Tranquility-Base

God Bless the Internet

2009-07-08T19:02:00.004Z

Wow, been a while!
Busy busy busy:)

Still, been reading a friends blog on Tumblr, and they post a song from time to time. Found one I REALLY liked and wanted to download it, but couldn't find it anywhere. In the end I installed FireFox, then the GreaseMonkey addon and finally the TumTaster script. This allows you to simply download a file by simply clicking on a button :)

Then copied to my media streamer, and now listening to it on my surround sound system.

Gotta love technology!!!

Forerunner 405

2009-03-20T22:44:00.003Z

I have just bought the Garmin Forerunner 405 to track how far and indeed fast I am running. First impressions - FANTASTIC!!!

Not only does it do exactly what it says on the tin, but you can also upload all your data to view your training history, and even share it on the net.

The National Gallery

2009-03-19T19:30:00.001Z

DSCF2375, originally uploaded by BrianTaylor42.

If you're ever in London and get the chance to take a look around The National Gallery, please do so. It is a wonderful museum, showcasing some of the very best art work throughout several periods in history.

Plus if it is nice weather, you can hand around the fountains outside with an Ice Cream :)

Made it..

2009-03-15T18:22:00.002Z

Maybe next time I'll just watch?

I've done a 15 mile run in my training for this, and although it took me longer than I would have ideally liked, it wasn't that bad. Today though, at the 8 miles mark, I just wanted to go home :(

Couldn't believe how heavy my thighs felt, never had that feeling before, calves yes, but not the thighs. Anyway, just walked a bit and ended up jogging rather than running. Apart from the last little sprint for the line of course!

Got round in a time of 2:11:45. I expected 2:10, and was aiming for 2:00, so whilst I was a little disappointed, I wasn't that far away from my 'guess'.

So now there is just training for next years event, and any other (shorter - probably 10km) races in between. There were times during the race where I thought I'd never want to run again, but they're gone now, and my blisters will heal. So onwards and upwards, and hopefully I can beat 2:00 next time...

D-Day

2009-03-15T07:29:00.002Z

Not the D-Day, obviously, but today is the day of the Stafford Half Marathon.
Whilst I am looking forward to it, part of me hopes that it'll all be okay, that I've eaten the right food to get me round without getting exhausted :)

But still, no going back now. 3 hours and we'll be off.

Can't wait...

Stafford Half Marathon Prep

2009-02-13T17:47:00.003Z

The last two weekends have seen my longest runs yet (10.5 and 11.5 miles respectively) and this has hopefully put me in good stead for the Half Marathon in March.

This week I have tried to focus on running faster, so Wednesday I did 'Interval' running, which involves running at your normal pace (or slightly faster) and then running short bursts (400 meters or so) at almost full speed. I had been warned that this is quite tiring until your body gets used to it. Well, they weren't kidding! It's not so much my legs hurting, as not being able to get enough oxygen into my lungs.

Today, instead of Interval running (I'll try that again on Sunday), I just tried to run the same route I did on Wednesday, but in a shorter time. And I did - managed to knock 5 minutes of my previous time. So not too bad. Need to build up a couple of these speed runs, and then do another 11 miler next weekend. All in all, and touch wood, it is not going to bad. Yay :)

10.5 miles - whoohoo

2009-02-02T19:57:00.003Z

My preparation for the Stafford Half Marathon in March has not been going overly well. I only started running in September, and even then I started very slowly - 2km runs to begin with. But before the Christmas holiday period I was doing quite well. Then a combination of events meant that I had to take about 4 weeks off, and all that training I had done just seemed to slip away.

Last week I did a five mile run, and it seemed to take forever. So disgusted was I with this, that the very next day I went out and did a 'fast' (for me) 3 mile run. Much better.

Saturday though I was determined to go for a longer run, something better than the 6 miles I'd managed so far. So I set off with a particular destination in mind, although I did not know how far away that destination was - planning Taylor, planning!

But I did it, and only stopped once - at the half way point. And that was more to change what I was listening to on my MP3 player. When I got back I calculated the route and it was 10.5 miles. Over the Moon! Only another 2.5 miles, and that is half marathon distance. So almost there.

Now 'they' say, you shouldn't run the full distance until race day, and leave that extra little bit until then. But I can't see the likes of Paula Radcliffe doing that, not that I am comparing myself to her. So neither will I. It is therefore my intention before this month is out, to run the full 13 mile distance, and not die doing so...

Running

2009-01-04T16:27:00.002Z

Went for a run today, and not only was it my first run of 2009, but it was also my first run in over two weeks as being ill tends to sap your energy somewhat. Even so, I was a little disappointed with myself, as I only managed about 2 miles, whereas 6 was my previous benchmark.

Still at least I am running again.

A year cycling to work

2009-01-03T20:28:00.003Z

Well, I made it. Whoo and indeed Hoo.
For the past few years I have cycled to work, but this tended to be sporadically at best, and if I woke up in the morning and it was raining, sure I was disappointed, but I could always take the car in.

Last year it all changed, and it was my new years resolution to cycle in as much as possible. So I asked for a Merino Wool Base Layer (from Howies) for Christmas, and armed with my new found warmth (well, it was a start), I set off for work on a cold January morning.

Over the passing months, I bought more base layers, mid layers, and a waterproof jacket. Now, come rain or shine, I am cycling to work. I don't even care about the cold, although my fingers do get a little cold some mornings, so my next purchase is a pair of SealSkinz gloves.

My intention this year is not to take the car unless absolutely unavoidable, and whilst I am sure this will happen occasionally, hopefully it will be once in a blue moon so-to-speak. So here's to some winter waterproof gloves, and many more mornings cycling into work.

So very ill

2008-12-21T20:19:00.004Z

So I went for a run this afternoon. Nothing special in that, except that I am supposed to be running the Stafford Half Marathon in March (2009), and I only started running in October, so it is a bit of a steep learning/training curve at the moment.

Last week I did 6 miles in 1 hour and 5 minutes. At the time I was quite please with this, but after talking to other people, I realised this was a little slow, although maybe not for a newbie :) Still, this week I was determined to beat the clock so to speak.

55 minutes, and I achieved my goal, and felt like throwing up! I can't remember the last time I felt so ill after exercise. Not so much tired, just run down and unwell in general. I've been told to eat more after a run, as it helps you recover, but I just don't feel like it, and eating for the sake of it seems to defeat the whole purpose of exercise.

Doesn't bode well for the half marathon in just a few months, but then I'm sure it will get better. With a week and a half off over the Christmas period, I'm going to try and get some more miles under my belt, until then, I'll just hope that this feeling goes away, as at the moment, death seems more appealing - and that can't be good.

Her Praise

2008-12-20T16:51:00.004Z

I was recently reading a collection of poems by the wonderful William Butler Yeates, and came across this little gem. It basically says what I want to say about a certain someone, and does so in a way I could never achieve.

She is foremost of those that I would hear praised,
I have gone about the house, gone up and down
As a man does who has published a new book,
Or a young girl dressed out in her new gown,
And though I have turned the talk by hook or crook
Until her praise should be the uppermost theme,
A woman spoke of some new tale she had read,
A man confusedly in a half dream
As though some other name ran in his head.
She is foremost of those that I would hear praised.
I will talk no more of books or the long war
But walk by the dry thorn until I have found
Some beggar sheltering from the wind, and there
Manage the talk until her name come round.
If there be rags enough he will know her name
And be well pleased remembering it, for in the old days,
Though she had young men’s praise and old men’s blame,
Among the poor both old and young gave her praise.

Mount Marathon Race

2008-12-10T21:54:00.001Z

If ever there was a reason to up sticks and move to Alaska, this would do it for me...

Amazon Prime

2008-12-02T21:00:00.002Z

Just signed up to a months free trial of Amazon Prime (free next day and Saturday delivery), and I have to say so far I am really impressed!

Ordered lots of stuff over the last couple of days, including some electrical items to be delivered on Saturday, and all arrived when they said it would.

I reckon it is definitely worth £49 a year, especially after you've ordered a few items for Saturday delivery.

Why is it?

2008-11-18T21:45:00.002Z

So why when you owe money on your electricity bill, you get a letter demanding immediate payment, and yet when they owe you money, it takes them forever to pay?

I am asking for two months worth of interest on my money. Can't see me getting it, but it make me feel better!

On a completely separate matter, I am now addicted to "Death Cab for Cutie". Good stuff!

