Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
One of a whole series of reconstructions of classic photos using Lego
Lovely!
Found via photojojo
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 8:36 PMMarch 26, 2008Lunch Atop a Skyscraper
One of a whole series of reconstructions of classic photos using Lego
Lovely!
Found via photojojo
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 8:36 PM
December 26, 2007Mr Ouch
I took this photo in the grounds of the Morning Star Lodge near the Silver Mountain Gondola station in Kellogg, Idaho with the sole intention of posting it to the Stick Figures in Peril group. This I duly did and someone added a tag of Mr Ouch. I was curious about this and so looked at all photos tagged with Mr Ouch and discovered that they are all the same peril picture but with different text, instructions and warnings - a sub domain of stick figures in peril.
I will now be on the lookout for other Mr Ouch warning signs to add to the collection.
Posted by Jane at 6:54 AM
December 08, 2007Happy Christmas
Richard and I have spent the last couple of days with his folks in Margate. We've taken a couple of walks with the dog, watched 2 excited great-nephews open their own body weight in presents and munched our way through turkey, sausages, bacon, roast potatoes and plenty of vegetables. Lovely!
Posted by Jane at 3:55 PM
October 29, 2007Wind + Umbrella = Umbrella Death
The wind and rain were both making a typical winter appearance today, but I've never seen such an amount of umbrella death. Every bin, every pavement seemed to be littered with the debris.
Richard and I made an effort of recording some of the carnage with camera phones.
Posted by Jane at 11:32 PM
October 16, 2007Geni Schwag
I blogged about Geni a few months ago and had quite a few email conversations with the guys from Geni off the back of that blog.
Since then Richard's family have really taken to Geni, and have added a couple of generations to their tree. They've found it really usable and seem to have enjoyed adding photos etc. Still no GEDCOM import yet for me though
Today, a box of goodies arrived from Geni for me, thanks Geni!
Labels: family tree, photos
Posted by Jane at 9:46 PM
Nokia 6110 Navigator and Route 66 satellite navigation
Whilst we were on our recent holiday, we took the opportunity to try out the built-in Route 66 navigation software.
The main observations are as follows:
- The battery life with the navigation system running is obviously impacted. In Liverpool the phone ran out of battery a mile away from our accomodation. We bought an in-car charger for the unit to prevent this from happening at other times.
- The software likes direct routes. Despite having selected fastest rather than shortest it sent us through the Snowdonia mountain park, (the road in the photo), with cattle grids and gates etc. Even when I told the unit that I was in a lorry it sent me the same way.
- It is very optimistic about how long a journey will take. Unlike google maps' directions which I've found to be pretty accurate, at 100% Route 66 seems to expect 60 miles per hour on all road types, including that mountain pass.
- In city navigation is excellent, getting in and out of cities and towns using the navigation system was really good, and really helpful.
- The postcode to longitude/latitude conversion is problematic at times - I don't think this is the software's problem but a complication with low population areas. Something to be wary of - next time I'll check the position of the landmark on the map against any other map or information availabile
In summary, I'll probably still print out google maps, and I'll still have a road atlas in the car, but I'll also let Route 66 guide me in and out of cities and towns.
Cross posted to Jane's Technical Stuff.
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 8:37 PM
September 18, 2007Holiday!
We recently had a week off and spent it exploring more of the UK. We started and ended our trip with visits to snowboard shows - the first at Tamworth Snowdome, the second at Milton Keynes Xscape. We figured it was time to explore more of the West/North West/Midlands and so based ourselves around there for the week.
We took the opportunity to stop off at Chatsworth and spent a very pleasant afternoon strolling around the grounds and the house. (More photos) . The "Beyond Limits" exhibition was a really interesting addition to the beautiful gardens, and Damien Hirst's Virgin Mary was really impressive. As a Girl Guide I visited the extended grounds of Chatsworth many times, camping on the grounds, staying in stone barns, but this was the first time I'd visited the house and gardens. It was a really lovely afternoon, and the cake in the cafe was wonderful too.
Our next stop was a couple of nights in Liverpool, a city I'd only visited once before for a University open day, and which Richard hadn't visited at all. As Liverpool is to be the City of Culture next year, we thought now might be an interesting to visit as it prepares itself. It is definitely a work in progress at the moment, and the number of cranes on the skyline is quite impressive. We felt obliged to visit the Beatles story exhibition, which entertained us for quite a few hours. We also visited the Tate which unfortunately for us was having a swap around to make room for the Turner Prize exhibitons. We were both surprised at how small a city it is, being really walkable and not requiring public transport to get around the major attractions. I found the architecture amazing, and it reminded me quite a bit of Hull, my home town. Both cities are ports, both were heavily bombed during the 2nd world war, both have some amazing maritime buildings. More photos.
