Sleepypete's Pillow

I’ve reactivated the Warcraft …

I dunno. I’d convinced myself that I wasn’t going to go back in and the only thing that’s really changed that is the price of the expansion going down. It is still one of the best games out there though, from a pure gameplay point of view. There’s an immense amount of content in there.

One sad thing is that they’ve dumbed it down so much and sped up the progression so much that individual characters are almost forced to skip parts of the content because they race past its relevance so quickly. When that happens, the character gets minimal experience and there’s no challenge. You can have multiple characters, so that’s not as big an issue as it could be.

Yep. Back in Warcraft. It’s partly medicinal, for my skin problem (honest – it just happens to work out that way). A lot of the cause for my skin issues is self inflicted. Idle hands can’t resist scratching and making it worse. Warcraft gets me in a tightly focused mode where I can zone out and zone in to the game. So instead of my fingers attacking my arms and leg, they’re tapping the keys.

There’s a couple of other changes I’ve made too to manage the condition and it’s having a good positive effect. It’s a hell of a lot better than it was a few weeks ago.

It’s still a long way from healed but it’s getting there. My legs are definitely less angry with me although it’s not all done yet. It’s something I’m going to need to continually work on. I’m also hoping it doesn’t come back now that I’ve finished the latest round of drugs.

It has had an impact though. I think it’s fairly well trashed this laptop. The keyboard is getting less and less responsive. The next machine is going to be a Macbook Air for a number of reasons :

Windows laptops come with Windows 8 (ok, I could get one from Novatech or PCSpecialist with Windows 7 but that’s hassle) and Windows 8 is an abomination
All Microsoft software lately seems to be an abomination actually, it’s only through mass protest that the Xbox One had all its u-turns on spec. I think someone told Microsoft that if they’d followed through on the original plan, the market share would have been something like 10 to 1 in favour of the Playstation 4.
Windows laptops don’t have acceptable specs. They’re either last generation processors (or older!) and it cost £600 to get a 17″ with a decent screen. The prices of Windows laptops have steadily gone up, making them less economic to acquire.

Ok – that’s the anti-Microsoft … I’ve also eliminated Linux as a choice because it doesn’t allow support (it can be done but I’d expect problems) for iTunes and the hardware support would be patchy at best. I’d get a Macbook Air 13.3″ with a 256GB hard disc and it has a number of advantages :

The keyboard and trackpad felt lush when I tried tapping out a sentence on one. I suffer from wrist problems too, so when it’s harder to type, it literally hurts.
The Macbook Air has the latest generation Intel cpu, which is a serious amount of power.
It has a solid state device drive – it’s tough to say why these are good but you would notice the difference
Proper hardware support – ok it may be locked down but it has a development team looking out for the bugs, the alternative is Linux which can only be described as anarchic with its development
Unix based so (allegedly – I don’t believe the claim here) no virus or malware trouble
Proper legacy operating system support – Microsoft don’t want you to have this, Apple make it easy

Am I going to buy one now ? I have to admit, since I noticed an evening delivery option it’s got a lot more tempting. That means I could abuse the flexi a little, get home from work early and in time for the delivery. Daytime deliveries are far more awkward to manage.

However. The golden rule of buying anything is – don’t rush into it. I could get a refurb Macbook for 15% off but I get the feeling there may be more offers around the corner …

We shall see ! It’ll definitely feel weird transferring over from Windows to Mac but to be honest, Microsoft only have themselves to blame for an inevitable loss in market share as people like me migrate to other platforms (Mac, PS4, Linux) due to the Microsoft offerings being hostile to the people who are forced to buy them through a lack of competition.

Just spotted on the Facebook feed :

Firefly was always an incredible series, well worth watching if you missed out. It’s very sad that it only got 14 episodes plus a movie.

Very shiny.

I’m getting my attention drawn to new shinies. I think I’ll forget about changing the car, although the new IS300h is Very Shiny. It’s just not something I need. My Lexus CT already does everything very well with a sense of style there too. The IS is faster but that’s probably the only major advantage that would see me change. It’s bigger (not necessarily a good thing) and costs more.

So I think I’ll be resisting the temptation to change what is the best car I’ve owned and aim for a few years of payment holiday.

What shinies am I looking at then ? I’m seriously considering buying a Macbook.

I’m getting much closer to requiring a laptop change. The keyboard on this one is the major bugbear. It’s suffered greatly due to my skin condition. But at least it’s still chugging along, the HP I had before ate something which killed the fan and the design of the HP means that it would have needed a full strip and rebuild to change a £10 part.

