Scars that I can talk about
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Chris" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:25 am
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For serious Unix Geeks only
Unix time reaches 1234567890 on Friday 13th Feb 2009 at 23:31:30 GMT.
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02:21 pm
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Gaming Rant - Force Unleshed
Ok so this is an experiment. I'm wondering how well this will work...
( Review of The Force Unleashedfor the XBOX 360 )That'll do for now I think...
Tags: game review, games, rant, star wars
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02:33 pm
[Link] | So this weekend was mainly 2 things, both of those on Saturday:
1) Alton Towers
Vicki found out about the corkscrew being about to be closed down and so we went for one last ride. I was amazed how good it still was, here was me being all jaded.
Although it seems I have lots of false memories in my head about the whole experience; I'm sure I can remember the adverts on TV saying about this brand new corkscrew ride that had opened, and then going to Alton towers. Ok I couldn't go on it, I was too short, and instead Paul went on it and told me how good it was and I was of course really jealous of that. But it that was true then that means that I was 2 years old when that happened. I'm not sure I actually would be able to remember things from that age. I should check with my Mum & Dad to see if they can remember the timing.
It certainly does seem as if I have a number of flase memories about the whole experience. i.e. I remember doing things that I couldn't possibly have done.
Otherwise we had a really good day. Got absolutely drenched at the end which wasn't pleasant on the rapids, flume* and battle galleons**
Overall I would say it was a great day - it was strange though how short the modern rides are.
* The log flume is now called the flume because it is sponsored by imperial leather. You now ride about in baths not logs. You now have giant rubber ducks coming out at you in the dark.
** The battle galleons were ace, well worth going on; a superb waterfight. Better kept for a sunny day though...
2) Dinner With Liz & Luke
After that went out to Tom's Chop House in Manchester and it was superb. This is the same place we ate at after the pub tour and Vicki had the best Steak and Kidney pudding I had ever tasted. So Saturday I had their Corned Beef Hash. I can honestly say I cannot name anything I have ever eaten that tastes as good as that did.
Right at the end we were joined by Jon and his new girlfriend. Without saying too much on a public post I am really really happy for him - he seemed the happiest I have seen him for a long time.
Then of course Sunday we watched the Grand Prix.
Most of what happened I could cope with but WRT the Bourdais/Masa incident that was a travesty! I want to know what the stewards wanted Bourdais to do. From this we can imply that once you leave the pit lane until after the first corner you must brake to anyone who is coming along the straight. What else was Bourdais to do? He couldn't move anywhere. It was Massa who decided to overtake him in the corner and got it wrong. It was Massa who saw him exiting the pits and decided to overtake him.
Utter travesty in my opinion.
And what about Massa driving into the pit lane acceleration zone/red hatched area to do an overtake? Stupidly dangerous and he should be peanalised for that/. There was no way he could know that someone wasn;t about to come out of the pit lane and if there had been then he would have collided with them. Utterly dangerous driving IMO and he should be penalised for it.
WRT Hamilton, while I always like him to do well, I think he did score the number of points he deserved to, he got too hot headed and paid for that one way or another so I'm not going to complain about anything to do with that because I think he got the result his driving deserved.
Tags: f1, jonathan, meal, trips
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01:16 pm
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Photographer's Rights
Thought I'd share this with you all.
http://photorights.org/
Some good stuff on there - very focussed towards the press but if you have any interest in freedom of speech and the freedoms of the press then there's some good evidence on there of how these are ignored by certain police.
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04:30 pm
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Some people
Saw something horrid today down town.
I was just parking up and opposite me someone was VERY illegally parked. A nearby traffic warden was just walking over to bring him up on this. The traffic warden was stood near the front bumper of the van and the van intentionally drove into the guy's knee.
The traffic warden seemed fine, even if he had now developed a bit of a limp and the two of them started shouting abuse at each other.
I just can;t believe someone would intentionally try and drive into someone like that - especially not in a busy town centre. Well actually I can believe it, but I'd rather I couldn't.
What kind of scum is this world populated by?
