the life of matt

Skittles Vodka

2009-12-24T13:26:00.001Z

As a poor student, I’m always on the lookout for ways of making cheap alcohol more appealing to the palate. With a house party approaching, and wallets thin as usual, my housemates and myself decided to experiment with Tesco Value Vodka and Skittles. The recipe (as one would imagine) is ridiculously simple – you stick a load of Skittles into the vodka, let them dissolve, and then drink it.

To get the best flavour, we found that there were enough of each colour Skittles in 5 large bags. To begin with, simply separate the Skittles into the different colours (trying not to eat too many!), and drop them into a bottle of vodka (we used the 90cl Tesco Value). Shake vigorously, and then leave overnight to dissolve – the result should look something like this:

Filtering the sediment from the bottom of the bottle is a rather tedious process – made much easier if you have spare bottles and funnels lying around the house. I have it on good authority that a folded piece of kitchen paper makes a good filter, however we splashed out and a used a mixture of coffee filters, and proper chemical filters ‘acquired’ from the university chemistry labs.

The filtering process took us several hours, since each funnel would only hold a small amount of the mixture at a time. It’s important not to rush this stage, as getting sediment into the final drink does not look particularly attractive! That said – the end product will never be completely clear, however it is worth filtering 2 or 3 times until the worst has been removed.

Your Skittles vodka is ready to consume! Be warned – it is very easy to drink this stuff neat without tasting the vodka. Enjoy at your own peril, or mix with lemonade to save on the hangover.

Windmills

2009-12-22T23:54:00.001Z

As part of my Software Applications module this year, I have a sub-module called Digital Imaging. Basically, we learned how to use Java3D to model things and then animate them.

The assignment set for this term was to create a wind turbine…

Above is what I created! Obviously you cannot see here, but the blades move round the appropriate axis, and the entire head of the turbine rotates around the Y-axis when you click on the mast. Pretty impressive – huh?! I didn’t think so either! If, for whatever reason, you do think it’s impressive – you may download the .jar file here. It will need Java3D and possibly some other stuff installed to run.

The main thing I learnt doing this was how much of a pain J3D really is – it’s a completely obsolete extension of Java that doesn’t really have much use, apart from for making simple animations such as this one. I can’t think of anyone who would use Java to make a serious 3D game, the processing power just isn’t there to allow decent use of physics, lighting or anything else essential to make an immersive environment. For example, when I was trying to make the turbine cast a shadow on its environment, I found it wasn’t just as simple as allowing the light source to throw a shadow onto the grass object – oh no – I had to calculate the exact shape that the shadow would be, based on the position of the light relative to the turbine, then draw it manually to the floor. As you can imagine, this would be a huge task – and lets not even get started on running this 40+ times a second to get the moving blades, or even considering the opacity of the shadow in different places, or the fact that multiple light sources exist, or that the turbine would shadow itself in parts…

I’ve used programs before (GameMaker stirs a memory?) that will do all that for you in 2 or 3 lines of code, however in J3D I was looking at separate classes, and 2 or 3 times the existing code I had to make the turbine work. No thanks, I’ll just pretend it was a very bright day!

I’m quite glad I’m rid of J3D now – I’ll be even happier when I’m rid of Java completely. I’d be really happy if I never had to see a wind turbine ever again… but they had to go and drop that into our Software Engineering project as well. More to follow on that…

The never ending list

2009-12-20T01:04:00.001Z

Or more specifically – the never ending list of things to do that seems to dictate my life more than I do.

Over the last 3 months, I’ve watched said list grow and grow as my department shoved more and more assignment deadlines towards me, and watched the things I really want to do get moved gradually towards the bottom. This term has been a rather bumpy ride in terms of deadlines, assignments and exams – and I’m told it’s downhill from here! I’ll write some follow up posts soon showing off what I’ve achieved in creating recently (I’m actually proud of some of it!).

The happiest moment of my life occurred last week, when said list of ‘essentials’ finally reached zero, when the final assignment had been sent to the abyss that is known as ‘DUO’, and the end of term benchtest was over. I’m told that after spending a night out marking this occasion, I was heard celebrating in my room… Which involves me yelling a lot, before your minds jumped elsewhere!

Anyway – I get home, having promised myself a fortnight to enjoy Christmas before getting stuck down to work, and I find myself unable to even get started on that list of ‘want to do’ items. Congratulations to the CompSci department – they’ve killed my work ethic even for things that I enjoy!

Off to Italy…

2009-08-03T13:03:00.001+01:00

… back in 3 weeks!

Heading out tomorrow morning (at the airport for 5am :’-[) to fly to Pisa, couple of days getting used to the weather then travelling down the coast to Rome by whatever means possible, hopefully achieving our Explorer Belt!

I’m going to try and keep a diary of what we do each day, then post on here when I get back. However we may end up too lost/drunk/dead to actually bother writing!

Anyway – see you all in 3 weeks!

P.S. Twit2MSN V1.3 now released – should appear in the database some time whilst I’m away!

Twit2MSN Version 1.3a

2009-07-15T22:15:00.001+01:00

I’m pleased to announce that work on the next iteration of Twit2MSN is well under way, with a couple of the major issues already addressed, and hopefully all of the high/critical priority issues being sorted for the final version.

For a preview (alpha status), you can download the appropriate files from http://code.google.com/p/twit2msn/source/browse/#svn/branches/1-3 and then compile into a .plsc file as described in the Messenger+ scripting API.

I’m looking for a dedicated bunch of beta testers – drop me a email if you’re interested!

What would Baden-Powell say?

2009-07-14T23:52:00.001+01:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1199191/Beer-cross-dressing-racy-dating-games-Scouts-trip-What-Baden-Powell-say.html

This article, headlining on the Daily Mail tomorrow I believe, has particularly annoyed me this evening.

From my experience, this kind of event happens pretty much every night on university campuses up and down the country without making headline news – just because this happened to be an official gathering of Scout Network members makes it wrong? Everyone at the event had to be over 18, all licensing laws were adhered to, no-one started smashing up a kebab shop afterwards. The only damage caused was a few dead brain cells!

I don’t have a particularly strong view on posting such photos on Facebook – but I presume they were posted with some privacy, which the Daily Mail has now breached by publishing them in a national newspaper. Those people did not ask to have their photo plastered on Facebook, nor was permission sought (a grey area), but using these as published material attributing the source to ‘Facebook’ is very very dodgy practice.

A comment from a parent cited in the article also pissed me off

The father of one of the revellers said: 'It's really let their image down so badly, the fact there's a seedy side to scouting. I can't believe HQ didn't put a stop to this whole sorry mess.'

I think that is put into perspective by one of the comments left on the article

Looks like a great party. I never knew Scouts were so "with it!" Where can I join?

18-25 year olds don’t necessarily want to spend every night “gathering round the campfire and singing Ging Gang Goolie” – Scout Network wouldn’t exist if that’s all we did! That said though – the Mail didn’t notice the photos published on the MAD UK website of people – wait for it – gathering around the campfire and singing Ging Gang Goolie!! Do your research!

The best comment so far sums up my argument completely…

They are young people enjoying themselves. What is wrong with that?

I await a response from Gilwell with bated breath – I hope they don’t cower down under media pressure, and instead defend what Scouting is all about – letting us “take acceptable risks and think for themselves” (Official Scout Association description)

My take on the iPhone 3GS

2009-06-30T23:36:00.001+01:00

First of all, this is not a particularly informed review. I do not own one of these devices currently, I’m basing my opinion on third party reviews and Apples’ keynote address on the 3GS.

The one thing that strikes me about this whole launch is the amount of hype Apple are creating about the 3.0 software – but overlapping this with the launch of the 3GS. For instance, things like Spotlight search and the new Messages app feature center-stage on the Apple website promoting the 3GS, but these are available on 3G and even 2G iPhones!! That said, the features 3.0 brought to my phone have been sadly disappointing. The vast increases in SDK capabilities haven’t been taken up by developers at all (may do another post on this some time) for whatever reason, and I’m yet to use Spotlight in a ‘non-test’ capacity. The messages app is all well and good – but when I tried to send a contact to a friend of mine, it came out as rubbish. I know there’s not a standard for such messages across phones, but that sort of invalidates the point of having such capabilities!

