Gadgets.

Its been ages since I've had gadgets to talk about, I have been through a few but nothing really worth a mention.

Till very recently, my personal phone has been the QTek 8500, a small flip smartphone perfect as a "socialising phone" (a phone you could take out on the p*ss with you).

Unfortunately due to a major problem with my jean back pocket, some keys, my arse and a chair, I managed to sit on the phone cracking the screen.

This led me to revert to my officially upgraded Orange phone, a Nokia N73...
I havent had a Nokia since back in the days before SPVs came out, needless to say I ave been completely useless with it, different operating system (I know it's a phone), different way of synching, texting, accessing contacts, and altogether not for me.

After a nice chat with my Vodafone man, I managed to get my hands on a HTC Vox, which accepted my Orange Sim with a smile and I am now in the process of setting up.
Good Points
Windows Mobile 6
Brilliant for working with MS Office Documents
Bluetooth
Wi-Fi
Sliding keyboard
2MP Camera

Bad Points No 3G
eMoze synchrnosation does't work
No touchscreen
Larger than a standard "Candy Bar" Phone
No Built-in GPS

My work phone is split between the HTC Artemis or the HTC Hermes (depending on what I need it for). The Artemis is great for the built-in GPS and is size, the Hermes is just a great all-rounder and has the keyboard.

The only devices out there worth looking at are the HTC s420 (the next Qtek 8500) and the HTC Athena (Hmmm).

Handyman Byrne

• Leah is now here
• The football season is over and we have been promoted
• I'm back at work (tomorrow)

Its time to focus on something to keep me busy....

As Bigfoot "Jamaica Feet" Cookie has blogged on numerous occasions, he's a dab hand at building and creating things, rather like a one-man A-Team

I have therefore decided to do 2 things.

1. Easy
Install a 2nd sky box in the bedroom, this way I can send SWMBO upstairs to watch crap soaps while I sit downstairs watching HD football, HD Discovery channel etc.
2. Not So Easy
Convert part of my garage to my office*

Rather than use up a bedroom for my office that could otherwise be used as a 3rd bedroom (by who I don't know), I had a Jack Daniels induced brainwave to convert part of the garage

My (our) garage was great when we moved in, so much room, it's now full of the crap SWMBO wouldn't let me bring in the house. I am going to sort it out and bin /sell/give away.

As said garage is 24ft Lond and 11 foot wide, I guess I could use the last 8 foot depth and 11 foot width as my office, add a door, bars across the window and Bobs yer uncle.

So there you go, the planning is straightforward, lets see how easy it is in practice. I haven't yet set a goal to have this done by - why fail.....

Links
Sky - 1 2 3
Building - 1 2 3 4 5

* When I say "Office" I also mean a Boys room, to include another sky box, LCD TV, Music System etc....

Super Duper RamsWe are Premiership, say we are premiership

Well done Derby County

A day out to Wembley, next years season ticket purchase and the stress of the playoffs has most definatlely been worth the wait/money/stress.

Unlike my Nottingham Forest and Yeovil Town supporting friends, we went all the way in what has been dubbed the most expensive football game in the world. (worth £60 million to the winner).

and we did it...... Oh yes we did it.

Well done super Rams, well done Billy Davis, and well done me for not getting completely rat-arsed that I slept through the game.

Shame it was/wasn't a sellout. The attendance was 74,500 of the 90,000 capacity, maths definately didn't add up there. Derby sold out in less than a day of the tickets going on general sale.

Garstang - Nothing to say?, if not, please change to your blog, Villa are no longer the "Midlands only Premiership Team", you will get beat by Birmingham AND Derby next year.

Back to work

Leah...How many Goals will Derby win by on Monday?

My paternity leave came and went, my week off also went just as quick, now its time for me to go back to work* and back to some kind of normality (and a rest)

I love fatherhood again (v3.0), however its been very hard work, not the baby part, that's easy (for me), Mummy breastfeeds so I can't help there, however trying to support mummy is the hard work.

Cooking I love,
Tidying I don't love,
Cleaning I hate,
Ironing I haven't

Despite all of the above, I still feel useless as I can't help through the night

Whoever says Mothers and/or housewives are lazy and should "get a real job" have never been either.

