Router Nightmare

Hey, after having our old Netgear router die on us after several years of faithful service, I'm now on my third wireless modem/router trying to find one that works. Nothing in my setup has changed since the old router died and yet the last two modem/routers I've purchased have consistently lost the ADSL connection all throughout the evening time which is usually when we use it the most. I've tried all sorts of things to try and get to the bottom of it, even connecting my Dad's wired router which worked like a dream but which then means Julia cant use her laptop wherever she pleases around the house. So in desperation I ordered a Netgear DG834G wireless router via PC Worlds collect@store and boxed the other one back up in the hope I could persuade them to exchange one for the other. Fortunately they took pity on me and I came away with yet another router to try and £20 refunded on the flexible friend. I'm pleased to say that at present this router seems to be performing very much like the old one, that's not to say that it's as stable as my Dad's wired one but then I guess it wont be what with wireless interference but it has been up for just over a day so far with no obvious problems. I've checked using Julia's laptop which other wireless networks are within our vicinity and made sure ours is on a different channel to help limit any cross-signalling.

Anyway I'm hoping this will be third time lucky for us, I cant believe how lost we felt without proper access to the net when and where we wanted to use it. Says alot about our society these days doesn't it? Just about everything we do revolves around it in one form or another, from ordering our groceries to banking to staying in touch with friends and family - where would we be without it!

Art In Action Exhibition 24th March 2010

The Art In Action Exhibition held at The Brook Theatre yesterday evening went off really well. There was a steady stream of people coming in from 4:30pm through to about 8pm when it started to quieten down a bit. The Mid-Kent College students put on a sterling display of art encompassing their views and feelings about Chatham, some positive - Barney's Fact Finding Guide to Chatham, some negative - No Entry, Chatham.
The remaining schools who were also there showed the Medway Towns off in a variety of different ways from photo collages to comic book antics, Russian Circus to a novel "Layers of Medway" photo box. All in all it was a very successful evening and The Brook Theatre provided a wonderful, historical backdrop for their efforts. More details of the exhibits, including photos, can be found on my website (http://sites.google.com/site/avenlor/)

Princess Anne visits Mid-Kent College

Princess Anne was due to officially open the new Mid-Kent College, Gillingham campus this morning. Having said that she's not likely to meet any of the actual students as they were asked to stay clear of the corridors during her visit :-( Expect she'll have found it kinda weird opening a college with no apparent students in it!!! Still I guess it helps promote this new, state of the art campus which has been borne out of the closure of the old City Way and Horsted sites.

Irene Froy EFIAP, MPAGB, HonPAGB, BPE4*

We first saw this lady at the Invicta Camera Club a couple of weeks ago. Her work is very different, almost an ethereal look to her images. She gave us a wonderful talk that evening and showed us some stunning examples of her work. Check out her website (link is on my website under Links). I've had a brief browse whilst having some lunch in paradise so not had the chance to see much of it as our web access is pretty slow at the best of times, but I really like what I've seen so far and will definitely go back and see the rest. Probably have to save that till the weekend as my internet access at home dies every evening as well :-(

2nd Art in Action Exhibition

Today is the 2nd Art In Action exhibition, this time being held at The Brook Theatre in Chatham, Kent. It showcases exhibits from various local schools as
well as work from my daughter Julia and her fellow students at Mid-Kent College. The theme for Julia's work and her classmates this year is "My Town" so she has been busy researching into Chatham's history. Her final outcome will be on show in the dance studio from 4:30pm through to 9:00pm and we
would welcome seeing you there.

