Christmas Hangover

Well, that was a lovely Christmas. Time with family and friends, and delicious food and too much wine.

On Christmas Day TW's family came over and we had some of the most delicious food. Delicious roast potatoes, red cabbage and turkey. The cauliflower cheese didn't work as well, though... :(
We lived on fizz in the morning and moved on to wine for lunch. We'd opened our stocking presents in the morning, and then when we were sated with stuffing and cranberry, we opened our tree presents. The day was very relaxed, the kids were great, and GiL fell asleep in her dinner. A perfect day.

But it wasn't over! Then we went to our neighbours for Christmas Night. We drank more wine, I went to bed at 20:00 with our youngest, and then arose at 21:30 to carry on. We played charades, drank more wine and then retired at 01:30 (or so I am told).

Boxing Day was a very sedate affair. I didn't eat much, and had to go to bed again at 12:30 to lie down. I was not feeling very chipper. After an hour and a half I arose to catch the end of 'Elf', and felt much more human.

27th December was another spontaneously boozy day. We had guests for lunch at 12:15, and then invited some friends over at 18:30. Lots of booze was consumed and I woke up with another hangover.

I'm looking forward to getting back to work.

TTFN.

Google+ Icon

I hate the new red Google+ icon.

That is all.

Birthday Milestones

So, today I am 40 years old. That's 40, or forty years old. I was born in 1971, an entirely different century. I don't feel any different to yesterday, apart from the fact that I've got the day off and am at home looking after two of the three offspring.

What I'd really like to do is come up with some sort of plan to better myself. A plan that involves washing the car and polishing shoes and ironing shirts, rather than drinking wine. I'd like time to read books, and comics, and current newspapers, and relax over long weekend breakfasts.

Time is such a scant resource, and that's really what I crave. I don't want to have to multi-task. Time to concentrate on individual tasks or activities would be a real gift.

With three young children, that's not really possible. Or, the lifestyle we lead doesn't allow for such luxuries. TW has so many commitments she is constantly running from one appointment to another, with barely time for her feet to touch the floor. There are some weeks where TW is out four nights in a row. I do get to keep up with some great TV shows, like The Walking Dead and True Blood, but I think there's always room for something more.

I suppose that one day the girls will be older and more self-sufficient, or even (I dare to hope) away at University. Then maybe we will have time to relax over long breakfasts with newspapers and freshly-brewed coffee and warm croissants, and ponder whether we should stroll along the seafront, or go into town and maybe have another coffee there?

It sounds like a modest ambition to me...
TTFN.

Children and Teeth

My eldest lost her first milk tooth today. I say 'lost' - she swallowed it. At school. Doofus. Still, I have an inkling that the Tooth Fairy will still visit, and leave a pound under the pillow, in the expected tradition. I don't know, it's just a hunch.

Lying Children

The other day I heard my daughter lie to TW.
I was in one room, TW and The Youngest were in another.
The Youngest said "Can I go and play outside naked, Mummy?
TW replied "I don't think so, Youngest."
Youngest tried her best: "Daddy said it was okay".

She's two years old.

Dull Weekends

Hmmm. It's been a while. Sorry about that. Am having a dull weekend. Last night TW was working, and she's out again this afternoon. As a result, I'm in charge of childcare - the park beckons, on a lovely sunny day like today.

 

Hoping to watch the cricket later - England vs. West Indies in a T20 international, the second of two. England won the first one, on Friday evening, by ten wickets. Having said that, though, Sky Sports is free for the weekend, so there is Premiership rugby (only Exeter vs. Wasps, not that interesting) and NFL too - I could waste hours watching the NFL. I shall have to consider my options. Trouble is, there are other things we will need to record - the X Factor, for one. That's for TW, not for me. And I've just seen that Wolverine is on C4 too. Tarnation. I won't be able to watch that, definitely.

 

Well, the park beckons.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

A Taster of Single Parenting

So, I am just coming to the end of my five-day stint as a single parent. TW returns tonight from her long weekend in Spain. I'm glad she felt able to go, and I think I've done okay looking after the girls.
I've dropped them off at school on time, and picked them up (more importantly). I've taken them to their swimming lessons. I did get a bit distracted this morning by a computer challenge (thanks, MiL!), so the youngest was late to the father and toddler session today, butt they've been fed, and not shouted at, and washed, so I'm just about coping. I've managed to stay on top of the washing-up, which has been okay. The washing (bedsheets and clothes), on the other hand, has been a challenge, but we haven't had a washing line to hang stuff out on, and the weather has been miserable anyway.
But I don't think I could do it full-time. The demands of three daughters on one adult, full-time, is just too much. Plus there is no reassurance, feedback that you're doing the right thing. I think that's the benefit in parenting as a couple.

