"You should have a blog" they said...

Don't be a sheep be a fox

2005-07-08T16:25:00.000+01:00

A Poem from www.spreadfirefox.com

Don't be a sheep be a fox.

Sheep are fluffy white things that look like clouds.

Foxes are things that are slim: chased by hounds.

To be a sheep is to follow the crowd,

Whereas, the flame red fox just flits around; proud.

In to nets the explored sheep's wool goes,

Blue are the letters to be patched - or sewed.

Think of it laterally my friend the fox does all

That work without a hitch or a stitch.

As the opera starts, out come the crowds,

A singer who is big and round.

Not like our fox who just flits around,

From the fire she comes – standing out from the crowd.

Prehistoric, the lynx with roots – good, and just,

No one questions your might, not the fox, not

Tonight. Your quarry is not that of the fox,

We salute you oh hunter of words in a box.

Old safaris are banned, new safaris are born;

Tourists look on. No sheep to be found,

As they browse around – what's that they see

Flitting around? A lynx? No, not an explorer,

Navigator or hound.

Their vision is just flitting around, as they watch

This fox outsmart the crowd.

Their eyes stop as the net burns through

There is no singer left to sing a tune,

The fox takes flight and burns right through.

Important Update!!!

2005-06-25T22:19:00.000+01:00

Word on the street is that you can now post pictures directly to your blogger blog. Google (who own blogger) have given us 300MB of storage space to use to store our JPGs, GIFs, PNGs, TIFs or BMPs.

So....whats new?

Not a lot

Firefox is still great, Google is still great. Microsoft is evil.

Im getting my rowing machine tomorrow. Im getting it for £40 cheaper than the price mentioned, coz im cool. Dave's also coming tomorrow.

Well that's all for now folks, take care of yourselves, and each other

in other news.....

2005-04-28T13:41:00.000+01:00

Toadologists are awaiting with eager anticipation the identification of the cause of the exploding German toad

Guess the google

2005-04-24T03:15:00.000+01:00

Guess the keyword used to the images from google image search.

Its fun...... for at least a few minutes!

Guess the google

DRM (A whole other story)

2005-04-23T10:13:00.000+01:00

This post started as a comment but got to big to be a comment, now its a post.

Digital Rights Management.

Technology to control what you can do with a peice of media (audio video etc) once you have bought it.

For example, how many of your computers can you play the track on, how many people can it be streamed to on a network, how many times can you burn it to a CD. That sort of thing.

It is claimed that DRM is there to prevent piracy. Ironically, it is actually keepy piracy alive, as people expect to be able to do what they like with things once they buy them, and so are more likely to get an illegal copy which doesnt place any restrictions on them.

Most people dont object to paying 60p to £1 for a track. But many wont do this due to the fact they feel like they dont own the music they have bought as their computer can stop them doing certain things with it.

On the face of it Apples fairplay DRM doesnt look overly restrictive.

But their system has it's flaws. If one of your computers is authorised for playback, and something happens to prevent you de-authorising it (e.g. unrecoverable disk crash, computer gets stolen), that is one less computer you can play back media on. An extreme example maybe.

What's more concerning is when you pay for music with certain digital rights attached and then Apple takes some of those rights away from you. Feels a little illegal to me but im sure they've got themselves covered in the small print.

If apple can do this once, what's to stop them doing it again?

If you do use iTunes and are have concerns over DRM then help is at hand in the form of software that allows you to buy music from the iTunes Music Store without DRM stuff attached.

Pymusique (non windows)

SharpMusique (windows)

The latest reason to buy an ipod*

2005-04-21T20:50:00.000+01:00

Is there no end of ways you can adapt your ipod to do cool stuff?

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/04/diy_ipod_sock_p.html

*There are also reasons not to buy an ipod. For example DRM, but thats a whole other story

it's s a very very......Mad World

2005-04-18T06:32:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4454285.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4454485.stm

Dont you think?

Now thats what I call Infotainment!

2005-04-16T12:46:00.000+01:00

Watch this!

A Masterpeice

2005-04-04T00:34:00.000+01:00

Orcs dont use it.....Orcs dont know it!

ATTESTING MARKET BELIEF (6,4,5,6)

2005-01-08T11:07:00.000Z

I had no idea I was going to post this regularly, wondering if I should be anagramming every post or not, hmmmmm......anyways, if the post title is an anagram then I decided yes....

So yeah....

Do you shop at sainsburys?

Whats your opinion of the customer service levels?

Due to the intense competition between supermarkets, one of the main points on which they sell themselves (aside from price) is their level of customer service.

Recently this small document came into my possesion. It didn't mention anywhere that it was not to be reproduced on the internet, and so I have reproduced it on the internet (in the interests of public service). You may want to/be able to magnify it when it loads.

Basically one particular branch has failed its M.C.M test (yes thats right, Mystery Customer Measure).

This document outlines exactly what level of customer service staff are "Contracted" to provide states that anyone who doesn't fulfill all the criteria..."will be in breach of contract and this could result in disciplinary action being taken for poor work performance".

So, anyway, now you know what to expect in your interactions with Sainsburys Staff.

