Where in the World ?

What has happened to me, have I fallen off the Blogging world?,  did I go into hibernation?, did I defect to Wordpess ?

None of the above

• Facebook consumed most of my time.
• After refusing to use Twitter  for a while due to thinking it was just a 'Facebook status site', I  embraced it..... taking more of my time,
• After signing up to LinkedIn years ago, I connected to a couple of people and this quickly became very the tool of choice for my professional self, taking the remainder of my time.

I am now very much socially networked, in fact in the words of Klout I rank with the influencer/specialists with a 'Klout' of 53 (like anyone listens) doubting very much I have influence or any specialities (apart from geekdom and complaining about stupid rules and trying to enforce common sense).

Before you sign up, 'Nobody cares about your Klout score' written in 2011, although  a year old, is effectively 300 years old in the online/Social media world.

Finally topping off with timekillers Instagram, Words with Friends etc you have the answer to what has happened to me?
 
Update

 In the past couple of months (read 14 months) since my last update, I've absorbed new gadgets (more soon), a new bike (knocked off my old one), a nice holiday (Lanzarote), a nice weekend away (Haven), and seemingly am growing a grey beard.





eSWMBO/SWMBO v2.0
On a major development, SWMBO now has a Kindle so has entered into the digital world, she also has an iPhone 4 so has entered into the modern world too..

New years resolution (I know its June) - to blog more

So I will (try)

Happy Birthday to lots of people, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter.

'The following takes place between 2 August 2010 and 22 April 2011....'

So what's new I don't hear anyone ask or care.
I've been on holiday - and managed to avoid injury.No bumps no scratches, no hospital visit and more inportant no stiches. Even manages to do some 3 mile runs.

I have a new Bike Thanks you to Evans Cycles for making the price affordable meaning I was allowed to buy it. I've been out lota of times to Cannock Chase (fell off 3 times), the Chevin at Duffield (fell off once) and general riding anywhere off-road (no really fell off).

One fall at Cannock bent the front wheel which also changed to an oval shape, therefore new wheel was required.

I have a new Camera
I seem to have a run of bad look with cameras, my first Sony was a cheapy that I decided to sell and upgrade, my second Second was left in a pub, my third Sony went pop, I gave up on Sony. My first Panasonic Lumix went pop-whizz-bang, I gave up on Panasonic. I know have a Canon...... Surely not a bad choice.
I have a new phone It's an iPhone 4 - no Pictures necessary I guess

I have a new Bike
Not content with falling off my mountain bike, I thought I would try and fall off onto tarmac, so bought a road bike, at first I thought of a Hybrid but decided they were a 'neither-here-nor-there' bike and went all out. It's a 2010 model but £300 quid off so can't know it, especially when the 2011 model probably has a different coloured stripe (and nothing else).


I rode to work for charity
There I was, watching Chris Moyles do his bit for Comic Relief and made me feel guilty about how lucky I am to have my life, then I thought, 'I need to do something.... fun for charity' I then decided I would ride to work, and back again to try and raise some money. The problem is, this was decided on Wednesday, Comic Relief was Friday.....

I did it 18.5 miles each way and £280 raised from family and friends, you are all great people. Thank you x

I rode to Matlock to see if I could
.... The long way round, 44.5 miles on a Saturday morning with no stop for Fish & Chips... Not good.

I had a Christmas Card from my eldest children
This has got to be the highlight of last year, a Christmas card from Lauren and Ryan. This might not seem important to some, but is very important to me.

Lauren, Ryan - if you read this. Love ya lots and see you soon xxx

There, 8 and a half months summed up in 1 post written in around an hour, I really should update more.

4 Months Later

There I was sitting in my 'Advanced Sharepoint' training session, where we were being taught the blogging part of the software. The trainer said, well who reads blogs anyway? to which the wonderful Mrs Parker turned and said 'I read Damians'. - Cue an embarrassed Me.

Thanks Laura, and as promised, here is a blog dedicated to just you.
----------------Photo coming soon -----------------------
What is on my Blog? - 'gadgets and technology' she said

What's new in gadget land

As you may already know I ended up getting an iPhone despite being anti-apple and not wanting to jump on the apple bandwagon.

6 months on and am I happy with it?

I now have a HTC Desire....
Sitting in my windowsill at home, unused... and why?

