Saturday was consumed with PC building so I only managed to read about a third of the new Potter book. My mum got a copy from John Lewis for £5.
I made a proper start didn't get to start my copy of Potter properly until Sunday.
I read a good deal Sunday Morning, but I had to take a break in the afternoon to go visit the data centre, then help Bruce move some bits around his house. Its really coming along, the kitchens pretty much done the floors don't have holes in the floor anymore and the decorating is in progress.
In the evening we headed out to see the new Transformers film. I can still remember playing with them when I was a kid. Watching this film was an attempted at reliving childhood memories. The effects were spectacular, the transformers fought, lived with the actors. There were some annoyances, the plot was about as understandable as the Chinglish manual that came with my PC bits. I have no idea what the point of the security analyst / geek programmer were other than to have a beautiful girl ons creen. I would personally have confined it to the cutting room floor. Its worth a watch for the action, but its too long, too short on plot, and not really for kids there is a lot of adult humour and references.
I got home and hit potter hard, the story twisting and turning throwing the odd curveball. It starts out dark, and pretty much stays along at that level. Everything which Potter has endured thus far is firmly eclipsed (short of his parents untimely end) as the rise of the dark lord casts a dark shadow over the Potter universe. The usual trio, are nearly torn apart by the stresses and strains. A good section of the book read like something out of Lord of the Rings, they are cut off from the world facing incredible odd the situation worsening all the time.
Overall I enjoyed reading it though I do feel she hasn't quiet reached the levels of imagination she hit when writing Goblet of Fire. Too many loose ends were ticket off in a sort of screenplay fashion, I wonder it was aimed for the screen. A shame if so. I guess my biggest gripe with Deathly Hallows is how it ended. After everything Harry is forced to go through suddenly its over, very neat, there is even an epilogue. I am glad that its a series where Rowling has taken risks characters can and do die, the narrative can be gritty and real, examining issue like racism exclusion jealousy and love within stories about a teenage boy. Its certainly worth a read, especially considering how readable a writer she is. Somehow even complex narrative is always not just understandable but enjoyable. Would that I had even a modicumo fher talent I would be a happy man.
Monday, July 23, 2007
NeverAlways Be Lonely
Its been a bit of a mad weekend, for expected and unexpected reasons. Friday was a long day, I was meant to be catching Sandbox after work, but by the time I left work I wouldn't have had time to change, I felt tired and didn't want to turn up to a gig in my suit.
So my Friday night consisted of drinking a couple of beers and watching a dvd. It was a very very good dvd though, Pans Labyrinth. Its a film that crosses the dreams of a girls fertile imagination against a brutal backdrop of the end of the Spanish civil war. Well written well acted a good story this is the sort of film I really enjoy.
On Saturday my dads pc failed, this meant stress for me, as de facto pc guy I had to sort it out. I decided rather cunningly to give him my 18 month old old and to buy myself the bits to get a new one. I found aria were selling 4GB of ram for just over £ 100 and scan had a reasonable price on processors. I decided to go the whole hog and shelled out for Windows Vista just to give it a try. I would say Vista is a worthwhile upgrade if you have a powerful computer and like eye candy. Its got slightly less patronising pop ups then XP other than the box which pops up every time you want to install anything. I know its for security but does it really have to be that irritating. The graphics tweaks make Vista look good but switch between Windows has nothing on Apples expose. I was a bit worried when on installing Visual Studio it warned me about the incompatibility problems. I only had to download a 490mb patch to fix it.
I basically spent the rest of the day backing up, screwing together, installing and configuring this new machine, which was good really as I was feeling dreadful. Sometimes I find the loneliness consumes. I spend hours looking at photos of whats been happy times trying to cling to something good. I also find doing installs is a good way to avoid thinking about it, her.
To be honest I am angry with myself, my friend said it best. I make too deep connections too quickly so I end up hurt then shut myself away to avoid getting hurt again. Overcompensating in both directions like an emotional sea-saw. I supose things are not made easier by the fact the I received an sms telling my how much she was enjoying herself with her niece by the sea. Whereas I am sat alone, in the rain. I suppose it could be much worse I shouldn't complain my house isn't sat in the middle of a new lake right new. Bah the only problem is I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself, but at the same time whilst other people have worse problems it dosnt actually change the way I feel, stupid emotions.
So my Friday night consisted of drinking a couple of beers and watching a dvd. It was a very very good dvd though, Pans Labyrinth. Its a film that crosses the dreams of a girls fertile imagination against a brutal backdrop of the end of the Spanish civil war. Well written well acted a good story this is the sort of film I really enjoy.
On Saturday my dads pc failed, this meant stress for me, as de facto pc guy I had to sort it out. I decided rather cunningly to give him my 18 month old old and to buy myself the bits to get a new one. I found aria were selling 4GB of ram for just over £ 100 and scan had a reasonable price on processors. I decided to go the whole hog and shelled out for Windows Vista just to give it a try. I would say Vista is a worthwhile upgrade if you have a powerful computer and like eye candy. Its got slightly less patronising pop ups then XP other than the box which pops up every time you want to install anything. I know its for security but does it really have to be that irritating. The graphics tweaks make Vista look good but switch between Windows has nothing on Apples expose. I was a bit worried when on installing Visual Studio it warned me about the incompatibility problems. I only had to download a 490mb patch to fix it.
I basically spent the rest of the day backing up, screwing together, installing and configuring this new machine, which was good really as I was feeling dreadful. Sometimes I find the loneliness consumes. I spend hours looking at photos of whats been happy times trying to cling to something good. I also find doing installs is a good way to avoid thinking about it, her.
To be honest I am angry with myself, my friend said it best. I make too deep connections too quickly so I end up hurt then shut myself away to avoid getting hurt again. Overcompensating in both directions like an emotional sea-saw. I supose things are not made easier by the fact the I received an sms telling my how much she was enjoying herself with her niece by the sea. Whereas I am sat alone, in the rain. I suppose it could be much worse I shouldn't complain my house isn't sat in the middle of a new lake right new. Bah the only problem is I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself, but at the same time whilst other people have worse problems it dosnt actually change the way I feel, stupid emotions.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Fast cars and summer nights
Today has been a long day I made it into work for just after 6.30. My part of the upgrade went well but another failed causing all sorts of recriminations. I just thougt oh well bad stuff happens sometimes despite everyones best efforts, though I was annoyed that our software was blaimed when the problem was with something else which stop our system from working.
It was a good day though really, we grouped together and fixesd a whole bunch of problems it was a much less antagonistic and more productive than normal. I left early and headed to the gym, I have deinfatly been more lazy I found it hard to cope with what should have been a normal session. I think I will have to up my game a little.
Ian Bruce and myself went for a drink at the Kindfisher this evening. I was nice sat outside in the first dry evening for ages. Poynton seemed to have way more than its fair share of suped up cars, all coming and going hile we were sat outside.
We chatted about life, but mosty about houses. It seems to be the topic of the day these days thinking about when how and if we will move out. Bruce is ahead of the game in progress renovating his first home.
Ian seemed in fine form, its been a while since I last saw him. I think business has been good given the amount of thime he has been working, good news.
I spoke to of my skype friends today. We have been talking for a few months, meeitng whileshe was trying to improve her English. We talked about life and webdesign. She has taken a job in Cambridge to help learn English, a pretty radical step. She seemed to be enjoying herself, though. Skype was playing up making it hard to hear some of the conversation. She said Cambridge was like Harry Potter which I thought was an amuSing if not entirly inaccurate statement. Not that I have ever seen the place except for on TV. Se is very brave I am not sure I would have been able to go live in a non English speaking country on my first trip, I mean thats one of the reasons I chose Australia, one less thing worry about! She seems to be fitting in well hough the people are friendly and she has a Spanish friend from the same region, it wasnt planned so it just shows what a small world we live in.
It was a good day though really, we grouped together and fixesd a whole bunch of problems it was a much less antagonistic and more productive than normal. I left early and headed to the gym, I have deinfatly been more lazy I found it hard to cope with what should have been a normal session. I think I will have to up my game a little.
Ian Bruce and myself went for a drink at the Kindfisher this evening. I was nice sat outside in the first dry evening for ages. Poynton seemed to have way more than its fair share of suped up cars, all coming and going hile we were sat outside.
We chatted about life, but mosty about houses. It seems to be the topic of the day these days thinking about when how and if we will move out. Bruce is ahead of the game in progress renovating his first home.
Ian seemed in fine form, its been a while since I last saw him. I think business has been good given the amount of thime he has been working, good news.
I spoke to of my skype friends today. We have been talking for a few months, meeitng whileshe was trying to improve her English. We talked about life and webdesign. She has taken a job in Cambridge to help learn English, a pretty radical step. She seemed to be enjoying herself, though. Skype was playing up making it hard to hear some of the conversation. She said Cambridge was like Harry Potter which I thought was an amuSing if not entirly inaccurate statement. Not that I have ever seen the place except for on TV. Se is very brave I am not sure I would have been able to go live in a non English speaking country on my first trip, I mean thats one of the reasons I chose Australia, one less thing worry about! She seems to be fitting in well hough the people are friendly and she has a Spanish friend from the same region, it wasnt planned so it just shows what a small world we live in.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Drive
I have spent the evening moving some more of my old Australian photos into my gallery. So many good memories, it was a great trip, I often think about going off and doing another. Phil was remarking to me we wouldn't even had seen mission beach if his car hadn't broken down there, yet I had some amazing times there.
Tomorrow I am in work for 6.30 the thought is keeping me awake. I should be tucked up in bed, but recently things have been so stressful. Seems like everything is a new critical project, its always a rush job, always fighting fires. It would be nice just onces to be able to enjoy a project and carry it though properly.
I am also thinking a lot about my life, and some changes I want to make. I think I have to start making some more of the opportunities I have rather than waste my life worrying about the past, I need to move on find some new things, new people.
Tomorrow I am in work for 6.30 the thought is keeping me awake. I should be tucked up in bed, but recently things have been so stressful. Seems like everything is a new critical project, its always a rush job, always fighting fires. It would be nice just onces to be able to enjoy a project and carry it though properly.
I am also thinking a lot about my life, and some changes I want to make. I think I have to start making some more of the opportunities I have rather than waste my life worrying about the past, I need to move on find some new things, new people.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Leaving Me Alone
Just had the weirdest interruption to blog writing, I sat down to write and felt something weird on my leg, I lifted up my trousers and found a snail on my leg! Very strange I must have picked it up on my shoe on the way back from the pub. It was a weird feeling, you know when you feel weird creeping sensations on your skin but usually is just your mind playing tricks, well this time it wasn't! The really weird thing was it was already dying, I think the salt from my glands did for it.
It was the second weird blog related thing this evening, I stumbled across an alternative cookies world! Personally (though this is Narcissism) I think my blog is the definitive, I have certainly been going for longer :-P
This evening I went for a quiet drink with Nick. I needed a drink to be honest today I had a company meeting. Whilst I think it was both constructive and overdue it was still hard going, I felt pretty worn out by the end.
It was the second weird blog related thing this evening, I stumbled across an alternative cookies world! Personally (though this is Narcissism) I think my blog is the definitive, I have certainly been going for longer :-P
This evening I went for a quiet drink with Nick. I needed a drink to be honest today I had a company meeting. Whilst I think it was both constructive and overdue it was still hard going, I felt pretty worn out by the end.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
And here is another google recommendation
How to go to your floor quickly, I wish I had known this one in Shanghai.
http://view.break.com/327059 - Watch more free videos
http://view.break.com/327059 - Watch more free videos
Google aka Big Brother
Check out http://www.google.com/history/. If like myself you have Google account it could list every search you made, how many per day and even more if you enable the advanced options! Its either a useful wealth of information or a scary scary big brother system, I haven't decided yet, I sure hope Google still are committed to "do no evil".
Also amusing is the trends and things you might be interested in depending on your searched here was one of my top ten recommendations
Also amusing is the trends and things you might be interested in depending on your searched here was one of my top ten recommendations
PHP webservices
I spend the last couple of days experimenting using php as a webservice client so here are a few tips!
To get up and running you need, a webserver and working php5. It important to have php5 as the webservices pretty much don't work under 4.
edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini uncomment
Restart apache with "apache2ctl restart" and you should no be calling up php5. You might want to create a php.info apges to test by creating a test.php with the following.
It should show your running php version 5.something and furhter down the page you should be able to see a soap section.
I use the .Net environment for creating web services and this foray into php was something of a test. It took me a while to get anything done as there are several php implementations of webservices none of which are very well documented. Eventually I saw the post by Orion I and it was enough to access my service. Because of the way the ms service works you need to use the SoapVar command.
In my webservice expects two doubles ratio and tolerance so I did the following
Installation on Debian 4.0
To get up and running you need, a webserver and working php5. It important to have php5 as the webservices pretty much don't work under 4.
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install php5 php-soap php5-xmlrpc apache2 libapache2-mod-php5
edit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini uncomment
[soap]
; Enables or disables WSDL caching feature.
soap.wsdl_cache_enabled=0
; Sets the directory name where SOAP extension will put cache files.
soap.wsdl_cache_dir="/tmp"
; (time to live) Sets the number of second while cached file will be used
; instead of original one.
soap.wsdl_cache_ttl=86400
Restart apache with "apache2ctl restart" and you should no be calling up php5. You might want to create a php.info apges to test by creating a test.php with the following.
// Show all information, defaults to INFO_ALL
phpinfo();
// Show just the module information.
// phpinfo(8) yields identical results.
phpinfo(INFO_MODULES);
?>
It should show your running php version 5.something and furhter down the page you should be able to see a soap section.
Simple Webservice Test
I use the .Net environment for creating web services and this foray into php was something of a test. It took me a while to get anything done as there are several php implementations of webservices none of which are very well documented. Eventually I saw the post by Orion I and it was enough to access my service. Because of the way the ms service works you need to use the SoapVar command.
In my webservice expects two doubles ratio and tolerance so I did the following
$pRatio = $_POST['xratio'];
$pTolerance = $_POST['xtolerance'];
include("SOAP/Client.php");
$namespace = "http://mars.glenfernassociates.co.uk/enmesh";
$wsdl = "http://10.0.0.254:8080/GearService.asmx?wsdl";
$sc = new SoapClient($wsdl);
$ratio = new SoapVar($pRatio, XSD_DOUBLE, "double", $namespace);
$tolerance = new SoapVar($pTolerance, XSD_DOUBLE, "double", $namespace);
$wrapper->ratio = $ratio;
$wrapper->tolerance = $tolerance;
$params = new SoapParam($wrapper, "GetPair");
$ret = $sc->GetPair($params);
?>
Magic mystery and junction boxes
My head hurt this morning, unfortunately thanks to my routine I find it virtually impossible to sleep in these days so I was awake before 9 feeling sorry for myself.
I spent most of the morning chatting to someone online, she told me I should have proposed to Olya. I was a little horrified at such an idea but she sees the whole a lot differently than me. We always have interesting conversations for it though.
I was also trying to use PHP to access the webservice I wrote for my dad. To be honest I understand why people pay for products that just work, I am using complex types for my webservice and php just can't seem to deal with them :( Failing with that I foolishly turned my hand to some diy.
The light on our landing for well over a year so I decided it was high time it was fixed. Hours later I was covered in crap from the loft and desperately searching for fuse wire after blowing the fuses. Basically its got two switches one downstairs and one up which can turn the light on and off. Unfortunately the electrician just used chocolate boxes and the light was removed months ago so it was trial and error wiring. It was also all in the loft which has no light and it very dirty. My dad and I both get pretty stressed out, it took hours and hours but eventually I succeeded in getting it all hooked up.