Then a fun few days in Wales staying at Cae Gwyn Farm an organic bed and breakfast found via the Organic Holiday directory. We attempted to do some mountain biking, but couldn't find an open rental shop. As usual, wherever we go, things are closed. Maybe we should go "in season" sometime
. Still we managed to get some walks in, one around the visitor centre, a longer one around the forest and one in Barmouth on the beach at low tide. and a trip on the Snowdon Mountain railway.
A great trip, and a great opportunity to unwind.
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 8:20 PM
September 16, 2007Adult Cereals
We were in the new look Sainsbury's in West Hove yesterday, browsing along the cereal aisle, and then we spotted it - "Adult Cereals". This isn't really a term I've ever come across before, I'd considered Cereals as a whole category, or maybe with sub-categories, such as muesli or cornflakes or whatever. So, does this mean that to differentiate the regular, every-day kind of cereal they need to be rebranded as adult cereal?
For the interested, the cereal offered in "Adult Cereals" were things like Fruit and Fibre and All Bran. Definitely NOT more interesting than frosties, cocoa pops or rice crispies.
Posted by Jane at 8:33 PM
September 05, 2007Sunday bike ride - 24.5 miles!
We headed off for a quick bike ride today, and ended up getting home 4 hours later after a catalogue of missed turns and optimism that resulted in a 24.5 mile ride. Our first obstacle was getting through the cyclists and spectactors watching the Triathlon, from then on we were aiming to do a route we used to do quite often, but somewhere along the way we missed our turn and so ended up heading along the South Downs Way for a while. We took a look on the OS map and decided to head towards Southease railway station and catch a train back to Brighton - we even used the power of mobile internet to check that they run on a Sunday. We rolled up at the station (after heading off down the wrong road to Piddinghoe for a mile or so) about 5 minutes before the train was due only to discover that there were maintenance works on the line and they were running a replacement bus service. We didn't think the bus would like us and our bikes very much and so turned around and headed via Telscombe and back to Brighton stopping at Ovingdean for a slice of cake and a can of fizzy pop.
We tracked our route using the GPS unit on my Nokia 6110 navigator, and have added it to our collection of GPS routes.
Labels: Brighton, cycle, photos, sussex
Posted by Jane at 3:21 PM
- That answers a question for me ...
... I'd been wondering if there was a cyclable route from the coast at Telscombe cliffs all the way to Southease. Nifty thing that GPS.
Posted by Miles Sabin on 2007-09-16 17:36:46
- Wow, that's a long ride. I wish I had a GPS phone so I could track my cycle rides. The combination of GPS + Google Maps + photos + stats is brilliant...
Posted by Bruce Boughton on 2007-09-16 18:47:06
August 27, 2007World Beard and Moustache Championships
On Saturday, the World Beard and Moustache Championships were held at the Brighton Centre.
The event started, for the public (and for us thanks to a tip off from Andy) with a parade from the town hall, through the lanes to the Brighton Centre before starting for proper an hour or so later. Prior to the event starting, I thought it would all be a bit of a joke, but I hadn't been prepared for the sheer amount of effort that people had gone to, especially their costumes. As if growing a large amount of facial fur wasn't enough, at least one guy had painted himself silver for the occasion.
We met up with friends and headed off and the girls watched the 'tache competition whilst the boys spend an hour (yes really) queueing for beer at the bar (which had 5 members of staff serving for 2,300 people - nice). After finally getting our beer we sat down in comfort for the freestyle moustache and the partial beard categories. Jeremy, Kirsty and Rory headed home mid way through partial beards, and we spotted Dom, Fiona and Amelia and so went and watched a few more rounds with them before deciding we were all bearded out and needed to head home.
There are, of course, more photos to be perused. The next championships is in 2 years time in Alaska, somehow I don't expect we'll be attending.
Labels: Brighton, event, photos
Posted by Jane at 10:24 PM
August 21, 2007Dosas
Many thanks to Andy for telling us about Waves in Hove. They are a Dosa Diner, and carry dosas as well as idli, pooris and other indian "street food".
