Toys – Page 30 – Fooyah

November 27 2014October 13 2018

Long Wait

tldr: computer broke, still waiting for replacement.

I wrote a while back about my new computer. OK, I just looked for the communication so I could link to it and apparently I didn’t write about it. Curious. Here’s a picture of the new screen behind my little old tablet PC [the old fashioned type of tablet PC before they all went Windows 8 and mobile]. I blame Rich for the screen size because his computer was this size when I visited him in Washington DC. As he now lives in Texas I guess he’s got a larger screen.

I bought an ASUS M51BC from PC World with an Acer screen. In terms of screens “you can’t get big enough” is a good rule of thumb, thanks to Trusmoov.

The software on the new PC, Windows 8.1, along with the touch screen made it extremely useful and easy to use for the kids. Photos look great and I was going to start the DBL-MF project.

Early on using the computer I went to get a coffee and when I returned the computer had turned off. I thought it might be an errant setting. However, it turned itself off a number of times over the next few weeks. The fan would run up to maximum speed and then the power would cut.

I got in touch with ASUS and they said they would fix it. The PC got sent to Scotland to be fixed. This seemed reasonably efficient. I later got an email saying they were waiting for a new motherboard. No problem. I could use the tiny laptop that I own. Then the new motherboard failed the tests. It would be longer still to get the PC back. I had been waiting four weeks.

I got in touch with PC World and they agreed to replace my PC. So they got in touch with the repair people, agreed to get the PC delivered to them and then ordered a new replacement PC. I am currently waiting. I have been waiting about a week for the new PC to be delivered to store.

I just want a computer, that works, with my big screen so I can start doing plenty of time wasting stuff again. Like writing these communications.

I’ll update you when I get back on a PC tower rather than use my reliable little 7 year old tablet PC, which still works fine.

October 28 2014

Time

I’ve been feeling that I don’t have time to do all the things I want to. I’ve been adding to the “things what I do” list and unfortunately I don’t see a lengthening of the day to allow me to do these things. I think this means that I have to give up or lower my priorities of “things to do”.

Not enough time to get stuff done.

— Ian Parish (@iparish) October 21, 2014

Things what I have done regularly:

Running
Rowing [erg]
Listening to podcasts
Listening to music
Playing Gran Tursimo
Watching American Football
Watching Babylon 5
Write stuff on this website
Go to the cinema regularly

New things what I do:

Write music
Play on the PC
Play on the PS4 more
Watch Hawaii Five-O
Listen to more podcasts
Learn new music
CCF

I’m not too happy. All of these new things have to be prioritised. I could do with about an extra 4 hours a day to myself. I have to work and look after my family so once that’s all done I get little time to do all the things I want to. I don’t even consider myself to be a busy person. How do you get to do things if you are VERY busy? I don’t get it.

Now, I guess I am lucky that I do get time to do these things and I should be grateful and I think I am. I get to do things that I like doing, I just have to ensure that I balance my time successfully.

I have also come to the conclusion that I need at least an hour of “brain dead time” each day, preferably once the house is nice and quiet. I can cope with less than an hour if planned and I extend the time another evening. Oddly enough some things which I really enjoy don’t count as part of that hour. Gran Turismo is great and I play it a lot [not so much recently] but it doesn’t count as part of the hour, it’s something I have to concentrate on and work at, the rewards are good. Cinema doesn’t count towards the hour but most TV shows do. I guess that means I need an hour of stuff to watch each day, to keep the brain fresh!

October 15 2014

Switching The Blue Sky

A short while back I wrote about changing broadband supplier. This is an update to that communication.

It is a few months since the new broadband internet connection started. It appears that my network has settled down tremendously since those early days.

All streaming, file sharing and music systems within the house seem to be working well. Large upload files are no longer causing connection issues.

Bandwidths seem to be approaching 650KB/s which translates to 5.2 Mb/s. This is not bad given my quite rural location and the aging connections within the village and house.

The Wi-Fi provided by the Sky router is pretty good. The signal dips a bit at the extremes of my house (top front room) but otherwise it is fine. The router connects everything that I need to be connected and my initial worries about a lack of “user” options have dissipated. This router and also the free EE one I had before both do a better job of routing that the £100 Netgear router I bought and have since sold on eBay.

Essentially, so far so good.

So what.

October 4 2014

Location, Location and a Camera

I spent the day at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire and while there an RAF Tornado flew past at high speed. I was fortunate enough to take a few photographs, of which the following is the best. I haven’t cropped it or anything. [the other 5 photos were ok-ish].

My favourite thing about this shot is that you can see the Navigator/Weapons Officer looking at the ground as they fly by.

August 29 2014

Progress

This is how I am doing in GT6. It’s been a while since I wrote about it so here it is.

August 7 2014August 13 2014

Camera Flaws

I love my new Nikon camera. It takes great photos, is easy to use, has brilliant settings and feels great in my hands. It’s a great bit of kit.

I like my iPhone camera. It’s small, pretty much always on my person and, surprisingly, takes pretty good low light photos.

The problem is that my iPhone camera is getting on a bit and has flaws in every picture it takes. Normally these can’t be seen because there’s plenty of detail in those areas. However, when there is a steady area the flaws show up a lot. Just see this photo of Whitby and spot the problem areas.