Remember Remeber

Foreign friends often find it strange that every year we British burn an effigy on top of a huge fire, then setting off a load of fireworks. They are even more amazed to find the celebration is based around the fact that a man named Guy Fawkes failed to blow up the houses of Parliament. There is something very British about the celebration of failure.

As usual I headed to the Woodford Community bonfire, its the only event of worth since the Woodford air show stopped. Joining me were Phil, Bruce and Nina. They parked at my house and we all walked down to the show together.

We found a nice place round the back. Not too close the the speakers which were blaring out music far far too loudly. Becky and some of her friends joined us. It was the first time I have seen her properly since she and Nick went there separate ways.

The display was pretty damn good, lots of big explosions lighting up the nights sky. There was a slight moment of Panic, when after a large volley of fireworks and despite the best efforts of the organisers the wind blew the fireworks over the crowd. This meant the hot ash fallout started to rain into the crowd, people went from "ooo" that's night to "OOO, run!" within moments. Fortunately the ash had cooled enough not to cause a mass panic and no one was trampled to death.

After the show we all headed to the rather less crowded British Legion round the corner. They had been rather enterprising and shown let people watch from there (their view probably just as good as the actual community centre). We had a couple of drinks and chewed the fat for a while.

I walked back with Becky and her friends then finished the final level on resident evil. I was still awake so I watched a film called "This is England", about 1980s Britain and the rise of the Skin head. After the loss of his father one little lad seeks solace with an increasingly violent group of skin heads. It highlighted how such radical groups could use people fears and basically offer a friendly environment, just so long as your face fits. Its a challenging film but definitely worth a watch.

Long Road To Ruin

What a weekend, havent't had so much fun for a long long time! Friday night I headed out to Bramhall with Phil. We had a chat and a few pints in the Orange Tree. Ian and Paul joined us after their Gypsy's playground band practise. Phil and I were already on our way to drunktown. We went for a drink in Belgua then into the Graze, to be honest by the end of the night I was so drunk I could hardly work out who I was. It was a funny evening though, I don't usually think of Bramhall as a going out place but I quiet enjoyed it. Some photos taken from my phone here

Saturday was a great day, at least after I recovered from last nights drinking binge. I spent the morning and early afternoon reading and dozing preparing myself for tonight's gig. Its nearly 18 months since I last saw the Foo Fighters at Lancashire Cricket club. That was an amazing gig so I have been eagerly awaiting this one.

Nick cunningly managed to get seated tickets for the gig, he timed the length of the phone call getting through the automated menus and called up exactly that amount of time before the phone lines opened enabling him to get the tickets. The standing ones sold out in minutes.

There were quiet a few of us going, Nick, Bruce, Bruces workmate Stephen, Nick, Mike and some of Nicks friends, I didn't quiet get the names of :( bad John. We met up in the Moon Under The Water beforehand for a drink then headed for food. Heading to a Mediterranean restaurant called Porto. We all chose the tapas special "Fiesta". it was excellent. £15 got load of tapas dishes to share and they were all very tasty. Calamaris, Chozio sausage, pizza olives, bread pizza, meat balls, salad, feta and steak tomatoes, I was very satisfied.

We still had a little time to kill so we headed to the Slug and Lettuce for a drink because the drinks were so expensive in the MEN. Phil used all his skills to muscle his way to the front and I was right there behind him. We managed to get about 4 people from the front, it was amazing. Watching the band so closely. We were buffeted and bashed about but it was all worth it, during most of the show we were literally meters from the band :)

The band were on excellent form, they played some of there new album some classics. Then changed tack a bit moved to whole band to a stage setup more centrally in the arena playing a acoustic set. The sound was fantastic and it was a really nice chill out, they ended playing Everlong. They played it partially acoustically building to a full rock out crescendo.

One thing they did that was quiet strange was bring a kid on stage to play Baker Street with the band. I have no idea who he was but for an 11 year old he totally rocked!

15 Step

Today was an interesting day of work, as part of the new more inclusive team I was invited to a Buzz Session meeting. The aim was to impart the new business strategy of mission control. I think one of the IT lad encapsulated it best when he said "It's just all common sense really isn't it". Personally I didn't enjoy the thinly veiled psychological programming, presenting us with 5 options, 4 of which are negative but have components which you are meant to make you think yeah I don't want to be like that I want to be an effective follower. In fact all the messages were presented as stark choices basically your on board on message or your out. In my opinion and experience life, motivation, and reasoning is very rarely so clear cut.

I did learn a few things from the meeting though, it let me see that sometimes managers really have no clue about what is going on, they need the feedback and push back from staff in order to be more effective.

Nanowrimo started today so I started to write my first novella / novel. I am not sure how much I will manage to get though this month but it should be fun trying to pen off a few chapters. I think it might mean a slight slow down in the number of blog post though please bear with me and hopefully there will be something other than my rants to read ;)

Let Me Know

Life is hectic at the moment, thanks to working on the weekend I started the week feeling frazzled, my shoulder still hurts and I felt terrible this morning. Work is very very stressful the workload is simply gigantic and everyones feeling a little pressured. I think its worse for me because I am not a real employee.

After work I headed to Japanese class with Phil. We had a weeks break because of the half term holiday. Adding to my hassles over the last week has been Jo's PC. I built him a PC last week and due to its modernity and some of his requirements. Its taken myself and Phil both a not inconsiderable amount of time to get it running. At the start of class both myself and Phil got some phone calls. Class was very difficult for me I was tired and out of my depth, I think I did learn a few phrases though.

After class we both went to go fix up Jo pc we left it all working hopefully he is going to be happy, it is an excellent pc but the whole process has been a nightmare. I spent hours getting the bits, building the pc fault finding installing software. Phil has also spent time on it. Considering I did this as a favor and its proved to be such a nightmare its made me decide never to build a pc for anyone other than myself again.

Apart from Jo someone else called me while I was in Japanese class, Lisa. She sounded a little fraught, I hope everything is OK with her. I might try and give her a ring back tomorrow. Olya sent me some photos today, she is looking beautiful but I have no real idea why she wants to keep in contact, just to tease me perhaps. I had just about started to forget her.

Fortunately I have a few things to look forward to, chief among them is the Foo Fighters concert on Saturday. Unfortunately Ian' has had to drop out due to work commitments it would have been good to catch up with him. Its going to e interesting to meet Brie Nick's new interest though.

Suicide pact : you first

My Sunday was nice and relaxed. After a hectic week including yesterdays action it was nice to chill out a little. I rested read a few chapters of my book, listened to the Archers, and cleaned out the fish. Usually I would have headed to the gym but my shoulder is still painful so I stayed in and tried to start moving a few customers cross to the new server. I only managed to move two sites in the end but it was a start. I also managed to sort out at least some of the weird email problems I have been having, well that my customers were having. Andy Gilmore can now relay mail, and www.woodlandsgarage.com is now on the new server complete with redirect.

I also made and effort to try and catch hold of a few friends for a catch up chat, I caught up with Paul, and Jo. Jo was happy to hear his PC is ready for collection. Paul was in a good mood he recounted Paul McCartney, Pippa managed to arrange him a last minute ticket. I was really jealous! Was nice to catch up with them I really must be more proactive at keeping in contact with people.

I watched a weird little indie film with Phil this evening. It was called theThe Chumscrubber. Basically focussing on the interconnected lives of a group of people from the suburbs. Everyone pretends their lives are great whilst chugging down wine or pills in a vain attempt to stay sane. There is a bizarre (and frankly disconnected) parallel video game intermingled with the action.

Goodbye Mr A

Apologies for the verbose nature of this post but it has been a long day! This morning [Saturday] I arrived at work at 6am in order to do an upgrade before the call centre opened at 8.30. Fortunately things went verywell, meaning I was able to get away for about 10. The was especially fortunate as I had promised to help install his new server in the data centre.

He was in a rush, wanting to finish the server set-up in order to get to an Akido event, unfortunately things took rather longer than we planned. I protect the servers with a Cisco Pix firewall, it was an pretty expensive piece of kit but unfortunately Cisco don't do updates unless you pay for a very expensive support contract. Fortunately between us we managed to backdate Java and get on to munge the configuration. Before we left we had a running web cast demo, which puts us well ahead of schedule.

After the data centre Phil and I headed back to his place to fix up Berger's PC. He missed his session, so we used our time productively. After much searching and fiddling we found two problems, firstly the memory liked to be run at a higher voltage. For some reasons the default 1.8v isn't enough to drive it that explains the random not turning on. The double boot problem was solved by a beta bios. It now not only works but is incredibly fast.

Phil's parents treated us to a curry at the Sangam III. The food was excellent, and I very much enjoyed myself. After the curry I headed to Poynton to meet up with Martin, Endo, Adam and Simon for a drink while Phil disappeared off to a leaving do for one of his Akido pals.

