Books I have read so far this year.

So I thought I would list the books I have read so far this year. I have read both real books and ebooks, all have been a good read. I've read eBooks on both iBooks and Kindle, boths apps are good but I do think the book animation on iBooks is really cool.


So here they are:

• Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell.
• Dressed to Kill - Charlotte Madisson.
• Innocent - Scott Turow.
• Pandora's Star - Peter F Hamilton.
• The Botty Rules - Nigel Botterill.
• Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry.
• Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett.
• The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry.

I think there is a good mixture of fiction and non fiction here. My favorite non fiction was The Botty Rules (Kindle edition) and my favorite fiction was Unseen Academicals by Terry Practchett, a great fun read which had me laughing out loud a few times whilst I was reading it.

Why I love my iPad.

I know that last week Apple launched the iPad 2 in the UK and the queue of at least 300 people outside Exeter's Apple store will attest to this, but I still love my iPad.

I finally decided in December last year to purchase my Ipad, I decided I wanted something to be portable along side my iMac that I could surf wirelessly around the house. I didn't feel  that I needed a fully featured Macbook but wanted something that would stand alongside the existing Apple products that I owned. I also realised that an iPad would also make a great presentational tool and a way of bringing documents and short presentations to meetings. Also I felt that I wanted to try out an e-reader and the iPad filled both these roles.

I would alos like to recommend some Apps, literally thousands are available through Apple's App store.

• Evernote
  
  Take notes, save images, create to do lists, view PDFs and more.
  You can access and share your evernote notes between all your mobile devices and computers.
  You can search and find everything, even printed or handwritten text in images.
  
  
• iBooks and Kindle.
  Great apps for reading books. Plenty of content here, loads of books to download, both free and paid content. Kindle works on many devices including computers and mobile phones. iBooks allows you to store and read pdf documents easily and comfortably. If I can have one moan about eBooks though, it troubles me that quite a few eBooks cost more than the paperback or hardback version, and why is it that VAT is charged on eBooks?
  
  
• Keynote. This iPad version of Apple's presentational software is brilliant. If you have iWork 09 or later you can share keynote presentations prepared on a mac with your Ipad. Also you can create new Keynotes on your iPad and share with you mac. Keynotes can be shared from your iPad via I tunes or mobile me. The presentations created with Keynote look high class and I hope to use them to present treatment options to my patients in the near future.
  
  
• Angry Birds. A great way to waste an hour when you are bored!

Well the Six Nations does start on Friday

Maybe this sums up the feelings for a few of the Welsh rugby fans on Friday. The song was once an advert for a the Wales Vs England game a few years back.

Time flies and I must be having fun

It's been a while since I've had time to write a blog post and time has flown by and February has arrived.


Christmas was a wonderful time and the big snow falls in December meant that I experienced my first true white Christmas. December in Exeter was one of the coldest that most people could remember, fortunately we were lucky and didn't suffer any burst pipes when the thaw eventually came.I'm looking forward to enjoying my Christmas present, a day photographing hawks, owls and other birds of prey. The experience is booked for the start of May and I hope to come home with some awesome photos that I can show here. I didn't take many pictures of the snow this time but here's some of Barney enjoying himself in the back garden.

January has been a great month, work has been very busy and I've managed to carry out plenty of interesting cases. I'm enjoying my dentistry and having fun.


I also purchased an iPad, I have to admit it is an awesome device, useful for both leisure and work. For fun I can recommend Angry Birds, iBooks and Kindle for iPad. I have already bought several books and the iPad makes a perfect e-reader. On the work side of the things I would recommend Evernote, Dropbox and Keynote for iPad. Keynote looks like a great way of presenting treatment plans to my patients.


Finally February marks the start of The Best of Exeter's fourteen days of Love. Spicer Road Dental Practice is a member and our entry can be found here. So far we have gained 44 testimonials from our patients, we want to collect more and we would like to become Exeter's most loved business.

A Walk in Topsham.

Last Sunday was another cold and frosty morning in Exeter. The light was beautiful, so I decided to take a walk around Topsham. 


Walks around Topsham are great, you get beautiful views of the Exe Estuary and you are able to admire the architecture there too.


Here are some photographs.

COLD!!!!!!

Even though we in Exeter have not sufferred as badly as the rest of the country, all I can say about the start of December is, IT'S COLD. The last week the thermometer has barely crept into positive numbers.


Anyway on Sunday I wrapped up against the weather, got my camera out and took a few photographs. Here's some views of Exeter on a cold November day.

Have you heard about mouth cancer?

MOUTH CANCER AWARENESS MONTH.

1-30 November 2010.

Here is a headline fact that may shock you, one person in the UK dies from mouth cancer every five hours, mouth cancer kills more people than cervical cancer and testicular cancers combined. Surprising or what?

Over the past decade, cases of mouth cancer have risen by 41% and a lack of public awareness has been highlighted as a major contributing factor for this increase. Many people aren’t sure of the symptoms and may aren’t even aware of the existence of mouth cancer at all! An early diagnosis improves survival chances to more 90%. However many cases of mouth cancer are detected at a late stage, reducing the chances of survival.

So what can you do detect a mouth cancer. Regular dental health checks will help. At the Spicer Road Dental Practice we always check our patients for signs of mouth cancer at every six monthly dental health check. We check our patient lips, cheeks, tongue roof and floor of their mouths for ulcers, red or white patches or unusual lumps or swelling. 

What puts you at risk of mouth cancer? 75% of cases are linked to tobacco use or excess alcohol consumption. People who both drink and smoke are up to 30 times more likely to develop the condition. Poor diet is linked to about a third of cases, eating five portions of fruit or vegetables help to reduce your risk. The risk of developing mouth cancer increases with age, most cases affect people over 40 years of age, however an increasing number of young people are developing the condition.

The most important thing to remember is that early diagnosis of mouth cancer can save your life. If you have a lump, swelling or ulcer does not heal within three weeks consult a dentist and get the area checked out.

For more information visit www.mouthcancer.org .

If in doubt get it checked out!