Hi everybody!

Just thought I’d drop a quick post to let you know we haven’t disappeared off the face of the planet.  At the moment things are a little hectic for The Good, The Bald and The Stupid, which sadly means that our blogging time is somewhat restricted.

On a side note, thanks to those who turned up for the Live Night on the 22nd Feb.  It turned out to be a small affair, but hopefully for the next one more of you will want to get involved in what was a great night!

As soon as we have another date set, be sure that an announcement will follow on these here pages.

Meantime, stick with us, and we’ll be back in full effect in the very near future.

After booking the trip early September 2006, all of a sudden it was 9th February 2007, and we were due to fly off to the US of A the next morning at 8.30am.  Were we worried by the sudden dumping of snow on the UK?

Of course we bloody were!  After hearing about various delays only days before due to flurries of snow and bad weather, visions of being stuck in Birmingham airport for hours with only Starbucks and my DS to keep me busy were not enticing.  Well the DS bit would have been cool as it’s not often I get chance to sit and play it for a good while.

There was no need to fret as all went well.  After 8 hours and a few minutes, with a healthy dose of Digital Fortress by Dan Brown to keep my mind off the boredom along the way and Gridiron Gang starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, we land in Newark International Airport, New Jersey.  The cool thing was, everything was known to us as we’d been there only a year and a half previous, but it still un-nerves me slightly seeing each security officer walking around with a 9mm pistol strapped to their hip.

So we do the security checks, claim our luggage and head off to the hotel on 49th Street, just off 7th Avenue.  And oh my god what a cool moment arriving there was!

The cases got virtually chucked in the room, and after a quick change of clothes we were out in Manhatten again.  Imagine this.  Walk out your hotel, walk left about 60 yards, turn to your left and there is central Times Square staring right back at you in all it’s neon bathed glory.  The beating heart of Broadway itself, with a throng of people from early in the morning till way into the night.  The place positively glows even in the bright midday sunshine.

Once we got over that initial ‘This is so fucking cool!!’ mentality, the desire for sustenance took over.  Airplane lunches are ok, but I tend not to eat much of them after a somewhat dodgy experience on a flight back from Paris a while ago.  Let’s just say I have never been so happy to see a grubby airport toilet in my life; not a nice experience.

Again, another of the beauties of stopping in NY comes to light.  If you’re hungry you only have to walk a few feet to find something tasty to chomp down on.  Between the delis, pizza parlours, little Italian restaurants, Sushi bars, ice cream parlours, street pretzel sellers and expensive shirt and tie restaurants, there is something for every palette and budget.  If you’re can’t find something you want, you’re either a finnicky sod who can’t make up their mind, or some kind of weird fresh air eater!

You know what, it’s the food choice around every corner that I really miss now I’m back in the UK.  The occasional chinese takeaway, chippy or restaurant we get here just doesn’t compare.  It’s amazing that I haven’t come back a few stone heavier, but to be honest I’m not brave enough to weigh myself. I figure the middle age spread will hit in a few years, so screw it!

Food in hand it was back to the room.  It’s amazing how much adrenaline wakes you up again with the excitement of it all, but seeing as by this point we’d hardly slept the night before after a later night than planned (why is this country so damn inept when snow hits?), some last minute packing, and had been up around 14 hours, never mind the flight over which was strangley tiring, rest was calling.  At 4 in the afternoon?!?!?

The East coast of America is five hours behind the UK, for those of you who don’t know.  So we’re starting to think about going to bed (no, not like that you dirty muppets), but it’s hitting tea time!  Gotta love that jet lag!

Not to be beaten, we headed off towards Times Square again for a little wander round to reaqaiunt ourselves with the area, followed by a brisk stroll towards the Rockefeller Plaza and it’s temporary ice-skating rink.  I say brisk because New Yorkers don’t do slow.  It’s either now or yesterday, but this is another thing that appeals to me about the place.  The people there seem to be without the bullshit you find here.

For instance, go into a deli, pick what you want.  It gets made for you, you pay, say your thank yous and go on about your business.  All of it done with a courteous quick service, and a willingness to get the job done efficiently and quickly but with quality.  That I respect a lot, and it’s something that is missing somewhat in the UK.  Not everywhere I’ll admit, but think about it next time you’re in a shop, or restaurant, or somewhere that is selling a product or service.  I guarantee you can count on one hand the number of places that give you that kind of service and mean it.

Despite all the mocking, and Yankie gags that I’ve made, I genuinely believe that we as a nation could learn something.  Maybe it’s just the New York style, the expectations are higher, and there is alot of competition for business, but I like it.  And you know what, the F word never sounded so good than when said with a strong NY accent. It seems to take on a whole new meaning; when they swear it means one helluva lot more!

Forget The Sopranos, the real life New York is soo much fuckin’ better!

Don’t forget people, that the first ever Live Night is happening this Thursday (22nd Feb).  If you’ve already signed up make sure your around for our start time of 8pm, although you are of course welcome to join us at any time.

If you still haven’t signed up, why?!?!