Because it's not an iPhone, I agree it's improved loads since my HTC Magic (still the 2nd best phone I have ever owned), with its multi-touch screen and fantastic camera (with flash), but it's still not there. So yes I am still using my iPhone, I did have a while where I couldn't use it however due to an issue around it crashing

Which meant a restore
... Which meant an upgrade to the firmware (3.1.3)
..... Which meant I couldn't Jailbreak
......... Which meant I couldn't unlock
............Which meant I couldn't use it on Orange
................Which meant it was quite useless really.

Luckily those geeky people in unlock land came to my rescue in the form of the Spirit Jailbreak, and a bit of effort meant I was able to unlock it again, so my iPhone is back up and working again.

What Next

The iPhone 4

Although you can now Jailbreak the iPhone 4. It's apparently the easiest Jailbreak yet (you can do if from the iPhones web browser - www.jailbreakme.com), but you can keep your iPhone 4.

I can't believe apple could release a device that doesn't work properly (you have to hold it a certain way). How do they fix this - they telll you to hold it a certain way and give everyone a 'free' case.

Come on Jobsy - You're not Microsoft. Absorb the cost and recall them - ALL, fix them and send out working ones.

As it shows I'm in no hurry to get the iPhone 4. In fact after that shambolic release, I don't think I'd touch another apple device, certainly not something that's only just been released. I'm not the sort of person to jump-on-the-bandwag......

Oh wait - I have an iPad

Damn, I've done it again, 64Gb Wi-Fi,3G pleasure.
Jailbroken !!!!

There you go Laura !!!! an gadgety, techy, update.

...OK I'll go First then Shall I ?

My fellow bloggers out in blogworld appear to be as lazy as me and haven't bothered posting for a while so I'll get the ball (re) rolling.. (Cue Cookie, Tao et al)

Previously in Blog World

Remembering I was in love

... The Android / Magic / Google Phone.

What an amazing phone this was/is, take all previous smartphones, thrown them in a bag, add all the things missing from them, add a slighlty I-phoney marketplace interface and you have an Android phone.

Since my last post way back in June of last year, it seems the world has gone Android mad and a hell of a lot of phones have been release using this operating system, although I love mine loads, I am envious of the Nexus One, although wouldn't fork out silly (ANY) money for one.

One of the best applications to be released was Google Map Navigation, a FREE Sat Nav application/plugin to google map giving 3d, navigation using google streetmaps.

Perfect ...
So perfect it was only released in the USA, after a little bit of looking around, I managed to get mine working in good old blighty..... Until I updated google maps where they realised it was being used outside the US and plugged the hole (not much you can do when you need to connect to Google to get the map view).

More recently, an Archos (remember them) tablet has just been released, running Android too.

Go Google, take on the world

So after 6 months of having my Android, what do I think....

Brilliant, best phone I've ever had, get a 32Gb Micro SD Card for it and you almost have an iPhone...

ALMOST....

Sorry Androiders, I've turned to the dark side, iPoddy as ever, I now have an iPhone 32Gb 3GS.

The iPhone Well It had to happen didn't it, Over-Hyped, over subscribed, over here and over my dead body.

I now have an iPhone, I hate myself, I really do I said I would never jump on the bandwagon and get one and I've gone and got one. ( I also said I wouldn't get an iPod and it appears I have about 7).

Thoughts

Abso'kin'lutely brilliant.

CONS

• It doesn't have the 'cool factor' of the Android phones everyone and their children have an iPhone.
• It doesn't have the widget style interface that the Android phones have
• You need iTunes.... before you can even use the iPhone you have to connect it to a PC running iTunes. - who doesn't hate iTunes
• Apple own you - You are given the 'chance' to register your phone with Apple.
• Apple own you (2) - Apple decide what goes in their store and have just removed a lot of adult content from their store.
• Apple own you (3) - iTunes checks the software version of your iPhone and encourages you to download the lateste version (every flipping time you connect), the latest update (3.1.3) ruins the party for a lot of people as it prevents -Jailbreaking and unlocking (More on this later).
• The camera doesn't have a flash
• Battery life isn't brilliant
• The price or the tariff - £455 to buy outright or a daft tarriff if you go down that route

PROS

• Its an iPhone, a phone and an iPod in one
• The apps store is huge
• 32 GIGABYTES MAN, that's more than ANYONE will EVER need......isn't it? (No)
• Email - Yahoo mail, Gmail, Exchange mail - set up in less than 30 seconds and nothing to pay
• Safari - half decent web browser
• The first keyboardless device with an onscreen keyboard I can actually use.

PRO PROs

• Jailbreaking - Jailbreaking allows you to

• a) Use 2rd party apps that you wouldn't in the iTunes store
• b) use not so legal applications that you WOULD find in the iTunes store, however without the associated cost !!!!
• c) unlock your phone to other networks

The above all depend on the firmware and baseband of your device - Don't upgrade to firmware 3.1.3 if you intend on doing any of the PRO PROs.

