Monthly Round Up (September '09)

And so to another monthly round up. I don't know about anyone else, but these seem to be coming round a lot more frequently than they used to. How and why does time speed up like this as we get older? I guess it's merely our perception and a consequence of how busy we are (or aren't) but I wish it'd slow down a bit: I'm having trouble keeping up!

●●●●●●

Now you all know I'm not one to gossip, but I have to comment here on the fact that I have discovered something about a fellow blogger. Something not many of you might know. Bet that's got you glued to the screen now, hasn't it? :-p

I have posted before about my growing addiction to the games one can access over at Facebook. These infernal games are responsible for my wasting hours ploughing, sowing and harvesting at Farm Town (Not that I'm telling tales, but Clare is a fellow blogging/farming addict - her farm is fab). I might also have a little place over at FarmVille (where more bloggers can be found cultivating crops). There is a game called Treasure Mania which is horribly addictive - one digs up archeological treats for the benefit of Sir Winston Adams and attempts challenges along the way. Gosh reading back I can see how sad that must seem to non-Facebookers.

But the most popular game at Facebook is Mafia Wars. Developed by Zynga, I have resisted it for months, but have now been well and truly sucked in. The main problem is I don't know what the hell I'm doing, how to make money properly or how to defend myself. I'm sort of finding my mobster way in the dark. I have been attacked and beaten up many many times, but one woman who picked on me and beat me up FIVE times in a row (that's not cricket is it?) has now been 'iced' by one of my mob. << insert cool smilie >> Do you know what I found at Mafia Wars though? I found that the mild mannered and quilting-skills-blessed Kate is, in another 'life', a fearsome ruthless and uber-successful Mafia boss :-O Whoever would have thought it?! (Thank you Kate - x - for the biggest bonus I've ever got when I helped you on one of your Mob jobs - you are solely responsible for me arming myself with a huge gun :-D)

Right ... now on to real life stuff.

●●●●●●

The kids are back at school, and for No.1 that means not being the youngest in the school anymore. She went back with a lot more confidence than last year and is having a ball (though of course would never admit it ;-) ). Her school has streamed the kids for all major subjects now, and whilst she was worried that she wouldn't like the teachers as much as last year, No.1 has discovered she likes the majority of this year's teachers more than last year's. Hooray and hurrah.

On the subject of No.1, I want to record something here, so that when it eventually gets turned into a blog book, she will have it to look back on. You know how adolescents are full of self-doubt and angst? Their peer group(s) and their various opinions are so very important to them aren't they?

Well one of her teachers got the whole class to write their name on the top of a piece of paper. Then that bit of paper was circulated amongst others, who were asked to write something positive about the person whose name was at the top. Such a simple exercise, but it gave No.1 a real boost, and I'm sure she's not the only one.

No.1's list contained the following comments. She is (apparently):-

• a cool friend
• ite *
• the provider of lots of Tic Tacs
• kind
• weird (in a fun way) **
• a good and fun person
• always sharing
• an amazing maths partner***
• really nice always
• really pretty and smart

* This is apparently one of those hip and trendy expressions. It means 'alright' in a positive way. Tsk, these young people and their groovy words.

** I fear she may have inherited this from yours truly, but am not admitting it to her face.

*** Pretty easy to know who wrote this comment since she only has one Maths partner!

●●●●●●

No.2 is back at school with the same teacher as last year, so no worries on that score. He has settled straight back in. He has also started back at football - this season they are playing in a 'real' league, so the games are more important. I took this picture the day before his footie season started:-

We had NINE footballs in our tiny back garden - that is the evidence of his obsession with this sport.

There are more 'doings' at his club involving the adults - petty politics which seem a bit of shame given that it's a kids' football team for goodness sake. The long and the short of it is that lady coach has now resigned and assistant coach has taken over. Lady coach's son was, quite frankly, the best player in the team and because of the bad feeling amongst the adults, he's left the club. Guess where he's gone? Yep - gone to play for their arch enemies, coached by the ex assistant to lady coach at No.2's team (the one who left last year). Are you keeping up?!

These two teams had to play one another last weekend and the result was a 0-0 draw (despite the fact that our lot scored a perfectly good goal but the ref decided it hadn't crossed the line!) Both teams played well and all the adults concerned behaved themselves, for which many of us were very grateful. The ground is in a very picturesque place, so of course I couldn't resist taking some shots. This is one of them:

So that's me stood on the touchline for lots of Saturday mornings between now and next summer. I don't mind at all when the weather is ok, but in the cold and wet, it can be pretty grim. Good job there are some fab parents with whom to chat.

