Amy has been complaining that the 901 is sluggish in operation. I was wondering whether this could be down to a few factors :
1. No swap file 2. Not enough memory 3. The logon profile including ‘My documents’ is stored on a SDHC card.
The SDHC is a class 4 beast so is not the fastest around. The browser cache and all temp files are written to it during normal operation to save wear and tear on the SSD. I didn’t really want to change this setup so I decided that I would :
1. Upgrade the memory to 2GB 2. Upgrade the SSD from 8GB to 64GB 3. Add a swap file to the new SSD
I ordered a 2GB DDR2-667 memory stick from Crucial which arrived the very next day. Well done Crucial! I also ordered a 64GB Patriot Lite Series SSD. The memory was £24 and the SSD £124.
Installation was simple. Two screws to uncover both memory and SSD. The memory simply clips in. There is only one slot so a single 2GB stick is needed.
The SSD is held in place by two screws. After removing them the SSD pops out a little bit. Then installation of the new one is a matter of lining up the connectors and screwing it into place.
The 901 booted as expected. I checked the BIOS settings and noticed the new memory and bigger SSD. When XP came up I opened the Disk Management program then initialised and formatted the new disk.
I then set the system page file to 2GB in the new drive.
Amy says that the performance is much crisper with less lag. I may try switching off the page file to see if it makes much difference as this will reduce wear on the SSD.
Another possibility is moving the user profile back to the C drive but if Amy is satisfied with the new setup then I will leave it :-).
I was cycling through New Cross. There was a cyclist in front of me overtaking a slow moving bendy bus on his left. I was at the rear of said bendy bus and about to attempt the same manoeuvre. To the cyclists right was a flat bed truck.
There was not a great deal of space for the guy to squeeze through. As he came level with the bus he started to turn in. As he did this his bike clipped the truck and all I saw was the rear wheel flying in the air and a crunching sound. The bus stopped and as I came level I saw the bike firmly trapped under the front of the bus.
Luckily the guy was unharmed apart from a nasty graze on his elbow. I checked if he was okay as did several pedestrians and helped him to pull the bike from the bus. He was so lucky not to have been seriously injured.
Well Tante and Unkle have gone home. During their last weekend with us the sun shone magnificiently and the mercury was into the mid twenties. I have just got on my train to Feltham having left a little later than usual. The reason is simple and comes in the shape of a little boy called Jake.
It was a very hot and sticky night so I left our doors open to let in a little fresh air. After what seemd like hours while of tossing and turning I noticed Jake had acquired the driest cough ever, it was more like a bark. Anyway just as I was drifting off I heard the familiar sound of Jake sliding from his bed and then the soft padding of his feet, followed inevitably by his shadow in the doorway. I thought that his cough had woken him and he was feeling unwell so he came and snuggled into the bed. This picture of familial bliss is marred slightly by the fact that not only was his bark unendurable but it was accompanied by rather loud snoring. Amy retired upstairs after a while to sleep in the ‘toft’ room. The idea was that I would wake her when needed to swap over. In the event I never did. Jake somehow managed to squeeze me into a corner of the bed! As you can gather I didn’t et much ‘quality’ sleep. I managed to rouse myself and 6.30am at which point Jake had also woken up. Jake didn’t want me to go to work. He kept saying “Don’t go Daddy!” and when I said that I needed to work to pay for his toys, he said didn’t want any more toys. Bless him :-).
Yesterday we went to the fair and the Kite and Bike Festival in Blackheath. Jake met Sammy on the bouncy castle and then went on the the couble deckers, plane and helter skelter together. The festival was great. An area was cordoned off for kite displays. These were pretty impressive, mostly choreographed to music or two kites flying in synch. Another impressive sight was a stack of at least ten Flexifoil Stacker Kites being flown at the same time. On one stand VW were giving away the new model VW California Camper in a prize draw. These beasts are lightyears away from the campers of yore and cost a cool £35,000 a pop. Let’s hope we win one!
