tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-203010362024-03-07T06:40:24.698+00:00Patecatl<i>I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled [poets] to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. </i> - Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC),Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-48687417290413049772007-11-23T20:58:00.000+00:002007-11-23T21:01:17.424+00:00The Holidays Are ComingYes indeed, with Christmas just around the corner, I can finally say it's starting to feel like Christmas, you may ask why. Well, that's simple, tonight for the first time I have seen the Coca Cola 'Holidays Are Coming' advert, as much as I dislike Coca Cola, I have to admit, that advert always gets me in the festive spirit. And just in case you're wondering what advert I mean, it's this one:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NRzqgmvcBzc&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NRzqgmvcBzc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-40266166722088041612007-11-08T20:56:00.000+00:002007-11-08T21:03:57.552+00:00What did you during the war Grandad?ON the <a href="http://forum.sfx.co.uk/">SFX forums</a> a thread was started in the discussions forum about what your Grandad did during the war. This has been a very interesting thread, seeing the different stories, it reminded me of a school assignment I had once, to find out what a grandparent did during the war. For this, I asked my paternal grandfather, and had a very long account of his time in the Merchant Navy, alas, my memory being what it is, I can't really remember much of it now, apart from thinking how brave he must have been to go on this practically unarmed ships under constant threat of attack from u-boats and enemy warships. How scary it must have been at times, in the dark crossing the english channel, carrying essential supplies for the war effort.<br /><br />I for one, will be remembering on Sunday at 11:00, all those who served and who serve today, all those who gave their lives defending this country and our values. I ask you to please spare a couple of minutes from your lives and pause to think of those men and women who have died for our freedom.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-46668715373151494522007-10-30T10:12:00.000+00:002007-10-30T10:19:29.971+00:00A bad week so farAt the weekend I developed a cold, and not feeling too well for most of sunday, decided to stay home from work Monday, so not really too good a start to the week.<br /><br />This morning things went from bad to complete crap. Got myself up and ready as usual, left the flat to go get my bike only to find it has been stolen. Whoever has stolen it, has had to force the wall post/securing for bikes from the wall and they've taken this along with my bike (obviously I had a good lock as they've done this instead of just breaking the lock). So yeah, a real crap morning.<br /><br />Spent some time on the phone to the police and then the insurance company, it looks as if the bike is covered, so hopefully will get something from that. As for the police, well there's probably little they can do, but will wait and see what the officer assigned my case says when they get in touch.<br /><br />In the meantime, I've printed off a flyer to put up in the lobby of the flats where we live, hopefully someone saw or heard something over the weekend. At the very least it will act as a warning to the other people that use the storage room.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-58505628509956003122007-10-23T19:55:00.000+01:002007-10-23T19:58:33.713+01:00Ubuntu Gutsy GibbonI switched to linux sometime ago, opting for the popular Ubuntu OS, version 6.10 (the 6.10 indicates year and month of release, so it October 2006) They have had a couple of updates since then, as they have a 6 month release cycle, but opted to stay with 6.10 as it worked reasonably well with my laptop, just a couple of problems, mainly to do with proprietary firmware/drivers. But with the release of 7.10 - Gutsy Gubbon, and some fancy new visuals I decided to upgrade. <br /><br />As I was still on 6.10 I couldn’t just upgrade to 7.10 using the updates manager, so I downloaded the live cd iso, burned this to disk and gave it a try. This is when the graphics failed me, for whatever reason the main desktop screen wouldn’t appear, and instead I was left with a black/blank screen, thinking this was due to my laptop being to old to run the newer os, I went back and tried to upgrade to 7.04, but for whatever reason this didn’t work. After searching round the net I found others having similar problems, and the one suggestion that worked for me, was running the install from the “Safe graphics mode” on the live cd, this worked fine and after about half an hour last night I was up and running in Ubuntu 7.10. <br /><br />Overall, it’s simply been tidied up, some smarter graphics/visual effects, and an improved way to install non-free firmware (Nvidia drivers). The first major improvement I’ve noticed is when using my 320gb external hard drive, in the older version I had to mount the drive manually using the terminal command, now with 7.10 it’s automatically detected, not only that, but 7.10 also gives me access to my Windows XP partition without me having to go through some long winded convoluted setting up (may be exaggerating there). <br /><br />So far, I’ve got to say it’s well worth the upgrade, it’s looks nice and shiny, and simply works, something that I’ve never been able to say about XP, which still gives me no end of headaches. I think this <a href="http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006217o-2000331777b,00.htm">report</a> by Rupert Goodwins on Zdnet is pretty damn good, and to quote the guy: <br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“So here's the funny thing. I've used Windows since 1.0. I've lived through the bad times of Windows/386 and ME, and the good times of NT 3.51 and 2K. I know XP if not backwards, then with a degree of familiarity that only middle-aged co-dependents can afford each other. Along the way, I've dallied with many other operating systems on many other platforms - but never with Unix and only lately with Linux. <br /><br />Then how come I'm so much more at home with Ubuntu than Vista? It boils down to one abiding impression: Ubuntu goes out of its way to get out of your way, even if it doesn't succeed all the time. Vista goes out of its way to be Vista and enforce the Vista way. You must conform regardless of the implications”</span> <br /><br />I think that about sums up Linux perfectly, it simply works, making life as easy and simple as possible.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-86582266182964829002007-10-21T19:22:00.000+01:002007-10-21T19:25:32.007+01:00London SunriseThis is one of the reasons I'm really enjoying cycling in London each day, the sunrise can be quite glorious some days.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE_oisKutKtlVcpxqQVG3wVxKHAG0AngaZVGvUuST7o1Wd06tDgnvsR6NMEsmaY0TIYJ47AMQTKVQMSW-g2t3NMLHhwOTfinVBXIbD0f_CMxs4IobIU57rRb9h95S1nha1iNs3/s1600-h/London+Bridge+Sunrise.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE_oisKutKtlVcpxqQVG3wVxKHAG0AngaZVGvUuST7o1Wd06tDgnvsR6NMEsmaY0TIYJ47AMQTKVQMSW-g2t3NMLHhwOTfinVBXIbD0f_CMxs4IobIU57rRb9h95S1nha1iNs3/s320/London+Bridge+Sunrise.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123857674946921762" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-89659665556595365142007-10-09T21:16:00.000+01:002007-10-09T21:17:22.088+01:00We have a WiiWe have our Wii. It arrived last Friday, upon arrival C phoned me at work and simply said Wiiiiiiiiiii, of course it simply didn’t click and I thought she was just being silly, as usual, but then of course when she told me it had arrived I couldn’t wait to get home set it up and try it out. Which I did in short order after we’d done our shopping. Was nice and easy to set up and nicely straightforward to connect to the internet too. Of course we only had Wii Sports, which came with the console. But personally, I quite like the sports games provided, except for Baseball and Golf. <br /><br />On Saturday we had my parents round for dinner, and decided we might as well have some fun with the Wii so had ourselves a mini bowling tournament, think even my parents enjoyed playing it, which is something as they don’t usually like “computer games”.<br /><br />I think that’s part (a big part mind) of the attraction of the Wii, it’s something anyone can play and enjoy, even those who don’t like the more traditional adventure/action/driving games. It has something for everyone, and is something of a party piece.<br /><br />Of course, I couldn’t resist buying another game other the weekend, Resident Evil 4, I simply love the Resi Evil series of games, and am loving this one too. There are a few other games I’d love to have, but they will have to go on my Christmas wish list (yes I’ve already started one of those).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-27430548749986387602007-09-12T18:32:00.001+01:002007-09-12T18:32:16.914+01:00New Toy(s)With C’s mobile phone contract up with Orange it was time for a new phone, and we found an excellent deal on Phones 4 U. A Samsung U600 18 month contract with Orange, 14 months half price line rental plus a free Nintendo Wii. So of course we ordered it, and now I’m jealous, it’s such a wonderful looking phone, so shiny and slim, I did offer to let her have my Sony K800i, but she’s having none of it.<br /><br />Well at least next month we should receive our free Wii, then I can beat her at Tennis and Bowling.