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100 Days Together Photo Book – My Surprise from Boyfriend-A

By Happiness & Joy, Life, Love & RelationshipsNo Comments
100-days-book-boyfriend-a

Photo Book: First 100 days together by Boyfriend-A

 I arrived home from work today, checked my mail and found this. A surprise from Boyfriend-A. It’s a photo book, kind of like a diary documenting our whole relationship so far.

Inside the book is a series of visual representations of our first few months together in chronological order. Including: key dates, screenshots of messages we’ve exchanged, maps of places that we’ve been to together, photos of things we’ve done together (such as Manchester Museum, Lancashire Science Festival, Blackpool: Madame Tussauds & Sealife Centre, visiting Rivington and Liverpool Pride), photos of gifts we’ve got for one another, Facebook status updates, screenshots of some of my blog posts, screenshots from Skype, photos we’ve messaged one another on WhatsApp and it ends with a really romantic hand written message.

I had no idea that he was collecting memories, as I am, or that he’d do something as wonderful as this.

Both the photo book and surprising me with it were: Romantic. Awesome. Terrific. Clever. Original. OK, I’m going to stop now, otherwise I’ll run out adjectives.

I wont be showing the inside the book on the blog, as it’s far too personal and for our eyes only. Our first few months together have flown by. And do you know what? I cant wait for the next few months and beyond.

This photo book is one of the loveliest things a boyfriend has ever done for me. It’s amazing how someone relatively new in my life can mean so much to me.

Write soon,

Antony

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Thursday 14 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people-per-hour-logo Over the years my blog theme had become out of date and the CSS had been cannibalised.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

Lancashire Science Festival 2014

By Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Life, Love & Relationships, Reviews, Technology, The WebNo Comments
lancashire-science-festival-2014

Lancashire Science Festival: Sign.

 Last weekend I dragged boyfriend-A along to Lancashire Science Festival. We arrived, signed in and were given a programmes, maps and visitor passes. It was being hosted by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), which had a special significance for me as UCLAN was where I completed Nursing studies sometime ago. It was nice to see that the campus has developed, while at the same time keeping some of the buildings that I studied and lived in. Walking around triggered many happy memories for me, but I wasn’t there for a trip down memory lane. We were there to explore all things science. All things geek.

Which started with Titan, a singing, dancing and joke-cracking robot. See photos below (click any image for full size photo):

lancashire-science-festival-2014

Lancashire Science Festival Selfie with Titan.
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Titan The Robot.
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Titan 2
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Titan 3
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Titan 4.
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Titan 5.
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Titan 6. Mr Red Eyes.

Then boyfriend-A and I listened to a fascinating talk from @Drsurvival entitled Power Up Your Brain. I enjoyed the talk, but it would have been great to have two talks: one aimed at children & families and one aimed purely at adults. This was because I would have liked @Drsurvival to go into more of the biological and physiological detail.

We discovered a hall that had so many activities from a wide range of science and engineering organisations. My particular highlight was the CSI tent, where we learned more about the process of investigating crime. Then it was time for lunch, followed by Jo Blows Stuff Up!

Lancashire Science Festival ignited my imagination for everything science, engineering and technical. There was so much to get round, we spent most of the day there and only got through a small fraction of the activities on offer. I would have loved to have more time to do: the Science Dome Planetarium, Zoo Bus and Flash Bang Science. The free talks were over subscribed meaning that even pre-booking I couldn’t get tickets to attend Davros – An Audience with Davros and Science of Sherlock free talks. But I’m sure we’ll get around to some of these activities and talks next year.

Lancashire Science Festival is free fun for all the family. There were loads of young children there, loads of activities for them and they looked like they were having a fantastic time.

My advice on how to work the day: Arrive early and do the open activities in the morning. Then pre-book a talk or two for the afternoon.

Write soon,

Antony



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Friday 4 July 2014

Blackpool Part 2: Madame Tussauds

By Happiness & Joy, Life, Love & RelationshipsNo Comments

Boyfriend-A and I went to Blackpool at the weekend. We started with the Sealife Centre (see Blackpool Part 1: Sealife Centre) and then went to Madame Tussauds. I have to start by saying some of the waxworks were really bad, here are three examples, click on any image for full size photo:

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Davina Mccall

A Bad Davina Mccall
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Jamie Oliver

Another Bad Waxwork – Jamie Oliver
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson waxwork: fingers repaired with plasters.

But some were great:

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Gok Wan

Me kissing Gok Wan
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool random dinosaur

A Random Dinosaur Waxwork
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls Waxwork
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Rovers Return

The Rovers Return Inn
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Jack and Vera Duckworth

Jack & Vera Duckworth Waxworks (Coronation Street)
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Freddie Mercury

Fantastic Waxwork: Freddie Mercury
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool

A Waxwork of Madame Tussaund

Boyfriend-A and I couldn’t resist having some fun:

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool on a thrown

Me on a thrown
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Queen Elizabeth 2nd

Me getting my OBE, MBE and Knighthood
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool sweetie darling

Sweetie Darling 1
Madame Tussaunds Blackpool sweetie darling cig

Sweetie Darling 2

The award for scariest waxwork goes to…

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool russell brand

A terrible Russell Brand

The award for the campest waxwork goes to…

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool Alan Carr

Alan Carr Waxwork

The award for most realistic waxwork goes to…

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool the two ronnies

The Two Ronnies

Ronnie Barker (Above: Right), who looked so real that I expected him to stand up and start cracking jokes.

Madame Tussaunds Blackpool

Good Fun: My Night Out Look

 It was the first time I’d been to a Madame Tussauds. I really enjoyed entering the waxwork world of celebrity, talent and fame. If you’ve never been, I’d recommend it. An amusing and entertaining experience.

Boyfriend-A and I enjoyed our time in Blackpool :). I’m sure we’ll go again, at some point.

Write 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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Monday 23 June 2014
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