Version 3.0

My new home

05:48, 2008-Mar-9 .. Link

I have a new home on the web. I never really settled in here on the new efx2blog so I have decicided to start fresh. You can find me me here:

http://quacksplat.typepad.com/

Been a long time,,,,,,

02:57, 2007-Nov-4 .. Link

The blogging muse has not taken me for a while. I've been keeping up with things by reading my fav blogs via RSS.

I guess I haven't really got used to the new EFX2 yet and I feel as if I'm wading through mud to do the simple things.

Only one thing to do when you run out of things to say:

A man walks into a pub with a salmon under his arm.
He asks the barman, "Do you do fishcakes?"
The barman shakes his head.
"Shame", says the man, "It's his birthday".

Blogging for fun and profit

07:40, 2007-Sep-24 .. Link

Hello again Dear Reader. The reason I wanted repost the item below is because I have discovered I’m not the only soul bogging from dear old Bury St Edmunds. However Ruby has become so noted to it she has landed a gig at the local college teaching people how to blog. If you fancy it, it’s only £75 for the course.

She seems to well in with the local councillors, and has had a tour of the building site. She has a more pro development point of view by mine and doesn’t really mention the severe financial situation some of the local shops find themselves in or the shambles the town is in.

I’m sure Ruby will do a good job teaching at the college and the councillors will enjoy a little positive publicity for their scheme.

No place like home

07:19, 2007-Sep-23 .. Link

For those of you who are keeping up you'll know this is a re-post from the short lived world- press era. All will become clear later

Well Dear Reader the little town of Bury St Edmunds where I live is under going a major spate of building work. Like many small market towns we are getting our very own shopping mall, and boy is it fucking the town up.

Most of the major roads into the town centre are closed or have road works on them, you can’t get parked for love or money. The means that lots of the small shops which made Bury such a popular shopping destination are closing.

Every time an announcement is made about shops being signed up for the new mall it’s a chain which already has a branch in the town centre. Now they aren’t going to keep two branches open so when the new mall opens the rest of the town is going to be a ghost town. At least you will be able to park coz no bugger will want to shop here.

The local councils, yes we have 2 of them, must be so proud.

It’s not just a mall that’s being built, houses are going up on any open space bigger than a postage stamp, but with a total lack of infrastructure. No shops, schools or other facilities.

The councilors where so desperate to whore themselves out to the first developer that came along that they got fucked good and proper, and the rest of us are getting fucked with them.

One for the Mac Users

07:43, 2007-Sep-21 .. Posted in General .. Link

Just in case you don't know, Safari doesn't show all of the tool bar options when you posting a blog.

Got to use Firefox instead.

Garden Update

06:01, 2007-Sep-21 .. Link

A few of you might remember that way back at the start of Spring I posted some pictures of my garden. The garden has never quite looked that good again. The house next door is rented out and the landlord has let the garden go to a weed infested plot.

It wasn't soon before my garden took after it. So I sort of lost heart in making anything out of it. The one thing I did do was plant out the tomato plants I bought in a fit of enthusiasm. Dam glad I did too as we haven't had to buy any tomatosfor the last 2 months. My six plants reached a very respectable 6 feet in high and have produced more Toms than we knew what to do with.

Sadly they are now right end of their productive life and I only have a few tomatoes left to ripen. Best part of it was that they tasted wonderful and I'm very tempted to grow some more next year and maybe try my hand a a few salad plants to go with them.

Here I go again.......

11:35, 2007-Sep-20 .. Link

Why Blog 3.0. Well it’s the third time I’ve started a blog on EXF2, and I have to admit I’m not happy about it. I can understand the loss of my first EXF2 blog. Keith was blindsided along with the rest of but did an amazing job building things up from the ruins. I had no complaints only sympathies.

So I started from fresh on EFX2blogs.com. I started my posts, found out there was a good chance I’d get all my old posts back. That stage I was feeling good, but things could have been better. I was missing the social side of EXF2 and found some post about switching to new system, I even sent a donation to help make it happen.

And happen it did, bang, with no fucking warning. Just your blogs are gone, sign up again. So I signed up again, created a new blog but things refused to go right for me. I didn’t get my confirmation e-mail so I can’t get into the blog I created in my old name. I know I used the correct e-mail address coz I am getting new passwords when I request them but I can’t confirm the blog.

I have to admit my general stress levels are up at the moment and this was a piece of shit I just didn’t need. I’m so angry and it’s not really anyone’s fault. Shit just happened.

Time to let it go. Time to move on – new blog name, almost the same user name, probably the same old shit from me. All I have to do now is hunt everyone down AGAIN !!!!

More than I can Chew

01:31, 2007-Aug-30 .. Link

I went up to the staff canteen for lunch today like I do most days. Yum I thought as I went through the door and clocked the menu – roast pork.

Very nice it was too until I bit down on a bit of crackling and broke a tooth.

OUCH !!!

Phoned my dentist and he can’t see me until Monday, I wouldn’t mind but I go private and I still have to wait :@

Hi

05:16, 2007-Aug-29 .. Link

A friend commented today that I haven’t blogged for a while. To be honest I didn’t feel I have had a lot to say lately.

Because I haven’t blogged I haven’t been reading any of your blogs either. Something I realised I have missed.

Anyway I’ve decided to start writing again – however you lot will have to put up with my crap jokes :(

Speaking of which:

Q: What's pink and wrinkly and hangs out a man's underpants?

A: His mother.

Where does my time go?

01:00, 2007-Jul-24 .. Link

I never seem to to have any time to spare at the moment and I don't know what happens to all the time I have.

I know work takes up a huge portion of my day and I constantly dream about somehow getting that time back. My efforts to start up my own photography business got nowhere. I couldn't give my time away as a wedding photographer so it looks like I'm going to be a wage slave for the foreseeable future. It's not that I don't like my job, but I've sort of fallen out of love with it.

I get up quite early each morning so I have some guilt free "me time" before I head off to the office. I'm usually in front of my computer shortly after 5 am so I have a little over an hour to do what I want to. Today I spent some time on the Wii.

We eat about 30 minutes after I get in and after that I do have some time to get stuff done. Depending on what's going on I may have an hour or two before we settle down around 9 to watch TV and then go to bed around 11.

I don't have a clue as how I spend my time over the weekend. It just seems to go as did the week I've just had off.

Maybe I'm just being greedy but I never seem to have the time I want to get things done.

Chuck Storm

06:19, 2007-Jul-24 .. Link

I saw this on News Knight and had to share :)

Formicophilia

12:59, 2007-Jul-23 .. Link

Formicophilia is a craving for small insects to crawl over one's genitals.

New one on me. People never cease to amaze me :eek:

Loyal to the last?

05:03, 2007-Jul-22 .. Link

I was away this weekend in deepest darkest Coventry for the National Photographic Slide Championships. The Beyond group were competing against 30 other clubs which had been selected by their regional federations as their best clubs.

We didn't do as well as we did last year coming in joint 6th, so we missed out on automatic qualification for next years event (last year we achieved this with a 4th place). However being out of the top six clubs in the country is not to shabby :)

However there was an incident after the event which left us reeling. One of our members was in the toilet when he was approached by our own federation president.

President in jovial tone: "I see your lot got trashed then?"
Beyond member: "That's not surprising given the quality of the competition", nodding at a member of winning club.
President: " Bloody good job too!!!" before turning on his heel.

This is the president of our federation. The federation we had been chosen to represent. Federation we will represent in the National print championships later this year. Rather than rooting for his club, he was happy we had been beaten. We were all a tad disappointed in him to say the least.

