Other What currently makes your life awesome?

I'm heading out to the Peak District for a solo 2 night camp and a full day hike on and around Kinder Scout this weekend. Doesn't get any better for me than that (apart from when the family joins me). I'm going solo as my eldest daughter uses the weekends to spend time with her boyfriend now and my youngest won't go when there is snow forecast. My wife is taking her on a shopping trip and bingo outing with my mum while I'm away so they are happy and sorted

It'll be the first of many trips and hikes for me this year. I run a voluntary camping and outdoor activity project where we take whole families away for their first camping experience, so there are a number of weekends dedicated to that. I'm in training for completing Everest Base camp with my eldest daughter too, so I'll be racking up the hours this year ready for the challenge. Last year a few of my mates and I hiked Snowdon in aid of a military charity (SSAFA), so I'm keeping the momentum going this year with an end of season hike up and down Ben Nevis.

I really am excited to be getting out again, to the point I feel like a kid in a sweetshop I've not been hiking since just before Xmas and my last camp was November. That means the going is likely to be tough, I set a hard pace on my hikes. That's part of the buzz though. I've got quite a bit of new kit to try out too, some photography gear and also some arctic gear. I'll probably do Mam Tor on the Friday afternoon and I'm definitely doing Kinder Scout on Saturday. It's forecast snow Saturday so I'm hoping for plenty of dramatic snow shots of the views!

 

Buying a ES Xeon is always a pant crapping experience. So the bowels tend to relax when you get this..

 

Got enough cores there matey?

 

£160. Will boost to about 2.8ghz on all 20 threads.

 

Only 2GB RAM though?!

 

D'you know what I didn't even notice that. That was the X86 version though, and I had no drivers installed.



It is all there in bios and I did a CPUID on the memory about 10 mins back and saw it there as 8gb, 1066 (so X2 = 2133) and etc. I have also now installed the X64 version.

So glad that board didn't sell. God, I would have properly kicked my own head in if I had sold that for £60 and some one got this CPU running in it lol. As it stands? free board pretty much. Got some lovely gear on it too (Killer NIC, Intel Gigabit NIC, Intel Proset Wireless, SB Recon 3D etc).

Now I just need to get my head around this fan problem !

 

Pose for the camera, girls:

 

PPI claim number 2 £7,032.61 with three claims yet outstanding. Over thirteen grand back so far.

 

Off to another military shoot tomorrow. After a somewhat shaky start, this years going pretty well all of a sudden!

 

Lincoln City beat the Chelsea yoof side to make the Checkatrade final.

Last season FA Cup QF and promotion, this season hovering around L2 playoffs and in a final at Wembley. Happy days.

 

Free pizza lunch.
I'm a simple man.

 

Bacon sub for lunch.

Bacon sub with SEVEN RASHERS OF SMOKED STREAKY BACON AND APPLEWOOD CHEESE.

 

So I'm on a bit of a Tour de Wales on the motorbike at the moment: I'm riding around the coast and then back down the border. Yesterday was miserable, as I was soaked through. My waterproof trousers leaked at the crotch, my gloves leaked, the seals around my visor leaked so I got water fogging the inside of my visor, the waterproofing on my rucksack failed and all my dry clothes got wet, and there was so much spray up off country roads that everything I wore stunk of cow poop.

But today I went up through Snowdonia and I was absolutely blown away. I have never seen such stunning and breathtaking scenery (that I can remember properly or was old enough to appreciate). It was absolutely awe inspiring. I only wish I had taken more photos, but sadly it was too damn cold to stop every dozen miles!



The most impressive sight was coming down the A5 from Capel Curig towards Bangor. The road wound it's way down a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains and it was absolutely incredible. I have to do this again... but in Summer next time!

Brief route summary, started in Cardiff: along the M4 right to the end, Camarthen, Haverfordwest, Fishguard, then Aberystwyth (and stop for the night); Machynlleth, Dolgellau, Beddgelert, Capel Curig, Bethesda (woot! ), Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Chester, Wrexham (and stop for the night); I haven't decided the route home yet, I'll work that out in the morning.

 

I’ve done the A5 bits you’re mentioning a couple times and yeah it’s gorgeous there! I’ve been to almost all those places on your route too. In fact I was at Bluestone the other week just past St Clears. Fantastic place in the world.

I highly recommend Rhossili on the Gower for a Sunday avo bike ride when you’re back...

 

I upgraded to EE's 200GB 4G home broadband package three weeks ago... (i.e. a week more than the cooling off period)
EE dropped the price of it from £100/month to £60/month this week, on a 30 day contract, I was paying £90 as a repeat customer on an 18 month contract.

Clearly somewhat miffed, I called EE and explained why I didn't think that was entirely cricket.
Turns out they agreed without argument, and dropped me down to £50/month.

Go go gadget-common-sense!

 

God damn today was wet... I was absolutely soaked by the time I got home today. Some great views today, but not a patch on what I saw yesterday. Worth it though, worth every minute. 489.6 miles total and one utterly minging bike that I'm not looking forward to cleaning!

This bit:



Absolutely stunning view down that road.

Yeah I used to live in Swansea, and I've been meaning to get back down to the Gower at some point.

 

Watching the Spuds give the gooners a master class. Ahhh, best moment of the year for me

 

Buying 11 motherboards as a for parts/faulty listing for $125 ish including postage and finding that more than half of them worked. Some of them are Z97 boards, including a Maximus VII Hero and a GB FM2A88X ITX board for FM2 (I think that’s the name of it)!

 

I love it when a gamble pays off