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-83232215456110834842007-09-12T18:30:00.001+01:002007-09-12T18:30:52.459+01:00CyclingIn a bid to save money, and partly due to the tube strikes of last week, I’ve started cycling in London. From Fenchurch Street Station to where I work. It surprised me just how quick it is to cycle the 2.5km (didn’t know how far it was myself, but that’s what the websites say). Taking around 15mins. This is some 10mins quicker than taking the bus, and if you include the 10mins you normally have to wait for a bus as well, actually cuts a good 15-20mins off my journey times. Add to this the fact that by cycling in central London, I will be saving around £800 in travel expenses a year, and everything seems great, not only will I be saving money, I’ll be improving my overall fitness.<br /><br />However, now we come to the stumbling block, train companies do not/will not allow you take bikes on their trains during the rush hour, whilst I can understand this, surely it makes sense to have exceptions on 2 or 3 trains in the morning and evening rush hour. Though even worse is the train company I use, c2c, who make an exception in the morning rush hour, but not in the evening rush hour, that makes perfect sense, let people into London in the morning, but don’t let them home, well done people. These policies are in conflict with Transport For London and the Mayors office, both of whom are publicly trying to get more and more people to cycle, yet if they don’t consult with and put pressure on the train operators all their good work will count for nothing as no one will be able to get in or out of London during the rush hour. The only exceptions they do make are for folding bikes, but these can cost a small fortune for a decent one, and the only company that seems to make proper folding mountain/road bikes is Dahon, with prices starting from £330.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-56969533700650367092007-07-14T12:12:00.000+01:002007-07-14T12:37:28.657+01:00Celebration Europe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7lLo-Yx0Js-9vwsYTWsQosqpLJhIEWW8oXqRVUiVrTWGTJUG2uNNpVBujZwv09yfRRmoig78Y4-fO05KRxrU3UxV2BPQoCyf3deFV2c9eXhvYqo34Gpj3_mcc-N-xa6RF18_/s1600-h/Celebration+Europe+Pass.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7lLo-Yx0Js-9vwsYTWsQosqpLJhIEWW8oXqRVUiVrTWGTJUG2uNNpVBujZwv09yfRRmoig78Y4-fO05KRxrU3UxV2BPQoCyf3deFV2c9eXhvYqo34Gpj3_mcc-N-xa6RF18_/s320/Celebration+Europe+Pass.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5087009289353529282" /></a><br /><br />AS you can see from the pic yesterday we were at Celebration Europe. We arrived at about 10:45 at the Excel Centre, and just about everyone else on the train was going there as well. As we were walking from the station to the centre we saw the first signs that we were there for Star Wars, when we saw a little kid dressed in a Darth Vader outfit, as we got to the entrance there were some Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers hanging about for fans to have their pics taken with them.<br /><br />When we got inside the centre, the first sight was a model Death Star followed by a Jabba the Hutt model. To the right was the autograph hall, where they had some of the actors/puppeteers from the films. To the left was the merchandise hall and fan areas. We met up with a friend, Steven, who C has known for many years and who I know from the <a href="http://forum.sfx.co.uk/index.php">SFX forums</a>, along with some of his friends. We were all wearing T-shirts C had made for us, though mine was not SW related. We had a bit of a wander round the various stalls and the official CE merchandise area, we managed to meet back up with Steven and another of C's friends at lunch time'ish, before heading to the "One Man Star Wars Show" at 1pm.<br /> <br />We started queuing at 12:30, by which time the queue had already double backed on itself, but we managed to get in ok. The One Man Star Wars Show is basically what it says, one man, Charles Ross, re-enacting scenes from the OT. This was really good and quite funny, though some people couldn't have thought so as there was a constant stream of people leaving during the performance. All in all the show took just over an hour.<br /><br />After the show we had a bit more of a wander around the main hall looking at all the things people had for sale, as well as picking up some freebies, mainly promotional pamphlets and the like. We had a look at an exhibition of Darth Vader Helmets that had been "modified"/"painted", some of them were pretty good.<br /><br />We then had more of a wander around which allowed C to finally have her pic taken with various characters from SW, from Stormtroopers and Darth Vader to Obi Wan Kenobi. We then headed outside at about 18:00 for the official opening of CE. They had set up a big screen by the small field area, and at 18:30 the SW music started and we were introduced to Steven Sansweet, fan relations, who gave a speech about how good it was to be here in London etc, he was followed by Mark Hamil and Ian McDiarmuid who introduce Star Wars EpIV A New Hope to loud cheers and appluase. Shortly after this we decided it was time to head home and grab some much needed dinner.