I feel like I am playing at grown ups. Last evening we went to Jake’s ‘soon-to-be’ school for a welcome evening. Upon arrival we were ushered into ‘The Great Hall’ and given a glass of wine and canapes. The feeling of being back at school brought back mixed memories. Sitting in assembly trying to concentrate, the smell of dust and waxed floors.
The school itself is very good and I couldn’t wish for a better one for our little Jake. It will be sad to see him take his next step in life but also very exciting. I am sure he will love it, especially as his friends, Antonia and Martha are also going. On June 25th we will take him in for the morning so he can get accustomed to the environment. We will be staying for the two hours that the session will last.
We came away clutching our parents information pack. Now my mind is swimming with things such as uniforms, shoes, bags, name tags etc etc.
I have recently started scanning and restoring some old photos. This one is from my first trip abroad. It was taken on 31st March 1990 in Arkansas and we were travelling across the USA in a driveaway car. We were delivering the car to San Diego having picked it up in New York. The driveaway scheme is great. You have a fixed mileage and only have to pay for the fuel. A cheap way to cross the states!
Anyway I digress, the photo had some mysterious stains on it as well as the odd scratches and dust. I set to work restoring the photo using photoshop. The results are not bad for a first attempt. Check them out below.
Saturday was the hottest day of the year and it looks like this week will be hot. I have just arrived at Waterloo, a little sweaty but gateful for the decent cycling weather. I have been trying to change my cycling style. I now tend to try and keep a constant pace of 17/18 MPH in 5th gear second ring. this means I am spinning more and keeping my cadence higher. I have noticed that I can keep my pace up at a higher cadence. This should prepare me for my next attempt at riding the 24 odd miles to my office.
Yesterday Jake was sent straight to bed withough a story because he decided to water the kitchen with the hose pipe. I admit when I saw him doing this I shouted rather loudly. I took him upstairs and asked him whether he knew that flooding the kitchen was naughty and he said yes. Hopefully he won’t do it again ;-).
We went to Scotney Castle on Sunday. Weather was great, traffic not so great. The castle grounds were lovely. Jake and I fed the fish and a lone Canada goose while Amy snoozed under a tree. She has been feeling sick a lot lately, much more so than when she was pregnant with Jake.
We went to the sea-side on Saturday. For once the Bank Holiday gods of Weather smiled on us. We basked in lovely sunshine and temperatures of 23 degrees with a nice cool breeze.
Amy and Carol went for their spa session while ‘the boys’ namely my good self, Jake and Colin headed for the beach at West Wittering. Unfortunately so did the rest of the South of England…
Even so, we found our patch and staked our claim by doing that Great British tradition of ‘building sandcastles’. Jake was charging around filling up his bucket and then pouring the water into our ‘moat’. I also constructed a replica of Teoitihuacan which Jake promptly destroyed :-(.
Talking of destroying things an awful child decided to stomp on our castle. Jake wasn’t too bothered but I was VERY annoyed.
I haven’t blogged for a while. It has been particularly hectic at work with a major deadline looming, so I have been putting in the hours in the evening to get things done(cue hearty pat in the back).
Last weekend myself, Jake and GDK went off to Cornwall for our ‘free’ holiday courtesy of Club la Costa. Initially I was against going because I feel I had been conned a little bit on the first place when we ‘won’ the holiday. Last year we went to a steam fair and there was a man running a draw with the promise of a free holiday. I wrote down my details and in due course was informed that I had won the holiday. Of course, I hadn’t won anything. I had been selected for my demographic potential. We were then asked to attend a 90 minute meeting in London. I reluctantly attended with Amy and GDK. Luckily we were able to slope off early, clutching our free holiday vouchers. I say early but we had been there over two hours at that point. The vouchers were only valid for a couple of weeks, which we didn’t realise at the time so we left it. A few months later we were reminded that we hadn’t taken our holiday(what happened to the expiry date?). Amy booked up Trenython Manor in Cornwall. It cost £29 per person for the weekend, but we had to attend the ‘presentation’ again.