I have learnt in the past 3 weeks;

1. Too much sleep is not good for me
Going to bed early in case I got woken up by crying, only to sleep completely through it all and wake up in the morning made me feel worse than the XBozx days of 4 hours sleep a night - Althugh i did help SWMBO by bringing "Me Daughter" downstairs at the crack of dawn on a few occasions to let mummy sleep.

2. The internet is a great/bad resource for newborn baby information.
Great - babycentre and babyworld among the best, coming a close second was "12 Things No One Ever Tells You About Babies"
Not Great - You can diagnose just about anything with a quick google, this isn't always good, modern day medical dictionary where you can find something wrong with yourself

3. Midwives are great
Despite the bad press and crap the likes of the BBC and my local paper say, Midwives are excellent.
STOP SLAGGING OFF MIDWIVES - the government/NHS could save millions in compensation claims by employing hundreds if not thousands of extra midwives.

4. NEVER EVER... ...Believe your missus, if shes says "Never again" when in labour. SWMBO walked out of the hospital and decided she wanted another baby - Best contraception ever !!!!

5. Visitors are great, but make it very hard work
Everyone wants to see your new bundle of joy, your new bundle of joy loves being cuddled, however once the visitors have been and gone, your new bundle of joy does not want to go to sleep at night unless being cuddled, I was given the piece of advice - try and get all of your visitors round in the first week. This was impossible, I think we might be half way through now though. The amount of cards and gifts we have recieved is unbelievable

6. Be there for each other
Tiredness is a recipe for arguments, don't let it

7. Listen/Dont listen to advice.
This has been an adventure - everyone likes telling you how to do things, the way they did things 30/40/50/60 years ago. some good ideas, some bad, and some Im sure are now illegal

* After Wembley with the boys to watch The Rams in the playofff final.

Our New Arrival
Monday May 7 was indeed a very special day for me (and SWMBO I Guess).

The birth of our baby daughter Leah

Many thanks to all staff at the Derby City General Infirmary, in particular Annabelle for the safe delivery of my little angel

Hence the reason for my lack of blogging, I have once again been enjoying every single minute of fatherhood.

Already She has the Byrne frown mastered

Asleep in front of the fireplace

Resting (again)

One proud Mummy

The look of love

Trying to hide under the towel

Daddy will never let you go

No Joke

An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman each run a football team.

Unfortunately this isn't a joke, it's real life and we need the Scotsman to have the last laugh.....
Come on you RAMS !!!

EDIT: 23:06 - Denied... Lost to Crystal Palace which means we now have to enter the dreaded playoffs
Final to be played Monday 28 May

BBC Sport - Championship table

Thank you Xbox !!

Just as I was getting some normality in my work/life/sleep balance, confirm release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat.

I was even at the point that I didnt feel the need to switch my XBox on every single day. No doubt time spent getting the nursery ready for our baby, buying Nappy Stackers (and other stuff you don't really need) played an important part of this.

Obviously I need to back to having no sleep... which is where the Xbox - More importantly Infinity Ward has come to the rescue.

We've all been a bit slack on the XBox online front, but I for one will have lots of sleepless nights any time now....

Smokers eh!!

Heard today smokers should be given time off work for "giving up smoking classes" in light of the upcoming ban on smoking in public places
What a load of tosh

Clearly I'm biased as I don't smoke, but I still think allowing people time off work is completely unreasonable.

I like a drink, does that mean I can have Friday afternoons (and Monday mornings) off to attend "giving up drinking" sessions, that would be great, I can go off the rails every Sunday night, an get over it Monday mornings, then "Be strong" on a Friday afternoon where I can go to the pub and not drink....

Whatever next...
... Drugs, Sex, - Sign me up, I'll never have to work again in favour of trying to give up bad habits.

Birmingham - 21 April 2007 - Picasa Pics

I finally made it to the Meet up with my ex-colleagues from Royal Mail IT

SWMBO being 2 weeks away from having Baby Byrne meant that I couldn't stay long, couldn't drink too much and was on phone alert for the whole time.

I got there around 3.15 to find the usual riff-raff of Mr Maloney, Mr Tope, Monster Masterson and the Bigfoot Cookie. - See cookies "version" ----> Here























































I was greeted with "YOU FAT BASTARD" by Gaz "Machinist" Tope, had my age guessed as 39 by a young looking 62 year old Sean.

What a Welcome back - It was great

We exchanged stories of working together, all but one of us moving on different things.