I managed to cadge a lift both ways, my dad took me to Poynton and Simon gave me a lift home, what nice chaps. It was a very funny evening nice to catch up with everyone again. Everyone was on form and happy it was a really fun evening. We mostly chatted caught up, Martin and Simon had a very funny exchange about clothes, Martin was laughing at Simon's G-Star jeans and Simon was laughing at Martin's lack of taste.

Sandbox @ In the city

I had a pretty frustrating day today. Despite having a day off work, thanks to being owed some time in lieu, things didnt really go to plan.

I bought the bits to build a new PC for Jo, unfortunately I am having problems. I think the motherboard might be faulty, sometimes it works sometimes not. Its really annoying when brand new gear dosnt work correctly especially as I bought it on my credit card :S
I spent the afternoon trying in vain to make the computer work so failed to go to the gym again :( I did manage to go jogging yesterday but its not enough really.

Tonight was fortunately a lot more fun than today though. Phil and I went to see Sandbox playing at the in the city gig. They were excellent, I especially like the new funky version of Light Blue, and 1 million Marlboro Lights. Ian also tagged along it was good to see him, its been a while. He enjoyed the gig and was in a pretty good mood, apparently he has a job n Barcelona, lucky guy! Talking of Barcelona, there is much talk of a boys trip there next year. I have never been on a "lads" holiday before but I expect much beer leeriness. Barcelona is an excellent city though, really vibrant and exciting should be great.
None of the other bands really set the world on fire but it was nice having a chat and hanging out, took my mind of Bergers non working PC for a while. Emily told me about her second life project, and about teaching. Kay battered my head about elder people. I left about 11 my ears could not take any more, and eveyrone was tired or hungry. Sandbox plus Emily and Kay went for Chinese Phil and I headed home.

I am also having issues with an ispcp configuration problem I need to get one domain to forward to another but unfortunately ispcp lacks the level of documentation to explain to a user like me how to do it. I posted on the message board but got the usual frustrating just do X are you an idiot reply. The thing is I am not an idiot just inexperienced in using this product, but I don't have the time of inclination to go rooting through the code just to do something trivial which could / should be documented.

Fish Care

Since one of my fish died I have been taking measure to try and improve things for the remaining two.
I cleaned the water but it didn't seem to help much. So I got out my chemistry kit and did some analysis. I found that the nitrate level was too high over 80ppm. I changed the water 4 changes worth for two days and expected it to have a noticeable impact on the levels. My dad came up with a method of working out the number of water changes needed to reduce the levels, it turned out to be a LOT more than I thought. I have made a little a on-line calculator.

You can only change 10% of the water in a fish tank in a day, and you have to ensure the water going in has the chlorine removed, either by using an additive or leaving it to stand for a few hours.

Continuing the web design theme this evening I worked on something trying to get media streaming work for an upcoming job. It was pretty tedious but we eventually got to the bottom of it. Only one more piece of the puzzle and a bit of site design to go. I think its should be a pretty slick operation once we are done.

Faust Arp

Spent today tidying my room, I managed to get rid of some rubbish, and a lot of dirt. I wish I could do so more often, my parents are terrible hoarders. To a certain extent I have inherited that triat. I didn't really have much to do everything was about the build up to the big rugby match.

I went round to Jo's house to watch the match. It wasn't the most inspiring game I have ever seen. After being built up all week this was a war of attrition far from the 36-0 romp England played well in a very physical game. Unfortunately they were unable to push their territorial advantage and gave away a lot of stupid penalties a couple right in front of the posts. I supposes its ironic that England lost to a side who kicked the ball from the spot, so often England's fortes.

I feel really cut up the team played well, and I don't even want to talk about the denied try. I ate too much tonight, its why I will never be thin if there is food in front of my I just cannot help but eat it. Jo made some really tasty nachos with salsa and cheese, so nice but so fattening, sigh :(

Second life

I opened the Telegraph this morning and on the front of the property section had a most revealing article about the world of the second life. For those not in the know second life is a virtual world, not really a game more a in which you can live, own property. I always thought it was about sex people living out their lives vicariously or attacking journalist with flying penis.. However increasingly it seems that people are living out there lives even making a living from Second Life.

The article in the telegraph was talking about Prim Perfect a magazine showcasing some of the more imaginative the houses in Second Life. I knew Second Life was big when I started to read about companies and country opening up shop there. Such as Reuters opening a office in second life. Though part of what I found funny in that was the Reuters reporter imitating Jennifer Government and taking the name of his company in the virtual world.

I suppose virtual worlds give creative people a canvas to create, whether it be objects, or art and others who want to surround themselves with nice things. Perhaps things they can buy only in a virtual world. I think I might be somewhat behind the curb I was going to create a character for the screening of Four Eyed Monsters in Second Life, then for the technology expo. Maybe Ill open up a shop, I just need to think of an angle ;)

TV Envy

After a long and tedious day spent trying to understand how qcb blocks work, I felt worn down. Not too worn down that I didn't want to kill some zombies though. After dinner I jumped onto Resident Evil 4 Wii and blow the heads off a few more zombies. I managed to get my pc running again as well looks like a lose cable (I took the side of and disconnected and reconnected everything and fortunately it came back to life).

After a zombie massacre I spoke to Phil and ended up at his house. He has just bought a new TV; A 46 inch beast, capable of a stunning 1080p . It is a pretty huge screen, a whole 6 inches bigger than Bruce's (which I already thought of as massive).
We hooked up Bruce's Playstation 3 and tried out "Resistance: Fall of Man". It looked beautiful in high definition glory on this screen. The game play is a very similar to Quake 4 or Halo (from which many aspects are borrowed).

I totally want one but something that size wouldn't even fit into my house. I wonder if we can watch the world cup there tomorrow...

Paris

I spoke to Paul yesterday the planned outing to catch McCartney to in Paris is off. Instead of putting the tickets on sale he has decided to sell them only on the day in Paris. So it would mean traveling there on the hope of getting them, and its a smallish venue so not good odds. I could have done with some time off to be honest this week seem to be going on forever, having a really problematic upgrade. I have been in meetings and conference calls and yet we still seem to be hitting brick walls.

I am actually in a foul mood at the moment, my pc has developed a fault hanging on the bios screen, it only a few months old and wasnt in any way cheap, I was also in the middle of doing a web page about fish care when it froze. I rebooted and nothing, very frustrating. Fortunately my laptop is still going.

Prior to my computer expiring I had been in the middle of writing up a piece about dealing with the fish. Including a little calculator to wrk out how much water to change. My remaining fish is just about hanging on, today my dad bought went to the aquarium centre and bought some treatment for common fish problems, and some different food to try. He didn' seem very interested though. I am really worried the water quality has improved nitrate is down from over 80ppm to around 20ppm so I had hoped to see an improvement, nothing tangible yet though.

I have had a pretty rubbish evening, no-one was about and I felt to tired for the gym, so I came home and killed some zombies on Resident Evil 4. At least until a big one got the better of me. I tried to cheer up the fish but he wasnt any better, then my pc died and I got very angry, apoplectic really.

At least is nearly the weekend, not that i have anything special planned in fact with it being the week before payday I am pretty skint, Paris was definitely going to be a credit card job so in some ways its good I am not going. I kind of promised o I would build him a replacement PC it looks like I might have two to do now, I think I should leave my credit card at home when I go.

Desiderata

My friend Kasia sent me the following poem Desiderata. It's about attaining happiness in life I thought it is quiet nice.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
- Max Ehrmann, Indiana

Our Velocity

Yesterday in between the 4 times daily changing of the fish tank water, I attempted to get into the data centre and do a backup. Unfortunately some one locked the rack and I still dont have a key. Instead I met up with Phl and had a look at doing his video streaming service. I think its fairly straight forward not too many wrinkles.

Last night I went round to Bruce and Nina's place to watch England versus France in the Rugby world cup semi final. Joe, Holly and Phil were also present.
Nina and Bruce put on a really good spread cooking lasagne potatoes and lots of garlic bread. I actually severely regretted the garlic bread today at the gym, after my workout I was sweating garlic. That aside the food was great and the company most enjoyable.

We sat and watched the rugby, England played pretty well and after a tense and exciting 80 minutes just about came out on top. I was pretty impressed and elated to beat the French in the Stade De France in the World cup semi finals is incredible. Roll on South Africa next week!

After last nights fun today was a little flat, a visit to the gym then the afternoon spent trying to sort out a problem on the server. I learned a lot about Iscpc but I would rather it not have been so pressured.

Chemistry is fun

I haven't done much this evening. After I got back from the gym no one was really about so I stayed home chatting to people on-line and relaxing.

Since my fish died I have learned a lot about water chemistry. I learned that fish, food and plants decay into ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. High levels of Ammonia or nitrite kill fish pretty quickly. Nitrate level on the other hand don't kill immediately they just put stress on the fish. My fish tank nitrate level has been high for some time (I know this because my research has informed my large amount of algae are a sign of high nitrate levels).
Unfortunately for me nitrates are one of the most difficult pollutants to remove, all I can do is change 10% (36 litres) of the water in the tank per day and hope that they are diluted. So over the last few days I have done 4 water changes a day very tedious and time consuming. So far the level dropped from over 60ppm (parts per million) to 40ppm, I need to bring it below 20ppm for the biological agents to be effective. Look like I have plenty more water changes to go.

