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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Barcelona 2011

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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

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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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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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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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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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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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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Android Explosion

So I’ve had an Android device for around 18 months now.  Starting with a HTC Hero, moving on to the Nexus One, dabbling with the HTC Desire and Dell Streak before moving on to the Samsung Galaxy S and no on to the HTC Desire HD.  I’ve been very happy with each one and the Android OS is moving from strength to strength. In that time the OS was on 1.5 and it’s moved to 1.6, briefly 2.0 then 2.1 and now FroYo 2.2, with Gingerbread 2.3 on the horizon.

Two weeks ago, my Orange contract finally came to and end.  I had already bought my Desire HD SIM free, but I was able to upgrade to another free DHD and lower my monthly payments!  This extra DHD was then sold covering all by £30 of my costs.  It was funny to think Orange thought I was still on a HTC Touch HD, an old Windows 6.1 device…

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