I'll be 32 on Friday. That is all.

I'll probably post more detail on this as time allows, but briefly - It was the wedding of the incomparable robsoft to his good lady Nicola at the weekend. Coming from a big family I've been to a lot of weddings, and I'm pleased to say this was by far the most enjoyable wedding I've ever had the pleasure of attending (except my own of course, if you're reading this Z).

Good work Rob & Nic!

...Anybody tell me what would be the best unix/linux build to run from a USB stick to boot a PC and access the Windows partition to change some file permissions...? Hoo yus.

I got back from lunch today to find my desk covered in glittery stars and baloons saying 'Happy Belated Birthday'. I thought I'd gotten away with it. Feckers.

...the Apple Store is offline.

Here

"Torres's goal was beautifully executed.

After receiving a pass from Harry Kewell, the Spanish striker scooped the ball round Julien Rodriguez to create a slither of space in front of Mandanda's goal. "

rant Slither? Really? Feel free to use my licence fee to buy a dictionary. /rant

[Edit]They've changed it now. Only took them 14 hours!

Round my way there's a gang of kids on peds (well, 3 or four of them) always pissing about in the road like they're on pushbikes, or trying to beat you off the line at the lights (I'm on a 650, good luck sunshine).

I live quite close to a school on a main(ish) road, you know the thing, straight, narrowish road through a residential area, 30 limit, cars parked nose to tail on both sides of the road twice a day, and also at 7.30 last night when there appeared to be a parents evening. I'm riding down the road in the rain, it's more or less dark and the road is slippery as fcuk because there're conker trees all the way down on both sides and the road is covered in mush so I'm only doing 25. One of these kids comes screaming past me with no light on, just after he passes me he looks back (I assume to prove just how manly he actually is to his mates) While he's still looking back a car pulls out of the school in front. The kid looks round and actually manages to get his speed down to about 15mph before the Bang. The kid was alright although he didn't bloody deserve to be - No lights, no protective gear (except the lid) and he was in a black tracksuit. The ped was a wreck though (I knew this story had a happy ending).

Are we approaching a situation where every kid whose parents can't decide what he should get for Christmas decide to buy them a moped and then let them go out and wreak havoc?

Apple have updated the website with the new iPod line. How many people do you think you'll see with an iPod 'touch' pretending they're on an iPhone? Vanity eh?

After tootling around quite happily for a year or so on a 125 and a CBT I actually got round to taking my DAS (big bike) test on Monday, and am pleased to say I passed. Woohoo. Now the question is how much do I spend on something that will comfortably* attain the national speed limit? I know there're a couple of bike people that read this - any ideas?

*by comfortably I mean with at least 30 mph in hand. Heh.

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

I've been reading this since I saw them in captainblue's lj. It's not the sort of thing I usually find funny but for some reason it amuses me. I don't know why.

Apple have just upgraded the Macbook line, 6 weeks after I got mine and only a couple of days after mercuryuk got his. Bugger. Details here.
Was bound to happen sooner or later though, and in all honesty it's an incremental upgrade, not anything stunningly major.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6606727.stm

[Edit]
We have one Pro and one Macbook here at the office - the pro is suffering from a swolen battery it would appear...

I recently celebrated the first anniversary of my 29th Birthday (think about it) and bought lots of stuff. If I'm honest the money I was given only covered about 8% of what I spent (just in case you're thinking I'm very spoilt) but as it was a landmark Birthday / mid-life crisis I decided to hammer the credit card. Some of the cool stuff I got is detailed below, click on the image for details.

shiny new MacBook


Lovely new camera


another new multitool




I know I said I'm not spoilt but my better half actually took me to New York for the week as a surprise. Being a smart-arse control freak I guessed a few weeks beforehand but still - New York! We've actually been there before but I enjoy it immensely over there, I'd go again in a shot. We did all the tourist stuff last time we were there so we just spent a week wandering around, shopping, eating and drinking. Things at work have been hectic recently so it came at a really good time, I don't think I've ever had such a relaxing week away.

