Now I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it's looking great for another Aberdeen European adventure :-)
A mighty win at Celtic park keeps the dream on track, just when the season was beginning to look flat. The one real benefit of working away from home is that I have easy access to hotels and bars who have SKY sports and Setanta sports, which means I can watch the games!
Now, just need to beat Queen Of The South, who are sitting 4th in First Division in the semi to setup a likely final with Rangers. As they are going to finish 1st or second, we'll get a euro place for reaching the final.
It's important to do this, as the club are planning a major restructuring this summer so European football will be a draw for us, plus the money is always helpful. And as Scotland are so high up the world rankings now, we'll have less pre-qualification to do for the cup as well, which means group stages will be potentially easier to reach.
It just gets better and better!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Busy weekend of wedding activity. Saturday was spent in Brighton, shopping for various presents which went very well. Brighton seems to have a cracking feel to it, I've been there only a few times but enjoyed the atmosphere every time. Lunch was had in Food For Friends, which is vegetarian but don't let that put you off! I had an amazing frittata while the missus had a very good parsnip and goats cheese tart.
Sunday was up early to head to Kingston to buy our honeymoon luggage, as we've only got 15KG each, including hand luggage, for the trip. This will seriously affect the packing! So a lightweight bag has been bought so we can squeeze in those essential extras. It's actually been an interesting experience as we've had to look at everything we are taking with us and how heavy it is, so the camera is much lighter than the other options, same for binoculars and even walking boots! I don't think that I'll need them on the beach, but while out on safari I don't fancy walking in elephant poo in flip flops!.
The rest of yesterday was spent doing wedding paperwork which is very dull but essential. Nearly done though...
Sunday was up early to head to Kingston to buy our honeymoon luggage, as we've only got 15KG each, including hand luggage, for the trip. This will seriously affect the packing! So a lightweight bag has been bought so we can squeeze in those essential extras. It's actually been an interesting experience as we've had to look at everything we are taking with us and how heavy it is, so the camera is much lighter than the other options, same for binoculars and even walking boots! I don't think that I'll need them on the beach, but while out on safari I don't fancy walking in elephant poo in flip flops!.
The rest of yesterday was spent doing wedding paperwork which is very dull but essential. Nearly done though...
Friday, March 14, 2008
A trip to the nations capital today, with the aim of cracking on with various pieces of work. So a meeting room was booked and an early train caught.
So far, all is well, but it amazed me that the office was still dead by 8:45. I'll need to bear this in mind for the future when I can never get a desk! Still, at least the trains were consistent as there were no seats to be seen anywhere. It scares me sometimes that there is an 8 carriage train every three minutes from my station to Waterloo, and yet in the morning every carriage is rammed, every seat taken and people standing up all the way. Usually me. Where do all these people go? Where do they all work?
One for another day to ponder.
So far, all is well, but it amazed me that the office was still dead by 8:45. I'll need to bear this in mind for the future when I can never get a desk! Still, at least the trains were consistent as there were no seats to be seen anywhere. It scares me sometimes that there is an 8 carriage train every three minutes from my station to Waterloo, and yet in the morning every carriage is rammed, every seat taken and people standing up all the way. Usually me. Where do all these people go? Where do they all work?
One for another day to ponder.
Monday, March 10, 2008
So, I've spent a lot of time recently suffering from work overload and personal life overload. It really can grind you down!
Work is mad, trying to get project stuff sorted out, and then on top of that there is the admin. In all my time I swear it's getting worse. This year I'm trying to get a promotion. To do that, they seem to have made it as tedious as possible to put people off. You have three documents to complete, all of which are long and cover essentially the same thing. And you just know it's not going to be worth all the time and effort, the sleepness nights.
Wedding plans are coming on, guest lists still cause grief though. That's the single biggest one just now!
Had a great birthday weekend last weekend, which included my stag do in Edinburgh. It's always nice to catch up with my mates as I don't see them all that often, and they were all on good form. It starts the eternal pondering, why do I live so far away from them all? The answer? So I can get good work on projects (which are great) and complete the mundane paperwork. Which drives you mental.
