mistersnappy

101010 10:10, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

At 10:10 on 10/10/10 I taught my eldest daughter binary, how 42 is the answer to everything and why Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is one of the best books ever. She thought it was boring! Oh well )

I am the captain…, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

I was not happy the other day when I picked up my old iPod to find that the screen had cracked. On further investigation it turned out that the battery pack had ‘blown’ and cracked the screen from inside the iPod itself. I wanted to see if I could rescue it because I’d won it in a work competition and it has sentimental value, so I went online to see if I could replace the parts and it seemed that this was indeed possible.
Those helpful folk at http://www.parts4ipods.com/ were able to supply both a replacement LCD screen and a new battery, both, I might add, look like original parts, for a total of £14.99 and to top that, the postage was free. I ordered them both yesterday and they arrived by first class mail this morning, so a big thank you for the prompt dispatch and the near miraculous delivery from the Royal Mail!

The next part was always going to be touch and go but a clear instruction video courtesy of YouTube came to rescue. This one showed my how to dismantle the iPod and fit both the battery and the screen, which, with a little bit of fiddling, I completed successfully.
So as you can see from the photo, the screen and battery have been replaced and I’m playing music once more from my old faithful. Yay!

Planet Glasto, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

OK, I promise, this is the last Glastonbury post this year. I’m quickly becoming a Glasto bore, I know. But indulge me one last time.
One of the reasons I wanted to go was to take some photos, and while I didn’t manage to separate the time out effectively to just watch people instead of watching bands, I did get a chance to run off a quick and dirty composite photo of the most spectacular view of the site (city) from above the famous stone circle.
In case you were in any doubt I did a little photoshopping on the panorama to make it into its own little planet, because effectively it is. A popular question before I went was “What if you forget anything?”, well what if I do. More to the point what if you do, where would you go? You’d go to the shops and so would I. For a temporary city that appears for just under a week each year, it’s pretty much self supporting. You’d never need to leave the site for anything and if you run out or, heaven forbid, forgot anything, you could find a shop, store or stall that would service your needs in a mainstream or alternative fashion.
So for all of you concerned people and for those that have blasted off there before, here for your viewing pleasure is Planet Glastonbury.

Fitting photography around a family, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

I’ve just submitted my first entry for wired.co.uk’s Geek Dad blog. I’ll be attempting to write a weekly piece about dads and technology while adding my own spin on things. The first article was about my (bad) habit for hoarding old film cameras. You can read that here.
The next few are already in the pipeline so you’ll have to keep an eye on wired.co.uk to keep up to date.

Ready Steady Go, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

Up up and away!

Passover Fact 8, originally uploaded by mistersnappy.

You may think, having looked at all of these photos and read the ramblings that Passover is all about food. Actually this isn’t the case, it’s just that the food seems to take over your every waking thought. From not being able to have your usual breakfast to wondering at what point the matzahs are going to make your insides explode.
Getting side-tracked by food really does take away from the religious and spiritual aspects of Passover. The handing down of the story of the exodus from parent to child amongst other things. But when the hammer falls on the final day, there isn’t much that will keep me from packing away the Passover crockery for another year and stacking it up in the garage in time to leg it to the local take-away for some real food. Usually we ease ourselves back in to leavened product by having a pizza but this year I was down to my local Fish and Chip emporium, the fine Ideal Fish Bar in Pinner.
I had my order in 15 minutes before Passover ended, so I could be back home with supper on the table with no time wasted. To say that was probably the finest meal I’d had in a week, might have been an understatement.
Roll on Passover 2011!