I have recently installed a set of db Audio 6.2c speakers into my Calibra front doors. The install process itself was a Herculean task, but that’s another story…

Not wanting to randomly buy some speakers online, I visited the Car Audio Centre in Hyson Green, Nottingham. As I have found with this shop before, most of the goods don’t have prices on. They ask you what you have seen it at. You tell them the website price and they go “Yeah, that’s web only prices, it is £more in the shop”. I asked for a set of Infinity components which I had seen on their website. Again, as many people have found with these guys they didn’t have any stock. What they did have however were lots of InPhase and db Audio stock. Hardly surprising, as these are their own brands. The shop used to be called InPhase Audio back in the day. So they tried to switch sell me onto db Audio.
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Work have kindly provided me with a 15″ Macbook Pro. I love it. It has Bootcamp & Parallels with XP Pro just in case I need that (which I haven’t yet… ). The screen quality is fantastic. Leopard kicks ass. I don’t know what else to say. I am hooked

I also have a Wacom Graphire 2 tablet on loan, and I don’t know how I managed to do any kind of artwork without one. I will be buying one of these, even at £200+ it is still good value. Sketching and graphics manipulation is 100 times easier than with a mouse, and it even makes normal windows or Leopard operation faster and more intuitive. Fantastic!

Work put me through a Prince2 Foundation training course during December, booked through Focus Training and delivered by Datrix Training. Prince2 is pretty much the standard for Project Management in the UK, coming from the government’s experiences in areas such as the NHS. Having done the course, it all seems like blatant common sense, but it’s surprising how powerful it can be.
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The common stereotype is that garages rip you off. Unfortunately, I have found this to be the case too. I know a fair bit about how cars work, how long things take and what parts cost. Therefore, I can spot when I am being scammed.

Having just started my new job, I was looking for an independent garage within walking distance of work. I don’t use main dealers as I have found them expensive and indifferent towards older cars like mine. I found Vauxmoore , just off Radford road, opposite the Horse and Groom pub. Chris the owner is polite, customer focused and extremely knowledgeable, especially on Vauxhalls having worked for them as a mechanic. Vauxmoore aim to give dealer quality service or better, at realistic prices.

I had a full service and some odds and sods sorted, including a petrol leak in the engine bay. They kept me up to date with progress during the day, and asked before carrying out any extra work. Parts were well priced, and labour charges matched the work done, not rounded up to an hour for each five minute task.

All in all, I am really happy with the care taken with my car, the price and the excellent service. Vauxmoore are my new garage

Vauxmoore
Universal Court
Radford Rd
Nottingham
NG7 7NQ

0115-970 0101

No website yet, but they are working on it!

I was bought this book as a present by someone and he told me it is “the scariest book I have ever read”. I agree, but for a different reason. The basic premise of the book is that due to evolution, we have inherited mating strategies that result in us promoting our family line. Sperm Wars describes a hypothesis to “explain” this. Essentially, women aim to confuse their partners as to their fertile time, fuck as many men as possible and then let the sperm battle amongst themselves to fertilise her egg. May the best sperm win.

While Baker makes a strong argument for this hypothesis, the book and methodology sets off red flashing lights to me.

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