This evening we went to see the new Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix). It is the longest and in my opinion one of the best of the books, a lot darker than the preceding stories. Obviously there was far too much in the book to squeeze into the film, indeed I think this one is the biggest departure from the book. It mostly got things right balancing between being faithful to the main story whilst cutting out some of the sub-plots. Some of the editing was a little clumsy, a few words glossing over some huge part of the book but overall it was an enjoyable film well worth a watch.
This was a big film release and so we didn't have to sit with the mob (and children) we splurged out on gallery seats. The gallery seats are on a raised area above the main seating. There are large plush leather seats, there is also a separate sound sound system and the best bit is free soft drinks, sweats and popcorn. Its a bit expensive at £16 a ticket its a bit pricey but if your the sort who goes to the cinema, and buys drinks and popcorn its probably not bad value.
I spent most of the morning chatting to someone online, she told me I should have proposed to Olya. I was a little horrified at such an idea but she sees the whole a lot differently than me. We always have interesting conversations for it though.
I was also trying to use PHP to access the webservice I wrote for my dad. To be honest I understand why people pay for products that just work, I am using complex types for my webservice and php just can't seem to deal with them :( Failing with that I foolishly turned my hand to some diy.
The light on our landing for well over a year so I decided it was high time it was fixed. Hours later I was covered in crap from the loft and desperately searching for fuse wire after blowing the fuses. Basically its got two switches one downstairs and one up which can turn the light on and off. Unfortunately the electrician just used chocolate boxes and the light was removed months ago so it was trial and error wiring. It was also all in the loft which has no light and it very dirty. My dad and I both get pretty stressed out, it took hours and hours but eventually I succeeded in getting it all hooked up.
This evening we went to see the new Harry Potter (Order of the Phoenix). It is the longest and in my opinion one of the best of the books, a lot darker than the preceding stories. Obviously there was far too much in the book to squeeze into the film, indeed I think this one is the biggest departure from the book. It mostly got things right balancing between being faithful to the main story whilst cutting out some of the sub-plots. Some of the editing was a little clumsy, a few words glossing over some huge part of the book but overall it was an enjoyable film well worth a watch.
This was a big film release and so we didn't have to sit with the mob (and children) we splurged out on gallery seats. The gallery seats are on a raised area above the main seating. There are large plush leather seats, there is also a separate sound sound system and the best bit is free soft drinks, sweats and popcorn. Its a bit expensive at £16 a ticket its a bit pricey but if your the sort who goes to the cinema, and buys drinks and popcorn its probably not bad value.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Black Swan
I went to give blood after work, after picking a number and waiting in line the nurse handed me an envelope. Inside was a badge and a certificate apparently it was my tenth donation and praiseworthy! It was a busy donation session, they were understaffed and given the weather a lot of people had nothing better to do than give blood.
I had arranged to meet a few people for drinks later on, so it was all a bit rushed. Bruce arrived back from Gloucester and popped around. I invited Nick out and he gave me the good news that he and Becky have finally spoken and they were both coming out for a drink. Happy friends happy days. Bruce chauffeured us as he had already arranged to pick Nina up from a work do she was attending.
Phil arrived home from work just in time to change his shirt and eat three pieces of pasta then we headed out to the Kings Head in Cheadle Hulme. Jo and his friend Wally joined us. I hadn't seen him since before I went to China, he is working for some recruitment company in Didsbury. I think he misses the snow, I know how he is feeling I am missing the beach.
We all chatted and drank having a great time. I had a long drunken chat with Becky about life the universe and relationships. She and Nick were looking pretty good together, I hope they have worked it out. I remembered to take my camera out so there are some pictures here. Nick managed to get Jono to give us a lift home, I was really drunk (I blame the lack of blood) I think they poured me out of the car.
I had arranged to meet a few people for drinks later on, so it was all a bit rushed. Bruce arrived back from Gloucester and popped around. I invited Nick out and he gave me the good news that he and Becky have finally spoken and they were both coming out for a drink. Happy friends happy days. Bruce chauffeured us as he had already arranged to pick Nina up from a work do she was attending.
Phil arrived home from work just in time to change his shirt and eat three pieces of pasta then we headed out to the Kings Head in Cheadle Hulme. Jo and his friend Wally joined us. I hadn't seen him since before I went to China, he is working for some recruitment company in Didsbury. I think he misses the snow, I know how he is feeling I am missing the beach.
We all chatted and drank having a great time. I had a long drunken chat with Becky about life the universe and relationships. She and Nick were looking pretty good together, I hope they have worked it out. I remembered to take my camera out so there are some pictures here. Nick managed to get Jono to give us a lift home, I was really drunk (I blame the lack of blood) I think they poured me out of the car.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Even Flow
"Funny how time flies right before you yes and they don't recognise". I had a conversation early with Danny, we were suppose to be going for a drink but as usual work / life / things got in the way. After making plans to In a strange the way people sometimes have the same thoughts. We got talking about how fast times flown since we were all just starting out, finishing school and starting to make our own paths.
The conversation it reminded me I was only just thinking the other day, while listening to Lucky, it has been nearly 10 years since I bought OK Computer. Where did the time goto it seems to have flown by almost without me noticing.
I guess its not the time that matters its more the contrast, I remember thinking I had it all in font of me. Yet somewhere along the way I ended up as a typical company man, I guess I hoped for something more. I suppose I shouldn't complain I not really in a bad job I guess I just thought by now I would be more successful.
Tonight after the gym I came home and realised I came home and spent the evening watching house. Its a very entertaining series I wish I had that sort of self conviction. To feel totally clear in though, to believe n my actions. Its something to work on I suppose.
The conversation it reminded me I was only just thinking the other day, while listening to Lucky, it has been nearly 10 years since I bought OK Computer. Where did the time goto it seems to have flown by almost without me noticing.
I guess its not the time that matters its more the contrast, I remember thinking I had it all in font of me. Yet somewhere along the way I ended up as a typical company man, I guess I hoped for something more. I suppose I shouldn't complain I not really in a bad job I guess I just thought by now I would be more successful.
Tonight after the gym I came home and realised I came home and spent the evening watching house. Its a very entertaining series I wish I had that sort of self conviction. To feel totally clear in though, to believe n my actions. Its something to work on I suppose.
Snakeblood
Had a pretty meaningless day at work sat in an office with my dad, it was his last day after being effectively made redundant whilst I was in Turkey. Basically the owner of my companies second largest customer decide to close down their UK operations effective immediately. n response my company let go of all the contract workers including the guy who had been working with me at Freedom, and my dad.
He wasn't too unhappy though as he might have found something else at least in the short term so who knows. In order to cheers ourselves up we bought take away from Cheadle Tandoori. It was extremely tasty especially with a couple of cobra beers. Its near Roscoe's roundabout if your in the area and feeling hungry I recommend you give it a try.
I I had an Facebook conversation with Becky which spurred me on to get Nick out for a beer. We went to the John Millington for a couple of drinks. He seemed to think the Becky was ignoring him and didn't want anything more to do with him. I attempted to explain she was angry with him and expected him to make more of an effort than a few text messages. Its so complicated both of them have grievances but they both say there still in love. From my dispassionate point of view
I just wish they would get together and talk it seems like half the problem are the unspoken things that have been going on. I dont really know what will happen but I wish them both the best of luck.
He wasn't too unhappy though as he might have found something else at least in the short term so who knows. In order to cheers ourselves up we bought take away from Cheadle Tandoori. It was extremely tasty especially with a couple of cobra beers. Its near Roscoe's roundabout if your in the area and feeling hungry I recommend you give it a try.
I I had an Facebook conversation with Becky which spurred me on to get Nick out for a beer. We went to the John Millington for a couple of drinks. He seemed to think the Becky was ignoring him and didn't want anything more to do with him. I attempted to explain she was angry with him and expected him to make more of an effort than a few text messages. Its so complicated both of them have grievances but they both say there still in love. From my dispassionate point of view
I just wish they would get together and talk it seems like half the problem are the unspoken things that have been going on. I dont really know what will happen but I wish them both the best of luck.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Little Miss Sunshine
This film has got to take the cake for its portrayal of the most wildly dysfunctional family in America. The dinner table scene was surreal the whole family tucking into chicken on paper plates and talking about why Frank tried to commit suicide.
Olive the bespectacled little 7 year old, who's only dream is to take her crown in the little miss sunshine beauty pageant. Pity she has a brother who "hate everyone", a heroin addicted grandfather, failed motivational speaker of a father, and a suicidal gay uncle.
While the story is very dark it has some wonderful humour from the Acerbic grandfather.
Worth a watch if you like indie.
Olive the bespectacled little 7 year old, who's only dream is to take her crown in the little miss sunshine beauty pageant. Pity she has a brother who "hate everyone", a heroin addicted grandfather, failed motivational speaker of a father, and a suicidal gay uncle.
While the story is very dark it has some wonderful humour from the Acerbic grandfather.
Worth a watch if you like indie.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Word Up
Spent a hectic day of bug fixing, and proved once again that people just cannot be trusted to actually test anything properly. Nevermind got to do something fun this evening to make up for it. There was no Japanese class instead a few of us went to Umami . I even took the train into Manchester, it was a little strange reminding me of the day I used to commute to university. Its getting to b a long time since was there now.
The German girl Martine arranged it and 5 of us turned up. Thats 50% of the class so not a bad turnout really. I ate a rather wonderful Japanese meal, surprisingly good in fact. Starter were a kind of fried king prawn dumpling. My main course was a very tasty noodle and chicken concoction.
After the food we went for a couple of drinks in Kro 2. It was a little noisy but they had several Japanese drinks including Kirin lager on tap. I sat chatting to Martine for quiet a while, we got talking about the Dark Tower, she had quiet an interesting interpenetration on Roland, and the ending of the series. I found it somewhat and anticlimax, whereas she found it amusing that near the end his strong masculine character tempered with the imagery of the roses surrounding the tower, and she liked the circular nature of the story. It was an enjoyable and different evening food chatting and a couple of drinks a nice relaxing time after work if only I could do so more often.
The German girl Martine arranged it and 5 of us turned up. Thats 50% of the class so not a bad turnout really. I ate a rather wonderful Japanese meal, surprisingly good in fact. Starter were a kind of fried king prawn dumpling. My main course was a very tasty noodle and chicken concoction.
After the food we went for a couple of drinks in Kro 2. It was a little noisy but they had several Japanese drinks including Kirin lager on tap. I sat chatting to Martine for quiet a while, we got talking about the Dark Tower, she had quiet an interesting interpenetration on Roland, and the ending of the series. I found it somewhat and anticlimax, whereas she found it amusing that near the end his strong masculine character tempered with the imagery of the roses surrounding the tower, and she liked the circular nature of the story. It was an enjoyable and different evening food chatting and a couple of drinks a nice relaxing time after work if only I could do so more often.
Monday, July 09, 2007
House of the rising sun
Had a strange day at work today, after Saturdays upgrade there was a very minor problem. It took me about 20 minutes to find the solution, there was a small error in a bug fix (not made by me!) which caused unexpected almost random behaviour. After that and a dressing down of sorts, I felt pretty disinclined to focus on the next job in the queue. Though I made progress in the afternoon. I sometimes wonder what hey expect, it wasn't my job, it seemed to work and was passed though testing, I am not sure what else I could have done, especially seeing as every change is expected yesterday.
After work I went for a run, it felt good just plodding along the treadmill, music playing like I was free. At least for the first 10 minutes then I got tired. Perhaps I overdid things after swimming yesterday and weights the day before my legs were tired.
I tried to chill out watching TV, but there was nothing on I watched mega-structures about the huge hotel in Dubai and a show about the Yom Kippur war in Israel. I never realised it was a part of the cold war played out in the middle east. With the Soviets supplying Egypt and the US Israel.
Phil came over and we headed to an empty unicorn for a drink. Not only was it empty thanks to the road works but virtually all the lagers were off so I ended up drinking Stella. We had a chat Phil had seen my pictures from Turkey and was asking about Olya. I told him about meet her in reception and going on to spend the rest of my time in Turkey with her. It was a really great trip and though its left me broke it was well worth it.
I just wish I could meet someone more local who's company I enjoyed so much.
Tomorrow I am going to have a Japanese meal with some member of the class. It should be a different experience, though I am totally inept it has been an interesting experience trying to learn Japanese.
After work I went for a run, it felt good just plodding along the treadmill, music playing like I was free. At least for the first 10 minutes then I got tired. Perhaps I overdid things after swimming yesterday and weights the day before my legs were tired.
I tried to chill out watching TV, but there was nothing on I watched mega-structures about the huge hotel in Dubai and a show about the Yom Kippur war in Israel. I never realised it was a part of the cold war played out in the middle east. With the Soviets supplying Egypt and the US Israel.
Phil came over and we headed to an empty unicorn for a drink. Not only was it empty thanks to the road works but virtually all the lagers were off so I ended up drinking Stella. We had a chat Phil had seen my pictures from Turkey and was asking about Olya. I told him about meet her in reception and going on to spend the rest of my time in Turkey with her. It was a really great trip and though its left me broke it was well worth it.
I just wish I could meet someone more local who's company I enjoyed so much.
Tomorrow I am going to have a Japanese meal with some member of the class. It should be a different experience, though I am totally inept it has been an interesting experience trying to learn Japanese.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Who is Tyler Durden?
I felt fine after drinking last night, I guess that Harp extra must be actually quiet light. It was a funny night just a few relaxed drinks and some chatting at the John Millington. Nice and stress free.
Nick was on at me to come to the V festival, and I must confess I would really like to their are some amazing bands playing. Unfortunately im already in the red after Turkey, what with all the trips there and the fact I had barley paid off China. Then no sooner did I reach home but I had to buy some new glasses. They came to over £300 after the lenses and sight test, so at least for a few months I need to be careful.
I had a free day today with nothing much to do. I decided to relax in the morning then went for a swim. I stupidly cycled there thinking a few minutes of sunshine meant better weather. Haha, I should have remembered the sunshine is just a trap to make you forget your coat. On the way home I was as wet as I had been in the pool!
This afternoon after watching Hamilton come third in a slightly anticlimatic Silverstone, I tried to get something done on my Dad's website. I proved impossible, I think I will have to either rewrite it or use a Windows server to host it, because try as I might I cannot get mono to run this webpage :(
I got a text message from Olya, apparently its raining on the black sea and today is some sort of valentines day affair in Russia. I wasn't entirely sure how to respond. I cant quiet work out if she is tormenting me, wants to be friends, is just bored, or actually misses me. I should really stop tormenting myself and forget about her. One of my friends told me my problem is that I form too deep connections too quickly with people so I get hurt. I think she is correct, and maybe I find it hard to deal with so hide myself away. Mostly I think I analyse too much and act too little. I just need to try and be more assertive, challenge myself and try and be a little less introvert.
This evening I headed to Phil's house to play on his Wii, he has bought another nun chuck so we were able to have two player boxing. So much fun, and actually a little workout. Next was gold then tennis. I actually managed to win at tennis usually I get thrashed :) The Wii is really a fun toy, really engaging and a lot more enjoyable than I imagined. I kind of really want one, though I am not sure how much I would use it after the novelty wore off.
I hope this post isn't too boring / rambling. I have found blogging really difficult recently, I feel pretty sad and am *trying* desperately not to totally lose it, and stay as positive as I can.
Nick was on at me to come to the V festival, and I must confess I would really like to their are some amazing bands playing. Unfortunately im already in the red after Turkey, what with all the trips there and the fact I had barley paid off China. Then no sooner did I reach home but I had to buy some new glasses. They came to over £300 after the lenses and sight test, so at least for a few months I need to be careful.
