New book is a go...

I say new, but really its a 2nd edition updated... but even so its a nice thing, a chance to fix some of the errors of the 1st, and make it a slightly broader appeal for new coders.

I'm quite excited about this.. I will try to not spend too much time on it though since I only need to revise content, not write new content, I still want my Empirs project to get finished this year.

I'll hopefully manage to get the main content done quite quickly but updating the code for Raspberry and PC builds will be the main time killer. If I can nail the core Empires content by Summer as I hope, I will be able to then focus on doing some nice simple Pi4 versions of the Pi3 content I did before.

Fun..

Ahthankyew

t'is the season to be ill

arrhhh

Another monumental cold...and its wonderfull accompanying cough

I really need to get out of this cold wet climate... as I get older I get more and more caught into this cycle of colds and flus, with only brief summers of release.. I am tired of it.. I really want to make that move to Thailand, but can't live for 7 years on savings/house residuals....have to wait.

2530somthing days to retirement..........unless someone wants to donate 100K into my pension pot?

Ahthankyew

It came back, then went away then switched ears

yeah its a bit of a nasty one this, it came back, the earache, though not as bad, but enough to pop a paracetamol before bed.

Then of couse as I was about to make a call to the docs, it went away, then came back in the other ear... just before easter.. so no point in making a call..

now its gone.

so....... what... do I call the doc, or wait till it hurts again.

Getting old sucks

Ahthankyew

Swallowing again and good news.

I've had a horrible ear/throat infection for the last week/10 days, its been nasty, tied in with a horror of a cold that depleted my entire stock of lemsips. I still have the cough and a bit wheezy.

But the worst part was the ear/throat thing, making swallowing painful and chewing a bit of a challenge...This morning though I woke up able to swallow pain free.. so no need to dose myself with any more paracetamol...my liver will be thankful.

Its still a bit tender when I chew, so its not totally gone but it seems that I had some kind of inner ear infection thats now run its course... Just as I was about to call the doc and get checked out.

If it comes back I will call though, I just know that I had to wait that week or so, since doctors here wont' prescribe AB's unless you are really near deaths door or have given the infection time to run its course.

kinda a dumb rule I feel but thats just how it is here.

In other news, my book, which I had basically forgotton about, has been trending a bit after it was offered on a discount charity website HumbleBundle.com   Kinda a surprise, since the thing is vastly overpriced at the moment and can't be selling well, but you can pick it up for 1euro if you are so inclined in a PDF.

I think this is what also prompted my publisher to get hold of me via Linkedin, to ask if I'd be interested in an update.. They'd tried to contact me before but it seems they had a very old defunct email address for me. Even though I am sure I updated everyone when that address died.

The good news is... they have some royalties waiting for me... not enough to retire on, or go fulltime authoring of geeky text books, but a nice little holiday spending pot for later in the year.

I'll send in the forms to see if they agree to an update and maybe we'll see a 2nd Edition doing a bit better so that I can indeed retire and do autheoring of geeky text books... (I won't hold my breath though)

Ahthankyew

Ferrys are cool

We took another trip to the UK, but this time we tried the Ferry... and it was lovely.. yes a bit slow but so much less stresss and no standing in queues for hours to take your handbag and a biscuit on board.  Also the lack of  car hire, makes it about the same price generally as travelling up to Schipol, flight, car hire.

We did notice that some of the cost of the goods on the ferry caused us to spend a bit more than we want, but overall we enjoyed the experience and will do that again, certainly when going to London, but also the drive to Cheshire to see mum was not horrible, though we did stay overnight in Ipswich when we arrived.

Mum was very happy to see us, as well as getting a surprise visit from her 2 Scottish granddaughters.. It was good to see her happy.

There will be a few more trips booked in advance to save costs, Ferry is the way.. Plane only for urgency.

Ahthankyew

quick visit to hell, I mean uk

Popped over for the weekend to go check in on mum.. Super grumpy, but with good reason, so it was nice to see her.

The UK though....jeeze its getting worse, dirty broken and very congested roads, empty shops in high streeets, and a horribe sense of doom.

During a meal with Jirawan at a Manchester  Nando's I even had a bunch of 12-14yo's theatening me, when one of them backed into me as I went for a drink refill, and on telling him to "calm down son" as I put my hand out to stop him bumping me, his response of "fuck off" and going into threat mode with his mates was very unpleasent..  absolutely insane to have children feeling its ok to behave like that..

I honestly don't like going back to the UK, though a few more trips to see mum are on the cards. We'll give Manchester a miss. Warrington seemed a much nicer place... but still.. compared to NL.. there's really no comparision.

Ahthankyew

Back to work

sigh....

I have had a lovely break, lots of lazy days and lots of coding. One or 2 of the huge list of houshold tasks done (I put lights...2, in the cooker hood).. But today its over back to work

On the good side we got our 2 year visa to let us visit the UK, which we'll be doing a little more often as mum's health isn't great. And our saving plan, tough though it is, is starting to show some benefits.. Pension is up, mortgage is down (20c a month woowww) and bank saving are increasing.. Our goal is to be well prepared for retirement.. in 7 years,.

7 years.... still a long time, its not of course but I wish it was this year. I find myself less and less willing to keep going here.. my own health isn't great, though self inflicted, food and booze and winter is starting to grip, making me feel less intereested.

But these long holidays always have me thinking ahead for the  new home in Thailand we are hoping for... But while the pension isn't there yet... in about 2 years we could jump, live off savings for 5 years and then get a smaller pension. But... we need to push for as long as we can, every year is a boost to the pension....gotta get to the end.

7 years... maybe 5 if we make some serious dosh, but still...back to work, no more dreaming..

sigh

Ahthankyew