Went into work to general chaos with the backup system. Again took all day to sort it out and I found that removing tapes manually from the library is a very tedious operation indeed since there doesn't seem to be any logical order in which it stores them. And it still isn't fixed, awaiting engineer from IBM to come in and repair the actual hardware.
Other than that, quiet day. Listed the two Acorn A4 laptops on Ebay. After years in storage, one of them powered up after a bit of fiddling but the other didn't, so I've put them on as a job lot. Both hard drives appear to have failed however. Quite gutted to be getting rid of them as I remember them coming out in the early 90s and being outrageously expensive and then being thrilled to get them cheap a few years later. Oh well.
Not much else going on, tired now after going into work very early. I woke up and I couldn't think of anything but the backup system so I got up and went straight in to see what had happened.
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Monday 30 August 2010
Awesome walk
Went for a walk around the Abergele area with Rob, Will and Sarah. It was really good as the weather was superb and we went around the Gwylch Castle area which I had never seen before. It's pretty impressive, even if it's not that old, and we saw some amazing views down the coast. I looked up some geocaches beforehand and we found five in the end, which was good. Also picked up two travelbugs, which is always nice. One of the caches had already been found twice today by the time we got to it, but it was on the sea front next to the cycle track so it would be in a prime location to be picked up.
So overall it's been a fairly decent weekend other than the strange mood I was in yesterday. I've successfully managed to avoid thinking about work too, which is good. It's kind of getting a bit a close now, I'm really hoping the backup system hasn't died over the weekend though, it was bad enough on Friday.
Need to get stuff on Ebay due to financial issues mentioned previously. I watched an old Acorn A4 go for £132 recently - the rare RISC OS laptop. I've got two of them, which both worked several years ago although I think one had a dodgy hard drive. Not so much of an issue with Acorn machines though as the operating system is in ROM. Once I've tested them I'm going to put them on as a job lot because I've lost the power supply for one of them. Still loads more crap I can list though.
Tired now after the walk, need to get to bed.
Superhero name generator. This has been around for ages, I remember playing with it in college in what must be around 1997 or so.
Examples:
The puerile Ice Woman
Power(s): Telekinesis, Image projection
Source of powers: Mutant mutagen
Weapon: Ice Pistol
Transportation: Woman Pig
The naughty Tomorrow Thing
Power(s): Shrinking, Clairvoyance, Telescopic vision
Source of powers: Mutant spinach
Weapon: Thing Pistol
Transportation: Tomorrow Sleigh
The brazen Wolf Hitmen
Power(s): Gadget creation, Speed reading, Deus ex machina
Source of powers: Magic mutant
Weapon(s): Hitmen Amplifier(s)
Transportation: Astrosubmarine(s)
So overall it's been a fairly decent weekend other than the strange mood I was in yesterday. I've successfully managed to avoid thinking about work too, which is good. It's kind of getting a bit a close now, I'm really hoping the backup system hasn't died over the weekend though, it was bad enough on Friday.
Need to get stuff on Ebay due to financial issues mentioned previously. I watched an old Acorn A4 go for £132 recently - the rare RISC OS laptop. I've got two of them, which both worked several years ago although I think one had a dodgy hard drive. Not so much of an issue with Acorn machines though as the operating system is in ROM. Once I've tested them I'm going to put them on as a job lot because I've lost the power supply for one of them. Still loads more crap I can list though.
Tired now after the walk, need to get to bed.
Superhero name generator. This has been around for ages, I remember playing with it in college in what must be around 1997 or so.
Examples:
The puerile Ice Woman
Power(s): Telekinesis, Image projection
Source of powers: Mutant mutagen
Weapon: Ice Pistol
Transportation: Woman Pig
The naughty Tomorrow Thing
Power(s): Shrinking, Clairvoyance, Telescopic vision
Source of powers: Mutant spinach
Weapon: Thing Pistol
Transportation: Tomorrow Sleigh
The brazen Wolf Hitmen
Power(s): Gadget creation, Speed reading, Deus ex machina
Source of powers: Magic mutant
Weapon(s): Hitmen Amplifier(s)
Transportation: Astrosubmarine(s)
Saturday 28 August 2010
A less than productive day
Didn't really do much today, didn't feel quite right. I thought at first I was coming down with something but then it just seemed to be tiredness with a bit of a headache.
Watched some South Park season 1, which I haven't seen since it originally aired in the UK which I guess would be about 1997. Funny stuff. Discovered it had a German audio track, that was slightly weird to say the least.
Not been a good month for finances or health, real willpower issues at the moment, but today was not a day to worry about it as I really didn't feel up to doing much at all.
Acer fan is getting louder but tech support lines only open Monday to Friday, 9-5 which is less than helpful.
Watched some South Park season 1, which I haven't seen since it originally aired in the UK which I guess would be about 1997. Funny stuff. Discovered it had a German audio track, that was slightly weird to say the least.