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04:13 pm
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Catchup - Isabelle, Bikes and Old married couples.
So I've not been posting recently.
It's been an interesting mix of lots going on, but nothing I really felt I should be documenting.
Until I sat down to write this and realised just what I had missed.
* Isabelle
Well the obvious news is my brother has just (well a fortnight last Friday) had a daughter. I didn't want to mention it on a place like here until way after the date so that Paul had the chance to do what he wished with the news. Went to see her the week after (the weekend of her birth we had plans in Cambridge, which we could have easily cancelled, but didn't want to impose ourselves on the new family).
Anyway that all went well. the strange thing is what struck me about the trip was how much Sam had come on, how independent he was becoming - great to see, but already making me feel old.
Not sure what else to say the family keeps expanding and it's great to see. I never understood in the past how people raved so much about their nieces/nephews, I think I finally understand.
* Bike accident
The weekend before that I got rear ended on my bike at a roundabout. I stopped for someone who was changing lanes on the roundabout (and therefore we might have come into conflict) the guy behind me didn't stop.
No harm to me and relatively minor damage to the bike; about £200 worth, and his insurance is taking it all. The problem is it happened on the 15th August and the garage still has my bike - they are being useless. So I have got a hire bike off the insurance company - suzuki sv650s. It's rubbish.
( Rant about why it's rubbish )
Can't wait to get my bike back. Since they should have got the parts last Saturday then judging by past record give them another few weeks they might actually get around to fitting them!
* Vicki's redecorating
Vicki's been redoing her room, so lots of painting and light fitting shopping and Ikea and ...
Basically settling down into an old married couple seems to be the order of the day. About time after the drama of recent years. I guess that's what it comes down to, I posted on LJ when things were, to simplify: complex. Now I rarely post. Seems like a good sign really.
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11:44 am
[Link] | Shamelessly stolen from Sef
01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
Yes but there were only 2 of us in the pub
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
Well stood on it, i think that counts
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
31. Asked out a stranger
Technically yes, but it was in jest
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favourite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
Constantly these days
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
You mean people don't have 7 in their server and 3 drive caddies to carry aroind and a raid 0 in their desktop and.,..
49. Visited all 50 states
What all 50 states of my mind?
50. Loved your job
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice
Well i once forgot my details and had to guess them for a foreign official, does that count?
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Bench pressed your own weight
Quite some time ago thoough
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theatre
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favour of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Sword fought for the honour of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
Never won first at anything
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
Technically yes, well define expert...
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated/ Had sex in a public place
Not telling
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a cheque
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
Above my head yes.
127. Recently bought and played with a favourite childhood toy
128. Followed your favourite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Member of Parliament
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
A model one yes
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone's heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a TV game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than US states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196. Dyed your hair
197. Been a DJ
198. Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199. Written your own role-playing game
200. Been arrested
I reckon that's 96/200
Tags: meme, quiz
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01:52 am
[Link] | The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE, or strikeout the books you read but didn't like.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read only 6 or less and make them read.
I've taken the BBC 2003 version from sack_boy as the other version has many repeats and duplications in it...
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
Tags: books
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02:27 pm
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Rant: Fuel prices
So Rant time it is. I'm quite sick of everyone complaining about fuel prices. Here's my reasoning:
Tags: fuel, motorbike, rant
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03:56 pm
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Thundersprint
Well Thundersprint was a bit of a letdown - what i had in my head as an all weekend event resolved into a bit of a damp teatowel.
Saturday turned out to be just a motorshow - which translated as a field with a lot of stalls on it (selling bike stuff neither of us wanted), and a lot of old bikes that were going to be in the thundersprint the next day. That bit was actually quite good, getting up and close with such a variety of bikes and nattering to the owners.
After that we then went to Accrington to visit my brother for my nephew's 2nd birthday do. Lots of children and some beer and bbq. Vicki and myself were the only pair not to be bringing children leaving us joking we should have gone via Skipton to borrow her nephews.
