Feb 27: Confid-ent

Mum arrived, and brought another legend with her…

Perimeter checks!

Alfie has the goods on everyone – he knows the really secret stuff. If the CIA ever got him, we’d all be for it…

Feb 26: Eeeeeeeeeeeeee-bay

Well unexpectedly, but graciously received, the clearout of ‘stuff’ from Le House (that’s French)has garnered some interest from various folks on e-Bay?!

I was expecting some interest in the Surf Board, as that is truly a fantastic opportunity, but the Board Games have almost gone and some extraneous camera equipment has also been snapped up. All in all, the clear out is providing me with some funds toward….

….and this surprises me more than anyone…

…a new Sofa.

WAAAAAAAT??!!!?!!?!!

I know right, I was also expecting a new Snowboard or guitar or some such…but Neeeerp. Basically, my current sofa is functionally good. It’s got a splendid Sofa Bed facility that is actually OK to sleep on, but man, it’s reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaally uncomfortable to sit on?! Which is pretty much the point of a sofa right?

I need to research – Leather is the way forward as far as I’m concerned, but when it comes down to it, there are other considerations…Room shape, will it fit through the door, can I stretch out fully on it, is it going to be one of those couches that eats you and makes it impossible to get out of, colour, Chesterfield (Neeerp!)….Dam dude, I’m not equiped for this….

I need to bring in a professional…

There is perhaps just one fully qualified individual for this job.

Grew up on the Harsh Streets of Dorset.

Types at the speed of light.

Creator of tasty dishes from literally bugger all ingredients.

Cleaner of rooms.

Forcible Taskmaster of cleaning rooms.

Counsellor of Loons.

Legend.

Mum to 5.

….and just so happens she’s coming to visit this weekend.

White Wine and sofa consultancy!

w00t!!!

 

…and maybe a curry too.

Feb 25: Amo-don

Hmmmm – well played Amazon Prime….well played…

See, I got quite excited by the content displayed when I initially looked through the catalog…..DOH! FAIL!

I fell for a classic marketing ploy!

….if you look very carefully at the top left corner of each option, you can sometimes see “Prime”, and sometimes just “HD”… Yeah, if it doesn’t say Prime, you can’t watch it without paying more money…

Classic – dangle the carrot!

The catalog is still pretty good, but I’m reeling a bit from my expectations being set… I was looking forward to Season 3 of Suits, and Season 2 of Arrow, but alas, denied! (for now)

Still not sure if subscription is good – must confess that the cheap and quick postage on Amazon parcels has already proven pretty useful, so there is that…which is nice…

Constantine Season 1 has finished. It was excellent, truly. Was not afraid to go to the darker places, and it ended with the obligatory cliff-hanger, but in keeping with the entire series, a cliff-hanger with a twist! Here’s hoping it gets renewed, good casting and a good representation, it’s got potential to be properly edgy and it doesn’t roll out the tropes to get the entertainment. Brave 🙂

Go on….

Feb 24: Uke-ah-lay-leeeee

My Nephoo has been given a magnificent Birthday present…

A Ukelele!

Much awesome!!!

He has contacted me in request of some guidance as to what/how to play…

I don’t really play Uke, I’ve had exceptionally brief musical flings with the instrument, but never had a specific purpose to learn it properly…. I do now…

NEPHOO! Soooooon….we JAAAMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Uke-age – les geddit AWN!

You can probably tell what my March Challenge is going to be?

Feb 23: Lurg-y Part Deux (That’s French)

I attended a festival today.

Cough-Fest.

The music was shit.

But me and Chris went in Fancy Dress as ZZ Top;

Sharp Dressed Men

Oh wait – that wasn’t cough fest…The Lemsip is causing Hallucinations…

 MOAR Lemsip plz!

Feb 22: Lurg-y

Yep – the lurgy has bedded down for some serious cough and sinus combo action.

It really does suck, I can’t laugh without devolving into a racking cough – arse!

Prescrption: Vitamin C, Lemsip and the sofa.

….and xBox.

It was cold last night – and the ice was doing cool stuff on the car again;

Fractals.

