Monday, June 22, 2009

It's all back up...

Hiccups with the server makeover, looks like it.

Anyway, all up and running again, brand new look (which I don't really like very much, but there you go), so if you want to try again, it's http://www.justgiving.com/idouros.

Thanks,
- The Douros

Oops! Problem with the donations page.

During the weekend, the donation site that I am using (JustGiving) was given a makeover, and it looks like my account has disappeared in the process.

I am temporarily unavailable to accept donations at present (I cannot even access existing donation info), but I am in the process of contacting the admin people at JustGiving, and aiming to have it resolved really soon. Apologies for any inconvenience caused, I will let everybody know as soon as everything is back up and running.

- The Douros

Thursday, April 30, 2009

27th Athens Marathon - 8th November 2009

I will run it. I (sort-of) got talked into it. I have been training since the beginning of the year, and I am feeling reasonably confident that I can finish it. I am not aiming for much more (although it will be great if I manage to do it in anything less than four hours).

And I am using it as an excuse for raising some funds for charity. Details here.

- The Douros

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"Features" that suck...

Firefox 3. Image dithering. Why, oh why, you lovely people at Mozilla, why did you have to implement it like that? Why is the default setting causing the images to look crap? Why is there no clear way for the user to disable it once and for all? Why is it so poorly documented? Why do I have to resort to about:config? And why do I still need to press Ctrl-A for every single bloody page I load?

Honestly, this "feature" alone will be enough to make me switch back to Internet Explorer. Please do something about it!

- The Douros

Sunday, March 01, 2009

The birds are back!

First birdwatcing of the year at Welney, The Fens. Wooper swans, wigeons, pochards, tufted ducks, coots, mallard. Photos here.

- The Douros

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Snowed in...


Monday 2nd, Wednesday 4th, Thursday 5th, Friday 6th.

Cabin fever...

- The Douros

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Jinxed

A few weeks back, I dropped in the toilet. It survived.

Earlier today, I managed to put it in the washing machine! AAAAAAAAARRRGH!!!

As expected, memory stick died straight away (that's another 8GB and £25 pounds vanishing into oblivion).

I am in the process of drying up the device now, in a couple of days I will know whether it has survived a second time. Not holding my breath though...

-The Douros

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What have I done...

A few weeks back I got an iPhone for my Better Half, as a present. And, as usual, I have been doing the (ahem) technical support for it, I set it up for pretty much every single function that it's meant for. Including using the iTunes software for syncing it. And now, I am becoming addicted to it myself...

Coming from a hardcore PC background I have been fanatically against buying Apple products for years. I have never, ever, owned any Apple product myself. But you have to give it to them, they really know how to design and manufacture stuff that just works, out of the box, and it's intuitive and straightforward and feels good, in every aspect. And the software that comes with the hardware is equally well made and reliable, not a half-baked, re-branded 3rd-party acquisition that lets down perfectly good hardware and makes you curse (Sony, do you hear that?)

Thankfully, the iPhone does not seem to support greek text entry, which is for me an essential pre-requisite for any comms gadget, as 40-50% of the text I enter is in greek. This is, at present, the only thing that is stopping me from getting an iPhone for myself.

(That being said, if anyone knows of an add-in or a tweak that can sort this out for me, please let me know...)

- The Douros

Monday, January 12, 2009

Forgot to mention...

Quite amazingly, the SonyEricsson W880i that was accidentally dropped in the toilet a couple of posts ago, is alive and well!

It took a couple of days for it to show any signs of life at all, and as I was shopping around for a new phone I had left it on a shelf above a radiator, just in case (I could see droplets behind the screen, which made me certain that it was well dead). However, once it dried up, it just switched on and worked as if nothing had happened. All settings., contacts etc still in place!

The only thing that was permanently damaged was the 8GB Memory Stick that held all the music that I care to carry around as MP3's, but this cost less than £20 to replace (and the files took less than an hour to copy back, because I am a nerd and I keep everything properly backed up).

Even better, the meticulous wiping and drying and scrubbing that took place in my early attempts to resurrect the device, has resulted in the removal of 12-months worth of grit and grease, and it all now looks nice and shiny like brand new.

Oh well, good things do happen...

- The Douros

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Don't remember the last time I enjoyed a movie on the big screen as much as this one.

- The Douros