Sunday, the thundersprint itself was a bit of a letdown. As we understood it, the thundersprint was to be a road race around Northwich town centre. Forst there would be the cavalcade parading the entrants around and then there would be the race itself. As such we got ourselves in a good position for the cavalcade, which was good, only to be puzzled at the men coming along and removing the barriers. Thank goodness Vicki's internet on her phone was up to the job of checking the website - turns out the thundersprint itself was all done around a single carpark. The Website said to get to the banking/grandstand for 1:15 to get a good seat, we were there for 12:45 and all the seats had gone. So we were left standing in the scorching hot sunshine. The sprint itself was not that eventful and we ended up giving up after just over an hour and a half because the sun was a bit much for us.
Got some good photos though so I'll stick them up at some point.
Ended up just going for a ride out in the sunshine which was lovely, the bike is a totally different beast in warm weather. Not that the bike isn't lovely in winter, but this was something else.
Plans for this week are a bit flat really. Things are about to get really busy with Jon & Liz visiting this weekend and the upcoming beer festival and quite a few commitments to the theatre. Still for now it's a case of catch up with jobs around the house and on the computer and try not to waste too much time on the xbox :-)
Tags: catchup, motorbike
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01:12 pm
[Link] | So this last week or so has been its normal manic self.
Thursday & Friday i was doing a work from home at Vicki's. This meant I could go on film the show on Thursday night and then photograph the show on Friday night, then do my old soak thing on Saturday
Sunday we went on a Tavern Tour organised by Urbis around some of the historic/important pubs of Manchester. I cannot recommend this enough. Then spent the evening at Liz's with Jon.
Monday we went to see Iron man which was exactly what is said on the tin, a bit of harmless entertainment. Then round to Liz's again.
Tuesday was another work from home then to watch the matchbox 20 concert which was excellent. The warm up act was very annoying though because they insisted on playing at 11 which meant that their equipment was distorting. I really wanted to shoot the sound engineer for letting that happen.
This weekend looks interesting - hopefully assuming all goes to plan then we'll be at the Thundersprint in northwich, and also going to see Fred for Sam's birthday.
Busy busy as always...
Tags: beer, concert, mugss, photography
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02:54 pm
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Rome Trip
So realised I hadn't posted about our Rome trip.
So last weekend (well Friday to Monday) we were in Rome. We being Vicki and myself.
Summary: Great fun, enjoyed being a simple tourist, felt guilty for being an ignorant tourist (despite many guide books), lovely food, too much nice food isn't good for me.
Friday:
Got the mid-day flight (12 o'clock) so we'd be able to get there in good time and find our hotel in the light. All went well except someone had stolen a street sign and I'd forgot to print out a map to the hotel so we got a bit lost and ended up walking through what at the time seemed to me to be a dodgy area. 10-20 mins of walking later we found it and it turned out to be a lovely hotel. After that a trip into town for some tea. Found our first lovely restaurant although we did eliminate about a dozen others before finding it. As we were to discover dining out in Rome isn't cheap, but it is well worth it because the good restaurants are truly great.
Saturday:
Saturday the plan was 2 jobs, the castle (as recommended by our flatmate for a great view of the city), and then the vatican. The castle was excellent see here and here for an example of the view. the Vatican however was another story, see here for an idea of the length of the queue. So we didn't do that.
We then headed off to the old town and saw pretty much everything except the Colosseum. Top tip here, get the ticket to the ruins (I've forgotten the proper name, I'll look it up when I get home) and that also gets you into the Colosseum, the advantage is the queue for tickets is about 5% of the length if you get it from the ruins so allowed us on Sunday to go to the Colosseum without having an hour or so queue for the ticket. Whilst on our wanderings we had lunch at an awful place - this on street cafe that was appalling. But we found a pair of back street restaurants that we used for our next 2 days worth evening meals that were superb, truly staggeringly good.
Sunday:
The plan for Sunday was the Colosseum and then potter around. i personally found the colluseum far more impressive than the Giza Pyramids, so read into that what you will. I do recommend the audio tour electronic gizmo thing they do as well.
For the potter around we just headed to the park out of town which was lovely - it did seem to be the place some people chose to go and pose or alternatively bring the whole family along.
