While this won't come as a surprise to most people, my Do-It-Yourself abilities rival that of a very wet flannel.
People can point out the handy 25-step assembly instruction guide, but still sadly I find a way to screw something in upside down, nail two pieces of something very wrong together, or glue myself to something rather than what was originally intended.
In short I am useless. And having just bought myself my first (and probably last) house, I have only reinforced that (dis)belief in myself.
With my parents out of the country on holiday and thus uncontactable, and my brother and friends (with the exception of Tim) being just as inept, I found myself guessing how to drill into a solid brick wall.
It wasn't the actual 'drilling' part I faltered on, it was more the 'what size drill bit', 'what size raw plug' and 'what size screw' issues that confused me.
For a short while I was playing a game of trial and error with my most expensive purchase in my 29 years of life.
Until of course I took a step back and considered that I am not the only person in the world with such lack of skills.
With that I ventured upstairs, switched on the PC and surfed the web tapping in sentences like 'how to screw into concrete' in the Blackle search engine.
Within seconds I was as knowledgable as my father. Within minutes I was easily as capable (or so I thought), and within hours I had something that kinda resembled what I had hoped to achieve.
Seriously though, the search engine saved me, both mentally, no doubt physically, and financially.
Now I know this sounds rather gay, but it also helped me erect my trellis and plant my three climber plants. (Note: Street cred count fading fast).
Not only is the internet good for learning how to carry out home improvements including gardening (check out the BBC's gardening pages), but it is also useful when you have lost the instructions to, say, the oven.
By tapping in the make and model of my oven into Blackle I was able not only to find out how to operate the thing, but also to download a pdf of the actual instruction booklet. Handy huh?
Of course everyone also knows that items online are cheaper than most high street retailers. If you haven't already check out http://www.kelkoo.com/.
Kelkoo is a price comparison website that allows you to compare prices of an item or product with dozens of website stores.
When buying an expensive piece of home furniture like a three-piece suite or a fridge freezer you can't go wrong.
Reviews:
Title: Dirt
Platform: Sony PS3
RRP: £49.99
Hit count: 5/5
Vroom! Rarely... no, in fact, very rarely does a game come into the office deserving the red carpet treatment. Then of course there's the late Colin McCrae's Dirt.
Dirt is gritty, awesomely fun and downright fab by all margins. It's the first title that, for me, proves the PS3's superior capability as a platform.
The intricate detail and playability - not only of the game itself but also menus - deserve awards. The soundtrack also gets you all fired up and the step-bystep audio instructions allow for an easy ride.
The actual game itself asks you to pit your wits against any number of challengers in arcade, championship and career modes. As you progress through the levels winning races, you can buy and change cars and build them up to provide you with the best chance of becoming overall champion.
The individual landscapes' graphics are unlike anything I've seen on the platform. Imagine MotoStorm but 10 times as good.
It's a pity that Mr McCrae himself is not around to take a bow.
Title: Guild Wars - Eye of The North
Platform: PC
RRP: £24.99
Hit count: 3/5
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Tyria it all kicks off again in spectacular fashion. This expansion pack allows players to embark on further adventures on the battle-scarred continent. Join up with old heroes, meet new ones, battle ferocious things and avoid earthquakes which continue to rip apart the once peaceful plain.
This new title allows players the choice of exploring overground or underground with a unique sprawling underground complex of caverns that span the entire continent.
In total there are 18 multi-level dungeons filled with traps, puzzles and secret passages to explore which add a new dimension to an already successful title.
It all leads up to a face-off with a menace so great it threatens the very existence of the people of Tyria.
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Communication for the nation
It's likely to pose one of the biggest dilemmas in recent years for company bosses.
Now I'm not talking about the headache of trying to adopt a greener policy or office wage structure... I'm referring to the decision to allow or disallow employees to use facebook during work time.
In little over 12 months the popularity of the social networking website has spread like wild fire.
So addictive is the web craze that businesses and organisations are having to adopt new policies to tackle the problem of employees using work hours to chat to friends.
The Medway NHS Trust based in Kent has become the latest organisation to ban workers from accessing the social networking websites.
A Trust spokesman said the IT department monitored internet usage and found a high volume of employees were regularly logging on to Facebook.
The Trust fears Facebook is damaging employee's productivity.
Now, I'm sorry if I burst the trust's bubble here, but so frikkin what if employees want to network while at work?
What next? Ban talking in office time about anything other than work matters?!
Now I realise that certain professions do not warrant the use of the internet or indeed social network sites, (such as coal miners, burger flippers or driving instructors), but for some it is seen as a valuable work tool.
For us writers it offers another communicative tool in tracking people down and contacting them.
For us bloggers it also offers food for thought, and ultimately something to write about!
The problem with this world nowadays is that people don't talk to each other enough.
Could we have resolved the situation with the Iraqis had we accepted a Myspace friend request from the country's great and good?
Probably not, but what I'm getting at is knowledge is power, and conversations - whether spoken or written - lead to debates and debates lead to change.
Banning people from communicating is a crime against humanity.
The row at Midway has led to 75 of the Trust’s 3,550 employees forming an online protest group called getfacebookbackatmedway.
"No fun allowed here" is one complaint posted on the group’s Facebook page.
I sympathise with them. Sadly I think it's only matter of time before the supposed great and good of Northcliffe's IT army ban us from using it.
=================================================
It's a nice thought isn't it... knowing that the entire universe is right outside your window waiting to be discovered.
