Samsung netbook is teh awesomeness

I am very impressed with Dee's new netbook (the Samsung N110) and Ubuntu 9.04 "Netbook Remix"! And for an old GNU/Linux otaku like me, it takes a lot to impress.

The netbook comes with Windows XP by default, and Dee played with it for a little while before installing the Ubuntu remix (UNR they call it) -- confusing, as XP can be, because each of the various hardware drivers seem to install their own versions of XP's built in functions: so there is the sound applet in XP, and an "Enhanced Audio" panel; XP's "normal" graphics settings and the "Intel Advanced Graphics" settings; built-in wifi and another whole menu of wifi tools.

She'd already decided to install Ubuntu, and I hardly twisted her arm! (Okay, I probably told her about all the good things that GNU/Linux can do these days ... and maybe cried a little.) Ostensibly, it was so she could a) have a terminal she understands (she's a UNIX-head) and b) install Apache Web-Server and do some web development for tracking our trip. So I think we were both happy when everything else -- graphics, camera, sound, wifi -- "just worked".

Installing was pretty easy: I downloaded an image and "burnt" it to a little USB key-drive thingy, then Dee set her BIOS to boot from it. A few screens of questions, mostly about where in the world you are and what time it is, then some waiting as it formatted the drive ('bye XP! 'bye Porpoise Spit!) and installed UNR. At the end, it asks you to remove the USB drive and reboot -- and when it reloads you have a nice shiny Ubuntu system!

Strangely for an operating system that is developed in a distributed way by people all over the world, Ubuntu feels much more integrated than XP did. Wifi connections are in the same place as wired ones, which is also where the "Mobile Broadband" connections are (which automatically popped up when we plugged in my mobile phone). The sound settings are in one place, although they're a little confusing with multiple "devices" (ALSA, OSS -- two competing sound architectures on Linux, which are both handled by the "umbrella" system called PulseAudio). The launch screen in place of a desktop is a bit weird but brilliant when you get used to it, and maximised apps share the little launch bar at the top of the screen for maximum screen "real estate".

(There are a few apps/screens which don't maximise and are too big for the 1024x600 pixel screen. That's annoying -- you have to ALT-click the window and drag it up to see the rest, including (usually) the "Close" button. Hope they fix that in an update soon!)

We also had to mess about with the wifi a little, as occasionally it wouldn't reconnect after closing the lid and "suspending" the netbook (i.e. going into low power mode). Turns out that removing and re-adding the kernel module fixes it, so Dee wrote two tiny shell scripts to do exactly that and dropped them into the suspend.d and resume.d directories ... UNIX/Linux is so ... logical! Sensible! Rational!

This morning she installed Skype, signed up for an account, and called Dayna and her brother with it. There was a little bit of messing about with the sound settings (to get the speakers to play, the microphone to work, and to limit any feedback) but the video camera just worked too. (Even our desktop computer required a bit of messin' to get the video to work and not crash Skype.)

The speakers and microphone on the netbook are good enough that we can Skype people without headphones, with clear sound and without any feedback. Skype were even nice enough to give her some free credit to call a "normal" telephone number (for a decent rate). We have our international calling solution!

So, now she is uploading photos to a new Flickr account to try that out. It's slow, but that's probably Flickr rather than the netbook itself. (I'll go back and add photos into our "speedboat down the Thames" post once it's done.)

The only way I'd be more impressed is if Samsung had shipped with the Ubuntu Netbook remix by default.

VISAs and netbooks

So my VISA extension application was sent off a week or so ago; yesterday I made the appointment for a biometric ID card which -- now -- all "foreign nationals" will be required to have (and carry? I might start carrying my passport -- once I get it back -- and ID card together in some kind of RFID-blocking wallet thing). It's pretty bad, really -- £465 for a 12 month extension, then when I rang up to book the appointment (which MUST be within 15 days) the only available slot was ... 15 days later! Talk about making things difficult! But I'll take the day off work and travel down south on the 'tube to wherever the Border Agency is.

We're still hoping to get it back before our next holiday, because I'd like to visit Marrakech. If we don't, it will be a week in Wales instead!

