Tonight I have been packing. The first holiday of the year is always exciting. This holiday is a little different as I am off to France with pupils from school on the French Exchange.

Pupils stay with the families of their French Pen-friends and me, I stay with one of the English teachers from the French school. Good job really as I speak very little or no French at all. However Celine (the French English teacher!) speaks almost fluent English (like me!) so we are able to get along like a house on fire - she is great!

Tomorrows journey will be a bit of a long trip as we depart at around 0700 and will not arrive at our destination in the northern region of Normandy until around 2200. With 20 pupils on a bus that is a long day!

The trips in the past have been a huge success with both the kids and myself and other teachers learning so much. The places we have been to are particularly exciting with the D-Day landing sites high on the list of attractions. Visiting them really does make every minute of life worth living when you realise what those soldiers had to endure.

So off we go and wish me luck. Photographs to arrive shortly!

I have already written on Penny4Them about chaving up your car but here I write about a new phenomenon which is similar. This new phenomenon involves similar principles but instead the object of the pimping is a computer. Yes we live in a world were ‘case modding’ is now a reality.

What is this case modding I hear you cry? Very good question which until today I hadn’t a clue. Trawling through the Technology headlines on the BBC news website I cam across an article entitled Customised Computers for Sale. Apparently as it is the fashion with chaving up cars the same is being applied to computers and they are calling it case modding.There are a number of websites around (see below) all too willing to sell you modding parts for your computer. There is anything from simple stickers for the side to LED lighting for the interior. Bizarre! See the video below - a Harley Davidson case modding experience!

These people must need their heads reading. Computers are in effect like cheaper cars. They are a mere liability. There are never going to increase in value unless they are rear or very special. Therefore spending any money on them in order to enhance (if you can call it enhancing!) in any way is a complete waste of money. What worries me is that the people that tend to do this often don’t have the money!

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Customised Computers For Sale - BBC
Wikipedia - Case Modding
Buy Case Modding stuff at Specialtech.co.uk
Upper Class Case Modding

Yesterday a new attraction opened in Nevada, USA. This was already an attraction but had something added to it. What is it as was it as good idea?

The Grand Canyon resides in the American state of Nevada to the east of California. It was formed by the process of weathering and erosion produced by the river Colorado which runs at the bottom of the canyon. It is one of the seven wonders of the world and is truly awe inspiring. I was lucky enough to visit Las Vegas in 2006 however due to holiday illness was unable to visit the Grand Canyon itself - it would have been amazing!

Of course the attraction of the Grand Canyon has been there for a long time now so what is the new attraction? The answer is that they have built a walkway made of steel but with a glass floor sticking out 20 metres over the edge of the Canyon.

The idea is that visitors can they walk out over the canyon and get the true perception of the height of it. It is truly amazing how high the canyon stands. It dwarfs even the largest structures the man has attempted to make, including some of the world tallest buildings. The canyon sky-walk is an amazing 1219.2 metres above the ground. That is well over a kilometre - wow!

But should they have built this feature. The land around the Canyon (and the Skywalk itself according to the news) is owned by the local tribes people. They are not happy about this attraction as it will attract many more visitors. The land around the Skywalk is ancient burial grounds and they are not happy saying that these will be disturbed. However they will gain jobs from this project which should benefit the locals.

It is one of those tough calls with positives and negatives on both sides. Personally I think that although it is amazing, and will provide visitors with the unique experience of finding out the height for themselves, they should have left well alone. The natural beauty of the site and the amazing feature are surely enough to bring in the visitors (millions go every year!). Added to that is I don’t think I am brave enough to walk out on a platform like that!

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BBC News Report on the Grand Canyon Skywalk
Video - Grand Canyon Skywalk
Grand Canyon Skywalk website

Well maybe hell is a little extreme, however my journey this morning was rather frustrating. The reason? Well mainly as I wasn’t going to ‘the office’ as it where but I was on a course elsewhere.

With the meeting/course starting at 0915 I thought that I would leave around 0830. The journey should take around 15 minutes and that would mean that I could relax with a coffee once the venue was reached. Think again!For the last few weeks they have been shutting the roads in several places around the small town in which I live. This has caused massive disruption. The problem with this morning as the road was closed on a road that they completed the week earlier. This caused massive tailback and problems throughout the town. It didn’t matter which way I went there was hassle. Even all the little short cuts that you know didn’t work. It seems as though everyone else knew them too!

It was just the same on the way back. The one road remaining through the town was taking double the load. This resulted in very frustrated drivers.

My usual route to work is relatively relaxed as I work in a rural part of Lancashire. It is half an hour drive that although isn’t motorway speed it is a steady pace through the Lancashire countryside and this is very relaxing and (usually!) non-stressful. What today has taught me is that I could never do a job were the journey to and from work was stop start all the way!

After the long winter break Formula One is finally back. The first race of the seasons from Melbourne Australia took place over night, but who finished were and what does this mean?

The race was unique in many ways. First there have been many driver changes and also there was the absence of Michael Schumacher on the grid for the first time in 15 years. Also there was a young British rookie named Lewis Hamilton who was competing in his first F1 race for the McLaren team.