I had a free day today with nothing much to do. I decided to relax in the morning then went for a swim. I stupidly cycled there thinking a few minutes of sunshine meant better weather. Haha, I should have remembered the sunshine is just a trap to make you forget your coat. On the way home I was as wet as I had been in the pool!
This afternoon after watching Hamilton come third in a slightly anticlimatic Silverstone, I tried to get something done on my Dad's website. I proved impossible, I think I will have to either rewrite it or use a Windows server to host it, because try as I might I cannot get mono to run this webpage :(
I got a text message from Olya, apparently its raining on the black sea and today is some sort of valentines day affair in Russia. I wasn't entirely sure how to respond. I cant quiet work out if she is tormenting me, wants to be friends, is just bored, or actually misses me. I should really stop tormenting myself and forget about her. One of my friends told me my problem is that I form too deep connections too quickly with people so I get hurt. I think she is correct, and maybe I find it hard to deal with so hide myself away. Mostly I think I analyse too much and act too little. I just need to try and be more assertive, challenge myself and try and be a little less introvert.
This evening I headed to Phil's house to play on his Wii, he has bought another nun chuck so we were able to have two player boxing. So much fun, and actually a little workout. Next was gold then tennis. I actually managed to win at tennis usually I get thrashed :) The Wii is really a fun toy, really engaging and a lot more enjoyable than I imagined. I kind of really want one, though I am not sure how much I would use it after the novelty wore off.
I hope this post isn't too boring / rambling. I have found blogging really difficult recently, I feel pretty sad and am *trying* desperately not to totally lose it, and stay as positive as I can.
Save Me
I have done a lot today, I was in work for 6am to put some programs live. It all seemed to go very well which is about the best we can do.
I also went to the gym for the first time since before my holiday, I did some leg exercise. I have lost some strength but I just about managed a session. I felt a lot better for it afterwards.
This evening I went out with Nick, Bruce and Phil. It was a lot less harsh than last night. Rather than just complain about our love lives, we had fun, chatted about nothing and everything setting the world to rights.
Met Mark Dunnington at the pub, its amazing to me that this guy is married with a job as a policeman, and a house. I remember when he was a reprobate, it just shows how much things can and do change. He reminded us that Ian and Paul are going to Amsterdam with them for Emilie's fiancée stage do, should be fun for them!
I picked up my new glasses today (pictures below). My eyesight has changed a great deal since I last was tested so much one of my eyes basically wasn't working, crazy huh! They have pretty much bankrupted me as they were a rather unexpected expense. I got a card through the post and decided to follow it up. I last had a check in 2003! I shouldn't have left it so long my eyes have really changed, and work should really pay for the test as I work behind a screen.
I got some texted off Olya today she met and argued with her ex and was feeling not the best. It was great to hear from her but I was a little stuck on what to say, I just want her here with me now but it is impossible, so no point on dwelling on it.
I also went to the gym for the first time since before my holiday, I did some leg exercise. I have lost some strength but I just about managed a session. I felt a lot better for it afterwards.
This evening I went out with Nick, Bruce and Phil. It was a lot less harsh than last night. Rather than just complain about our love lives, we had fun, chatted about nothing and everything setting the world to rights.
Met Mark Dunnington at the pub, its amazing to me that this guy is married with a job as a policeman, and a house. I remember when he was a reprobate, it just shows how much things can and do change. He reminded us that Ian and Paul are going to Amsterdam with them for Emilie's fiancée stage do, should be fun for them!
I got some texted off Olya today she met and argued with her ex and was feeling not the best. It was great to hear from her but I was a little stuck on what to say, I just want her here with me now but it is impossible, so no point on dwelling on it.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Power out
I went for a drink with Nick tonight, he was in a strange mood really. I think his break from Becs is having more of an effect than he would care to admit. Whats frustrating is they dont talk to each other about it. I think if they just sat down together and had a frank chat some, maybe enough could be sorted out. Mind you what do I know about it I am not exactly doing great when it come to relationships. I hope they sort things out.
I am missing Olya greatly. I sat at work today looking out of the window at the rain and the cloud wondering what the heck am I doing here? Post holiday blues perhaps, I should be happy I have a pretty ok job, a little money I am just mad at myself for taking the easy route, living with my parents, not taking risks its no wonder I cant find anyone who loves me.
I have to work tomorrow, early, its not helping my mood so I better get some sleep hopefully I'll feel better or at least be able to find more perspective.
I am missing Olya greatly. I sat at work today looking out of the window at the rain and the cloud wondering what the heck am I doing here? Post holiday blues perhaps, I should be happy I have a pretty ok job, a little money I am just mad at myself for taking the easy route, living with my parents, not taking risks its no wonder I cant find anyone who loves me.
I have to work tomorrow, early, its not helping my mood so I better get some sleep hopefully I'll feel better or at least be able to find more perspective.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Feeling frustrated
Going back to work was difficult, there is so much going on.
Ian's wireless link has been suffering recently so I had bought a new access point, well second hand from ebay access point. It has been sat in my room for weeks, only when I took it out to set it up it didn't work. Its broken! What a pain I was so annoyed I smashed it to pieces with Nick's sledgehammer.
I went round for some beers and a chat setting the world to rights. He seemed a little sad but trying to make the best of it.
Ian's wireless link has been suffering recently so I had bought a new access point, well second hand from ebay access point. It has been sat in my room for weeks, only when I took it out to set it up it didn't work. Its broken! What a pain I was so annoyed I smashed it to pieces with Nick's sledgehammer.
I went round for some beers and a chat setting the world to rights. He seemed a little sad but trying to make the best of it.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
How to rotate videos
Whilst I was away a took a number of videos on my camera side on, resulting in side on footage. I didn't realise it but with quick time pro you can actually flip the video really easily.
On an Apple Mac open the film in quick time (this only works in quicktime pro), then choose window, then show film properties (shortcut apple + j). Select the video track then visual settings. There you will find the options for rotating, resizing or flipping the film.
Also I found this really useful page on how to make screenshots in Apple OSX.
On an Apple Mac open the film in quick time (this only works in quicktime pro), then choose window, then show film properties (shortcut apple + j). Select the video track then visual settings. There you will find the options for rotating, resizing or flipping the film.
Also I found this really useful page on how to make screenshots in Apple OSX.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Compromising
I haven't finished all my Turkey posts yet but I am getting there, I have spent most of today just going through my photos rearranging things and writing blog posts.
I did watch the film American Splendour which I thought was pretty cool. About the man behind he comic book of the same name it was shot in a challenging but pretty interesting way. One of the better biography's I have seen, they usually tend to be over-long and obsessive but this seemed to manage to encompass the majority of the import bit without detailing too much minutiae.
Went to Japanese class and totally fucked up in front of the German girl, I just got completely confused. It was the last lesson of this year, so a break until September I already can hardly remember 20% of the words I have learned I cant even imaging how bad I will be in September.
Becky came round to pick up her hard disk, I showed her the pictures from my holiday and we had a chat. It seem things are not exactly rosy between her and Nick. I wont detail it but neither of them are very happy at the moment. I can see it from both sides and I count them both as my friends so it was a very difficult conversation. I really hope they manage to patch things up, I think relationships have there ups and down so you have to be prepared to compromise at some point if you want to carry things on.
I did watch the film American Splendour which I thought was pretty cool. About the man behind he comic book of the same name it was shot in a challenging but pretty interesting way. One of the better biography's I have seen, they usually tend to be over-long and obsessive but this seemed to manage to encompass the majority of the import bit without detailing too much minutiae.
Went to Japanese class and totally fucked up in front of the German girl, I just got completely confused. It was the last lesson of this year, so a break until September I already can hardly remember 20% of the words I have learned I cant even imaging how bad I will be in September.
Becky came round to pick up her hard disk, I showed her the pictures from my holiday and we had a chat. It seem things are not exactly rosy between her and Nick. I wont detail it but neither of them are very happy at the moment. I can see it from both sides and I count them both as my friends so it was a very difficult conversation. I really hope they manage to patch things up, I think relationships have there ups and down so you have to be prepared to compromise at some point if you want to carry things on.
Final Day
I am sat in the airport in Dalaman, I arrived at 2.30 and my flight isn’t until 4.55. I had to wait until after 3 for the check in desk to open. It has been a heck of a trip, I have managed to do many activities and see many things. Emotionally its been a bit of a rollercoaster. Today things were much better and as Olya waved goodbye I felt very sad to leave.
I was a relaxed day with out anything to do. We both slept in late, feeling tired after the diving, karaoke and drinking yesterday. Missed breakfast we went out to lunch, at the Baran bar. They do pretty tasty food and have air conditioning that is just the job for lunchtime heat.
The Turkish seem to be a nation of traders, everyone wants to be your friend, at whilst there is a chance they can separate you from your money. Good never have an actual fixed price you just have to haggle your way down and often this can mean right down. They do work hard though most of the bar staff seem to work all the time; it was the same people in Baran at lunchtime as the night before.
After lunch we went swimming then I sorted out my taxi, tour guide Ben managed to get it for 40 Lira cheaper than I arrived so that was a bonus.
Olya and I had dinner together than I packed and we went for a final drink on the strip before the taxi would pick me up and 1am. It was a weird evening felt close again (I am a glutton for punishment arn't I) she even wanted to sit on the beach together, it was pretty nice, I was sad to have to leave.
I had a last minute panic as I couldn’t find my driver straight away but fortunately we hooked up and I was soon whizzing down the country roads to Dalaman airport. Arriving way before my flight was due giving me a chance to sit here and start documenting my thoughts.
I caught something on the tv behind me it was a bit of a parallel life experience. I haven't really seen the news all week so it was weird to see a piece about the UK terror alerts on TV especially hearing prime minister Gordon Brown.
I was a relaxed day with out anything to do. We both slept in late, feeling tired after the diving, karaoke and drinking yesterday. Missed breakfast we went out to lunch, at the Baran bar. They do pretty tasty food and have air conditioning that is just the job for lunchtime heat.
The Turkish seem to be a nation of traders, everyone wants to be your friend, at whilst there is a chance they can separate you from your money. Good never have an actual fixed price you just have to haggle your way down and often this can mean right down. They do work hard though most of the bar staff seem to work all the time; it was the same people in Baran at lunchtime as the night before.
After lunch we went swimming then I sorted out my taxi, tour guide Ben managed to get it for 40 Lira cheaper than I arrived so that was a bonus.
Olya and I had dinner together than I packed and we went for a final drink on the strip before the taxi would pick me up and 1am. It was a weird evening felt close again (I am a glutton for punishment arn't I) she even wanted to sit on the beach together, it was pretty nice, I was sad to have to leave.
I had a last minute panic as I couldn’t find my driver straight away but fortunately we hooked up and I was soon whizzing down the country roads to Dalaman airport. Arriving way before my flight was due giving me a chance to sit here and start documenting my thoughts.
I caught something on the tv behind me it was a bit of a parallel life experience. I haven't really seen the news all week so it was weird to see a piece about the UK terror alerts on TV especially hearing prime minister Gordon Brown.
Diving
Though no longer together Olya and I seem to have patched things up enough that she still wants to spend time with me, especially as Luba had already headed off home.
Regardless I wanted to try doing some diving and Olya was keen to give it a try so we booked onto a day trip with Marmaris dive centre. I opted to stick with the beginners group as she was pretty nervous about the whole experience.
They were pretty good with Olya, giving a Russian-speaking instructor despite the fact she was the only Russian on the trip. He ran her through the basics, 1 breath, 2 equalise your ears, 3 clearing your mask. The rest would be taken care of by the instructors. The dive would be to 5 meters only and the instructor would tow round Olya.
Thanks to my PADI cert I was allowed to join in but not be babysat. We got into the water and though she tried hard Olya couldn't breath through her mouth so I was impossible for her to dive.
I sat on the bottom waiting having my photo taken, then went on a short dive. When I surfaced she told me about it. I was sad she couldn't join in. It did mean on the next dive I was allowed to go out with the experienced divers so at least I go a proper dive in. It wasn't the most impressive diving though. After the Coral Sea and the barrier reef in Australia seeing a few ancient amphora just didn't impress me much.
This evening Olya and I went to Baran bar, a sort of karoke cocktail bar, I got quiet drunk on Efes larger. So drunk Olya managed to talk me into doing Karoke, I have never tried it before, always finding some reason not to. I tried to inject some humour into it and choose The Beatles — Back in the USSR. I even switched Moscow Girls to Ukhta as its Olya home town. She didn't even notice!
Regardless I wanted to try doing some diving and Olya was keen to give it a try so we booked onto a day trip with Marmaris dive centre. I opted to stick with the beginners group as she was pretty nervous about the whole experience.
They were pretty good with Olya, giving a Russian-speaking instructor despite the fact she was the only Russian on the trip. He ran her through the basics, 1 breath, 2 equalise your ears, 3 clearing your mask. The rest would be taken care of by the instructors. The dive would be to 5 meters only and the instructor would tow round Olya.
Thanks to my PADI cert I was allowed to join in but not be babysat. We got into the water and though she tried hard Olya couldn't breath through her mouth so I was impossible for her to dive.
I sat on the bottom waiting having my photo taken, then went on a short dive. When I surfaced she told me about it. I was sad she couldn't join in. It did mean on the next dive I was allowed to go out with the experienced divers so at least I go a proper dive in. It wasn't the most impressive diving though. After the Coral Sea and the barrier reef in Australia seeing a few ancient amphora just didn't impress me much.
This evening Olya and I went to Baran bar, a sort of karoke cocktail bar, I got quiet drunk on Efes larger. So drunk Olya managed to talk me into doing Karoke, I have never tried it before, always finding some reason not to. I tried to inject some humour into it and choose The Beatles — Back in the USSR. I even switched Moscow Girls to Ukhta as its Olya home town. She didn't even notice!
Jeep Safari
Today we went on the pre booked Jeep Safari tour, Olya was friendly but withdrawn, despite renewed attempts to be more decisive and manly the damage is done, the gate is open and the horse has bolted.
The jeep safari was a fun trip, piling into 4x4 Jeeps, 6 people per jeep, each jeep was armed with a load of water pistols and bottles of water, which we threw over each other at any given opportunity. It helped to keep cool in the hot air.
First stop was a track overlooking Marmaris, the view was superb. After a short drive on the motorway we tool the jeeps off-road thundering round dirt tracks whilst trying to soak each other as much as possible was quite amusing indeed!
The only problem was we were a bunch of cheap people in our jeep, we couldn’t afford to buy extra water pistols like the people in the other jeeps had done. So we tended to be on the brunt of the soakings.
We stopped the madness for lunch, and then continued on to what I would consider the highlight of the trip. Stopping off at a river and waterfall. It was very pretty all trees and water. We jumped from the rocks into the waterfall pool. The water was cold but refreshing.
After 45 minutes wondering round the waterfall the next stop was a village in the mountains where they made honey. The guided showed us the Turkish Viagra honey, and a wishing tree, you had to walk around the tree three times touch it then make a wish.
We refilled out water bottles tried some honey and after the stop tore off down the back towards home. We had one last water fight before heading back to Marmaris.
Tonight I am sat only in my room, I have hardly spent any time here before now, I guess I will do so much more during the remainder of my trip. I suppose the difficult thing of it all is that she was right in many ways. I am not the most independent person, and I live my life in a kind of bubble, certain activities taking up most of my time. I am not very manly either; I have always been quiet and a little shy. I never really noticed how indecisive I could be.
The jeep safari was a fun trip, piling into 4x4 Jeeps, 6 people per jeep, each jeep was armed with a load of water pistols and bottles of water, which we threw over each other at any given opportunity. It helped to keep cool in the hot air.
First stop was a track overlooking Marmaris, the view was superb. After a short drive on the motorway we tool the jeeps off-road thundering round dirt tracks whilst trying to soak each other as much as possible was quite amusing indeed!
