my uk life

amazon rental

rich and i used to buy lots of dvds. we didn't really ever go to blockbuster or any other rental place, we just bought the films we wanted to see. sometimes once we watched the movie, we never needed to see it again, but the dvd box still sat on our shelf taking up space.

amazon recently started offering dvd rental in the uk, and like netflix in the us, it's very straightforward, all mail based, and pretty good value for money. we have been using the service for about three months and i really like it!

thanks lance!

what a motivator! richard gave me a nike+ device for my birthday, and a few weeks ago, i started using it on my runs. for those of who don't know, nike+ is a system that connects your ipod nano and your shoes, tracking your mileage, time and calories. it lets you set a playlist for your runs, but comes on over the music and tells you your progress during your workout. it also lets you set and play a "booster" song for that extra incentive you (or should i say "i") sometimes need.

i went for a run this morning and because of the accurate tracking, i was spurred on to push a bit harder and go an extra mile or so beyond what i normally manage. in recognition, i got a celebrity kudos, announcing "hi, this is lance armstrong. congratulations, that was your longest run so far." i know it's kind of silly, but it made me smile.

[written 30 august on my plane ride back home; posted 1 september back in london ]

closer and closer

i got myself a new digital camera today and am very excited about the fact that it has a fantastic 10x optical zoom, image stabilization and a good ui all in a small package.

worldometers

my friend petra sent around a link to this site that shows real-time worldwide statistics on births, deaths, energy use, car production etc. it's fascinating and well worth a look.

my husband, the star

check out richard's most recent press coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6895588.stm

moo stickers

richard and i have used a service called moo to print little business cards and notecards from our own flickr photos. the printed quality is great, and the experience is really satisfying.

now they are going to sell stickers, which i think is very cool. i can't wait to order some and will be visiting the site on thursday when the new service launches.

girls playing games

i went to dinner last week with my friends from maddie's baby classes and mentioned that i like playing games on the nintendo ds.

they spent the rest of the dinner teasing me about it.  one of them said "wow, shannon, and here we thought you were an intelligent woman...." i guess my twenty minutes each evening slicing onions on cooking mama or working my way through a courtroom game drama changes their opinion on that.

have i been in the technology industry too long? is game playing by women that geeky? i know they were teasing but i was really embarrassed. having spent ten years in a company where being an "early-adopter" of technology is not only completely normal but expected, i think i may have lost touch with what's acceptable for women in the outside world.

neverending story

richard is playing zelda on the nintendo wii. according to the summary on the game, he has been playing this for a total of 52 hours and 26 minutes since we bought the wii a few months ago. in game playing time, i am told this really isn't a lot, and i suppose it's not.

for me, though, it seems like an eternity.

i try to be patient with computer games. i really do. i even kind of understand their draw, having done my share of fishing and bug collecting in animal crossing. but i still find myself groaning when richard asks me nicely if he can play zelda for an hour.

i don't really like television all that much, so i can't say that i care about him taking over the tv. nothing stops me from sitting next to him and knitting, or reading, or writing fiction, or editing photos while he plays. plus, there are plenty of evenings where it doesn't really matter: last night for example i slept peacefully nearby on the sofa while he whacked fireballs with his sword to kill a demon. so i really can't figure out why i am so impatient with his game playing. i think it's honestly because when he is killing monsters or breaking barrels with a sword, he can't really listen when i am talking.

given the fact that richard really does ask if it's okay with me, and that it isn't an obsession, i think it's pretty unfair of me to censor his playing time with my eye rolling and complaints.

so. this is a formal promise. i will try to be more patient with the occasional game evening, at least if the game is zelda.

if richard happened to tell me yesterday that he fighting the five incarnations of the final monster in the game, i swear that's only a coincidence.

i can't peel

richard recently bought me cooking mama for the nintendo ds. it is no less embarrassing to play in public than phoenix wright ace attorney was. at least with phoenix i could turn down the volume so people couldn't hear the cheesy music and random legalese. with this game, which i have to admit is really fun, i have to frenetically cut and flip and chop food with the stylus by tapping, tapping, tapping on the screen as fast as i can. not really something you can subtly do on the crowded train into london.

my biggest issue with cooking mama is that i can't use the vegetable peeler. i had richard try it out to see if he was more successful and he seemed to be. this is ironic, since i have trouble with peelers in real life too. i have always blamed the fact that i am left handed. anyway, in this game, i have to avoid all foods that have peeled vegetables in them.

moo moo

richard and i used the moo site to make mini business cards from our flickr photos last year, and now they've launched notecards! it's a nice user experience and their quality is great.