I’m fed up rushing my kids out of bed, wrestling them into their clothes, throwing milk down their necks and whooshing over to the childminder in time for the school run.

I’m fed up of squeezing in play time between picking them up from the childminder and getting them dipped, scrubbed and creamed in time for bed.

It pains me that we spend less than an hour and a half a day with our children before they’re tucked up in bed. particularly when they’re being minded less than a mile away.

It pains me that I’m working to pay for someone else to look after my children whilst I work…

Damn, their childhood is going to go by fast enough without us needing to apply the ‘modern pressures’ of existence to them. I need to find an alternative. But more importantly, I need to find an alternative that still provides for the family. Now of course it’s not going to be that simple or every bugger would be doing it, and I’m not talking about becoming a benefit sponge. I like work, it’s good for you. Just not when it comes at the detriment of the social lace of the family. At least not in my eyes.

So, what to do? That’s the million £ question. I’ll leave it at that whilst I rap my head against the wall for inspiration.

If you’ve any suggestions let me know.

I could also blame settlers online as it really is quite encapsulating. I played and loved the originals 20 odds years back so it’s great to see a revival, particularly when it’s free

http://www.thesettlersonline.com/en/homepage

Glorious! Thanks Blue Byte

My current one is doing a pretty good job of things, but the better half’s one is just appalling! I mean, for a general day to day laptop its ok, but for any gaming it’s horrendous. Clearly we’re only playing a little World of Warcraft at the moment, but i don’t know how she can cope with it been so choppy. I think I’d feel sick!

After weeks of searching around for laptops that aren’t the top gaming spec, but decent enough to see us through for a bit, I’ve found the one that seems to fit the bill. I’ve landed on the ASUS G50VT-X1 as a good gaming work horse for the financially practical. I’ve sent a query of to ASUS to see if I can retrofit a blu-ray drive to one seeing as they have HDMI and we’re contemplating a new TV.

There’s a decent review here

WOOT! It looks like it can be upgraded with a blu-ray player. The ASUS store has it for the princely sum of $225 (about £150). …kinda leads me to think I’d be better of just buying an external player unless I can pick up a cheeky bargain somewhere.

I’m currently sat at work, the optimum time to write a blog I’m wishing I was waiting for my new toys to arrive, but i’ve just received the notification that they’ve been canceled and my money refunded >.< DAMMIT!

I had ordered a couple of high-ish end gaming laptops, from ebay. …maybe that is the failing point! I'm still waiting for a little more information as to why they canceled the order, and there's the potential things will resolve themselves yet. I'll post the specs when I know a little more to avoid anyone poaching They were amazingly priced as far as I can tell. …Though to be honest, I'm doubting they even exist right now.

Work has begun on the spare bedroom. The old laminate floor has been pulled up. The skirting removed (it was never fixed to the wall anyway). The woodchip has been stripped.

I’m on the brink of chiseling out some wall to make the plug sockets flush with the wall, repairing any pot marks in the plaster and generally preparing the walls for the backing paper. …I’m really not looking forward to wall papering, it’s hardly a skill of mine! =]

I’m hoping the chap before wired up the plugs correctly so when i get to isolating the supply I don’t inadvertently zap myself =]

Imagine being able to destroy cancer, virii, any micro organism that could cause disease. Imagine doing so with something as ‘simple’ as frequency. Imagine why the pharmaceutical industry would probably prefer you would never find that out.

There are 13 parts I believe. Very worth a listen.

I can’t really relay how scary this stuff is myself. Instead I urge you to watch this video of John Harris.

This of course applies to the UK, though my investigation started with information associated with rights in the USA.

Another source covering much the same information, but more inline with the USA is a book written by Mary Croft called “How I clobbered every bureaucratic cash-confiscatory agency known to man.” Catchy title huh It’s a tough read but worth it if you an stick it out.