Yearly Archives: 2010

iPod Touch

I have bought a new toy - an iPod Touch, and I must admit that Apple is very quick. I ordered it on Sunday, and Tuesday I was holding it in my hand!

I chose to buy it at Apple because I wanted to take advantage of getting it engraved for free. Wednesday I bought an Invisible Shield and a SlimCase (see picture). Invisible Shield is a very good thing if you want to prevent your iPod from getting scratches, but it takes time and patience to put it on the iPod, and so I spend most of the evening caressing my iPod.

Now, not everything should be a game (eh, well, of course, it should), so today I ordered an IR-thingy for my iPod so that I can use it as a universal remote instead of my Logitech Harmony 1000, which in my opinion is sloooow - and also have other cons. And so I am waiting with excitement for the thingy so that I can fool around with it. Expected delivery is 7-14 days and that it also has to get through customs, so I am looking forward to receiving it, but I expect it to take time. 

iPod Touch

E-reader

As you have read earlier, I am studying to pass some Microsoft exams. For that purpose, I use the Microsoft Training Kits, which are big and heavy books, that I carry back and forth on the train since I am using the time to and from work for reading. So, I got the idea that an e-reader would make my backpack weigh less, which my back would appreciate. But which e-reader should I choose? That was not an easy choice for me. A lot of people swear by the products from Apple and would probably yell and scream that I should choose the iPad. The problem is that the iPad has some disadvantages as an e-reader. If we ignore the fact that the iPad is not yet available in Denmark - then the price, size, and weight are big cons - you will get tired of holding 800 g when reading. Apple is moreover fund of glossy screens, the problem is, that it is not practical when reading something in sunny weather - you would want to read the text and not see the surrounding around you! Last but not least, there is the discussion about whether or not your eyes get tired when reading from something emitting light. Believe me, when reading for several hours, it makes a difference - you get tired faster. I have listened to the people stating that I am sitting all day in front of a computer screen and ‘that is not a problem’ - they are just forgetting that working at a computer screen is different from concentrated reading for a prolonged time.

The next popular e-reader is Kindle from Amazon. It is produced in two sizes. First, it gets expensive when it gets through customs. Second, the number of books in the Danish version of Amazon's bookstore is limited. Another thing to look for when buying e-readers is the formats of the books. It would be practical if you would be able to read the books you bought on a different e-reader if the e-reader breaks down. The problem with books bought from Amazon is, that they are in their own proprietary format. So, the next e-reader also has to be a Kindle, but what if you, when the time comes, would rather have an iPad, 3rd generation?

So, which one did I choose? Well, I was surprised to learn that Sony has been producing e-readers for a lot of years. They are also having the problem like Apple - their e-readers are not publicly available in Denmark. In return, books bought at the Sony bookstore are bought in a standard format, so it is also no problem buying books at www.ebooks.com and read them on a Sony e-reader. Therefore, I ended up choosing a Sony PRS-600. It has a touch screen, and I am very pleased with it. Direct sunlight is no problem. The picture shows the reader when powered off and on. www.ebooks.com og læse dem på Sony’s e-bogslæsere. Jeg endte derfor op med en Sony PRS-600, som kan købes hos Pixmania. Den har touch skærm, og jeg er meget tilfreds med den. Sollys er ikke noget problem. Billedet viser e-bogslæseren dels i slukket og dels i tændt tilstand. 

Ebook reader

Gardener

Now is the time to think about the garden again. According to the plan, the municipality should finish the sidewalk in our street this year, but they have postponed it to next year. Originally we wanted to wait with finishing the garden until the sidewalk was in place, but we do not want to wait another year. That is why we called our gardener so that we could talk about what and how much work should be done this year.

After a long talk about grass concrete, driveway, pathway, beds, and so on, we agreed on what we wanted to be done. The most annoying part is that we cannot finish it until the municipality has finished the sidewalk, but it will be almost finished. So next year, it is only the last 5 meters of driveway and grass concrete that need to be done together with flagstones and a wooden fence around our garbage bins. We are looking forward to finishing the garden. You can live with something temporarily for some time, but 3½ years is a long time to finish a garden. 

Garden

LEDs

First, a little background information... 5 halogen light bulbs are usually what lights up one of our bathrooms, but 1½ weeks ago, one of the halogens broke. That started a discussion of whether or not to replace them with something more energy-efficient. For starters, we borrowed a suitcase filled with different kinds of energy-saving bulbs. We highly recommend doing this, since every manufacturer has many types of light bulbs, and the light from them is very different (even from bulbs from the same manufacturer). We liked one of the energy-saving bulbs, but the problem with that kind of bulbs is, that the time it takes for them to turn on is too long. It is very annoying, when you turn on the light, enter the room, and bumps into something before the bulbs turn on. So we started looking at the alternative - LEDs.

