The Minchintons http://minchinton.net Follow the lives of Adam and Else-Marie! Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:43:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 First trip in the new car! http://minchinton.net/?p=398 http://minchinton.net/?p=398#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:43:34 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=398 Continue reading →]]> Yes that’s right we have got a new(er) car! Even though the old reliable 1994 VW Golf was still going ok, it was heading towards the time where we would have had to spent some money on it. So rather than sink money into an old car, we bought a 2009 Diesel Toyota Yaris.

Summer is fading fast in Oslo, but as it was sunny today, Else and I headed out for a short trip along the Oslo fjord. We ended up stopping at the original house to Roald Amundsen. Who is Roald Amundsen I hear all the non-Norwegians say?

He was one of the original polar explorers and the first man to go to the North and South poles. You can read all about him here. Of course the Norwegian version of the same wikipedia page is twice as long!

It was a nice day out, lunch on the “beach”, and it was interesting to see so much memorabilia crammed into one house. First of many trips to come I hope! See you on the road.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=398 0 WordPress is back!!! http://minchinton.net/?p=382 http://minchinton.net/?p=382#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:01:17 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=382 Continue reading →]]> After a couple of months and only three blog posts I have decided to drop Zen Photo and move back to the duet of WordPress and Gallery. So why?

  • The security provided by Zen Photo wasn’t quite up to the standard I expected to protect my on-line photos
  • WordPress really is getting better with every release (now at 3.0.1)
  • Gallery2 was pretty good, but complex, and now Gallery3 is in RC2 I thought it was time to try it.

Gallery 3, despite the fact that the developers hate my hosting service GoDaddy, really is looking very good. It’s a stripped down Gallery 2 with only the parts you need. It seems to run much faster than Zen Photo and does everything I need. One down side is that the WordPress and Gallery 3 log in isn’t the same so you’ll have to log in to see the photos, but then you don’t need to log in to see this blog! If you don’t have a log in just pop me an e-mail and I’ll make you one.

I have a couple of things to fix so enjoy the site until then. I’ll try to get back some of the pictures that are missing here, and get registration working on the photo site.

Oh yeah the gallery is here, or at the photo link at the top of the page.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=382 1 Life with a Kindle DX http://minchinton.net/?p=375 http://minchinton.net/?p=375#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:31:32 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=375 Continue reading →]]> Amazon has just released an updated Kindle DX in graphite! Else got me one as a birthday gift considering I have been using Kindle 2 all the time. It’s a little expensive but it’s a very nice upgrade! Thanks Else!

If you want an e-book reader the Kindle DX is the shit and you should get one!

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=375 0 SMEx International http://minchinton.net/?p=373 http://minchinton.net/?p=373#comments Sun, 30 May 2010 19:30:43 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=373 Continue reading →]]> Else, myself and eleven other friends have just returned from a great weekend in London! We went to watch a movie at the London BFI IMAX, which is Britain’s largest screen! You can read all about the event here.

Here we are on the London Eye!

We were in Britain for 7 days, 3 days driving around outside of London and 4 in London itself with our friends. Highlights of the places we visited were, Brighton (but just for lunch), Windsor, Bath, Avebury Stone Circle, Stonehenge, Hyde Park, BFI IMAX, The Borough Market, Madame Tussauds, Tower Bridge, London Eye and much more!

The movie we saw was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and it was good too!

Check out the pics here.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=373 0 Life with a Kindle http://minchinton.net/?p=370 http://minchinton.net/?p=370#comments Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:27:31 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=370 Continue reading →]]> So before the whole iPad phenomenon, I bought a Kindle 2 from Amazon. It wasn’t like I didn’t know the iPad was coming, it was that I didn’t want another computer device that did everything I wanted a device to read books on. If you buy a Kindle that’s what you get.

Sure you could go out and train for the decathlon and be good at ten different things or you can train for the 100m sprint and kick ass at that, and that’s what the Kindle does.