<br /><br />Overall it was a good day, and I'm glad we went, though the one day was more than enough for me, and I think C felt/feels the same.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-16006780081280664102007-07-12T21:26:00.000+01:002007-07-12T21:32:32.783+01:00Tomorrow - Friday 13thTomorrow on Friday 13th we go to Celebration Europe at the Excel Centre in London. For those that don't know Celebration is the big Star Wars convention held in America, and for the first time they've decided to hold one in Europe - London.<br /><br />Seeing as my GF is a big SW fan, I bought her (and myself) a ticket for Friday (though it's actually on for three days, Friday to Sunday). She's really excited about going to this, but me, I'm still not sure if I'm excited by it or not...as I said to her over dinner, I may well take moments away and just sit in a cafe having tea while she wanders around...or something, we'll see.<br /><br />The tickets themselves weren't that bad, costing approx £21 for a one day adult pass, or about £50 for a three day adult pass. There are a number of SW stars going to be in attendance, including Luke himself, Mark Hammil, though if you want his autograph it's going to cost you £85. Yes that's right £85, alas there will be more than enough people who will queue up for his autograph, personally I think it's disgusting how much they'll be charging.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-3610793250163942112007-07-11T20:07:00.000+01:002007-07-11T20:10:29.617+01:00Metallica<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXE0rwuR0xr61QpvZcVDMhBT4g-dStMuRb9J1OhKN13iC4Xb0fblGQU76AC0_T5jHr-pdbPkB3mwggvCwKsOv1W9uUsi248zulL3fTv4jbSTIdnOf9-hGfx3WZgng0hB3htn1B/s1600-h/Metallica+Ticket.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXE0rwuR0xr61QpvZcVDMhBT4g-dStMuRb9J1OhKN13iC4Xb0fblGQU76AC0_T5jHr-pdbPkB3mwggvCwKsOv1W9uUsi248zulL3fTv4jbSTIdnOf9-hGfx3WZgng0hB3htn1B/s320/Metallica+Ticket.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5086018538184690530" /></a><br /><br />On Sunday, as an early birthday present from my parents, I went to a Metallica concert at Wembley Stadium. So two first for me, first time seeing the fantastic Metallica live, and the first time at the new Wembley Stadium.<br /><br />The approach to the stadium from the underground station (Wembley Park) has been much improved, with better access to/from the station, the signs were clearly marked for the various entrances around Wembley, and I soon found myself making my way up to the third tier of Wembley to find my seat. Unfortunately this happened to be right at the back of the seating area I was in, had a short bout of dizziness when I first got there, but soon got over that.<br /><br />The concert itself started at 16:30 with the first support act, Mastadon, I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to buy any of their cd’s, that’s about all I can say for that. Then at about 17:10 came the second support act, Machine Head they came out and played a 30 minute set, again, not really a group I like and again wont be rushing out to buy any of their stuff. Just before the end of their set I decided to make use of the facilities, which surprised me by being quite clean and reasonably plentiful, decided to use the time to grab a bite to eat as well, which wasn’t cheap, paid £7 for a small portion of fish and chips and £2.20 for a medium coke, after this I made my way back to my seat and at approx 18:00 we had the main support act, HIM, and I’ve got to say they were pretty good and played for a good 40 minutes or so. But lets face it, I wasn’t there for the support acts.<br /><br />After HIM we had a loooong wait from 18:40 to about 19:30, during which time they changed the stage around. I used this time to have a wander round the stadium, and gave into temptation by buying a Metallica T-Shirt for £18. By about 19:20 fans were getting restless and some chants of Metallica started up with whistling and clapping and some Mexican waves, finally at about 19:30 the big screens came on, and they came on out to huge cheers and applause, the crowd were quite literally electrified, it was an awesome moment. They played for nearly two and half hours, with a good mix of classic and newer songs, from Master of Puppets to The Memory Remains. <br /><br />One of the highlights of the night was when Rob played his bass like the bongos, treating us all to some monster bass. This was shortly followed by The Memory Remains, with the crowd asked to join in, at one point they dimmed the stage lights and just let the crowd sing away, James and Lars looked really moved by this, with some great gestures to the crowd. It was without a doubt a great night, and Metallica were quite simply magnificent live. I decided to leave just before 22:00, and by looking around the web, seems I only missed the one song, but as I didn’t fancy my chances of making my train home with 60 odd thousand other fans pouring into the local underground stations at the same time, I thought it best to leave a little early (I wasn’t the only one mind, the guy who had been sitting next to me left at about 21:00 and didn’t re-appear).