It was only 3.15pm and Tope was already pissed, unfortunately I had missed Wendy (Hello Wendoi), who came and went. Taoski couldn't make it due to a last minute change of plan, Garstang failed to turn up or let Cookie know (let down) so it was left to us few.

After a few jugs of London Pride or something disgustingly resembling Ale, (I had Grolsch)
it began to get messy, Sean drifted in and out of sleep and Cookie got completely wasted, even the phone call from his Boss where he started out being as sober as a judge to attempt the "I'm not pished" voice, later to develop into a slur at which he confessed to being "complety and utterly wan*ered".

He also managed to send a text to his wife explained that he was "bollocksed" his daughter read the text and now knows a new word.

6.00 pm - Mid Drinking food break - Lamb & Mint burger (cookie) and Salmon & something pie (me) filled the void created by beer
6.30 pm - Tope sloped, remembered he had kids and they needed to put the kids to bed.
7.00 pm - Cookie crumbled - decided he could take no more and called up lil' bruv (whos massive) to come g"get big bruv out of trouble" - Lil bruv couldnt come so didnt have a car. Cookie decided to get a taxi - He was a mess.
7.15pm - Byrne crashed - Had to catch the 7.30 train back to reality.
Alan probably carried on (and is still probably drinking now)

Lovely SWMBO picked me up from the station, so i rewarded her by ordering a pizza (well she had 2 slices).

Drifted in and out of sleep while she watched greasy joseph technicolour is the word dreamcoat or something.

What a brilliant day - Can't wait till the next one !!!

I do still miss the guys I worked with in Brum, we really were a good team, although we worked to the rule of 15 minutes work every 4 hours, in the 15 minutes we actually did 4 hours work.

That was the last "session" for me for a week or so as I am now officially on alcohol leave pending our arrival, although with Sisters birthday (25th April), Mossys 30th (26 April) and Bossmans 40th (28 April), it's very inconvenient.

Hormonal 38 week pregnant woman will always win though...

Bless

The Internet Reposted

Saw this video at site that I wont link to here as it's Definitely NSFW - (Not Safe For Work if you didn't know)

"This is a look back at some of the virals, crashes, accidents, stunts, mis-haps, bloopers & calamaties over the past few years of the internet. Some of your old favorites will be here."

10 Minutes long - wait till you get home !!!



Created by and Full credit/thanks to Skins21

Happy Birthday Lauren
-----------------------------
Its my daughter Laurens' 11th Birthday today.
Happy Birthday Lauren
Lots of love and hugs
Daddy xx

Ex-box

Well after 4 months of no sleep, no social life and non-stop talking about it, I have decided I am going to sell my Xbox. This may come as a shock to some, but I have realised there actually is more to life than staying up till all hours playing games online with a bunch of mates.I'll be putting it on ebay tomorrow for £300. If anyone knows of someone whos interested, drop me a comment.

• Xbox 360 Premium
• 2 Controllers
• Play & Charge Pack
• Games
• Rainbow Six Vegas
• Ghost Recon 2
• Kong
• Prey
• PGR3
• PES6
• Call of Duty 3
• Gears of War
• Crackdown

Boxed and ready to go. :-(


Posted on April 1st - aka April Fools Day, even SWMBO fell for it.

XBOX Live - Down - Now whateports went out last week that some peoples Xbox live accounts were hacked, of course Microsoft denied this, why wouldn't they - how on earth could live accounts get hacked?

Monday came an email arrived from Xbox Live announcing scheduled maintenance planned for today, I thought this could be in response to the PS3 release, my guesses included

• Halo 3 beta released
• Web browser addition
• 360 Dashboard update
• Functionality for DivX movie playback

We all wait with baited breath, unable to beat/play/speak to each other online, I had to resort to an evening in the real world with SWMBO.

When she realised she's better off when I'm in the virtual world she went to bed, I wanted to find out more about the Live downtime so.....

"MICROSOFT ANNOUNCE XBOX LIVE ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN HACKED"

OOps !!!!

Who would be clever enough to do this I hear you say, how could people hack accounts of people who only use this account to play online or check stats on xbox.com

Simple :-
By calling Xbox Live customer service and "Pretexting" - It was that simple

Come on "Gatesy" get it sorted, dont let me PS3 fanboys bitch any more about Microsoft.

news.com - TG Daily - Techshout -

Updates

ASDA - to vent our frustration my fellow Xboxers wrote to ASDA and UbiSoft (Authors of GRAW 2).