Not been a good month for finances or health, real willpower issues at the moment, but today was not a day to worry about it as I really didn't feel up to doing much at all.
Acer fan is getting louder but tech support lines only open Monday to Friday, 9-5 which is less than helpful.
Friday 27 August 2010
A bad day with a happy ending
Typically, it being a Bank Holiday Friday, the backup system broke. It always does this without fail when I am left in charge of it. This time it was a hardware failure in the tape library. The door where you insert tapes had a sensor problem and if the system tried to do anything with tapes in the door the whole thing would lock up. So spent much of the day trying to sort it out and worrying about the backups over the weekend. I think it's going to be OK though, but the engineer is coming back first thing on Tuesday to repair it so we can get the tapes out again. This also caused a debate amongst the helpdesk team who were thrilled by the robot in the tape library and decided to try and name it. So far the candidates are 'Bertie', 'Jeffrey' and 'Bender'.
After all that was in a very tired and stressed mood, but went for an Indian in the Village Masala with Andy, Maz and Vicky, which was great as usual. The food was excellent although rather filling and they have puddings where you keep the container. Andy had a Punky Penguin which was a plastic penguin filled with ice cream and I had a pistachio kulfi that came in a nice little pot which you could keep too. That was nice.
Looking forward to the weekend now. The replacement speedo for the bike has turned up and hopefully should fit OK, but it reads up to 160mph which is perhaps a little excessive. Mind you my old Vectra had a speedo that did the same.
After all that was in a very tired and stressed mood, but went for an Indian in the Village Masala with Andy, Maz and Vicky, which was great as usual. The food was excellent although rather filling and they have puddings where you keep the container. Andy had a Punky Penguin which was a plastic penguin filled with ice cream and I had a pistachio kulfi that came in a nice little pot which you could keep too. That was nice.
Looking forward to the weekend now. The replacement speedo for the bike has turned up and hopefully should fit OK, but it reads up to 160mph which is perhaps a little excessive. Mind you my old Vectra had a speedo that did the same.
Thursday 26 August 2010
Strange day
An confusing and unproductive day in work. I did have my interim PA in the morning though, which went OK.
Evening consisted of a meetup with a few people from work to bid farewell to a Canadian woman who is returning to Canada with her husband. I've known her in work for a couple of years now and she lived down the road from me. It was a good evening and a good turnout, which was nice.
In a weird mood this evening.
The fan in the new Acer laptop has developed a slight buzz. It's not very loud but is noticable. Think I'll give them a call about it as it didn't do it to start with. Bah. Otherwise it's really good, very happy with the performance and usability of it. It runs Windows 7 very well.
Bank holiday weekend coming up and already I think it's going to be a fat one. Oh well.
Evening consisted of a meetup with a few people from work to bid farewell to a Canadian woman who is returning to Canada with her husband. I've known her in work for a couple of years now and she lived down the road from me. It was a good evening and a good turnout, which was nice.
In a weird mood this evening.
The fan in the new Acer laptop has developed a slight buzz. It's not very loud but is noticable. Think I'll give them a call about it as it didn't do it to start with. Bah. Otherwise it's really good, very happy with the performance and usability of it. It runs Windows 7 very well.
Bank holiday weekend coming up and already I think it's going to be a fat one. Oh well.
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Random
A fairly hectic day in work after the day off yesterday. One of the test Unix partitions had gone down and only I could get it up and running, although it didn't really take much. But there were loads of e-mails waiting for me about it.
Took the bike out when I got home, went. Definitely needs attention to the exhaust now though, and the rear light has gone, although the brake light is still OK. The list is getting longer. I have however ordered a universal speedo for £30 after discovering the original item is about £130 and is notoriously unreliable, presumably why it was replaced by the cycle computer in the first place.
Gave the poor dog a bath this evening as he needed one. He doesn't like it, but at least he doesn't struggle or fight. The worst part is when he shakes himself afterwards, although I did accidentally get water in his ears which caused a shake in the tub which wasn't good.
Attempt to make lunch to take into work failed, as I forgot it. Oh well, I had it this evening and it was nice, and fairly filling as it was pasta. Will try again tomorrow.
Fairly quiet otherwise.
Took the bike out when I got home, went. Definitely needs attention to the exhaust now though, and the rear light has gone, although the brake light is still OK. The list is getting longer. I have however ordered a universal speedo for £30 after discovering the original item is about £130 and is notoriously unreliable, presumably why it was replaced by the cycle computer in the first place.
Gave the poor dog a bath this evening as he needed one. He doesn't like it, but at least he doesn't struggle or fight. The worst part is when he shakes himself afterwards, although I did accidentally get water in his ears which caused a shake in the tub which wasn't good.
Attempt to make lunch to take into work failed, as I forgot it. Oh well, I had it this evening and it was nice, and fairly filling as it was pasta. Will try again tomorrow.
