Ah another blog failure

Well this one lasted slightly... longer than the last one. I think I need something more interesting to write about, that is my problem.

Fun at the auction

I quite like auction sales, they are a bit of fun and you can often pick up some pretty good bargains at them. Went to one today with my Dad, which in this case was a liquidation auction sale for a local furniture shop that had gone out of business - everything had to go, everything brand new, and quite a lot of stock. I manage to get a decent deal on a new bedstead and some chairs, and my Dad also got a few items.

Anyway getting towards the end and my Dad was a bit distracted as we sorted out moving some of the items we had bought early on and they got to the sale of bedding supplies. Now prior to coming my Dad had received a fairly simple request from my Mum, which was that she wouldn't mind a few pillows if they have any of the Feather & Down type. Due to the destruction my Dad got back to the bidding area just before the last couple of pillow lots were announced, but fortunately the last one on the list was "an assortment of Feather & Down pillows" - perfect he thinks. Now again because he just got back he didn't have a chance to track down the lot itself in the warehouse, and so effectively bid blind. Still there was virtually no other bidders there at that point and got the lot for a princely sum of £25, and all of the goods were brand new anyway so didn't really need inspection. After securing it I was sent to locate it while he sorted out paying.

Well I found it - lot 285... At which point I decided to ring my Mum to enquire exactly what his instructions were:

Me: Emmm so you wanted some pillows?
Mum: Yes, but only if they are the Feather & Down type
Me: Well he got the right sort... How many did you want?
Mum: 4 would be fine
Me: 4? Well he's got a few more than that...
Mum: Well 8 would be fine I guess as we could replace the guest room ones as well.
Me: so no use for any more than 8?
Mum: Emmm no... How many has he bought?
Me: Emmmm well more than that... I'll probably take 4 off you myself, but well, emmm...
Mum: How many has he bought?
Me: Well it's difficult to say...
Mum: why?
Me: Well theta is kind of too many to easily count...
Mum: What????
Me: Emmm, yep, maybe some difficult fitting them in the cars.... If I was a betting man I would guess there are about 300 of them....
*silence*

So yes Dad accidentally bought roughly 300 pillows for £25. Looks like out local charity shops are going to benefit from this one. Anyone need any new pillows?

Seriously???

Want to know when is the best time to run to the loo during a movie? Apparently there's an app for that!

Tennis Ball Canon

Well over the last few weeks we have been setting ourselves a bit of a project, which was basically to build a tennis ball canon. Our goal was fairly modest - to get something to work using compressed air, and be able to propel a tennis ball further than we could physically throw it...

Anyway, one child's air rocket toy, some metal tubing, some fibre glassing and a car tyre pump hooked up to a car battery later and we had our prototype ready for test firing outside (we have been putting one or two marks in my ceiling with earlier incomplete models).

This was our first test at "full" power, which we approached we a fair bit of trepidation, mainly because we were aiming for release at 180 psi which was about on the limit of what we thought our pressure chamber could take, so we were a bit concerned that our release device was not going to be the first thing to fail ... Anyway here was the result:



So we achieved our aim as it went (into the wind) roughly twice as far as any of us could throw the tennis ball...

More Music

Just discovered these guys who I've got to say are lovingly irrelevant (and I mean that in a good way). I suspect this is more one for Chemie than Squid however...

Rob Sawyer

Went to "The Splash" (The AquaSplash which is an occasionally used night club right on St Ouens bay in Jersey) on Saturday night for a live music night which was pretty cool. They termed the night "Sunshine" and rather than the usual stuff they play up there they went with a more laid back theme which was quite a pleasant change. The highlight was a guy called Rob Sawyer (official site here) who was over from Australia who was really very good. He plays guitar in a similar way to Richard Thompson with a hybrid picking style that I do find very impressive (mainly because I can't do it so am jealous). Anyway he was good enough that I bought one of his album off iTunes which I am working my way through, so you guys get to have a song of his:

My MG Lives!

Woohoo, my good old MG Midget once again lives! It’s been pretty nice weather lately so I thought I would get the old girl running again (I think she needs a name - maybe Megan), and a bit of money + a tow later she once again lives!

As proof we were messing around with the HD Hero Cam yesterday and got some “onboard” footage - unfortunately we forgot to charge the battery and it died before we got anywhere interesting. Still I do like the shots you can pull off with this thing, and I especially like the cool sky reflection off my shinny car.


MG Lives! from James Edmunds on Vimeo.