Monday:
All we did was do the checkout and then head to the airport - out late afternoon flight meant we didn't really have time to do much else - still it was a thoroughly relaxing day.
Why was it though when I go home I had a massive hankering for a chip butty? I'm such a brit at times...
Tags: holiday, rome
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02:48 pm
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Traffic Police
So on the way to work this morning (actually as i was leaving the drive) I got pulled over by a traffic policeman (he was opposite my house with a speed-gun).
Recall at this point I am on my own driveway, on my motorbike just leaving for work.
P: "Excuse me sir is this your bike"
Me: "Erm yes?"
P: "Would you mind me looking at your back plate?"
Me: "Sure go ahead"
P: (after a quick look) "Oh, Ok it's fine we're just on the lookout for a bike that exactly matches the description of yours, go on you're fine"
WTF? Seems like someone's been doing something dodgy with a blue fazer...
Put me on my back foot all morning that did, I'm going to be extra worrying about the police now!
Current Mood:  confused
Tags: motorbike, paranoia
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03:21 pm
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Waiting for the build (again)
So things have really freed up at work - well except for one thing that should work, has worked a dozen times before but breaks whenever you need to prove again that it did work...
news wise?
Well on Friday we went to London to watch some opera (Carmen), it was very good. Vicki had the DVD, but I wasn't really that keen on it there, none the less it was MUCH better watching it in person thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm sure an expert could criticise it but the only bad thing i could say was that i got sore eyes from them flicking up to see the translation (that was just underneath the pross-arch).
Saturday was going to see my second football match - Not Manchester United vs Lyon this time, but Cambridge United vs Kiderminster. Lost hopelessly! To be fair the kiddies wer playing very poorly, both in style and playing VERY dirty, and there were a number of decisions where I'm sure the ref/linesman was watching a different match to me, but hey, what do I know?(not much is the answer, but Vicki who does know a lot did tell me about them/agree)
Then met up at B-Bar with Simon, Gaute, Giles, and dragged Alex along. Was a good night really.
Sunday was a bit of a mix. We first went out to the local vineyard which wasn't quite as expected. Would have been good for a group visit, less good for the two of us when we were pretty much the only people there.
Then went out for a ride. i can see why many bikers don't go out over winter - suddenly the bike sticks as it goes around corners. Suddenly I can thump the anchors on and the front wheel doesn't lock. Although doing this with a pillion on isn't always the best idea...
As for this week, well it's Alex's birthday this coming weekend so that should be interesting - finally meeting some of his more "interesting" sounding friends. That's really about all my plans for that. I'm double booked on Wednesday night again, work pub night and Penguin Pub night. Otherwise I just get to play home-maker and do things like trim the hedges and wash the car this week.
The week after I go on a bikesafe course - the police run training course. Hopefully it'll be interesting, it may teach me something new, it may just be a re-cap of my survival skills course. I suppose either turnout is good - either I know everything I need to, or I improve.
Tags: beer, catchup, motorbike
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10:57 am
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Workate's wierd idea
I should really learn not to talk to co-workers:
His proposition is that if it is possible to simulate conciousness then there will be many more simulations of reality than there is an actual reality.
In which case it's almost certain we're simulations.
Not that this is a new idea, (are we real or simulated) just that this consequence never occurred to me.
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01:01 am
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Earthquake
Just had an earthquake here - wow another virginity gone!
In other news I'm still at work - if you wonder why I haven't been posting much, this may give you some clue
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01:43 pm
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Web Pictures
Can you tell I'm in a calm between storms at work today?
So in case you haven't noticed it's been over a year since I updated my normal photo repository at www.rufty.org.uk. I'd hate to have to start again from scrtch because I put a LOT of work into gettin it organised on there only for it to fill up as soon as it was finished.
This is because it is full and we cannot add any more disk space to it.
Therefore I need a new place to store my photos. Now this isn't as simple as it seems because in the ideal case I store all of my photos online and at full resolution - this currently amounts to over 20G of photos and will only carry on growing.