We will discuss this at our next meeting to see if there anything we can do about his appalling behavior.

12 Severe weather warnings - Must be time to break out the tent

04:37, 2007-Jul-22 .. Link

As you may remember dear readers the first time I went camping it was the wettest bank holiday on record and I had to come early because my tent leaked.

Well with the UK having record rainfalls and flooding I decided that it was the perfect time to go camping again in new tent I was bought for my birthday.

How did we get on? Falrly well given the circumstances. All the feilds around the camp site flooded but the tent did stay dry. This time it was having to wade through a sea of mud to get anywhere which sent us home early.

I wouldn't, dear readers,make any outdoor plans for the August Bank holiday weekend - that's the next time I'm off in the tent. It's bound to pour down again :)

Not a bad day after all

11:10, 2007-Jul-15 .. Link

Remind me never to blog when I depressed and it's the middle of the night. As it happens my birthday was quite a good day after all.

Vicky dragged me out of the house to an event over at Sutton Hoo. For those of you who don't know it's an ancient burial ground with burial mounds all over the shop. It's also home to some of Britain most important archeological finds.

They had a load of people from various re-inactment groups running around and was quite good fun. We met our friends Fred and Jim there and they invited us over for a birthday BBQ.

I had a fun day celebrating with my friends.

It's 1.52 am and I can't sleep

01:54, 2007-Jul-14 .. Link

I have been so tired over the last few weeks. I been feeling light headed and having dizzy spells, forgetting what I'm talking about in mid sentence. Went to the Doctor yesterday and got sent for blood tests.

This evening I collapsed into bed at about 7 and slept for about 4 hours. Now I'm wide awake and thinking..... not a good place to be.

There are times when I so don't understand me, what makes me tick and why I react the way I do. I seem to have a infinite capacity for self destruction which I just don't understand.

I'm 45 today which probably why I'm up so late talking shit. I need to get a grip - it's just a number.

The wait is over

09:15, 2007-Jul-7 .. Link

Well the new Macbook arrived yesterday and this is my first posting from it. I'm very happy with it but it's going to take a while to get things just so.

Apple provide a utility to transfer all of your files and applications from you old computer to the new one but my old G4 has a problem with the firewire bus and the utility can't see the drives I need it to. I'm going to have to back-up the drive it can see then clone my system system disk on the visible drive and then with luck I'll be able to move all my apps across.

I have moved my music across and set-up my bluetooth keyboard and mouse. My mobile is all synchronized as well, so I'm getting there. Just waiting for a 3 hour back-up of all my photos to complete.

Extreme ironing

12:56, 2007-Jul-6 .. Link

Confession time Dear Reader. I have a secret, a deep dark secret, a secret that I have kept from my closest dearest friends - oh and the boys at BURPS. I like ironing.

Up until a few months ago ironing was something I struggled with, it was something only done when I had no choice and then it was done badly. I was a chore, a waste of time, something I would do anything to avoid. That all changed overnight and the pain that was ironing was gone. In its place was ironing that I enjoy, take pride in and find very relaxing.

What changed? Well my best beloved (that’s you Vicky) bought me a steam press. Yes - a gadget that does ironing !! and does it very well. Don't get me wrong, it didn't turn me into an expert ironer just a competent one but it's made a big difference.

It's a lot quicker, I get better results and I enjoy doing it. I now make time to iron something before I go out. Anyway for the guys out there who are still stuck in Ironing Hell I thought you could use a little instruction.

A penguin walks into a bar

07:57, 2007-Jul-5 .. Link

A penguin walks into a bar, and says to the barman,

"My brother was in here earlier, have you seen him?"

The barman replies, "I don't know. What does he look like?"

The long wait

07:50, 2007-Jul-5 .. Link

A few months back I blogged (therefore I am) about getting a new computer. I'm here to tell you dear reader that I have now ordered the said computer and it should be with me tomorrow.

I didn't go for an iMac in the end, but for one of the newly updated Mac Books. I would have liked the gone for the black one but Apple insist on charging you about £70 just for the colour. I'm a fan..... but there are limits. As I work for an educational establishment I did get a good discount so I'm a happy bunny.

I've tidied up my old G4 ready to transfer everthing across so all I have to do now is wait....... and wait ....... and wait.

Wii have take off

08:35, 2007-Jul-3 .. Link

One of the little jobs around the house I did when Vicky was away was to trade in old xbox and a shed load of games for a Nintendo Wii. I got £70 on my trade in which didn't think was 2 bad.

I also picked up a copy of "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". I have to say I'm very impressed with the easy of use of the Wii's control system, it adds a lot to the action. It's no more difficult to master than a standard control pad but you feel a lot more involved in the game.

I'm a natural when it comes to console games, unfortunately that's Naturally crap so I haven't got very far into the game but I'm enjoying it.

My wireless network has been playing up since I reconfigured it to work with the Wii. I think it was clashing with the one next door so I've had to reconfigure the thing from the ground up. I have decided not to push things and not to use the Wii on it (It didn't do a lot anyway).

tastefulpixels

01:09, 2007-Jul-2 .. Link

Hi to all my loyal readers (welcome to the pair of you)

I've had my arm twisted by Jeeps and done a show of my Photo's over at tastefulpixels

Please drop by and let me know what you think.

Makeover Update

12:59, 2007-Jul-2 .. Link

Well I've been trying hard over the last week or so and not always getting it right. I am to be honest, a bum and at heart and would much rather be lounging around the house than tidying it up. However the house is now looking a lot better.

By moving some stuff around, making 2 trips to the dump and filling several large rubbish sacks we now have a lot more storage space. Still a long way to go but it's a start.

Two penguins are walking.............

12:51, 2007-Jul-2 .. Link

Two penguins are walking across an iceberg. One penguin turns to the other and said,

"You look like you're wearing a tuxedo."

The second penguin replies, "Maybe I am."

Operation Makeover

12:49, 2007-Jun-16 .. Link

Vicky has gone away for a few days so I'm going to be all on my own, but fear not dear readers for I will have plenty to do. I'm about to launch Operation Makeover.

Vicky hasn't been well for a while and with my busy life the housework has suffered a bit. So I have decided I'm going to do everything I can to clean up over the next week or so. Tomorrow I'm going to start chucking stuff out so we have room to store everything away. I'm NOT going get rid of any of Vicky's stuff that would not be fair but I can cut down on all the crap I have hanging around.

The hope is that if I can get the house tidy I can then get a cleaner in to keep on top of things.

I'll keep you posted as to how I get on.

Tinkering

01:07, 2007-Jun-14 .. Link

After my last blog post I have been noticing how great some of my fellow EFXers have made their blogs look. Not that there was anything wrong with my borrowed design - apart from a few little things I could put up with. Which led to "well I wish I could just change that" which led to "why aren't these notifications from Keith written in English" which led to "so that's how you change the colour of that bit of text"

Thanks to everyone who has been posting help and tips.

Restyle Fallout

01:14, 2007-Jun-11 .. Link

Although I work in IT there are somethings that I consider to the the back arts of Information Technology.

The things only masters of the dark arts perform, and only then when backed up by having a black cockerel and silver sickle to hand if things go pear shaped. Things like HTML code and making sense of it.

Restyle !! - Bugger I thought. Never quite got to grips with the whole blog design thing, just lucky to find one I could rip off when I joined.

Anyway huge thanks to KingOfAnkh for posting a design I could rip off, thus maintaining my 100% record in blog design plagiarism.

