I have been so busy with work recently it just seems like one thing after the next. I have been too tired to go to the gym even. Though I did manage I must say I found it difficult I was really tired I found it difficult to run and had to slow down a couple of times. Its amazing how much fatigue has on performance, I was only able to manage 45 minutes and 7KM, and that was with a couple of breaks.
I met Nina on my way in, she was telling me things at her and Bruce's house are going well its all going off on the 21st with the plastering and the kitchen arriving. I spent some time looking at some places last night. A few things caught my imagination but either don't fit my budget.
Becky came over earlier to pick up her new laptop. I managed to get her a good deal on a HP through Phil, the only snag was that is came with the new Windows Vista. I must say I like the new interface its much cleaner, less fisher price that XP. However on a laptop with 896MB of memory it was paging out over 512MB without any other applications running other than the ones that came pre-installed on the laptop. This to me suggests either HP ship bloated builds of Vista is a unbelievable memory hog. I know memory is cheap but I would have to recommend sing 2GB or more to have a good desktop experience. I also experienced a really annoying problem installing Office. I didn't realise but the laptop came pre-installed with Office 2007 trial edition. Apparently this cannot co exist with Office 2003, a host of weird errors occurred. I had to to uninstalled both versions fully, deleted mapi32.dll and reinstalled Office 2003 seemed to do the trick.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Six Days
I just walked home from Phil's house, we have enjoyed an exciting evening of Wii playing, bbq food eating and drinking.
He and I ventured to the Trafford Centre today, ostensibly to pick up Phil freshly repaired Mac Book Pro from the Apple store. We spent a while in the Apple store Phil was chatting them up as he wants some super powered Mac for some project his brother is doing. It was a glorious summer day in Manchester so I was inspired to buy a could of summery t-shirts. Also in a phase of Summer magic Phil bought one of only 4 Nintendo Wii's in the Trafford centre.
The Wii is pure genius we played the Sports game for hours on end, boxing and golf are my favourites. The graphics might not match upto the Xbox or Playstation 3 but the games and innovation is infinitely greater. Even Phil's mum joined us for a game of golf, and she even seemed to enjoy it!
In slightly unrelated news I got a tax credit today for my Standard Life shares. My £49 dividend bought another 14 shares. Unfortunately due to demand the drip shares were bought on a peak, I don't mind much though I still think it s along term (3-5) years hold. SL-.L has been one of my best purchases, up 50% from the original IPO if only all my investments performed so well, I could retire!
He and I ventured to the Trafford Centre today, ostensibly to pick up Phil freshly repaired Mac Book Pro from the Apple store. We spent a while in the Apple store Phil was chatting them up as he wants some super powered Mac for some project his brother is doing. It was a glorious summer day in Manchester so I was inspired to buy a could of summery t-shirts. Also in a phase of Summer magic Phil bought one of only 4 Nintendo Wii's in the Trafford centre.
The Wii is pure genius we played the Sports game for hours on end, boxing and golf are my favourites. The graphics might not match upto the Xbox or Playstation 3 but the games and innovation is infinitely greater. Even Phil's mum joined us for a game of golf, and she even seemed to enjoy it!
In slightly unrelated news I got a tax credit today for my Standard Life shares. My £49 dividend bought another 14 shares. Unfortunately due to demand the drip shares were bought on a peak, I don't mind much though I still think it s along term (3-5) years hold. SL-.L has been one of my best purchases, up 50% from the original IPO if only all my investments performed so well, I could retire!
Friday, June 08, 2007
Building Steam With a Grain of Salt
You know I used to celebrate the milestones that this blog reached but somehow it slipped my notice that I already surpassed the 500 post mark. Crazy really I only started this all with coercion from Lulu yet somehow I have managed to keep writing (semi) regularly whereas a lot of others have fallen at the wayside.
Thanks to all the people reading, comments are always welcome and very uplifting even if its too tell me I made mistakes. I like to think of everyday as a school day, there is just so much to learn, it find it fascinating to see what is out there. I know recently I have been a little below par, hopefully after next week work will calm down and I can start getting some more of my life back, so maybe I will have something to write about.
Work was another marathon today; it seems this week has disappeared into meeting and stress rather than productive output. I went for a drink with some guys after work, came home for some dinner then headed out with Phil. We went into Cheadle Hulme but to be honest it wasn't that much fun, we were not part of the target demographic too old for the Kings Head, too young for crowds in the Jon Mil or Governors House.
Whilst I was at home, I heard from Maia. It has been a long while, but it was nice to catch up. She was in a great mood, having just got a new job and a new place to live with her husband. I am pleased that she is enjoying her life in Italy. I had my doubt on whether it would work but I am happy to say I was proved wrong in this case.
I promised my friend Esther I would mention her on here, she is going on holiday the same time as me though to a rather more exciting destination; hope you have a great time.
Thanks to all the people reading, comments are always welcome and very uplifting even if its too tell me I made mistakes. I like to think of everyday as a school day, there is just so much to learn, it find it fascinating to see what is out there. I know recently I have been a little below par, hopefully after next week work will calm down and I can start getting some more of my life back, so maybe I will have something to write about.
Work was another marathon today; it seems this week has disappeared into meeting and stress rather than productive output. I went for a drink with some guys after work, came home for some dinner then headed out with Phil. We went into Cheadle Hulme but to be honest it wasn't that much fun, we were not part of the target demographic too old for the Kings Head, too young for crowds in the Jon Mil or Governors House.
Whilst I was at home, I heard from Maia. It has been a long while, but it was nice to catch up. She was in a great mood, having just got a new job and a new place to live with her husband. I am pleased that she is enjoying her life in Italy. I had my doubt on whether it would work but I am happy to say I was proved wrong in this case.