Tomorrow is the England France game which should be excellent and I think is going to be very close.

Photos from Belgium

I finally got the photos from Belgium uploaded. I still haven't written the stories up maybe I never will now, who knows.

This evening I went to see a film with my friend Martina from Japanese class. We watch 3:10 to Yuma. Starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe its a pretty standard cowboy film, encompassing all the traditional American values; redemption, good men turning bad, bad men doing good. Russell Crowe is the typical child from a troubled family turned to a life of crime, blah blah heard it all before.
I was actually pretty disappointed I expected a little more than a slight twist on the buddy film, but oh well.

Bruce has invited me to his house on Saturday, apparently he will be screening the rugby on his big screen. It sounds fun but means I have to miss what could turn out to be a fun party in Didsbury. I really do not want to miss the England game after last Saturdays performance though. I think the game against France is going to be pretty tough close and exciting so I am looking forward to it.

In Rainbows

This week isn't a good one for my pets. on Monday one of my fishes expired and today I just received the following from my dad.
"Just to let you know that Sootie has been put to sleep humanely on the advice of the vet.

She said that death was imminent, and as she put it, "The cat was ready to die".

A sorry day, but at least its misery is over."
Its really sad for me, my fish John was the first pet totally my charge, I have been looking after him for about 7 years now, its so sad watching Ozzie swimming around on his own.

My cat was 20 years old a very ripe old age for a cat, he has outlived all predictions thanks to a lot of TLC from my parents regular vet visits and a special low protein diet. We were told that once he started having regular steroid injections that he wouldn't live more than 2 years, at was over 4 years ago. HE had a long life, I remember when I was at primary school watching him chase table tennis balls around the house. He sent so many hours sat on the sofa or by the fire, or sunbathing in the garden he had a pretty good life for a cat.

The house won't be the same without him around, crying for food or attention. I am listening to the latest Radiohead album sat working on some documentation in an empty office, and feeling very sad.

Zodiac

Had a pretty quiet day today finished closing time I found it a really good book but not a patch on Catch-22 and a heck of a lot harder to read. Basically the characters young and vibrant but dealing with lives cut short now deal with lives close to the end, and the absurdities of modern life. Heller is so witty and intelligent almost too clever by half at times writing some incredibly complicated prose.

Phil and I spent some time practising our Japanese we are both pretty shabby but a few more hours a week sure would help.

Paul phoned me he has a plan about going to see Paul McCartney live in Paris later this month. To be honest it sounds like a lot of fun hopefully we can get tickets and I can get the time of work because I reckon it will be great.

Tonight Phil and I watched Zodiac, a film by David Fincher he of Fight Club and Panic Room fame about the infamous serial killer Zodiac. It was kind of ironic I never realised Dirty Harry (which I watched only last night) was based partly on the story. The real life killer was never caught despite the best efforts of the police and an ex cartoonist who penned a novel about him. The film was good if a little long and drawn out, the cinematography was excellent I especially like the grand theft autoesq top down view of the police car.

Last night was the work quiz night, I joined the IT team. Despite not knowing what the Ford Mustang logo was we managed to come in second place.
Afterwards we went for drinks in Wilmslow, I drank too much and felt horrible this morning. I think I might have made a bit of a fool of myself getting far too drunk and acting like a loon, hopefully not but hey ho.

Unusually for me I spent most of the day watching Sports. England played Australia in the quarter finals of the rugby world cup. I pretty much expected it to be a total drubbing by Australia but instead England stepped upto the plate and played a darn sight better rugby than I have seen from them for a long time. The forward pack were particularly strong. It was a shame to win on penalties alone but our backs just dont seem to have the presence and play makers to break through.

In the evening France managed a similar trick and overcame the all blacks in an sensational game at the Millennium stadium. It will certainly be an interesting game next week with England versus France.

To cap the day off Khan put on a dominating display in the boxing :)

No Tommorrow

Today was a hard day, I had a rather combative conference call regarding one project I am working on. I found it very difficult, sometimes being nice and bending over backwards goes nowhere.

This evening I went for a drink with Phil, Bruce, and Nina. Firstly Phil and I took a trip round to Bruce and Nina's abode. It has changed somewhat beyond recognition since I was last there. There is a floor and decoration, and technology lots of technology.

We went out for drinks at the local pub the March Hare, chatting about work and life we laid the world to rights. Mostly we talk about work these days all our lives are dominated by it in one way or another.

Free WiFi

Fon have announced a new partnership with BT which should exponentially increase the number of FON spots available to anyone willing to share their broadband.

I have had a FON spot for quiet a while now, in fact my Nintendo Wii connects to the internet through it.

An Honest Mistake

I was talking to one of my good online friends this evening, she sometimes reads my blog, and I have told her that I like to write. She thinks I should sign up to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and attempt to write a novel in a month. I am not sure I have the skill, determination or ideas but I guess its only a bit of fun so I might give it a go I just need to think of some inspirational ideas.

A long time ago I started a screenplay with Paul, we never got far our concentrations drifted off in different directions. I had some good idea around it, but maybe I should try something different out. I shall ruminate see if inspiration strikes. The competition dosn't start until the 1st November so there are a few weeks to get ideas together.

We were also talking about films and both love Pulp Fiction. I hadn't realised how old it was, released in 1994. I remember so vividly watching it at and taking about it sat in C block, Bramhall High School with Alistair Roy, Andy and all the other people I thing about with in my schoolboy days. Its kind of strange how memories work, sometimes I don't remember where I just put down my pen, but somehow I can picture scenes from years ago so precisely its almost as if I were still sat there, the people the jokes.

Today's post is sponsored by Nintendo please use the link below an sign up for club Nintendo so I can afford to download Street Fighter 2 and relive my youth ;)

Speed of sound

I was far too tired after Japanese class to start writing up my Belgium adventures. Well either that or I am not ready to share them yet. I did manage to order a copy of the new Radiohead album which I am now very excited to receive.
I also managed to get a quick last orders drink with Bruce, he seemed in a very good mood and apparently his house is very nearly finished. We went for a quick drink at the Thieves. He was also telling me he has signed up to Virgin 20mb broadband and bought a Playstation 3. Honestly I can't imagine why you would want to spend so much money on a console with next to no games, so It plays blue ray disks does he really want to pay twice the price of DVD for each disk? He must be getting paid far too much (read more than me ;-) to be able afford all the work on his his and such expensive toys. Sour grapes I suppose, I can even imagine affording a house, then again I have never come into money from relatives, not am I likely to, I have to fend for myself.
Talking of fending for myself my mother is so convinced I cant take care of myself she has taken the rather ridicules step of taking a sabbatical rather than let me lend my car to my dad so had can drive to Derby while I use the bus / train. It seriously pisses me off that she has such a low opinion of me, and has made me more determined to get out of here.

Monster Hospital

I have been away for the last few days in Belgium, I got back earlier today. I was a really good trip and I shall be writing about it soon, there are also going to be some pictures on the gallery, but not tonight. I feel very tired and I am back to the grindstone tomorrow.

Today is my fathers birthday, he is 60. For a milestone but he dos't seem to be much interested. After some consternation about where to go (I definitely inherited his indecisiveness) and headed for the Il Pomodoro in Poynton.

I haven't been to this Italian restaurant in several years, it has a changed a little except for a coat of paint and having an extension into what what the ice cream shop to provide more frontage. It wasn't much needed tonight thought the place was nearly empty. We ordered to mix plate starters, garlic bread and a salad to share. The Pomodoro platter had some Parma ham, fish, olives, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella and Italian sausage. The garlic bread was about 50% the size I remember it from last time, but still tasty. My parents also enjoyed it, mum had the salad to herself and let us eat the contents of the platter. For my main course I had a pasta with spicy Italian sausage and tomatoes sauce, it was very tasty, mum found her Penn a little salty but my father enjoyed his Carbonara. It was a nice meal, I couldn't really fault the quality of the food and the service was good. The prices certainly arn't cheap especially drinks £3.95 for a pint.

Hopefully providing Japanese class dosn't kill me I will start putting up some photos and writing some stories from Antwerp tomorrow., for now night.

