Mathew Browne » Uncategorized

Gastric Balloon

admin — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:30:04 +0000

I recently redesigned a website for Nucleus Healthcare, who specialise in all kinds of private gastroenterology treatments. You have probably heard of them recently due to their gastric balloon TV and radio campaign. I’m quite pleased with how their new website turned out. So if you want to know how much does a gastric balloon cost, go ask them.

Laparoscopic Cholcystectomy

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 11:37:52 +0000

So, that’s doctor speak for a gall bladder remove by keyhole surgery by the way.

I found myself in hospital three weeks ago for emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder. I’d been suffering intermittently – but with increasing frequency – with crippling stomach pain over the previous 8 months and it came to a head one weekend when the pain simply didn’t go away. I’d describe it as being kicked solidly in the liver.

So, laparoscopic cholcystecomy it was. Except my IV was blocked and I woke up to no pain relief at all. I screamed the house down! Anyway, fast forward to now. I’m feeling great, the scars have healed, and I’m eating “properly”. By which I mean I can scoff without the risk of pain.

The only snag now is, during the ultrasound they found more kidney stones which are now sat inside me, waiting to cause untold disruption. FML.

Daily Mail Ultimate List Of Things That Give You Cancer

admin — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:50:18 +0000

Let’s get one thing straight. I absolutely HATE the Daily Mail. Many reasons come to mind, the primary one being their constant shitting all over doctors and the NHS, but another one high up the list is their constant scaremongering that something benign gives you cancer. The array of such carcinogenic articles is truly remarkable.

Join the Facebook group and fume

Picking The Best Frequent Flyer Scheme

admin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:37:21 +0000

I’ve just given up on Airmiles due to the draconian rules in redeeming the miles I’ve accrued. It’s taken me 3 years but I’ve finally blown the lot on a business class weekend in Budapest (including hotel). Now though I want to find a scheme better suited to me. I have a Lloyds TSB credit card for collecting Airmiles which I’ll no longer use, so I’ll be looking at the following:

What does signing up for their credit card get me
What will I have to show for an annual spend of £5000
How many return economy flights will I need to make to earn a pair of economy returns to the same destination? (I’ll use Dubai for this comparison)

The frequent flyer schemes I’m looking at are:

British Airways Executive Club
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
BMI Diamond Club
Lufthansa Miles And More

What does signing up for their credit card get me

For the purposes of comparison, where more than one card is offered I will select the one with the best benefits.

BA: 1000 miles with their standard American Express card, or 6000 miles with their American Express premium card, which has a £150 annual fee. Spend £10k/year and redeem your miles to get a free flight for your companion. This is not enough to even get you one return flight in economy, anywhere.
Virgin Atlantic: 3000 miles with standard American Express card or 6000 for their Amex premium card, which has a £115 annual fee. Spend £5k/year and receive a free premium economy upgrade on an economy booking. Sadly, this does not come close to being a substantial contribution towards a flight. The cheapest economy return is 40000 miles. Next!
BMI: 20000 miles on the standard Amex, or 24000 miles on their premium Amex, which has an £85 annual fee. This is equivalent to a pair of return economy flights anywhere in Europe.
Lufthansa: 5000 miles and no annual fee on their American Express. This is not enough to earn any flights.

Winner: BMI is easily the most generous, with the second-lowest annual credit card fee, and a pair of return economy flights just for opening an account.

What will I have to show for an annual spend of £5000

BA: 7500 miles. Not enough for even a single return flight in economy.
Virgin Atlantic: 10000 miles. Not enough for anything.
BMI: 10000 miles. Enough for one return flight to Europe zone 1.
Lufthansa: 7500 miles. Since airport taxes aren’t included in their scheme, and you can settle them for 15000 miles, this would only cover half of only your airport taxes.

Winner: BMI, again. Two years of average spending and you have a pair of flights.

