Vistafied

Some things are guaranteed to put me into a mild sweat. Finding we have no milk in the house, filling in my Tax Return. And changing my computer operating system.

Today I've done all three. The milkman seems to have vanished. We gave him a bottle of wine for christmas, told him we didn't want any milk for a few days and we've not seen him since. I have this awful vision of an upturned milk float half submerged in a ditch with a white clad body spreadeagled alongside, a half empty wine bottle still clutched in its dead hand. Or he might just have forgotten us. Anyhoo, I was nearly condemned to black tea until number one daughter mentioned that there were shops in the village which also sell milk. Phew.

Then I had to do my tax return, seeing as it is due tomorrow. I don't earn much money (most things I do for love - obviously) but I did get paid for some stuff I wrote some time back, so I have to declare it and pay the man. So there was a quick scrabble for forms, typing of numbers and pressing of submit buttons.

Then we came to my new operating system. I'm going to move to Vista. Part of me wants to, the other part has a great affinity for the status quo. However, some software I want to use only works with Vista, so I'm kind of forced into this. I'm not actually moving completely just yet. I thought I'd install the system on another computer first so that I have an escape clause. So far things have gone quite well. I've got Vista running on my old Toshiba M200 and it seems to work OK so far.

Micro Framework Sample Chapters

You may not know I'm writing a book (there must be some people left on the planet that I've not told yet). Anyhoo, I am. Writing a book. (makes a change from colouring them in I suppose)

The book is about embedded development using the .NET Micro Framework. This is something I'm very excited to be involved with. I reckon the framework could do wonderful things for the process of writing code for very small processors (the kind you find in remote controls and other small computer controlled devices). It makes embedded code more reliable and easier to write. Wonderful stuff.

If you want to read bits of the book before it gets printed, and even pass comment on them, you can take a look here.

Best Christmas Present Ever?

Well?

More Wii Magic

The more I play with the Nintendo Wii the more I like it. In fact, just watching other people play with it is fun enough. We went to see more folks today, and I unpacked the Wii and turned it loose. There were conversations like:

"How do I use this then?"
"Just hit the ball"
"So, which buttons do I press?"
"You don't, just hit the ball with it"

And so they did. Watching four people play tennis together is very amusing, and some of the rallys went on for a fair time. I reckon that we will soon outgrow the simple games that come with the device. I just hope that they produce some "proper" sports games to go with it.

Happy Christmas

Happy christmas to all (or perhaps both) my readers. I hope you got as many and as good presents as I did. And I hope you have a happy and prosperous new year.