Google Plus Arrives

Well, it kinda arrives…  it’s in it’s beta, invite only stage right now.  For some time now, I’ve not been a fan of Facebook.  I’ve moved them into a similar category as Apple in that I just see them as a little bit evil.  Some people worry about Google knowing so much about them, but as I see it, they only want this information so they can show you ads of things you might want to buy.  Surely those are the best adverts to see?  Facebook wants information on you to sell to other people, who knows what they’ll do with the info.  They will gather this info in sneaky ways too, so even if you’ve reasonable privacy settings, if you’re friends don’t, and they can see your info, it can be sold.  They also have a history of changing their minds of devs and then introducing something similar themselves.

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Categories:Social, Technology

The Tablet For Me

I can’t be denied that the iPad brought tablets very much into the spotlight.  They still have a huge share of the market (up over 90% at the moment I believe) but of course, the iPad’s not for me.

Last year I started the exploration for a decent Android tablet when I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab, the first main stream Android tablet on the market, but at only 7 inches I found it too small.  It was very portable, sliding easily into the inside pocket of my coat, it took it’s own SIM card meaning you didn’t actually need a phone with it, but it was too close to a phone in size, meaning there wasn’t enough to differentiate it and make it worth while.

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Categories:Technology

Barcelona 2011

2011-07-04 09.59.00.jpg

We arrived in Barcelona around 1pm and could feel the heat straight away. It reminded me of stepping off the plane in Florida, many years ago.

Initially we thought about renting a car, so we spent a little time investigating rental prices. It looked like it would be around 300 euros, so maybe not. Instead we got a taxi to the hotel, somehow this cost us 20 Euros even though his display said 10? Nevermind, we at least avoided the 10 minute storm that began almost exactly as we stepped into the hotel lobby.  This was the only rain to fall all week, and an hour later you would would never have known it had rained at all.

2011-07-04 15.32.45.jpgFirst objective was to find dinner.  We decided on the easiest option, the hotel restaurant, which it turned out was perhaps a little posh for us. I had ribs, Nurcan some fairly plain pasta and pesto… 55 euros please! The highlight of the meal was Octopus tentacle for starter!  We didn’t know when we ate it, Nurcan was not so pleased, I had another!  It was fishy, but subtle in flavor, but with an odd, chewy texture to it. Continue reading Barcelona 2011

Categories:General

Opportunity For Progression

I’ve been working for Waitrose and the John Lewis Partnership for over nine years now.  Over the past 3 or 4 years things seem to have gone better and better for me as I grow and develop as a manager.

The majority of my development has taken place over the past 9 months.  The start of this came last summer when I suggested I could fill in for Ellie, our DM Merchandise, while she was off for a knee operation.  The boss seemed to like this idea and for 8 weeks I was Acting DM, looking after Fresh Foods, Fruit and Veg and Dry Goods.  I fealt this went well and on Ellie’s return, rather than stepping back down to SM Checkouts, I continued on as Acting DM Fresh Foods, helping take them through the Christmas period.

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Categories:Work

Rift – Follow Up

One reason I do this blog is to remind me of things I’ve done, almost like a diary.  It’s interesting, even only 3 months later, to look back at my beginnings in Rift.  I left off asking if Rift would move up through my all time played games according to Xfire.  Well it did.  I commented I played 30 hours in one week, far more gaming than I’d done in a long time, well Rift soon took all of my spare time and it peaked up around 70 hours in a week, now sitting in 2nd position with 649 hours played in a 3 month period.  That’s an average of around 7 hours a day!

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Categories:Gaming

Eating Better

I’ve always said I’m not the type to diet. As I’ve blogged before, I can get myself down the gym, but I love my chocolate and biscuits too much. In the past I’ve managed to do things like cut out the chocolate from works vending machine, but that’s about as far as it would go. I really don’t like veg, not a big fan of fruit, so it’s always been difficult to ‘diet’ for me.

Me at Ascot in June 2011

Around 3 weeks ago my weight got back up to 21 stone 5 lbs, pretty much where it was last summer just before I rejoined the gym.  I got all the way down to about 20st 8lbs before it started to slip.  Winter was hard, I found it almost impossible to get myself out of bed, when it was so cold, at 5 in the morning to get to the gym before work.

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Categories:Sporting

Rift – A new MMORPG

I don’t play many computer games these days, it’s either I’m growing up or my obsession with gadgets is taking over…  I think the latter is more likely.  The games I do tend to still enjoy are those that let me develop and build the skills of a character or play to gain achievements of some kind.  MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) fit the bill here, but it’s often hard to find a good one.

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Categories:Gaming

Professional Writers!

For some months now, Robert has been writing a book and is now in negotiations to write a second.  Well it would appear he’s not the only one in demand!

I started Hemorrdroids.net with a couple of Android loving friends at work around 9 months ago and we’ve built and built on it, becoming more known in the genre.  My hardware reviews have apparently caught the eye of some people as just before Christmas I was contacted by someone from TechRadar, the UK’s biggest tech website, asking if I might be interested in writing reviews for them.

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Categories:Technology

Home Cinema Experience – Full HD!

I almost surprise myself when I think for how long I went without a decent home cinema setup.  A year or two back I bought a reasonably cheap surround sound system.  Last month I suddenly realised my TV in the living room was only 32″.  It didn’t bother me until I realised it was actually about the smallest TV I could have!  This had to be changed, so off I went to the internet.  I wanted full HD (1080p) and DLNA so I could stream content direct to the TV from my home network and it seemed John Lewis had an amazing deal on a Samsung 50″ Plasma, but I would have to wait as it wasn’t in stock.

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Categories:Technology