• Asda came back stating they weren't aware of this policy, followed by this is their policy....
• Ubisoft came back stating they will investigate.

If/when I hear anything back from either companies, I will update.

Pipex

Result... I managed to speak to the account manager at my company regarding these problems, unfortunately I can't name them but my unlimited connection is now back to unlimited.

I have no idea how one would go about sorting this out based on a purely residential only connection, but where a considerable amount of money is involved, it clearly shows that money talks.

BOYCOTT ASDA - NOW !!!!!!
ASDA Have ruined my life...

Well day, on a week of Shit Pipex, I now add ASDA to my list of Shit Companies.

Ghost Recon 2 was released today, happily gathering 8 lots of £40's I trundled off to ASDA to purchase 8 copies, to be told

"You can't have 8 copies as this is classed as wholesale"

What Bollocks...

After walking off in disgust, I decided to walk back and speak to the manager, who... wouldn't come out of his big leather chaired office, and resorted to telling me over the phone that I couldn't buy 8 copies.....

Fair enough, walked straight to gamestation, they quite happily sold them to me and even gave me £2 off each copy.

Result...

So ASDA, be warned, I will be soon visiting your ****** branch to purchase 20 cases of Alcohol, wait for you to scan them in then change my mind, due to my own policy of not having the piss taken out of me.

Heres the letter from Pipex that's got me into a rage

Dear Damian Byrne
Important notice regarding your broadband usage

Pipex introduced network traffic management in 2005 to help manage the network and provide a fair service for all our customers particularly during busy periods of the day. The usage behaviour of a small minority of our customer abase has led us to introduce, with immediate effect, a Fair Use policy online at www.pipex.co.uk/legal.

We have established that your usage levels are in excess of the levels we would expect for normal home use, and your behaviour along with a small number of other customers may be having a detrimental effect on the service available for the majority of the Pipex customer base.

How do you define "Normal"

We would like you to change your usage behaviour immediately or let us know if you think we have got this wrong, If we don't see a reduction in your usage in the next 14 days we will contact you and may take further action.

In addition to changing your usage behaviour there are a number of alternatives for you to consider:

* You can move to our Midi broadband product which has a usage allowance of 15GB a month with the option to purchase more allowance on a monthly basis. We would allow you to continue with your current level of usage on this product as long as you confirm in writing to us that you are complying with our Acceptable Use Policy and using your connection for normal home use.

* You can switch to our sister company Bulldog Broadband where the service may be more suited to your needs. You will need to purchase a telephone service and line rental with a new 12 month contract.We advise that you visit bulldogbroadband.com first to check that you can receive their service. If you then decide to take this option please call us on 0800 107 5902 to request a MAC code.

* You can switch to an alternative provider that offers you unrestricted use of your broadband connection. If you wish to take this option then please call us on 0800 107 5902 to request a MAC code.

Finally, please can you confirm to us in writing within the next 14 days using the attached form that you are complying and will continue to comply with our Fair Use and Acceptable Use Policies

...and My Response

Dear Mr Carberry

With reference to your letter dated 22 February 2007,

I understand the need for Pipex to introduce a fair use policy at Pipex however would like to comment on your letter.

“We have established that your usage levels are in excess of the levels we would expect for normal home use.”

I would like to know what you define as “Normal” for home use, at no point in your letter do you define;

a - Normal levels are for home usage

b - My usage that has prompted such a threatening letter

“We would like you to change your usage behaviour immediately.”

I am disgusted by this statement when, you have already implemented traffic management on my connection, thus restricting my 8Mb connection to no more than 50kbps at best, and 10kbps on average. Clearly this is something that has been done on purpose as my telephone call with your Technical Support department (a lady by the name of Abi) confirmed, I also find extremely upsetting that despite my emails and phone calls querying my connection problems (Call reference **** ***) you failed to tell me that this was happening, wasting my time and money testing and replacing my own equipment as well as emails and phone calls to your technical support department. I was told that these restrictions are reviewed every Saturday, was I told this to get me off the telephone, or do you really do this kind of work at the weekend?

You have then given me 3 options.

1. Move to Midi
2. Switch to Bulldog
3. Switch to another ISP

1. I chose Pipex Max for the specific reason you sell the product for, as quoted on your site (www.pipex.com) “Comes with Unlimited monthly usage allowance. Tailor made if you're always on the internet” If I wanted to be restricted, I would have chosen Pipex Midi and paid for extra.