<br /><br />Seems that at the end Lars promised the new album and a new tour for 2008, so I guess I best get saving now for that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-68947214093039050522007-06-24T20:06:00.000+01:002007-06-24T20:07:15.835+01:00Natures CrySuch beauty all around<br />But so few of us truly see<br />The wonders of nature<br />Such diversity and passion<br />A variety of life<br /><br />From the feel of the wind in your face<br />To the smell of springs first bloom<br />The excitement of the young<br />When winters first snow comes<br /><br />The simple joy of watching a squirrel<br />Run across a field, or waking to the song<br />of birds. Such great tranquility surrounds us<br />But so few of us truly see.<br /><br />Then a great roar in the depth of forests<br />Natures peace so rudely disturbed<br />As JCB’s and chainsaws are brought to life<br />To wreak havoc and death to it’s splendour<br /><br />Huge plumes of smoke high in the sky<br />As our factories and homes spew forth great filth<br />Nature itself left to wonder, as the seas and oceans,<br />polluted with humanities waste<br /><br />What did she do to deserve such treatment<br />To watch as her children are killed and maimed<br />Hearing the cries of her beloved planet<br />go unanswered, as the plague of humans spreads.<br /><br />What price will we pay for this disregard<br />Already nature seems more vengeful than ever<br />With the seas rising and wreaking havoc upon humanity<br />Storms lashing the landmasses we over populate<br />Earthquakes so powerful ripping the earth from beneath our feet<br /><br />This is surely but a warning from the oldest living thing<br />Take better care of my child for she supports you too<br />Listen not to this cry, and surely we will perish<br />Then who will care about humanity?<br />The animals shall once again have their peace.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-61009861019746818722007-06-24T19:57:00.000+01:002007-06-24T19:59:22.230+01:00Deaths Eternal ChargeLurking in the shadows<br />Too afraid of the light<br />Waiting for our cry<br /><br />Watching all the world<br />Coming for us one by one<br />Taking from us our greatest prize<br /><br />Young and old<br />Rich and poor<br />None exempt from it's call<br />For always it claims it's prey<br /><br />Something to be feared?<br />Or a freedom from our chains<br />Only when it comes<br />Will we know the answers to our lives<br /><br />This is deaths eternal charge.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-32808863154376800942007-06-24T15:29:00.000+01:002007-06-24T15:34:01.975+01:00A Summers DayA break of light shining through the curtains<br />Woken by the sun of summer<br />The birds chirping and singing<br />Flowers in bloom, their scent in the air<br />Animals out playing and having fun.<br /><br />Children allowed out<br />Playing with friends<br />A purity of soul<br />An innocence we forget.<br /><br />Nice long days, weather to bask in<br />From dawn to dusk, time to enjoy<br />Relaxing by a pond, or out with friends<br />Summer is a joy for all.<br /><br />But just as quick, dark clouds form<br />A storm a summer storm<br />With rain and thunder, lightning too<br />A little cooler, the temperature dropping<br />But nice enough still, to have that BBQ.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-17879219531422434972007-06-11T22:20:00.000+01:002007-06-11T22:21:29.440+01:00My Celebrity Look A Likes<a href="http://www.myheritage.com" title="MyHeritage - share black and white photos with facial recognition technology" alt="MyHeritage - share black and white photos with facial recognition technology" target="_blank"><img src="http://storage.myheritagefiles.com/H/storage/site1/files/68/95/91/689591_47236124cbd6649ifgh631.JPG" width="500" height="574" border="0" ></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-89823105377690786662007-03-21T19:27:00.000+00:002007-03-21T19:30:13.361+00:00FaithThere’s been a lot of publicity in the UK recently about Muslim women/girls wearing veils in public places/schools. This has been due to some high profile court cases where schools have banned girls from wearing veils, and a teacher was sacked due to her wearing of a veil in a school. In both of these cases the schools argued that the wearing of a veil in a teaching environment interferes with the teaching/learning process, as the teacher (in the case of students wearing veils) is unable to tell if they are paying attention to what is being taught etc. <br /><br />Now, I fully believe that everyone is entitled to follow their own beliefs/religion whatever, but, only as long as it doesn’t break any rules/laws of this country. After all this country predominantly Christian, yet things have gone so far out of whack that it’s practically racist for us to