I thought that if I had a tablet I'd be bored with it after a week. It turns out that was an optimistic estimate: it took an hour. There's only so many times you can play Fruit Ninja (or any other game) and I constantly have to hold it at a funny angle to stop the reflections. It drove me mad surfing to find out how to use the thing (there's a manual, but you have to download it from the website). I eventually worked out to click on a link you have to click above it and the keyboard has no delete button, only backspace and it's really hard getting the cursor to the right place in the text.

Given that you can buy a laptop or two netbooks for the price of an iPad or a Galaxy Tab, there's just no contest, given how much more versatile a netbook is.

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All just in time for the Yuletide archive to open, so now I need to read it, while watching my sister play Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. And write my fandom stocking fics.

We also did presents. I read the new Simon's Cat book in bed this morning because I woke up early and now I've started Lis Sladen's autobiography. Dad's reading Gin O'Clock (which was also my present).

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And then my netbook refused to boot into Ubuntu. Fortunately it's a problem I've had before and did actually take ten minutes to fix, rather than the two hours it took the first time.

Don't you just love computers?

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So I spent the week feeling rubbish and improved towards the end of the week. Which is the opposite of how I usually feel when a week goes by.

This weekend I spent getting the jobs done that I should have been doing last week. Oh, and spending the whole of this morning fixing my computer. Theoretically it was an easy fix, if only my Ubuntu installation pen drive. But I have now added to my list of Linux distros I've used with Puppy Linux. Which looks like the Windows sort of environment with Linux icons. And barks when it starts up, which frightened the life out of me because I wasn't expecting it.

I did finish a fic a couple of weeks ago and then didn't want to post at the same time as the other one, otherwise I'd look far more prolific than I really am. But I have now: John Chesterton: Time Lord (spoilers for When a Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler). When I first had the idea, at the end of the first half of the series, I was intending to write something serious. But by the time I came up with a plot it ended up being not terribly serious at all.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, Fan fic, Life: Ill, My fanfic, Netbook

Although I do have a skewed view of what might be fun (certainly from their point of view). Today I spent playing with Firefox 4 in Ubuntu to install it alongside 3.6 so I can see how much I like it. I've now got them looking almost identical and with the same add-ons. So my hatred of it has turned to mild dislike. And that's mostly about how it handles playing about with your add-ons.

And, at the same time, I played about with TweetDeck in Chromium. My trouble with Twitter is that I only read it in TweetDeck on my main computer. Which I don't turn on if I'm out for part of the evening. Last week I didn't read Twitter on Sunday because I was out, then I didn't read it on Monday because there were more updates than I had the energy to read. Then I was out on Tuesday and Wednesday, busy on Thursday evening and couldn't be bothered on Friday. Which is not the end of the world (I don't feel like I've missed anything much), but it does make it a bit pointless having it if I don't read it.

Since I can use my netbook while lying down, I thought about putting TweetDeck on it. But as soon as I went to the website I remembered they have a Chrome app, which works in Chromium (Linux's Chrome). It's not quite as good as the standalone one because all you can do is decide which columns you want (which match your lists in Twitter) and where you want them. There are no other options. But it's far better than the web, which is a pain to read.

And then I played around with who I'm following and who's in which lists etc. I now have about 7 lists, which I have columns for in Chromium. But they're still in my two columns in TweetDeck, which I can't delete because TweetDeck took away that functionality. But I can't decide whether I'd rather have more people in fewer columns, or fewer people in more columns. Time will tell...

And all of this was fun. And some of it was done while watching Quantum Leap.

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On the plus side, I finished the first draft of my Big Bang fic. It comes to 17,600 words, which is quite a lot considering the first draft is more of a plot outline with dialogue. I have to go back and change bits of plot now. Well, I say now, I mean after I've done Remix. But I have already decided what I'm going to do, I just need to find the energy to do it.

I also got my Ebook Reader (but not the cover, but that's a long story). It's great having so many books on it and I'm loving that you can change the direction you swipe your finger to turn the page - I always went the wrong way on Dad's. So far I've filled it with a couple of books from Gutenberg and a load of fics from last year's AU Big Bang which I've been meaning to read for months.