Voice control is all well and good, I’ve not seen many reviews of this feature out in the wild, so I can’t really pass judgement on that. The addition of a magnetometer within the 3GS will be a huge feature. I personally try to get out and about doing some Geocaching, and hopefully the Groundspeak iPhone application will be updated to allow use of this compass to make seeking caches even easier with an iPhone.

However, the simple addition of video recording (and increase in camera quality) is just about enough to sell me on the 3GS. I’ve whinged about the quality of the existing camera until I’m blue in the mouth – but still I use it for all my day-to-day shooting! People are much more likely to be carrying a mobile phone than a full camera when they need it most. Apple have pulled some really good moves in this hardware update, and I for one am on the end of the hook – I want it!

Twit2MSN Version 1.2

2009-05-20T01:09:00.002+01:00

I’ve dedicated this evening to getting the new version of my Twitter/MSN integration script working – and I am pleased to announce that it is now out of the door and in the hands of the good people at Messenger+.

The details on the update can be found on the project page, with the changelog, download details, and the source code.

My next project will be doing some more work on the website, adding my own blogging system rather than using Blogger (so I can host comments etc), as well as releasing fbCal into the wild.

Might do some revision as well at some point… would be good if I did pass my first year!

UPDATE: Oops! That'll teach me for seeding out updates at odd hours of the morning! The latest version is now 1.2.1, fixing the bug causing the script to not start the updating process. New script has been sent for approval - hopefully 1.2 will never be released into the database if the update is seen in time!

The Ethics of Scraping

2009-04-26T01:00:00.001+01:00

I’ve recently been given a commission to do a piece of coding involving grabbing information from another website and displaying it in a different manner. Obviously I won’t say much more about the brief – don’t want to annoy the customer or expose myself!

The brief got me wondering – how legal is it to grab content from another website? I guessed it was probably another one of the ‘grey areas’ that surround the internets at the moment, however another issue concerned me slightly more… how ethical was it? My script essentially steals information from a website for use in other ways, that the original publisher has no control over. Since the website in question publishes no open API or content feeds for this purpose, surely they mustn’t want this information being scraped from them? The website being scraped is essentially just a collection of many different items, published by their own individual owners. Do they want the information scraped and re-published?

I’ve heard of another case from a friend (again, won’t get into details) whereby a company is keeping a tight fist around its data. This is sort of understandable, but again the website in question is aggregating many different peoples data. Is the website being anti-competitive by not releasing APIs?

I will sleep better once this script is out of development and off my server – I know I wouldn’t like it if someone else was doing this to my website! However – the customer is always right, and I won’t disappoint!

To kill a… Fiat Punto?!

2009-04-14T18:33:00.001+01:00

Picture the scene, me driving happily up the M6 on Friday evening on my way to the Network Gathering in Windermere this weekend, when all of a sudden – disaster strikes!

*Dun dun dunnnnn*

Warning lights on the dashboard, engine starts to make funny noises, so I pull over into the Lancaster services. And then the car dies. Turn the key: nada. Its deceased… steam pouring from under the bonnet.

Some very kind gentlemen offers to lend me a hand pushing the car (I was blocking the slipway!) when to my embarrassment – the Highway Patrol pull up! Being pushed into a parking spot followed by a jeep with lots of flashing lights on… nice.

Anyway, 40 minutes later the AA pull up, the guy shoves some water into the engine, and off I toddle again. Make it about 2 miles down the road when it happens again! This time he decides its the head gasket that has gone, so off I go again, only this time being towed!

Arrive back in Poynton late on Friday night, and end up abandoning the car in the seediest part of Poynton Industrial Estate because the sodding garage is locked up for the weekend!

Cut to today, car goes into garage, I get told it’ll cost £550 to repaid. Plus the insurance is due up – another £1100. Bye bye all my money for uni for next term!

Skype for iPhone released

2009-03-31T01:45:00.001+01:00

Skype have just launched their official iPhone client in the UK! Woop!

My first reaction was definitely one of ‘wow’ – the interface is slick, and a quick phone call to their ‘test service’ (didn’t want to wake anyone!) revealed the call quality to be excellent, although it seemed that a little part of my test message was dropped.

Only problem I can see with it is the lack of cell network support, I’d really like to be able to make calls on the go without having Wi-Fi nearby. Other ‘nice to have’ would be the use of background processing on the iPhone, but that is Apples’ fault obviously. Maybe push notifications could be used somehow in this app? We shall wait and see…

My new addiction

2009-03-29T23:46:00.001+01:00

And they say small things amuse small minds? Never been more true!

Found an absolute gem in the iPhone App store the other day: Flight Control [iTunes link]. Here’s my go at a little review!

The UI is much smoother than I’ve seen on many iPhone games, simplistic menu options and tutorials make this game so easy to dive in to. The basic idea of the game is to guide planes onto a runway (you can probably see why I like it already!), whilst making sure they don’t collide with each other. It’s harder than it sounds!

There are 4 types of aircraft in this version: light aircraft, helicopters, medium and large jets. All of which move at a slightly different speed – the controllers nightmare! I’m sure nothing this drastic would occur in real life though (aircraft landing within split seconds of each other?!), or else I’d only be able to land 66 planes before killing someone!

The use of the touch-and-drag interface on the iPhone coupled with clever use of the on-screen graphics and onboard sound make the game extremely easy to use, it takes mere seconds to get started.

Overall, I’ve no regrets on spending 59p on this app, and I can’t wait to see how it will be expanded on in future releases

P.S. I wanted to include some screenshots, but no matter how hard I try, the iPhone won’t let me take them off the internal memory :-(

Published!

2009-03-23T16:10:00.001Z

Woop! I’ve had one of my projects (Twit2MSN) published by the good people at Messenger Plus! Live :-D

The script can be found at: http://www.msgpluslive.net/scripts/view/520-Twit2MSN

I hope to be able to get version 1.2 done this week, and get that published soon

Last.fm Boffin

2009-03-14T22:53:00.001Z

http://www.last.fm/group/Audioscrobbler+Beta/forum/30705/_/510180

Been trying out the ‘Boffin’ tool from Last.fm this evening – and I’m astounded!

Basically, it scans your PC for music, groups it by tag, and then lets you play only music with a specific tag. For instance, I’ve had “Trance” selected for a while now, and it just keeps shoving on amazing tunes I didn’t even know I had!

Obviously, its on an Alpha release, but the technology demonstrated behind it is superb. Didn’t take long to scan my entire music library, and did a pretty good job (so far) of getting the tags and grouping them.

Its also nice to see what my music library mainly consists of (hope the picture works!):

Can’t wait to see this incorporated into the main Last.fm program!

Invaders must Die

2009-03-11T13:16:00.001Z

Downloaded the new Prodigy album yesterday, and I’m currently in two minds as to whether I like it or not.

The title track is pretty awesome, and ‘Omen’ is epic (I owned that before), however a lot of the other stuff just isn’t their style, neither old school Prodigy or new-electro Prodigy.

I’d say I do regret buying this one, but its definitely one to get for free (not that I encourage that!)

Site upgrades

2009-03-10T15:49:00.001Z

Found time this afternoon to make a couple of quick upgrades to the website :-D

The ‘blog’ link will no longer go straight to blogger, but will instead parse the feed within my own site. I’ve also removed all the nasty characters (I think) that the RSS feed seems to put in, but I’m still having trouble with the actual styling of some posts, apparently ones that come from my phone! I’ve also not quite finished a way of viewing older posts, that should be here soon.

Keep your eyes peeled for more stuff soon!

Busy times

2009-03-10T15:12:00.001Z

I really should get round to writing here more often!

Spent quite a lot of last night writing up a summative essay for Intro. to Management, a lot of bullshit went into it though! I’m currently procrastinating instead of walking the 40 minute round trip to hand it in. Really can’t be bothered!