●●●●●●

Without a doubt the 'biggest' thing to happen in our world this month, and the reason for this post not being as long or as animated as usual, was the death of one of my friends. She used to read this blog, and would sometimes leave little messages for me in the chatbox. We first 'met' (encountered one another) online, at the forums of Digital Spy. Then we met in person ... and she was as mad and funny in reality as she seemed online.

The expressions of grief over on the forum have been both touching and a comfort. It has also prompted phone calls and some of us being back in touch with people from whom we haven't heard for a while, which can only be a good thing.

When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer I was of course shocked and worried, but I was sure she would beat it. In fact I was sure she would beat it right up until I got the text message from her husband saying she'd gone. I was stood outside No.2's school at the time, waiting for him to come out: Friday 11th September. My eyes leaked profusely and I didn't care who saw me.

I cried so much No.2 asked if I wanted to go to hospital, bless him. My friend was 44 years old - isn't it utterly cr@p? She had fought the cancer with such courage, strength and positivity - I admired her enormously. My thoughts and prayers since she died have been with her husband Kenny, her daughter Emma and her parents (to whom she always referred as 'The Oldies'). The Wrinklets, who both met her and her husband, have also been upset; but we have talked about and remembered her, and we will continue to do so.

This song was played at her funeral - the lyrics (displayed in this video) are typical of her attitude

Rest in peace Tracy; it was a privilege to be your friend.

●●●●●●

I'll leave you with a picture I took on the day Tracy died. I'd gone up on The Ridgeway that morning, and this particular picture will always remind me of that day, and her.

●●●●●●

© Author

Trying To Learn Photoshop (1)

It's one of those things I've been meaning to 'try' for a long, long time. I've heard myself say it a zillion times, then one day a friend pointed out I should maybe stop saying I will do it, and actually do it. Said friend loaned me their old copy of CS2 eons ago to see if I could get on with it; No.1 took to it like a duck to water, but I'm ashamed to admit I didn't actually try - I was wary of stepping outside my comfort zone. After a couple of years of using PaintShop Pro as my picture editing software of choice, I was happy that I knew my way around; however at the Camera Club I've joined, they all use flippin' Photoshop. There was nothing for it, I was going to have to start having a little tinker with Photoshop. There are lots of helpful tips and tricks to be found online - as well as some very cool videos over at YouTube on the subject. I'm going to try to blog my 'progress' (if any) here, so please forgive the amateurishness of my early attempts. I know there are those of you out there who are whizzes at Photoshop, so feel free to pass on any tips and tricks, or point out where and how you think I can improve.

My first 'lesson' was in taking an old black and white picture, and trying to 'clean it up' (repair tears and spots, etc.), colour it, and turn it into an oil painting. Sounds pretty easy, eh? Well it might be for some, but for someone who doesn't know their PS ar$e from their PS elbow, it wasn't! Here's the first black and white picture I used:

It's a random person unknown to me - I tried to colour it, but as you can see, I've been rather heavy handed with some of the colours and tones:

The 'edges' of my masking also leave a lot to be desired, but never mind ... I hope I'll get better at technique as I go along, and these stronger colours work better with the oil painting transformation (I loved how easy it was to apply some artistic effects). Here she is as an oil painting:

Then I tried the whole thing again - this time on a scanned-in image of my own. The child in this picture might be me. *blush*

This time I tried to be a whole lot more subtle with the tones, and more accurate with my masking. I asked Mum if she could remember what colour that dress was - she thought it was palest green, so that's what I went for. I can just about remember that sofa - which was black and white, and those green antimacassars are etched on my memory:

I showed that 'colouring in' to Mum ... she took one look at the dress being green and said she now remembered it was a peachy pink. Tsk. I'm not changing it again. Note to self: Save in .psd format so you can go back and alter layers quickly and easily!

I know my way around PaintShop Pro fairly well now, and can put together the collages I use so much on the blog, pretty quickly. I suspect there might be some rude words spoken as I try to make the change over to Photoshop, but I'm going to try.

© Author

The Exam That Gave Me A Buzz

I went to a meeting at my daughter's school last week, and one of the subjects discussed was the choosing of 'options' in the new year. She will soon be at that horrible stage of starting her studies before the taking of exams. She asked me what they were like, how long they last, what, exactly you have to do, etc. and was amazed when I told her that, contrary to most people, I didn't really mind doing exams. I certainly didn't get into the state that some girls at my school did. I think I quite liked being left on my own to pit my wits against the exam paper(s) ... more evidence (as if it were needed) that I'm not really very 'normal'.

