Poor SWMBO

The time has come for SWMBO to sell her car, her dream car, the car that got her through 4 years of her Mad-wifery course, the car she never thought she would own, her beloved 206cc has gone onto eBay for sale

If you, or anyone you know is looking for one of these , let them (and me) know.
(Pictures link to the eBay listing).

Knee Surgery Videos

As promised, here are the videos from my arthroscopies & knee flushes. I'm not sure if these are suitabe for the squeamish, I think they're ok, but hey, it's my knee so I would.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Hasta La Vista


I love the motto of the oldversion website

In my case this applies to the super duper all-singing, all-dancing Windows Vista

I installed it on my laptop a couple of month ago after a lot of time thinking whether I should or not, I am iPoddy(Taos' word) after all and like to have the newest and (2nd) best (when funds allow) in this case however it seems to have proved to be a big mistake.

My machine doesn't like it
My machine crashed 3 times while using Vista, not just the usual Blue Screen of Death where you reboot and verythings ok, but a crash that screwed up the registry, screwed up the boot sector or basically stopped my machine from booting up. This might be nothing to do with Vista, but it was problem-free for over a year running XP.

My Applications don't like it
I synchronise my work PDA and personal phone using Windows Active Sync. Active Sync doesn't work on Vista, instead you have to install and run "Windows Mobile Device Centre" however that doesn't seem to work with my PDA OR mobile phone.

My gadgets don't like it
I use my laptop for movie editing, however some software also doesn't work,

I can't print
I have a very good laser printer - guess what, this doesnt work with Vista either

My options are to avoid syncing my PDA/Mobile phone, printing or editing movies of Leah or...

Go back to XP

It's a no-brainer. I'll really miss Vista sidebar though. (no I won't, it's available for XP)

Maybe the oldversion logo should be

becausenewerisshit
or becauseolderworks

I'm Home

I managed to escape at 8.00 last night and it's great to be home.

First thing I did was grab my little girl and give her a massive hug, (my daughter that is, not SWMBO).

My knee still hurts like a bitch although being at home makes me feel better, I have been referred to a Private Healthcare Company (Healthcare-at-Home) who will continue the IV antibiotic treatments 4 times a day, as well as check my blood pressure, temperature, CRP and anything else they need to monitor. This will continue for 3 weeks followed by 2 weeks of oral IV.

Its wierd having a nurse come to your house, they have a ton of kit with them which they use to turn your living room into a hospital room.

It's definately better than spending the next 3 weeks in a hospital, that's for sure. Also it means my hospital diary can now stop and I can get back to blogging more interesting things.

SWMBO is so happy to have me back*, she now has the priviledge of looking after me and Leah.


*Lie

Day 13 - The Wait

Hoping my CRP is in the 20's....

...EDIT

It is now dropped to...
...so I'm waiting to go home

YAY !!!!!!!!

Day 12 - Three (and Six) That's the magic number
Yes it is.....Its the magic number

.... Magic for me today anyway, as it's todays CRP result

It's kinda strange that I have started worrying about going home, will I be OK when I get back, will SWMBO be able to cope, will I catch or give anything to anyone,

and even stranger is that I'm going to miss the place I have called home for the past 2 weeks, It's where I've eaten, worked, slept, watched TV, learned to stand & walk, been operated on (5 times) for 13 days and I'm going to miss it.

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get out of here, but the staff have been absolutely fantastic to me, I didn't really meet any other patients, but am guessing from the work they do here (knee & hip replacements) that they really aren't in my age range.

Thanks to all at the Nuffield Hospital in Derby, but I'll be going home tomorrow, and hopefully will never see you again (in the capacity of requiring treatment that is).

Now I get to go home and be treated by the people I work with for the next 2 weeks - (don't ask !!!).

Now then, bring me my daughter, my X-Box, My Sky remote control, My broadband, and a Dominos Menu - (Need to wait for my car keys as I still can't drive)... I have some catching up to do.

Day 12 - Nothing to see Here
For the first time in what seems like years to me, but only a couple of weeks, I have had a very unevetful day,

No bloodtests, no operations, (not even a CRP test)
Of course I have my daily injection for DVT and my physio "Boot Camp" session, but apart from that, NOTHING HAPPENED.

