Can I HACK IT?

I have recently received reports from readers stating that the right-hand column isn't showing correctly in Internet Explorer!

Apologies for this. I am currently researching ways of hacking the code so that it displays okay in Internet Explorer version 6 or lower. I hope to find a solution soon.

However, tests have shown that the columns appear okay when using the excellent Mozilla Firefox browser, which can be downloaded from here. I have also tried it in Internet Explorer version 7, which can be downloaded from here.

In the meantime, while I am looking for a fix...I am continuing my adventures in geek world.

Keep an eye out for tomorrow's post where I will be researching the Wi-Fi hotspots of Bury St Edmunds and attempt a live blogging session from one of the locations. I hope you will accept my invitation of a lunch-time visit to see my review.

Geek is Chic...

(Image by Timmy Toucan,retrieved from Flickr)

Since the arrival of my laptop, I've been mostly busy partying. However during the hours that I haven't been indulging in a glass of wine or running things on the home-front, I have been satisfying my hidden geeky side.


So for all of my fellow geeks out there, this is what I have been getting very excited about over the last few days...(for non-geeky readers, you have permission to catch up on your sleep.....now!)


Are you ready....if so...sit back and relax for my weekend geeky count-down...


In at number 10...geek-time got off to a slow start, while I tried to crack the code to our wireless router. ..then attempted to remember the name and password so we could change the code. End Result. 21st C Dad had to reset the router, so that we could start afresh...oh um...at least the codes were kept in a safe place then!


No 9 - WAH HEY...things are starting to happen now! Full indulgence levels met by taking laptop off to a Wi-Fi hotspot for a bit of blogging while 21st C Dad took charge of baby-sitting!

No 8 - WOO HOO...excitement building upon the realisation that I can upload my Canon photos onto laptop without having to search for proprietary drivers....now that's clever!

No 7 - the pleasure of multi-tasking...no I don't mean doing the washing up while I surf but being able to keep on top of the 9pm-10pm slot, while I catch up with PC stuff whilst sat on the sofa. YEE-AHH. (Now this is a real give-away...of course I know that real geeks don't watch TV).

No 6 - GREENING UP...catching up with the ONLINE Sunday Newspapers whilst indulging in a lie-in...no more papers strewn across the house for the whole week!

No 5 - YOU WHAT?...discovering the www.futureme.org website, where you can arrange to deliver a message to your future self (and then sending an email to my future-self).

No 4 - OH THE JOY...at remembering how to reconfigure the regional settings... to stop that annoying @ sign appearing when you want the " sign and vice versa.

No 3 - COOL.....Installing Mozilla Firefox in favour of Internet Explore and the pleasure of reconfiguring it to use the scribblies theme. Girly geeks will just love the little juggler that appears when the PC is "thinking"....

No 2 - PHEW....The relief of installing Yahoo Messenger for the benefits of automatic email announcement!I love it when the little envelope appears with its teen-weeny asterisk!

.....BUT HARD TO BEAT IN ITS NO. 1 SPOT is...

... the OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD EXPERIENCE of using the new fingerprint technology to log on to my Win XP account....

....now that's GENIUS!


Getting a new PC is like moving house...After a little personalisation and a tweak here and there, only then does it begin to feel like home...21st Century Mummy 2007

The Perfect House-Wi-Fi-Wife

Excuse me while I indulge. I am now in IT heaven having recently been blessed with a new Wi-Fi enabled laptop (oops sorry - notebook) and am sat on the sofa with my new piece of kit! It takes me back to the days when I used to work for a living, you know the 24/7 salaried kind of work.

One of my last jobs was as a research manager for a London based consultancy back in 2000, where my role included keeping abreast of technological developments and trends. I remember researching forecasts in mobile PC usage and the development of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Little did I know then that seven years later I would be indulging in the novelty of sending emails from an indoor play centre in Sudbury, which offers Wi-Fi access. Just in case you're wondering, 21st C Dad was also there too, supervising the children while I played with my new toy like an excited kid at Christmas. It did strike me as bizarre that this particular establishment was advertising "With our Wi-Fi access, you can work while the kids happily play" alongside other signs that suggest "Children must always be supervised". Thank goodness 21st C Dad was there or I might have been a bit confused"

Anyway, I am now looking forward to discovering the Wi-Fi hotspots in Bury St Edmunds. I can now see a new career ahead of me. Move over Nigella Lawson and make room for the Wi-Fi Goddess. Anthea Turner, you may be the Perfect Housewife, but make way for the Perfect House-Wi-Fi-Wife.

So, where will I go...? You might just see me blogging in Tickety Boo, or even The Lounge. There's the opportunity to relax at the Fox Inn or drop in for a daytime coffee in SoBar, not to mention the range of other places that can be found around the town.

So it's a case of have notebook...will travel...Just watch out for the live blogging posts that may just appear over the next week as I indulge in the novelty of my new technology. Please bear with me...normal service will be resumed soon.

21st Century Birthdays

Aren't birthdays in the 21st Century so much fun! I had such a lovely day yesterday, with well-wishers sending birthday cards, ringing up and dropping off presents on my doorstep. I received a lot of text messages, emails, some comments on my blog and messages on my Facebook account (so thanks to everyone for making my birthday very special). The Facebook phenomenon is in particular very new to me and despite being familiar with email and blogging, I am still trying to get used to the social effects of this relatively new technology.

There are just so many methods of communication and gifting in the 21st Century, it is amazing. Even the other week, my 3 year old received an Amazon e-voucher (by email) from one of his aunts.

Yesterday, the icing on the virtual cake (please excuse the pun) was when my sister and her husband, who live "en Suisse", phoned in the evening to sing "happy birthday". Using Skype and our webcam connection meant that they were virtually in our living room. It was great, I was able to bore them silly by showing off some of the lovely presents that I had received.

However one "traditional" item that was noticeably missing from yesterday's range of presents was music, a gift that would be typically packaged in the format of a CD. However, my regular Napster subscription now makes such an item redundant in my little 21st C world.

On the subject of presents, I was spoilt by 21st C Dad with lots of lovely gifts, (nothing virtual here). The best present of all was the fact that he'd framed a watercolour that I'd painted in a beginners art class (which I'd attended a few years ago). I had left it hidden under a pile of junk ever since. But three years later here it is, all beautifully framed up (thanks 21st C D).


As for the 21st C kids, they treated me to a fantastic rendition of "happy birthday" in a very excitable manner, then squabbled over the birthday cake. Come on boys, fighting over the biggest piece of cake is "so last century", even if you are under 6!

Perhaps they did me a big favour though, because if I had been offered the biggest slice, that would mean extra visits to the health club that I joined yesterday...and I mean real physical visits...for once my virtual online world is of no use here!

I'm loving Snap Shots

I've just popped over to the lovely Running in Suffolk blog and noticed a clever little widget that Bury Blue has added... Snap Shots. Being a bit of techo-geek, I found this really appealing and have just installed it over here. Basically, the technology is aimed at enhancing links, so that when one hovers the mouse over a link, a preview of the destination site is shown. Clever eh?

As a reader, you can click the "sun" icon in the preview box and edit the default options. It is also possible to even disable it if you find it really annoying. However, I hope you like it and find it useful.

Happy surfing ;-)