A decent enough drive up, but with horrible weather near to Worcester it was not the most relaxing drive. The spray was so bad that I came off the motorway early and came in through the back roads. This involves a lot of roundabouts, and experience has taught me that wet weather, roundabouts, rear wheel drive and a powerful engine usually means you'll end up sideways before you know it.

Much amusement.

Busy few days ahead, but with no squash and a 10K ahead I was hoping to get out and try the new trainers. I'm many things but running in the rain is plain daft. It's wet and miserable. Still, in my gym bag I've got my swimming goggles, maybe I'll try them...

Fantasy football team in tatters!

For the record, the team was:

Reina
Chimbonda Lescott Shorey
Ronaldo (C) Nani Arteta Pearson
Rooney Berbatov Zamora

Which didn't do that well at the weekend, thanks in no large part to the Spurs and United contingent. So some work has been done, Rooney and Zamoro out (Rooney is very expensive), replaced with Martins from Newcastle and Johnson from Everton. These will kick in just in time for Everton's game tomorrow, so hopefully Johnson will come good for me. Next up is to swap out Nani, he's looked woeful yesterday, but I've used up my free transfers (and paid for another with a point deduction).

Went to watch the second half of the United game in the pub yesterday. One at the bottom of our road used to be pretty sketchy but it's all been done up so we went down. They have more Samsung LCD TV's than Dixons in there - from our seats we could have watched 4 of them. The pub also had the game in HD. This is the first time I've watched a game in HD and all I can say is "wow". It was stunning. The level of detail is unreal, although I don't think it's really necessary to see every bead of sweat. While very good, is it worth the fee Sky charges? I don't think it is at the moment, you pay a lot of money for not a lot of coverage (and they've just put the price up).

Went over to a BBQ last night with some friends from work. She has a mad dog, a staffordshire bull terrier, who always livens up a night :-)

Discovered my cardio workout yesterday too. How's this sound?

• 20 minutes on the cross trainer (this I enjoy, it's not too hard but burns a load of calories!)
• rowing machine (I'm going to hate this thing) - 500m flat out, rest for 30 seconds. Do this 10 times (500m takes between 2m 12 seconds and never more than 2 mins 20)
• Back to the cross trainer for another 20 minutes
• The plank

The plank is a killer. It's actually a yoga position where you basically support your entire body weight on your stomach muscles. It absolutely kills and 60 seconds at a time is more than enough!

Good start to the football season, although my fantasy football team needs Rooney and Ronaldo to do some good for me today to bump my points up! Whole team needs tweaking, as you can never tell on day one who's going to be on form or not - Man City look ripe for plundering players from though!

I'd rather be with Hazel...

As some of you know, I'm trying to get into shape at the moment (although I'm in not bad shape, there is some work to be done :-) ) However, the gym bunny who was so nice last week now seems to have become a member of General Woundwort's evil army. Her programme of punishment she has made seems to be designed to kill me. Let me give you an example.

This is workout one - the weight orientated one of the two she has made. The other focuses on cardio work and no weights.

• Warm up on the bike. 5 minutes on level 9 at 90+ rpm. Followed by 10 minutes on level 15 (I've never been higher than 12!) at 110+ (for the record, I tried this yesterday. There is as much chance of me doing that as finding WMD in Iraq). I settled at 100+, and was sweating buckets by the end. This is the warm up and I've already done more on the bike than I would in a usual session.
  
• Squats. With weights. Heavy ones.
  
• 2000m row on highest setting, flat out. (this takes under 9 minutes. Albeit 8.59, although that's still under 9!)
• weights - 3 different types, doing what is called "drop sets" where you start with a low(ish, we're still talking 20kg+) weight and do 12, then do another set of 10, then a set of 8, each time increasing the weight).
  
• 1500m row on highest setting, flat out
• weights, as before, different ones. Including the seated row. Which I found incredibly hard after just rowing 3500m.
• 1000m row. you get the picture...
• sit ups. Lying on a 45% incline. Upside down. Until you can do no more. In front of a mirror. All you can see is your face turning ever more incredible colours every time you come up.
  
• Crunches. While supporting your entire body weight with your arms. Until you can do no more.
  
• floor crunches. 3 sets of 10
• floor side crunches. 3 sets of 10
• stretch, curl up, collapse.
  

Now, for the observant amongst you, that's a good 30 minutes of cardio. Which is what i normally do in my "cardio sessions". Today is my cardio workout. I'm dreading it.

The only plus to this was that my missus has her plan tomorrow with the gym bunny. Except the gym bunny is doing it as a personal trainer session. Which means she controls the rest periods etc - I at least could collapse in a heap every now and again ;-)

Low emission, high power, good MPG?

Now here's a story to get car drivers happier - we all want (really, we do!) a big petrol engine. We can't afford said engine in terms of outright purchase and the fuel costs to run them are scary. How about, then, an engine that offers you 3.5 V6 petrol performance, but the running costs of a small diesel?

Sounds too good to be true? Well, Mercedes are keeping slightly quiet on this but have developed just that engine. It's called a "DiesOtto" (don't you love it??) and currently, is a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with twin sequential turbochargers and direct injection (the "otto" bit). But the clever bit is that Merc engineers have incorporated both the conventional Otto cycle and a sparkless, diesel-style combustion (the "diesel" bit). The breakthrough is that it basically runs at two compression ratios, which is very clever.

The techy bit I'll let Top Gear cover...

On start-up, the engine runs in standard petrol mode, with spark plugs igniting petrol injected directly into the cylinder. But once the engine is warm and cruising, it switches to a more efficient 'diesel mode', raising the compression ratio and deactivating the spark plugs. And because it runs on petrol, the DiesOtto boasts lower emissions than an equivalent diesel engine.

Now, the figures - the 1.8-litre engine has 238bhp and 295bhp of torque, with 40mpg in a car the size of an Merc S-Class. Which weighs the same as Norway. Put it in a C-class and you've got a potent little beast. It'll be production ready sometime near 2012, so maybe not the next car, but the one after that.

Just so long as they have learnt how to build them properly by then again...

Battle at Kruger

This is an amazing video!!! Look out for the reason they drag it out of the water...

Run, Forest, Run!!!

A really pleasant evening last night as I'm resting the dodgy elbow I seem to have developed from squash, a run was in order. So I ran down to the race course and did a circuit of it (not on the actual course, as someone suggested last night, although there would be nothing to stop you as it's not sealed off). In all, it was probably about 5k and took a good 30 minutes. The downside is that I now know I do need to get trainers for running in as I have blisters. This is down to the design of the shoe - I've discovered a lot about different brands styles of fitting - Adidas (current shoe) are narrower fitting (which is fine) but also have a higher instep, which is where I have the problem. The current ones are fine for the gym but with an impending 10K I think some dedicated running shoes are called for.

There are a number of places where they do gait analysis in London, so I'll head to one of those over the weekend and get fitted out. Nothing like new sports equipment to get you excited again!

The whole word is conspiring...

The missus has signed us both up for a 10K run in September. I've done this particular event before, a run around the lovely surroundings of Hampton Court Palace grounds. It's a nice run, fairly flat but on pretty rubbish running ground as it's all a bit uneven and covered in deer/rabbit crap. Last time it nearly killed me as I'd done little training and it was really hot. So hopefully the weather this time will be nice but not hot, and I'll have done some road running before then.

Still at least I'll be fit, which is the whole point. Though trying to train for this, plan a wedding, move house, and work is all going to be an interesting challenge!

Good to see Alonso get his punishment. Shame it hit Mclaren as well, but there you go. Bet Big Ron isn't happy.

Glorious weather the last two days. Yesterday was spent doing some house type things, with some friends over for a bbq a night. Was a very nice way to spend the day!

Today we got up and went to the gym. I'd not been in a while as we've been so hectic, so I decided to get my body mass tests done so I knew where I was starting from again. It's all good (I won't bore you with the figures) but I've gained muscle mass and dropped fat mass - which basically means I'm the same weight. The girl doing the tests then seemed to take me as a project, and was very enthusiastic. As a result, next week I embark on a few weeks of intensive gym work to trim up even more in time for my brothers wedding. This girl is a bit mad - one thing she has suggested is cutting out all alcohol for 6 weeks.

Like that's going to happen - my missus is starting on the project - I'll need beer more than ever!

So, two points to make, albeit briefly (I've a BBQ to man!)

• FMD strikes again and the whole world is going to melt. Actually, it won't, but some of the dubious sources and information being sent around the news would have you believe it was. Yes, a lot of cattle died last time. Yes, it cost a lot of money. Yes, it could happen again. Let's see what happens before panic sets in. The TV news coverage loves this stuff - it gives them a sense of purpose. Even that idiot they had on BBC this morning.
• Fernando Alonso - hang your head in shame. For those not up with the story, Alonso was 2nd in the final qualifying with a few minutes to go for the Hungarian Grand Prix. His team mate, who was much quicker all session, is behind him on the track and so when Alonso pits for his final set of tyres, he sits there. This means, Hamilton cannot get new tyres and get back onto the circuit in time to start a final quick lap. Alonso get's pole position, demoting Hamilton to 2nd. Your a cheat, Fernando - beat him on the track if your man enough, but don't resort to Schumacher moves or you'll soon be very unpopular.
  

The Ghost Speaks

What a mad weekend.

