Archive for February, 2005

Two out of three

Saturday, February 26th, 2005

They say that bad luck comes in threes.
(1) This morning I stumbled out of bed and cracked the little toe on my left foot against the foot of the bed. Man, that hurts! I may have pulled the nail off … there was certainly a lot of blood. I don’t fancy looking […]

Cellardyke: 12 items of furniture in 11 hours

Friday, February 25th, 2005

I’m exhausted. Yesterday was like some kind of Guinness Book of Records attempt to build as much Ikea furniture as we could. What a day! What with having twelve pieces of furniture to assemble (which we managed in about 11 hours), Jane accidentally stabbing me in the palm with a metal piece […]

Open-source: a difference of opinion

Thursday, February 24th, 2005

An interesting story in today’s PC Pro email newsletter about a difference of opinion:
Open-source has gained so much momentum of late that one might ask where all the developers needed for these new projects are coming from.
Microsoft’s Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy for Microsoft in the UK recently told us that despite many big […]

Skype — Free Internet telephony

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005

When I discovered MSN Messenger my experience of the internet changed. I felt connected. I could have instant conversations with my friends, albeit that I had to type everything.
This evening I installed Skype — my username is garethjmsaunders — as my friend Kelvin and I have been considering using it for online voice […]

Buying a house-load of furniture at once

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005

Tomorrow morning Jane and I are going to drive a Ford Transit full of furniture to Cellardyke. Assuming that the snow doesn’t scupper our plans.
I picked up a hire van this afternoon and following a spot of tea (pasta with chicken in a honey and mustard sauce, thanks for asking) Jane and I drove […]

Nature’s answer to a congestion charge

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005

Well, the people of Edinburgh have spoken and have overwhelmingly said NO to a congestion charge; 74% of those who voted in Monday’s referendum said that they didn’t endorse the council’s plans to introduce a £2 congestion charge.
But who needs a congestion charge to reduce the amount of traffic in town when you have nature’s […]

The ‘downside’ of a PC that works fine: Games!

Sunday, February 20th, 2005

Maybe it was a bad idea to fix my PC — everything seems to be working fine; I’ve had no problems with a fast clock or clicking during MP3 playback since I updated hardware drivers and BIOS on Thursday — I’ve discovered that not only does Star Wars Battlefront now work okay, but it is […]