WordPress for iPad test

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Tech

Since I haven’t blogged from my iPad since NYC, and with the WordPress app receiving a significant update, I thought it was well overdue I give it a go.
One of my main bug-bears with the previous version was it’s annoying knack of loosing drafts should you make the mistake of navigating away from it within the app. Infuriating! While on the plane to New York I wrote a long post about Christmas and the start of our travels, only to loose the entire thing. I still haven’t quite forgiven WordPress for that one. Subsequently all future holiday blogging was done in simplenote and blogged later. I’ll let you know how I get on with the new app…

The seasons are steadily shifting towards spring, and the daffodils have starting shooting up at work already. Such lovely flowers they are; hiding all winter and popping up anew every year in spring, letting us know summer is just around the corner. That and they always remind me of the original Alice in Wonderland movie which instantly makes me feel cheerier. So now it is light when I walk home, and hopefully soon it’ll be warm enough for me to ride Ethel to work again (I don’t like cycling on the cold, my eyeballs!), and the days long enough for me to cycle to the gym in the evenings.

Greenpois0n has finally been released for windows, meaning an untethered jailbreak for my iPhone and iPad. Yay! I haven’t played around with the jailbreak functionality of my iPad yet, and I’m kind of going through that, “OK, I’ve jailbroken, what’s next?” phase, but I know once I’ve hit YouTube and checked what other people are playing with I’ll start having fun.
Have you tried World of Goo for iPad yet? It’s a great game!

Mind mash

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

I’m having a day where I feel like I have a lot to say, but really it’s all inconsequential.

I think I need to get one of those light therapy lamps for Seasonal Affective Disorder. It’s that time of year where I get nihilistic and wonder what the point of life is.

We are going into town tonight for drinks with some of Pete’s work mates, which should be good. Then tomorrow night it’s my Uncle Jimmy’s 60th birthday party. It’ll be nice to see all the family again, and I have a nice dress I’m going to wear. Becky and I have also planned to have a session on a sunbed during the day before to try get some of those vital UV rays to make me happy again, and a bit of a tan will do me good too! It’ll be my first sunbed session in my life so I don’t really know what to expect.

I finished reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo last night. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Interesting and memorable characters, with a gripping plot that twists and turns. Now to find my next book to read so I can get out of the awkward in-between-book phase. That floaty place like an addict searching for my next hit. 🙂 I might try one of the books my friend Belinda recommended.

Next weekend Becky and I are going wedding dress shopping. She’s making bookings at 2 bridal shops in town to try dresses on. I’m pretty darn excited. I have a rough idea of what I want to wear but think it might be a bit casual (I know, who cares right); but I’m excited to try on some “traditional” gowns and really find out what I do and don’t like.

2010 in Summary

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal, LJXP

2010 was certainly a year of high highs and low lows for me.

January

We brought in 2010 in South Africa will all our friends and family @ Julian & Belinda’s house for a fantastic casino night.

A group of my friends, family and myself all got tattooed together. My Brother, Mum, Myself. Belinda & Sis-in-Law Haylie all had tattoos done by Gav at Electric Eye Tattoo in Umhlanga.

We chilled in the Sunshine and drank with loved ones before returning to England on 11th Jan.

Gig 1. My first gig of the year was Emily Autumn @ Wolverhampton Civic on 29th Jan. I went with my colleagues Gemma & Faye B. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it did go on for a bit too long.
Gemma and I had a disaster on the way and accidentally got on an express direct train to London! Thankfully the lovely staff arranged an emergency stop for us in Rugby to catch a train back to where we should have gone.

February

Gig 2. Rammstein! Pete and I went with my colleague Liam, we booked really late so ended up right near the back, but we still had an incredible time. Rammstein are amazing live. Breathtaking pyrotechnics and lighting. It was awesome.

March

I found out I was going to be an Aunty!!!

April

Pete Proposed! I woke up on Easter Sunday to a post-it clue on my iPhone that began an Easter egg hunt! The eggs got larger and larger finally led me to my engagement ring 🙂

While on a Company night out with Pete colleagues we spontaneously decided to do a reverse bungy. I’d had just the right amount of alcohol to overcome my panic attack inducing fear of heights, and I bloody loved it.