Friday was spent with the old man and wee bro in stunning Perthshire. We'd got my Dad a 4x4 thing at Land Rover Experience - it was brilliant. Wee bro and I sat in the back and were amazed that we missed trees (although apparently stumps are a bit more optional...) rocks, deer, rabbits and lots of water. Brilliant, and Dad loved it. The afternoon was spent at Dunkeld & Birnham golf club. Tough little course, wild wind and very hilly but we had a great belated Fathers Day for Dad. That's the downside top living so far away but taking the time to do these things is what family is all about.

As for my mates, well what can I say. Friday was games night, and late, drunken, brilliant - any could describe it. All I'll say to Mr Brown is this - I can beat you at Pro Ev with 8 players :-)

Saturday was karting and after a slightly shaky start by some of the number ("can we stop for a minute? I don't feel well") we embarked on a kart marathon. Sweaty work, but at least it got rid of the booze. I don't wish to dwell on this for fear of embarrassing the others, so all I'll say is I have a large trophy at home now which the missus doesn't approve of.

The evening involved cowboy hats, sand, pint glasses, and lots of bad luck on the stag. That's all I can say :-)

Hateful drive back to London after what was a brilliant weekend, which took the edge of it a bit but got to see the missus when I got home before she was up and out the door by 6 to get a flight to Glasgow. In the past two weeks I've seen her 11 hours. Not really great that, but a new project role will help (perhaps to far the other way, as she'll be working on the same one as me!).

I think I've found my sport - finally managing to win a game in the evening! My nemesis has beaten me ever week on the squash court for weeks, so we had a badminton game last night which appears to have changed my luck. To be fair, the games were pretty close (but then so are our squash matched - Tuesdays game twice went to 12 points) so I'll not gloat yet. Well maybe just a little...

I'm expecting a quiet weekend on here this weekend - Holiday tomorrow involving 4x4 and golf and a retro games night with the boys - 3 Nintendo 64's have been resurrected along with a selection of the finest games of their time - Mario Kart 64, Perfect Dark and Goldeneye. The latter two are simply the best 1st person shooters ever made. Even today they are awesome - the graphics are a bit iffy but then the console is over 10 years old. However the gameplay is superb. Saturday is go-karting day, so I've packed my "I am the Stig" t-shirt in an attempt to scare the opposition in submission. To be honest, I don't think I'll need it ;-)

Sometimes you just want to let out a yell. I've been using a tool for the first time in ages and you forget how painful it is. Particularly as the tool is a nightmare to work with at times.

Pressing delete on a diagram really means delete when all I want it to do is remove the box from the diagram...And this "feature" has put me back on quite a few occasions.

It reminds me of the editor we used to use called VI which I used on Sun Solaris. It was a nightmare to learn it's features, however once mastered it was a joy to use.

An interesting evening last night as we bid farewell to another project member. I bailed out after dinner and headed back to the hotel on a rescue mission - the smell coming from the boot of my car. I'd played golf after work on Monday and got soaked - I need my clubs this weekend and the bag was stinking. So I've left it to dry in the hotel, it should be fine.

Interesting move by Oracle I read about this morning. The have included an API in their E-Business Suite (which is a chargeable product) for support of Google Maps (which is free). It was bound to happen that someone would do it, it just surprises me that it's Oracle. Actually, it doesn't surprise me that much - Oracle have very little else to shout about and it's a straightforward thing to do, so why not make a song and dance - it'll get the share price up a bit anyway.

There are times in life when you wonder how much C02 is produced to get an end product. Cow's for example, are well known to be one of the highest polluters of C02 of any animals. Completely hypothetically and coincidentally, the mind wanders to the work place - and it's possible to see lot's of hot air and no end product.

At least with a cow you get milk and a decent steak out of it...

Got up yesterday and went for a pre-lunch wander round Richmond Park. It looks amazing at the moment, no doubt helped by the vast amount of rain we've had. It's very green and lush. Saw some of the resident deers as well including one who was enormous!

Back to the flat for some lunch and to watch the Grand Prix. We missed the start as we were in the car, but that meant we could listen to it on the radio - Murray Walker was commentating and was just brilliant. The race itself had everything you could want and it's incredible how much chaos a bit of water makes to an F1 car.

After an afternoon in the shops (bit of a smash and grab run to Kingston to look in John Lewis, buy a shirt, get dinner and look for inspiration for wedding stationary - all of which were successful!) legged it back to watch the end of the golf. Brilliant final day. I went to hot some golf balls at the range and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of Asians at that range - I've never seen any of them on the course, but the range is FULL. Both sexes too, there was one couple were the woman was a much better player than her husband, who I don't think liked that very much!

We're trying to sell our flat at the moment, and that has prompted me to consider the TV input in the new place. We used to have Telewest for a long time, but have lived with Freeview for the last two years and managed just fine, although I miss the football. I would also like to get a digital recorder. So the options are

1. Sky+
2. BT Vision
3. Telewest
4. Freeview PVR

So Sky would be ideal, but it's expensive and we wouldn't need all the channels. I'd also have a hard time convincing the missus to get a dish on the house. Telewest is an option, some good deals on the packages, so that's a contender. A Freeview PVR might work, especially as you can get Setanta on it next season with Premiership and SPL on it (SPL coverage will include probably 3 Aberdeen games, and even then it'll be against the forces of darkness and just luck that it was us they were playing). BT Vision is an interesting one as they have bought the rights for time delayed coverage of the live Saturday games. Might be the one to go for, as you can get that and Setanta for 12 quid - bargain. I'd still miss out on some of the Champions League matches as the only way to get them is Sky Sports, but I've not missed a game I've wanted to see for two seasons as I've been working away and just gone to the pub.

Decisions....

Oh, and this is genius - Remember - "It's not an iphone, it's a big ass table"

Glorious morning leading to a rainy looking afternoon.

What weather yesterday. We seemed to get off lightly, surrounding areas seem badly affected. We tried to get over to west London to visit the other halfs Mum who isn't so well at the moment, and abandoned after 20 minutes as we hadn't even got to the end of the road. Nothing was going anywhere fast.

So try again this afternoon, hopefully all will be well.

Compromised

I was reading last night about this in Evo, and it made me think of a few comparisons.

A journalist was testing the new Audi A5, and commented that it was too nose heavy to be a proper competitor to the BMW 3 series couple as it is not dynamic enough to drive (the BMW is awesome nice to drive - and not just because I own one, but that's one of the reasons I did, not for the badge - if you know my car history it's full of good handling cars. Apart from my first car, a MK3 Ford Escort - awful).

Anyway, here is a picture of the A5:


Now, it looks great, aggressive and purposeful, and moving the wheels forward helps weight distribution. However the end result is that the layout needs to change under the covers, so the diff is between the engine and clutch, which allows the wheels to move forward. The steering rack is then connected to the front wheels by shorter, less flexible steering arms, also helping weight loss and a lower centre of gravity.

Want to know the real reason the wheels are there? Here's a quote:

Dr Horst Glaser, Audi’s dynamics chief, is clearly annoyed. ‘I agree with you,’(in reference to the nose heavy feel) he says, ‘but the marketing people insisted it was this way so the A5 would feel familiar to Audi buyers.’ What about those buyers Audi seeks to steal from BMW, then? ‘I hope we can change it gradually,’ Dr Glaser replies, ruefully.

My first reaction was one of why the marketing people were involved in the design?. But then my second reaction was that it's much like project managers removing key components of an architecture without understanding the implications of the actions. So a simple statement of "move the front wheels" actually means the whole design is compromised, and the Audi designers and engineers are left with a car that does the job, but fails to live up to expectations.

Which leads to my final thought - if you knew you were driving a car that the supplier knowingly made a botch of to make the car (let's say either for financial or ascetic reasons) would you buy another from them???

Driving hell

An uneventful drive yesterday, although it never ceases to amaze me that no matter what time you think you'll miss the traffic on the M25, you never do. It also never ceases to amaze me that one cause of the delays is the M3 junction. Last year (may even have been the year before - my life is a blur ;-) ) they widened the roads to be 4 lanes. At the M3 turn has 5 lanes, with two dedicated to the M3 (one into London, one southbound). It used to see terrible queues in the evening which caused delays to the M25 traffic, so you can understand why they would make it 2 lanes. However, now traffic flows so well down the slip, that people use it to undertake the queues on the M25 and cut back onto the M25 at the front of the two mile queue. The effect is that the people change lanes at the front, allowing people in (though most just pull in without indicating) and this in turn slows the traffic down. Cause and effect. Who'd have thought you can learn physics on the motorways....It's madness!

Slightly more seriously, I read that the driving age might be increased to 18. It can only be a good thing - the amount of young people who have no idea what the result of the actions they take behind the wheel is astonishing. They also suggested that if your 18 you would not be allowed to carry passengers at night. The quote I heard was from one teenager was "what's the point in driving then?" to which I found myself shouting at the radio - that's EXACTLY why the suggestion has been made you idiot.

Sharks

There are challenges on the project at the moment, some of which is aimed at us techys. Over dinner last night I discovered the meaning of the phrase "brave or stupid". One of the usual people we eat out with is part of management team and he joined us and was discussing some of the challenges and one of them was that a view was there were too many architects on the project. The rest of the diners on the table? 5 architects and the architects PM.

You can always tell someone thinking on their feet when the voice goes ;-)

Another weekday in Worcester, another game of squash. Decent game, we both played well but alas I lost. Not entirely sure how I managed to lose though as I was 2-1 games up.

Decent curry last night in my favourite local curry house. The food is always good, although the beer was a bit off last night. The staff recognise us now as well (or at least, pretend to - there are some of our number who are more memorable than others!)

