Wednesday 30 March 2016
Being older isn't all bad.
Sunday 27 March 2016
Who said mechanical things are logical?
Great advice, but I wish it was logical.
Friday 25 March 2016
PB for 5K
BTW for those who take pictures and process them, Google have released the Nik software collection (a set of plugins designed to work with other software like Lightroom) free of charge to download. If you don't have anything like them then they are very good value for the cost of entry. ;-) I've installed the suite, and now wonder whether it was a waste of time, since I primarily use On1's Perfect Photo Suite to do many of the same things, although I expect to find the HDR plugin useful.
Thursday 24 March 2016
Sylvia rides again
Hopefully I'll get a ride in some time this weekend.
On a slightly different topic, my keyboard skills have really gone down the pan over the last few years, yet tonight I'm tapping away freely for the first time in ages, as though I've got something to write, and up until then without needing to make many corrections. :p
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Another of those mornings.....
And breathe.
Life will go on. The bike that was collected last night seems OK, and hopefully can be used as transport. Insurance and collection is being sorted for Chris's new car.
Self-inflicted tiredness. :p
Tuesday 22 March 2016
This is a good time to pray for Europe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35869254
Monday 21 March 2016
The internet was predicted in 1946.
A little extra vehicular activity
As of tomorrow night, despite some earlier protestations to the contrary, I shall be the owner of a motorcycle. Wether or not I will be the rider of said bike is another matter entirely, but I've just picked up a high-mileage used Guzzi V50 for Ben to use as an example to work from (hopefully not a donor of parts!) and possibly as transport to ride for work until his own is properly running. However it's also really tempting to acquire a lid, insurance, and give it a spin myself.
We've also probably found the replacement for Chris's beetle, and that may well arrive in a few days too, just in time for the easter weekend.
I'm looking forward to stopping the cash-haemorrhage that we're presently experiencing, even though new toys are fun.
Saturday 19 March 2016
The hunt continues
Friday 18 March 2016
If one were a child
Wednesday 16 March 2016
Public transport is a failure
Guess the car is king.
Tuesday 15 March 2016
Off for my second dose of physio today.
Last time I was warned that I might be stiff or sore next day, but she was quite gentle and all was fine. Wonder if that will be different today?
So last night I ran back from Heyford park to home, taking it easyish and into a headwind. It felt comfy (as much as running ever can) and managed a personal best of 25.04 for 5k. Hope that's a sign of good things to come.
*edit*
Well who would have thought such a slender slip of a girl could put so much pressure on a single muscle. So this week I need to do another 5k without tape on the knees, followed by about 13-16k to check whether the quads are better now.
Mobile computing devices AKA
As phones generate curious behaviour.
For example, the standard 'keyboard' generally works well, yet there are dozens of alternatives that look a little different for which one must pay, in cash and in giving access to personal data. Why would anyone give access to their contacts and personal data, just to use something that does the same thing s with a slightly different look?
That was the first example that sprang to mind, but there's plenty of others.
I really don't get the lemming-like rush for more and more apps that do what is already being done with no more than cosmetics as a USP. Blackberry and Windows phones are shunned because they lack a large app store - weird - even though many of the key apps are available for those devices.
Please explain this to me, if you can.
Monday 14 March 2016
That's sick - put a donk on it.
The phrase came from a club music form popular around the northern English industrial cities (Mnchester, Leeds, Bradford etc) called donkhouse, with the synth 'donk' sound - played on the back beat (wooden mallet from a Yamaha keyboard) - used to create some "bangin' tunes" (Hello Kevin and Perry). The theory that the radio program presented was that the donk sounded like weaving and other industrial machines at work, and therefore had cultural relevance.
Probably not to be taken too seriously.
Where should I start, after a week away?
Time flashes past.
I'm tempted to try to review the films (Edge Of Tomorrow was well made with a good story and pleasing characters, The Lady In The Van was a film much better in retrospect that at the time of viewing, Oblivion suffered the 'Hollywood effect' that replaced humanity with CGI) but I won't right now.
As for the cars, we test drove a used new VW Beetle 1.4TSi (great looks, great engine, good ride and handling, high price) and Mini convertible Cooper D (good looks, good engine, good ride and great handling, lower price). The beetle is a more practical car than most convertibles seem to be, with a large boot, folding seats and OK legroom in the rear (I managed an hour in the back without discomfort). The mini is a little less spacious in the back (good headroom still, 2"-3" less legroom) and all-round smaller & more nimble-feeling in other respects. Doing the 'looking back' test, Chris seemed to prefer the Mini, so that's probably where we'll go for her next car.
I'm still digesting Eusebius, with the final chapter not being like the previous text. It has been a very useful read however, and has really helped me understand why the ancient church was so intensely political and inclined to acquire power (protection from brutal persecution initially, though that became self-fulfilling very quickly). Before I began reading, my original impression had been that the church had gone off the rails once it became a state-sponsored, then state-controlling organisation. From this text, it appears the church had quickly become corrupted and fragmented in a way that looks modern long before that, with major heresies and schisms devloping even before the end of the first century. It's also been useful to see that the 'bible as the word of God' that we now have would not have been recognised at all by second and third century Christians, which I had been aware of, but not considered in this way before.
Monday 7 March 2016
So we're asking the question
The answer isn't clear yet, but we met together with them for the first time yesterday. There's a side that say "yes, this is the next phase, throw yourself in there, even if it's only for a time" and there's a side that says "Ummm. Not sure this is quite what I expected."
So we're exploring. Of course life is enormously more complicated than that, with all kinds of feelings that muddy the waters and make cooly rational decisions difficult, not least our friendships and the manner in which there appears to be a significant exodus of people from our present church family (all for good reasons, not falling out).
OTOH that might be part of establishing a new pattern of church (yes, seriously) involving multiple communities dispersed across an area instead on one central mass community, but that's another story. When our Austraian friend, Phil Walters came across a couple of years back he was talking about new models of church that were much less congregation-oriented, it it felt like God said "listen to him: you need to hear this".
Of course this tears to bits the traditional church model with significant numbers of paid staff, big building and trying to scrape all the possible attendees together into one place on a Sunday. I had a brief look at the idea of liquid church a few years back and decided that it was just chaos and a route to disorganisation and everyone eventually forgetting what it meant to live as Christian community. This *should* be different, with an emphasis on community as part of something larger too.
Saturday 5 March 2016
Oh the irony
Thank goodness for wood buring stoves. :-)
*edit*
Apparently we have oil out for delvery today, so if it comes this morning then I'll bleed the pipeline when I get home and we'll have heating again tonight. I just want the tank to have enough time to settle first, so we don't end up drawing water and particulates into the burner, even though there's a couple of inline filters.
Wednesday 2 March 2016
Mis-remembered song lyrics
There's a song we sang on Sunday, where the first line of the chorus is "I'm falling on my knees". My head automatically remembers the next 2 lines as:
I'm begging darling please,
Is it me you're looking for?
Not helpful, and it's been an 'ear-worm' all week. :-p