Confession Time

12:48, 2007-Jun-4 .. Link

It's been a while since I did a diet update and as you might have guessed I haven't been loosing a lot of weight over the last few weeks. For various reasons I haven't been sticking to my plan.

I clambered onto the scales this week and expected a nasty shock, but instead received a nice one. I weighted in at 16 stone 1 pound. Now I have a choice, I can carry on as I am at the moment and maintain the weight I'm at, or I can try and loose some more.

My heart really isn't in trying to loose more but I'm afraid if I stop now I'll backslide and start to put the pounds on again.

The bad news is that you dear reader will start getting the weekly updates again.

Lightroom sample shots

12:43, 2007-Jun-2 .. Link

As Taken

Final Colour Version

Fianl Monochrome Version

Total proceesing time for both images about 10 minutes in Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom

01:16, 2007-Jun-1 .. Link

I've been playing around with Adobe Lightroom recently. It a combination of photo catalog and processing software. It's designed for processing .RAW files but will handle just about any type of image file.

I'm seriously impressed with it's ease of use and I've got some fantastic results with it. It's doesn't cost the earth either - about £130.

I've found it takes me far less time to process my images and keeping track of them has never been simpler for me.

I'll add some before and after images once I get a chance.

If you've got lightroom already my mate Sid runs the lightroomextra site. It's worth a look and you can order some good stuff through him.

A bit under the weather

01:16, 2007-May-29 .. Link

This weekend was one of the wettest on record for a holiday weekend in the UK. Where was I? Camping for the first time.

"Why?" I hear you cry dear Reader. The answer is to do with my passion for photography. I have a couple of friends called Fred and Jim. They own a caravan and are members of the Photogroup, which is a sub-section on the caravaning and camping club. At over 400 members it's one of the largest photography clubs in the country drawing it's membership from all over the UK.

These guys just aren't happy snappers, many of them are serious photographers. I was lucky enough to be asked to be a selector for a competition we were having with a couple of local clubs during Saturday evening. The quality of the work was very impressive and we had a hard time selecting 10 prints from the 200 or so that were submitted. Oh, the the other 2 club were Smethwick and Solihull, 2 of the top clubs in the UK. We came last but only 8 points separated the 3 clubs. Not bad going seeing that Smethwick have been national print champions for 8 out of the last 10 years.

How did the camping bit go? We manged to survive okay on Saturday night. Not much water got into the tent but it was very cold. We were up at 6 in the morning and Vicky when for a hot shower to warm herself up. We spent the next 2 hours sitting out of the weather in the car with some hot drinks (we had a flask of hot water). During Sunday more water leaked into the tent making it unusable so we came home after the evenings entertainment. Got home about 2 in the morning only to find the roof was leaking due to a slipped tile. I managed to fix it and the damage was minimal - lucky we came home when we did.

Will we be going camping again? A weekend packed with quality photography and really nice people - you bet we will. Just as soon as I've finished Wringing out the sleeping bag.

Trash the planet - Play online

12:28, 2007-May-18 .. Link

An avatar in Second Life has a larger carbon footprint than the average Brazilian.

Ramblings of a sluggard

01:08, 2007-May-17 .. Link

I have been a bit slack keeping up with things here on EXF2. I've been just a bit busy over the last few weeks so something had to take a back seat.

Back in November I told you about the problems that had happened at my camera club and that due to the fact I was vice-chairman I was going to be running the club for a while. Well I've been doing most of the jobs for the club since then, however all that changed a couple of weeks ago when we had our AGM. I now have a full committee of people to help me run things. I have to admit that old Quack got so choked up with the vote of thanks people gave him that he had to get someone else to read out the Chairman's report.

I'm very passionate about the club and it was fantastic to see people coming forward to give their support.

You might have noticed the weekly report for my diet is missing this week. I was so embarrassed by last weeks effort just couldn't bring myself post the figures. I'm finding things hard going at the moment.

In fact it's not just my diet I'm having problems with. I feel as if I've strayed off the path a little. I'm lacking in focus in so many things at the moment, photography not excluded :)

It's not that there aren't a lot things happening in my life at the moment, in fact I'm very busy, I just feel detached from it all. I think it may be time for a holiday.

How to stop your PC overheating

12:27, 2007-May-11 .. Link

Don't give it a fur coat.

A US artist and inventor has combined IT and taxidermy to create a computer housed in a dead beaver.

Kasey McMahon, 34, from Los Angeles, spent three months creating his Compubeaver, reports Metro News.

And, in separate but related news, two more US inventors created a computer mouse housed in a real mouse.

Ms McMahon said of her Compubeaver: "I started thinking about the most ridiculous thing to put a computer into and decided it had to be a beaver.

"It looks at how nature relates to technology."

She bought the beaver ready-stuffed, before cutting out the foam insides with an electric kitchen knife. Once she had cut space for the computer tower, she reinforced it with fibreglass.

Meanwhile, biologist Christy Canida and environmental studies graduate Noah Weinsrein took the concept of a computer 'mouse' to its natural limit.

Both contribute to the Instructables website - which describes how to make similarly odd creations - and made the mouse using the skin of a real rodent bought dead from a US pet shop.

Un Encuentro

12:56, 2007-May-10 .. Link

I discovered Breed 77 a few years back. For those of you who have never heard of them, just about everybody I guess, they are a Metal band which hail from the sunny isle of Gibraltar. The music is nice and heavy with good vocals and shouty bits in all the right places. They manage somehow to blend in traditional Spanish guitars.

When I got an e-mail form Amazon telling me they had a new CD coming out I pre-ordered my copy. I wasn't put off by the fact it was a Spanish language CD. I reasoned that with a lot of bands you can't hear the vocal anyway, it's just the rythum of the vocals you listen to so I was not worried. Having said that the vocals on their work are usually quite clear and you are able to listen to them.

I'm a a bit disappointed that the CD doesn't seem to contain any new work, it just seems to be a reworking stuff they have released before. However it is very good and it think the Spanish lyrics add a great deal.

This is my favorite Breed 77 track. It's called Karma and from their first CD when their music had a heavier, raw feel to it.

I'll name that site in one

01:28, 2007-May-9 .. Link

All of these are legitimate companies that didn't spend quite enough time considering how their online names might appear ... and be misread.

These are not made up. Check them out yourself!

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that
represents any celebrity. Their Web site is www.whorepresents.com

2 . Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange
advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com

5. There's the Italian Power Generator company, www.powergenitalia.com

6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales ,
www.molestationnursery.com

7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there's always www.ipanywhere.com

8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is www.cummingfirst.com

9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
www.speedofart.com

Should have gone to Specsavers.....

08:33, 2007-May-7 .. Link

.... Like f**k I should.

I have, Dear readers, been suffering from eye strain over the last few weeks. I had my eyes tested back in January but had not got around to going a getting a new pair of glasses.

Off I went into town with my best beloved in tow. I went into specsavers a was very impressed by the deals on offer. I wear varifocals which with my prescription usually come out at £300 per pair. I could, they said, get 2 pairs for about £230. Bargain !!

Then I began to understand the true price. First I had to queue at the counter for some one to do the basic checks. This took about 15 minutes.

I then had to wait in the tiny seating area, which was full to overflowing. So full I had to give up my seat for an old dear who like she was going to keel over at any second. Another 45 minutes of my life gone.

Then I sat down with the f**kwhit who actually took my order. I went for the 2-4-1 varifocals offer one pair being sunglasses and one pair for normal use.
I checked with him sever times that all of the options were available with my prescription and varifocals. I paid, we left.