I even managed to watch Match of the Day to see my beloved Derby get thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham - Pah !!!

The consultant again mentioned "Going home" as long as CRP drops tomorrow and Monday.

Now then, how do I get to watch the matches tomorrow...

• Blackburn v Arsenal
• Liverpool v Chelsea
• Man City v Man Utd

Day 11- PICC Day
The PICC Line is in, the next step in me going home is complete, after several unsuccesful tries yesterday, the reinforcements were called in..

I went down to the theatre at 6.30 *(even missed Hollyoaks)

a few VERY nervous minutes later and we were ready to go, the anaesthetic was injected and I'm not sure about the next 20 minutes or so except

• Taking deep breaths
• The wierd sensation in my arm as the line is thread
• X-rays every so often so the radiologist knows where he's going
• The woman holding my hand had amazing eyes - NOT AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOURS SWMBO !!!
• The uncomfortable feeling as the outer casing is pulled back out of my am

and the most memorable

When the radiologist tells me he "HAS GONE UP THE JUGULAR VEIN* INSTEAD OF DOWN INTO ANOTHER VEIN"

after I got back to my room, it made me feel a little wierd thinking thats theres this long line is inside me, although relieved that he managed it rather than resorting to the Hickman Line (That does use the Jugular vein*)

The first IV was no problem at all.

...Oh, my CRP has dropped again, now we're at 80.

If that same person crosed their fingers again for me - Thank You !!!

*Sorry if you've find this page by googling Hickman, the radiologist did say (when I had a face of fear about the the Hickman) that using the Jugular vein is nothing to worry about, people are scared due to horror movies

Links
- 1 - 2 - 3 -

Day 10 - Good and Bad News

The consultant came to see me this morning, he is happy with my recovery as long as my CRP continues to drop. He actually mentioned going home (for the first time), to continue my treatment, and this may even be as soon as Sunday or Monday. I will need to have the PICC line put in which I had decided on anyway. I should hopefully be starting my physio in the next couple of days.

My CRP results came back - 96 - Yesssss !!!!!

The RMO (Resident Medical Officer - Doctor that Lives onsite) came to discuss the PICC line insertion, it involves a local anaethetic then a little cut where they put a tube in, followed by the line itself, he mentioned this will either be in my groin, my chest or my neck (CHEST PLEASE). These lines can stay in for up to 90 days although they prefer 30 days, either way they should really only need to put one of these in, my veins are saved...

So far the day went well, I even managed a shower - Took ages but I didn't care, I AM RECOVERING !!!

As my veins are now well and truly shot, I had to have one of my antibiotics via an injection (in my arse) this worried me, Gentamicin has to be given slowly by IV, otherwise you can go deaf and it's irreversible - but this is not the case via injection as the muscles soak it up, but also means it's not as effective.

The anaesthatist came to see me at 5.30pm, he explained it goes in via the top of the arm (phew) and I will be going down within the next 30 minutes.

I went down to theatre at 6.00pm got prepped and the anaesthatist started....

Then comes the bad news

... 2 hours and 14 attempts later, he stopped, he had tried every vein he could find using an ultrasound machine but they were all thrombosed (blocked), he was unable to thread the tube through therefore unable to put the PICC Line in.

What is it with me, I had a tiny chance of getting the staphylococcus infection in the first place, then the "easy" procedure of getting a PICC Line is not possible. Apparently being part afro-carribean means my sink and veins are thicker than normal, (great for the aging process, shit for venal work) :-(

I am now waiting until tomorrow for a radiologist to put the line in via a different method. Whoever had their fingers crossed for me before, please do it for me tomorrow,

My arms are killing and full of little cuts, and still I'm having to have the IV antibiotics via a cannula which is red, sore, swollen and hurts like mad.

But Daddy will be home to see Leah and SWMBO - whatever it takes.....

Daddy's coming home

Day 9
WOW - 9 Days...

Good news - my CRP has dropped again to 123, I thought I'd be a lot happier than I was about this result...

I am starting to get very down now, I am beginning feel the world is just passing me by as I lie here, Leah had one of her first giggles yesterday and daddy missed it.