48 hour production in college this weekend – and all the PA Committee ‘freshers’ are involved, I’ve just had an email saying I’m doing all the mixing for the band – joy of joys! Should be a fun weekend anyway, can see me being drunk for the majority of it though!

Also been told I’m ringing in another quarter with DUSCR next week, I think I’ve scored more this term than I’d done in the 8 years before uni!

Peace out…

Half-Fire-Life-Drill

2009-02-04T13:35:00.001Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7867861.stm

Found that on the BBC website this morning – looks like a fantastic use of my departments research team! Maybe just an excuse for them to play Source games all day?!!

Basically, the team (headed by Dr Shamus Smith) took the Half-Life engine, added a map representing the CompSci department, and then used it to run a simulation about escaping from a fire in the building. Sounds like a good idea, in theory!

Found this very interesting:

"If a door was on fire, they [gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit," said Dr Smith

I’d like to think that I’d go for a different exit anyway… or are all gamers retarded in that way? Hope they wouldn’t try a similar strategy in real life!

Really didn’t like how the university covered this though (http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=7525). Sure Half-Life is violent, but simulations have been around for ages!

FSX gone?

2009-01-23T15:48:00.001Z

http://www.flightsimx.co.uk/announcements/microsoft-flight-simulator-development-team-axed/

Sad day for the Flight Simulation world :-(

Gambling

2009-01-17T00:37:00.001Z

http://tinyurl.com/89fhcb

If we’re honest – the one word Obama is guaranteed to say in his speech is ‘change’. Here’s my plan.

Betsson.com are offering odds of 1.03-to-1 on him saying it. Somehow, I manage to get a short term loan for a few thousand pounds. Bet this, pay off the loan straight away, walk away with the 3% (minus loan interest). Betting small amounts wouldn’t be worth it, but £1m equals £30k profit!

Anyone got a spare few million that I can borrow for a week?

Nuevasync update

2009-01-13T02:26:00.001Z

Just been released! Provides support for multiple calendars on the phone (so they appear in different colours) and also for read-only ICAL files.

Well, that's just put gCalCloud out of business! I shall be shelving the project tomorrow, but will post the source code for people to have a look at just how crap it was! Hehe

Anyway, cheers Nuevasync, you just saved me a project!

iBlogger

2009-01-12T04:01:00.001Z

As part of my resolution to get using this blog some more, thought I'd invest in iBlogger - a iPhone application that's actually quite professional! It's on sale at the moment, down from £4.99 to £0.59 - well worth it!

Anyway, think it's time I slept!

New website

2009-01-11T23:45:00.001Z

You are probably viewing this having come from my brand new website – http://www.mattdyson.uni.cc – if not, go there now!

Some people may remember the site from times of old, many years ago when it had a crummy layout, crummy code and crummy content. The content is arguably still crummy, but I think I’ve improved on the other two!

I hope to integrate this blog into the site more (the wonders of XML and PHP :-P) in the near future, rather than running two separate sites, however I will continue to use Blogger as an extremely able blogging platform!

My life

2009-01-11T23:39:00.001Z

Well, its been a very long time since I posted here! Don’t believe I’ve written anything since I got back from Hungary even… that was a long time ago!

Upon getting back from Hungary, I’d heard from Durham that I’d been accepted into Van Mildert College, which has been my home for the last term. I moved in on October 4th, was consistently drunk for 10 weeks, and then moved back home in mid-December, having learnt not a lot – but having had a bloody good time! You can see why I’ve not had time for blogging!

Hungary was awesome if you were wondering, as was Summer Camp the week after – a good preparation for the ensuing mayhem at university!

I’ll try to post more on here as and when I remember, including some updates from Durham!

P.S. – Happy belated Christmas and New Year!

Aftershock

2008-08-14T20:05:00.001+01:00

Yeah, finally sinking in as I sink another pint!!

I'm going to university to start life on my own, and there's only about a month and a bit left until I do! Now that's a scary thought!

You know what, I actually can't wait :-)

So there's the aftershock - and now let's have some aftershock :-P Heres to the next 5 years!

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Results!

2008-08-14T17:46:00.001+01:00

Computing - A
Physics - B
Maths - B
Music Tech - C

Absolutely over the moon! Thought I'd be off to Kent, but then got a letter through from Durham saying I'd got in! Awesome!

Anyway, waiting to hear what college I'm in at Durham in the next day or so, and then it's time to start preparing!

Off to Hungary tomorrow though, but for now - drinking time!

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Holiday!

2008-08-13T20:04:00.001+01:00

In 24 hours I will have some A level results, and 12 hours after that I'll be on a plane to Hungary! What a busy life!

Hungary should be good, going with people from Cheshire Network. Lots of drinking while it's nice and cheap :-P

Once I'm back from that, it's off to Windermere for a week for another summer camp. Again, should be very good! 3 day hike in the middle though, which won't be as fun! Ah well!

Better get packing, as you know from the last post I'm not doing too well!

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The extent of my packing...

2008-08-13T17:21:00.001+01:00

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Works well!

2008-08-13T16:25:00.001+01:00

Well, this seems to work alright! Only improvement I'd like to see is the inclusion of categories for Blogger, but I'm rather pleased this is a free app!

Hopefully you'll see some more posts coming from me, as I can now blog whenever I have spare time, rather than just when I'm at the PC.

One other thing I've just noticed about this app -the keyboard has a slight bit of lag on it :-( Ah well - just excuse the spelling mistakes!

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Lifecast

2008-08-13T16:14:00.001+01:00

Thought I'd try out this nice looking application on my iPhone - lifecast. At the moment, I'm typing all of this on my phone, which will be cool for blogging when I'm out and about! May actually motivate me to post more often!

It's also supposed to show where I am, which is slightly scary! We'll see how well it works!

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Summer stuff

2008-07-30T18:58:00.001+01:00

Absolutely loving summer :-D Even though I have a vast cash underflow situation at the moment, I am thoroughly enjoying being 18, and being able to partake in legal pub drinking at long last!

Spent a good 4 hours in the pub at lunch today, and I'm probably going back very soon! Do they do "Frequent Drinker" cards?!

Anyway, I'm getting A-level results in about 2 weeks, and flying out to Hungary the day after, which is absolutely guaranteed to be one giant piss-up. Woop :-D

Besides that, I'm filling the days and nights with various expeditions involving alcohol and fire (nothing illegal, just hilarious!) Various Scout camps and other stuff scattered through summer as well, and a week in Windermere working on my D of E at the end of summer. Never mentioned the other hike on this blog, will have to post about that some time soon

Anyway... the evening's young, the weathers warm, and the beers are cold. Ciao!

The Dyson Faith

2008-07-18T01:47:00.001+01:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1309867/Why-the-Dysons-keep-faith-in-their-genes.html

Found that highly amusing, even though its about 7 years old!

Pukin' BBQ

2008-07-03T01:25:00.001+01:00

Yes, it looks like puke. Yes, it smelled like puke. Yes, it made Olli puke. This is how McNetwork do a BBQ!

That concoction wasn't for eating, by the way... it was for Explorers to stick their heads into, in order to retrieve Midget Gems sunk at the bottom. Seemed like a brilliant plan for an activity, until people started throwing the mixture around!

Anyway, hopefully some of the wee explorers got an idea at what crazy stuff we get up to in Network, and will want to join. If not - we got to make some stupid mixtures, and then had an excuse to go to the pub! Sorted!

Approaching 18

2008-07-03T01:04:00.001+01:00

And I doubt I'll feel much of a change!

I don't think much will change overnight magically, apart from my transition from sober to drunk!

The above was written at about 6.30pm yesterday, the following is when I get back in, 6 hours later.

Yeah. Definitely no change. Underage doesn't seem to stop the pub trips!

End of exams (roadtrip!)

2008-06-19T01:26:00.001+01:00

Anyway, now that I've finished twittering, my life story over the last few weeks...

