Tocsin! getting alarmed about not much

restful sleep...

2012-02-01T08:52:00.002Z

With so much going on, getting the chance to have some time to think and ideas to form has been tricky. Things have been falling into place and I think progress is slowly emerging. Had an early night and got some sleep without being haunted by worries of concrete, promotion campaigns or the work we have to look forward to over the next 8 months.

2012

2012-01-31T09:45:00.001Z

Been neglecting this as it seems to have lost its purpose. Will have a thinky and see whether it should carry in or get binned.

stuff Sept 2011

2011-09-12T17:32:00.001+01:00

Since the last post I drifted into a deep sleep only waking to take occasional meals and watch old episodes of Farscape and Babylon 5. During this period I communicated a requirement to purchase property and some additional cycling equipment (pedals). Obviously I have fallen behind with my reading, writing and work load in general. My apologies to those waiting to read more of my cycling adventure. A lesson was learned. This was that sometimes the path more often taken is taken for a reason. But this is also a reason not to.
Whilst asleep I have sustained some injuries. Apparently, I had taken to sleep wood working, involving the purchase of tools, required sleep driving, and some sleep sawing. All is well, I still have all six fingers and thumbs, banjo playing is not compromised. I may be prone to extended bouts of sleeping, "up to two years" I read. But that might have been on the back of a t-shirt in mothercare.

MTB Shortcuts

2011-04-30T00:46:00.005+01:00

Today we went for a small cycly up near Aberfoyle. Starting from the car park a Bravel ( or whatever) we followed the route as per the image below. Steep start but reasonably enjoyable, the weather started out fine. I quite liked the route as it had some tricky section which were kinda fun. Found some mud that swallowed a full half of my wheel. Managed to get the front out but the back stayed put. My bike squeaked for the rest of the trip. We got to the point 14 km in and I thought "we could just nip over that hill and save tonnes of time!". Wrong. dragging our bikes up the 22% gradient to find a blighted and impassable plateau led to an eventual short cut of 2km. 1 km short of the original route, but the original route was practically level. I got us lost again at 18.5 km (that conspicuously pointless arm that goes to a quarry and is on the wrong side of the hill; or nowhere...) but after that it was plain sailing. Well no. Lots of steep uphill and gravelly steeper downhill. Oh yeah, the sun pissed off about a third in and I was a bit miffed.

Summary? Weird route that needs two bikes. for the NCN 7 sections you need a road bike, for the others a hard tail will suffice, although on the rocky sections you might like more cushion.

Additional: We travelled counter clockwise and we heard a woodpecker! :o)

Cove Stiffee

2011-04-14T00:10:00.002+01:00

Cove Stiffee 2010 - Marzocchi AM4 150 mm (2006) - Nuke Proof Generator DH wheels - SLX mech and changing gear - Front E'ore Hollowtech Triple - Rear SLX 9 speed cassette - RaceFace Stem and Post - Charge Spoon Saddle - E'ore Hydraulic Brakes 180 mm rear - 160 mm front - kona wah wah platform pedals

Arrochar Cycle Madness

2011-04-13T23:40:00.003+01:00

We had a nice cycle up by Arrochar over past Loch Lomond.

It's a pretty easy trail to follow. We had a technology failure and the downloaded GPS route took about 40 minutes to compute and kept crashing. Finally SB found the map of the route on line and just kept it on her phone.

I tracked using my garmin so I have a gpx file of it if anyone wants it. not expecting a rush I have to say. I'll post it online and link to it.

Lately...

2011-03-12T00:21:00.000Z

This has been a bit quiet. Mainly down to me being busy. We had a stag for a friend. Which was possibly nicer than is actually decent for such things. Great weekend.
As part of work I have to go to Brussels which is cool because it'll look cool on the CV and I have to do a workshop. Hopefully I will fall into character and not freeze up. It's all shit I know inside out, so shouldn't be an issue.
Been reading more. Philip K Dick has been the focus. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said; Radio Free Albemuth was very good. Cosmic Puppets was less PKD than any other stuff that I have previously read, more thriller. Slightly Stephen King (pre-dates massively). Now on The Divine Invasion, which is good.
Bikes have gone mad. I now have my Cove Stiffee with 150 mm Marzocchi forks which I got for £100.
I got a cheap medium sized GT Avalanche frame to replace the small that I had been running with since 2009. All the bits were transferred and it has the Manitou 100 mm R7 fork which works perfectly. Size difference is notable, and I can see why I bought the small, but...
Road Bike is still the Specialized Tricross Sport. Lovely bike, needs a good servicing. I'll do it.

