Perfectly Balanced

bulbboy has been a little off balance lately.
not in an unhinged kind of way but quite literally.
years of chiropractic treatment did nothing to help, but
a visit to an osteopath did the trick.

he referred me to a podiatrist, and an insole has been put into my left shoe.
being balanced feels very strange but also very good.
i never knew standing up could fill me with joy.

the osteopath in question is David Drysdale of napier's herbal dispensary,
which can be found on bothwell street, and on cresswell street in hillhead.

if you live in Glasgow and have a sore back go and see David.
you'll be glad you did.

EON Classic Torch

in my hands was a credit card size flashlight to test.
very sleek, with a brushed stainless steel finish.
this was the EON Classic Torch.

it has 2 bright white LEDs that. it has no bulbs to blow and no batteries to change.
it is the size of a credit card that has been overeating i.e. fatter than your average credit card.

i first used an EON a few years ago, which was orange transparent plastic and it served me well.
it eventually gave up the ghost, well the construction did. it came apart around the edges due to damage suffered in my pocket, but the led still kept working.

this stainless steel version seems more durable, although its pristine quality is soon marked by finger prints, even from a clean hand.

to my eye the leds give out a white light that leans towards the blue end of the spectrum.
and it doesn't have a smooth beam: 2 hotspots are definitely visible.

in my opinion the EON classic is overpriced, cheapest i've found is on play.com, but it is being so slick and gorgeous you are obviously paying for the design, rather than brightness/illumination. it almost looks like something that apple mac would come up with.
it would make an excellent christmas gift for anyone with a wallet really.

everyone should have a flashlight.

The Future is LED

a while back i bought a flashlight called a mag-lite.
yes i believed the hype and parted with my cash.

the version i got was the mini mag-lite torch which takes AA sized batteries.
it appeared on various tv shows, and looked so cool every time a police office took it out to look around a dull apartment (even during the day time, see the movie "Seven"[gluttony scene])

by twisting the head you can focus the light beam into a tight spot or a more flood light spread.
the problem with this is that there are rings in the beam, darker areas and lighter areas.
it does have a spare bulb in the tail, and it can be used in a candle mode (taking the head off, exposing the bare bulb and standing the flashlight on its end

on the advertising blurb, "rubber 'o' rings ensure water and shock resistance", but for pure shock resistance go for an LED flashlight.

LED stands for light emitting diode. when i first discovered these i was most impressed.

Mars Bar

Bulbgirl was hyper tonight.

After two months in Slovakia, with very little refined sugar products entering her system, a Mars bar was a shock to her.

This sugar rush lasted the best part of an hour. It has subsided now...thankfully.

Bulbgirl

bulbboy is thirty years old. today is the start of my fourth decade on this planet.
to celebrate i went to Milan last night to meet bulbbgirl.
she had been teaching in Slovakia and we decided to meet up somewhere on my birthday.
well technically not Milan but Bergamo. as we had so little time, just one night, we decided not to get the bus into Milan.

a short taxi trip to the mercure hotel in Bergamo cost 10.60 euros (according to the meter). bulbgirl went to pay the driver while I got the cases but the driver pointed to the same meter and said "no, no, notturno, notturno, quindici (15)"
bulbgirl thinks that we were done, saying that i'm naive. the taxi driver seemed like a nice old man. is there a nighttime taxi tax in Bergamo? answers on a postcard please...

after a lovely meal, we took a stroll around Bergamo, the architecture and lighting was lovely. our stroll didn't last too long as it was pretty cold. definitely recommend a visit.

guard your possessions on public transport. bulbgirl's wallet was stolen and our time at the airport was spent phoning the international operator, cancelling credit cards instead of relaxing with a coffee.

Flashlights

i'm afraid to say that i have a deep, dark secret.
i have liking for flashlights / torches.
on my 15th birthday i received a huge duracell torch that took four d cell batteries. it had a lantern as well as a spotlight function. it was great but too expensive for me to run at that time. it was never used in an emergency, just for playing with (until the batteries died).

when was it that my flashlight fetish developed?
i blame starwars.

seeing a lightsaber for the first time did something to me. Santa never did bring me a real one. my annual letter to lapland usually contained the words 'real lightsabre'. i didn't want a pretend one. Santa, in his wisdom, probably knew that giving a seven year old kid a weapon that could cut through metal and walls, wasn't a good idea.

so playing with torches (especially on a foggy night) was the nearest i could get.
my life moved on, lightsaberless.

led technology moved on too. they are more efficient now and are a lot smaller that torches of old. smaller, sleeker, and they come in different colours too.

quite right

iain boyd is quite right.
i suspected as much.
from time to time i have doubted it
but lately i've been believing it more. now it's been confirmed.
what am i on about?

GOOGLISM
have a look at: Googlism.com


entering my own name produced the result that i am quite right.
i can sleep soundly now.


P.S. no results for bulbboy in googlism just yet.
have fun putting your friends names into it.