Youth and age on Beaulieu River

2008-11-09T14:44:00.002Z

Youth and Age on Beaulieu River
by John Betjeman

A wonderful poem about Clemency Buckland - the daughter of a general.
It's a wonderful read...

Michael Crichton

2008-11-09T14:30:00.002Z

Today I turned on the news and read that Michael Crichton had died at the age of 66 after privately fighting cancer.

I have read most of his novels, and will probably get around to reading the others, and found each one fascinating, and scientifically sound. That he never announced his illness, and therefore never gained publicity from it, just goes to show the type of person he was.

He will be greatly missed.

Sunshine

2008-10-22T08:58:00.001Z

As I cycled home last night the Sun was just dropping below the horizon, and this morning on the way in, it was just sticking its head above the trees.

Stunning :)

Windows 2008 Server Configuration - Part 2

2008-10-20T08:21:00.000Z

So, apparently my issue was that the version of Windows 2008 I was using was the "checked/debug" version, and for whatever reason this would not run automatic updates. So, I downloaded the newest version from Technet, and installed it - updates and all.

Then installed Exchange Server 2007 (SP1). This went without a hitch, until I realised that Hadn't renamed the Domain Controller, before I began, and you just can't rename that and expect Exchange to carry on working. No I'm sure there is a simple solution to this, but I am no expert on this software, so I figured I'd uninstall and reinstall Exchange. This took ages, as I had to keep deleting stuff from Exchange, but eventually I uninstalled Exchange, renamed the DC, and then reinstalled Exchange.

It now all works beautifully, and I now have an Exchange mailbox that connects to multiple POP3 accounts on the Internet and downloads these messages. This mailbox is then available to all users on my domain. Brilliant, and it only took a week to get there. But then, if life ran smoothly it would be boring wouldn't it? A little setback every now and then is a good thing, it certainly makes you appreciate it more when you eventually get it working.

Windows 2008 and Exchange 2007

2008-10-15T10:50:00.001Z

The other day I had this wonderful, if not entirely new, idea that a domain like you get in most organisations would be a much better solution for my home network than multiple standalone computers. I should have stopped there and just let it be an idea. But no, I had to press ahead with it.

My OS of choice was Microsoft Windows 2008 as I had a copy of it and thought I may as well use the latest software available to me. The installation went fine other than the fact that it wouldn’t accept the product key during the install, but it would afterwards.

The problems began to arise when I came to install Exchange Server 2007. I had a copy at work, so took it home, but it turned out it was the 64-bit version of the software, so no use to me. I downloaded the 5.5GB 32-bit version from Technet (which took all night) and attempted to install it, but this also failed as you cannot install Exchange Server 2007 on Server 2008 – you need SP1. So I found and downloaded this (strangely on 840MB, and it is NOT just the service pack, but Exchange Server with the service pack slipstreamed into it), and ran the install.

It worked! Well in a fashion, I first had to install a myriad of pre-requisits, but this didn’t take that long, and once they were done, the install went without a hitch. I rebooted and it came up and told me I had 120 days of my free trial left, or I could enter the product key there and then. Fine, except the option to enter the key was missing, and doing it from the command line didn’t work either.

After a bit of a search on the Internet, I discovered that you cannot enable the 32-bit version of Exchange, only the 64-bit version is “supported for a production environment”. This is all well and good, but I wished I’d known beforehand.

So now I have to make a decision, do I uninstalled Exchange 2007 and install Exchange 2003? Or do I live with the 120 days (and counting) error message every time I open up Exchange? I am leaning towards the latter, as once it is up and running, I shouldn’t have to go into the admin console very often, so the error message, whilst being an annoyance, is something I can tolerate. Then I get all the funky new features of Exchange 2007.

But the moral of the story is to properly research what you are trying to do beforehand, especially if it involves new software, and not just try and wing it.

Early Morning Running

2008-09-19T07:45:00.003Z

My alarm clock woke me from my slumber this morning at 06:50, and being a Friday, it was time to go running before work. However, lazy me had other ideas. Lazy me wanted to stay in bed for a bit longer, have a leisurely breakfast and then take the car to work.

Sensible me however knew that the first few weeks are the hardest, that it would help in the long run, and most importantly, IT IS GOOD FOR YOU.

So I got up, put on my running gear, told lazy me to kiss my ass, and went running...

Train ride from hell :(

2008-09-15T18:13:00.000Z

I attended my final Open University tutorial before my exams on Saturday, and whilst the tutorial itself was great, getting there wasn't. First of all, the train had four carriages and enough people on board to fill six, and then a Virgin Trains representative asked us to move out of the way of the door so that some MORE people could get on board. She didn't react overly well when we pointed out that we were already crammed in like sardines in a can, and that a few extra carriages wouldn't go amiss. She just got more pushy and insistant that we let these extra people on.

Well, we did our best, and they all got on, but now there were 12 people in the little bit at the end of the carriage, although the next stop, 10 minutes away, was mine. This turned out to be a very good thing, because 12 people in that confined space meant it was very warm, and to say I felt unwell was an understatement! My top of my head felt like someone was putting needles in it, and I honestly thought I was going to be sick. But in the end, I managed to stave off the effects for the 5 or 6 minutes they lasted and get off the train.

Needless to say, the train company will be getting a letter of complaint!

The end of the world? Not quite!

2008-09-10T18:35:00.004Z

If you were a scientist, or a crazy person who believed the world would end when the turned on the LHC, today was D-Day. On the morning of September 10th 2008, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was turned on at CERN.

A momentus achievement for sure, and the prophets of doom were proved wrong. Did anyone seriously believe them? Well actually, yes. Some people even tried to get a court order preventing the machine from starting as it could violate everyones "Right To Life".

Anyway, as the was no court order in the end, the swtich was thrown (was it really a switch? I should check that out), the machine was started, and a stream of Protons circulated the 27KM circuit. First time too, that's pretty good for your first test.

Strangely, as only one beam was going to be fired at first (and another completely seperately in the other direction later on), there was NEVER going to be a collision today, so no danger of a black hole that would swallow the Earth. Although to be fair, some people think the Earth might be better off that way, but that's another story altogether.

So basically, No-one died; We're all still here, and here is a good article on it from the Daily Mail.

Star Wars Usb Light Sabre Glow Lamp

2008-09-03T07:04:00.003Z

Is this the best thing in the world? (Ever)!

- 3D Lightsaber lamp
- Powered by USB socket
- Stands in holder
- Can be removed from stand as a mini lightsaber
- 32 cm long

And can be bought at Amazon.

Jogging/Running

2008-08-21T10:57:00.003Z

Well, my new running gear (Trainers, Shorts & Top) arrived yesterday, so all that is required now is for me to actually get out and go jogging (I'll build up to running).

D-Day is Friday August 22nd at 06:30 (it has been a while since I even knew that time of day existed). I am going with a friend, although I think that should read 'fiend', who has been going for a few years, so I'm not expecting to keep up with her.

Anyway, Running in the morning, then home for a breif rest, and then cycling to work. Can't wait!!

Ida Maria

2008-08-02T18:43:00.003Z

Just listened to the new album by Ida Maria. Titled "Fortress Round My Heart", it is a wonderfully uplifting album, if not my usual taste. But hey, you have try new things, and this is definately that.

I heartily recommend checking it out, "Oh My God", "I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked" and "Queen of the World" are my stand-out tracks, but there isn't a bad one on the whole album!

Cycling and brakes

2008-07-28T10:17:00.003Z

for the first time in an eternity, I went on a 'proper' cycle ride on Saturday. Proper as in a designated track in Wales and not just an old railway line.

The first half of the ride was uneventful, but as I went on I was finding it harder and harder, and I am not that unfit. So about half way round, I stopped, and to my disappointment noticed that my back brake was permanently on (the expansion reservoir in the system not doing its job). I could barely turn the rear wheel with my hand, let alone cycle the remaining 10km back to the car.

Luckily, two other bikers came by and offered to help. with a small spanner (the one size I didn't have with me!) we bled the brakes. A little too much admittedly, so that I didn't have a back brake any more. But to be honest, no brake was better than one that was permanently on.

Andy so I began the second leg of my ride. For the most part it was okay, however turning on gravel and at the same time braking with only the front did present some problems. but I stayed on the bike, not like Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca. Admittedly I was on a mountain bike and he was on a powerful MotoGP, but still I STAYED ON!

