Techboy’s Blog

The Gardening Trolls of Pennadomo, Italy

Posted by Techboy on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

It is a little known fact that there are trolls all around the Abruzzo province/region of Italy, but with a little knowledge and a lot of patience you might be able to track them down and catch a glimpse of them.
As in most societies, there are nice trolls and naughty trolls. Plus there is a [...]

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What I got for Christmas (besides fat)

Posted by Techboy on Saturday, December 26th, 2009

This year I got a Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash which is Canon’s most powerful flash unit for SLR’s
It will work great with my Canon 40D which is a digital SLR. I have always had an interest in photography and did a photography course in Italy last October. Plus I would like to [...]

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Roade Pool Sprint Triathlon (27/09/2009)

Posted by Techboy on Sunday, September 27th, 2009

I did the Roade Pool Sprint Triathlon today. It was my 2nd Sprint distance triathlon and I really enjoyed it. I can see me doing a lot more Triathlons on 2010
I got up at 0615, left my house at 0635 and got to the school at Roade at 0650. I thought I would [...]

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Well Whad’ya Know? I’m a Triathlete!

Posted by Techboy on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Well I’ve done 1 anyway.
As stated in my previous posts, by way of winning a prize in a competition, I got free entry into the For Goodness Shakes! Sponsored Sprint Triathlon (750m swimming, 20km cycling, 5km running) at Dorney Lake, Eton with less than 2 weeks notice!
I read the letter carefully which stated that registration [...]

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I’ve Bought a Road Bike! (Trek Madone 4.7)

Posted by Techboy on Friday, June 5th, 2009

I bought a new mountain bike in January and just 5 months on I’ve bought a road bike!
Over the past 18 months I have competed in several Adventure Races which are great fun, but there is always an element of luck in them because competitors can choose multiple routes. So I would like to try a [...]

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E-mail to Thames Valley Police: Operation Confidence – Feedback

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 - Paul's Inner Thoughts

I sent the below e-mail to the Milton Keynes Thames Valley Police on their official e-mail address on 26/01/2010 and have not had a reply yet (today is 18/02/2010).
What more proof do I need that their visit and marketing regarding ‘Operation Confidence’ is just PR (hot air). I have no confidence in them…
Hello,
Last night I [...]

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Restaurant Review: The Living Room (Milton Keynes) – Avoid!

Sunday, January 31st, 2010 - Food, Party/Celebration

I went out for dinner with my family tonight for my parents wedding anniversary. When we go out we often like to try different restaurants. none of us had been to The Living Room restaurant in Milton Keynes before so we thought we would give that a try.
We pre-booked a table and arrived on time. [...]

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Milton Keynes Car Parking Partnership Office Sucks

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 - Cars, Paul's Inner Thoughts, Paul's Life Update, Work

I really don’t like the way that car parking management is handled in Milton Keynes.
I have worked in Milton Keynes for 4 years now and have paid (I think) £235 per year to park my car in a public car park outside of my office. This year it has gone up to £270 (more if [...]

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The Gardening Trolls of Pennadomo, Italy

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 - Featured, Holiday, Paul's Inner Thoughts, Photography

It is a little known fact that there are trolls all around the Abruzzo province/region of Italy, but with a little knowledge and a lot of patience you might be able to track them down and catch a glimpse of them.
As in most societies, there are nice trolls and naughty trolls. Plus there is a [...]

continue reading

Paul’s Advice on Share Dealing

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 - Buying and Selling, Money

This is an extract from an e-mail conversation that I had with a friend today. I was giving some info/advice on shares. Others might find it useful…? Warning, it is a bit disjointed
Hi,
I started trading in shares late 2007. Last year I cashed in about £5.5k (I gained about 7k and lost about £1.5k). I [...]

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What I got for Christmas (besides fat)

Saturday, December 26th, 2009 - Cycling, Featured, Paul's Life Update, Photography

This year I got a Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash which is Canon’s most powerful flash unit for SLR’s
It will work great with my Canon 40D which is a digital SLR. I have always had an interest in photography and did a photography course in Italy last October. Plus I would like to [...]

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Star Trek Online Website Launched!

Saturday, December 26th, 2009 - Paul's Website

I am a big fan of Stack Overflow and their Stack Exchange sites.
I have recently created Stack Exchange sites for London and SAP BASIS. Neither of these have taken off though.
Maybe the London one has too small an audience – as there are only 7.421 million people  (2004 estimate) living there and only a very [...]

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If I was homeless…

Friday, December 18th, 2009 - Paul's Inner Thoughts

Some (not all) homeless people bother me because all I see them do is sit around all day, begging for money or selling the Big Issue.
If I was homeless I wouldn’t sell the Big Issue because I don’t think it’s worth it:
From http://www.bigissue.co.uk/How_We_Work_14.php
In order to become a Big Issue vendor an individual must prove that [...]

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I lost money in shares today – but doing well overall!

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 - Money

This year I have started trading in shares. So far I am doing quite well. I have made some losses, but overall I am in clear profit.
For the past 9-12 months I have been using 2 credit cards which both have a 0% interest on purchases deal which ends at the end of this month. [...]

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Birmingham Half Marathon – 11/10/2009

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 - Half Marathon

After recently completing the 3 Peaks Challenge, the Roade Sprint Triathlon and a photography holiday in Italy (where I ate excessive amounts of pasta!) I hadn’t had any time to train for the Birmingham Half Marathon. Added to that, for the past week my knees have been hurting for some reason. So I wasn’t really [...]

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