2009

My golly goodness, how long has it been?

I’d forgotten all about this site; it was only when I received an email this morning from a reader that I remembered it!  Amazingly, I also remembered my login details and so have decided to get blogging again on Delayed Reaction.

Restart your feeds because I’m back baby!

Leaving for Blackpool

Well, here we go again for another year.  Doesn’t time fly?  It seems like yesterday when I was parading around dressed as Cleopatra.  It probably was, knowing me.

Mum, Ollie and I are heading up to sunny Blackpool for the Masters World Championships 2007 in a couple of hours.  It’ll be slightly different to the last two years – we’re going by train rather than car; which if you ask me, sucks.  I don’t like carrying luggage on and off trains at the best of times, but when we’ve got a massive trolley containing my competition dress and other heavy items, it gets ridiculous.  Mind you, it shouldn’t be any worse than the Southern Masters last year – imagine carrying 3 trolleys each and having to jump off several different trains via Thameslink.

I’m nervous already; this event means the absolute world to me (no pun intended) and I hate it when it’s over.  That’s why I’m deadly determined to make that final – if I get eliminated then it’s all over.  And trust me, having to sit there and watch the others compete when all you want to do is be with them is the most horrible feeling.

Wish me luck!

Party Pooper

Due to the winner of Miss England 2007 and qualified Miss World 2007 entrant being from my hometown, the Miss York finalists (myself included) were invited to a celebration VIP party around the town in an open top bus and champagne afterwards.  I’d really been looking forward to seeing everyone again so I left dance practise early so that I could be ready in time. 

I got myself dressed up in ‘glam-rock’ leopard-print and did my hair and makeup accordingly, since photographers from the local paper were reported to be attending.  After receiving an email stating that we were supposed to meet outside the Art Gallery at 6pm, I did as requested and got a lift into town on time.  As the car pulled around the corner, I noticed the bus – decorated in patriotic red and white balloons – and smiled.  It looked like it was going to be a good evening.  I got out of the car and started running down towards the bus; I was keen to get on and started with the celebrations.  But for some reason, the bus pulled away as I drew closer, leaving me standing on the pavement, alone.  I screamed and waved after it, but it carried on – even though the other girls saw me upstairs.  I figured I must have been late.  Had the clock in the car been wrong?  I looked at my watch to discover it had just turned 18:03.  I was three minutes late and it just left, despite me being right there. 

And it said meet at 6, not board the bus at 6.

I tried calling my friends who had gone to the party, but they wouldn’t respond.  There I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.

So I came home and watched Titanic on the sofa with my puppy and a couple of bourbon biscuits.  Rock on.

In Your Face(book), MySpace!

So, Google are likely to buy Facebook.  Doesn’t surprise me really; what can’t they buy?

I admit, I never expected MySpace to be beaten on the social networking scene – just like iPods seem to be completely ruling the MP3 business – but I’ve got a buzzing feeling about Facebook. 

The whole ‘poking’ thing seems to have taken off and what with such a huge response from university students for the calendar features, word of mouth has probably been the biggest advertisement feature for it.  Hey, even Cosmo referred to it in a recent article.

I still think MySpace have the head of media – top blockbusters, TV shows and bands are even using MySpace as their main website now – but I have a good feeling that Facebook will steal a vast amount of the general public.

Clowning Around

I think we were all over the moon to watch Charley’s comeuppance as she attempted being a clown during Big Brother’s Birthday Party on last night’s show. 

It was all spoiled, however, when she cruelly slammed into Brian the Brain after he displayed his opinions of ex-housemate, Emily Parr.  Her mockery, shouting and – quite frankly - bullying of the nineteen year old made me cringe as he was forced to walk out of the living room and through the garden to get away from the self-proclaimed IT girl. 

Brian – famous for not knowing who Romeo and Juliet (or William Shakespeare for that matter) are – then cried to Big Brother in the diary room in his full one-man-band attire, before his performance to the party-goers.  He made it an emotional rollercoaster for viewers; as hilarious as it was when he dropped his kazoo, ‘pumped his horn’ and laughed at Big Brother’s attempt to cheer him up, it was painful to watch as he covered his top hat across his face to hide his tears caused by evil Charley’s harsh words.  I just wanted to give him a cuddle and tell him to ignore the nasty little brat.

  I’d rather be locked in an elevator with Ronald McDonald than her.

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

I think Yorkshire’s residents will be mutating soon to some kind of underwater creature.

The daily torrential rain has become a way of life for us all now – despite it being July – and it’s even becoming a habit to automatically take an umbrella when leaving the house.  Also, it rained on St. Swithins Day, so it doesn’t look like it’ll stop any time soon.

The most depressing thing is that when it is sunny, like it was this morning, a thunder storm will crash down on you when you’re wearing your short shorts.  Just like it did to me when I headed for work.

So this is what global warming’s doing to us.. I’m not sure I agree with that.  All those years ago, England was all ice – climates change and that’s a way of life. 

It’s just typical now how it’s decided to stop changing on this cold, rainy state.