I also had some shooting/stabbing pains in my knee but was reassured by SWMBO that these are my wounds healing (muscles & nerves trying to re-attach etc)

I have decided I need to stay positive though, I am scheduled to have a physio session tomorrow which will also mark the second part of my "road to recovery" (the first being getting rid of the infection itself).

COME ON !!!!

Day 8 - Part 2

Someone must have had their fingers crossed for me today.

My CRP has dropped down to 163, although still high, it's still a drop nonetheless and has given me something to be happy about while I'm here.

My veins has now given up in yet another part of my arms, this now means the doctors are having problems finding a vein which to insert the cannula for my IV antiobiotics. They managed to find one final vein on the back of my arm !!!! but that's it !!!!

(Its my arm !!!- See the wristband and my elbow)

I don't reallly have much option than to have a PICC Line (2) (3) inserted, either that or they'll start using veins from my groin etc (not my legs as that is where the infection is).
I was a bit anxious about the PICC line, however this will also mean I won't have to keep having it taken out every couple of days like the cannula, but best of all I may be able to gome home and have my treatment at home, (when my CRP drops a lot below 100).

At least, finally, I seem to be on the mend, after 7 days in (this) hospital and 1 in the DRI.

You know when you've been in hopspital when the kitchen knows what you want to eat and the nurses say "are you still here?".

Intermission Time

Enough of my knee, Mummy, SWMBO and Monster (and now Leah) ;-), I have found a great welcome home present.

Image courtesy of digiuk.com

This might just have everything I need in a photo frame:

• 7" Widescreen (800 * 480)
• Vista and XP Compatible
• 4 in Memory Card Slot (
• Integrated Memory (64Mb)
• Slide Show
• MP3 playback
  
• Moving Picture playback
• Wi-Fi for streaming pictures
• USB port (but can I plug in my 4Gb USB stick?)
  
• Movie playback in MPEG1, MPEG4 and DivX format

Released in September at all some good geek shops for around £150.

Day 7 - Part 2
Above are some nice gory photos from today, the first one is the hole from my first drain and the second is my bandaged knee still with the drain in and the last is the drian by itself, which was removed today, and hurt like a bitch...

On a plus side, the swelling and pain seems to have reduced, however I have spoken to my consultant tonight, my CRP has gone up to 243 which was to be expected after the operation (and there's only a small increase at that).

I still have what is called "septic athritis" (Which isn't the same as rheumatoid or Osteo- Arthitis), we should get the test results of samples taken yesterday from microbilogy which, along with the blood tests for CRP, will show whats next in the story.

Tonight though, I'm happy...

EDIT 15 August
Looked at my states and someone looked on my site by googling for do doctors put you to sleep when they drain fluid from the knee?
The answer is yes and no, I had a needle drain without any anaesthetic on 2 occasions had 2 washouts under local and 2 under general. needles in the knee quite 'kin hurt...

Day 7

I have decided not to get too upbeat about things any more, that way i have less to be disappointed about, the staff are doing a great job, the room i great, the food is lovely, my mates are still managing to take the piss, but when I'm on my own, I'm very down,
I have now had Gentamicin added to my daily drug diet which already includes, paracetamol, Codeine, Diclofenac, Tramadol and Flucloxacillin, I'll be a pharmacist before I know it.

The nurses are insistant on giving me a bed bath, however I have decided to leave that to SWMBO, I know she looks forward to it, but I dont want the whole world checking out "Steven and the Twins".
I am going to see if they'll let me have my Xbox in. That will pass some time

Knee update - Day 6 - Part 3

I have woken up.

I was again put to sleep, although I did ask if I could just have a local, I was advised against this as a spinal could lead to further infection (in my spine) which is probably not so good. I have had an injection to put a nerve block in my leg, so although I wiggle my toes and move my foot and even my leg from side to die, I can't actually feel it, even if iI i touch it with my hand, it doesn't feel like part of me.

I was back within a couple of hours feeling very drowsy, it was 2.50pm but I thought it was 8.50pm.

My mum was here to greet me, and SWMBO came along shortly after bringing goodies (which I always like). I'll need to wait until tomorrow to see the consutant to discuss the operation fingers crossed though he did mention that the Flucloxacillin is working as it should, but they are looking at adding something to it.

