Ages ago I used to enjoy murder mystery parties. Of course you can’t do this kind of thing any more because someone might end up properly dead. But MacMillan Cancer Support have had a neat idea. They’ve packaged up a murder mystery and invited people to hold a sponsored virtual event. We’re holding ours next week. Looks like fun.
I was getting complaints about the huge pile of disorganised magazines that seems to have appeared beside the bed. Apparently they are a mess. So I’ve taken action. Behold. The magazines are now organised by title and in chronological order. Win.
We actually managed to go out today and visit family members. Very strange. Everything is still there, but most of it is shut. It was rather like driving round the latest version of Forza Horizons which includes some places I’ve actually been to. In the game you can see shops, offices and buildings that you can’t go into. Just like today.
Anyhoo, we had a socially distanced gathering which was so much fun that I forgot to sell my turnips in Animal Crossing. They go rotten tomorrow. Oh well. Totally worth it.
Today I had some banking duties to perform. I had to change the contact details for an account. I was a bit worried about doing it. These kinds of escapades usually involve a trip to the bank, standing in a queue and then waving around lots of bits of paper. This was an especially unattractive proposition in the current situation, particularly as the local branch is presently shut.
Anyhoo, after a bit of fun and games with a little keypad thingy that I’d been sent a while back I managed to get it all sorted via my phone. I love it when things just work.
Not sure if I should feel brave about actually going out and posting a parcel. But I do.
In the olden days I used to get up specially early, drive up town and review the papers with Radio Humberside. Nowadays I get up at the usual time, stagger over to my computer, put on my headphones and connect to them. I’ve just done that. The station has upgraded their on-line act so that we can now converse over Skype rather than the phone and it sounds rather like I’m in the studio.
Anyhoo, it was great fun and thanks for inviting me.
Yesterday we drove to Leeds and built a gazebo. As you do.
Got an actual guest coming to see us today.
So I’ve mowed the lawns.
Is it right to celebrate the completion of an article by mowing the lawns? Asking for a friend.
I’m not sure why I was so keen to have the car serviced and tested. It’s not as if I’m going to be needing it much. Just put it down to my mildly compulsive nature. Anyhoo, we took the car down to the garage this morning. We got there nice and early because there was hardly any rush hour traffic. The dealer was very prepared with one way signs on the floor, Perspex dividers on the counters and plenty of hand gel.
The whole thing passed off very smoothly and I now have a shiny car that should be good for a couple more years. Now I just need somewhere to go and permission to go there.
I’d planned a trip to the Living Computers Museum as part of my attendance at the MVP Summit earlier this year. I’ve been there a few times and loved it. But, thanks to a nasty little bug I couldn’t get there. And I’ve just found out that the museum itself has closed. Which is a terrible shame.
In the great scheme of things, and considering all the other awful events of the last few months, the loss of a computer museum might not be seen as a biggie, but it is a fantastic place that keeps history properly alive. If we don’t watch out, we’ll be surrounded by technology but no idea of where it came from. The museum does a great job of telling this story and I hope that something can be done to keep it going.
We’ve started having a silly Sunday quiz every week. On Sunday. These are my questions for this week. Which of these is not:
A Teletubby: Dispy, Tipsy, Laa-Laa, Tinky Winky
A Knitting instruction: knit, purl, waft, right twist
A unit of distance: furlong, light year, hectare, angstrom
A baking term: dust, drizzle, glaze, unfold
A Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream flavour: Moo-phoria, Chubby Hubby, Raspberry rampage, Netflix and Chill’d
A blend of coffee: Jamaican Blue Mountain, Equal Exchange Women Farmer Roast, Taylor’s of York Java Blend, Percol Black and Beyond Espresso
Answers eventually.
Number one wife is busy sewing “scrubs”. I have no sewing skills at all, but I am quite good with gadgets. So it turns out that I’m the one who can understand how to use the button hole attachment on the sewing machine. I’m quite proud of the above.
Why is it that when you forget an idea that you have had, the only thing you can remember about it was how great it was.
I’m thinking of starting a business making blurry furniture. I reckon it would be really useful to put behind yourself when you are doing a video call.
At the moment my life is driven by small victories.
If you have an Apple watch you’ll know all about the “Stand goal” and how you have to stand every hour to get it. Well, I’m rather proud of the way that today I managed to do my stand goal at the last possible moment.
I’ve spent a big chunk of the last couple of days removing these from my audio recordings….
If you like magazines you should definitely take a look at Readly. For the price of a couple of magazines a month you can get to read pretty much all of them. The reading experience is very good on iPad. The magazines load up smartly and moving around them is a breeze. You can also read on your PC. There are quite a few crossword magazines which I thought was a bit silly at first. Turns out that you can screen shot the pages and then print them. So if you like word searches etc etc then that must makes the deal even more compelling.
Some of the “magazines” are those collection ones that you find in the newsagents. I like reading these and there are quite a few, from photography to piano playing.
Our local library uses the RB app to make available a bunch of free magazines (you really should be reading these) but the Readly app is much better and the range of reading is enormous.
If you’re looking for a few things to read during the lockdown I reckon this is a good bet. And you get two months free membership if you sign up.
Note: I’ve not got anything free from Readly, I just think that they provide a good product.
Mission of the day was to photograph something everyday in a way that makes it hard to identify. I think this is too easy. Do you?
I spent a big chunk of today recording audio. I’m not sure what to do with it, but I quite enjoyed doing it. Which probably says a lot about me.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
