Rambly post

Sorry I've been so quiet! No excuse really, just one of those things.

I finally got over the flu, gawd I felt ill! It took so long for the coughing to stop, then it simmered down to needing to clear my throat every five minutes - it was exhausting!

I still haven't plied the fibre I showed you in my last post, I started spinning some merino and tencel that Josie sent me a year or so ago and am now trying to get that finished - looks like I have a huge plying session awaiting me!

I'm steaming ahead quite nicely with the sock challenge, we are currently on letter D, socks A, B and C are all finished. Don't they look fab?

I'm going to save them until they're all complete before I start wearing them - well, that's the plan anyway LOL.

Unravel is next weekend! I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be travelling with Debs and I'll finally get to see Claire face to face (I was so gutted not to go to the tennis tournament and meet her in December!). I'm also looking forward to meeting old and new friends too!

I'm back to sleeping in the lounge at the moment, I bought a bath last month, but can't afford to get it fitted and my craft room is the only room big enough to store it in *sigh*

I'm sure there's more to tell you, but my mind has gone blank and Alex is clamouring for the computer (the one I gave him for Christmas died a spectacular death in the first week, so he's now using my Mac and I use the iPad - it's just still quicker to type on a keyboard that gives you tactile feedback than a touchscreen!)

If I remember what else I wanted to say, I'll be back in true Swarzeneggar style :D

Wanna buy a Mac Mini?

Yeah, I'm still using the iPad and I'm still loving it!

I disabled the auto lock yesterday and left it on with TwitBird running - which I would do with a laptop/desktop and it lasted all afternoon and most of the evening before the battery died.

I was quite impressed!

My only bugbear is that the twitter apps just don't do it for me! I use TweetDeck on my Mac and I used it on my Windows PC before that. The interface on the iPad is nice, but it has no Facebook integration and doesn't make a sound when new tweets come in! There's also no way to change the refresh rate which seems stupidly long on all Apple mobile devices!

It also pisses me off that the TweetDeck team don't answer customer queries! There's a forum on their site so you cam request new features, but they're basically ignoring all the requests and questions on there! Incredibly shitty customer service!

So! After much consideration; I am going to sell my Mac! I've got two people already interested, but if neither of those pan out and you may be interested, let me know and we'll chat about it!

I'm pretty sure I have boxes for it all (although I'm not sure about the monitor!)

All the info is below.

Apple Mac Mini
2.0Ghz Intel Core-2 Duo
2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x1GB
120GB Serial ATA Drive
SD 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD+RW/CD-RW)
iWork '09 Preinstalled
Country kit-GBR
Comes with iWork 09 and Snow Leopard on disc
Dispatched to me 2 Sep 2009

Price - £593

Standard Apple keyboard
Price - £39
Purchased approx Sep 2009

Apple Wireless Magic Trackpad
Price £59
Purchased - 20 Sep 2010

Hanns•G HW191A monitor
19"
Price - £119
Purchased September 2009

All cables to connect it all up are included

Total price £810 new. I'm asking £600 ono! All items (except for the Trackpad which is new) are in as new condition and just over a year old!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Today I......

...........have bought Christmas presents on play.com, made purchases and left feedback on eBay, sent a paypal payment, booked ferry tickets and done the usual Twitter/Facebook/surfing Ravelry all on my iPad!!

Surfing has been quick - not sure if that's because it's off my wifi or not. I'm waiting for my sim card to arrive from o2 - wonder if it'll be here before we go...

Ooooh! Hang on, have I mentioned this? On Saturday; Mum, Alex, Isis & I are going to Wales for a week in the camper!

Yes, I know; we're going to freeze to death!!!

But I've only been to Wales once and that was for Wonderwool! I want to see the mountains! I want to walk around the gorgeous countryside! I want to visit my friend, Kristina (if you're on Ravelry, you'll know her as Wyndwitch) and on Halloween I shall be collecting my snakes from Sam!!!

I'm very excited about this! I'm going to be bringing home two baby corn snakes and I can't wait! I've got a vivarium (complete with hide, water bowl, heat mat and aspin) and a box of frozen mice in the freezer - much to Kyles disgust LOL

We'll be going all over, so if you're in Wales and fancy a visit; send me an e-mail or message somewhere and I'll try and swing by!

