mutterings of a cynic

Sunday, September 17, 2006

getting old

I had a sobering moment yesterday. I was having a pleasant conversation on the phone with my young niece. I was asked her about the exciting things in her life at the moment - school, tap dancing, sports, visits to nanna and pop-pop...


When I was last at nanna and pop pop's me, Harry and [insert some random kids from the street here] went to the back field and made a den!


I thought that was pretty cool so, having a good knowledge of the back fields myself, I asked whereabouts. She gave me some vague description of the den location. I then told her that I, Uncle James, used to make dens in the back field too, so I thought I'd reveal the location of mine to her. Sadly that conversation started like this:


You know all the houses to the right of nanna's and pop-pop's? Well when they weren't there...


Even as I was describing the now non-existent location of my secret den I was thinking back to the many conversations I had with adults in my youth. They almost always involved some reference to "all those houses used to be fields" or "we used to play there before those houses were there".


Monday, September 11, 2006

barman

Although both the speed and skill in pouring a pint could be improved here, it's still pretty darn cool.



Before purchasing, I would improve it in only a couple of minor ways:

  • Why do I need to hit a start button? It needs to read my mind.
  • What good's a beer unless it's delivered - bring it to me!
  • I'm willing to bet money that it doesn't go to the off-license for me..


Sunday, September 03, 2006

don't you just hate it

when you think of something you really want, look to see if it exists, find out it does and is better than your expectation, but then find out that it's not out yet and you have to wait for it.

It's just a disappointing climax to an exciting build up.



250g, USB powered, low power, dual layer dvd writing, really small (137x143x16 is even smaller than the diminutive liteon). Due out in October - crucially after my 18 hour flight to Hawaii.

If only it was slot-loading and a little prettier. Also, according to that site, the system requirements are pretty scary.


System Requirements

# PC/AT compatible
# CPU: Pentium 3 - 800 Mhz
# RAM: 256MB
# HDD: 10GB free space
# OS: Windows 2000/XP