Fairly quiet otherwise.
Monday 23 August 2010
Clean-cut or mate
A fairly decent day. Played around with the Acer a bit more, getting it how I like it. It definitely runs better than the average netbook. The Atom server seems stable, which is good.
Got another key for the bike, so I've got two again now. Hopefully the other one will turn up at some point. Dropped into a place in Kinmel Bay where I've been a few times to ask their advice. This time it was about the speedo and chain tension. They were really helpful and said to just bring it in whenever, which is good. It's good when they are really approachable like that. Also I think the exhaust will need looking at.
I dug out an old plywood bass body that has been the basis for several previous experiments and attacked it with a hole cutter. It's now got about 20 holes in it, removing a large amount of wood and making the body much lighter. I've got a neck that will fit on it and the rest of the hardware, so just need to put it together. I don't know if the holes will affect the strength of the body but we'll see.
Chips for supper, from the really good one in Denbigh, and once again it was really good. A battered sausage is a pretty vulgar item of food really, but from there it's a work of art, and the curry sauce from there is sublime.
Back to work tomorrow. I always worry about going back after a holiday, even if it's just a day off.
Iron Maiden got to number 1 with their latest album. Who would have thought it!
Got another key for the bike, so I've got two again now. Hopefully the other one will turn up at some point. Dropped into a place in Kinmel Bay where I've been a few times to ask their advice. This time it was about the speedo and chain tension. They were really helpful and said to just bring it in whenever, which is good. It's good when they are really approachable like that. Also I think the exhaust will need looking at.
I dug out an old plywood bass body that has been the basis for several previous experiments and attacked it with a hole cutter. It's now got about 20 holes in it, removing a large amount of wood and making the body much lighter. I've got a neck that will fit on it and the rest of the hardware, so just need to put it together. I don't know if the holes will affect the strength of the body but we'll see.
Chips for supper, from the really good one in Denbigh, and once again it was really good. A battered sausage is a pretty vulgar item of food really, but from there it's a work of art, and the curry sauce from there is sublime.
Back to work tomorrow. I always worry about going back after a holiday, even if it's just a day off.
Iron Maiden got to number 1 with their latest album. Who would have thought it!
It lives!
Got a replacement power supply for the Atom machine and it powered right up, which is very good news. Also the new power supply is quieter, so that's nice too.
Wedding trip
It was my nephew's wedding on Saturday, which was taking place in a Llanegryn on the west coast of Wales near Barmouth. I travelled down on Friday evening right after work and met up with the family for an Indian.
The B&B my sister had booked us into was in a place called Llwyngwril. It is on top of a hill and has incredible views over the village and the sea. You can see right across the bay to the peninsula and it's amazing how it reaches right across the skyline. Simply stunning. The B&B was great too, very quiet and peaceful and the hosts were very nice and friendly.
The wedding went OK with a good turnout. The church was very nice, clearly very old and nicely decorated. The vicar is Dutch, oddly, and can speak fluent Welsh, which leads to quite a peculiar accent. After that it was back to Llwyngwril for the reception, which was held in a pub. It was a really good day overall. At one point Amogharatna and I took a break and had a look at the beach, and it was a pretty amazing view. The whole area had a really nice atmosphere, and was very beautiful. Living in Wales can make it easy to forget how lovely the countryside can be.
Amogharatna wanted to run a half marathon while in the UK so we headed off early on Sunday to go to Leek where one was being held. It was a three hour drive but traffic was fine and we made it in good time. While he was running, I went over Blackshaw Moor to Buxton, and was treated to some amazing views over the countryside. Buxton seemed very nice and was very pretty. After that we headed off to the East Midlands Airport so Amogharatna could catch his flight home to Berlin, after which I drove home. It wasn't too bad, the M6 was a little busy but otherwise it was fairly painless. I did feel quite zoned out when I got home because of all the driving. I used a whole tank of petrol in three days.
Decided I needed a more portable machine and due to some fairly mediocre experiences with Atom based netbooks, picked up an Acer Ferrari One. The reason being that it is only a bit bigger than a netbook but has a much better spec, with a dual-core AMD CPU, full-size hard drive, discrete graphics, decent 11" screen and a decently sized keyboard. The downside is the Ferrari styling with a bright red lid and red highlights around the machine. I've seen much worse however. The default OS install was as I expected, loaded with crapware and an embarrassing F1 engine startup sound. Blew that away immediately with a fresh install of Windows 7 and I'm happy with the performance so far.
There was a thunderstorm on Friday morning so I shut everything down and left it all unplugged. When I got back last night I powered up the Atom based server. It came on OK but after about thirty seconds, the power supply expired with several loud flashes and bangs, which was a little startling to say the least. I just hope it hasn't taken out any of the other components with it.
