DezB – Member
Isn’t the card just a card with a code on it so you can give it as a gift?
POSTED 6 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Yes. It comes in retail packaging which isn’t as daunting to aunties who aren’t tech savvy not wanting to spend money on a code.

Daft question but does he know his name?

My second dog was much harder to train than the first on recall. He was too easily distracted, I taught him in an empty field, if he got distracted by something you need to make more noise (ie a fool out of yourself) so you appear more interesting than the distraction. When your recalling is he rewarded with attention, treat, toy?

I guy in my team has one and drive us to the pub one lunchtime. He was having a fun keeping the revs high and placing it into corners, I was so envious I asked to drive back. I loved it. For me it seems like the modern mini, it’s quite finger tippy to drive and I love high revving cars, I expect you can utilise all it’s bhp at times. The cabin build was solid but a bit bland, but that’s forgiven as most importantly it drives so well. He’s really happy with it. If I was looking for a car if that type I wouldn’t consider anything else.

Edit my 6’3 colleague said the passenger room was ok too

I went to Mauritius for 3 weeks arriving back mid December. It’s a lovely island, I prefered it to the Maldives as there was, if you wanted it, a bit more to do. We flew with Thomson directly 11ish hours on the Dreamliner planes, while the economy section isn’t as good as they make out it’s a bit nicer than other long haul planes. We stayed 5* for 3 weeks all well under your budget by a few grand and all inclusive.

It’s a lovely island, if you go be sure to visit the Hindu temple, the markets and the national park. All driving is a lot like the UK should you wish to hire a car. Locals all speak English and are very friendly.

Edit: if jnr is 14 I would definitely look at Mauritius over Maldives, unless she really is happy just chilling.

The one about Honda CRX’s were Hora didn’t understand how AWD/4WD/2WD worked and disappeared (in his Subaru).

Good news!
I’ve just checked Kirklees College website and a new Photoshop course is starting next week for £95 for 10 weeks. We kept missing it – hopefully enough people enrol so they actually run it……

Fantastic. Illustrator is going to be more useful in the long run but PS menu’s, docks etc are similar. If you get your head around one the other will be much easier to pick up.

MrSmith has good advice on a Wacom tablet, they are ideal coming from traditional media. The better models are pressure sensitive etc but I have an old bamboo (which isn’t) you welcome to borrow as a start. It can then be replaced as funds allow.

Don’t get me started on the cost of it all!
Is it really that expensive?
Full Adobe sub £38 / month
New Mac every 3 years or so – £1500 ish
If you can’t clear that amount of money you really need to get a new trade. It’s professional software and not aimed at home/casual users.

My Dad, retired builder, was talking about my macbook I added the cost of the software on it and it was somewere near £7k. He didn’t get how it cost so much. I compared it to his van loaded with tools etc, you can’t do the job without them.

When you have been away from a field for so long it seems impossible to find out anything about what you should be doing. It’s very disheartening.

Learn the software needed for the job. Before shelling out on a new mac /PC anyone close who can give you a bit of tuition?

My wife has no interest in doing the actual artwork on the computer, she would rather go and do another job than that – is there no use for painting/drawing stuff traditionally and then scanning/manipulating afterwards? That’s what I was hoping she could do.

Yes of course, but less call for it than there used to be. Look at children’s books for example. A friend was in a similar position and started a mural painting business. What is your wife’s work like?

I may well have a copy of photoshop and illustrator cs3 with a licence I can look on Monday. But again your laptop may struggle.

The thing with it is that it is genuinely intuitive. And the only way to learn it is to get stuck in and have a play. Once you do, you start to get to grips with it pretty quickly. And you’ll learn as much from happy accidents as tutorials.

This +1

The most recent pen tool in illustrator is a joy to use.