Had exams for a long looooong time back, but they're finally over :-D I had my last exam on Tuesday afternoon, and then went out drinking. Well, not straight away.

Myself, Dom and Taylor had been told in no uncertain terms that we had to go to Cheshire show, but we couldn't get on the coach due to everyone else leaving whilst our exam was on. Problem. Me driving to Cheshire show (fast) after the exam - solution!

It all started well, plugged the GPS in and off we went. Passing through Didsbury (I think), Dom spots an off licence.

"OOOH! STOP! I'll be 2 minutes"

And out he jumps, returning with what can only be described as a bucket of beer, and a six pack of cheap lager. Right, off we go.

Going along towards the M56 (not the quickest way, but the satnav told us to!), and we end up at a junction.

"Erm... M56 north or south?"

At this point, satnav battery dies, Dom is mid way through drinking from the bucket, and Taylor doesn't have a clue what is going on. So I foolishly go North, bad choice.

I'll omit the next part, due to large amounts of swearing etc etc.

We end up on the M56, 4 junctions north, but heading south. Gooooood! By this point, we have another 45 mins left to get there, and the queues are horrific. Ah well... more beers to be drunk by everyone but me.

Anyway, end on on the A556 going towards the show ground. The A556/M6 junction is a HUGE roundabout, and the show entrance was on the wrong side of a dual carriageway, on the same road as we entered the roundabout. So we queued right the way round. But first time - I missed the turning. So we went ALLLLL the way around again, after some rather dodgy manoeuvres including pulling a U-turn across 4 lanes of dual carriageway. Less said about that the better.

Right - so we're now approaching the showground. By this time is is 4.25 - 5 mins until we're PLAYING - actually ON STAGE! They've also reversed the traffic cordons, so we were pulling up behind police cars, asking nicely to be let round. 4.28 - we reach the site.

No clue where to park, so Dom & Taylor bail out half way across the site, I keep my head down. I have no idea how I came to be driving across the actual site, it's usually locked down for all vehicles. I was pushing people aside with my bumper!!! Ended up ditching the car next to a toilet, and running before anyone found me.

We made it, just. To be honest, there wasn't much point. I was shaking too much to play, Dom was hammered, and Taylor was half-way hammered as well. Ah well!

Getting back was a whole other story... for some other time!

Twittering away

2008-06-19T01:09:00.001+01:00

In past, I've never really bothered with Twitter. Seemed to me like very few people I know use it, and hence it seemed rather pointless. Recently, I've changed my mind and started using it! I have 1 follower (mate of mine), but its like this blog - no-one may pay any attention, but its nice to talk!

www.twitter.com/WARlrus is the address, check it out if you've never heard of it before... its quite fun. Kind of like Facebook status's, but you don't have to be friends with people for it to work! There's some really random ones, like the Mars Lander, and some more down to earth ones like BBC News. Pretty cool stuff, since you can have it texted to you for free!

I'm also posting all these blogs directly to my Facebook profile now, so maybe someone may start to read them... or maybe not?! We'll see. The address of the blog, for anyone reading on Facebook is www.mattdyson.uni.cc or http://mattdyson.blogspot.com. Either will do!

On the subject of domain names, I'm looking to get my website back up and running, so I can have some development space available, and start distributing some free scripts, as well as selling myself (nothing dodgy) as a web developer! If anyone fancies donating me a domain and some hosting space, in return for advertising, then please get in touch with me - mattdyson2004 [ at ] gmail.com - I'd love to hear from you!

iPhone 3G - me want!

2008-06-10T11:11:00.001+01:00

God bless you Steve Jobs, you never cease to amaze me with your new technology. New iPhone 3G was announced last night at WWDC, with some brand new features:

~~3G (duh!) which actually seems to work at the same speeds as HSDPA(?)~~ It is actually a HSDPA phone, according to Apples tech-specs - which makes it 3.5G!
A-GPS (Assisted GPS, works with Wi-Fi and Cell tower to calculate positions faster)
2.0 software (obviously!)
Also available in white!
Flush headphone jack
All-metal buttons
Better speakers

The 2.0 software looks good as well, can't wait for some native games to come along!

The best thing of all - o2 offering free upgrades to existing customers! No contract termination fee, just pay for the new phone, sign up for a new 18 month contract, and you're away!

I've already registered so that o2 will phone me up to set the ball rolling on these things in early July - I can't wait!

Update: Just realised I'm away through most of early July - damnit.

Revision Dodging

2008-06-04T11:46:00.001+01:00

Right now, I have 26 hours until my next exam (Computing CP4), yet I am sat blog posting! What a mistake-a to make-a!

Anyway, I've now done 5 exams, and have another 8 left to go. Only 13 days left though! They do like to cram these exams into a nice small space of time!

Since I've finished school, I've discovered PKR - a 3D poker game that you play from your computer over t'internet against other people. It's quite addictive - and a very good waste of time! I came 112th out of 400 in a tournament last night, went all-in on a pair of Kings, the other bastard had a pair of Aces -.- Will be back in the tournament tonight, going to beat last nights record!

I've also discovered some more stuff, which I'll post about later today.

Right, who wants a game of Monopoly?!

May Ball

2008-05-29T13:08:00.001+01:00

Just woken up after a rather epic night at the May Ball. I expected it to be a bit more emotional, since it is the last time we're going to see everyone, but as soon as the booze was flowing (at expensive rates!) I realised that wasn't true :P

Got a lift there in style (with Daves dad, same as for year 11 prom) and then Rick tried to emulate the prom some more by jumping into a bush... video's will be up later!

Food was crap considering what we paid (£37, for a slab of chicken!), and the DJ wasn't up to much at all!

Started calling in drinks from all kinds of people, got 2 free shots and at least 3 free cider's from various people, including Mr Hughes - you legend! I really couldn't afford much at £3.75 a pint! £3 for shots as well... more than twice the price you'll pay around Poynton!

Anyway, got in at about 2am, after trying to put my key into a wall. Doors are hard to work after a night drinking! Bit worse for wear this morning, but nothing a bit of revision won't fix! 19 days, 1 hour, 7 mins until I'm done with exams :-D Woop!

No more school... ever!

2008-05-26T16:24:00.001+01:00

I have finally left that horrible school they call 'Poynton High'! Yay :-D

It's a weird feeling, knowing that I'll never have to go back to there for lessons, but I've waited long enough for this day to come!

We spent the day leaving our mark around the school (not graffiti, just some well placed pranks!), but I shall not post photo's for fear of incriminating myself 8-) What fun!

Celebrated with a nice weekend chillaxing with mates, and a trip out to Kings on Friday night, where it turned out that most of our year (past and present) had as well!

Only regret - not getting one of the PHS leavers hoodies, I'd never been told about them :-( I'll have to see if I can get one made up!

2008-05-16T17:48:00.001+01:00

I need to get better at this blogging lark, no updates in nearly a month! :-o

I have just got back from completing my Music Tech coursework logs. If anyone from AQA happens to read this - they're a waste of time! I've spent the last 2 days doing nothing but logs, and I bet they never get read. I hate examiners some times!

I've also got A2 exams next week. Eek! Maths C4 and Music Tech resit on Wednesday, and then Physics resit on Thursday. Can't wait...

Still, on the bright side - 32 days left until my last exam :-D Woop!

Bought a Punto!

2008-04-30T16:37:00.001+01:00

This is a bit of old news, but been rather busy recently!

Signed the relevant forms to sell the old Peugeot 307 off to a dealer in High Lane, and then went off to find myself a new car :-D

Found a nice Punto at the Hazel Grove garage - 1.2l W-reg with 43k on the clock, for £1,995 - absolute steal! Managed to talk them down by a further £100, and adding in service, MOT and tax (another £200 worth basically). Done deal!

This was all last week, rang up today to confirm collection tomorrow

"Just let me get the paperwork... erm yeah. Not been MOT'd, serviced or taxed yet, should be available next week"

"Bugger off, get it done by tomorrow or I'm claiming my insurance (£5.20 per day) back from you"

Anyway, phoned them back just now, and its been miraculously done in the last 3 hours! I'm collecting it at midday tomorrow :-D Then off to the pub celebrating!