Off to Brussels on Sunday, have a major project coming online shortly, and another in the offing that I hope to see to completion. Really enjoying my job just now. It isn't easy, and sometimes frustrating. Ultimately good.

Pictures coming soon.

Stag stag stag

2011-03-04T11:25:00.001Z

Friend's stag. Hmmm.

holiday spirit

2011-01-14T03:03:00.002Z

so I looked out of the window on Thursday morning. Raining. This brought a weird sense of joy as the water was liquid! Cycled into work. was fab. bunny hopped Clint (specialized tricross) over several lumps of ice, got there alive.
Friday is holiday for me. 3 day weekend, result.
bottle of Berberana and so to bed.
Still reading Neil Gaimen. slooow reader, good book.

Death in Vegas - Dirt

2011-01-13T13:26:00.003Z

This has bugged me for a while. At the start of the above track there is a section of live vocal. during this, it is announced that "it's a free concert from now...". This annoys me, as you would already be there and have paid. Were they giving refunds? Doubt it. Hmmmm

Getting to work....

2010-12-08T21:09:00.004Z

our place of work have very kindly offered to let us use next year's holidays to cover days we can't get into work. How sweet...
Is that even legal?

winter travel and snow psychosis

2010-12-08T10:43:00.003Z

on to work after a few days of feeling distinctly peaky. Not convinced all is well. Walked through to winter wonderland to the station to find trains cancelled. Whilst waiting for bus, hoping it wouldn't turn up, i got chatting. Cat litter was the wisdom i imparted. This will get the wheels turning to their purpose. This morphed to cats being attracted to the spot. Setting up a community, building a society. The usual problems and stresses, catnip addiction, fundamentalism. Cats coming to your door, paw extended, meeoorroow...
Chaos.
If only they'd gritted

Mother Forker Manitou R7 upgrade

2010-12-04T13:21:00.004Z

I have a pair of Manitou R7 air forks (100mm)on the Cove just now. so it's really built for cross country. The compression adjuster on the right leg (TPC) wasn't very good and I upgraded to the ABS+ unit. 10 minute job and total adjustment is over a 180 degree rotation. This gives nice and soft at one end and a much missed lockout facility at the other. £35!

quick turn and I won't bob all the way to the top of the hill (assuming I make it to the top)

My preety Cove Stiffee

silly msn spam

2010-12-03T16:09:00.002Z

I usually get the usual silly spam.
Breast enlargements are tempting as are most of the money laundering scams from Africa and Asia. The MSc and PhD offers are considerably less enticing.
I got this today:

"Copulate with any girl like a strong bull"

which is just so much the wrong side of bizarre. Surly a stallion would be more appropriate.
Or maybe a swan. be like Zeus!

Liverpool

2010-12-03T00:22:00.002Z

Brief visit to Liverpool to pick up and award for being lovely, yeah go us!
So here I sit looking over the river, pretty it be.
The brief walk around we had in our search of lovely beer and curry suggested that Liverpool is quite nice. People seemed nice and the buildings are cool. Listening to The Temporary Thing and Red Snapper. Suckerpunch is such a totally cool track.

Therapy

2010-11-30T01:20:00.006Z

I've been trying too get back to a state of mind that once was so easily taken for granted. Where you can just close down and let the thoughts slip and your mind wander. The stuff we do to allow us to live becomes the purpose for living, and most times that's a betrayal.
So. Music. The stuff you can lose yourself in, that reminds you of the reasons and the genuine anchors and tethers. The ones we would fight and die for.