It’s a tough industry to get into from my experience. I got my big break when a buyer for Saatchi invidulated my degree show (2005) and bought my exhibition work. I went into part time shop work straight after my degree and started freelancing. About a year after graduating I got a call from the buyer and got my first big job doing some illustrations for the music industry. I propped up my dream by doing drawings/illustrations of pets/people anything while the bigger contracts came in. I was never taught any graphic software at uni so started to self learn. Somehow in the last 10 years I’ve ended up owning a record label, had a few books published and now run a design studio for a multi national. The only advice I have is grind away and no matter how daunting learn the technology. My heart of hearts is in traditional media but there’s so little call for it. Illustrator files are ‘vectors’ meaning they can be reproduced in any size without losing quality or being distorted. This is what clients want. I imagine your wife has a keen eye so I think she should be able to translate her skills. When I’m hiring I can tell those traditionally trained and those portfolios which are graphics based.

What I mean by talking about myself is a bit of luck, Skill & grafting.

There is work out there as a traditional illustrator but it’s not common place. I would find a style that sells/works and stick to it. If you wish to share some of her work on here or via email I am happy to look at it and maybe suggest courses/agencies/direction. When I was freelance agencies were everything and they all look for a strong online portfolio. Surface pattern jobs now are mainly vector based to, it’s really not that daunting once you have the basics.

Hello I’m an illustrator too, well trained in fine art but working as an illustrator/graphic designer. Adobe illustrator on desktop is a must ( Corel draw is good, better than some give it credit for) the iPad version of illustrator is good but I find it more of a side tool to the desktop version. If she’s an IT novice I recomend getting to grips with illustrator and indesign, all my clients thee days want PDF files rather than hand drawn things. If you want to pick my brain on the industry and agencies please feel free to do so.

Edit: the most recent illustrator on CC is the easiest version yet to learn.

I had it and over did it… Small steps

Hope everyone’s ok

I had these for a while when I was driving 70 miles a day and going through p-zeros quite fast. A mechanic friend recommended them as a ‘cheaper tyre’ tyre and I couldn’t fault them at all for the price.

I would leave it, I’m not man enough to smash it’s head in due to it’s size, which is psychological as when my dog catches rabbits and rats I have no issue killing them if he hasn’t already

Like matt_ootnaboot, the motor has cost me £1000 in the last couple of months (ABS sensor faults leading to new wheel bearings, booked in next week for the other side and not much change out of £200 no doubt ) and front bushings.
Suppose to be expected on a 7-8 y.o. car nudging just shy of 80k

I’ve got a 53 plate celica I’m childishly sentimentally attached too that I won’t sell. It’s on 103k and has only needed consumables.

Actually I just opened the curtains and changed my mind upon seeing my Honda CRV, 2007 plate with 55k on it, FHSH for half what they go for on Autotrader, off a mate in the trade who would have sent it to auction as the interior is trashed. It’s been a great addition for carrying the dogs, bike gear and trips to the tip.

Do you get to adjust the grind, tamp pressure and brew time on these machines?
I’m intrigued as to how they can even tamp with enough pressure? Or how you can even make a boiler and burr grinder for peanuts? (once the vat, distribution, dealer margin, distributor margin and profit are taken is there any money to make the thing)
Never used a bean to cup but wondered how they actually worked.

No I don’t think you can, you couldn’t on the ones I looked at anyway. This all depends on what coffee is to you. I’m far too fussy for a bean to cup machine ( possibly they have moved on since I looked – I don’t know) my friend who has one seems to just pour the beans in (no consideration of date/storage) and make a drink and is happy with that, it can even do eXpresso he proclaimed.

My wife’s in work at 07:00 so I said we would stay in. Opened a bottle and put a film on, fell asleep to be woken by fireworks at midnight. Possibly the most boring new year I’ve had… Off out at the weekend instead.

I won an playstation 3 auction on eBay. The most recent slim version with extra pads and a bunch of games for £80 when similar were selling for £200. No idea why I was the only bidder, when I arranged collection the seller aggressively insisted I gave him more money and said he would leave me bad feedback, If he would have asked nice I would have happily met him half way despite it being his error for starting the auction low / no reserve, I already told the wife I was planning on giving extra £ as I felt like I was robbing him. I px’d most of the games for about £50 too.