The only problem was we were a bunch of cheap people in our jeep, we couldn’t afford to buy extra water pistols like the people in the other jeeps had done. So we tended to be on the brunt of the soakings.
We stopped the madness for lunch, and then continued on to what I would consider the highlight of the trip. Stopping off at a river and waterfall. It was very pretty all trees and water. We jumped from the rocks into the waterfall pool. The water was cold but refreshing.
After 45 minutes wondering round the waterfall the next stop was a village in the mountains where they made honey. The guided showed us the Turkish Viagra honey, and a wishing tree, you had to walk around the tree three times touch it then make a wish.
We refilled out water bottles tried some honey and after the stop tore off down the back towards home. We had one last water fight before heading back to Marmaris.
Tonight I am sat only in my room, I have hardly spent any time here before now, I guess I will do so much more during the remainder of my trip. I suppose the difficult thing of it all is that she was right in many ways. I am not the most independent person, and I live my life in a kind of bubble, certain activities taking up most of my time. I am not very manly either; I have always been quiet and a little shy. I never really noticed how indecisive I could be.
Kervan Saray, and how it all went wrong
I had to work up to this post, the memory and the pain are still very fresh, and what is worse I could have just kept my mouth shut for two more days and it wouldn't have been so bad. I had to go buy a pack of cigarettes a drink before I could start.
The day had been a fun if tiring one, after the aqua park we were tired but Olya wanted to go to the Turkish nights show at Karvan Saray. Ben the tour operator we have used all week picked us up at 7.30 and took us to the show.
The shows consisted of a traditional folk group who did Turkish dances, a belly dancer, and a male belly dancer, and fire breather. To finish the night off
We were seated with a group of Russians none of whom spoke English. I was also he only man, which meant they expected me to fetch and pour drinks, apparently it is a Russian custom.
 |
| Olya in the dance competition |
We went back to Olya's room, and I felt she was being really frosty with me, and because of the drinks I had consumed, and the fate of being ignored while everyone spoke in Russian I basically decided completely stupidly to rock the boat. I guess subconsciously I knew there was a problem; I just underestimated the effect the question would have.
Olya not only confirmed that she was unhappy but went on to tell me, "I like you as a person, but as a man I don't like you at all." She didn't stop there though, "you are like a child", in that I am not independent enough, I should be making all the decisions and not asking questions. Finally to add insult to injury my performance in bed was "more or less". She didn’t believe I had any passion, I did not help her and I didn't hold her. Ouch! I felt my stomach knot I couldn't continue I just lay in the dark listening to the air conditioning. She was next to me in body but she might as well be back in Russia.
Turkish Market / Aqua Park
The Turkish like to haggle, never take the first price offered there is always a better bargain to be had. Olya and I had been waiting for the Market to buy presents for the folks back home. The market was a largest building with many stalls selling everything from foodstuffs to t-shirts. They catered to the English market with many of the stalls offering cheaper than ASDA prices.
Olya bought presents for her family, I got some Turkish delight of Bruce and Phil and a few little bits which would fit in my bag.
The aqua park was a little disappointing. It was quiet expensive so we expected a multitude of slides and water based entertainment. There weren’t many slides, and to of the slides there were painful to use. It was also incredibly hot and we got tired out running up the stairs to the top slides. After a few hours we headed back and booked onto an evening of Turkish dancing at Kervan Saray.
Olya bought presents for her family, I got some Turkish delight of Bruce and Phil and a few little bits which would fit in my bag.
The aqua park was a little disappointing. It was quiet expensive so we expected a multitude of slides and water based entertainment. There weren’t many slides, and to of the slides there were painful to use. It was also incredibly hot and we got tired out running up the stairs to the top slides. After a few hours we headed back and booked onto an evening of Turkish dancing at Kervan Saray.
Bar Street
Bar street pretty much does what it says on the tin it’s a street full of bars and clubs, with a few snack shops thrown in for good measure. The music ranges from dance to hardcore rock, but its always cranked loud.
Bar street is packed with Russians and English people out for a good time, to meet people of just to get hammered. As usual Turk sit out the front trying to entice us in. We walked the length but couldn't find anywhere playing music we liked very much so we stopped into Crazy Daisy. It has a huge projected sign, dominating the sky at above bar street. They promise exciting nights, we were not entirely impressed and moved onto another place. This had slightly better music, but also had the interesting feature of having free popcorn and nuts. Very novel. The much was loud the air-conditioning just about cooling the room enough to dance a little. It was actually a nightmare going outside to the back bar and toilets because the night air was about 30C.
We had a few drinks, Olya met up with some girls she spoke to in the airport. Niether Olya or Luba enjoyed the music so much but we had a good time dancing and jumping around. Watching the go dancers, including one shaven headed girl and a rather camp looking guy.
On the way back to the hotel Olya stumbled across a shop with bad Russian and was given a flag, which set her and Luba off singing in Russian.
Bar street is packed with Russians and English people out for a good time, to meet people of just to get hammered. As usual Turk sit out the front trying to entice us in. We walked the length but couldn't find anywhere playing music we liked very much so we stopped into Crazy Daisy. It has a huge projected sign, dominating the sky at above bar street. They promise exciting nights, we were not entirely impressed and moved onto another place. This had slightly better music, but also had the interesting feature of having free popcorn and nuts. Very novel. The much was loud the air-conditioning just about cooling the room enough to dance a little. It was actually a nightmare going outside to the back bar and toilets because the night air was about 30C.
We had a few drinks, Olya met up with some girls she spoke to in the airport. Niether Olya or Luba enjoyed the music so much but we had a good time dancing and jumping around. Watching the go dancers, including one shaven headed girl and a rather camp looking guy.
On the way back to the hotel Olya stumbled across a shop with bad Russian and was given a flag, which set her and Luba off singing in Russian.
Boat Trip
Took a trip on one of the many boat sailing out of Marmaris Cruising south it stopped in several places where we could to swim and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. First stop was Paradise Island, a small rocky outcrop surrounded by a superbly beautiful and calm sea. We amused ourselves swimming and diving off the top of the boat. It was such a hot day it was nice be out of the town and to feel the sea breeze. Swimming in the cool clear water, so much cleaner than the sea near Marmaris.
I stupidly tried to climb on the rocks, which I managed but instantly regretted thanks to the millions of splinters and cuts I sustained!
Next the boat moved onto another spot for more swimming, the trip continued like this for the rest of the day moving from one amazingly beautiful place to another. I tried to take some photos but my camera really did not do the scenes justice.
One of the most beautiful places was the lunchtime stop, we moored just outside a beautiful empty and unspoilt beach. We thought it looked like paradise, the beach was sandy the water blue and clean.
After lunch we headed to another beach stop this time docking at a bay with a restaurant and more sun loungers. We wanted to sit in the shade, typical Turks forced us to buy a tea before we could even though there was plenty of space.
Whilst we were sitting a speedboat bulled up in the quay, it was towing several rubber rings. Olya and I decided to go have a go, it was great fun trying to hold on whilst the speedboat thundered road the sea. I went off a couple of times :-)
We only had one more swimming stop after that in another empty clear bay, one of the Turkish deck hands climbed right up the rocks and did a spectacular dive.
I stupidly tried to climb on the rocks, which I managed but instantly regretted thanks to the millions of splinters and cuts I sustained!
Next the boat moved onto another spot for more swimming, the trip continued like this for the rest of the day moving from one amazingly beautiful place to another. I tried to take some photos but my camera really did not do the scenes justice.
One of the most beautiful places was the lunchtime stop, we moored just outside a beautiful empty and unspoilt beach. We thought it looked like paradise, the beach was sandy the water blue and clean.
After lunch we headed to another beach stop this time docking at a bay with a restaurant and more sun loungers. We wanted to sit in the shade, typical Turks forced us to buy a tea before we could even though there was plenty of space.
Whilst we were sitting a speedboat bulled up in the quay, it was towing several rubber rings. Olya and I decided to go have a go, it was great fun trying to hold on whilst the speedboat thundered road the sea. I went off a couple of times :-)
We only had one more swimming stop after that in another empty clear bay, one of the Turkish deck hands climbed right up the rocks and did a spectacular dive.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Rafting
Olya wanted to try river rafting, I had done it once before in Australia and found it enjoyable. We booked onto a trip to the Dalman river. The Dalman River is about one and a half hours drive from Marmaris. This meant we had to leave at 7.30, which meant missing breakfast so by the time we arrived at the rafting centre we were very hungry. Fortunately breakfast was included in the price of the trip.
After a quick breakfast we climbed into the rafting centre buses and started another hour and a half journey. This time the bus snaked around the mountains climbing higher and higher. The road were mostly little more than dirt tracks with rather sheer looking drops on down to the valley below. The mountains were very beautiful; we sure got a good look at them as we rode over the dirty dust tracks. The sky radiant blue, the sun hot, Olya and I were both excited it was going to be a good trip. One of the river guides told us that the government is building a dam so five years from now rather than a river the valley would be a large reservoir.
By the time we reached the high point of the river I was glad to get out of the bus. The sun was beating down strongly. The heat was such that we had to throw water over the rafts to cool them down enough to sit on.
Our boat contained myself, Olya and a Dutch family, the guide and a trainee guide. I think our guide was a little crazy to be honest but it all made for a more fun trip. We started to move downriver just about knowing when we hit the first major rapid. I do emphasise the word hit too. Our raft smashed into the rock face flipped over pouring us into the water. I ended up under the flipped boat and had to dive down to get out. I drifted away as the others struggled to right the raft. I got picked out by one of the following rafts I was ok apart from a few grazes. My sandals tore to pieces though, oh well.
After a rendezvous I rejoined my raft and we continued downriver, we actually had to get out and walk round a couple of times avoiding some the worst rapids. About halfway down the river we stopped off for a short rest. There was a deep place in the river you could jump from the high rock walls about. I tried it a few times it was very refreshing to hit the cool river.
It was kind of disappointing to see the Roman bridge which marked the end of the trip. There was one bit of fun left, we got out of the raft and floated through the final rapid. Olya and I both had a great time I bought the video of the trip, it's a bit big for the web but I am hoping to cut out the crash scene :)
After a quick breakfast we climbed into the rafting centre buses and started another hour and a half journey. This time the bus snaked around the mountains climbing higher and higher. The road were mostly little more than dirt tracks with rather sheer looking drops on down to the valley below. The mountains were very beautiful; we sure got a good look at them as we rode over the dirty dust tracks. The sky radiant blue, the sun hot, Olya and I were both excited it was going to be a good trip. One of the river guides told us that the government is building a dam so five years from now rather than a river the valley would be a large reservoir.
By the time we reached the high point of the river I was glad to get out of the bus. The sun was beating down strongly. The heat was such that we had to throw water over the rafts to cool them down enough to sit on.
Our boat contained myself, Olya and a Dutch family, the guide and a trainee guide. I think our guide was a little crazy to be honest but it all made for a more fun trip. We started to move downriver just about knowing when we hit the first major rapid. I do emphasise the word hit too. Our raft smashed into the rock face flipped over pouring us into the water. I ended up under the flipped boat and had to dive down to get out. I drifted away as the others struggled to right the raft. I got picked out by one of the following rafts I was ok apart from a few grazes. My sandals tore to pieces though, oh well.
After a rendezvous I rejoined my raft and we continued downriver, we actually had to get out and walk round a couple of times avoiding some the worst rapids. About halfway down the river we stopped off for a short rest. There was a deep place in the river you could jump from the high rock walls about. I tried it a few times it was very refreshing to hit the cool river.
It was kind of disappointing to see the Roman bridge which marked the end of the trip. There was one bit of fun left, we got out of the raft and floated through the final rapid. Olya and I both had a great time I bought the video of the trip, it's a bit big for the web but I am hoping to cut out the crash scene :)
Turkish Bath
Olya and her friend Luba had booked to go to a Turkish bath. They invited me to join them so I though I might as well.
There is a popular phrase "its as hot as a Turkish bath in here", now I know what they mean. The bath started with a sauna. After which we were ushered into an octagonal room. It was very humid inside the room. In the centre was a slab on which you lay during the bath. First some Turk cleans you with a kind of scouring pad, apparently this removes the dead skin. It was very relaxing; the only pain was waiting for my turn inside this hot and steamy environment. After the bath was a massage, a Turkish masseuse massaged oil into my skin. I was left feeling relaxed and smelling vaguely of fruit!
The afternoon was incredibly hot touching 50C. Just about the only things to cool down was to go for a swim in the sea then relaxed on the sun loungers.
In the evening Olya, Luba and myself went on the Moonlight cruise. The cruise takes place on board a large ship called the Orca (it has two bars and a disco). The Orca leaves the jetty and cruises up an down the marina to the sound of disco songs. There was even a belly dancing show. I enjoyed the cruise sitting up on the top deck, taking in the evening relaxing with a cocktail. I found the music a bit tiresome the typical dance rubbish they play here. Olya calls in "dunce dunce dunce" music and I tend to agree. There also weren't many people on board so the dance floor was pretty empty.
Still it was a an enjoyable evening, especially sitting outside with Olya.
There is a popular phrase "its as hot as a Turkish bath in here", now I know what they mean. The bath started with a sauna. After which we were ushered into an octagonal room. It was very humid inside the room. In the centre was a slab on which you lay during the bath. First some Turk cleans you with a kind of scouring pad, apparently this removes the dead skin. It was very relaxing; the only pain was waiting for my turn inside this hot and steamy environment. After the bath was a massage, a Turkish masseuse massaged oil into my skin. I was left feeling relaxed and smelling vaguely of fruit!
The afternoon was incredibly hot touching 50C. Just about the only things to cool down was to go for a swim in the sea then relaxed on the sun loungers.
In the evening Olya, Luba and myself went on the Moonlight cruise. The cruise takes place on board a large ship called the Orca (it has two bars and a disco). The Orca leaves the jetty and cruises up an down the marina to the sound of disco songs. There was even a belly dancing show. I enjoyed the cruise sitting up on the top deck, taking in the evening relaxing with a cocktail. I found the music a bit tiresome the typical dance rubbish they play here. Olya calls in "dunce dunce dunce" music and I tend to agree. There also weren't many people on board so the dance floor was pretty empty.
Still it was a an enjoyable evening, especially sitting outside with Olya.
Arrival in Turkey
I had a rather surreal start to my trip, I saw Peter Kay, nearly knocked him over in fact coming out of WH Smith at Manchester Airport.
My flight was late boarding they said because the incoming flight was late but I am not sure I believe that. I saw the there 1.5 hours ahead when I entered the terminal. Something else was going on, or maybe I am just paranoid.
Turkish airlines weren't exactly the slickest operation I have ever been on, I don't know why but they just seemed unprepared and stretched even though the flight was only about 2/3 full.
Istanbul airport was very confusing; I had to wait in a visa queue for ages. I had to jostle for position with a load of Russians who insisted on pushing in the queue. Then as I had to transfer I hadn't got a clue where to go I had to ask twice at the transfer desk they weren't the most helpful.
However I remain excited waiting here for my connecting flight to Dalaman. I found out the airport wireless is open to dns-html lookup attack; I will defiantly have to get one of those servers up and running.
The taxi ride to Marmaris took 1.5 hours, it is not only far but the final part of the journey involves tearing down some rather twisty mountain roads. The driver was really quiet scary, tearing around blind and sharp bends at a fair pace. Fortunately we made it into Mararis and after 15 minutes of searching and asking other taxi drivers he finally found my hotel, the Ocaktan.
Whilst I was checking in I met a Russian girl called Olya in reception. she was sat smoking and chatting to the hotel attendants. We got talking and went for a walk along the seafront. She was funny interesting and beautiful. We sat out on the deserted sun lounger watching the sea.