It's late, I'm emotional.

cat deeley, my new hate object

2010-11-27T17:01:00.004Z

a few things really annoy me. Musicals and soap operas are top of the list. Along with show tunes and contemporary dance. But that Cat Deeley hair advert... Makes me despair, really. How thick would you have to be to record yourself tossing you hair about and posting it online? Maybe i'm not getting in the mood but these people should be rounded up and fired into space.

Tasty Napalm Chicken

2010-11-18T23:26:00.004Z

Recently SB and myself went along to the big chinese super market at The Point in Glasgow. I have to confess there ere many thing that I had no idea what they were. Still, we managed to spend some money and picked up some lovely weird stuff. Among this was the sauce mix for "Spicy Chicken" as pictured below.
This was added to chicken, mange tout, baby corn, and a courgette.
OMG
for spicy read 90% chilli flakes and oil. It was very nice but was sooo spicy the back of my head was sweating. Motor function gave out by the third mouthful and I stopped trying to use chopsticks. This was after I tried to tame it with quarter of a litre of natural yoghurt.
Buy it, it's nice. but only use one tenth and approach with caution.

Touch of cat...

2010-11-16T08:46:00.002Z

I'm not sure if it's the cat allergy or the sulphite allergy.
no cat + wine = breathing issues
cat + no wine = breathing issues
cat + wine = breathing issues
no cat + no wine = no breathing issues
have cat, maybe had last bottle of Superbock last night...

This made running for the train, all 50 metres of it, something of a long term recovery programme.
Trying to kick my compulsive bike bit shopping disorder. I'm finding it difficult to come up with any reasons not to buy the “upgrade” for my forks. Who wouldn't want a lockout facility?
Save save save....

Carron Valley MTB

2010-11-13T12:29:00.002Z

A few weeks ago, in the pouring rain, a friend and I headed up to Carron Valley for a little night cycling. I liked this route rather a lot but it did highlight the requirement for a helemt light. Some corners are quite sharp and on the runway it's nice to be able to glance to where you are inevitably heading. Apparently there are owls lurking around and they have been known to swoop down or at least be flying across your path. Didn't have that issue, cause it was so wet they were all at home watching a remastered DVD of Hitchcock's "The Birds". Would suggest spare trousers just in case. As I imagine it might be a bit "startling".
Gates close around 7 in winter but there is space for a few cars to each side of the gate.

Pollok Park, Glasgow

2010-11-13T11:25:00.006Z

Finally geting around to using the features on my Garmin GPS.
There are still have a few things I don't get. Below is the screen shot of Pollok Park Mountain Bike Circuit.
The first section, turn sharp right on going through the entrance, is rated green and is a reasonable warm up area. The transition point goes on to a bshort climb and the track has lots of nice slippy roots.
The transition to teh red route finds you crossing a park road and there are some rolling humps drop offs berms and logs etc. All handy for practice. There is a moderately steep climb after a log feature, which I always find way too slippery.
Getting back up to the blue/ed transition will take you downhill to a left sweeping curve. The main feature on the return are the steps that take you down to the final straight.
Pollok Park is a reasonably quick short woodlandtrack minutes from Glasgow City Centre. Good for perfecting some skills, but watch out for the occasional dog walker, some of whom think walking the dog on a formal mountain bike path with the whole family in tow is an entirely valid passtime.

fork

2010-11-10T08:23:00.006Z

I recently read that forks require servicing on a level which sounds almost like coddling(?).
Armed with a downloaded service manual and referring to a slightly revised/reworded version from Singletracks website, I took them off and stripped them down. A weird almost globulous red gloop wept from the left leg as I removed bolts and seals. This caused slight concern as nothing I was putting back looked similar. If any of the following sounds wrong, leave a comment. Oil level on the right leg was measured from the base of the inner leg. I did this using a glass tube marked at the 105 mm level and just inserted and observed where the level sat. This needed about 85 mL of fork oil. Anyway, all reassembled and hopefully will work and not leak.

How much shit can you possibly need?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The forks, all ready to eat the cat's dinner then get back on the bike. Left these over night to see if they leak oil or air.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Gloop

Introducing my new bike

2010-10-24T20:02:00.002+01:00

Bike all built minus chain and adjusting.