The current laptop is an Acer and they are pretty solid on the build and design. That’s despite what one reviewer I spotted said, he described Acer as “cheap”. Yes, you can combine “cheap” with “solid” if you’re smart about the design. I’d have another Acer laptop if they supplied them with an adequate resolution. (720p doesn’t cut it for me – I want closer to HD)

The laptop target has steadily gone up and up in terms of the price I’d need to look at. Originally, I’d thought that £500 was too much, seems like inflation (and perhaps fashion) has affected the cheap value laptop market. Anyway, the prices have shifted that much that it puts the likely price in Macbook range … And I’m tempted. I could get a refurb Macbook Air 13.3inch with a 256GB SSD for just under £1000.

That’s still a lot of cash but – Oooooo shiny. And it’s not Windows 8.

We shall see on the laptop. But – closing out with more Shininess :

First day back at work today and it was a hectic one. I had barely enough time to catch my breath and check for super urgent emails before disappearing into a meeting from 10am to almost 2pm. But. I did get the chance to check in with someone very special before that.

And I got cake. And a grin as I was walking back to my desk. And, even though I had to neglect my cake to disappear off to that meeting, a little taste of awesome when I escaped for lunch.

And I now have that memory of the taste coming back – absolutely lush. The cakes were made for a birthday – I passed a message over on Facebook but those cakes earn another : “HAPPY BIRTHDAY !” for someone who turned 21 again last Monday.

Good day today. I think it was productive, hopefully we’ll get a chance to buy what we were talking about. Combined with a chance to have a little catch up with someone special and polish it off with truly awesome cake.

Yep – good day, if only all the leaky bits of me would stop being leaky !

Back home again now after a sojourn away in Cornwall.

Decent week 🙂 Lots of chilling out with a couple of special friends. To be honest, I’m still not back to what I should be but it’s either getting closer or I’m getting a false picture because of the antibiotics. I was still leaking for the first few days, had trouble sleeping for all of it (I don’t sleep well in unfamiliar conditions) but on the whole, I’m a hell of a lot better than I was a fortnight ago.

So what did we get up to ? Firstly :

Yep. There was an escapee who came back with me. He’ll be my avatar for the next little while, although he’ll be escaping again to be a raffle prize in a couple of weeks.

Here’s the town where we stayed :

It’s a place called Looe. Our cottage was on the hill up above. Good place – clean air, lots of quiet. Having sporadic internet access was a downer, although to be honest I probably spend too much time on the interwebs anyway. Oh – the Tom Sawyer pub was in easily walking distance and I think all 3 of us would happily recommend it, although the bright and breezy Kianna from the hotel next door wins the waitress of the week prize.

Sunday saw chill out and a walk into Looe, Monday was supposed to be a bit of an indulgence for me seeing a ship but I wasn’t feeling too great. I joined the others for a walk around Polperro instead. I was soooo close to buying a few trinkets to bring back with me but that not feeling great caught up with me. Meh.

Crash time … I can go into a kind of survival mode, where my energy ends up at its lowest level. I guess the lack of sleep catches up. I’m still capable of doing stuff in survival mode but I clamp down and shuffle my resources into keeping going. I go quiet and desensitize. But I’m still able to concentrate on what I’m doing, even if the ability to make decisions like “Shiny !!! Buy now” is fuzzy.

Ok – Polperro Monday, chillout at Looe on Tuesday. We had a look at more of the town on Tuesday and came away with more loot.

Wednesday, Wednesday, what was Wednesday … (Quick peek on Facebook !) Ah ha ! Plymouth.

We got away with it on the weather fronts for most of the week but Wednesday in Plymouth was a tad different. Very wet. We hid in the National Aquarium for a while before paying a visit to the Hoe Memorial. While we were there, HMS Somerset swept by while doing a boat transfer :

(Ship name brought to you by the magic of the AIS device!)

Thursday was more chill out. I’m not the only one of us who’s suffering at the moment. I appreciate the chill out days. Friday saw us heading to the tip of Falmouth for a look at Pendennis Castle. When you go to see castles in the UK, it’s rare to see them in as good condition as Pendennis. It started as a fort in the 1600s to protect the coastal approaches from foes like the Spanish Armada and saw life in World War 2 as a coastal battery.

It’s well worth a look if you find yourself nearby.

So – that’s my week. I’m sure I’m leaving lots out. Like the books I read through and how the car handled the roads (lots of hills).

I’m in a lot better condition now than I was, a lot of the damage has repaired and some of my skin is now ridiculously smooth, despite me not using the recommended moisturiser. I’m still needing to be very careful though because I have a bad habit of damaging it myself. I urgently need to ditch that habit. I’m also hoping that it’s not yet another false dawn, where the antibiotics hold the infection at bay until they run out.

Back to work tomorrow – which means banter with the canteen staff over teacakes and cookies. Catch up with the work people. And hopefully a chance to catch up with some very special friends.