By the way, I really dont like the use of the work "Colleagues" in this document, i.e. "Checkout Colleagues" and "Shop Floor Colleagues". Dont know why....

I think my favourite requirement is:

"Interact with the customer of where appropriate have a friendly conversation".

Where appropriate?!?

Brilliant!

Important Customer Services Manager Guy: "I noticed you did'nt have a friendly conversation with that customer you just served and now I have to take disciplinary action....".

Underpaid Checkout Colleague: "Yes I know I didnt, it wasn't appropriate in that instance"

ICSMG: "Well I've been keeping my eye on you all morning and you havent had a friendly converstaion with a single customer yet..."

UCC: "Yes I know, thats because none of them have been appropriate yet"

etc....

I know im dreaming (and ranting) but I would love you see that situation come up in an unfair dismissal court case, Lawyers arguing over what is meant by Interact, Friendly Conversation and Appropriate.

Anyway thats probably enough (too much?) about that. Take care until the next installment of "Welcome to my brain".

By the way, some guy built a working computer case out of Lego, I know Des will apprciate this. I also predict Des will already know about this!

hmmmmm, anagram you say........ok!

you could also have BREAKFAST MEETING TITLE

DANG SWIFT TUNE (8,5)

2005-01-07T18:10:00.000Z

Just read Des's latest post pointing to this ebay auction. I felt I just had to link to it as well, I found this quite hilarious.

This auction listing has embedded music. Now I know this is normally bad news for websites, but I strongly recommend having your speakers on for this as it really helped to make the experience for me.

If I had to describe this auction listing experience as a jouney using only 4 words it would be:

silly -> surreal -> crazy -> hilarious

I left the web page open and the music is still playing now! Im finding it very mood lifting.

A stranger

LEECHER PROGENY POET 2 (4,1,4,10)

2005-01-06T20:41:00.000Z

A long interview with Bram Cohen, Creator of Bittorrent.

I apologize for the quality of my posts of late, but I think that this link posing is preferable to only posting once every couple of months.

Apologies to anyone who was still working on the anagram when I gave the solution away, this time there will be 24 hours (ish) notice.

To help you on your way and in case you hadnt noticed, the anagram solution will be somewhat related to the content of the post. I admit the last one was a little weak in that respect, but I think you will agree that I need to keep you all on your toes.

"hmmmm, there seems to be a 2 in that anagram, cant be that many phrases with 2 in it....."

A Stranger

SOMNIFEROUSLY OK

2005-01-04T15:59:00.000Z

Nice Pizza Technology

Dear Internet Explorer

Right, Have to go now, I'm doing something important.

As usual, an imaginary prize to whoever gets the anagram (4,5,3,3).

A Stranger

Hi from Birmingham

2004-12-28T03:47:00.000Z

Hello all

Couple of links for you

Some useful tips for using Internet Forums (nicely done)

and also...

An amazing glimpse into the past looking at the future. If there is one thing we should all have learnt by now is dont try to predict "what computers will be like in the future".

This is 1954 looking towards 2004...........

Ok, nevermind, just found its a hoax picure (sigh), but since Ive written this already. ill leave the link here just in case you would prefer to think it is real.

Fake Computer of the future

Right, hope to post again soon. I may not be here as often as I would like but it doesnt mean Im not thinking of you all.

A Stranger

Another post!

2004-12-08T01:38:00.000Z

Ever feel like you dont do too badly in your life and feel that it would be nice to give a little something back to the world?

Well aside from all the EcommerceInterwebternetBlogForumGooglingFilesharing out there, some brainbox (or 2) came up with a pretty spectacular idea.

I've heard of this sort of thing before and thought to myself...hmm yes, that sounds like an amazing idea, I'll have to get involved with that, after all I wont cost me anything and I get to help out in a small way.

But did I do anything about it?

Of course the other attractive thing about it is it puts to good use what would otherwise just be wasted. Since we have the power we should be using it, right?

And aside from the above points, just thinking of the colourful rotating structures!

Its a great feeling to be part of such a large team, donating what we have but don't even need, to contribute towards hopefully making a better world.

Im glad to say I have *now* done something about it and downloaded it.

Hope you all do the same, once you run the installer it will ask you to register a few details, all harmless. Then you just let it run and wait for the warm feelings to come.

By the way, its a screensaver that whilst running uses your spare computing power that you are not using to analyse protien structures in order to understand human deseases better in the hope of understanding the best way to approach finding cures.

Anyways....

keep holding it down and keeping it real people

Abitrary Ttle (is that how you spell it?)

2004-11-30T02:38:00.000Z

ok almost 22 comments....I'll post

Mainly due to the fact I wanted to share some links that you have probably already seen but may not have and I needed to make sure you all did. Some are taken from the blogs of the people who will then go on to read this post. For all concerned, just think of it as me ensuring that the links you found are visited by enough people, ok?

http://www.whatacrappypresent.com/

This is by a group called Downhill Battle

Just happened upon it all accidental like. I had seen the Downhill Battle site before but this made me laugh. If you go there then they have some interesting posters/sticker type things on their site that promote downloading and sharing of music, that are quite.....interesting.

next......

www.cyphic.net/zoomquilt/zoom.htm

This link was found by Des. Some describing words would be amazing, beautiful, cool and wow. By the way, if you don't already read Des's blog then you should, often are the times I burst out laughing reading of his struggle to be a Computer Geek living amongst the normals. It probably helps that I know the people involved. Des, we salute you.