I promised my friend Esther I would mention her on here, she is going on holiday the same time as me though to a rather more exciting destination; hope you have a great time.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Too many meetings
Today was a real pain rather than being able to get on with things and try and make a dent in my ever increasing workload, I spent the day in meetings. Whilst I understand the need to meet up and arrange thing sometimes it seems like we just keep going of the same ground. Nobody really seems to have the will to move things forward, turn down of back out so we remain over comitted and stretched even with extra bodies working.
Also a lot of work is stacking up not getting through testing which is a real problem, work gets done stacks up and can cause issues, sometime things accidentally get transferred, causing untold problems like last week.
I also lost out on my day working on the next generation project this week thanks to another colleague getting called away to another site meaning there would be no cover.
Japanese was very difficult this evening, we had a mock test which would be set to allow any newbies onto the intermediate course next year. I think on the basis of the test we would all fail. My vocabulary is limited as I don't practice enough and only doing one lesson a week means the words are not reinforced enough for me to recall them. I am really going to have to add in a lot more revision time to make significant strides.
I had an argument with one my fellow Nihon students (who else but Martine) regarding a art. I suppose I am a bit of a Philistine in that I really don't like modern art, so Damien Hursts skull nor the graffiti inspired London 2012 logo just look like rubbish to me. I much prefer Bejing's Panda bears or a beautiful Renascence work to Sheep in formaldehyde. I guess the stupid amount of money languished on this stuff that upsets me too. Ill never forget when I read about the forty thousand pound pebble outside the Bridgewater Hall.
I went for a drink with Bruce, he has spent the last few days trekking round the country on an emergency replacement mission. His company suffer from bad planning just like most others, only its competent people like him and myself that end up having to pick up the ball after its been dropped. Sigh, at least we had a nice chat and a drink.
Also a lot of work is stacking up not getting through testing which is a real problem, work gets done stacks up and can cause issues, sometime things accidentally get transferred, causing untold problems like last week.
I also lost out on my day working on the next generation project this week thanks to another colleague getting called away to another site meaning there would be no cover.
Japanese was very difficult this evening, we had a mock test which would be set to allow any newbies onto the intermediate course next year. I think on the basis of the test we would all fail. My vocabulary is limited as I don't practice enough and only doing one lesson a week means the words are not reinforced enough for me to recall them. I am really going to have to add in a lot more revision time to make significant strides.
I had an argument with one my fellow Nihon students (who else but Martine) regarding a art. I suppose I am a bit of a Philistine in that I really don't like modern art, so Damien Hursts skull nor the graffiti inspired London 2012 logo just look like rubbish to me. I much prefer Bejing's Panda bears or a beautiful Renascence work to Sheep in formaldehyde. I guess the stupid amount of money languished on this stuff that upsets me too. Ill never forget when I read about the forty thousand pound pebble outside the Bridgewater Hall.
I went for a drink with Bruce, he has spent the last few days trekking round the country on an emergency replacement mission. His company suffer from bad planning just like most others, only its competent people like him and myself that end up having to pick up the ball after its been dropped. Sigh, at least we had a nice chat and a drink.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Run rabbit run
I felt like death this morning, once the cat woke me up I wasn't really fit for anything except sitting reading the economist. This weeks is a great issue, there is a rather interesting essay by Tony Blair. I dont really agree with his views on much but he always puts across a good argument, worth a read. There is also a 15 page section about climate change which was very interesting. Especially the discussion on the economics of some of the different types of renewable energy versus fossil fuel generation.
I left my car at Phil's last night, so after several hours reading and drinking water I finally felt able to go round and pick it up. I walked round, the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. Phil felt much like me, we had a sit and chat in the garden, taking a few photos with Phil's Brothers amazing digital SLR camera.
We got talking about Australia, and decided to go check out how much it would cost to go diving in the UK. Heading to Macclesfield and New Horizons Dive centre. We had a look at the prices, £500 for a dry suit, nearly £200 for a course on how to use a dry suit, and the pictures of the UK waters hardly looked impressive. Diving here is a lot more than in Australia.
In the evening we headed out to for a meal, to celebrate both Bruce and Philips birthdays. Jo, Holly, Endo, Jo, Bruce, Nina myself and Phil headed for a curry at the Spicy Hut in Rusholme. It was a very enjoyable evening, we had good meal, a nice chat and a few drinks afterwards. I really enjoyed the relaxed and comfortable time.
I left my car at Phil's last night, so after several hours reading and drinking water I finally felt able to go round and pick it up. I walked round, the day was beautiful, sunny and warm. Phil felt much like me, we had a sit and chat in the garden, taking a few photos with Phil's Brothers amazing digital SLR camera.
We got talking about Australia, and decided to go check out how much it would cost to go diving in the UK. Heading to Macclesfield and New Horizons Dive centre. We had a look at the prices, £500 for a dry suit, nearly £200 for a course on how to use a dry suit, and the pictures of the UK waters hardly looked impressive. Diving here is a lot more than in Australia.
In the evening we headed out to for a meal, to celebrate both Bruce and Philips birthdays. Jo, Holly, Endo, Jo, Bruce, Nina myself and Phil headed for a curry at the Spicy Hut in Rusholme. It was a very enjoyable evening, we had good meal, a nice chat and a few drinks afterwards. I really enjoyed the relaxed and comfortable time.
Long days and pleasent nights
Friday was a very up and down day. With the successful go live of a major project on Wednesday and slightly traumatic update yesterday, I was at a little bit of a loose end. It was decided that we start work on a new project, again another data transfer this time to a lender. It means I have to do yet another tedious data mapping exercise, but at least I got the project, its a step in the right direction.
