2013-11-14

andrewducker: (Default)
2013-11-14 11:00 am
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Interesting Links for 14-11-2013

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andrewducker: (Default)
2013-11-14 01:55 pm
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Anyone got an opinion on smartwatches?

I've been looking into smartwatches recently. I quite fancy something that I can have on my wrist, pick up basic notifications, play/pause Spotify, etc., and thus only take my phone out of my pocket for more active surfing/emailing/status updating/etc. The Pebble looks pretty good - It's e-ink, so the battery lasts a week, and it seems to have a lot of nice functionality. But the interface is button-based, so it's not quite as nice as a touch-screen would be. A friend over on FB pointed me at the Sony SmartWatch 2, which also looks rather good. Touch interface looks nice, but the battery only lasts 2-3 days. Anyone got any opinions on either of these? Or suggestions for something else I should look into?
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andrewducker: (Default)
2013-11-14 09:01 pm
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Communication is a good thing (A minor kitchen update)

When I last posted about this the kitchen was _almost_ but not quite in. It was going to be finished off on Monday by the electrician and plumber both visiting and fixing the last few pieces - and then the joiner was going to fit the last few bits of wood once access was no longer required, on the Tuesday.

Except that when the plumber visited his drill broke, so he could hook nearly everything up, but had to leave the last two pipes for the joiner. And the electrician didn't have the right cover plates for the new sockets, and was missing something else for the fan/oven/hob, so that was going to be fixed by him coming back on the Wednesday.

Tuesday came, and the joiner got the last few bits of plumbing hooked up - giving us a working washing machine and dishwasher. For which I am eternally grateful, as I have really missed having a dishwasher for the last six years! (And it was also part of the reason we were re-doing the kitchen at all. Between Julie's cancer and my exhaustion it became pretty-much vital.)

However, Wednesday came and went with no sign of the electrician, which meant that we still couldn't cook. And much though I enjoyed yesterday's sausage and chips for dinner, I'm now _really_ missing home-cooked food. I texted the joiner (who was organising all of this) and he chased up the electrician, and told us he'd _definitely_ be here today.

Today is Thursday, which is the day that I normally look after my nephew. He goes to an acrobatics class at the sports stadium nearby from 5:30-6:30, and his mother goes to badminton there from 7:00-8:00, so I get him for an hour and a half, which is traditionally spent playing Lego Star Wars (or some other Lego console game). This evening I was expecting the electrician somewhere around 5:30. By 6:30, I was getting rather stressed, and texted the joiner to get him to chase things along. I _really_ don't like not knowing what's going on, and waiting around for people to turn up drives me mad.

At 8:30 three texts arrived at once, presumably because my phone suddenly got signal, including one from the electrician apologising for being rubbish, and promising me he'd be here first thing in the morning. And just like that my stress vanished. (1) Direct communication for the first time, so now I can contact him directly and (2) An actual time for him to be here, so I can stop worrying about it until then.

Fingers crossed he turns up!
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