It is my birthday

And I don’t want to celebrate it. No, this has nothing to do with my age because I found out growing older, has a lot of advantages. E.G. when you behave silly, younger people think “Just ignore, she is old anyway”
Older people think: “Isn’t it nice to be that young?” So 50+ is a great time of your life with hardly any obligations and regulations. You are in between generations and this gives you an enormous freedom.

I don’t want to celebrate my birthday because I never liked it, not when I was way younger and not now.
I also tend to forget other people’s birthday but that is a different story.

I admire the Swedes who give a real party every 5th year and in between they have “name days”.
Maybe that is why I feel at home in Sweden.

Over the past years I managed to “hide” myself with many valid excuses but this year I don’t have any.
Well, I have but they are ignored. Being busy seems not to be a valid excuse anymore. Though it is true!! I am busy. Up to my ears in office work today, tomorrow, Sunday etc. etc. But tomorrow is planned for an early rise and food shopping. After that I need to prune my Ivy which is consuming parts of my roof.
And this can’t wait because the painters arrive Monday. So it is not just pruning but it is also cleaning the woodwork from the traces of the Ivy and I can tell you, that is a lot of work!! Yes, yes, I know. I should have kept it clean regularly but I haven’t. No time on my hands.
Sometimes you need a valid reason to start jobs like this but it also means I can’t do anything else.

Tonight brother, sis in law and I celebrate my birthday at Mum’s which is more relaxing for Mum.
And on Sunday I see other relatives and friends. I know that I am going to enjoy it because they are all great people.

And I also enjoyed all the happy birthdays via Skype from family, friends and colleagues tremendously.
They helped to bring me in the right mood! And when I can empty my brains before tonight, I might even enjoy having my birthday.

But why is that song playing around in my head all day long? You know which song I mean. Yes, exactly, that one: “It is my party and I cry if I want to” although in my case nobody is leaving. No, they are coming to celebrate!

No wireless connection

No, this is not the reason why I haven’t been posting for so long…. Just been very busy getting used to my new job at Skype, flying around, getting stucked in the tube in London, jumping on the plane at 20.25 when it was supposed to leave 20.25, long hours at the office etc. etc. I am not complaining though!! I love every minute of my work.

My work yes, if the wireless allows me to do my work. So, what happened.
Last night my IP had a problem. Maybe due to the huge thunderstorm we had. What ever, I lost my Internet Connection for an hour or so. When connected again, I switched on my modem, router, laptops and WiFi phone because there were loads of work waiting.

Old laptop and WiFi phone were doing fine but with me “new” laptop, I could not connect to the Internet.
Wrong IP address. Odd because all other devices were ok, why not this one?
I plugged in a cable from the laptop to the router and to my surprise, this worked ok. The correct IP address. All clients listed in the router, all settings correctly.
Mmm… I puzzled and puzzled, reset everything, uninstalled Broadcom, rebooted, puzzled again but at 1 AM I still had the same problem. My provider couldn’t tell what happened, or even better: how to solve it, either.

A bit frustrated because I am earning a living with my laptop, I went to bed but even asleep I was looking for solutions. AAARRRGGGHHH....…….

I dropped a message in the Beta chat about the problem and Martin, Beta tester for Skype, spent numerous hours trying to sort out what was wrong. He never got tired with giving advices, downloading the manual of my router, going through al options not once but numerous times, etc. etc. Unbelievable patient and supportive.
He and I felt frustrated when around 4 PM, the problem was still not solved. I owe him a huge beer next time I see him.

We gave up and I phoned HP who had some other tricks up their sleeve but again, no solution. Starting up in the safe mode though triggered a long forgotten action with me: a system restore……..

But after all we went through, HP thought it was worth trying but he feared the worst.
I have never watched the screen of my laptop as intense as I did during the system restore and reboot.
Like I was watching a thriller: eyes wide open, fingers entangled, biting my lip. I almost forgot to breath!

And yes!! Wifi was back to normal, correct IP, excellent connection. Gosh, I was soooooooooo happy!!

Thank you Martin, thank you HP for all your time and patience, I will never forget that.

But what did cause this time consuming problem? We still don’t know. Will it remain a mystery for ever or can I invite you to my puzzle?

IM+ for Skype Software: BlackBerry, Palm, Symbian, Java Phones, What's Next?

SHAPE Services announced today the availability of three beta versions of IM+ for Skype Software for Java phones, Symbian S60 and Palm OS. These beta versions are intended for people, who want to make cheap mobile calls within Skype ecosystem and to landline numbers. Since Java version of the application works on all Java-enabled phones including smartphones with Symbian OS, Skype on mobile is now available for hundreds of millions users worldwide. SHAPE welcomes everyone to participate in a beta round and experience Skype features on the new platforms.

IM+ for Skype Software lets the users "experience a new era in the AlwaysOn world" as noted by Jim Courtney, Skype Journal's editor and a big fan of Skype.

Read whole article

Britains Got Talent

And the winner is....................

Skype's Ironing File Transfer

Is this a new feature of Skype? You might have thought you missed something at Skype’s Blog.
Do you like the idea? I am sure a whole new business is born....

Imagine you live in Friesland and are talking to your friend in Liverpool who told you he had done the ironing today but he has to force himself to do it (he doesn't like it). You tease him by asking him if he would like to do some more, e.g. your blouses, trousers and tea towels.
He replies he could handle the tea towels and of course, you don’t say no.

So off you go, you add them to a sheet or two (preferable Excel for a speedy transfer), click the File Transfer button and if you are lucky, your friend accepts.

I asked if they could be ironed before Monday, which gives me some time to sit with my feet high up on Sunday.

I like it. A Virtual Ironing Business for Busy Businessmen and Women.


What next?

(With thanks to Ian who was so nice to do my tea towels…)

Paul Potts winning the Semi Final

Surprise? Of course not!! View and lsiten....

Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma

I know, I am a female and female seem to spill tears more easily then males.
But I bet that after viewing this video, you, male or female are either as speechless as I was and / or cry your own tear or two.

This man does not only have a fantastic voice but also (from my point of view) a very high cuddle rate.

A huge applause for Paul Potts with a thank you to Mark who e-mailed me the link.