Challenging days on the project, I seem to be jinxed when it comes to my projects here! Still, it was fun while it lasted! Looks as though I'm going to be working on supporting documentation which, while necessary and interesting in it's own right, is never as fun as solution design as it offers a different challenge. Not one to complain though - I continue to get to work with a great bunch of people on a really interesting project and continue to learn new skills - that is what it's all about for me.

Will it blend?

Ah, the joys of doing something stupid to sell a product. "Will it blend?" has to be a marketing genius idea. It works like this - company has a blender to sell. You Tube is full of people blending/chopping/generally doing things your not supposed to. Get a good presenter with a slight air of the scientific and off you go! Next, what to blend? Well, veg etc is all well and good, but why not up the ante with an iPhone?

Genius

It's right up there with the mentos domino rally for stupid things.

Actually, the stupisest thing on the net is the person counting to a million. What's worse is that he works in IT. It's people like him who give the rest of us a bad name! (he says, writing on a blog, on a mobile phone, via wifi...)

Madness

The world has gone PC mad.

A few years ago the DVLA changed the car registration plate format. The idea was that the first two letters would signify the location the car was bought, the next two the year.

The DVLA in Edinburgh have recently changed it so that instead of SN the Edinburgh office issues TN prefix. The reason? Some people may be offended at having SN07 in the car, which could be seen as "snot". Really? Who cares! I mean, it's a registration plate. It doesn't matter.

Link to the article

I say this in a slightly contratdictory manner as my car (finally) got it's personalised registraion plate fitted this morning :-) However, if I had bought a car and it had SN07, I wouldn't have cared a bit.

Apologies for lack of activity, work and social life is mad just now!

It strikes me that there is a lot of money in certain football clubs. Some are buying well, some less so. United have bought an incredible display of talent, and if they get Tevez then up front they'll have the incredible hulk and shrek - quite a combination! Arsenal are doing the usual of buying young players nobody has heard of, but I feel the top 4 finish they enjoy is under threat - it's not enough. Chelsea are fattening the squad (and I'm not just talking about Lampard) so they will be there or thereabouts. Liverpool are dark horses - Torres will make a huge difference to them, and they have a good squad with depth in positions. Still missing a 2nd keeper though. Spurs are an option for the 4th champions league spot though.

The drop - West Ham have a load of cash and an odd chairman, but they are not buying players that I think will help them stay up. Sunderland have bought few players but need to spend a load more or they will be going down again. I also fear for Derby.

So there we go, a mid-close season shopping list viewpoint. Roll on the new season, but if you want to see some class, check out this gem from Messi in the Copa America. Just wish he played in the Premiership...
Messi Goal!

Van Gogh

received this vai email - usual caveats to the author.

Van Gogh family tree -

His dizzy aunt-----------------------Verti Gogh

The brother who ate prunes-----------Gotta Gogh

The brother who worked at a convenience store----Stop an Gogh

The grandfather from Yugoslavia-------U Gogh

The cousin from Illinois------------- Chica Gogh

His magician uncle--------------Where-diddy Gogh

His Mexican cousin------------------- A mee Gogh

The Mexican cousin's American half-brother----Ring Gogh

The nephew who drove a stage coach - Wells-far Gogh

The constipated uncle----------------- Cant Gogh

The ballroom dancing aunt------------- Tang Gogh

The bird lover uncle----------------Flaming Gogh

His nephew psychoanalyst---------------- E Gogh

The fruit loving cousin-----------------Man Gogh

An aunt who taught positive thinking----- Way-to Gogh

The little bouncy nephew--------------- Poe Gogh

A sister who loved disco--------------- Go Gogh

And his niece who traveled the country in a van - Winnie Bay Gogh

iPhone

There has been a lot of positive and negative press about the Apple iPhone. From the evidence in the US, there is a market with 500,000 sold in the first weekend. So people want it, but why?

Functionally, it doesn't break any moulds. There are phones which make calls, take photos, can play music and sync your diary too. There are also touch screen phones, although these have not exactly set the world alight as they are typically difficult to use or are on basic phones so they phone has a reasonable purchase price.

Design wise, it's stunning, as you would expect from Apple. Other maunfacturers have made decent looking phones (the Motorolla Pebl springs to mind) but no mainstream company has made anything like this before. You get the high end stuff that sells in low numbers but with high sale prices (over £1000), but Apple are marketing the phone as a high end design phone with ipod looks and functionality, for about £300. Nothing comes close to that - not many people really buy phones anymore as it's all in the contracts, and most people have an ipod (or a few!).

So why and who? Well, the why is that Apple can use the mobile network to have a mobile edition of iTunes, which is a massive revenue generator for Apple. The people who buy the iPhone will likely be heavy iTunes users, so it's a new market for them. The mobile companies are happy as they get the carrier revenue while the tracks download, and again a new market that Sony have tried to tap into but hasn't really succeded. Who? Well existing heavy iPod users will lap it up.

Then there is how it works. Simply, it's an amazingly good piece of software. It does everything a Windows Smartphone does, but simpler, better, and faster. Apple got it right, they didn't try and break any moulds, they just had to do it with the right design and the right level of functionality that users were going to go for.

Do I want one? Yes. Will I buy one? Not at 300 quid plus a heavy contract price. Do I need one? No - I have a phone and an iPod. So I'll stick with that thank you very much :-)

Hectic weekend, but very enjoyable. Catching up with mates and family is always good fun.

So some people drove a jeep into the airport in Glasgow. It got me thinking - had these people never done a reccy before? Surely you'd realise the only thing that will fit through airport doors is a Smart car? I can't get through it with my luggage, so a big jeep has no chance!

I dropped my other half at the airport this morning (on her way to Glasgow!) and there is a huge police prescence. But the rest of the airport was deserted - hardly any traffic on the drive to and around the airport. Riot vans, police dogs, armed police, all looking menacing but not actually searching anyone.

If a large police prescence is all that it takes to sort out the traffic at Heathrow, long may the police stay there!

I think the phrase is f***ing fuming.

I've been waiting 4 weeks now for the paperwork for the transfer of my registration plate onto my new car. This has enabled me to get a nice little (though expanding) snagging list going. However, as the paperwork had not turned up, I phoned the DVLA - they've not recieved the paperwork. This is (amazingly) not a DVLA fault - it's the dealer.

Now, this means that I can't put my plate onto my car. It also means my car parking permit is in the old plate. I can't update my permit, and they are now refusing to extend my temp cover note, which in turn means very soon I'll be using my visitor permits to park my own bloody car outside my own house.

The dealer is going to get a roasting. I'm not in a good mood.

Bangle

BMW have released a lot of new cars in the last few years, all of which the design has been Chris Bangle influenced. For those who don't know who he is, he's a car designer who was responsible for the Fiat Coupe, a slashy masterpiece in it's day.

Now, some people hate what he has done to BMW, some love it. I think he's made some initially very challenging cars to love at first, however as time passes they seem to grow into what are very "of it's time" design. The best example would the 5 series - when it came out nobody liked it. But now, it looks right. Same with the 7 series as when it came out it was pigging ugly (it was also the first Bangle BMW) with it's huge rear end platform - a design that has continued now with the latest 3 series, although it's not so pronounced.

The 1 series BMW has always been challenged in the looks department. It's too small to do a full Bangle on it, the front end works, the back end is too abrupt, the middle looks ungainly. BMW have released a 3 door version of the 1 series, which is the most pointless thing in the world as it's got no rear seats anyway and has just made it more impractical. However, they have gone one better (or worse?) with this - the new 1 series coupe:



Seriously - how ugly is that!!! I've no idea who the terget market is for this either. They've upped the power, so there are (finally) some seriously hot versions but they will sell in low numbers as for the same money as a hot 1 coupe, you can get a low end 3 series coupe, which actually looks much nicer. The 1 looks too high, too long, and the boot looks like an afterthought, which it is as the car was never designed to be a coupe.

Pig ugly.

Bangle - must do better.

Two games of squash in two days and I feel much better about this daft sport. I'm really enjoying it just now, mainly as I'm playing ok, apart from the serve!.

Off to Wimbledon tonight for the first time in 10 days, can't wait to get into my own bed. WIth the impending bad weather, I'd rather get off sooner rather than later, but with a conference call in the afternoon it may not happen.

Petaflop

So the new IBM BlueGene/P has been proved to run at 3 Petaflops, or 3 Quadrillion operations a second (although in real life situations, it's designed to run at 1 petaflop). Now that is a lot. Some of the numbers are mind blowing.

4 - the number of PowerPC cores in each chip running at 850MHz each.
32 - a 2x2 foot circuit board can contain this number of chips
435 billion - the number of operations a single board can handle a second
32 (again) - the number of these boards that fit into a 6 foot rack
72 - the number of these racks required to hit a single petaflop
216 - the number of racks to hit 3 petaflops (which is 884,736 processors)

Big numbers. However, the image in my head of how large it is this:

If you stacked up a pile of Thinkpads to give you same power, you'd end up with a pile of 1.5 miles high.

Like I said - big numbers.

A long, but fairly uneventful drive down from Glasgow to Worcester last night. I expected the roads to be horrible however, bar a lot of spray, they were fine. It helped I left it a bit later so there was less traffic.

The date has now been set for my stag do, early March next year which means March and April will be as mad as May and June has been this year. Ah well, at least I can get some chill out when I'm on honeymoon :-)

Dublin

2 nights of Dublin life with some very good friends has left me with a warm glow. And also very tired!