Fast forward 10 days when I'm in to pick up my specs. 10 minute wait that the counter and then 30 minutes in the seating area. Finally get to see the girl who's going to make sure everything is ok and fit my specs. Slight problem - standard vision lenses, not varifocals. Girl disappears into the back room for 15 minutes.

Every-time you deal with them they have to go into the backroom to get or check something. They are never gone less than 10 minutes. F**kwhit disappeared a couple of time taking my order, now she had done it. I looked around, the other tables were all full of customers, all the staff were out back checking something.

Anyway, they have to re-order my glasses, and it's going to cost me another £50 - well that's what they think :)

Week 18

08:17, 2007-May-6 .. Link

Weight 15 stone 13 pounds (223 pounds) A loss of 2 pounds, Total loss 32 pounds.

Week 17

10:30, 2007-Apr-30 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 1 pounds (225 pounds) A loss of 1 pounds, Total loss 30 pounds.

Week 16

07:27, 2007-Apr-22 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 2 pounds (226 pounds) A loss of 6 pounds, Total loss 29 pounds.

I'm very pleased with myself. I have achieved my first target on my diet. According to my BMI calculator I'm not longer obese - I'm just overweight now :)

I'm almost back on track with my diet, another good week will see back on schedule. Having said that I'm only 2/3 of the way through my diet so a lot of hard work is still in front of me.

Thanks everyone for the support.

BUPRing the night away

01:01, 2007-Apr-19 .. Link

I had a goodnight at BURPS last night, in fact the last few weeks have be very good. John moved into a new house a few weeks ago so we have a new meeting place. I have to admit to being slightly envious of his new accommodation.

I took along Illuminati which is a game we haven't tried before and it seemed to go down quite well.

Although G.man wasn't there he came in for a fair amount of flak for puking out of the window of my car on the way home last week. His image as a hardened IT contractor who can drink anyone under the table has been shattered and I think it's fair to say he will have the piss taken out of him for a while to come.

We have arranged to hit the mean streets of Bury St Edmunds for a curry night next week. Barbarian horde of 4 so be warned if you are in the area.

Sometimes you just can't beat chillin with your friends.

Muffled

01:32, 2007-Apr-18 .. Link

I have never been good with written words. For instance in primary school I was in the remedial class for reading. I have a suspicion that I’m an undiagnosed dyslexic. I have a lot of the symptoms, I can’t pronounce a new word when I see it written down, I tend to transpose digits when writing down numbers and I have all of the organisational skills of a heavily stunned wombat.

That’s not to say I don’t enjoy reading, it just presents me with a few problems. For example when I read Lord of the Rings when I was younger I had to memorise all of the similar names as I didn’t know what they sounded like. In fact I didn’t know how to pronounce any of the names of any of the characters until I started to discuss the books at the first ever role-playing club I went to.

Names present me with particular problems at work as I can’t work out how to pronounce someone’s name from the spelling.

I’m very self conscious when it comes to writing stuff. My handwriting is appalling so no one will know how bad my spelling is. Everything has to go through a spell checker. The result of this is that when I write stuff it’s never as I would say it. Sometimes I spell things so badly the checker can’t correct it and I have to use another word. I can’t write as I speak so in effect I’m slightly muffled all the time.

Often can’t spot where a spell checker has substituted words for me. It can take me several proof readings for me to spot an error. Sometimes I don’t.

Anyway what I would like to say to my readers is thanks for reading me, and I’m sorry for the errors I don’t catch.

Week 15 - Not good

08:14, 2007-Apr-16 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 8 pounds (232 pounds) A gain of 2 pounds, Total loss 23 pounds.

Not a good week. Had to eat out a few nights towards the end of the week and I ate far too much over the weekend. I really must try to get back on track this week or I'm going to loose what I have archived so far. This is going to be a make or break week. Either I get back on my diet or the whole thing is going to collapse around me.

Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be............

01:07, 2007-Apr-13 .. Link

It's been a busy week for me this week. Tuesday evening I was out a Beyond Group meeting, Wednesday I was BURPing (I drove home with G.man being sick out of my car window - but that's another story). Yesterday my other photo club BSEPS hosted 8 other clubs for a 9 way photo competition which took some organising.

So tonight Matthew, I'm going to be........ vegging out in front of the telly catching up on all the stuff I've recorded on my freeview box, while eating my easter egg and swigging Vodka laced coffee. (That's the cheep supermarket Vodka not the good sipping stuff).

Blood, sweat and tears

01:08, 2007-Apr-10 .. Link

Mainly Blood :(

I have joined the ranks of the many EXFers who seem to have done themselves harm over the Easter weekend.

I was back in the garden yesterday and I was using my new mini hedge trimmer. I lost concentration for a second and ended up nearly slicing the top off my thumb. Claret everywhere !!

Just a deep gash thank the powers that be, and not the amputation it could easily have been. After it was padded up for me by my best beloved I was able to cram a gardening glove on and I was able to carry on.

I have to admit it is a tad awkward typing at the moment.

Quack's Labyrinth

08:35, 2007-Apr-8 .. Link

As promised here are a few new photo's of the garden.

The shed is now painted and I don't think it's looking to bad. I've put a trellis on the front and I'm going to try and grow some sweet peas on it.

I went to a garden show and on Friday and picked up the guy. I've decided to call him Pan - big fan of the labyrinth.

Also picked up this chap - I think I'm going to call him Loki.

I was going to put him on the front of the shed but when I hung him up the front of the shed bowed out. Looks like I'm going to have to concrete a post in for him.

I have some planting to do tomorrow but this evening I sat and watched the sun go down and relaxed. I guess that's what all the work is about, creating something to enjoy.

Week 14

08:18, 2007-Apr-8 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 6 pounds (230 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 25 pounds.

The time has come.......

01:19, 2007-Apr-4 .. Link

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings" of of course about a new computer for old Quacksplat.

As most of you know dear readers I spend most of my working day fixing PC's. That why I'm going to buy me a brand new Apple Mac.

While I work with PC's I do not enjoy using them so for me a Mac is the only choice. Besides being a matter of personal choice there are a few advantages for me using a mac.

The main one being "Aperture" Apple's own image processing and library software. A very smart piece of software which is going to make my life a lot easier and the creative process run a lot more smoothly.

The other advantage is going to using the next release of the Apple OS called Leopard which should be with use in a few months. From what I've seen it will be a very impressive piece of work.

So all I have to do now is up and buy the thing and I'll be the owner of a bright, shiny iMac. There is however on small niggle. Apple have not updated the iMac for about 9 months now so an update is about due. Do I wait, and wait, and wait until it comes out sometime or do I jump now?

I'm going to jump......... but not just yet.

Four-legged duck update

12:28, 2007-Apr-4 .. Link

A four-legged duck has become a celebrity at a farm in Hampshire.

Stumpy came under the glare of the media spotlight as he made his swimming debut at the Warrawee Duck Farm in Copythorne.

He has appeared in national newspapers, websites and the Richard and Judy Show and is set to appear on ITV's This Morning show.

Stumpy swam for 15 minutes in a children's sandpit filled with water under the watchful eye of owner Nicky Janaway, reports the Hampshire Gazette.

Nicky said: "He thoroughly enjoyed himself and will be swimming every day now. As soon as he saw the paddling pool you could see he knew what it was and wanted to get in it straight away.

"He's doing absolutely brilliantly and even has a girlfriend called Alice now. During the swim she was squeaking and he was quacking because they missed each other and she obviously felt a bit left out.

"But he laps up the attention and is becoming quite the celebrity. He's a little bit of an exhibitionist."

Shoutbox spam

01:26, 2007-Apr-3 .. Link

I've been getting a lot of spam in my shoutbox of late. In fact it's been pretty much unusable for anyone visiting.

