Category: Life
-
An Apple All Day Keeps The Boredom Away
Now this is why I love technology. This weekend I picked up an Apple AirPort.   This is handy little gadget that lets you connect your PC to your stereo wirelessly. It’s a pretty good device, and in theory very simple to set up – it will effectively set up a home wireless network for you just by plugging it in. Unfortunately I already have a wireless network, which kind of confused it, and my wireless network is achieved though the use of a wireless router and not a wireless card in my PC itself (big difference, apparently). The instructions that… Read more
-
No, really, they are are out to get me…
My car sprang a fairly serious oil leak (to the point where it was getting through oil faster than petrol, and I was leaving a trail all down the road). I’d noticed the oil light flashing on and off when I drove into work on Friday morning. So I topped it up with a gallon of Esso Superlube (company man to the last!) before I left work, but the oil light was flashing again before I was halfway home. I was just wondering where I’d find a garage open on a Saturday (this is Belgium, after all…), when the police… Read more
-
World class what, now?
So, my kids’ school is closing down. I don’t want to get all concerned-parent-launches-Save-Our-Schools-campaign, but there are certain aspects to this that really burn my ass. The school (The British Primary School, in Vossem (near Brussels) in Belgium) has been running for thirty years. Last year the original (and now aged) founders decided that it was about time they retired, and sold it to an ‘educational company’ called WCLS (World Class Learning Schools and Systems). The announcement of the closure was made by Charlie Freer, the US-based Finance Director of WCLS, who flew over especially so he could tell us… Read more
-
Now where did I put my ipod-ready Gucci loafers?
This Christmas I (and around 14 million others, if the figures are to believed) bit the bullet and joined the ipod bandwagon. I’d resisted for a long time, reasoning that I could play MP3s on my all-singing-all-dancing HP iPaq 4700, but the 4Gb card in my iPaq was full, and an 8GB card costs more than an actual ipod. Naturally, I plumped for the top of the range model – a 60gb ipod video (in black – you never really get over Goth!). I really can’t see myself watching videos on it, but the color screen does display the album… Read more
-
Tabling The Alcohol Issue
Last weekend I met up with a few of my old drinking buddies whom I haven’t seen in about eight years. (The recent demise of Ruth made me resolve to start catching up with my old friends before they’re gone.) I was a bit apprehensive at first, as the week before an old colleague of mine from 10 years ago joined our project and he looks really old now, which makes me wonder just how badly I’ve aged… But thankfully Mick, Chris, and Kev and Dennis (always said as a phrase – like “Bert and Ernie” – not ‘life partners’… Read more