openly admit this. It’s got to such an extent that schools are now banning traditional English celebrations in schools for things like Easter/Christmas, stopping the morning assemblies where hymns are sung, are even some councils have been following suit, all for fear of offending people of a different belief system. <br /><br />Surely, rather than trying to force their beliefs on the majority of the populace, in instances such as these they should follow the rules of this country. If they don’t like these rules then of course, they can either go to a country that is predominantly of their faith, or in the instances above find a faith school to attend rather than an ‘English state run school’ <br /><br /><br />I think this quote sums things up beautifully, and not just about this, but about the state of the world today: <span style="font-style:italic;">“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts” Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-7137951942939027202007-03-19T20:25:00.000+00:002007-03-19T20:28:18.623+00:00Job HuntI've been in my new job for about four and a half months, and I've decided it was a mistake, the work itself is ok, it's just the big boss is one very annoying twat who doesn't listen to what you say, and you have to do everything exactly as he wants it done, even if that way makes no sense and will take two or three times longer than another way.<br /><br />So yeah, I've had enough and have started looking for a new job, again. So far I've applied for 4 jobs, keeping my fingers crossed for a couple of them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-34922185722540419902007-03-19T20:24:00.000+00:002007-03-19T20:25:38.646+00:00WindsorThe Saturday before last we went to Windsor to see C’s friend Sara, and as she’s working at Windsor Castle she was able to get us complimentary tickets to go in. Now, what can I say about the castle, it was nice for a castle, but you don’t actually get to see that much of it, and even though the tickets were free, we both felt a bit disappointed by it, thank god we didn’t have to pay the £28 entry fee (£14 each).<br /><br />After the tour of the castle, and a quick walk round the gift shops, we met up with Sara and went for a lovely meal in the King and Castle along Thames Street.<br /><br />Windsor itself looked like a lovely area, with some lovely looking areas by the Thames, unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to really explore Windsor, something we’ll do next time.<br /><br />If you drive to Windsor, you should really make a day of it, and not just afternoon like we did, as finding a parking space can take a while, and a lot of the car parks are on the expensive side costing almost £10 for 5 or more hours. Fortunately we parked in the King Edward Court car park, which only cost £4 for the same amount of time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-5628487110794251182007-03-19T20:21:00.000+00:002007-03-19T20:24:17.037+00:00Down and OutA few weeks ago I was struck down with the flu virus. Now, a lot of people say they have the flu when in fact they only have a very very bad cold. But this was like nothing I’d ever had before. I had no energy for over a week, was feverish at times, going from freezing cold to burning hot in the space of milliseconds and just felt like I wanted to curl up and sleep all the time, and then there was the annoying cough.<br /><br />So yes, not a very fun time for me at all, the one bonus was, I did have to stay home from work for nine days, this let me catch up on some TV/DVD viewing.<br /><br />The annoying thing now though is that where I work, they include the weekends in the time you take off sick, so although I only missed seven days of work, by their reckoning I was off sick for 10 days, this means that I need to get a doctors certificate, for which the doctor will charge me £13 which I cannot claim back from work even though it’s because of work that I need the thing in the first place. What’s up with that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-46515679107846801502007-02-03T19:42:00.000+00:002007-02-03T19:51:34.598+00:00Vista is here...god help us allVista has arrived, after delays and a long gap from windows XP to this. What have most people got to say about it, that it's an improvement, that about sums it up, no great OS revolution, but plenty of potential problems.<br /><br />Already some people have found potential flaws with the program, that given the right circumstances your computer could actually delete files or folders without your consent or knowledge. However, perhaps even more worrying than that is this little phrase in the t&c/licence agreement...<br /><br />"this agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights".<br /><br />Simply put, this means that you will have limited control over your computer, whilst MS will be able to do pretty much as they please with YOUR system, even going so far as to remove programs that aren't properly licensed/registered. The full story of this can be read <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6319845.stm">here.