I have now deleted all of the spam and I hope this will mean that people can start leaving shouts for me again. I just hope it doesn't start to fill up again.

If anyone has any tips for dealing with this problem please get in touch.

Hop along

01:12, 2007-Apr-3 .. Link

After my recent rant about the school kids on the train and how much I was looking forward to the Easter school holidays it looks like I'm not going to get the benefit.

I was working in the garden over then weekend and went over on my ankle - not once but twice. The soreness seemed to work off as I kept pottering* around. At the end of the afternoon I tidied up and went in for a well earned cup of coffee. After about half an hour sitting down with my coffee I stood up to go and have a bath. That's when the pain hit.

My ankle had a tennis ball sized lump on the side of it. I had my bath and then was whisked down to A&E by my best beloved. After a 3 hour wait I got the see a doctor who confirmed that it was just a sprain.

When I got up on Monday there was no way I was going to be able to walk down to the station or manage a day at work if I drove in so I took a day off sick. I'm back in the office today but I'll have to drive in for the rest of week so I won't be on the train the enjoy the absence of the brats.

I did get a lot done in the garden over the weekend. 2 water butts fitted onto the shed to collect water, I moved my compost bin and got a huge amount of good compost out of it and 2/3 of the shed is now painted green.

More pictures when its all green :)

* Pottering - To busy one's self with trifles; to labor with little purpose, energy, of effect; to trifle. Nothing to do with boy wizards - honest. Don't want you to think I was prancing around the garden in a robe and pointed hat. But now that I've mentioned it, you probably think that's just what I was doing. Well you're wrong ok?? Stop smirking

week 13

07:08, 2007-Apr-1 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 7 pounds (231 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 24 pounds.

Bad day at the office ?

12:59, 2007-Mar-29 .. Link

Stress levels are way up at work. Not just me this time as my team faces what seems to be a mountain of work. To be honest I'm not handling it very well and feel exactly like I did last year when I had to have time off. One by one the symptoms are reappearing.

The constant tension in my neck and shoulders has now become a constant back ache and I have lost my sense of humor. I'm not exactly good natured with our user base right now. Judging from the taste in my mouth acid reflux is next on the list.

There doesn't seem to be any end in sight. I inquired in HR today about a new member of staff I had been promised only to be told there was a problem with the paperwork. That has put a potential start date bad at least 3 weeks. The cavalry may be be coming, but not any time soon :(

London Tube escalator 'ski-stunt'

01:30, 2007-Mar-28 .. Link

"London Underground (LU) today condemned the action of a stuntman who skied down a Tube escalator.

The Norwegian hurtled down a 300ft escalator at Angel station in north London in a filmed display which was shown on the internet."

Couldn't believe this when I saw it dear readers. Please let me know what you think.

The daily commute

01:13, 2007-Mar-28 .. Link

I find myself looking forward to the Easter holidays with some anticipation. "Why Quack?" I hear you cry dear readers. It's not because I get 4 days off over Easter, it's because the train will be empty of the appalling children I usually have to share the journey with.

Cambridge is home to a number of private schools which provide an education for those parents willing to pay for it. There are 3 in easy walking distance of the station and the trains I catch are always half full of screaming, shouting, unruly brats. They are just so rude and inconsiderate, they can make the journey a misery.

Twice I'll admit I have lost it with these little darlings, once after being elbowed in the face while 2 of them were play fighting and once after having my chair kicked repeatedly for half the journey. After my verbal tirade on both occasions the carriage was blissfully silent, but it shouldn't have to be that way.

They just seem to lack some basic manners and consideration for others - maybe the train is the one place they can let of steam without either their parents or teachers keeping an eye on them. I don't really care because sometimes the journey really does suck - big time.

So now each day I arrive at the station with the anticipation that it will be devoid of brats and I'll have a peaceful commute.

Any day now......... any day now....... :)

Helpdesk quote of the week

01:39, 2007-Mar-27 .. Link

Paul - "I'll be Kiki Dee"

Football Rant

12:50, 2007-Mar-26 .. Link

I am not a huge football fan and I don't support a team, but I do enjoy a good game of football. (OK I'll admit I do look out for the Man Utd scores but only because my Dad used to follow them).

One team I do support is England. It's just something in way I am. I take pride in being English and like to support any of our national teams but when it come to the English football team I do make an effort to watch their matches.

Like I said I don't watch a lot football, I'm no expert when it comes to tactics and no I can't explain the offside rule, but even I can see there is something very wrong at the heart of the national team.

The English players don't play as if they really care. If you look at the way other teams have played for example the Scots, the Irish and the English under 21's you could see the passion and see how much it meant to them to be playing for the national squad. The English seniors just seem to be happy with just doing enough. Bugger giving 110% we are lucky if we see 40% out of them.

If they put in these performances in the premier league they would be dropped from first team without a shadow of a doubt, I think the same has to happen in the English team. Pulling on an England shirt should mean something.

As a fan I'd rather we played a squad who care about what they are doing rather than a team of superstars who couldn't give a toss.

Royal Photographic Society

05:59, 2007-Mar-25 .. Link

I had never intended that this blog would become a diary of my trials and tribulations in photography. I should have know better as my photography is a major part of my life, it stands to reason it would be a major part of my blog.

I spent today at an RPS assessment day in Foxton village hall, which is about 15 miles south of Cambridge. The main point of the day was for photographers to get some idea what standard the RPS are expecting for their distinctions and for you to be able to submit your work for review to see if it meets those standards.

The day was a real eye opener for me as the RPS treat photography in a completely different way to the camera club environment I'm used to. In club photography each image is taken on it's individual merits and stands on it own. The RPS take a more encompassing view of a photographers work. They review your work as panels of pictures and are looking at the technical skills and artistic interpretation over the body of work presented.

So quite a different environment, how did I do? Well the panel I presented came up as the last to be looked at in the digital section I was being assessed for. Sitting there watching the six other panels being taken to bits did nothing for my nerves.

When my work came up the guy assessing the work liked most of what I had done and said if I played to my strengths and did a little more work he expected I would do very well if I was to submit my work for for some distinctions. My pictures showed a strong sense of design and I was starting to develop personal style.

Yesterday when I prepared my work I was confident I would do well but I was surprised at how well it went in the end.

Nice to know I seem to have my act together in one part of my life at least :)

Week 12

06:58, 2007-Mar-25 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 8 pounds (232 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 23 pounds.

Week 11

05:25, 2007-Mar-19 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 10 pounds (234 pounds) A gain of 2 pounds, Total loss 21 pounds.

I was in the car last week so no walking to the station, this combined with a trip down to see Mum over the weekend was not good news. I am bit depressed about the results for this week but I'm going to try and get back on my diet and cut out all the treats that have been creeping in.

My first Exhibition Award

06:37, 2007-Mar-18 .. Link

"Dear Peter,
I am delighted to tell you that your image "I told you not to buy a black
one" has been awarded Bon-a-Slide Ribbon as a Judge's Choice by Allan
Gawthorpe. Congratulations!

You are warmly invited to attend and receive your medal at the opening of
the Exhibition on Saturday 31 March at 2 pm in Bon-Accord Camera Club rooms
at 86 Spring Garden, Aberdeen.

Please let me know if you will attend.

Yours sincerely,

Douglas Anderson
Salon Secretary"

Unfortunately I can't go a collected my award :(

Technical Support

01:10, 2007-Mar-15 .. Link

Technical Support is what I do for a living and most of the time I enjoy my work. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know I went through a very sticky patch a while back when I was off work with stress.