You know how the rest of that one goes don’t you ?

It’s just for a week and it’s in a place that’s far more hospital than the place where that famous (infamous?) saying was coined.

I’ve got a good little support group down in Bristol and the core people in it like to get away from things every so often. That time’s come again, with 3 of us heading down to Devon for a week. No work*, no laptops, just getting away from the stress of modern life (us and our First World problems ? lol) and chilling out for a bit.

*I say no work but I’m highly likely (95%) to make the hop across to one of our offices on Monday. It’s one I’ve never visited before and they have Very Shiny Kit there. And people I’ve been needing to talk to. I’m not seeing that as work though, I really enjoy the visits where we get to see kit and that’s coming from a “what’s there now, who’s new, what do we need next ?” point of view. They’re really useful visits from a learning and connecting point of view.

I’m hoping I can recharge the batteries. They’re sorely depleted at the moment from :

a) Skin problem
b) Breathing problem

The skin problem is one that readers here will know far too much about. I’m pleased to say that since the doctor visit, I’m back to mostly Pasty White Petey Goodness again. The condition under the surface has improved immeasurably. I just need to give my arms a chance to catch up.

However – I’ve seen this kind of improvement before, it comes with the antibiotics. I’m just hoping that it stays cleared up after the antibiotics run out.

Breathing problem is something new – I find it very hard to sleep with even the slightest wheeziness. And I appear to have run out of Benedryl antihistamines (oops). I think it’s from a cold, which I always seem to run into at the start of a leave period. Plus someone at work had bugs … It’ll come right.

The breathing is ok for me to be singing along to Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside album coming from the laptop.

Yep. I’ve already packed up enough that the LittleWhiteBox that links laptop to hifi is already in a bag somewhere.

Aye – you read that right. I actually did some packing last night instead of leaving it all to this morning. I must be feeling ill ;-). There’s still a little to do but that’s the stuff that has to go in bags at the last minute (medicines) that you always forget.

What’s the plan other than an immense amount of chilling out ? Cos being cooped up for too long gives you cabin fever :

Hunt for music
Hunt for books
Hunt for more t-shirts

Basically wanders around the local tourist trap areas and hunt for shinies.

I’ll put in a few updates through the week because we have a couple of methods of getting mobile access open to us. But I’ll close up with two things :

Happy Birthday to a very dear friend ! This message is for Monday …
And a hearty see you next week. Or in about an hour if you’re coming too (2 of my regular readers are coming)

Lol – the rest of the laptop market sadly appears to be catching up to Macbooks.

The cheapest 17" laptop in PC World is £600 (it's a Lenovo which I don't have any quality info on) and the 15" laptops have inadequate screens.

Don't buy a Mac… Don't give into the overpriced hype!!!!!

I went to the doc’s again yesterday.

I know, I know, it was much overdue. But I am terrible at doing things that benefit my own health.

The result (and without going into too many details !) was :
More diet* pills
More goop
Even more goop
Less messiness on my legs
And more pasty-white goodness coming back

Yep. As is usual for going on the diet* pills, I’ve seen instant improvement in my condition. Trouble is though, every other time I’ve been on them, the condition worsens again after I run out. We shall see this time around, I’m looking more into tracking the allergies this time around. I have a blood test coming there too, will be curious to see what the result is.

It’s just in time too, the weather here has turned colder …

* They’re not actually diet pills. They’re antibiotics. However … with a 4 times a day, 3 hours no food each time pattern, they may as well be diet pills. Hey, it’s a good discipline to have, it works out to 3 meals a day (with the 4th being while you’re asleep) and a cutting down on the all hours grazing on junk.

So that’s me improving, hopefully it’ll stick this time.

Next up – work. Oh dear. We’ve been “tech refreshed”. Note they don’t say “upgrade”. The base units seem ok at the moment but when they change our systems to Windows 7, as is threatened, they will struggle for memory. This laptop has 3GB of memory and is sitting at 930MB free with Firefox, Outlook, Skype, iTunes and Steam running. If that hits 500MB, Windows complains bitterly and I have to close applications. That shouldn’t happen, there’s a technique called “Virtual memory”, where the memory available to Windows is expanded virtually with applications getting put on the hard disc instead of in actual memory. The new machines have just 2GB.

The big awful though is the screen. We’ve been inflicted with HP Elitemonitor 201s, which have a multitude of flaws :

Widescreen – this is an entertainment setup, not a business setup. Widescreen means less height to work with. For business, a 17″ 4:3 is more useful than a 20″ widescreen, it has more useful area.
Resolution – if it’s a 20″ screen, it should be able to do 1080p. That’s 1080 vertical lines. These can only do 900.
Pixel bleed – this is the really crippling thing. It’s where coloured, lit pixels bleed into the ones next door. We’re usually working with black text on white, so those white pixels bleed onto the black and make the text unreadable.
Update rate – this is where you move things around on the screen and have disorienting effects from the after images.

