Play back GoToMeeting recordings in VLC

Just a quick reminder. If video isn't playing back in VLC, but the audio is fine, make sure you set Hardware-accelerated decoding to Automatic...





That is all (you might need to restart playback of the GTM session).

2016 budget resolution

Over the Christmas break we (as a family) decided we'd try to save some money this year. We had a discussion about it and decided on the following rules to start, and update as necessary:

In order to seriously save money in 2016 I want to make sure we save as much as possible. We are going to need to find a savings account into which we can pour this vast fund.

• Try to use cash more. It's easier to limit spending like that. Plastic is too easy to whip out
• Start with an allowance for the week and try to reduce over the year. €100 to start to divide between Ben and Fona.
• Some things should not be limited - petrol, bills (electricity, water, insurance, rent), school stuff, detergents, etc.
• Business account spending should be limited as well, otherwise there's no point
• Start the year with a reasonable allowance - we need time to work out how to limit - and reduce as the year goes by
• We could do a once a month "treat" - going to the cinema, restaurant, etc. - to relieve the monotony. Seeing aside €100 is a good start
• The computer gets priority in case of breakage, but no upgrades
• Downloading films, books, music, etc. as a replacement for spending money on them is not a good way to go
• Finn still gets his €2 per week pocket money (goes up to €3 on his birthday)
• Get cash out once a week.

We're coming up to our third week of doing so and have been only spending cash in the supermarket. I will need to get petrol for my scooter tomorrow so that will be on a card, but other than that our plastic has taken a rest. Obviously it's early days yet, but we're feeling positive about it right now. I am testing a web application called "Why-nab" - YNAB or You Need a Budget - after being recommended it by a friend and while it feels a little foreign to start with, it has already made me look at the direct debits we have going out of our bank account every month.

Anyway, this is just a starter. I'm sure that it will be updated soon...

Switching countries for Google Play

As a reminder to myself more than anything. We are, as a family, international jetsetters. So, it's very annoying when Google messes with our shit with country restrictions, especially when we are trying to spend money with them.

Finn spent some of his Christmas money on a Google Play card so he could indulge his penchant for games and what he calls music. Unfortunately, because he also spends time in England, his phone was also registered there and so the € Google Play he bought wouldn't work when he tried. The web is full of people with the same problem all giving varying suggestions that work or not, but last night I spent three hours trying to get it sorted for Finn and wanted to document what I did to make it less painful next time. Right from the get-go, the instructions aren't very clear. For instance, the troubleshooting info given here:



doesn't make it clear that the Settings being talked about are on the computer, rather than the phone. A lot of the suggestions have involved adding a card to the account, but Finn doesn't have a card being only 12 (at time of writing). The solution was to log into his GMail account on my computer, go to the settings page, edit his address to make sure it was our French one. Then I had to add my bank card to his account, clear cache and data from the Play Store on his phone, then reboot it.

Once it came back up, I could buy something from his Play Store, which was still showing prices in £ at first, but when you actually bought something was shown in €. I picked something that was only €0.10, but ended up getting a refund anyway and thereafter I was able to enter Finn's Google Play voucher. Lastly, I removed my bank card from his account - just in case :)