The lodge was very highly specced and they had pulled out all the stops. On arrival we found fresh milk in the fridge, tea, orange juice, bottle of wine. Each room had a TV and in the lounge a 5.1 surround sound setup and DVD. The kitchen had a dishwasher, cooker and washing machine.
On Saturday we booked our tickets for the Eden Project at reception. They didn’t mention the meeting so maybe they had forgotten?? The weather wasn’t brilliant. It was overcast but not raining so entirely acceptable. The Eden Project was a wonderful day out. Jake was in his element charging around. The rain forest biome was amazing. As soon as you were through the flappy doors you were hit by a blast of hot humid air. As we meandered through it all we saw bananas growing on the tree, cacao, peppers, rice and so much more. We should definitely go back seeing as our ticket lasts a year.
On Sunday we were commanded to attend our ‘presentation’ at the hotel. From the outset we said that we couldn’t afford to but the timeshare because of Jake’s school fees. Even so the rep said she had to go through the motions. The whole spiel relied on getting you on-board to the lifestyle choice you were purchasing. No mention of cost was made until the very end. After that and the inevitable exclamations of ‘but we can’t possibly afford that’ they rolled out their ‘trial period’ with a special lower cost deal. It was very telling that I was not allowed to take away the figures that had been written on the reps pad. Consequently I cannot remember exact costs but it went something like:
Timeshare lease: 65 years Cost of timeshare: £12,000 Maintenance:£500 per year Cost of booking with CLC partners £120 one off fee Cost of allowing friends to use timeshare £75
Not allowed more than 3 weeks in one place Flights are extra Weekend breaks cost £40 per week There were other terms and conditions but I cannot remember them.
For us I don’t think it works out any cheaper, but of course it may suit others. I’m annoyed that they don’t publish the costs up-front so that you can make an informed judgement. I guess they are relying on spur of the moment, emotional decisions. Showing the true costs would scare a lot of people away. It’s not for me I’m afraid. Good weekend though :-).
Ah, what a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend! SPENT DOING DIY!! Grr! Actually, this is not entirely true. We took a trip to Knole House on Saturday to take advantage of the glorious weather. It was great to sit down in the sun and have a nice picnic. Afterwards we went for a walk. Jake charged up and down while I raced him until he was very red in the face and sweaty. Then we ‘stalked’ some deer that were grazing in the shade. Jake managed to get stung by a nettle(although he would not admit to it) :-).
On Sunday and Monday Jake and Amy went to Granny’s while I finished off the loft room. Sunday was spent painting the woodwork and painting the nooks and crannys the I couldn’t get to with the roller. Some of the plaster was a bit iffy so I had to make it good and sand it before proceeding.
On Monday I painted the walls. It took much longer than usual as the paint I chose is rather thin. By the end of the day I had finished the walls and ceiling. I still have to finish off the loft hatches and put another coat of the chest of drawers. I am given them a new lease of life by spraying them white.
The last few days have been gorgeous. Light winds, blue skies and no clouds. Correspondingly this years produce of potatoes, beans, spinach, courgettes, tomatoes, coriander, basil and parsley have started to really grow.
Yesterday evening we had a little picnic on Hilly Fields. I stopped off at Sainsburg’s on the way home and bought some wine, cheese, antipasti and other nibbles. We also took Jake’s new mini-football, which I purchased along with a flying ring last Saturday in Blackheath.
Jake loves kicking the ball around and throwing it “high in the sky”, as he says.
It was nice to relax on the grass with the sun on our faces. Jake kept saying “Mummy watch me!” and “Daddy watch me!” while running very fast up and down.
This morning I had a manic cycle to Waterloo. I left at 6.45am and had to hammer it to get the 7.20am train to Reading. I’m afraid I may have jumped a couple of red lights(slaps wrist). When I got to Waterloo I decided to lock my bike up on platform 19 as the racks next to the station entrance were overflowing. This turned out to be a good move as all I had to do after locking the bike was to run across the platform and hop on :-).