I’ll see how it goes before seeing if I need a replacement screen. My eyes were misbehaving today, probably due to it being hayfever season still.

I ended up at the Mall yesterday after a day working at home (around the doctor visit). Firstly, if you liked the first 2 Riddick films, the third is worth watching. It starts slow but accelerates into something very, very good. Almost as if they needed to dump baggage from Chronicles (good film, bad endgame). I’d already arranged to see Riddick and wanted to put a couple of fingers up to my condition by getting out of the house (I wasn’t great yesterday, much improved today).

I am sooo close to getting a Macbook. It’ll be a Macbook Air, 13″ refurbished last generation Macbook Air. It just ticks all the boxes :
Enough resolution on the screen
iTunes compatibility
SSD hard disc as a massive bonus
Avoidance of the abomination that is Windows 8

Just one problem – £869. I’d prefer not to spend half that on a laptop.

But … with laptop prices going up in general, it may happen. Especially as the keyboard on this one is getting so much worse.

Haha – it can be great fun sometimes trying to predict what they're going to do.

Always doomed but usually amusing.

Oh, I gave up trying to understand women a *long* time ago. It's just not worth the effort or the heartache.

But not even acknowledging your existence kinda stinks…

I often write about getting Big Grins from people.

Even random people. They’ll spot my weird grin, possibly see me catching their eye and they can’t help themselves but grin back. I like my grin. It cheers people up.

But not everyone …

My last ex, Ravenwolf, works in the same set of buildings as me. She actually works in a similar line of business looking after similar kit, although there’s a world of difference between what I do and what she does. (I’m there to contribute brainpower).

Ravenwolf never smiles back, she barely acknowledges my presence now. That gets me wondering : “What did I do that was so bad that she hates me that much ?”

I dunno.

I believe the break up was fairly clean, although it took longer than both of us wanted to settle accounts (naughtiness from a solicitor who wanted to take business to his new practice). There was a small matter of house equity to split up. I think she wanted me out of the house. But I didn’t want to move, so I bought her out. Yes, I’ve never mentioned it here before, not mentioned it to many people but Ravenwolf walked out of that relationship with a lot of cash. A serious amount of cash. The house had gained enough equity that it was a 5 figure sum.

That was all she cared about, apparently. Getting the settlement. She also walked straight into another relationship which I suspect started a few months before the actual break up. I could never prove that so I never made an issue of it. But I still had my suspicions.

I was similarly angry for such a long time, before dismissing that anger to the place it belongs – not my head. Grudges are a cancer on the soul. They do nasty things to you. They twist you up and eat you from the inside. I have to admit that I’m no angel there but I’ve managed to put this particular hate/grudge to rest.

It really confuses me when people react the negative way. Perhaps the hate has become so much of a habit that she can’t see the good. I like to think I helped her out over the years we were together, although I do know she was sinking deeper into a depression that I didn’t know how to fix.

I have a strange type of empathy, I pick up on what other people are feeling. Sometimes it hits me like an actual blow. Like when someone I care about is hurting that bad, I pick up on it and feel sick to my stomach and I nearly get the tears too.

Other times I’ve had too much coffee and am bouncing off the walls so much I can’t detect any glimmer of it. Then I say completely the wrong thing and upset people. Sorry !

But it did upset me a bit when Ravenwolf and I were waiting in the sandwich queue. I know she could see me but there was no glimmer of a wave or anything resembling friendship or even basic recognition. Come on – she got a clean break with the settlement she wanted and I left her alone after. What’s to be upset about after 8 years.

Life is too short to keep enemies that don’t need to be in that hostile group. That’s the philosophy I applied to her new bloke, who plays for the cricket team I’m avoiding next year (they don’t look after players). I think it shocked him when I took up our cricket based friendship without skipping a beat. Admittedly, I’d had 3 years out of the team to cool down ;-).

I do think my own reasons for agreeing to the split were correct. I was shocked but I too was looking for a graceful way out. I couldn’t see a future in the relationship. I was needing to use my diplomatic skills rather too much to cover up for the partner. And I was running out of ideas for how to keep her out of her depression.

And most important – you have no right to force someone to stay with you against their will. That’s ultimate cruelty.

I’ll leave it there with me knowing that my own conscience is clear and it’s not the reason I’m losing sleep at the moment … (attempt at doctor visit coming again tomorrow)

PS There was compensation for not getting the grin from Ravenwolf. The Judge visited our place today and I got a Huge Smile from her. She was jealous of my hat (it was raining). I suspect a hug may have been coming if she hadn’t been rushing for the train …