One of the problems I have at times with my job is that to actually have a home life I've moved to the south (as well as my others half family being there, but regardless if she had been there or not I would have moved down) so the chance to catch up with friends is not one I can turn down. We had a riot, lots of fun, lots of Guiness, lots of laughes. Had dinner on Saturday in a place called FXB in Pembroke Street - I had one of the best steaks I've ever eaten in there on Saturday and it comes recommended.

I certainly enjoyed Dublin again, it's the 3rd time I've been and every time I've had a good time. I'd certainly recommend it!

So we arrive in Edinburgh and have a quick look about yesterday, went to see the new Parliament building as I've not been there yet. I also went past my old flat and had a nose from 4 floors down - the same curtains are up in the flat when I had it! And they were there when I bought it (albeit just newly put in) - that was 1999!!! A quick drive over the Glasgow were my other is working and we are staying in a stunning hotel, wonderful dinner last night and I slept like a log last night. Much needed snooze!

Troll alert...suddenly trolls (I use the phrase to describe a much wider group than a collegue) are very interested in work I've got to and demand people jump and that work happens immediatly for what they know. Now, hypothetically of course, if you were planning a project, and had defined some dependencies (at length) you might have spoken to the people who's work your relying on the let them know...

In other news, I'm buggering off for the weekend to Dublin to have a good time with some old mates, some of whom I've not seen in a very long time. Can't wait!

Planes and Wii

I see a lot of people have got upset at violent video games again. Now, there are specifics in this case which I won't touch on, but it brings an interesting topic - do video games make you violent?

In a word, no - but with a caveat. If your already of the mind that you want to use violence against someone, playing violent games and watching violent films will let you live out the fantasy. However, there have always been a few people who would go ahead and do it in real life, regardless of what they have watched and read. It's a sympton of the society we live in, it's not the cause. Video games and films may have made it more accessible though.

The main issue people are having is with this game as it's on the Wii and (for those who don't know) you use the controller wirelessly and it let's you wave it around or whatever the game requires. So, if your ten pin bowling you make that movement and it works out if you bowled it straight etc. Some people don't like the fact that in this new game you use the controller in a stabbing motion, and I can understand that. But will they ban Star Wars as every 30 year old relives his light saber dreams???

The other thing that caught my eye was that someone has ordered a superjumbo for personal use. It's a 300 million dollar plane!!! Unbelievable. It sounds like it's been done by someone very wealthy in the Middle East (the company wouldn't comment, only to say it wasn't the US or Europe, which narrows it down a lot...). My favourite quote though was from the environmental lobby who said it was like "buying a filthy coal-fired power station just to use to charge up your mobile phone."

Now there's an idea....

Hamilton wins another GP. The boy is not normal. I mean, he is 22 years old, and driving like nobody else I've seen, lap after lap. He's more mechanical than Schumi was, although he has a lot more personality. However, for me there are more interesting characters in F1. David Coulthard for example. Quick driver, knows how to setup a car and is a fair racer. You just wonder though that if he hadn't spent so much time chasing women how much further he could have gone. He was in a championship winning car at McLaren alongside Hakinnen, and then alongside Kimi, although he never won the cahmpionship he was always challenging and could have won had he been more consistent.

Then you have Ralf. Ralf is Michael Schumachers brother. I wouldn't trust Ralf to drive me to the airport, never mind with a multi-million pound race car. The boy is utter crap, and blagged his way thoughout his carear on his brothers tails. At the start of this season he proclaimed " I'm one of the best drivers in F1, I can win the world championship". Oh yeah? 7 races in and 2 points says you can't... Your teammate is 5 points ahead of you, so it's hardly the car now is it. He causes accidents and blames everyone but himself - at the weekend he locked up his brakes and crashed into DC, and he blamed DC for being in his way. Pillock.

I love racers, people who can properly drive. Go to YouTube and search for Rene Arnoux and Villeneuve and you'll see what I mean!

Nutters

I've never understood motorbike racing. Particularly on the TT course. Here, a bunch of amateur racers, dress up like superheros in day glow orange, green and yellow leather suits, strap on a gimp mask, and climb onto a throbbing machine capable of doing 200 mph. They are all nutters. The fact that it's done on closed public roads through all the country villages, which means that the run off area will consist of a house, or perhaps a very large tree, means that any accident will result in instant death. Or at least a very sore head.

What makes it worse, is the people who go and watch it on the "race replica" bikes. These people, who could be your banker, or even the local vicar, still dress up the same gimp costume, and have a machine that is not a million miles slower. However while you look stupid riding it, you look even worse when you stop and remove the helmet. You can't walk in bike boots (much like ski boots, you have to walk like the Honda AIBO robot) so you look even more silly. You may think you look cool, but really you look as comfortable as Jade Goody in an Indian restaurant.

In saying all that, I have respect for people who push themselves like that. Instant death is a mere pothole away, which would mean going to hospital while wearing a gimp costume?. Now THAT'S balls.

going underground...

Sometimes, the feats on this planet astound me. They have just opened a new tunnel through the alps. At 21 miles long, it's the longest tunnel above ground in the world, and the 3rd longest ever. That's amazing. 21 miles is a very long way! They did it in 8 years, and I applaud them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6755953.stm

There have been some amazing feats in recent years of engineering. The bridge at Millau is just stunning. We were in France before it opened, but it was all but finished and the sheer size takes your breath away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

Just goes to show what happens when you get the best in the field together to complete a joint aim.

A good night last night, attended a University wine tasting at Malmaison in London.

What was brilliant was the guy who ran it - his job title is "Director of wine and Spirits", surely a job I could do? However, even better was his name - Jonny Walker!

New levels of despair today. Checked with my manager that we were still on for a quarterly review. She replied that yes, so long as the travel wasn't the only reason I was going there as there were still restrictions on meeting travel for internal meetings. Now, this is my manager, the person supposedly responsible for my career, who is restricted from travelling to meet her own staff - surely it's not just me that finds that very bizarre?????

Bean counters and processes, hold you back and get in the way.

wow

Every now and again, you come across a wonderful piece of software. This is something else - if you store photos on the net and into mapping (GF) this is for you!

Two elements to it, the second half is unbelievable.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129

(I won't tell you who makes it for fear of prejudice! Interesting where the source photos are though). This to me is what was promised in Vista, but not delivered.

You can try it here:
http://labs.live.com/photosynth/

Press

Interesting couple of days focussing on scanning software. Very in depth but very powerful software and has got the brain juices flowing again.

Seems to be a bit of the usual press mis-reporting going on about Alonso and Hamilton. For example, it's all o ver the press that he thinks Hamilton was "lucky" to win on Sunday and the press are taking it as a pop at boy wonder. However, the full sentance reads:

"Lewis's win is good for the team. But it was very lucky as well as we were on similar strategies and if the safety car came out one lap before Lewis's stop we would have been eighth or ninth."

That is a valid point. Had Alonso been leading he would have pitted first (as is the leaders right) and he would have won and Hamilton much lower.

As they say, don't believe a word of truth the press say...

Fore!!!

Another busy but most enjoyable weekend.

Spent the weekend with some friends in Yorkshire. They stay in an idyllic little village, north of York with views out onto open countryside. Cracking little place.

Saturday we all went to Whitby, the boys playing golf and the girls shopping. The golf was good fun, this being the first time I've been able to try out my new driver. It was immense. Every drive straight (bar one where I got over excited and tried to hit it too hard over some trees) and long. Very long! Had to play across a couple of ravines which was interesting, but easy with the monster club in the bag. A good round let down though by some lost balls. Not that I played bad shots to lose the balls I would add! I hit one at a house when i got the length wrong (very badly wrong...), one went into some mild rough never to be seen again and it's those that really annoy you. Ruined the overall score, but if I take the lost balls out of it it was a great round. Something to work on, you can't expect to pick it up from where you left off when you've not played in weeks.

Went to a great local pub called the Rose And Crown on the Saturday night. Brilliant food, would love to have somewhere like that on my doorstep.

Nice drive back in the new car, it really does make for easier motorway driving having the bigger engine. It's just got that bit more torque so it's a lazier drive. Just what I need!

It's hectic as anything, apologies!

Been listening to the Beatles a lot of late, before all the 40th anniversary of Sgt Pepper. It's really nice to go back to albums you've loved for years, but haven't heard in ages.

Well, the car has been delivered to me. And it's great :-)

I'm really annoyed at the Olympics in London today. What on earth is that shambles of a logo? Looks cheap, nasty, and has all the signs of a 40 year old bloke trying to be "down with the kids". Who then got very patronising on the radio about it all.

Get a grip.

Kids don't go the sports centre for other reasons other than it's not cool. They don't go because a PS3 or a Wii is fun, and some of the sports I did at school were definitely not fun. Nothing beats a of Daley Thompson Decathlon in the old Commodore 64, and I put the vreal track and field in that (mainly as I sucked at it).

Sports these days is all about skateboards and moutain biking - they've been made cool by people like Tony Hawks. Badminton isn't cool. That's why the nearest kids get to sports centres now is doing tricks in the car park.

Yesterday I met up with some people the Missus used to work with in Limehouse (it's in East London. No, I didn't know that either.) Anyway, as we walked down the road the italian was on, I see a pub called the Narrow. Now, I've never been anywhere near this area in my life, but I know about the Narrow as it's just recently opened, and is owned by a Mr G Ramsey. So, kicking myself that the missues friends hadn't booked us there, I went to the italian and gazed out the window wondering what the food is like.

