I have several things around the house that have been in the way and I have decided to put on Freecycle.com . This site allows you to advertise stuff that you don't want and you let other people collect it, the idea is to stop stuff that people can use from ending up in the local tip.

Yesterday I was able to give away a cross training machine that hasn't been used in years, a sideboard that doesn't match the wood and floor in the living room, a car battery charger and a bag full of Sabrina books.

It made me feel like Santa to see the look on the little girls face when I gave her the books.

A couple more things to get out the way but already the place is looking more tidy.

1 Micro$oft minute to go. That'll still be going in the morning then. Goodnight all.

Kicking off an update to Office, I may be some time...

Next time I boil the kettle I really should follow through and make a coffee!

Today WILL be productive, I started bloody early enough. Now to get started on job 1.

Oops I didn't realise that the Utterli client does cross posting too.

Sorry Last-FM but I think you'll find Michael Jackson is NOT on tour.

Just over a month since my last blog entry, even my Twitter feed has been lacking. This always seems to happen with me over this time of year.



Yes the holiday period is partly to blame but no I've not been away. With people taking time off at job 2 I've had a few weeks with no free evenings. When I do get free weekends I tend to want to do stuff so have had a few visits from Lance and on very odd weekends I've even been known to do some housework!



Here's a new picture.



I'll try to be a little more frequent with my posts but I'm not promising anything.

I held a little tech support session in Second Life recently, helping people with sound problems and microphone issues. One of the owners of the club I was at was kind enough to give me this neat braclet. I love the detail. USB plugs for the clasps and keys from a computer keyboard to spell out G33K. So me!

Robert Lewellyn, popular British actor and comedian has embraced the YouTube culture. Over recent years he has recorded his own YouTube videos, just like the rest of us. However, unlike most of us, Rob has the experience of being in front of a professional camera and his recording bridge the gap between my mobile phone YouTube videos and the commercial generated content.

Branching off from YouTube, Rob has created his own web video presence http://LllewTube.com/ .

The current project on Llewtube is a program called Carpool. Rob takes guests for a ride is a car fitted out with multiple cameras and they just "chat". The conversation is then edited down to a 25 - 30 minute show. It's so refreshing to see interviews with no agenda, no big plug. Rob interviews people that he's worked with in the past and some that have heard about the show and asked to come on. One of my favorite episodes so far was with Dom Jolly taking Rob on a tour of where the stars live and consequently counting the amount of bins at the end of Liz Hurley's drive.

The latest show Rob chats with Stephen Fry, again a very good show.

You can follow Robert Lewellyn on Twitter, http://www.twitter.com/bobbyllew and get the carpool videos on http://www.llewtube.com/ as well as on iTunes and selected episodes are available on YouTube.

When I move out to the US later this year I am determined not to get another car and make ours a two car family. I want to get a bike. The bike will be used mainly for getting to/from work and maybe the odd trip into town. Currently our place in the US is 10 miles from the main store. That's just far enough to be a drain on the budget for fuel.

I am seriously considering a Zero S Motorcycle. The Zero S is electric, has a range of 60 miles per charge and a charge time of four hours. While it's difficult to compare the performance of the electric bike with that of it's petrol brethren it's similar to a 250cc.

Several things make an electric vehicle stand out. First, the sound, or lack there of. Have a look at some of the YouTube videos of the bikes being used for indoor rally-X. These bikes are tearing up the track and there's not a sound from them. http://www.youtube.com/watch



Second, and this isn't obvious because of the lack of noise, is torque. The electric engine provides maximum power from the moment you open the throttle, where as a conventional petrol engine you have to reach a power band, the ideal rev' to get the best of the engine. Have a look at the ZeroMotorcycles video of one of their bikes on a drag strip against a Mustang. http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/…allery.php



Not quite up to the epic ride across the US of A but certainly interested in getting one of these for a commuter.

The smell of plastic, or in other words, the smoke cloak fired when we were setting the alarm tonight.

Rather than giving some form of warning via the beeps that normally sound while the alarm is trying to set, the process when all the way through, then filled the shop with smoke. No doors open, nothing in the way of the sensors, just had "a moment".

The smoke smells very strong and fills the entire shop and back office. Had to feel my way, blind, through the shop to open the back door to let the smoke clear, very disorienting, this smoke stuff works well.

Had to wait for about 20 minutes for the smoke to clear before we could try setting the alarm again.

Alarm now set and shop secure and I find that I've got the keys to the office in my pocket rather than being in the key cabinet where they should be. Up at 6:30am for me then... NUTS!

Grass was growing around the conservatory to the point where it was getting trapped in the door. Dust and dirt which had gotten onto the patio was also growing grass and weeds in it. The grass in the garden was a couple of feet deep and intertwined with a bedding of brambles.

The top picture shows how the garden looked on Saturday morning.

After a couple of hours with the strimmer, hedge cutters and a rake I was able to clear the grass and brambles from the patio, from around the conservatory and over the wall. The strimmer wasn't enough to cut through the brambles and the hedge cutter is too course to cut through the long grass.

The picture at the bottom shows that I've cleared the majority of the brambles from the flower beds, from around the bottom of the tree and from the bottom half of the garden.

The process is strim the grass, cut the brambles, rake, repeat.

The garden is looking a lot better now. If I put in an hour a day I should be able to get it looking half decent.

A couple of you on my friends list have migrated from the UK to the US in recent years. I'm interested in your experiences with moving "stuff".

Did you take a large amount of "stuff" with you? If so was there a specific company that you used and would recommend or any mistakes that I can learn from.

My wife is already in the US so I've been sending smaller, valuable items via parcel but there has to be a more cost efficient way isn't there?

Plenty more "moving on" questions to come in the next few months.