So Monday my bike goes into the shop for a service and to get the rear brake sorted. But all in all, it was a great ride, capped by the kindness of strangers, and a cool pint of lager on the sea front before the sun went down. Perfect :)

HDMI

2008-07-22T18:00:00.003Z

A few weeks ago I bought a new media streaming device (along the lines of Apple TV, but as Apple's service is shockingly poor in the UK, I decided on this). Anywhoo, I connected it via HD Component cables, that was after all how my old one connected, even though it didn't play HD content.

Got my first HD content to watch on it the other day - Band of Brothers, all ten episodes - and I have to say, not overly impressed. Quite grainy in places and not stunning overall, in fact not much better than my previous machine, which as I already mentioned, did not do HD.

So I fiddled with all the settings, tried, 1080p, 1080i and 720p - nothing.
In the end, I thought to hell with it all and let's just try it with a HDMI cable (I had a spare one or five lying around). Perfect first time! I couldn't believe it, 2 hours of messing about for it to be the cable I was using.

So now I am running the TViX in all it's HD goodness through the HDMI connection. Of course this leaves me with another problem, 2 HDMI ports and 3 devices to plug in: HD TV, Blu Ray Player, TViX (and an XBox 360 at some point - well I live in hope). My initial plan was to buy a switching box, which is all well and good and would probably set me back £50 ($100), but then I found the Denon AVR-3808CI on Steve Lacey's blog. It does everything you could ever want, and whilst it is overkill for my immediate needs, I have wanted to get a seperate Amp for ages. So all in all, a good find me thinks.

Now all I need to do is pay for it all...

Cost of repairs

2008-07-10T17:33:00.002Z

The other day, whilst driving in the rain, I noticed that my car didn't take left hand corners overly well. So when it stopped I checked tyre pressures and found that they were okay, so what else? Turns out my front drivers side suspension spring had snapped :(

I phoned the dealer for the car and got a quote:
£57.85 (each) for the springs
£180 for fitting
So £295.70 all in.

Then I phoned National:
£100 all fitted for both.

So you can imagine which one I picked!

But how can one company get the springs and fit them for a cost that is so much cheaper than the other one? In fact I got them fitted (and tracked) for less than the dealer could even supply the parts.

So, moral of the story, shop around - but you already knew that...

Opportunity

2008-06-26T11:13:00.000Z

This week at work marked the departure of three members of staff who, whilst not working in the same section as myself, will most definately be missed. I heard someone once say that any time there is a knock at the door there is an opportunity to be had, and although this may not always be true in the strictest sense, it is something to think about.

One of the people who is leaving is changing their life completely - they are moving to a completely different part of the country, different job (promotion in fact), new house - just a new life in general. We had a good talk the other night, and it really gave me something to think about. I often consider a different job in a different part of the country (perhaps even another country altogether), but I always opt for the quiet and easy option, which is to do nothing about it and stay where I am.

But seeing how much she is changing her life, and how it has changed her as a person, really made me think long and hard about my future, and that nothing happens if you just sit around waiting for it, you need to go out there and grab it with both hands. So whilst I know things won't be the same at work with them, I may just answer that knock at the door...

Music

2008-06-14T18:32:00.002Z

I wouldn't consider myself a huge music fan, I own a number of albums and download quite a few from HMV, but I don't know band members or song names etc. But then I came across this article in Howies (possibly the best and one of the most environmentally companies in the world), and it is so true:

It wakes us up
It drives us to work
It helps work go faster
It drives us back home
It helps make dinner
It comes along for a ride, a run, or a skate afterwards
And joins us in the bath later on
Then at the end of day, it's there as we drift off to sleep
It wakes us up

With the possible exception of the bath (showers are much better) it made me realise how much music I actually listen to.

BMW Mini Tour 2008

2008-06-11T17:12:00.002Z

The other weekend was a long bank holiday weekend in the UK, and I had been invited on a Mini Tour to Amsterdam (sailing from Calais). It was basically a BMW Mini Tour, and it was fantastic.

Some pictures are available here.

Lots (and lots and lots) of driving (although I didn't do any), and I just had a great time. Roll on next year is all I can say! Need a wide angle lens for next time though :)

Rampantly Illegal

2008-05-19T14:06:00.003Z

I was watching the 5th round of the MotoGp race from Le Mans at the weekend, and Rossi got his 90th victory (matching that of Angel Nieto). As Rossi stopped by the side of the track, Nieto (now a pundit for Spanish TV) was there in full leathers to ride Rossi's bike back to the pit. The commentary team on British Eurosport loved it, although as they did point out, it was "rampantly illegal".

Just made me smile. That and the fact that after everybody said it was going to be another Casey Stoner whitewash this season, they then moved onto Pedrosa. Now they seem to be backing Rossi. When will they learn???

Too much of a good thing

2008-05-04T15:54:00.005Z

You know you have been watching too much House when confronted with the question: "Deduce which sub-class X belongs to..." you immediately want to grab the flip chart in the corner of the hotel lounge and ask total strangers for a differential diagnosis :)

Camera Lens (Part 2)

2008-05-03T16:46:00.004Z

I mentioned in a previous entry that I had ordered a lens of "www.digital-cameras.com", well the order got cancelled. No idea why, no e-mail or phone call just cancelled. I suspect I know why - that I shouldn't have been allowed to get a discount on a non-stock item. However, the website a) told me how much I could save and b) let me do it, so in my book I did nothing wrong.

Anyway, I found another lens I liked, that was in stock and ordered that, except that now the offer code was not being accepted. I rang the company for about 2 hours, and it was either engaged or no answer. Eventually I tried the website again, and it said it was undergoing a change in management and as such you couldn't place any orders. I know now why they weren't answering the phone. But the website still showed the offer and should have let me order it.

Anyway, in the end, ordered it from CameraKing, and although I had to pay a little bit more, there was no problem with the order. Sorry digital-cameras.com, but I will never order from you again...

Camera Lens

2008-04-30T18:12:00.001Z

Just ordered a new camera lens for my trip to Holland. Should arrive in the next two weeks. And 30% off :-)

www.digital-cameras.com

Word of the day

2008-04-30T14:30:00.002Z

Just writing up my second assignment for "Understanding the Continents" (which by the way is not a good title - the word confusion really should appear in there somewhere). Anyway, came across this gem of a word:

"magnetostratigraphy" - basically measuring the magnetic reversals the Earth has been through. Impressive though I thought :)

When Bagels turn bad

2008-04-12T10:14:00.003Z

Every now and again, I copy stuff onto DVD for a friend of mine, and just recently this has been causing my PC to crash. Rather halpfully (for Microsoft) it comes up and asks if I want Microsoft to look for a solution, to which I always click Cancel. Yesterday I clicked OK, and it came back and said I had a virus - Bagel32.

"No I don't" I thought, afterall I have Virus Protection. Except I didn't, the virus had turned it off. So I loaded the program and ran a scan. It told me that a rootkit virus was attempting to hide itself and that I should run the scan in Safe Mode. This I did, and it promptly found 439 viruses :(

It deleted all those and I ran another scan (again in Safe Mode) - nothing. Good to go. So I booted into Vista, and ran a scan - Blue Screen of Death. Rebooted, and opened Word - BSOD. Ah, not so good after all then. After a small pause, I decided on rebuilding my machine, and so as I write this on my laptop, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is merrily installing away. Here's hoping that I don't get any more viruses, well for a while at least!

London Tube Chaos

2008-04-09T20:06:00.001Z

This story is fantastic, but not in a good way!

5-3

2008-04-09T18:38:00.001Z

Just a quick note to say "Yay" - Liverpool won their Champions League quarter final against Arsenal 5-3 (1-1 after first leg). It was a great game, but then I would say that wouldn't I?!

Understanding the Continents

2008-04-02T18:39:00.003Z

Got my first assignment back today for my current OU course (Understanding the Continents).

I got 79% which is alright, but I was hoping for more to be honest. I was quite annoyed at myself really, as I correctly identified all the errors in question 1, knew how to put them right, but messed up my reasoning on a lot of them.

Likewise for Q2, got the right answers, but my reasoning let me down again, so I lost some more marks which should have been a given.

I can see where I went wrong, so I should be able to rectify such mistakes from my next assignment. I hope so anyway, as 68% of the marks are for explanation type answers :(

One a different note: Eddie Izzard on computers - fantastic (and true):

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T10:44:00.002Z

Today at 20:00 (local time) is "Earth Hour". The idea is that you turn off as much as you can for this hour in an attempt to reduce your countries carbon footprint.