Damn... that means I'm on the J2O's then... going to have to get used to them!

One good thing, though

2008-04-14T13:09:00.001+01:00

I passed my driving test :D

Forgot to mention that!

Spent yesterday cleaning my Peugeot, going to try and sell that next weekend, and find myself a nice little Fiesta to knock around in! Can't wait!

When will it end?!

2008-04-14T13:07:00.001+01:00

This week is going to be another bad one!

Not got another free between now and Wednesday - including lunchtimes! They're taken up from now until Friday with doing Battle of the Bands in school! Damn Music Tech!!

Got a Cub meeting at the fire station tonight, should be entertaining... for the Cubs! Group leaders meeting on Wednesday night as well.

Oh, and on top of that I've got school, homework, coursework, the usual crap! Goodbye week!

This week...

2008-04-02T00:47:00.001+01:00

I've been busy.

Monday brought a Music Tech day, with people from Huddersfield Uni coming in to talk to us about their course basically. Then some practical workshops, which were a bit useful, but not very! Could have spent the day better by doing my coursework. Which brings me on to...

Tuesday. Tech coursework. Managed to get Task 5 pretty much complete, but I bet that Slim MT will butcher it tomorrow! Did some more work on my Task 1 (multitrack), trying to get vocals to sound good. Don't think that'll happen! Came home and did some Maths work, what fun!

Wednesday (Tomorrow/Today). Tech coursework. Hopefully will get Task 1 and 3 complete, and then work on 4. Fingers crossed I may finish the coursework part of the course! Probably some Maths/Computing when I get back.

Thursday. Driving lesson + maybe cinema in the afternoon (if I can afford it!). Need to try and get a hair cut as well!

Friday. All day Computing/Maths/Physics.

Saturday. Some sort of Network workshop. No idea what it is, but its region-organised - so probably a load of bollocks. Hopefully will end up in a pub though!

Sunday. Cheshire Hike base with McNetwork. Going to be a fun day - that'll definitely end up in a pub!

Monday. In school for Computing probably.

And then its back to school

Goodbye holiday!

Back from Skeggy

2008-04-02T00:34:00.001+01:00

And it snowed. Wooop.

Tell you what, I would have much rather been at Network Gathering!

Sorry this post is a bit late, didn't get round to it until today, reasons will follow!

We're all going on an Easter holiday

2008-03-22T00:08:00.001Z

To sunny Skegness. Woop. (Note the sarcasm)

I'm being driven off to lovely skeggy for a week, returning next Saturday afternoon. Gale force winds and extremely low temperatures forecast, along with snow. Should be fun... ish!

I shall write and tell you all about it when I get back... if I'm not blown into the North sea!

Linux Adventure #2: Networking

2008-03-15T14:09:00.001Z

Well, we all know that the main uses of a computer are:

MSN
Wikipedia
Porn

All of which require the internet. So obviously, my new Linux box (mLinux - I'll explain some other time) must be connected to the internet! "No problem", thought I, "I'll slap in that USB dongle I got ages ago and never use!"

So in went the Belkin Wireless G Adaptor (F5D7050), and up popped the "dysonHub" network! Score! Not quite...

Enter the password, and Ubuntu will connect fine, but absolutely nothing happens. No internet = no MSN, Wikipedia or Porn! Damn!

The adventure must be halted at this point - I must have internet to continue!

Linux Adventure #1: Installation

2008-03-12T22:49:00.001Z

Step number one in my adventure on the road down Linux Lane went surprisingly easy!

Slapped in the shiny new Ubuntu 7.10 disk, and installed it with no problems. Probably is a good point to mention that the PC I'm using is an old machine with a 20.5Gb HDD that was liberated from a local primary school when they chucked it out. What a waste!

Anyway, the only error I got was the lack of internet connection for a system update, and something about commenting a line in a file :S Didn't really understand that, I'm more of a GUI guy if I'm honest!

Next came the peripherals... Mouse and keyboard worked (obviously), and then I realised I only have 2 USB ports on the computer! Enter my trusty old Belkin Hub, which worked out of the box (read: dusty cupboard) and gladly accepted the mouse, my pen drive and the USB Network Card (discussed later)

Everything working so far, played a few games... everything's hunky-dory!

Until the time came to start on t'internet...

One man and a Linux distro

2008-03-12T16:14:00.001Z

Here beginneth my journey with Ubuntu 7.10, my voyage of discovery into the world of Linux!

You may remember from previous posts that I have dabbled in the 'dark arts' before, but this time I'm going for it hard and strong!

First task... installing the damn thing!

Back from Barnswood

2008-03-09T20:16:00.001Z

Been camping again, Barnswood this time, "running" the home base for the Cheshire Hike practice with McNetwork.

Not a lot of work, just a hell of a lot of lasagne. Lots of lasagne. 3 trays of it to be precise... we've been eating it for dinner and tea the past 3 days!

Was a fun weekend (besides the food :P), watching a few films, drinking. The usual!

Think the downfall of the weekend for me was fruit cocktails. Found a Margarita maker in Netto for £7 (basically a blender made out plastic) and then preceded to put fruit and booze into it. I thought it would be healthy - not deadly! Lesson learned.

Anyway, sleep time.

Waste of time

2008-03-03T23:49:00.000Z

If anyone feels like they need to waste some time at school - I can
recommend ALIS tests. We sat another today, just as boring as the
last, but this one serves no purpose whatsoever! All it does is get
compiled and sent back to school! That was an hour I could have used
for doing homework!

Got another stupid tutorial tomorrow as well, finishing the reports we
already should have done! They wonder why we dont show up?!

Fools. I'll take the extra hour in bed thanks!

2008-03-02T19:46:00.001Z

I have officially fallen out with wireless networks over this weekend. Printer stopped doing network printing over this week, so decided to fix it yesterday afternoon. 3 hours later, nothing works any more. It turned into one of those projects which keeps getting further away from the true goal. I think XKCD summed it up pretty well!

Anyway, we decided to bite the bullet and get two new printers (one for me and one for sister). This way - I get to keep it when I go to uni :P Haha

Will be collecting it from Argos tomorrow afternoon! Then the installation fun begins!

1.1.4 a bit of a let-down!

2008-02-29T13:06:00.001Z

Not actually figured out if it fixes anything yet, not heard any rumours around various other blogs either.

Ah well... roll on next Tuesday - apparently a potential release date for the SDK :D

iPhone 1.1.4 Released

2008-02-27T13:08:00.001Z

Firmware update 1.1.4 for update has been launched this morning. No new features (apparently, not installed yet), but a few unspecified bugfixes. Nothing in the Apple KnowledgeBase about the security fixes either!

Could this actually be the release of the SDK, but hidden away? I'd expect an iTunes update within the next week or so, to unlock the features of the SDK, and then maybe firmware 1.1.5 to unlock the phone

EDIT: Just tried to update my phone, got a "1602" error, apparently I have to restore to factory settings :(

Back from Kent - alive!

2008-02-23T18:38:00.001Z

I made it back from Kent in one piece!

Journey went as follows... 18 hour day :|

Up at 5.30 am, breakfast and then out to catch 6.23 train from Macclesfield. Train was on time (for a change), but it was cold :(

Underground from London Euston to Victoria at 8.50am, crammed onto the tube like a sardine, and I'm sure I had a businessman feeling me up!

Victoria to Canterbury West at 9.19am, arriving at 11.07. Taxi to the university, ripped me off! Cost about £7 for a 5 min journey!

Had a very nice day looking around the university - absolutely excellent facilities!

Bus + Walk back to Canterbury East, train to Victoria at 16.02. Victoria to Euston on the tube, crammed in even tighter this time. Had to throw myself out of the tube at Euston, wasn't going to get out otherwise!

Caught an earlier train than expected, 18.35 to Macclesfield, supposed to be arriving at 20.20. Bad idea.