Ear Rim Update

After almost 4 years, I am toying with the idea of retiring my upper ear piercing… Now that I am growing my hair and have to keep tucking it behind my ears whilst it grows I’m finding it getting increasingly in the way. Plus since its been done I’ve not been able to sleep on that side no matter what type of jewellery I wear in it. The threadless labrets from Neometal have been the most comfortable but it really needs a slightly shorter bar and the next size down is too short which results in it getting irritated. Having done a quick post on the Body Jewellery Shop forum they’ve reliably informed me that it wont need any special looking after if I remove the jewellery, just give it one last salt soak and then leave it alone. At the moment I’m wearing a smaller gauge in it to help the hole close down a tad but not sure how long that will take, I once wore a normal earring in it for about 2 weeks and then still went back to a 1.2mm gauge bar afterwards so it could take some time to close completely and hopefully it wont leave much of a mark there, probably a small lump behind my ear but nothing much visible from the front. When my hair was still shaved I hardly noticed the earring there, I never needed to brush my hair or anything but the last thing I want to do is brush my hair and catch it up :-( It will be a bittersweet moment to see it go but to be honest it has never been as successful as I had imagined it would be. It’s pierced too far round to wear a normal earring, they are just not long enough, and even then the end of the earring would stick out too far and catch up on everything. Every so often it plays up and gets sore for no real reason at all and buying body jewellery, especially the threadless variety, is very expensive and has to be shipped from the States for the most part. So in a lot of respects life will be easier without it, unlike my nose piercing which is just there and doesn’t really get in the way, my ear piercing has had more than its fair share of knocks and bumps and so I think the time has come for me to say goodbye to it…

Sheena and her Magic Hair

When I was a young child, way back in the 70’s, I had a doll called Sheena who had “magic hair”! By that I mean you could make her hair grow long just by gently pulling on her ponytail and slowly turning a wheel located on her back. Said long hair could then also be shortened by the reverse process, i.e. slowly turning the wheel in the opposite direction and feeding the ponytail back inside her head. Now that I’ve made the monumental decision to grow my hair long again how I wish that I could do a similar thing :-) The average monthly hair growth is supposed to be approximately 1/2 inch which means it feels like its going to take simply ages to reach any sort of REAL length. Instead of seeing it as still short I suppose I should realise that compared to where I started it has grown a lot. In fact most people have remarked favourably on my “new look” which seems to imply to me that not many people “approved” of my shorn locks. I have to confess that feeling it blow in the wind is a strange experience and having to spend more than 5 minutes washing it is also an indication of its progress to date and yet my inherent lack of patience is nipping at my heels reminding me of just HOW LONG it seems to be taking before it looks obvious that my hair has grown! Even in its current state its still too short to be styled and equally I hate the idea of having any of it cut even if it is to make it tidy as it feels like a giant step backwards. My daughter is like “Just let it GROW”!

I think this time around is probably the first time I’ve grown it long just for me. Last time it was to please my now Ex as he, like most men, preferred women with their hair longer than the average short crop. In fact my decision to go short came after my divorce as a kind of two fingered salute to him even though by then he probably didn’t care what I did to it. The shaved look came several years later following an evening watching people get ready for Stars in their Eyes where a young woman played Sinead O’Connor. I sat watching them shave off her hair in awe and thought I wonder what that would look like on me? Next time the hairdresser came calling I got her to shave it under the guise that “It will soon grow…” and many years later here I am deciding to let it grow back even though I always said I couldn’t ever imagine growing my hair long again. I’m really hoping that I’ll like the longer style and if so will get some red highlights put in to give it some zing! My hair by default is dead straight, fine with very little body to it and needs to see a perming bottle before it will even condescend to veer off the straight and narrow into luscious curls. Although long hair is a flexible style and I love many of the “posh do-ups” such as French plaits and pleats, I have never been able to get that look with my own hair, I couldn’t even manage French braids on my daughter when she was younger so I do worry a tad that it will end up in the same boring clipped back at each side style that it used to be in. I shall have to make a concerted effort to stop that and maybe keep the length just long enough for a decent ponytail but not too long that it becomes unruly every time I step foot outside the front door. I’m also going for a side parting and no fringe this time, something I’ve never had before with long hair so hopefully it will make me look less childish than maybe its looked in the past. Failing that I’ll have to get one of my daughter’s friends who is training to be a hairdresser to give me some tips! All in all I relish the challenge of letting it grow and watching it change over each month, hopefully into something I can live with and adapt to suit me, for me.

Hair in March 2010

The hair's grown a wee bit since I started this journey but its gonna be a long trip from a No: 3 shave to below my shoulders. It's already curling up at the base of my neck and each wash sees it sticking up less and less. I'm trying to train in a side parting which seems to be working except I'm not always sure that its in the same place each time! It's hard to keep tucking the side hair behind my ears and it's still too short to be held back by clips and too short everywhere to wear one of the fabric alice bands I've already bought. But cant wait to have it at least long enough to wear something like that and really hoping that once its reached its final destination I'll like it enough to keep it that way. If I do then a set of red highlights or something similar will be on the agenda just to really make a statement ;-)