I also managed to get video clips of the operation, I can't upload them yet as my connection here is now down to 56k (remember them days).

I am hoping I am now mended and don't need any more surgery.

Knee - Day 6 - Part 2

The results are in.... and my CRP has gone up again, to 236, this means another operation.

Knee - Day 6 - Part 1

I was woken at 6.00am for breakfast and drugs (sounds perfect to some of you I bet). I also had a blood test so they could get it to the DRI to check my CRP, I'm hoping that it's dropped it's really the only way I know I'm on the mend.

The physio came in to give me some more excerices, just imaging you are lying on your bed looking up, and you cannot lift your right leg up or bend your knee, thats exactly what is happening to me at the minute, I can wiggle and move my toes and move my feet, but when it comes to trying to move my whole leg, not a chance, the physio helped me to bend my knee, I can now manage half way (about 30 degrees). After about 30 minutes of trying, I also managed to lift my foot a couple of inches of the bed, it's not a big thing, but to me its massive.
I have a walk in shower in my new room now, I managed to have a proper shower last night too, albeit sitting down.

Now I just have to wait for the blood test results.
Fingers crossed ...

PS - Thanks everyone for taking the piss, especially Uncle "Grant Mitchell" Steve, Bossman Dave and Tao, I knew I could rely on some of you to keep me sane.

... and just to cheer ME up
DONE !!!!

The Knee story continues

I managed a nice 4 hours sleep last night between my IV treatments every 6 hours, I must say some of the nurses here are really nice, i know most people expect nurses to be caring, kind and gentle, but believe me they're not always.

I woke up at 5.45am and my treatment started at 6. I was brought a cup of tea... I think, due to the amount and levels of drugs I am taking, I am beginning to lose track of time and the names of the peole who work here.

I had a few visitors today, who always seem to look worried when they see me, I think its due to the fact I look like death, again down to the drugs which make me feel sleepy all day long.
The physio came in with another contracption known as a CPM machine , now this did look like it was going to hurt me, it was good though, basically you have to put your leg in and it spends all of its' time bending and straightening it for you, now I can actually bend my leg to 45 degrees from -5 degrees. I have used it all day and it doesn't hurt that much.

The good news was that my first surgeon was back from his holiday today so I will find out exactly what will be happening. The bad news is that I ound out exactly what is happening
. He came in about 4.00pm straight from the airport (lucky b*stard). Asked all about what had happened and then advised me that;

• My knee, although is still swollen (oh it's swollen alright) has no red marks and is not causing too much pain
• I have a normal (36.4) temperature
• I dont feel flu-like

This shows I am responding to the anti-biotics so it looks like we can totally rule out MRSA. (phew)
but...

• I may need to increase my dose of antibiotics as my CPR has again increased , now its at 212 (up from 206 yesterday), this may mean a stay of another 3 weeks... :-(
• If my CPR is raised or constant tomorrow, they are going to do another drain of my knee, which i basically another flush out using the arthroscopy holes, I don't think I'm scare anymore. - Did I just say that ?
  

All I want to do is go home to my family.....
I do realise that it's better to wait a coupe of weeks and be 100% than go home after a day or three, get the bug back and either have to come back or wore still, erm die..

The good thing is they wheel me out to reception where I can see my little angel and SWMBO so I can now see them every day. I must thank SWMBO for coming twice today xx.

I have also moved rooms now and have the biggest and best room available at this hotel hospital.

I am staying very positive, the pain is better, the drugs are working, I have my internet, my room is nice, the staff are nice and I will go home at some point. I'm also saving a ton of cash.

We shall See what happens tomorrow

Ouch - V2

Thanks to Bossman Dave - I am on the t'internet from my hospital bed, wonderful ah the wonders of vodafone 3G Data cards, It just means I can also "Work From Hospital"

So to recap - I had my arthrospy on 7 July, no problems following that, had the final checkup last Friday (3 August), thc consultant confirmed all was healing well, although I mentioned to him that I did have some fluid leaking from my wound, he assured me this is perfectly normal.