Moving swiftly on we come to...

Makle Love Not Spam

Read about this on BBC news, and then Daves Blog. Basically Lycos have released a screensaver that whilst active will send data request to known spam sites in order to increase the load on their servers and therefore slow them down in their mission to spam us all. Many an ethical debate has sprung up over this, but for the time being I'm joining the good fight. Thats the interesting thing about the internet, its potential for communicating to and mobilising people of a similar standpoint to act together for a cause. The reason (well one of them) that it works is that the common cause can be furthered by people sitting in a chair and clicking in the right places. Now thats activism!

Ok, thats all for now.

I cant say for sure whether I will post more regularly but I think approaching my blog from the standpoint of link sharing, helps me to be bothered.

But like my man Chuck D said, "What a brother know?"

A Stranger

It's ok.....Im here now

2004-10-04T19:20:00.000+01:00

Sigh...

Look people* .....Just because I stop blogging, doesnt mean you all have to copy me and stop blogging too ya know.

I realise that i am seen as something of a leader and major trend setter and that you would all like to follow my example, but if you do that there would be 2 less intersting and entertaining blogs out there.

Dont be intimidated by blogging, you were doing fine.

You just need to think for yourselves. You're all different..

" WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT

Im not"

Posts needn't be long or complicated (unless you want them to be), just a few notes on how your day went, 1 or 2 humours/intersting links, a few meaningful observations, ya know just something to get people to think and maybe leave comments. You never know.....maybe one day you could get as many comments as me!! You gotta believe!

Anyway, Heres some pointers to get you back in the saddle,

Person 1, I think you forgot to put the "turn music off" button on your blog, as while your compositions are undoubtably great works of art/they sometimes sound strange when played at the same time as the music I am listening to at the time and so far my music has always won the turn off face off. Yes, TOFU.

Person 2, I think that your blog background colour should be a bit...non white, nothing drastic...just my opinion.

So in closing....dont worry about it, no-ones gonna judge you, just be yourslelves and let it flow like water from a hosepipe when you turn the taps on :)

So long and thanks for all the comments

A Stranger

Please note all spelling and grammar mistakes in this post are intended, no need to write in. Comments that disagree from my point of view may be deleted or derided. This does not afffect your statutory rights

* who have recently stopped blogging

even more recognition!!!

2004-08-20T21:15:00.000+01:00

If you go to yahoo (uk site) and search for aerobie. im the first link!!!!!!

If you do a world search im Number 3!!!!! (First link in English, so kinda number 1 still)

Anyway thats it for now

A Stranger

A Stranger!!!!!!

2004-08-20T19:56:00.000+01:00

This post is a reply to Angel Bear Kiss who has left a couple of comments on earlier posts:

Hi there Angel Bear Kiss (cool name by the way)

I’m very pleased that you stumbled upon my blog and enjoyed it, I really don’t expect anyone to see it apart from a few people that I know!

<>You had some questions:

“Might I ask where you are from?? Never heard of some of the things you are saying (ie hoover instead of vaccum)”

I am originally from London UK but now in the Midlands UK, maybe soon to be going back to London UK.

<>
So I guess you don’t have Hoovers over there. Let me explain. Hoover is a very well known (over here) brand of vaccum, and the name has become synonymous with the product, so that if someone says hoover, they are talking about a vacuum (or vacuum cleaner, if you will) which may or may not be manufactured by Hoover.

It’s a bit like Sony’s Walkman. Sony trademarked the word Walkman, so only Sony Personal Cassette Recorders are actually called Walkmans but more or less everyone says Walkman meaning Personal Cassette Recorder of any brand (well they do here anyway). Hope this has cleared that up (pun somewhat intended).

”And oh, by the way, if you don't mind the traffic, I would like to link your blog to mine for all the others out there that need laughs too!”

Ok, more of a statement than a question, I will answer it none the less. YES PLEASE….WOO-HOO!!!! Someone actually wants to link to my blog that doesn’t already know me! I’ll do a link to yours as well!

Makes the whole blogging thing worthwhile!

Anyway…..Please to meet you, and see you again soon

If my blog was a living being it would have dumped me

2004-08-16T20:59:00.000+01:00

for a lack of commitment, that is.

So here we go again, I'll tell all the people that know me stuff that happened to me that they already know because the stuff happened ages ago but I couldn't be bothered to blog it, OK!

So guess what!! I got locked out of my house for 2.5 days. Shall I tell you what happened? (shhhhhh, pretend you dont already know)

So Saturday morning right....no not this saturday, last saturday.....I left the house to go somewhere, hold on let me remember where................nope, cant remember.

Anyway, I stepped out the front door, felt around for my bus pass as I normally do, and discovered it wasn't there. Thought to myself, "Thats not like me to leave my bus pass behind, I'll just go back and get it".

