Where's the year gone?

 

I just realised it's August tomorrow, where has this year gone? I know we've done a lot this year, from the compers meet up in January and starting our diets to going up to Sheffield to watch the snooker and going to York this month to get my bag but still, it's gone very quickly!

I realised as I am writing this that I haven't started to make my Christmas cards yet this year, I'd better get them started soon, I need to make 30-40 this year ..... I still have time, I just need inspiration although I have had one in mind since I got some bits from the after Christmas sale at the craft shop. I'll make that one first as I know exactly how I want it to look and I have everything I need ...... somewhere!lol

 

And for those of you looking for a diet update, I haven't actually lost any Lb's for about a month now but I have noticed my shape changing quite a lot, and I've dropped another jeans size which I'm really pleased about so I'm not too fussed right now. I have changed my diet a little this last week as I've been having some mild stomach problems, I'm now having a bowl of porridge for breakfast instead of a slimfast shake as it's about the same calories but a load more fibre. It seems to have helped with my stomach, I'll see what affect it has on my weight in time but hopefully it wont do me any harm!

  

NZXT H2 Vs Phantom

I recently became the lucky owner of both of these beautiful PC cases through some competitions I entered and won. The silvery fronted case on the left is the NZXT H2 in white (also available in Black) and the larger white case with red stripes on the right is the Limited Edition version of the NZXT Phantom (also available in Red, White and Black)

After receiving them both I thought I'd write about them on here incase you need a new case at some point as I really would recommend investing in one of these NZXT ones as they really are great for the prices (the H2 retails around £83 and the phantom around £105) and for more information on NZXT please visit their website here.

Here's the essential bits that you'd need to know about each case:.

Case Specs

	H2	Phantom
Case Type	Mid Tower Steel	Full Tower Steel
Dimensions (WxHxD)	215 x 466 X 520 mm	222 x 540 X 623 mm
Weight	8.9 kg	11 kg
Motherboard Support	ATX Baby AT Micro ATX	ATX Baby AT E-ATX Micro ATX
Internal Bays	8 INTERNAL 3.5"/2.5"	7 INTERNAL 3.5"/2.5"
External Bays	3 EXTERNAL 5.25"	5 EXTERNAL 5.25"
Fan Bays	4 x 120mm 1 x 140mm	3 x 120mm 1 x 140mm 2 x 200mm
Ports	1 x eSATA 1 x Headphone 1 x Mic In 3 x USB 2.0 1 x USB 3.0	1 x eSATA 1 x Headphone 1 x Mic In 2 x USB 2.0

Just looking at the image of the two cases I have to say the Phantom would have been my first choice of case and it is my favourite from the look of them BUT the H2 has a USB 3.0 port and the hot-swap HDD drive bay both of which are really attractive features.

We finally settled how to use these cases by deciding that the current PC will take up residence in the H2 in a few weeks time and the Phantom will be kept by for Dave's 40th. He didn't know what he wanted until I received these cases but now he's decided that he'd like to build another PC, a really high spec one with 3D and that he would be able to use to work on (believe me, it'll need to be really good for his work!lol) So this case will be the start of it, I'm going to be getting him a few bits for his Birthday towards it as well and hopefully others will too. It's good to see him excited over something and he really is over building this PC :-)

Hit or Missus by Gayle Carline

I received this book from the Author as part of the First Reads promotion on the Goodreads website.

When I applied to read this book, I didn't realise that it was the second in the series of Peri Minneopa Mysteries but I have to say that my not having read the first volume didn't affect anything on reading this one. The writing style is very descriptive and although there may be more behind the scenes that I wasn't aware of having not read the first book, I didn't feel that I had missed much, if anything.

The information that lead me to choose to request this book was:

Private Investigator Peri Minneopa is hired to investigate a wealthy, possibly cheating wife, but the wife's girlfriends have other ideas. After all, a friend will help you move - a good friend will help you move a body.

That's quite a worm to bait a hook with really isn't it and I'm happy to say that the book didn't disappoint in any way. The story is well thought out and the characters are well written and mostly very likable.

The plot twists and turns around the day-to-day living of Peri and her long term boyfriend Skip. Skip is a Detective with the local police department, and the relationship is very serious for them both although they don't live together, they just stay over with each other whilst still maintaining their own space.

When Peri is approached to tail the trophy wife of a local business magnate it would appear like a normal routine case, but that's where the trouble begins. At first it could appear like some bad luck but when looked at deeper a conspiracy appears which steamrollers through Peri's life and that's not her only problem. She's not only trying to figure out who's trying to kill her but also if she's imagining one of Skip's colleagues has begun to take more than a little interest in him, some women just wont accept a man is taken unless he has a ring through his nose .... and even that doesn't stop all of them!

As we follow this roller coaster to it's conclusion we're introduced to many other people around the two main characters, all of which are well rounded characters who add their own bit to the story to make it a very enjoyable read. The story itself has a natural flow to it, it doesn't rush to the end like some books do, it takes it's time and builds up in layers until you can almost see the answer and when it's revealed it's as if you almost expected it but not quite so it was still a little surprising which is a great way to end a book.