Playstation vs Wii

Today, Steve bought Playstation's new controller that works like the Wii. It's pretty good, though I don't think there's many games out yet for it. But on their "sports" games, there's Bocce! I loved playing Bocce in our backyard as a kid so we decided to try it. It's awesome! There's a bunch of different courses or courts to make it more challenging and at one point, Steve and I were in stitches as I kept throwing the ball out of bounds like a crazy woman.

I definitely recommend it for anyone who already has a Playstation.

End of the Season

The last game of our season was on Sunday and get this, we actually won! It was great to end the season on a high. Here's some pics:



Not much else going on. I've been reading a lot since I got the Kindle, it's so cool!

Kindle Review

Hooray! My Kindle arrived this morning. I've been reading Kindle books on my iPhone and laptop since Christmas but this is my first dedicated eReader device.

I was a little worried when someone on the Kindle forums mentioned that the screen was very dark in comparison to a backlit screen and being use to a backlit screen (and not having any eye strain from it), I was concerned I wouldn't like the eInk. But it seems perfectly readable in the daylight even with half the blinds in our living room closed and no other light on it. I can certainly see how people who get eye strain from backlit screens would greatly benefit from eInk, it's very easy on the eyes and not like a computer screen at all.

I did not have as much as an urge to touch the screen for navigation as I thought I would but I DID feel like the navigation was slow in comparison to a touch screen. Especially with the screen or part of it flashing to black every time I click something (you get ghosting images if it doesn't do this), compared to the iPhone, I feel like it's regressive technology. I'm hoping that now that I've set it up, I won't need to do much in the way of navigating any more anyway.

I've managed to accidentally bump the turn page button 3 times already. I hope I just have to get used to where the buttons are and that won't continue to be a problem.

Combined with the cover, it's a little heavier than I expected - definitely heavier than an average paperback book, probably more the weight of a hardback even though it's dimensions aren't bigger than a paperback. One of the reasons I switched to ebooks was because of the strain holding a book open was putting on my hands (the other reason being that we don't have room to store many books in our tiny apartment) so I'm a little concerned about the weight but I usually rest my book/phone on a pillow while reading any way so hopefully it won't be a problem.

For the most part, it's really cool. The main reason I bought it was because the iPhone screen was kind of small to ideally read on (though it didn't strain my eyes, it was annoying to have to try the pages every 3 seconds) but my laptop was too big to "curl up with". This is the perfect size and even though I don't need it, I'm impressed with the eInk. Although having to charge my iPhone battery everynight never seemed to bother me, it is kind of a relief not to have to do so with Kindle too. Because of how eInk works, it only needs to use the battery when you click something - this means the battery can last for weeks, possibly even months.

I also bought the official cover with a built in light so it's all protected and I don't have to worry about reading in the dark. Very, very cool. I suggest anyone who reads frequently to at least check it out.

I'm going to go read!

Desperate Need of an Update

Sorry for being neglectful. Here's some updates:

1. Steve and I saw Inception and loved it.

2. Steve and I had our anniversary and loved it (not on the same day we saw Inception). We went to a restaurant called Gio Ristorante Italiano - we took James and Ange there once but hadn't been in a while. It was just as good as we remembered. Definitely the best Italian food in England.

3. I bought a Kindle. I've been reading Kindle books on my iPhone and PC since the beginning of the year but Amazon announced a new Kindle with a great price so I jumped on it. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

4. Photos from the latest game:

The New Camera

I can not believe how awesome the 7D is! It's SO fast and much more responsive and accurate! The autofocus system is out of this world. I can't believe how many usable photos I came away with compared to before. Unfortunately, with the bigger file size, I really could have done with my second camera card which I stupidly left at home (thought I put it in my bag and I didn't). But I managed by going to the office at one point to unload the pics so I could clear the card.

But the camera is amazing. I'm on cloud nine. Oh, aside from the fact that we lost. But at least it didn't rain!



Above is a sequence of events (click for larger versions) in which one of the other team members fouled one of ours and some shouting and shoving resulted, followed by a discussion with the ref. Everyone was calling it a "fight" but of course anyone who has ever watched hockey knows it's not really a fight unless punches are thrown.

"Genuinely Stunning"

Apparently, I have "genuinely stunning photography"!

Good weather, bad game

We've been having nice weather lately - so far, it's been the nicest summer I've spent here in England! Of course by "nice" weather, I mean it's above 70.

