It's been a fairly eventful week.
Tuesday last week was DnD,which was at Sarah's place in Wrexham. It was a good session with a few funny moments, especially when we came up with the concept of a 'mentor with benefits', which was simultanously disturbing and hilarious.
I was all set to go to the gym on Wednesday evening, but Rob and Em were going to see the new Star Trek with Ed and Sian, and there was a spare seat, so I tagged along. We grabbed a hasty KFC and then headed in to see it. It was really good, thoroughly enjoyed it.
On Thursday I went to the gym instead of Wednesday as badminton is still cancelled, and had a really good session. The best exercise was the cross-trainer. I got on it and spent 30 minutes alternating between effort 8 and 10 every few minutes. I only got off because you aren't supposed to be more than 20 minutes and someone needed it. The machine reckoned I burnt 270 calories and my heart rate stayed at a sensible level the whole time, which was good.
Saturday was a repeat of last week's 31 mile bike ride, which we did quite a bit quicker than before - not the actual riding time, but the overall time was less as we didn't stop as often. It was a really nice day for it, very sunny. After that it was over to Steve's in the evening for movie night he had arranged. Attendance was lower than expected but it was still a fun evening, albeit with ridiculous amounts of food.
Yesterday I went to visit my Dad. We hung out for most of the day. I took my mountain bike over to give it a bit of attention after the nasty ride on it a couple of weeks ago, gave it a good clean up and oiled it where necessary. It was a lovely day and the Accord was covered in mud and looking sorry for itself so we gave it a good clean as well.I hadn't realised how much brake dust was on the wheels, and they cleaned up really nicely. Also topped up the oil as it was a little low.
My Dad also persuaded me to have a look at SPDs on the road bike. He's got a spare pair of shoes with cleats that fit me, and the pedals themselves are only cheap. I like the idea of them but will take some getting used to I'd imagine.
In the evening went to the pub with Andy, Rob T and Rob G, which was nice. We went to a couple of pubs which were either quite busy or completely dead as people seemed to be going around the town in clumps. It was nice to simply hang out and chat though. Also made the curious discovery that Iron Maiden have made a beer called Trooper, which Rob said was quite nice. As much as I like the band, my dislike of beer is probably going to mean I won't end up tasting it.
Today was typical bank holiday weather - rain all day, scuppering any plans for another bike ride. Spent much of the day finishing Motley Crue: The Dirt. Not a band I was hugely familiar with, although I did hear the Dr Feelgood album when I was quite young, and was vaguely aware of the antics of the band members in the 90s. But it goes way beyond what I ever imagined - how any of them are still alive is beyond me. It's completely bonkers, but somehow it's a very compelling read, perhaps because it seems so upfront and honest.
Need to catch up with Doctor Who, I lost interest a bit after the uninspiring submarine one, but I've been assured that it got better after that. I've got hold of the last episode but not any of the others, might just have to skip to the end.
Monday, 27 May 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
Good weekend
It's been a good weekend.
On Friday evening we went for a short bike ride, but it still ended up being 15 miles. When I came home to get my bike, I found it had a flat rear tyre, so I had to take the mountain bike. It's been some time since I last rode it and unfortunately the neglect hasn't done it much good and it really needed some TLC. Perhaps because of this, I rather struggled on this ride. However it was a good chance for Steve to break in the mountain bike that I got for him from someone in work, a lot better than the old Raleigh he was using before.
Saturday morning was expensive. I spent £90 on new running shoes, which are supremely comfortable, and then got a new rear tyre for the road bike and the headlight and brake bulbs that the Accord needed. I got those fitted OK and then had an epic geeky session of trying out the Comms Link for the Organiser II. Ever since I got my first one when I was 14 I wanted to hook it up to the PC, so it was nice to finally do so. I initially was going to set it up on an old laptop but gave up on that. I installed the software on an XP virtual machine on the M17x and used a USB-Serial adapter with a 25-pin to 9-pin adapter. Amazingly it worked, and I was able to get some programs off the Internet and transfer them across.
On Saturday evening it was Eurovision, which has now become traditional to watch at Rob and Em's with snacks, drinks and incredible amounts of pisstaking. It was a really good night. One of the highlights was Rob G's attempt at a pudding I can't remember the name of, which was a tower of profiteroles stuck together with caramel.