On the upside, it's less than 7 weeks now until the wedding and I'm getting a bit excited by it now - there is light at the end of the planning!
Right, now back to the paperwork...
Work is mad, trying to get project stuff sorted out, and then on top of that there is the admin. In all my time I swear it's getting worse. This year I'm trying to get a promotion. To do that, they seem to have made it as tedious as possible to put people off. You have three documents to complete, all of which are long and cover essentially the same thing. And you just know it's not going to be worth all the time and effort, the sleepness nights.
Wedding plans are coming on, guest lists still cause grief though. That's the single biggest one just now!
Had a great birthday weekend last weekend, which included my stag do in Edinburgh. It's always nice to catch up with my mates as I don't see them all that often, and they were all on good form. It starts the eternal pondering, why do I live so far away from them all? The answer? So I can get good work on projects (which are great) and complete the mundane paperwork. Which drives you mental.
On the upside, it's less than 7 weeks now until the wedding and I'm getting a bit excited by it now - there is light at the end of the planning!
Right, now back to the paperwork...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A busy weekend that, I'm still recovering!
Friday night was spent in John Lewis, doing gift list things - sounds fun, is actually hard work! So many decisions to make, not helped when your trying to furnish a house you don't own yet (we'll move this year - definitely!). Saturday was spent in London, doing present shopping before heading up to the British museum to see the Chinese Terracotta Warriors. While it was very busy, it was well worth it and really gives you a sense of the scale of what Emperor Qin was up to. You also begin to wonder how many other finds there are in that field in China as they keep finding more and more, the latest being some terracotta musicians and wild birds to keep him amused in the afterlife.
Sunday was spent finishing the gift list which threw up a new object of desire. It's far too expensive to put on a gift list but the sound is incredible and the styling is superb. If you want the ultimate sounds and style for your ipod in the house, this is it: Link Might be treating myself when we do eventually move house for that bad boy! The bass is awesome.
Friday night was spent in John Lewis, doing gift list things - sounds fun, is actually hard work! So many decisions to make, not helped when your trying to furnish a house you don't own yet (we'll move this year - definitely!). Saturday was spent in London, doing present shopping before heading up to the British museum to see the Chinese Terracotta Warriors. While it was very busy, it was well worth it and really gives you a sense of the scale of what Emperor Qin was up to. You also begin to wonder how many other finds there are in that field in China as they keep finding more and more, the latest being some terracotta musicians and wild birds to keep him amused in the afterlife.
Sunday was spent finishing the gift list which threw up a new object of desire. It's far too expensive to put on a gift list but the sound is incredible and the styling is superb. If you want the ultimate sounds and style for your ipod in the house, this is it: Link Might be treating myself when we do eventually move house for that bad boy! The bass is awesome.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Aberdeen play Bayern Munich tomorrow in the UEFA Cup. It occured that they might, possibly, have a better team that us. Let's look at the evidence, based on International experience:
Bayern:
Kahn (86 caps Germany)
Sagnol (54 caps France)
Lucio (63 caps Brazil)
Demichelis (9 caps Argentina)
Lahm (37 caps Germany)
Altintop (25 caps Turkey)
van Bommel (40 caps Netherlands)
Ze Roberto (84 caps Brazil)
Schweinsteiger (48 caps Germany)
Klose (73 caps Germany)
Toni (32 caps Italy)
Aberdeen:
1 Langfield (Uncapped scotland squad member)
28 Maybury (10 irish caps)
4 McNamara (33 scottish caps)
5 Diamond (Former scotland under-21 captain)
23 Bus (Eh, nothing)
8 Nicholson (3 scottish caps)
19 Young (Former scottish under-21 player)
6 Severin (14 scottish caps)
27 Walker (Captain of england under-19's)
10 Mackie (1 scotland B cap)
16 Miller (1 scottish cap)
Subs
14 Foster (Former scottish under-21 player)
21 Considine (Current scottish under-21 squad member)
22 Maguire (Current scottish under-19 squad member)
20 Soutar (Eh, nothing)
9 Lovell (Eh, nothing)
11 Duff (10 scottish under-21 caps)
26 Aluko (Current england under-19 squad member)
Others
3 Byrne (1 ireland B cap)
7 Ja.Smith (2 scottish caps)
15 Touzani (Former dutch youth player)
17 D.Smith (Eh, nothing)
18 Mair (Former scottish youth player)
24 De Visscher (Eh, nothing)
25 Jo. Smith (Eh, nothing)
30 Kelly (Scotland under-19 squad member)
On second thoughts, let's not...Even their 3rd choice striker has something like 22 caps for Germany.
