Still Braided After All These Years - Sat 13/12

Office Christmas party yesterday. Quite good fun all told, with lots of free advice (of variable reliability and quality ;) for good measure. Almost got dragged up to dance, but my horror of my physical galoot-ness (for went of a better word) won out. Dancing is like football for me - one of those physical activities I wish I was good at, but when I start to try it, the mental image of this great galumphing eejit clod hopping around is too much to bear. I can get away with football because there are people at least as crap as me playing. But I'm a musician dammit - not a very good one I'll grant you, but a musician all the same - so how does a musician explain being sooooo ungainly and awkward at basically moving around in time ? Answers on a postcard, 'cos it's starting to get me down :(

Made up for not dancing by being an inpromptu hairdressers model though. Still have one of the braids that went in today too, hence the title.

A Good Day - Tue 9/12

So, a whole day of IBM presales, presaged by a 6:30 rise and a long train journey to Edinburgh - sounds like fun, huh? Actually wasn't too bod all things considered. Didn't go roaming for WiFi afterwards though - had much better things to do :)

Went round the German market in Princes Street and got some nice stollen (with money off because of my white stripe!) for me, some wild boar sausage for dad and chocolate for mum.

Sadly the train to Motherwell ran late so had to hang around an extra 30 mins. To add insult to injury, the line problem that made the Edinburgh train late made the next Lanark train late too, so it turned into a 45 minute wait in rather chilly conditions - brrr !

Had some serious Newton love taking notes today. So easy, and so simple to correct errors as I was scribbling away. And noting down blog entries pretty much as things happened... All I need now is pervasive public WiFi and it's a perfect on the spot blogging device !

And Another Thing... Mon 8/12

German markets in town centres are just unfair ! 

So much for losing weight - pigging out on the first decent bockwurst I've had for years, Berlin potato and wurst soup and (today) a huge jam filled warm dumpling is not going to do anything to help in that regard ! And that is just Glasgow - tomorrow I'm in Edinburgh - who knows what delights will be available there !

Anyway, stuff it (or rather, stuff me) - I was going to start the weight loss after New Year anyway ...!

Internet Junkies ! - Mon 8/12

That was the week that was ! Started well enough with a quiz win on Sunday, then a day off on the Monday. 

However, about lunchtime on Monday, our broadband suddenly stopped working. Non functioning broadband was the defining feature of the week until Thursday when a BT engineer called. He fitted a new socket but reckoned that we would need a broadband engineer to fix things. However within 20 minutes it was all working again - hmmmm... Orange customer service didn't cover itself with glory in the course of the problems - didn't get a clear consistent story from any of the customer service types I spoke to.

I don't think any of us realised quite what internet junkies we were until we went cold turkey for a few days - to the point I'm investing in a backup plan. 

Since then I've got the guitar practice back up and running, and am seeing some improvements already which is more than a little gratifying. Still a looooong way to go though, but any improvement is welcome at the moment. 

We got thumped at the quiz on Sunday - this week's big gamble on the Wipeout round didn't pay off this week ! Ho hum. And we'll just draw a thin veil over the Accies performance at the Death Star and Celtic's Hibee humping, shall we... ?

Where Did November Go - Sat 6/12

November - the great lost month! Felt really busy, and had a few very memorable highlights, but it seemed to go by in a bit of a blur !

Highlights: new Bond movie (surprisingly brutal and not really Bond style in some parts), food fair in New Lanark and some excellent sausages!, Chris Date seminar in Edinburgh, Barbara Morgenstern in Stirling, with a chaotic but still good support act called Remember Remember, another fair in Lanark and some excellent sweeties ! And, finally got down to Douglas Park to see the Accies play Kilmarnock in fairly Baltic conditions - at least we won 1-0 to make it worthwhile ! It was pretty cold though - there were some concerned looking brass monkeys clutching paper bags looking for welders after the game !

Took the knees to the doctor - suspect tendon and/or ligament problem. Blood tests ok, still waiting for a physio appointment. Doc did reckon I have to lose between 2.5 and 3.5 stone in weight though :(

Finally got round to replacing the battery in the Mondeo after it died the death.

