After my dad died in November 2009, I brought all their photos home and have been going through them bit by bit and I'll tell you what, that scanner is terrific. It's really fast and, using VueScan, it's so easy to do whole batches at a time or do one at a time with colour correction etc, then into Photoshop for some adjustments and the results are very good indeed. So much better than the original prints that have faded so badly that the image is barely discernable.
Not sure whether this scanner has been superseded yet; in all likelihood it will have been as we've had it for over two years. But that means these should be more affordable. If you've got a big scan project looming, consider the Epson and buy VueScan. SilverFast came with the scanner and it's pretty hard to use. The Epson software is okay, but VueScan rocks.
The pictures are me in 1978 in my primary school uniform with Trudy the dog that was eventually put to sleep for biting my brother. The next one is me and my brother on the swings down Prestwick beach and the third one is my mum, who, believe it or not, used to be rather a good shot.
If you've never heard of First Aid Kit, you're missing out. Another great cover.
I've enjoyed John Irving's books for years now and this one just came out on Audible. It came at a perfect time for me. I kept it until we went our holidays to Tenerife in November and I started listening to it as I lay in the sun by the pool.
The book is the tale of Owen Meany narrated by his best friend, John Wheelwright. Owen is small and has a strange voice. It's really the tale of why he is small and why he has a strange voice, but it's so much more than that. The book moved me in a way that no other book ever has. I'm at a point in my life where my faith in God is developing and this book fits right into that. Owen believes in God and has a lot to say on the subject of religion.
One of John Irving's strong points is his character development. In all the books of his that I have read, I've found his characters to be fully 3-dimensional and believable. All are flawed, just as I am, and it makes the characters easy to relate to. I'm not sure whether I'm getting that across very well, but for those who've read Garp or a Widow for a Year, you'll know what I mean.
If only Audible would do more John Irving books. I'd be on them like a shot!
It's been an interesting year. The biggest news would be the death of the Big C, my dad in November. His health had been poor for a long time, but the fact is that we'd been expecting it for so long that we'd kind of stopped expecting it. The family came together really well and dealt with what had to be done. I used AA a lot then and got to meetings most days. Special thanks to my staff at the PO for taking over at such short notice and letting me spend time with the family.
Another big event would be my operation. My fourth toe had been bothering me for years and was now at the stage where I was seeing the podiatrist every month and enduring pain pretty much all the time. That led to my being prescribed Tramadol, to which I have been addicted ever since. But that's a story for this year. I was booked in to hospital in August for an operation to have my joint removed and my toe pinned and straightened. It took six weeks before I had the pin removed and I'm pleased to say that it worked and, so far, I've been able to wear my orthopaedic boots every day with very little pain. Of course I still get the pain in my leg, but that's here to stay.
Big news for me was being asked to join a bluegrass band. This is something that I'd wanted to do since the first Little Brother Jam in Georgia, USA that I attended in 2004. We're called the Saggy Bottom Boys and we played two support gigs in summer at the revived Arran Folk Festival, once supporting Lunasa and once supporting Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham. it was a blast and two of the best nights of my life. And we ended the year by playing a headline gig at a Hogmanay party in a local hotel. Next year we're headlining a gig at the folk festival and it's so much fun. I hope we manage to keep it going! I'm playing a lot of mandolin in the band and am enjoying that a lot. I'm so glad that I got Heiner to build me one before we left Lux.
In August some of my pals were over camping and got flooded out during the night. They called us at about 6 in the morning and Lorraine went to rescue them. It was quite funny actually, but probably not at the time.
In November we managed to get away for a proper family holiday. We had two weeks in Tenerife and it was really great.
The AA meetings on the island have got better this year, at least for me personally. I'm not sure how I'd have got through this year without it.
Workwise, things have gone all right for me. We're slightly up on last year in terms of shop takings, but costs are higher too so I'm not sure whether we've done any better. One good decision I had was back in November when I decided to start doing computer repairs and upgrades. I've had a few clients already and hopefully that will continue into 2010. I suppose I'm slightly better at being a boss, but I'm still not really where I'd like to be. I suppose I just have to carry on being myself and using my program when I need it.