The B&B my sister had booked us into was in a place called Llwyngwril. It is on top of a hill and has incredible views over the village and the sea. You can see right across the bay to the peninsula and it's amazing how it reaches right across the skyline. Simply stunning. The B&B was great too, very quiet and peaceful and the hosts were very nice and friendly.
The wedding went OK with a good turnout. The church was very nice, clearly very old and nicely decorated. The vicar is Dutch, oddly, and can speak fluent Welsh, which leads to quite a peculiar accent. After that it was back to Llwyngwril for the reception, which was held in a pub. It was a really good day overall. At one point Amogharatna and I took a break and had a look at the beach, and it was a pretty amazing view. The whole area had a really nice atmosphere, and was very beautiful. Living in Wales can make it easy to forget how lovely the countryside can be.
Amogharatna wanted to run a half marathon while in the UK so we headed off early on Sunday to go to Leek where one was being held. It was a three hour drive but traffic was fine and we made it in good time. While he was running, I went over Blackshaw Moor to Buxton, and was treated to some amazing views over the countryside. Buxton seemed very nice and was very pretty. After that we headed off to the East Midlands Airport so Amogharatna could catch his flight home to Berlin, after which I drove home. It wasn't too bad, the M6 was a little busy but otherwise it was fairly painless. I did feel quite zoned out when I got home because of all the driving. I used a whole tank of petrol in three days.
Decided I needed a more portable machine and due to some fairly mediocre experiences with Atom based netbooks, picked up an Acer Ferrari One. The reason being that it is only a bit bigger than a netbook but has a much better spec, with a dual-core AMD CPU, full-size hard drive, discrete graphics, decent 11" screen and a decently sized keyboard. The downside is the Ferrari styling with a bright red lid and red highlights around the machine. I've seen much worse however. The default OS install was as I expected, loaded with crapware and an embarrassing F1 engine startup sound. Blew that away immediately with a fresh install of Windows 7 and I'm happy with the performance so far.
There was a thunderstorm on Friday morning so I shut everything down and left it all unplugged. When I got back last night I powered up the Atom based server. It came on OK but after about thirty seconds, the power supply expired with several loud flashes and bangs, which was a little startling to say the least. I just hope it hasn't taken out any of the other components with it.
Thursday 19 August 2010
Carnal Octet Emu
Screw the Microsoft dictation stuff.
A fairly decent day in work. It was my Unix day, so I spent the morning going over the backup system as I'm going to have to be solely responsible for it for the next two weeks. It's getting rather near capacity now and so the daily admin needs to be kept on top of, especially the bank holiday weekend where it usually throws a tantrum because nobody has taken the tapes out of the I/O door. The afternoon was spent struggling with the slightly bonkers way that Unix keeps time, which was causing issues with scripting.
Pleasantly surprised by Dell today. We had a Latitude D620 with screwed up graphics. It has an Nvidia Quadro NVS 110 that was one of the many that Nvidia had problems with a couple of years ago. The standard warranty on the laptop expired in April, but I read on the Internet that Dell had extended the warranty on affected machines. I logged a call with them, expecting a battle to get the laptop repaired but nope, they said cheerfully it had a 5 year warranty on the graphics chip and after I did a couple of tests over the phone, they said an engineer would be out tomorrow to replace the motherboard and screen. Result!
Came home and packed up for the weekend, off to my nephew's wedding on Saturday. I leave tomorrow evening directly after work, as all the family are staying in a B&B, which should be good. On Sunday, I'm taking Amogharatna to Leek so he can do a half marathon there, and then to the airport I think. I've got Monday off as I think I'll need it after all that.
It's been a hugely fat day. First I was persuaded to have chips for lunch, which was actually good as they really hit the spot, the weather was OK, and it was nice to get out of the office. On the way home I thought sod it and got a Chinese. I don't know how to get out of this cycle I'm in right now, it's pissing me off.
A fairly decent day in work. It was my Unix day, so I spent the morning going over the backup system as I'm going to have to be solely responsible for it for the next two weeks. It's getting rather near capacity now and so the daily admin needs to be kept on top of, especially the bank holiday weekend where it usually throws a tantrum because nobody has taken the tapes out of the I/O door. The afternoon was spent struggling with the slightly bonkers way that Unix keeps time, which was causing issues with scripting.
Pleasantly surprised by Dell today. We had a Latitude D620 with screwed up graphics. It has an Nvidia Quadro NVS 110 that was one of the many that Nvidia had problems with a couple of years ago. The standard warranty on the laptop expired in April, but I read on the Internet that Dell had extended the warranty on affected machines. I logged a call with them, expecting a battle to get the laptop repaired but nope, they said cheerfully it had a 5 year warranty on the graphics chip and after I did a couple of tests over the phone, they said an engineer would be out tomorrow to replace the motherboard and screen. Result!
Came home and packed up for the weekend, off to my nephew's wedding on Saturday. I leave tomorrow evening directly after work, as all the family are staying in a B&B, which should be good. On Sunday, I'm taking Amogharatna to Leek so he can do a half marathon there, and then to the airport I think. I've got Monday off as I think I'll need it after all that.