The day wasn't all smooth though. There was a last minute problem with one of the systems so I had to do a last minute bit of bodging to make it work, well at least not to crash. There seems to bit a bit of politics going on over this particular system, so I just did enough for the moment.
After that I felt in need of some R&R and was invited to the pub by the customers staff. A rare treat I decided not to pass up the offer. The weather was gorgeous we sat in the beer garden of the Rectory and had a couple of pints and a chat.
Today was a big day for Phil, his 27th birthday. To celebrate we had a bbq with his parents and brother. It was really nice sat in his back garden in the sun enjoying some steaks and ribs. Phil's family were all in very good spirits, he mum was telling us about "the Major", some very funny but unrepeatable stories. He had an interesting chat up line, apparently he asked the then 19 year old Miss Hadfield "Do you Fuck?" Pretty direct eh? :D Despite being sorely tempted when drunk later, I decided (wisely I think) not to try that one.
Phil and I headed out into Didsbury for more drinks, arriving at the Slug and Lettuce we tucked into several beers, including one gratis thanks to Galaxy 102. They were doing some night there, unfortunately it did attract some rather less savory characters. There were some real chav's my "favourite" example was one young looking pregnant girl, complete with hoop earrings, a fag in one hand and an alchopop in the other!
Ian joined us about 10ish, he elected to drive as he had an event the next morning. He persuaded us to move to the Bollin Fee in Wilmslow. We arrived and started hitting the harder drinks I must admit by this stage I had been drinking since 6 and it was now nearly 12 so I was more than a little bit drunk. In fact my memory is a little hazy, I remember dancing like a fool, and acting like a tit. The I remember getting a lift home and Ian pouring me out of the car.
I feel bloody awful today but it was an enjoyable evening I think Phil had a good time which is the main thing.
The day wasn't all smooth though. There was a last minute problem with one of the systems so I had to do a last minute bit of bodging to make it work, well at least not to crash. There seems to bit a bit of politics going on over this particular system, so I just did enough for the moment.
After that I felt in need of some R&R and was invited to the pub by the customers staff. A rare treat I decided not to pass up the offer. The weather was gorgeous we sat in the beer garden of the Rectory and had a couple of pints and a chat.
Today was a big day for Phil, his 27th birthday. To celebrate we had a bbq with his parents and brother. It was really nice sat in his back garden in the sun enjoying some steaks and ribs. Phil's family were all in very good spirits, he mum was telling us about "the Major", some very funny but unrepeatable stories. He had an interesting chat up line, apparently he asked the then 19 year old Miss Hadfield "Do you Fuck?" Pretty direct eh? :D Despite being sorely tempted when drunk later, I decided (wisely I think) not to try that one.
Phil and I headed out into Didsbury for more drinks, arriving at the Slug and Lettuce we tucked into several beers, including one gratis thanks to Galaxy 102. They were doing some night there, unfortunately it did attract some rather less savory characters. There were some real chav's my "favourite" example was one young looking pregnant girl, complete with hoop earrings, a fag in one hand and an alchopop in the other!
Ian joined us about 10ish, he elected to drive as he had an event the next morning. He persuaded us to move to the Bollin Fee in Wilmslow. We arrived and started hitting the harder drinks I must admit by this stage I had been drinking since 6 and it was now nearly 12 so I was more than a little bit drunk. In fact my memory is a little hazy, I remember dancing like a fool, and acting like a tit. The I remember getting a lift home and Ian pouring me out of the car.
I feel bloody awful today but it was an enjoyable evening I think Phil had a good time which is the main thing.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Mortality
Today was an especially busy day but not for the reasons I imagined. A very long project has finally gone live, after well over six months of preperation the first applications started heading through today. To be honest unlike the lsast big project this one wasn't a mad panic at the end. In fact it hardly requred any tweaking.
Unfortunatly one totally unrelated change went pretty badly wrong, something sneaked past testing causing major issues on this month end week. I probably could have fixed it in 10 minutes but by the time the various people had said their piece distracting me it was over an hours work to sort out. In future Ill have to be a lot more careful checking if other people have worked on the same area.
Both Phil and I have had heavy days fo one reason or another so it was nice o head to the pub this evening to relax. Juilie was on and told us she is doing the race for life. I am pretty impressed, I hope she makes it. I would like to do the Manchester 10km next year but I am not sure if I will chicken out at the last moment.
After our drinks we came back to my place and looked over some old photos of us all looking younger less stressed, Phil seemed to feel old (even though he is younger than me) some of the pictures feel a lifetime away fom us now. I talk to people aboutn their wild all night sessions and I rememebr them wel but I always feel too tired these days. I have to apply myself so muchat work I just dont seem to have the energy to party so much, or myabe I am really getting older, I hope not!
Unfortunatly one totally unrelated change went pretty badly wrong, something sneaked past testing causing major issues on this month end week. I probably could have fixed it in 10 minutes but by the time the various people had said their piece distracting me it was over an hours work to sort out. In future Ill have to be a lot more careful checking if other people have worked on the same area.
Both Phil and I have had heavy days fo one reason or another so it was nice o head to the pub this evening to relax. Juilie was on and told us she is doing the race for life. I am pretty impressed, I hope she makes it. I would like to do the Manchester 10km next year but I am not sure if I will chicken out at the last moment.