Turned back and walked towards the house and felt around my pocket for my keys as I normally do, and discovered they weren't there. Thought to myself, "Thats not like me to lock myself out of my house, with no bus/train/metro pass, miles away from anybody that I know".

Ok, I'll be honest, thats not what I thought, what I actually thought would be difficult to put into words, it was like a hailstorm of negative emotions starting with disbelief/denail moving onto anger/sadness and finishing up with stress/self loathing.

The silver lining here was that amongst the things that I had left the house with were:

Ipod
Wallet (including cards)
Phone

As I tried to console myself with the silver lining, i knew there was only one thing for it......I had to call super-paul who promptly offered to come and pick me up in super-car. (He's nice like that).

As I remember, I spent the rest of the day at Paul and Brians and went to Daves the next day. If my memory serves me correcty, I went out on Sunday for a spot of "Aerobie in the Park" with Paul, Dave, Philmo and Fincho. Goes without saying that a good time was had by all, it was perfect aerobie conditions, low to no wind, with suuny weather causing random warm air-lifts which cause the Aerobie to have unexpected (yet wonderful) altitude jolts.

On Monday I had to go to work dressed entirely in Daves clothes (i.e. a LloydsTSB uniform). Although I could see the funny side (as could Jaz), I did feel kinda uncomfortable and alien.

During the day, I was trying to think of ways around the locking out problem that didnt involve:

Calling out a locksmith and paying him lots of money (Do you get female locksmiths?)
Smashing a window and called out a glazier (is that how its spelt?)

Although smashing a window is always an attractive option, I knew that the satisfaction would be short lived. (Thanks for the suggestion anyway, Des)

I started thinking along more sensible lines, like, are any windows open.....the answer being..."dunno", so I called super-paul, and asked if he would mind driving round to my house (in the super-car) to check if any windows were open or if any looked openable, he promptly obliged, (he's nice like that). He reported back that the latches on some of the upstairs windows were pointing upwards, which meant that with a bit of leverage, they should be able to be pulled open.

Right I thought...I need a ladder, after much thinking and deliberation, I called my old Landlord (The Harry), to ask about whether he would be willing to come out with his big ladder, (for a small fee of course), he said that he would and he did (for a big fee, of course).

So of we went in his new van, ladder strapped to roof. (are you excited!?!?!)

When we got to mine, I looked straight up at the window and let out an internal depressed and silent scream. Although I could see latches sticking up (good), it now occured to me that each window had 2 latches, both of which needed to be up in order for the windows to be openable. For each window (of which there were 3), there was only one latch up, which meant by deduction that for each window there was also one latch down (bad).

I thought to myself, "Great, thats £x completely wasted since we wont be able to get in", but Harry was not deterred and said something like, "well, now we're here lets have a look", and unstrapped his ladder and leant it up against my house, he went up the ladder like someone who had been up many ladders in his time, and approached the first of the 3 windows and I looked on, trying to think positively, he got to the window, gave it a yank, and it just came open.....

No......I couldn't believe it either. The down latch must have been just up enough that when he yanked on the window it freed itself. To see that window open just felt miraculous to me, I was so excited about getting back into the house after all that time, and for less money that I thought it was gonna cost me as well.

Well, folks that was almost exactly one week ago to the hour, and already it seems like a distant memory (like the rest of my life).

I'll let you come to your own conclusions about the moral of this story, but if you're really stuck, I'll start you off with a few themes.

Doing things slower can save time
You'll always be alright with good friends
Solutions exist if you think long enough.

Buy the way, if you are interested in hearing the soundtrack to this ordeal, it can be found here
It's called "Locked Out Me House" and it's a little instrumental written by Dave. I feel it captures something of the my state of mind once I had got to the acceptance stage on Sunday Night.

It should stream fine, but if not you may need to start it again.

Right thats it for now.......

Maybe soon I'll tell you about the time we went down to Des and Lauras to suprise Laura on her 25th Birthday, yes thats right, this blog is going non-chronological,

byeeeeeee

A Stranger

Im feeling a bit freaked out

2004-08-02T23:33:00.000+01:00

I was justing doing a spot of late night cooking in the kitchen, when...from somewhere...i hear a muffled glass smash explosion.

hmmmmmm....I think.....dont like the sound of that, explosions are generally only good when you intend them (or in someone elses house).

Upon investigation, I find that the light bulb in my computer room (the one im in now), exploded into a million bits and flew out of the socket directly downwards onto my computer chair and surrounding carpet area. Have you worked out why i feeling a little freaked?

Its kinda humid today hence i have no top on right now (ok, ladies, stay calm). If I had of been sitting here at the time (Im almost always sitting here, if Im in and not asleep), then I would have had an unexpected shower of boiling hot broken sharp glass on my head/face (including eyes) and back.

I only put that bulb in yesterday. Now i feel unsure about ever putting another bulb in. Its not that im being overdramatic...(overdramatic????? Moi???). Its just that...Will I ever be able to relax whilst using the computer, if in the back of my mind, I'm thinking.....anytime now, here comes the boiling sharp glass....

You see?

