Credit Crunchies.

In a few days time it will be June. In Scotland there has been fresh snow on top of the already compacted stuff in the cairngorms meaning that they are having one of their best seasons ever.

At the same time we're being told that this will be a barbecue summer. They've been making that prediction for the last few years but, based on recent events, this time it may be true. For a massive amount of reasons I distinctly remember 2003 as being a barbecue summer and, so far, this year isn't close but it is better than the last few.

Now that the car's fixed and the weather has picked up I should be making a b-line for the caravan and, possibly for the first year in a few, the boat for some fishing. Instead I'm at home for the holiday weekend. Why? Well 2010 is fast turning out to be the toughest time I've had in nearly 20 years. Every time I think that, once that's paid I'll be fine, something else comes up. 2010 is fast becoming reminisce of 1994 when I set up home with the , then to be, wife. Thing is 1994 is a year I look back on as being one of the best years in my life. We really did have nothing and yet we really were happy.

2010 so far involves:

- Being skint (British term that means that you have no money)
- Giving up: Smokes and cutting seriously down on alcohol
- Realising it's not all yours: Lot's of folk on the outside think we've got it all. We have but it takes a hell of a lot of work to keep it.

Something tells me that 2010 is going to be a key year when I look back but it feels pretty tough when I look forward.

Is this common? Who knows? The people that follow this site have gradually disappeared but have told a variety of stories. I'm sure others will do the same. Poet has had a tough time but is getting ready for the future whilst K is preparing for exams. Zoe is also doing the exam route. It's weird but 2010 might end up being the year everyone hated and yet the year that changed everyones life.



On a different theme: The Ipad arrived on these shores today. Fools queued outside overnight to be the first to own. Now I'm not a professional reviewer but I do have an opinion:

Apple are saying 'the price is right'. An 8gb pc is un-sellable under normal circumstances but that's what your £400 gets you. A big Ipod touch and nothing more. The top spec 3g 64 gb macine is nearly £700. For an Iphone with a big screen that loses the camera and phone capabilities and still has additional costs for the net???????

Get a net book. Get a good net book. It won't have apps as such but it will do everything an iPad can do and so much more. Can you watch streaming tv on a netbook? Yes. Can you have a massive music library? Yes. Dictionary, email, encyclopedia etc? Yes.

The ipad looks great and I'm fast becoming an iphone convert but, come on, this is an idea that should have gone so much further. I'm flummoxed why there isn't a use able pc in my car. Why it doesn't connect to a mobile device that I take with me and connect to my pc?

A tablet that, when connected to my PC collects all my music, photos, movie files etc, when docked to the car provides navigation, records the journey via web cam, offers the passengers music and DVD, and, also via web cam, provides reverse parking assistance. When I park the car I lift the 8-10 inch removable screen part and take it with me like an iphone or PDA. Nothing I'm asking for there requires any sort of new tech. You just got to do it guys.... Back in the 90s pc makers made so much of multimedia. My first multimedia PC was 2.3 gb with intel inside. It actually did everything a pc could do back then. Manufactures now need to really work at making multimedia work for us now. The same multimedia in the home, the garden, the car and the workplace. No new inventions, just a better use of the tech we have.

Rave over.

Stay hooked

T

A cautionary tale about cyberstalking

Hi Folks

Just a quick bit of geeky stuff I wanted to share with you that has nothing to do with smoking (or not smoking).

It's the Easter weekend and cold grey and miserable where I am. As a result I've spent a bit of time on my PC. This is never good as it often results in my aimlessly wandering about the net installing would be must have gadgets and gizmo's that, often as not, slow down or just plain kill my old PC. Will I ever learn? Hell no. I like it and for every 100 bad applications that I either download and delete or that try to delete me I usually find at least one good one that becomes part of my 'default installation' and that I recommend to friends who think I'm dead computer savvy as a result.

Results have included:

VLC media player that can play just about any media you throw at it
CC Cleaner that completely, forensically, removes your browsing history
AVG Anti virus. As irritatingly intrusive as Norton but free
Vistamizer. All the good bits of Vista, and now windows 7, without Vista or windows 7 (slows your start up though)
Divx and Xvid. Not quite sure what they do but if you struggle with a movie file one of these badboys will sort it out
Yahoo widgets. You probably shouldn't but you sooooo will want to. (Slows start up to a crawl)
Adaware. Kills tracker types dead
NCH Software. A variety of free stuff that helps with things like CD burning and web cams.

All of the above are free and, by my reckoning, essential. But now try this. Google analytics. It's something they used to sell that has now become free. It monitors your web-site and reports on things like how much traffic you've had and even where in the world it's from. I discovered this on Saturday and installed it straight away. By Sunday I had fascinating stats telling me what pages people had viewed, how long they spent on the site and even where in the world viewers come from. Fantastic. Wish I'd had it from the start. Today I spent a bit more time working with the various reports and found that I could find out how you got to: http://tquittinwithchampix.blogspot.com/
It showed me what site you had linked from like google or blogger. But, and here comes the stalker bit, there was also a site whose name i recognised from here. It was their personal blog. On their blog site they had a link to this site and someone, who viewed their site, must have clicked that link.

Of course I followed this and got to someones personal blog. I then felt guilty because if they had wanted me to go there they would have invited me. Suddenly I felt like a parent must do when they discover their childs diary.

Anyhow, no harm done, but be aware that when you access a site via a link, that link can work it's way right back to you. Can I also thank you for linking my blog from yours.

Having said all that. Install it, it's mad fun.

And by the way if anyone would like me to link their site from this one they are more than welcome. Just send me your URL and you can sit below Allen Carr and the NHS.

Speak soon