2. I cannot switch to Bulldog. When going to their site and inputting my details, I am redirected back to Pipex. Not very helpful

3. Switch to another ISP – This really is my other option. I have been a loyal and long time customer of Pipex since you started back in 2001, (Previous username ******), although I have had a few problems, these have been dealt with promptly, I have recommended you to at least 5 of my friends and co-workers and even recommended you to my company, who still use your company’s services. (Company Name). I agree my download usage may have been higher than before, this is due to moving home, (hence the change in username), and as such, purchased an Xbox games console and High Definition TV, my gaming habits have now changed In that I play online, as well as this, I have also downloaded High Definition content for the purpose of trying out on the TV. The HD downloading has now stopped however, thus my download habits will revert back.

It is quite clear to me that now Pipex is established and “making money” you’d rather these very same users that help build your company, are being “punished” I am sure the majority of these users have been with Pipex from the outset, as you were one of the first to offer 512kbps broadband to home users, we have stayed while you as you grew.

I am sure you do not issue letters in this way in a business to business environment. Do you not think residential users being sent letters such as the one you have sent me would encourage people to have their business from Pipex. My company spend at least £26000 per year for 2 leased lines. Not only could this be obtained elsewhere, could also be obtained for less than half this cost.

Finally, you ask that I send back the form agreeing to comply with your FUP and AUP. Unfortunately, I do not agree with these, especially when you have already implemented what you threatened to do, without the 14 day warning, and even more so, without advising me my actual level of usage. If you lift the restriction on my connection however I will agree to the following

• Ensure "Company" continues to use Pipex for its business use for the foreseeable future
• Limit my download speed (bandwidth)
• Limit my download time to off peak only

In the meantime please would you advise what you define as Acceptable or Fair Usage.

I would appreciate a prompt response to this letter, however feel I will either get a standard template response, no response at all or further threatening letters.

I have also emailed a copy to

mark.carberry@pipex.net
Postmaster for the Attention of Mark Carberry
Pipex Customer Services
Network Infrastructure Manager – Company
Friends and co-workers whom I have recommended Pipex to;

Pipex - again

Unlimited -
adj.

1. Having no restrictions or controls:
2. Having or seeming to have no boundaries; infinite:
   
3. Without qualification or exception; absolute:

The continuing saga that is Pipex. - To Skip the boring intro bit, go to "However"

My on-off connection problem (pardon the pun) with Pipex started a couple of years ago, back in the slow days of 512k broadband, back in those days downloading from Kazaa, Audiogalaxy, Limewire etc were extremely slow, I moved to downloading from newsgroups, I even *PAID* for access to NewZbin and Easynews,

A few calls here and there got my connection problems sorted, it felt like you were on first name terms with Tech Support/Customer Services.

As broadband evolved, Pipex grew, I upgraded to 1Mb, then 2Mb, and finally last Aprill, a whopping 8Mb connection, downloading from Newsgroups at 800Kbps, ( I only lived 800m from the exchange).

As regular readers know, I moved house in November getting the usual moving house problems with my ISP, (cancelling and rejoining with another username).

A couple of connectivity problems and I was up and running in Decemeber, problems that I put down to BT and it's infrastructure.
I am now further from (a different) exchange but still get connected at 4.5Mb, with downloads at approx 400kbps.

However

My relationship with Pipex has seem to break down, I logged yet another problem a couple of weeks ago, was asked to run the usual speedtests and report back to Tech support, this I did with the standard "check your hardware" and "it's a problem at the BT end".
after chasing this again last week, I received a letter from Pipex, the full letter can be found here, however phrases such as ....

"We have established that your usage levels are in excess of the levels we would expect for normal home use"

and

"We would like you to change your usage behaviour immediately".

Grrrrr

In my eyes, unlimited means exactly that.

This is not over.... Oh No

Griffin, UKFSN - Looks like you'll be having an influx

Bloody Hell

What is the world coming to again, Sitting there happily waiting for SWMBO to go to bed, Hotel Babylon had just finished and I was waiting to play Xbox, on came East Midlands Today and I noticed someone I know has been jailed for attempted murder.

The phrases "Hired as a hitman" and "jailed indefintalely" Sure shock you, the last time I saw Richard Robinson (Right) he was dressed in a suit working.

