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Antony

Book Review: A Survival Guide for Life by Bear Grylls

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
bear-grylls-survival-guide-to-life-book-cover Bear Grylls shares the wisdom he’s learned through life in A Survival Guide for Life. Life can be difficult at times, in A Survival Guide for Life Bear writes how to not only survive these times but thrive in them. His positivity in this book is inspiring and infectious.

Bear gives advice like:

  • Have bravely to face your fears.
  • Failure is the key to future success. If you’re failing your making progress towards success.
  • Set your goal and focus on the journey not the destination.
  • Be the most enthusiastic person you know.

Over the 72 short chapters (each chapter being 2-3 pages at most) there isn’t a single wasted word. That said, I would have preferred Bear to tell more of his personal story.

He quotes people he admires including the famous, friends, colleagues and the bible.

When I bought A Survival Guide for Life I didn’t realise that he was a Christian and initially it didn’t bother me. However as the book progressed the tone was preachy at times and at one point he even recommended that the reader sign up to an Alpha Course. I also felt like he was atheist-bashing at some points. His religious views made me physically sigh on more than one occasion.

The presentation of A Survival Guide for Life was excellent. A good selection and use of fonts, as well as spacing created a consistent style that was pleasing to the eye of the reader.

If you ignore the Christianity in A Survival Guide for Life, then book is great. The wisdom he imparts is the sort of life lessons we should be teaching all children in our society. His his upbeat tone is captivating and makes it a joy to read. A Survival Guide for Life by Bear Grylls is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony



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Saturday 2 August 2014

Blog Development: A Complete Theme Redesign by TRH Development

By LifeNo Comments
people-per-hour-logo Over the years my blog theme had become out of date and the CSS had been cannibalised. So I was looking for a WordPress expert to do a complete redesign of the current theme. I found Tia from from TRH Development on people per hour.

I explained to Tia what I wanted, we agreed a price and she got to work. My role was to give her feedback as we went along. Here’s a list of work Tia did for me:

  • Complete redesign of my blog using a child theme of Twenty Fourteen (to allow for theme updates).
  • Coded to the highest HTML5 and CSS3 standards. This CSS3 was essential as the style sheet on my old theme had been cannibalised over the years and was full of conflicts.
  • WordPress Menu Functionality – including support for sub-menus. A major reason for this update was to allow me to use the added functionality features of WordPress.
  • A mobile/tablet version of the site.
  • The ability for the reader to Switch between the Desktop/Mobile versions, which is possible by using a link in the footer.
  • Removal of the ‘Go’ button with the search input field.
  • Archives expand to include post titles.
  • Photo caption boxes have been slimed down at the sides, making them stylistically look better.
  • Various minor tweaks based on my feedback to make the theme’s look as close as possible to the old theme.

Tia also added two great new features:

  • Pagination – which is the page bar under the blog posts on the home page. I really like this page browsing experience for readers.
  • Lightbox image viewer with play/pause slideshow. I love this. I have some great photos. Now if you click any image on a photo post or page (such as Photos) it brings up the image full size without leaving the page and allows you to play/pause a slideshow.

To follow on from Tia’s superb work, I also made a few minor tweaks to the blog myself:

  • Changed the font from Arial to Verdana.
  • Removal of the large Amazon banner on the sidebar.
  • Added book cover thumbnail images on the I’m Reading and On My Bookshelf sections on the sidebar.
  • Changed UL in style sheet to square.

Tia at TRH Development was awesome. I intend on using her again, probably later in the year, to design me a WordPress theme for my professional writers website. My feedback for Tia on people per hour really says it all:

Awesome. Brilliant. Excellent Communicator. Job done to the highest standard. I can’t heap enough praise on Tia for the expert knowledge & skills along with her professionalism. Am already planning my next project with her.

So if you need a Developer for a website, I highly recommend Tia from TRH Development.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Friday 1 August 2014

Book Review: Unsaid Things…Our Story by McFly

By Amazon, Books & AuthorsNo Comments
mcfly-unsaid-things-book-cover This autobiography tells the tell of McFly. Written in an interview style, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter start in their childhood’s and proceed chronologically through the decade that the band has been together (2003-2013).

It’s one of the most honest autobiographies I’ve ever read. It tells-all (well almost!) about the band including: the band nearly ending before it had began because of weed, Tom’s struggles with his mental health and Dougie’s battle with addiction (and how he got into recovery).

The good, the bad and the ugly (not that there’s any ugly) it’s all in Unsaid Things…Our Story. As is how the band celebrated and enjoyed their successes and learned from their failures.

In Unsaid Things…Our Story McFly acknowledge the support from their fans and thank them. There was a suitable amount of glossy photo pages, but more would always be welcome with these attractive guys.

People of my sort of age (late twenties) will get all their references. A good example is growing up we all watched Back to the Future. This film had a huge influence in how the band got it’s name. Want to know more? Buy Unsaid Things…Our Story and find out.

In Unsaid Things…Our Story McFly fans will learn when they wrote which songs, what those songs were originally about and what they feel about their past albums now – looking back.

I enjoyed reading this honest and open book about McFly’s ten year journey. Here’s to the next decade and beyond McFly! Unsaid Things…Our Story by McFly is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Friday 25 July 2014

Manchester Museum – Lots of History to See

By Adventures, Happiness & Joy, History, Love & Relationships, Nature2 Comments

The other weekend Boyfriend-A, his housemates and I visited Manchester Museum. Manchester Museum is on Oxford Road, in the heart of Manchester City Centre and has free entry. It has lots of history to see including (click on any picture for full size image):

Manchester Museum Gorgosaurus Skeleton

Gorgosaurus Skeleton
Manchester Museum Gorgosaurus Information Board

Gorgosaurus Information Board
Manchester Museum Mammoth Skeleton (front)

Mammoth Skeleton (front)
Manchester Museum Mammoth Skeleton (side)

Mammoth Skeleton (side)
Many vases, bowls, etc. to view

Many vases, bowls, etc. to View
Manchester Museum A great Classic Weapons Collection

A great Classic Weapons Collection – If there’s ever a zombie apocalypse, I’m looting my weapons from here.
Manchester Museum Slavery Chains

Slavery Chains

My two favourite sections were the Egyptian section and Geology section. In the Egyptian section I was fascinated by the Soul Homes (photo below) and creepy looking mummy (also photographed below):

Egyptian Artefacts Manchester Museum

Egyptian Artefacts
Egyptian Soul Homes Manchester Museum

Egyptian Soul Homes
Egyptian Sarcophagus with Mummy Manchester Museum

Egyptian Sarcophagus with creepy looking Mummy

In ancient Egypt soul homes were for people who couldn’t afford a tomb to be built. Somewhere for their soul to live during the afterlife. Boyfriend-A couldn’t believe how bad my geography was, after I thought Egypt was in Europe. Apparently it’s in Africa.

We moved on to Geology section, with this rather nice quartz crystal cluster that I wanted to take home:

Geology Section Manchester Museum

Geology Section
Geology Section: A Large Quartz Cluster Manchester Museum

Geology Section: A Large Quartz Cluster

We finished with the main attraction a complete T-Rex Skeleton:

T-Rex Skeleton Manchester Museum

T-Rex Skeleton

A Random Room-sized Fish Skeleton Manchester Museum

A Random Room-sized Fish Skeleton

 There’s lots of history to see at Manchester Museum, but more interactivity e.g. videos/staffed tours would have added to the experience.

Even so we had a great time. If you’ve never been, go and check it out. Oh and it has a good gift shop that is reasonably priced to.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Sunday 20 July 2014
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