Lorraine quit being a postie and went back to the translation. It's not ideal but it just wasn't working out. She's had a reasonable amount of work this year, including a few all-nighters. She even got asked to join the Peer Group and was accepted so she's now a full member, which means more money per page. Hopefully that will make a difference in 2010.
Our last au pair left just before Christmas and we're going to try and go without one now. Lorraine's got a TV and some toys set up in her office and we're going to see how we get on. It will save us some money and hopefully allow us to pay back a few debts.
And speaking of debts, we finally managed to pay of the Luxembourg tax man. it was a big worry but we got a back payment for our tax credits and almost managed to clear the whole debt with that. So it's a happy day to be going in to the new year with all that behind us. Of course we miss our friends from Lux, but it feels good to have that chapter finally closed and we can get on with remembering the good times.
Freya started P1 this year and Hamish started nursery. Freya loves school and is growing up so fast. She's a constant delight to us. As we go into the year, Hamish is really starting to open up and is speaking a lot more in coherent sentences. He's still an awkward little boy at times, but I suppose I am too! He's almost toilet trained; still having trouble with number twos, but hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon.
I had a bad experience when my main PC finally bit the dust and I went for an upgrade. I bought components from overclockers.co.uk and had a horrendous experience. The components were dead on arrival and they got me to send them back one at a time, each process taking around three weeks and costing me a fortune in postage. Finally I bent pins on the broken replacment motherboard they sent me and they wouldn't give me a refund because it had been over 28 days since I placed the order. Well of course it was; it took three weeks to send back the CPU and another three for the first faulty motherboard. I wound up buying the components again from a reputable supplier, Kustom PCs in Ayr, which is what I should have done in the first place. I got the broken motherboard repaired by the manufacturer and so now I've got a spare quad core, 8 gigs of DDR2 and motherboard. It took so long that by then the i7 chip was available so I went for that DDR3. I was going to write a long rant against overclockers, but just never got round to it. I really should have done, so that others would hear what I had to say and avoid them. If you read this and are thinking of using overclockers, please think again. They're fine when the bits that they send actually work, but when you need support, they are the worst I've ever dealt with.
On good side though I finally got an iPhone. Of course the signal on Arran is dreadful on O2 and I should probably have waited until this month when they come out on Vodafone, but I've heard the Vodafone tariffs are far higher and I'm stuck on O2 for two years now anyway. It's nice having a phone that I actually use, when I can get a signal, and it makes a fantastic remote for the Squeezebox players.
A few weeks ago I auditioned for a part in Guys and Dolls and was offered the part of Nicely Nicely Johnson. So that's something to look forward to in 2010.
I'll also be trying to come off the pain killers in early 2010 and am not looking forward to it. Maybe I'll end up just staying on them. And I need to get back into swimming in the mornings too.
I'm also taking on the Folk Festival web site, so that's a big job for 2010. I might also get the County Carpets site to work on, so I may finally have to go through my PHP book. All good skills to learn and if the computer business expands, I'll be able to afford to spend less time in the PO and give the girls more hours. It's all speculation just now, but you never know. I might even start earning a wage myself!
So, that's about it for 2009. If I think of anything else I'll add it to this. That's the beauty of the web: nothing's that is published has to stay unchanged!
Happy New Year a'body!
I barely ever listened to Vic Chesnutt but he really influenced many folks that I do listen to a ton.
RIP Mr. Chesnutt, and thank you.
See you in 2010!
Santa got it so right in 1984. I had a Commodore Vic 20 before this, but the Spectrum 48 with the rubber keyboard was where it was at. Hours of joy and hours of frustration and trying to get games to load off a tape player. And there were hacks, oh yes. Randomize User strings.
Load "" would make a great t-shirt logo as well. Heh heh.
Dear Freya and Hamish,
thank you very much for so kindly leaving those lovely biscuits. They
were melted moments, unless I'm mistaken? They were beautifully
decorated and I must confess that they were so tasty that I ate them
both! Rudolph took the carrot for later as we got to your house quite
early and he wasn't hungry. Hope you have a lovely Christmas and enjoy
your presents. You're both really good most of the time and deserve a
great Christmas.
Till next year,
SANTA