In the meantime we're keeping out of trouble. Last weekend we got up earlier than usual to bus down to the London Eye for a speed-boat tour out to the Thames Barriers.  Dee has always wanted to see them, and it was either than or a lunch tour -- and we both decided we always do foodie (or drinkie) things. Besides, "a lunch cruise on the Thames" sounds a little more ... mature ... than either of us are willing to act!  So it was a speed-boat, travelling up to 45 knots (which I think is around 40mph) in the cold morning weather. They gave us warm rain-jackets along with the life-jackets, and we were glad they did! Frozen fingers from holding on (you have to -- we jumped over a few small waves and rounded corners dramatically) but at least nobody fell in.

After the cruise we had breakfast nearby, then went looking in electronics shops -- Dee wants a netbook like Dayna's!

After a few hours walking around and bussing between shopping areas (like Oxford Street) we still hadn't found the "new" netbook, a Samsung NC110. It's the next version of the NC10, which was very popular (and therefore out of stock all over the place). I think the difference is the battery -- the NC110 is meant to get 9 hours battery life on a single charge, which is pretty amazing. But it's not in the shops anywhere (and Dee's been waiting for ages) so this week she ordered it online.

(It is meant to arrive today! She's very excited.)

After that we headed home for a nap. No kidding! We were on the speedboat at 9am, and had a long evening planned, so it was really just being practical. A couple of friends who have moved to London showed up at about 5pm (Martin -- he was in Jack The Ripper The Musical! with me; and Helen, his girl), so we headed in to China Town and had a delicious meal.  (I tried "crispy shredded beef", and it just tasted like batter and sauce ... some of the more interesting items on the the menu included squid, braised eel and (I was so tempted) pigeon. The only thing that stopped me is the state of pigeons in London!)

With dinner settling we took our leave of Martin and Helen and wandered towards Leicester Square and the Empire Cinema -- we had tickets for the new Star Trek movie!  Empire Cinema is great -- it's where they had the London premiere, apparently, with a bunch of famous actors and whatnot -- with extra comfy chairs and an incredible sound system. The Enterprise flew past and we rocked in our cushioned places; photon torpedoes exploded on the hull and we shuddered with the screeching metal. Very much fun!

I should probably upload some photos from the speedboat, huh?

Blue-eyed future Sword Saint ;)

Just a quick update from us.

Oscar has calmed down a lot - he's on Losec for his reflux - the Mylanta we had him on previously wasn't doing the trick. It does help, although sometimes it can still be difficult getting him to sleep.. but he's not awake every 45 minutes all day and night now, so it's a big plus. We're hoping once he reaches that 6 month point we wont need to give him the medication.. often that's when it settles down anyway.

Cheryl had her shopping day in Melbourne on Saturday (for our anniversary I got her a return ticket).. she spent most of her time (and money) at the DFO at Southern Cross Station, definitely worth a look if you're ever visiting the rainy city. I looked after Oscar for the day.. from 5am when Cheryl left until 9pm when she returned. Thankfully now he's got his medication he was much more relaxed and actually managed a few hours of sleep in there.

The other thing that helped keep me sane over the day was my new iPhone - Cheryl's anniversary present to me.. well, a combination of Cheryl and Kevin Rudd really. I was able to hold Oscar and still surf the net or play games I had downloaded. It was much better than my previous method of passing the time - staring into space :)

This morning we all headed to Goodwood for Iaido, because we had the Grading Certificate Presentations. I am now officially Ni-Dan, which makes me a sensei and also meant I got an art name - a name specific to the style to represent me. My name is "Go Seki".. the "Go" part is from Shihan's art name (Go Ho) and indicates that we have come from the Australian school.. and the "Seki" part means "stone" or "rock".. which was Shihan's (and the Grandmaster's) opinion of me I guess. I hope it's solid as a rock, and not rock-headed ;)

Oh, and finally there's a few more photos of Oscar up - http://www.flickr.com/photos/damienmason/3495448177/in/set-72157613379231082/ Cheryl took some fantastic shots, and I think it's pretty safe to say Oscar's eyes will be staying blue now :)

Thank you Mum

My jumper arrived yesterday. Actually, it arrived Monday, but I was at work, so couldn't pick it up until yesterday morning. It's lovely. I really like the hat too - although I'm not sure I'll wear it as an ensemble.. we'll have to wait and see what next winter brings. :-) I'll definitely wear them as separates. *grin*

I'm not super-happy with this photo - and it's not cos I'm pulling a face (I meant that *grin*).. it's the extra kilos that are the problem. But I'm working on it.. spring feels like it's finally here and we've had days where it's been t-shirt weather (although no warmer than 20 degrees). It's amazing what a difference some sun can make.