I also don't appreciate this problem at this time of night. I've had to move my cooking off the hot ring, i've had to sweep up with dutpan and brush (in the dark, of course (no light), and now im gonna have to hoover because some of the pieces are so small that I just know that I've left loads in the carpet. All this is on top of the fact that i havent started to hang my washing on the radiators.

sigh.

Anyway could be worse i suppose, at least im not lying unconsious on my own in the house, with bits of glass sticking out of me.

Right, wheres that hoover

So bad we left it in the park

2004-08-02T18:35:00.000+01:00

Recently Dave purchased an Aerobie Superdisc Ultra, to accompany the Aerobie pro (13 inch). I felt quite excited by this as it boasts flight stability as one of its main selling points. Whilst we all (rightly) adore the pro for its grace, medium distance stability and comfortable to throw and catch lightweight futuristic body design, it has been known (from time to time) to land upto 100 metres from where it was aimed (in certain wind and distance conditions).

So, as you can imagine, i was quite looking forward to test driving the superdisc ultra to experience first hand its accuracy and stability.

So on Saturday, me and Dave went to Kings Heath Park with the Superdisc Ulta (SU) and the Pro. Within about 5-6 throws of the SU, we had to resort to just throwig the pro...

wanna know why?

beyond crap.

Lets address some of the rubbish that has been said about this poor excuse for a frisbee.

"The Superdisc Ultra flights are amazingly straight and accurate with no wobbles, and no veering off course."

LIE. It flies amazing straight for about 2-3 seconds and then veers off and falls to the floor (and it wobbles). A brick could fly straighter and more accurately, and would be considerably cheaper. (not actually sure how much bricks cost)

"Another bonus of the Superdisc Ultra is the soft rubber cushion edge. This provides extra grip when throwing for even greater accuracy."

Soft rubber cushion edge you say? LIE. The edge is bulky, uncomfortable and cheap feeling. The PRO is much easier to throw, hold and catch.

How on earth the people at areobie can justify charging more for this disaster of a cheap toy than the PRO is beyond me. In a gesture if how much we despised it, we didnt even bother to pick it up of the grass to take home with us when we left.

The one good thing to come out of this dissapointing experience is a heightened appreciation for the qualities of the PRO.

I dont know how the SU would compare to a regular frisbee, because since using the PRO, I could never bring myself to associate with normal frisbees. Perhaps it's performance when measured against other cheaper more basic flying toys, isnt that bad.

But due to its claims of accuracy and stability and its extraordinary price tag, this review is being written using the PRO as the a benchmark for performance. So to conclude:

Value for Money : 2/10
Design : 2/10
Fun factor : 0/10

Overall : 1/10

Dont Even Think About It.

Good news for Messy Clumbsy Violent Digital Camera owners who like to remove their memory cards

2004-08-01T08:47:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3939333.stm

For the benefit of the above, some technology researchers have been testing Digital Camera memory card durability. Here is a short excerpt.

They were dipped into cola, put through a washing machine, dunked in coffee, trampled by a skateboard, run over by a child's toy car and given to a six-year-old boy to destroy.

Perhaps surprisingly, all the cards survived these six tests.

Most of them did fail to get through two additional tests - being smashed by a sledgehammer and being nailed to a tree.

Some people have the best jobs.

This just in

2004-07-29T12:03:00.000+01:00

This made me laugh

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/3934889.stm

Ah, keep it airborne

2004-07-20T20:28:00.000+01:00

Wonderful news all round (see comments of previous post if confused).

Des, good on ya, as the old saying goes, "An aerobie in the hand is worth several in a tree". I am pleased for you in advance.

Dave, good on ya, as the old saying goes, "An aerobie in the post is nearly as good as one in the hand (but less dangerous)". I am pleased for us in advance.

Like Dave says, 100% attendence is required. We will be taking a register. So...this weekend...which park people?

In other news, today was flying ant day, thousands of the buggers. Saw swarms of them from my window at work. It's wierd there'll probably be none tomorrow, its like a massive annual outing. I wonder what they do for the rest of the year?

Next item...

The other day (the other week) I was awoken by high pitched yelping noises coming from outside my window (bedroom window, it was 12:05AM ya know!). So when i look out to see what the hullalballoo is there is a family of foxes just...chillin!. The mummy and daddy were lying down in next doors garden, and several kiddies (foxes) were just milling around and some were playing. One had a poo in my garden. The best look I've got of a fox before is from a distance just seeing it dissapear into an alley or something, but here I was, just watching quietly a whole nocturnal outing. Pretty amazing I thought. Although it sounds silly, it felt a little like watching aliens. (OK it sounds very silly), it's just that at the age of 28 and three quarters, I dont expect too many brand new experiences like that.

Anyway anything else? Hold on just gonna get some lentils...

hmmm, nope dont think I have much else new.

So just time for the competition.

A shiny penny to the smart person who can solve the post title anagram.

Good luck

A Stranger

It can be hard when they leave...