The result was perhaps inevitable with Kimi Raikkonen taking the victory with a well driven race that was relatively simple. Alonso (the current world champion) picked up second and amazingly in his first race Lewis Hamilton finished in third. This is a truly remarkable achievement for a Formula One driver in his first race, never before done by a Britain.

It is good to have the sport back and I think it is good to have it without Michael Schumacher. Although he was a true great he did have the influence of bullying the rest of the field and therefore with him gone we may well see a more intense competition. I am well and truly looking forward to the rest of the season.

I read an interesting blog article by Simon Jones on his blog Before I Forget a few weeks ago about St. David’s Day. Why don’t people celebrate St. David’s Day? However I bet that there are a fair few of you that are going to celebrating St. Patrick’s day today!

So why is it that more people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day any other national day? Well it is simple, St. Patrick’s Day is ’sponsered’ by a rather well well known alcoholic drink known as the black stuff. Of course the drink question is Guinness. Think about it. The one thing that you associate with St. Patrick’s Day is Guinness. Think of other National Days - St. David’s Day we have already mentioned and St. George’s Day. These don’t really get a mention as there is no celebratory drink associated with them. The Welsh and the English have no ‘National Drink’, hence no memorable celebrations on the National Day.

I have to say that Guinness have done some expert marketing in order to get their product associated with this national day. They are going to sell millions of pints of their product and all because it happens to be a certain day. Even people who do not normally drink Guinness will be downing it in the pubs tonight and I bet even a few people who don’t like it will be swilling the odd one back.

All that said, I love the stuff and am all to happy to have a further excuse in which to pour another pint. I have no idea what the significance of St. Patrick’s Day is but I have been sucked into the Guinness marketing ploy myself. What the hell, it is a tasty pint indeed!

I was wandering around the supermarket the other week and was walking down the booze isle when I came across this gadget. Those who know me will know that I am rather partial to a pint of the old black stuff and this gadget promised the perfect pint. So was I disappointed?

Well I have to say that I was sceptical about the device. The device in question was a Guinness surger. According to the box the device makes your can of Guinness just like the real thing pulled from the draught pump at the bar. It uses ultrsonic waves in order to create the creamyness in the glass and I have to say that it works a treat.

I have never really drunk Guinnes at home before even thought it is the drink of choice when heading down to the local. The reason is that it tasted completely different to the stuff in the barrel. Well it seems as though this little device has come along way to bridging the gap. Obviously to get it to taste like the ‘real thing’ you still need to drink the real thing from the pump but this is much much better.

Operation is simple. You simply take a can of Guinness (must be a special Surger can) and one Guinnes glass (preferably one that says ‘brewed in Dublin’). Pour the drink at a 45 degree angle and then place it on the surger (after placing 1 tsp. water on the surger first). Plug it in and then press the surger button. Hey presto - a (almost!) perfect pint of the black stuff follows. Easy peasy!

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Visit the Guinness Website - www.guinness.com

For years scientists have been studying what makes women attractive to men. For a long time now it has been thought that the hour glass shape was the attractive look. However research released this week has proven otherwise. Apparently it is all in the walk!

New York researchers have carried out research into this topic as to what is it that makes men attracted to women. They have come to the conclusion that although the traditional waste to hip ratio is important (giving the hourglass figure) it is actually the way in which the woman walks that makes them ultimately attractive.

It seems as though it is the bodies motion that also conveys the femininity and attraction too. I have to say that I agree. I have always thought that a big part of a woman being attractive to me or not is confidence and I think that a way a woman walks is often a sign of confidence in the person.

That said of course is attractiveness really a science? Or is it just something that happens? Sometimes we just find someone attractive and fall in love. Does there need to be a reason?

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BBC News article - Attraction ‘determined by walk’

The Independent have hailed today as an historic day for the future of the planet in terms of climate change. The British government have pledged by law to reduce their carbon emissions by 60% by 2050. Re-election ploy or real commitment?

Although the Conservatives agree that this is positive step forward, they believe that yearly targets would be the best way to move forward. I am not certain and think that this way is better. There are bound to be years when the cuts are less due to various external factors, and therefore the longer term target seems to make more sense.

The idea behind this is that if the government fails to meet these targets then they will be taken to high court. However what would happen to them? What sanctions would be in place if the targets were met? Surely any sanctions would effect the public? This seems a little strange to me and needs more clarification.

That said even if it makes the nation stand up and think about what we need to do in order to reduce greenhouse emissions and begin the recycle more then it has to be a step in the right direction.

Those of you who are lucky enough (like me) to own an iMac from Apple, will have no doubt also had a mess with the built in iSight camera using the Photo Booth application. The images that you can produce are rather amusing!

I have thought and thought and then thought again of a reasons as to why you would want to take a photograph with most of the effects that come with the software. Some of them you can see in these rather amusing images. If anyone can tell me why you would want to take a photo of you split in half then I am all ears. Still it was fun playing around!