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Saturday, April 30, 2005
I'm going to hazard a guess that "excessive speed" will be the outcome of the inquiry into this accident. Oh, and I foresee more speed restrictions on the A30 (something that, on my last visit down south, I noticed the council's seem keen on - it's very hard to find a bit of road that's not been limited to 40 these days).
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Manufacturer: Unilever (don't they make bleach and stuff?)
Product: Peperami noodles
Bag size: 89g
Fat: 20.2g
Calories: 424
Manufacturer's Description: "Dried noodles (63%) with a sachet of barbecue flavour seasoning and a sachet of pork salami sausage slices (8%)" (Hardly snappy, but that's what it says)
I know it's pushing the "snack" review into a slightly different ball park, but I just couldn't resist this. I am a marketing dream.
Freakin' genius! The act of adding little treats to Super Noodles has long been a habit of mine, now Peperami makes it easy. Here's the Peperami sachet itself:
I really don't think there's much more to say.
Points: 9/10 (only dropped a point because the quantity of slices of Peperami falls well short of an entire Peperami)
Jane says: "You do know what's in Peperami don't you?"
Monday, April 25, 2005
My totally sober, not at all embarrasing Leaving Do happened on Thursday. Perhaps the less said about that, the better (if you were there and can e-mail me the pictures, please do so to the address on the right and I may put them up here).
Friday was the hectic starting-poker-at-09:00 session, luckily I had recovered sufficiently to attend reasonably punctually.
After a Saturday mostly spent on the sofa watching documentaries and being tired and grumpy at Jane I woke on Sunday and remembered I wanted to buy a couple of shirts for my new job. Meadowhall seemed the only option. I only go to Meadowhall once a year. It is all I can take. What I didn't realise about Sundays is that many of the stores open at 10:00 but aren't allowed to trade until 11:00. This means that, iPod-equipped, I could browse several stores with no "Can I help you?"s (apparently, any form of assistance from staff could be treated as "trading"). Brilliant. Much better. By 11:00 I'd decided what I needed and was in the queue. No messing. Much less traumatic. This does however mean that I have now completed 2005's Meadowhall annual trip. Many of you won't be getting Christmas presents this year I fear.
Anyway, I looked pretty dapper in my new shirt and tie this morning (that by a complete coincidence exactly matched one of the main corporate colours).
It appears that this week I will mostly be sitting through various PowerPoint presentations of various bits of the companies and having demo's of the different products. Quite easy, but a bit of brain overload in trying to remember everything. First impressions are that I shall enjoy myself immensely here. But without internet! Yep, apparently company internet access was abused by several people so the plug was pulled. This is not good. Still, if that's the only downpoint, I can live with it.
Manufacturer: Nestle
Product: KitKat editions red berry
Manufacturer's Description: An explosion of flavour with every bite
Fat per bar: 11.2g
Calories per bar: 239
After finally getting my hands on one of these I had to restrain myself and not devour it immediately. It sat near me all afternoon, calling me. A temptation made all the worse by the very pleasant aroma that permeated through the wrapper.
After tea I opened the wrapper and took a bite. It went wrong from there. Far too sweet and fruity for my taste. Just like the fruity Quality Street (or is Roses, I always get those two mixed up) that seems to get left to last. I just don't like it. Perhaps I should have thought about it more. It's obvious in hindsight that I was going to hate this. I only finished it because I didn't want to see it go to waste.
I shall stay away from fruit/chocolate combos in future. I'm a mint man you see.
Points: 4/10. Not to my taste. You may like it though. You'd be wrong, but that's your prerogative.
Jane says: "That's lovely dear, you have it"
Today I am Mr Happy.
It's my last day in my current job. I am going for beer after work. It is payday. Today is a good day. I shall miss many of the people I work/have contact with. Others I won't.
Very much looking forward to new role on Monday. Watch this space for "first day impressions".
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
I now own a Red Berry KitKat Editions bar that I expect to test this evening. Jane wasn't winding me up.
On the same trip I found that Waitrose also stock woodchips for barbecuing that are made out of old Jack Daniel's barrels. Tenner a bag mind, which seems a bit steep. But I think it will have to be done when this continuous rain stops and we have the first barbecue of the season.
Did I mention that it's my last day at work tomorrow and I'm pretty sure Jane has a spare cardboard tube?
Powerful Polar Pile-Up Puts Perplexed Penquins in Profound Peril!
Iceberg drama will force maps to be redrawn. And confuse the penquins.
I didn't make it to the Jet garage last night to locate the rumoured strawberry KitKat. I did however find these -
Manufacturer: Nestle
Product: Aero Bubbles
Manufacturer's Description: Aerated milk chocolate in a shell comprising milk chocolate and green, peppermint flavoured halves
Fat per bag: 12.4g
Calories per bag: 224
Price: 49p
I’ve long been intrigued as to how Nestle get the green stuff inside the mint Aero bars. Whichever method they use, they’ve been able to expand on it and make these intriguing little half-chocolate, half-green spheres. They’re about the same size as an average Malteser, but unlike Maltesers they are all exactly the same size – I guess this shows that Bubbles are moulded.
Those of you familiar with the Aero mint bar will recognise the smell of Bubbles and the somewhat unusual texture. They melt silkily in your mouth and release their chocolate mintiness. And that’s the problem, being aerated they simply dissolve in the mouth, just like the bar. There’s no additional experience with Bubbles, no reason to choose them over the standard bar (even the (high) price is similar). By comparison, KitKat and KitKat Chunky offer differing ratios of their component parts and hence a differing taste experience. Bubbles don’t do this.
