/dev/matthew

It’s been a while, I’ve just come back to look at my blog, which is looking fairly sorry for itself! Upgraded to the latest version of the software this morning, and now I’m going to try and resurrect it a little!

When you leave Tracey in charge of the proceeds of your car sale!

I managed to sell the car today, finally, and the money was left in the kitchen in a white envelope (by Tracey), with a bucket of water below (also left by Tracey) … the enevitable has happened !

Let’s hope the bank accept a large-ish collection of banknotes which glow under UV light

Doesn’t time fly, my little boy’s 1 ! Had a reasonably quiet time with him today, opening his pressies, and visiting his grandparents. The big party’s on Saturday morning at a local soft play, with Brewster The Bear making a guest appearance. Oliver like any 1 year old has no fear, he’ll love Brewster. Alex, his big brother on the other hand, is scared witless of Brewster, so we’ll just have to see what happens.

Oliver’s done a lot in his first year, he can walk while holding hands with you (or even holding Alex, which shows how stable he is). He can say a few words which are recognisable, “mummy” and “daddy” are quite clear, “aiyshh” for Alex, “ca..” for cat, “doggy” is quite well promounced, and “rabbeee…” for Rabbit. He can also manage the standard “Hiya” when he sees people. Overall, I’m proud of him He’s turning out a lot like Alex in some ways, and a lot different in others. Many more years to come!

I’m going on holiday on Sunday, not just any holiday, a nice very expensive diving holiday, to use my newly gained “Padi Open Water Diver” qualification, with a course booked to take me on to “Advanced Open Water Diver”, all diving necessities included etc etc… AND I LOST MY PASSPORT !!!!

Alex, Oliver and Tracey all had their passports, and I thought I knew where mine was, but hadn’t looked to check. With the hectic week we’ve just had, I never thought to look.

Now… it’s gone, can’t find it anywhere, all the places I would have put it if it wasn’t in the normal place didn’t have it. We rang the passport office to find out the details of their “same day” passport service, where you drive to Durham, sit in an office, and eventually, get a passport – Costs a fortune, but it’d be worth it. That service, it turns out, is only available for passport renewals, which I’m not eligible for yet as I have 3ish years left on mine. For Lost/Stolen, which I fall into, their quickest service is 1 week… ARGHHHHHHHHH

So I set about tipping the house upside down, starting with places around the places I’m likely to have put it, all the time receiving a lecture (possibly deserved here) from Tracey. Tracey helped looking in a few places, and eventually, thankfully, has found it; to quote Tracey: “in the box of important looking documents that need sorting out”

So combined with that, I now have half a house to tidy! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So….. I’m still going to Malta… YAY !

I’ll post some piccies presuming I can steal a wifi connection while I’m over there.

It’s too flipping hot for anything. I’m currently sat outside in the back garden on the wall, attempting to cool down.
Just contemplating whether I have the energy to make it to the shop to buy a few cans of lager

Just talking to Rick about the new Elonex laptop he’s ordered, and is eagerly awaiting delivery of (to say eager… I mean the child on christmas eve who’s squidging every parcel!)

Turns out, from his blogging on the subject, his mush has ended up on google’s image site here as the first result if you search for the new ONEt… talk about 0wn3d by google !! You gotta wonder how their system works!

In other slightly alarming news:

Researchers at software vendor CA have discovered that social networking site Facebook is able to track the buying habits of its users on affiliated third-party sites even when they are logged out of their account or have opted out of its controversial “Beacon” tracking service.

according to facebook

Beacon, launched in November, tracks the transactions Facebook users make at e-commerce sites such as ticketing company Fandango and Blockbuster Video, in order to list them in the user’s “mini-feed”. It is intended, Facebook claims, as a means of “social marketing” — users recommending products and services to their peers.

Now I’m not one of these to run away from the internet screaming that someone knows my name… but this is taking things a little far isn’t it ? Is there enough information out there on the internet about me (bearing in mind I’ve been online for 13ish years) to construct a profile of me?

Will future employers be able to find out for example that I bought a copy of some 80’s B-Movie and decide not to employ me on this basis ? Worrying! - Full story here

Ahh well, back to work

15 minutes to go, and another day’s over!

I’m going home to tidy the shed out I think. Oh the excitement!

On another note… why are ebay sellers allowed to take forever to ship your item out ? I ordered something from an ebay shop last night, about 10pm, now I don’t expect them to be working at 10pm, however I would kind of expect that the next morning, when they found the item had sold, they would throw it in the post to me. Instead I find a welcome email from them thanking me for my purchase, and a login to their website to track my order.

So I logged in, managed to navigate to the “Order Progress” section, to find the following:

Order Date 14 July 2008

Order Status Packing

Estimated Dispatch Date 16 July 2008

Estimated Delivery Date 17 July 2008 – 20 July 2008

I was kinda hoping having paid for first class shipping, it might be here a little quicker than that! Oh well

I put my car up on e-bay, as we’ve bought a new van for Tracey’s business, and we don’t really need 3 vehicles as I only use mine to drive back and forth to work, and Tracey’s stuff is mostly evenings and weekends, I can use the van 9-5, and it saves it being sat about doing nothing.

I checked the Parkers’ guide price on the car, private sale £1400… not a bad price, so I chucked it up on Fleabay with a reserve of £1000, damned thing only made £850 and consequently didn’t sell !

I don’t want to let it go for that little, I didn’t really want it to go for £1000, but I wanted the quick sale, so it’s off to the local rag to see if anyone wants it. £1200 ono… someone make me an offer… it’s nice… it’s green…. it’s economical…