I was going to play my first roleplaying game since Nathan was born tonight, but you may have noticed that it's somewhat wet. Initially, I'd thought that it wouldn't be a problem, even though it took me twice as long as usual to get home from work because the A58 was closed because of flooding.

However, the game was to be a virtual one, using Skype's conference call system. That's were it all went pear shaped! Along with the rain and flooding, power has gone out in a number of areas around Sheffield, including the house where two of my fellow players, Tom and Matt, live. This completely scuppered using the internet. Anyway, I guess we'll reschedule.

This was to be a big experiment for me in more than one way; I was planning to run the Savage Worlds game system for the first time tonight, with a one-shot scenario based on 1950's B Movies. I'd wanted to do this because I've committed to run a Savage 2300AD game conversion at Furnace in October. I wanted to get some familiarity with the system as well as have some fun!

The 2300AD game has had me getting ready early, and I've been preparing some miniatures for use in the game. It's the first time that I remember painting 'little soldiers' rather than spaceships etc. and I'm pretty pleased with the results so far:



The shot is a macro one with the FZ-50, and shows the miniatures in progress.

Currently feeling: Slightly Disappointed.
Currently listening to: Maximo Park
Currently reading: 'Reign', an RPG by Greg Stolze

I've added a new book review of the novel Legacies, by Alison Sinclair, on the Media pages.

Nathan successfully completed his Splashathon today, with a new underwater swim at his Waterbabies class. He's raised nearly £300 for charity (see link here) and was a happy little boy. If you want to donate some more you can follow this link.


This picture was taken during his swim! There are more on my Flickr page, or you can follow the photo album link as usual!

Currently feeling: Like a Proud Dad
Currently listening to: The Who
Currently reading: 'Reign', an RPG by Greg Stolze

It's Saturday morning, and it feels appropriate to have a retrospective of where we got to with the DIY projects. We didn't get everything done we wanted to, but most of the key things happened, thanks to my father's help.

The completed list is as follows:
1. Security Light at back of house working.
2. Bannister repaired and reattached.
3. Nathan's video monitor camera wall mounted.
4. Nathan's picture put up.
5. Spare room measured to allow carpet to be moved.
6. Broadband and telephone extension relocated upstairs out of crawling child range.
7. Dining Room light changed for new fitting.
8. Garage light switch relocated by new pedestrian door.
9. Nathan's door hooks put up.

The things that didn't happen were;
1. Water butt connected (bought, installed, but needs the hose connecting to the downpipe).
2. Security Light #2 repaired (a full day of frustration with this one).
3. Bathroom extraction fixed (needs me to go in the loft).
4. Upper Storey Windows painted (probably happen later on this year).
5. Grout repaired on bathroom floor (couldn't get the right colour grout).
6. Repoint flags (thrown in as a last minute addition just in case we got there)

So all in all it was pretty successful, and a good use of four days. Nathan also enjoyed the attention from his grandfather!

All in all, I'm happy!

I've just updated Camino, my browser of choice on the Mac, to version 1.5. It's Mozilla Firefox done with an Apple style GUI. Fast, stable and simple, it's long since displaced Safari as my favourite browser on the Mac. However, if you're on a Windows or Linux machine you'll need to stick with Firefox (same rendering engine, more clunk on the interface, but still excellent).

It certainly feels a lot faster, and adds the ability to add RSS feeds directly to my preferred RSS Reader, Newsfire, which is very useful.

I've uploaded another selection of pictures to Flickr. You can get there by clicking directly on the picture, or by going via the photo-album.


Nathan in his new high chair with Mr Butterfly!

There are also such joys as Nathan trying out solids...


...and some more pictures of Wetherby.


All taken with the Panasonic FZ50, which is great fun to use!

I've been off the last three days on holiday. Or rather, I've been off these days learning the fun that it is to be a dad. Several of the other blokes I knew who had children used to joke about 'The List' which their better half maintained. Well, I'm just discovering about this phenomenon.

Over the last few months, a lot of things have built up around the house that need to be repaired, changed or generally attacked with hammer and screwdriver, not to mention power tool! Fortunately, my dad has taken a few days to come and help me go through the list. The first day was pretty successful, with a number of jobs, electrical or otherwise being completed.

Day 2 was a bit of a disaster though; when we bought the house it had two security lights at the back which stopped working quite quickly. One of these we successfully fixed, twice, as the first unit we installed didn't work properly. The second unit, which used to have a switch board in the kitchen until it burnt out, was much more frustrating. We spent most of the day trying to track the cables for this, in the end concluding that either the continuity was shot, or there was a hidden sneaky feed that we couldn't find. It was very, very frustrating!

We're hoping that Day 3 (repair the bannister and relocate the broadband to a custom built cubby hole) will prove a lot smoother!

Nathan is going to carry out a 'Splashathon' to raise money for Tommy's on the 12th June 2007, when he will perform a new underwater swim. He's been practicing every week with his mum at Water Babies. If you'd like to help him raise his target of £200, then please make a donation here.

Currently feeling: Content
Currently listening to: BBC Radio 4
Currently reading: 'Legacies' by Alison Sinclair (just finished 'Prador Moon' by Neal Asher)