It's been a hugely fat day. First I was persuaded to have chips for lunch, which was actually good as they really hit the spot, the weather was OK, and it was nice to get out of the office. On the way home I thought sod it and got a Chinese. I don't know how to get out of this cycle I'm in right now, it's pissing me off.
Wednesday 18 August 2010
A local cash for local people Will have a key spotted a menu andq bark U
It was an okay day in work today. Finally got a few jobs out of the way that had been there for quite some time which was a relief.
Found out today that somebody has put a geocache in the local village. I have often thought that it would be a good place to put some caches as it is a nice village with quite a lot of history. It is on the footpath which I haven't been a long for many years, if ever. I was the first person to find it, which is nice.
Also, by go for a ride backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace. Microsoft dictation in Windows 7 is a little bit patchy as you may have gathered from the previous sentence. This also explains the title. Anyway, took the bike out for ride which was good fun. Otherwise it has been a fairly uneventful day, and haven't really done much else.
Found out today that somebody has put a geocache in the local village. I have often thought that it would be a good place to put some caches as it is a nice village with quite a lot of history. It is on the footpath which I haven't been a long for many years, if ever. I was the first person to find it, which is nice.
Also, by go for a ride backspace backspace backspace backspace backspace. Microsoft dictation in Windows 7 is a little bit patchy as you may have gathered from the previous sentence. This also explains the title. Anyway, took the bike out for ride which was good fun. Otherwise it has been a fairly uneventful day, and haven't really done much else.
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Mmm...smooth...
A not too bad day at work. Got quite a bit done and finally getting rid of some older jobs that have sat around for a while, which is a relief.
Took the bike out when I got home with the new key. took it up to the road near the Brenig which has just been resurfaced. It was great to ride on such a perfect surface, so great in fact that I went back and forth along it several times. After a trip down towards the lake itself I came back along that road to see people making some sort of film. At least, there was a Focus ST parked up and then some other car following an estate with a guy sat in the boot with a camera. I guess I ruined their shot as I came up behind and they pulled in to let me get past. The bike went fine although the handlebars still squeak a bit and sometimes it hesitates while accelerating and occasionally backfires on the overrun. Oh well.
Finally sorting out the photos on the MacBook. iPhoto is currently importing the library from the old iPhoto setup on the iBook, all 5,156 photos of it. It's a bit weird as it seems to be doing it quite randomly. Pictures keep flashing up and triggering memories - Rob's wedding, Ed's wedding, holidays to Berlin, New York, Madrid, America, etc, plus many random ones from barbeques, pictures of Sandy, etc. Odd but fun. Just need to sort out all the other pictures from since the iBook was retired.
I really want to visit Steve and Kara again, but when I looked into flights, they are quite expensive, over £400. That is a lot, although I haven't written off the idea completely.
Took the bike out when I got home with the new key. took it up to the road near the Brenig which has just been resurfaced. It was great to ride on such a perfect surface, so great in fact that I went back and forth along it several times. After a trip down towards the lake itself I came back along that road to see people making some sort of film. At least, there was a Focus ST parked up and then some other car following an estate with a guy sat in the boot with a camera. I guess I ruined their shot as I came up behind and they pulled in to let me get past. The bike went fine although the handlebars still squeak a bit and sometimes it hesitates while accelerating and occasionally backfires on the overrun. Oh well.
Finally sorting out the photos on the MacBook. iPhoto is currently importing the library from the old iPhoto setup on the iBook, all 5,156 photos of it. It's a bit weird as it seems to be doing it quite randomly. Pictures keep flashing up and triggering memories - Rob's wedding, Ed's wedding, holidays to Berlin, New York, Madrid, America, etc, plus many random ones from barbeques, pictures of Sandy, etc. Odd but fun. Just need to sort out all the other pictures from since the iBook was retired.
I really want to visit Steve and Kara again, but when I looked into flights, they are quite expensive, over £400. That is a lot, although I haven't written off the idea completely.
Monday 16 August 2010
Flamps
An odd day. Frustratingly, sunny and clear right until I left to go home, but took the dog for a walk and it was nice enough.
Got into Tanzwut recently, a band which combines medieval rocky type stuff with industrial metal. I've downloaded the first and third albums but the other two aren't available yet. Really interesting stuff. Some tracks combine the metal with electronic sounds and the medieval stuff, which is a strange mixture but I like it. In fact the album I just downloaded, Ihr Wolltet Spaß, has got some fucking stunning tracks.
Got into Tanzwut recently, a band which combines medieval rocky type stuff with industrial metal. I've downloaded the first and third albums but the other two aren't available yet. Really interesting stuff. Some tracks combine the metal with electronic sounds and the medieval stuff, which is a strange mixture but I like it. In fact the album I just downloaded, Ihr Wolltet Spaß, has got some fucking stunning tracks.