Over the last few weeks the pressure has started to increase again. The day to day routine work is not a problem but we are increasingly being asked to support various new IT projects. It's now reaching the stage where we just can't keep up with things.

However I feel an answer may be at hand.

Guardians of the garden

06:53, 2007-Mar-11 .. Link

Sammath

The new boy

Sammath has been guarding my shed for the past 5 years and has been doing a fine job as it never been broken into.

However as part of my garden campaign I've decided to recruit "the new boy" as back-up as part of my zero tolerance towards the cats who keep crapping in the new flower bed.

Of course I can't keep calling him that so I hereby launch my grand name the Gargoyle competition. No prize but you will have the glory of naming this fine fellow.

Week 10

08:11, 2007-Mar-11 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 8 pounds (232 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 23 pounds.

Bored at Lunchtime.........

01:19, 2007-Mar-9 .. Link

.......so I decided to spend a little time poking around on Youtube and I stumbled upon this.

Which I thought was rather good. I hope you do too.

What to do with an old ipod

06:44, 2007-Mar-9 .. Link

I've been a huge fan of the ipod for many years. In fact as soon as the original model launched in the UK I got one. It was the first Apple product I ever owned, although I had work with Apple Macs for years.

I never though of disposing of old kit in this way though.

Mother Superior called all the nuns together.......

03:47, 2007-Mar-8 .. Link

Mother Superior called all the nuns together and said to them, "I must tell you all something. We have a case of gonorrhoea in the convent."

"Thank God," said an elderly nun at the back. "I'm so tired of chardonnay."

Ikea Adverts

12:29, 2007-Mar-6 .. Link

Sometimes what's on the Telly between the programs is better than the programs.

Mind you there are some ad's on the telly I don't quite understand or know what product is being advertised. For example the one with people dragging houses around the streets as if the were on wheels - I have no idea what that one is about. A marketing budget well spent ?

The most annoying has got to be the cillit bang avert with that pratt Barry Scott shouting his head off. Someone looking for a slap I feel :)

Free Lens Hoods

10:50, 2007-Mar-5 .. Link

Useful link for all the photographers out there.

http://www.lenshoods.co.uk/

Go to to the site. Find the lens hood you want, download the PDF, Print out, cut along the lines and fold to create a lens hood of your choice.

Do let me know if the work for you.

Thanks to Paul who gave me the link.

View of the Garden

12:23, 2007-Mar-4 .. Link

As I have spent most of my week off working on the garden I thought I'd better post a photo so you can see what I have been up to.

The bed on the left is the new one , while the one on the right has just been tided up.

Bottom right you can see our lucky Buddha and further up the garden on the left is our lawn dragon Oolong (Chinese for Black Dragon his name was inspired by the character Mayland Long from the novel Tea with the Black Dragon, by R.A. McAvoy). I suppose he should be called a bark dragon now as I've dug up his bit of grass.

The patio at the top, in front of the shed, is going to be turned in a vegetable garden. The shed itself needs to be pained this year and I've got to fit a water butt to the guttering.

All in all I'm feeling a bit proud of myself.

Helga and Ingrid

09:35, 2007-Mar-4 .. Link

I have been reading stories about peoples pets here on efx2 and they reminded me of Helga who was the last pet I owned.

When my friends and I were living down in Hastings we decided to get a dog. Our friend who ran a pet shop had a Swedish Vallhand and we decided that they seemed like a nice breed and wanted to get one. The breeder who our friends knew would give the white ones away as they could not be shown and we ended up with 2, Ingrid and Helga.

As the years went by and the dogs got older they became more and more my dogs and when the medical problems started it was me who picked up the bills. They started to sleep in my room on cold nights before it became every night and it was me who walked them.

Ingrid started to get very ill with a heart problem about the same time I started my fortnightly trips to Glasgow to see Vicky. When I came home one Sunday there was a note on my bed saying she had died over the weekend. I never quite forgave my friends for that one - they could have waited up for an hour or so until I got home.

When we finally sold the house my friends got custody of the cats and I got Helga. By this time she had problems of her own, she was deaf and had arthritis but with medication she was okay.

When we moved into the new house she developed separation anxiety and would start to howl when she could not see me. I'd leave the the house at 6 and be back around 5 in the evening and she would howl most of the day - didn't matter if Vicky was staying with me she would still howl all day.

One day I came home found her unable to walk. The arthritis had reached her spine. I rushed her down to the vet and I was told that they could give her a shot to fix the problem but it would just be a temporary fix and maybe it was time to let her go. It was the hardest thing I have ever done to hold her while she passed away but I loved her and couldn't just leave her. She was 17 and the picture above was then about six month before she died.

I have many happy memories of Helga and Ingrid and miss them a great deal. One day I hope I will have time in my life to look after another dog.

Week 9

07:52, 2007-Mar-4 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 9 pounds (233 pounds) A Loss of 3 pounds, Total loss 22 pounds.

I have had this week off from work. I have been doing lots of odd jobs around the house and garden. In fact I've spent the last 4 days on and off in the garden.

I've been sleeping very well because of all the physical work and ache all over but it been worth the effort because the garden is looking very good. No plants in it yet but 2 nice flower beds with anti weed matting and covered in bark chips.

Gardening has often been touted as being a good method of exercise, something I've been a bit dubious of up until now.

With the return of longer evenings I'm hoping to be able to more gardening when I get home from work during the week.

Beer-drinking duck understands Chinese

06:44, 2007-Mar-2 .. Link

A Chinese man says his beer-drinking pet duck can understand him

Grandpa Cao takes six-year-old Yaya for a walk through Dalian city every day, reports Northeast News Network.

"He understands every instruction I give him, such as to tumble or to fly. But when he's tired he turns his back on me," says Cao.

He feeds Yaya on peanuts mainly, but says he also enjoys shrimp and other sea food as snacks - with a beer.

"When he eats, he needs a bowl of beer, otherwise he won't be happy," added Cao.

Story borrowed from ananova

St Ives Interprint

09:51, 2007-Feb-25 .. Link

Interprint is a photographic print competition hosted each year by St Ives Photographic club.

Unfortunately we had the same judge as the Cambridge digital competition had back in January. The judge was as bad last last night as he was then showing off his personal prejudices and inconsistent marking.

The Beyond Group came in 4th which was not a bad result considering.

My other Club BSEPS did not do so well coming in second from bottom. The judge was partially savage with his comments and took almost a spiteful glee in in destroying people work, not just for our work but generally. Not something a judge is supposed to do. It was heart rending to listen to in places.

The worst thing a judge can do is to be so over the top that his comments make someone think they have no photographic talent and they should give up. I know he would have had that effect on some of the members from BSEPS had they been there to hear him and that is unforgivable.

Week 8

09:20, 2007-Feb-25 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 12 pounds (236 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 19 pounds.

I'm very lucky to have lost anything this week. Due to circumstances I ended up up eating out for 5 meal this week. I still have a lot of trouble controlling myself when temptation is placed in my path. I think the only reason I did loose weight is because I was off sick on Wednesday with diarrhoea and I was off my food for a couple of days. I don't however recommend it as a weight loss method.

Exhibition Success

12:46, 2007-Feb-20 .. Link

I got some more good news in the post today. My slide Lobby was accepted for the FESTICOLOR 2007 Competition in Belgium.

This is my first solo International Exhibition Success. To date this has been my most successful image.

Me - CPAGB

07:48, 2007-Feb-19 .. Link

One of the things I forgot to mention about yesterday's photographic event was that I got the certificate for my CPAGB (A credit award for Photographic Alliance of Great Britain)

I was dead chuffed and it's a moment I will remember forever.