I can't to get back to work tomorrow, for a rest if nothing else.

New Keyboard for My Tab

Wow. Have just purchased a keyboard for the Tab. Am using it now. It's fast, man. I could keep typing all day. But then I'd just be typing rubbish. So won't bother.

Early Morning Thoughts

So, here I am again, early morning again, all girls asleep again.

It probably won't be too long until the eldest wanders down and wants to watch Tiny Pop.

I do enjoy these moments of silence, where I can indulge myself. Shame the keys on the laptop click, and the fan makes an audible whirr. Still, this is about four years old now, will probably have to replace it soon.

I'm girding my loins for the day. TW goes off to Spain tomorrow, so I will be large and in charge of three daughters from Thursday to Monday night. Luckily, M & P have offered to host us on Sunday afternoon, for a bbq, and with a bit of Amazon on Saturday afternoon maybe, we might just make it through.

My main worry is cooking for the girls. I hope they like what I serve up. I also hope I don't drink lots of wine in order to get to sleep and then wake up grumpy and hungover for them the next day.

Still, they'll have gymnastics and swimming and grandparents and school, so it's not like I'm the sole entertainer. It'll be fine.

R.I.P. Uncle Frank

Sad to see you go. Glad you went peacefully.

Note to Self

Overdoing it at your age is neither big nor clever. Just give it up as a bad job.

The Longest Day

So,that's it then. The longest day has been and gone. From here it's just a short slide to Christmas and 2012. There's only short days and cold nights to look forward to. Time to break out the winter coats and woolly hats. Where has this year gone?

Sussex Sharks

So, today I finally had the courage of my convictions and bought a season ticket to see all one-day home games for Sussex Sharks. That means I can see all Twenty20 matches and all CB40 matches played at Hove, Arundel or Horsham. You beauty.

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Fun with Samsung Galaxy Tab

So I installed Titanium Backup on my Tab. Apparently it's called Tibu or TiBu for short. I went into my Apps Drawer afterwards and noted that the stock apps were now displaying in Cyrillic - which was a pain.

I googled this to see if it was a common issue, but answer came there none. So, I went with the tried and tested method - I switched it off and switched it back on. This is also known as recycling. It sounds really basic, I know, and I was one of those who used to disparage the "so-called Helpdesk" for going through their script - Have you tried switching it off and on again? But I now realise that processes can be abended (abnormally ended or broken) or go missing, if systems aren't recycled every once in a while.

So I switched it back on and hotfooted it to my Apps Drawer, and guess what? My stock apps were in English. QED.

TTFN.

Why is Easter?

"Easter is all about chocolate" - my five-year old daughter.

She was looking at a booklet entitled Easter Feast, and pointed out that there was no chocolate included in the feast.

"but Daddy, Easter is all about chocolate" she said.
"Not, quite, Bella", I replied.

Funny girl.

Samsung Tab - Restored

Beautiful. 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration. The answers are all on the internet. I managed to find the info I needed and restored my phone. There is one niggle, and that is that Kies won't update my phone - but I can address that later.
My faith in technology, and perseverance, is restored. Hurrah!

Galaxy Tab - Borked II

So, another evening spent hunched over a laptop, frantically searching the web for any kind of clue...

I was thinking I might install another ROM, but realised that still wouldn't solve the GAPPS issue. So I have been mostly focused on getting a non-Market APK installer on to my laptop. Isn't that crazy? A day or two ago, if you'd asked me to describe what an APK installer does, I'd look at you blankly. But now I know the basics and that's just not enough.

I have, this morning, discovered a tutorial on the PDA Developers' website describing how to load up GAPPS through ADB (the Android Developer's Bridge, I think), which I am going to investigate further at lunchtime. I expect it will involve a number of downloads from dodgy sites, so will be blocked by our work firewall. So I'll be forced to leave it. But it will be on my mind all day...

Samsung Tab - Borked

Unfortunately, over the weekend, I decided to walk before I could run. I installed the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) keyboard, and enjoyed it so much I decided to upgrade my O/S to Gingerbread.
Some of you may be aware that Gingerbread is not officially available for the Gtab at the moment, so it is quite tricky and there are a number of steps involved in getting everything running correctly. Unfortunately, I didn't follow those steps involved (at least, not all of them), and so my Gtab is now running at below full capacity.

Basically I have managed to remove the Google APKs which make the device so handy...

I have lost the Android Marketplace app, and I can't sync my contacts or email with Google either. Also, those lovely bought apps (Pocket Informant, Taskos, Poweramp, etc.) are all unreachable.

I have spent a lot of time trying to right this, but with no success so far. Keep on keepin' on.