Calculate your own carbon footprint
Use a computer? See here
Also see www.earthhour.org for more information.

So if you can, turn off your lights, computer TV etc. and make a difference!

"Please don't cross any railings lest suddenness happens!"

2008-03-24T13:46:00.001Z

Quote of the day from the BBC.
But as the article says, at least it is their second language!

F1 GP - Qualifying

2008-03-23T00:29:00.002Z

Just had to smile today when the two McLaren drivers got demoted 5 grid places for hindering other drivers on their 'quick' laps.

Maybe this will stop ITV treating every race as the Lewis Hamilton show. Then again, probably not :(

----

I was right unfortunately, they (ITV) cut the press conference short (bearing in mind that two people in the press conference aren't normally in the top three) to go to a 'live' interview with Lewis. Could it not have waited until after? I have been accused of not supporting British drivers - this is absolutely not true. I would however, like to support all four of them and not just the one who happens to be doing quite well at the moment!

Roll on next year, when the (hopefully) less biased BBC get the coverage back.

A few lunchtime drinks

2008-03-21T17:02:00.002Z

Our office had Thursday afternoon off this week, so we (and when i say we I mean a pitiful 4 out of an office of 14) decided that a few lunchtime drinks were in order - well it is Easter after all.

So there we were, having a quite few drinks, when some people from another department came in in a not-so-quiet way. All in good spirit though. So after not so much arm twisting we were off down town for a few drinks. This lasted until about 01:00, which is pretty much unheard of for our office. Got to go out with a few people that I normally wouldn't as well, so that was different, and as they say, anything different is good!!

I was supposed to be studying that afternoon, but as the one doing the arm twisting put it: "It'll still be there tomorrow", and it was, funny that.

So now we, and by this time when I say we I mean us and the other department, are planning our next trip out. Can't wait...

Chocolate

2008-03-11T20:30:00.001Z

Probably the best chocolate in the world!

Stopping Time

2008-03-10T18:46:00.002Z

Courtesy of the Howies blog, I came across this excellent video:

If you can't see embedded video, try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo

New Blog

2008-03-05T19:59:00.004Z

It's not often I find a blog that I enjoy reading, so it came as a (small) surprise when I found this:
http://franceshonours.blogspot.com/

Maybe it's because they are doing the same course as me, but it just rang true...

The good and the bad

2008-03-04T09:50:00.002Z

There's an advert on TV at the moment (Egg Credit Card I think) that says when something clever happens somewhere, something stupid happens somewhere else to offset it. Silly advert, but amusing, and unfortunately it does seem true of life.

For the past eight months I have had a running battle with Virgin Media (Cable TV/Broadband supplier) about my bill - they keep getting it wrong, sometimes VERY wrong. But all sorted now. Successfully applied for my passport, and completed my first two OU assignments of the new year way before time, and that never ever happens.

So on the face of it, all going well. That is until I ordered some books off Amazon. They were in stock, and I chose the free, super-saver delivery method. So why do they take a month to be dispatched (they were in stock) and then when they are dispatched, one of them can't be because it is NOW out of stock. Why wait the month?!

I also ordered two copies of the Alien Quadrilogy box set, one for me and one for my sister. Mine arrived fine, hers hasn't arrived yet. Phone call there then.

And then there is work, trying to roll out Windows XP without fully testing it first. I know, why are we rolling out XP only now when Vista has just been released? What can I say, I'm just glad we've actually moved from Windows 2000 to XP, at least we are moving forward. A bit more testing would not go a miss though. So far we are two days into our office being XP (the only office too), and we're firefighting little issues. Not work-stoppers admittedly, but small issues, and personally I don't think we should be putting XP on peoples desktops whilst we're still finding these little issues. Doesn't reflect well on us as a section. But that's just my opinion.

On a happier note, Blu-Ray seems to have won the format war against HD-DVD. Yay!!!
Can't tell you how happy I am on that one. Some people seem to saying that HD-DVD should have won as i was the better format, but personally I don't see it myself.

Thought for the weak:
A friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas, and whilst it is full of handy hints on how not to let things in life get you down, the best seems to be the title:
"Don't sweat the small stuff" and don't forget "It's all small stuff".
Words to live by if ever there were any :)

Birthday weekend

2008-01-28T18:15:00.000Z

So last weekend was my Birthday weekend, and months ago I decided I wanted to do something different. A friend of mine made the mistake of saying that she'd never been camping, well not proper camping anyway, so during an evening when altogether too much alcohol was flowing, she agreed to come away on an 'activities weekend' with me.

There was supposed to be four of us going, however a cancellation meant we were down to three. But no matter, still plenty to do. And so it was we embarked upon our weekend. The place we stayed at had non of the mod-cons (TV etc.) but to be fair, you didn't care. The days were almost entirely taken up with activities - Rock Climbing and Abseiling on the Saturday, and Kayaking and Hiking on the Sunday - and in the evenings after a quick shower to get rid of the muck and grime (the grime was me falling over), everyone sat round the ~~large~~ huge fire in the lodge and chatted until the early hours - a proper sense of camaraderie.

Breakfast was a healthy affair with more fruit than my local supermarket, this was so you had plenty of energy for the morning of activities ahead. Lunch was provided, and the evening meal should have been a choice of three options off their menu, but since there was no chef as yet, it was just the one option. But all the food was fantastic, and sourced from with 10 miles (or in the case of fish, caught that morning in the river that was about 20 meters away!).

It was good to get away from it all, even if it was just for a couple of days. I can honestly say, that whilst I was there, I did not give a thought to my everyday life. I was 100% there in the moment, and it was great: -

No Internet;
No TV;
No room service;
No air conditioning;
Just local food;
Sleeping under the stars;
And listing to the sound of the rain on our tents;
Absolutely the best hotel I've have ever stayed in!!

When cycling home isn't easy

2008-01-23T19:36:00.000Z

So my new year's resolution was to cycle into work, even if the weather wasn't as good as it could be. No more of this namby pamby "ooh it looks cold out there" or "well, it's raining, so better take the car". The first step was to get some proper wet weather clothing - check, and to get proper 'layered' clothing - check. So now, all I had to do was start cycling.

This I did, and it went well, for a few days anyway. Then I got a puncture on the way home. Well, no big deal, these things happen. Unfortunately for me, to continue along the unlit road with no footpath (sidewalk), wasn't a good idea and I had to take a shortcut over some grassland. Ordinarily not an issue, but recently we've had more rain than when Noah built his Ark. So I got very muddy and very tired (it's hard to push a bike through mud). But I got home eventually, had a coffee - proper coffee too, not this decaf stuff I've been drinking for the last couple of years - and repaired my puncture.

Then the next night, whilst cycling home, I got another puncture. This time I took the (very) long way home, stuck to the paths, and although it took me longer, I wasn't tired or muddy. Not a bad result.

I then emailed the council to see if it was possible to get the cycle-path cleaned (as it was the thorns picked up on this path that caused both punctures). I got a very polite reply that said they'd look into it, and two days later the path was cleaned. Not a bad result for the council, and I have to say, they did a very good job.

So all hail Stafford council - a good job well done. Thanks :)

To be, or not to be

2008-01-09T19:35:00.000Z

Now I'm no poet (really I'm not), but even I have to appreciate this.
I vaguely remember reading this at school, but never liked Shakespeare, and didn't really get what this extract was about. But re-reading it today it made a lot more sense, and I have a much greater respect for Shakespeare now than I did then.

-------------

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

------------

GENIUS!!

Stargate Worlds

2008-01-08T21:08:00.000Z

For any Stargate fans out there who happen to like MMPO (Massive MultiPlayer Online) games, then check out the new trailer for Stargate Worlds:

Admittedly, not much use if you're not a fan of either, but it has been getting pretty good reviews, and what better way to spend your time when not playing WoW!

Stargate SG1/Atlantis

2008-01-04T17:24:00.001Z

For any fans of Stargate SG1/Atlantis out there, Joseph Mallozzi (a writer and executive producer) writes in his blog daily. This is not bad for someone as busy as he must be (although the filming etc. has ended for the current season). Not only that, but he regularly answers a lot of questions, even ones not directly related to the show(s).