I thought the local model shop had closed down as I stated above, delighted to find it’s now an independent store and was model zone before. Bought all the Tamiya paints I needed then popped in halfords for primer and a rattle can. Tested it on a spare bit from the box and it dried fine with no melting of the plastic.

Thanks, the bikes new so It’s just pads I want to change (for now )

Thankyou captincarbon, I will give that a try.

Cheers! I will invest in some of those :-) do they just slot in?

Slight hijack, mine got in my toenail and the dr gave me antibiotics to shift the fungus but warned me they may upset my stomach, they did. Can tea tree oil shift it from nails? Can’t get back to drs as it’s non emergency for a bit and don’t want it spreading

You shouldn’t need to match the number plate, there should be a decal specifically for the number plate. Most Tamiya & Revell car kits come in left hand drive so matching a uk plate wouldn’t make sense anyway. Also don’t forget your printer will not necessarily give accurate colour matches.

Our printers can match Pantone ref, part of my job is colour matching (product design) so in making colour swatches and matching them to my plate outside (yes I really am that bored in work)

I haven’t checked if it’s RHD or LHD! Haven’t opened the box yet. Did notice it’s a JDM version of the car though and the bumpers don’t have eu reflectors.

Couldn’t shift mine for ages, used Lamisil once and changed my socks 3 times a day and it went.

…cheers folks :-)

Currently in the studio printing off plastic swatches for a perfect number plate colour match :-)

Thanks crankboy, how would it damage the surface? I thought as it is a spray used on plastic car parts it would be ok? I don’t mind buying a proper gun if that’s what’s needed. I’ve already eyed up my next kit, so it would be used again… :-)

I think you will love the uncharted games, unfortunately they are playstation titles. I liked them so much when a mate showed me them I bought a cheap ps3 to play them, I think they will appeal to you.

I bought my macbook from there. It’s used mostly as a portable device for design & displaying work. I told the salesman I had a licence for adobe CC and he pushed so hard for me to buy one off him. I explained several times work pay for it, it’s sorted. The only reason we went there is I won a £200 voucher to the cost & work footed the rest, however paying on works credit card didn’t deter them from pushing their own Higher Purchase. Once I finally got the product to the till another sales person tried to sell me a bag for it and some screen wipes. The whole process made a simple sale very time consuming.

What versions?

Someone at worked claimed today to have bought a bean to cup machine for £35 from morrisons. I can’t imagine it’s any good, but it got me looking and there’s a few under £100.

I’m too fussy for a bean to cup machine but they do look like good value.

Wonder what happend to the cars they left behind?

Basically the rod at the back of the pedal pushes a piston in the master cylinder & where they meet gets worn, causing the squeak. You also lose feel and the clutch becomes an on/off switch.

Mine has a squeek sometimes. I will look at that thanks.

I had one for a brief stint while my situation sounded a bit like yours. Had it about 3 months and put 6k on it so while it’s not like I drove it for long it needed nothing in that time other than when someone bent the door mirror back and broke it, I got another off eBay but as said above there aren’t as many being scrapped as more common cars. Nice cars for the money and reliable.

Edit: mine was on over 100k with part service history. Cheap enough not to worry.

I like jigsaws new menswear range for the office and perregrine for the weekends. Both warm and well made, good fit.

Edit, I have a few pea coats from jigsaw from the Cheshire Oakes branch, very good value. The manageress was gorgeous too who serving me.

I’d happily drive my old Aygo ANYWHERE. oh and I did.

Would you drive it on the A640 though? Something you wouldn’t be detouring to in a Golf? These adventures you do are stuff most of us did, in lesser cars than your Aygo, in our late teens/early 20’s which is perhaps why they don’t seem all that impressive.

…and yesterday Hora described them as AWD till it was pointed out to him.

Win what? Everything seems to be going in one ear and out the other with you not really understanding in between.