May, 2007:

I’ve updated the cricket site at www.cardiffnorthern.co.uk for the new season and resurrected the fantasy cricket league.

Liam is making the early running and Steve Palmer is off to a good start in the quest for the duck cup. I spent most of yesterdays game against Talygarn stewing over a terrible decision where I took a catch behind and the cheating batsman walked, then realised the umpire wasn’t sure and then came back into his crease denying all knowledge of a nick. A few choice words and he was left in no doubt as to my unhappiness on the matter. Obviously midweek cricket is so important to him and his wicket valued above any sense of fair play.

To make matters worse his duck became 22 and we lost by 20. Who says cheaters never prosper.

[thumb:921:l]Since I’ve been away I’ve been doing various things including building some new lighting units for my fish tank.

Ordinarily fish tank lighting can be very expensive and I had a need for lights that I could mount to my opening lids. Home made units consisting of 3W Luxeon bulbs mounted on various peices of angle and flat aluminium strips forming a heat sink give just what I want. The units are powered from a laptop power supply and both flaps have an independent lighting unit that is switched on and off by the opening of the lid.

Luxeon bulbs run hot so I’ve also installed CPU fans into the hood providing airflow through the hood which should also come in handy during the summer when the tank has a tendency to run hot. The entire lot was done fairly cheaply with dotlights providing the LEDs, B&Q providing the aluminium and maplin providing most of the rest. Thanks to Dad for assistance with the hood modifications and Dave on the tropical fish centre forums for help with planning the electronics.