Phoney Calling

When you’re expecting several important phone calls, there’s nothing more irritating than when a fake company ring you up offering fake deals that you’re actually not eligable to, no matter what they say. 

It seems that every day recently, I’m being awoken to my phone ringing.  I won’t complain, it’s nice to be wanted; but when I’m woken up at a ridiculous hour by a non-bona fide company offering me a free upgrade for my mobile, it’s just irritating. 

The even more annoying thing is when you do actually want to upgrade your phone and have plans to do so.  Then it just gets confusing.

Oh – and something weird – I was dreaming before my phone rang and I dreamt that someone said “No, Claire’s ringtone sounds like this:” and then it rang, performing the ringtone.. how bizarre.

Bebo No-No

Can I just add that I know absolutely no – I repeat, no - Bebo cheats whatsoever. 

I’m happy for people to share their tips and advice to other Bebo-ers on my blog, but that’s not what the post intended.  I personally think it’s very boring and quite frankly, sad, for people to need cheats in order to make them look like they have friends. 

It’s so typical that when my blog gets recognised, it’s for the completely wrong reasons.

Phones

Title says it all, really.

My contract expires next month and so I am now eligable for an upgrade.  Usually, this would be one of the highlights of my year (sad, I know), but this year, the exciting event has come at the wrong time.  There is absolutely nothing on the market that takes my fancy and being a phone freak, that’s really saying something.

I currently own a Vodafone VPA Compact III and although I loved it when I got it, I’ve grown to hate it.  Not because I’ve gotten bored of it – no way – but because it doesn’t work.  Here’s why I haven’t snapped up a new model yet.  It was between these two:

T-Mobile’s Ameo/HTC’s Athena

The new Windows Mobile UMPC-meets-Smartphone grabbed my attention immediately, but after further consideration, I changed my mind.  The 5 inch PDA-style screen is definitely something to boast about, but that kind of size has its problems too – like trying to fit it into a pocket.  Complete with a magnetic attachable keyboard, it creates the effect of a very smart ultra mobile PC; but for day-to-day use, this just isn’t convenient.  With my current phone, I can text or e-mail on the move – literally – by sliding out the full QWERTY keyboard and type as I’m walking.  Try and type on this keyboard, and the magnets detatch, causing the highly expensive device to fall to the floor.  Try and write onscreen whilst walking, and you create a load of gibberish that Windows Mobile doesn’t recognise.

Set up your Ameo/Athena at a desk and it creates quite a handy little computer that you can finish Word documents off on, send SMS’ or emails from or even play Solitaire on.  But the keys on the keyboard are silent when pressed and you don’t even feel like you’re pressing them – which makes touchtyping very awkward. 

On a good note, the 3mpixel camera is very impressive, and again, with a 5 inch screen, it has a brilliant viewfinder.  It also has a VGA Out cable, meaning you could hook it up to a projector and give a presentation on it, which is pretty darn cool. 

I highly rate T-Mobile as a service provider – they did a good deal for me, but in the end, I turned it down.  Mainly because of the detatchable keyboard; a clever idea, but not practical enough for me.  I’m always on the move, and although the Ameo/Athena is hard to resist at first, it wasn’t right for me.

Overall: 3/5 – a good bit-of-everything, but not ideal for day-to-day use.

T-Mobile MDA Vario II/HTC Hermes

I was so close to buying this, until I realised that not only did it look exactly like mine, but it actually was mine – just in a slightly different package. 

It does everything the Ameo/Athena does, but just in a smaller case of a 2.8 inch screen and slide out QWERTY keyboard.  Running Windows Mobile 5, the Vario II/Hermes is on the end of last season’s releases, therefore a new version is most likely due out soon.

It’s a very good phone, but mine just doesn’t work.  The battery was faulty, it crashed umpteen times and the storage memory always thought it was full when it wasn’t.  Granted, mine was on Vodafone, but the hardware had faults as well as the software.

Overall: 3/5 – it’s almost perfect.. but there’s no point in it if it doesn’t switch on on request.

…And as neither were ideal for me, I had to stick with what I have.  I’m currently waiting for the HTC Touch to come out in England – that one looks promising.  People have been asking me if I’d rather wait for an iPhone, but that’s a completely different story.  I’ll talk about that one next week

Watch this space.

PSPuhlease!

Sony are re-releasing their PlayStation Portable in a new slimline design.

Do we really care?

Personally, I think that when companies re-design their old products and fling them on the market again as new, it’s like bumping an old topic in a forum.  All it really does is shoves them back up people’s noses when we’ve just managed to get away from all the publicity.

At least when Nintendo did it to the DS, there was quite a bit difference.  They made it noticably smaller, sleeker and generally easier to use.  But the new PSP is virtually the same as the old one and apart from the video-out port, the only difference is that it’s now 33% lighter and 19% thinner.  That’s all well and good, but it’s going to cost $170, so if you already have an old one and aren’t a millionaire, you probably won’t be splashing out for one just because it’s nicer to hold. 

Any more of this and we’ll think they’re running out of ideas…