Yesterday, Andy, Steve and I headed out for a bike ride. It was mostly the same route as last time, but this time we went up some hills to Cwm, which was not easy. We had to take a couple of breaks, but we got there, and were rewarded with a pretty awesome view. After that we headed down to Rhuddlan and carried on as normal. It was a really good ride.
Otherwise not much to report. Circuits tonight was hard, but mainly due to my muscles protesting after the bike ride yesterday rather than being tired. On the plus side, the new shoes were brilliant, and when I came home I weighed myself to find I was dead on 90kg, which is definitely less than when I last weighed myself.
On Friday evening we went for a short bike ride, but it still ended up being 15 miles. When I came home to get my bike, I found it had a flat rear tyre, so I had to take the mountain bike. It's been some time since I last rode it and unfortunately the neglect hasn't done it much good and it really needed some TLC. Perhaps because of this, I rather struggled on this ride. However it was a good chance for Steve to break in the mountain bike that I got for him from someone in work, a lot better than the old Raleigh he was using before.
Saturday morning was expensive. I spent £90 on new running shoes, which are supremely comfortable, and then got a new rear tyre for the road bike and the headlight and brake bulbs that the Accord needed. I got those fitted OK and then had an epic geeky session of trying out the Comms Link for the Organiser II. Ever since I got my first one when I was 14 I wanted to hook it up to the PC, so it was nice to finally do so. I initially was going to set it up on an old laptop but gave up on that. I installed the software on an XP virtual machine on the M17x and used a USB-Serial adapter with a 25-pin to 9-pin adapter. Amazingly it worked, and I was able to get some programs off the Internet and transfer them across.
On Saturday evening it was Eurovision, which has now become traditional to watch at Rob and Em's with snacks, drinks and incredible amounts of pisstaking. It was a really good night. One of the highlights was Rob G's attempt at a pudding I can't remember the name of, which was a tower of profiteroles stuck together with caramel.
Yesterday, Andy, Steve and I headed out for a bike ride. It was mostly the same route as last time, but this time we went up some hills to Cwm, which was not easy. We had to take a couple of breaks, but we got there, and were rewarded with a pretty awesome view. After that we headed down to Rhuddlan and carried on as normal. It was a really good ride.
Otherwise not much to report. Circuits tonight was hard, but mainly due to my muscles protesting after the bike ride yesterday rather than being tired. On the plus side, the new shoes were brilliant, and when I came home I weighed myself to find I was dead on 90kg, which is definitely less than when I last weighed myself.
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Gym
So far an OK week, still lots of tape movements in work.
On Tuesday evening I was in the kind of mood to get a takeaway, but I decided to try and make something instead. I ended up making crispy honey chilli chicken, which was really nice. The only thing I got wrong was not putting any flour in the sauce because I thought it needed cornflour, but otherwise it came out great. I was that impressed I made it again last night with the proper ingredients, and it was even better. To be honest I never realised you could actually make fried chicken at home, and tonight I ended up trying it again with some leftover chicken, but this time just making it fried with cinnamon in the coating instead which was OK but not strong enough. Still went nicely with some chilli sauce though.
Went to the gym last night, which was OK. I used some of the weights machines for the first time in ages, which unsurprisingly was pretty hard.
Badminton on Thursdays is still on hold due to floor woes, and tonight we said we'd skip it. I decided to have a geek night, which involved once again playing with an old Organiser II. I finally found the right adapter to hook it the old 25-pin serial cable to a PC. I was able to send characters between them but finding a machine that could actually run the software and have a serial port was a bit hard.
Not much else to report. I'm really tired of the Accord's thirst for fuel, so tomorrow being payday I might have a look around for something else. I'd like something small and economical but that might not be ideal with my need to get bikes in it and move shit out of the house. Not sure really.
On Tuesday evening I was in the kind of mood to get a takeaway, but I decided to try and make something instead. I ended up making crispy honey chilli chicken, which was really nice. The only thing I got wrong was not putting any flour in the sauce because I thought it needed cornflour, but otherwise it came out great. I was that impressed I made it again last night with the proper ingredients, and it was even better. To be honest I never realised you could actually make fried chicken at home, and tonight I ended up trying it again with some leftover chicken, but this time just making it fried with cinnamon in the coating instead which was OK but not strong enough. Still went nicely with some chilli sauce though.