After lunch, we went up to the Narrow. It's on a bend and as it was a glorious day, we stood outside with beer in hand. It's not badly priced, (75p cheaper for a pint of Peroni than I'd paid in Wimbledon the week earlier no less), and the food is slightly more than you'd pay in a pub, but no more than you would in a gastro pub. It's quite hard to gauge all the food prices as I've never seen calves cheek on the menu in the local boozer. The place is in a brilliant setting on the river, and will do well there. A return visit is in order on a sunny weekend soon.

A walk through back to Bank station (yes, we took the DLR back to Tower and not Bank...) meant a very pleasant wander through the city when there is nobody about. The architecture there is amazing and with it being quiet, we could appreciate it all the more.

Today has seen us prove a pub discussion from yesterday wrong. The missus reckoned that a bike ride from Wimbledon, to Richmond park, a complete circuit of it and back, would take all day. Pah! Knocked that out in 2 hours dead overall time, which included a stop for an ice cream :-) A mere 16 miles or so in total, and was great to see the deer out in force again. This afternoon has been quiet with trips to the supermarket and garden centre. The missus has spent most of it pottering about in the garden while I watched the touring cars race live (well, the bit I was awake for...) and then a spot of tiling to finish off a DIY job. Needless to say, I pooped :-)

Not a happy bunny.

All the paperwork had been done, collection of the new car arranged. So I drive there, do all the paperwork, and then the dealer realises the finance company transfer of funds hasn't completed - this means I can't take the car away.

It turns out the finance company had said they would do an overnight transfer and actually did a BACS 3 day transfer. As the money had been sent on Wednesday, it won't hit the account till Monday sometime. The dealer was very apologetic (as he should be) and I'm expecting a boot full of goodies to make up for it. He did offer me a brand new 3 series coupe for the weekend, but my parking is all done with permits this was just going to be a hassle. Hopefully I'll get the new one on Monday. Will be VERY annoyed if I don't.

Anyway, to cheer me up, I came across this, the powertool drag race. Now this sounds like a recipe for disaster - people make drag racers out of power tools, blades and all. It made me think about a collegue, but no matter how much I looked at the photos, I couldn't see the GorseFox's entry!

My favourite is the funny car made out of 8 chainsaws...

http://www.silverlinetools.com/power_tool_drag_racing_2006.html

I see the Gorse Fox has a great journey home last night. Wish I had...Leaving a bit later than normal, I seemed to hit every pocket of traffic going. M5, M40, M25 (although it was much better than normal as I got there much later than normal).

Makes you wonder why you do it.

The new car doesn't currently have a CD autochanger in the boot (although the wiring is all there so it's easy to do). I'm active on a couple of mini and bmw forums (Mini for historical reasons as I used to have a couple) and asked what the options were for ipod integration. One solution that has come back is quite interesting and I can't decide it's madness or a good solution.

There is an Alpine interface that connects into the standard BMW head unit for use with Alpine extras (such as their own CD changer, DAB radio etc) but it also has an interface for an ipod. However, to use the ipod properly you need an Alpine head unit, which I don't have. So this company have made an interface box that connects between the Alpine interface and your ipod and let's you control the ipod via the head unit and also have a CD changer in the boot (which also has support for MP3 CDs with ID3 tags shown as well).

It's neat, and relatively cheap, however it's all a bit beta tester for my liking as it's not been officially released. Still, there is demand for the parts so if I buy it and don't like it, I can always sell it, and still use the MP3 changer.

Busy weekend so I apologise for lack of action!

Wembley was brilliant on Saturday, although the place feels very clinical. It lacked that special feeling I got when I went to other similar places for the first time, other big stadiums such as Murrayfield, Old Trafford, the Nou Camp. Even Schalke's ground had that feeling and it's a fair bit smaller (61,000). Maybe it'll get it after a few big games, but the noise inside was immense and the view was brilliant. Easy to get to and from, but it just didn't have that something special for me.

We've also seen two wedding photographers this weekend, one of whom is a hot favourite. One more to go, but will see if we actually go with her or if we want to see a few more.

We also introduced my parents to the joy of Buzz on the playstation - it's very amusing in groups like that!

Shame the weather was so blooming awful all weekend, and typically it's glorious sunshine today in Worcester (and London earlier).

!!!!!

Mental day yesterday with work, but all settled down nicely by the time I headed home.

The parents have arrived for the weekend, so had fun last night with them sitting in the garden and having dinner. Packed them off to bed early (well, they had been up since 4 to get on the red eye from Aberdeen) so they are fully refreshed today!

The boys (my Dad, myself and two fellow Aberdonians, 1 who lives in London and one who's visiting) are all off to Wembley today to watch the playoffs. We are all football fans and watch it where we can when we are together (that did include an under 15's school match once - yes we are that sad) and the opportunity to go to Wembley was too much. Can't wait.

Tomorrow see's another busy day in Oxfordshire. Meeting a potential photograpgher and then on to the wedding venue to see it finally finished! They are hosting a party tonight to celebrate Laurence Oliver 100th birthday, so it will be a star studded event apparently, which officially opens the place since it's been re-done. All very exciting.

Oh, and new car looks like it's on the way...if all things work out and I like it, should get it at the end of next week.

I have an interest in animals these days, with cows rapidly becoming a speciality. However this story I liked - Dairy cows in Spain get water beds, air con and Mozart to improve yield. LINK

Now, onto more important matters - what happened last night to Liverpool? They could easily have won it, with Stevie G fluffing a shot he should have buried. They lost an unlucky goal just before half time, which improved my level of regard for Inzaghi - I think he's one of the most over-rated strikers in top level football.

Overall, they did well to get there, should have won but where unlucky. Maserchano should have been left on the park though as I don't think they would have scored the second with him to break it up.

Always next season...

I know it's the way it works, but I wish politicians would realise how stupid they sound sometimes.

The issue of HIPS seems to have come to a head, and good riddance for the moment. As I see it, there are a number of issues:

1 - there is EU legislation that says all the member states need to be able to show emisions on housing by 2009

2 - the government took bad advice on what else could be wrapped into the HIPS by people who were actually going to make money out of it (nothing new there...)

3 - mis-information supplied/spoken by government ministers on the numbers of people qualified.

I can see a benefit to them, but only if they provide something useful. An energy rating on a new house is useful. But if I'm looking at buying a victorian terrace, I know it's going to have rubbish loft insulation, no cavity walls and probably a fairly old boiler. So what's the point?

What has also annoyed me is David Camerons response. "How can you support green issues when you don't support this". Make your mind up man, a week ago you didn't want them. Stop bleating, get some policies and a position - people are looking for alternatives. Had an election come immediatly after your appointment, you'd have got in. But people want action, and your just letting off steam just now. Goodwill doesn't last forever.

Gorgeous day in Worcester, stunning sunshine. Makes a change from the recent spell of wet and windy weather.

Last night we all met up at the Cardinals Hat, followed by a great (but SO SLOW) meal at Amigos. The food there is great but just takes so long to come. They actually turned a couple away - there were only 12 people in the place and it seats about 70!!!

Come on you reds!

Ah, sweet feeling of success :-) Aberdeen win to finish third in the SPL, and with it comes European Football next season. Happy day yesterday, especially as to do it we beat Rangers who, to be fair, had it coming as we'd not taken any points from the forces of darkness all season, and it would have been the first time since the 70's we'd gone a year without taking any points off them.

So, just need Celtic to win the cup and we go into the first round proper of the UEFA cup - if Dunfermline fluke it, then we go to the qualifiers and they go to the 1st round. Seems a stupid way of doing it, as they were relegated this year, but what can you do. The SPL really should make it 3rd and 4th get the UEFA spot as last year it was Gretna in the UEFA cup and they were also in division 1. It's 21 years since Aberdeen got past the 2nd round in the cup (got close in the early 90's - Rico's 35 yard thunderbolt in 92 (?) nearly put us through.

So, all in all, good day, an optimism for next season what with the signing of Macnamara.

Also, did you know, Aberdeen has one of the most "1st"s in football? 1st team in the UK to have an all seater, all covered stadium? 1st team to have dug outs in the UK? 1st team to lose on penalties in a European competition? 1st team to win 2 European trophies in Scotland? I could go on :-)

Stand Free, Wherever you may be, We are the famous Aberdeen!

Traffic problems

Having spent a year complaining about my 3Com router, I think it needs a slight apology. The problem I have with it is that occasionally (and always when I'm in a hurry) my wireless router gives me an IP, but refuses to connect to the Internet. After rebooting it a few times it springs into life, but sometimes it just takes a while. On closer inspection, it gets a connection with the ISP, has an IP, all is well. But I can't get out and use it.

Friday morning saw this occur. I decided to investigate it further. Turns out about 4 layers into the config, hidden very well in a menu you'd never find, there is a setting which determines how the connection is initiated. It was set (by default I would add!) to be "only on traffic", and not "always on". I changed the setting to be always on, it immediately sprang to life. So hopefully, that's one of life's little challenges resolved, but why would you ever want your ADSL line to connect only on traffic? Especially when the router doesn't work when it gets traffic. Answers on a postcard...