Marmaris reminds me of any resort from like the Costa Del Sol in Spain or even Blackpool. You can eat at the Italian/Indian/Mexican/Chinese restaurant. Loud music permeates from every bar as they via for the attention of passing trade.
The beach is a tiny strip of sand covered in sun lounges laid out by the various hotels and restaurants along the sea front. The sea is closed off from the ocean by the high mountains so there is hardly any tide, it is however very salty
My flight was late boarding they said because the incoming flight was late but I am not sure I believe that. I saw the there 1.5 hours ahead when I entered the terminal. Something else was going on, or maybe I am just paranoid.
Turkish airlines weren't exactly the slickest operation I have ever been on, I don't know why but they just seemed unprepared and stretched even though the flight was only about 2/3 full.
Istanbul airport was very confusing; I had to wait in a visa queue for ages. I had to jostle for position with a load of Russians who insisted on pushing in the queue. Then as I had to transfer I hadn't got a clue where to go I had to ask twice at the transfer desk they weren't the most helpful.
However I remain excited waiting here for my connecting flight to Dalaman. I found out the airport wireless is open to dns-html lookup attack; I will defiantly have to get one of those servers up and running.
The taxi ride to Marmaris took 1.5 hours, it is not only far but the final part of the journey involves tearing down some rather twisty mountain roads. The driver was really quiet scary, tearing around blind and sharp bends at a fair pace. Fortunately we made it into Mararis and after 15 minutes of searching and asking other taxi drivers he finally found my hotel, the Ocaktan.
Whilst I was checking in I met a Russian girl called Olya in reception. she was sat smoking and chatting to the hotel attendants. We got talking and went for a walk along the seafront. She was funny interesting and beautiful. We sat out on the deserted sun lounger watching the sea.
Marmaris reminds me of any resort from like the Costa Del Sol in Spain or even Blackpool. You can eat at the Italian/Indian/Mexican/Chinese restaurant. Loud music permeates from every bar as they via for the attention of passing trade.
The beach is a tiny strip of sand covered in sun lounges laid out by the various hotels and restaurants along the sea front. The sea is closed off from the ocean by the high mountains so there is hardly any tide, it is however very salty
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hiatus
I went out for some drinks with Bruce and Phil tonight. We sat chatting setting the world and the IT industry to rights.
I think my prediction that blueray will out is beginning to come true, blockbuster the biggest video rental chain has decided to throw its weight behind blue ray rather than hd dvd. Given Blockbuster is both a huge retail player and plays an active role in film financier this is a huge boost to blueray. I guess the execs have good reason to believe based on the market the blueray will out. I think the sooner the next gen format war is over the better for the customer, so hopefully we can see consolidation pushing down hardware and disk prices.
I have been feeling a little stale recently, in respect to this blog. There is a lot going on but its mostly work which either I cant write about or I feel its boring ground to go over. I really dont want to turn this into a work only blog its just thats actually my life at the moment. I am heading off on holiday to Turkey on Friday so I have decided to put the blog on Hiatus until I return. Ill be back with stories and pictures from there on the 3rd of July, catch you on the flipside.
I think my prediction that blueray will out is beginning to come true, blockbuster the biggest video rental chain has decided to throw its weight behind blue ray rather than hd dvd. Given Blockbuster is both a huge retail player and plays an active role in film financier this is a huge boost to blueray. I guess the execs have good reason to believe based on the market the blueray will out. I think the sooner the next gen format war is over the better for the customer, so hopefully we can see consolidation pushing down hardware and disk prices.
I have been feeling a little stale recently, in respect to this blog. There is a lot going on but its mostly work which either I cant write about or I feel its boring ground to go over. I really dont want to turn this into a work only blog its just thats actually my life at the moment. I am heading off on holiday to Turkey on Friday so I have decided to put the blog on Hiatus until I return. Ill be back with stories and pictures from there on the 3rd of July, catch you on the flipside.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Fall, Fall, Fall
Just finished watching Babel, a twisting dark film connecting lives of people from America, Mexico, Japan and Morroco. It was really well shot and a very challenging film exploring the different ways people are isolated and yet connected in this modern connected world. According to the blurb its also a follow on to 21 grams and Amores perros.
I have spent today writing software, updating something my dad started years ago, when I was still at school. We talked many times about updating it to something modern. It has taught me many things about writing in .net, and how to connect to the free mysql server. I found this great article on using lists, and collections.
Much as I am really happy to get something working with my dad it another day I didn't go to the gym. Its nearly a week now, I am really getting out of the habit. I feel really unfit and fat, I really must try and go at least twice before Turkey.
My family were all really happy today, it was father's day so we had a special meal. Add to the good mood my cousin Mark sent round photos of his newborn son Jack Henry Flannery. The pictures are wonderful look like they are really happy, Jack is very healthy; they have a great life in Kansas. Quiet funny though they have this wonderful looking dog George. He is a Rhodesian ridgeback, and apparently he loves to be in on the pictures (he made it onto loads of the new baby ones) and every says "oh nice kid, but wow that is a great dog"! There was some weirdness though apparently there were two Jack Henry Flannery's born in the same hospital that day! Very random but I guess there are many Irish immigrants.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
All the gear and no idea
I spend most of my life trying not to be the sort of person who has all the gear to do a job but is unable to do it (All the gear and no idea). Today I went to help Phil set something up and I must say I had a real ATGANI afternoon. His brothers company atov wanted to project a rendered scene across 4 projectors. This would need a huge scene many times the quality of the average dvd. To do the job Phil bought one of the most powerful computers on the market, an Apple Mac Pro. It has got 4 processors 8 GB of Ram and two graphics cards.
The only problem is, it cant do the task, I am not sure anything can apart from very high end specialised kit. Stretching video across that many screens is virtually unheard of so probably untested. I think this sort of bleeding edge kind of things will require custom development and or input from someone heavily involved with this sort of technology.
T%his evening Phil myself and Nick went for some drinks in the Farmers Arms in Poynton. It was a pretty chilled out evening very relaxing after a hard week working and a frustrating time trying to make video play. Bruce even joined us later on.
We had a bit of a debate going on. I don't subscribe to the Britain is a small country and its full idea. Britain has such small cities compared to China, we have so much unused land really, even something like 1% usage of the greenbelt would house many millions of people. We mostly suffer from a lack of development the last new towns were constructed in the 1960/70's. Even Manchester big by UK standards is a minnow in the grand scheme, the leader of the industrial revolution is now something like 78th place the world GDP rankings. Far too many bright people disapear off to London or abroad, its a real brain drain down south, sorting that out attracting more business would require a real change in planning legislation to allow some more development. I don't feel threatened by immigrants I feel more threatened by a collapse in the UK.
The only problem is, it cant do the task, I am not sure anything can apart from very high end specialised kit. Stretching video across that many screens is virtually unheard of so probably untested. I think this sort of bleeding edge kind of things will require custom development and or input from someone heavily involved with this sort of technology.
T%his evening Phil myself and Nick went for some drinks in the Farmers Arms in Poynton. It was a pretty chilled out evening very relaxing after a hard week working and a frustrating time trying to make video play. Bruce even joined us later on.
We had a bit of a debate going on. I don't subscribe to the Britain is a small country and its full idea. Britain has such small cities compared to China, we have so much unused land really, even something like 1% usage of the greenbelt would house many millions of people. We mostly suffer from a lack of development the last new towns were constructed in the 1960/70's. Even Manchester big by UK standards is a minnow in the grand scheme, the leader of the industrial revolution is now something like 78th place the world GDP rankings. Far too many bright people disapear off to London or abroad, its a real brain drain down south, sorting that out attracting more business would require a real change in planning legislation to allow some more development. I don't feel threatened by immigrants I feel more threatened by a collapse in the UK.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Gone on Safari
Apple have released their web browser Safari for Windows download the beta.I am actually using it to type this blog post on. Personally I think its a bit slow and buggy at the moment, but more choice for users is likley to be a good thing.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
From out of nowhere
I have been finding it very difficult to blog recently. Apart from feeling extremely tired all the time, there are things I cant talk about on here, and the rest of my life is taken up by the mundane things I have already discussed in detail. Maia hit the nail on the head when she told me she thought the thing I was most afraid of was being boring.
This morning I looked at myself in the mirror all dressed up in my work suit, and I wondered how did I end up here. Lately I have devoted the majority of my energy into work, its really wearing me down. At what point did I start living to work rather than working to live?
The problem is I cant answer the questions, I wonder if other feels like I do. That they have been swept along with the tide rather that master their own destiny. I spoke to one guy tonight, he reminded me of myself at his age, full of hope for the future. Somewhere along the way I replaced that hope for compliance, I think I need to get my edge back.
I also have a huge self confidence / doubt problem that is really an issue. I have a tenancy to be a pretty negative person, always questioning myself and striving for improvement. It's a problem working in a company where its literally impossible to get feedback on the quality of your work.At least that what I would like to believe, I am quiet lazy.
It hasn't help the one of the staffers with people picking holes in my work. C exposed some rather stupid mistakes, too much use of the cut and past caused a weird error. It was quiet embarrassing but at the same time I feel it exposed some poor working practises which we need to address.
I was like a message centre this afternoon, playing communicator between several groups of people. I was just about on top of things, until I received a random call from one of my ex's. The call came through during a busy period, so a made my excuses. Despite efforts later she didn't ring back, leaving my very curious. I think I have tried my best, worked hard and dome some good things, but all C see's is some joker who missed an obvious bug.
This evening I went for a drink with Bruce. It was very much needed, I have been feeling stressed all week, and while I realise Lager is a depressant it tastes so nice. It's has been a horrible evening, last week I was boiling, this week I needed to put the heating on!
Well I have waffled enough about nothing, night night.
This morning I looked at myself in the mirror all dressed up in my work suit, and I wondered how did I end up here. Lately I have devoted the majority of my energy into work, its really wearing me down. At what point did I start living to work rather than working to live?
The problem is I cant answer the questions, I wonder if other feels like I do. That they have been swept along with the tide rather that master their own destiny. I spoke to one guy tonight, he reminded me of myself at his age, full of hope for the future. Somewhere along the way I replaced that hope for compliance, I think I need to get my edge back.
I also have a huge self confidence / doubt problem that is really an issue. I have a tenancy to be a pretty negative person, always questioning myself and striving for improvement. It's a problem working in a company where its literally impossible to get feedback on the quality of your work.At least that what I would like to believe, I am quiet lazy.
It hasn't help the one of the staffers with people picking holes in my work. C exposed some rather stupid mistakes, too much use of the cut and past caused a weird error. It was quiet embarrassing but at the same time I feel it exposed some poor working practises which we need to address.
I was like a message centre this afternoon, playing communicator between several groups of people. I was just about on top of things, until I received a random call from one of my ex's. The call came through during a busy period, so a made my excuses. Despite efforts later she didn't ring back, leaving my very curious. I think I have tried my best, worked hard and dome some good things, but all C see's is some joker who missed an obvious bug.
This evening I went for a drink with Bruce. It was very much needed, I have been feeling stressed all week, and while I realise Lager is a depressant it tastes so nice. It's has been a horrible evening, last week I was boiling, this week I needed to put the heating on!
Well I have waffled enough about nothing, night night.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Totally Random Man
I have been so busy with work recently it just seems like one thing after the next. I have been too tired to go to the gym even. Though I did manage I must say I found it difficult I was really tired I found it difficult to run and had to slow down a couple of times. Its amazing how much fatigue has on performance, I was only able to manage 45 minutes and 7KM, and that was with a couple of breaks.
I met Nina on my way in, she was telling me things at her and Bruce's house are going well its all going off on the 21st with the plastering and the kitchen arriving. I spent some time looking at some places last night. A few things caught my imagination but either don't fit my budget.
Becky came over earlier to pick up her new laptop. I managed to get her a good deal on a HP through Phil, the only snag was that is came with the new Windows Vista. I must say I like the new interface its much cleaner, less fisher price that XP. However on a laptop with 896MB of memory it was paging out over 512MB without any other applications running other than the ones that came pre-installed on the laptop. This to me suggests either HP ship bloated builds of Vista is a unbelievable memory hog. I know memory is cheap but I would have to recommend sing 2GB or more to have a good desktop experience. I also experienced a really annoying problem installing Office. I didn't realise but the laptop came pre-installed with Office 2007 trial edition. Apparently this cannot co exist with Office 2003, a host of weird errors occurred. I had to to uninstalled both versions fully, deleted mapi32.dll and reinstalled Office 2003 seemed to do the trick.
I met Nina on my way in, she was telling me things at her and Bruce's house are going well its all going off on the 21st with the plastering and the kitchen arriving. I spent some time looking at some places last night. A few things caught my imagination but either don't fit my budget.
Becky came over earlier to pick up her new laptop. I managed to get her a good deal on a HP through Phil, the only snag was that is came with the new Windows Vista. I must say I like the new interface its much cleaner, less fisher price that XP. However on a laptop with 896MB of memory it was paging out over 512MB without any other applications running other than the ones that came pre-installed on the laptop. This to me suggests either HP ship bloated builds of Vista is a unbelievable memory hog. I know memory is cheap but I would have to recommend sing 2GB or more to have a good desktop experience. I also experienced a really annoying problem installing Office. I didn't realise but the laptop came pre-installed with Office 2007 trial edition. Apparently this cannot co exist with Office 2003, a host of weird errors occurred. I had to to uninstalled both versions fully, deleted mapi32.dll and reinstalled Office 2003 seemed to do the trick.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Six Days
I just walked home from Phil's house, we have enjoyed an exciting evening of Wii playing, bbq food eating and drinking.
He and I ventured to the Trafford Centre today, ostensibly to pick up Phil freshly repaired Mac Book Pro from the Apple store. We spent a while in the Apple store Phil was chatting them up as he wants some super powered Mac for some project his brother is doing. It was a glorious summer day in Manchester so I was inspired to buy a could of summery t-shirts. Also in a phase of Summer magic Phil bought one of only 4 Nintendo Wii's in the Trafford centre.
The Wii is pure genius we played the Sports game for hours on end, boxing and golf are my favourites. The graphics might not match upto the Xbox or Playstation 3 but the games and innovation is infinitely greater. Even Phil's mum joined us for a game of golf, and she even seemed to enjoy it!
In slightly unrelated news I got a tax credit today for my Standard Life shares. My £49 dividend bought another 14 shares. Unfortunately due to demand the drip shares were bought on a peak, I don't mind much though I still think it s along term (3-5) years hold. SL-.L has been one of my best purchases, up 50% from the original IPO if only all my investments performed so well, I could retire!
He and I ventured to the Trafford Centre today, ostensibly to pick up Phil freshly repaired Mac Book Pro from the Apple store. We spent a while in the Apple store Phil was chatting them up as he wants some super powered Mac for some project his brother is doing. It was a glorious summer day in Manchester so I was inspired to buy a could of summery t-shirts. Also in a phase of Summer magic Phil bought one of only 4 Nintendo Wii's in the Trafford centre.
The Wii is pure genius we played the Sports game for hours on end, boxing and golf are my favourites. The graphics might not match upto the Xbox or Playstation 3 but the games and innovation is infinitely greater. Even Phil's mum joined us for a game of golf, and she even seemed to enjoy it!
In slightly unrelated news I got a tax credit today for my Standard Life shares. My £49 dividend bought another 14 shares. Unfortunately due to demand the drip shares were bought on a peak, I don't mind much though I still think it s along term (3-5) years hold. SL-.L has been one of my best purchases, up 50% from the original IPO if only all my investments performed so well, I could retire!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
You know I used to celebrate the milestones that this blog reached but somehow it slipped my notice that I already surpassed the 500 post mark. Crazy really I only started this all with coercion from Lulu yet somehow I have managed to keep writing (semi) regularly whereas a lot of others have fallen at the wayside.
