Friday 29 January 2010

Jim'll Fix It



Nomis best friend has a DS as well as Animal Crossing (It's a rite of passage into the upper escutcheons of Nomis circle of friends that she buys you a copy of Animal Crossing). Sadly the screen has broken (1cm wide patch of dead pixels), Nintendo not being interested in fixing it at all (Bad Nintendo) I stepped up to the plate to fix it.

And fix it I did... except I broke something else in the process :-( Que soldering on a microscopic level, once I get the parts that is! More on this in the future.

Now I seem to be getting a reputation for fixing things... which I don't mind, as being an Engineer I'm fascinated by how things work... my next project is a Netbook with a hardware password. My first thought was to take it apart to remove the bios battery and hopefully clear the password:






Well after completely dismantling it (Bloody battery was right in the bottom under everything!) and leaving it for 2 days to discharge I fired it back up again... only for it to inform me the battery had failed, followed by the dreaded "what's the password" Grr... time for a different approach. More on this later (Again)

Sunday 24 January 2010

Possibly the coolest coat hook ever?





Got this from my sister for Christmas (Amongst other stuff), it is awesome... the photos don't do it justice. It even looks sharp, but it's not (Thankfully). Need to find out where she got it so I can get some more... that way the hallway will look like the set of a kung fu movie :-)

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Trees






There's an old Manor House with some parkland next to my work, it's circa 150 years old.
Occasionally I have to park in their overflow car park, as a result I have a nice walk through some woodlands on the way into the office :-)
These old Oak tree's always intrigue me, hundreds of years old, and gnarled through age they reminds me of how fleeting human lifespans are compared to the rest of nature. These trees were there long before I was born, and will continue to be there long after I am dead and forgotten.

Sunday 17 January 2010

Degu Proofing



The cage I brought Nomi for Christmas to keep the Degus in was supposedly designed to keep Degus in, however since they've arrived they've shown a very powerful desire to dig. This of course in the wild is fine, they in fact live in burrows. In captivity however it means that they throw all the lining of there cage out (In our case we use cat litter... more on that another day). Which would be ok if it wasn't for the fact that it ends up down the back of the radiator!

So I came up with the simple yet elegant solution you see above... wooden strips around the edge of the platforms and base of the cage. Hopefully it'll do the trick, as the next option is clear perspex... but that'll make it look like Hanibal Lecters cell.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Coldest Day of The Year




Today is St Hilary's day, which according to folklore is the coldest day of he year. I however think for Oxford at least it was last week when I took this photo.

I love snow, but it results in everything transport wise grinding to a halt, motorways become mass graveyards for abandoned cars, carparks become tretcherous skating rinks and walkways become invisible trip hazards. One which I fell (litterally) for today... hard... proof indeed that I am not a weeble... as I can and do indeed fall down, thankfully nothing badly injured other than my pride. I will however be feeling stiff for a few days (Not in the good way).

Sunday 10 January 2010

YouTube

Some of you may have noticed that I've been using YouTube to put my videos on my blog... it's been a long time coming but I've joined the YouTube generation. Reason I hadn't before is I didn't want to add yet another website to my list of places to add my stuff. But unfortunately due to blogger not being very good at video uploads (Unless from a mobile) I had to do it.

My YouTube channel can be found here

Retro Videos - Hanou 2007

Better late than never eh?

I've got a whole host of videos that've been waiting for me to edit, and this cold snap that has me snowed in has allowed me to catch up with them.

These videos are from me and my dads trip to Hanou in Germany back in 2007, just a few months after I started this blog... original posts can be found starting here.





















Saturday 9 January 2010

667 Neighbour of the Beast




That last post was number 666... boy time flies, feels like yesterday I was talking about post 300.

I've noticed that the number of posts for 2008 was more than 2007, but 2009 was sadly lacking... hopefully that will change this year owing to my new T91 EeePC, which will allow me to type in the comfort of the living room, bedroom... or quite frankly anywhere I feel like. Yes yes I know I started this blog on my mobile, but it's a pain in the ass typing anything long winded on a phone. Also I'll enjoy this new toy, as it's touchscreen... and I love my gadgets :-)

Friday 1 January 2010

New Years

New years this year was a low key affair, mainly due to money, but also due to the fact it was our first new year here in Oxford.

But having said that it was by far the best. Just relaxing, playing on the PS3 and watching films.

We saw in the new year watching Big Ben on the TV and thanks to having two phone lines we managed to call both my parents and Nomis mum, it was very funny having me, Andy, Matt and Nomi circled around two phones on speakerphone singing Auld Lang Syne.

Afterwards we wrote some wishes for the new year onto a Sky Lantern and let it go in the field behind our house.