We headed out there this evening and gave them a try, and we'll be back having had a most satisfying eat on dhai poori, masala dosa for me and a spring dosa for Richard. All washed down with a glass of red for Richard, and a couple of sweet lassis for me.
Posted by Jane at 7:21 PM
- Mmm, Dosa
Hope you enjoyed them. I'm probably gonna pop in on Sunday, if you fancy aother.
Posted by Andy Budd on 2007-08-29 21:07:18
July 23, 2007More snowboarding news
Further to my blog after our Performance course, I've since learnt about The Snowboard Show being held at the Tamworth snowdome in September. Amongst the demos and talks there are also some free coaching sessions, 2 of which are Freeride technique with the instructor from the Performance course, Ash Newnes. All you have to do to get on one of the sessions is to register by sending an email to the address at the bottom of this page. We've booked on to the Rail Technique session to see what we can learn.
In other news we're looking at places to go for snowboarding over New Year. In recent years we've been to Avoriaz, Meribel and Utah. Ideally we want somewhere reasonably high up to make sure that there is some chance of snow, somewhere an hour or two from the airport, and most importantly somewhere that hasn't got a minimum stay of less than 4 nights. Any suggestions? Or do you know of someone with an appartment to rent? Leave us a comment
We've also started planning our big trip for next year - a month long snowboarding adventure. At the moment it is looking like being based around Montana, Idaho and Portland, and making use of the Alaska Airlines schedule to get around, but all that could change. I'm hoping that the Off the Beaten Path USA trip report will offer some more insights as the guy who wrote that had some good suggestions for our Utah trip. Again, any suggestions? leave us a comment.
Labels: bigtrip08, photos, snowboard
Posted by Jane at 5:24 PM
- Month long holiday!?!
Pah! I'm jealous.
Posted by Rosie Sherry on 2007-08-21 22:25:12
July 11, 2007Moo's Hot and Sticky Party
On Thursday Richard and I headed off into London with a load of other Brighton geeks to Moo's Hot and Sticky Party. Richard managed to attend another moo party earlier in the year in San Francisco and after hearing about that there was no way I was missing out on this one. This party was to launch another new product - sticker books and we got to take away samples (as well as stick them on each other, moo employees etc etc).
We met some new faces, put faces to names (especially Will and Tom who I've known of for years but weirdly never met) as well as catching up with someone I haven't seen in over 5 years.
A great party put on by a company who obviously know how to celebrate! I even got 2 photos included in the moo blog post about the evening. More photos.
Posted by Jane at 7:31 PM
June 07, 2007Tour de France
Our weekend revolved around the Tour de France. On Saturday we headed into London for the Prologue. We arrived at Victoria and wandered along to Hyde Park with the intention of soaking up the atmosphere, watching some of the time trials and investigating the People's village.
Our first observation was just how busy it was. The cyclists were out warming up around the route, and so as we walked along South Carriage Drive we watched the cyclists whoosh past. The last cycle race I saw was when I was a child and the milk race came to Hull. My memories from that day were just how fast the cyclists were, but I imagined I'd overestimated this in my memory. Not so, admittedly this was a time trial, but it was amazingly fast. We spent 2 or 3 hours in the park before heading back to Brighton, just in time to watch Fabian Cancellara's winning ride.
On Sunday we headed off with friends into Kent to Iden Green and found ourselves a spot near the road by The Peacock. We arrived really early and watched more and more people arrive to watch both the caravane and the race later. The riders were amazing to watch (albeit briefly). The breakway group of 5 were followed by at least 10 vehicles, possibly more like 15. The main group came along 4 or 5 minutes later.
A great couple of days, and quite a spectacle. Looking forward to it coming back to the UK again soon but in the meantime I'll have to make do with the ITV4 coverage and the ITV and BikeRadar podcasts. More photos
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 8:43 PM
- Track them live
If you want to see live GPS tracking of the riders try http://www.ubilabs.net/tourdefrance/
Posted by Goul on 2007-07-14 19:00:10
- Love the photo
of the lion go-kart!
Posted by Osteopath in Brighton on 2007-08-07 02:20:11
May 23, 2007Happy Anniversary
It was Richard's Parent's Golden Wedding Anniversary last Friday. 50 years! How impressive is that...
Anyway, we spent a lovely weekend with them and the rest of the family in Margate.
More photos here.
