Last weekend was good. The Saturday was spent at Rob G's with a bunch of geeky friends watching a load of Doctor Who episodes in preparation for the 50th anniversary episode. We managed to watch episodes with all the Doctors right through. It was a fat day too, an astonishing amount of snacks and cake, and then when the big moment arrived we had take away chips too, amazing. The 50th anniversary episode was really good too, really well done, although it wasn't quite what I expected.
Sunday was set to be a quiet day watching movies but then Rob called me to say they were going to watch the 50th anniversary episode since they hadn't seen it yet, and so I went down there and we watched that, some rugby and the Adventures in Time and Space programme, which was interesting. Also had Chinese but Em and I split a portion between us to try and mitigate the damage. I've been eating quite sensibly for a few weeks now so suddenly pigging out unsettled it rather and it's taken a little while to recover.
The week so far has been reasonable. Today was the last working day as I'm off to Berlin tomorrow. No real objectives in mind except to see the Eisbrecher concert on Saturday. Should be fun, if cold.
Not much else to report really.
Wednesday 27 November 2013
Monday 18 November 2013
Holiday cut short
Last week was OK. Went to the gym a couple of times, and then it was time to take over the responsibility of the dog. I had to take leave on Friday until this coming Wednesday.
I was gutted that I couldn't make it to the rugby league on Saturday, especially after Rob managed to get them into the corporate box. However I was able to watch the Wales Argentina match live. I went down to see them afterwards but they couldn't get it on iPlayer, so it was a bit ironic that I saw it when they couldn't.
Then on Sunday, one of the systems in work didn't come back after I had to reboot it as part of the process to set up a replica of it on the new hardware it was due to be moved to. Due to the remote access system not being very stable, I had to go into work today to sort it and and migrate the system to the new hardware. I don't know why the system didn't come up again - it must be some sort of hardware failure as it refused to see either of the mirrored boot disks. Anyway, after a stressful few hours, it was up and running with very little issue.
I had to take the dog with me though, and although he doesn't mind being left in the car, I had to take him out for a little walk at some point, and because people in work had heard a lot about him, I took him in to meet them. He was OK for a while but wouldn't settle down because of all the new people, so I had to put him back in the car again. Poor old boy.
Circuits was quite hard tonight, partly because I woke up so early to get into work at a good time. Also because Rob G and Andy decided to turn the running station into a sprint station. I was able to keep up for a little while but had to give up. However I've been watching some Youtube videos on how to improve your running technique, which I think have helped.
Back into work on Wednesday, hopefully will have a nice quiet day tomorrow.
Got a new project machine, a used Asus G73 off Ebay. It was spares or repair because it was missing the hard drives and was therefore a fraction of the price it would have been otherwise. I was interested in it because it was the other serious contender to when I bought the big Alienware. I've put my old 128gb SSD and a 500gb hard drive into it,and so far it works fine. It's similar in spec to the big Alienware, but only has a single graphics card and fewer ports. However it does have a nicer keyboard and four memory slots, and the cooling system seems nicely implemented. Not quite sure what I'll do with it yet.
I was gutted that I couldn't make it to the rugby league on Saturday, especially after Rob managed to get them into the corporate box. However I was able to watch the Wales Argentina match live. I went down to see them afterwards but they couldn't get it on iPlayer, so it was a bit ironic that I saw it when they couldn't.
Then on Sunday, one of the systems in work didn't come back after I had to reboot it as part of the process to set up a replica of it on the new hardware it was due to be moved to. Due to the remote access system not being very stable, I had to go into work today to sort it and and migrate the system to the new hardware. I don't know why the system didn't come up again - it must be some sort of hardware failure as it refused to see either of the mirrored boot disks. Anyway, after a stressful few hours, it was up and running with very little issue.
I had to take the dog with me though, and although he doesn't mind being left in the car, I had to take him out for a little walk at some point, and because people in work had heard a lot about him, I took him in to meet them. He was OK for a while but wouldn't settle down because of all the new people, so I had to put him back in the car again. Poor old boy.