Unfortunately, Salford lost their game today. But I got good pictures and it didn't rain so it wasn't a total loss for me, lol.

Happy Birthday Me!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Today was a great day - I spent all morning doing a fun photoshoot in the sunshine and then Steve and I went to lunch at the Red Lion, the place that does the awesome carvery.

The photoshoot I was working on was for the posters we're doing as a "countdown" to the new stadium. There's 18 home games lefts in our current stadium so we've decided to use numbers on the backs of the playing shirt to represent how many games are left. You can check out the first image and read more about it here. So this morning I was doing the shoot for 17. I can't reveal it yet, it's top secret!

You may also notice I slightly changed the blog template... that olive green background was starting to look a little more like puke green to me.

Thank You Rain God

So, last night we had a game - don't get excited, we lost. But I got some good pics despite having a bit of a panic before kick off that the rain wasn't going to stop. You see, all day - pretty much all week - the weather here has been nice again (this is our 3rd "nice" phase, thrown inbetween "bad phases" of highs in the 50s). And when I checked the forecast, there was no rain until Sunday. So I left my rain cover for my camera at home, thinking it wasn't going to rain and the lighter I can make my bag, the better.

Well, 2 hours before kick off and it literally starts POURING down. This is unusual for England, normally our rain is just a depressingly slow drizzle. And if that were the case, I could get away with covering my camera with something else besides my rain cover. But a down pour? I can't shoot in that without something designed for it. And by this point, I can't go home and get the cover because the pre-game sponsor shots were already in flow. So for the next hour and a half, the rain would let up but then pour down again and I was anxiously looking out the window hoping it would stop.

Amazingly, because my luck is usually not this good, about a half hour before kick off, the rain stopped and the skies cleared up. PHEW! So here are the photos I got thanks to the rain god who decided to favor me that day (click for larger versions):

Flight

We have finally booked our flight! Only about one month to go!

Stop the Presses!!!

It's supposed to get up to 81 today! I can't believe it, this must be a world record or something - 81 degrees in May!


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Life is Good

Last Friday, we saw a comedian live, Dara O'Briain - he hosts a show on TV called "Mock the Week". He was really funny. Then, on Saturday, Salford won an unexpected game against one of the best teams in the league. Pictures at my flickr site. So it was a good weekend.

Since then, the weather has actually been really good. This whole week is forecast for sunshine and highs in the 60s - even one day in the 70s! I think this will be the first time this year that the temp has reached above 70! Can you believe it's mid-May and this is the first time it's broken 70 degrees?

Volcanic what now?

So you may have heard that a volcano is erupting in Iceland and all the volcanic ash is flying over the UK and northern Europe, grounding flights for the last 2 days and no sign they'll be back in the air anytime soon. Here's the latest news on it.

Well, you could have fooled me because it's been really sunny here for the passed 2 weeks and there's no sign of it clouding over anytime soon! In fact, it was just after James and Ange left that the sun came out, lol, sorry guys! But at least the volcano waited until you were back home to erupt and didn't leave you stranded here!

Steve is sticking to his conspiracy theory that they're just using the volcanic ash as a cover and there's actually a terrorist plot they're trying to foil.

New Wish List

I've just discovered Amazon allow you to add stuff to your wish list from other websites! So my wish list can now be found here.

Catch Up

James and Ange have gone home (boo) but we had a lot of fun while they were here (yay). I posted about the mini Jamaica reunion but we were all talking about a real Jamaica reunion sometime next year (woohoo!). Apparently, Steve is now obsessed with the concept of all-inclusive, which he'd never experienced before. I think it was more the free drinks than the free food which appealed to him, lol.

Anyway, while Ange and James were here, we went to a Manchester City game. For thoses who haven't seen it yet, here is the cute picture of Ange and I with our faces painted!



And for those of you on Facebook, now you see how much quicker it is to post stuff on Facebook than it is to the blog, lol.

We also had a Salford rugby game while they were here and just had another game today too. Pics are here and a few below.

Mini Jamaica Reunion

While Ange and James are here, we went out to lunch with Paul, Jodie, Jodie's brother Andrew and his girlfriend Claire. And Aoife, who was, not surprisely, behaving badly, lol. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Zizzi. Here's a few pictures.

I am the clone tool goddess!

Plugging away at all those ancestry photos mom scanned in for me and I must say, I'm awesome with the clone tool at times! (Click for full image)

Is it the end of the world?