Late night music

Late night last night, trying to fix a wireless issue. Now resolved, but meant leaving the office about 3 hours later than I would normally to get back to London. On the plus side, the drive home was bliss with no traffic on the M25 at all, so did it in record time: and no, I wasn't speeding officer! I had cruise set the whole time. Bit of chilled out music on the stereo (Zero 7 and then some Beth Orton) and all was good in the world.

I actually changed the CD's in the autochanger yesterday for the first time in ages. Zero 7 is a great CD to have in the car on evening/late night drives where you just pass the miles by on the motorway and I forgot just how good it was. It got me thinking about bands I'd seen live with my other half as we'd seen Zero 7 and loved it. I've been to more gigs in the last few years in London than ever, in fact I'd only been to about 5 before that (although, that included REM at Murrayfield, Oasis at the same place and U2 at Celtic Park which was just brilliant). It also included Neil Finn, who is one of my favourite musicians who I've seen a couple of times now as well. We've had to cut down on gig going at the moment as all the money we would normally spend on gigs is going into the wedding fund, but one we had to get is Beth Orton with Bert Jansch and Bernard Butler at Somerset House. It's going to be such a summer highlight for me. Can't wait.

Baa

A most enjoyable game of squash last night, although we must both have been tired (or fitter?) as I was not nearly as purple as I was after the last game. This was followed up by a meal in Amigos, where as always, the food was good buut we had to wait for it. At least you know it's fresh!

Our new office is taking shape with people settling into where they are supposed to be. One collegue has decided he wants to stay in the old office as the new office has a few connectivity issues. His rants over processes and paperwork are pretty annoying, and have led me to ensure the reason he isn't in the correct place (wireless access) is resolved quickly so I can get on with my work and not listen to bleating all day long.

Wedding update: the current search for a photographer is ongoing. There is however now a shortlist, and so some meetings need to be setup to meet with them and look over their work in more detail. There is so much more to it than you'd imagine, with the current big debate being if we should go digital or film. Film has an appeal for old times sake, although as my other half and her sister have an issue with photos in that they always have their eyes shut in them, there is a risk that all the photos have me grinning like a goon and her with her eyes shut.

Decisions, decisions....

Another day, another game of squash. Played again last night with a collegue, and we are definitely getting better! I'm a little worried as at some point his fitness will improve and I could be in trouble then, but the shots are beginning to come back now. Have semi mastered the forehand off the back wall, but still struggle with the same shot on the backhand. I mean, I know the theory on how to do it, just need to practise it!

Playing again tonight, see if the body will hold up as last night was a hard game that took it out of me (few aches and pains), tonight will be the same if not more so.

Work have gone admin crazy. They have implemented a new system to track holidays and probable hours that you'll work. Which is rediculous, as there is already a system for booking holiday, the resource people know when you project end date is, and for the majority of people, the hours are pretty standard throughout the year. So a nice way of creating more work while already having the information available.

Football chat

So, the feeling I had has happened - Sheffield now want to get the Premier League to be 21 clubs next season. Never going to happen. I mean, fair enough, Tevez has saved West Ham single handed and Sheffield may not have got relegated had West Ham not had him, but it's over.

As with all these things though, there is too much money riding on it for them to let it lie...

Silly season has started with Aberdeen now as well, with claims Garry O'Conner could be coming to Aberdeen. Get a grip - he's on 17K a week. The highest paid player at Pittodrie is on about 3K a week so you can see if that'll come off...When we can't sign a player from Holland because his transfer fee is 70K, you get the idea of Scottish football finances.

Apologies for lack of posting, it's been hectic!

Wedding was superb, absolutly brilliant. Venue was lovely, the hotel the bride & groom were staying in was very nice indeed. We however where in a room with a sea view, I think the closest I've ever stayed to the sea (across the road). However, the hotel itself hadn;t seen much redecoration since the 70's, but we were there for such a short time it didn't matter.

Saturday was spent recovering and sleeping. Watched King Kong on DVD, which I thought was brilliant, but WAY too long. Sunday we went to a bbq (yes, I know it was very wet in the south!) with the people from the wedding and to send the bride & groom on their honeymoon. Was a really nice afternoon, chatting, catching up.

All in all, a happy weekend :-)

Kilts and weddings

Off to a wedding in the kilt today, very exciting, so I'll leave you with this...

A man was driving down the road and ran out of petrol. Just at that
moment, a bee flew in his window.
The bee said, "What seems to be the problem"?
"I'm out of petrol."
The bee told the man to wait right there and flew away.
Minute later, the man watched as an entire swarm of bees flew to his car and
into his petrol tank. After a few minutes, the bees flew out.
"Try it now," said one bee.
The man turned the ignition key and the car started right up.
"Wow!" the man exclaimed. "What did you put in my gas tank"?

The bee answered..."BP"

Bleating Wigan...

A wonderful evening in a new place for us, Singapore in Worcester. Good menu, good food, but the company was, as ever, on good form. Conversation ranged and we covered everything from politics to "Sponge Bob Square Pants", which says it all really.

Another day, andother document to write. It's non-stop excitement at the moment ;-)

Quick word on football. Wigan are seriously beginning to annoy me. Stop your bleating man! If you had actually beaten West Ham three weeks ago you wouldn't be in the mess you are now, and very likely not caring if Tevez played or not.

He seems fixated on getting West Ham losing points as they fielded an player without the suitable registration. Now, this in itself would be a valid reason for a points deduction. However, he was properly registered with the FA. The problem is that West Ham broke the leagues rules on 3rd party ownership, which does not have an automated points deduction - however it is one of the options available to the FA.

All in all, I think the FA have made a right balls up of this as it should have been nailed weeks ago leaving this weekend as a definite end state in the season. As it stands, I can see a legal battle ahead for the next few weeks which will leave a bad taste in the mouth, and detract from the football. To the footballing gods, for the sake of football, please let West Ham get relegated and save us a summer of Dave Whelan going on and on about the injust of his team being relegated. Failing which, send Wigan down so he doesn't get so much TV time. Just please, let football win out of this. Can't see it though...

Well, got beat at squash but nothing that wasn't unexpected. Give me a few weeks though and a few more games under my belt and I'll be flying!

Much fun over a curry last night. The mental image of the Gorse Fox encouraging some air guitar on a saga holiday will live for a long time :-)

Squashed....

OK drive up today, with a diversion to drop off the missus at Heathrow. Heathrow traffic is never a pleasure - it's the only airport I've been to late at night where there is always a traffic jam!

I think I'm in real trouble. I've arranged to play one of the girls in the office at squash. She had played someone else last week who has just helpfully told me she "gives it a good wallop". Suddenly I'm thinking body armour would be a good shout as this is the same person who said she liked to play to "get the aggression out".

I'm buggered. If anyone needs me tomorrow, I'll be the one in the corner with the black eye.

Weddings and football

Well, Saturday was spent in the pub mainly, with a walk around Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon in between. Good fun, beautiful surroundings and good company.

Sunday was lazy, as we were all knackered, although we ended up going out with some friends in the evening in Wimbledon. One of the couples are getting married on Friday so we spent most of the night winding them up, along with the best man who I think may be a nervous wreck now! Much fun....

So glad United won the league yesterday, as I've said a few times they have played the best football this season and it's good to see it vindicated. Could it be bye bye Jose? I'm slighty happier though for non-football reasons - Sky were hoping to "engineer" the league decider for this week and it's a complete nothing match now - Fergie will likely rest key players between now and the FA cup final, as will Jose, although there will be a will to beat them just for old times sake.

However, I think the bigger story is Newcastle. Are they never happy? They winge that Roeder is manager, he resigns and they are likely to get Big Sam, who has been a success in every job he's had. Granted, maybe not the most exciting football, but you don't here Bolton fans complaining too much. All the Newcastle fans are saying "Don't like him, don't want him" and "We want Hiddink". Now, no offence, but get a grip - Hiddink would never go to Newcastle. They have amazing fans, but need a spell of stability with a manager who can get them into Europe (UEFA cup) on a regular basis, with a good cup run in there every now and again. Spurs are the model here (although with a couple of better players and being able to keep Berbatov, they could get Champions League).

So Newcastle, get real, be sensible. Your not going to win the league again, your squad is mid table and not top 4 with Owen the exception, though he's hardly played. Be happy with what you've got, get behind them and don't pre-judge - you might just get a surprise...

Dancing

A most enjoyable wedding was attended last night. A combination of a Scotsman marrying an english girl (there is trend here, as there are three weddings I'm going to in the next year where this is a scenario - including my own) involving drinking, dancing and laughing. Much fun was had, including teaching my other half some Scottish dancing.

This is one of the dances we did - of course we executed it in exactly the same standard! Link

Off for some lunch now, which will involve a bar and some more fun and games with some friends who are staying. Suspect it'll be a late night again.

Randomness

I apologise for the randomness of todays posting.

Happy Star Wars day (think about it...)
And in honour, some Star Wars humour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAL7w2ybTfQ

All that is wrong with X-factor - who gave this man a contract? Track 7 - Chasing cars...
http://www.myspace.com/shaunofficial

United they fall...

Oh what a sad state of affairs it is to see United lose like they did yesterday. The best footballing team in the Premiership, the most exciting going forward, looked utter pants last night.

So what can we learn from it? I think they have played some awesome football this year, however they lacked a bit of knowledge of European football. There are a lot of young players who need someone there to calm them down a bit. Uniteds away form in Europe has been patchy to say the least in the last few seasons, that needs to be stopped.