Ever Present Past

Today has not been a great day, but somehow I don't feel terrible. This morning I was locked out of an office, more or less told to fuck off by a colleague. Fortunately a quick rant later and most of the problems were sorted out; sometimes it pays to be proactive.
I spent the rest of the day answering phone calls emails and trying to understand a methodology Model-view-controller. I am not sure I totally get it yet but I am on my way.
After work I was a little pissed off so I went to the gym for a couple of hours to blow off some steam.
When I got home I ate some dinner and was meant to go see a film with a friend but that fell through so instead I went for a quiet drink with Nick. As I left the house I looked up and saw that the moon is out and the sky clear, it was very beautiful evening, it felt fresh and clean.
Nick was in the best of moods far too cheerful and I soon found out why. He has met someone new, apparently she makes him laugh and feel great. I am happy he has found someone that makes him feel such but FFS, does he really need to that happy! I am of course being jealous, its a long time since I had a relationship and infatuations like Olya aside, I have been alone for years, I want to be happy too :-(
Sour gapes is no excuse I am happy for Nick, he says he feel happy so good for him.
In other news I love the Paul McCartney album Paul gave me a quick play while I was in London so I bought it for my dads birthday (Monday), its so well produced and better than anything he has done for years. The new Foo Fighters album isn't half bad either.

ispCP secondary dns

I wrote this little guide on how I got secondary dns working on my isPCP box.

Cross Purposes

I realised it is somewhat excessive to have two laptops, a desktop and a spare pc. So in order to cut down the clutter and because it the oldest I have been trying to sell my Powerbook. Initially Ian wanted it but for one reason or another we never did the deal. One of Nick's Polish builders told Nick he wanted a laptop, and Nick asked me if it was still for sale. So I backed up my data deleted my profile and boxed it up. Unfortunately on arrival it turns out the whole point that it is an Apple Powerbook was lost in translation. Pre Intel Apple computers like this one use OSX and cannot run Windows natively. The lack of Windows was bad nut not fatal, what actually killed the sale was that Tomak's English is not spectacular so he wanted to turn the menus to Polish, either Apple have neglected to build a Polish language support or I could not work out how to change it.
So I returned home complete with the laptop still in its box. Nick was very nice though he bought me some Chinese food to cheer me up, which was very kind. He thinks I should try out some different careers, which is fine in principle without having the same motivations he does.

The Last Song

I have that Sunday feeling today, vague alcohol induced head ache, lethargy. I wanted to sit and play Zelda but unfortunately my dad decided it would be a good idea to light the fire so its about 100 degrees in the living room.

Upgrade

Yesterday was a long day, I had to do an upgrade at work which meant arriving early before the call centre open. So at 6.30am on Saturday morning I was sat in the office upgrading the computer systems.
The upgrade was actually other peoples work I was simply there to move it across. Unfortunately this meant when things went a little wrong (luckily not with the most important part) I didn't really know where to look. I managed to find a few work around for the short term, hopefully I will be able to get to the bottom of it Tomorrow.

House party

Andy and Emily invited Philip and my self over to there place for a house warming party. They have been living there for quiet a while now but haven't had a party yet. Phil had also been working so we arrived a little late. We also stopped off on route to pick up some beers and a house warming gift. Big Brain Training for the Wii. Shopping in Asda was bizarre none seemed to want to serve us and when I tried to use the self serve till all sorts of weird stuff happened. Phil played some Wii while chatted to Emily, K Andy, Will and others. K and Emily are about to start back at uni.
We had a long conversation about different sorts of fish we liked which was rather too adult for me.I worked my way through beer after beer, in fact judging by my head this morning I had way too many. To finish the night we had a game of poker, I only played one round I felt too drunk and tired to really try hard.
I really like their flat and its made me more sure I need to get out. I spent several hours on right move this afternoon, but It looks like I will really have to compromise or wait another year and save hard because I simply cannot afford more of what out there.

Aqueous Transmission

This evening Phil and I went to see Incubus at the MEN Arena. It was a really good gig they played a mixture of the old favorites, Drive, Mexico, and The Warmth. I enjoyed the old songs immensely.

They love to experiment many of the songs featured eclectic electronic openers and in the middle of the set they did a prog rock esq bit where all the band members played a solo section.

It was a strange gig really Bandon Boyd hardly said a thing, they were late on went straight into it played until 10 had a break then a 20 minute encore. They finished the set by playing Aqueous Transmission, it sounded amazing but the insect sound they played and left playing soon chased everyone out of the venue. Overall not the best gig I have been to but enjoyable and different.

I have been finding it hard to write recently it used to be a release I enjoyed and there are a few things mulling around my mind. Somehow though I cant really find a way to get things down onto my blog. Hopefully my mind will open up and Ill be able to write again soon.

Dexter

Phil hooked me onto a new TV series called Dexter, its a completely dark take on the police series genre. Dexter is a forensic scientist working for the Miami police department, so far so CSI. The twist is that he is also a serial killer, a serial killer who targets serial killers in no less.
Its incredibly dark from the gruesomeness of the murders and forensic detail to the morbid plot lines of the sociopathic tendencies of Dexter. If you like dark and clever series its really worth a watch.

I managed to finally get the last piece of the puzzle completed today at work, it put me in a really good mood. Afterwards I went to the gym exercised my legs and came home to watch some more Dexter.

I spent some time searching for houses on right move, over the last few days I noticed a terrace for sale on the way to work. I wondered how much it would cost to buy. I must say I was pretty surprised to see the price more than 100,000 more than I imagined. In truth there was nothing even close to my price range which I would want to live in. I guess I should aim low buy something to "get on the ladder".

The thing is I don't fancy living in some horrible poky "apartment" with a huge mortgage hanging over my head. It seems like the prices are only affordable for multiple income buyers, like couples. For a single guy like myself mortgage plus bills would leave me short.

No Surface All Feeling

Work was very hard today, the project manager was back and pushing me to the edge of sanity with meetings, reports emails and questions. Sometimes I think I would get more done if I was just left alone to get on with tasks instead of being constantly drawn into other things. I also discovered a whole portion of the system which is so badly done it should be rewritten really, if only I had the time!

My dad managed to get himself a contract, its 3 months in Derby. He has been tossing it up, annoyingly asking just about everyone in the world what he should do. Including my friends, I do wish he wouldn't talk to so many people and make his own mind up. I am however really glad he has found something, it will keep him occupied an while it might not be long term its good to keep his hand in.

This evening I went round to see Bruce. He was taking a night off from working on the house, so instead we worked on getting the DNS for ispcp fixed. I wrote some scripts for our servers, which I will tidy up and be posting soon here and on their forum.

Fake Plastic Trees

I took my mum to the garden centre this afternoon. Partly prompted by my conversation with Holly yesterday coupled with thE fact the the carnivorous plant Martin gave me a couple of years ago has come back to life. It is a bog plant, so unlike me it has greatly enjoyed the wet summer. I had thought it was at deaths door, its been stunted and never grown any fly catching cups until the last month were it has perked up immensely, spawning a cup and another on the way. Hopefully next year it will catch some of the fly's.

I also had to go to the pet section and get some more filters for the fish tank. Whilst I was there I they talked me into buying what is basically a chemistry set in order to perform all manner of tests on the water. I think I might leave it to my dad his eyes lit up when he saw all the bottles of testing fluid. I bought my mum some plant pots and an Aloe Vera plant, its not the prettiest but she seemed to like it, she is into natural cures at the moment.

This evening one of the people from Japanese class invited me round to practise and borrow a graphic novel, in return for a copy of some software. She is living on the road next to Bruce, it was really weird hearing her give me directions.

I was truly appalling at Japanese, I felt so embarrassed to be that bad. I really need to practise an awful lot more. I think it must have been greatly annoyed to her as she is a lot better practised. We chatted for a while afterwards, its interesting to hear the point of view of someone who has very different life experience, and she is certainly well travelled.

We have a conversation about some of the different nationalities behaviour, she is German. She made an interesting comment which might amuse Nekena, when I get a chance to relate it to her. Martina says she think Spanish women always look amazing, but that she dosn't ever think British people and Spanish people could work out. Her reasoning went something along the lines of "You British people drink warm tea with milk Spanish people drink warm wine, it just isn't going to work".

The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

Went for a BBQ at Jo Bergers today, I think its the first possibly the only one I will go to this year. Usually summer is bbq madness but this year the weather has been so poor this summer. Apparently Joe had a freezer full of food thanks to lack of BBQ action so he decided that as the weather should be good today it was time to use it.

Phil and I went down and dragged the Wii along, stopping on the way to pick up some beer and baps from the supermarket on route.

We arrived about an hour and a half after the first guests. Some music friend of Jo's, we had a chat with them and ate some bbq food, unfortunately they had to make tracks as they had a gig.

After they left I ate far too much meat, and had a chat with Jo and Holly. She seemed in an especially good mood, we talked about her new found love of gardening and work and life. I really enjoyed chatting to her, which was nice as Jo was busy cooking and entertaining.

I probably wont surprise you when I mention after the bbq we moved inside to play on, you've guessed it the Wii. Carlos a neighbor of Jo and Holly's brought round brain training and Tiger Woods golf. I found Tiger woods very difficult for a mess about game, more of a one player practice and improve than the Wii sports hit and hope games.

One of os friends came over and wow he must play a lot of games because he was so well practiced it was frightening. Apparently he is some sort of lawyer and they have games to chill out on in the office, wonderful I want them too!

