Barrie Johnson - Synchro 32

Above Spa

2010-08-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

As ever the Belgium F1 was great entertainment at the weekend, fair play to Lewis, bad luck Jenson - (brought back memories of Oz '94 - Schuey/Hill). Anyway, Spa, I remember vividly the 1998 Spa race where there was a huge crash at the start, I was with my wife on our Honeymoon watching, I remember standing up in a really quiet bar and shouting 'Oh My God!', wondering only if there were any injuries and also what Murray Walker was saying as the commentator was speaking in Greek. There were some other Brits in the bar moaning about some football match or other should be on, whilst we were witnessing what we thought to be absolute carnage, fortunately it was only Car-nage, lol. They show the footage every time they visit Spa.

Finally got round to watching Avatar in 3d at the weekend, wow stunning, what imagination that James Cameron has, pure genius.

You can tell we're back to work, the sun is out!

Holiday

2010-07-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

Just come back from holidaying in Cornwall, for once the weather was fantastic, we stayed at a place called Port Isaac where they film Doc Martin, lovely quaint Cornish Fishing village (stinks a bit).

There were 9 Children and 3 Adults in one big house (ouch!), a house that has made a starring role in said TV program many times, and it was even still standing when we left - just about.

Had a few visits to Polzeath beach so some of my Nephews and my eldest son could hit the surf, and I could sit and eat a Pasty whilst having a bit of a read in the sun, bliss.

And a trip to Cornwall wouldn't be complete without an afternoon on Harlyn Bay beach, so I can sit and reminisce about times gone by.

All in all a beautiful place, a county that I consider to be very unique to the UK, mostly unspoilt and (as long as you avoid Newquay) not too many people around.

Just wish it wasn't so far away!!

My latest gadget

2010-05-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

I have recently treated myself to an Ebook reader, I have to say I was sceptical to start with, I love reading and I generally have enough time looking at Screens both in work and home life, so to be staring at another screen was a concern. But after now owning the reader for a month, I have to say I have really got into it.

The display is called e-ink, and it creates a high contrast view of text or graphics in black and white (kind of light grey), the image is very stable and it does feel paper like, to produce the image it uses no light so it's very easy on your eyes and also very low power consumption, though as usual not quite what the manufacturer quotes. It also works in the brightest sunlight, it actually becomes clearer the brighter the light.

You can view a number of different formats, I currently have text documents, PDF documents and the EPUB file format, but it can also display Word documents, RTF and a whole host of others, and it can store enough books for even the most avid reader to occupy them for at least 6 months, without updating.

It has a zoom function S, M or L, I tend to zoom to M, it makes it very readable.

So if you're thinking about getting one, go for it!

All the best

Barrie

F1 - My Sport.

2010-04-01T03:18:00.000-07:00

The only sport I follow is Grand Prix, I enjoy the glitz and the glamour a bit, but mostly it's about the cars and the drivers, it's a sport us Brits actually do best (for a change).

I have followed the sport since I was a kid, the days of James Hunt, John Watson and Niki Lauda.

A while back I was given a 'pit pass' from the Beneton team following a sales pitch from one of their sponsors (thanks Cisco), everyone turned up with the biggest set of cameras I'd ever seen, sooo interested in the sales pitch, not.
It was when Fisichella and Wurtz were in the team, we were able to go right by them in the pits where they were testing the cars, one engineer lifted the engine hood and proceeded to make an adjustment with a pair of pliers, I couldn't believe it - how primitive!!

I do miss Murray Walker though, here's a man who could make comparisons to an incident by dropping back into his memory upto 50 years (I suppose he reminded me of when I was a kid), he had such love of the sport, but I suppose he knew it was time to hang up his microphone.

There was a blip for about five tortuous years, this is know as the Schumacher/Ferrari era, it was boring, boring, boring, but I still never missed a race, painful as it was, to this day I never support Ferrari even if Jack Dee was driving for them.

Well onto this season, it's looking good, hopefully Schuey will enjoy fighting it out in the middle of the pack (tee hee!), and we see Hamilton and Button fighting it out at the front, though it may well be Vettle's year this year, but no matter because it's always entertaining.

This weekend it's the Malaysian GP!!

A word...

2010-01-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

I have of late abandoned what was one of my most favourite pastimes, reading (no not the City in Berkshire, Literature dear boy). The main problem was I hit a wall of really rubbish books, four to be precise (of which none that I managed to complete) and finally my brain gave up and promptly fell asleep.

I was absolutely determined to get back into reading as it's been a great pleasure of mine for a long, long time, so over the Christmas period, having received 5 new books for presents (they were mostly Science fantasy with a couple of Autobiographies thrown in for good measure, well it was Christmas!) I sat myself down and managed to finish two of the rubbish books (as mentioned earlier with dogged determination) and also the two really enjoyable Autobiographies.