Went to the gym last night, which was OK. I used some of the weights machines for the first time in ages, which unsurprisingly was pretty hard.
Badminton on Thursdays is still on hold due to floor woes, and tonight we said we'd skip it. I decided to have a geek night, which involved once again playing with an old Organiser II. I finally found the right adapter to hook it the old 25-pin serial cable to a PC. I was able to send characters between them but finding a machine that could actually run the software and have a serial port was a bit hard.
Not much else to report. I'm really tired of the Accord's thirst for fuel, so tomorrow being payday I might have a look around for something else. I'd like something small and economical but that might not be ideal with my need to get bikes in it and move shit out of the house. Not sure really.
Monday, 13 May 2013
Exercise and food
Went for a 26 mile bike ride with Andy and Steve yesterday, which was good. It was very hard at first - it's been a little while since I did any significant exercise, and it felt like my chest couldn't get the idea of properly deep breaths for a while. But after a couple of miles it settled down. We made the decision to go around Bodelwyddan towards the end of the ride - I didn't want to but was outvoted, and then we got rained on all the way back to St Asaph. I was suffering a bit by that point, but made it to the end OK. I did intend to record it on Strava but hadn't realised it wasn't recording until half way through the ride, but the rest of it worked. I like Strava but I wish it had more offline functionality. Not being able to view the map without an Internet connection is a pain. I also realised just how big the Accord is when I was able to get the bike in without taking the front wheel off.
Then in the evening it was off to the Prosperity in Rhuddlan with my parents. I ate enough to render the bike ride irrelevant, but it was good. I had Chicken in Szechuan sauce with crispy noodles, which was tasty and quite spicy, but in a subtle way.
An OK day in work today. I had some fun shifting some data round onto the new tapes and made the frustrating discovery that one of the tape drives had gone offline with a microcode error on Saturday, and then I found one of the new tapes had a corrupted file that I now need to recover from the offsite copy. There were apparently power issues in the computer room on Saturday though, so I'm assuming that was the cause.
Circuit training tonight. I was expecting it to be hard after a couple of weeks, and it certainly was, but it was managable hard. I particularly despise the sideways plank and the cross thumb pushup. Also I think running exercise classes would be a good career choice if you are a sadist.
I wasn't sure what else I could sell on Ebay - after a prolonged bout of selling and taking stuff to the tip I seem to have run a little low on things to get rid of. Then I remembered my collection of Rupert annuals - for some reason my parents kept getting me one every Christmas until I was 21. Some of the older ones are worth a bit, so I dug them out and cleaned them up. Fortunately they are in reasonable condition despite not having been touched for years. I have fond memories of reading Rupert - some of the stories are pretty fucked up and I always liked the stories which had crazy machines in them, perhaps one of the reasons I tend to like sciencey things.
Then in the evening it was off to the Prosperity in Rhuddlan with my parents. I ate enough to render the bike ride irrelevant, but it was good. I had Chicken in Szechuan sauce with crispy noodles, which was tasty and quite spicy, but in a subtle way.
An OK day in work today. I had some fun shifting some data round onto the new tapes and made the frustrating discovery that one of the tape drives had gone offline with a microcode error on Saturday, and then I found one of the new tapes had a corrupted file that I now need to recover from the offsite copy. There were apparently power issues in the computer room on Saturday though, so I'm assuming that was the cause.
Circuit training tonight. I was expecting it to be hard after a couple of weeks, and it certainly was, but it was managable hard. I particularly despise the sideways plank and the cross thumb pushup. Also I think running exercise classes would be a good career choice if you are a sadist.
I wasn't sure what else I could sell on Ebay - after a prolonged bout of selling and taking stuff to the tip I seem to have run a little low on things to get rid of. Then I remembered my collection of Rupert annuals - for some reason my parents kept getting me one every Christmas until I was 21. Some of the older ones are worth a bit, so I dug them out and cleaned them up. Fortunately they are in reasonable condition despite not having been touched for years. I have fond memories of reading Rupert - some of the stories are pretty fucked up and I always liked the stories which had crazy machines in them, perhaps one of the reasons I tend to like sciencey things.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Halfway to 70...
