Moments in Time

Pouring with rain this morning so I couldn’t be more pleased to be setting off for Majorca soon. Checked the current forecast for Majorca and as things stand it looks as if it’s likely to be generally warm and sunny with a few cloudy days but hell, I can cope with that! The plan for the holiday is to use it to properly launch a general return to fitness and generally use the time like a training camp, hoping to make better use of the health spa facilities at the place we go to which generally we haven’t really bothered with. That’s the plan anyway ;-)

Lorena and I once again today turned our minds to how we might end up with our tandem out in Majorca but so far we have pretty much drawn a blank. We had hoped that without it’s wheels it might fit in the back of the X-Trail but even then I’m almost certain it is too long. One final check needed but it’s looking as if it might not be a runner. Thought we could have delivered it out there when we go out late in 2015 on a road trip and we would have had it there then for future trips, still not completely given up on the idea!

Not looking bad out there is it!

Down another touch on the scales this morning so currently 3.5lbs down from my start point so just over a third of the way to my target which is good. Probably have a rest today from walking around especially with the rain so will lose a bit of ground but as long as the general trend is good that’s just fine by me.

Had some domestic matters to attend to today, first thing was to sort of out gas and electricity suppliers for the forthcoming year and to fix the prices. Did the groundwork for this not long ago so needed to just complete all the details. As is always the case getting through was not as easy as it should be so I had to resort to Twitter to get things moving. Finally got everything resolved and it does surprise me how often resorting to Twitter can at least register one’s feelings, SSE did at least get back to me:

@VeloTraining @SSE Hi. I hope you got through earlier. If not, I can arrange a callback on Monday if you complete some details on our >>>

— SSE (@YourSSE) October 4, 2014

Have now taken the Slideshare project about as far as I intend to and I have reached the point where I have a system I can use easily and quickly and that’s really all I need. I think that completes the set, I wanted to be able to embed slideshows, video, audio, and still images into my weblog and I can now do all those things quickly and conveniently so no point in continuing to tinker with things.

I have quite a few lectures from my working life available as Powerpoint files so I did wonder whether I might upload those to Slideshare for posterity but I’m not sure I can actually be bothered. Doubtful that anyone would actually be interested so probably not worthwhile! Work is history!

Twitter Updated: October 04, 2014 at 12:14PM @SSE You position may be clear but that doesn't help your existing customers who are unable to get through to you on the telephone!

Twitter Updated: October 04, 2014 at 12:15PM Absolutely hopeless, again, trying to get through to @SSE on the telephone.

Today’s fun and games kicked off with a nice 7 mile walk with a few hills thrown in so that got the exercise done for the day. Then it was off down to Ashington for various things, the first of which was a haircut at The Forum in readiness for the upcoming holiday. That done off to the bank for Eric and then to get a few bits and bobs from the shops. I hate going to the shops in Ashington, it’s all just so damned grim.

Onward from there to do some more grass cutting at the cottage and then to deliver Eric’s spending money which I sort out for the old chap. Spent a little time at Mum’s Cottage with Eric, nice for him to have some company even if it is just me!

Once home continued with my travails trying to get decent quality images in these SlideShare slideshows and I think I’m slowly getting there. Been experimenting with Powerpoint, Keynote, Preview and Automator trying to find the best approach to the various issues I’ve encountered. Currently think I will end up using either Keynote or Powerpoint but I’m not at the final decision point yet.

Work with Postach.io is going pretty well now, things seem to have settled down and after all there is really no way back now after the work I have put into it. I did do a bit more experimenting with the "Pages" feature which is pretty neat and I will be fine tuning that side of things over the next few weeks.

Weight management still going in the right direction, pleased to say that I am now 3.2lbs down since my start date so already almost a third of the way towards my ten pound target. Dropped suddenly yesterday so that will almost certainly go into reverse in the next day or two!

Facebook Updated: The Alnwick Clarinet Trio http://ift.tt/1sPPgp7 Listen to The Alnwick Clarinet Trio by LFieldBoden #np on #SoundCloud Made a few short sound recordings of The Alnwick Clarinet Trio this afternoon, I reckon SoundClod is a nice little system for this kind of thing.

Twitter Updated: October 03, 2014 at 12:57AM @postachio @SlideShare @Flickr I've done some experimenting, here's my output: http://t.co/nGXgrNTMJ8 Slideshow viewable on an iPad.

Following some experimentation earlier today I identified that even though Flickr slideshows can be embedded in a Postach.io weblog there are limitations, a particular one being that because Flickr slideshows are flash based they will not play on an iPad which is a significant problem for me because that is what I use for many of the tasks I perform. Having done some investigating I think I may have worked out a solution, the only thing to do is to try it and see.

This problem may have been solved by others far brighter than me and if there are better solutions to the Flash Player/iPad/Postach.io issue I’d be delighted to hear them!

Here goes!