Went out for some drinks on Saturday night, cooked sunday dinner and got up Monday morning for work as normal and had a normal day at work. Approx 2.00pm I felt a slight tightening around my knee but thought nothing of it, 3.30pm came and I tried to stand up but my knee had other ideas and I fell back into my chair . I managed to drive home but as soon as pulled up to my drive, I realised something defintely wasn't normal, I was in severe pain, I couldn't walk through my door as it involved "stepping up" through the door.

I managed to get in, limp to the settee which is where i stayed until SWMBO came home to look after me, I called the hospital who tried to get hold of my consultant, I called again and was told if the pain is so bad to go to A&E, unless the consultant can get back to me.

At about 8.00 I couldn't take any more, I called NHS Direct in agony (and tears) and they immediately sent for an ambulance that came around 9.05PM. I was rushed into a stupidly bisy A&E department where I waited in a side room, in the time of my wait I went through 3 bottles of Gas and Air,

Eventually a doctor came to see me and examined my knee, took some blood and a gave me a shot of morpheine, (the morpheine had no effect whatsoever)

I then waited for a couple of hours before another doctor came and attempted to take a sample of fluid from my knee, using a 4" needle he stabbed into one side, tried again (with the same needle), tried the other side (with the same needle) and tried again(with the same needle) , he apologised for being unable to get a sample and left, bearing in mind, each of these "attempts" caused me to scream so loud that
a: My cousin recognised my "Noise" from a totally different part of the hospital b: The "rude boys" in the bay opposite were wincing at my scream. Eventually a Senior doctor came and after one attempt, got about 50ml of "fluid" from my knee, which he sent away for testing.

This was to establish if it was infected, inflammed or I had gout, all of which are treatable by drugs or operation .

After another couple of hours of gas and air, morpheine and waiting they came back to say there was nothing wrong and sent me home .... at 3.45am

The following day was spent wit my leg up trying to get into see my consultant, during the day, my knee had swollen up to twice the normal size. I managed to get into the Nuffield (private) hosptial at 7.00 where the consultant took another 100ml from my knee, took one look and said it looked einfected, however sent it away for further analysis.

By 8.00pm he had it confirmed it was indeed infected and I needed an operation STRAIGHT AWAY. It also meant I needed to stay overnight so they could monitor it.

I was fine with this, it was basically another arthoscopy, nothing too bad there, I have been there, done that etc. I was in a room by 10.00 resting.

The following day however was a different story however. All was fine until 2.15pm at which my knee was in so much pain I was screaming louder that I have ever done before , so much so that the staff kept calling the consltant for advice, at 5.15 3 consultants and 2 aneasthatitsc came along and had no idea why i was in so much pain, however suggested nother operation so they could take a further look into my knee, however this time under a general anasthetic, this is something I was not happy about (i was actually more scared than unhappy as I have never had this done before).

I went under for what seemed like 2 seconds and woke up without pain. The nurse explained something to me that I cant remember, mind you, I can't remember much of anything that was said that night.

The consultant came to see me on Thursday morning to explain the "Holes in my knee" 2 were for another arthocscopy and to clean all of the fluid out with 5 litres of fluid, and the massive one was so he could "get his fingers under my skin to feel for anything unusual". I'm glad I was put to sleep now.

They have confirmed I have "Staphylococcus Aureus" which is bascially M.R.S.A. without the MR.

I have had a couple of days laid up bed now trying a little bit of physio and walking etc, they are treating me really nice, I am on a drip for IV antibiotics (Flucloxacillin), taking paracetamol, diclofenac, tramadol and codeine for pain and inflammation, and have found out today I may now need to stay in for another 2 weeks to "ensure they hit the infection hard"

I have also been give my Blood CRP results which show as follows

• Monday - 5
  
• Tuesday - 126
  
• Wednesday - N/A
  
• Thursday - 168
  
• Friday - 206
  

While they are still increasing If anyone reading this knows what these mean or how they went from a normal "5" at the DRI to 126 after a day, please let me know. basically is this someones fault !!!

as Cookie and Goona said. "you can cut my balls but leave my knees alone"

Broken
In the space of 2 weeks my personal laptpo has died twice, the first time due to installing some software whih knackered the registry rendering the machine completely 'kin useless, the second time I dropped it and it didnt work afterwards.