Speaking of, while I was looking for the 2010 masterlist for AU Big Bang, I looked at people signing up and what they're intending to write. And I thought there should be a Lynda Day at the Chalet School...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, Fan fic, Life, Rotaract: Ebook reader, Ill, Remix, Rotaract, Sci-fi Big Bang

First I found my Dalek 10 colour pen! It had got itself in the gap between the seat and the back of the driver's seat. Which explains why the seat was so uncomfortable all of a sudden. But doesn't explain how it got on the seat at all - I last saw it on the passenger seat. It must have jumped. But at least I have it back now.

Red ebook readers don't seem to be available online for love nor money. So I went to PCWorld on the basis they have one on display. And they don't have any in stock anywhere in the area. So I have ended up buying a silver one and a red cover. They should be here by the weekend, so I can play with it.

I have this morning off, which is very nice because I've had the chance to do a few things. Especially because I woke up at 7.30am...

I also posted a couple of Ian/Barbara fics this week. The Right Track I had the idea for at Christmas and wrote while I was avoiding writing any of my Big Bang fic. And then I wrote The Dalek Invasion of Johnny’s Wardrobe while I was still avoiding writing any of my Big Bang. They're both around 1000 words and utterly pointlessly fluffy, which has been a nice change to writing unending plot.

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• Read a couple of books, one on my Dad's ebook reader. I discovered that wearing gloves indoors makes your hands sweat after a while, but by that time the ebook reader has generally warmed up enough to touch it
• PC World had the latest Sony ebook reader and it is much better than the old one. I want one! But since one of the things I was going to read on it was Sherlock Holmes (I haven't read any and they are out of copyright) and my parents bought me a book with all the stories in, I have even less reason to buy one now
• Also because I bought a new netbook... I've wrecked the old one, and it did have a crap operating system to start with (Linux Linpus). The new one is red and I'll be putting Ubuntu on it at Christmas.
• I've played with my sister's iPad. For half an hour and that was enough. I don't feel the need to spend any more time on it at all. So I definitely don't want one of those.
• The cat is just as mad and sweet as ever. And likes sleeping on the printer...
• I have finished my Yuletide fic! For some reason I only managed to get anything written on this on Mondays, but it has gone off for a beta, so I can get started on some fandom stocking stuff. And by started I mean I have a list of names with links. At some point I'll have to decide what to do for them...

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Animals, Computers, Fan fic, Life: Life, Netbook, Timmy, Yuletide

livii

Technically speaking, there's nothing to stop me. I have the money, I just have more important things to spend it on. The main reason I haven't bought one is... I don't need one. I have a pile of books that I ought to read and an ebook reader isn't going to help with that. I rarely buy new books and you can't really get second hand ebooks... So basically I'd just use it for borrowing ebooks from the library and sticking pdfs on.

And then there's the problem of where/when I'd read it. I wouldn't take it to work because I'd get the piss taken out of me. Although it would help for the times when I don't want to take a book to work to read at lunchtime because I'd have the piss taken out of me. I wouldn't read it on the train, or anywhere public in case it got nicked. So I could read it at home, but you can't read it in the mornings in bed because it's too cold. About the one thing it is useful for is reading while you're eating because you don't have to hold the page open.

So in conclusion, I don't need an ebook reader. I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost.

I also want an all-in-one computer - I played with them in PC World the other week. They're really heavy, but so cool. Well, ok, the cool part is the part where you touch the screen instead of using the mouse. Which is handy for solitaire. And probably surfing, but less useful for typing. Not least because you'd have to sit really close to the monitor to touch it, but then you're too close to it to see properly because it's so big. It's utterly impractical, but very cool. Needless to say, I don't need one. I already have two computers and I definitely don't have space for another one. But they're cool and I want one.

The one thing I don't want is an iPad. I did, until I played with one in PC World and it was exciting for the first ten minutes, then I got bored.

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So the simplest solution was to download a new version. Which was instant. Installing it took less than a minute and it's now fine.

However, before I installed it I first wanted to create a system restore point. In XP I just went to the link I'd pinned to the Start Menu. In Windows 7 I stare at the Start Menu for a while before giving up. Fortunately, when I got Windows 7 I found a great site with tutorials on how to work it, so I went there and found how to create a system restore point. It's in Control Panel->System, nowhere near the System Restore menu, which is in Accessories->System.

I decided it's really silly to keep searching for how to do it every time and ended up following another tutorial which adds a shortcut to your desktop, which you just have to click and type your restore point in and it does it. Much quicker and easier. This is why I also have shortcuts to Start Menu for user and all users because I have no idea how to get to them in Windows 7 because right clicking on the Start Menu doesn't work.