Sunday 15 August 2010
Fun weekend
A good weekend.
Yesterday it was Rob and Caroline's housewarming BBQ, which was good fun. Plenty of food and gossip, and the discovery that nothing is more important than 'It's mealworm time!' Their new house is pretty cool, an old farm house that has been extended and done up. Lots of land with a field that has a very good view over the vale. We went up there to watch the sunset. What should have been a solemn, thoughtful moment was marred by donkey impressions, farting and for some reason Airplane quotes. Still, it was nice to watch the sun go down.
Had a go on Dead Space yesterday and today. It's a game that I've been playing for some time. I like the atmosphere, in particular the way it has no HUD, instead integrating health and other status indicators into your character's suit, and the menus and things are holographic projections. It also has a fairly interesting storyline, but it is a very intense gaming experience so I find it a bit of a struggle. It's frustrating because I'm enjoying exploring the ship and building up the storyline, but the game mechanic demands that you dismember the mutant enemies by shooting off their limbs, rather than just blast away until they stop moving. I'm fairly desensitised to hideous creatures in games (Silent Hill has a lot to answer for) but the dismemberment thing lost its novelty some time ago. So I tend to only play it in short bursts every few months. Completed the fourth chapter today so I think that means I'm about half way through.
Took the bike out which went OK. A couple more issues now - the handlebars seem to have developed a squeak, and I found that the rear numberplate light appears to have fallen apart and lost its bulb somehow. Also, I've now lost the second of the two keys I had made when the original snapped. Not sure how, I think it was between doing some work on it and taking the dog for a walk. Fortunately I still have the snapped one so I can get some more made, but why I'm so crap with these keys I don't know. Oh well. It's not surprising that the bike is having issues since I have to take it up and down the track and even at low speeds it probably puts it through more stress than it was designed for. Oh, and the odometer should have rolled over to 13,000 miles the other day. It rolled over all right but the 2 didn't change - so it's back to 12,000. It's time to look into a complete replacement speedo I think, even if that means faffing about with the DVLA as the mileage will revert to 00000 again.
Other than that it's been a lazy day. Had a play with a Toshiba laptop that Rob and Caroline found in their house when they moved in. It's a 486DX 75mhz with 16mb RAM and a 500mb hard drive. It must have been quite a high end model when new as it has a TFT screen and most unusually, a SCSI port. The only laptops I've ever seen with SCSI are Apple PowerBooks and the rare Tadpole Unix laptops. Unfortunately the Toshiba has a faulty hard drive but I'm sure I have one that will fit, or could possibly use a Compact Flash card instead with an adapter.
Yesterday it was Rob and Caroline's housewarming BBQ, which was good fun. Plenty of food and gossip, and the discovery that nothing is more important than 'It's mealworm time!' Their new house is pretty cool, an old farm house that has been extended and done up. Lots of land with a field that has a very good view over the vale. We went up there to watch the sunset. What should have been a solemn, thoughtful moment was marred by donkey impressions, farting and for some reason Airplane quotes. Still, it was nice to watch the sun go down.
Had a go on Dead Space yesterday and today. It's a game that I've been playing for some time. I like the atmosphere, in particular the way it has no HUD, instead integrating health and other status indicators into your character's suit, and the menus and things are holographic projections. It also has a fairly interesting storyline, but it is a very intense gaming experience so I find it a bit of a struggle. It's frustrating because I'm enjoying exploring the ship and building up the storyline, but the game mechanic demands that you dismember the mutant enemies by shooting off their limbs, rather than just blast away until they stop moving. I'm fairly desensitised to hideous creatures in games (Silent Hill has a lot to answer for) but the dismemberment thing lost its novelty some time ago. So I tend to only play it in short bursts every few months. Completed the fourth chapter today so I think that means I'm about half way through.
Took the bike out which went OK. A couple more issues now - the handlebars seem to have developed a squeak, and I found that the rear numberplate light appears to have fallen apart and lost its bulb somehow. Also, I've now lost the second of the two keys I had made when the original snapped. Not sure how, I think it was between doing some work on it and taking the dog for a walk. Fortunately I still have the snapped one so I can get some more made, but why I'm so crap with these keys I don't know. Oh well. It's not surprising that the bike is having issues since I have to take it up and down the track and even at low speeds it probably puts it through more stress than it was designed for. Oh, and the odometer should have rolled over to 13,000 miles the other day. It rolled over all right but the 2 didn't change - so it's back to 12,000. It's time to look into a complete replacement speedo I think, even if that means faffing about with the DVLA as the mileage will revert to 00000 again.