We began with buying two cheap LEDs. They were crap - the light was miserable, and we learned that warm white light was yellow! So they ended up along with the garbage. Instead, we bought 1 LED at another store, and it cost three times as much - but then it was also dimmable. That one was comparable to the halogens. Now that we finally had found a LED that we could use, we were tempted to try other types of LEDs (not dimmable). We ended up with two - one watertight and one with a wider beam angle. The watertight LED had a bluish light and a wider beam angle than the halogens, which made them perfect for the position above the mirror. The LED with the wide beam angle had a more yellowish light. We decided to combine the two LED types. Partly because we wanted the combined light in the bathroom to be somewhere in the middle of the two, partly because the watertight LEDs turn on a bit delayed compared to halogens (but not nearly as much as energy-saving bulbs), whereas the LEDs with wide beam angle turn on instantly and turn off a bit delayed. This way we can cut down on the electricity from 220 W to 22 W in our bathroom.

The dimmable LED we bought was not wasted. We use it in the outdoor lighting, which is controlled by a dimmer. A good piece of advice - do not buy the cheap LEDs, you will only be very disappointed. 

LED lighting

Garden sofa

Again we have spent money on something. I have for some time now wanted a more comfortable way of enjoying our garden but have not been sure of what I wanted. The perfect scenario would be something that would enable me to work with a laptop so that when I work from home, I would also be able to enjoy some fresh air when the weather permits it. In addition, I am not comfortable sitting straight, and when I am watching a movie, I prefer to do it lying halfway down or something like that.

To my big surprise, I noticed a garden sofa for a reasonable price in a shop nearby, so we went there Tuesday to take a closer look at it. We sat comfortably in it, and it was big enough for me to be sitting with my legs up and a laptop, so we decided to order it. Before we went to the store we had (of course) looked around on the Internet. There are a lot of different types of garden sofas - but unfortunately, they are also very expensive. One other advantage of the sofa we chose, is that it is modular, which means that it can be expanded later on (if the store still sells it). The sofa was delivered Friday, and we ‘assembled’ it. The only thing missing now is warm weather for us to test it properly. 

Garden couch

Robot family expanded

Now my colleagues at work once again have something to talk about. They already think that we are a bit crazy because we own both a vacuum cleaning robot and a lawnmower robot. The newest addition to the family is a floor washing robot. A lot of people glance furtively at us when we say that we have James to vacuum, Antonio to mow the lawn, and now Carlos to wash the floor, but we think it is great.

It gives a kind of freedom when we make James vacuum while we dust or wipe the foot panels in the entire house. And no one is grumpy when we get home from work and the lawn needs to be mown. We just put Antonio to work. Of course, it would be faster to do it ourselves but it is very difficult to be at two places at the same time. So we are just happy that we have helping hands nearby. 

iRobot floor washer

1 exam passed

The first of several Microsoft exams are passed. I already have an MCSE+Security certification from Microsoft, but it is based on Windows 2003, so it is about time to get it upgraded to Windows 2008. Thursday, I passed the first exam relatively easily. In total, I have to pass four exams, so that leaves three more to go.

I hope that I will be able to pass one more exam before summer vacation, even though I am very busy at work.

Graduate

New layout

Finally - a new layout on my homepage. For a lot of years, I have been using a black background with purple, orange, and green colors, but that is changing - almost. I still think that the main entrance page is perfect for my homepage and fits well with the name, so I have chosen to keep the dark color on that page. I would love to hear your opinion about the new layout and the colors, so write me.

Now that I'm at it, I want to wrap up things that I started writing about on the homepage. First of all, James has returned to working condition. We received the brushing module Monday, swapped it with the old one, and immediately put James to work. Again I want to compliment Witt for their great service, which was the company responsible for the warranty/reclamation.

The other thing that I wanted to mention was our adoption. The next day we received the information about the orangutan center, forest school, and so on by email, and they had also attached the latest newsletter about 'our' baby. Approximately one month later, we got a newsletter about Nody (the orangutan baby). I still think it's a great way to make the donation more personal. 

Homepage logo

James goes on strike

There is panic in our home because James is on a strike. Well, that is, our vacuum cleaning robot is on strike. 1½ years ago we bought a robot to get help vacuuming the house during the week. We ended up being more satisfied with the robot than we anticipated, and it did not take long before we called it James (yeah, I know, very cliché). A couple of days ago, it started sounding different than usual when vacuuming. We discovered that the brushing module was broken. What to do now?

You hear a lot of stories about bad service when things are more than six months old, but we wrote a service report to the company anyway. The next day (Friday), we received an e-mail stating that we could either send them the robot, or they could send us a new brushing module, which we then should replace ourselves. Now we are waiting in anticipation of a new brushing module - hopefully getting here sometime today. 

iRobot Roomba

Snow, snow, and even more snow

It gives food for thought that the United Nations Climate Change Conference was held last year and global warming was discussed in detail, after which the weather gives us the coldest January in 23 years. Right now, there is approximately 20 cm of snow covering everything, and more is coming during the week. We have checked the loft to see whether or not snow had come in, and we have also made sure that there is no snow tucked around the house or woodwork. My boyfriend spends a lot of time clearing the driveway because we had company coming.

There is no sidewalk on our street (yet), so that is not part of the work this year. Even though there are some disadvantages, I like the wintertime. The scenery covered in snow is very beautiful, and the days seem more bright and longer, which causes the spirit to rise. We went for a walk, and it was so refreshing. Everything was covered in snow, and the forest had also taken on the white dress. 

House covered in snow
A lot of snow in the neighborhood