Work seems to be going okay. I think I'll be able to do this job - there are a lot of different things to do. I'll need to get organised for much of it (like organising MOSI's contribution to the Manchester Science Festival) but the Learning team are great (they're not just learning to be a team..hehe) and I like challenges. *grin*

There are some more photos on Flickr of my current hair colour.. I'm not especially happy with it (I don't look good blonde.. not golden blonde anyway).. and I'll probably be putting a light-brown through it on the weekend.. I just have to leave it a while because all the bleach I needed to get rid of the black left my hair and scalp in need of TLC. I also have to wait until the weekend because Bruce wants to see it blonde. :-)

Dad, I hope you feel better soon. Apparently Aloe Vera juice is good for soothing the oesophagus. Unfortunately I read somewhere that chocolate isn't good for reflux.. so maybe leave the Easter Eggs for a little while. Although any food is better than none, so if you feel like chocky, go for it. *grin* *big gentle hugz* really, get better!

Hope everyone else is good - Lisa, some more photos of the kids please. *grin* Do you have a Flickr account?

*big hugz* to everyone

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody. I hope you all have had an enjoyable long weekend.

(more new photos over at flickr)

Oh, and big thanks to Auntie Dayna for the present, you can see him enjoying it here

It's been a quiet week, without ChrisTina ... and Astara dawn celebrations are coming!

Just reading Mum's email, thought I'd update the bandwagon -- although we don't have anything so exciting as chicken-pox to report!

We've had a quiet week this last week because Chris (our housemate) has been staying at Tina's (his girlfriend) place! Work is a bit hectic, but in the current economic climate we're both happy to have reasonably secure positions. Got to save our pennies (literally!) after all, with a view to house, car, dog, 2.5 kids ... or something like that anyway!

So it's been quiet, but the weather is slowly turning nicer and we've had a few occasions where we've been able to sit out on the balcony in the setting sun after work -- very nice! I've been going to a cafe called "Sumo Salad" for lunch, since the food is healthy and the front windows get a lot of sunshine. Topping up my vitamin-D, of course.

Last weekend we had one of Dee's work-colleagues over for lunch (roast chook) and then went to a quirky cocktail bar nearby called The Old Schoolyard (remember the days?). From the outside it looks like a dive; inside it's a big round bar complete with acrobatic mixing ala Cocktail the movie, scuffed couches, metal lockers and tall arcade cabinets. So we had pisco sours and Irish coffee and played four-player Ninja Turtles for 20p a game.

(Dad, you get home-made baileys as medicine?! Lucky. A bit tastier than the traditional "hot toddy" for colds -- hot water, whiskey, lemon juice and honey. Actually, hot toddy's are nice so long as you don't let 'em get cold ...)

This Easter (Eostre, Astara, Ostara) we're going to Leamington Spa with Chris and Tina (whom we call ChrisTina, just like we call Grant and Sheila GrantLa, and Nelsie and Picky, Pixie). Tina found a cheap deal somewhere -- she works for the University of East London and seems to get all these deals -- so we'll be relaxing and looking at Warwick Castle and playing chess and reading ... and eating the typical small ovoid shells made of a by-product of a particular cacao bean, sugar and milk of course ...

Update from us

Hey all.. Everyone seems to be using email to send out their updates, but I'm at work right now and don't have all the addresses here.. so it's a bandwagon post from me :)
Oscar's been a bit difficult these last few weeks, and we finally have a reason why - Cheryl took him to the Dr, who thinks he might be having silent reflux. Basically that explains everything - his tendency to feed only a little, and be hungry half an hour later, waking up after about an hour of being asleep unless you're holding on to him (and keeping him upright), general grumpiness and crying.
The solutions involve a drop of mylanta in his bottle, sitting him up to feed, keeping him sat up for half an hour afterwards, and using towels to angle his bed so his head is a bit higher.. of course in the meantime he's pretty high maintenance, which means when I'm at work Cheryl barely has time to eat, let alone time to rest or anything else.. and it also means of an evening neither of us get much sleep.
Hopefully the tricks can help lessen the effects, and hopefully it's something he grows out of.. although even then it could be months, at which point I suspect we'll both be needing a holiday! Ah, the joy of babies.