Other than that it's been a lazy day. Had a play with a Toshiba laptop that Rob and Caroline found in their house when they moved in. It's a 486DX 75mhz with 16mb RAM and a 500mb hard drive. It must have been quite a high end model when new as it has a TFT screen and most unusually, a SCSI port. The only laptops I've ever seen with SCSI are Apple PowerBooks and the rare Tadpole Unix laptops. Unfortunately the Toshiba has a faulty hard drive but I'm sure I have one that will fit, or could possibly use a Compact Flash card instead with an adapter.
Friday 13 August 2010
Big update
Thursday morning I set off to Bernauser Strasse, one of the parts where the wall is still preserved along with teh deathstrip. This was the scene of several escapes when people jumped out of apartment windows. After that got on the train at Nordbahnhof, which itself has some interesting displays about the history of the divided city.
After that went down to Yorckstrasse station and had a little look around there and from there back to the Charlottenburg station to have a look at the hotel where we stayed in 2005, nearly five years ago.
That evening went for a meal with Amogharatna at an Indian restaurant which was pretty good but so busy that they had to put more tables out in the street. It was a warm evening though, so it was fine. It was right next to the elevated section of the U1. The drivers of the trains that went past had their doors open, which seemed quite strange. After the meal, took the train to the end of the U1 where it goes over the Oberbaumbrucke and where the East Side Gallery is. Both were pretty cool to see but it was dark then.
Friday morning was spent at a museum where there was an installation Amogharatna wanted to see. It had quite a few interactive exhibits made up with lights, and a weird room where there were mirrors all the way up to a skylight. The room was only a few metres large but it looked huge. The final room was the best though. Basically they sealed off a few rooms and filled them with fog. Then there were lights in the ceiling that made different areas of the fog glow with colour. It was a strange experience as when you moved from one area of colour to another, it was so intense.
After that we spent some time finding an MP3 player for Amogharatna and had a coffee in the Kaufhof Galleria, a big department store in Alexanderplatz. It was nice and had a great view over the station,
On Saturday I moved into the hotel. In between Amogharatna's apartment and the hotel I took in the musical instrument museum near the Philharmonie. It was pretty interesting with many unusual and rare instruments.
The was originally going to be the Agon Aldea by the Bulowstrasse U-bahn, but they had screwed it up and overbooked. Fortunately as the Agon is a chain, it just meant they had to put me in another one. This turned out to be the Agon Franke, which somewhat frustratingly was not in an area I was familiar with. But after a rather scary taxi ride I found the hotel was pretty close to a station on the U7, so that was fine. Spent the rest of the day having a look at the Berlin nightlife, which is interesting.
Sunday morning was spent having a look at the flea market in the Mauerpark near Bernauer Strasse. Unfortunately I fell ill around midday due to the rather stupid calamari breakfast I had from a place in Alexanderplatz. Fortunately I had started to feel headachy and tired so when the throwing up and diarrhoea started, I was back at the hotel. The rest of the day was spent recovering with the aid of a giant bottle of Coke.
Monday I felt much better although I didn't really do much before going to meet Amogharatna again. We wandered around a bit and had some really good falafel from a place called DaDa, which I've had it from before. Really tasty. After that he had to go back to the Buddhist centre. I wasn't feeling great so I picked up a DVD and watched it on my laptop back at the hotel.
The last morning was spent with Amogharatna again. We went down to the nearby Turkish market, which was really interesting, loads of unusual food and things there. We got some bread things for lunch with sheeps's cheese and spinach that were really nice. All too soon though I had to get the train to Alexanderplatz to get the airport express.
The flight back was not good, was surrounded by unruly children so it wasn't peaceful at all. Saw some pretty amazing views on the way down though.
The rest of this week hasn't been too bad. Work is interesting as usual, and depressingly it feels like I was never gone.
Took the bike out this evening but was out longer than I meant to be as I saw Andy and Maz and chatted. I got caught in a rainstorm on the way home. Worrying as I hadn't ridden in proper rain before, and I'd read that the Gilera can have issues with the electrics in the wet. Fortunately it coped OK and I managed fine except my lower half got utterly soaked through. Fun fun.
After that went down to Yorckstrasse station and had a little look around there and from there back to the Charlottenburg station to have a look at the hotel where we stayed in 2005, nearly five years ago.
That evening went for a meal with Amogharatna at an Indian restaurant which was pretty good but so busy that they had to put more tables out in the street. It was a warm evening though, so it was fine. It was right next to the elevated section of the U1. The drivers of the trains that went past had their doors open, which seemed quite strange. After the meal, took the train to the end of the U1 where it goes over the Oberbaumbrucke and where the East Side Gallery is. Both were pretty cool to see but it was dark then.
Friday morning was spent at a museum where there was an installation Amogharatna wanted to see. It had quite a few interactive exhibits made up with lights, and a weird room where there were mirrors all the way up to a skylight. The room was only a few metres large but it looked huge. The final room was the best though. Basically they sealed off a few rooms and filled them with fog. Then there were lights in the ceiling that made different areas of the fog glow with colour. It was a strange experience as when you moved from one area of colour to another, it was so intense.