One of the Science Fantasy books given was the first book of a series of three books that complete the fifteen book Wheel of Time series (15 books in all, gulp!). I have had great pleasure in reading these since 1990, but, unfortunately the author Robert Jordan died in 2007 and left the eleventh book incomplete. Whilst this was obviously a huge sadness it was also a nightmare for his literature followers.
However, between the publisher and his wife (God bless 'um) they found someone to write up the notes he had made before his death, his name is Brandon Sanderson, I will read it and let you know how I get on.

All the best

Baz

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2009-12-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

I do enjoy this time of year, at least the drinking and eating and present receiving part anyway, not so much the endless shopping trips and the nose dive that my bank balance is on during December.

This year is more special as there are five of us now, plus my eldest son is now of an age where I can play with his presents/watch his DVD's/eat his chocolate.

Anyway, I wish everyone a fun time and look forward to seeing you all next year.

Kind Regards

Barrie

New Arrival

2009-11-06T02:14:00.001-08:00

I am very happy to announce the arrival of my son Elliot Jude Johnson, born on the 24th of October at 5:21pm, weighing 7lb 15oz. Mother and Baby both doing very well indeed.

He's a very heathly young boy who has put on weight already! Though he hasn't quite worked out that when it's dark you need to close your eyes and have a bit of a kip, but we're getting there.

He likes Formula one and Supercars, or will do if his dad and brother have anything to do with it (he likes Formula milk so we're half way there).

It's finally happened...

2009-09-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened, we found a suitable caravan, it's been quite a journey - 1000 miles up and down the country to be exact (I joke you not), it's been a nightmare, one example travelling up Sheffield (100 Miles) to find the caravan we wanted to view was sold!!

But finally we found one 6 miles from my house (ouch), here it is on our favourite site.

I even found someone to take our old 'van off us for a very small fee (no they paid me!!).

Trouble is now the season is almost at an end, well it is if you're a couch potato, we've only got a few weeks left now boo hoo but the weather doesn't look too bad.

Mind, it's the skiing season soon..

'Credit Crunch' goes my new Caravan...

2009-08-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have been attempting to replace our ageing Avondale Caravan, it's past it's prime - the Caravan service guys advised us to have it put to sleep but we just can't do it until we really have to, it's back legs have gone yes but it still has a twinkle in it's eye. Anyway, before it gets sold to the great Caravan Breakers in the Sky, well down the road actually, we have to find a new one. Unfortunately we have come up against two major obstacles:-

1. Due to the credit crunch people are looking to holiday more in the UK (Are they mad, have you seen the prices and the weather?) As I'm sure you're aware we are a nation of 'Panic Buyers', try getting a fresh loaf of bread on Christmas eve, mix this with greedy salesmen or 'Supply and demand' as they call it and you have a problem. This will all change when the credit crunch ends, and your nice shiny caravan is worth about the same as a tin of Pilchards, negative equity in caravans tsk!

2. Another problem is towing weights, this is a whole minefield that I am now an expert in. I drive a 1.8 Vauxhall Zafira, not a small car and not an ungenerous 1300kg towing capacity, until you find out that most family caravans are around 1350kg, not a problem you think - we've all seen the video of the VW Touareg towing the Jumbo jet, right (Take a Look)? But the story changes when you're on the M5 and a lorry over takes you the same time as a gust a wind hits you on the other side suddenly, your caravan decides it likes the look of the lorry rather than your car, and guess what your car doesn't have enough weight to hold it back, kind of like an old frail granny taking a Staffordshire Bull terrier for a walk and he sees a cat. This is when you end up in the bushes pulling roadkill out from between your teeth and finding four broken flappy pieces of plyboard where your caravan used to be, plus a furious looking wife and a rather bent car.

So as you can imagine I am absorbing all the safety advise I can find.

Remember my previous post, it should have been called 'When Good caravans, go bad', lol - actually not a bad idea, might send that one to Bravo.

Laters....

Baz the whinging Yam yam/Brummie/Limey/Pom.

2009-07-09T02:26:00.001-07:00

Oh I do like to be beside the Poolside.

Went fishing the weekend had a great time, found one of those rare Pools where the fish aren't overfed, so they were hungry, I caught about 30 fish, including Carp, Bream, Tench, Roach, and Gudgeon.

What an excellent way to spend the day, how many times have I fished a Pool and sat there wondering if it was stagnant.

Had a beautiful Bream, my biggest one ever (though it was only about 2lb and that's being generous).

Off Mackerel fishing soon, can't wait, now there's a barmy fish, BBQ at the Ready!!!

Barrie

2009-06-25T03:25:00.000-07:00

Ode to an Avondale - RIP.

One of my favourite hobbies is caravanning, I'm fairly new to it having previously been a Camper for 20 years (no comments please).

I hate towing the thing (with good reason, see below), but once you're there and setup it's great.

I'm one of those rare Caravan towers that pull over when the queue of traffic builds up behind me, and appreciate the waves of thanks I get from other motorists.

I have stayed in my Caravan on a site only 5 miles from my house, a little weird granted but it's in the Clent Hills and it's just a beautiful place to be, just look.

