The Advent Calendar

December the first was always the true beginning to Christmas for me, no matter how early the shops started pushing it on us.

Mum put up two advent calendars, one for my brother and one for me.



It was only when my wife first spent Christmas in the UK that I came to realise that advent calendars do not appear to be a global thing.



The calendar has a jumble of 25 doors over a Christmas based picture. Behind each door there is a little picture. Typically the last door that you open on Christmas day is a double door with a scene from the nativity or a happy family around a Christmas tree.



There are advent calendars which have sweets and chocolates behind each of the doors.



I did try putting up the chocolate style advent calendars for my children when they were younger. Mysteriously all the chocolates were gone before December 3rd.



After many, many years with no advent calendar in the house I've decided to do something a little different for the Dumbed Down Life web site.



http://www.dumbeddownlife.com/…dvent1.htm



Following with tradition there's a picture with the 25 "doors". While all the doors are visible you'll only be able to open them on the correct day.



Behind each door you will find links, possibly to amusing or interesting web videos, possibly to free games or software.



I've not yet found stuff for all 25 days so not even I know what's behind all of the doors yet!



If you have any goodies that you'd like to share then comment on my Livejournal where the comments will be hidden from everyone but me.

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Tweets for Today

• 18:49 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5dmzb2 No Show Tonight: Lance has lost his voice and I have nothing prepared so there will not #

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No Show Tonight

Lance has lost his voice and I have nothing prepared so there will not be a Dumbed Down Life recording tonight. Hopefully we'll get something recorded over the weekend if Lance's voice returns.

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Tweets for Today

• 14:43 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6y9cxv Here To Stay?: Are Cadbury's Wispa bars here to stay? I thought that these were just a s #
• 17:20 @stephenfry Sir L33T SP33K does not become you, though it would have made a good Fry and Laurie sketch. #
• 23:32 @scottsigler A video reply to your interview with screen writer my lord... tinyurl.com/6jhf4u #

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@scottsigler

A video response to Scott Sigler who asked what his fans (junkies) think of the audio quality of his mobile setup.



If you've not heard of Scott, then you've clearly not been paying attention and for that you will pay, ooooh yes you will pay!

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Here To Stay?

Are Cadbury's Wispa bars here to stay? I thought that these were just a short promotion again as has happened in the past with other chocolate bars? It seems that the guys in the office here have seen the Wispa bars around for months and they're still in plentiful supply?

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Tweets for Today

• 12:09 @bobbyllew Do you authorise video comments on your YouTube? Sent one on Thursday and it's not showing as linked? #
• 12:17 @parkylondon Biggest problem with Skype is when more than two on the call, it goes into a kind of simplex mode, just one talking at a time. #
• 13:25 @bobbyllew A, user error, you should now have video replies to two of your latest awaiting your approval :) #

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Tweets for Today

• 00:33 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/57b4np Awww Geee.... Mail: Getting all graphical in Gmail now. So many different themes, for de #
• 14:16 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/65j58w Ah Scott, you are so right: I don't have an Internet problem, the rest of the world just #
• 16:50 @parkylondon I'm using Skype when recording podcast with multiple venues, other than than pretty limited, about the same as always. #
• 16:57 @scottsigler Noct' 35, just like the good old days. Great to hear the feedback and Siglerisms again, back on form my man, back on form! #
• 17:07 @CaliLewis But chickens don't have fingers? #

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Ah Scott, you are so right

I don't have an Internet problem, the rest of the world just isn't interesting enough!



http://dilbert.com/…008-11-21/

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Awww Geee.... Mail

Getting all graphical in Gmail now. So many different themes, for desktop, for web pages and now for my G-Mail too. How long before you can make your own themes (presuming that you can't already?).



Do you use GMail and if so, which of the new themes have you chosen or have you stuck with the "classic" look?

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Tweets for Today

• 15:55 @bobbyllew You should light up your bluescreen for your next video and let your techy viewers use their skills to place you somewhere :) #
• 15:57 @andyleaning I use Utterli, feeds to Twitter, Blogger, Youtube and multiple accounts in each! #
• 15:58 @bobbyllew Who are your idols? Who would get you "starstruck"? #
• 16:23 @scottsigler Still cold? I wish this global warming would hurry up and happen. #
• 16:23 @RumorGirls Coffee time? #
• 17:57 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5rprz5 The View From My Window: Interesting that Mark, a friend from LiveJournal, should mentio #
• 20:17 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5w23yx Thursday Reminder: Dumbed Down Life 48, returning live in about an hour (that's 9pm UK). #

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Thursday Reminder

Dumbed Down Life 48, returning live in about an hour (that's 9pm UK). Join us at www.dumbeddownlife.com/chat.htm

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The View From My Window

Interesting that Mark, a friend from LiveJournal, should mention the sky this evening. This is a pictures, looking out over Binfield as the sun was setting.

