Hey you deejay! Put a record on!

If you had to do a DJ set for twenty minutes what records would you play?
Okay, perhaps a little unfair without any context. So let me give you a scenario:
- it's a set that will run from 1am to 1:20am
- you are a DJ at a bar in a city
- the clientèle have been in the bar since 8pm
- ages range from 20 to 55
- they have been dancing/socialising for the last couple of hours

Hit me with a song or two of your choice and say why you think it's appropriate.

Fitness and weightloss

It sounds so simple. But eating healthier foods, giving up alcoholic drinks and taking exercise is a lifestyle change. As such it's very hard to change a lifestyle you enjoy to one you don't. I want to change my lifestyle but I don't have the willpower to make it happen.
Where do you find the inspiration to change your lifestyle?

London 2012

What a tantalising spectacle is in prospect. The 2012 Summer Olympics are finally here. It has been a long time coming. I remember I was eating lunch in a restaurant in Birmingham with work colleagues when I found out. I've moved on since those days.
The time for sport is about to begin. I must admit I'm going to be interested in the events and human stories behind the athletes competing. I was fascinated by a programme on tv last week about women's cyclist Victoria Pendleton.
The minority sports are always worth a watch.
The real shame about the games is that the ticketing has been completely mishandled. My family isn't going but we applied for tickets and were not successful. If all the relevant information had been available we might have decided on going to watch another event. But it wasn't very clear what we could or could not do.
The opening ceremony is on now and is looking good so far!

Thrash Metal

I occasionally listen to a genre of metal that is absurd in most ways but exciting in the best way. It has to be good thrash metal by bands like Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. Pretty much all of the output of these bands is worth listening to. These bands are probably very old school but I still really like them.These albums are a good place to start if you ever want to experience this musical form.

iPhoneography

I had not come across this term until this last weekend. It's a term for describing photography with an iPhone, as you might guess. I bought a slim but excellent book of the same title and there are lots of intriguing suggestions for photo projects. I am contemplating starting another space online for my iPhone photographs. But I'm having trouble deciding where to go...

• Blogger
• Wordpress
• Tumblr
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Flickr
• Photobucket
• Zapd

and this is just scratching at the surface. I'm certain that there are a gazillion I haven't heard of. How in the world does one decide...?

Pain

My throat feels like shards of glass are sticking into it whenever I swallow. It's hard to function properly when I'm in pain like this. My voice is beginning to go too.
I seemed to spend the weekend being a taxi for my son and a house cleaner and gardener. My daughter was questioning why everytime I gave her a task, that and saying no a lot. So I ended up doing most of the cleaning tasks myself. Both kids came round in the end but I had to show them that every member of the family has to pull their weight.
We're allowing the kittens into most of our busiest rooms in the house now. They seem to have gotten used to that and have found sleep spots to go to when someone is home with them. They seem to like being in a room with a family member, rather than finding somewhere quiet on their own, which is nice. I like watching them play together. We let them come sleep on our beds if they want to. I am slightly worried that I might roll onto one of them and accidentally squish them!

How do Ubuntu?

Over the course of several months I've been experimenting with a new operating system. The copy of Windows XP on my laptop has not been ageing well, getting slower and slower to boot. I've recovered the drive a few times, each time beginning again with a fresh install of Windows XP. But XP doesn't delight in the same way that Windows 7 does. I've been moving more content to the web in what I do as well - Google and Windows Live and Dropbox - as well as my blog. So, to cut a long story short I completely removed Windows XP and have gone over to Linux and Ubuntu in particular. I love the font and the colourful and large and uncluttered desktop buttons. My netbook is now much similar to how using a Mac feels. I'm pleased so far. I can watch and listen to my media.
I've also set up wireless printing, which is something I never got around to with my netbook before. I have also fixed a problem, which bugged my WinXP O.S., that meant my netbook seemed to just freeze for about 4-7 minutes on booting, now it boots without pausing at all.
I've been installing some cool software on my netbook too. I think that's because a lot of software for Linux is free, which is a great bonus.

Library Sale Goodies

Well we took a stroll down to the library sale and bagged us a few goodies this Saturday. I watched The Italian Job last night, what a perfect picture it is. Entertaining, not difficult to understand, good clean fun, good car chases and a reasonably short length. They don't seem to make many films like this nowadays do they?
The photo below gives you an idea of the bounty. We did go back a bit later because they don't open all the boxes they get sent at the same time, they have several tables full of stuff on at once and replenish when they need to.On our second visit we also picked up season one of The West Wing, which is one of those series I've just missed (there are lots of those!). So I look forward to catching up with the rest of the world on that one. I'm also looking forward to watching The Dead Zone too.

Good luck Andy

Something pretty spectacular is happening later. An Englishman is playing in the Wimbledon final. I never expected it to happen. So, despite the odds against I hope there is lots of support and encouragement for Andy from the crowd and virtually from the internet too.

Wet wet wet

Well the Roald Dahl festival began in lovely weather. So much effort had gone into the models and handheld wavy things.

Then, just when most of the procession had passed us the rain started. It really came down in buckets and didn't stop. I felt so sorry for all the kids, parents and teachers. Including my family and friends who were part of it too.

Rain

There seems to be a surplus of water everywhere in the UK over the last few months. In the first quarter of the year, there were drought warnings and we were talking about the poor plants not getting enough. It's completely turned around now.

We have big events coming up, like Wimbledon finals and, obviously, the Summer Olympics. I hope the rain diminishes so that the best of British weather turns up on show.
I feel sorry for the organisers and volunteers at smaller events happening at weekends. Things like summer school fetes, festivals, open gardens, art walks, fun runs and such like. We're going to a Roald Dahl festival procession later this morning. The school children march with bands and show off the character models they have made and painted. These structures can be impressive and have to be carried by several people. The weather can really put a damper on it because the models are made of papier mache, so they just dissolve when it rains.
There is also a big event in the calendar for the library. They set stalls up outside and sell off some stock. I usually end up with a few good items from these. It's important to get there early.
Have a good weekend all!

Madder Rose - Car Song

I loved this band.