2004-07-13T07:22:00.000+01:00

So, me and Dave went to Kings Heath on Saturday and took the aerobie with us. After the doing the odd bit of tech support for the grown ups, we headed down to highbury for a spot of areobie in the rain. (well that's how it ended up). Due to the shortness of the grass and the lightness of the rain, our play was not too badly affected. However things were soon to turn bad.

A bus and metro journey later, we were walking back towards Dave's flat. As we were talking, Dave very suddenly became inspired to throw the aerobie down the road ahead. As I noticed his arm recoiling for the throw, my world fell into slow motion as I shouted

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

But it was too late, we stopped and gazed at the areobie as it got smaller and smaller. Before long it was at parallel height to the high bushes that line the school playground beside the road. For a short while it was touch and go and it looked as if it might start coming back to earth, but then it must have caught a warm draft, (the ones you normally want it to catch), suddenly increased in height and then took an immediate left, over the bushes and down into the school.

We stared on in disbelief as the world returened to normal speed. We walked on contemplating what had just happened and muttering quietly to ourselves about how we wished it wasn't so.

But in the end, one has to be philophophical about these things. It is all part of the natural life cycle of an aerobie to be thrown beyond reach so that it can move on and find new owners and you can move on and find (buy) new aerobies.

You see, owning an aerobie is a bit like fostering a child. You have to know from the outset that this will be a tempoaray relationship. You have to learn to loving yet detatched. As the saying goes, "you cant own an aerobie, you can only give it a good home and hope it stays", and it's no good keeping it locked up out of fear of losing it. It needs to be thrown.

So....did anybody take my advice and order themselves an aerobie pro, because if so, now would be a good time to mention it.

I did warn you…

2004-07-05T18:31:00.000+01:00

…that there was nothing to see here, it not just a clever title.

Before all this blog stuff got started, I felt it might be too ambitious to commit myself to writing a blog on a regular basis. Common sense told me that…



if (I already procrastinate too much and don’t get stuff done) {



    Deciding to write about would probably will result in me getting even less done unless I prioritize doing all the stuff I need to do over blogging



}

“But blogging needn’t take up a lot of time”, I hear you think. No, but thinking about blogging and the fact that I haven’t blogged, can be a constant drain on the old RAM and make the whole system run slowly (but there are, of course, other reasons for varying system performance).

See, that’s the problem with ambition….if you don’t live up to it, then you’ve failed.

Perhaps it’s just better not to have ambitions in the first place and then that way you cant fail at them (ONLY JOKING, ONLY JOKING, DON’T WRITE IN).

So yeah, blogging. Sorry I've been away for about 3 weeks. It’s not even that I don’t want to blog, It’s quite enjoyable once you get going, but as you can see, I have issues with commitment. Is it better to blog just occasionally, sporadically, intermittently, haphazardly (mmmm, cup of tea), or better to just not blog at all, so as to not keep people hanging on and then letting them down. As someone once said “nobody likes a lamp that constantly flickers on and off”.

For the time being, I think will carry on with the blog, (yay! Woo-hoo! Hurrah! (Ok calm down)), for the simple reason that I’m quite enjoying getting my thoughts down, and perhaps it will stop me going mad (madder).

So... what have I been up to?……well, it’s been quite a while, lets see...sitting comfortably?

Hmmmm, what have I been upto? I think the following will be a bit sketchy and incomplete, I have enough trouble remember yesterday, let alone weeks ago.

So, in random non chronological order.

I spontanioulsy decided to visit Des and Laura (never sure whose name to put first), I was chatting to Des about Men’s problems (OK, perl scripts) late one night (11:30 if you must know). Earlier in the day Laura had been saying to me (on the phone), that I should spontaneously decide to come down (it’s the only way to travel, (am I using too many brackets?)). I was saying things like “yes, I know, but it’s finding the time (and money) etc etc. So (back with Des now), I said “so, what are you up to tomorrow?”, anyway, I ‘ll cut to the chase (there wasn’t a chase (well, not that I was aware of anyway)), I travelled down the next morning, and got picked up by Des at Weston-Super-Mare. Due to a timing mishap, Des was forced to let it slip to Laura that I was en-route, but she only got 5 minutes warning, so the surprise was still quite effective. (Next time Des, we’ll plan it better and really get her (wha ha ha ha etc)). So anyway, I think a good time was had by all, me and Des took the opportunity to chat computers whenever we could get away with it. Chris and Joe are doing well, they have a dinosaur thing going on at the moment and me and Laura got to spend some time reminiscing about the old days (what I can remember from them).

Activities included but were not limited to:

Took the kids to the beach area (but not onto the beach) Joe got to ride around on his bike and make cool track patterns by riding through puddles.

Went shopping for a pillow (of the bounce back variety)

Went shopping for a blind

Tried to blow up a castle (okay, inflate a bouncy castle) which then turned into...

Located small punctures ona bouncy castle and held my finger over he holes while des pumped the pump

Played with kids toy cars and a ramp

Some of those activities may not sound great but they were becasue of the company.

I think that Laura and Des are great parents, Des always manages to keep his cool when Joe kicks him in the nuts (which was quite frequent). You’ve got to admire that (whichever one you prefer)

So...what else?