After our drinks we came back to my place and looked over some old photos of us all looking younger less stressed, Phil seemed to feel old (even though he is younger than me) some of the pictures feel a lifetime away fom us now. I talk to people aboutn their wild all night sessions and I rememebr them wel but I always feel too tired these days. I have to apply myself so muchat work I just dont seem to have the energy to party so much, or myabe I am really getting older, I hope not!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Fscked website
Ian came round earlier and dropped off his rather broken pc, the hard disk is making clicking noises and isn't seen by the bios so I have a feeling there is little I can do to fix it.
He was amazed I have not been able to take the helicopter out for a spin yet, but the weather has been foul and I have been busy. I am hoping this weekend will be nicer.
I had planned to spend this evening going through www.johncooke.info/index.php and changing it to use the new styles. Unfortunately I only managed to get through a small number of pages.
I found I had an error, I had used the css attribute
He was amazed I have not been able to take the helicopter out for a spin yet, but the weather has been foul and I have been busy. I am hoping this weekend will be nicer.
I had planned to spend this evening going through www.johncooke.info/index.php and changing it to use the new styles. Unfortunately I only managed to get through a small number of pages.
I found I had an error, I had used the css attribute
height:100%;It took me a while to track the problem down (in fact my friend Nekane spotted it). For some weird reason height:100%; made the pages render incorrectly in Firefox. Removing the style completely solved fixed it so the pages render correctly in Firefox. The delay meant I was only able to update a handful of pages. I think the new style looks cleaner though if you have any comments about the new site design or anything else please post them. Bear in mind the site is still a work in progress. It is far from finished some links and pages are broken.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
28 Weeks later
I have been off the airwaves for a while recently, I had to do a lot of set up for the lan party yesterday which ate into my time. The lan went really well its the 14th one we have held under the ejected brass banner, nearly 20 people turned up which is pretty good, considering they drag themselves and computers to a tiny place in the back end of Manchester to place computers games all day.
Today I went to see Bruce's new house, its a little 3 bedroom semi in Cheadle Hulme. I was kind of shocked at the state of the place when I walked in floorboards raised, wires hanging out all over the place and the kitchen ripped out. It looked more like something Nick would preside over. The wiring was a complete mess so its mostly being ripped out and replaced, ditto the kitchen and some of the floors which had rot and wood worm.
I was supposed to be helping Bruce do some wiring of the lights, we basically spent the day ripping out the old dodgy cabling and rerunning a new upstairs light ring. I say we, but really I did very little, apart from tearing out old cabling and fitting a couple of wires, acting a gopher for Bruce's dad when he was called out to go check on an alarm at his work.
After our days work we headed to the cinema for some light relief, well not that light we chose to see the zombie fest sequel to 28 days later, 28 weeks later. The premise is 28 weeks after the infection, the "infected" are dead and the epidemic burned out. London is being repatriated by a US led Nato force. However things gone badly wrong and soon the zombies are on the march again. Personally I felt the film was slick and true to the original. However it was so contrived, why were people going back? Why if the infection spreads so fast would your emergency procedure be to heard people together into a room where the doors arn't even secure. The family connection smacked of the sort of poor George Lucas thinking that had Anakin Skywalker build C3P0. I am probably being a bit harsh though, suspend brain enjoy the gore and mindless thrills and scares ;-)
Today I went to see Bruce's new house, its a little 3 bedroom semi in Cheadle Hulme. I was kind of shocked at the state of the place when I walked in floorboards raised, wires hanging out all over the place and the kitchen ripped out. It looked more like something Nick would preside over. The wiring was a complete mess so its mostly being ripped out and replaced, ditto the kitchen and some of the floors which had rot and wood worm.
I was supposed to be helping Bruce do some wiring of the lights, we basically spent the day ripping out the old dodgy cabling and rerunning a new upstairs light ring. I say we, but really I did very little, apart from tearing out old cabling and fitting a couple of wires, acting a gopher for Bruce's dad when he was called out to go check on an alarm at his work.
After our days work we headed to the cinema for some light relief, well not that light we chose to see the zombie fest sequel to 28 days later, 28 weeks later. The premise is 28 weeks after the infection, the "infected" are dead and the epidemic burned out. London is being repatriated by a US led Nato force. However things gone badly wrong and soon the zombies are on the march again. Personally I felt the film was slick and true to the original. However it was so contrived, why were people going back? Why if the infection spreads so fast would your emergency procedure be to heard people together into a room where the doors arn't even secure. The family connection smacked of the sort of poor George Lucas thinking that had Anakin Skywalker build C3P0. I am probably being a bit harsh though, suspend brain enjoy the gore and mindless thrills and scares ;-)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Manchester 2.0?
Apparently Manchester is being recreated in the digital world of Secondlife for the big chip awards. More satirical coverage on El Reg.
Personally I think Manchester need all the advertising it can get, so many talented people are keen to leave for London and abroad its no wonder Manchester is sliding down the world city rankings by GDP. Its a real shame that the epicentre of the industrial revolution is such a nothing city these days :(
My night has been somewhat soured as some complete twa decided to use the ejectedbrass top level domain to send a load of spam out. The server has not compromised, rather someone sent out a whole heap of emails spoofing our address. Its a total ball ache and could result in us being banned by some ISP&s.
I have no idea why they picked on us, just lucky I guess! Hopefully it wont spoil any communication.
Personally I think Manchester need all the advertising it can get, so many talented people are keen to leave for London and abroad its no wonder Manchester is sliding down the world city rankings by GDP. Its a real shame that the epicentre of the industrial revolution is such a nothing city these days :(
My night has been somewhat soured as some complete twa decided to use the ejectedbrass top level domain to send a load of spam out. The server has not compromised, rather someone sent out a whole heap of emails spoofing our address. Its a total ball ache and could result in us being banned by some ISP&s.