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 6:34 PM
May 12, 2007Geek Wine Thing
Last night we attended the first Geek Wine Thing organised by Danny and held at the Regency Town House.
Henry Butler from the Butlers wine cellar led the tasting, and for the cost of a tenner we tasted 8 different Spanish and Portugese wines. As a total novice in the wine tasting world, it was interesting to learn more about how to smell, look at and taste wine. Henry was an excellent and enthusiastic teacher.
The tasting started off very quiet and subdued, but before too many glasses had been consumer we got noisier and noisier.
The wines we tasted were:
Whites
Pares Balta Blanc de Pacs 2006 - Spain
Soalheiro Alvarinho 2005 - Portugal
Castello D'Alba 2005 - Portugal
Navajas Crianza 2003 - Spain
Reds
Monte Real Reserva 2000 - Spain
Clos Le Fites 2002 - Spain
Quinta de la Rosa Tinto 2004 - Portugal
Niepoort Redoma 1994 - Portugal
The white wines were split into unoaked (the first 2) and oaked (the second 2) with one each from Spain and Portugal. As usual I preferred the unoaked - so another nail in the coffin of oaked wines for me.
Next time, and I hope there will be a next time, I'll try and remember to bring a pen to make some notes, as somewhat unsurprisingly I don't remember too much beyond the first couple of glasses
As usual, my photos from the evening are all on flickr.
Labels: Brighton, event, photos, wine
Posted by Jane at 8:05 PM
April 16, 2007Brighton Festival
Well, it is festival time again here in Brighton, and so today I headed off in search of the Streets of Brighton, open houses and more of the 41 places installations.
Despite having lived in Brighton for 5 festivals, I'd never ventured into an open house until today - and I'm converted. I visited 3 and found them all to be of a really high standard. The first was Rod Clark.
The second and third were both down Tidy Street. They were Shadow Box and SQ1.
I will be visiting more of them.I managed to catch a few different street performances, the Deep Sea Jivers performed by Swervy World and Eco Pirates performed by Desperate Men.
Labels: Brighton, brighton festival, photos
Posted by Jane at 10:08 PM
April 11, 2007Fabrica: Beneath the Strides of Giants
We popped into Fabrica yesterday to see what was on display at the moment and found Beneath the Stride of Giants by Brian Griffiths. It is a wooden boat, made from other people's junk.
Fabrica is such a lovely place to stop, it's always peaceful and cool and its often hard to remember it is in such a busy location.
Posted by Jane at 12:02 PM
- Junk?
It was a boat made with other people's junk? Interesting.
Posted by Nintendo Wii on 2007-04-18 05:41:53
Walk-thru McDonalds
During our weekend visit to Hull to see my folks, we took a day trip to Skegness and up the coast past Anderby Creek (which was beautiful) and up to Mablethorpe. In Skegness I spotted this Walk-thru McDonalds - looks like it was originally built as a drive thru.
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 7:47 PM
- Walk-thu!
That is the first time I have ever seen a walk-thu drive-thu. Awesome! LOL!
Posted by Nintendo Wii on 2007-04-18 05:43:49
April 01, 2007Tivo Crash
How about this for reliability. Our TiVo has been running more-or-less non-stop for 9 years. I was setting up a recording last night and we received our first ever proper error.... with hex and everything.
TiVo still rules.
Posted by Richard at 6:59 PM
- Tivo!
That's no surpise. It's been on for Nine years straight.
Posted by Nintendo Wii on 2007-04-18 05:45:53
March 23, 2007Bouldering in Hove Park
Since Jim broke his wrist, I haven't been to the climbing wall, and I've missed it. A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across information that there is a boulder park in Hove Park, and so today we went for a cycle ride to take a look.
It is about 3 metres high and probably about 12 metres long with areas ranging from scramble, to slight overhangs. We spent half an hour there climbing, traversing and doing the odd scramble. I am really impressed to have something like this so close, and available for free. I'm hoping to start visiting on a weekly basis to have a play.
Labels: Brighton, climbing, photos
Posted by Jane at 3:56 PM
March 21, 2007Snowboarding can damage your health
Unfortunately, one of the party we went snowboarding with last weekend broke his wrist when he landed on it
Posted by Jane at 6:36 PM(apparently a frequent novice snowboarder injury)
On Monday evening it looked like:
It now looks like:
More photos
- Looks painful.