Feb 21: Wreck-o-mendation

Hmmm – still suffering the cold symptoms. It’s entered that up and down phase where you feel OK for a short while, then plummet toward a spluttering coughing sneezing mess.

Oh, I am attractive right now! But on a slightly more positive note, my slot/miss ratio for hitting the bin with tissues from the other side of the room is looking impressive! Especially as I’m training myself to be able to throw with my left hand – ambidextrous exercises, must be good for the brain.

I am compelled to share a recommendation with you, well, that would be a bit presumptuous on my part I suppose as you may well already know of it – but if you don’t, this tune was (alongside other outstanding shares) passed to me via my mystery musical benefactor (Thank you – quickly reaching legend status!)… But I digress, this;

Ben Howard – Oats in the Water

 Bloody marvelous.

Words to live by…

Feb 20: Retrospective-s

OK, so I actually missed a blog day.

In my defense, by brain is a little addled by coldage, and it’s moved down to my chest today….which is nice.

So I was going to talk a bit about expectations, but I think I’ll save that for a time when my mind is a little more active. Instead, I’m experimenting with Amazon Prime…

After a couple of recommendations I figured that as I’m spending a lot of the day resting, checking out the catalog with the trial month would be a good idea.

Well, it started OK, but then the service went down…

Now, I work in Cloud technologies, and I’m uniquely aware of the challenges associated with 24-7 support, and what that means in terms of keeping services active and available. Still, I wasn’t expecting the usually solid Amazon cloud to bomb out for 24 hours?!

The techies were being properly hammered on social media – loads of twitter and facebook rhetoric about how the system is screwed, customer services are rubbish etc blah etc. I do agree that twitter and social media is giving the users a much needed voice, but as with all these things, it can quickly devolve as the noisy minority use the opportunity to vent. Bit of a shame, as the service is back up and running now which given the outlook of Tuesday that was being shared, it’s a fab job from the Amazon crews… Though perhaps the cynical me thinks that they might not get credit for it… Support can be a tough gig as people only notice when things are not working. Respect to all who take on support roles – it’s appreciated!

So is Prime any good?

It’s the same as Netflix, but it doesn’t feel as slick. The catalog is great for me, there are a bunch of shows that I’d like to see, and kind of a winner for me is that Constantine is part of the list – sweeeeeet!

In summary – I like the selection, and I hope the service improves. I’m still on the fence as to whether I will commit and I have a few days to thunk it over, but I am impressed.

And thanks again Support Crews – good job dudes!

 

Yes, yes you are…

Feb 19: The Lost Blog

I somehow managed to write a blog…an then lose it…?!!

I’m going to blame the Lurgy that is currently inhabiting my head. It’s one of those sinusy ones that feels like your brain is slightly too large for your skull cavity…eurgh.

Anyway, the blog yesterday talked about expectations, so instead, I’ll rewrite my thoughts tonight and use this blog to share this picture of a diorama I’m creating to demonstrate “The Giraff-a-lope” patent application:

I want to beeeee, where Giraf-a-lope roam FREEEEEEE!

 I need one of those movie-type backdrops, some sort of Savannah atmosphere…and a few more appropriate creatures.

Yessss – the serenity offered by the quite grazing of the Giraff-a-lope could be very conducive to a relaxed atmosphere…. I’ll feed back on progress.

As a slight aside my Sister, Moops, does an astounding impression of a Giraffe. I will try and sneak video footage, but she’s rarely seen in the wild… I’ll have to entice her out with clever use of Pepsi Max, Becks Booze and Wireless Broadband…

Feb 18: Lem-sip

Eurgh – it’s been coming for a while, and it finally caught up…

I have ‘Le Lurgy’ (that’s French).

Gotta love that sinus headache. It’s the special kind of headache that keeps on giving, makes me feel special…and grumpy…

Ahhh whatcha gonna do? It happens – time to get that Lemsip involved and smash this lurgy in it’s grimy face!

…but not too hard, don’t want to get splattered now do I…

I feel like this;

The Nostromo Crew should have used Lemsip