Four-legged duckling

12:14, 2007-Feb-19 .. Link

A four-legged duckling has been born at a duck farm in Hampshire.

A rare mutation has left the bird, named Stumpy, with an extra two legs behind the two he runs about on.

The creature would not survive in the wild, but Nicky Janaway, who runs the farm in the New Forest, said: "We will make sure he's OK and hopefully he will carry on running around and using the extra two legs as stabilisers."

John Durnell, head of conservation for the West Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, said: "I have never heard of anything like this in my life, and I have been birdwatching for more than 30 years."

A duck with four legs was born in Queensland, Australia in 2002, but died soon afterwards.

A grand day out

08:12, 2007-Feb-18 .. Link

Today the Beyond Group took part in the EAF Photographic Slide Championships. Last year this was the first event the Beyond Group had entered together and was also the first we won. This event is used to select the 2 clubs with will represent the Federation at the National Championships later this year.

Although we have pre-qualified for that event there was no doubt we would try and defend our title this year. The competition is divided into 2 parts. In the first part each of the 30 or so clubs competing will summit 10 slides. Each is marked by 3 judges and given a score from 2 - 5. This means the range of marks for each slide is 6-15. The top 10 clubs in part 1 will carry their scores forward and compete in part 2. At the end of part 1 today the beyond group were in second place 1 point behind with a score of 121 (an average score of 12 per slide)

In the second part each club submitted 15 slides. At the end of that round the Beyond Group were equal 1st with Ware and District PS. Both clubs having a combined score of 295 ( an average score of 11.8)

We were both invited to put in our 5 reserve slide to break the dead lock. We won the final round with a total score of 355 (average of 11.8), by 2 points.

To put the icing on the cake one of our members, Rusty, was awarded best slide of the day.

My own work got the following scores:

12 "I told you not to buy a black one"
10 "Growing old disgracefully"
11 "Pigs in winter sun".

I will post these later so you can have a look at them.

All in all a grand day out all round.

Week 7

07:05, 2007-Feb-18 .. Link

Weight 16 stone 13 pounds (237 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 18 pounds.

Confrontation

10:02, 2007-Feb-17 .. Link

I absolutely hate being in a confrontational situations and go to great lengths to avoid it. I'm usually the one who backs down or seeks compromise but that in turn can lead to a lot of stress and bottled up tensions. That's what I do I avoid confrontation, well until last Sunday.

Vicky and I were on our way back home last Sunday after a shopping trip to Ipswich - I know but it was a day out. We hadn't made any plans for dinner so we decided to go to a Pub and get fed.

We were enjoying our dinner when I became aware of a conversation on the other side of the restaurant. The guys voice had been getting louder and louder, not it a rowdy way, he was just talking a bit loud. I couldn't hear the people on the tables around us, but I could hear him over the background music and he was a good 30 feet away.

Normally I could have ignored it but he was talking about various medical problems he had had. When he got to the heart surgery I had had enough. After all I was eating my dinner.

I got up, went over and I my calmest voice and I the politest way I asked him to either change the subject of his conversation or to lower his voice. A stunned look came over his face and I returned to my table to enjoy the rest of my meal.

I'm now able to enjoy my dinner and notice the guy, his partner and a young boy all get up and leave about 10 minutes later, or so I thought.

A couple of minutes later and he's at my table berating my for being so rude as to interrupt his conversation and embarrassing him in front of his son. I exchanged a few words with him, I can't remember what I said but it was nothing nasty just a defence of my actions, and then he said I must have been deliberately eavesdropping because the music was quite loud so I must have made the effort to listen to him.

At this point I almost lost the plot. My temper was fraying and look must have passed over my face. Vicky looked at me and said "Just leave it Peter, he's not worth it" in her best Glaswegian. The guy suddenly went pale and disappeared.

Looking back at the situation I'm sure I was not out of order in asking him to lower his voice and had no intention of belittling him him the eyes of his son. However I did not handle the situation well when he came to my table. At that point I should have tried to avoid further confrontation by just listening to what he said and not reacting.

Maybe it would have been best to have said nothing at all - I don't know to be honest.

When things started to change

01:38, 2007-Feb-16 .. Link

A few years back I was quite happily living my life. At that time I was living with my friends and had been doing for about 20 years. Over the years things had changed and we were no longer a group of friends, they were a married couple with kids and I was they guy who lived with them

At the time I didn’t realise how abusive the relationship had become. All of my decisions were made for me and I had little say in what went on. Over the years my personality had become submerged but at the time I thought I was happy.

When I started to commute every other weekend to visit Vicky in Glasgow (one side effect of internet dating) their influence on me was significantly weakened and my own personality began to emerge again. One of the things I started to do was to buy music again and one of the first CD’s I bought was Linkin Parks – Hybrid Theory.

At the time I was totally blown away and still love the CD today. I rediscovered my love of heavy rock music and slowly began to get my life back.

About 18 months after I met Vicky for the first time we sold the house my friends and I jointly owned and I bought a place of my own. I also spent the birthday money my Mum had given me on getting a tattoo – but that ‘s another tale

Club Life

12:50, 2007-Feb-16 .. Link

Since the trauma of last November things have settled down very nicely at Bury St Edmunds Photographic Society.

Although the role of acting Chairman of the society was rather thrust on to me I have done my best to adapt to the role. The schism in the club which I feared did not materialise. We did loose a couple of members but since Christmas about 6 people have joined the club so as far as membership goes we are doing great.

The society has a completely new, friendly, atmosphere with people chatting to each other and swapping hints and tips. There are no big ego’s and people just get on with things and help run the club.

Maybe the highlight for me over the last few weeks was when an ex chairman of the club (not the one who quit) came over to me and handed me something quite small. It was a badge saying “Chairman”. As I looked at it and he said “A lot of people are saying you’ll be needing this next year. You will stand for Chairman won’t you?”

Nice to know that people think I doing a good job and want me to carry on. I have say at the time I was a bit choked up but did manage to croak out a “yes” in answer to the question

Too boring to Blog?

01:09, 2007-Feb-15 .. Link

I’ve been blogging here on EFX2 since October of last year and I have enjoyed being part of the blogging community.

While I prefer to sit on the sidelines and don’t often post on other peoples blogs I do enjoy reading those I visit regularly.

I am slightly worried. Everyone else seems to have loads to talk about and seem to be having really good life experiences. Me? I just seem to stumble from day to day not really having much to say. I don’t tend to write much about my life because I think most of the things I do other people would find boring, but am I being boring by not writing about those things because I never have anything to say?

I think I might have mentioned I am by nature quite insecure and I’m quite convinced that most of the time I’m just talking bollocks anyway. People won’t want to read that. I mean I’m probably doing it at the moment. You’re probably sitting in front of your computer thinking “He’s talking bollocks” and me being me would have to agree with you.

I have realised while I have been babbling on that in a way I’m censoring myself. The one place I should be free to say what I like and I’m afraid of what people will think of me. How stupid it that?

Week 6

08:40, 2007-Feb-11 .. Link

Weight 17 stone 0 pounds (238 pounds) A Loss of 3 pounds, Total loss 17 pounds.

Very happy with this week. The craving for snack food is still strong but this week I managed to cope a little better.

Test Shots from new camera

01:10, 2007-Feb-10 .. Link

As promised here are some shots take on my new camera.

This one has a working title of "IS"

This one is called "Members Only"

Please let me know what you think of them.