Firstly, couldn't get a seat because the train was that packed. Ended up sat on the jumpseat outside the toilet, although I was well off - most people were sat on the floor! Anyway, I tucked into my Sausage Roll and Apple Pastry, bought from Euston station for £3.95 - what a freaking rip off! They both tasted the same as well, and I think I caught a disease off the Sausage!

Here's where the fun really began... train suddenly stopped, and stayed stopped for about 20 minutes. No word from driver, and none of the "Train Managers" were about, they'd gone into hiding/bailed out. We finally start moving (slowly) when the driver comes on the intercom:

"Errrr, we've been diverted off the West Coast Mainline, due to errrmmm. We'll be about 1 hour late into Stoke-on-trent"

Brilliant, thought I.

Then managed to find a member of staff...

"We've been diverted through Birmingham, but we're last priority now, so we could be here for a while, probably 90 mins late"

Bloody brilliant, thought I.

Anyway, arrived at Stoke late, and then Macclesfield at 21.20, an hour late. No compensation either, not allowed to claim unless I'm more than 2 hours delayed. Its a freaking joke.

Moral of this story:

Don't go to Kent on the train
If you must go to Kent on the train - don't go with Virgin

Bed at 10.30 - 18 hour day. I'm still recovering!

Sat inside on a sunny day

2008-02-13T12:05:00.001Z

Waiting for Amtrak to arrive with a parcel.

What a fun and exciting thing to do on a sunny day like today!

Blogging on the move!

2008-02-02T23:41:00.001Z

Just set up a nice feature of blogger which means I can do blogs on
the move via email from my iPhone!

Looks rather simple, so you may be hearing more from me :D

Can't add categories though, which is annoying! Ah well!

Fun night

2008-02-02T16:49:00.001Z

You've got to love the snow! Ended up on Chester Road at 11.30pm last night, throwing snowballs across the road at each other, after a nice session at Ricks! Haha :D

Got to bed about half 4 (crammed in a 2 person bed with 3 other people... how does that work?!), and got to sleep about half five. Up again at half eight for bacon butties.

I'll sleep well tonight!

iPhone Tariffs updated!

2008-01-29T12:47:00.001Z

o2 are updating the tariffs for iPhone as of 1st Feb!

£35 p/m now gets you 600 minutes and 500 texts

£45 p/m = 1200 minutes and 500 texts

£75 p/m = 3000 minutes and 500 texts

Rolling out to existing users as of 1st Feb, complete by mid-March at the latest :D

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/o2tariffsforiphone

You can now also get o2 "Bolt-ons" for extra cash, most interesting for me being the "Unlimited anytime texts" for only an extra £7.50 per month.

http://www.o2.co.uk/iphone/boltons

Apparently all iPhone UK users will get a text from o2 when the conversion is complete :D

Can't wait, I went well over my texts last month!

My life: update!

2008-01-27T23:47:00.001Z

I'm annoyed at my computer right now. Are there any trojans going the round right now? :S My PC seems to slow to a crawl one minute, and then be fine the next :( I think its dying/infected - and either way I want rid of it!!!

Managed to get next draft of Physics coursework done this weekend - but then the bloody printer ran out of ink, and I've got none spare :( Have to wait for a Viking order to come through now!!! At least I've got an excuse for not doing Computing coursework though :D Hehe

I'm fed up of Poynton. That's enough said on the matter, although things are looking up slightly! School still blows though...

Thats about it for my life at the moment... interesting isn't it?!

Durham Interview

2008-01-27T23:43:00.001Z

Note: Had written this on Thursday, but forgot to post it! Haha!

Durham interview went well today! Apparently will be receiving an offer of AAB within the next few weeks, which isn't too bad! Also heard back from York, they want AAB including Maths!

Josephine Butler college at Durham is extremely nice, en-suite rooms, lovely bar (:P), free gym... loads! The kitchens for the flats were actually nice as well!

Sadly, the choice isn't too clear cut between York and Durham, since Durham's Computer Science facilities didn't really impress me much (no reference to the song!), whereas at York the CS department is awesome!!!

I'm off to see Nottingham next Wednesday - that still looks like my first choice, with York/Durham forming the back-up offer (I know it sounds stupid, having a first place offer lower than the reserve!). I did learn, however, that Nottingham has the highest rate of student crime in England... may leave my phone at home!!!

Really enjoyed looking round Durham campus though, since it was a week-day I got to see more of the uni at its busiest - and I liked what I saw!

York Interview

2008-01-19T20:21:00.001Z

Just got back in from a fun day at York University, just had my interview for Computer Programming & Software Engineering!

The day was quite enlightening, they have brilliant facilities within the CS building, and they're moving to the new site in 2010, when I'd be away on a sandwich year, but means I'd get my BEng and MEng years in brand new facilities! I wasn't sure about the hardware part of the course before I went, but I'm fairly taken with it now!

Can't say much for the other candidates, the ones I met were either over-the-top nerds, or drunks. The other CS students I met were nice though, Campus tour of all the bars went down well - even though they were closed!

Interview went quite well, I was able to get into some detail about my CP5 project for A2 Computing, which the guy seemed fairly interested at, so we shall wait and see!

Next up: Durham on Wednesday!

Changes in 1.1.3

2008-01-15T23:06:00.001Z

Well, I have to say I'm fairly impressed with the 1.1.3 update I blogged about earlier. Even after my PC crashed and then started the download all over again -.- urgh.

The "Find Me" service on Maps isn't too brilliant it seems... it told me that I am currently somewhere in Poynton. Well duh!

The changing of the home screen is quite nice, however I don't like the shakey effect when changing icons around - I think it looks tacky!

I'm yet to see movie rentals for the UK...

Multiple texts is a bonus though!

On another note - the "MacBook Air" has been shown off to the world (well... the people who were at MacWorld - I'm still waiting for the video to be released!). Not that I'd want a Mac anyway...

iPhone 1.1.3 update

2008-01-15T19:33:00.001Z

iPhone software update 1.1.3 has been released! Don't know if Steve Jobs has just announced it at Macworld or something, but iTunes now recognises the update, and its downloading for me as I write this!

Unfortunately, several million other iPhone owners are doing the same, so download speeds are quite low - it's going to take about 90 mins to download :'(

New features (from the download menu when you start the update):

Updated maps

"Find me"

Multiple SMS
Updated home screen

9 simultaneous screens side-by-side
Safari bookmarks on home screen

and a couple more I forgot before clicking "next"!

I will post and tell you all how it goes! 83 mins left!

Maths C3 != fun

2008-01-11T12:18:00.001Z

Just got back home after the Maths C3 exam - SO GODDAMN HARD!

I couldn't do half of the questions, and hence don't have very high hopes :(

Brilliant confidence booster for the Physics resit in 43 mins - eeek!

Lack of blogging

2008-01-10T17:12:00.001Z

Well, you can all imagine why I've not been blogging much recently... I've got an iPhone!

Yes, almost 1 year to the day of it being announced at Macworld - I hold in my hand the epitome of cool.

The adverts really can't show it at all, its an awesome bit of kit, only got a few complaints:

No multiple texts
No MMS
Headphone jack
Home button
Applications "crash" to the home screen quite often

Most problems should be fixed with the 1.1.3 update, however, which hopefully is out next week, being announced at MacWorld!

Anyway, back to life...

Got exams this week, had Maths C2 yesterday (went okay, thought of an answer as soon as I left the hall though :( there goes 5 marks). Got Physics resit and Maths C3 tomorrow - fun. I intend to have a fun time at Nic's party tomorrow evening though - I may not make it home!

Handed in my Physics coursework, a month before I had to :o! I'll wait and see if it comes back though, teacher's still had my last piece for 3 months without marking it -.-

I'm rather depressed about going back to school, would much rather be off to Uni tomorrow!

On the subject of Uni - I've had offers from Kent, Nottingham and Edinburgh so far, and have interviews at York and Durham! Kent want me to visit though, which means a 6 hour journey on the train just to get there :( May have to drive... somehow!

I Got iPhoned!