Thanks to all the people reading, comments are always welcome and very uplifting even if its too tell me I made mistakes. I like to think of everyday as a school day, there is just so much to learn, it find it fascinating to see what is out there. I know recently I have been a little below par, hopefully after next week work will calm down and I can start getting some more of my life back, so maybe I will have something to write about.
Work was another marathon today; it seems this week has disappeared into meeting and stress rather than productive output. I went for a drink with some guys after work, came home for some dinner then headed out with Phil. We went into Cheadle Hulme but to be honest it wasn't that much fun, we were not part of the target demographic too old for the Kings Head, too young for crowds in the Jon Mil or Governors House.
Whilst I was at home, I heard from Maia. It has been a long while, but it was nice to catch up. She was in a great mood, having just got a new job and a new place to live with her husband. I am pleased that she is enjoying her life in Italy. I had my doubt on whether it would work but I am happy to say I was proved wrong in this case.
I promised my friend Esther I would mention her on here, she is going on holiday the same time as me though to a rather more exciting destination; hope you have a great time.
Thanks to all the people reading, comments are always welcome and very uplifting even if its too tell me I made mistakes. I like to think of everyday as a school day, there is just so much to learn, it find it fascinating to see what is out there. I know recently I have been a little below par, hopefully after next week work will calm down and I can start getting some more of my life back, so maybe I will have something to write about.
Work was another marathon today; it seems this week has disappeared into meeting and stress rather than productive output. I went for a drink with some guys after work, came home for some dinner then headed out with Phil. We went into Cheadle Hulme but to be honest it wasn't that much fun, we were not part of the target demographic too old for the Kings Head, too young for crowds in the Jon Mil or Governors House.
Whilst I was at home, I heard from Maia. It has been a long while, but it was nice to catch up. She was in a great mood, having just got a new job and a new place to live with her husband. I am pleased that she is enjoying her life in Italy. I had my doubt on whether it would work but I am happy to say I was proved wrong in this case.
I promised my friend Esther I would mention her on here, she is going on holiday the same time as me though to a rather more exciting destination; hope you have a great time.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Too many meetings
Today was a real pain rather than being able to get on with things and try and make a dent in my ever increasing workload, I spent the day in meetings. Whilst I understand the need to meet up and arrange thing sometimes it seems like we just keep going of the same ground. Nobody really seems to have the will to move things forward, turn down of back out so we remain over comitted and stretched even with extra bodies working.
Also a lot of work is stacking up not getting through testing which is a real problem, work gets done stacks up and can cause issues, sometime things accidentally get transferred, causing untold problems like last week.
I also lost out on my day working on the next generation project this week thanks to another colleague getting called away to another site meaning there would be no cover.
Japanese was very difficult this evening, we had a mock test which would be set to allow any newbies onto the intermediate course next year. I think on the basis of the test we would all fail. My vocabulary is limited as I don't practice enough and only doing one lesson a week means the words are not reinforced enough for me to recall them. I am really going to have to add in a lot more revision time to make significant strides.
I had an argument with one my fellow Nihon students (who else but Martine) regarding a art. I suppose I am a bit of a Philistine in that I really don't like modern art, so Damien Hursts skull nor the graffiti inspired London 2012 logo just look like rubbish to me. I much prefer Bejing's Panda bears or a beautiful Renascence work to Sheep in formaldehyde. I guess the stupid amount of money languished on this stuff that upsets me too. Ill never forget when I read about the forty thousand pound pebble outside the Bridgewater Hall.
I went for a drink with Bruce, he has spent the last few days trekking round the country on an emergency replacement mission. His company suffer from bad planning just like most others, only its competent people like him and myself that end up having to pick up the ball after its been dropped. Sigh, at least we had a nice chat and a drink.
Also a lot of work is stacking up not getting through testing which is a real problem, work gets done stacks up and can cause issues, sometime things accidentally get transferred, causing untold problems like last week.
I also lost out on my day working on the next generation project this week thanks to another colleague getting called away to another site meaning there would be no cover.
Japanese was very difficult this evening, we had a mock test which would be set to allow any newbies onto the intermediate course next year. I think on the basis of the test we would all fail. My vocabulary is limited as I don't practice enough and only doing one lesson a week means the words are not reinforced enough for me to recall them. I am really going to have to add in a lot more revision time to make significant strides.
I had an argument with one my fellow Nihon students (who else but Martine) regarding a art. I suppose I am a bit of a Philistine in that I really don't like modern art, so Damien Hursts skull nor the graffiti inspired London 2012 logo just look like rubbish to me. I much prefer Bejing's Panda bears or a beautiful Renascence work to Sheep in formaldehyde. I guess the stupid amount of money languished on this stuff that upsets me too. Ill never forget when I read about the forty thousand pound pebble outside the Bridgewater Hall.
I went for a drink with Bruce, he has spent the last few days trekking round the country on an emergency replacement mission. His company suffer from bad planning just like most others, only its competent people like him and myself that end up having to pick up the ball after its been dropped. Sigh, at least we had a nice chat and a drink.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Run rabbit run
I felt like death this morning, once the cat woke me up I wasn't really fit for anything except sitting reading the economist. This weeks is a great issue, there is a rather interesting essay by Tony Blair. I dont really agree with his views on much but he always puts across a good argument, worth a read. There is also a 15 page section about climate change which was very interesting. Especially the discussion on the economics of some of the different types of renewable energy versus fossil fuel generation.
I left my car at Phil's last night, so after several hours reading and drinking water I finally felt able to go round and pick it up. I walked round, the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. Phil felt much like me, we had a sit and chat in the garden, taking a few photos with Phil's Brothers amazing digital SLR camera.
We got talking about Australia, and decided to go check out how much it would cost to go diving in the UK. Heading to Macclesfield and New Horizons Dive centre. We had a look at the prices, £500 for a dry suit, nearly £200 for a course on how to use a dry suit, and the pictures of the UK waters hardly looked impressive. Diving here is a lot more than in Australia.
In the evening we headed out to for a meal, to celebrate both Bruce and Philips birthdays. Jo, Holly, Endo, Jo, Bruce, Nina myself and Phil headed for a curry at the Spicy Hut in Rusholme. It was a very enjoyable evening, we had good meal, a nice chat and a few drinks afterwards. I really enjoyed the relaxed and comfortable time.
I left my car at Phil's last night, so after several hours reading and drinking water I finally felt able to go round and pick it up. I walked round, the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. Phil felt much like me, we had a sit and chat in the garden, taking a few photos with Phil's Brothers amazing digital SLR camera.
We got talking about Australia, and decided to go check out how much it would cost to go diving in the UK. Heading to Macclesfield and New Horizons Dive centre. We had a look at the prices, £500 for a dry suit, nearly £200 for a course on how to use a dry suit, and the pictures of the UK waters hardly looked impressive. Diving here is a lot more than in Australia.
In the evening we headed out to for a meal, to celebrate both Bruce and Philips birthdays. Jo, Holly, Endo, Jo, Bruce, Nina myself and Phil headed for a curry at the Spicy Hut in Rusholme. It was a very enjoyable evening, we had good meal, a nice chat and a few drinks afterwards. I really enjoyed the relaxed and comfortable time.
Long days and pleasent nights
Friday was a very up and down day. With the successful go live of a major project on Wednesday and slightly traumatic update yesterday, I was at a little bit of a loose end. It was decided that we start work on a new project, again another data transfer this time to a lender. It means I have to do yet another tedious data mapping exercise, but at least I got the project, its a step in the right direction.
The day wasn't all smooth though. There was a last minute problem with one of the systems so I had to do a last minute bit of bodging to make it work, well at least not to crash. There seems to bit a bit of politics going on over this particular system, so I just did enough for the moment.
After that I felt in need of some R&R and was invited to the pub by the customers staff. A rare treat I decided not to pass up the offer. The weather was gorgeous we sat in the beer garden of the Rectory and had a couple of pints and a chat.
Today was a big day for Phil, his 27th birthday. To celebrate we had a bbq with his parents and brother. It was really nice sat in his back garden in the sun enjoying some steaks and ribs. Phil's family were all in very good spirits, he mum was telling us about "the Major", some very funny but unrepeatable stories. He had an interesting chat up line, apparently he asked the then 19 year old Miss Hadfield "Do you Fuck?" Pretty direct eh? :D Despite being sorely tempted when drunk later, I decided (wisely I think) not to try that one.
Phil and I headed out into Didsbury for more drinks, arriving at the Slug and Lettuce we tucked into several beers, including one gratis thanks to Galaxy 102. They were doing some night there, unfortunately it did attract some rather less savory characters. There were some real chav's my "favourite" example was one young looking pregnant girl, complete with hoop earrings, a fag in one hand and an alchopop in the other!
Ian joined us about 10ish, he elected to drive as he had an event the next morning. He persuaded us to move to the Bollin Fee in Wilmslow. We arrived and started hitting the harder drinks I must admit by this stage I had been drinking since 6 and it was now nearly 12 so I was more than a little bit drunk. In fact my memory is a little hazy, I remember dancing like a fool, and acting like a tit. The I remember getting a lift home and Ian pouring me out of the car.
I feel bloody awful today but it was an enjoyable evening I think Phil had a good time which is the main thing.
The day wasn't all smooth though. There was a last minute problem with one of the systems so I had to do a last minute bit of bodging to make it work, well at least not to crash. There seems to bit a bit of politics going on over this particular system, so I just did enough for the moment.
After that I felt in need of some R&R and was invited to the pub by the customers staff. A rare treat I decided not to pass up the offer. The weather was gorgeous we sat in the beer garden of the Rectory and had a couple of pints and a chat.
Today was a big day for Phil, his 27th birthday. To celebrate we had a bbq with his parents and brother. It was really nice sat in his back garden in the sun enjoying some steaks and ribs. Phil's family were all in very good spirits, he mum was telling us about "the Major", some very funny but unrepeatable stories. He had an interesting chat up line, apparently he asked the then 19 year old Miss Hadfield "Do you Fuck?" Pretty direct eh? :D Despite being sorely tempted when drunk later, I decided (wisely I think) not to try that one.
Phil and I headed out into Didsbury for more drinks, arriving at the Slug and Lettuce we tucked into several beers, including one gratis thanks to Galaxy 102. They were doing some night there, unfortunately it did attract some rather less savory characters. There were some real chav's my "favourite" example was one young looking pregnant girl, complete with hoop earrings, a fag in one hand and an alchopop in the other!
Ian joined us about 10ish, he elected to drive as he had an event the next morning. He persuaded us to move to the Bollin Fee in Wilmslow. We arrived and started hitting the harder drinks I must admit by this stage I had been drinking since 6 and it was now nearly 12 so I was more than a little bit drunk. In fact my memory is a little hazy, I remember dancing like a fool, and acting like a tit. The I remember getting a lift home and Ian pouring me out of the car.
I feel bloody awful today but it was an enjoyable evening I think Phil had a good time which is the main thing.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Mortality
Today was an especially busy day but not for the reasons I imagined. A very long project has finally gone live, after well over six months of preperation the first applications started heading through today. To be honest unlike the lsast big project this one wasn't a mad panic at the end. In fact it hardly requred any tweaking.
Unfortunatly one totally unrelated change went pretty badly wrong, something sneaked past testing causing major issues on this month end week. I probably could have fixed it in 10 minutes but by the time the various people had said their piece distracting me it was over an hours work to sort out. In future Ill have to be a lot more careful checking if other people have worked on the same area.
Both Phil and I have had heavy days fo one reason or another so it was nice o head to the pub this evening to relax. Juilie was on and told us she is doing the race for life. I am pretty impressed, I hope she makes it. I would like to do the Manchester 10km next year but I am not sure if I will chicken out at the last moment.
After our drinks we came back to my place and looked over some old photos of us all looking younger less stressed, Phil seemed to feel old (even though he is younger than me) some of the pictures feel a lifetime away fom us now. I talk to people aboutn their wild all night sessions and I rememebr them wel but I always feel too tired these days. I have to apply myself so muchat work I just dont seem to have the energy to party so much, or myabe I am really getting older, I hope not!
Unfortunatly one totally unrelated change went pretty badly wrong, something sneaked past testing causing major issues on this month end week. I probably could have fixed it in 10 minutes but by the time the various people had said their piece distracting me it was over an hours work to sort out. In future Ill have to be a lot more careful checking if other people have worked on the same area.
Both Phil and I have had heavy days fo one reason or another so it was nice o head to the pub this evening to relax. Juilie was on and told us she is doing the race for life. I am pretty impressed, I hope she makes it. I would like to do the Manchester 10km next year but I am not sure if I will chicken out at the last moment.
After our drinks we came back to my place and looked over some old photos of us all looking younger less stressed, Phil seemed to feel old (even though he is younger than me) some of the pictures feel a lifetime away fom us now. I talk to people aboutn their wild all night sessions and I rememebr them wel but I always feel too tired these days. I have to apply myself so muchat work I just dont seem to have the energy to party so much, or myabe I am really getting older, I hope not!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Fscked website
Ian came round earlier and dropped off his rather broken pc, the hard disk is making clicking noises and isn't seen by the bios so I have a feeling there is little I can do to fix it.
He was amazed I have not been able to take the helicopter out for a spin yet, but the weather has been foul and I have been busy. I am hoping this weekend will be nicer.
I had planned to spend this evening going through www.johncooke.info/index.php and changing it to use the new styles. Unfortunately I only managed to get through a small number of pages.
I found I had an error, I had used the css attribute
He was amazed I have not been able to take the helicopter out for a spin yet, but the weather has been foul and I have been busy. I am hoping this weekend will be nicer.
I had planned to spend this evening going through www.johncooke.info/index.php and changing it to use the new styles. Unfortunately I only managed to get through a small number of pages.
I found I had an error, I had used the css attribute
height:100%;It took me a while to track the problem down (in fact my friend Nekane spotted it). For some weird reason height:100%; made the pages render incorrectly in Firefox. Removing the style completely solved fixed it so the pages render correctly in Firefox. The delay meant I was only able to update a handful of pages. I think the new style looks cleaner though if you have any comments about the new site design or anything else please post them. Bear in mind the site is still a work in progress. It is far from finished some links and pages are broken.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
28 Weeks later
I have been off the airwaves for a while recently, I had to do a lot of set up for the lan party yesterday which ate into my time. The lan went really well its the 14th one we have held under the ejected brass banner, nearly 20 people turned up which is pretty good, considering they drag themselves and computers to a tiny place in the back end of Manchester to place computers games all day.
Today I went to see Bruce's new house, its a little 3 bedroom semi in Cheadle Hulme. I was kind of shocked at the state of the place when I walked in floorboards raised, wires hanging out all over the place and the kitchen ripped out. It looked more like something Nick would preside over. The wiring was a complete mess so its mostly being ripped out and replaced, ditto the kitchen and some of the floors which had rot and wood worm.
I was supposed to be helping Bruce do some wiring of the lights, we basically spent the day ripping out the old dodgy cabling and rerunning a new upstairs light ring. I say we, but really I did very little, apart from tearing out old cabling and fitting a couple of wires, acting a gopher for Bruce's dad when he was called out to go check on an alarm at his work.