What needs to change? Well, they are missing a strong central midfielder to protect the defence (step forward, Mr Owen Hargreaves), who can play alongside Carrick in the centre of midfield. Scholes will play less in the next few seasons, Carrick will develop into his replacement. They need a replacement for Van Der Sar, who is getting on. They need to sort out the defence - the first choice of Vidic, Ferdinand, Neville and Evra are brilliant, it's when you introduce others it falls apart (Brown for example). Heinze needs to sort himself out as he was awesome until his injury last season.

Amazingly, I think they also need another striker, an out and out scorer of goals with a clever touch. Now, this may not go down well, but I think the answer is at Spurs - Berbatov. Fergie doesn't like buying outside the Premiership if he can avoid it and Berbatov is a prefect fit for them.

Cats

An interesting phenonemon seems to be occuring on the net which I'm not sure I like. Cats are taking over.

I was in Flickr the other day and for some reason some photos were getting blocked. Turns out the privacy settings had kicked in and Flicr thought photos of my Dad's X5 were porn - random enough in itself. Then it asked me if I was sure I wanted to view it which I assured it I did. It then showed the photo and a button called "show me the kittens" which immediatly showed a lot of kittens on screen. Now, these were undeniably cute (if you like that sort of thing - my other thought it was brilliant), and has a sense of humour about it, it fuelled my thoughts that cats are taking over - hundreds of photos of cats!!! You Tube is the same.

So if I start sneezing while at my desk, the cat allergy has kicked in via the medium of the screen...

Also, I was sent this great link which which lets you see runs people have done in your area, and allows you to create your own as well (although, you need to sync your ipod nano to it first). Neat use of google maps from Nike.

Dull

Ah great joy. Another week, another early start, another 145 mile motorway journey. Uneventful and boring, although it was glorious weather.

Up for a few days in the midlands, fighting to keep a desk (although it's well marshalled), a few meetings, hotel, and a couple of games of squash.

Same as ever really...

Going Orange

So the Dutch season finishes with a bang!

Going into the last day of the season and three teams can win the league. AZ are top of the league on goal difference, followed by Ajax and PSV. All have the same points, only seperated by goal difference. AZ having a goal difference of 53, Ajax 5 behind, and PSV 1 behind that.

AZ lost 3-2, which ruled them out, although a bit gutting having led and having a much better goal difference. Ajax score two, which means they have a plus 3 goal difference which you would think is enough. Except PSV scored five and let one in, to win the league by one goal.

Amazing!

It's brilliant, and what football is all about. If you've not read it, I recommend reading "Brilliant Orange" which describes the Dutch football culture and why they play the way they do - perhaps we should not be surprised the season finished like that!

Cars and football

A nice drive back last night, although a bit late. But at least it gives me time to consider the next car (about a year away, but with a weekly 2.5 - 3 hour drive, your mind wanders). I'd thought of another BMW, but they cost so much money, so may not do that. Audi is similar, I like the A3 but why would you buy one when it's a rebadeged Golf and they are cheaper? Volvos new C30 looks interesting but would the missus let me get another 3 door when we've just got married? Can't see that one lasting long if we did go for it. So it needs to be a 4 door. Saab 93 is an option, but it's getting on a bit now. VW Golf is the same - 4 years into this run, will be replaced in 3 years. New Passat has a stunning interior, and with the new 170BHP TDI it would be in with a good shout. However let me throw a wild card - new Mondeo. By all accounts, it's as good as anything BMW and Audi have made (if not better), but it's 5K cheaper. I've seen one on the road, driving up the M40 (in a wierd traffic jam - between an Aerial Atom and a couple of supercars - AM DB9 and a yellow Gallardo). When they are officially released I'll need to have a closer look. Thing is, I like the RWD the BMW gives you, and you sit low in it which I like, so will see.

On another matter, for those who love football, isn't this a bit too scary?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1r5c9_comparativa-gol-de-messi-y-marad

Messi, being argentinian, probably knew the goal was similar and has even celebrated in the same way. It's magical to watch, almost as good as the Rooney goals for Utd this week (as if - this beats them easily!)

Well, managed to get thorugh yesterday without upsetting anyone (well, not to my knowledge anyway!)

Went to the hotel last night only to find they didn't have Sky Sports. So I put in a complaint card saying it wasn't there. I mean, why do hotels only give you 6 channels? (the standard 5 plus a sky channel, either Sky News or Sky Sports News?) I mean, it's not that hard to supply more channels, and would make me stay there again.

However, I suspect the reason is so that they can try and get more money from you as your bored and decide to buy a film instead.

It's not as though the place is cheap. I noted from the menu that a large glass of wine cost £7.45. You can buy a nice bottle for that!!

A long day of meetings ahead, with a late departure home. Great joy.

Oh, and happy minus 1 wedding anniversary to the missus - a year today I'll be getting married. Not that it's looming large over us at all...

Grumpy

Dear lord, I've been up for hours. It feels like I've not slept. For some bizarre reason, I just could not get to sleep last night. Eventually got off at some time after 1, and then was up again at 5:45 to drive to Worcester.

Suspect I may be a tad grumpy today.

Travelodge hell

"Travelodge - Everything you need, nothing you don't"

How apt. That doesn't seem to include customer service.

So I'd booked a room with them for two nights this week, as at the time that was all I needed. Turns out I now only need one night. No problem, as I've got a flexible rate I can change it up until 12 on the day. You try it...

Turns out, the way it does this is by making you a new booking, then cancelling the existing one. This works great unless the hotel is full, which it was. So the only way I could do it was to cancel my room and make another booking, with no guarantee I'd get a room. This was only explained after 25 minutes of hold music as the automated system couldn't do it either. Great customer service - you cannot break the phone system to talk to someone either. The phone system has to realise it can't help you either.

So I cancelled it, went to the Hilton up the road. Two minutes, talked to a really person, and I'll bet I get a room upgrade as I've got Silver VIP membership on their reward cards. And it's only £20 more expensive a night, which includes breakfast, so in all it's only about £10 more expensive as at the Travelodge it's extra.

In the days now where everybody wants cheap and easy, there are times when it goes too far. I'm sure Travelodge save a fortune in labour costs this way, but it doesn't exactly endear you to the brand does it? And when brand is all powerful, is that really something they can ignore?

Google

This is great. Go to google maps, and get directions from New York to London. Number 24 would be, erm challenging!

Atchoo

First up - Atchoo in Lithuanian means "thank you". That kept us all very amused the other weekend.

Well, I've felt better over weekends. A stinking cold made it's intentions known on Friday and proceeded to take full effect on Saturday, receding slightly now. Still feel rubbish.

Saturday was spent looking at the number one wedding venue of choice for me and the missus. In reality, I should have stayed at home, but as it's a year to the day to the wedding it was important to get photos of the grounds to see what it's going to look like for our wedding. It looks amazing and we spent 2 hours there looking around. Discovered that it has a tennis court, which we'll never get to use but might be useful to lock my (to be, but feel like they are already) niece and nephew in with a football, and possibly my brother.

Afterwards, we went to a shopping village looking for dresses for my missus. I couldn't stand it (the cold was kicking in big style) so stayed in the car. Good result as she got a dress that she is more than happy with.

Saturday night was a lively one - me trying to stay awake with a lemsip and 2 boxes of tissues. Rock and Roll...

Sunday was playing with the niece and nephew as the cold had subsided a bit. They are very amusing. The eldest one (she's 4) said about her little brother (who's 1):

Erm, Mummy, my brothers interests are milk, winging, and stairs.

Brilliant. Not "my brother likes" but "his interests are". 4 going on 40.

hybrid aggresion

As ever, a trip on a commuter train into London is always a joy. I just look back at the time I did it every day and wonder - how!?! Supplier meeting this morning, if it went as well as yesterdays it should be a good day.

Played squash the other night, which was good fun (I think it helped that I won by a mile, which to be fair didn't reflect the game). Looking forward to playing again next week, although my opponent opened with "yeah, I love squash, it's a great way to get out your aggrivations". I'll be the only person in history to play squash in full kevlar body armour.

A statistic came my way today which got the brain thinking. As I've talked about cars a bit this week, how's this one grab you. In California, there are 34 million cars. Which is a lot. Of those, approx 135,000 are hybrids, which accounts for about 0.3% of cars in California. That 135,000 also accounts for a quarter of all hybrid sales in the US.

To coin a famous catchphrase - "We're all dooomed!!"

Another day, another scare...

Another day, another health fear. This time it's the saviour of the car industry, E85 Bio Ethanol.

Apparently, when some geeks ran a computer model on the levels of C02 in 2020 using variable figures of cars running on E85 and some with petrol and diesel, the C02 levels were in some cases higher than with petrol. This in turn has a higher risk of respiratory disease. Some levels of nastys were reduced, while others were increased.

It should be noted that bio fuels still emit carbon dioxide, it's just that it (buzzword of the day coming up) offsets against that by absorbing it when the plants are growing.

So, should we stop using it? I say no - it's better than what we are using now and it's sustainable. It will help the farming industry. However, until we are all driving hydrogen powered cars, or the levels of C02 emitted are reduced, it's only ever going to be a short term fix.

I should add a little footnote to this. I'm one of those people who belives that anyone can massage figures for their own gain, so today a report says bio fuel is evil, tomorrow will be one that says it is the saviour. It's all about personal choice and balance.

I'm cured!

I see this morning that bacon can increase the risk of lung disease. Another day, another food that causes disease. Now, on further investigation it turns out that the suspected cause is the amount of nitrates that is the cause, and it seems this is related to the curing process as it's all cured meets.