Girls in Shade

At Tilgate Park, Sunday

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The Alternative Vote System

If this is the best the No2AV campaign can come up with:

http://playpolitical.typepad.com/all_sorts/2011/04/rik-mayall-stars-as-alan-bstard-in-first-no2av-referendum-broadcast-.html

Then I think it'll be a 'yes' from me.

The most persuasive argument I've heard so far is that fringe parties will accumulate votes. But I have yet to see figures showing an actual incident where that would have occurred under AV. If someone can show me such figures, I'll reconsider.
My view is that the more we can express a view at the polls, the better.
If there are marginal seats under AV, it'll make the politicians work harder with the public. I know they work hard any way, but they'll have to play up their accountability to the electorate.

TTFN.

Conversation with a Four-year Old

Me: Is it bedtime yet?
4-yr Old: No. Why, don't you have your watch on?
Me: No, I don't.
4-yr Old: Then go and look at your watch. That's what I would do.

Lent 2011

This year I've given up booze. Surprisingly. And, so far, it's gone okay. Better than January, any way. My last drink was on March 9th, two and a half weeks ago. I've still got 19 days to go until April 15th, the end of Lent, but I reckon I'll make it.
It's surprising how tired I get in the evenings without a drink. Most nights I'm ready to hit the hay by 21:30, and then I'm awake by 06:00, raring to go. If I went back to my old ways, I would miss the mornings and how good I feel.
I also think I've lost weight, although I wouldn't expect to have done so, the amount of crap I've eaten. I think I've been stockpiling the calories because I know I'm not going to get them via wine. Oh well.
TTFN.

India Triumphant

Pleased to see India beat Australia in the ICC World Cup. Pleased that we won't be facing them in the final...
I took a vicarious pleasure in flitting between Cricinfo (or www.espncricinfo.com, as it is now) and the Guardian OBO and watching the score rattle up and the RRR tumble. Of course, we'll never beat Sri Lanka, but a boy can dream...

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Samsung Galaxy Tab IV

Well, a tricky couple of days with the Tab. The system was slow and I thought I'd discovered what 'bricking' a phone was like. But I managed to trace the problem to the SD card - I hope I can reformat it, because I don't want to waste sixteen pounds on a new one! Also, it means I can't load the Tab up with all the music and movies I want to load... But a friend at work has an SD card reader, so I'm hoping to use that and reformat the card so it is usable again. Will let you know.
TTFN.

Samsung Galaxy Tab III

Couldn't play media today. Had to reset the device. Not to worry. More people at work noticing and coming for a gender. Which is quite pleasing
TTFN.

Lent - a time of restraint

So, I've agreed with TW that she will give up chocolate for Lent, and I will give up wine. Lent starts today, since I got drunk last night. On a school night. Silly boy.
We'll see how that goes..
TTFN.

Samsung Galaxy Tab II

Wow, found out today that I can answer calls directly from the headphones Samsung supplied with the GT. Just by pressing the button on the wire. Means I don't have to fish 'The Beast' out of my pocket and press buttons. Trialled it at work, very impressed.

Small things for small minds. I still don't know the full functionality of the buttons on the headphones.

TTFN.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

First paid-for app downloaded? Pocket Informant of course!

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Off to Ireland...

Strange to be heading off to Heathrow instead of heading home to Worthing...

- Posted using BlogPress on the move.

Wolverine 5.1

This is a bit of an obscure topic for a post, but I thought I'd mention this before launching into an even weirder fetish of mine.

 

So, to set the scene, Marvel, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) comic producer in the world, has been banging on about relaunching several of their titles, including Wolverine and Iron Man.  Iron Man is up to issue #500, and the relaunch will be numbered #500.1 - which is nice.

 

Wolverine, on the other hand, has reached issue #5, and the relaunch is numbered #5.1.

 

A question that springs to mind immediately is - why would you need a relaunch, after five issues?  But, it's a relaunch, it's a special issue, it's going to be good, right?

 

Erm.

 

Maybe the writers and illustrators missed the point?  This is supposed to be an issue to draw people in.  This is supposed to 'sell' Wolverine to the general masses, the people who've never bothered with the big fella before.  So, let's look at the story, then; it's a surprise birthday for Wolverine, but it turns out to be a real surprise because he doesn't know today is his birthday.  So he doesn't show.  Cue a lot of small-talk from a lot of superheroes - Luke Cage, The Thing, Deadpool, the list goes on.

 

One possible seed is the appearance of The Hand, but I've just collected all of Shadowland, I've had enough of The Hand.  In my view, there was nothing gripping about this issue.

 

Maybe the artwork was exemplary?  Maybe the issue was a visual delight?  Here are two examples of the art work in this pisspoor (in my opinion) publication:

 

 

So, the artwork not impressive either.  Oh well.  That's a shame.  I've got Wolverine (Road to Hell) Prelude, #1 - #5, and #5.1.  I was thinking I could bag 'em up and sell 'em off as one interesting lot.  So, thanks for nothing, Marvel.