I work in IT, and have done for almost 10 years now, so I have to be my own (and my familys') IT guy. That also means I can't take my machine to someone and tell them

Not sure what's wrong, it just happened

...like everyone tells me,

Trust me, nobody working in IT believes people who say that. We may say "OK" but that's just so we can get on and fix the problem/s.

Death 1
I managed to use a piece of software called GetDataBack by Runtime Software. This software can read even the most dead of dead hard drives, and get hundreds of photos (of Leah) back. Just because I work in IT and tell everyone and their dog to back up their hard drive doesn't mean I do it.....

Death 2
I learned my lesson from death 1 and backed up my data, although admittedly, didn;t have that much time to put much on to lose in the first place.

So I am now on the 3rd install and have decided to;

A - Take a backup/clone of my laptop in it's current state
B - Save the applications I regard as essential on a USB Drive.
C - List them here for reference as well as


My Essential Apps.

1. MOST IMPORTANT - Drivers for your machine - remember you might not get internet access after a crash
2. Firefox Mozilla - Internet Browser
3. Smart Bookmarks Bar for Firefox (Hides text on the bookmarks toolbar thus allowing more bookmarks).
4. Media Players - Video Lan & K-Lite Codec Pack (Media Player Classic) (Free)
   
5. Burst Bit Torrent Client (Free) - Others available
   
6. Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) Free or Commercial
7. Winrar (Free - Nagscreen)
   
8. Quickpar - (Free) - Geek Alert
   
9. Foxit PDF Reader - Small file and doesn't take over your machine like Adobe Reader (Free)
   

I know I'm missing a lot, these are just the essentials I need to get me started, additionally I would also have. (Links are to free/opensource versions)

• Office Suite (MS Office or Open Office),
• Imaging Software (Photoshop, GIMP or Paint.net),
• Web suite (Dreamweaver or Nvu),
• Ipod Synchronisation (Anapod Explorer or YamIpod or iTunes if you must)

and many several others.

Links
- 1 - 2 -

Newsgroups

Newsgroups are (apart from IRC) probably the oldest form of file sharing / downloading / P2P(ish) I know of.

I've used newsgroups as long as I've used computers, back in the days of outlook express newsgroups I had access to 20,000+ newsgroups although they weren't brilliant.

About 5 years ago when I moved up to broadband with Pipex, I had access to their newsgroups, again more than 20,000 and again not brilliant,
I then tried out Easynews, the first difference being I had to pay (Yes Lee, Pay !!!!) for this, $9.98 per month for 4Gb usage per month, however there were more groups and the retention was 30 odd days, the retention meant the files stayed on the servers longer and therefore had better availability for everyone.

Over the years the price has stayed the same, but the usage increased to 6Gb, 10Gb and now 20Gb per month.

I have not had a single problem with Easynews. the search pages are great, the Zip Manager is great and all in all, I would and have recommended him to anyone.

NOW...
I read on NewZbin, Giganews, a similar service had a retention of 120 days, which they have now increased to 200 days.

they also have a different levels of usage plans

• Bronze - 2Gb/Month for $7.99
• Sliver - 25Gb/Month for $12.99
• Platinum -Unlimited/Month for $24.99
• Diamond - Unlimited/Month (plus SSL) for $29.99 ($19.99 for first Month)

I'm not, and never have been sure of the legal implications of newsgroups, you can download all types of files from newsgroups as you can with torrents etc, I guess the difference being you are not uploading files, which made P2P illegal.

I am not yet tempted, unlimited access and longer retention just mean my broadband connection get hammered more, giving the ISPs more reason and justification for limiting & throttling my download speed.

Happy Birthday Hugh

It is my stepdads' birthday today, he says he's 39... Unfortnately I'm not allowed to blog how old he really in case he is discriminated against because of his age.

Oops - Sorry, forgot about the "50 year old" Mug you were holding.

Im Moving to Sweden.. .....................................
.I'm not really, but this report states a 75 year old woman has a 40Gpbs internet connection, that's not just opening the gates, thats ploughing the whole field.

What does a 75 year old woman with an internet connection that fast....

In fact. I don't want to know.

Silver "Bullet" surfing indeed.

Xbox 360 - E3 Edition
The only problem I have with my Xbox 360 is...

Let me start again.