So, the first day has passed

Forgive me; I have NO idea what this post will look like; it seems blogger won't let me use compose mode, so I'm having to write this in HTML mode lol.

I didn't use my Mac yesterday, but that may have been more because I wasn't HERE yesterday!

Matt and I went to Southampton as he's being transferred from the paediatric team to the adult team this year and the adult team decided they wanted another MRI done *sigh* so we wandered over, caught the bus (which turned out to be the bus which goes all round the houses. By 1.10, I was starting to worry as we were late, so I called the department.

It wasn't until that moment that I realized the letter said 1pm on NOVEMBER 1st!!!

I ended the call in embarrassment after asking if there was any chance of being squeezed in (they refused), got off the bus and phoned home to rant.

Got back on the bus to go back in to Southampton and went straight to KFC for something to eat (ranting takes a lot of energy, you know!)

After we were both fed, I dragged Matt into Fabric Land to buy fabric for a new knitting bag that my friend Rachel is making me

Then we wandered around Southampton towards the ferry.

It wasn't until we were pulling into Cowes that Matt realized he'd lost his phone! We asked the staff at Cowes who called through to Southampton who confirmed it was there - this is what happens when you wear your trousers down so low 'teenager style'; everything falls out of your pockets!

Unfortunately, a ferry had just left Southampton, so we had to wait an HOUR for a member of staff to turn up with it.

By the time I got home, I literally had time to grab a few bits and head off to knit night!

We went to a different place this week after the debacle at Table Table and it was perfect - or it would've been if they hadn't had quiz night! Which we knew nothing about when we booked and is apparently held every Monday!

Shame really, it was quiet and very well lit. Oh well, the hunt is still on for a good venue and I'm still loving the iPad!

*edited to add* I took my iPad to knit night last night, I carried it in my bag with my purse, Mandala and a project bag with two support spindles, 100g of fibre, the 5 metres of fabric from Fabric Land and my new knitting project (I'm knitting up the alpaca/merino I spun during the TdF this year)

I pulled the project bag out and carried it independently but my bag was HEAVY! Giving the fabric to Rachel helped, but my bag was still heavy on the way home - the iPad weighs a lot!

To follow on

I've actually been thinking about the last line in my last post and while it was said in jest; I actually started to wonder...what do I use my computer for?

I sit next to my computer when I'm in my craftroom and I have tweetdeck running so I can keep up with twitter and Facebook, I keep my files and pictures on it, I surf Ravelry and a few other sites and I type the occasional letter.

Well, I actually keep all my files, pictures, music, etc on an external hard drive, I keep very little on the Mac itself.

So, I have this fabulous Mac which, while I love it, I don't use it to it's full potential!

So can I exist without my computer and survive just with my iPhone, iPod Touch and my new 64g 3G iPad?

Let the experiment begin!

I am going to shut down my computer tonight and I hope to leave it switched off until I return from a holiday in Wales - I return home on Halloween!

We'll see how well I do!

I'll try to keep you informed via blog - but I refuse to pay for any of the blogger apps as I don't know what it is they actually do!  Therefore, any updating will be done on my iPad via Safari!

You can also keep up with what I'm doing on twitter and facebook!

I succumbed

Unless you're a hermit, you will probably have heard of the iPad!

I ignored the hype, what did I need an iPad for?  I've got a classic iPod, an iPod Touch and an iPhone 4 - I don't need an iPad.  It helped that, because there are no Apple stores here, I hadn't actually seen/touched one.

Then Matt had a cardio check-up in Southampton and we walk right past the Apple store!  Of course, we went in and had a play with them and both decided that they were extremely cool.  But unless one of the catalogues were going to do them, there was no way I'd be able to afford one.

Unfortunately, Argos sent me an e-mail a week ago and I couldn't help it.  I resisted, I really did....for about 12 hours.

Then I accidentally clicked the buy button next to the 64g 3G model.

Ooooh Shiny!

This thing is amazing!  I love it and I can even type on it, not as fast as I can on the computer, but that's just practise!  I love it so much, I'm considering selling my computer!

Anyone wanna buy a year old Mac Mini?