Disgraceful!

I needn't share this but I made myself ashamed of my own housekeeping over the last couple if weeks. I kept telling myself I would clean my cooker ... I'm doing it, I would say. I didn't.

This evening I got a grip of myself and made the following transformation in less than 10 minutes.

Clot!

DW

Barcelona was Bouncing!

My trip to Barcelona this weekend was excellent and I have uploaded a few photos for you to see. Just look at how many people there are in the streets and squares ... even Catalunyan dancing going on!

As usual, I am using Windows/Microsoft and it has decided to rotate some of the photos ... random and as and when it wants.

DW

Microsoft Madness

I just wanted to search my system for a file and then open it in PowerPoint.

40 minutes ago I joked to myself that I should be ready for this to take an hour.

At the moment MS Office is "repairing" itself after failing to open a file, including having failed to open it in "safe" mode.

Should this process beggar up my system then tomorrow I will have a major job to do to explain to my clients that I cannot do what they are paying me to do.

Like many people, I am sick and tired of all of the time I waste while waiting for MS products to fail to do what they are supposed to do.

Rant over.

DW

Should I get in this lift?

What do you think?

DW

Hard Rock Cafe Barcelona

HRC Barcelona is next door but one to my hotel and since it is the restaurant of all restaurants that I visit wherever I can, I went there for dinner this evening.

Here are just four snaps ... for some reason they have flipped them here. I had previously unflipped them but Gates knows best!

DW

Moving Again!

Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury waxed lyrical over my destination.

Forgive any bad spellings!

DW

Well, Well, Well!

I have reported at various times on the HP Tablet I bought a few years ago and how it was a disaster: five burned out motherboards in a year as well as three or four Bluetooth units having gone kaput ... they replaced it and I am still using that replacement.

The replacement HP is not that good in that I never feel confident enough to use the tablet features that I bought it for. Moreover, the fan whines and whines almost the whole time the computer is switched on. Well, that was until today.

This morning there was yet another power cut here: annoying and frustrating at the same time. Then I noticed after a while that as the HP was running on battery, I couldn't hear the fan whining and whirring away. Zounds! I have been party to all sorts of discussions with all sorts of people all over the web on how to stop the fan making such a racket. I don't think anyone has suggested unplugging the power cord to stop the whining before.

Once the power came back, I recharged the battery and then when the fan started whining again, I pulled out the power cord and, proof of concept, the fan stopped whining.

The thing now is to find out what it is about the power connection that makes the fan a bit shirty!

DW

Plug it in: another top tip!

Before you start ranting and raving at an external hard drive that neither appears in Windows Explorer nor allows you to browse any files in it, do make sure it's been plugged in!

DW

Positive Steps

As I was waiting in the chemist the other day I saw a leaflet entitled Positive Steps for you mental health. I took a copy of it and here are the pain points of their message ... worth working at:

1. be kind to yourself
2. prioritise
3. if possible, look on the bright side
4. maintain a healthy, balanced diet
5. enjoy some physical activity
6. learn a new skill or try a creative hobby
7. set realistic goals
8. try to see the funny side where possible
9. keep your mind busy
10. make a little time for yourself each day
11. learn to relax
12. take one day at a time
13. take time to reflect
14. keep in touch with friends and family
15. talk about things
16. don't be afraid to ask for help
17. remember you are not the only one

I thought that was a good list and worth applying and sticking to.

DW

Taxi Date and Time: top tip

My first top tip for a while.

When ordering a taxi by sms or email, don't forget to tell the taxi driver the date and time you'd like him to come and collect you.

DW

It Pays to Graduate

I will never agree with the British Government's decision to make tertiary education students pay for their degrees and diplomas but it is worth considering the chart in the Daily Chart series in the Economist that shows the effect of potential benefits of graduating at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education in various OECD countries.

Take a look here:

Many of the comments following the article are also worth a read.

DW

Microsoft Innovations Know no Bounds

You might have seen the new hotmail interface on the web, Outlook. It looks modern and like many innovations, it takes time to appreciate all of its improvements.

I wonder how shrewd this innovation will turn out to be, however? Using Outlook and an iPad, I clicked on New Message and entered a subject and my message. Then I clicked on To: to tell Outlook where I wanted my message to go. I clicked again. And again. In what must be some kind of revolutionary anti spamming invention, no messages can be sent because no address can be entered.

I thought I'd cracked the system by clicking Add CC and BCC ... WRONG! That didn't work either.

Gatesed again!

DW

The Thick of it ... Utter Tripe!

For the first time the other night, I watched an episode of The Thick of it! I had heard that it was brilliant and true to life ... I found it utter tripe.

Then I heard the author, Dr Ianucci (sp?), say on the radio that he believes the programme is very true to life. I don't think so.

Yes, there are smarmy politicians. Yes, there are smart Alek politicians and civil servants. Yes, yes, yes; but these people were beyond caricatures in my opinion.

Lots of F word swearing too: not unrealistic but not needed.

I will not be watching this tripe again.

DW

Last Night of the Proms

It's on now ... they just sang You'll Never Walk Alone and that was great!

Land of Hope and Glory

Rule Britannia

Jerusalem

Back to normal this year. I don't think anywhere else on earth does such a thing do they?

DW

Golden Hannah's Tribute

Here's the gold post box outside Halifax Town Hall in honour of Hannah Cockroft's gold medal at the Paralympics. Look at the arty composition too!!

DW

A DIFFERENT BlackBerry!

Here is my new blackberry time!

DW

Perfect Home Made Bread

By accident I found a bread making tip that made me happy.

Using the same recipe as before and the same ingredients, I added SLIGHTLY too much water to my last batch of bread. I then added a LITTLE bit if extra flour to take the stickiness away. I ended up with the most fantastic dough and the resulting loaf and buns were the best bread I have ever made.

Can I replicate that?

DW

Gibb Lane is TOUGH

As part of my keep fit for life campaign I walk up Gibb Lane for lung busting exercise and it's tough going.

Up until yesterday I used to zig zag my way up it but yesterday I wanted to go straight at it and did it.

I felt happy to have done it. When I finished my walk and hit back home though, my legs were a but jelly like!

Keeping fit is a full time job and although this is my fourth good outing in six days, we have to keep on top of our fitness as we get older.

Young people can slouch around and then go and do something ... not the more mature types!

Take a look at an Ordnance Survey map to see why I think Gibb Lane is so tough!

DW

Another Moon Cake

Here's moon cake two from Malaysia: green tea with kidney bean and green bean paste. It's really good.

DW

Moon Cakes

My good friend in Malaysia sent me two Moon Cakes and I have opened and started eating one of them. It is excellent. Truly excellent.

This is why moon cakes exist: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake

This is a Lotus Paste cake and this is what it looks like:

DW