I have no idea why they picked on us, just lucky I guess! Hopefully it wont spoil any communication.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Thin ice
I had a very busy day today. I was bombarded with stuff at work, so many projects seem to becoming due at the same time its almost ridiculous. I also really lost my cool with a colleague whom I don't feel is pulling their weight. Given he is a contractor and supposedly experienced I feel he should really be picking up a bit more of the slack.
After work was Japanese class. Our teacher was really pushing us to go over a lot of the areas we have learned. She also introduced one new particle and reintroduced a particle I (and most of the class) had basically forgotten. We can now use verbs and noun's, numbers and time so getting to be about pre school entry club level!
After class Phil and I headed into Manchester. Phil and I had planned to see the first Sandbox gig of 2007. We made it, just about. The gig was delayed thanks to a problem with the drums. Chief was looking a little stressed. Fortunately Emily was in a good mood though. She showed me the pictures from Saturday nights party. There were some very funny ones, apparently it went on for some hours after we left.
Sandbox were very good, they opened with one of my favorites a million Marlboro lights, and even played light blue, a rare treat indeed. LD the new guitarist was very good. He played very well adding a few little tweaks to the songs. They also played a rather natty new song, on first play it sounded very nice. I got a feel of arctic monkeys on the opening but then it shifted into a more Sandbox style, I good new adjunct to the repertoire
I don't know if its me being old here, but I didn't care for the Night and Day very much as a venue. I found the pa setup a little over-powering; it felt very, very loud, painfully so at time, my ears are ringing.
After work was Japanese class. Our teacher was really pushing us to go over a lot of the areas we have learned. She also introduced one new particle and reintroduced a particle I (and most of the class) had basically forgotten. We can now use verbs and noun's, numbers and time so getting to be about pre school entry club level!
After class Phil and I headed into Manchester. Phil and I had planned to see the first Sandbox gig of 2007. We made it, just about. The gig was delayed thanks to a problem with the drums. Chief was looking a little stressed. Fortunately Emily was in a good mood though. She showed me the pictures from Saturday nights party. There were some very funny ones, apparently it went on for some hours after we left.
Sandbox were very good, they opened with one of my favorites a million Marlboro lights, and even played light blue, a rare treat indeed. LD the new guitarist was very good. He played very well adding a few little tweaks to the songs. They also played a rather natty new song, on first play it sounded very nice. I got a feel of arctic monkeys on the opening but then it shifted into a more Sandbox style, I good new adjunct to the repertoire
I don't know if its me being old here, but I didn't care for the Night and Day very much as a venue. I found the pa setup a little over-powering; it felt very, very loud, painfully so at time, my ears are ringing.
Well, Well
The kettle was broken this morning, I wasn't able to get my morning caffine fix, very upsetting. I went to Argos at lunch and bought a new one, deciding the Ferrari one was a little too expensive at near £100, so I just got a quick boil Kenwood.
Whilst I was out in Argos, Phil phoned me from Aria. He went down to buy pick up some more helicopters. Martin got four, one for little Martin, a replacement for the one Phil lost and a spare. Phil asked me if I wanted one and after yesterdays fun I jumped at the chance of getting my own, hopefully I can make it last more than the last few!
Ian and Nick were impressed with the helicopter. They had ventured round as well were all going for a few quiet drinks at the thieves. They were just in time to see me playing around with before putting it on charge.
At the Thieves one of the barmaids from ages ago had returned. She was complaining that the five of us (Bruce and Phil also joined us). It was nice to have a civilised drink and chat, Ian and I swapped storied about our recent expenditure fixing our cars. My body work damage versus the failure of his wheel bearing. He also found out one of his tired is a remould, I did warn him that place in Stockport is dodgy as hell but they were just cheap enough. Personally I don't skimp on tires, they connect your car to the road and make a huge difference in performance, handling and safety, so I would never use part worn or remoulded tires because frankly its not a risk worth taking as far as I am concerned. I am me own best asset so I like to take care of me, speaking of which its bed time.
Tomorrow I am off to Japanese then watching Sandbox play at the night and day cafe. It's their first gig of 2007 and they have a surprise, so it should be a good one.
Whilst I was out in Argos, Phil phoned me from Aria. He went down to buy pick up some more helicopters. Martin got four, one for little Martin, a replacement for the one Phil lost and a spare. Phil asked me if I wanted one and after yesterdays fun I jumped at the chance of getting my own, hopefully I can make it last more than the last few!
Ian and Nick were impressed with the helicopter. They had ventured round as well were all going for a few quiet drinks at the thieves. They were just in time to see me playing around with before putting it on charge.
At the Thieves one of the barmaids from ages ago had returned. She was complaining that the five of us (Bruce and Phil also joined us). It was nice to have a civilised drink and chat, Ian and I swapped storied about our recent expenditure fixing our cars. My body work damage versus the failure of his wheel bearing. He also found out one of his tired is a remould, I did warn him that place in Stockport is dodgy as hell but they were just cheap enough. Personally I don't skimp on tires, they connect your car to the road and make a huge difference in performance, handling and safety, so I would never use part worn or remoulded tires because frankly its not a risk worth taking as far as I am concerned. I am me own best asset so I like to take care of me, speaking of which its bed time.
Tomorrow I am off to Japanese then watching Sandbox play at the night and day cafe. It's their first gig of 2007 and they have a surprise, so it should be a good one.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Airwolf
It has been an eventful weekend, Friday night Phil and I went to the Unicorn for some drinks and a chat.