I've been thin king about getting a tboard http://www.tierneyrides.com/ after seeing a guy at work on one. I'm not a particularly accomplished snowboarder though (and I can't skateboard). I can't afford to break my wrist as that will put the mockers on the climbing.
Posted by Ben Sales on 2007-03-24 13:01:20
- Tboard/Freebord
That board looks cool, I have a freebord, although I haven't taken it out for a year or so (http://www.janeandrichard.co.uk/blog/archive/2005_05_01_index.xml#111506001802113506 was one of the first attmpts). Somehow the thought about hitting concrete concerns me way more than hitting snow :-)
Our climbing exploits have obviously been curtailed by Jim's injury - I need to find something new to have fun doing...
Posted by Jane on 2007-03-24 14:13:35
March 12, 2007Sierra Nevada snowboarding
We spent a very pleasant long weekend in Spain, managing 2 happy days snowboarding at the Sierra Nevada. A lack of snow lower down the mountain, but good fun none the less. The Sierra Nevada resort is excellent for beginners and intermediates, but lacks (at least at this time of the year) any really challenging terrain for us.
And whilst on the subject of snowboarding, this is an excellent video clip on how to ride a chair lift.
Posted by Jane at 10:09 PM
February 21, 2007Shiny Toy Guns
We went to see Shiny Toy Guns at The Pressure Point this evening. Their track "Don't Cry Out" was featured on the Follow Me Around snowboard dvd by Mack Dawg Productions and as we loved the sound of them, we trotted off to HMV and bought the album. After a bit more surfing we discovered that they were coming to Brighton as part of their hectic UK and European tour so we headed off, and had an excellent evening, first being rocked by Viva Machine and then being hugely entertained by Shiny Toy Guns. I can't believe that it has taken me over 5 years living in Brighton to attend a gig at The Pressure Point!
Labels: Brighton, music, photos
Posted by Jane at 11:13 PM
- Shiny toy guns are an awesome band, really like their over polished 80's feel. What did they sound like live?
Posted by Ben Sales on 2007-03-24 12:51:30
- They were good, there were a fair number of people at the pressure point, though I doubt it was full - I guess Monday evening gig's rarely are... Don't Cry Out (my current favourite track) was really well perfomed and full of bounce :-)
Posted by Jane on 2007-03-24 14:08:41
February 13, 2007Welcome to Brighton and Hove
These signs have been recently appearing around Brighton. Items 1, 2 and 4 sound reasonable, item 3 sounds a bit extreme.
Posted by Jane at 8:40 AM
January 28, 2007Roadkill, Brighton style
Posted by Richard at 8:18 AM
January 27, 2007Great pub signs
Spotted last night as we were walking back from The Chimney House (great food).
Posted by Jane at 5:33 PM
January 24, 2007Devil's Dyke
We headed off to Devil's Dyke to get some fresh air this afternoon. Lots of paragliders out and about doing their stuff. More photos
Labels: photos
Posted by Jane at 6:12 PM
January 21, 2007Snowy day
Taken out of the office window this morning.
Labels: crowborough, photos
Posted by Jane at 8:48 PM
- Me too!
That's funny, I took a similar one last year.
Posted by Simon on 2007-01-25 09:05:57
January 14, 2007Another Sunny Sunday
Posted by Jane at 4:44 PM
January 13, 2007Brighton Sun
I've been experimenting with a polarising filter on my camera today, results can be seen here.
Posted by Jane at 5:30 PM
- Lens flare
yummy lens flare!
Posted by Dave Hodgkinson on 2007-01-14 20:36:08
December 18, 2006Utah photos
I've spent the morning producing the albums for our recent Utah snowboarding trip. I've split it into two sections, on the snow and off the snow. Mainly because this year I bought a new small Olympus FE-130 which is small, compact and cheap enough to not cause too much stress when boarding, there are a lot more on-slope photos than in recent years.
Labels: photos, snowboard, utah
Posted by Jane at 2:49 PM
December 11, 2006Christmas scenes in Brighton
The Salvation Army play carols in the North Laines
Santa travels by bus in BrightonLabels: Brighton, christmas, photos
Posted by Jane at 7:27 PM
December 03, 2006
More Christmas lights
Posted by Jane at 5:25 PM
October 29, 2006
Spotted in Habitat - Tree lights and reindeer lights - shame we've got nowhere to put any.
Posted by Jane at 3:32 PM
Sunday Sunset
Posted by Jane at 6:46 PM