Clent

Currently I am looking to buy a newer Caravan, the old one is very tired, and also prompted me by the wheel dropping off on the M5 whilst on our way
to Exmouth for a holiday (see picture taken at 7:00am M5 J10 - thanks to the Very nice man from the RAC we got back on the road within two hours!).

Fiddle Sticks!

I wouldn't normally mind (well I would really TBH) but this is the second time the wheel has dropped off, so it's time to say goodbye!!

It's been a good van, 5 years ownership, countless nights keeping mine and the families heads dry.

Anyway, we also have a new baby on it's way, due in October so we've run out of room to boot.

Happier times

Our current favourite site

Fingers crossed that we get a Summer this year!!

Barrie

Best season for 25 years.

2009-03-05T05:50:00.000-08:00

Yes it's that time of year again, well actually it's the nearly the end of 'that time of year', but finally I'm off skiing this weekend, hoorah!! I didn't want to miss this season as the snow levels have been fantastic since the very start of the season, some say the best for a quarter of a century.

So anyway, I'm off to Italy Friday to a resort called Pila (www.pila.it - Check out the Webcams!) it's due East of Milan, where at present it's snowing and -10C, the only downside is it's only for 3 days, as you can imagine it's a lot of expense and dull travelling time for what will be the fastest 3 days ever.
We're going independent this time, first time - usually get a last minute deal, so slightly nervous that the itinerary will work. This is the first time for three years that I will have Ski's on, as the last two seasons I've been Snowboarding, I really enjoyed it but really stagnated last time, so I'm going back to Skiing. (Plus it's no fun being the oldest in the 'boarding group by 20 years, all that baggy pants, 'Dude' talking and or course the Devils horns sign..)

So come and join me and have some fun in the snow, you might just have the time of your life...

For sale Snowboarding boots Size 12, used twice, offers...

Techno house, Tech-no-notice

2009-01-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Our house is a very, very, very nice house as the song goes. What it fails to mention is that it is now groaning under the weight of gadgets, as most houses in the UK I have a few niceties to help while away the hours, namely:-
4 LCD TV's, 3 TFT monitors, 1 laptop, 2 PC's, 1 Gaming console,
1 Gaming chair, 2 MP3 players, 1 MP4 player, 5 digital cameras, 2 printers, 1000 DVD's and CD's, 1 TV Hard disk recorder, 1 portable DVD player, 1 Digital Camcorder, 1 scanner, 1 HD-DVD drive (now redundant - thanks Toshiba), 4 DVD players, 1 Surround sound system, 1 freeview box, 3 digital photo frames, 1 disco light ball, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc...is there no end, nope I love technology.

Modern life eh??

Name and Address NOT supplied....

Please sir, can I have one????

2009-01-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

One news item that caught my eye this week is the announcement of the 1 Terabyte Solid State Drive.
A SSD replaces your hard disk in your PC and it uses similar technology to what is used in flash memory cards (as used in digital camera's), so there are no moving parts, no disk heads to crash, no sound at all from the drive itself when operating.
This is a 2.5" drive that will store one trillion pieces of information, or one thousand Gigabytes.
The company goes onto to say that 4 of these drives will take the same space up as one existing normal Hard disk.

The smaller drives have been around quite a while now, and you can pick them up for around £200 for a 128 Gig.

You will also be able to retro fit them into most of the latest laptops.

These drives also use a lot less power, and are blisteringly fast.

Once again Technology has amazed me with advancing way beyond anyones expectations.

My first Blog.

2008-11-05T05:33:00.000-08:00

Hi,I'm the newest addition to the Synchro32 team, I have now been working for 9 months as a developer, how time flies!

Having been in the IT industry for the past 23yrs producing software for many different markets the past 10yrs has been Virgin Media, my first job was at Dewtec where I worked for 9yrs alongside Chris, Simon and Tom Millar.

Dewtec is also where I met my wife (who worked as the receptionist/secretary for 9yrs). We have been together for 18yrs and happily married for the past 10yrs. Having 2 children, James Age 6 and Amelia Age 4 definitely keeps us both on our toes!

My passions in life are of course my family, but also, Skiing or Snowboarding, the last couple of Holidays have been Snowboarding but I felt a bit of an old codger in the Boarding Classes, so I might go back to skiing this year, I enjoy the better low speed control also.

Me in Val d'Isere

Family in Austria this year

I play Squash, Sudoku, Xbox 360 (currently still trying to finish GTA IV) and when I have a quiet moment (which doesn't seem to be that often since having the children) I like to read Science Fantasy Books, my favourite authors being Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, Robin Hobb.

As a family we are into caravanning ( I know, I know, I hate being stuck behind them too!) and own a now rather old/disintegrating, but loveable caravan and have enjoyed many hols down Exmouth. The kids love it as they have a certain amount of freedom when away, which they can't necessarily have at home.

I've followed Formula 1 most of my life and am a fan of all British Drivers, the final race of this season was fantastic, my heart was racing it's way out of my chest, what a showdown, although I have to say the booing from the 'fans' was very unsporting. One of my ambitions is to go to a European Race, maybe next year I may get the chance to achieve this.