Well on Saturday night I went to Dea’s (my cousin) and Richard's engagement party in Shrewsbury. I enjoyed myself once I got settled down. I Spent the first hour or so being led around my Kim (who has now adopted me as her uncle, but im not sure if she’ll remember that). I think perhaps she was overwhelmed by the sheer number of strangers (yeah, like I wasn’t).

Anyway we soon got sat down near the outdoor makeshift stage area with lots of guitars and drums and speakers, and watched various people get up and play cool stuff. I soon discovered my place in the musical heirachy, and was given a tambourine to shake. Later I was promoted to 1 and then both tom-toms and then just before we left I hit’em with a shaky rendition of "Day at the Beach" by Joe Satriani on a v expensive fender. Dave tells me that a few people were transfixed, so It couldn’t have been too bad. I borrowed Leon and Heathers nice new Digital Camera and took a load of shots for the online photo database. So they will be up soon. Got dropped back at Dave’s and kipped over, and then on Sunday me and Dave…

Played Aerobie in the Park!!!!! If you have never played with an Aerobie, then I strongly recommend that you do, just do an online search and order yourself one (I think perhaps the 13" Aerobie pro variety (see link)). Now that I have the taste for it again, I need to organize some more trips out with it and get some more people involved (like any previous addictions, the taste never really goes away, but now that I’ve had another go with it, I've become re-excited). I think the best way to do this is for everybody to block out some time in their diary every weekend, and then we can rotate which park we go to each week so that people don’t have to always travel too far. Me and Dave tested out Kenrick Park, and I think we can say that it worked quite well. So come on people (you know who you are), “Aerobie Great!” ( you may have to say it quickly to get it).

What else...hmmmmm

Well you may not be surprised to hear that I’ve been doing a spot of perl programming. To give you a vastly oversimplified and weak analogy, Perl is a bit like having a girlfriend/boyfriend (if you prefer) who suffers from unpredictable violent mood swings which you have to tolerate gracefully, yet if you put one foot out of line or happen to say the wrong thing, then you either get blanked unless you’re lucky enough to get told what you actually did wrong and even then the explanation is cryptic and unclear (do I sound bitter?). Don’t get me wrong, when things are going well, its great. It’s just that when you spend so much together, it can be like an emotional rollercoaster which just leaves you thinking…”Is this relationship really worth it?”, but then if you spend a day or 2 apart, you’re just left wanting to see them again. New relationships are difficult aren’t they, still it does help when you have someone in a similar situation to talk to about it (thanks Des).

I think that probably covers it for now, cant think of much else significant that I’ve been up to.

Right then, see you in about 3 weeks.

A stranger

Sorry, cant stop.....

2004-06-14T13:00:00.000+01:00

Sorry haven't posted in a while, it's not that I've forgotton you all, just a bit rushed, will speak soon

A Stranger

Saw this in the Metro (newspaper), almost died...

2004-06-09T21:49:00.000+01:00

Things that made me laugh. In the interests of decency I have replaced one letter with a *, but in case you are wondering, it does say what you think.

... and finally

AUSTRIA: Residents in the curiously named village of F*cking have voted against changing the moniker - despite road signs being stolen regularly by Engligh-speakers. One villager said: 'Everyone here knows what it means in English but, for us, F*cking is F*cking and it's giong to stay F*cking.' The village, which neighours the towns of Windpassing and Vomitville, is named after it founder - one Herr Fucking.

Interactive! ...Concentration...

2004-06-09T09:27:00.000+01:00

Can you think of any other ways that a lapse of concentration could impact badly on a situation? I've just thought of 2 more:

Walking away from a cash machine once it has returned your card (but before it has dispensed your money!)

Choking on food because you tried to breathe/swallow/talk at the same time

How about you?

Thought I wasn't coming back huh?

2004-06-07T21:34:00.000+01:00

You WISH!

so anyway, what's new

well....

I accidentally cut all my hair off,

"Is it possible for someone to accidentally cut all their hair of?", I hear you think.

Well that brings me nicely onto today's topic (well...one of them).

The importance of Concentration.

What happened was this. I was shaving my hair (as I do every few months), today (Sunday) I had chosen a number 3 (that's about 9mm or 1CM with rounding). I was following a sequence like:

REPEAT

1 shave some hair until blades need unclogging

2 remove 9mm attachment

3 unclog blades

4 Replace 9mm attachment

UNTIL FINISHED

All was going well until I forget step 4 and shaved a big hole in my work so far.

This caused a strange reaction from my brain (as you would expect). To an outsider this reaction probably looked like staring into the mirror in front of me with a blank expression on my face. But in fact my brain was rushing through several absurd things I could do to remedy the situation, like:

Stick some hair onto the bald patch, no-one will notice

Call in sick for long enough to let the hair grow back

Do the same on the other side to make it look intentional

In the end I went for the only sensible option, shave all of my hair off!

So, what can be learnt here?

CONCENTRATION

The reason I forgot to replace the attachment was because shaving hair isn't the most fascinating and engaging of tasks and so one's mind is liable to wander. Wandering minds are ok in some situations, where the task you are performing has become second nature to you, but in other situations, there can be dire consequences, ranging from missing your stop, cutting your finger, shaving your hair off or getting run over.