Meet, The Recipiant:

New bike :o)

2010-10-23T01:16:00.002+01:00

Finally managed to start the build of my “new” mountain bike.
I would probably have stuck with the GT Avalanche which started life as a 3.0 but has grown with gradual upgrades: fork, brakes, chainset and running gear. Sadly the frame has not expanded, and is a teeny tad small. So new frame, Cove Stiffee. White, apparently so last year...
That's ok, it's a 2009 frame :o)

Anyway, last bike I built I banged the headset cups in using a socket and a hammer. Was completely fine, but it lacked grace. Today was mainly spent making the tool below. This required a few hours cutting the aluminium and on the lathe. Took longer than the socket and hammer approach but was very satisfying and better than:

a) Paying for someone else to do it (just seems wrong!)

b) Paying £60 for a tool that will get used possibly a few times a decade and is easy enough to make.

Hoping it will live up to expectations.

On an unrelated note, occasionally I like to partake in a little star trek, voyager, who can be fixated by the appliance eye candy of Seven of Nine?
Anyway, appropriately enough there is someone with the surname “Smutko” involved. At least I know I am not engineering unintended associations with the content.

Busy busy

2010-09-14T22:19:00.004+01:00

Went up to Skye for a week to relax and get some walking and cycling in.
Got slightly delayed heading up and missed the ferry at Malaig by about 30 minutes. So had to head up to Kyle of Loch Alsh for the bridge. By this point it's dark and raining. Heading to Glendale was a bit of a trek with lots of single track roads. Strangely, the sections that had been resurfaced were the worsed. perfectly smooth, no feedback from the surface, no lines on either side, am I still on teh road or have I come off and died and this is purgatory, and because of the rain totally black, space flight (geek :o).
We arrived alive and once inside launched ourselves at the nice bottle of red and then the bottle of very nice port. Surprisingly, we were functional the next day. The next week were spent dragging ourselves up hills on bikes and on feet, following a clifftop path whilst inside the cloud with only a few metres visibility. I admit I may have been a bit whiney at this point as being killed after a fall off the cliffs in sudden bad weather isn't only bad for my health but, considering my opinion of the idiots that go up hills in flipflops, terribly embarrassing. Obviously we lived. SB was slightly annoyed as it totally cleared after we had come down from the scarey bit and photos had been missed.
SB bought lots of wool. It smells nice but still couldn't find that perfect grey wool smell.
I bought a cast iron raven for the garden we don't have yet.
I got a bottle of Talisker 57 degrees north :o)

The day after getting back I did my first Pedal for Scotland. This is the ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh 51 miles (82 km) which Pat (Jesus Loves Amerika) and myself did in around 3 hours 45 minutes. Not a world record but hey.

There is a convenient graveyard just at the bottom out of shot.

update

2010-08-25T21:18:00.002+01:00

been busy and neglectful to this. Figured I was being quite dull anyway.
still doing a bit of cycling and latest brain dead moment was when I bought a new bottle cage and it was all wrong. didn't fit any bottles I had. I was confused. So I went and bought another. At some point I had a revalation (of sorts). yes, I'd put it on my bike upside down. doh. hilarious. :o|
Nearly lost my teeth on the Carron freeride downhill.
Going to Infest
holiday in Skye

2010-06-18T21:56:00.002+01:00

what's with the amount of Range Rover Sports that are on the road? Everyone of them driving around pretending to be gangsters, except the gangsters of course. who must be a bit miffed that their menace has been hi-jacked by anyone who can sign a credit agreement.
Of course, I'm probably just a bit envious as somewhere within me there is a desire for a long shiny estate car into which I can fit all sorts of stuff and not even a second thought about shovels, hammers, bin bags and a bow saw. Need to focus!!