Its a terrible world where you can hire or be hired as a hitman to cause death to someone.

Damn...

BBC News - This is Derby

Gadgets

I have not one, but 4 new gadgets, I have upgraded my Personal phone from the SPV C600 to a Nokia N93, not really being a Nokia. I only upgraded to get a better talk plan package, the phone was free, got a good camera though,

Managed to get a Sony Ericsson 6301 and Motorola Krzr K1 from a certain Mobile Phone supplier, not had chance to play but will certainly "fully evaluate them".

Finally and most important of all, is the HTC P3300 (Codename Artemis), this is the dogs danglies, slim, 3G and most importantly, built in GPS. Now you can get lost without losing the damn thing that got you lost in the first place (A separate receiver that is).

Iphone, Schmi-phone

Top Man Gun

Been away too long again, this baby growing thing is hard work, shopping for puschairs, nappies, cots and stuff is taking up all of my free time, well it's either that, or endless hours of Xbox playing although I do have a half-decent gamer tag score now....


..and a pushchair

In the meantime.
Saw this on Youutube and it made me smile, how the hell i found it I don't know, and it definately wasn't looking for gay pron.



More soon...

Not Got me Yet...

Let it be said.... I LOVE GADGETS, if it's techy, new and does something technical I will have it.

HOWEVER...

Stick an "i" before a word, It'll sell by the millions

The iPhone from Apple is something the world seems to have gone mad over, sure its another Apple product which means all the iPod lovers will want (and buy) one. I have an iPod but I don't. I'm either getting responsible in my old age or there is nothing that appeals to me.

I currently have 2 phones (like to keep my work and personal life separate) and both of these do
Qtek 8500
HTC Tytn

The Qtek is a great slimline phone (a real weekend phone) dual screen, camera and Micro SD storage, A2DP support (Geek Alert)

The HTC is simply amazing, touchscreen, slide out keyboard, 3G, wi-fi, bluetooth, Outlook synchronisation for emails, tasks and contacts, TomTom sat nav, and Micro SD.

Although Micro SD cards currently have maximum storage of 2Gb this will no doubt change, at £30 however why not get a couple of cards. what's more, 8Gb is not enough for a device playing movies... trust me, it's not

I can play movies on my HTC, use as a modem plus lots more that the iPhone won't do, whats more, these devices are application unlocked you can bet your bottom dollar the devices will be application unlocked allowing you to install 3rd party applications - this, I LOVE.

The iPhone will be more secure than the Bank of England and I bet you wont' be able to play ripped DVDs back ups of films you legally own.

Until someone releases a device that has;

• 3G (Video) Phone
• Built in GPS,
• Slimline
• Keyboard
• 80Gb storage
• Multi-Codec Video playback
• TV Tuner

I'll Stcik with Windows Mobile 5 devices

Add to that the $499 or $599 pricetag and the 2 year contract period. Who's iPoddy enough !

Links
Modaco - coolsmartphone - xda-developers - mobilegazette

Xbox Friends
I am going to create a blog with the Xbox gamertags of people I know or play regularly.
EDIT: Even better - http://whosonxbox.blogspot.com/

SWMBOs' sad book love
When I met SWMBO almost 6 years ago, she confessed to never reading books, 3 years ago however she discovered Sophie Kinsella, her best friend lent her a book entitled Shopaholic blah blah blah, she was hooked.

I made the stupid mistake of buying the rest of the Shopaholic books from ebay, not a mistake in that she didn't read then, I mean a mistake as she DID, she even took them on holiday and read all day long while sunbathing.... meaning Damian "I don't need a tan" boyfriend sat around all day bored out of his mind. (Seriously, I really don't need to sunbathe).

Yesterday was a new chapter however (See what I did there). I noticed another Shopaholic book is soon to be released. When mentioning this to SWMBO, she got so excited, and still is. She says her and the subject of this book have so much in common, even more now shopaholic "Becky" is pregnant too.

It must be catching... there are 8 reviews on Amazons website and the book isn't even available yet (Sad people).

The Book is available at Amazon and Play.com 1 February

XBoxed

I've finally bitten the bullet and gone down the XBox route, I vowed never to leave the Sony camp, however looking at what's available for the 360, the amazing High Def graphics and the high price of the shortly to be released PS3, I had to do it.