New job, new travel-buddy

I'm on the way home from my first day at the Museum of Science &
Industry (MOSI). It was mostly what expected a first day to be -
filling out forms for HR, reading the hand-over notes, exploring the
computer server for relevant info and trying to figure out what i'm
supposed to do over the next six months. :)

I had a welcome suprise with today's morning mail. Damien and Cheryl
and Oz had sent me a postcard and new travel-buddy. I'm not sure of
her name yet (she's a bit shy) but she's Patrick's younger sister and
is looking forward to some adventures of her own. I still miss Patrick
(stupid Royal Mail) but it's lovely to have someone to travel with. :)
*big hugz* thank you!

I'll attach a photo of my desk and the little ghost. I'm trying a
mobile post again - this time from my own phone (since now I don't
have a blackberry for work). All in the name of mobile internet. :)

Hope everyone is good. *big hugz to all*

--
Sent from my mobile device

Smile!

Testing email posting

Hello from the Isle of Wight!

I'm here by myself so I'm going to put the comments that I'd normally make to a travel buddy in here..

11:55
I'm on a bus to Alum Bay - on the other end of the island to where I arrived on the Hovercraft. We just went past a field full of sheep and lambs - they'd numbered them all so you could tell who belonged to who. Cute little sheepies, with big blue and red numbers painted on their sides. Hehe.

There are also quite a lot of thatched-roof houses in this area.

12:55

Just walked down 182 steps to the seaside. I can't call it a beach because it's made of pebbles and I don't think that's really a beach. :-) I wanted to see the cliffs of coloured sand. You're not allowed to take any sand from the beach - if you did that then you wouldn't pay for the little bags of it from the souvenir shop.. Anyway, just got down to the bottom and I needed the loo. Bugger! Took a few photos and then headed back up the stairs.

13:40
Bought an uninspiring lunch of sandwich, crisps and a ribena carton. I'll eat it after I've had a look in the Glassblower's.

Alum Bay Glass is quite pretty, but nothing exceptional. Lots

of dust-collectors really. I like watching glass blowers work. Stuart the Glassblower from Scotland was mezmerising. The three guys they had on the demonstration floor were talented but it wasn't exceptional. I guess it's hard to be exceptional when you're making paperweights or pigs. To be honest, the pig-maker was the most interesting to watch.

Take a blob of molten glass, add some coloured powder and twist it a bit to mix it. Let the glass cool just a little then using huge metal tweezers, pull out four blobs on one side (the legs), two blobs on the other (the ears). Swing it around a bit to elongate the

body a little and to assist it cool. Stand it on its legs and poke with tweezers to make eyes. Continue to twist until glass sets, break off twisting rod (at nose) and put hot pig into kiln for annealing.

14:10
Eating my lunch on a bench outside in the sun. Suddenly a couple of ravens/blackbirds (not sure exactly) flew onto the adjacent table. They're as bad as seagulls (which didn't come scavenging) - looking for any kind of scraps. I had an enjoyable time.. Taking photos, talking to the birds, watching other tourists try to feed them so they'd stay still long enough for a photo. Now it's time to get on the bus up the hill.

14:45

Paid to go in to the Old Battlement. They have a tunnel! Down a winding staircase which is only wide enough for one (and only just - I really need to do more exercise) and the acoustics are fab. The tunnel is only just wide enough for two to pass, but you'll hear them at the top of the staircase - even if you're at the spotlight at the other end, enjoying the view of the Needles. I wish someone had been there to play with the acoustics. I encouraged a young lad and his sister to mess about with it - and from the noise they made, it must have been fun!

17:30
I'm sitting at the front of the Hovercraft. Hehe. It's so exciting. I came over on it this morning, it's not like anything else I've been on. Low tide? No problem! The Hovercraft hovers over land or water - the only difference is the bumps from the waves. :-)

I'm going to send this now - it's already a long email/post and I'm on the way back to Portsmouth now. Hope everyone is good and I'll try to upload the appropriate photos soon.

*hugz*

--
Sent from my mobile device (and then edited because it put in line breaks that meant the post looked weird)

Happy Birthday Adam

Like the title says, happy birthday dude! We're looking forward to seeing all of you in a month or two (I don't actually know when you're planning to visit)

Update from Adelaide

Hey guys.. well, some pretty big updates on the bandwagon. Jared, I hope you had a great birthday, we're still organising your present, maybe we'll give it to you when you visit. Ma n Pa, sorry to hear about the scary ER visit, but I'm glad Dad's on the mend again. A trip to Emergency is never a particularly pleasant experience.