Then I remembered that I wanted to add TextPad to the Quick Launch. In XP you dragged the shortcut. Doesn't work in Windows 7... I ended up going back to the same website to find where the Quick Launch lived and then sticking it in there.

I know Microsoft have done all this so people can't cock it all up (and people really can cock anything up on computers given half a chance). It's just that, by doing that, they've made everything so much harder if you know what you're doing. Which is the opposite to the version of Linux I have on my netbook, where if you don't know what you're doing you're reduced to copying and pasting into scripts... (which works, mind you)

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I feel quite good at the moment, which is pretty much related to work calming down and me getting some sleep. I keep going through phases of waking up at 6 or 6.30 and if you do it occasionally then you could argue that you didn't need that much sleep. But when you keep doing it and get tireder and tireder and have to go to bed earlier and earlier, that's not a help. So far this week I've only woken up at 6.30am twice, and once dreamed I had, which was a bit surreal.

Since I actually have a brain for a change, I have managed two drafts of my Remix fic. I'm quite excited about it and quite happy with it, so hopefully I'll get it finished soon, before I start feeling terrible again. Staying up late for the election in two weeks isn't going to help with that, but that's life.

I have decided that Sports Resort is my new favourite game on the Wii. I love archery on it - you hold the remote in your left hand and pull the bow back with the nunchuck, so it's much more like archery in real life. It keeps your progress like Wii Sports does, so you can see how you're improving (or not in tennis in my case), but there are other goals you can get (like getting 10s with your three arrows in archery for example), which makes it fun.

Speaking of, I think I'll go and do some Wii playing now, before HIGFNY and Outnumbered...

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Since I installed Windows 7, my printer doesn't work with it. I had a complete arse with it in XP, but it was perfect in Vista. In theory it should just have been a case of downloading the drivers, but in practice that had no effect. So I browsed a lot of forums and tried various things, none of which had any effect.

I ended up asking HP support who told me to do lots of things I'd already done (despite telling them I'd done it), were complete idiots and treated me like an idiot and didn't read my emails properly. And now they've given up. They've concluded that the problem must be my computer and I should contact the computer's manufacturer and get them to format it. Beyond the obvious question of why on earth would I get Acer to format my computer, my answer to that is not just no, it's hell, no.

So now I need a new printer that definitely, definitely works with Windows 7. So one that's come out this year, probably. And ideally works with my current cartridges too, since I have one of each spare... I hate being printerless as well. I don't use it that often but now I keep needing to use it!

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Recently I discovered Pidgin, which is the messenger program I use on my netbook, doesn't belief AIM exists any more. Since I was awake annoyingly early this morning I thought I'd get up and see if anyone was in any of the RPG related chats. Which they weren't, but I discovered that Trillian in your browser doesn't do chat. After lots of searching on the forums I uninstalled Pidgin then reinstalled it. At which point it refused to open. But I did discover why it refused to open links in Firefox and just did nothing. In the end I installed Kopete, which I've decided I like far more than Pidgin anyway, but not as much as Astra.

Just because it seems to be that sort of weekend, the netbook keeps randomly disconnecting from the network (it just seems to be a common bug with it, which is unhelpful, but at least I know how to get it back on without restarting). And I watched a DVD using my computer as a DVD player and the wireless keyboard as a remote and twice the computer decided that every keystroke was actually me right clicking and wouldn't acknowledge me left clicking. Why it decided it didn't like the wireless keyboard today when it's been fine up till now, I don't know.

On the plus side, since Azureus kept disconnecting my computer from the internet (which also seems to be a common problem with Vista) and there's something clearly not right with it, I thought I'd install μTorrent, which seems to work perfectly and looks pretty much the same.

So that was my weekend of trials and tribulations. Next week I have an MRI, a flu jab and a trip to the dentist and the week after is a trip to the balance clinic. So it'll all be a bit medical.

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I spent last weekend updating all my Firefoxes to 3.5. My laptop and Firefox Portable were on v3 already, so it was just a case of clicking the button and updating a couple of my add-ons manually. The netbook was a different story...

The trouble with it is that Acer made some programs dependent on Firefox 2 and disabled the check for updates button, so I hadn't bothered updating. It was faster than my old computer, but it had got to the stage where it was really slow, specially in Gmail where my typing was ahead of what was appearing on the screen. So I found some instructions on the internet about how to install Firefox 3 alongside v2. So I copied Firefox files on the netbook so I could make sure to get back to the old version and followed the instructions.