It'll be another year before No.1 starts the courses for some of her chosen options for 'proper' qualifications. At this moment in time, ICT, Graphics, Art and Music are her favourite subjects - oh, and she quite likes Maths and Science, but there's time for all that to change. I can just about remember as far back as the question of options when I was at school. I wasn't like No.1: I didn't really have any favourites other than Art. What I did have were subjects I absolutely did NOT want to study: Physics, Chemistry, Geography and RE. I think the teachers of those subjects had a lot to do with it. Mrs Greenwood, who taught Physics, was a bit of an archetypal mad scientist. She was tall, had dark, curly hair and wore steel rimmed specs. I can picture the Chemistry teacher but not remember her name - such was my total boredom with the subject. Of course now I wish I'd paid more attention, but you can't tell teenagers, can you? Mrs Hone, who taught Geography, made it as interesting to me as a wall of drying paint; although I quite liked colouring in the maps, but that was about it. And anyway, as I have admitted before - I have a geography gene missing, and I'm rather afraid No.1 has inherited the same genetic omission. Religious Education was taught by a young woman called Miss Steele. She put me at the front, away from my friends (at the back) because, she said, I talked too much. Pah.

My parents were, naturally, keen for me to revise for my exams. The school gave us time off for the express purpose. But I didn't want to revise: I wanted to listen to the radio, chat to and socialise with my friends, and perhaps do a bit of shopping with them too. There were many arguments along the lines of "You will NOT go out until you have done at least 2 hours revision". The thing is though, you can't force someone to take in information, can you? Particularly not a stroppy 16 yr old who thinks she knows it all, is the centre of the Universe, and should be able to do what she darn well wants!

One day I wanted to go out, but was told I couldn't. I'm sure I was quite shamefully horrid, and I was sent to my room. I obviously wanted very much to go out, as it occurred to me that below my bedroom window was the porch roof. A flat roof. It was pretty easy to open the big window wide, climb up on the windowsill, lower myself down (so as not to make too loud a 'bump') and then climb down the porch wall to the ground. And off I went.

I'm not sure how long it took for them to realise I'd gone, but I do remember my father finding me - with some friends, in a pub. God, how bad does that sound? I should point out that I wasn't drinking alcohol - I had a soft drink, and I was just sitting chatting with some friends. But I still remember to this day, the humiliation of being hauled out of there by my DAD! I'm told I was a horrible teenager - my mother says if I get the same back from my own daughter it will serve me right. It probably will too.

Needless to say after that escapade, I was grounded for a considerable amount of time, and watched like a hawk. I had to sit in front of text books and exercise books, and I wasn't even allowed the radio on. I was so bored, I revised to pass the time.

The most memorable exam I took at school was one for which the Home Economics teacher invigilated. I'm not sure what subject the paper was, but I recall very clearly that a humungous bee landed on my desk. It was HUGE - one of those lovely fluffy, beautiful ones. Instead of flying off, it wandered around, all over my paper and the desk beneath. I raised my hand and Mrs Allen approached. 'Yes?' she whispered? I pointed silently at the bee.

What would you have done Dear Reader, had you been Mrs Allen at this juncture? Would you have found a piece of paper on which to encourage the bee and silently let it fly free from the window? I think I would. But no. Mrs Allen took off one of her Scholl sandals (the ones with the wooden base) and brought it down on that bee with the loudest 'BANG!' you could imagine. I saw girls in rows in front of me visibly rise several inches from their seats with the shock of the sound. I couldn't believe my eyes. Or indeed my ears. Whatever the subject, I handed in my paper with bee blood (and bodily organs) all over it. I hope she had the decency to attach a covering note to explain to the examiner.

In the end I didn't do too badly in my exams ... perhaps because I had to revise?! Yes, I needed a couple of retakes, but I got them, and got on a 'good' secretarial course at college, where I took and passed lots more exams. But perhaps I'll leave those stories for another day?

© Author

Broadband

Broadband is a wonderful thing isn't it? It allows one the freedom from worrying about the number of hours one is online, which is what happened - at least to me - in the days of dial-up.

I well remember when we first 'got the internet' - I was at that time doing a lot of family history research, and could easily lose a few hours at a time looking through census pages, or browsing genealogy sites. HWNLR was forever commenting on my online habit and how much it was costing. So I signed up for broadband, which was a jolly good thing, and for many years I enjoyed a good service from Virgin. However, when we moved last year, they wanted me to pay them £15 per month just to retain an email address, whilst we were staying with mum. They wouldn't be providing me with any kind of service - just 'reserving' my email address. I felt this was on the greedy and grasping side of extortionate and told them so. End of previously happy relationship with Richard Branson's band.

Whilst we were at mum's for 3 months last year, I used her TalkTalk broadband (she has her phone line with them too). It was a little bit temperamental, but their customer support were good, and the service pretty reliable. When we moved in here, I had no choice but to go with BT. I had no choice because there was no landline here - the previous occupant having presumably relied on her mobile phone for the purpose of telephonic communication. Having paid the hefty fee for installing a landline, I then discovered that no other Internet Service Provider could 'see' my line. I simply didn't exist on their databases. This left me with two choices: BT internet or no internet. For someone as reliant on the interweb as me, it meant I had to go with them.