Well, at least it's on early, plenty of time for drowned sorrows afterwards. Thank goodness for BBCi on red button who are showing the game live.
Bayern:
Kahn (86 caps Germany)
Sagnol (54 caps France)
Lucio (63 caps Brazil)
Demichelis (9 caps Argentina)
Lahm (37 caps Germany)
Altintop (25 caps Turkey)
van Bommel (40 caps Netherlands)
Ze Roberto (84 caps Brazil)
Schweinsteiger (48 caps Germany)
Klose (73 caps Germany)
Toni (32 caps Italy)
Aberdeen:
1 Langfield (Uncapped scotland squad member)
28 Maybury (10 irish caps)
4 McNamara (33 scottish caps)
5 Diamond (Former scotland under-21 captain)
23 Bus (Eh, nothing)
8 Nicholson (3 scottish caps)
19 Young (Former scottish under-21 player)
6 Severin (14 scottish caps)
27 Walker (Captain of england under-19's)
10 Mackie (1 scotland B cap)
16 Miller (1 scottish cap)
Subs
14 Foster (Former scottish under-21 player)
21 Considine (Current scottish under-21 squad member)
22 Maguire (Current scottish under-19 squad member)
20 Soutar (Eh, nothing)
9 Lovell (Eh, nothing)
11 Duff (10 scottish under-21 caps)
26 Aluko (Current england under-19 squad member)
Others
3 Byrne (1 ireland B cap)
7 Ja.Smith (2 scottish caps)
15 Touzani (Former dutch youth player)
17 D.Smith (Eh, nothing)
18 Mair (Former scottish youth player)
24 De Visscher (Eh, nothing)
25 Jo. Smith (Eh, nothing)
30 Kelly (Scotland under-19 squad member)
On second thoughts, let's not...Even their 3rd choice striker has something like 22 caps for Germany.
Well, at least it's on early, plenty of time for drowned sorrows afterwards. Thank goodness for BBCi on red button who are showing the game live.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Now, this is geeky...
This guys has developed software that uses the Wii controller in a variety of interesting ways. The Wiimote is an amazing and very accurate device, and these side projects give you an idea how the technology could be reused. I love the interactive whiteboard!
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
This guys has developed software that uses the Wii controller in a variety of interesting ways. The Wiimote is an amazing and very accurate device, and these side projects give you an idea how the technology could be reused. I love the interactive whiteboard!
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Don't you hate it when people don't think about the implications their work? There is a prime example today of understanding the impact of things where people thought it would be a good idea to scan a document. The document is new, however the designer hadn't spoken to anyone about the scanning requirements as they had made some assumptions. Which were incorrect. The people designing the process for the scanning hadn't spoken to anyone about the technical requirements of the scan process. It then comes to the technical people to chase all the answers to get an answer within a day. As per normal.
And you wonder why us techies mock non-techies sometimes?
And you wonder why us techies mock non-techies sometimes?
Friday, January 18, 2008
I try and avoid religion. It's not that I'm anti religious, it's just that it people can take their views very seriously and it can end up in violence - and that's just football crowds who get a bit a drunk, never mind the extremist views some people have.
