2011 Review : January

As i live such a varied and exciting life i have decided to do a monthly review of 2011 to show off just how cool i am. That is irony of course but i am indeed embarking on a review of my activities in 2011 of which this is the first part. Mostly this is for myself as an aide memoire, this blog is my new media diary after all, but maybe it will be of interest to others too...

January was cold, the cold snap continued over the Christmas and New Year break which meant we were not able to go up to Lancashire and exchange gifts with our relations up there until late in the month. In hindsight this was a good thing as it meant there were a couple of presents left to open a couple of weeks after all the others.

Early on in January though i was adjusting to life as the owner of a shiny new iPad (Xmas present). I can't emphasis how much this changed my life to be honest. Its one of that small elite group of technological toys which generally did make a difference. Its never far from my side at home, which means i can write rubbish on Facebook much easier of course. I also got a Kindle in January and this was another wonderful toy.

In the mid-part of the month i went down to London to see my in-laws and enjoyed some strong wind assisted fun around Canary Wharf on a Saturday night. Luckily i didn't get arrested and executed as a terrorist.

Looking back at my Flickr archive it was a quiet month on the old photography front, probably mostly because it was so cold. I did capture one of the British Waterways service boats on the local canal, i remember the crew told me they were on their way to clear a blockage in Saltley! I also took a photo of one of my cookery experiments, this was supposed to be red cabbage with blackcurrant which i believe actually turned out not too bad! One highlight (?) in the month was joining my PR colleagues in the Brains of BCU Quiz, i believe we came third.

I broke my 3D movie virginity by seeing Tron (though this also remains my only movie experience avec les specs) and also saw The King's Speech. Tron was a good film though when i saw the 2D version on DVD later in the year the lack of the extra dimension it did not spoil my enjoyment much at all and i remain to be convinced of the benefit of 3D in movieland apart from the makers' bank balances. On TV i began my love affair with The Killing and Sofie Gråbøl.

Harper Lee was my band of the month with their sublime "I don't need to know about your wonderful life" my pick of the pops. How is that for irony?!