Bike Week BUG Ride

2010-06-17T21:45:00.003+01:00

There is a cool BUG ride on Wednesday 23rd at 12:30 leaving from George Square up to Kelvingrove Park.
map below:

weather

2010-06-17T00:34:00.002+01:00

nice and warm. actually quite humid. Keeps looking like rain, but yet...
Hmmm
Reading "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman just now which is really quite enjoyable. nicely paced.
Finished "Mobius Dick" by Andrew Crumey which was very good. Very weirdly good. So weirdly good I bought "Sputnik Caledonia".

bike bike bike Avalanche 3.0 upgrade

2010-06-07T22:30:00.004+01:00

I have become only moderately obsessed with my bike habit.
Having two very different bikes has been quite nice for the fast on the road and the going down stairs/single track urges. Last time SB and I were ot at Carron Valley, I was hammering it down the track to the car park and nearly lost the front wheel on some loose gravel. This was the day I'd made the executive decision that we wouldn't be doing anything dangerous, hence cycling hat was not required. Didn't come off, which was nice.
On my GT avalanche 3.0 disk, which was bought as my first real bike in years, I have just replaced the front forks (Suntour XCM V2). These have had some panning in the popular press (internet forums) and I have to say they served me well for over a year and still work fine. I had them set as soft as possible and they seemed to do the job. However, they are not light at 2.64 kg. Off they came and on went my shiney Mantou R7 2009 which I picked up for about half price. With their air sprung loveliness they come in at a hair under 1.56kg which makes the various jump options on the way to work rather joyful. The chain drive has been replaced with a shimano Deore Hollowtech arrangement. This has a slightly bigger final chain ring (more speed!) and whilst not the lightest, the change in bottom bracket has shaved a total of 300g off there. I have also taken the rack off. Next on the list is the seat tube and saddle. I also fancy a Shimano Saint rear derailleur which looks like the business. maybe upgrade to 9 speed as well....

Meanwhile the Specialized Tricross Sport is a lovely beastie too. Just had him service and he feels like new again.

I'm not obsessive, honest!!!

lost connection

2010-05-25T17:27:00.002+01:00

i tried to post the other day whilst on the train. well paced and witty it was. observational too. connection fell over and my spontaneous verse was lost to the ether. dammit.
Bike stuff. turns out the scabby old bike is a Carlton and might have some pedigree. I guess I have to rebuild it now.
need new forks for my mountain bike as the originals are even more shockingly bad than I previously knew.
The Specialized Tricross is still without a name. but is very nice.
better post, batter about to die 4.6%

Holiday - with rain, as per usual.

2010-04-25T16:29:00.004+01:00

Last year, we went up the west cost of Scotland, it rained. A few months later, in Portugal, it also rained. This weekend we are in Buttermere in the Lake District of England and beautiful as it is, it is raining. We dragged our sorry frames out of bed this morning to the sound of the usual holiday rain. things looked promising for a while. Inside the cloud seemed fine. calm, bit damp, slight air of a rural Silent Hill about it.
It's all good though. It was fun and when it stopped being fun we came back down for some beer. Still seems like a holiday to me.
:o)

Bloody Microsoft

2010-04-19T22:16:00.002+01:00

So, the other day I had left my computer connected to the interwebs and it did it's update thing...
So now it has been "attempting repairs" for 4 hours as evidence of another half arsed update from microsoft. I despair. why oh why oh why did I buy 7? why did it fool me into believing in it/ why did I fall for it?
Today I took Dennis my trusty tractor (mountain bike) into work as I thought he was getting neglected since the new arrival. Was a mile down the road and got a massive 18th century nail through my back tyre. Such is life. Took ten minutes to change the tube. Was nice to be able to jump over things even if Dennis is a bit slower and about twice the weight of the evil twin.
I have some good pictures, so as soon as my bloody computer is working again, I'll post some stuff.

