Blog

  • Election night special

    I am up late here watching the election night coverage. We have had local council elections, I have used my democratic right to vote, and now am doing the other important part, waiting to see what my vote has got me. It looks like we may have a Labour council once more in Oxford, but that is not definite yet.

    I’m in an odd mood tonight, I feel like a load of tennis balls being dropped into a drainpipe through a funnel. If you pour in too many too quickly, the balls get jammed. That is how I feel, I’ve got loads of thoughts and ideas I want to get down, or get done, and from having too many I am finding myself getting bogged down. My head was racing when I got in tonight, so much I wanted to get through, and then I just couldn’t. I’m a bit calmer now, and I have focused and got a couple of things done tonight. Cleaned up the right hand side of this site a little, and done a couple of other jobs. I am also going to try and do a few things at the weekend to get myself closer to where I want to be. I am hopefully going to be reading quite a bit of geek stuff over the next few weeks, to get myself a bit more learned. And more coding. And more writing. I just need to focus a bit more for a while, tune myself in. I’ll do it, it is just making that so.

    Tags:

  • Podcasts to check out and report back on

    I’ve found a couple of new podcasts that I need to give a go. The first is the Ricky Gervais video podcast. The free audio one was absolutely hilarious, and now he is doing the same for video. Don’t know how long it will be free, so have a look whilst you can.

    The other is Penny Arcade , one of the angriest and funniest gaming-related sites around. They have finally given in to the podcast trend, and I am very curious to hear them.

    There should be one more here, I found yesterday that another site I really like has started podcasting now. Can I remember who it was though? The answer is clearly no…

    EDIT On my way home, I discovered the last one I wanted to try out. Giant Robot is an American magazine that is obsessed with all things from the far east, and of Asian-American origin. I always try to buy a copy when I find it (clearly I should subscribe, and I shall sort that soon). Well they now have a podcast, so I need to try that out.

  • These five Panda-Z Pilots now patrol my bookcase

    I need to learn more about Panda-Z, seem to be getting more and more into my head at the moment. I have had a quick look at the Panda-Z site, but I need to know more. My life is a constant quest for knowledge.

    I have also purchased these trainers recently. I don’t know what their name is, I just like them

    Tags:

  • May day weekend

    A very pleasant one at that. I got some good work done in the garden, cleared out half of the front border and planted heathers, and did some work around the back as well. Got some new clothes and shoes (the best of which I am wearing right now. Must take a pic of them whilst they look proper and new). Oh, and a new ubertelly. 32″ of goodness, still a crt though, so takes up loads of space, however it doesn’t cost a fortune at all. The most expensive telly we saw on Saturday was three thousand pounds, which would be a good start towards a deposit for a house. They should come with an awning you can live under then.

    Will try and put some more pics of the garden and of footwear in my flickr account later then.

    Tags:

  • Drum, Bass and the art of speed golf

    Okay, so tonight I am off to see Logistics, a drum’n’bass act on Hospital Records. Couple of very good friends are in town tonight, T and B. I lived with T when I moved to Oxford for good, and B is his partner, and the very person who designed the logo above this post. T got me listening to various artists on Hospital, including the wonderous London Elektricity.

    I am a little nervous about tonight, because I’m not used to seeing such acts in a proper venue. The normal place I listen to them is when I play golf.

    I have Links 2004 for the Xbox, which is a cracking golf game. And it ended up a while ago that I figured the perfect soundtrack for playing golf was Hospital Records material. Far more fun than other choices, and the sheer pace of the music meant you were hurriedly pressing buttons, and could get through 18 holes in about 15-20 minutes. It turned golf into almost a twitch-reflex pastime for me.

    So it seems vaguely strange to my brain to go and listen to such stuff in a club. I know this belies all logic, but that is what I am used to. I make take a putter to make me feel more at ease though.

  • BBC Archive

    A wonderful thing happened today. The BBC launched its open archive, the BBC Programme Catalogue . This is a fantastic resource, basically an online version of their own database of programmes. I believe some of the info goes back to the 30s. It isn’t complete by any stretch, but what is there is great. What is also wonderful is that it is essentially open source for non-commercial usage.

    What this means for me, is that I fancy a go at writing a few things here. Some searches, possibly a widget or something. We shall see.

    This announcement was part of a larger press release today on the BBC’s Find, play and share initiative. They are also playing up their soon to be launched media player, and a desire to create a form of myspace bringing user-content to the BBC. If they keep this up, they will be second on my list of companies I want to work for. After my present employers, that is.

    Tags:

  • Positive attitude


    I won this today. Apparently I have the most positive attitude in my company. Part of me feels this means we are in a whole lot of trouble.

    Tags:

  • Weekend Music – The Flaming Lips

    Bit of Flaming Lips for you, Bohemian Rhapsody. Wonderfully odd video.

    Tags: