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).

EPMD - The Return

I have loved Hip Hop/Rap Music for years, my first rap album (and by album I mean record/LP) was NWA - Straight outta Compton purchased in 1988 from BPM Records in Derby. (you may not have heard of N.W.A. but moreso 4 of the founding members, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy E - RIP.

An album I bought soon after this however was EPMD, which I loved, EPMD (Erick Parrish Making Dollars), were fantastic, where NWA was hardcore, hated everyone from women to the police and censorship, EPMD were softer albeit slightly.

It's great then, to hear that EPMD are back and about to release a new album "We Mean Business"(15/12/08) - I have pre-ordered mine from Play.com I'll let you know what I think when it arrives.

Other albums from the the last 80's early 90's I bought include;

• Digital Underground - Sex Packets (2Pac was a memer of this group before he was famous in his own right). - Check out tracks ""Freaks of the Industry" "Humpty Dance" and "Sex Packets"
• Nice 'n' Smooth - Nice 'n' Smooth- "Funky for you" and "Perfect Harmony"
• Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91 - "Shut em Down", "Can't Truss it", "By the Time I Get to Arizona" and "Get the F*** Outta Dodge"

Don't you just love those classics

It's too late for Blame


This is a photograph of a beautiful little boy who, until a few days ago no-one would have taken a second look at.

That was until this photograph was put to the name of "Baby P" or Baby Peter.

This poor defenceless little boy was subjected to months of torture and abuse, so much so that I cannot even write them on my blog as, firstly I have been unable to bring myself to read the things that were done, and secondly I wouldn't want to upset anyone else, I don't mind admitting that reading it myself brought tears to my eyes.

But what makes this even worse, is the people that did the things to him, was his own mother, along with her boyfriend and the lodger

Re-read that "His own Mother"

There are no words I can think of that will describe these "people",

From the small amount I have actually read, the police, social workers, health visitors and doctors visited this baby more than 60 times and still he wasn't removed for his own care (and safety.

I imagine those responsible for the failings which cost Baby Peter his life will never be brought to account, I hope justice will prevail - I am guessing the murderers will be locked away away from other prisoners (unless the wardens accidently leave the doors unlocked).

The news today reports a Child Trust Board will be set up in every area of England, do you really think this will help?

What we need is every adult, parent, child, teacher or friend to not be afraid to raise concerns for someone they are worried about.

while I am sure there are no plans to release photos and names of the people for killing this baby, Freedom of Speech on the internet will ensue and someone will release such information on a blog somewhere in the interweb *<- LINK.

It would seem however that this kind of cruelty is a one-off, another case making the headlines today in New Zealand of yet another Mother being charged for manslaughter, or failing to protect their child.

I quote from the BBC News article

...Neighbours who saw some of the abuse have told reporters they will live with the guilt of not having informed the authorities sooner. "

You may have to live with the guilt, but at least you are given the option to live.

Let's protect the worlds' children, they are our future.

*Thanks to Cookie for the 1st Link

This is it...
The time has come, After Derby Countys' less than brilliant performance in the Premiership last year and F*rests' "lucky streak", the 2 teams are set to meet tomorrow.

Come on you RAMS !!!!!

Oh Per-Lease...

The whole Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross issue has got slightly out of hand.

It has made front page news for the past 3 days and over what...

A "Jibe" over an actors grand daughter, the same actor that offended a generation of Spanish citizens, and his grand daughter who, until last week, no-one had heard of.

Now we see there have been nearlty 30,000 complaints regarding the comments made by Mr Brand and Mr Ross.

Brand has since quit the BBC, and Ross has been suspended for 3 months...

...suspended, ... 3 months, does Mr Ross not earn £16 grand a day for the BBC, does that not cost us, the tax paying, licence paying public.

Ok they cocked up and upset said person/s, but am I not alone in thinking something is not right, Gordon Brown and possibly other politicians putting their oar in and "expressing the views of the general public" speaking for the people, Mr Brown, when have you ever spoke for the people, if you did that, then you'd step down or call an election to see what people really think of you !!! (I DARE YOU).

So now we are left paying our licence fee to not watch the Jonathon Ross show on FRidays, which, to be honest, is the best chat show on TV, I dont really listen to Radio 2 as I'm not old enough just yet.

Ok they went a bit too far, but how many people who complained actually heard the show (I think 3) and how many people complained for something to do.

Don't worry, you'll feel a lot better come Sunday, because you'll be able to watch Top Gear that you hata agnd complain about that come Monday.

Still, takes the focus off the fact we're in a recession, can't afford food, petrol and our mortgage.

Does anyone else think this has gone too far.

Whatever next, people complaining about a Black US President !!!!

Note: Apparently Jonathon Ross has been suspended without pay - NOTE TO Mr Ross - QUIT THE BBC AND GO TO CHANNEL 4 .... We'll watch you there...

More Gadgets

I have had my HTC Diamond for a couple of months now, at first I didn't like the lack of keyboard and almost went back to my old trusted s710, I continued and now quite like it.
I have now been given a shiny new device however, The HTC Touch Pro - Which is the same as the Diamond, but with a keyboard.
This must be perfection I thought... Nope, now it has the keyboard which I wanted, the device is too big, its double the depth of the Diamond. - It also doesn't have 4Gb internal storage like the Diamond has, it does allow for MicroSD however.