 

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Swimming

Ah, Sunday brings the weekly trip to the swimming pool in Worthing, the Aquarena.

Today was one of the better sessions; the youngest kept the general populace entertained by throwing herself with gusto into the pool at any and every opportunity.
Lulu went down the big slide, with me. It was the first time for both of us! Amy was trying to persuade me to take Hattie down, but I refused - she's too young.
And this afternoon has brought some entertaining Six Nations rugby, as I expected. Ireland vs. France was always going to be good. Let's see how it ends...

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Girls in a Shower Cap

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Old before their time...

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Nick Clegg and Work-life Balance

I read this article in The Telegraph at the weekend, and it's been niggling me ever since.

Basically, Clegg's office have said they won't put ordinary business on his agenda after 3pm.
To me, that seems fair enough. After all, as DPM, he must have to review shedloads of paperwork on a daily basis. Why not have a cut-off time?

But The Telegraph are able to rustle up a Labour MP willing to go on record as saying "Nick Clegg seems to be clocking off after lunch and putting his feet up". Where do they get these rent-a-quote mouthpieces from?

The problem is that The Torygraph has its knickers in a twist because although the Tories are in power, they're practicing a brand of 'Tory lite', which isn't providing enough true Conservatism to satisfy their readership.

But they should know that The Grauniad, from their point of view, are unhappy too. It's nothing but doom'n'gloom on their pages.

So the Coalition, the Con-Dems (will that stick, do we think?), soldier on, with no support from either side of the established media, but with a general "they're okay so far" from The general public. Okay, so they've stuffed up on tuition fees, but apart from that, they're pretty solid.

So to waste firepower on this sort of bureaucratic nothingness, both by The Torygraph and the Labour rent-a-quote, seems wrong-footed. If this was on the back of some pretty big policy misjudgements, that might add to the overall political 'mood music'. But to me, now, this just jars. Must try harder.
TTFN.

Pleasant Children, Please?

Is it too much to ask, that we can have pleasant children in the morning? Every morning this week there has been some sort of histrionics. When is it

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Tired

I was tired this week. Going back at work coincided with the final Ashes test, and so it's been late to bed and early to rise every day.

Staying up until 00:30 or 01:00 is no fun when I've had to drag my sorry arse out of bed at 06:30 later the same day. I think I've actually fallen asleep on the train on the way home each night this week.

This lack of sleep and need for concentration at work comes after ten days or so of free-wheeling mental non-engagement and (whisper it) lie-ins. The girls had relaxed into the holidays and were sleeping until 07:30 or so. This may have been related to the fact that we allowed them to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve...

Still, a good night's sleep last night has almost sorted me out. Adding on to that the fact that I'm not drinking in January, by middle of next week I should be raring to go!

TTFN.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Ashes Series Victory

So I've been staying up late and getting up early this week, to catch as much cricket as possible. As a result, I'm knackered. But, needs must and tonight is the last night. Australia have only three wickets left and the whole day to bat out.
Even if they do make it, England will still win 2-1, so whatever happens I should be picking up about £12.80 from the bookie's tomorrow. Result.

Posted via email from Rob Thorley's Posterous Site

Saturday 1st January '11

We got off to a slow start yesterday, what with having got to bed at 03:30 after the night before. The girls didn't surface until 09:30, which was handy - the first bit of luck of the New Year!
I think I had breakfast at 11:55, which wasn't ideal. I was a bit fragile after the night before, but TW was really hanging.
Once we'd sorted ourselves out, we walked to the car to retrieve it, said 'good afternoon' to our NYE party hosts, and drove to Tesco to get hangover food.
TW picked up some pastries, but they didn't have the Chinese/Oriental selection she was looking for, so we discussed heading to the Tesco Extra at West Durrington. We'd also thought about buying a PS Move, as TW had very kindly bought me a PS3 for Christmas. The Tesco Extra scares me, though. It's so big, light bends around it and time slows down when you're in there. But it was surprisingly empty - I guess Worthing was nursing its communal hangover and couldn't face up to the neon intensity of consumerism.

We got the Chinese selection, we got the PS Move - at about £37, which was a good price. We also got a game called "Start the Party" or somesuch, which I think the girls will love, and we had a bash on that when we got home.

We watched Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and then went to bed.

Yesterday was an acceptably lethargic recovery day, but we need to get active in 2011, and rather than let things drift (blown lightbulbs, holey socks, etc), we need to be on it. I'm planning to read more, drink less, and write more, so there should be more blog entries this year. Let's see how it goes...

TTFN.