The problems I have with my Xbox 360 are

• I was forced into buying one in the first place
• I then had to buy an HD Television
• I have to pay for the games as I'm not getting my Xbox chipped
• Playing real friends online causes tourette-like symptoms
  

When new games are released, our "clan" try their hardest to refrain from going out spending our more than well-earned money on, then to be beaten into submission 3 minutes later, we have got to the point where we don't even put up a fight now (as Stuart, Martin and SteveC will agree).
So the next few months see the price reduction for the Xbox 360, meaning we can persuade more people to buy them. Also the release of a few "Must Have" games

Project Gotham Racing 4
Call of Duty 4
Halo 3
GTA IV

That'll be another £160+ then....

Santa???

Looks like TomTom are evolving
.
I have used TomTom personally for anout 5 years and think its great, although I haven't had much experience with other Sat Nav products, TomTom does exactly what I want - It gets me where I want to go and tells me where the speed cameras are. (for safety reasons obviously)

Recent reports show that TomTom have patented an idea to use a live video camera style device with the directions overlayed the live feed.

Sounds very interesting.

If ony they could spend some time and money on the support side of things, still, as they are based in the middle of the Red Light District in Amsterdam, I guess they have better things to do during their working day.

New....er Gadgets
.
I blogged earlier this month on what I thought would be couple of perfect gadgets for the (Mobile) worker and the everyday phone user.

The HTC Athena was great, however lacked a decent enough screen resolution, that is really the only fault I have with it (so far)

The HTC Vox was and still is a great mobile phone/email phone, and I this is the perfect device and I still (after at least 2 months) have no complaints.

As usual however, these "perfect" devices have been perfected.

The HTC Omni is the replacement to the crappy clamshell devices of old (HTC Universal/Vodafone v1460, XDA Exec) and will be good competion for the HTC Athena/Advantage
The HTC Wings is the successor to the stll brand new HTC Vox, and has built in GPS and 3G. Only downside remains is the lack of touchscreen, but as I've known for years, you can't have everything. Apparently this device might now be cancelled - Nooooooooo

Come on You Rams

So...
We're in the premiership
We are favourites to get relegated next season (3-2)

The 2007-08 Fixtures are out

August 11 Portsmouth H 15 Man City A, 7.45pm 18 Tottenham A 25 Birmingham H

September 1 Liverpool A 17 Newcastle H, 8pm 22 Arsenal A 29 Bolton H

October 7 Reading A, 2pm 20 Fulham A 27 Everton H

November 3 Aston Villa A 10 West Ham H 24 Chelsea H

December 1 Sunderland A 8 Man Utd A 15 Middlesbrough H 22 Newcastle A 26 Liverpool H 29 Blackburn H

January 1 Bolton A 12 Wigan H 19 Portsmouth A 29 Man City H, 7.45pm

February 2 Birmingham A 9 Tottenham H 23 Wigan A

March 1 Sunderland H 8 Chelsea A 15 Man Utd H 22 Middlesbrough A 29 Fulham H

April 5 Everton A 12 Aston Villa H 19 West Ham A 26 Arsenal H

May 3 Blackburn A 11 Reading H

There's a new crest
We have new signings - (Andy Todd, Claude Davis, Robert Earnshaw)

The New Kit is revealed
Here we go...

Concerts - Live Earth v Diana

Heres Further proof that it's not just myself and the Cookie Monster that think the Live Earth concert and artists was a pile of non-recyclable crap. People woud rather watch a real hero who touched so many and helped so many people that a bunch of tossers who don't practive what they preach.

The BBC reports.

BBC One's average ratings between 2000 and 2200 BST on Saturday were 3.1 million, compared with 11.4 million for the Diana gig on the previous Sunday

It's also funny that 130 people compained about bad language, (such as Chris Rock shouting "Mother Fucker" in the late afternoon - oops) but 400 people complained about Metallicas act being cut short.

Ouch Ow Ouch

This would have been the perfect weekend for me,

• Friday was a work party with unlimited free beer and food.
• Saturday was lads night, an evening away from reality, having "a few" drinks in town with the boys
• Ending the weekend on Sunday with a free - YES FREE ticket to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, not just a normal ticket, but full corporate hospitality courtesy of "someone very nice"!!!!!