Easter weekend

2010-04-05T15:08:00.002+01:00

Friday I went to have a look at some road bikes. I was going to take it easy and maybe get some new pedals for the mountain bike. But...
So I bought a Specialized Tricross Sport. Which is rather nice and shiny.
later SB and I tried to watch 2012 which must be one of the worst films I've ever seen. And we only saw about half of it. We very nearly saw this in the cinema a few months ago, but thankfully didn't. It was worse than Avatar and that takes a bit of effort.
A few days before we watched Hallan Foe which was very good.
Saturday, I bought some more cycling shoes and put the cleats on them. May have practised un-clipping my feat. Played Scrabble. Lost.
Sunday I piddled around and took ages but finally we went up to Whitelee Wind Farm and did a bit of Geo-Caching. I didn't find it again, SB did.
Sunday evening we went to The Captain's Rest to see "What the Blood Revealed" who were fantastic, as usual.
:o)

sextafeira

2010-03-19T17:43:00.001Z

It's friday and I feel a little bit drained. on the bright side, last night I had a look at some OS maps I got last week and weather permitting I am looking forward to getting out on the bike and exploring. :o)

Jargonised Bullshit

2010-03-17T23:26:00.003Z

So, I was in the car today, Radio 4 was on and they had some soft piece about gyms and keeping fit and the effect the economy is having on the leisure industry. This all sounds dull enough except they had some idiot describing unfit people as "deconditioned" and people who are run ragged by their day to day lives as "time poor". Really I truly despair. I have major issues with the implementation of such rubbish as the clear English campaign, but at that moment had they arrived, they would have come into view astride on white shire horses, their heavily armoured steads glinting in the late winter sun. The perpetrators head would have later rested on a spike at the city gates.

Sadly he just rattled on and on more steaming odorous nonsense.

The centre of the universe is you

2010-03-16T18:12:00.002Z

I've been stumbling from situation to situation without plan or any wish being ticked off or dealt with recently. That's not to say I'm having a terrible time, just that I really need to focus and get stuff done with some preparation and time to digest the world around me.
So I will draw up my personal list of stuff and then try to edge my way toward that being the focus rather than work. As I do not exist to work. this is a bit of a babble and needs some clarity, so I'll work on that and get back to you...

trains...

2010-03-01T09:19:00.001Z

why, when at the station for a prolonged period of time, do trains sit there with the bloody doors open? It's minus 2 out there ffs!

not quite a plasma screen...

2010-02-27T04:04:00.002Z

one of my monitors has been in decline for a while. it is an AOC and behaved very well but did require opening up and re-soldering some contacts. obviously the components in that area were under spec and cause over heating. Still have the unit so will consider uprating to components that can dissipate heat. In the meantime, I bought a 24" widescreen HD ready unit which, connected via a DVI to my comp is much better than my 19" widescreen. I have to say, sci fi does look better bigger.
Oh, the screen is an AOC 2436. comes with all the cables you'll need and is only £140 from ebuyer.

Nitzer Ebb / Jesus Loves Amerika gig

2010-02-18T22:54:00.002Z

Went to see the above at the Classic Grand in Glasgow. Both were very good. I got all nostalgic and had to drink four and a half pints on a school night.

I like that they renamed the club to what it was when it was a porn cinema.
I guess home video did for that particular niche...

I should add that I never actually visited it in those days.

weird one

2010-02-16T20:51:00.002Z

today was full of contradictions. erring toward the nasty I guess.
Missed the train this morning so just relaxed and waited. train turned up a minute early. Got to the next station and across the field I could see a woman running, a minute passed and she got closer, and she kept running, didn't give up and the train waited for her.
Got into Glasgow and as I came out of the station a homeless man was sitting on the ground near the lights, a large woman crossed the road and knelt down besides him and gave him a coffee, and then some money. A few streets up, a guy got his tools out of his tatty mondeo, leaving he remembered something, and turned around to put the disabled parking card in the window...

Heading to a lunchtime meeting, a woman in a red dress walked in front. Black stiletto with metal heels. her legs were terribly bruised. made me sad. saw her again on the way back to the office, she seemed to still be walking the same direction.

Made progress at work. which is nice. headed home early, picked up tickets for nitzer ebb. Regreted a bit not going to see Assemblage 23, but I really couldn't handle the support band.

made some nice chicken stuff with onions, sun dried tomato, chilli peppers, basil and some jam.

badger made the pancakes and the G&Ts. All were perfect.

Whilst I was doing the dishes I could hear the television making some god awful din. throw away crap. I thought it was some really badly scored episode of Heartbeat, the chirpy '60s police drama scored by imbiciles. turned out it was the brit awards. oh dear.

