The X Factor

Hi folks -- sorry for my lack of posts lately, but I've been
busy doing other things.
So what have I been up to in the past week or so?
Currently I'm two-thirds of the way through making a Powerpoint
presentation on how to use Dreamweaver ... it's supposed to last
only an hour, and already I've made over 70 slides ... so I've
got a lot of pruning to do. I'm thinking of it as a prelude to
giving a 4 or 5 part series of talks to those in our U3A
Computer Club, who might be interested in joining me in some
simple web design and having a bit of fun.
"A bit of fun???", you might be thinking ... or perhaps "a big
yawn" ... or "Boring!!"?
I've spent a few days sorting through a lot of photos of our two
latest family meet-ups, and making CD-Roms of selections of my
pics to send to people. Following on from our cousins' meet-up
(cousins on Mrs C's side of the family), Mrs C's taken the
initiative and has found us a lovely property for us all near
Symonds Yat, to stay next September. So I've been busy sending
off batches of emails to everyone about that.
I think Mrs C is right to go for a big property like this, where
we can all meet up and relax in (and where tiny tots can be put
to bed early while us oldies eat in, get merry on booze and sit
around and have a good natter. To often we end up after a
restaurant meal out, in some narrow hotel lobby or cheerless bar
area, (with other people there taking up seating space) .. so we
usually end up going off to bed early. The downside of self-
catering of course is the meal preparation and clearing up later,
but then we could get a take-away / ready-to-cook pizzas and salad
to go with it.
Mrs C and I have already started our Xmas shopping, and are about
two-thirds of the way through that ... still got loads of pressie
wrapping and the Xmas cards to do. Last year, I took a Xmassy photo
which I framed and added our Xmas greetings to, in Photoshop, and
emailed that to a lot of our family and friends. How many Xmas cards
end up just being looked at briefly, put up somewhere on display,
and then lobbed in early January? One of our neighbours sends out
120 cards each year to family, friends and former work colleagues ..
he and his wife set up an assembly line for this, with computer-
generated sticky address labels (and only write their names in each
card) ... we have tried sticky address labels ourselves, but I noticed
the last year I did this that the labels started to peel off the
envelopes ... not very good.
Any of you watching The X Factor? Do you like Simon Cowell, the
producer and one of the main judges? Mrs C and I are hooked on
watching the current series, and we just love Simon Cowell, and
his merry banter with his fellow judges. On most occasions we
think he's spot on with his advice, which isn't surprising as
he's made his career and fortune in doing just this ... he can
spot talent when he sees/hears it.
So what do you think of the singers that are still left on the
show? My top favourites are Niki, Beverley and Rhydian, but I doubt
if the public will vote any of them as the overall winner. I think
Rhydian deserved the standing ovation from all the judges after last
Saturday's performance... he's got a fabulous voice and we saw a
more balanced personality -- the real bloke, this time.