After that we spent some time finding an MP3 player for Amogharatna and had a coffee in the Kaufhof Galleria, a big department store in Alexanderplatz. It was nice and had a great view over the station,
On Saturday I moved into the hotel. In between Amogharatna's apartment and the hotel I took in the musical instrument museum near the Philharmonie. It was pretty interesting with many unusual and rare instruments.
The was originally going to be the Agon Aldea by the Bulowstrasse U-bahn, but they had screwed it up and overbooked. Fortunately as the Agon is a chain, it just meant they had to put me in another one. This turned out to be the Agon Franke, which somewhat frustratingly was not in an area I was familiar with. But after a rather scary taxi ride I found the hotel was pretty close to a station on the U7, so that was fine. Spent the rest of the day having a look at the Berlin nightlife, which is interesting.
Sunday morning was spent having a look at the flea market in the Mauerpark near Bernauer Strasse. Unfortunately I fell ill around midday due to the rather stupid calamari breakfast I had from a place in Alexanderplatz. Fortunately I had started to feel headachy and tired so when the throwing up and diarrhoea started, I was back at the hotel. The rest of the day was spent recovering with the aid of a giant bottle of Coke.
Monday I felt much better although I didn't really do much before going to meet Amogharatna again. We wandered around a bit and had some really good falafel from a place called DaDa, which I've had it from before. Really tasty. After that he had to go back to the Buddhist centre. I wasn't feeling great so I picked up a DVD and watched it on my laptop back at the hotel.
The last morning was spent with Amogharatna again. We went down to the nearby Turkish market, which was really interesting, loads of unusual food and things there. We got some bread things for lunch with sheeps's cheese and spinach that were really nice. All too soon though I had to get the train to Alexanderplatz to get the airport express.
The flight back was not good, was surrounded by unruly children so it wasn't peaceful at all. Saw some pretty amazing views on the way down though.
The rest of this week hasn't been too bad. Work is interesting as usual, and depressingly it feels like I was never gone.
Took the bike out this evening but was out longer than I meant to be as I saw Andy and Maz and chatted. I got caught in a rainstorm on the way home. Worrying as I hadn't ridden in proper rain before, and I'd read that the Gilera can have issues with the electrics in the wet. Fortunately it coped OK and I managed fine except my lower half got utterly soaked through. Fun fun.
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Airports rule
First full day in Berlin. Amogharatna had to teach English in the morning and then had meetings so I spent the day exploring. First headed out to the Westend S-bahn station and took a stroll down through Charlottenburg and found an U-bahn station. From there I went to the Olympic Stadium to have a look at that, which looks impressive from the outside. Hungry by this point so went to the Hauptbahnhof and had some fast food currywurst, which was pretty good.
After that, had a wander round the Tiergarten before going back to the apartment for a break. Amogharatna went for a run and then we went and had a look at what is now the new Tempelhofer Park. It's simply amazing, the whole thing is basically as it was except for a few maps and things dotted about and some extra marking on the runways. It's just great though - there were people playing ball games, flying kites, skating, riding around, etc. It took a while to get from one end of the runway to another though.
Supper was found in Kreuzberg - had a veggie burger for the first time ever probably and it was actually really nice.
After that, had a wander round the Tiergarten before going back to the apartment for a break. Amogharatna went for a run and then we went and had a look at what is now the new Tempelhofer Park. It's simply amazing, the whole thing is basically as it was except for a few maps and things dotted about and some extra marking on the runways. It's just great though - there were people playing ball games, flying kites, skating, riding around, etc. It took a while to get from one end of the runway to another though.
Supper was found in Kreuzberg - had a veggie burger for the first time ever probably and it was actually really nice.
Arrived
Flight was OK yesterday, quite uneventful. Liverpool airport was interesting, it's being remodeled so the paths through security and everything was quite different. It was very busy but they seemed quite efficient.
Got to Berlin and Amogharatna wasn't at the airport, so I assumed he wasn't able to make it to the airport to meet me, so I got the train and headed to his apartment. Turned out he had gone there but my flight had actually landed early and he had been slightly late and forgotten his mobile, so while I was waiting on the platform for the train, he was arriving on a bus. It took a while due to my phone playing up, but we eventually got in contact and met up. Went for a nice meal at an Italian round the corner.
The weather seems much better this morning, yesterday was cloudy and rainy.
Got to Berlin and Amogharatna wasn't at the airport, so I assumed he wasn't able to make it to the airport to meet me, so I got the train and headed to his apartment. Turned out he had gone there but my flight had actually landed early and he had been slightly late and forgotten his mobile, so while I was waiting on the platform for the train, he was arriving on a bus. It took a while due to my phone playing up, but we eventually got in contact and met up. Went for a nice meal at an Italian round the corner.
The weather seems much better this morning, yesterday was cloudy and rainy.
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