I came across this video which I found interesting. A Dutch comedian was confronted about some of his satire on a Dutch TV show which was run by three Muslim girls. They took offense at what he said. He responds and expresses it is his right to free speech and they are taking offense when they should just get on with it and deal with it. "Everybody else does it, why can't you?" seems to be the message.
There is an interesting back story to this. Hans was friends with Theo Van Gogh, the director who was shot in Holland a few years ago having made a film about Islamic culture, and this seems to have fueled his ambition to ensure nothing is ever deemed "out of bounds" as to what can and cannot be said in free countries. It's a valid point and one that you can see every day in the UK, with concessions here and there in case it upsets someone, or their religion.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg
Anyway, I'm not going to preach and say he is right or wrong, but in a free world, people can say what they like regardless of the target. You may not agree with them or their views, but that is what makes life interesting. If we all liked the same thing, it would be a very dull place.
I came across this video which I found interesting. A Dutch comedian was confronted about some of his satire on a Dutch TV show which was run by three Muslim girls. They took offense at what he said. He responds and expresses it is his right to free speech and they are taking offense when they should just get on with it and deal with it. "Everybody else does it, why can't you?" seems to be the message.
There is an interesting back story to this. Hans was friends with Theo Van Gogh, the director who was shot in Holland a few years ago having made a film about Islamic culture, and this seems to have fueled his ambition to ensure nothing is ever deemed "out of bounds" as to what can and cannot be said in free countries. It's a valid point and one that you can see every day in the UK, with concessions here and there in case it upsets someone, or their religion.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg
Anyway, I'm not going to preach and say he is right or wrong, but in a free world, people can say what they like regardless of the target. You may not agree with them or their views, but that is what makes life interesting. If we all liked the same thing, it would be a very dull place.
Monday, January 14, 2008
It's always nice to be at home, and this week I'm on a course in central London learning about the application we are building. It seems it will be a good week but the first day is scene setting and most was a recap or confirmation of approach. What was good today was it was my first "hands on" with the product. It has it's own little foibles and tricks, but once you start thinking about how it works it all makes sense and it should be a good week.
What was not so pleasant was the rush hour commute to the city - I've not done it in three years since I left work on a project on the Strand, and I forgot just how many people try and get onto the trains and tubes. It does make you think like the Egg Card advert - for every clever thing that happens in the world (me being at home) there is an opposite reaction somewhere else (the tube journey).
I also read an interesting article in GQ about blogging and that 50% of blogs created every day has the subject matter of the author and his or her life. I scoffed till I realised that's what this was. I might come back to the topic as you could get all deep about this subject and I don't think I can deal with it just now.
What was not so pleasant was the rush hour commute to the city - I've not done it in three years since I left work on a project on the Strand, and I forgot just how many people try and get onto the trains and tubes. It does make you think like the Egg Card advert - for every clever thing that happens in the world (me being at home) there is an opposite reaction somewhere else (the tube journey).
I also read an interesting article in GQ about blogging and that 50% of blogs created every day has the subject matter of the author and his or her life. I scoffed till I realised that's what this was. I might come back to the topic as you could get all deep about this subject and I don't think I can deal with it just now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Tetris
This is one of the funniest things I've seen on you tube in ages - Human Tetris from Japan. What I find really funny is the panic in the faces as they try to work out how to get into the correct shapes to fit through the holes!
Monday, January 07, 2008
I see that you can now book (or very soon) Eurostar tickets online in conjunction with regional tickets. So if you want to go to Paris from York, you'll get it in one place.
Link
Now, there is a very good European site called Seat61, which has tons of information about European train travel. I used this extensively when booking my tickets to go to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 as there is loads of useful stuff on it. However, the ultimate European train site has to be the DeutscheBahn site (LINK)which lets you search every train in Europe (and I've just checked - it allows you to include York in it's search). So why have they bothered to do it? I guess it makes it easier for people, but I don't know many people who book train tickets online. As the online services are not great for train travel, in my experience. I don't trust the train company websites to give me the right price for love nor money - I'd rather buy the single fare to get to London and then do the rest on Eurostar's site.