</a><br /><br />Lastly, after 2011, MS will no longer offer support for XP, which means you'll either have to upgrade to Vista, or run XP with all of it's flaws and security holes. Of course you could always do the more sensible thing, and ditch Windows completely and join the growing community of Linux users.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-21910240743536925742007-01-15T22:41:00.000+00:002007-01-15T22:46:32.630+00:00New ToyKinda. My shiny new 80GB hard drive arrive today, so of course as soon as I got home and had eaten I had to install it, took all of about 5 minutes, however, installing WinXP took about 3 hours, well at least it's restricted to only 25GB, and that's just for gaming, should be enough for the few games I've got.<br /><br />The remainder of the space is for Linux, which from now on will be my main OS for everything else, it's so quick and easy to install, and the interface is very simple and straight forward, very hassle free, quite a surprise after all the crap XP has put me through in the time I've been using it, so there we have it I'm a Linux convert.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-55897496569824237182007-01-13T20:26:00.000+00:002007-01-13T20:36:56.336+00:00New ArrivalOn Tuesday 9th Jan, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, they've decided to call her Amelia. Today, we finally got to see my new niece, and she is beautiful...and small, very very small, it's amazing how fast they grow.<br /><br />Of course, for most the time we were there Amelia slept and slept some more was fed and then slept some more. C had personalized a couple of baby grows as gifts, which are very nice, and my sister liked very much.<br /><br /><br />New Arrival<br /><br />So small and innocent<br />So charming with her smiles<br />And hugs so sweet and dear<br />She'll steal your heart so gently<br />With her precious baby ways<br />For love is all around you<br />When a baby shares your days.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-4818636613097068512007-01-05T20:45:00.000+00:002007-01-05T20:53:44.274+00:00Asta la VISTA WindowsNew year, new start for my computing ways. With the imminent release of Microsoft Windows Vista, I've finally decided to install and run Linux as my main OS (Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy) and to get away from the whole MS world of computing. The install was straightforward and very painless, have so far only opted for a dual boot machine, so I do still have windows XP installed, but as soon as I've backed up all my files from Windows, I will going for the full thing.<br /><br />The only minor niggles with the installation was a lack of internet connection, due to out of date firmware on the router, a quick update of that and I was up and running on the web. Next, had to install codecs for 'non-free' encryption codes, MP3 MPEG etc, as they are not natively supported in Linux, going against the whole 'it's free' ethos. As with the install this was very very easy and painfree.<br /><br />The only thing I still need to sort out is getting the wireless connection working, this however may never work, as my laptop has a bcm4303 wireless chipset from Broadcom, and it seems as if Broadcom are just as anti-linux as MS is, there are some 'tricks' that seem to get most people up and running with this chipset, but so far I've not had that luck, I'll keep trying and plugging away though.<br /><br />All in all, Linux is just as user friendly as Windows, and I would even go as far as to easy it's an improvement, more options to control the computer than you get with Windows, a huge amount of online help/support, so far I'm impressed.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-56944353580645068312007-01-05T20:39:00.000+00:002007-01-05T20:42:09.868+00:00Godt NytaarOr Happy New Year for those who don't speak/understand danish.<br /><br />I know, tis a bit late, but you know what they say, better late than never.<br /><br />Christmas and new year are well and truly behind us now, seems like a distant dream almost. Just 359 days to go until we go through it all again, not that I'm counting down the days or anything.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20301036.post-12067688553379931082006-12-21T21:04:00.000+00:002006-12-21T21:08:55.769+00:00Poor JapaneseYou gotta feel sorry for the Japanese. It appears as if they have such a romantic impression of Paris, that when they actually get there and encounter the true Paris and Parisians, it comes as so much of a shock it can cause a psychiatric breakdown, this is apparently known as the 'Paris Syndrome' and affects a dozen or so Japanese visitors to the country each year.<br /><br />Full story <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6197921.stm">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2