Mark Dalton

Sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself with only day time TV and my MacBook Air to keep my company I took a closer look today at the BBC’s iPlayer site. I am still getting to grips with everything it has to offer, but so far I am pretty impressed. According to the BBC’s web site iPlayer allows you to view BBC TV and listen to BBC radio broadcasts that have been shown over the last seven days. The BBC’s iPlayer web site allows states that you can download and watch shows for up to 30 days after. However this feature is only available Microsoft Windows XP & Vista users.

Well that sucks as I am a Mac user, but I have found an alternative solution in the iPlayer Downloader. Now I am not sure if this is subject to the same time limits as the iPlayer’s Download Manager, but have downloaded a few shows and will see how long they play for.

All in all a pretty good service, and one that I think show’s the future of broadcasting and the Internet.

Okay so we had a great afternoon with Katrina, Rob, and the kids on Sunday. It was really nice to catch up with everybody and see how much the kids have grown. Eleanor is now crawling and is a little happier with the world, although does still like a good cry.

Now for a change I didn’t take any pictures but instead opted to take the HandyCam along, so over the next couple of day’s I will put together a little montage of the footage I shot.

Monday was back to work and it was cold and miserable. I also forgot to renew my ticket on Friday, so spent 30 minutes queuing which inevitably meant I was late to the office. I got home last night and just felt rough. Nothing life threatening, but just the winter sniffles. I had a lousy nights sleep as I just couldn’t breath through my nose, and kept waking up covered in sweat and shivering. This morning when the alarm went off I was laying there waiting. I knew I would be useless in the office today so dropped the boss a line advising that I wouldn’t be in. I then drove to the chemist and purchased every cold remedy they had, before returning to the warmth of the sofa.

I feel a lot brighter this evening and will head back to work tomorrow as there is just so much going on. I’m also duty manager this weekend so want to know what I am in for, as much as anything else. One thing i will be doing however is digging out my scarf and gloves.

Well, I have not been posting much recently for one simple reason, I haven’t been doing much. The last few weeks seem to have been nothing but work. Not that work has been really busy, well not any busier than normal, but I have just felt really tired, and by the time I get in have made myself some dinner all I feel like doing is vegging out in front of the TV.

Last Sunday I did however venture around to Mum & Dad’s for Sunday lunch, which was really nice, but we were all really tired and not much company. This week it has been really cold, it even snowed on Wednesday morning. The highlight this week was ordering and receiving a case for my iPhone. I opted for a case from Griffin via Amazon and I must say it’s just the ticket. I was starting to get a little worried about it getting scratched in my pocket.

Today I have decided, as it’s to cold outside, to have a day inside and catch up with some house stuff. I have been working on scanning all my old paper work onto the computer, and clearing out my “toy” cupboard and eBaying the items that may have some value. Not exactly the height of excitement but it needs doing.

Tomorrow I am off to Katrina’s with Mum & Dad for Sunday Lunch. It will be good to all be together and to see the kids again. As for next week its back to the grind, but I have promised myself that I will clean out the toy cupboard and the scanning work by Christmas, so will try and spend a few hours each evening working on these projects.

I am also looking into completing my Day Skipper sailing qualification next year and am currently looking into courses. The aim is to do the theory and then do the practical at the same time as Dad does is Competent Crew course.