How many return economy flights will I need to make to earn a pair of economy returns to the same destination? (I’ll use Dubai for this comparison where possible)

BA: A pair of economy returns would be 80000 miles. A pair of full price flights earns you 6800 miles. Therefore you’d need to make the journey 12 times, or spend £53333 on your credit card.
Virgin Atlantic: A pair of economy returns requires 80000 miles. A pair of full price flights earns 6800 miles. Therefore you’d need to make the journey 12 times or spend £40000 on your credit card.
BMI: A pair of economy returns would be 80000 miles. A pair of full price flights earns you 6800 miles. Therefore you’d need to make the journey 12 times, or spend £40000 on your credit card.
Lufthansa: A pair of economy returns would be 80000 miles. A pair of full price flights earns you 6800 miles. Therefore you’d need to make the journey 12 times, or spend £53333 on your credit card.

Winner: None. They’re all the same.

Overall winner: BMI

This.

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:22:50 +0000

More updates – March 2010

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:35:55 +0000

Well, I’m off to Wrestlemania this month, which will see a lifelong ambition realised.

Workwise, things are plodding along. My most recent work is:

London Apartment Lets, which is a company specialising in Serviced Apartments in London.

Morvah Ltd, who are a Cardiff advertising agency.

Some SEO work for Nucleus Healthcare, a heathcare operator specialising in the gastric balloon – who specialise in gastric balloon treatment at their Gastric balloon centre in Newport.

I’m also launching a new cheap website design service via My Designer Website

Surprise trip to Paris

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:37:22 +0000

So, in the tradition of getting Louise awesome Valentine’s Day gifts, I’ve come through once again! i told Louise some weeks ago to take some time off work over Valentine’s Day weekend so we could go to London. On Friday we travelled to London for our weekend away. Of course, London was only a stop on our onward journey to Paris via Eurostar!

As you might expect, we did your usual tourist fare, although is was -1C the whole weekend, which was punishing! So cold in fact, that the head of my tripod fell off (the supporting metal frame contracted and came apart from the glue).

At Sacre Coeur we met Keith Wood and Gabby Logan filming a bit for the rugby coverage later in the day. Louise wasn’t pleased to hear about Wales’ comeback and win against Scotland… especially since the text reached me in Notre Dame and I may have let out a whoop of joy.

The hotel we were in was the Ampere, which was pretty much right next to the metro. Everyone else in the hotel was Irish (including Gordon D’Arcy’s mum) and in town for the France game on the Saturday. I told the barman I was supporting France; he gave us complimentary cocktails!

On Valentine’s Day itself, we did something very romantic. We went to see a lot of dead people at the catacombs! Seriously. It was a rather spooky place, as you’d imagine, though the aura of mystery was shattered by some American tourists walking behind us who were being obnoxious and a bit disrespectful with their “posing” with the bones.

Photos…

Just Married

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:50:17 +0000

That is all.

So, I’m a driver now

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:35:33 +0000

The roads of the United Kingdom just got a bit less safe – I passed my driving test this week, courtesy of Martin Jones, who’s a driving instructor in Swansea

This is step 1 of my plan to own a Ferrari completed. Step 2 is upgrading to a house with a garage; step 3 is actually saving up for the Ferrari. I think I stll have quite a way to go…

2009 So Far: A General Update

admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:36:04 +0000

For the very few of you who don’t follow me on Facebook (not Twitter, for I can spot the signs of addictivity a mile away) some brief snippets of information

Business is surviving the economic downturn – website design seems to be fairly recession-proof though the number of enquiries has dropped in recent months. Still happily working from my home office in South Wales. I have found myself missing London at times, though a well-placed rush-hour tube journey when I was last there reminded me why I wanted out so badly.

Few minutes ago, I wrote a quick post about code bloat and SEO – Cubecart is user friendly and tries hard to be SEO friendly but I do find that code bloat has a negative effect. A whistlestop tour of some minor changes I’ve made to 2 Cubecart websites – H2D Hair Straighteners UK and H2D Hair Straighteners Australia – the results of which should be self-evident in a few weeks.

On a personal note, I’m getting married in just over 6 months. They say it’s the most stressful day of your life – if preparations are an indication then I believe that. I’m also learning to drive, which is a whole different kind of stressful. Big life changes ahead!