There you go, a 5 minute review of my iPhone....

Lucky Apple aren't thinking of bringing a new device out in the near future...

(What do you mean iPad, iPhone 4 - I'm not listening..... Bother !!)

My Car :-(

As most people know, I loved my car, obviously I wasn't the only person who loved my car.....
Someone must have loved it a whole lot more as they decided they wanted it (a lot) and so, had it. Taken from outside my house overnight, and doesn't look like it will be seen again, the really helpful policeman who came to take the details said cars are now being stolen to order and has been heppening a lot during the snowy weather. He was very honest and said I will probably never see it again (Cheers PC Man)

Needless to say, after several grillings from my insurance company, they have paid out - looks like that is confirmation I 'will' never see it again.

It appears there is also a lot of fraud going on, what was wierd though, is the police were really really helpful keeping me updated as often as possible whereas the insurance company started by treating me like a criminal before being helpful.

The Seat Leon Cupra R - A gas guzzling Monster (This is not mine)

Now my car is 'elsewhere' I have to replace it, with what though, a Golf GTi/R32, a Civic Type R, a Porsche, the newer Seat Leon.....

Nope. I have gone and bought...

A FORD....


MONDEO...............


DIESEL.

A 'Sensible, boring, family car', Old age is hitting me hard,

(Why don't Nissan do a GTR that has 4 doors, big boot space, and does 50MPG for £6k, they're really missing a huge market there).

My last topic of discussion for now, My last holiday...

I managed to break my head on holiday in Tenerife (September).

While bouncing along in the sea (Only up to my chest mind), the waves became choppy, very quickly, I noticed a couple of slightly larger waves comin towards me and decided it was time to get back to beach, unfortunately, water travels faster than Damo and before I knew it, one wave had lifted my up and turned me upside-down while the second wave had threw me to the bottom of the sea (only a metre of so).

I picked my location with pinpoint accuracy and smacked my head on a rock which kinda hurt, someone up there was clearly looking out for me as I managed to get out f the sea and collapse on the beach. The Baywatch people came along and did a fantastic job of helping, and scaring the bejesus out of me before I was carted off in an ambulance to hospital.

A few hours, a few stitches, a number of taxi rides (for my good lady) and a bill of £250 later, I was back in the hotel.... the best thing about it all, realising SWMBO does 'really' love me, despite what she sometimes says, the worse thing, I couldn't drink for 2 days afterwards.

I love you Stella SWMBO.

I'm in Love (again)

My Touch Diamond died a while ago when once again, I left it in my back pocket and broke the screen, I reverted to my trusted HTC S710 while I waited for something great to come along.

I waited and waited until last week I was shown the "Google Phone", before this time I wasn't really fussed about this as I have been a lover and owner of smart phones since they came along in 2003 (I think), however I am a changed man. The Google Phone (running Googles' "Android" OS), is absolutely amazing. I have had this phone less than 12 hours and already think I'd be lost without it.

Unboxing


The Phone comes with charger (not shown), sync cable, pouch and some books (that I never read) and headphones (not shown).


The main home screen (Left) and the application screen (Right) which you drag from the bottom in a similar fasihion to te Touch-Flo system on HTCs. (I have installed "A LOT" of applications already).

My Bedside clock which is looking favourite to replace my iHome bedside clock due to it's "Stupidly bright display"

First impression

This is the future, there is a "Market Place" for apps which are either free or very cheap, every app you can think of is available, I have downloaded for example.

The Clock seen above, Sky Planner (with remote record facility for Sky+/HD), compare everywhere (barcode scanner that compares prices), facebook (of course) various GPS trackers for biking & running, fitness apps for gym work, Roadsync (Exchange synchronisation) media players to stream music and videos from the net or my own shared music at home).

There is no keyboard, input is via the onscreen keyboard which I admit, altough I like 'real' keyboards, the onscreen one is very good and others are available via the marketplace. There is also no stylus meaning your finger is good enough.

A 2Gb Micro SD card is included with it and 16Gb cards are readily available from eBay for around £30

Does this mean there is finally something to beat the iPod touch / iPhone - in my opinion, Absolutely, I will need to test the media playing capabilities, so will reserve complete judgement, but if you can get your hands on one of these beauties, hurry up.

They are currently only available via T-Mobile or Vodafone (or eBay) but there's rumours of an Orange version later in the year.

9.5/10


Quick Update : 9.5/10 - Have just remebered "Beebplayer" which is a version of iPlayer and lets you watch BBC programmes, tested withh Episode 11 of the Apprentice - works perfectly !!!

The Garden Project

I have been made decided to do the back garden to;

• Make it look bigger
• Make it private
• Give Leah somewhere to play
• Give me somewhere to relax in the sun

This involves digging (deep), pulling (plants and trees) and fencing (fence panels not swordy type things !!!)

So far so good, I have managed to put fence posts in straight, which makes attaching fence panels a lot easier. Plants (weeds) have been removed in preparation for the decking (Uncle Steve) and what SWMBO describes as "Readymade grass" (turf to you and me, all that remains is to dig the already made grass up.

Before


During

So Far

The Boss helping (Giving her Orders)

Britains Got Talent 2009

Ladies and Gentleman, the winner of Britains' Got Talent 2009 is


Flawless


... and a massive "Big Up" to Steady, from Derby.

(New Years) Resolutions

At a time when most people have fallen of the new years resolution bandwagon, I am about to start mine, albeit the same as it is every year (get fit, lose weight, save money - It actually gets quite boring).

The best thing about starting this in February is...

• I can finish all the rubbish left over from Christmas (Chocolates, Beers, Cheese etc)
• I can still have a good January without feeling guilty
• Everyone else will have given up now so there will be none of the "you can't eat that - how many calories"

Today I managed to get a heart health check at work. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. If you know me, you'll know that I eat quite a lot of junk food. in the last 7 days alone I have had 2 Dominos pizzas, been to a party, out for a curry, and out on a beer session (Derby v Forest forced that one).

I was expecting to get my results and be scared into a dramatic change of lifetsyle, I am, however happy to report the following results.

• Height :- 6' 2.25" (I seem to have grown a quarter of an inch)
• Weight :- 14st 10lb
• BMI :- 26
• Waist :- 35"
• Blood Pressure :- 140/106 (I demanded a recount which was 137/94)
• Cholesterol (Total) :- 4.35
• Cholesterol (HDL) :- 1.40
• Cholesterol (Ratio) :- 3:1
• Blood Glucose :- 5.55
• Risk of Heart Disease in the next 10 years :- 1.8%

Although some of these are bad (especially the Blood pressure), I am 3 days away from changing this, My goals are:

• Lose 2 stone of bodyfat while maintaining a weight of 14 stone (if that makes sense), thus lowering my BMI
• Target BMI 20-22)
• My bloodpressure was high because I have had a stressful week, going to the gym will help this.
• Cholesterol is ok however with my change in diet, this is also likely to drop.
• Waist :- 34"

My office is full of unhealthy males (one healthy female) who also have similar goals, this should make it easy during the day, SWMBO eats 99% healthy (at home anyway) so I have no temptations at home... in theory, this should be easy.

Harrison, Dhadli, hLacey, Johnson, Hallam, Lort, Earp....Bring on the weight loss challenge.

Happy(ish) New Year

Long time no post and what a crazy time it has been in the world of... everything
Companies are disappearing from our high streets and the internet (Zavvi, Woolworths, Empire Direct, Adams etc).
Car firms are stopping production for the time being and some car dealers are doing BOGOF on Vauxhalls. Whereas Land Rover, Jaguar, Honda and others are worringly shedding jobs.

The interest rate has dropped so low that people are actually glad to be on a variable rate although first time buyers still can't get houses as there's about 3 mortgages available to everyone.
My Xbox had the dreaded red ring on Christmas Eve, meaning a whole two weeks of no Xbox playing. I had to resort to spending time with the 'real' family rather than the online one, I don't even have a Wii as a backup.

I guess I should count myself lucky, I have no plans to move house, no need to buy or sell my car, I don't work in retail. Although you can't predict the future and I wouldn't try to.

New years resolutions started on 1st January and were quickly postponed to 1st February due to the insane amount of chocolate and beers that were left over after Christmas.

My Little Darling can count to 13 and loves her kicthen (like father like daughter) and her bouncy zebra thing.
My older darling loves her Girls Aloud concert tickets although doesnt want anyone to know (oops!!!)

My mother darling loves her new iPod although wants a manual type thing so she can learn how to use it.I only have 1 new gadget to report on - the new Palm Treo Pro (running Windows 6.1) is very nice. I have been using it for a month now so it must be good.

In other News... it's business as usual as The Rams (Derby County) continue to play as dreadful as ever, although we now have a "Clough" in charge to get it sorted (we hope).