A funny book - pirates in an adventure with scientists

A funny book - pirates in an adventure with scientists, originally uploaded by epredator.

So I was in heathrow, thought I needed a book and I picked this up on a kind of blink moment. I did not notice it said now a major motion picture at the top to start off with. Then it turns out to be very funny and a great read that I got through on the trip to and from vienna (when not playing the 3ds... you know descent and takeoff time)
The movie ends up being an Aardman animation which means it will be brilliant !

Shed shrimp ghost

Shed shrimp, originally uploaded by epredator.

The wonderful little shrimps we added to our aquarium seem to be thriving.
I noticed this external skeleton case that one of them must have shed as they started to grow.
The ghostly shrimp indicates they are thriving. :)

Archiving some old games

Archiving some old games, originally uploaded by epredator.

As we are clearing space for the Xmas tree it was time to archive some of the less played xbox games into the loft.
A small subset of the games are in this picture.
As you can see I do ALOT of gaming. Though I admit I don't finish them all !

iPhone case? for 6 month old

iPhone case?, originally uploaded by epredator.

I saw this in Argos, the photo is blurred a bit as I was laughing as I took the photo.
This is a real case for an Iphone to protect it from babies and toddlers. It is actually a good idea but seems amazing that a £500 iphone has a plastic drool free case. But babies love smartphones

Forza4 epredator scooby

Forza4 epredator scooby, originally uploaded by epredator.

Stunning images get created, plus my decals got imported from forza3 :)

Amazon, Royal Mail, Forza4 delivery fail

I have been using Amazon for years, I am an Amazon prime customer too. I used to pre-order all my games and receive them on release day. This may sound petty but when they don't arrive on release day it detracts from shared gaming experience.
As I don't get buckets of free early access games from PR companies I have to rely on Amazon's service.
Recently the releases have been arriving either very late on the release day, or as on the next day's post. However this time even 2 days after dispatching my Forza4 has not arrived for the xbox.
I was particularly looking forward to winding down after the 3 days of filming Cool Stuff Collective with a driving game I really enjoy. Now the post has been and the amazon complaint has been raised I am left with a proforma "It will turn up by the 20th October" when it was posted on 13th for the friday 14th release day. There is not post on Sunday either.
That is just not good enough and I put it down to royal mail. I am paying for that expedited delivery by subscribing to prime. That is not working.
So I am off to the shops, in a huff. The forza experience is now also dented by my experience being tainted by the delivery process too. So I am going to annoyed about this for a while. I will also be annoyed as I print out my returns label and post the thing back to amazon when it finally does arrive.
Now for all those other pre-orders and major games, I guess I best cancel the amazon orders on those too! Or are they going to sort it out?
Yes its only a game, but its what I do, and timing is critical as is service.

Game of life - TV shows and Cool Stuff Collective

Game of life, originally uploaded by epredator.

We played a family game of life (not played this for years). It was very odd to land on this square, whilst not strictly true (yet who knows) it was good because The Cool Stuff Collective starts again this coming Saturday Oct 15th ITV 7:35am :)
I also landed on being a movie star and Elemming ended up as a millionaire.
Predlet 2.0 had all the children and Predlet 1.0 arrived late but still won a load of money at the end despite being in huge debt on the way around.
So we all did well. Fingers crossed for RL :)

Watch out for the Common Plec

Common Plec, originally uploaded by epredator.

We are new to the whole aquarium keeping hobby. It is way more complex than just sticking a fish in a bowl. It is also possible to make mistakes.
I was concerned that we were getting a lot of algae on the glass and rocks in the tank and that would upset the eco system.
So I went to a shop and asked to a plec. These little fish each algae. The thing was the Common Plec seems to be a bit of a monster. It turns out it can grow rapidly to over 0.5m which is actually bigger than out tank.
Luckily maidenhead aquatics take in over growing plecs. I felt very guilty rehousing out plec and the predlets were a little upset as they had seen him grow up (the past few months) however it seems that this is a very common problem.
So when getting fish, go somewhere like Maidenhead aquatics, they really know their stuff and would not have even had a common plec on sale to the average aquarium owner. 5 -6 a month get taken in.
So research, read, and ask a few experts. There a lots of Plec species, and they certainly do keep the tank clean but its all about balance.

Bird in beef pie

Bird in beef pie, originally uploaded by epredator.

The premier inn we stayed at this week had an unusual addition to the beef and onion pie, a ceramic blackbird (baked in the pie like the nursery rhyme)
The photo is a bit blurred as the light was bad and I was still laughing as a took the picture