I was considering selling my mac mini to finance the macbook but I've decided against it I think. It's far too convenient to have a small form factor machine sat in the corner of the study with wireless and bluetooth built in and no cables. For those that are interested the macbook is the better of the two white ones - 2Ghz processor, 1GB RAM and the superdrive. I also got a really cool perspex hard case for it that clips on to the machine itself but doesn't increase the size much (so it still fits in the skin I also bought for it).

The camera is one I read a good review of in MacUser, I've never really been that interested in cameras but recently I've started to find the limitations of my Canon Ixus and started to look around for something a little bit more involved. I couldn't justify spending 400-600 on a digital SLR, so I went for the 'prosumer' option, lots more stuff to play with but still with a fixed lens (although it does have more than 10x optical zoom) and it cost a hair under 200 quid. Bargain.

1. David Cameron. I swear, I really don't care if he smoked cannabis when he was in school. I've not tried it myself but he's hardly the first is he? We live in a world where many people in the public eye (including the current minister for drugs, or whatever her official title is) has admitted to this heinous offence. Get over it - I'm surprised the press haven't given him grief about the amount of CO his spliff/doobie/blunt (whatever the current appropriate term is) released into the atmosphere (What's that rattling sound? I believe it's the bandwagon coming towards us, quick jump on!)

2. Top Gear last night - one of the most amusing things I have seen in a long, long time. No, really. Partially staged? possiblt. Self aggrandizing? Probably. Politically incorrect? Without a shadow of a doubt. Funny as hell though.

3. Europe. Not the world's second smallest continent, but Europe the Swedish rock band. A friend had a spare ticket to see them at the Carling in Liverpool over the weekend, so I went - admittedly with fairly low expectations. They were, in fact, outstanding. As a band they were really tight, and played technically very well but more than that they were Up For It. I've seen a fair few 'formerly huge' bands in the past few years, and with some of them you get this sense that they feel the small venues are beneath them - they show, go through the motions and you feel lucky if they come back on for a half hearted encore.

Not so with Europe. All the way through the gig they were obviously having a great time, the audience ranged from about 12 to 70 (honestly) and all in all it was a riot, culminating (obviously) in The Final Countdown. On the strength of their performance I've ordered their last two albums, released in 2005 and 2006 they are apparently two discrete records which could almost be a two part set. I don't own anything else that Europe have ever done (except of course the version of 'Carrie' that inevitably ends up on every soft rock compilation ever made) but they really impressed me with what they did.

Mmmmm, iiiiPhoooooone. One question though - what are they going to do about the fact that Cisco/Linksys already have a product called the iPhone and they own the name?

Meme lifted from mercuryuk



I still had to look up what autodidact means though...

Yes, I know it's been a while - sorry and all that but I've been a busy boy (see my letter to santa if you need proof).

Y'see, recently I started *a new job* (not the Iran dictator thing either, a real job). The company I used to work was taken over by a faceless multinational early this year, and it wasn't long before the rot set in (quite apart from the redundancies).

My old company's primary business was manfacturing, and as a privately owned company they required all sorts of support staff - finance, sales, marketing and IT. Unfortunately the company that acquired them was a big player in our particular industry, and really only bought the company to get it's hands on our main product, a very famous builders adhesive (or alternatively to stop any of their own competitors getting their hands on it). As such they no longer required all those support staff and began the process of getting rid. I hadn't been at the company long enough to be entitled to redundency (severance) pay, so I had no option but to get out before this happened. It was a shame really, because I actually liked my job, before it got very boring in the last 6 months or so.

My new job is 'Systems Administrator' (ooooohhhhh) for a rapidly growing company on the edge of Chester, and I'm now in my third week. I must admit it's going rather too well - lots of cool kit to play with, some really great projects on the horizon and 4 different sandwich vans to choose from daily. It's also only 3 miles from my house and I really get along with the guy I work for.

On top of all this I get paid 20% more than I did before, with more holidays and various other benefits. All things considered, at the moment it looks like the take-over of the old company is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Who could've guessed?