Brain training was hilarious though, though I was feeling a little bit drunk at this point which I am sure adversely affected my play, unless I really am that stupid :S

My names John and I am a Wii addict

I am addicted, I just love the Wii. After playing in London I have had three nights of Wii this week.
Tuesday Phil and I played after Japanese class, then last night I went round to Andy and Emilie's mainly to chat and play some Wii. I arrived in the middle of the England game, Andy and Emily were in personalised England shirts. Never having been a footbal fan I found it quiet surreal.
We played a few games, I actually made up some points on golf and bowling. Phil arrived later after Akido and basically thrashed everyone at tennis. Andy got a bit stressed out by it all I think he was annoyed he didn't play very well and well he dosn't like losing either ;-)

I have even being playing Wii fitness when I venture home for lunch I find I have just enough time to get it donw before I jet back to work. I know I am probably a bit excessive at the moment bt I am sure I will calm down a little once the novelty wears off. I havent had a console this sociable since I bought my Nintendo 64 and Mario Kart our player!

Angels and Demons

Last week I received a rather cryptic email from my boss informing me that there was a management consultant coming in to assess the business. All sort of troubling thoughts were going through my head as this could easily be a byword for I am selling or downsizing. I spent part of the weekend getting rather stressed about it all.

It turns out I wasn't entirely correct in my assessment, the business might be sold but in a few years time, before which they want to grow the size to improve the return. The meeting I had was a bit strange but mostly positive so I hold out some hope for the future.

Weekend In London 3

If I felt hungover yesterday today I felt destroyed. Fortunately Paul saved us by cooking a nice big breakfast. Even though the sausages were a few days out of date they smelled OK and tasted great. With some food inside I felt much better.

I was too tired and my train was due at 15:50 so there wasn't much to do except chill out at the flat and play some more Wii. Paul was getting a bit frustrated at golf, they can be pretty competitive.

I tried to make Pippa's wireless connection more secure, by putting WPA encryption on. It seemed to work ok thought she had a little problem after I left. I felt very grateful she let me stay all weekend it was good of them both.

At 3 Paul gave me a lift to the station and within a few hours I was home again. In truth I was pretty sad to be home, it had been great to catch up with Paul and Pippa. Hopefully our paths will cross more often in the future, and maybe next time Ill get out and see something of London.

Weekend In London 2

After the late night drinking we all woke up a little late and somewhat groggy. Pippa had someone coming round to view her spare room and as we were in no mood to set off early we waited around and tried to drown our hangovers with tea and coffee.

The girl viewing the flat arrived so Pippa showed her around while Paul and I waited. She seemed a nice girl, Pippa was keen to get her back for a second "interview".

We set off to Angel in search of sustenance and excitement. Food was pretty easy to come by, we all bought these tasty Ciabatta filled with mozzarella and salami from a local delicatessens in Angel. After eating we were feeling a lot more refreshed so went for a wonder around the shops.

In truth I had rather hoped to see a bit of London but even after eating I felt a little tired. Also Paul had kind of helped talk me into buying a Nintendo Wii. I have been really enjoying playing on Andy's, and Phil's Wii and seeing one pre-owned in Game I though, "Why not?".

After a quick search around I managed to source a second controller from Woolworth's, the last one available at any shop in Angel. After a quick Frappuccino in was back to Pippa's for a few games.
We spent most of the afternoon playing Wii, joined later on by Pippa's friend Monica. She was great at the games putting us to shame but she didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. She did I think enjoy the Pizza we ordered though :)

After eating we headed out on the bus into Hoxton. A night of drinking and carousing ensued as you can see from the photos here.

Weekend In London 1

I decided that it was high time I went to visit Paul. With that in mind I got myself return tickets on a Virgin Pendolino train to London, I left pretty much straight after work just enough time to nip and grab some things. Friday was dress down day so I didn't have to change just grab a bag and jump on the train. The new high speed trains are great, it took only two and a half hours to London, the train was clean and nice and ran exactly on time. I couldn't have asked for more really. I arrived in London and after a short tube ride met Paul in Angel Islington. From there we went to Pippa flat in Dalston. Stopping along the way for a few drinks and a catch up chat in Paul's local pub. It was a nice evening to sit out and catch up, its been quiet a while since I last saw him. After much chat and a couple of drinks we headed to buy some takeaway goodness from the local Chinese. Pippa seem pleased to see us (especially loaded with food). I was impressed with her flat it is a pretty specious 2 bedroom affair in a low rise development. The area is multicultural, but pretty clan and safe from all accounts. We all ate and chatted then played Gamecube for a while before retiring to bed. Fortunately for me Pippa's lodger had recently moved out so I was able to have the spare room.

Mis-Shapes

I often think its funny how unpredictable life is. No matter how well you know people they always have the capacity to surprise or dismay you.I suppose I spend a lot of time people watching.
While I difficult to say I am surprised that Nick and Becky split up after the troubles they have had the last few months its not exactly surprising. Going back in time though it wasn't so long ago I thought they were a great match.

We went to the Rectory, and sat upstairs having a long chat with a couple of drinks. She was in a pretty good mood talking about an impending trip to Wales with Nicky. We mostly talked about other people in fact pretty much skirting around the whole break up issue until the end of the evening.

She told me that she was beginning to find out who her real friends were, I was never really that pally with any of my ex's friends so it mattered very little to me when we broke up. Added to that I have never really had that good relationships with both member of a couple who have split so I imagine there will be challenging moments ahead.

Get It Together

Just got back from another night of Wii play at the Andy and Emily'. I found it difficult to play tonight I was feeling tired and run down after work and arguing with my parents earlier.

I got really annoyed with them mostly unjustifiably sometimes people kill you with kindness, sometimes I just need to have things my way, I just really need some space to breath and at the moment I haven't got it.

To be honest it isn't just my parents who are disturbing my mood, I got a text message from Olya today. She is happy with this Russian guy, but she wants me to come and visit them. Part of me really wants to, to see her again, and some of Russia. Many more parts of me think its a god damn crazy idea. I wish I could control my emotion better really, should learn not care so much. Olya isnt the only ex flame who I have spoken to recently Maia invitied me to come see her husband and new apartment in Milan and in a real blast form the past Jenny added me on Facebook, all So complicated.

I got round to the Abito apartments about 9. The Wii was soon out, Tennis was first. Then Andy thrashed me at Golf and Emily demolished me at baseball, in fact I only managed to win one game all evening. It was fun though, in between playing I managed to get the old pc Andy used to use working.

Emily was also showing off her extremely snazzy mac book pro, I want one!

Rehab

I really should have stayed home tonight, I have been to the pub for three nights in a row, both my liver and my wallet would have thanked me.
That would have been boring though so instead myself, Ian, Bruce, Phil and Ian's Brother Jono went to the local alehouse for a few pints :) Originally I had planned to set a few website its and bobs up with Bruce, only he had some thing to do on the house and Ian tempted me with the pub in return for looking at his laptop.

Ian had come round to my house earlier so I could have a look at his laptop. In better his addiction to downloading on-line games and Ben surfing for porn there were a few less than desirable applications lurking on there. Fortunately I was able to clear it up pretty effectively.

Just as I was finishing up Bruce arrived and we headed out to the pub, picking Jono up on the way. Phil met us at the bar, just in time to get a drink in ;)

We sat outside chatting an laughing, both Ian and Jono were on top form. A few beers later and we were laughing and joking, talking about Nick and Becky, houses, business and life.

Finally the last orders bell went and it was time to get off home. Phil and Bruce cut one but Ian and I went back to Jono's for a Cup of tea. It was nice excpet for the huge spider running around his kitchen, I hate them!

I was sobering up a little by the time I got home but I have been drinking quite a lot recently I might have a break in between going to Belgum and my birthday.

A Certain Romance

An apt tine indeed to listen to whilst writing this post tonight, its a long story but I will begin in the morning.

Today has been a pretty average day mostly, I woke up ate breakfast, wrote some blogs and relaxed. Had lunch with my parents and Grandma, roast Chicken very tasty. I had arranged to go for lunch with Paul but he had to drive Emily and Matt back to London.

This afternoon I went to the gym to try in vain and work off all the Pizza and crap I ate yesterday. It wont make any difference of course, calories in are far more important than energy used, if only sigh.

This evening I went out for a drink with Phil and Nick. It was quiet pleasant sat in the pub having a few beers and a chat. Pleasant that was until Nick dropped a bombshell, he and Becky have split. Now I realise I have been through this before, but this time he seemed a lot more final about it. We talked a lot about the reasons, and while I understand them I do worry that he focusses too much on career and nothing about personal happiness. It his life and his choices though so I wont second guess other than make one choice.

What was really weird was on returning home getting a message telling me Becky had written on my Facebook wall. She finally had chance to look at the changes I made to her site. I feel slightly compromised but I would like to think I was friend with the both of them and have no quarrel with either, so its ok that I am worried about both.

Sigh life is strange I really though they were a compliment it each other, I even thought they had nice balance I would like. I suppose you cant always see what is under the surface.

