It’s been a while! I did get the BlackBerry Bold 9000 on the 2nd of January. I had one hell of a wait in the T-Mobile store! There was a different set of staff to the last time I went in and as we soon discovered everyone had been told to come back on Friday 2nd January for their upgrade… I felt so sorry for the staff they were clearly shattered. Words really cannot describe how much I love this thing. I’m a total BlackBerry fan anyway, but the Bold is just awesome. Everything about it is lush. You really have to see the screen on these things to believe it. I keep loading the same pictures on both the Bold and the iPod and the difference is staggering. They’ve also fixed the issue with the memory filling up and just wiping all your texts with no warning. Now you can set it to free up memory in the background (the dreaded ninja wipe) or just let it warn you. Soooo much better. Took a while to get used to the full QWERTY, but I’m there now. It’s bliss having WiFi and GPS on a phone too. They’re two things I’ve not had before because I kept hold of the BlackBerry Pearl 8100g instead of upgrading for a few years.

I’ve stuck a fair few apps on it already. Actually managed to get TwitterBerry and BerryStore to run which was nice. Would love a decent IRC client for it, but as I have the iPod Touch with me all the time anyway it’s no biggie. A lot of people have moaned about the poor battery life of the Bold compared to other BlackBerry devices, but once you get the latest firmware and manage your power settings it’s actually pretty good. I can get about 8 days out of it with WiFi/BlueTooth/3G only switched on when I need them. Admittedly I never make phone calls, rarely receive phone calls and haven’t been texting so much lately, but it does a fair amount of e-mail receiving. I also put it in bedside mode every night. Compare this with the iPod Touch which needs charging every 2 days or so even when it spends most of the day powered off! The thought of having to charge a phone every day horrifies me.

Well I wasn’t very good at writing more often, I spent too much time thinking “oh I would write about that, but maybe I should wait until something else happens” as if my life is exciting… These were the dying moments of 2008.

After NXE killed my 360s GPU I sent it off to Germany to be fixed and actually got the same one back! Shame they managed to leave black scuff marks all over the front It was pristine when I sent it out. Grrrr. Might be time to stick a decal on that now like the Wii I guess. Sadly Microsoft are completely mental and not only did they not inform me the 360 was fixed and being sent back until 2 days after I’d received it, but now they keep e-mailing me to remind me that they haven’t received my 360 for repair yet… Mad. Well NXE doesn’t seem to have broken it yet, even though it now looks like total arse through HDMI. At least I can play stuff. Bought myself Rock Band 2 to cheer myself up. Loving it so far, kind of liking the way you can mix & match levels, though the OCD side of me doesn’t know how to cope with not working through it on Easy then Medium then Hard then Expert. Songs are great though.

Since I started writing this entry I’ve actually played through most of Rock Band 2 (I’ve joined the Rolling Stone Rock Immortals List). Been gold starring quite a few songs on bass which I’ve never really tried before. That probably makes me happier than it should

Really need to buy a 120Gb HDD for the 360 (don’t be silly I’m not buying the Microsoft one!) then I can stick a few more games on the HDD and transfer the Rock Band songs to Rock Band 2. 20Gb was fine at the time, but now it’s a little puny. Kna‘s gone through the process and the world didn’t end so it’s time for me to give it a try.

I bought myself the 8Gb iPod Touch on Black Friday, I also used QuidCo so got quite a nice saving and cashback combination going on. I love it to pieces. A bit weird getting used to having so little space (it replaced an 80Gb iPod Video) but the coolness factor makes up for that. Only real gripe I have with it is that a lot of the apps are made for the iPhone and so try and work out your location using GPS on startup… the Touch doesn’t have GPS so it gets quite annoying. I’d like to be able to enter somewhere in the settings to say where I am or something. I’ve filled the poor thing with free apps too. Gradually working out which ones I can get rid of and which ones are keepers. Oh yeah and thanks a lot Apple for changing the Touch 2G (and iPhone) to use USB only for charging and not the usual hybrid of firewire and USB, now none of my old docks will charge the Touch – baaaaah!

My laptop died the other day (12″ G4 PowerBook), it’s been good to me for years but now refuses to charge. I will take it apart and have a nose about but I need a new one. I can’t afford another laptop let alone another Apple one so I’m looking at netbooks. Ultimately I really want the black Samsung NC10. It’s lovely. It’s also still over £300. Which sucks There is the Acer One with Linpus for £180 but it doesn’t come in black and it only has a tiny weeny 3hr battery (8hrs for the NC10). However, I could get the Acer + 9cell battery + decal for over £100 less than the NC10. Which is quite tempting. Baaah if I had a job right now I’d get the Acer without even thinking and get the NC10 as well when the price comes down a bit (probably in March when the MkII and the NC12 get released). Not sure I can survive with no laptop for that long though…

Finally going to get my new phone on Friday too. Upgrading my BlackBerry Pearl 8100g to a Bold 9000. Tried to upgrade a couple of weeks ago but was told it would be £250 to upgrade, or free if I waited until Friday 2nd January… errrr, I’ll wait please! I think my phone knows it’s being replaced though as it’s started wiping my text messages even when the memory doesn’t look full. There are at least 3 messages that I’ll never receive as they tipped it over the edge in the last week. So damn annoying!