Last night was Andy Gilmore's official last days of Edgeworth drive party. Nick is selling the house so the chief` is moving on. His stuff is going into storage and he is going to be a sofa surfer. He will be working part time in London coming back to Manchester for the band.
The party was fun, not as well attended as previous ones thanks to the FA cup, many people had gone out early and were already too worse for wear by the evening. Nick made a surprise entry, been a while since I have seen him come out for a few drinks. The chief and Emily were on good form, her sister drank enough for the rest of the party put together I would like her hangover the next day.
I just got back from Martins house. A few of us went out for a pub lunch to celebrate Endo's birthday. Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Martin and Charlotte, Little Martin, Adam, myself and Phil all went to the Honey Bee in Wilmslow. It was a beautiful day, we all sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the crazy cars going past. We must have seen 4 Aston martins, 2 Ferrari's, and there was a Zonda parked in the pub car park. Add to that Adam's Menaro, and Endo's Celica and it was a car fest. We all had a nice lunch and a few drinks, mostly went for the roast dinner option, the food was pretty reasonably priced and tasted nice, not quiet upto home cooking standard especially the Yorkshire puddings but tasty never the less.
After eating we headed back to Martin's house, we had plenty of new toys to test out. First was guitar hero. It is a rather quirky play station 2 game, where you attempt to play along to songs. The guitar shaped controllers have 5 keys on the neck for cords, a strum button and have tilt sensors. Its all pretty good fun, especially two player on his projector. I was pretty poor to be honest only managed to hit 70% of the notes, but it was good fun playing along to Heart Shaped Box.
Next up were the helicopters, these are plastic electric powered beast from Aria on offer for pound;15 + vat, bargin!
Now £15 dosn't buy a lot of helicopter but there are still great fun. They do need lots of open ground though they travel high and as we found out can easily get lost. Within 30 minutes we destroyed one and lost another. We went into the recreation area behind Martins house. Little Martin had lost chopper the night before after accidentally piloting it over onto the railway line. We meant to be careful, however within 5 minutes Martin managed to crash land little Martin's copper and snap its rotor. Phil had a go next; taking over the controls of Martin's copper he flew high, really high. As it got higher it moved closer to the houses, too close. Disappearing over the treeline, over the houses, road and into the next set of buildings somewhere. Martins neighbour told is he saw it fly over and took cover in the shed.
Last night was Andy Gilmore's official last days of Edgeworth drive party. Nick is selling the house so the chief` is moving on. His stuff is going into storage and he is going to be a sofa surfer. He will be working part time in London coming back to Manchester for the band.
The party was fun, not as well attended as previous ones thanks to the FA cup, many people had gone out early and were already too worse for wear by the evening. Nick made a surprise entry, been a while since I have seen him come out for a few drinks. The chief and Emily were on good form, her sister drank enough for the rest of the party put together I would like her hangover the next day.
I just got back from Martins house. A few of us went out for a pub lunch to celebrate Endo's birthday. Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Martin and Charlotte, Little Martin, Adam, myself and Phil all went to the Honey Bee in Wilmslow. It was a beautiful day, we all sat outside enjoying the sunshine and the crazy cars going past. We must have seen 4 Aston martins, 2 Ferrari's, and there was a Zonda parked in the pub car park. Add to that Adam's Menaro, and Endo's Celica and it was a car fest. We all had a nice lunch and a few drinks, mostly went for the roast dinner option, the food was pretty reasonably priced and tasted nice, not quiet upto home cooking standard especially the Yorkshire puddings but tasty never the less.
After eating we headed back to Martin's house, we had plenty of new toys to test out. First was guitar hero. It is a rather quirky play station 2 game, where you attempt to play along to songs. The guitar shaped controllers have 5 keys on the neck for cords, a strum button and have tilt sensors. Its all pretty good fun, especially two player on his projector. I was pretty poor to be honest only managed to hit 70% of the notes, but it was good fun playing along to Heart Shaped Box.
Next up were the helicopters, these are plastic electric powered beast from Aria on offer for pound;15 + vat, bargin!
Now £15 dosn't buy a lot of helicopter but there are still great fun. They do need lots of open ground though they travel high and as we found out can easily get lost. Within 30 minutes we destroyed one and lost another. We went into the recreation area behind Martins house. Little Martin had lost chopper the night before after accidentally piloting it over onto the railway line. We meant to be careful, however within 5 minutes Martin managed to crash land little Martin's copper and snap its rotor. Phil had a go next; taking over the controls of Martin's copper he flew high, really high. As it got higher it moved closer to the houses, too close. Disappearing over the treeline, over the houses, road and into the next set of buildings somewhere. Martins neighbour told is he saw it fly over and took cover in the shed.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Black Mirror
Put my car into have the dent pulled out today, and expensive mistake. I was working at the Cheadle office on my one day per week visual studio job. Thanks to the gap since the last time one I spent most of the day simply familiarising myself with the code. To be honest I felt pretty useless I seem to be falling further behind the development curve.
This evening Phil and I went to try out Kendo which is Japanese sword driven martial art. Coincidently a Japanese 6th Dan was visiting this evening so many people had turned up to view. I found it incredibly difficult to try and organise my body to move in the correct ways, especially to use my right side more exclusively. I have never been the most coordinated person and trying to use the wrong side was weird. I think I must have looked rather a state. The Japanese guy and the English Sensi were so fluid and impressive to watch they made it all look very easy, when in actual fact I found even the simple exercises very difficult.
I found them a pretty friendly bunch though a lot more welcoming than the Akido crowd, we had a drink with them aferwards and it was all very civilized.