Terminal Tournaments XV

Yesterday was the 15th an largest lan party held by myself Bruce and Phil under the ejected brass name. In case you missed out its a gathering of people who enjoy computer games, beer, pizza and a few laughs. We are a little community who every few months drag our PC's so we can murder each other, in game! Its usually a fun day and yesterday was no exception.

It was the highest ever turnout, though there was only one new person (somebody Berger roped in following their trip up Snowdon). The rest were returnees pretty much everyone who has ever been to an event before before. It was really good to have so many people though I was quiet tired helping to get everyone going, working the bar running the game servers and clearing up at the end.

We made a pizza order for 21 pizzas from the pizza place in Cheadle Hulme it looked pretty funny me and Phil carrying so many pizza boxes out of the place.

I think everyone had a good time, we made some money to buy new kit for next time, definitely including some new power strips. At one point due to a bit of bad planning all the power cables were plugged into each other and the wire was starting to get awfully hot! Fortunately we didn't burn the club down :)

I actually really enjoy running the events though I often find it difficult to get the time to do all the setup which is required. If we can grow the events further though it would be great to see how big we could go.

Kettles

Felt a little in a daze at work today, still tired from travelling to Surrey, it was hard to concentrate on the job in hand. A bit unfortunate really as I got handed a 60 page specification document to read through and make commentary on. I just about managed to make a start, there is going to be a lot to do.

I had planned to meet some people from Japanese class this evening. It turned out to just be myself Martina and the new Japanese classroom assistant. Martina made a Greek style salad, with sweet potatoes mash and an apple crumble desert. It was pretty tasty, though vegetarian based, I still enjoyed it.

I guess the plan was to meet and chat about Japanese, but I have been so busy / lazy recently I just haven had any time to look at my books so I felt completely self concourse with an actual Japanese native there. She seemed like a really nice girl I think she found it very hard to follow our English though, I am sure my Manchester drawl dosn't help matters.

We ended up chatting about music and the weather conversation was all a bit awkward at times. It was a nice to change to the norm though and especially nice to meet the new Japanese assistant, though I am totally afraid of starting back at class; I cant remember anything.

7 deadly sins / 7 Virtues

I am damned?

I think I have been guilty of them all this week.

Lust

I a single guy I cant help looking ;)

Gluttony

Yeah eating on the company expense account at the start of the week, well not just the start of the week I have been hungry a lot this week.

Avarice

I want to be rich trust me having no money isn't much fun.

Sloth

I haven't published a blog in ages mainly because I have been busy but also because I have been very lazy. I have hardly even made it to the gym either.

Wrath

I was SO angry with one of my colleagues I could easy have laid down my wraith,
in fact I contemplated many forms of revenge but in the end was too busy / lazy / cowardly or perhaps sensible to put them into action.

Envy

I was incredibly jealous of Lulu blog, she made her first post for months and immediately received more comments on it than mine had din its entire life. Mind you her next post was to thank me for fixing her shuffle so that made me smile.

Pride

I was ashamed to tell someone I still lied with my parents, always trying to keep up the good image.


or can I be redeemed?

Chastity

Being single its easy to be chaste

Abstinence

Hmm haven't done too well on this score I have eaten way too much this week.

Temperance

I do enjoy that beer goodness, so I guess I fall flat on my face with this one.

Diligence

Thanks to careful planning and execution my installation went like a dream score one for goodness :)

Patience

I have had moment of patients but overall I am a pretty impatient person :(

Kindness

I have given to charity and even helped out a few people

Humility

I think Im a pretty humble self deprecating guy most of the time.

So thats sins 7 Virtues 3 oh dear I am in trouble going to have to mend my ways I think!

Girls Who Play Guitars

Thought you lost me? No such luck ;-) I have been away, both from Blogging and home for a few days I have been in Farnham Surrey. I went to visit a customer down there and install a server I built for them last week. It was a 4 and a half hour drive down, taking me past Heathrow on the M25 which pretty busy at the best of times. The Tuesday morning after a bank holiday Monday should qualify as a busy time. Fortunately for me although it was busy an restricted to 50 MPH traffic was kept moving.
I arrived on-site about 10.30am which given the distance and traffic I thought was pretty good going. The server was quickly in and after a few problems with printers I was done in time for late lunch.

The hotel was set back in Frensham Ponds, it was quiet a nice drive into the complex past the various water bodies and countryside. I was greeted by rather lovely Eastern European women. The room was nice, and the hotel had a gym so I went and had a workout before dinner.

I ate dinner in the Bar rather than the restaurant on the basis I looked slightly less alone sat in a bar that at a restaurant table. It was quiet a strange experience for me sat alone in the pub. I felt pretty lonely to be honest I can understand why people who do this all the time can get depressed.

Closing Time

My favorite book of all time has to be Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Its funny and clever and poignant the characters are all wonderfully described. The situations are so realistic the description of the military machine as a lumbering beast riddled all sorts of characters, the horror and the futility of existence contrasted with friendship and enterprise. Its just a great read cover to cover, I highly recommend it especially if you like to play with language Heller is a master of paradox and satire.
I never realised until today (yes I know I can be terribly out of touch) but he actually wrote a sequel to Catch-22 called Closing Time which I am now in the process of reading.

Linux netboot

I spent today setting up a new server for one of our customers. The customer had ordered it and had it sent to us to install all their software onto. It had a couple of really annoying features, firstly it didn't come with a powercable and as the office is bereft of spare parts I had to get back in my car go home and get another cable. This was to go with the keyboard monitor and mouse I had already dragged down.
On returning I realised there was something even more worrying than the missing powercable, on the front of the unit there was a rectangle of plastic. Unfortunately rather than being the cover of the cd-rom drive I was expecting this was a blanking plate. Yes thats right I had a server with no Operating System and no cdrom.

Fortunately it is possible to install linux from a remote machine provided the target computer is a able to run a PXE (preboot execution environment) boot from your network card. So I spent the morning configuring my laptop to act as the host server and deliver the initial files via tftp.

I had planned to install Centos as its closer the the normal Red Hat advanced server we use. Unfortunately despite a lot of effort the PXE boot images didn't work. Next I tried Debian, which booted but then failed to see the network card, preventing me from continuing. Ubuntu was next like Debian this booted and the initial installed seem to be ok, then it just hung very annoying.
Finally in desperation I tried Fedora, which actually proved to be the easiest to get going only four files needed and it worked straight away. I was very shocked! Whilst I was playing about with different netboots my colleague went out and acquired a usb cd-rom. He arrived just as Fedora was installing I decided it would be quicker to installed from the cds I had already downloaded rather than pulling a distributions down from the net. So despite its superior netboot Fedora was forgotten and I put a fresh install of Centos on.

It proved to e a really slick process I was very impressed. I managed to pretty much get everything done in a few hours including installing our software. Next week I have the pleasure of delivering the server to the customer so I want to make sure its as finished as possible before I arrive onsite.

True Love Waits

Phil sent me this rather quirky though heartfelt video, its a Japanese film but on a Russian server.

Stupid Car / Bourne Ultimatum

Phil and I planned to go to do some shopping at our favorite discount shopping centre Cheshire Oaks today. Unfortunately Phil had a big of a computer meltdown at work. The atov server went into melt down so he struggled to fix it. He even asked me to come and take a look, so I missioned into Manchester. Turning into the road leading to Atov h.q. I was confronted by a line of policemen. I first I thought there had been another shooting, then behind them I saw a procession of brightly dressed people, floats, dancing and music. The Caribbean carnival of Manchester was heading straight past Phils work, I had to turn around and head in a missive circle to come in on the other side of the science park. The PA system they were using must have been huge too you could feel the bass reverberations in the air!

Phil had managed to get the systems operational by the time I arrived so instead we did the initial setup for Holly's forthcoming website the universal woman. I also set up some email bits and bats for Phil. In gratitude he offered to should me diner. I always live by the Philosophy of "if its free, its for me".

I went out with my parents for a curry last night so I managed to talk Phil into going for Chinese. Bruce joined us and we headed into China Town. I wanted to go to the place I ate for Emily's birthday but I couldn't remember which one it was so we ended up in a random Chinese. Eating our banquet the food was delicious unfortunately we were sat next to what I can only describe as a table full of yobs. They spent most of the evening talking about fighting fucking (many loud tails of night spent with prostitutes) and thieving. I was feeling pretty uncomfortable by the end of the evening, and was glad to leave. I wonder what these idiots do, do they have jobs or just steal for a living?

After the meal we decided to catch a film and headed to Parrs Wood. The new Bourne film, Bourne Ultimatum was out so we decided to see what its like. The story continues where the last film left off. Still hunted by the CIA and haunted by memories from the past Jason Bourne attempts to get back to where it all began. Starting in Russian the action moves across Europe and ends at the beginning in America. The action scenes are splendid, though the car chase dosnt live upto the mini around France in the Bourne Identity.
A couple of things struck me, at one point the CIA agents raid a bus in London guns drawn, take over the cameras at Waterloo station and gun down a British citizen, I really really hope this would not happen in reality.
I really enjoyed the film, but lack all sequels it was a little samey and the FBI dialogue became more than a little tiresome, as Bruce pointed out how many times did the order to kill on site need to be delivered!