I haven’t written anything in ages because I am a rubbish person! That’s about the only excuse I have, not like I’ve been busy…

I’ve decided I’m not going to be a very social person, at least for a while. Almost every time I’ve been out in the last few months I’ve been let down at the last minute and I really don’t think people appreciate what a big deal it is for me to get into town. It’s not just a 10 minute bus ride for £1.50 for me. If I walk, it’s a 45 minute walk then a 15 minute train journey for £3 (also, I can’t walk down my road when it’s dark as there are no lights and no real surface to my road). If I get a lift it’s 25 minutes, but I can only get lifts when it’s convenient for other people, so it has to be arranged in advance and can’t be spontaneous. Getting back is even worse as I can get a train back to Wokingham before 22:30, but taxis there know my road and refuse to drive there. Leaving me stranded. This means I have to fork out £25 for a black cab back from Reading. I just can’t justify it a lot of the time, especially when I’ve spent the evening sat in a pub all on my own because no-one can be bothered to let me know they’re no longer coming out.

I’ll probably go out more during the day when I can walk back from the station in the light or get a lift when my Dad’s on his way back from work. Evenings are saved for special occasions now though. Xmas and NYE don’t count as taxis are like £50 for that and that’s ridiculous!

Sooo… as I have no money at the moment I decided to buy a pair of shoes. I know, bad Jo! They were only £39.99 though and then I got 10% off with my NUS card – wheeee! I love them though, they have brought me joy. Shoe joy. They’re a pair of T.U.K. Black/Red Skull/Bow medium heels. So comfortable and easy to walk in, and they make me tall.

I wore them out on Monday when we went for Tony’s birthday meal at Xen. Very nice food. Wish I’d worn my trousers though as my skirt was a little tight so I shared Claire’s rice rather than getting my own. I had Thai Chicken Satay and Thai Green Curry. Yummy! I really wanted Indian food (they do Thai/Indian/Japanese), but as I can cook it so well myself now I’m loathe to pay for something that I don’t like as much! Can’t wait to make my onion bhajees at Christmas, they’re so lovely!

I updated my 360 today, the NXE update didn’t take too long. I hate the avatars though. I was annoyed when my Mii could only have natural hair colours and Microsoft have gone the same way. Seems so silly as surely it can’t be that hard to have a wider palette?! So my avatar looks more like Abby Sciuto than me now as I’ve given it black hair. Gonna see if I get any hassle, if I do I’m making a male avatar. Best thing about NXE though is definitely being able to transfer the games to the HDD so you don’t have to listen to the loud DVD drive. It’s bliss Played around with it a little more and it seems it keeps on crashing in the friends list which is well annoying. Lots of other people having this issue too. Hopefully they’ll sort it.

I probably should have written this as soon as I got home, as I’ve since had a little sleepy and some lush foods (M&S Sweet Pumpkin and Amaretti Biscuit Ravioli, far nicer than it sounds), I feel less like ranting.

I spent some time in Reading town centre this weekend. On Saturday lunchtime and Sunday afternoon. I realised there are still an awful lot of people using plastic bags. For years and years my Mum has taken her own bags to the supermarket, I just sort of stopped noticing bag usage. Or maybe I never paid any attention in the first place. I do know it’s only now becoming easier to say “I don’t need a bag thanks”. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve had my canvas bag/rucksack/old plastic bag ready and waiting while the cashier paid no attention and thrust my goods into a new and completely pointless plastic bag. Sometimes I’d take my purchases out and make a big deal of putting them in my own bag. Most often though I’d just sigh and resign myself to getting another future bin liner.

I looked at the people scuttling around, arms laden with plastic. It’s madness! One woman had one of those over-sized handbags that were all the rage last year, it looked almost empty. Yet she had what was probably a eye-shadow and a bottle of perfume in a plastic bag. WHY?! I just don’t get it. Not only is that plastic bag pointless and a symbol of doom, but surely it would be easier to carry just one bag? The more I looked around, the more I felt like the odd one out; having not one, but THREE canvas bags in use. I ended up buying one in Waterstones as even though I’d taken an old plastic bag out with me I realised all my canvas bags are huge and their ones are more conveniently sized. The killer came as I left M&S, a family walked past me loudly declaring their disgust that they’d been charged 5p for a plastic bag! Apparently it’s disgusting as plastic bags should be free, they always were and this particular family would be shopping elsewhere in future. The fact that the goods they bought could have easily fitted inside the mother’s handbag didn’t even cross their tiny little minds. I despaired. Openly. They glared. Good, it proves they heard me.