As an aside, a total journey time of 10 hours and 21 minutes to go by train from York to Dortmund by train is impressive but I wonder how many people would consider it. Take into account the entire travel time to get from York to Dortmund by air (assuming you can fly from Leeds to Dortmund) would be:
Shame.
Link
Now, there is a very good European site called Seat61, which has tons of information about European train travel. I used this extensively when booking my tickets to go to the World Cup in Germany in 2006 as there is loads of useful stuff on it. However, the ultimate European train site has to be the DeutscheBahn site (LINK)which lets you search every train in Europe (and I've just checked - it allows you to include York in it's search). So why have they bothered to do it? I guess it makes it easier for people, but I don't know many people who book train tickets online. As the online services are not great for train travel, in my experience. I don't trust the train company websites to give me the right price for love nor money - I'd rather buy the single fare to get to London and then do the rest on Eurostar's site.
As an aside, a total journey time of 10 hours and 21 minutes to go by train from York to Dortmund by train is impressive but I wonder how many people would consider it. Take into account the entire travel time to get from York to Dortmund by air (assuming you can fly from Leeds to Dortmund) would be:
- Drive from York to Leeds Bradford - 1 hour
- Park and get to terminal - 30 minutes
- Check in before flight - at least 2 hours
- Flight - 3 hours (I've not checked that btw)
- Get off plane and collect bags - 45 minutes
- Get into central Dortmund - 45 minutes
Shame.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Back to work with a bump today. Quiet day catching up on admin and the activities that have been going on in the world of work. Quite nice to be able to do it all in peace!
Christmas passed with much fun and laughter, though with colds all round it wasn't quite as much fun as it could be. Wii caused much laughter all round - there is nothing like the sight of your 81 year old Gran playing Wii tennis... New Year was a complete washout, the other half managed to get this winter vomiting cold thingy, so we shut the door and packed her off to bed. Not exactly party time! Still, these things happen.
Many days have been spent looking at a new camera to supplement the Ixus we bought in late 2006. This one will be used for long distance and outdoor type shots, leaving the Ixus for indoor type shots in preparation of the honeymoon where we will be on safari in Botswana. Much research has gone into this, and an order placed, which should arrive tomorrow which is rather exciting. The rate of change is frightening - the new camera one of the new breed of bridge cameras with super zooms and has a 18x optical zoom on it. I've been very impressed with it when we tried it in the shop so cannot wait for it's first outing. Next on the hit list is a set of binoculars.
What else? Well, I spent a few days sorting out my photo library on the PC, having run out of disk space and with no upgrade option, having previously filled the spare drive slot with a DVD burner. So an external drive was bought, DVD burning for archiving taken place and a second copy placed on the drive. You can almost see the PC breath out as it gets disk space back!
Christmas passed with much fun and laughter, though with colds all round it wasn't quite as much fun as it could be. Wii caused much laughter all round - there is nothing like the sight of your 81 year old Gran playing Wii tennis... New Year was a complete washout, the other half managed to get this winter vomiting cold thingy, so we shut the door and packed her off to bed. Not exactly party time! Still, these things happen.
Many days have been spent looking at a new camera to supplement the Ixus we bought in late 2006. This one will be used for long distance and outdoor type shots, leaving the Ixus for indoor type shots in preparation of the honeymoon where we will be on safari in Botswana. Much research has gone into this, and an order placed, which should arrive tomorrow which is rather exciting. The rate of change is frightening - the new camera one of the new breed of bridge cameras with super zooms and has a 18x optical zoom on it. I've been very impressed with it when we tried it in the shop so cannot wait for it's first outing. Next on the hit list is a set of binoculars.
What else? Well, I spent a few days sorting out my photo library on the PC, having run out of disk space and with no upgrade option, having previously filled the spare drive slot with a DVD burner. So an external drive was bought, DVD burning for archiving taken place and a second copy placed on the drive. You can almost see the PC breath out as it gets disk space back!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Unbelievably, Aberdeen won last night! I'm stunned, but so happy! Beating the Danish champions, who beat Ajax and Manchester United last season is good, but beating them 4-0 is unreal!