(yes, they all happened to me).

So come on people, watch out for yourself and others, and remember, concentrate.

On a lighter note, another entry for things that made me laugh. This time it was Dave's relating of his BT complaints line trauma.....

"Thank you for calling stupid BT. I'm sorry but all of our stupid advisers are stupid"

Yes....I know that feeling.

Anyways, be good, and till next time, concentrate.

A Stranger

Funny Talk and Cats watching Cats

2004-06-03T22:06:00.000+01:00

Hello

New Section: Things that made me laugh

Des's turn of phrase 'Off to do some percussive maintenance'. I have this hilarious image in my mind of Des performing 'percussive maintenance' on his PC

Overhead conversation posted on In Passing...:

"It's ugly. Really ugly."
"Is there an 'F' in how ugly it is?"
--A girl and a guy at IKEA.

Ok, just a short post today Im afraid, but I'll leave you with this link (thanks Phil) The Infinite Cat Project. Basically it's cats looking at cats looking at cats looking at cats looking at cats, seriously worth a look around, some good work has been done here.

bye for now

A Stranger

So,,,,Feeling guilty that I didn't post yesterday

2004-06-02T21:46:00.000+01:00

Stupid isn't it, now that I have a blog, I feel obliged to post to it daily, in order to

a: Justify it's existence

b: not disappoint my readers*

* not that I have a fanbase or anything, just that it's mildly disappointing to check someone's blog for a brief moments distraction, only to find there is nothing new since you last checked.

anyway, what have I been up to?

well...... Aside from my dayjob, spending all my spare time working on "The Website". I'm currently getting my head around bits of 'perl' a very lovely programming language. It's a bit brain bending at the moment. Just thinking, it's funny how phrases can have very different meanings in different contexts, for example:

In perl, I am currently using a data structure which is known as: an array of hash references.

Now...If a few years back, you said to me the words "an array of hash references", I would start thinking.....weed, ganja, dope, etc.

that's just made me think of another example (true story)... (I'm probably gonna lose everyone here but...)

If anyone here (that means you) has ever installed (or re-installed) Windows XP and paid attention to the early stages. You may have noticed a bunch of components being installed, 2 of which were called "FAT Controller" and "Bus Driver". Without wanting to state the obvious, these things have very different meanings depending on whether you are

a: a computer techy

or

b: my Dad

So anyway, here endeth the lesson.

whets next...?

Oh yeah, for those who care, here is the latest progress report for Tuesday/Wednesday (Today):

Water drunk (on average): 6-7 pints

Lawn(s): No progress

"The website":Managed to get displaying of arrays of references to hashes working (victory! but brain hurts)

Diet: Healthy eating with no snacks between meals

Exercise: Walked home from the train station (30 minutes including 2 hills) instead of getting the bus

Now I'm gonna have another cuppa and (re)watch the last episode of friends...not because it was so good that I need to see it twice*, just to analyze it a bit further as a piece of work.

*bits of it were v funny.

OK, I think I've fulfilled my obligation (which I just worked out is very nearly an anagram of "blog nation" apart from the second 'n'.)

So goodbye for now, and keep reading and writing people!

A Stranger

P.S The word 'blog' isn't in the www.blogger.com's speller checking dictionary.

I've been found out!

2004-05-31T11:09:00.000+01:00

Didn't take long....must've bin them links what dunnit.

So whats on the menu (plan) for today. I think menu is better than plan...with a menu you can choose which things on the list you want, with a plan, its a bit scarier (fear of not doing the stuff then looking back and thinking how you definately had enough time to do the things, its just that you weren't sufficiently motivated/disciplined/arsed), unless of course you really want to and would enjoy doing all the stuff in which case thats ok. Kinda like a menu where you have everything on it and feel really satisfied adterwards.

So here's my menuplan® for today (I've already done some of them!)

Go and visit that nice chap I met in Erdington. done

Go to the bullring market to buy some vegetables forgetting that the bullring outdoor markets are not open on a Monday. done

Carry on work with the 'The Website'

Drink tea each time i make significant progress or when i get stuck and need to think or whenever I want some tea. 1 cup so far

Drink a gallon of water (approx). 1 pint so far

Mow the back lawn (or go over the front lawn) if the urge takes me.

Do washing for work. (compulsory)

Cook something healthy for today and tomorrow.

I've probably missed something but im sure if its important (or enjoyable) it will come back to me.

Just thinking, this may be the only time I ever use my blog to tell you about my menuplan® for the day, so treasure it.

ok, well as you can see I dont have time to sit around talking to you lot, gotta get stuff done (starting with item 4 then 3).

Bye for now and stay tuned, you never know, I may keep doing this blog thing after all.

A stranger

Glad thats out of the way!

2004-05-30T16:24:00.000+01:00

Right, just had a comment from "Jay", (albeit a short one) about 20 seconds after my first post.

Didnt think blogging would be THAT interactive!

Well "Hello" to you too Jay from Kansas! Isnt the internet amazing?

The all important first post

2004-05-30T16:15:00.000+01:00

Hello World