However it kind of makes you feel a bit small and minute doesn't it?
Even more so when you can actually see the clusters of stars, distant swirling galaxies and clouds of space dust that hang above our heads.
Google has just launched a new add-on service to Google Earth (the unique web-mapping of the globe) in the form of Google Sky.
Google Sky lets you see close up views of the cosmos above any postal area in the world.
All users have to do is tap in their postal address to see what is directly over their house. It's like having your own super-telescope with a zoom lense to the stars.
Visit http://www.google.com/, download Google Earth and add on Google Sky.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of Google... did anyone read about the super sleuth web users who were using Google Earth to help the authorities in their search for the missing adventurer Steve Fossett?
Record-breaker Fossett went missing on September 3 in the Nevada desert after signal was lost with the one-man plane he was flying.
Little did the would-be rescuers know that the images on Google Earth are not 'live images'. They are static images and were taken anything up to a couple of years ago. Ten out of ten for trying though...
=================================================
Reviews:
Title: Two WorldsPlatform: Xbox 360
RRP: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
Thrown into the very heart of a dynamic, breathing world poised on the brink of an apocalypse, players of Two Worlds will be excused for thinking they woke up in certain areas of Plymouth.
Sadly Two Worlds is not set in Jannerland, but actually a made-up world full of epic quests and challenges.
Refreshingly this role player game allows unprecendented levels of player freedom. Every decision and action the player makes will directly influence the world around them and the people that inhabit it.
Personally the best bit for me is the ability to pick up dozens of weapons, with the ability to combine them together to create an awesome artillery.
Graphically it's alright with detail not only on the characters, but also the landscapes (think Return to Monkey Island).
The game's PR boldly state that Two Worlds will become the RPG game of the year on Xbox 360 and PC. Whether it will or not I don't know, but it stands a good chance.
Now I'm not talking about the headache of trying to adopt a greener policy or office wage structure... I'm referring to the decision to allow or disallow employees to use facebook during work time.
In little over 12 months the popularity of the social networking website has spread like wild fire.
So addictive is the web craze that businesses and organisations are having to adopt new policies to tackle the problem of employees using work hours to chat to friends.
The Medway NHS Trust based in Kent has become the latest organisation to ban workers from accessing the social networking websites.
A Trust spokesman said the IT department monitored internet usage and found a high volume of employees were regularly logging on to Facebook.
The Trust fears Facebook is damaging employee's productivity.
Now, I'm sorry if I burst the trust's bubble here, but so frikkin what if employees want to network while at work?
What next? Ban talking in office time about anything other than work matters?!
Now I realise that certain professions do not warrant the use of the internet or indeed social network sites, (such as coal miners, burger flippers or driving instructors), but for some it is seen as a valuable work tool.
For us writers it offers another communicative tool in tracking people down and contacting them.
For us bloggers it also offers food for thought, and ultimately something to write about!
The problem with this world nowadays is that people don't talk to each other enough.
Could we have resolved the situation with the Iraqis had we accepted a Myspace friend request from the country's great and good?
Probably not, but what I'm getting at is knowledge is power, and conversations - whether spoken or written - lead to debates and debates lead to change.
Banning people from communicating is a crime against humanity.
The row at Midway has led to 75 of the Trust’s 3,550 employees forming an online protest group called getfacebookbackatmedway.
"No fun allowed here" is one complaint posted on the group’s Facebook page.
I sympathise with them. Sadly I think it's only matter of time before the supposed great and good of Northcliffe's IT army ban us from using it.
=================================================
It's a nice thought isn't it... knowing that the entire universe is right outside your window waiting to be discovered.
However it kind of makes you feel a bit small and minute doesn't it?
Even more so when you can actually see the clusters of stars, distant swirling galaxies and clouds of space dust that hang above our heads.
Google has just launched a new add-on service to Google Earth (the unique web-mapping of the globe) in the form of Google Sky.
Google Sky lets you see close up views of the cosmos above any postal area in the world.
All users have to do is tap in their postal address to see what is directly over their house. It's like having your own super-telescope with a zoom lense to the stars.
Visit http://www.google.com/, download Google Earth and add on Google Sky.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of Google... did anyone read about the super sleuth web users who were using Google Earth to help the authorities in their search for the missing adventurer Steve Fossett?
Record-breaker Fossett went missing on September 3 in the Nevada desert after signal was lost with the one-man plane he was flying.
Little did the would-be rescuers know that the images on Google Earth are not 'live images'. They are static images and were taken anything up to a couple of years ago. Ten out of ten for trying though...
=================================================
Reviews:
Title: Two WorldsPlatform: Xbox 360
RRP: £49.99
Hit count: 4/5
Thrown into the very heart of a dynamic, breathing world poised on the brink of an apocalypse, players of Two Worlds will be excused for thinking they woke up in certain areas of Plymouth.
Sadly Two Worlds is not set in Jannerland, but actually a made-up world full of epic quests and challenges.
Refreshingly this role player game allows unprecendented levels of player freedom. Every decision and action the player makes will directly influence the world around them and the people that inhabit it.
Personally the best bit for me is the ability to pick up dozens of weapons, with the ability to combine them together to create an awesome artillery.
Graphically it's alright with detail not only on the characters, but also the landscapes (think Return to Monkey Island).
The game's PR boldly state that Two Worlds will become the RPG game of the year on Xbox 360 and PC. Whether it will or not I don't know, but it stands a good chance.
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