Circuits was quite hard tonight, partly because I woke up so early to get into work at a good time. Also because Rob G and Andy decided to turn the running station into a sprint station. I was able to keep up for a little while but had to give up. However I've been watching some Youtube videos on how to improve your running technique, which I think have helped.
Back into work on Wednesday, hopefully will have a nice quiet day tomorrow.
Got a new project machine, a used Asus G73 off Ebay. It was spares or repair because it was missing the hard drives and was therefore a fraction of the price it would have been otherwise. I was interested in it because it was the other serious contender to when I bought the big Alienware. I've put my old 128gb SSD and a 500gb hard drive into it,and so far it works fine. It's similar in spec to the big Alienware, but only has a single graphics card and fewer ports. However it does have a nicer keyboard and four memory slots, and the cooling system seems nicely implemented. Not quite sure what I'll do with it yet.
Monday 11 November 2013
A warm winter is coming...
...because I had the car fitted with winter tyres yesterday. It had that done and the tracking, and it feels a heck of a lot better now. The tyres are strictly all season tyres rather than dedicated winter ones, but they are certainly a lot better than the shite tyres that were on it before.
The rest of yesterday was quiet as I didn't sleep well, although I did spend a bit of time troubleshooting the dead 2DS I got off Ebay for a pittance. It had been dropped and didn't turn on. It was a simple fix in the end, the shock had bent the battery connector off the board and broken the solder. It was just a case of pushing it back and sorting out the solder with a quick dab of the soldering iron. Works perfectly now, even if shaken hard while it's on. It was interesting seeing how the 2DS is put together. Despite it feeling quite sturdy, once it's apart it does feel cheaply made. I still like the ergonomics though.
Saturday was good, went to my Dad's for the start of the day and then down to Andy's to watch the rugby. After the rugby we sorted out the seats for the EasyJet flight to Berlin next year and then had a look at some of the old photos from when we went to Madrid and Berlin way back when. A thoroughly pleasant evening.
Last week was the beginning of an attempt to sort out eating and exercise with some success. I definitely felt better after a couple of days of eating less and having fruit when I'd have been scoffing chocolate or something. The Costa is a pain though, the chai lattes are so tempting.
Circuit training tonight was hard, but satisfying. I've been reading the blog of one of the marathon entrants in the Olympics last year, and it's insane what it's like at that kind of level.
The rest of yesterday was quiet as I didn't sleep well, although I did spend a bit of time troubleshooting the dead 2DS I got off Ebay for a pittance. It had been dropped and didn't turn on. It was a simple fix in the end, the shock had bent the battery connector off the board and broken the solder. It was just a case of pushing it back and sorting out the solder with a quick dab of the soldering iron. Works perfectly now, even if shaken hard while it's on. It was interesting seeing how the 2DS is put together. Despite it feeling quite sturdy, once it's apart it does feel cheaply made. I still like the ergonomics though.
Saturday was good, went to my Dad's for the start of the day and then down to Andy's to watch the rugby. After the rugby we sorted out the seats for the EasyJet flight to Berlin next year and then had a look at some of the old photos from when we went to Madrid and Berlin way back when. A thoroughly pleasant evening.
Last week was the beginning of an attempt to sort out eating and exercise with some success. I definitely felt better after a couple of days of eating less and having fruit when I'd have been scoffing chocolate or something. The Costa is a pain though, the chai lattes are so tempting.
Circuit training tonight was hard, but satisfying. I've been reading the blog of one of the marathon entrants in the Olympics last year, and it's insane what it's like at that kind of level.
Monday 4 November 2013
Things
The weekend was good fun. Saturday was a busy day. I went to the gym in the morning after failing to go on Friday, which was a good workout. Then it was meeting up with Amy and others from Proact for a meal in Wetherspoons to hand over the present we got for Pam who is due to give birth in about 8 weeks time. It was a really nice time. We hung out at Amy's for a bit afterwards. With three cats and a baby it's a busy house! After that it was off to Rob G's for a Halloween bash, which was good fun. Not everyone dressed up, but it was fun to see those who did. Good times.