After our days work we headed to the cinema for some light relief, well not that light we chose to see the zombie fest sequel to 28 days later, 28 weeks later. The premise is 28 weeks after the infection, the "infected" are dead and the epidemic burned out. London is being repatriated by a US led Nato force. However things gone badly wrong and soon the zombies are on the march again. Personally I felt the film was slick and true to the original. However it was so contrived, why were people going back? Why if the infection spreads so fast would your emergency procedure be to heard people together into a room where the doors arn't even secure. The family connection smacked of the sort of poor George Lucas thinking that had Anakin Skywalker build C3P0. I am probably being a bit harsh though, suspend brain enjoy the gore and mindless thrills and scares ;-)
Today I went to see Bruce's new house, its a little 3 bedroom semi in Cheadle Hulme. I was kind of shocked at the state of the place when I walked in floorboards raised, wires hanging out all over the place and the kitchen ripped out. It looked more like something Nick would preside over. The wiring was a complete mess so its mostly being ripped out and replaced, ditto the kitchen and some of the floors which had rot and wood worm.
I was supposed to be helping Bruce do some wiring of the lights, we basically spent the day ripping out the old dodgy cabling and rerunning a new upstairs light ring. I say we, but really I did very little, apart from tearing out old cabling and fitting a couple of wires, acting a gopher for Bruce's dad when he was called out to go check on an alarm at his work.
After our days work we headed to the cinema for some light relief, well not that light we chose to see the zombie fest sequel to 28 days later, 28 weeks later. The premise is 28 weeks after the infection, the "infected" are dead and the epidemic burned out. London is being repatriated by a US led Nato force. However things gone badly wrong and soon the zombies are on the march again. Personally I felt the film was slick and true to the original. However it was so contrived, why were people going back? Why if the infection spreads so fast would your emergency procedure be to heard people together into a room where the doors arn't even secure. The family connection smacked of the sort of poor George Lucas thinking that had Anakin Skywalker build C3P0. I am probably being a bit harsh though, suspend brain enjoy the gore and mindless thrills and scares ;-)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Manchester 2.0?
Apparently Manchester is being recreated in the digital world of Secondlife for the big chip awards. More satirical coverage on El Reg.
Personally I think Manchester need all the advertising it can get, so many talented people are keen to leave for London and abroad its no wonder Manchester is sliding down the world city rankings by GDP. Its a real shame that the epicentre of the industrial revolution is such a nothing city these days :(
My night has been somewhat soured as some complete twa decided to use the ejectedbrass top level domain to send a load of spam out. The server has not compromised, rather someone sent out a whole heap of emails spoofing our address. Its a total ball ache and could result in us being banned by some ISP&s.
I have no idea why they picked on us, just lucky I guess! Hopefully it wont spoil any communication.
Personally I think Manchester need all the advertising it can get, so many talented people are keen to leave for London and abroad its no wonder Manchester is sliding down the world city rankings by GDP. Its a real shame that the epicentre of the industrial revolution is such a nothing city these days :(
My night has been somewhat soured as some complete twa decided to use the ejectedbrass top level domain to send a load of spam out. The server has not compromised, rather someone sent out a whole heap of emails spoofing our address. Its a total ball ache and could result in us being banned by some ISP&s.
I have no idea why they picked on us, just lucky I guess! Hopefully it wont spoil any communication.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Thin ice
I had a very busy day today. I was bombarded with stuff at work, so many projects seem to becoming due at the same time its almost ridiculous. I also really lost my cool with a colleague whom I don't feel is pulling their weight. Given he is a contractor and supposedly experienced I feel he should really be picking up a bit more of the slack.
After work was Japanese class. Our teacher was really pushing us to go over a lot of the areas we have learned. She also introduced one new particle and reintroduced a particle I (and most of the class) had basically forgotten. We can now use verbs and noun's, numbers and time so getting to be about pre school entry club level!
After class Phil and I headed into Manchester. Phil and I had planned to see the first Sandbox gig of 2007. We made it, just about. The gig was delayed thanks to a problem with the drums. Chief was looking a little stressed. Fortunately Emily was in a good mood though. She showed me the pictures from Saturday nights party. There were some very funny ones, apparently it went on for some hours after we left.
Sandbox were very good, they opened with one of my favorites a million Marlboro lights, and even played light blue, a rare treat indeed. LD the new guitarist was very good. He played very well adding a few little tweaks to the songs. They also played a rather natty new song, on first play it sounded very nice. I got a feel of arctic monkeys on the opening but then it shifted into a more Sandbox style, I good new adjunct to the repertoire
I don't know if its me being old here, but I didn't care for the Night and Day very much as a venue. I found the pa setup a little over-powering; it felt very, very loud, painfully so at time, my ears are ringing.
After work was Japanese class. Our teacher was really pushing us to go over a lot of the areas we have learned. She also introduced one new particle and reintroduced a particle I (and most of the class) had basically forgotten. We can now use verbs and noun's, numbers and time so getting to be about pre school entry club level!
After class Phil and I headed into Manchester. Phil and I had planned to see the first Sandbox gig of 2007. We made it, just about. The gig was delayed thanks to a problem with the drums. Chief was looking a little stressed. Fortunately Emily was in a good mood though. She showed me the pictures from Saturday nights party. There were some very funny ones, apparently it went on for some hours after we left.
Sandbox were very good, they opened with one of my favorites a million Marlboro lights, and even played light blue, a rare treat indeed. LD the new guitarist was very good. He played very well adding a few little tweaks to the songs. They also played a rather natty new song, on first play it sounded very nice. I got a feel of arctic monkeys on the opening but then it shifted into a more Sandbox style, I good new adjunct to the repertoire
I don't know if its me being old here, but I didn't care for the Night and Day very much as a venue. I found the pa setup a little over-powering; it felt very, very loud, painfully so at time, my ears are ringing.
Well, Well
The kettle was broken this morning, I wasn't able to get my morning caffine fix, very upsetting. I went to Argos at lunch and bought a new one, deciding the Ferrari one was a little too expensive at near £100, so I just got a quick boil Kenwood.
Whilst I was out in Argos, Phil phoned me from Aria. He went down to buy pick up some more helicopters. Martin got four, one for little Martin, a replacement for the one Phil lost and a spare. Phil asked me if I wanted one and after yesterdays fun I jumped at the chance of getting my own, hopefully I can make it last more than the last few!
Ian and Nick were impressed with the helicopter. They had ventured round as well were all going for a few quiet drinks at the thieves. They were just in time to see me playing around with before putting it on charge.
At the Thieves one of the barmaids from ages ago had returned. She was complaining that the five of us (Bruce and Phil also joined us). It was nice to have a civilised drink and chat, Ian and I swapped storied about our recent expenditure fixing our cars. My body work damage versus the failure of his wheel bearing. He also found out one of his tired is a remould, I did warn him that place in Stockport is dodgy as hell but they were just cheap enough. Personally I don't skimp on tires, they connect your car to the road and make a huge difference in performance, handling and safety, so I would never use part worn or remoulded tires because frankly its not a risk worth taking as far as I am concerned. I am me own best asset so I like to take care of me, speaking of which its bed time.
Tomorrow I am off to Japanese then watching Sandbox play at the night and day cafe. It's their first gig of 2007 and they have a surprise, so it should be a good one.
Whilst I was out in Argos, Phil phoned me from Aria. He went down to buy pick up some more helicopters. Martin got four, one for little Martin, a replacement for the one Phil lost and a spare. Phil asked me if I wanted one and after yesterdays fun I jumped at the chance of getting my own, hopefully I can make it last more than the last few!
Ian and Nick were impressed with the helicopter. They had ventured round as well were all going for a few quiet drinks at the thieves. They were just in time to see me playing around with before putting it on charge.
At the Thieves one of the barmaids from ages ago had returned. She was complaining that the five of us (Bruce and Phil also joined us). It was nice to have a civilised drink and chat, Ian and I swapped storied about our recent expenditure fixing our cars. My body work damage versus the failure of his wheel bearing. He also found out one of his tired is a remould, I did warn him that place in Stockport is dodgy as hell but they were just cheap enough. Personally I don't skimp on tires, they connect your car to the road and make a huge difference in performance, handling and safety, so I would never use part worn or remoulded tires because frankly its not a risk worth taking as far as I am concerned. I am me own best asset so I like to take care of me, speaking of which its bed time.
Tomorrow I am off to Japanese then watching Sandbox play at the night and day cafe. It's their first gig of 2007 and they have a surprise, so it should be a good one.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Airwolf
It has been an eventful weekend, Friday night Phil and I went to the Unicorn for some drinks and a chat.
Last night was Andy Gilmore's official last days of Edgeworth drive party. Nick is selling the house so the chief` is moving on. His stuff is going into storage and he is going to be a sofa surfer. He will be working part time in London coming back to Manchester for the band.
The party was fun, not as well attended as previous ones thanks to the FA cup, many people had gone out early and were already too worse for wear by the evening. Nick made a surprise entry, been a while since I have seen him come out for a few drinks. The chief and Emily were on good form, her sister drank enough for the rest of the party put together I would like her hangover the next day.
I just got back from Martins house. A few of us went out for a pub lunch to celebrate Endo's birthday. Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Martin and Charlotte, Little Martin, Adam, myself and Phil all went to the Honey Bee in Wilmslow. It was a beautiful day, we all sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the crazy cars going past. We must have seen 4 Aston martins, 2 Ferrari's, and there was a Zonda parked in the pub car park. Add to that Adam's Menaro, and Endo's Celica and it was a car fest. We all had a nice lunch and a few drinks, mostly went for the roast dinner option, the food was pretty reasonably priced and tasted nice, not quiet upto home cooking standard especially the Yorkshire puddings but tasty never the less.
After eating we headed back to Martin's house, we had plenty of new toys to test out. First was guitar hero. It is a rather quirky play station 2 game, where you attempt to play along to songs. The guitar shaped controllers have 5 keys on the neck for cords, a strum button and have tilt sensors. Its all pretty good fun, especially two player on his projector. I was pretty poor to be honest only managed to hit 70% of the notes, but it was good fun playing along to Heart Shaped Box.
Next up were the helicopters, these are plastic electric powered beast from Aria on offer for pound;15 + vat, bargin!
Now £15 dosn't buy a lot of helicopter but there are still great fun. They do need lots of open ground though they travel high and as we found out can easily get lost. Within 30 minutes we destroyed one and lost another. We went into the recreation area behind Martins house. Little Martin had lost chopper the night before after accidentally piloting it over onto the railway line. We meant to be careful, however within 5 minutes Martin managed to crash land little Martin's copper and snap its rotor. Phil had a go next; taking over the controls of Martin's copper he flew high, really high. As it got higher it moved closer to the houses, too close. Disappearing over the treeline, over the houses, road and into the next set of buildings somewhere. Martins neighbour told is he saw it fly over and took cover in the shed.
Last night was Andy Gilmore's official last days of Edgeworth drive party. Nick is selling the house so the chief` is moving on. His stuff is going into storage and he is going to be a sofa surfer. He will be working part time in London coming back to Manchester for the band.
The party was fun, not as well attended as previous ones thanks to the FA cup, many people had gone out early and were already too worse for wear by the evening. Nick made a surprise entry, been a while since I have seen him come out for a few drinks. The chief and Emily were on good form, her sister drank enough for the rest of the party put together I would like her hangover the next day.
I just got back from Martins house. A few of us went out for a pub lunch to celebrate Endo's birthday. Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Martin and Charlotte, Little Martin, Adam, myself and Phil all went to the Honey Bee in Wilmslow. It was a beautiful day, we all sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the crazy cars going past. We must have seen 4 Aston martins, 2 Ferrari's, and there was a Zonda parked in the pub car park. Add to that Adam's Menaro, and Endo's Celica and it was a car fest. We all had a nice lunch and a few drinks, mostly went for the roast dinner option, the food was pretty reasonably priced and tasted nice, not quiet upto home cooking standard especially the Yorkshire puddings but tasty never the less.
After eating we headed back to Martin's house, we had plenty of new toys to test out. First was guitar hero. It is a rather quirky play station 2 game, where you attempt to play along to songs. The guitar shaped controllers have 5 keys on the neck for cords, a strum button and have tilt sensors. Its all pretty good fun, especially two player on his projector. I was pretty poor to be honest only managed to hit 70% of the notes, but it was good fun playing along to Heart Shaped Box.
Next up were the helicopters, these are plastic electric powered beast from Aria on offer for pound;15 + vat, bargin!
Now £15 dosn't buy a lot of helicopter but there are still great fun. They do need lots of open ground though they travel high and as we found out can easily get lost. Within 30 minutes we destroyed one and lost another. We went into the recreation area behind Martins house. Little Martin had lost chopper the night before after accidentally piloting it over onto the railway line. We meant to be careful, however within 5 minutes Martin managed to crash land little Martin's copper and snap its rotor. Phil had a go next; taking over the controls of Martin's copper he flew high, really high. As it got higher it moved closer to the houses, too close. Disappearing over the treeline, over the houses, road and into the next set of buildings somewhere. Martins neighbour told is he saw it fly over and took cover in the shed.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Black Mirror
Put my car into have the dent pulled out today, and expensive mistake. I was working at the Cheadle office on my one day per week visual studio job. Thanks to the gap since the last time one I spent most of the day simply familiarising myself with the code. To be honest I felt pretty useless I seem to be falling further behind the development curve.
This evening Phil and I went to try out Kendo which is Japanese sword driven martial art. Coincidently a Japanese 6th Dan was visiting this evening so many people had turned up to view. I found it incredibly difficult to try and organise my body to move in the correct ways, especially to use my right side more exclusively. I have never been the most coordinated person and trying to use the wrong side was weird. I think I must have looked rather a state. The Japanese guy and the English Sensi were so fluid and impressive to watch they made it all look very easy, when in actual fact I found even the simple exercises very difficult.
I found them a pretty friendly bunch though a lot more welcoming than the Akido crowd, we had a drink with them aferwards and it was all very civilized.
This evening Phil and I went to try out Kendo which is Japanese sword driven martial art. Coincidently a Japanese 6th Dan was visiting this evening so many people had turned up to view. I found it incredibly difficult to try and organise my body to move in the correct ways, especially to use my right side more exclusively. I have never been the most coordinated person and trying to use the wrong side was weird. I think I must have looked rather a state. The Japanese guy and the English Sensi were so fluid and impressive to watch they made it all look very easy, when in actual fact I found even the simple exercises very difficult.
I found them a pretty friendly bunch though a lot more welcoming than the Akido crowd, we had a drink with them aferwards and it was all very civilized.
cigarettes and alcohol
Had a software update this morning, a few minor changes, thankfully it all went off without a hitch. This afternoon we had a long and tiring but potential promising meeting in the boardroom regarding some for future development. I arrived home late though after having a debrief with one of my colleagues.
Getting home late and starting early was all a it of a pain because this evening I planned to go to the Zanshin flair competition. Held at Classroom in Altrincham, it was Zanshin's way of having a little fun and generating some buzz. There were 9 contestants to start, four went into a final event, the winner got big cheque (big as in size not amount, like the charity ones).
Zanshin were running the event, so Ian and Ben looked a little stressed organising everything when I arrived. The quality of the contestants was pretty high especially the Fox (who represented Zanshin) and a guy from Southport.
I went down to the compition with Alison, she was in high spirits. I saw a few faces there but I don't know the Fridays crew very well. Shania came and said hello, she was bubbly and fun as usual trying to drag me out for more drinks in town. I guess I am getting old but I already felt tired and I find it harder to get up for work after nights out these days.
Getting home late and starting early was all a it of a pain because this evening I planned to go to the Zanshin flair competition. Held at Classroom in Altrincham, it was Zanshin's way of having a little fun and generating some buzz. There were 9 contestants to start, four went into a final event, the winner got big cheque (big as in size not amount, like the charity ones).
Zanshin were running the event, so Ian and Ben looked a little stressed organising everything when I arrived. The quality of the contestants was pretty high especially the Fox (who represented Zanshin) and a guy from Southport.