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Tweets for Today

• 20:03 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5sh4f6 Who is this Ray Trace guy?: Playing with various tools tonight to try and make a 3d mode #

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Who is this Ray Trace guy?

Playing with various tools tonight to try and make a 3d model of the Dumbed Down Life logo. I've used tools before but these were Window$ based. Pulling my hair out with this particular Linux tool

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Tweets for Today

• 11:48 @bobbyllew I really hope this is not related to a triple Polaroid! #
• 13:51 @paulnicholls Glad you were able to walk away from it. #
• 15:51 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6hylty Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang: Neighbours, everybody needs good Neighbours With a little #

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Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang

Neighbours, everybody needs good Neighbours

With a little understanding, you can find the perfect blend.

Neighbours, should be there for one another

That's when good Neighbours become good friends.

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Tweets for Today

• 13:59 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6ol5or Ketchup!: You know times are tough when you consider alternatives to Heinz tomato sauce. #

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Ketchup!

You know times are tough when you consider alternatives to Heinz tomato sauce.

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Tweets for Today

• 14:31 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6eujbr Sunday Shopping, Why Do I Not Learn?: Miserable weather on a Sunday so everyone is doing #
• 16:28 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6rkuuq What Would You Do?: Last night a customer bought this lottery ticket in for me to check. #

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What Would You Do?

Last night a customer bought this lottery ticket in for me to check. Knowing that the machine struggles to read crumpled tickets he was about to iron it. When the iron was almost touching it, the heat sensitive paper turned black.

I really hope this wasn't a winning ticket. There's not enough information on the ticket to recognis.

Actually, checking the last two digits and they don't match for the draw date so it was at most a three number match.

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Sunday Shopping, Why Do I Not Learn?

Miserable weather on a Sunday so everyone is doing they're shopping and they're miserable about it. So what do you do if, the person in front of you in the queue goes AWOL?

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Taxi !

Off to pick up Lance from the airport. Shouldn't be too bad on a Sunday morning I hope.

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Tweets for Today

• 23:46 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6a7lgn You've Got To Be In It To Win It.: For those of you that may have bought UK Lottery tick #
• 13:07 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5cpkyk Who?: So, David Morrisey, then new Dr Who or are they trying to throw us off the scent? #

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Who?

So, David Morrisey, then new Dr Who or are they trying to throw us off the scent? Personally I think he'd be good but on the other hand it would be a nice twist for the Christmas special if it turns out not to be him. Oh I'm so excited.



Sorry, I'll calm down now.

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Tweets for Today

• 23:46 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6a7lgn You've Got To Be In It To Win It.: For those of you that may have bought UK Lottery tick #

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You've Got To Be In It To Win It.

For those of you that may have bought UK Lottery tickets this evening that have Welsh on them instead of English, here's a simple translation.



"Saturday" in English is "Dydd Sadwrn" in Welsh

"Wednesday" in English is "Dydd Mercher" in Welsh.



My apologies, rest assured if your numbers come up there will be no problem with the fact that your ticket is printed in a foreign language.

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Dumbed Down Life 47

Come listen to Dumbed Down Life, a mixture of chat and podsafe music. The show has a chat room where listeners gather and on that page is the link to the feed. http://www.dumbeddownlife.com/chat.htm



Since it is a podcast you can also subscribe and automagically receive the show when it's recorded.



The show "airs" every week at around 9pm UK time. And the podcast is generally ready for down load a few hours later.



It's a pre-recorded show this week because the conversation between me in the UK and Lance and Doug in the US was almost two hours and had to be edited down.



You may even notice that I changed into my DDL T-Shirt especially for the video!

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Tweets for Today

• 11:34 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6a5wn7 'Ello, 'ello, 'ello.: When the phone rings and the voice on the other end of the line sa #

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'Ello, 'ello, 'ello.

When the phone rings and the voice on the other end of the line says "Hello this is officer...." before you've heard the name you just know there's going to be trouble. At least this is the feeling that I get having raised children for the past ten years.

Fortunately this phone call was to ask whether I'd seen anything unusual as there had been a burglary locally.

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Tweets for Today

• 16:56 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/55lju3 Si-Fi Overload: "She canny' take it cap'n. If I change the desktop backdrop again she's #
• 18:03 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5tbkzx An Utter A Day Keeps The Madness At Bay?: All my communications today have been via IM a #
• 18:22 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/58ddeu Say What? Speak Up!: I've just realised why some of my videos are so quiet. I'm recordin #
• 20:02 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/57oz7m Playing With Ubuntu Desktop, Still!: I went through a lot of trouble to create icons for #

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Playing With Ubuntu Desktop, Still!

I went through a lot of trouble to create icons for my phone and iPod so that as I plugged them in to the computer they would show up only to then lose the icons when I set up the multiple workspaces with multiple backgrounds.

Of course, what I really need to do is to get the podcasting set up working properly.