I’m sure reading ‘Crap At The Environment‘ has had an influence on me noticing these things. I chuckled when reading about Mark’s tussles with Kevin at the checkout. The idea of counting how many “I don’t need a bag thank you”s in a day was something I’d already done myself! I don’t want to come across as preachy here as I’m as guilty of plastic ownership as the next person. I have a whole host of Vinyl figures for a start. However, I am a total hoarder and this makes it slightly easier to justify as I try to save my plastic treasures from ever going to landfills. I even take discarded disposable lighters just so they don’t end up floating around Midway. Instead they float around in a box on my floor. I haven’t noticed any dead waterfowl around them though… yet.

For a short while I tried to influence my friends; get them to buy refillable lighters, use their bags instead of plastic carriers. I’ve given up now. It seems that those who care are already doing something and those who don’t care can’t be made to care. Unfortunately much as the apple-haters are now more fanboyistically annoying than the original Apple-ites, being anti-environmentalist is the new cool I often hear the younger generations claiming it all to be nonsense, why should they care anyway, it’s all going to happen long after they’re gone. I simply cannot understand this viewpoint. I want to scream at them “BUT IT’S ALREADY HAPPENING!” I know they’d take no notice though, declaring me a tree-hugger and sneering. They should also learn that once things start to change they can do so at an unimaginable rate.

While I’m on the subject of such things, if anyone knows where I can buy (wholesale) biodegradable packaging for the jewellery I make please let me know! UK based is best. Thanks!

Click here to view the embedded video.

There’s an update to my previous post about my credit card woes. I still haven’t had the amount credited back to me. While I have just been re-assured again that I won’t have to pay, I don’t like that amount sitting on my card for so long. It means my limit is far too close. An emergency now would be disastrous.

However, it would appear I now have the address of the ****s who used my card. They share my surname, so it seems as though my details could well have been sold to them. What makes me really, really angry to the point of my blood boiling though… is that they are clearly better off than me. So why not use your own money you evil, thieving bastards!

http://www.millsproductions.co.uk/

This is the woman whose name is on the invoice I’ve just received from dabs.com

http://www.millsproductions.co.uk/clare-mills.shtml

She doesn’t look like an internet criminal, she looks like my techno-phobe mother. Looks can be deceiving.

Arrrgghhhh! CostCo now sell crates of Relentless…. so now I have a crate of it in the garage… along with 2 crates of RedBull…. No sleep for me!

No I don’t think these drinks taste like cough medicine or earwax or syrup, I actually like them.

I really want one of these for Christmas… *hint* *hint*

Must have this t-shirt:

http://www.jinx.com/men/shirts/video_games/the_cake_is_a_lie.html

kthx

These look so cool! As a non-tea drinker, but an expert in colour-matching, I have used a Dulux colour chart before to get the shade right (my Dad’s a painter & decorator so we have them lying around).

http://www.suck.uk.com/product.php?rangeID=76

I’ve managed to let myself get thoroughly bored. I can’t actually remember what I’ve done lately.. this is more a recap for myself:

Monday
Did the usual and went to The Fez at the last minute. James got me in for free though – woo, yay, etc. Shame everyone I knew buggered off early. No idea where James went, but he never came back so I went home via another boozer – tsk…

Wednesday
Went to The Blagrave with some people I used to work with at the very last minute. They watched football, I sat around waiting for it to end. Pretty much everyone agreed I am much happier now I’ve left work. Met some randoms in the Turtle again though. Yayness! Apparently I have nice teeth…

Friday
Tried to buy shoes for Karen’s wedding, bought trousers instead. Damn Schuh for not having my size… damn me for having big feet Went to ZeroDegrees with Claire. Food was ace. Man next to me nicked my olives. Claire has informed me I was being chatted up… I was oblivious… Saw a tired & sweaty Chris after his day of moving to his new flat. Sooo jealous! No-one was in the Purtle or Turks, so I was good and had a really early night.

Saturday
Karen’s wedding. Wore stupid semi-smart clothes. Felt uncomfortable the whole time. Wished I’d worn jeans & a t-shirt so I could have had more fun. Justin got absolutely wankered. Much hilarity ensued, although being the very last guests to leave and the car journey back weren’t quite as much fun… Poor Matt for enduring it all sober!!

Sunday
Died. Got messages about going out, but they didn’t get to me until it was too late. Got annoyed with staying in

Monday
Shopped! Met up with Chris & James, did The Fez Club thingy for free again. Saw Dezzy for 2s before he disappeared and never returned. Probably the only time I’ll go to that place and know people… and I didn’t even speak to them!

Wednesday
Cocking postman didn’t ring the doorbell so my new corset is now back at the bloody Post Office. Not impressed. Have to try & get there tomorrow to pick it up. HASSLE! Made a fantastic chocolate cake. It is awesome. I make the best cakes. Staying in is making me antsy…

Thursday
Going to see Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip at The Fez Club – should fuckin’ rule

Friday
Going out to get royally smashed with Robyn. Starting off in posh boozers, gonna end up at the Purtle, you just knows it. Hopefully it will be messy and involve limbs ’n’ shit. Maybe I can burn some bloke’s earlobe again. That was always a laugh…

Saturday
Off to see Mark Thomas at 21 South Street with Chris. Very much looking forward to this & getting mucho drunko afters.

Sunday
Sleepies!! Yeah right…