture in the style of Charlton Heston and his "cold dead hand" speech.

 

 

It was pretty dreary and overcast but I did manage to get about twenty five decent photos and a couple of videos which will feature on an upcoming website named after the group who are called The Coffin Dodgers.

Everyone kept asking me "Ain't you bored", seeing as I wasn't actually shooting (despite several offers). The answer was not at all.  Firstly I had a camera in my hand and I was out in the countryside which I love, well away from noise (apart from guns) and chavs.

As for the noise, I had these special ear defenders on, which shield you from the gun sound, but through the miracles of modern technology, you turn em on and you can hear everyone who talks to you with perfect clarity.

 

 

The Coffin Dodgers

 

 

Wabbit

 

 

The one (of many) that got away

I'll post the site address for the Coffin Dodgers once I've got my head around all the protocols associated with online web design.  I'm using Google sites, but it isn't childs play getting everything on the page where you want it.

So that's my weekend sorted, reading tutorials and help files.

Not dead, just sleeping

I've had e mails of enquiry, even complaints, that I've not posted anything in well over a week.  Well that's just the way it is when you lead a somewhat empty life.

If there's nothing happening, there's not much you can write.

I had my monthly weigh in post Christmas and was horrified to discover I have put on 8 pounds, so I have been increasing my walking to jolt myself back into losing weight, not gaining it.

I am still having problems with my knee, neck, back etc.  Been for my CT scan with regards to my kidney stone which fotunately is not causing me problems.

So that's about it.  Will report more, when something happens !

Miserable, moi ?

OBC was just showing off that he can acquiesce to the new technologies, picking up my phone and taking this picture as we had a quick pint in the Pretty Bricks yesterday after I got back from the hospital.

When he saw it, he said it made me look like the miserable git I am.

I was far from miserable, having got the hospital appointment out the way, my new coffee cups and having got my meat from Bob the Butcher, saving me a trip today.  I was tired though (which is why I was in bed before ten last night.

 

 

An E bay find

About twenty years ago, I paid about eight pounds each for a pair of coffee cups identical to the picture.  I've been using them a lot since I really got into my fresh coffee habit a couple of years ago, but was utterly pissed off, when I managed to break one when I was decorating a few months ago.

I've been looking for some cups that are low enough to go under the Gaggia, but even on E bay, the prices are high, because a lot of these cups have the names of celebs on like Nigella Lawson.  Whilst I like something that's stylish, I am not going to fund their lavish lifestyles.

A week or so before Christmas, I saw these three, which appeared to be identical to the one I had left.  I put in my bid of £ 1.99 a day before the end of the auction and was joyful when I was the winner.

It was collect only, about thirty miles away and before I bid, I texted OBC asking if I might borrow EFPV to go get them.  I didn't get an answer and put the bid in anyway.

He offered me the use of EFPV for my hospital appointment yesterday which took me over in that direction.  I managed to pick the wrong house and as we had pre arranged that the cups would be in a plantpot by the front porch (as the lady would be at work), I couldn't find the cups or the pot and found myself looking through the bins, looking inside the porch etc.  I thought she had forgotten to put them out, so I went back to the e mail on the phone to check the exact information.  Blue pot it said.  Only blue pot I could see was next door, I was at the wrong house.

I told this lady in an e mail that I hope her neighbours hadn't seen a strange bloke going through their bins, which she found most amusing.

I am cock a hoop with the new cups, meaning provided I get some visitors (questionable after what happened at Christmas) and they can wait for the Gaggia to cough up enough froth, I can host cappuccino parties !

 

For OBC and my brother

Who are always moaning I don't do enough housework.

This time yesterday, you couldn't move for pots, pans and utensils, now look ! And with a poorly knee too...