May

I bought my lovely little bike, which I named Ethel, for going to work on.

I voted in the General Election. The first time I have voted in my life.

I got an iPad. The most awesome device of 2010 by far. I love it!

June

My Aunty Sandra was diagnosed with cancer. & my Mum flew over to be with her for a while as she didn’t know how long her sister would have.

July

Becky, Jane & I took part in the Race for Life to raise money for cancer research. We did it in honour of those we knew affected by cancer. I did for my cousin Ange who passed in 2008 & now her Mum, my aunty Sandra diagnosed the month before.

August

My 30th Birthday! My parents flew over and surprised me for my birthday. It was the best surprise of my life, I’d had no idea they were coming thanks to Pete and my parents sneaky planning 🙂 Pete and Becky threw a party for me at a local Irish bar and it was the party of my life. So amazing!

We did some travelling with my parents and drove to Lincoln, York and Sheffield visiting places that we knew and used to live in. This was the pub my parents got engaged at in 1971.

Aunty Sandra passed away on 29th Aug. My parents were still here which I was grateful for; my Mum got to say goodbye to her sister and be here for the cremation.

Septemeber

My Aunty Tracey & Uncle Andy got married after being together for many years and having children. It was a gorgeous wedding and fantastic party afterwards!

My brother became a Father and I became an Aunty!! Little Macayla came into the world on 27th Sept happy & healthy 🙂 Certainly a highlight of the year 🙂

October

We saw Sean Locke @ Wolverhampton. I prefer him on telly to be honest. His live stand up show varied from hilarious to unfunny.

With the money I got from my 30th Birthday I expanded on my shoulder tattoo. My biggest tattoo so far and I couldn’t be happier with it. Done by Cesar @ Body Garden Tattoo in Birmingham.

We also saw Dara O’Briain in Stand Up @ The Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton. Truly hilarious throughout. I would definitely see him live again.

November

Not much happened, I had my should tattoo touched up, but that’s all that’s really note-worthy.

December

Gig 3. Becky, Pete and I went to see 30 Seconds to Mars. They were ok. I wouldn’t see them again. I think Jared came off a bit arrogant and over-did it on audience participation. I can too see you sing, not with Beautiful Lie all by myself. I’m still glad I went though, we had fun.

Gig 4. Faithless in Manchester with my Colleague Gazz and his wife Kerry. Generally this kind of music is not my normal cup of tea, but Faithless are fantastic live! I only recognised 3 songs but the entire gig was brilliant. Highly recommended.

Gig 5. The Pretty Reckless in The Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton. Probably my gig of the year. I danced and sung my heart out to every single song and they covered Audioslave, Muse and Oasis which I loved. They sounded amazing live, and Taylor is a pure sex kitten on stage. I loved every single minute of it.

We ended of the year with an amazing holiday to New York City to bring in the new year. We stayed in 2 hotels in central Manhattan and took in so many sights. I can now understand why those t-shirts that say I ♥ NY and can’t wait to go back one day.

Holiday NYC 3 Jan

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

Because our tour tickets had expired we didn’t have any solid plans for our last full day. We took at walk back up to 42nd street and had an expensive but delicious lunch at Applebee’s, afterwards we just spent the afternoon walking around the Times Square are until our (my) feet were sore. Then we spend a couple of hours in the hotel before going to The Majestic Theatre to watch The Phantom of The Opera. Such a stunning show! Truly breathtaking and had me captivated from beginning to end!

