jamx.org
Blog of Jamie Lovelock, Software Engineer in Dukinfield, Cheshire.

The moon looked amazing tonight. I had got ready for bed and just as I was pulling my blind down I noticed how full the moon was tonight. Just off full. I don’t know why but I decided to get the telescope out and give taking a good picture another shot. I had to get the telescope out of the shed, set it up, attach the camera, focus and align it, all in the dark without waking the neighbours.

I was given some advice from a friend from the dhbit irc (thanks bigcalm) about reducing shutter shake. The D60 (and my old d40x for that matter) do not allow the mirror to be locked up for bulb shots. Because the telescope is so long, and the camera hangs off the back, the shutter movement induces a large amount of shake. The solution? Really low-fi! Set the shutter to bulb, cover the lens with a sheet or card, use the remote to fire the shutter, wait for the shake to stop (a second or two), remove the card to expose the shot (depending on object brightness ~1 second), cover the lens again with the card and close the shutter.

The results? See for yourself…

Jay.

So I went and jumped on the band waggon and got myself an iPhone. I got to say, it’s frickin’ awesome. The unlimited data / always on connectivity is just great.

Also, on Wednesday I bought a scratch card and won

Well my flying skills are getting better. Check out footage from my third pack flight.

Born this morning, weighing in at 8 lbs. Welcome to the world little Scarlett Elizabeth Marland. Congratulations to Rob and Joanne.

Here we go again… Yes, its the end of April so that can only mean one thing. Its Liverpool vs Chelsea in the semi final of the champions league. This time its at Anfield for the first leg so we really do need to get a good result tonight to take some of the pressure off when we got to Stamford Bridge in a weeks time. A 1-nil or 2-nil win would be perfect. If we stop Chelsea scoring then I think we’ll be in the final again. We have to wait until tomorrow night to see how Man Utd get on against Barcelona. I know, I know, “it’d be great to have an all English final” but I’d rather play Barcelona if we get to Moscow. As good as beating Man Utd would feel, losing would be unbearable. YNWA.

Shocking as it may seem, but I am still alive!

I don’t really have anything to write about but I got fed up looking at the same picture of the home page.

I’ve got a new number plate for the car. I’ve had it since New year but seeing as I haven’t updated this thing, I thought I might as well mention it.

Went out into Huddersfield on Saturday with the Milton lot. Catherine is about to drop child so it was a chance to go out before Huby Jnr arrives. We all went for an Italian which I wasn’t very impressed with, and then a few drinks at Vox (i think). It was a good night over all and I look forward to doing it again at some point.

Liverpool beat Blackburn with is always good but sadly Man Utd beat Arsenal so it looks like they will win the league this year. I’m hoping the Barca does everyone a favour and beats them in the CL so I don’t have the turmoil of a Liverpool v Man Utd final. Losing to AC last season was one thing… It would be the ultimate high or the ultimate low. A risk I don’t want to take.

10 of us went camping over Easter. It was bloody freezing and it snowed but it was a good laugh and a good test of equipment before the MotoGP at Donington later in the year. Pictures can be found in the usual place.

Tweedle’s brothers competed in the North West Stages. I went along with my camera and took a load of pictures for them. They did fantastic and finished 4th in class and 35th over all. Thats fantastic considering its their first rally is 2 years and considering some of the other cars racing! Their site can be found at deedum.co.uk.

Well I’ve gone and got a new car. I’ve been thinking about replacing the Land Rover as it needs a fair bit of work doing to it, its due Tax and MOT and so I wanted to use it as part ex before it became too late (and the 130k miles caused the engine to blow up).

Luke and I went to the Car People in Ashton and I found a car that I actually like. Its a Vauxhall Vectra SRi 1.9CDTI. Its got huge 19″ alloys, Sat nav, climate control etc… and its got less that 12,000 miles on the clock. Its also less than a year old so it still has two years left on the manufactures warranty. I pick it up on Wednesday so expect more info then.
Click here for more pictures.

Well its that time again when I remove all the old stuff and stick on something new. Gone is the Mambo CMS and in its place is Wordpress. Gone is Gallery and instead Flickr. Gone is the old Canon S50, to be replaced by the Nikon D40x. Gone is my old Dell laptop, in is my new Macbook. Gone is my dear Granddad, never to be replaced.

Check out new pictures at http://jamx.org/photos/

Holly, the little black and white cat has recovered from her eye trauma. She no longer has the use of her left eye but she’s back to her old self and seem pain free.

As you my have guessed from above, my grandfather, James Douglas Lovelock died on September 21st in his home near Competa, Spain, aged 86. He is survived in all that knew him and will be dearly missed. A man famous for his rain dance, he would have been happy to know that the region he lived in experienced 2 years rain fall in 1 hour on the evening of his death.

In other news, my Land Rover needs a new exhaust. I think it will be replaced after Christmas for something like the new Fiat 500. Liverpool won at the weekend and play in the Champions League tomorrow night. I’m in Birmingham so I can’t make the game but I’ll be watching it on tv.

On Sunday, Luke and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. I don’t think I’ve been there since I was a child so it was good fun. Amazingly, there was a Flying Flea similar to one my Granddad was said to have built in his youth. We’ve heard all the stories but never actually seen one.

Come back soon as I’ll be uploading more photos and with a bit of luck, I’ll update the site too.