Burnt ankles

On Saturday (21/08/2010) we went kayaking, and it was top - what wasn't top was that we/I went without sun-cream!

Now, #3 had been in the water for much of the previous week so he was reasonably protected, that and him jumping in the water regularly meant that he was perhaps the least affected.

#2 had been wandering around outside a lot and had been at the beach as well so he was a little more burnt, especially on his legs.

#1 was more burnt especially on his shoulder, but what with him being 17 we didn't insist that he keep his shirt on... figuring that he was old enough to make his own decisions about his skin... like his Dad!

After trying to ram another boat we (me and #3), smacked right into a canyon wall and he nearly discovered what it would be like to be crushed by his Dad... whereas I discovered what it'd be like to run my bum down a funnel-shaped, blunt, plastic cheese-grater! Just as well it was funnel shaped though or the last thing going through his head as he smacked into stone wall would of been my arse!

And after catching a glancing blow from another canyon wall to the left of my head and capsizing a treat (lost me trousers, sunglasses and shoes - though managed to get my shoes back!) I started to smell an odd burning smell... little realising that it was the smell of my inner legs burning due to the configuration of the kayak.

I've got a cracking set of blisters on my ankles now... I'll have a wee dram later on in order to work up enough courage to lance them and finally be able to walk properly:

Update:

Just been told to call NHSDirect by her-indoors and they said that I need to raise my legs until the swelling in my ankles goes down (I feel bloody ridiculous... and pregnant!) and pop the blisters (YUCK! I WAS the wrong sort of nurse to be happy about that!) and dress the burns with non-lint dressings (It's not for nothing that I WAS the wrong sort of nurse! I'm going to end up looking like a B movie Mummy dressed by half a dozen kids suffering from ADHD and wired on Caffeine enriched beverages!).

Lucky Boy

I am ever such a lucky boy!

Got my birthday present early and it's a PRS-300. How cool!

I tried the Sony software but I've gone over to Calibre as I really, really don't want DRM content on anything that I own, I now have to find a decent store where I can buy content though...? I tried Diesel for some stuff but they didn't have what I wanted for sale in the UK, arse!

Seems like even if you can find content legally the powers-that-be get all twitched about licensing issues and things go pear-shaped. I know that licensing and DRM are something of a hot-potato (I seriously considered joining the UK Pirate Party) but I now work within the field of sculpting bits to do what I want and I wouldn't want someone to take the code that I write and make money from it without recompense, but all the same...

I read TeleRead regularly and I know that slowly things are getting straightened out but it can't come quick enough for me.

Anthony & Ashley's Wedding

Had a cracking time on Saturday (31sy July 2010) at the wedding of Anthony and Ashley, we'd like to thank them for a cracking afternoon and evening, just wish I'd not drank enough to sink a battleship so that I could remember getting to bed.

Will have to look around Clacton properly though... ;-)

Was a nice Church as well, especially a having a Reverend who was a Yorkshireman!

4 or 5 booze adverts

We used to have Cineworld Unlimited cards but got naffed off with being covered with popcorn and having to listen to mobile phone ring tones and teenagers talking through films so we went up-market and became members of the Arts Picturehouse.

A much nicer clientele and no ring tones nor popcorn!

All good so far except on Sunday when we went to see Inception with #3 son (10) and we were confronted with 4 or 5 adverts selling alcohol in the 1st 23 minutes or so. Now we had a discussion the week before about whether or not someone who drank a beer with his tea could be called an alcoholic (Cheers son), and came to the conclusion that if you didn't need a drink with your breakfast you were generally okay. So he's reasonably drinkaware, he's also reasonably savvy about advertising and knows that one of the reasons why he's so into Dominio's Pizzas is that they sponsor The Simpsons. And he also noticed the number of adverts!

Now I'm not sure that the adverts add anything to the experience, we've paid our subs and bought membership so why do we have to see adverts at all? And why so many adverts for alcohol?

Not impressed Arts Picturehouse, not at all, I'll be thinking twice when it comes time to renew my membership!

My name is Khan

When her-in-doors brought a film home from work that she was given by her Kiwi boss with a title like the above I was initially excited, especially as her boss is into Deep Space 9. Then I got to reading the back and it looked like a Bollywood film, which I don't have an issue with except that the dancing makes me wish that I'd learnt to dance properly rather then resort to head-banging and dad dancing!

Then to read that it dealt with someone who's got Asperger's syndrome... I have to admit that I was looking forwards to an early night with a good book rather than watching another square.

But MNIK was top and I have to admit to shedding a tear once or twice. Completely different from the tear-jerking of a block-buster movie it was, it seemed heart-felt and honest rather than cold and calculating. I'd advise anyone to watch it, and lay in a supply of tissue!

Fibroids...

...not your regular breakfast cereal!

(Nasty images in link, only look if you're used to the wound supplements in the Nursing Times!)

Microsoft BPOS vs Google Apps pricing

So I'm looking at Microsoft's BPOS and pricing: It starts at $10 per user per month with a minimum of 5 seats, taking account of an exchange rate of 1 U.S. dollar = 0.64230201 British pounds (at 28/072010) that's £6.42 a month but a minimum of 5 means that the least that can be charged is £32.10 a month for the Standard Suite. That's £385.20 a year for the minimum number of users (5).

Then I looked at Google Apps, they charge £33 a year a user.

Already it looks like Google are cheaper at £33 as apposed to £77.04 for a years subscription.

But that there minimum user thing is a kicker. If we look at a like-for-like of 5 users then the difference is £165 for Google Apps and £385.20 for Microsoft BPOS. That's a £220.20 saving!

It's not a totally fair comparison though as the offering are different. With Microsoft there does seem to be many more whistles and bells though you're limited to using it with Internet Explorer or FifeFox (> 3.0)... there are also stipulated system requirements which might make a difference to some organisations.

It also links in with other Microsoft products, which can be either good or bad depending upon how you feel about it I guess, it'll certainly make a difference when it comes to upgrading software on the User's machines though. Whereas all that seems to be required with the Google Apps is to have a browser (though using IE6 might be an issue).

With the drive to do more with less at the forefront of most organisations' thinking it'll be interesting to discover who does best. The expensive security blanket offered by Microsoft is a definite choice but Google Apps is getting to be more and more mature and there are more and more things that can be done with it. It seems to be a much more innovative approach, and certainly closer to the ideal of cloud based applications.