So here’s why I love it:

  • e-ink screen that just gets better and better the more light you put on it, even direct sunlight, and it’s so much easier on the eyes.
  • Amazon’s Whispersync. This is a fancy name for the mobile phone network connection it uses for wireless. First I though I would hate this, but since it’s free to shop and buy books anywhere, anytime, it’s just simple to use and just works.
  • Two week battery life!!! Eat that iPad! This is no joke it really lasts a long long time.
  • Small and light. It’s lighter than most books and is much easier to hold and read from. Great if you travel you can take up to 1500 books with you and even grab a new book anytime you need one!
  • In built dictionary. Just move the cursor to a word and the dictionary pops up explaining the meaning to an obscure word instantly.

I’m not a big reader, and for various reasons over the last couple of years my amount of reading has gone down and down, so if anything this device has brought me back into the realm of books.

One negative is since this is an Amazon device most of the books and the dictionary are in English. If this had more foreign content and dictionaries it would be a great device to improve your language skills.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=370 0 Android! http://minchinton.net/?p=361 http://minchinton.net/?p=361#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:53:11 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=361 I’ve moved into the smart phone world with the Samsung I5700 Spica, and I love it! Can’t wait for the Android 2.1 upgrade.

By the way I wrote this post from my phone.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=361 1 New Years Eve http://minchinton.net/?p=354 http://minchinton.net/?p=354#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:53:50 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=354 Yes we have been lazy and haven’t blogged for a while, but here’s a picture of some fireworks over Oslo.

Happy New Year Everyone :)

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=354 2 What is this? http://minchinton.net/?p=350 http://minchinton.net/?p=350#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:08:27 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=350 This is what happens on a boat ride back to Oslo with friends and everyone is tired… no it’s not a hat, it’s a beer can phone amplifier! This baby had the party rocking. :P

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=350 2 Ekeberg BBQ again! http://minchinton.net/?p=346 http://minchinton.net/?p=346#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:17:47 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=346 Continue reading →]]> Else and I went to a BBQ in Ekeberg again. Once again the weather was great (but a bit cooler this time). Above is a picture from the Ekeberg Restaurant which is a only a short walk from where we were.

Sorry about the quality all I had was my camera phone!

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=346 0 Ferry home from Denmark http://minchinton.net/?p=339 http://minchinton.net/?p=339#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:30:23 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=339 Here’s some random shots from the ferry on the way home from Denmark.

[nggallery id=12]

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=339 1 E124 http://minchinton.net/?p=335 http://minchinton.net/?p=335#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:24:54 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=335 Here’s a road on a beach in Denmark, E124.

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=335 0 Børglum Monastery http://minchinton.net/?p=329 http://minchinton.net/?p=329#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:23:05 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=329 On the second last day in Denmark we took a trip to a local monastery.

[nggallery id=11]

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=329 0 Legoland http://minchinton.net/?p=323 http://minchinton.net/?p=323#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 09:07:45 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=323 Continue reading →]]> I just had to visit Legoland, like most young boys I had tonnes and tonnes of lego and loved it. Legoland is a kids dream. Else and I were joined by Joen for the day and we all had lots of fun. Sorry there are so many pictures below but there were so many models all with so much detail, it was so impressive.

[nggallery id=10]

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=323 1 Ejer Baunehøj http://minchinton.net/?p=317 http://minchinton.net/?p=317#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:54:15 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=317 Continue reading →]]> Ejer Baunehøj is Denmark’s highest “cough” “cough” mountain at 170.86m above sea level. This happens to be close to Joen’s place who I caught up with in Denmark and you can see us below being the highest people in Denmark :P

[nggallery id=9]

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=317 3 Skagen http://minchinton.net/?p=312 http://minchinton.net/?p=312#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:46:41 +0000 minch http://minchinton.net/?p=312 Continue reading →]]> We drove up to Denmark’s most northern point of Skagen, only to find out it was super super packed and busy so, I climbed a nearby lighthouse you can see below and took the shot above of all the people trying to be the most northern person in Denmark.

[nggallery id=8]

]]> http://minchinton.net/?feed=rss2&p=312 0