Thursday and Friday were good days in work. The LTO5 upgrade has been a success and I'm now making it migrate data from the LTO3 tapes onto the new ones. Can be a bit of a chore but it'll get there. Friday was also a giant cake fest as there was an ICT bake off for charity, which was great. Em's coffee cupcakes were the highlight for me - just the right ratio of cake and cream, delicious.
At present badminton has been banned on Thursday due to the condition of the floor - we can't play on it any more. Last week we just went to Steve's for food and hung out and chatted.
Yesterday was my 35th birthday. I'm a bit concerned about this - time seems to be slipping away and I'm not really sure how to feel about it. Oh well. I wish I'd reached the state of mind I'm now ten years ago - I think I'd have achieved a and experienced a lot more, but who knows, perhaps it wouldn't have worked out well.
Today I took some more crap to the tip - yet more old computers and some other stuff. I think they tolerate me there, but they must think it's a bit odd. Fortunately they haven't questioned it yet, but the honest truth is that I'm a geek with a slight hoarding tendency. I wasn't sure what do do with a curious machine called an IBM Power Series 600, but in the end I kept it. It's a smallish but very heavy PowerPC based workstation, designed to run AIX or Windows NT. The thing is, there is no information at all on the Internet about it. The only reference I can find is some guy who was trying to run Debian on it, and a very brief mention in a 1994 copy of Infoworld. I'm wondering if it might be a prototype or something. The other one I didn't chuck was an IBM Thinkpad 860. Again, this is a PowerPC based machine that ran AIX. They are rare because they were incredibly expensive when new. I'm still going to get rid of these machines but perhaps see if a museum would want them or something.
In the evening it was off to the Radhuni in Denbigh for food, a wonderful Indian place. There were 10 of us there, which was good, and about the right number of peopel. I had the Tava with Pania, as recommended by Em, so it's basically a cheese curry. The cheese is in cubes like tofu, and has an incredibly delicious sauce. After that we went to the pub for a bit.
I'm not sure what to do about cars. Due to the need to move things, I'm definitely after something not much smaller than the Accord, but more economical. The obvious solution was a diesel Mondeo or Vectra, and some of the nice common rail diesels are getting quite affordable now. But having read up on the nightmare these engines can be, I'm not so sure. The Mondeo TDCI can suffer injector failure, and they are £250 a pop, and the Vectra can suffer fuel-pump failures. I think the solution would be an older Vectra with the DTI engine which is simpler and more reliable.
The Accord is still going OK in the meantime though, and unless I'm reading the gauge wrong, I think the fuel economy might be a bit better since the exhaust was fixed. The ABS light still comes and goes though, and when I turned on the headlights to come home tonight, the right bulb went. It's simultaneously a lovely and infuriating car.
At present badminton has been banned on Thursday due to the condition of the floor - we can't play on it any more. Last week we just went to Steve's for food and hung out and chatted.
Yesterday was my 35th birthday. I'm a bit concerned about this - time seems to be slipping away and I'm not really sure how to feel about it. Oh well. I wish I'd reached the state of mind I'm now ten years ago - I think I'd have achieved a and experienced a lot more, but who knows, perhaps it wouldn't have worked out well.
Today I took some more crap to the tip - yet more old computers and some other stuff. I think they tolerate me there, but they must think it's a bit odd. Fortunately they haven't questioned it yet, but the honest truth is that I'm a geek with a slight hoarding tendency. I wasn't sure what do do with a curious machine called an IBM Power Series 600, but in the end I kept it. It's a smallish but very heavy PowerPC based workstation, designed to run AIX or Windows NT. The thing is, there is no information at all on the Internet about it. The only reference I can find is some guy who was trying to run Debian on it, and a very brief mention in a 1994 copy of Infoworld. I'm wondering if it might be a prototype or something. The other one I didn't chuck was an IBM Thinkpad 860. Again, this is a PowerPC based machine that ran AIX. They are rare because they were incredibly expensive when new. I'm still going to get rid of these machines but perhaps see if a museum would want them or something.
In the evening it was off to the Radhuni in Denbigh for food, a wonderful Indian place. There were 10 of us there, which was good, and about the right number of peopel. I had the Tava with Pania, as recommended by Em, so it's basically a cheese curry. The cheese is in cubes like tofu, and has an incredibly delicious sauce. After that we went to the pub for a bit.