'Tis definately worth checking out at: http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/

Road Gritters

2008-01-03T18:32:00.000Z

Somewhere in the back of my mind (way way back), something about road gritters always bothered me. They do a fantastic job most of the time, and yet sometimes they can grit the roads Monday through Wednesday, miss Thursday, and grit again on Friday.

How can they 'know' that the roads will be safe enough on that one day, safe enough to not grit them? I mean they can't trust the weather service, they struggle to let you know whether or not it is going to rain, never mind get the temperature and conditions right for the whole country. So how?

Well, this is how, a series of sensors in the road monitor conditions such as road and air temps, rain, dew and salt levels. This BBC article just shows you what goes on behind the scenes that most people don't know about.

Ferrari

2008-01-02T18:14:00.000Z

Now I may be a Ferrari fan, but you got to love this:
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=8674

XBox 360 live

2008-01-01T21:56:00.000Z

The XBox Live service has been running into a few problems this last week, fortunately it has not affected anyone I know, but it did make me smile :)

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/31/xbox-live-still-up-and-down-ten-days-later/

But before everyone jumps up and down and rants on about Microsoft, at least they are looking into the problem. A friend of mine with a PS3 has been having connection issues ever since a major patch came out, and Sony refuse to accept there is an issue. Apparently it is a connection issue - strange as the problem exists no matter whose house it is plugged in at...

10 years gone

2007-12-18T21:30:00.000Z

Well, it has been 10 years since the term 'Weblog' was coined, and even a sceptic would have to say that they have their uses. Scientists, Teachers, Doctors, Actors and even Governments blog on a regualr basis, and whilst some of them are poor, a lot aren't, and it does bring often hard to reach topics into the public eye.

So here is a quick link to a BBC website about the last ten years:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7147728.stm

An interesting read. And who knows what the next decade will bring?

Is there such a thing as a good lie?

2007-10-31T18:22:00.000Z

Now I’m no authority, but I reckon a good 95% tell a lie during the course lives. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big bad lie – like lying about committing a murder, a rape or something equally horrendous, it may be a simple lie that stops someone getting hurt.

But why do we tell each other these lies? Okay in some circumstances, such as if you knew someone was having an affair, you might not tell their partner (even if asked). In the short term you are sparing them pain, but in the long term they are likely to find out anyway. They will still hurt, and if they find out you knew, they may not like you very much either. But then it is none of your business, so why should you tell anyone about it?

Then there are the lies which don’t hurt anyone, but change people’s perception of you. Maybe you tell people you ran a marathon when you didn’t – okay that one is quite a large lie – but it might be something smaller like “I donate £50 every month to charity” even though you don’t.
However, these lies can turn out to be beneficial. Whilst they are false when you tell them, a number of people feel guilty about telling such lies, and as such try to live up to the lie itself. So maybe, in telling a lie, we are actually describing who we wish we could be, and in an effort to ‘flesh out’ our lies, we actually become the person we aspire to be. And surely that is a good thing?

Was it better when we were young?

2007-10-28T14:14:00.000Z

The other day I was cycling on Cannock Chase (nothing heavy, just keeping pace with a friend of mine that likes to go jogging over there once in a while), when we got talking about when we were young. Now granted this was a little longer ago for me that her, although I'm not scenile yet, but it does make me smile when a 21 year old talks about "when we were young"! I still consider myself at 30 to be young. You're only as young as you feel, and I feel fine...

But anyway, I digress, we were discussing if school days are the "best days of your lives" as 'they' say. This is something that you are told as a child, and I've always thought that this was a little worrying. Most children hate school. Granted if you are a child prodigy, you probably quite like it, and if you are lucky enough not to get teased about your genious IQ, then great. But if, like the rest of us, you are 'normal' (what ever that means), then school was probably just something you had to get through each day so that you could go home and play football (or whatever) with your mates.

I don't recall learning many things at school that I thought "wow", or "I really learnt something there". Don't get me wrong, I attended lessons, was quite good at maths and studied French, but what did I actually learn? Did I come away with anything that actually helps me now in life? From Maths, the answer is a definate yes. I always enjoyed it and have just finsished a second year maths course with the OU (something I would not have even considered if I didn't like maths as a child). But I can only remember about 2 lines of French, so was the three years really worth it? This is how I feel about most of my subjects to be honest. Granted I would not be where I am now without them, and for that I am grateful, but sometimes I just wish they had been more fun. Surely everyone learns more when a subject is fun and enjoyable?

I left school in '93, college (Sixth Form) in '95 and University (College if you're from the US) in '99 and started work straight after. Obviously, as stated before, I wouldn't have been able to do all that without good grades to begin with, but I feel I've learnt more since leaving college than before. University was great fun, but that may have been more to do with living away from home and being treated like an adult, and then starting work was like starting out in the big wide world.

However, with work comes responsibility. I now have a mortgage, bills to pay and all the responsibilties that come from my job. Now I have it relatively easy at work - no staff to manage, and I don't have children, so from that point of view I have a lot less responsibilities than a lot of people, but still. Then there's love. When you were growing up, if you liked someone, you generally just told them, maybe went out with them for a while, broke up and moved on. It seemed so easy. For some reason, as an adult this is no longer the case, other things have to be taken into account (and rightly so), but the spontenaety has gone. A broken heart lasted a few hours (days at most) as a child, as an adult it can last months, or in the worst case, years.

On relfection, being an adult is not all that it is cracked up to be. Parents are probably right when they urge their children not to grow up too quickly. Sometimes I like to get away from it all and think about absolutely nothing. Maybe this is cycling, playing football with my old friends from school, or maybe it is just sitting long into the night with those close to me, chatting about any old thing and looking up at the stars. Yep, it was certainly a simpler time back then, and it will probably never be that good again, it's just a shame we took so long to fugure that out...

Small Victories

2007-10-20T16:06:00.000Z

Sometime during November, we are having our network security tested. For the most part, we are pretty secure, but for one reason or another there is an issue with a number of the servers. So for the past few weeks I have been wrestling with them in an attempt to make sure that all of the Security patches are installed and all vulnerabilities are negated (well as far as possible). It has been a struggle let me tell you, not least because you can't just reboot a server whenever you feel like it - the users, or 'customers', tend not to like that. But now, I think I am there, all have a healthy green tick next to them.

So we are now at the stage that we should have been at anyway. It's a small victory, in the sense that, for our servers, there is now at least a glimmer of security, where before there was none.

It's the end of the world as we know it...

2007-10-13T15:59:00.000Z

...but I feel fine.

It's all over. Well for this year anyway.
That's right, another year of Open University done and dusted. I am releived? Yes and no. I am pleased to have completed it and I am ready to move on to the next subject, but I am also ready to embrace having free time again.

Just started watching Bionic Woman (the 2007 version), and whilst it is not the best peice of television ever made, it is definately worth a watch. So if you see it on tv, give it a go.

So this is short and sweet, as I have things to do. So until the next time...

We could be Heroes. Just for the day...

2007-09-29T21:15:00.000Z

With the cheerleader saved, and with her the world, would the second series of Heroes live up to expectations?Well, with only one episode gone in the new series, it is possibly a little early to tell for sure, but the early signs are definitely encouraging. Focusing on only a few characters, rather than trying to catch up with everyone worked really well, although I was only really interested in what happened to one character, and you do find out - albeit right at the end of the episode, but then Heroes wouldn't be Heroes if it didn't make you want to watch next weeks episode right away.

If you've never seen an episode, coming in at series 2 would not be the end of the world, although you would not be introduced into characters. It is, however, relatively easy to catch up and work out what is going on. And I can certainly recommend it...

------------

Moving on from Heroes in general to a hero of mine - Ray Mears. If you've never seen one of his shows, he is basically a survival expert (British at that too) who knows just about everything there is to know about living in the wild. He as done a couple of extreme survival shows, a 'bushcraft' show and a series about wild food (you'd be amazed what you can actually eat just in an average field in the UK). But anyway, he is coming to Stafford to do a talk at the theatre on Friday evening (October 5th). It should be a really interesting evening and if he is even half as interesting in real life as he is on TV, a good time will be had by all.

There are still a few tickets available I think, so if you are in the area why not check it out?

It's been a while (again).

2007-09-22T14:18:00.000Z

Saturday morning saw me sending in my final (yep, that’s it) assignment for my OU course. It’s been a slog, and it is not over yet: 3 weeks, and I have an exam. But I’m not thinking about that just yet. I’m taking this weekend off. Stuff do and I’ve just discovered season 1 of “Deadliest Catch”.