As far as we are going, things are all pretty good. We've had Edith and Landon here for the last three weeks, and Rach arrived on Tuesday, but they headed home this morning. I know Oscar enjoyed seeing his grandparents and auntie, and we certainly appreciated an extra few pairs of hands to cook, clean up and occasionally take the baby so we could sleep :)

We took Oz to the beach on Saturday, which was great.. he slept pretty much the entire time. Then when we got home he was awake for some photos and a quick webcam chat with his other grandparents (and great-grandparent). I've put still more photos in the Oscar set on flickr.

I think the photos are generally 1200x1600, so if you want them at a bigger size to print just let me know.. the originals are more like 2500 x 1900. Mum and Dad, you do have that book to fill up after all ;)

That's about it from us. The time just seems to be flying by, it's hard to believe Oscar's a month old already. In no time he'll be eating all the food in the fridge and sleeping until noon :)

Update

I thought that it was about time to update the blog. Well I'm a helper with the tiny's team at calisthenics. Schools going well and in about a term and a half we'll get to go in the new school.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Have a fantastic day today!
Enjoy bowling - I hope you win.
*hugz*

My dad is a pirate, what's yours?

Scars, tattooes -- our Dad is turning into a pirate! Perhaps we can get 'im a parrot for his birthday? Argh.

I've heard lots of anecdotal evidence that ground apricot kernels (in the appropriate amount) is good for healing/avoiding cancer growth. One of our friends in Melbourne has gone into remission (I almost said recession -- that's the financial climate over here!) from lymphoma. He had chemo, then super health diet (nothing processed, all fresh) including apricot kernels and mananuka honey. Actually, I'm on the mananuka in tea for a cold at the moment.

Us, we've been quiet because the only access to the Sillyweb we have is from work or on the phone -- so silly Facebook statuses have been updated from phone whilst walking home or at lunch or in a boring meeting or on the bus. Although I must confess I think it was a taste of how parents must feel when their child comes home with e.g. cybernetic implants (or a mobile phone, or a hologram for a friend) to hear that my Mum is reading about me on Facebook.

Well, it's a bit quieter at work today, so here goes. The move went well, because we were more organised and prepared this time than ever before in history. The weekend before we packed almost everything into boxes and put them into Colleen's room -- she'd already moved out. The following Saturday Chris, Andrew (Chris's girlfriend's brother) and I picked up a small van, while Dee and Tina (C's girlfriend) cleaned the new apartment.

The three men loaded the van, drove to the new place, and unloaded. It was regular as clockwork -- complete with roles: I unloaded from van to door (to keep an eye on the van); Andrew from door into elevator (he hates lifts); and Chris unloaded from elevator at the top. Two van loads and we were done by about 3pm! In fact, the only two hiccups were waiting an hour for a van (some mixup in their system) and a bookcase which was slightly too big for the elevator ... and had to be walked up (in shifts) 10 flights of stairs!!

The new apartment is smaller but with more usable space: We've got the desk in our room, the piano in the lounge, and are looking for a shelving unit to put in the kitchen. A few problems, mostly with our estate agents being "pants" about replacing broken stuff -- we've been there almost two weeks and they still haven't replaced the worn out mattresses, nor sent a sparky 'round to fix various lights and sockets. We suspect the last tenants were dodgy -- things have been thoroughly broken, then gingerly put back together to create the illusion of repair. The coffee table, for example, rested on four entirely broken legs, whilst the condition report listed it as "wobbly". The report now looks like a Grade 5 school essay in which the student didn't use spell-check -- it's covered with additions and corrections. I stopped short of giving them a C-minus on the front cover ...

So we're slowly but surely settling in. The boxes are all unpacked now, and today we had the phone-line connected (here comes broadband). Phone number, apparently (haven't tried it yet) is:

+44 207378 1204

The address for postcards is:

1004 Antonine Heights
City Walk
London
SE1 3DF

Here's a map showing the place, and where we work. Takes me probably 20-30min to walk to work:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100294927689049556522.000463d02ac0f2411c4ae&ll=51.531387,-0.111237&spn=0.071441,0.154495&z=13

I'll get some photos up when we finally get online.