Have finally reached the section of this Postach.io weblog work where all my material is already in Evernote so it should make it easier to get things posted, that's the theory at any rate. As it happened this section of the work took me a very long time because of the volume of embedded media in the notes all of which I had to transfer into the correct format so that things worked properly. Never mind, well worth it in the end.

Lorena off out for a walk with Alison Slassor so I'm sitting here at the moment working my way through my May 2014 diary entries, just hoping that uploading them will be a smooth process and that I won't hit any major synchronisation issues again with Postach.io. For some reason this part of the work did go more smoothly in terms of synchronisation which I was grateful for, certainly saved me a great deal of hassle which there would have been had there been lots of delays as there have been previously.

Been a pretty slow day and I will be very glad when this work is done, which it now almost is, it will be nice to get back to a more normal existence and to spend a whole lot more time outside. Lorena was out at the band this evening and she seems to have had a nice time so that is good. I did write up a bit of a summary of my experiences with the transfer from one blogging platform to another which can be accessed here if anyone is interested.

This will be my first "live" posting as pretty much everything else has been backloaded from my previous platform, hopefully everything should work a whole lot more smoothly from here on, fingers crossed!

The job is done!

Twitter Updated: September 29, 2014 at 01:43PM Disappointing that the @postachio system does not offer a search feature and Google search can't be added as no access to Source Editor :-(

Twitter Updated: September 29, 2014 at 11:26PM @postachio @tyabblemons My thoughts and experiences of things so far, might be of interest to potential users? http://t.co/6gq4aqlWy3

The problems with syncing files to Postach.io continue. It was taking ages to get things published first thing, it improved a bit later in the day but then deteriorated again and as I type this evening I have one post which has been sitting there unposted for about three hours which is just hopeless.

Been in touch with a guy from Australia who has similar problems so it's not just me which is at least a little bit reassuring. The whole thing is extremely frustrating because I like the system and it has great potential but these practical synchronisation problems cast a dark cloud over things.

Popped out to Lidl for a few bits of shopping, interested that they have now changed things and have started accepting credit cards rather than just debit cards so they must be doing well!

Big treat this evening, we decided to have fish and chips from Carlos in Alnwick and it was lovely. For the record the chip shop is open until 21:00 on a Sunday which surprised me. So it was fish a chips, followed by some Coronation Street and an episode of the new series of Downton Abbey, perfect :-)

This afternoon I did watch some of the men's World Road Race for the rainbow jersey which was won by Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland who broke away late in the race and crossed the line just a second or so from the chasers.

Facebook Updated: September 28, 2014 at 10:11AM Placed an order for some Wiggle Hydration Tabs. Miles cheaper than the SIS and High5 versions and just how complicated can a zero calorie electrolyte tablet be? Got to be worth a punt, anyone tried the Wiggle gels?

Flickr Updated: 2014 @ The Cycle Hub - Brought to us from the people behind Saddle Skedaddle Cycling Holidays and The Cycle Centre, Byker - The Cycle Hub is a social enterprise that promotes and facilitates cycling, complete with bike hire facilities, cafe, bike shop and repair workshop. Some photos taken recently down at The Cycle Hub recently, excellent place to while away a little time.

Facebook Updated: 2014 BikeServe Service - I wasn't familiar with this one until recently, I particularly like the collect and drop option. I'm attracted to the collect and drop option!

Video uploaded to YouTube: Nissan X-Trail

Video uploaded to YouTube: The Cycle Hub

Video uploaded to YouTube: Freeman Hospital

Video uploaded to YouTube: Sainsbury's Cafe - Alnwick

Video uploaded to YouTube: Woodhorn Gardening Trip

Twitter Updated: September 28, 2014 at 08:40PM @postachio @tyabblemons Spoke too soon, same old sync problems back again, any idea how long users will have to tolerate this?

X-Trail in to have battery changed as wrong one fitted before! Waited for free wash and Hoover which was fine, allowed me to catch up with my diary which had fallen a day behind, apart from a few quick notes I had made.

Car all sorted out which is good, hopefully no more visits to the garage for a little while. Milled another bag of rye flakes when I got home, always like to have a good batch in stock ready for use, don't know what I'd do without it now.

Arrived down at Woodhorn at 11:52, off down to see Eric. I think this red Giant bike I'm getting rid of is pretty damned Ok! Anyway, the decision to get rid of it has been made so it's off down to Newcastle with it. Spent some time with Eric which he seemed to appreciate. Tried to copy some old records onto a DVD using Eric's old music centre but it was a very clumsy setup and the outcome was really poor so I had to give up. I'm going to have to get a proper unit to do this and to record MP3s if I'm ever going to get all the old vinyl sorted out, yet another daunting task but one which does need doing.

The funny thing was that whilst I was trying to copy these records Eric was singing along to the music, he may not be able to remember what happened yesterday but he still knows the words of all the songs which is nice.

Lorena has gone off to Newcastle to met up with her sister, it's off down to The Cycle Hub for me. Got stuck it terrible traffic but arrived in the end. Spent a pleasant time at The Hub and attended to everything I had gone down there for, it will be interesting to see whether there is a market for any of the stuff I am getting rid of.

