Replicator Technology Needed

There are many times during my every day existence that I wish that there really were things like Replicators, not for feed-the-world-wipe-out-world-hunger reasons (although those are good reasons to want one) but for entirely selfish reasons.

I work hours that are described in my job description as ‘unsocial’, basically I start work at 5pm Mon – Wed and finish at around 11pm, Thurs I do 10am to 11pm and Fri – Sat is 12noon to 11pm. I pretty much start work as other people are coming home from work, and I only get one day off a week. A lot of the time my lunch consists of a sandwich or if I’m feeling adventerous I have beans on toast or something (cooking is not my strong point), dinner however is often a microwave meal either from Tescos (and from there it usually tastes like cardboard) or if I have the money from Marks & Spencers (where it tastes a bit more real)… sometimes I get a great baked potato from ‘Dinner Jackets’ in Covent Garden but really, you can’t have a baked potato everyday! Often by the time I get home I’m peckish and too tired too cook anything that’s remotely considered ‘food’, right this second I’m cooking a piece of chicken because if I don’t cook it today it’ll go off and that’s a waste of food… I was going to cook some pasta with it but I’m tired and want my chicken to be just ready so I can make a sandwich with it.

What I need is a Replicator. Then I can have something different, tasty or whatnot every day without having a limited selection. It would also be great on Sunday’s, really my cooking skills are limited – I can do a few set meals but usually require the help of a sauce packet or jar, I own a few cook books (including a Star Trek one) and ironically got a ‘B’ at GCSE Food Technology (which btw, has very little to do with actual cooking). Perhaps to improve I should cook more but having one day to do it is a bit… naff.

So, come on science boffins! Stop playing around with particle accelerators and make a Replicator… although after typing that I have a feeling the two are connected in some strange complicated way. The Starfleet Technicial Manual makes it all sound so simple.

Open Source Let Down

Every now and then I get the urge to do a bit of amateur (emphasis on amateur) website design and make myself a site (that isn’t just a list of books I’ve r&r’d). On my old laptop I have Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, which is a brilliantly powerful website design tool… so far I haven’t found the disc for my copy (it’ll be somewhere in the mess) so had to find an alternative. (EDIT: Found the disc.)

After a quick search on my favourite website for finding alternative open source software I found that there weren’t that many alternatives to Dreamweaver, I’d tried Nvu before… it was good as a very basic editor but as it didn’t support frames or have nearly as much functionality to Dreamweaver, I needed to find something that did (it’s also pretty buggy and their CSS editor doesn’t seem to work.) Also I’ve found out that Nvu is no longer being actively maintained so it’s unlikely that the bugs will be fixed or the functionality will be increased. KompoZer is recommended as an alternative as it’s based on the Nvu source code… again it doesn’t support frames and after looking into the comments it seems the ‘insert image’ and ‘tables’ functions are broke/buggy.

A much as I am very for open source software (Open Office permanently replaced Office as soon as I had internet access in my flat just under 2yrs ago) and there are some fantastic programmes out there like Gimp, this time I really think I shall be going back to using Dreamweaver. It’s a shame, Nvu could have been a contender.

Gadgets, Doodahs and Whatsits

My 5yr old Canon A80 digital compact camera has developed a ‘known fault’ with the CCD sensor and fortunately I can get this repaired for free (it’s currently packed up on the kitchen counter) from my nearest Canon repair shop (of which there are only three in the UK).

I’ve also bought a new one, I’ve spent £114 on a Canon A580 which I originally tried to buy from Pixmania (discovered instructions would be in French) and then from UK Digital Cameras… both of these places won’t deliver to my address since it’s not the address my card is registered at without having far too much privacy invading identification just to prove that it’s me. In the end I’ve bought it from Dixons as not only would they allow me to deliver to my home address but I could choose the delivery period (opted for Mon 7th July between 8:30am and 5pm). Excellent… also worked out cheaper.

Don’t seem to be having the greatest luck with technology at the moment.

UPDATE: The postage was a surprisingly cheap £1.94! Couldn’t believe how light my digital camera is without the batteries !