For anyone who has not seen it, it is a strange program about crab fishing in Alaska. Doesn’t sound very interesting does it?! And to be fair, not a lot happens from week to week, but for some reason that I can’t put my finger on, it is compelling viewing. So if you have the discovery channel – give it a go.

Heroes starts again in the US this coming week, and I can’t wait. I got addicted to series one very quickly, and thought that the story was incredibly well paced, not giving too much away, but giving you just enough answers to keep you satisfied (take not makers of LOST).

So that’s pretty much it. Not posted anything in a while I know, but I’ve just been busy. By the middle of October I should have a little more free time. Maybe I’ll post more, maybe I’ll find something else to fill the evenings until February when it all starts again.

Cannock Chase - Walk the Dog

2007-07-28T16:05:00.000Z

Well I rode the "Walk the Dog" trail on Cannock Chase today - wow am I unfit!I don't know what the official time is for the longest time taken to complete the course, but whatever it is, I reckon I beat it. Add an hour to the previous longest time, and I reckon you have mine.

I wouldn't mind, but due to the damp weather we have been experiencing, I haven't been cycling to work like I normally do. So not only am I not as fit as I used to be, but I'm now absolutely nowhere near as fit I should be.

So now I am writing this about 2 hours after getting home - first time that I have been able to do anything since getting in. But now I need to get ready to go out, and I feel like I could sleep for a month.

-------------

So, hopefully my new stand for my TV arrives on Tuesday. That will be it then, no more buying stuff on my credit card! I really need to start saving for a new kitchen, and I can't very well do that if I keep buying shiny new gadgets. But then I do need a new zoom lens for my camera, and an XBox 360...

The Movies

2007-07-25T17:39:00.000Z

Went to see Transformers at the weekend (I know - such a child), but it wasn't actually as bad as I was expecting. Sure there are plots holes big enough to drive a small aircraft carrier through, and some bits just do not make sense. But you can't fault the CGI - truly amazing. And it is just a fun, Saturday night, popcorn movie. What more do you want?!

And on that note, here are two videos that I thought were pretty funny.
Microsoft's "Big Ass Table":

And the "Wii Fit":

A little bit (more) water

2007-07-21T15:44:00.000Z

Those people from the UK will know that in (almost) every conversation, the weather takes on a prominent role. You would also know that there is a fair amount of rain. In fact, the UK doesn't have a rainy season as such. It started raining about 1400BC, and pretty much hasn't stopped since. True, we do get nice summers from time to time, but not as a rule.

However, this years summer has been a bit more damp than usual. The past few weeks have seen enough rain to make Noah himself go away and rethink his Ark design. Some areas have experienced a years rain fall in a week, rivers have burst their banks and one regional ambulance service took 10% of their usual annual number of calls in a single night.

Granted we're certainly not the only country ever to have experienced more than their fair share of rain, but something similar happened seven years ago, and the government swore that they wouldn't let it happen again. Once again they were proved wrong, and it is still raining.

As I write this the Tour de France is in full swing, and even though I like mountain biking, I am not a huge cycling fan. Having said that, I really enjoy watching it on TV. But today's stage was phenomenal, with the pentelon catching the two lead riders with only 1km to go (out of a 121km stage) - it really was quite something.

And this weekend is quite a good weekend for sport what with the Open Golf Championship, F1 GP from Germany and MotoGP from the USA. At not half an hour ago, Lewis Hamilton, Britain's superstar rookie, crashed out of qualifying after a tyre gun failed during his pit stop, meaning he'll start from 10th on the grid.

Anyway, assuming the rain stays away and the power stays on, it should be a good weekend for sports fans...

Fade to Black...

2007-06-15T23:04:00.000Z

I have no idea who wrote this poem, only that it wasn't me. I wish it was, as I think it is fantastic, and I hope whoever did write it doesn't have a problem with me reproducing it here. If they do, please let me know and I'll remove it.

When Broken dreams fall apart
and shattered tears break my heart
and thoughts run wild
and pain breaks free
and leaves descend from limbs of tree.

As darkness creeps
and night time wails
so courage drowns as fear prevails
desperation takes it's grasp
and hope and joy are in the past.

Smiles they crumble
and eyes they lie
an icy chill answers "why?"
love has gone and won't come back
it's all over; fade to black.

Kinda sums up how I feel about a certain someone...

An afternoon in June

2007-06-04T15:33:00.000Z

The general consensus of the 85,000 odd crowd, or at least the section of crowd we were in, thought that Stoner had this race sown up with his pole lap of Saturday. A lap, that as the time he posted it, looked completely unbeatable. But, the rain cleared, the tracked started to dry up, and a few people bettered their lap times. No one got near his time of course, but he did have to take to the track in the dying moments of qualifying just in case.

The race was an entirely different affair. The track, whilst damp for the 125cc race early on, had dried up nicely now, and with the Sun as often out as it was hiding behind the clouds, it was pretty warm down on the pit straight.

As the lights went out, Stoner took the lead, whilst Rossi went backwards from third (on the grid). The crowd, whilst somewhat pleased I'm sure, that a Ducati was doing well at its home circuit, sensed that he was going to walk away with it. But by lap five, the leading six or seven were all bunched together, as Pedrosa took control of the race. Rossi by this time had made his way back through the pack and was right behind him in second, and on lap 9, he swept underneath Dani to take the lead - a lead that he would not relinquish, except for a brief moment at the end of the main straight, but that only lasted for a second or two.

With Stoner in 3rd and even that looking optimistic as Baros was coming on strong in the last few laps, Rossi fans were delighted, and the noise as he crossed the line with two laps to go was almost deafening.

--------------

This was our moment, last year we left it until after the chequered flag had been waved, and missed our opportunity to make it onto the pit straight for the ceremony. But not this year, as Rossi crossed the line, we made our way swiftly down the embankment to the fence and waited their with the hundred or so other fans that had gathered for the end of the race. That came about two minutes later as Rossi, Pedrosa and Baros (having made it by Stoner about 5 laps before the end) crossed the line.

At this point a huge throng of people surged forward onto the track, only being slightly mindful of the fact that just a few hundred meters away, bikes were still crossing the finish line at full whack. No-one seemed to mind much, and as the last few bikes crossed the line, people began to crowd the barriers in front of the podium.

To describe the feeling down there on the pit straight is impossible. About 1,000 fans all jumping up and down, and all ecstatic that Rossi had won the race, and as the Italian national anthem played, hardly audible through the noise, Rossi looked out over everyone, clearly thrilled to have won this race for his team, for himself and for his fans.

--------------

For some reason, the ten or so minutes spent in front of the podium, seemed to last forever. Everything drained away, and all that existed in the world was a small motorcycle track in the middle of Italy, an Italian rider, and a small crowd of 1,000 or so adoring fans. In this moment, nothing seemed to matter any more. Work was forgotten, as was study and even where we were going to celebrate later - and we were going to celebrate. For on a Sunday at the start of June, Rossi had won his home GP for the sixth time in a row, and nobody was going to take this away from us. Nobody.

Star Wars: Episode IV

2007-05-26T22:26:00.000Z

Whilst I don't claim to have seen the "A New Hope" on it's theatrical release, as I think I was about 6 months old at the time, but I have seen it once or twice since then - even catching a theatrical release of the "All New and Improved" version (although not so much).

I also own the original trilogy, i.e. the only ones that count, on VHS and DVD multiple times over. As such, the following article on the BBC website rather amused me.

It is allegedly written by someone who has never seen Star Wars (I know these people are out there, as my sister is one of them), and 30 years on, it describes how someone see's that movie now - although it makes no mention of how it compares to modern films.

It is quite amusing - give it a read:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6680279.stm

Oh yeah, the sub-title is quite good too "Warning: This story contains plot spoilers" :-)

Rumours, sales people and unhappy friends...

2007-04-28T18:26:00.000Z

I've been off work all week (taking leave not ill), and it would seem I picked a good week to have off. There was apparently a shouting match between two members of staff, and other people just generally unhappy too.My name also came up during the course of the argument, as apparently I doctor some statistics that I produce, so that I'm top of the list and someone in particular in the office is bottom. Well, all I can say in response to this, is that the claim is bollocks. In one way I wish I had to doctor the stats to get them to look that bad, but I don't.