Yesterday it was off to watch Wales vs USA in the Rugby League championships. I think it's the first time I've been to a live league game since we went to see Wrexham vs Leeds, and for whatever reason the crowd seemed very rowdy and footbally, which put me off rather. However the atmosphere was pretty good yesterday but it was a shame that Wales played really badly and lost quite epically. Oh well. I find League quite easy to follow though.
On the way home however, my car died. I think this was because I'd been saying to Rob and the others about how I was pleased with it and was considering treating it to winter tyres. It turned on the engine light and ran really badly, if it would start at all. I got it to the bottom of the track this morning and a garage has had a look. I had horrible things like injectors or fuel pump going through my head, but it turned out a connector had come loose at the top of the engine. So, all being well, I get it back tomorrow.
In other news, I have to admit I got a 2DS last week. My 3DS XL is out of action while it's being painted, and I was very intrigued by the 2DS and the reports that it's easy to hold. It's absolutely fantastic. The design may look strange, but it's mega comfy to hold, and the shoulder buttons are worth it alone. The smaller screens than the XL look better because the pixel density is higher. The only downside really is the single speaker, but headphones get around that. It's interesting to see that it's a single screen under the casing. I have to admit I really like the 3DS platform. All the shovelware makers that plagued the DS have moved onto tablet and phone games, so the 3DS has a lot fewer games, but they tend to be of better quality. People keep saying that the 99p games on phones and tablets will kill off the dedicated handheld, but I'm not so sure, since the 99p games tend to be shite novelties.
I've always been intrigued by the Mazda RX-8, not so much because it's a car I'd ever want to own, but I like the styling and the four doors that make it a bit more practical. I was somewhat stunned to discover that they are readily available for peanuts with knackered engines because being a rotary, it's very high maintenance and can be easily killed. Crazy stuff. Of course, useless for me unless you stuck it on a Land Rover chassis or something. Hmm...
Yesterday it was off to watch Wales vs USA in the Rugby League championships. I think it's the first time I've been to a live league game since we went to see Wrexham vs Leeds, and for whatever reason the crowd seemed very rowdy and footbally, which put me off rather. However the atmosphere was pretty good yesterday but it was a shame that Wales played really badly and lost quite epically. Oh well. I find League quite easy to follow though.
On the way home however, my car died. I think this was because I'd been saying to Rob and the others about how I was pleased with it and was considering treating it to winter tyres. It turned on the engine light and ran really badly, if it would start at all. I got it to the bottom of the track this morning and a garage has had a look. I had horrible things like injectors or fuel pump going through my head, but it turned out a connector had come loose at the top of the engine. So, all being well, I get it back tomorrow.
In other news, I have to admit I got a 2DS last week. My 3DS XL is out of action while it's being painted, and I was very intrigued by the 2DS and the reports that it's easy to hold. It's absolutely fantastic. The design may look strange, but it's mega comfy to hold, and the shoulder buttons are worth it alone. The smaller screens than the XL look better because the pixel density is higher. The only downside really is the single speaker, but headphones get around that. It's interesting to see that it's a single screen under the casing. I have to admit I really like the 3DS platform. All the shovelware makers that plagued the DS have moved onto tablet and phone games, so the 3DS has a lot fewer games, but they tend to be of better quality. People keep saying that the 99p games on phones and tablets will kill off the dedicated handheld, but I'm not so sure, since the 99p games tend to be shite novelties.
I've always been intrigued by the Mazda RX-8, not so much because it's a car I'd ever want to own, but I like the styling and the four doors that make it a bit more practical. I was somewhat stunned to discover that they are readily available for peanuts with knackered engines because being a rotary, it's very high maintenance and can be easily killed. Crazy stuff. Of course, useless for me unless you stuck it on a Land Rover chassis or something. Hmm...
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