Started trying to get a regular guitar practice regime going again, and started blogging progress to make it kindof accountable (it's here). Went well, for a while ... but that's December !

had a fun weekend and is getting into a seminar with Chris Date ...

Plodding Along Merrily - Thu 16/10

Well here we are, nearly a week into my two weeks off. And it's *lovely*.

Started off with a very enjoyable weekend, and has meandered along quietly, without too much fuss, disorder on unrest. Just what the doctor would have ordered, I'm sure !

Trying to get the guitar playing chops back up again, and it's hard work - seems like my left pinkie has decided to give up and go home, which is rather annoying - and finding that playing at 95bpm, my hands seem to need a reboot periodically. If my left hand is moving position, that seems to be enough, but if the left hand is pretty static eventually co-ordination between left and right hands goes out until the notes go all the way through staccato to completely missed - that is, my right hand is picking in between when my left hand is fretting - a two-to-four beat reboot and we're off again, but hey...

Me and the dog are still getting along, even though I've started pulling her hair out :) Coincidentally I've discovered that she seems to respond to being called 'Trotsky'. Very odd.

Running Down - Wed 8/10

The batteries are running flat now - basically marking time until the weekend. Still managed to do something useful at work with networking and graphics transformation though, which is kinda handy.

The current financial "crises" recall a wonderful phrase of Karl Marx:

"All that is solid melts into air"

Trundling Along - Tue 7/10

The gentle trundle towards the weekend continues. Gradually slowing down and looking forward to the time off, and hopefully a fun weekend !

Missed out on an evening out with Maria tonight - she's down with a cold, so we'll try again sometime soon. I'm stiffening up badly from yesterday's badminton tonight so might not have been that great company anyway.

Dad's back is giving him gyp again - hopefully it won't last too long. Mum's not feeling too great either so it's not a joyous time in the house at the moment !At least the dog is predictably feisty !

Dog Tired - Mon 6/10

Now officially dog tired. Incapable of differentiating between a Blackberry and a Newton in an email at work today! My favourite expression for the way I feel right now is "having a head like a haunted barn". Seems spot on right now :(

Played badminton today for the first time in about three or four years today. Didn't win any games, and my upper arms are already sore. God knows how I'll feel in the morning...

Second in the pub quiz on Sunday, and second in the work quiz on Friday. We'll come first yet!

Aaaargh! - Sat 4/10

Today was spent mostly in bed - I think I needed a good long sleep as I didn't even rouse until about 1 in the afternoon. After that the usual round of dry cleaning & shopping.

Finally got round to taking the synth pickup back off the Strat. As it was it was too low to get a decent signal out, so I had to take it back off, shim it, and put it back on without stopping the strings ringing properly. Some good guesswork and a bit of luck (and having done it before !) meant I got it sorted out fairly quickly - still have to adjust the trimpots though.

After that, had to deal with Dad's laptop throwing another shit fit - Windows XP, networking - bag o'shite. Bah ! Fixed it, eventually, somehow...

Question Time - Fri 3/10

Quiz night - and after a decent showing in the first few rounds we eventually slipped to second place by three points. Not too bad but we talked ourselves out of enough correct answers to win it. Bah !

Apart from that a very pleasant day at work. Good lunch - Pad Thai - and a fun canter through the town at lunchtime too :-)

Bought Mark Thomas's new book about Coca Cola tonight and started reading it - and that's it. No more Coke for me - shower of complete scum. No trade unionist should ever buy any of their products. Ever.

Keeping The Habit - Thu 2/10

Keeping the habit of doing this blogging thing is surprisingly tough ! But hey, just gotta keep at it! One eventual use for this blog will be to be accountable for guitar practice, so expect to see lots of posts listing guitar exercises and number of reps completed soon...

Really tired at the moment, so I've decided to take a couple of weeks off work towards the end of the month. I've been expecting to be able to just stop for a while for a couple of months now, and I'm kinda running on fumes.