So now I'm left with a dilemma, either I say something thereby getting other people in the office into trouble, or let it go. I'm tempted to let it go, but then part of me thinks why should I? My character has been put into a bad light, and why shouldn't I retaliate. Additionally, I apparently do all the jobs that require staying in the office, whilst others have to go out to do jobs. Well, this may be true, but I tend to pick the jobs that make best use of my time, and they tend to be office based ones. I tell you what, maybe I should do the other jobs too, then the other people wouldn't be able to complain. Then again, they would be bottom of the stats again, and I'd probably get the blame for that.

Anyway, enough whinging, I really don't like doing it. I went to Wolverhampton today for one of my Open University tutorials, and then spent the afternoon looking round the town itself. In doing s I was accosted by a women trying to sell me a mobile phone talk plan (cell phone for any American reading). She really wouldn't take NO for an answer, and in the end I just walked off, with her shouting at me for being rude. The town itself is not the best in the county/country/world, but it certainly has enough shops for me to look round (I'm not really a shopper).

On a completely different note, a friend (well I say friend, I possibly don't know her well enough to call her a friend, but maybe one day) seems to be unhappy in their job. I asked if there was anything I could do, but she said there wasn't. Now I feel completely useless, and am spending far too much time thinking about her and whatever issues she may have. Is it too much to ask that people are able to find a job they enjoy? It shouldn't be...

Blu Ray

2007-04-25T13:13:00.000Z

This morning my Blu Ray DVD player arrived, to enable me to watch films the way they were meant to be seen (well, on my Panasonic plasma anyway). It came with all the cables you could possibly need to get started (HDMI, Composite and Component), so I hooked it up via HDMI, and via optical to my Surround Sound system (I must admit it did not come with this cable, I had to use one I'd already got).

The picture is great, especially at a distance - i.e. sitting on my sofa, as opposed to sticking your face next to the screen to try and see the detail! The menu functions etc. are better than my Panasonic DVD player too, but then that is a good few years old now, so I can forgive it that.

It is not quite as good as I thought it would be however, but I think that was just because I was expecting a perfect picture, and it is not. Don't be fooled though, your never going to get a perfect picture, well not until technology has caught up a bit, so maybe in 15 or 20 years.

Sitting back and watching Swordfish (not one of the two free disks that came with the player, but one I bought myself) and comparing it to the standard DVD version, I have to say, the image was much crisper - especially the details on peoples faces. It would seem that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was right when he said "God is in the details"...

A long weekend

2007-04-24T18:36:00.000Z

I had to start an Open University assignment on Saturday (I've actually booked a weeks leave to do it, but thought I might as well start on Saturday, as if I run into problems, I'd rather have more time to sort it out), and my goal is one question per day. Now I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but believe me it is. There are only four questions per assignment, and my first two assignments took four days each to complete (not including writing them up). But it only took my three hours to do question 1, and I'm pretty sure it is right - so far so good!

I then went out to lunch at a new place called "The Yard". Don't know why it is called this, as it seems a strange name, but there you go. Then basically did as little as possible during the afternoon, watched a few episodes of Just Shoot Me, and then went to the pub for a meal in the evening. All in all, not a bad day.

Sunday I watched the London Marathon, MotoGP and did all the boring housework that I'd avoided during the week, and then Monday I did the next question of my assignment.

On Monday night I went on a date (I really hate that word 'date', but that's another story) with a lovely girl from Stone. I'd met her the week before through a mutual friend, and met up for lunch on Saturday. It was a really nice evening (and incidentally I had possibly the best steak in the world, well Stone anyway) and 'M' seemed to enjoy herself - which is all that really matters. I gave her a lift home, kissed her goodnight and went home myself. And for the first night in a long time, I didn't think of 'C', Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

Heckled by a cyclist

2007-04-22T11:05:00.000Z

The strangest thing happened to me last Sunday. I was on my way to Cannock Chase, and as part of that journey I have to cycle through a housing estate. As I came over a bridge, I spotted a cyclist in front of me, and I decided to try and keep pace with him. I just about managed to do this as he was travelling at quite a pace, but I was maintaining the gap. Then he turned off the main road coincidently the same turning I needed to take, and so I turned off about 10 seconds after him. As I rounded the corner I noticed he wasn't very far ahead of me (as this part is up hill), and I dropped down a couple of gears and set off up the hill.

As I pulled level with this cyclist he said something which I didn't quite catch, except for the number "58", so I slowed ever-so-slightly and simply said "pardon", at which point he replied with "In case you're wondering, I'm 58". Now this took me by surprise, as no-one has ever said anything more than "Hi" or something similar when I see another cyclist. So I said "That's not it at all". I didn't really hear what he said next as I was cycling off, but it had something to do with 'only managing to beat a 58 year old'. Now I admit I should have ignored this comment, taken the high road so to speak, but I didn't. I shouted back at him "Whatever gets you to sleep at night!". Now I'm not proud of this, but there you go.

Anyway, having this (apparently 58 year old) man heckle me when I was out for a perfetly innocent cycle ride really annoyed me. I thought of nothing else until I actually got to Cannock Chase (about 10 minutes later), and to be honest, it ruined my trip. I have no idea why he said such a thing, but he definately seemed threatened by someone else overtaking him on a bike.

Now I was always taught to respect my elders, and for the most part I do, but there is no way I could respect his man, who basically behaved like a spoilt teenager. So on the off chance this man is reading this (slim I know): get a life mate, and grow up!

What better way to spend £1,000?

2007-04-20T19:13:00.000Z

Well, I did it! Did what you may ask (although probably not).I bought a Plasma TV. Years I've been talking about getting one, all the way back to when Panasonic were on their 6th Generation of screens (their now on their tenth).

So my shiny new Panasonic 42" Plasma arrived a couple of weeks ago now.It's not much different from the previous model, except that it is black all over, as opposed to black and silver, and it has some fancy processing chip to cope with 1080p signals - which the old one probably had too.

Being all black I didn't think I'd like, especially as the rest of my kit is silver, but it looks really nice. The only issue is I can't put it on the wall above the fireplace like I wanted to as, being the only black object in the room, it looks out of place someone. But I shall buy a glass stand for it, and it will look fine squirrelled away in the corner of the room under the stairs.

The picture quality is superb, even from it's build in digital tuner. And HD content via my Virgin Media box (Cable TV for anyone outside the UK) is stunning. I have yet to try a HD movie on it, as my Blu Ray DVD player has yet to arrive - should be Monday. But I've bought a copy of Swordfish to test on it - I also own this on standard DVD, so I thought it would be a good comparison.

So that's what I have been doing with most of my evenings for the past fortnight. After finishing of study for the night, usually around 20:00, I try to find something to watch on the TV that will exploit it's features. For anyone out there with an HD TV, Planet Earth from the BBC is just stunning in HD :) Almost worth the cost of the TV alone...

A new season begins...

2007-03-10T22:45:00.000Z

So, the first round of MotoGP 2007 took place today at Qatar.
It all promised to be an exciting race weekend, 800cc bikes (instead of 990 from last season), new tyre rules and not an insignificant number of rider changes.

And what a race it turned out to be! Not an out and out stunner it has to be said, but 22 laps of cat and mouse between Stoner and Rossi, with Stoner winning out in the end. Awesome racing, not least because the new regulations mean carrying a lot more corner speed (and by a lot I mean a LOT). It all added up to mean the first race of the season did not disappoint.

Roll on Jerez in two weeks time...

Why oh why...

2007-02-21T16:58:00.000Z

...did I sign up for an Open University Maths course? Well it turns out I had to, for whilst it is not a mandatory module for the degree I am doing, it is recommended, and by recommended they mean you will struggle to do later modules if you don't do this one first.

So I am four weeks into it, and one assignment down (six to go). Is it that bad? Well yes frankly :( Don't get me wrong, I am sort of glad I signed up to it, that must be the sadistic side of me, but I honestly didn't think it would be this difficult. Three and a half days to do the assignment, although, I suppose it could be worse - at least I've done it now, well in rough anyway, I've got to type it up yet, but that's for anther day!

So now I rockin' to Queen's Greatest Hits whilst I surf the Internet and just try and waste a little time. Incidentally, whilst on about music, if anyone likes good old fashioned easy listening music, then I highly recommend Madeleine Peyroux. I've listened to four of her albums now and they are all fantastic.