NYC Holiday 2 Jan

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

We started the day a bit earlier and caught the Downtown tour to Ground Zero. We were there for much of the day and visited the 9/11 Memorial visitors centre and Gallery. I was very moved by the whole experience of just viewing the gallery, and that was before we even started the guided tour around the Ground Zero site. The centre is run by many volunteers who are one way or another connected the the WTC and 9/11 and so are the guides. There were 2 guides on our tour and it was very informative and thorough, about an hour and half. Near the end of the tour our 2 guides told us about their connections with the events of 9/11 and the first guide lost nearly all her belonging as she and her husband lived in a block of flats 2 blocks away that had caught fire, the second guide lost her cousin Joe only 40, a husband and father to a 9yr old girl. It was interesting and saddening to hear how the days progressed for family of victims in the days and months following 9/11. It was months before the medical examiners got in touch with Joe’s family when they had found a piece of his elbow, and a total of 8 pieces of him in the further months. I welled up as she was telling us about it. It’s inconceivable to imagine what the families went through.
The site itself is a construction site at the moment. We could just see the footprints of where the Twin Towers stood from where our guides took us and the trees that have been planted. The new towers being build are coming on and new Tower 1 reached the half way mark of 52 floors a few weeks ago. The progress is interesting and I would certainly love to visit in a few more years when the site is complete and the memorial museum open. The tribute centre creates a great spot to see artefacts from the tragic events and connect with people who were directly affected by that day.
We walked a bit further south with the plans of taking the Brooklyn tour but it was running that day, but we did see the damaged monument that used to sit between the feet of the 2 towers at Ground Zero. It has been left in it original tattered state as it was recovered from the site. We got back on the Downtown Town for one stop (same annoying tour guide from the day before, what are the chances!) and had dinner at Pier 17. Very disappointing food that was over priced! But interesting views anyway. We caught one of the last tour buses back up to Times Square then took a subway to Macy’s. What a store! So big and so much choice and variety! We only looked at the first 3 of the 9 floors as we were getting quiet tired. Then headed back to the hotel to relax and get an early night for our last full day.

NYC Holiday New Years Day

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

We stayed in bed late and Pete procured nourishment from a local pizza shop. The biggest pizza I have ever seen! Had a nice afternoon relaxing in the hotel and taking a long jet bath. Finally got ready
and took a tour bus on the Downtown Route to China Town. We walked around a bit then stopped in a restaurant to eat some of the best beef and vegetable Chinese I have ever tasted. Caught a subway back to our hotel and relaxed some more. A very lazy day, but I think we needed a day off from all the walking!

NYC Holiday 31 Dec

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

Decided to activate our 3 day travel ticket and take one of the bus tours and the boat cruise. Picked up our tickets in Madame Tussauds, then went for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Had possibly the best burger and chips I’ve ever had, and surrounded by guitars and equipment previously owned by world famous rock legends. Brilliant. Afterwards we made our way to catch the tour bus for the uptown tour.It didn’t come after 20 minutes though so we decided to walk to the Rockerfeller Centre and go up to the observation deck. Being scares of heights I was incredibly nervous while we waited for the elevators but I soon got over it when I saw the amazing view! Truly breathtaking. We exited Rockerfeller Centre and viewed the famous massive Christmas tree and outdoor ice-skating.
Afterwards we walked to pier 83 for our 2 hour semi-circle cruise around the south of Manhattan Island and viewed the Statue of Liberty and Went underneath Brooklyn Bridge. The views of the city from the Hudson river are quiet spectacular. We then moved our luggage to our next Hotel in Madison Square Gardens. We relaxed and drank our Buds before heading out to drink and bring in the New Year. We sat at an Irish bar just around the corner from our hotel and drank a few cocktails and mixers. We headed onto 7th avenue Madison Square Garden to bring in the new year. We hoped to see the fireworks from Times Square, which we did but the view was pretty disappointing really so we just headed back to our hotel room.

NYC Holiday 30 Dec

Published on by Violetsteel Category: Journal

In the morning we booked a 3 day tour with the Concierge in the reception of our hotel, and also tickets for Phantom of the Opera. Hit the streets around 12 and went for lunch at Dallas BBQ on 42nd. A young guy cane to serve us and I detected a South African accent so asked and sure enough he was from Durban! Pinetown to he exact, we told him we were from Hillcrest and he said he actually went to Kearsney, the same School as Pete! What are the chances of that? Afterwards we took a walk up 5th Avenue to the Apple Store then into Central Park. Stunningly beautiful place especially covered in snow. I was completely in awe! We saw ice skating and drank some delicious hot apple cider with a foot long hotdog. Then continued to walk up through Central Park. We took the subway back down to our Hotel and enjoyed the free drinks again then chilled in our hotel room for the rest of the evening.