Two major earthquakes in quick succession and now this? What is going on?

RSPCA investigates mystery of starling flock that fell out of the sky

"The RSPCA is investigating the sudden death of more than 100 starlings that witnesses claim simply fell from the sky and landed in a front garden.

Julie Knight, a nurse, returned home from a shift at Glastonbury hospital in Somerset to find her small lawn in Coxley littered with scores of dead and dying birds.

The RSPCA has so far failed to find a reason for the birds’ deaths. Disease, toxic chemicals, poison gas clouds and flying into a building or power lines are all considered unlikely or have been discounted.

The birds were close together when they died as most of the corpses fell within the 12ft diameter of Mrs Knight’s garden. Several were still alive and had to be put down when a vet arrived.

Mrs Knight was told by a neighbour that the flock “fell” from the sky at 4pm on Sunday, half an hour before she arrived home. She said: “One of my neighbours said they literally seemed to just fall out of the sky. About 70 were dead straight away.

“She said it was like something out of a horror film. It was absolutely terrifying. The sky was raining starlings.” RSPCA animal welfare officer Alison Sparkes was alerted by police and discovered that most of the birds had broken beaks, broken legs and wings and abdominal injuries consistent with impact, but were otherwise in a healthy condition."

Curly Hair

Robin with curly hair - yay or nay?

Carvery

Today, Steve and I went to this pub called Red Lion which had a carvery that was sooo good and it was only £3.95 per person!




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Ice

It hasn't snowed again but it has been very cold, with the daily high's not reaching above freezing temps - so nothing has melted. Even with the sun out all day today, it still wasn't enough to melt anything. This is also very unusual for England - the average high's in the winter are usually in the low 40's. It normally will dip below freezing occasionally but not consistantly for this length of time.

It's so cold that the majority of the water on the quays has frozen over. I was under the impression that just the frosty-looking bits of water were frozen (which was about 10% of the water in visual range from our apartment) but I just noticed the birds WALKING on what I thought was unfrozen water. Now, either birds have suddenly inherited the abilities of Jesus Christ or what I previously thought was unfrozen water is actually frozen - making the quays more like 80-90% frozen. I'm really surprised by this because the quays have a large filtration system that I thought created enough current to stop the water from freezing. Plus, I've simply never seen the quays freeze over this much.

I'd take a picture of the birds walking on water but it's cold out there and warm in here. But it was really amusing to watch a swan come in for a landing on the ice and not being able to stop sliding - wish I'd gotten a video of that!

Suck in the snow

We're just around the corner from work and we're blocked by this idiot woman trying to drive a sports car in the snow




That's Steve and the guy in the car behind us trying to push her out of the rut she keeps getting into. I did get out and help once myself. Been here 15 mins.

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Snow!

The snow hit hard overnight, looks like at least 6 inches







The pictures aren't great but they're from my phone and no editing. This is major for England! That car on the second pic that looks like it's turning - it's suck in the snow. Nothing has been plowed or even salted - buses aren't running, it's like the end of the world!

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Happy New Year!

Okay, I may be a few days late on the Happy New Year but better late than never, right?

Well, Steve and I did a whole lot of nothing over the break, which is why I haven't posted. I spent most of it reading in my PJs - it sounds unproductive but hey, I finished three books in three days! How many of you can say that, huh?

Well, Steve and I's New Years Resolution is to start eating better. Ever since we got back from Jamaica, it was like "okay, I don't need to look good in a bikini for several months" and we've both been eating poorly. Not that Steve needs to look good in a bikini...

Anyway, point being that so far, we've started eating better (with the exception of Bailey's). Tonight, we cooked cod with a breadcrumb, lemon zest and parmesan crumble, fried and then broiled (for a crispy top) in lemon juice and olive oil - with balsamic roasted new potatoes on the side. It was really good! Steve still does most of the cooking but I help by grating, chopping, peeling, etc and I also clean up. Although, I'm not convinced it's safe for Steve to continue cooking - he seems to always manage to either cut himself or nearly set something on fire. My food may not turn out as nice but at least when I cook, I don't worry about burning the whole building down.

On another note, it's been unusually cold here in England, with day time highs only a few degrees above freezing. So it's still icy and we're still getting occasional light dusting's of snow (but the forecasts are saying there's another big storm coming). I will keep you posted.