The best girlfriend in the world - ever (Part 2)

12:45, 2007-Feb-8 .. Link

I've had my eye on a new camera and have been looking for a decent bridge camera for a few months.

A bridge camera combines a lot of the features of an SLR with the easy of use of a compact camera. The Fuji FinePix S9600 is a 9 mega pixel model with a very decent zoom range on the lens. It's small and light and very well suited to street photography. Something I have wanted to get into for a while now.

The results I've had are very good at low ISO’s but get a bit noisy from 400 ISO up. So far it’s nothing I haven’t been able to cope with in Photoshop.

The best thing about this particular one is that it was free !! A surprise present from Vicky.

I'll post some of my test shots when I have finished processing them.

Apple Ads

06:07, 2007-Feb-7 .. Link

I've been a big fan of the apple Mac vs. PC ads. This is the latest which I just love.

Anyone out there thinking of buying Vista? Wait until service pack 1 is out at least and then don't expect many of the advanced features to work on a PC much more than a year old.

My Stalker is back

12:47, 2007-Feb-6 .. Link

Yes it’s the return of the stress monster. He back lurking in the background and I get the occasional glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye.

I’m getting stressed at work again, I have a back log of work which I just can’t shift because I’m snowed under with new work. I’m also getting stress from other areas of my life but my home life is good at the moment which means I have some relief when I get home from work.

My boss has been very supportive since my problems last year so I going to go and talk to him and see if there is anything he can do to help.

Week 5

08:35, 2007-Feb-4 .. Link

Weight 17 stone 3 pounds (241 pounds) A Loss of 2 pounds, Total loss 14 pounds.

This week was the hardest so far. Temptation was rearing it's head at every opportunity. I gave in a few time so I think I've been a bit lucky to still loose some weigh this week.

DOCTORIN' THE TARDIS

12:49, 2007-Feb-1 .. Link

DOCTORIN' THE TARDIS - 18/06/1988
1 week at #1 - 9 weeks on chart

My best beloved, Vicky, suggested that this might be a good posting for my blog. I had a brief conversation with her the other day which started with me asking the question "I don't come across as being too much of a geek do I?" and ended with her in fits of laughter trying to explain I couldn't be more of a geek if I tried.

Anyway getting back to the video above I had no idea that the people behind this were actually the KLF. A band who in 1992 - when the BBC showed the Brits awards live - won best British group along with Simply Red. During their performance at the awards they fired blanks from a AK47 over the heads of the audience, before leaving the awards with the message "KLF have left the music industry". A motorcycle courier was sent to pick up their award. Bands these days just don't know how to misbehave.

'You can't keep a good duck down'

12:27, 2007-Jan-31 .. Link

A duck has shocked vets by escaping death for a second time.
The duck, named Perky, first survived being shot by a hunter and being stored for two days in his fridge.

The ring-neck shocked the hunter's wife by lifting her head when she opened the fridge door.

Vets said the duck needed surgery to the injuries to her wing, leg and beak.
During the operation her heart stopped prompting David Hale, a vet at a wildlife sanctury in Florida, to declare her officially dead.

He told staff: "We lost her. You know, the bird's dead and it's over. I'm sorry."
However, after a few seconds the bird made a few movements.

Mr Hale added: "Up comes the head and the wings start flapping and, honestly, what, 20 seconds later, I mean the bird was, like, up."

Veterinary nurse Noni Beck said: "I cried with joy. Perky is one tough duck."
Perky now has a pin in her wing, but is expected to make a good recovery.

From Ananova

Week 4

08:53, 2007-Jan-28 .. Link

Weight 17 stone 5 pounds (243 pounds) A Loss of 2 pounds, Total loss 12 pounds.

Skip to loo......

12:26, 2007-Jan-28 .. Link

Thanks to my mate Paul who sent me the link for this one. Is it just me or is this just one of those inventions we just don't need. Things like this and the self warming butter dish just seem to be a waste of thinking power.

Maybe the most useless gadget I saw was an oven you could put in a spare drive bay of a PC so you could warm snacks. As if most PC's don't run hot enough as it is. Warm day, just heat up my pie - oh PC crash due to thermal incident.

Does any one else have a favourite useless gadget?

It's Shat!!

01:04, 2007-Jan-26 .. Link

I'm a big fan of the big man, but I think this was one show too far. Viewing the trailer you can see some clues as to why it only lasted for 5 shows.

Why should you never replace your sandwich toaster?

12:27, 2007-Jan-26 .. Link

A: Better the Breville you know.

I know, I know but I just couldn't help myself.

River Plate 1 : Boca Juniors 0

01:16, 2007-Jan-24 .. Link

A young Argentinian footie fan who decided to celebrate his love for Boca Juniors by having the team's logo tattooed on his back paid the price for not adequately researching the body artist's own allegiances.

The tattooist was, unknown to the unnamed teen, a follower of rival club River Plate, and accordingly substituted a penis for the Boca Juniors' crest.

The victim - who is now suing the tattooist - lamented: "I could not see what he was tattooing because he didn't have a mirror. I only saw it when I got home and showed it to my parents."

The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/
By Lester Haines

Dove Evolution

06:08, 2007-Jan-21 .. Link

This is a video every young woman should see. It shows the truth of what goes into an advertising campaign photograph.

I use photoshop every day and I'm familiar with all of the techniques used in the film. However seeing them used in this particular way did leave me very uneasy.

I have used many of the same techniques when processing photographs of various people but I don't go to the extremes as shown here. After all I do want the people to recognise themselves and be happy about they way they look. I will adjust the light so it is more flattering and remove blemishes and tone down the effects of age with the goal of presenting the person with a photograph in which they look their very best and will be happy to put on show.

I know if I was presented with a photo of myself sporting the airbrushed fashion look it would never see the light of day and it would make me feel absolutely miserable about myself. I feel very sorry for the people out their looking at fashion adverts chasing an image it is impossible to attain.

Scary Numbers

05:00, 2007-Jan-21 .. Link

I have just been looking up some things on the old interweb and came away slightly shell shocked.

Did you know 1 pound of human fat contains 3500 calories?

And to maintain my original weight of 255 pounds I needed to eat bout 4100 calories per day. That is a scary number. The real shocker is that I was putting on weight so I was eating more than that.

I also did some playing around with a BMI calculator. I know they are not always right (most big, strong sportsmen come out as obese) but it's what my Doctor and Insurance company will use.

Playing around I have come up with a target weight of 13 stone (182 pounds).

My first milestone will be when I'm no longer classed as being obese. That will be 16 stone 3 pounds (227 pounds). Only another 18 pounds to go on that one then :@

Cambridge Digital Competition

11:13, 2007-Jan-21 .. Link

Yesterday the Beyond group competed in the Cambridge Digital Competition. It turned out to be a bad day for us.

All of our work was tried and tested images which have done well in loads of other competitions. The Judge on the day had a different view, which is fair enough and on the day it's his view that counts.

We came 13th out of about 35 clubs about seven points behind the winners who were Ipswich and District Photographic Society.

The good thing which will come out of yesterday will be that it will re-focus the energies of the group and remind us that any club can have a bad day. It's a good time for us to get a bit of a shock to the system as next month we compete the East Anglian Federation Slide Championship. This was the first major event we won and it would be nice the be able to successfully defend the trophy.

Week 3

03:21, 2007-Jan-21 .. Link

Weight 17 stone 7 pounds (245 pounds) A Loss of 1 pound, Total loss 10 pounds.

A little too much snacking this week and and Pub lunch yesterday did not help.

Ouch part 3

12:38, 2007-Jan-18 .. Link

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