After leaving The Hub went into Newcastle for a few items and did finally end up buying a unit to produce MP3 files from vinyl records. I have no idea whether it will work OK but in the end you just have to take the plunge and hope for the best I think. No way of finding out if these things work unless you actually try them, all the reviews are very mixed for all these things. I reckon in the end it probably depends how picky you are, I'm not after ultra high fidelity, I'm just looking for a working file I can use so that I can get rid of the records themselves.

Back home in the end for a quiet evening. Lorena's day has gone well which is nice and I feel that I have got a lot of things done that have been hanging over me for some while. All good.

Facebook Updated: September 27, 2014 at 03:46PM All very pleasant down here

Facebook Updated: September 27, 2014 at 03:57PM Ah well, I guess I'd better lift my backside off the sofas :-)

Flickr Updated: 2014 iOS Photos to Sept 27th

Twitter Updated: September 27, 2014 at 09:46PM Sync problems with @postachio come and go but at the moment, for me at least, they are here to stay. Unable to sync to @evernote at all :-(

Twitter Updated: September 27, 2014 at 09:50PM @liversedge Ha ha! I just knew we would have one of these tracked at some point! Nice one :-) Top speed?

Twitter Updated: September 27, 2014 at 10:02PM @tyabblemons Read your ambassador article, very good. Any thoughts on the fact that @postachio sync isn't working again? Well, not for me!

Twitter Updated: September 27, 2014 at 10:09PM Hopefully more of the GB team will complete the World Championship Road Race than was the case last year, no finishers was just pathetic.

Twitter Updated: September 27, 2014 at 11:09PM @liversedge Means you were really whizzing around, were the players chasing you for some reason?

We had to laugh this morning when Lorena carried the ironing board upstairs instead of hoover! It did look funny when she stood at the top of the stairs and realised what she has done.

Plugged in the PowerMonkey Extreme to the SolarGorilla today via the Gorilla-Pad to see if it made any difference to the rate of charge. Unfortunately the sun kept going in so it wasn't a very good test and it didn't seem to improve the level of charge in the unit at all. Need to try it on a sunny day but to be honest I'm thinking we may well have seen the last of those for this year.

Suddenly had inspiration today and searched my camera bag and finally found found my Nikon flash shoe cover :-) Really pleased about this as it being missing had been bugging me for weeks if not months. Perhaps things being more organised is finally starting to pay some dividends, I do hope so.

I've started doing some more scanning of Mum's and Ann's documents, also scanned some old photos I’d never seen before. It's actually pretty shocking what a mess Mum's stuff is in, there is just no system at all and everything has just been opened and then shoved back into the envelopes in a pile.

Got a Tweet from Mark Liversedge today and we ended up enjoying a Skype call which was great. I was surprised how little lag there was on the video call and I'm assuming he must have a fibre optic network at his end for it to work that well. He is currently working from home which he seems to be enjoying. He's started cycling again and is trying to lose some weight and is making steady progress, in fact he is losing about two pounds a week which is great.

He wanted to know about blood lactate testing so I happily passed on my experiences and how I use it. Mark it seems is planning to go out to Majorca next year so I've told him when we are going, it would be great to meet up with him out there and to do some riding but we shall see.

Facebook Updated: August 24, 2014 at 07:53AM I think if I were in power, heaven forbid, and I wanted to discourage British Citizens from going to fight for the Islamic state I would make it plain that anyone doing so would have their passports automatically cancelled to prevent their return at any point. This would not render them stateless, the Islamic state would be their state, whatever that ends up being, and it might make it less attractive to some.

Facebook Updated: August 24, 2014 at 07:55AM Another step that I feel would make the UK more secure would be to prevent all foreign national from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria etc. entering the UK at all for any reason. Just how much of a detriment to this country would that actually be?

Facebook Updated: August 24, 2014 at 07:58AM Forecast for today's Great North Bike Ride looks pretty decent, hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable day and that the chips are good in Tynemouth.

Quiet day today. Got up quite late and felt pretty groggy but made a start trying to sort out my photos and video files from the sailing trip. It's a right pain in the backside using two cameras and trying to get the files sorted out and in order.

After much messing about I think I got all the files in the right places, resized and uploaded to Facebook, Flickr and Google+ so that's at least the still photos sorted out, just the video material to go now.

Been looking at the GoPro LCD backpack for the Hero3, looks really neat as a way of aiming the camera accurately. I reckon you could aim the camera and then leave a housing in position for the duration of some shoots and then just take the camera body in or out as required. An arrangement like that would work out really well on something like a sailing holiday so I am going to give buying one of those some serious thought.

Watched some TV this evening, probably the best thing we watched was a dramatisation of the Escape From Sobibor which was very moving. I just can't begin to understand how human beings can do the things they do or how those on the receiving end manage to somehow keep themselves together.