Kidding, there is still time to register your tag with us, and it couldn’t be simpler.  Just send a friend request to one of us over Xbox Live along with a message, voice or text, doesn’t matter which, saying that you want in.  To find our tags click on the GBS Live Night link near the top of the page.

As for what we’ll be playing, we’re looking to get a list of games up by tomorrow afternoon in case any of you want to have a peruse, but suggestions on the night are also welcomed.

See you tomorrow!

Seeing as it was Valentines Day last week (more over-rated commercial bollocks) I decided to get Gemma an iPod. Not that she was dropping many hints or anything. Only everytime that I logged onto the mac and opened the web browser, which just happened to have the home page pointing to the Apple web site. So I caved and bought her one. I know, I’m a soft bugger!

Of all the colours that were available, I decided to get Gem the girly, pink option. Very pink. And shiny. And also very, very small! I remember going into the Apple store in London and watching Phil buy an iPod shuffle way back in 2005 (at the same time I bought an iMac, and almost got castrated for doing so!). I thought that was small, but this new version is teeny! Measuring in at only 1″ x 1.5″ (approx.) it’s just so….small! It could easily be lost in your pocket. Luckily, it comes with a built on clip so you have no chance of losing it. Unless of course, some chav see’s it and decides he wants it. I’ve warned Gemma that under no uncertain terms is she to have it on show in public. Yeah, I’m that paranoid!

I bought the 1GB version, which cost a surprising £55. I though it would have been way more expensive than that, so I was quite happy about that. I’m also impressed at the number of songs that you can fit onto said space. The count so far is 209 tracks and 807mb used, which comes to almost 15 hours of music! And there’s still more room to fil up! Unfortunatly, it’s also filled iTunes with loads of Girls Aloud and Pink. Is it worrying that I actually like a couple of them tunes? It is? Crap…

Setting the thing up was an absolute peice of cake. I’ve heard of people having problems getting theirs ready, but for me it was a case of plugging in the cable to the iMac, slapping the iPod into its cradle and going from there! Just move across the tracks you want from iTunes on it and you’re off! It’s great! Simple! Ah, just realised, most of you are using PCs aren’t you. Heh, there’s your problem! Get a Mac

Before I let Gem get her hands on the iPod, I though I’d have a listen myself. Again, impressive! The sound quality was bob-on! Really very good! Well, until you turn it up and it starts to go a bit tinny. But that’s to be expected. Overall, I’m very happy with it, and Gem is too! If you’ve been thinking about getting an MP3 player of some sort, we whole-heartedly recommend an iPod shuffle. Without a shadow of a doubt! Oh, and Apple are offering free engraving of a short message of your choice on the back of the iPod. I would have done this, but I was rapidly running out of time. That’ll teach me for leaving it last minute again!

Oh, and I apologise for Prime’s behaviour. He was meant to be modelling the iPod, but was too busy staring at my beer. The swine…

After the best week I’ve had since our honeymoon, myself and the wife are now back in good ole Blighty in fine fettle, if somewhat knackered from flying back overnight on Friday to arrive back here at about 8am with no sleep whatsoever.  Jet lag, gotta love it!

There is so much I could type right now but seeing as the post would go on for ages, and you’d all get bored reading it, I’m going to save it for now and post in smaller, easier to digest blocks.  Not all of it is tech related so I may end up spreading it between here and my own personal blog, but we’ll see how things go first.  As soon as I’ve had chance to sit down and write some stuff I’ll begin posting it here at least.

Meantime, we’re still looking forward to this Thursdays inaugural GBS Live Night which we hope you’re all anticipating as well.  So I’ll see you then, if not before!

TTFN

What’s the bleeding difference?

I’ve been updating the website for the company that I currently work for. The site was made about 50 years ago using Microsoft’s Front Page. A n00b mistake I hear you all shout (especially Phil ), but that was back in the day where I didn’t know how to code websites. To be honest, I’m still not up to scratch now!

Anyways, when I started to code properly, I always made my pages using the .html extension. Now when I was updating some images to said company site, all the page extensions where in .htm. Not a major problem, but I am interested in what the differences are between these two types. All I’ve found on Google so far is that most people despise seeing htm on any site, and it has something to do with Microsoft’s lazyness.

Can anyone shed any more light on this subject?

Yup, I’m standing here typing this in THE techie heaven in NY. Seriously, this place is soooo sweet, if any of you guys get a chance to come to New York, for god sakes take it!

Right now I’m trying to decide whether I should really be spending loads of money on a nw iPod when my current one works perfectly well. Ahhh screw it, you know I’m gonna get one! I can’t come here and not buy something, and seeing as I’ll have trouble getting an iMac home (eh Paul ) iPod it’s going to be.

Anyway, it’s bloody cold here. It’s -3C here, and that’s warm compared to the last couple of days! The weather doesn’t matter too much though, even though there is a supposed snow storm due to hit in a couple of days.

Now I’m starting to get funny looks from the staff here so I better disappear. Photos will follow when we get home.

TTFN