As far as I can see my options come down to:
1) Start a new gallery system running on my home PC - try and figure out how to import the data from the current system in operation.
2) Move to using something like flickr - would need a paid account for the quantity I would plan to upload. Google photos would have the advantage that it's what my dad uses.
3) Stick to just occasionally publishing stuff on facebook as needed. This has the problem that the photos are greatly downsized, which is a shame for some of the photos I am more proud of. I also feel I can't show off as much on there as I could on my own - you certainly can't have your photos albums organised as effectively. But you can at least tag people
Don't know what to do for the best - I ideally need something like the gallery system that rtuns on rufty.org.uk, but that also supports tagging people.
Ho Hum.
Tags: photos
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10:25 am
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January
So I've not really commented in January.
I suppose the big event for me was my birthday party. I believe it was a resounding success, it all went according to plan, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, seeing so many people I hadn't seen for ages was great, it was a really really good night.
Too many people to thank for it, but those who stand out are Jonathan for the loan of his house and everything he did to make it happen, Vicki for all the millions of things she did to make it happen including organising me, sorting out the food, sorting out the kids games, generally being a star. My mum for producing one of if not THE tastiest fruit cakes I have ever had, and helping with the food and just being there and being supportive as needed and as she always is. Oh and of course everyone who showed up and was really friendly and made the event what it was.
I now fell I can say how important that event was to me, I didn't want to until after the event...
Cast your mind back to approximately 16 years ago (ok this was before any of you knew me) and my brother had his 18th birthday. It was a great party. I was 14 or so at the time and wasn't exactly the most popular kid on the block, but it was something I wanted to be able to do when it came my time. My 18th came and I realised that it wouldn't be the time because I didn't have the friends so I let it go.
By my 21st however I had of course by this point been to Uni and had a group of friends, still not the popular person, but I had friends I could rely on. So I had a big 21st birthday to which 5 friends from college and 2 friends from uni turned up to.
Suffice to say I was not 100% pleased with the outcome, it was not all I had planned/hoped it to be.
This then went on to become a thing in my mind - somewhere I had failed - something I had set myself to do and couldn't. Yes logically I knew the reasons for this, but emotionally I felt as if I had failed and in many ways that I had been rejected.
So now to finally rid myself of this shadow has proved very uplifting - to see that lots of very different people could come together and enjoy themselves was very important to me. In fact I think this has been the last remaining demon that I have wanted to rid myself of so it has left me feeling truly reborn and has made the big 30 very significant to me. For this I can't thank everyone enough.
Not sure I'll do it again for a long time now, but it's there and done now.
One more demon from my past gone and expunged - not sure I have many left now - what will I do with myself when I'm happy with myself :-)
Tags: birthday, catchup
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10:07 am
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Survey
Ok, this is going to seem very random, but it was on my mind last night. Before you start worrying, it was to do with a story I've been thinking about. You'll notice they are all jobs/social places that a society needs/wants even when all resource limitations are removed...
Could you please comment and place the following into a list of sexiness - i.e. your desire to have sex with them, not your desire to re-produce with them (although if you fancied doing 2 lists then that would be equally informative).
* An athlete who plays at the national level in your chosen sport
* Controversial artist (painting etc)
* Musician in local county orchestra
* A mechanic on the leading F1 team
* A designer on the leading F1 team
* A software engineer who was involved in the latest hit game
* A teacher who works at the local school
* An MP (Member of Parliament)
* A soldier
* A broadsheet journalist
* A TV presenter
* Shop assistant
Comment anonymously if you wish, and I'm sure some people will say your job has nothing to do with your sexiness, and that's fine, I'm just trying to work through some of the ramifications of a society without resource limitations and a question reared it's head and this is a surreptitious way to answer it.
Thanks in advance
Tags: story, thought experiment
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05:54 pm
[Link] | I forgot to say earlier
Apologies if I haven't kept up with posts people have made on LJ, been far too snowed under with everything life has at the moment. Now I'm starting to get a little free time I'm going back through the history.
So if I haven't commented it isn't for any other reason than I've not exactly had LJ as a priority, now at least it is there...
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