I'm a big advocate of sensible eating habits. You eat a little of what you like, and balance it all out. So, while I'm working away I might have a curry one night, but I'll try and choose one without tons of cheese or cream in the sauce (you can't really avoid the oil in an indian, but you can minimise the damage!). Equally, I won't have a fry up when I'm away (in fact, I've not had one in ages, I think a grand total of two this year).

I'm also in support of organic local food, which is why I spend so much of my time at home working out food miles and going to local farmers markets instead of supermarkets.

This is not supposed to be a "how good am I post". I struggle with this stuff all the time, (the desire to shovel Pringles down my throat while watching Friday night tele is ongoing, so I just don't buy them) but it's all about being sensible. I don't want a government advisor, a food research agency or a supermarket telling me what and how I should eat. I make my own choices, and I'm happy with them.

I love bacon rolls every now and again, and this won't put me off it, but it'll just be one of those things I eat every now and again - as it is now.

Weekend bliss

A busy weekend in the homeland, with very good weather to go with it. The flight on Thursday was uneventful enough, but the views were amazing. As I was flying in what can only be described as a toilet roll with wings and engines, we didn't fly very high. The view over the Pentlands and Edinburgh was good enough, but then when we got to Perth you could see Edinburgh, the Pentlands, Dundee, Perth, and all that goes along with it. Stunning.

Friday night with spent catching up with some friends, and an invitation to usher at a weeding to one of my best friends which was a nice surprise. Saturday the girls went dress shopping for bridesmaid dresses and the boys went to play golf. I'm now never playing with my brother again - he scored 2 eagles in his round. Not fair. Very good meal on Saturday in Nargile with the family although we all ate too much!

Sunday was spent with the grandparents and family, and I caught up with an old school mate who I'd not seen in ages. He's had a rough time of it but seems to finally be getting himself sorted out which was good to see. A good routine with his work and the smoking ban have definetly hepled him as he has stopped smoking as a result. . Interestingly, he was talking about a recent trip to London where he was in a bar. He went to smoke and stood up to leave the bar as he would have done at home. After some amusement and bemused looks from the locals, he still left the bar as he found it very smokey and unpleasant, and didn't want to contribute!

It's very nice to be back here, the smoking ban has transformed the experience of bars and clubs and only for the better. Most of my friends who used to smoke have stopped or are stopping, and that is an even better reason for it. Can't wait for July when it comes in to effect in England.

Bristol goes missing

This is sad.

Link - Muppets

Use the force?

I got fed up with recieving an annoying pop-up warning on my chat program yesterday, so I upgraded to the newest version as I was told to.

As far as I can tell, the differences seem cosmetic, apart from one interesting option that you can select at log-on to "Work Offline". Now, this is an online chat program, so what on earth would you want to do with it offline????

Euro dreaming

Ah, what a night for Man Utd!

I had a gym induction last night (the guy looked bored until I turned up - I think he was keen to have something different to do, but nobody had told him I'm already a gym member and already have a program. The equiptment is not really up to date and they've obviously bought cheaper stuff than they could have, but it's cheap and will do the job nicely.

The result of this was that I missed going out for dinner with some collegues, however I did time my hotel room return to see United score 3 goals. At that point I decided against going to the Thai place round the corner and ordered room service to wtach the game instead.

It was a bit of a dilema - go and have a great meal, but miss what is a brilliant game of football, or order room service, expect to be disappointed, but get to watch the game. As it was, dinner was ok. Well, my baked potato was unedible in the bottom third, the bread of the garlic bread wasn't cooked but the top was burnt and the salad consisted of one sliced up tomato, 3 slices of gem lettuce, half a litre of balsamic vinegar and a lemon. It's a sad state of affairs that I looked upon it as better than expected!

Anyway, I was happy, great game and I can't wait for Liverpool tonight, hopefully to send 3 English teams into the semi-finals. Brilliant.

I should add, I'm desperate for United to win the Champions League again. As a club, they should have won it more, in recent years they should have won it at least twice. I want Fergie to win it, and this United side have played some of the best football in the Premiership and in Europe - I want the best footballing side to win. I can't help feeling - if Fergie leads United to another treble - would he retire at the end of the season?

April fools

I was a tad hungover on April the 1st, but stored these up for when I had a few April Fools from this and recent years.

One of the guys made a reference to Tony Blair resigning, but we were all too jaded and tired to take it in at the time :-)

This was a favourite - google does printing:
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html

The internet over birds (the IETF actually made this one!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers

America beat the Russians in the first ever Quidditch match
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070401.html

So, the fence is upright again - thankfully! Turns out my neigbour isn't much into DIY but together we fixed it. The fence post was rotten and had split as it was in the ground a long way but had not been treated with anything so was rotten right through. You could actually squeeze it and loads of water came out!!

Had great fun yesterday tidying the shed while the missus attacked the garden. I managed to do all those little jobs I'd been putting off for ages and the shed is now somewhere you don't mind spending some time. All the tools are now hanging up (although the missus has had to restrain my natural urge to draw all around them - she seems to think I'll want a flat cap if I do that). I will need a plan a trip to the local recycling place, and the tip to get rid of some rubbish but once that's done it's fully useable again. I even started to make a new door for the BBQ as the current one has rotted through at the base. The simple joys of woodworking :-)

Bugger.

Tiger loses his distance control in the final round of the Masters and a 200-1 shot wins. To be fair, I'd not have picked him anyway. Maybe it's an American thing, but the name Zach annoys me - don't know why and I'm sure people hate my name. Hence I'd have avoided him and picked a European. So, next up is the Grand National. I'm off to phone the missus Grandma, who has won for the last 3 years based purely on luck and chosing the colours she likes. In saying that, I won the sweep at a golf club last year so I can't complain, although only because it was the only horse left in the thing!

A bank holiday is never the same without a trip to the garden centre. So we went there today to get some bedding plants and some stones to finish off a path we made last year - they've not had the stones in stock since then. Never ceases to amaze me the amount of plants there, but I guess that's like saying it's surprising to see CD's in HMV.

Right, best get to the garden to put into a fence post or three before the fence falls over.

Sport

Love this weekend of sport - brilliant!

So, the boys from Oxford really helped me out by losing in dramatic fashion. I mean, how hard can it be to row up a very still Thames? Still, they are all bigger than me (except the cox) so I'll say well done - the 10 months of training was worth it.

I'm still in the running for the golf - come on in Tiger! Not quite as good if one of my 22/1 or 28/1 came in, but right now I'll just take a win! Fingers crossed.

Lewis Hamilton - you are a star. Two races in to his Grand Prix life and he goes round the outside of a Ferrai on the second bend. Good man, you've made me very happy - the look on Kimi's face at the end was also very much worth it!! I'm quite sure big Ron was loving that as well.

United blew it yesterday, they looked tired in midfield. Not as tired as me - I had to go the gym to watch it! Was knackered by the end. I can't wait for them to get a true out and out goalscorer again up front, picking up the scraps from Rooney and Ronaldo. If they had that this season, they would have walked the title by now (did somebody say Ruud?).

Bit of boxing news - Khan and Calzaghe win again - good for them. About time these guys went and boxed in the states though as it's easy for Calzaghe to win at Cardiff in front of 35,000 locals.

Nothing quite like shopping...with three weddings coming up we spent yesterday looking for suitable outfits for my other half. After 4 hours and her trying on at least 20 dresses, we think we have found the winner. Thankfully!

I am feeling jinxed. I never really gamble, but always put a few quid on golf - the Masters and the Ryder Cup. Last Ryder Cup saw me on a roll, and won a shed load but it would seem my touch has gone as all the people I've put money on are struggling. Have 2 quid on the boat race - it's something I've never really "got" despite having gone to watch it a lot in recent years as the start is only a couple of miles from the front door. Today we'll watch i from home, but on my recent form I'd be putting money on Cambridge (unlike me...)

The art of conversation

The next time someone strikes up a conversation and you don't fancy it, this could be a good tatic!

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know", said the stranger. "How about nuclear power?"

"OK," she said. "That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat grass, the same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?"

The stranger thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea", to which the little girl replies;

"Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know sh*t?"

Thai it up

Well, bit of a funny day yesterday what with the usual changes in government IT projects. Looking forward to the weekend and the bank holiday and some chill out time.

Great result for Liverpool last night, much fun abusing my mate after his now infamous "Barcelona can beat Liverpool easily" text. Oh yeah?

Went for a great Thai last night - hadn't been there in ages and the food was superb and the staff great. Am suffereing a bit of a cold setting on so a three chilli soup had the sinuses working overtime!

Worn out

A bit of a chill out day yesterday, call it recovery from the abuse I've put myself through the last few days. I appear to be coming down with a cold, which isn't really surprising given the sleep deprivation of the last few days, and the hectic last two weeks.

Been planning some alterations to the house as well, new floor in the bathroom is on the cards, although I'm trying to work out if I'm brave enough to tile it myself.

Recieved this by email, tickled me on a day of rediculous project news.

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Ride on

I've just got back from a weekend in Lithunania, in the city of Vilnius. The occasion was a stag weekend, and with 13 of us on our way from Gatwick much fun was had. Of course, the rules of the weekend are that I can't reveal details, but the weekend consisted of beer and dancing, going to bed at 5am, karting, and riding about on a segway. Segways are brilliant, much fun was had!!!

Will maybe write some more once I get the use of my eyes back, as they are a tad bloodshot at the moment.