Extreme Ways

Not entirely unusually for a Saturday morning I am feeling pretty hung over, last night was a rather random but totally fun evening.
It all started with a quiet relaxed beer after work. It has been one of the least stressful weeks recently, it was nice downing a cold beer on a Friday. I only had time for one as I had arranged to meet up with my parents at the Lai Quila.

Lai Quila is one of my favorite curry houses, or at least it was until tonight. It seems like they have changed a few things since we last visited. There are new menus, higher prices and I didn't recognise the staff either.
The meals were still tasty, but not as a tasty as I remember. Also the usual generous portion sizes were smaller especially the rice usually there is tons, not tonight though. After the disappointing showing and the rather large bill I was feeling a little deflated, so I was glad when Phil called and suggested we go out for a few drinks. Half an hour later I was back at The Rectory, only a couple of hours after I left.

Waiting to get served at the bar I saw Nick and Becky stood over then way, so Phil got the drinks and I went to check out what they were upto. It turned out they were out celebrating the Birthday of one of Becky's friends. They didnt seem to mind us joining them so we followed the group to the Bollin fee.

It was very random on walking into the place I was confronted by a load of women ressed as playboy bunnies, at first I thought I was tripping, but then I realised it was a hen night. Unfortunately that was about the most exciting group of women in there, the place seemed full guys, at least far more than the number of women there.

I was ready a little tipsy so after a few more drinks I was feeling pretty smashed, not quiet as smashed as my glass though. Phil went and bought three drinks h attempted to hand me one only he let go of a different one to which I expected and SMASH! The bouncers didnt look very impressed.

I was drunk and felt like dancing as Nick wasnt I borrowed Becky and went dancing with her. I was pretty much a drunken buffoon but it was all good fun.

Nick was heading to the V festival in the morning he kept asking me if I wanted to go. In truth I really did but the idea of going down borrowing money off him and seeing if I could get a ticket off a tout seemed a little crazy. I am pretty broke still after Turkey and having to fix up my computer so I really couldnt afford to drop a few hundred on a festival. A shame but thats life I made my choices.

Wii Mii

Just got back from a night of Wii at Andy and Emily's place. They have a rather trendy apartment in the abito building in the centre of Manchester. It is compact, yet feels deceptively spacious thanks to some clever design tricks. The ceiling is really high, there is plenty of cupboard space to hide clutter, full length windows open onto a large balcony overlooking (in their aspect) North East Manchester. There is a small balcony to sit out and enjoy the evening.

Phil and I had gone round to play some four player games on Andy's new Nintendo Wii console. I have to say it was great fun playing four player tennis, though we did have to dodge out of the way of Emily's wild swings ;) We also had a go of my favorite golf, though Emily hated it. Bowling was a great game, though Phil and I were soundly thrashed by Chief and Em.

I had a really fun evening and to be honest the Abito+ flat didnt seem cramped at all while we were flailing about. If it wasn't for the lack of parking and the fact the development would be difficult to commute to Wilmslow I would be sorely tempted. In fact the last couple of nights out in Manchester have made me seriously think about getting a apartment as a first step on the property ladder.

Bop Gun

Just been to watch sandbox, they did a really good set including some old favorites like light blue. Righni the ex guitarist turned up to watch, he said it was weird to watch someone else playing his bits. He was pretty drunk I guess he needed dutch courage to come watch. He seemed in good spirits though, he has a new bands and they *might* be supporting someone reasonably big at the Academy, good luck hope he breaks a leg.

Walking back to my car through Manchester I looked around and everywhere has become apartments. Its kind of strange to witness the transformation of places like Ancoats from Victorian warehouses to fancy apartments and offices. It makes me think about living in the city, I think it would open up a lot of exciting things to do. The only downside would be the commute to work, maybe I could ride the train?

Light my fire

Nothing much been going on since the weekend, work has been going ok, I managed to get to the gym this evening.

In the Backseat

I woke up to my alarm feeling more than a little rough; I guess that meant I drank too much! I had to vacate the B&B for 10.30 and breakfast was at 7-9am. As I paid so much for the room I made damn sure I was going to take full advantage of breakfast. Though I was feeling rough the full English that was brought out helped me to feel a little more human. After breakfast a long hot shower managed to prepare me for the long walk to the car.

Nekane had to work at the hotel, how she managed it I have no idea, but I had several hours to kill until we would meet. I carried my bag to the car it took me an hour to walk there. After dropping my bag off I spent the rest of the morning wondering around Cambridge. It is a very pretty city full of old building and houses.

I met up with Nekena at 2 and we went for lunch at one of the local pubs. She looked destroyed no wonder she had to get up for work at 7.

After lunch we took a walk down the river, then went to the Fitzwilliam Museum. I especially liked the medieval armour collection. We were also going to check out the botanical gardens but it wasn't open for long and there was an entrance fee so we decided to get a drink instead.

Walking back along the quietest road I have ever known was quiet early I was glad to reach the main road. We were joking it was like something out of a horror film. I think both of us were a little zombie like after last night drinking session.

We had a drink retrieved my car and headed to catch a film. I was heading back in the evening so didn't want too late a night and neither of us fancied drinking again. On reaching the cinema there were no films we wanted to see so instead we went bowling. Nekena had never tried it before, and I think she did pretty well for a beginner. I was my usual rubbish self barely managing a mediocre score. We both had fun though; Nekena said she was addicted by the last few frames.

We spent about another hour sat in the park chatting before I set off home. I was sad to say goodbye Nekane was a lot of fun, though Cambridge wasn't the most fun city I have ever visited, it was pretty.

I had a nightmare journey the A14 was closed for work so I had to follow a huge diversion. By the time I finally reached the M6 I spent over an hour longer than on the way there. I was feeling really tired so I had to stop off at a service station and grab a coffee. I made it home in one piece though.

She

I always think it is great to be recognised for your work, recently we have all be flat out trying to get a new system ready. Unusually the management recognised our efforts by taking everyone involved out for lunch. They took us to the new Gourmet Burger Kitchen. The restaurant is basically an up-market McDonalds, proper big thick tasty beef burgers with a variety of toppings and side orders. If you enjoy burgers this GBK definitely has appeal. I enjoyed lunch it was nice to do something social with the team.

I had booked the afternoon off because I planned to visit my net friend Nekena in Cambridge. Its a pretty long drive and I wanted to avoid the rush hour traffic. It took just over three hours to make the trip, a pretty straightforward journey until reaching Cambridge itself. I got a little lost as unfortunately my sat navigation decided it wasn't going to play ball today. Fortunately I managed eventually to find the station where I was met Nekena.

She is a Spanish girl from the Basque region, currently living and working in the UK at a hotel in Cambridge. We started chatting online about fours months ago. She is a wicked graphic designer funny and interesting so when she told me she was coming to visit the UK I definitely wanted to meet her.

Cambridge is not the most car friendly city and due to some rather bad upfront planning I couldn't stay at the place I was supposed to and so I had nowhere to park and nowhere to stay. After driving round for half an hour I finally found a street without restrictions about 15 minutes walk from the town center.

We wondered round the city for ages looking for a B&B that had vacancies, eventually nearly at the point of despair I found an completely overpriced B&B. Unfortunately we had walked right across the city which meant my car was miles away. It was getting late though so we decided to forget about it until tomorrow and go grab some dinner.

There was a nearby retail park so we went to the Nandos there. I had a Chicken pity and a salad. The Salad was great the chicken was a bit of a let down though.

Having found somewhere to stay and something to eat we were feeling much happier and set off into the town to check out a night in Cambridge. I forget the name of the first bar, it was nestled away on an ally way and bustling with people though we managed to get a seat. It was really nice sitting and chatting whilst supping Kroneburg.

We decided a change was as good as a rest and so headed out to another pub. The second one had a really good atmosphere and the music wasn't bad though the DJ was far from good at mixing. She ordered the drinks and accidentally managed to get herself Cider rather than lager. She also managed to start drinking mine, a trick she repeated later in the evening O_o

We would probably have stayed only there was no dancefoor, and Nekena really wanted to strut her stuff. The Spanish have a saying if someone dances badly, they "dance like a duck". It been a long running in joke that we both dance like ducks.

Apart from a club which had a rather steep entry and which was blearing out hip hop music the only other place with a dancefloor seemed to be Wetherspoons. Like several other wetherspoons I have visited this was cavernous and had a dancefloor and seating areas. In fact it reminded me of the huge one in Deansgate. We sat and enjoyed a few more drinks chatting away about life the universe and everything before dancing like crazy people. The bouncers got very cross because we were dancing holding our drinks so we had to take a short time out to finish them. Whist we were drinking two crazy Lithuanian guys started talking to us, one of them was a bit weird and scary, fortunately they grew bored and left pretty quickly.