It was not a happy relationship from the word go. I had all sorts of problems with maintaining a wireless connection on my laptop - it was dropping anything up to a dozen times a day. Many calls to their customer services people did go some way to helping that, but I literally spent hours on the phone to India, and had dealings with some rather rude people along the way. I wrote a letter of complaint about one woman who was first rude, and then put the phone down on me - I never even received the courtesy of a response. Though, it must be said, that there were two very polite and helpful people for every one 'difficult' one I encountered within the BT organisation.

Since my daughter reached the age at which music has become of huge importance to her, my level of downloads has increased. No.1 likes to listen to music and watch videos on YouTube¹ - as do millions of kids her age (and older). But every time a video gets viewed on YouTube, my usage goes up. I got emails every month from BT telling me exactly how many Gig I was using, and that I was exceeding their Fair Usage policy. I had never, ever had this from Virgin, or from TalkTalk. BT first charged me 58 pence per Gig that I went over their limit. Which was ok - I could live with it. Then they emailed suggesting I went over to their 'unlimited download' package at £25 per month. But I wasn't paying as much as £25 per month with my apparently 'excessive' use, so that was pointless.

Then they sent me an email saying they were altering their charges, and I would now have to pay £1 per extra Gig of download. Quite how they can justify almost doubling that cost is beyond me, and for me it was the final straw. As a contract-holder with O2 for my mobile phone, I am entitled to a discounted rate for their broadband. I've read a whole raft of reviews and rarely read anything bad about their broadband service (unlike the reviews for that of BT broadband). I gave O2 a call. I cannot receive their cheapest options because they have yet to 'unbundle' at my local exchange. However, it is scheduled, and once they do, I will get unlimited, quick downloads for just over £9 per month. For now I will have to pay £17 per month for the same privilege, but that's still better than BT's basic package + 'excess usage charges', and there won't be the hassle of the unending emails.

I called BT to request my MAK key, to enable me to switch providers. The very nice lady on the end of the phone wondered if she could tempt me to stay with a charge of £15 for 15Gb of downloads per month. I pointed out that I was, according to them, going just over that limit every month. She then offered me unlimited downloads for £19.95 per month - as long as I committed to another 12 month contract. I told her about the O2 position, and she admitted BT couldn't touch it. End of negotiation, and my MAK code was forthcoming.

O2 had my new router to me the day after I gave them my MAK key (although why is it that when you stay in for something to be delivered, it always arrives just before 6pm?!) They switched over my broadband service a week after my initial call to them. Efficiency all the way, and their staff have been helpful too. It remains to be seen how pleased I am with the internet service they provide - I'll be sure to post about it, I'm sure. So far pages seem quicker to load, and according to Speedtest.net, my upload speed has more than doubled. The wifi range is also much better - I can now use the laptop upstairs without the connection dropping every 10 minutes. With BT, my laptop registered a 'very low' signal - two rooms away from their router. With O2, in exactly the same spot in the house, the signal is 'very high'. How come?!

I had more hassles with BT over ending my broadband contract with them. I was told I would be sent a final bill. Nope, never happened. What did arrive was a 'normal' bill. I didn't pay it, because it wasn't the final bill. So they sent me a big angry red one. I phoned them. A man called Oliver told me that according to his system I was still with BT Broadband (this was almost a fortnight after I'd switched over to O2). He then transferred me to the wrong department, where a very apologetic Irishman told me I'd have to start again. Back to dialling 150! Grrrrrr. 'Press 1 if you're a bit pi$$ed off with us', 'Press 2 if you're reaching the end of your tether', etc. This time I spoke to a nice lady named Manjula (I always ask for their name - I find it focuses their attention ;-) ) who went off and checked. Yes, she could confirm I was no longer using BT Broadband, and no, I shouldn't pay the angry red bill. A final bill would be with me within a week.

I hope more and more people will question their BT providers - they might have been the first, but it doesn't mean they're the best.

¹ A little aside regarding YouTube. If you, like me, have a webcam and microphone attached to your computer, it would appear that YT, through Adobe Flash Player, can access quite a bit of information from you. It's worth looking to see whether or not you are unwittingly sharing your browsing habits (and possibly more) with them. You can easily do this by going to YouTube and clicking to watch a video - any video. Then, hover your cursor over the progress bar at the bottom of the player (this is the 'thing' that fills with colour as the video progresses). Right click to get a box in which the option 'settings' appears. Click on that, then choose the second icon from the left in the resulting box (the one with the 'eye' on it). Make sure that within the next box you have checked 'Deny' and 'remember' ... that way Adobe and YouTube can no longer use you and/or your kids for 'research' purposes!

© Author