I'm not sure what to do about cars. Due to the need to move things, I'm definitely after something not much smaller than the Accord, but more economical. The obvious solution was a diesel Mondeo or Vectra, and some of the nice common rail diesels are getting quite affordable now. But having read up on the nightmare these engines can be, I'm not so sure. The Mondeo TDCI can suffer injector failure, and they are £250 a pop, and the Vectra can suffer fuel-pump failures. I think the solution would be an older Vectra with the DTI engine which is simpler and more reliable.
The Accord is still going OK in the meantime though, and unless I'm reading the gauge wrong, I think the fuel economy might be a bit better since the exhaust was fixed. The ABS light still comes and goes though, and when I turned on the headlights to come home tonight, the right bulb went. It's simultaneously a lovely and infuriating car.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Outrageous geekery!
Today was a day that I had been sort of looking forward to. The backup system in work was being treated to new tape drives, upgrading it from LTO3 to LTO5, tripling the capacity of each tape. It was not a straightforward upgrade. Due to a misunderstanding, the library had all the new drives fitted alongside the new ones, then it required a huge firmware update, and then the damn thing decided it was NOT going to read the old LTO3 tapes in the new drives, despite them being fully capable of it. The solution turned out to be to set ALL the old tapes to read only, goodness knows why. It's going to take some time to move all the existing data from the old tapes to the new ones, but I had a plan to get it all done.
The stress of the day meant that I had a fat day for the first time in a while at work. The thing was that after I had done it, I felt bloated and unhealthy, which I think is because I've been cutting down on what I eat in work, so perhaps that's a good sign.
Then I came home and had a geeky evening with my Galaxy Note. After wiping it and installing Cyanogenmod on it a couple of months ago, I wasn't too happy with it. It was largely OK, but the graphics were never quite smooth enough, and after a couple of recent updates it started to have artifacts while scrolling and things. I don't think the graphics chip in the Note is fully supported. So I found an image of the official Jelly Bean update and set to work installing it.
It was not simple - took a while to get Odin working again, as the M11x had been rebuilt after having an SSD installed, and then it would simply not write the image. It would fail after a few seconds, leaving the Note in a state where it woudln't even boot, just complaining about the failed update. I was at a loss, until I moved the cable slightly and the phone lost connection. I tried it with another cable and the flash worked fine. Then it got stuck in a boot loop, and had to wipe some more data, but finally, at last it booted.
The Samsung ROM feels instantly better. It has all the gumph that I find a bit annoying, but it's so much more responsive that it's worth it. Also has the multiwindow mode and things, but I haven't had a play with that yet. Just spent some time putting all my usual apps on it.
Ironically, I think if I'd waited a little longer I could have just upgraded it directly to the new ROM without faffing about. It's a bit of a conflict really - I like tinkering, but at the same thing I just want it to work. Perhaps I need a second sacrificial device to satisfy the tinkering urge.
The other thing I was going to do this evening was find a working laptop with a serial port and see if I could get it talking to an old Orgainser II using the Comms link cable, but I ran out of time.
Hapless geek.
The stress of the day meant that I had a fat day for the first time in a while at work. The thing was that after I had done it, I felt bloated and unhealthy, which I think is because I've been cutting down on what I eat in work, so perhaps that's a good sign.
Then I came home and had a geeky evening with my Galaxy Note. After wiping it and installing Cyanogenmod on it a couple of months ago, I wasn't too happy with it. It was largely OK, but the graphics were never quite smooth enough, and after a couple of recent updates it started to have artifacts while scrolling and things. I don't think the graphics chip in the Note is fully supported. So I found an image of the official Jelly Bean update and set to work installing it.
It was not simple - took a while to get Odin working again, as the M11x had been rebuilt after having an SSD installed, and then it would simply not write the image. It would fail after a few seconds, leaving the Note in a state where it woudln't even boot, just complaining about the failed update. I was at a loss, until I moved the cable slightly and the phone lost connection. I tried it with another cable and the flash worked fine. Then it got stuck in a boot loop, and had to wipe some more data, but finally, at last it booted.
