It snowed at last...
Thursday, January 29, 2004
We got our first bit of snow for twelve months here today, which was quite a sight to behold. I was driving home at about six in the evening when it started falling quite fast - within about 30 seconds, the entire road surface was covered and I was making the first tracks in it. Having never driven in snow before, it was quite a daunting experience, but turned out to be quite good fun.
It stopped falling an hour or so later, so I went out for a play. The snowman attempt wasn't hugely successful as none of it would stick together properly, but I enjoyed myself none the less. Snow and sand seem to bring out the big kid in me whenever we're in the same place together...
Posted at 12:51
A melting ice cube
Sunday, January 25, 2004
I had an idea for something that would be a little more simple than doing something in the outside world. I set up a towel with an ice cube on it and set about taking a picture every two minutes as it melted at room temperature. I expected it to melt in about twenty mintues, but it ending up taking over an hour. The effect isn't great, but I think it was worth the time to see how well it would come out. Take a look here to load the full version (200Kb).
Posted at 19:13
An experiment in time lapse photography
Saturday, January 24, 2004
With the promise by the weathermen of a cold spell next week with a near certainty of snow I thought it may be an interesting experiment to try a bit of time lapse photography. Its not something I've ever done before, and it will obviously only be very basic work with my digital camera strung together on the computer.
I'm having a practice today to see how the effect works. I'll probably post the result later if its at all worthwhile. The only problem I can see will be the size of the result. Doing pictures that are 400 x 300, thats 20Kb per image. Needing 24 images to do a smooth second of video, it could end up rather large.
Knowing my luck, however we'll probably have a nice sunny week...
Update: It didn't work out too well today, but I think I know how to improve it, so I'll have another try when we get some snow.
Posted at 12:05
I now have a craptacular Fiat Panda
Friday, January 23, 2004
I decided rather than to go without a car before I go for something nice like a Peugeot 306, I would run something cheap into the ground and then move on to make life easier. Unfortunately a Fiat Panda is what I ended up with. Its hardly the most modern of cars, but at least it will keep me on the road for now.
On a different note, I've noticed an advantage of driving around that I hadn't really expected. Obviously I was hoping to be a bit warmer than walking and waiting for trains, but I seem to be more healthy too. Obviously the medical sorts will tell you that the exercise you get walking is very good for you and I wouldn't dispute that, but I've not had the slightest sniffle of a cold or wheeze of a cough the last 6 months - something which has been very nice. I'm usually chock full of the fiends by now, but I'm as fit as a fiddle thanks to the cars. Just about £5000 poorer too...
Posted at 23:03
Well I crashed my car...
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
I stood on my doorstep this afternoon watching my little car being hosited up onto a low loader and taken off to the scrap yard... Not the most fun experience in the world, though probably better than crashing it on monday.
After spending so much doing my car up I managed to give it a nice sideways clout against a high curb and then put it through a couple of road signs. The damage wasn't all that huge, but it would have cost a lot more than the car is worth to put it right again so sadly it had to go. I stripped off any and everything that looked remotely sellable, so my eBay selling page will probably be quite a list for the next week or so.
As my insurance isn't fully comp, I won't get any money for the damage to the car. I'll also probably lose my no claims discount for the £100 or so it costs to fix the signs with no way to intervene and pay it myself. Isn't insurance great...
Posted at 19:52
Scary stary cat
Sunday, January 18, 2004
I looked out into the garden earlier to see what my dog, Henry, was barking at when my eyes met with quite an odd site. Having a very noisy dog and a very territorial female cat I don't tend to see much in the way of other animals in the back garden, but lo and behold was a persian cat sitting on the fence.
This cat was driving my dog absolutely wild - he was barking like mad three feet away from it, yet it just stared intently at me the entire time. I got my camera and walked towards it for a picture. The whole time it just stared without moving.
In the end my own cat, Molly, jumped up onto the fence to see the persian off. After a quick discussion with the dog we decided to call it scary stary cat. Admittedly it doesn't look that scary in the picture, but from a distance the bright orange eyes have a certain evil aura about them...
Posted at 12:56
Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004
Sunday, January 11, 2004
After giving Fireworks MX a try when it was released I was really horrified with what Macromedia had done to it. I had started using Fireworks with version 3 and progressed to version 4 shortly after it was released. With MX they seemed to take everything that was wrong with 4 and make it far worse. That coupled with the fact that it had a very ugly and cumbersome interface meant I had stuck with Fireworks 4 until now.
After using Fireworks MX 2004 for a week or two, I decided I had to upgrade, despite the £120 it costs to do so. Its now been a month or so and I'm yet to find anything wrong with it. If anything it seems to have made me far more productive than before - I seem to be able to complete what I have to do far quicker and with the greatest of ease. If you're a Fireworks 4 or MX user, I'd certainly suggest you take a look at the free trial - I doubt you'll regret it...
I wouldn't be suprised if I one day decide to start using Adobe Photoshop, but as long as I'm happy with Fireworks I'll put off getting started in Photoshop as much as I can.
Posted at 19:57
New car interior
Thursday, January 8, 2004
Quite chuffed with myself today for picking up an eBay bargain. £26 for all new car seats, door cards and a parcel shelf. The old ones were in a right state, so I thought I best get them cleaned up before trying to sell the car, when I spotted these going cheap and went for them instead.
It did mean I was in for a rather arduous journey round the M25 in the driving rain - 100 miles each way - but I think it was probably worth it as the interior quality tends to be quite a big selling point.
Posted at 17:22
A place to relax
Sunday, January 4, 2004
I went out for a ride on my bike early this morning. I was quite suprised to find a secluded spot on the edge of some woodland with a gentle river running past. Although cold, there was a clear sky and I sat on the river bank with my feet dangling over the side for some time while I collected my thoughts - it was a shame I forgot the camera.
It brought back fond memories of sitting on the river bank on family holidays near the coast feeding the ducks with my sister, bag of pick'n'mix sweets in hand.
I wonder if I'll be able to find the spot again...
Posted at 19:08
New years resolutions
Friday, January 2, 2004
After waking up yesterday afternoon with my first hangover of the year (hopefully not a sign of things to come...) I started thinking of things to aim for in the year ahead. I'm not really one for making resolutions, but my goals for the start of this year are something like this:
- Eat more healthily and get more exercise - I'm not in bad shape at the moment, but things could be improved.
- Take more photos - I bought a nice digital camera and yet the world still seems to pass me by.
- Get a new car - The Fiesta seems to be costing me more and more in maintenance.
- Go to bed earlier on Sunday nights so as to make Mondays more bearable.
- Organise my time more effectively (been trying to achieve this for longer than I can remember.)
- Get out on my bike more - There are lots of lovely views in the countryside around here - I really need to see them in person, the car window just doesn't cut it.
More than I had expected to be able to come up with, but hopefully I'll be able to keep to some of them - wish me luck...
Posted at 11:15