That apart, today was a really good day all told - more of those would definitely keep Tony a happy boy !

Near Misses - Tue 30/9

A day of near misses. Missing out on buying pastries for mum. Missing out on a concert by Amanda Palmer & Zoe Keating in Edinburgh. Nearly going somewhat off piste at work. Ho hum.

Didn't blog last night because I was feeling truly awful - severe belly ache, like I had a half brick in my guts! Oh well, not to worry. One of these days I'll have to take myself to the quack and let him have a guess what's going on in the old bran tub - but not just yet!

Bah, I Suppose - Sun 28/9

Okish day. Did umpteen loads of washing, hoovering, shopping - housey stuff mostly. Watched Valentino Rossi win the MotoGP title, and Felipe Massa blow a decent lead in the F1 race in Singapore. Came second last in the pub quiz - 3 points out of 30 on top 10 lyrics of 2007 killed us off !

Worked out I'll have to take the synth pickup back off the Strat. Tried it with the Korg Z3 and just couldn't get enough level from the strings - so I'll need to put spacers in to lift the pickup nearer the strings - darn it !

Even remembered to sort out the outside light today too ! The dog can go back out in the dark again !

Looking Up - Sat 27/9

Another half decent day today. Got a lot done, including finally fitting the Roland GK-1 pickup to my home built Fender Strat. Decluttering continues, so I might actually be able to use the Roland synths sometime soon !

Life in other areas continues to confuse and amuse though... hmmmm !

Looking Up - Fri 26/9

A better day today - seemed to de-stress really quickly today for some reason, thankfully! Also, paid for the MG's MoT test (£275 this year!), bought a set of pretty good second hand wheels, and sorted out a plan of attack for getting the passenger door painted and fitted. And some other fun developments too... a good day all round !

Another Duffer - Thu 25/9

Another awful day. Spent most of it in an appalling temper, ready to snap at just about anybody or anything. Ended up with a splitting headache, taking nurofen and sitting in the dark for a while to try feeling human again :(

Back to decluttering this evening. Slight progress, but nothing very much. Bah.

Duff Day - Wed 24/9

How much more rubbish could today have been ? None more rubbish. Mood swings, up and down all day. Awful, awful.

Crossed a Rubicon tonight - first batch of records taken out from under the bed, and a box of bits and pieces put in their place. Of course the place looks like more of a tip than before, but hey, it's progress ...!

Oh, and the disturbed dust has set my sneezing off :(

Busy Old Day

A busy old day today.

Did some housework (I'm a domesticated wee soul sometimes) then settled down to some decluttering. My usual method is to create as much chaos as possible so that I have to get it sorted out so that I can get to bed. However this time out I bit off a bit more than I could chew - I wound up eating dinner at 11:30. I wouldn't mind but it doesn't look like I've really done anything - I was actually pretty shocked at the amount of utter junk I seem to have accumulated. I reckon there's a small forest's worth of paper up there at least.

Never mind - at least I've made a start on it now, so, you never know - my target of being able to walk unobstructed from one corner to the other might just be achievable !

Cursing Luck

Ok, I guess I asked for it.

Changing the wireless card on the Newton I use most often seems to have bent pin 68 on the PCMCIA slots. This seems to mean that every time I remove a card from the slot, the Newton reboots. Not very friendly behaviour !

I suspect the reboot is because pin 68 is a ground, although I could be wrong. The PCMCIA to Compact Flash adapter doesn't seem to care, although since CF is only 50 pins rather than 68 maybe the duff pin isn't used ?

I think I've narrowed it down to a Linksys card, so I guess that card is going in the bin ! Then I'll have to work out what I can do about bent pins...

Newton Blogging

Looks like I'll be blogging here after all, now that I've got Adam Tow's nBlog software configured and working on the Newton !

I should be able to note things as they occur to me, rather than playing catch up ages after the event.

It does look like I'll have to be quite careful with the length of the update entries though, as nBlog seems to prefer them short and sweet - a good excuse for brevity !

That's the theory, anyway !

Trial Blog Post

Ok, let's check if this works with small posts first, shall we?