The Samsung ROM feels instantly better. It has all the gumph that I find a bit annoying, but it's so much more responsive that it's worth it. Also has the multiwindow mode and things, but I haven't had a play with that yet. Just spent some time putting all my usual apps on it.
Ironically, I think if I'd waited a little longer I could have just upgraded it directly to the new ROM without faffing about. It's a bit of a conflict really - I like tinkering, but at the same thing I just want it to work. Perhaps I need a second sacrificial device to satisfy the tinkering urge.
The other thing I was going to do this evening was find a working laptop with a serial port and see if I could get it talking to an old Orgainser II using the Comms link cable, but I ran out of time.
Hapless geek.
Monday, 6 May 2013
Awesome weekend
It was down to Kent for the annual BBQ with Jane and Wes and Jake and Laura, but it was the first time I've been. We set off on Friday at about 10am and made it down to Whitstable in good time with little drama other than some congestion on the M1. As before, we went in Rob and Em's car. With the bank holiday traffic we quickly developed a hatred for caravans, which led to much hissing and claw motions, which became entertainment for the journey. I started reading A Clash of Kings on the Kindle. I made it to about 20% by the time we got past the M25, and it seemed an easier read than the first book, probably because the TV series meant I knew mostly what was going on. Food on Friday night was a load of pizza ordered from Domino's, which was really good. Ordering on the website is great as you get a constant update of the status of the order.
Saturday was spent chilling out and reading books to little Xander, who isn't all that little any more, and then heading over to Jake's place in Northfleet for the BBQ. The plan was to leave the cars there and get a minibus back. The BBQ went really well and was really good fun. The first thought that came to mind for a costume was Stephen Hawking but this was quickly dismissed as being inappropriate, so I settled for Arthur Dent from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This basically consisted of pyjamas, dressing gown and a plastic goldfish stuck to my glasses to be the Babel Fish.
There were some amazing costumes there, from someone in a custom made Ninja Turtle outfit, Optimus Prime, Indiana Jones, Hulk Hogan, a definitely too soon Jimmy Saville, to Wes's Captain Planet and Jane's David Bowie. Em's Colombo outfit was scary and Rob was Robin Hood. It was great. Also someone else turned up with the same idea as me so there were two Arthur Dents.
Unfortunately I drank rather a lot of Southern Comfort rather quickly, which led to me falling over a lot and then being cradled by Em and Vicky while being violently sick into a Halloween bucket. I don't know how long this bit went on for but I remember being startled that it was suddenly dark. It was around then that I told Vicky that I had shit myself, just to see her face, which was funny but she was less amused. After a while though, I was able to get up and carry on talking to people, although I did have to carry the bucket around with me as I kept being sick for pretty much the rest of the evening, which led to conversations being a little embarrassing. To my surprise though, this led to me being regarded as somewhat of a hero.
By the time we got the minibus home though, my stomach had settled down, but my stomach muscles and throat were crying out for mercy. Fortunately though I was able to sleep OK.
First on Sunday was off to a good breakfast at a nearby pub, which was good. At first I wasn't sure about eating much, but after a croissant I felt better and was able to tidy it away. We hung out for a bit and then took the minibus back to Jake's place to get the cars and head to Bluewater to see Iron Man 3. We split into two parties, those who wanted to look at shoes and the others who were hungry. We ended up going to a place called Ed's Diner, an American style place where we had huge milkshakes, which were incredible. Mine was a peanut butter one which was stunning. The sheer size of the milkshake meant that I was able to sit through the movie without any sustenance at all.
After that we went to a random place on the food court that was OK. The food was decent enough and it had room for all the people who were there as it was quite a sizable group. I had duck spring rolls and a falafel wrap, which were both good, although I didn't quite do justice to the wrap as the effects from the giant milkshake were still lingering.
Finally it was time to return to Jane and Wes's for a movie and general hanging out. The movie was the recent version of The Three Musketeers. By this time I was really tired so I couldn't keep track of what was going on, and then not long after Rob said it was being pretty true to the book, only for him to be proved massively wrong when a giant airship appeared, I couldn't cope with how shit it was any more and went to bed.
The journey back today was fine, despite it being bank holiday. The traffic was mostly going the other way so we saw plenty of blockages on the M56 and other places, but we were OK. I read some more Clash of Kings and got nearly halfway through the book. Despite knowing what was largely going on, I'm really enjoying the extra detail.