This evening Phil and I went to try out Kendo which is Japanese sword driven martial art. Coincidently a Japanese 6th Dan was visiting this evening so many people had turned up to view. I found it incredibly difficult to try and organise my body to move in the correct ways, especially to use my right side more exclusively. I have never been the most coordinated person and trying to use the wrong side was weird. I think I must have looked rather a state. The Japanese guy and the English Sensi were so fluid and impressive to watch they made it all look very easy, when in actual fact I found even the simple exercises very difficult.
I found them a pretty friendly bunch though a lot more welcoming than the Akido crowd, we had a drink with them aferwards and it was all very civilized.
cigarettes and alcohol
Had a software update this morning, a few minor changes, thankfully it all went off without a hitch. This afternoon we had a long and tiring but potential promising meeting in the boardroom regarding some for future development. I arrived home late though after having a debrief with one of my colleagues.
Getting home late and starting early was all a it of a pain because this evening I planned to go to the Zanshin flair competition. Held at Classroom in Altrincham, it was Zanshin's way of having a little fun and generating some buzz. There were 9 contestants to start, four went into a final event, the winner got big cheque (big as in size not amount, like the charity ones).
Zanshin were running the event, so Ian and Ben looked a little stressed organising everything when I arrived. The quality of the contestants was pretty high especially the Fox (who represented Zanshin) and a guy from Southport.
I went down to the compition with Alison, she was in high spirits. I saw a few faces there but I don't know the Fridays crew very well. Shania came and said hello, she was bubbly and fun as usual trying to drag me out for more drinks in town. I guess I am getting old but I already felt tired and I find it harder to get up for work after nights out these days.
Getting home late and starting early was all a it of a pain because this evening I planned to go to the Zanshin flair competition. Held at Classroom in Altrincham, it was Zanshin's way of having a little fun and generating some buzz. There were 9 contestants to start, four went into a final event, the winner got big cheque (big as in size not amount, like the charity ones).
Zanshin were running the event, so Ian and Ben looked a little stressed organising everything when I arrived. The quality of the contestants was pretty high especially the Fox (who represented Zanshin) and a guy from Southport.
I went down to the compition with Alison, she was in high spirits. I saw a few faces there but I don't know the Fridays crew very well. Shania came and said hello, she was bubbly and fun as usual trying to drag me out for more drinks in town. I guess I am getting old but I already felt tired and I find it harder to get up for work after nights out these days.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Motley Fool gives linux thumbs up
Personal Finance website Motley Fool has a rather interesting money saving tip, use an old pc running Linux (Ubuntu).
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
In search of cheap deals
I know I only got back to the rain and greyness of Manchester last week but I am feeling like I need something to look forward to. I have been scowering a few websites looking for deals, I usually use expedia travelocity and airmiles (I used to get quiet a few airmiles with my fuel when I commuted to Accrington for work each day).
I detect that the price of online trips might have risen a little since I started using them a few years ago, however I still think the value is slightly better than travel agents. I have seen a few deals to Turkey and to Tunisia. I had some carry over holiday from last year so even with my trip to China I have still got quiet a lot of holiday left to use this year. I think I might take another trip soon and get some rest, and sun.
My big boss was up in these parts today I picked him up from another one of our customers, and we went for a coffee and a chat. He is basically very happy with my performance and told me a little of the plans for the future. He wants to employ someone else to take over my current role, and over the next few months have me train them up and slowly move to another project. I might be working on a web project we have which is all about providing information and reporting to people. This would be a pretty big increase in my responsibility and so would mean some extra cash and an expanded role. This is great from my point of view as I don't really feel there is much room to grow in my current role. Unfortunately it wasn't all positive I need to shape up my interpersonal skills more as its felt I am not very good under pressure. Personally I think this is somewhat down to experience, I am at a customers site, and I am lacking in backup as to know how to handle people as a representative, I think I have done pretty well but could do better on this score. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I can start to try to improve and connect with the customers better :)
This evening I went out for a couple of pints with Bruce, we had a chat about his house, which is going well, and course he has been on. He is currently wiring up his new pad it seems to be going well if a little slower than he expected, I still haven't seen the place I might go take a look this weekend. Apparently he has had to rip a lot out in order to get started so its going to be interesting to see. It was nice to have a relax and a drink and have a natter Bruce is always good company.
I have an upgrade to do tomorrow so I better get to bed.
I detect that the price of online trips might have risen a little since I started using them a few years ago, however I still think the value is slightly better than travel agents. I have seen a few deals to Turkey and to Tunisia. I had some carry over holiday from last year so even with my trip to China I have still got quiet a lot of holiday left to use this year. I think I might take another trip soon and get some rest, and sun.
My big boss was up in these parts today I picked him up from another one of our customers, and we went for a coffee and a chat. He is basically very happy with my performance and told me a little of the plans for the future. He wants to employ someone else to take over my current role, and over the next few months have me train them up and slowly move to another project. I might be working on a web project we have which is all about providing information and reporting to people. This would be a pretty big increase in my responsibility and so would mean some extra cash and an expanded role. This is great from my point of view as I don't really feel there is much room to grow in my current role. Unfortunately it wasn't all positive I need to shape up my interpersonal skills more as its felt I am not very good under pressure. Personally I think this is somewhat down to experience, I am at a customers site, and I am lacking in backup as to know how to handle people as a representative, I think I have done pretty well but could do better on this score. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully I can start to try to improve and connect with the customers better :)
This evening I went out for a couple of pints with Bruce, we had a chat about his house, which is going well, and course he has been on. He is currently wiring up his new pad it seems to be going well if a little slower than he expected, I still haven't seen the place I might go take a look this weekend. Apparently he has had to rip a lot out in order to get started so its going to be interesting to see. It was nice to have a relax and a drink and have a natter Bruce is always good company.