I went down to the compition with Alison, she was in high spirits. I saw a few faces there but I don't know the Fridays crew very well. Shania came and said hello, she was bubbly and fun as usual trying to drag me out for more drinks in town. I guess I am getting old but I already felt tired and I find it harder to get up for work after nights out these days.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Motley Fool gives linux thumbs up
Personal Finance website Motley Fool has a rather interesting money saving tip, use an old pc running Linux (Ubuntu).
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
In search of cheap deals
I know I only got back to the rain and greyness of Manchester last week but I am feeling like I need something to look forward to. I have been scowering a few websites looking for deals, I usually use expedia travelocity and airmiles (I used to get quiet a few airmiles with my fuel when I commuted to Accrington for work each day).
I detect that the price of online trips might have risen a little since I started using them a few years ago, however I still think the value is slightly better than travel agents. I have seen a few deals to Turkey and to Tunisia. I had some carry over holiday from last year so even with my trip to China I have still got quiet a lot of holiday left to use this year. I think I might take another trip soon and get some rest, and sun.
My big boss was up in these parts today I picked him up from another one of our customers, and we went for a coffee and a chat. He is basically very happy with my performance and told me a little of the plans for the future. He wants to employ someone else to take over my current role, and over the next few months have me train them up and slowly move to another project. I might be working on a web project we have which is all about providing information and reporting to people. This would be a pretty big increase in my responsibility and so would mean some extra cash and an expanded role. This is great from my point of view as I don't really feel there is much room to grow in my current role. Unfortunately it wasn't all positive I need to shape up my interpersonal skills more as its felt I am not very good under pressure. Personally I think this is somewhat down to experience, I am at a customers site, and I am lacking in backup as to know how to handle people as a representative, I think I have done pretty well but could do better on this score. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I can start to try to improve and connect with the customers better :)
This evening I went out for a couple of pints with Bruce, we had a chat about his house, which is going well, and course he has been on. He is currently wiring up his new pad it seems to be going well if a little slower than he expected, I still haven't seen the place I might go take a look this weekend. Apparently he has had to rip a lot out in order to get started so its going to be interesting to see. It was nice to have a relax and a drink and have a natter Bruce is always good company.
I have an upgrade to do tomorrow so I better get to bed.
I detect that the price of online trips might have risen a little since I started using them a few years ago, however I still think the value is slightly better than travel agents. I have seen a few deals to Turkey and to Tunisia. I had some carry over holiday from last year so even with my trip to China I have still got quiet a lot of holiday left to use this year. I think I might take another trip soon and get some rest, and sun.
My big boss was up in these parts today I picked him up from another one of our customers, and we went for a coffee and a chat. He is basically very happy with my performance and told me a little of the plans for the future. He wants to employ someone else to take over my current role, and over the next few months have me train them up and slowly move to another project. I might be working on a web project we have which is all about providing information and reporting to people. This would be a pretty big increase in my responsibility and so would mean some extra cash and an expanded role. This is great from my point of view as I don't really feel there is much room to grow in my current role. Unfortunately it wasn't all positive I need to shape up my interpersonal skills more as its felt I am not very good under pressure. Personally I think this is somewhat down to experience, I am at a customers site, and I am lacking in backup as to know how to handle people as a representative, I think I have done pretty well but could do better on this score. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I can start to try to improve and connect with the customers better :)
This evening I went out for a couple of pints with Bruce, we had a chat about his house, which is going well, and course he has been on. He is currently wiring up his new pad it seems to be going well if a little slower than he expected, I still haven't seen the place I might go take a look this weekend. Apparently he has had to rip a lot out in order to get started so its going to be interesting to see. It was nice to have a relax and a drink and have a natter Bruce is always good company.
I have an upgrade to do tomorrow so I better get to bed.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Employee of the month
After last night enjoyment today was a little flat, I didn't really achieve much. Finally managed to solve a little html issue which means I can start the revamp of my website proper expect to see the "facelift version" soon.
I found out Firebug is a very powerful tool for examining webpages its a free plugin for Firefox. It is a excellent helper when examining pages.
I cleaned out the fish tank I think the heater is broken its making thing tank too hot, even on the lowest setting its running at over 30c far too high. That causes all sorts of other problems with faster growth of algae on the glass, upset fish not eating and faster decomposition of the plant matter.
I watched the film "Employee of the month" basically about a guy drifting with his life until he is inspired by the arrival of a new checkout girl at the store where he works. It had some funny parts but like Talladega nights it was a little over done with a lot of unfunny sequences and an overall message that made me squeamish. I guess maybe I identified too much with the guy drifting along not fulfilling his potential. Talking of potential I realise in order to move on I need to be able to prove my worth with the newer technology. As it dosn't look like I will be working on those projects after all I think I might have to go on some courses and get the certificate instead. I priced it up at around £3000 for the MCAD course. I just need to work out it the money is better spent on that or on some other investment. Or do I invest in myself or do I look for something to invest in like some shares?
I found out Firebug is a very powerful tool for examining webpages its a free plugin for Firefox. It is a excellent helper when examining pages.
I cleaned out the fish tank I think the heater is broken its making thing tank too hot, even on the lowest setting its running at over 30c far too high. That causes all sorts of other problems with faster growth of algae on the glass, upset fish not eating and faster decomposition of the plant matter.
I watched the film "Employee of the month" basically about a guy drifting with his life until he is inspired by the arrival of a new checkout girl at the store where he works. It had some funny parts but like Talladega nights it was a little over done with a lot of unfunny sequences and an overall message that made me squeamish. I guess maybe I identified too much with the guy drifting along not fulfilling his potential. Talking of potential I realise in order to move on I need to be able to prove my worth with the newer technology. As it dosn't look like I will be working on those projects after all I think I might have to go on some courses and get the certificate instead. I priced it up at around £3000 for the MCAD course. I just need to work out it the money is better spent on that or on some other investment. Or do I invest in myself or do I look for something to invest in like some shares?
Heavyweight Champion of the World
I finally started to feel like myself again today, I have felt so ill the last few days it great to be me again. Though I felt better I tried to keep it low key today just read and watched TV. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. I felt they whilst there were some great moments, the comedy was well timed, the film was filler. Like Back to the Future II, not quiet a great film in its own just a glue in between the first and the next film.
It pretty good that I am feeling better, as I had been asked to go for a meal tonight to celebrate Martin's birthday. Part of the lyrics from the song that inspires this post title repeat the phrase "Be like everybody else". One person who is certainly unique is Martin, who wasn't on top form tonight but he seemed to enjoy the fact we all turned out to wish him well.
The evening started with us meeting up at t the farmers arms in Poynton. Present were Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Simon, Adam, Steph, Bruce, Nina, Phil and myself. The event was supposed to be a surprise, though I am not sure how surprised Martin was to see us there when he turned up with Charlotte.
We headed off for a meal at the nearby Italian restaurant the Tarantella. The group had grown from the original booking so we had to wait a little while to get a big table despite the booking. Once we got sat down it seemed like everyone was having a birthday, the lights dimming and the birthday song played for each one. Martin and Steph (we found out its her birthday tomorrow too) got theirs when we ordered desert. Cheesecakes with sparklers!
I had garlic bread to start and a seafood Spaghetti, my food was very tasty and I from what I could tell everyone enjoyed theirs, it is a slighty more expensive place so its a good job it tastes nice. We chatted, I bored people with my Shanghai stories, Adam Martin and Simon swapped work and technology stories, Philip talked about Japan and Martial arts. I felt a little tired towards the end even the coffee hardly picked me up I guess I am still a little sick.
I got home and found an album I just bought from ITunes was already in my collection on another pc! Oh well I guess its better I gave the artists some money.
It pretty good that I am feeling better, as I had been asked to go for a meal tonight to celebrate Martin's birthday. Part of the lyrics from the song that inspires this post title repeat the phrase "Be like everybody else". One person who is certainly unique is Martin, who wasn't on top form tonight but he seemed to enjoy the fact we all turned out to wish him well.
The evening started with us meeting up at t the farmers arms in Poynton. Present were Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Simon, Adam, Steph, Bruce, Nina, Phil and myself. The event was supposed to be a surprise, though I am not sure how surprised Martin was to see us there when he turned up with Charlotte.
We headed off for a meal at the nearby Italian restaurant the Tarantella. The group had grown from the original booking so we had to wait a little while to get a big table despite the booking. Once we got sat down it seemed like everyone was having a birthday, the lights dimming and the birthday song played for each one. Martin and Steph (we found out its her birthday tomorrow too) got theirs when we ordered desert. Cheesecakes with sparklers!
I had garlic bread to start and a seafood Spaghetti, my food was very tasty and I from what I could tell everyone enjoyed theirs, it is a slighty more expensive place so its a good job it tastes nice. We chatted, I bored people with my Shanghai stories, Adam Martin and Simon swapped work and technology stories, Philip talked about Japan and Martial arts. I felt a little tired towards the end even the coffee hardly picked me up I guess I am still a little sick.
I got home and found an album I just bought from ITunes was already in my collection on another pc! Oh well I guess its better I gave the artists some money.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Getting better all the time
Well today I finally start to feel better, it really wonderful not to feel so ill all the time. I haven't got much to write about though as I have just been resting. I did start a little facelift for www.johncooke.info, I would be interested to know anyone's thoughts on it.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Photos from Shanghai
I have finally finished uploading all of the photos from Shanghai please take a look here
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| Oriental Pearl Tower |
Ill
Oh dear I am feeling so sorry for myself, since coming home from Japanese class on Tuesday I have had a really bad bug. I had the shakes I haven't been able to hold down food and I ache all over. I guess it is some virus. I spent yesterday in bed unable to do anything, today I feel a little better but very fragile, so I called in sick.
It's been pretty horrible either sat in bed or in the living room but not able to properly relax because of the uncomfortable ill feelings.
It's been pretty horrible either sat in bed or in the living room but not able to properly relax because of the uncomfortable ill feelings.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Last night in Shanghai
I sit here in my room having mostly packed my bag, just got a few more bits to squeeze in there. Today has been a strange day really, I visited two places of worship, eaten more different things, and went bowling.
The first place we went to was Saint Ignatius Cathedral, this is a Christian Church built by the Jesuits. It is a rather striking building, this totally western Church next to the hear of Shanghais computer retail sector. We arrived just in time for Sunday mass, and Lulu said she wanted to stay. So I sat through something I haven't attended for a very very long time, I never even got to be confirmed as a Catholic so it was a strange for me especially as the service was conducted in Chinese. I could make out the tunes of some of the hymns so it was weird to hear them in Chinese. I tried my best to explain how the service worked to Lulu seemed pretty interested in the process, but it has been so long it was very hazy to me. I cant say I felt any sort of rapture for going, I did feel peaceful afterwards.
As we were in the area we went for a walk round the technology park, it was very interesting, one part of it where they sol computer components reminded me of the computer shows back in the good all days, when you really could get bargains and any sort of computer part you were after. After looking about a bit we found a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, Lulu ordered pork balls, clam and eels. I was a bit worried about the ells but they actually turned out to be ok, much better than frogs!
From the Christian world of worship we now headed firmly firmly back to Chinese tradition at the Jingan Temple. This is a traditional Buddhist temple, part of which is wonderful the other part looks like some sort of concrete nuclear shelter. We bought some incense sticks and made a prayed to the Buddha's there then wondered around. The bell room and Buddha's were very ornate and interesting, I cant say I really understand it but I can see the beauty and power in it.
Near to Jingan Temple is a little park where and a the first building Lulu worked in, the Apollo building. The park is very beautiful and ornate, full of lovely little places to sit and enjoy the day. Apparently it is a favourite for couples to take their wedding photos; in Chinese society wedding photos with the bride and groom are usually taken before the wedding in a specially staged photo shoot.
We had some time left over before Lulu had to depart and visit her cousin before he left to go home, so we went for a walk around an older district of the town, then hit a few shops. We planned to have a game of badminton or tennis but there were no courts available so we went bowling instead. I totally sucked and Lulu beat me in the first game. In the second I won but more due to her throwing it away then my good bowling.
This evening it was a flash back to the first day of the trip as we went back to the mall we visited on day one, as I have been struggling with chopsticks all week Lulu decided we should go for stake so she could see if I could use a knife and fork. Twan Twan, Lulu's boyfriend joined us for dinner. He was explaining about the martial arts traditions in China, and that I had been by no means adventurous with my choices of food, snake. boiled monkeys head, pigeon and various body parts should also be tried! Unfortunately our food wasn't very good the stake was tougher than old boots, however the company was nice and a great way to spend my last evening.
I am now sat in my room I have pretty much packed and ready for tomorrow mornings flight, I must admit I never would have thought it after the pain of the culture shock but I think I am going to really miss Shanghai, and I hardly even scratched the surface. Lulu asked me one word to describe it, at first I thought crowded, but on reflection I decided enigmatic. This place is a riddle, I have take a look at it but I am far from solving the puzzle.
The first place we went to was Saint Ignatius Cathedral, this is a Christian Church built by the Jesuits. It is a rather striking building, this totally western Church next to the hear of Shanghais computer retail sector. We arrived just in time for Sunday mass, and Lulu said she wanted to stay. So I sat through something I haven't attended for a very very long time, I never even got to be confirmed as a Catholic so it was a strange for me especially as the service was conducted in Chinese. I could make out the tunes of some of the hymns so it was weird to hear them in Chinese. I tried my best to explain how the service worked to Lulu seemed pretty interested in the process, but it has been so long it was very hazy to me. I cant say I felt any sort of rapture for going, I did feel peaceful afterwards.
As we were in the area we went for a walk round the technology park, it was very interesting, one part of it where they sol computer components reminded me of the computer shows back in the good all days, when you really could get bargains and any sort of computer part you were after. After looking about a bit we found a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch, Lulu ordered pork balls, clam and eels. I was a bit worried about the ells but they actually turned out to be ok, much better than frogs!
From the Christian world of worship we now headed firmly firmly back to Chinese tradition at the Jingan Temple. This is a traditional Buddhist temple, part of which is wonderful the other part looks like some sort of concrete nuclear shelter. We bought some incense sticks and made a prayed to the Buddha's there then wondered around. The bell room and Buddha's were very ornate and interesting, I cant say I really understand it but I can see the beauty and power in it.
Near to Jingan Temple is a little park where and a the first building Lulu worked in, the Apollo building. The park is very beautiful and ornate, full of lovely little places to sit and enjoy the day. Apparently it is a favourite for couples to take their wedding photos; in Chinese society wedding photos with the bride and groom are usually taken before the wedding in a specially staged photo shoot.
We had some time left over before Lulu had to depart and visit her cousin before he left to go home, so we went for a walk around an older district of the town, then hit a few shops. We planned to have a game of badminton or tennis but there were no courts available so we went bowling instead. I totally sucked and Lulu beat me in the first game. In the second I won but more due to her throwing it away then my good bowling.
This evening it was a flash back to the first day of the trip as we went back to the mall we visited on day one, as I have been struggling with chopsticks all week Lulu decided we should go for stake so she could see if I could use a knife and fork. Twan Twan, Lulu's boyfriend joined us for dinner. He was explaining about the martial arts traditions in China, and that I had been by no means adventurous with my choices of food, snake. boiled monkeys head, pigeon and various body parts should also be tried! Unfortunately our food wasn't very good the stake was tougher than old boots, however the company was nice and a great way to spend my last evening.
I am now sat in my room I have pretty much packed and ready for tomorrow mornings flight, I must admit I never would have thought it after the pain of the culture shock but I think I am going to really miss Shanghai, and I hardly even scratched the surface. Lulu asked me one word to describe it, at first I thought crowded, but on reflection I decided enigmatic. This place is a riddle, I have take a look at it but I am far from solving the puzzle.
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