Tony Sutton’s Blog!

Only a few more days until April. 4 months gone since the start of 2009. Yikes! Where did the time gone to?? Too fast, I think.

Work for the past few weeks has been progressing okay, keeping myself busy to prepare for the Summer upgrade. New SAN server with zillions of GB, made me drool.

My MCE build is still going on well, and last night, I’ve finally ordered a new MCE case that is smaller in size, which can fit into my TV case while keeping all hardware without spending more money on low profile card so that’s good news. The only biggest issue I can see so far is that the default decoder is not good as it keeps coming up as “blocky” on TV shows. I’m going to give the NVIDIA decoder a go based on good feedback. I am also going to give Cyberlink PowerDVD a go too, assuming I can find one cheap.
Once I have this up & running, I need to make a start with selling other hardware bits to get some of my money back to cover the costs of this. I got far too many piling up! Just need to find/buy some anti-static bags, more likely on the cheap on eBay.

This Sunday, the start of the clock change. We lose 1 hour of sleep. Bah. But we also get more daytime. Yay! And the start of spring (as of last week) is going to make me work more outside. The front garden is seriously in the need of an “upgrade” - rip out the old grass, weed, potatoes, etc, clean it up and smooth out the soil then put some grass seed on to get fresh grass. I need to hire a machine that can turn over the soil, but the cost of hiring one is almost equal to buying a machine for me to keep! But then I’d have nowhere to store it if I were to buy it, so hiring one might be a good idea.

I still need to sort out the fence in the front garden too, but it’s too costly. So I’ll have to make do with nails, some TLC and maybe a lick of paint and I should do fine for another year or so. And the bush need a trim. I might do the bush now as it’s sunny outside.

Is anyone finding the credit crunch affecting you? I am not sure but I think I am a little bit. My savings is not being saved up enough compared with last year. I still have not serviced my car yet (due last Jan) so I need to save up for that. Gas & electricity bill on the rise, so need to switch to someone else. We’re with British Gas for both at the moment. What company do you use for these utility?

Right, it’s closely approaching 9am. I need breakfast and then trim some bushes.

Anyone use MCE (or similar like MythTV) in the living room?

What case do you use that fits normal sized card? Not low profile card.

Currently i have a Velocity Media case and while it’s good, it’s a bit too big to fit in my TV stand. It will need at least 15cm high.

Am interested to know your hardware setup

Yesterday the missus and I met up at a food court at a shopping centre for lunch. We went to one where they had plenty of good sandwiches, drinks, etc and sat down. Then it dawned on me - there was few people sitting around for this area. It was 1pm and it should be busy as it’s during the lunch rush.

I looked around and guess what I found?

McDonald
KFC
Pizza Hut

Packed & busy!

And the people wasn’t your average young people - they were all ages. At first, I thought it was because of the change of the culture of the people. But then it could be because they costs far cheaper than where we were eating. However, who knows? *shrugs*

In other news, I’m off this morning to pick up my friends before heading off to Beccles for Go Karting. With the fab weather with sun, this should be a good day!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Lincoln Cathedral in night - great sight!

Today, we went for the long drive up north & west and then down to Glasgow. We started with Edinburgh and headed toward Inverness, where we made the turn toward Loch Ness and its area including the castle.

After the tour, we had lunch before heading to Ben Nevis for a drive around. Wow, what an area! Lots of mountains with snow capped on the top. Would love to climb up there someday

Then we went toward Loch Lomond with the amazing sights of the hills and valleys.

Finally, we got to Glasgow and had our well deserved dinner. The drive including stopping took us all day but was worth it!

Obviously plently of photos has been taken so will upload them someday

Tomorrow, our last trip before heading home on Sunday - we are off to Lincoln which is about 5 hours drive, depending on the traffic.

So need sleep as we are going to get up early!

Not much of snow but still… It’s Ben Nevis!!

Finally we are at Loch Ness. :D

Don’t you think is the greatest view ever?

Somewhere on the A82 dual carriageway.

What a great sight

The good thing about staying in this hotel is we are like right next door to two of Scotland’s famous galleries - the Dean Gallery and also the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Both of them was great. I’m kind of a fan of Hirst but was disappointed that it doesnt open until 14th March. Ah well! Mayne next time when it’s in London..

After this visit, we walked back to our hotel and collected our car to make our way to the infamous Rosslyn Chapel, just 20 minutes away from Edinburgh.

Some of you may have seen this chapel on one of the biggest film with Tom Hanks in it - The Da Vinci Code - almost at the end of the film where he went into the chapel. That’s the Rosslyn Chapel. I need to watch this film again someday.

What a great building but is in need of a lot of repair work. Currently trying to raise money to do it up and from what i can see, thbey are doing well so far.

In the evening, we had our dinner before heading back to our hotel for the last time of staying in Edinburgh.

Tomorrow, we will wake up early in the morning to drive up further north to visit Loch Ness, along the river to see Ben Nevis before heading down to Glasgow for a night of stay.

Should be a epic trip!

This morning, we went shoping in the city of Edinburgh and it was ok. In the afternoon, we spent most of the afternoon checking out the Edinburgh Castle.

What an amazing building and its history! At the end of the day, we were worn out so went to a local pub for drinks and relaxing before heading back to hotel for dinner and drinks.

Not sure whats our plans for tomorrow. Maybe relaxing before we head out for the long drive this Friday to Loch Ness, Ben Nevis and other area before heading to Glasgow for the night.

Can’t wait!

On the top of the Edinburgh Castle. Awesome views

What a great weather with sun all day today, compared with yesterday’s poor weather!

We went to the Royal Yacht Britannia this morning and the yacht was amazing. Lots of generations of the Royal family has used it up to 1997 where it retired and sold to the Trust to keep it open for public viewings.

In the afternoon, we went to Palace of Holyroodhouse - the building where the Queen lives. Not as good as her other building in Norfolk but still impressive and big!

Later on in the afternoon, we drove to Aberlady and Gullane which is up east of Edinburgh, about 20 mins away and it was a nice seaside restort.

In the evening we went back to Royal Yacht Britannia for dinner before heading back to hotel.

Overall a good day!

Tomorrow, we are catching the bus to Edinburgh for some shopping and relaxing.

After our trip to Newcastle today with seeing The Angel of North, we decided to go to Hadrain Wall and follow the route of the Wall by walking along it. But it was so windy and cold, we did a short walk along it and hurried back to the car!

We stopped at Jedburgh just an hour away from Edinburgh as I needed a break from the driving (going at 5 hours!).

The small town, upon our arrivial, has a big sign to show how proud they were to have a full WiFi coverage. So proud they even have the WiFi logo next to the town name! How tacky is that?

Anyway found a free parking area and we walked around the small town to check out the town.

We thought we’d support the local community thing so we went to a local cafe called Simply Scottish. And the lunch they did for us was great! Yum…

After our browse of this small town, we made our way to Edinburgh and we finally arrived at our hotel after some crazy driving via the city of Edinburgh which has lots of new road redesign and closures which made my Tomtom confused and almost got lost!

In total we had already driven just under 500 miles and one tank of fuel which is not too bad!

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we might see the Royal Yacht Britannia and also Holyroodhouse and Roslin. We did see some snow on the way, so we’ll see…

Early night for us, lots of trips tomorrow!