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Say What? Speak Up!

I've just realised why some of my videos are so quiet. I'm recording using a mobile phone, the microphone pick up being in my hand, at arms length, pointing away from me. Lesson learned, use the hands free kit when recording videos.

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An Utter A Day Keeps The Madness At Bay?

All my communications today have been via IM and email. Still I have some phone meetings tomorrow, after which I'll probably be glad to be back to just the typing.

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Si-Fi Overload

"She canny' take it cap'n. If I change the desktop backdrop again she's gonna blow".



http://www.startrekmovie.com/



Playing with the various themes, desktop settings and finding the perfect backdrop to my desktop, then hiding it all behind a web browser, DOH!

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Tweets for Today

• 11:19 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6axbqu Sudoku, Finally, I Get It.: I've avoided touching Sudoku as I knew I'd get hooked. Unfor #
• 12:17 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5el7oc Information, I Need Information: I'm installing something, well at least I think I am, a #
• 12:24 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5pt3rq Utterli Desktop Install Problems: I'm running Ubuntu 8.1, trying to install the Utterli #
• 15:23 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5gn9zc Wine, Wine, Wine: I have a bunch of games from the 90's, DOS and Windows '95 back from w #
• 16:40 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6ng7al Crost Posting To LJ Test: Cross posting with text and with pictures appears to be workin #
• 20:29 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/6h8cw8 A Walk In The Dark: A two and a half hour walk tonight, down to Mill Pond. The little la #

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A Walk In The Dark

A two and a half hour walk tonight, down to Mill Pond. The little lake was overflowing. Where all the rubbish and leaves had washed to the very edge and got trapped looked like any other pile of leaves, so the dog jumped in before I could stop her. With a splash and a yelp she soon jumped back out again.



According to the pedometer in my phone it was a 6.5 mile walk. I think it's probably nearer 4 miles. Really should calibrate that pedometer.

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Crost Posting To LJ Test

Cross posting with text and with pictures appears to be working OK so I know the passwords are all right. Yesterday video stopped posting so here's another test...

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Wine, Wine, Wine

I have a bunch of games from the 90's, DOS and Windows '95 back from when I used to work in the games industry.

I've just installed "Blade Runner" onto Ubuntu, using Wine and it works!

Who says you can't play games on Linux?

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Utterli Desktop Install Problems

I'm running Ubuntu 8.1, trying to install the Utterli Desktop Application (so that the time zones on my posts are correct). The Adobe Air part appears to have installed but when I try install the Desktop Application it simply sits with "Starting To Install" written below the button and despite being left for ten minutes, nothing more happens.



Is is possible to get hold of the .air file and install via the Adobe interface?

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Information, I Need Information

I'm installing something, well at least I think I am, and it's not giving me any form of progress bar. Is the app' installing, downloading, has it hung? As inaccurate as many of these progress bars are, how many times have I seen "99% complete less than a minute remaining" on my screen for more than ten minutes, at least they're better than nothing.

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Sudoku, Finally, I Get It.

I've avoided touching Sudoku as I knew I'd get hooked. Unfortunately my new operating system (have I told you how great Ubuntu is) comes with Sudoku as one of the supplied games.



At about 8pm I thought I'd try a quick game, easy level. It took me half an hour, a time which I had to improve on.



By 2am I was able to complete the easy puzzles in about 5 minutes.



When I say 2am, I mean "OMG, is THAT the time????"

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Tweets for Today

• 12:19 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5l3dst Homer Simpson I.T. Moment: I had a real problem uploading my last video and was about to #
• 15:11 @bobbyllew ˙ɐıןɐɹʇsnɐ oʇ ǝƃɐssǝɯ ʇxǝʇ ƃuıpuǝs ɹoɟ ןɐǝpı #
• 15:50 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5abc3q Nothing To See Here, Move Along, Move Along.: I've just set up all the cross posting fea #
• 17:28 [Utterli] tinyurl.com/5pnncb One Man And His Dog-Dog: Back from a walk with the dog. She's now fast asleep so that wa #

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One Man And His Dog-Dog

Back from a walk with the dog. She's now fast asleep so that was clearly enough for her. Should help me sleep at a more sensible time tonight too.

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Nothing To See Here, Move Along, Move Along.

I've just set up all the cross posting features and in the process appear to have broken the main one that I want, which was working, which is LiveJournal. I'm not after your sympathy or anything, just posting a test message or two, or three.

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Homer Simpson I.T. Moment

I had a real problem uploading my last video and was about to give up, me, give up???

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Two Minutes Silence, Too Much To Ask?

I was standing in line in the local grocery store when the clock struck 11am and the store went quiet for two minute, notice I say "quiet" and not "silent".

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Two Minutes Silence, Too Much To Ask?

I was standing in line in the local grocery store when the clock struck 11am and the store went quiet for two minute, notice I say "quiet" and not "silent".

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