So we go into the last 32 of the draw, to play a group winner and with no limitations on playing teams in the same country, we can play Everton, Athletico (again - who beat us in the groups), Villareal, Hamburg, Leverkusen, Getafe, Bordeaux and Bayern Munich. Of that lot, I want one of the big German teams, Leverkusen have a stadium which would have an incredible atmosphere, but Bayern would be the big one - seeing as we beat them in the last 16 in the European Cup in 83. Maybe we should just keep them for the next round :-) As an aside, the key players that night in Fergie's first big team where Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish. Fergie's team from the 80s has produced a huge number of good managers so can you imagine how many there will be from his team of the 90's????
So we go into the last 32 of the draw, to play a group winner and with no limitations on playing teams in the same country, we can play Everton, Athletico (again - who beat us in the groups), Villareal, Hamburg, Leverkusen, Getafe, Bordeaux and Bayern Munich. Of that lot, I want one of the big German teams, Leverkusen have a stadium which would have an incredible atmosphere, but Bayern would be the big one - seeing as we beat them in the last 16 in the European Cup in 83. Maybe we should just keep them for the next round :-) As an aside, the key players that night in Fergie's first big team where Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish. Fergie's team from the 80s has produced a huge number of good managers so can you imagine how many there will be from his team of the 90's????
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wii
Last weekend I managed to finally get hold of a wii. It's brilliant, a workout and a games console. The interactivity is awesome, you really feel part of the game as you lunge across your lounge throwing a bowling ball in the same action you would in the bowling alley. If only I could get a second wii remote - they are rarer than a wii!!!
Also, this is interesting - the BBC moves to personalised portals on the beta site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/beta/
Also, this is interesting - the BBC moves to personalised portals on the beta site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/beta/
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Well it seems there will be some kind of protest this week about the cost of fuel in the UK. The plans seem secretive, so I'd suggest filling up on Tuesday night if you need to like me, when the car is essential next weekend, when we visit a friend from Oz home with their kids for the first time and my cars range would get me there, but not back home again afterwards. Should probably have bought a diesel, but they don't sound anywhere near as nice :-)
Anyway, I suspect this has been coming for a while and I try and keep politics clear from here, but something needs to change with the way the motorist is treated.
Link if you want more info.
Anyway, I suspect this has been coming for a while and I try and keep politics clear from here, but something needs to change with the way the motorist is treated.
Link if you want more info.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
It's one of those times where life is just busy. Lot's on at work, as usual at this time of year which always seems to be admin crazy. As I'm meeting the leader of my part of the business today I might mention it. Then again, perhaps not.
Long day yesterday due to a couple of incidents on the M40 - it amazes me how long a queue can get in such a short time. Yesterday had two - one where a car was on it's roof in the outside lane (how? I mean you've got to be driving too fast and like an idiot to have to end up on your roof surely? the watchword on the motorways is anticipation and consideration people!) followed by a power cut which knocked out the traffic lights at the top of a slip road. 2 mile tailback...
The price of petrol has raised it's head again. I stopped last night on the way home and it was 104.9ppl!!! Madness. So the moral of that story is always use www.petrolprices.com before you travel to see the cheapest petrol near you.
Long day yesterday due to a couple of incidents on the M40 - it amazes me how long a queue can get in such a short time. Yesterday had two - one where a car was on it's roof in the outside lane (how? I mean you've got to be driving too fast and like an idiot to have to end up on your roof surely? the watchword on the motorways is anticipation and consideration people!) followed by a power cut which knocked out the traffic lights at the top of a slip road. 2 mile tailback...
The price of petrol has raised it's head again. I stopped last night on the way home and it was 104.9ppl!!! Madness. So the moral of that story is always use www.petrolprices.com before you travel to see the cheapest petrol near you.
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