However today was my big day for something more important... my operation

I got the hospital at 7.30 where I was led to my room, my operation was scheduled for 12.00 however it could be earlier.

The consultant came to see me to explain and make sure I was happy with everything, the anaesthetist came to see me to explain the procedure and again, make sure I was happy. My only question was...

"Will I be able to go to the Grand Prix tomorrow"

"Not very likely" was their response, - Well I tried my best

At 9.30 I was humiliated, I was asked to shave my knee, wear a backless gown and some paper pants. This is not fashion but I did it nonetheless

at 10.00 I was taken for my operation, given an injection in my hand to "ease me" followed by a spinal epidural. Had my leg painted yellow and off I went.

The op was weird, I could feel anything but a tugging sensation as the Doctor (Sorry Mr) shoved a camera and some other instruments deep into my knee, the strange but amazing thing was that I was able to see everything they were doing on the monitor in front of me, I could actually see inside of my own knee... WOW

There was some damage to my cartilage, along with some other damage to something else that I can't now remember, hopefully me notes will tell me this.

After the op I was taken back to my room for observations, no pain I thought, this was great, a little surgery but no pain.

I had some lunch and was allowed back home at 4.30pm - when the pain started as a slight twinge, as I write this at 23.32.... MY KNEE IS HUGE - AND KILLING ME...

It'll all be worth it however, in 3 weeks time I'm going back to the gym

Oh and the F1 tickets... I gave them to someone who I hope I’ll have a great day - but owes me BIGTIME.

Live Earth

I don't get this Live Earth concert

While I appreciate that we all must play our part in stopping the world from breaking, it seems very hypocricial for the people such as Madonna, The Pussycat Dolls and the like giving such a message.

Are these not the very same people that fly private jets, helicopters, have entourages with many cars, demand

For Example
Madonna has demanded the following for the actual Live Earth rehearsal - "She has asked for 12 dozen boxes of strawberries, eight full-length mirrors, a skipping rope, Yorkshire Tea, organic green tea, and vanilla room spray" source

Kanye Wests' usual demands include - security personnel (40 security officers, 11 University Police officers and five or six parking patrollers) and a detailed catering menu covering three full meals, three dressing rooms and a bus full of people.

The list goes on, but as far as I am concerned, I'd rather these pompous, diva-like arseholes not preach how we should stop destorying our planet when they are far more destructive than the "average Joe"

And how much damage did the 7 concerts do to the envinment, I know they were very caeful, but why not have "energy efficient" concerts in public parks.

And for the record, I use low energy lighbulbs, have energy efficient appliances, car-share to work, recylce all my paper, glasss, plastic, card and garden waste.

EDIT: 08/07//07 07:37 - I may stand corrected judging by some reports today.
digitalspy - 2

New Gadgets

Despite the fact I cannot get to work, it doesn't stop me working, I have a couple more gadgets to test, namely the HTC Athena and the HTC Panda.

My Perfect PDA would have the following

• Codecs for all video format
• Hard Drive
• Fast internet connectivity (3G/UMTS/HSPDA etc)
• Wi-Fi
• Keyboard
• Large screen

Here it is

HTC Athena

Billed as the UMPC beater, with Windows Mobile 6 (soon), built in GPS, attachable keyboard, 8Gb Hard Drive, 3G connectivity however....

Still the old screen resoolution of 640 * 480 meaning a screen larger than all of the other PDAs but showing the same amount of info.

Also available ...

HTC Panda
If (like me) you need a replacement for the Qtek 2020i, O2 XDA 2i, this is it, this is "The" DIRECT REPLACEMENT.

Good points

• works with the majority of applications developed for the older devices
• Windows Mobile 5 - (No more losing data with Windows Mobile 2003)
• USB Charging
• Camera button has been moved

Bad Points

• No car cradle yet
• No 3G
• No built-in GPS
• No operator as yet (come on vodaphone)

Testing still ongoing but the Panda (also known as the HTC P6300) will be a big seller.

Happy Birthday Uncle Stephen

Happy birthday Old Bast..... I mean uncle Stephen

21 - YET - Again (Note the Damo Crutches in the foreground)
Oh and happy birthday Tao (Right) too, Geeky old man is also another year older.