I briefly had both versions open before I restarted, which made all my old Firefox menus and icons open v3. Which, because it wasn't installed over the top of the old version meant that it didn't have my profile. The instructions said that it was easy to get the old version back, but didn't say how. After spending ages searching the internet and trying things I gave up and set up the new version of Firefox.

Which was all fine except that whenever I opened it it opened up four tabs, which wasn't what I wanted. I assumed this was a problem with Tab Mix Plus restoring things. A week later I found this was because I'd accidentally set my home page to be all four tabs, which it didn't even occur to me to do...

It's worked out ok in the end because 3.5 is much faster, nothing seems to be broken, and I have the Penguin Racing game that's on the Asus Eee on my netbook. Not that I can play it because it moves, but it'll be there for future usage...

I've also watched lots of new things on TV that all seems to be American. But how exciting is Friday evenings going to look with SJA, HIGFNY and Armstrong and Miller?

Flash Forward: I should have taken the fact that it's on Channel 5 and my PVR randomly not taping it as a sign not to bother. It sounded interesting, despite the TV guide claiming it could be the new Lost (I didn't like Lost). It wasn't that exciting, but the main trouble was that they were incapable of keeping the camera still. The worst bit was when they spent several minutes going round and round. I didn't get to the end of the first episode and it made me so dizzy I still felt crap the next day. Funnily enough I didn't bother with the second episode...

Dollhouse: I quite liked the sound of it and it turns out it's really interesting. I'm five episodes in and am amazed that I've liked them all so far. Even the continuing storyline, which I wasn't too sure about at the start.

True Blood: It looked quite interesting when I found out early on in the episode that it involved vampires living openly among humans. Sadly, though, it also looked like at least two of the main characters have a variety of American Southern accent that I just can't take seriously or listen to for long periods of time. I reached the point where I just couldn't listen to it any more that night, never mind for three months. I do have less tolerance for American series at the moment, I think because I'm not that short of things to watch.

Stargate Universe: Will be henceforth known as Universe, using the same pattern as Atlantis. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I really liked next Tusday's episode. I think watching Access All Areas helped because it introduced me to the main characters, most of whom I hadn't managed to work out. Robert Carlyle's character is definitely interesting because you just can't tell what side he's on. I can definitely see the series as a whole changing a lot as it goes on.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, TV: Firefox, Linux, Other TV series, Universe

I was so tired Friday night. I wasn't too bad this morning, but I've mostly felt terrible since then. But tomorrow I am determined to be well enough to go to our community project because it will take my mind off it and maybe some fresh air will help a bit. Plus there is going to be a barbecue in the cul-de-sac tomorrow afternoon (they put a note through my door after I'd gone to bed last night!), so if I was in I'd have to close the windows against the smell, and I have no intention of going to a barbecue with people I don't know where I'd have to explain why I can't eat anything and why I can't stand up without holding onto something. I really don't have the energy for that.

But today I have watched two more episodes of Teachers (I have five to go until the point where I definitely started watching it) and I've been reading Bernice Summerfield: The Inside Story, which is big and heavy, but really interesting.

And my new mp3 player arrived, which is better and brighter pink than the old one. I just have to use Windows Explorer to transfer files, and I loathe Explorer in Vista, it's designed so you can never find anything. On my netbook I have to use Amarok, which took me ages to work out how to get it to recognise my mp3 player and transfer files to it, but that was mostly because I was looking in the wrong place.

Also, sign-ups have started for the second Sarah & Harry ficathon. There clearly needs to be a Harry ficathon too, but not till next year because this one won't finish till October and then Yuletide will be starting up. And I'll have a working internet connection for it this time!

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, Fan fic, Life: Ill, mp3 player, Sarah & Harry ficathon

I'm definitely still ill. I put on a New Who episode and the beginning credits are the worst thing ever. Definitely not recommended if you're dizzy. I have until Wednesday to get better, then I go back to the doctors, who are pretty much incapable of diagnosing anything I can't work out for myself, so I'm not hopeful, but I just want to get better. I want my life back again.

I am going to decide what car I want this weekend, which'll probably knock me out for the weekend with the half hour drive each way. But I definitely need a car that's less effort to drive, because part of the reason I didn't for so long while I was ill was because I didn't have the energy to turn the wheel. The trouble is that they don't make custom cars and what I really want is a Toyota Yaris at the front and a Honda Jazz at the back. And no, I don't want James May to make me one.