2007-12-27T23:16:00.001Z

I am now the proud owner of a brand new iPhone!

Words cannot describe how awesome it is... you've got to see it in the flesh to really love it!

I've not put it down since I got it, and only just run the battery down - thats about 6 hours of continuous work (with Wifi enabled), before it went, and it charges pretty fast as well!

I am actually speechless...!

iPhone?!?!?!!!!!

2007-12-26T22:20:00.001Z

Mum's finally come round to the idea of iPhone! Seems that she wants one as well, however... and also sister wants one. Doesn't seem quite so cool any more :(

Ah well... possibility of going into Macclesfield to get one tomorrow!!!

Xmas Greetings

2007-12-24T14:07:00.001Z

Got a nice Christmas present from some script-kiddie this weekend - a nice attack against FsPortal! This little moron thought it would be funny to post 800 stupid messages on the forum... I guess he must be the alpha-male within the circles of retards - I only hope that natural selection takes its course and this particular branch of society dies out quickly!

Anyway, I won't be around much over the next week or so - managed to get myself into quite a lot of debt recently, and hence need to earn the money back!

Seasons greetings to everyone, hope you get everything you wish for and more!

Musical Tastes

2007-12-18T23:36:00.001Z

Rather disturbed at my own musical tastes at the moment:

Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This - He Don't Love You Like I Love You

And I'm enjoying... catchy lyrics, and he's got a pretty good voice. I'm sure this is Music Tech eating me from the inside out!

Someone kill me or make me do something manly - QUICK!

UCAS Update

2007-12-16T12:51:00.001Z

Heard back from Kent yesterday, they want 300 points from at least 3.5 A-levels!

I'm hoping that won't be too difficult, since that is my backup offer :|

Got an interview for York and Durham, Nottingham and Edinburgh have confirmed my application but not said anything about interview yet.

We shall wait and see o_O

Another fun weekend

2007-12-15T22:40:00.001Z

Went to the poshest party of the year last night! Out in High Lane...

Huge House
Bouncers on the gate
Invite only
£2k worth of Marquee
FREE BAR

Yeah it was a fun night...!

Next weekend will be even more epic though... Friday - Monday of solid drinking! Woop woop!

Procrastination

2007-12-12T17:59:00.001Z

May sound dirty... look it up!

Really don't know how I can put off Physics revision much longer... I want to do it, but don't know how!

Found a Physics tutor, friend of the family... hopefully will improve my grades for the exam this time around!

Did the Maths mock during my free day (what a way to spend it...), found it incredibly hard!

Anyone found a way to freeze time yet?

Life at 23:38

2007-12-10T23:38:00.001Z

Right now, nothing - NOTHING - is going my way.

Relative died today, wasn't a huge shock, but still wasn't really a nice thing to have. RIP.

Physics isn't proving to be much of a laugh. Resits are now 1 month away - eek.

FsPortal is currently suffering due to all of this.

I've had to leave Bristol-ATC because of too much other personal stuff around.

I don't think now is a good time to be me! Boy I can't wait to actually escape Sixth Form and get away to do something I actually enjoy!

Friday night

2007-12-10T23:34:00.001Z

Well I had fun. Woke up with:

Sprained ankle
Bleeding eye (literally)
Cuts & Bruises all over my legs
Large hangover

Not a nice way to spend a Saturday!

Also, suddenly realised this morning that no-one had seen Dom since Friday night... triggering the most epic rescue mission of all time. Until we actually rang Dom's mobile and discovered he was in London seeing Led Zep. Bastard.

3 nights running...

2007-12-07T08:57:00.001Z

Tonight will be the 3rd night of consecutive drinking!

2 Xmas concerts... needed a drink after that, and off to Nic's tonight I believe!

Still looking forward to a weekend of actual work though :(

Anyway, Christmas concerts were as crap as usual. Last night had less than half the seats filled, I recon there were less in the audience than in the performers put together! Why do they make us suffer every year?!

Still nothing from UCAS, although Edinburgh and Durham have sent me correspondence saying they basically won't give offers until January... keep me waiting why don't you!!!

Licensing

2007-12-03T23:07:00.001Z

Just got myself kicked out of the Vernon Arms, just because it was after 9pm. Even though I ordered a Coke.

How the hell is that right?

Is there some magic law that prevents them serving soft drinks to minors after 9pm - even when accompanied by responsible adult?

Absolutely ridiculous

Still, its that cheap that I will be in there come Thursday lunch... :D

Nearly Christmas!

2007-12-01T12:46:00.001Z

Oh dear... its only just December and already I'm fed up of Christmas adverts on the TV - its getting ridiculous! When you're seeing adverts for "Great Xmas Deals!!" before we're even in November... it gets rather depressing!

I vote we stop all adverts of a Christmas nature before the festive season is even here! I'm not being Scrooge, I'd just rather not be thinking about Xmas before my birthday in July!!!

Food poisoning - Tech style

2007-11-29T14:52:00.001Z

So here's the story so far:

Had Music Tech period 3 today, right before lunch. We happened to have a bass set up and mic-ed with 20 mins to run before lunch, and no-one was using them... so in I jump!

Get Ric on the bass, and started recording for one of my coursework pieces. 20 mins later we're just getting into it, so Dom goes off down to poynton pantry and returns with a cheeseburger for me. "Excellent!" I thought, "No need to go out for lunch, just carry on recording!".

Then I started on the burger in question. Safe to say it tasted rather crap. In fact, I'm pretty sure crap was one of the main ingredients. However, I ate it anyway.

Get to Maths period 4, and slowly but surely I start feeling immensely ill. Not even a little bit, utterly and completely ill. Like said crap is eating my insides.

Managed not to puke on my book, and now I'm home writing this.

Now... do I take tomorrow off school and miss a lot of work, or go in and hope to hell I don't hurl on a teacher?!

Back to the blog

2007-11-27T12:58:00.001Z

Morning all,

Decided to switch back to this blog from my wonderful (rofl) site since this requires less work, since my hands are full with FsPortal.

Expect further update-age later on... :D

Ciao all xox

Reunion

2007-10-30T15:44:00.001Z

Got back in at 2am Monday morning from "Chateau du Molay", a large prison-cum-stately home in France.

I'm bloody knackered.

18 hours to get there, and another 18 hours back, all for 24 hours of actual time there, most of which I spent sleeping!

Ah well... at least I got to see everyone from the Jambo unit again!!!

Things I Hate right now

2007-10-23T13:49:00.001+01:00

Webhosting UK Live Support
FTP
Firewalls
BT Home Hubs
iPhones (cause they're expensive)
School
Coursework

I may update this when I start liking/hating more things.

FsPortal Launch!

2007-10-22T12:35:00.001+01:00

You have heard sod all from me over the past couple of weeks, mainly because I've been working so hard getting FsPortal up and running!

I'm proud to announce that the site went live at 12 midday on the 20th October. Another weight off my mind!

Now just looking forward to maintaining the bugger... damn!

BEWARE: Virus spreading over MSN?

2007-10-09T17:13:00.001+01:00

Just had a random .zip sent to me from someone, entitled "pict-0485.zip" or something similar.

I was a bit suspicious, as they said nothing prior to sending it, and it did actually contain a trojan.

Ryan also noted that he had been sent one as well.

Be careful!

What not to do

2007-10-08T23:28:00.001+01:00

"Do not drop, disassemble, open, crush, bend, deform, puncture, shred, microwave, incinerate, paint or insert foreign objects into iPhone"

Why would I be that stupid?

Steve Jobs - I solemnly swear that I shall never microwave a iPhone. Ever. If I get my hands on one I shall treat it like it is made out of gold.

I recon I've got about £400 in hand at the moment... anyone want to go halves? :P

Wasted weekend

2007-09-23T23:44:00.001+01:00

And not in the sense that I was wasted.

Spent all of Saturday doing Maths homework, and then all of Sunday doing various bits of coursework. I think its fair to say that I'm pretty peeved.

