June 23rd, 2009
Day two we headed to Twycross zoo. While I working at Rare I would sometimes hear the monkeys in the morning which was impressive considering the zoo is three miles away from Rare’s offices!
The zoo is famous for its monkey enclosures, so we headed there to take a look. I guess the monkeys were feeling the heat as much as we were; they weren’t very active:
At least this drowsy monkey was taking advantage of the weather:
When viewing the small monkey house, this inquisitive fellow came up to the window and took great interest in my camera – maybe he was looking at his reflection
This guy was just plain unhappy to see anyone
This guy was just happy sitting there contemplating life
I couldn’t visit a zoo without taking a look at my favourite animals, the meercats:
The zoo was also host to several school’s, so we decided to eat at Dobbies world where we bought some burgers from the farmers market next door. We ended the day with a BBQ and somehow C found my camera:
Tags: holiday, monkeys, twycross zoo, zoo
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June 23rd, 2009
Day one was an hours drive up to Chatsworth House. I’ve been there before but the house was closed so I could only view the grounds. The house is very grand, huge high ceiling rooms. During WWII the house was used as a girls dormitory – C’s Gran stayed in the Duchess’s room!
After the house tour we ventured into the grounds, we were greeted early one by one huge feathery chicken:
I think he was only after food, but I didn’t hang around!
We then headed off through a “sensory garden”, God only knows why they were growing the biggest weed I’ve ever seen (it was taller than me!):
I guess that one was there for “touch” 
At least there was something nice for “sight”
We stopped for a sit down by the waterfall steps…
…then ended the day having lunch at the café before heading to the farmers market for some steak for tea.
Tags: chatsworth house, holiday
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May 28th, 2009
Seen at my local cinema:
The notice bar read something like “Windows has automatically hidden your inactive icons”
Looks like IT forgot to turn something off
Tags: cinema, humour, rambling
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May 27th, 2009
As I’ve been approaching the end of my current mobile contract I was toying with the idea of moving over to the iPhone on O2. I have an ipod touch and was impressed with the touch screen, the speed of the device and the apps that you can get. The main one’s I used were Quordy (a word puzzle game), Facebook and twitterific. I had found that the apps for my N96 8Gb weren’t that good, so was happy to change over to the iPhone; as an added bonus I would then be able to sync all my music onto the phone too! (Music on the N95 8Gb wasn’t too good either – find the iTunes app hard to beat).
I then started looking into the costs: For £35pm I get 75mins 200txts and unlimited Internet. Not bad. Currently I spend £30pm for 300mins/txts and no Internet. I was all ready for changing at the end of the month, then the wife brought a leaflet home from Three.
Flicking through I found the Nokia E71. I’m a big fan of Nokia’s having many over the past decade. It didn’t have touch screen, but for £20 I got unlimited txt’s, unlimited 3 to 3 phone calls, unlimited skype, unlimited Internet and 300 mins cross network. Now that put a spanner in the works. It’s a better deal than the iPhone.
Apple touts its OS as “The most advanced mobile OS”, now I’m not sure what criteria they use, but not being able to switch between running apps is a pretty basic OS feature, even Windows 3.1 could do that! The lack of MMS, cut & paste and multi tasting put me off the iPhone quite a lot, and the fact that the E71 was such a good deal made me upgrade, especially since with Three, you can upgrade in the last 3 months of an 18 month contract!
I’ve now sent my old phone off to a recycle company and should get £140 for it! I had planned on selling it on eBay but why I chose not to is another post.
I have to wait till next month before the unlimited Internet kicks in, then I can setup fring, email and SIP phone to work over GRPS instead of Wifi, w00t!
Tags: e71, iphone, mobile, n95 8gb, o2, three
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May 19th, 2009
Read somewhere on the internet:
“When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
Tags: humour, life
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May 19th, 2009
Another weekend, another DIY project for the nursery
It took all afternoon to make: The back panels are fixed with 28 screws instead of nails! It looks good though. Only the wardrobe to build now and the room is done!
Tags: baby, diy, nursery
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May 15th, 2009
Interesting past times…
It has been an interesting couple of months recently: at the start of the year Rare announced that it was going to reduce head-count. After a few months of stress and sleepless nights I was put on the “at risk” list. Fortunately during the two weeks gardening leave I managed to find a new job. At the same time C was also told she was at risk of redundancy as two jobs were merging into one. Not the best news when C was 4 months pregnant. We always knew we’d be OK if C finished work, but not if I was redundant! C also managed to get another job – longer hours making her more tired but it’s a job she likes doing.
I started on the same day as another guy had joined my new company, he too had been made redundant; I don’t think there’s a person around who doesn’t know someone who’s been made redundant. I had thought I was safe working for Microsoft who had made more money at the start of this year than the start of last year, obviously I was wrong.
It’s been interesting work so far. We’ve moved out of the rented house into the boss’s dining room while the purchase of the new office goes through, so not only am I C# developer I double up as a removal guy and electrician (when we had a power cut). It’ll be nice in the new building, at least we’ll be able to keep our shoes on!
…Interesting times to come
C has only 8 weeks till she goes on maternity leave. The baby is kicking more and more: so far he’s kicked me in the but and ear! The nursery is nearly done, I’m building the changing unit tomorrow and then there’s only the wardrobe to build.
August is fast approaching, then what’s happened in the last few months will pale into insignificance, we’ll be way too busy with peanut
Tags: baby, job, microsoft, news, rambling, rare
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April 19th, 2009
This weekend we added to our nursery; we bought the cot. It’s quite a handy one and can covert to a bed so should be good from birth to 5 years old! It has a drop side too so C should find it easy to use:
Tags: baby, Family, nursery
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April 15th, 2009
C had her 20 week scan last week, this scan’s the detailed one where they check the baby’s development and look for anything bad. I’m pleased to say that he’s a healthy normal baby:
And yes, he’s a he! All we need to do now is think of a name so we stop calling him peanut
Tags: baby, scan
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March 26th, 2009
Tags: Decorating, diy
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