I have discovered the source of one of the funny noises my car makes! I currently have four: one is something rattling in the dashboard, one is a squeaking noise when I break, two are squeaking noises when I'm going along. The squeaking noises are all louder with the window open, which hasn't really been improving my drive home in a stuffy car with the sun right in my eyes. But while I was backing my car up after I'd turned it off, by the method of sticking my foot out of the door and giving it a push, as it's on a slight slope, I discovered that when I move the car, it creaks. I'm quite looking forward to owning a quieter car.

I thought I'd try out a DVD in my computer this evening. It took me ages to work out which program it had installed as the DVD playing program and then I found I hate it with a passion. It's rubbish. It takes over so much that you can hardly run any other program at the same time, and it takes the taskbar away so you can't get to any other program (alt+tab refused to work). I couldn't work out how to fast forward in any useful way and there's no right click menu to tell it that actually you want subtitles/commentary. I was looking forward to getting an upgrade from WinDVD, but it turns out WinDVD was the pinnacle of DVD playing programs (and to be fair, I loved it, it's far better than a DVD player). Am I right in thinking it's the free version and PowerDVD is the paid for one that lets you take screenshots? Can I get it somewhere? Can I go back to Windows 98? (actually, since I have it on a virtual machine on this computer, the answer to the last one is yes, technically).

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, Life, Weather: Driving, Ill, Laptop, Weather

I kept looking at my open documents this evening, thinking about how the things I needed to do before I went and couldn't quite bring myself to get round to. And my back hurt sitting at the computer.

So I had a few games of the cow jumping game, sat back down at the computer and got it all done. Which is exactly the sort of thing I bought it for.

Now I'm sat on the sofa with the netbook, watching All Creatures Great and Small.

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There are two. The running things as administrator, as a security measure. The trouble is that I don't get to see the benefits of it and it's a pain every time I want to do something that requires being an administrator.

The second is the taskbar not being blue. I can now have the wallpaper I wanted on my old computer, but couldn't have because it clashed with the taskbar. Although I'm not keen on the taskbar being such a dark grey because black icons (like TweetDeck) don't show up well. I know there is a workaround to get it lighter, but it involves having a wallpaper that's not darker than the taskbar, or fiddling about with the wallpaper and I can't really be bothered.

When it comes down to it, there aren't many things I liked about XP over 98 either. There's only the start menu, which doesn't scroll when you have too many icons (although I always made sure to keep mine down to one column anyway) and the recent programs on it, so you never have to go into the depths of the Start Menu where I could never find anything anyway. That was the only reason why I didn't change to the Classic View.

I can't remember 3.1 enough to remember whether I liked it or 98 better. But in conclusion, Microsoft shouldn't keep changing things.

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I have my shiny (and it is literally shiny) new computer now. There's parts of Vista I really don't like, but I have managed to replace those parts. Like I don't use Windows Explorer and have a program that changes the Start Menu back to like XP and 98, which opens folders a lot quicker.

And that's what I spent my (long) weekend doing (I had Friday and Monday off work). I also bought a breadmaker because my bread tastes so much better when mum makes it in her breadmaker than when I make it in my oven. And the cooker in the new place is so much slower (still electric) that it would probably be just as quick.

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• I found Sainsburys did lasagne sheets made without soya flour, so I can eat soya again
• I now have a sofa and a wardrobe (even if the latter is currently in the kitchen, since that's the only space for it) and a coffee table
• I have some friends coming tonight to go to our Cheese and Wine quiz and see my new flat
• I found some white dairy free chocolate. I haven't tried it yet, since I ought to finish my current bar first, but I'm very excited about actually seeing some

And the bad:

• Friday last week the graphics card on my computer died. Friday, yesterday, my laptop keeps fusing, for reasons we're not 100% sure of yet. It's just as well I'd brought my work laptop home. You'd think two computers would be enough, but no...
• I haven't had any emails since Thursday - turns out that actually I've had 34, including the test one I sent to myself. Now it's sorted and I have them, but it would have been nice to have had them at the time...
• I worked ridiculously hard and late Tuesday and Thursday - the only days I had something on in the evening. So Thursday I didn't get to go back to fencing again and Tuesday I got in long enough to have a pot noodle before going out, then only had the energy to go to bed when I got back in. Although part of that was because I had yesterday off.

Ok, so there aren't any more bad things than that, but those are bad enough, I think.

Permalink | No comments | Categories: Computers, Life: Food, Laptop, Life