FsPortal is nearing release, only 27.5 days left until it gets unveiled to the public... and yet I can't spend my time on it!!! I'm losing out on revenue! And you know I need the money if I'm to get my hands on one of those iPhones. Damn you Steve Jobs.

Anywho... back to the same old monotony for another 7 days. I may just have to start a countdown until I leave this awful school and finally start to live again.

Still... 21 days until Family Guy, and a few less until Halflife 2: Ep2 (which I have ordered :D Before I realised I needed the money elsewhere :( Ah well)

I have a fairly crap day at school tomorrow. 2*Physics, 1*Maths and 1*Tech. Probably no blog tomorrow... will be too busy screaming into pillows. Seems to be a regular occurrence now. Who the hell is responsible for this timetable?!?!?!

Too much work, too little play

2007-09-21T09:09:00.001+01:00

This is getting ridiculous... 3+ hours of Maths homework (not even vitally important stuff), 2+ hours of Computing coursework for next Friday, couple of hours needed on Personal Statement asap...

When am I supposed to breathe again?

Oh yeah, and I've got classes. Lovely.

I got an iPhone :D

2007-09-20T19:59:00.001+01:00

Granted, it does not do anything, none of the buttons work, and it is actually cardboard... but its the closest I'll get!

http://sneakmove.com/images/diy_iphone.pdf if you fancy making your own...

I will carry mine everywhere... :D

iPhone UK release date announced

2007-09-18T17:40:00.001+01:00

November 9th 2007 - iPhone hits the UK!

Priced at £269 (eek) for the handset, and then £35 per month minimum (eek).

Bit out of my price range! However, Mobiles.co.uk did have a page selling iPhones for £99, but this may have been a technical error, you can't get at any iPhone pages any more.

You have no idea how badly I want one now... but I doubt I can stump up that much money! :(

My Day

2007-09-13T23:29:00.001+01:00

Now the HL2 rant is over... more about me :D

My day was crap! Started off with a couple of okay Music Tech lessons, went downhill with Computing theory, and then double Maths finished me off.

I actually came home and screamed into a pillow at the end. 2 * Maths just isn't meant to happen.

Fortunately, it only happens until middle of October, when I get to go and sit in with Year 12 lessons. Whoopee. Plus Taylor is now threatening to join them as well. Whoopee * 2.

(I know its hard to tell sarcasm over the net. So here's a hint. That was sarcasm -.-)

Anyway, got home, lost my Clarinet (hoping its somewhere in Music... fingers crossed), found out that I killed the FsPortal server already (not really... but you know!) and then played HL (see earlier post).

Now I'm off to bed, just to get up tomorrow and do it all again.

Should I start counting down the days until I am released from the horrors of college? May be sad enough to work it out one lesson...

Half-life 2

2007-09-13T23:25:00.001+01:00

Just completed the latest Mod that I've found (Half-life 2: Riot Act)... absolutely amazing!

Got about 3 hours gameplay out of this - simply unreal for a freebie! My hat any any other headwear goes off to the developers! Would post a link, but I can't remember it... its late and I can't be bothered googling (yes I'm that tired, see next post)

Saw today that HL2:Episode 2 is up for pre-order... in part of "The Orange Box".

This contains:

Half-life 2 (already have)
Half-life 2: Episode One (already have)
Half-life 2: Episode Two (point of buying this package)
Portal (No idea, looks like more puzzles and less shooting - will give it a crack before slating this one)
Team Fortress 2 (not bothered, was really into TFC, but they seem to have ruined it)

All for the low low price of... $44.95 (about £22.50 ish)

I don't really agree with the added things, I would like to be able to get EP2 on its own really, but for £22.50, I don't mind too much. Providing it really is £22.50. Will probably be more like £40 in this country. Sound fair to you?

Anywho, its out in just over a month (October 10th I believe). I will be ordering my copy. I'm that ruddy dedicated!

Update: Just had a look on Play.com. RRP £34.99 (told you so...) but they're doing it for £26.99... reasonable (ish).

PHP != PERL

2007-09-12T23:45:00.001+01:00

And I'm finding out the hard way!

Thanks to Dan Munn who suggested that I should try learning some PERL in order to get a better upload script for FsPortal. "How easy", thought I, "PERL can't be that different from PHP!"

First glances... it ain't too bad, but once I started getting into it... OUCH!

Managed to find a ready made script that does uploads... but now haven't the foggiest where to adapt it, add my validation and then insert it into the database! Ohhh dear...

If any reader has some idea how PERL works, and fancies helping me out - please get in touch!

I'm thinking of just making the PERL script redirect to the safety of PHP once the upload is done... but this may not be feasible! Help!

Anyway, besides that... FsPortal is nearly complete :D I'm nearing 100% on my progress bar, with just a couple of tweaks to make before it is released.

Oh, and we publicly announced the release date yesterday...

20th October

Put it in your diaries - you have to be there... its going to be the biggest and best Flight Simulator event ever!

College Blues

2007-09-10T23:36:00.001+01:00

Figured out today that I really really don't like what's coming up with Music Tech this year, but don't want to drop it, because the classes are amazing. What do I do?

Oh and the one girl I'd finally got with after 3 years went off with another guy and then somehow turned it round on me. That was nice.

So yeah, nice day. At least I get a lie in tomorrow.

FsPortal Progress

2007-09-09T22:39:00.001+01:00

You'll all be pleased to here (well... someone might be interested!) that FsPortal is nearing its final stages of development!

I am just working on a few areas of the site, and then we're ready for release!

Expect a date for R-Day very very shortly!

iPhone blues :(

2007-09-09T01:10:00.001+01:00

It's 1am... and I'm sat up watching Apple Keynote speeches just to see the iPhone in action!

I WANT ONE!!!

The thing looks freaking sweet!

Best information I could find was a "October 2007" release, but I'm now seeing the drop in price... and wanting it even more!

I hope that the price drop is echoed in the UK release price as well!

Probably a bit of a shot in the foot for Apple, dropping the 4Gb model and lowering 8Gb by $200... and then offering a $100 refund. Pissed off a lot of people, and it seems many are flocking back to Apple stores to return their 4Gb, and buy a 8Gb with $50 left over! Bargin!

Anyway... just hope it happens soon. I'm saving my pennies already!

Die Live Mail Die

2007-09-07T17:30:00.001+01:00

I'm beginning to regret installing Windows Live Mail Beta... merely for the fact that it nearly caused me a major heart attack last night.

Get off a Bristol-ATC session, think I'll check my emails... Outlook Express isn't there...

Neither are the files in /ApplicationData/

Uninstalled WL Mail in the hope it would come back... nope

Finally managed to find OE squirreled away in /Program Files/

I now have backups of EVERYTHING from OE, just because without it... I am nothing!

Not heard much?

2007-09-06T12:48:00.001+01:00

Hi guys,

You've not heard a lot from me recently, because I've been waaaay too busy for you all :D

I've just got this "Windows Live Writer" thingy... and thought I'd test it out on here!

Just to keep you all up to date, I'm back from Jambo, back from Summer camp, and back to school!

School seems rather depressing, since I still have the same amount of frees as last year, and still got all the bad teachers. Lovely.

Anywho, FsPortal is progressing well, over 90% completed at the moment, and I'm aiming to get it released this side of Christmas ;o

Thats enough excitement for now... catch you later!

Jambo!!! (Hello....)

2007-07-15T23:49:00.001+01:00

Just back from another thrilling weekend away with the contingent!

Now regretting sharing tent with Lloyd... sweaty minger!!! :P Ah well!

Probably should be using these precious hours to get sleep, but instead I'm sat up working on FsPortal. Commitment!!!! I hope you hear this Ryan Jackson!!!

Anyway, FsP is progressing well... starting to think up dates etc for the launch soon! Yaay!

So sign up on the forum, all our forum users will get a special prize when the main site gets released! :o

Driving :D

2007-07-11T14:23:00.001+01:00

Just got back from my first driving lesson... managed not to crash or injure anyone

Didn't stall either :D:D:D

There was a chav who crossed the road in front of me... was VERY tempted to knock him down.