Now I'm wondering whether I am actually going to get a PS3, the interface on the Xbox is stunning, online gaming, chatting to mates while beating them at PGR3,

I must say I am sold.... I just need to find a way of stopping 11 year old girls beating my around a race track.

White Rabbits

Happy New Year - Here's to a great 2007

Damo

That Was The Year That Was

2006 has been a memorable year for me. In the space of less than 12 months, I have moved house, changed job role (again), got engaged (thanks SWMBO), got pregnant (well SWMBO did).

2007 is clearly going to be a very busy year with our new arrival in May, with this in mind, I have decided on the following New Years resolutions and putting them down on (blog) paper starting 1st January (funnily enough).

• Save for the future
• Learn something new
• Get fit
• Give up smoking*
• Re-gain contact with family members

29 December - I have already managed to give up smoking.

By the way, Happy Birthday SWMBO

*OK OK I never started smoking, but I'm aiming high.

Damos' Wishlist for 2007

Message to SWMBO
To officially forewarn you, (after calling our new TV Chavvy and too big), Here are the things that are a must own in the new year. Therefore please can I buy them.... Thanks

Video Camera - Sony DCRS R90E








Digital SLR Camera








XBOX 360










PS3*











HD DVD/Blu Ray Player **







Upscaling DVD/DivX Player









SWMBO Doesn't actually read this blog, does this, therefore give me the OK to go ahead?, plus... Baby needs some of these items too.

* May have to put this on my 2008 list, "£500 for a games console is a little high !!!!
** This may actually be on 2008 wishlist as I am waiting for the Blu Ray vs HD DVD War to end

Pipex...

So we moved into the house on 7th November, couldn't transfer my old telephone number so had a number, I then arranged for my broadband to get activated.

The previous owners' broadband hadn't been cancelled, therefore ADSL was still active on the line, I had to arrange the cancellation myself, so called BT and was advised this would take 6 working days.....

8 working days later it was done, called Pipex again, the line tests etc were required and I broadband would be active within 10 days,

29 November - Back online and flying

9 December - Problems, I got home from watching Derby thrash Leeds to find my Internet running slower than , did the usual speed checks to find my line was connected at 0.2Mbs (should be 5.5Mbs). Had to wait until Monday to call Pipex to log the fault, not sure what the problem was, but it seems to have now been fixed,

After reading a ton of forum entries on the net, it appears the problem with ADSL Max is that it's constantly being monitored for the best speed, unfortunately it gets a bit confused and fixe the connection at a daft speed (in my case 0.2Mbs),

All these forum members were slagging off Pipex and its customer/technical support, but I haven't had any problems with them, the worst part of it all, everything needs to be passed to BT to work on the lines etc. Now these are the people who dont seem to care.

Luckily I have moved my phone calls to Pipex too.

If only I could ditch Severn Trent Water.

We're Home - A life-changing 5 weeks if ever I've had one.

The hardest part of moving house... (apart from saying goodbye to my old house)

Moving the bloody fish/fishtank - having to catch the damn things (that don't want to be caught) ,and put into polythene bags, then into a polystyrene box and seal it , letting the water get colder and colder for a couple of hours while chasing solicitors etc. emptying 180 litres of fishtank water. Then reversing the whole process at the new house.

The second hardest part of moving house...

Moving my internet account - This, I thought would be fairly straightforward, how wrong I was, firstly I had to cancel my internet at the old house, couldnt just transfer from one to another, has to cancel and re-register (getting a different username etc). I couldn't take my phone number as it was a different exchange,


All in all, a bit of a nightmare, Pipex were really good, BT didn't seem to care at all, finally got connected (at a measly 5.5Mb) on 29 November, and it's broken already. (Ill blog about this separately).

The easiest part of moving home, living with SWMBO, and my wonderful new TV the all singing, all dancing Toshiba WLT68 - 37 inches of pure HD viewing please.

just need the XBOX 360/PS3/HD DVD Player to complete the setup, oh and the camcorder and SLR camera (for baby of course).

£6.10 for a taxi ride from town too, rather than a 5 minute walk. But I love my our new house

Thanks to Clare, Mum & Hugh, Stuart (Poppa Blurters), and C&F Removals (Yes I'm doing your website)

More Soon...

R.I.P Uncle Dean

Dean Lawe (21 August 1956 - 5 November 2006