By the time wetherspoons closed we both drunk and danced for quite a long time, walking back to our homes we were handed a flyer and hustled into another bar. Sat down both drunk on swivel chairs we made jokes and acted stupid. Nekena had a candle on her head. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures which was a shame as there were some priceless moments.

It took about 30 minutes to walk back to Nekena's place which mercifully was near to my own. I didn't have a key to get in and had to ring the bell and wake up the concierge. I was feeling more than a bit drunk at this point and glad to get into bed.

Where you end and I begin

Work went pretty well today, managed to get some points about my work across to the bosses about some of my recent achievements. I found one piece of work had generated an extra million pounds of business, in no small art down to my integration program. I also got invited out to a free meal with the customer on Friday.

I did a good deed for the day and gave my dad's old pc to one of the guys who comes to the lan. Its a bit buggered but he is at college so he has plenty of time to spend diagnosing the problem. Hopefully it means he will be able to attend the next lan event.

Mutations

I am obsessed. I have through my life struggled with a pretty obsessive nature, patterns organisation, the familiar are all things I like. I often try and do unfamiliar things in order to break of of habits. Like taking crazy overseas holidays and meeting new people. Unfortunately try as I might I usually revert to pattern behaviour.

At the moment I am still completely obsessed with Olya, I know I only spent a 10 days with her in another country. In my head I know I have built up a mental image beyond the reality of our meetings. The trouble is despite knowing all that I still cant stop thinking about her. I have chatted to her every couple of days, I keep revisiting the pictures from Turkey. I even rather stupidly asked her to come to Milan with me.

The trouble is while she is pretty much everything I could want, smart, sexy fun, I'm not.

One of my friends thinks I only want her because I cant have her, and in a perverse way perhaps that is true. Maybe in time I would find more about her out and realise we arn't suited I really don't know. For the time being though I just need to try and stop break out of this current habit and move on to something else. I just hope can find the strength to do it rather than just talking about it.

Its all in the mind

I havent really had much going on in the last few days so I thought I would try bloggin about an interesting article I read in the Economist. It is about the work of Dr Geoffrey Miller. He proposed an interesting hypothesis that the development of the human brain; his assertion humans brains developed rather like a peacocks tail in order for us to better appeal to partners. Increased mental abilities have more to do with sexual display than with hunting and gathering. The bones of the thesis are that men are driven to make a show of themselves.

Miller develops his argument by contrasting the differencing strategies men and women employ. Men have a higher tendency to show off they can provide more than their needs usually through conspicuous consumption.

I remember briefly reading a psychology book which belonged to one of my ex girlfriends. Fraud seemed to believe that the unconscious mind was ruled by repressed desires especially sexual ones. I suppose if the development of the brain revolved around mating it would follow the desire for sex should be pretty strong

It made me wonder though if perhaps something has gone a bit wrong though as a recent study showed Smarter Students have less sex. If you read the article many reasons are put forward as to why more intelligent people have less sex. Delaying reward to concentrate on study, and lack of desire are both citied.

Not being a psychologist I cant really say I fully understand the articles and nuances, and the arguments are fairly generalised. I can recognise some of the drivers being talked about especially the need for conspicuous consumption in order to impress.

Chopper

Spent most of today cutting a tree down outside in the sunshine. The eucalyptus tree next to my house has grown incredibly quickly from a couple of meters high to more like 15-20 meters. It took an hour to cut it down and about another hour and a half to cut the fallen branches up.

After the tree cutting exploits I had a pretty quiet evening, the only realy thing of note was a conversation with Andy Gilmore. Apparently he and Emily are back in Manchester living somewhere in the city. I am hopefully going to catch them later this week and have a look round their new pad, should be good fun.

Shine on you crazy diamond

Martin came round this evening, he had to settle up his hosting bill. It was weird really I haven't seen him in months, he has been working a lot and of course spending time with Charlotte.

He gave me the lowdown on the gathering I missed thanks to my Turkey trip. Apparently the guy I most wanted to watch Reyn Ouwehand was actually staying in the same hotel as Bruce, Martin, Endo and Phil. Apparently his set was amazing he played an instrument sampled the loop played it back then went onto the next one building up the track.

Was good to see him have to go out for a drink soon.

Stupid HTML

Today I wanted to do a really simple thing. I had a terms and conditions list which was points subdivided into sub points. It seemed a pretty simple thing to do in html, unfortunatly nesting ordered lists meant the numbering restarted so instead of 1, 2, 2.1 2.2, 2.3, 3 I had 1, 2, 1,2,3, 3. I found this article however while it provided a solutions it wasn't one I could use as its not supported in internet explorer. I ended up having lots of unordered lists with no bullet style and typing in the numbers myself :s rubbish! How come word processors have been able to do bullet lists at different levels forever but nobody thought it might be useful in html?

I might be wrong

Having a really hard time at work so much going on so much pressure to get it all ready. I was an hour late leaving today after heading in early. I find each day I have to be more combative just to keep my head above water. Worringly I am more and more sidelined on the new projects religated to picking up the pieces that remain on the old systems.

I felt way too tired to go to the gym and yet I cant get to sleep. I really need to get back into a routine, but I am finding it really hard.

Nick has spend most of the evening here searching for holidays. He promised to take Becky away so they can relax and have some fun. Only problem is its summer holidays and the bad weather has driven people abroad. He was dismayed to see the prices of short breaks now are more than weeks away a couple of months later in the year.

Tainted love

I chickened out of the gym, my back still hurts and I felt tired after work. In truth I feel tired all the time, I have trouble sleeping I am troubled by many things these days.

This evening I went round to the Brooks to watch a film. They had rented a film about the Africans contribution to the French effort during the second world war called Days Of Glory. It was an interesting take on the contribution of some of the forgotten people of the war. I guess I always think in terms of the Russian or US fronts, and maybe the French resistance but here was the Algerians and Africans fighting for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It was quiet a depressing film the French treating the brave mostly Arab solders like dirt. No wonder the Algerian separatists caused so many problems later on.

Walking back from so many thoughts were running through my mind I am having a bit of a crisis. I spoke to a friend earlier this evening and I realised what I mess of life I am making. I have wasted the last year aiming for impossible romances, crying over the improbable. I have let vised two countries in search of someone special let my hope build my mind build up too much only to be left alone and unhappy. I have allowed other important things in my life slide, and fallen into bad habits. Sometimes I don't know who I am or what I want anymore.

I think I need to step back, relax and try to forget. So tomorrow I need start, to try and change. Attempt to break out of this downwards spiral. There are good things in my life, I just need to identify the piece I like and the things I can improve. Maybe drink a little less and be a little less negative then perhaps I can be happier.

Sappy

Today was pretty boring I went swimming and spent most of the day mesing about with my pc. Ther are a heap of programs I am struggling to get working under Vista.

Had a very uncomfortable evening tonight, I think it part of the "joy" of buying a house makes you miserable. I met up with Bruce and Nina at the Hesketh Tavern, they were both looking tired. Nina was upset with Bruce's mother who seems to be doing a lot of work on the house, maybe taking too much responsibility. This is always a delicate balancing act this is an expensive and emotional purchase, Nina wants to feel its hers not Bruce's mothers, whilst his mum is helping Bruce out in his new home. I often get pisses off with my parents doing too much for my never mind someone else's. On the other hand she is pretty handy with a paintbrush and things probably wouldn't have moved on as far without her. Bruce just looked tired from working on the house, I dont think he appreciated being set upon. Unfortunately it was my turn next, I was planning to have two pints of normal strength beer, which I have always regarded as being under the limit. Bruce and Nina started giving me this whole lecture about units of alcohol and such, they were both adamant the limit if one pint, so I couldn't drink my second pint after that. Fortunately it was kicking out time so I dropped them off.

mmm Simpson's

Bruce and I headed to Parrs Wood last night to take in the new Simpsons movie. I love the Simpsons TV satirical full of in Jokes and references. The film continues this tradition, Lisa delivers an environmentalist lecture entitled "an irritating truth" and at one point Bart wears a black bra on his head and says in a rather mousey voice, "I am the mascot for an evil corporation".

The main plot centers around environmentalism and religion. After a dark warning from grandpa Simpson, Homer does everything wrong and inadvertently causes the doom of Springfield after polluting the lake. He goes on to nearly lose his family (Bart even starts to idolise Flanders!) after moving to Alaska Homer faces some stark choices, will he be able to save his family and Springfield?

The only real criticism was the underuse and sometimes irrelevant use of all the other Simpsons characters. Monty burns, and principle Skinner had rather unfunny parts almost just to get them in. I suppose with such a wealth of material they just wanted to put as much in as possible.

I really enjoyed the film, I think they did try and take on an awful lot transferring it to the big screen. Especially whilst still working on the tv series. Some if it worked the main, there were some hilarious moments, both visual gags and dialogue driven. I especially loved the pig parodies, Harry Plopper and Spider Pig. Overall it should make you chuckle and feel good well worth a watch.