The dream is always the same

• I am flying to the UK.
• I get to the airport.
• I get to the check-in.
• I don't have my passport.
• I have to go back for it.
• I get it and come back to he airport.
• It's too late!
• I miss the plane.
  
  WOULD IT PLEASE STOP!
  
  Whenever I get stressed, this is my dream.
  There a variations-
• I am late, and have to swim to the plane.
• I arrive at the airport on time but the plane is at the other airport
• Worst of all- I make the flight with Matt, it crashes on take-off and is cut down the middle by supporting pillars of a bridge over railway lines that we have been trying to crash land in. That one was really horrible.

WOULD IT PLEASE STOP!

I grow tired of it.

Bose

Also on the Audio front I feel that this blog should indeed be a vehicle for advertising Bose!

Why you ask?

Because my Bose Noise Cancelling headphones that Dena bought for me nearly 3 years ago, that have served me on planes, office cubes and at home when composing- DIED.

I called Bose and told them my woes....

Their response was: Send us your broken headphones and we will send you a new pair and start the normal 18 month replacement warranty from when you receive them.

Fantastic!

And BTW this is not the first time I have had a great time with them...

When I moved to the US in 2005 my first purchase was a $1000 Bose sound system. It served me well until when I found Alexander fiddling with it I tried to put it into the loft until he grew older. On the ladder I lost balance and had to make a tough choice!
I think I made the right one, since I was able to call Bose and tell them that my base unit was smashed to pieces. The support call was one of the best I have ever had and then...

A box arrived in the mail to send the unit back and about $200+ later it was all working again.

Changing my religion

I have recently changed my membership to the church of iPod from the church of Windows Media Player. However the reality is that I have become agnostic and used iTunes to transcode all my Window Media files to mp3 files. Are they equivalent quality? Don't know yet, but will let you know shortly.

I bought the iPOD "Classic" using my points in American Express card which I use whenever I travel so it was free.

The OOB (Out of Box) experience was great, with the device being well presented and having enough charge to do something immediately. Within a day I had had logged onto the iTunes store and bought Perry Rodan, a rare Album by Christoph(er) Franke. Within 10 minutes of listening to it as I made dinner, I found out why it was rare. Still, never mind- the iPod "Classic" just works hour after hour and that is all I really could ask for. I have some friends who did a lot of the software in this thing and it is really nice to have a little bit of them in my hand.

LinkedIn with FaceBook

Having been inundated with requests to "Join my network", this week I decided to have a go at "Social Networking". The results have been quite fun. On LinkedIn I was contacted by "Philthy Wade" who used to wear 8 Motorhead teeshirts in the winter that he rotated daily. One for each day and then one for the day he put the other 7 in the wash. I wonder if he still does this?

I was also contacted on Facebook by Steven Adams who works for the Microsoft compiler group. I had got together with Steven a while back through my old friend and now Professor of Grid Computing David De Roure and he is also on Facebook.

Dave of course is on both already and it looks like between the two of us we will drive another wave of opt-ins to this technology amongst our peers and friends as we usually do.

The New Patio

Dena and I finally decided to splash out and get a patio put in along with a path down the side of the house. It's been a big hit with the kids as you can see below.

The New Patio