Updated 20th Nov 2009. I'm now experimenting with using Photoshop and GIMP to see whether I can create original art, rather than art from manipulating photographs. But do I need to. What's the difference between creating an sketch of how I want the picture to look and using a photograph as my base point?

Original entry 3rd November 2009. In the future we will all be using our computers even more. Currently I use my computer to:

  1. look at the latest news when I log onto the Internet using Google news, personalised for Shoreham news and F1 motor racing: and also to The Telegraph

  2. belong to an on-line gardening club

  3. belong to U3A University of the Third Age

  4. manage my bank accounts, to make direct payments and to receive electronic payments

  5. buy seeds, from my favourite seed suppliers; also to buy DVDs; walking gear; holidays and flights; telephone equipment;

  6. identify butterflies, birds, trees via Google Images

  7. buy images to illustrate documents and letters I'm writing

  8. search for details of tonight's TV films & programmes

  9. drive our VoIP telephone, for low cost calls across the world and for voice messages,

  10. link “Spotify” for on-line music either to the TV or to the 5.1 surround sound system; I have copied my CDs onto my 16Gb Memory stick for direct use

  11. project electronic pictures onto my TV screen, either my own photographs or images I have purchased

  1. send and receive emails, both personal and 'sales offers' eg Thomson holidays and Easyjet

  2. look at hotels' own web sites for views of the rooms, swimming pool, dining room, lounge, views to the sea or the hills; details of other facilities and guests' comments

  3. maintain my diary using “eLinkUk” hosted service (free-of-charge for single users) as I can link each of the entries for example to my doctor, to my 'health' project; or for booking lunch out; similarly I file all important emails (and scanned documents) to the sender (by person and by organisation) and projects (new TV etc)

  4. look up equipment manuals on-line to save keeping them and then finding the right one; filing purchase and guarantee details, all cross-referenced to suit me

  5. maintain my 'Gluten Free' blog about restaurants I visit

  6. maintain my “Future Britain” blog on policies and politics

  7. synchronise my mobile phone automatically for contacts and diary entries and therefore to an automatic alarm system on my mobile

  8. run an alarm system for birthdays

  9. edit and store my photographs

  10. keep details of what vegetables I grow in which beds at the allotment; and what seeds I have ready for next year

  11. keep details of all CDs, books and DVDs

  12. keep details of recipes we find

  13. find out about places we are about to visit, including a bird's eye view from Google Earth; coarse economic information from CIA; detail road map from Google Maps

  14. Find out the time of the next bus; book train tickets; see what's on at the cinema;

  15. Use in-line foreign language dictionaries

  16. Use on-line dictionaries for rhyming words

  17. Renew my car tax and household insurances

  18. Create an art gallery for my TV

  19. Get the weather forecast, from ECMRWF,

  20. Play Patience

  21. Chase down problems and solutions on new domestic equipment

I take my Eee PC with me when I travel, (also my Memory stick, my VoIP phone, my camera and mobile phone.) This has Windows XP with Microsoft Works and MS Outlook for email. At home, I link this to the large screen TV with Quadrophonic sound.

I also use an old tower PC running Ubuntu 9.10, linked to my printer / scanner, for Open Office 3.1 with word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation software and GIMP photo-editing software. This PC has a new 1360x768 screen plus a 5.1 surround sound system.

31st October 2009

So this morning, I'm sitting reading the morning paper, listening to Ackerbilk and on the TV, as a painting, is a beautiful Kandinsky, yesterday it was a Modigliani. I've dealt with my morning emails. Within the hour I'm due to work on my allotment, when I've finished my coffee. Cheers.