BB FANS

Today I left a 21st party at 11 o'clock because it was so terrible Felt really sorry for the girl but seen as we were some of the last people left it was just painful. What a shame.

Hello by the way, not been on here for what feels like ages.

Today I've been working on a printable version of 'Midnight Sun' which is the draft version of Stephenie Meyers book which tells the popular Twilight story from the viewpoint of Edward Cullen ,the male lead character.
Going through 264 pages adding the formatting and italics is a long process but it'll be an easier read in booklet form than staring at a monitor.

The original is protected to prevent any changes and printing. But capturing the text only takes seconds using free software that's easy to find using a search engine but it looses the formatting.

For a Twilight fan I'd recommend reading Midnight Sun along with the first book as it fills in many of the gaps left by the film. But the book isn't finished and as I mentioned at the start is Draft copy and still has a long way to go before reaching the end of part1. Stephenie's website indicated that it is on the cards that it will get finished when current projects are complete.

Today I bought tickets for 'The Twilight saga:New Moon'. It'll be the first time in more than 20 years since I visited a Cinema.

Today me and my niece watched 'The Twilight saga: New Moon' at the local cinema.
It was close to the book though the time-line was moved in places and some events were missing. I wonder how much was there with the first cut of the movie which was 3 hours. The cinema cut was 2 hours 10 minutes.

I won't say more as it'll spoil it for those who intend to see the film.

Tonight I bought my first Ipod.

I bought a second-hand 3rd Generation 32GB Ipod Touch for a very good price on eBay. The price was a little more than a new 8GB but less a new 16GB. And cheaper than all the 2nd generation 32GB ones I saw.

Plus it already has lots of music and applications installed ,some of which I'll keep.

today to managed to get the IPod Touch to connect to my Internet using a WPA2 encrypted router

I don't know why they are so fussy about the type of router they'll connect to ?!

My TPS router with WPS2 TPIK security works fine with everything but the IPod Touch. So I bought a 2nd hand Netgear DG834G Router. Now while it's ADSL router I have it working my connecting a spare Ethernet port on another router to an Ethernet port on the Netgear .I also found that I had to bridge it to the Linksys router by entering the MAC address in the advanced Wireless set-up.

Now after bridging they both have a 192.168.1.x IP which is originating from the Linksys router.

I have 3 routers

Wireless 1 192.168.2.x Channel 1
Non-Wireless Router 192.168.1.x
Wireless 2 192.168.0.x Channel 13

The routing is like this - The TPS is connected to the cable Modem ,the TPS has one port connected to the WAN on the Linksys and the Linksys has one port connected to a port on the Netgear.

Giving one short-range wireless signal and one long-range signal plus enough ports for other network products around the house that aren't wireless.

If you Google you'll see what I mean about the problems trying to get the WPA/WPA2 connections.

The only other thing I did do was to upgrade the firmware in the Router which gave more options for encryption. The IPod Touch Gen 2 is running 3.1.2 OS and has been jail-broken.

If you saw the unedited version the confused I think with the different assigned IP's was caused by me selecting the wrong bridging mode in the configuration disabling the wireless and me not realising that both units has automatically logged on to a network nearby . All working again with the server in the Linksys assigning the IPs via the Netgear.

Isn't technology wonderful.

Also just discovered that I can't edit a post using safari on the touch as the vertical scroll bar is missing to scroll the message in the textbox.

today I signed up for motorcycle training and have just emailed a company to order my bike.

Google "Pioneer Nevada" and you'll see lots of pictures.
The one I'm getting is White but comes with Black Panniers ,though these will be removed and resprayed White.

It'll also be fitted with Sat Nav and Ham Radio with the homemade bar to mount the aerials for the radio. The radio is water-proof and has APRS so the bike can be tracked when in use. I'll order the radio Saturday.

Once it arrives and starts to look how I want it I'll supply pictures.

Today I successfully completed a 8 hour Motorcycle basic training course which means when my bike arrives Saturday I'm able to ride it on the road.