It's been a great weekend, with the only downside being some incriminating photos of my incompetence with alcohol and the mere thought of Southern Comfort making me feel sick. It's a completely different scene down there with a great bunch of people, so it's always good. My stomach muscles are still feeling the effects though, probably the best ab workout I've ever had.
The Accord did it's best to piss me off again on Friday - after I put my suitcase into the boot it wouldn't open again when I got to Rob and Em's, and the ABS light came on again. On the way home today though, the ABS light went off again and copious amounts of WD40 got the boot opening again. I think the locking mechanism is a little finicky, but there is no way to override it. Bah. Oh well.
Saturday was spent chilling out and reading books to little Xander, who isn't all that little any more, and then heading over to Jake's place in Northfleet for the BBQ. The plan was to leave the cars there and get a minibus back. The BBQ went really well and was really good fun. The first thought that came to mind for a costume was Stephen Hawking but this was quickly dismissed as being inappropriate, so I settled for Arthur Dent from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This basically consisted of pyjamas, dressing gown and a plastic goldfish stuck to my glasses to be the Babel Fish.
There were some amazing costumes there, from someone in a custom made Ninja Turtle outfit, Optimus Prime, Indiana Jones, Hulk Hogan, a definitely too soon Jimmy Saville, to Wes's Captain Planet and Jane's David Bowie. Em's Colombo outfit was scary and Rob was Robin Hood. It was great. Also someone else turned up with the same idea as me so there were two Arthur Dents.
Unfortunately I drank rather a lot of Southern Comfort rather quickly, which led to me falling over a lot and then being cradled by Em and Vicky while being violently sick into a Halloween bucket. I don't know how long this bit went on for but I remember being startled that it was suddenly dark. It was around then that I told Vicky that I had shit myself, just to see her face, which was funny but she was less amused. After a while though, I was able to get up and carry on talking to people, although I did have to carry the bucket around with me as I kept being sick for pretty much the rest of the evening, which led to conversations being a little embarrassing. To my surprise though, this led to me being regarded as somewhat of a hero.
By the time we got the minibus home though, my stomach had settled down, but my stomach muscles and throat were crying out for mercy. Fortunately though I was able to sleep OK.
First on Sunday was off to a good breakfast at a nearby pub, which was good. At first I wasn't sure about eating much, but after a croissant I felt better and was able to tidy it away. We hung out for a bit and then took the minibus back to Jake's place to get the cars and head to Bluewater to see Iron Man 3. We split into two parties, those who wanted to look at shoes and the others who were hungry. We ended up going to a place called Ed's Diner, an American style place where we had huge milkshakes, which were incredible. Mine was a peanut butter one which was stunning. The sheer size of the milkshake meant that I was able to sit through the movie without any sustenance at all.
After that we went to a random place on the food court that was OK. The food was decent enough and it had room for all the people who were there as it was quite a sizable group. I had duck spring rolls and a falafel wrap, which were both good, although I didn't quite do justice to the wrap as the effects from the giant milkshake were still lingering.
Finally it was time to return to Jane and Wes's for a movie and general hanging out. The movie was the recent version of The Three Musketeers. By this time I was really tired so I couldn't keep track of what was going on, and then not long after Rob said it was being pretty true to the book, only for him to be proved massively wrong when a giant airship appeared, I couldn't cope with how shit it was any more and went to bed.
The journey back today was fine, despite it being bank holiday. The traffic was mostly going the other way so we saw plenty of blockages on the M56 and other places, but we were OK. I read some more Clash of Kings and got nearly halfway through the book. Despite knowing what was largely going on, I'm really enjoying the extra detail.
It's been a great weekend, with the only downside being some incriminating photos of my incompetence with alcohol and the mere thought of Southern Comfort making me feel sick. It's a completely different scene down there with a great bunch of people, so it's always good. My stomach muscles are still feeling the effects though, probably the best ab workout I've ever had.
The Accord did it's best to piss me off again on Friday - after I put my suitcase into the boot it wouldn't open again when I got to Rob and Em's, and the ABS light came on again. On the way home today though, the ABS light went off again and copious amounts of WD40 got the boot opening again. I think the locking mechanism is a little finicky, but there is no way to override it. Bah. Oh well.
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