Well 2010 has already been a crazy year. We have finally taken the plunge, packed up and moved to Cornwall. This chapter of our life is for relaxation, contemplation and to get everything in order before I start on my PhD. There are very few distractions down here so I can get a lot more reading done.

It has been a huge culture shock so far. I’m used to living in big cities and having everything within walking distance. We are now quite rural and it is all very different, however what we lose on our doorstep with regards to entertainment, culture & commerce we gain in breathtaking countryside, awesome beaches and a much more relaxed way of living (it’s so quiet here people leave their car doors unlocked & open all day & night to stop them getting hot!

One of my big fears as a techie was the lack of services available on our Rural exchange (PAR Exchange). Whilst the lack of O2 and Be (Not to mention Virgin Cable which I’m used to) is a bit of an issue with regards connectivity speed & download allowances, I managed to get on BT Option 3. Does mean I’m limited to 100GB of downloads in a month, but now we have Sky HD fitted I tend to do much less downloading (and I’d rather watch things like Lost and Pacific in native 1080i HD on the Sky box now). I think I’ll get away with it for now, and the fact that in a rural spot I’m getting 6.5Mb broadband is excellent.

I’m still trying to think of a subject for my PhD research. I would really like to do something a little less technical this time and perhaps more geared towards modern uses of the Internet (My Masters was in Computer Science which is pretty hardcore, whereas my BSc was in Web Development & web computing which was as much a humanities subject as it was a science & engineering subject). I’ve seen an interesting research opportunity at the University of Southampton, but I will probably end up attending back up north at one of the Manchester based unis, be it MET or Manchester University. I’m really looking forward to advancing to Doctor/Professor and feel much happier now I have a plan in place.

Anyway back to the Cornwall move. Vicki & I are settling in quite well to Rural life. Visiting farmers markets, walking on the beach & coastal paths, stopping at Harbours for lunch. Very much looking forward to welcoming our first guests in June.

Finally, last weekend my Brother in Law Gary ran the London Marathon in a time of 4hrs 4mins. Very impressive, Gary did an excellent job and he didn’t even seem that tired afterward (wish I was that fit). We had a great few days in London, stayed at the fabulous Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, with possibly the best view in the whole building (top floor, bridge facing suite). We also went for a great meal with Emma, Andy, Kate & Gary at a Singaporean restaurant in Soho. Loved it.

Anyway, I intend to update the blog more often now I’m settled again. Until the next update here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

iMac 24" Ready to unpack

Well it has been a crazy month of new things. Firstly the month has seen me in and out of the doctors with headaches, which we have concluded is down to stress, and a weak right eye which is being irritated by using a screen all day. So I now have two pairs of posh designer glasses to wear which has already made a big difference, meaning I can see my iPhone & netbook and all other screens alot more clearly.

To go with the new eyewear, I finally invested in a North Face hardcore waterproof with zip out fleece which cost me so much money it makes my eyes water thinking about it, but I’ve wanted the jacket and the fleece for so long, and I got a good deal on the pair so I now have them.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is our new top end 24″ iMac with maxed out Ram, Graphics and processor specs. Cost a hell of a lot of money, and the guys in the Apple Store Manchester where very helpful in sourcing & sorting us out with our new baby, so all our work is now being completed on the iMac.

Mixed thoughts so far, the hardware is amazing, and the screen is immense, however Snow Leopard sucks. Tons of system crashes, enabling Sharing makes everything start to crash,, and running CS3 or CS4 is impossible on Snow Leopard, Illustrator, Photoshop and Dreamweaver just crash whenever you try to open, save or print a document. It will also crash on copy/paste or infact for any reason at all. Also the guttenberg print drivers seem very sketchy, and there is a lot of banding and colour problems on my Trusty Epson CX3200. I finally had enough of the issues and downgraded to Leopard 10.5.8 which is solid as a rock.

So now all our badge orders, and all my Development work is being completed on the Mac, and I’m loving it. Speaking of badges, we are selling loads of Halloween Badges over at Koolbadges so be sure to head on over to check us out.

iMac in it's temporary home, before driving back to our house.