Congratulations Larry

Today has been pretty uneventful for me really. In fact, I have just looked out of the window and seen 2 goldfinches on my feeders (it seems rather late for them to be coming - all the other birds have been and gone a long while ago).

I have taken up bird photography. I am not that good at it, because I have to really take the photos from behind glass and from a distance otherwise they fly away! I have bought a better zoom for my camera and I'm getting better, but my hand isn't that steady and the birds have a habit of moving (!), so I've had a few blurred shots, but I have also had a few really good ones.

Look at the camera settings and set it for sport. This will use a faster shutter speed and is better suited to faster moving things like birds in flight.
If you can get closer then the normal close-up setting (picture of a flower) is better.
Also to be sure of not scaring them off it might be an idea to turn the flash off.
A light weight tripod or monopod might be useful if you don't have a steady hand.

I saw a bull finch the other day in one of next door's trees.
We are lucky with all the gardens here having trees so we get a good variety of birds. Plus they know that we have a tree with different food types in feeders that is kept well stocked.

There is also an almost tame Blackbird and you can get to within a few feet of her and it doesn't seem bothered with you standing there.

Unfortunately, there are not that many trees round our way, but I think I have done well to manage to entice several species into the garden with their favourite foods.



Yes, my problem is that I don't have many places to hang feeders, so I have got 2 bird tables (a large and a small one) and I bought one stand for feeders to hang from and we made another stand.



Blackbirds are very tame. Every morning at 6.30am when I go outside to feed the birds, the blackbirds sit on the fence and watch. Sometimes they will fly onto the bird table while I am still filling it!! (within inches of my face) and also sometimes I will purposely drop some food onto the ground and they will come right close to my feet to eat it. They have frequently taken me by surprise, because they fly very low and one almost hit me in the face once!

We have a resident couple of collared doves and they are fairly tame as well. As soon as Mr Dove (as I call him) sees me, he will fly onto our roof and start serenading me. Doves when not nesting, always have to feed with their partner and if he is not nesting, he will start calling to his female to tell her the food is out. Once I went into the garden to hang the washing out and he thought I was then going to put the food out and started to call out to her!! I thought to myself - Oh dear, he will be in trouble when she finds she has come for nothing!! Also, once when the food had all gone, he sat on top of the bird table, looked towards the house and started calling out. I am sure he was calling me to put more food out!!

I have put a few photos HERE

Today I passed Motorcycle thoery test with flying colours.

50/50 Multiple-choice questions
56/75 Hazard Perception (pass mark is 43).

Now for some practice riding and then save up for a training course to do the two practicle tests.

Congratulations! Well done Larry

Thanks.

And I was told later this afternoon that the rash on the arm is shingles.

Oh no. I've had shingles. In that case you did really well indeed, if you achieved that with shingles.

Presumably you have been given some tablets to take? It is important to take them within 48 hours of the rash appearing I think, otherwise you can be left with very painful episodes in later years.

Mine was on my back behind my right breast and I found it really painful trying to get to sleep, and wearing a bra was out of the question!

It lasts quite a long while I think if I remember correctly and now and again the pain or itch comes back again. You will have to take it easy. Have you been quite stressed lately? They say that stress can bring on shingles, don't they? Maybe it was doing the motorbike tests?

I got mine just before Xmas one year, when we went away, but I didn't realise it was Shingles until I came home and went to the Doctors. I just thought that maybe I had strained myself trying to lift a heavy case. The other thing I noticed was that I felt more tired than usual. We went for walks, but I didn't seem to be able to go very far before I got tired, which was unlike me, but it didn't occur to me that something was wrong. I hadn't been able to sleep either because of the pain and it was on the last day of the holiday that it suddenly came to me that it may be shingles, so I tried to look for a rash but couldn't see one. By the time I got to the Doctor though, she could see a faint rash there (I never did have much of a rash, but it was extremely itchy and it drove me mad)! I think it affects everyone slightly differently though.