I have an upgrade to do tomorrow so I better get to bed.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Employee of the month
After last night enjoyment today was a little flat, I didn't really achieve much. Finally managed to solve a little html issue which means I can start the revamp of my website proper expect to see the "facelift version" soon.
I found out Firebug is a very powerful tool for examining webpages its a free plugin for Firefox. It is a excellent helper when examining pages.
I cleaned out the fish tank I think the heater is broken its making thing tank too hot, even on the lowest setting its running at over 30c far too high. That causes all sorts of other problems with faster growth of algae on the glass, upset fish not eating and faster decomposition of the plant matter.
I watched the film "Employee of the month" basically about a guy drifting with his life until he is inspired by the arrival of a new checkout girl at the store where he works. It had some funny parts but like Talladega nights it was a little over done with a lot of unfunny sequences and an overall message that made me squeamish. I guess maybe I identified too much with the guy drifting along not fulfilling his potential. Talking of potential I realise in order to move on I need to be able to prove my worth with the newer technology. As it dosn't look like I will be working on those projects after all I think I might have to go on some courses and get the certificate instead. I priced it up at around £3000 for the MCAD course. I just need to work out it the money is better spent on that or on some other investment. Or do I invest in myself or do I look for something to invest in like some shares?
I found out Firebug is a very powerful tool for examining webpages its a free plugin for Firefox. It is a excellent helper when examining pages.
I cleaned out the fish tank I think the heater is broken its making thing tank too hot, even on the lowest setting its running at over 30c far too high. That causes all sorts of other problems with faster growth of algae on the glass, upset fish not eating and faster decomposition of the plant matter.
I watched the film "Employee of the month" basically about a guy drifting with his life until he is inspired by the arrival of a new checkout girl at the store where he works. It had some funny parts but like Talladega nights it was a little over done with a lot of unfunny sequences and an overall message that made me squeamish. I guess maybe I identified too much with the guy drifting along not fulfilling his potential. Talking of potential I realise in order to move on I need to be able to prove my worth with the newer technology. As it dosn't look like I will be working on those projects after all I think I might have to go on some courses and get the certificate instead. I priced it up at around £3000 for the MCAD course. I just need to work out it the money is better spent on that or on some other investment. Or do I invest in myself or do I look for something to invest in like some shares?
Heavyweight Champion of the World
I finally started to feel like myself again today, I have felt so ill the last few days it great to be me again. Though I felt better I tried to keep it low key today just read and watched TV. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. I felt they whilst there were some great moments, the comedy was well timed, the film was filler. Like Back to the Future II, not quiet a great film in its own just a glue in between the first and the next film.
It pretty good that I am feeling better, as I had been asked to go for a meal tonight to celebrate Martin's birthday. Part of the lyrics from the song that inspires this post title repeat the phrase "Be like everybody else". One person who is certainly unique is Martin, who wasn't on top form tonight but he seemed to enjoy the fact we all turned out to wish him well.
The evening started with us meeting up at t the farmers arms in Poynton. Present were Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Simon, Adam, Steph, Bruce, Nina, Phil and myself. The event was supposed to be a surprise, though I am not sure how surprised Martin was to see us there when he turned up with Charlotte.
We headed off for a meal at the nearby Italian restaurant the Tarantella. The group had grown from the original booking so we had to wait a little while to get a big table despite the booking. Once we got sat down it seemed like everyone was having a birthday, the lights dimming and the birthday song played for each one. Martin and Steph (we found out its her birthday tomorrow too) got theirs when we ordered desert. Cheesecakes with sparklers!
I had garlic bread to start and a seafood Spaghetti, my food was very tasty and I from what I could tell everyone enjoyed theirs, it is a slighty more expensive place so its a good job it tastes nice. We chatted, I bored people with my Shanghai stories, Adam Martin and Simon swapped work and technology stories, Philip talked about Japan and Martial arts. I felt a little tired towards the end even the coffee hardly picked me up I guess I am still a little sick.
I got home and found an album I just bought from ITunes was already in my collection on another pc! Oh well I guess its better I gave the artists some money.
It pretty good that I am feeling better, as I had been asked to go for a meal tonight to celebrate Martin's birthday. Part of the lyrics from the song that inspires this post title repeat the phrase "Be like everybody else". One person who is certainly unique is Martin, who wasn't on top form tonight but he seemed to enjoy the fact we all turned out to wish him well.
The evening started with us meeting up at t the farmers arms in Poynton. Present were Endo, his girlfriend Jo, Simon, Adam, Steph, Bruce, Nina, Phil and myself. The event was supposed to be a surprise, though I am not sure how surprised Martin was to see us there when he turned up with Charlotte.
We headed off for a meal at the nearby Italian restaurant the Tarantella. The group had grown from the original booking so we had to wait a little while to get a big table despite the booking. Once we got sat down it seemed like everyone was having a birthday, the lights dimming and the birthday song played for each one. Martin and Steph (we found out its her birthday tomorrow too) got theirs when we ordered desert. Cheesecakes with sparklers!
I had garlic bread to start and a seafood Spaghetti, my food was very tasty and I from what I could tell everyone enjoyed theirs, it is a slighty more expensive place so its a good job it tastes nice. We chatted, I bored people with my Shanghai stories, Adam Martin and Simon swapped work and technology stories, Philip talked about Japan and Martial arts. I felt a little tired towards the end even the coffee hardly picked me up I guess I am still a little sick.
I got home and found an album I just bought from ITunes was already in my collection on another pc! Oh well I guess its better I gave the artists some money.
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