As are The Killers who I (eventually) got to see on Sunday night at the NEC in Birmingham (UK). The only problem was I thought the gig was in Manchester, so I went there for the weekend, and had to catch a train to Birmingham when I realised my mistake. This did result in me missing the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club who were supporting The Killers, which was a shame as I like them, but no harm done, got to see what I went for so I'm happy.

So that's it - listen to Madeleine Peyroux and The Killers and avoid OU Maths courses!

XBox 360

2007-02-06T19:34:00.000Z

Okay, I'm not normally one to sing the praises of a games console. For my money, a PC has always been infinitely better, plus you can do other things on it too. But the XBox 360 just blows me away every time I see it.

The colours and textures are just fantastic, and playing MotoGP 2006, there are times when it is almost like watching an actual race.

Plus there is the fact that you can now buy a HD-DVD drive for it at a cost of £120. So that is not a bad way to get a HD-DVD player in your house. Admittedly, you have to buy the XBox too, but all in it is around £400, and that is still cheaper than most (if not all) of the HD players at the moment.

If you are on the fence, or debating between an XBox and PS3, I would say the XBox is all you'll ever want - and this coming from someone who whole-heartedly supports BLU-Ray as opposed to HD-DVD!

Oh yes, and it looks even better if hooked up to a HD TV...

30 it is...

2007-01-29T19:40:00.000Z

Well, I must say my 30th didn't turn out at all like I had planned.
I should have gone to Manchester for a long weekend, convinced the girl of my dreams that she should be with me, spent the weekend with her and lived happily ever after. But no, I was here at work...

I did actually go to Manchester on Friday (just for the day), but she was working halfway across the country, and so I came home at about 18:30 and went out for a meal.

On Saturday (my actual Birthday), there were five of us were in cabling up two buildings for telephone and network communications - trunking, cabling, boxes on the wall etc. and it is still no where near finished.

Then Saturday night I went to a friends wedding reception, which was excellent and really good fun. Free food and drink (except for alcohol which you had to pay for, but seeing as I wasn't drinking it, it really didn't matter) and an 80's disco that went all night. Apparently I fell asleep between 02:00 and 05:00, which was slightly embarrassing, but all was good.

Then back to work for the Sunday, another full day - 08:00 to 18:00 in fact, and home to sleep, although I did somehow manage to watch Top Gear and two episodes of 24 and crawl to bed at about 23:00.

So that was my Birthday weekend, as I said not exactly what I had planned, but certainly different!

For 'C':

2007-01-10T19:47:00.000Z

Not everything that counts can be counted.
Take love for example; love counts.
Some say it is all that matters.
Yet it can't be quantified or counted.

So how do you know when you’re in love?
Do you just know, or is there more to it.
Me, I knew the first moment I saw you.
And yet here I sit, alone.

You are the perfect person for me.
How do I know this? Simple:
If I created someone to love eternally,
It would be you in every detail.

The fact that you are on this Earth,
At the same time and place as me,
One person amongst billions,
Surely cannot be just a coincidence?

And so I’ll love you until the end of time.
Just you and I left in this world.
Or maybe it is just me who is alone?
At least that’s how it sometimes feels.

As I count the days until you realise,
That we should be together forever,
I know only one thing for sure:
Not everything that can be counted counts…

The Podcast Network

2007-01-05T19:17:00.000Z

Whilst reading Steve Lacey's blog, I came across his Podcast, and having listened to a couple of them, now seem to be hooked. Not only that, but after hearing him on the Gday World show, I have now found the following website: The PodCast Network.

Don't get me wrong, it is not to everyone's taste, and it can be techie, but for me it is perfect. Subscribed to the RSS Feeds for automatic updates and everything.

So that was it really for this post - just wanted to point out that this website existed!

So what else is new???

2007-01-02T22:48:00.000Z

So, 2007 rolled around, but has anything else changed?

I write this while sitting in a window seat in Café Nero looking out onto the world - well, my little part of it anyway, and I wonder, what has changed?

It is the day after New Year, and yet if you look out onto the street, you wouldn't know it. It's a nice warm day (well for January 2nd it is) at a balmy 12 degrees centigrade, and people are busy going about their business. Shopping in the January sales? Probably not, as these all start in December now. No, most people are coming or going from work, or spending the last few days of their holiday in town.

When did that all change? And possibly more importantly, Why?
A few years ago, I used to want any break from University or work to last as long as possible, and yet now I find myself itching to get back. Maybe I am just getting older, but I don't seem to be able to find interesting things to do with my free time any more, and so I'd rather be at work doing something productive.

That's quite depressing really! So here's my new years resolution: "The next prospect that comes my way I'll seize, and not over think the situation". After all, Sometimes we are given opportunities, and we take them and make something out of them, and the story of that can live forever, maybe...

Work is over for another year...

2006-12-22T20:13:00.000Z

So, I finished work today at 16:00 (for some reason I thought woking right up until Christmas was a good thing). Sooooo glad it is over though, as it was more than a tad boring.

Played a little "Command & Conquer" and "Call of Duty" though, so that passed a little time. Then read a few blogs, browsed Flickr and drank lots (and lots) of Tea/Coffee.

And now, for some strange reason, I have someone (screen name of LIVERPOOL ROCK) asking me who I am (or more precisely "oo are u") on MSN. I have no idea who they are, and they have not responded to my query as to who they are. Ah well, nice way to meet new people I suppose...

So, as this is probably my last post before Christmas, "Merry Christmas" to those who celebrate it (:

Human League

2006-12-06T18:29:00.000Z

Just a very quick post to say I went to see the Human League on Monday night (December 4th 2006). They were excellent! Been to see them a few times now, and this was easily the best performance I've seen from them.

The support band, whose name I can't remember were okay too - although there was some weird bloke whose sole job was to dance (not very well, but still better than me) to most of the tracks.

But all in all, a great night with great music.
Trying to d/l pictures off phone at the moment, but having issues with the software in Vista :(

Vista RTM

2006-12-03T19:46:00.000Z

Installed Windows Vista RTM (and no, I have no idea what RTM stands for) on Saturday.
All went smoothly, apart from the fact that after each reboot (not that there are that many), my PC took about 7 minutes to restart.

After about 3 hours troubleshooting, it turns out this was caused by my CD Writer - which it turns out is unsupported in Vista. Not too much of a problem, as it is quite old and I have a newer DVD writer which works fine. BUT, it would have been better if Vista just ignored it, or at least hinted that it was the CD that was the problem.

Other than that, all is good, and I recomend anyone/everyone upgrading to Vista as soon as you can. You do have to have quite a good PC to take advantage of the advanced features, but they are worth it! And it is so much faster than XP.

So, there is my sales pitch - sorry if I sounded like a Microsoft employee (I'm not), but there you go.

The girl with no name...

2006-11-27T18:10:00.000Z

November 25th 2006 was the date of this years Christmas shopping trip with my sister, and Croydon was the chosen destination - glamorous as it is :)

Unfortunately, living in Stafford, this required a very early start of 07:10 to catch the first bus of the day to the train station. But catch it I did and at 11:07 I was in Croydon, along with the rain. But the day went fine, bought a number of Christmas presents and also got ideas for others that I'm sure I'll be able to buy cheaper on the 'net.

Then came the 4 hour trip home, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to it as the trip down was a little boring. But I happened to sit next to a girl who was watching season 2 of "Grey's Anatomy" on DVD. After trying for about 30 minutes to watch it without giving away the fact that I was trying to watch it, it turns out I'd failed miserably! But none-the-less we got chatting about the show (I'd already seen the whole of the second series) and found out we had very similar interests.

Since she lived in Manchester, she was catching the train from Watford Junction (where we both had to change trains) and we went for a drink and then caught said train 45 minutes later. The conversation continued until we came upon Stafford, where upon I had to get off.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable train journey, and due to the pleasant company the time simply flew by, and it wasn't until I got home that I realised that we hadn't even told each other our names.

So, to the girl with no name on the 16:53 Southern Trains from Croydon - thanks for a most enjoyable 4 hours on a train for a good while!

OK

2006-11-08T19:52:00.000Z

So, my very first entry in my very first (and probably only) blog.
What to say? I only set this up as a number of friends also have blogs and kept pestering me to set up my own. But I resisted for long tortuous hours and then gave in to peer pressure, probably as a result of too much lager, and this is the result...

So anyway, that is all I am going to say for my first post, as I want to mess around the settings to get it look half decent.