I will continue to play, I have already begun by wiping the Vodafone software by flashing the ROM to a more Damo friendly OS.

More soon

5K - Bring it On

Fresh from my 5K run last Saturday, I have come to the conclusion that I actually enjoyed it and not only will I be doing it again next year, but will be "Raising my game" and running the "Derby 10K" in April (Sunday 19 April).

This time I plan on doing more training, I say "More" I should actually mean "Some", rather than the 1 5k run in Tenerife and a pathetic 3K attempt the sunday before my run, I'll plan properly and aim for a time of less than 60 minutes.

I have ages - 7 months to ready myself for this one, how hard can it be.

Tao - Are you joining me?

The Holiday

I'd get round to it in the end and yesterdays' news prompted me.

After 3 weeks of worrying wether or not our flight company would still be around to get us to Tenerife, we managed to get there, the weather was great, the restaurants were nice as usual and the nightlife was...

...Dead.

Tenerife must be going through the credit crisis along with the rest of the world. the usually busy Veronicas strip was empty, the pubs were pumping out music but had no-one in them, the people that usually hassle you to death until you go into their pub for a "buy one - get one free" were standing around talking to each other, occasionally asking "where you were going later".

I'm not sure whether this was down to the recent problems with holiday companies and airlines going bust, prices in most of the restaurants increased, the Euro dropped from 1.6 to 1.2 meant this is not the cheap as chips holiday it once was.


Thanks to the in-laws though who take us with us at extra expense to their timeshare, this means we managed to get a rest when they took Leah on their daily walks, as well as an on-call babysitter.

... 2 weeks after returning to the UK, our flight company (LTE) went bust....

It was Big and was not Fun !!!I DID IT !!!!

My first ever Fun Run.

Went to the gym (to leave my clothes in the locker),

got to the start/finish line at 10.30 for the the big warm up which consisted of doing excercises that made us all look like fools !!! (but had a laugh doing so).

at 11.00 the air gassy soundy thing went off and we were off.

I know I wouldn't be able to run the whole course, I had a but of a run, then walked for 3 minutes, before I knew it I was at the 2 Km marker, before I knew it someone was saying "come on, you can do it", decided then and there he was to be my pacemaker and wasn't going to get away from me, 30 seconds later he had got away from me...

I managed to catch him up again eventually and before I knew it I had reached 4Km, turned a corner and could see the finish line. I managed to almost run the last bit and crossed the finish line, panting, sweating and needing a beer healthy bottle of water.

I set my target at 45 minutes, hoping to do it in around 40 but amazing myself that I did it in 28 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me, both online and on paper, my chosen charity was SADS UK, I have so far managed to raise about £200 which is fantastic, I really only thought it would be £50 but the generousity of people is overwhelming.

Also thanks to SWMBO for coming out to support me, less than24 hours after having an op to remove the device monitoring her heartbeat intervals. (Reveal Implantable Loop Recorder (ILR)).

Now then - I really need that beer.

I'm Back
I am back from my Tenerife retreat and ready for my big run.

I have trained, (2 short jogs), have my sponsors, (me) have my water bottle, (JD) and am ready for the Big Fun Run.....

Please sponsor me at my Justgiving site, its for a very worthy cause if you read my blog you will know all about it.

Thanks all

Holiday

I am due to go on holiday soon, this is just the break I/we needed, a couple of weeks in Tenerife with the "missus" the "little-un" and the "in-laws".

At first, I though the main issue would be the credit crunch causing the exchange rate dropped from an average €1.5/£1 to €1.2/£1. It has just got a whole lot worse.

A Serious XL Crash

XL Leisure Group, the 3rd largest tour operator in the UK has effectively gone bust, all flights and package holidays are now non-existent, although we have not booked with this company, following the recent collapse of Zoom, Silverjet and only yesterday Futura International.

Even football is now affected

It is very worrying hoping company we are flying with will still be operating when we do go (and come back), we are not on a package holiday as the in-laws have timeshare, we are still relying on the flight company to get us there.

There is no alternative, alternative flights are 4 times the price we paid (and ours weren't cheap!!!).

This was the week that the rain came down, holiday companies went bust, the world ended and the channel tunnel closed, on a positive note, petrol came done 1 pence....

Question: What is worse, getting to Tenerife and getting stuck, or not going on holiday

The End of the World is nigh (tomorrow)...

(... but if it doesn't end, there are new gadgets on the way).

News is the world will end tomorrow, although I would have guessed at a repeat of the Bibles "40 days of rain" apparently the "Large Hadron Collider" is a 27-kilometre underground tunnel that thousands of science geeks have built along the France-Switzerland border in an attempt to "maybe" discover the "Theory of Everything"

It's not pocket-sized and doesn't have a touchscreen

This Gadget is being switched on tomorrow when it has been said one of 3 three can happen

1. The secret to theory of everything being revealed

2. Nothing

3. The creation of a black hole that will devour the Earth.

Obviously I'm going with option 1 or 2. If it does turn out to be option 3, my holiday plans are scuppered and I haven't written down my logon passwords in case anyone does survive and needs to log onto my computer.

If, however the world doesn't end, there's 3 new gadgets coming very soon...

1. The next generation iPod Nano

Photo courtesy of Engadget

2. The HTC s740

3. The HTC Touch Pro


Hurrah...!!!

Edit:

The next generation iPod Touch also announced