One other thing that greatly concerns me, especially as Spring marches on, is the ease with which these may melt. I’m sure we’ve all at sometime bought a chocolate bar that’s been in the newsagent’s on a sweltering day and had the trauma of trying to separate it from the wrapper. These Bubbles seem to melt in the mouth very easily. I’d be worried about how well they would stand up in the summer months and exactly how much of a multi-coloured mess they could make.
Summary: Intriguing, but mainly due to pondering over the manufacturing process. Expensive. Novelty value only. Concerns over resilience to warmer weather.
Jane says: Actually, I can't remember what she said. She had one, but was engrossed in Property Ladder at the time (as was I, being a bit of a Sarah Beeny fan). Jane didn't want another one, so perhaps that's indicative?
Points: 6 - Probably won't buy them again.
Want to have your Smartphone switch to silent automatically whenever you arrive at work? How about showing your whereabouts in near-realtime on your website? We are liking CellTrack. Hope it will work on the SPV C550 which I'm hoping to get next month.
Might see if I can persuade Jane to get one and then track her movements. Muahahaha.
I've noticed that when viewing a Comment (or and individual Posts page) on this blog in Internet Explorer, the main body of the page is shown way too far down, for example this one or this one. They're fine in Firefox. I don't know very much about web page design I'm afraid. If anyone fancies having at look at the HTML and telling me what's wrong it would be much appreciated as I can't work it out!
Edit: Never mind. Think I've fixed it. We'll close that one off as "User Caused Fault"
Two things:
1). Be sure to catch Channel 5's Demolition Squad on Mondays at 19:30 - a series following the destructive work of the Controlled Demolition Company. Lots of things getting blown up, voiced by Robert Llewellyn. Proper boy stuff.
2). The last tower block of flats in Norfolk Park is to be blown down this Sunday at noon. I will be at the bottom of the Moor to watch Sheffield's skyline change forever. You can read the related (archived) Sheffield Forum thread here.
If, like me, you become strangely hypnotised by the act of shredding confidential paperwork to prevent identity theft, then this is the site for you.
Jane's suggestion that a strawberry KitKat existed and was in stock at my local corner shop appears to have been a red herring. I searched and searched. Then settled on a 4 pack of lager and went home and played XBox for a while. Most disappointing. May try to satisfy my "new chocolate" craving a bit later on.
Bad girlfriend.
Monday, April 18, 2005
I know there's been no real updates on what I've been doing for a while now. That's because not a lot has happened.
Today is my last Monday in my current job and has so far been annoyingly busy. I want a quiet week. T'isn't fair. I worked on Saturday and spent most of Sunday asleep or trying to work out why emails haven't been sending from my home for quite some time. With these kind of things there comes a point where you have to admit defeat and invite someone in to point out the glaringly obvious config error. Yesterday was one such occasion. My mails now send. Thanks Tim.
During the wait for one of yesterday's many reboots I finally got round to telling Orange that I no longer wished to be one of their 3G handset triallists. Gadgets are good, but only if they work. 3G doesn't. It isn't worth the hassle. I am now back to my 2.5G mobile phone and ready and waiting to pounce on a new SPV C550 when they get launched next month. I will let you know how shiny it is.
Also over the weekend I saw this and it made me smile:
I think I will get it made into an amusing T-shirt.
Oh, and Jane tells me that out local corner shop has some strawberry flavour KitKats in stock (heaven only knows why she didn't buy one for me!). I will stop in on the way home tonight and post my verdict.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
It was only a matter of time until the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy became a reality. And now it has. Disappointingly, searching for "Earth" doesn't just bring up "Mostly harmless".
Friday, April 15, 2005
I'm not sure I'd pay out for a fashion accessory which I'm pretty sure they used to give out for free at Aldershot swimming pool, but this one makes me chuckle.
Now we've started.
Whilst we're on Podcasting, I listened to Radio Clash, Show 22 this morning. I've missed a couple of recent shows and am pleased to say Show 22 really put a smile on my face. The idea of a bootleg of Nena's 80's classic "99 Red Balloons" mixed with Jay-Z's big-pimping "99 Problems" may sound bizarre, but trust me when I say it does work. You can listen to just this track by clicking here. I was also tickled by the snippet of the Drum & Bass mix of the theme from "Are You Being Served?". There's adult language in the show, if you do listen to it you have been warned!
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Draw a pig. Get an interesting insight into your personality.
Friday, April 08, 2005
Am off to Nick's stag do this weekend in chilly Edinburgh. Actually, it's snowing in Sheffield this morning (it's April, I don't get it) so it may not be that much colder in Scotland.
There's a possibility of a few beers and perhaps the odd photo getting posted here from my mobile as the weekend progresses. Wish me luck...
Thursday, April 07, 2005
If you're going to be a complete geek, at least try to get it right
Edit: actually, I prefer The Sun's headline on the story here.
Him name is Hopkin green frog. Ain't it strange how these things get started?
Update: Dave "does it work yet?" T found some more info on Hopkin - here. Thanks D.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Darn. Another one of those horribly addictive, where-did-the-last-hour-go Flash games
Still, at least it stops me ordering the newly released Doogie Howser, MD Season 1 DVD
Friday, April 01, 2005
I've been sent the above submission to add to the South Park Phil and Jane pictures below. He is the LAW. Can you guess who it is?
This man's whose devotion to gadgets is extraordinary. I am upset that I originally believed his post. Then noticed the date. Oh dear.