No Rest for the wicked

2010-02-02T12:54:00.002Z

I still can't sleep unless medicated or exhausted. I guess I have a lot on my mind. I need to sort out Job soon as the steep drop from have to have not might bruise more than a little. I start out supremely positive, but somehow...
No matter. I'm sitting here having lunch. it snowed earlier which was nice, nothing lying but the usual traffic chaos as if everyone woke up to find out they'd been cursed with jelly tyres during the night.
It's sunny now and from where I sit the years of careless window washing is revealed by the net of scratches covering the glass. Another 50 years and it will be merely translucent. Future generations will wonder why frosted glass was so popular and why window cleaners were outlawed. Cause and effect my dears, cause and effect.

to sleep perchance to get some rest...

2010-01-28T02:47:00.000Z

damn this insomnia.
It's a bit of a shocker, not being able to sleep when you are practically dead on your feet. but I imagine that it's not fatal.
had a good music day. MP3 then Car on random just throwing stuff like the Raveonettes, interpol and Lloyd Cole in a very unexpected combination. I should add that these were interspaced with Big Black, Ministry, Project Pitchfork and the like. so possibly a very ecclectic radio station. at one point i did want to write down all that was playing a it fitted very neatly. Everyday's like Sunday stands out. it's a fantastic track, as did No I in threesome. the flow was only vaguely spoiled by a F&TM track, which will be deleted amanha.
entao, future, music, life, existence. If nothing else is good in your life, walk or take a bus as far from your city as is realistic, climb that highest hill, look over what you see and breathe so deeply. No other creature will ever see it as you do, be you happy or sad. you are unique. for that moment enjoy the beauty and the experience. from then on, it's down to you. Huge hugs to all. miss you, you know who you are. XXX

2010-01-19T01:59:00.002Z

I apologise for that previous post. That was one of the dullest things I've ever posted, and that's up against some stiff competition. So...

When she smiles and laughs she possibly has no idea how much those echo through my mind for weeks at a time, like tinnitus. She is the most wonderful person I have ever known.
Happy birthday you beautiful creature.

eaten by fake wood

2010-01-10T02:21:00.002Z

my life is being consumed by trying to finish the kitchen that I started in June 2008.
It's just little details, but really...
Imagine my relief when the old washing machine finally died and was replaced with a nice new one that actually fitted. I remember at the time looking at standard widths and being surprised that the old Hoover Eco had about 5 cm either side. skinny bastard!
Anyway, this weekend hase mainly been constructing additional units from laminated chipboard and mounting stuff properly. Sad but strangely satisfying.
I have tonnes of pictures to post from as far back as late November, so I will sort that out soon.
Got a new motherboard during Christmas and installed Windows 7 Pro on it. and shock of shocks, everything seems to work.
Bonkers. Think my other machine will become a dedicated Linux unit as things did not play well with previous set up with XP dual boot.
Port, read bed.
Good night.

Is it me or the moon?

2010-01-03T11:11:00.002Z

Last night, dreamwise, was a strange one. At first I was in the countryside. The quality of the light was strange, making me feel like I was observing a film from the 1950s but in real life.
Anyway, it spanned two days with the main theme being a priest showing a young girl of about 6 the countryside and the possible hazards. On day two he instructed her to check in certain places for the placement of the feet of cockerel which are a sign of the devil. I was also aware, within the dream although I had not seen it, that he had been up all night hiding the evidence.

Also, I was in a large pool with a girl, whom I don't know in real life, just sitting near the edge. We had been hugging in the warmth of the water which had a thermometer hanging in it indicating about 25 degrees C, occasionally kissing. I think I had drifted to sleep and when I came to again I could see her on a nearby man-made covered island (about 20 meters away) holding aloft my artificial leg. Up until then I was unaware of the leg. With some initial reluctance I swam over to the island and retrieved my leg. there was no animosity on either side and I strapped the prosthetic back into place. I noticed that the sole of the New Rock boot that was still on the leg was coming away but didn't mind as I felt I could fix it with a staple gun.

Happy New Year fellow oddities

late post

2009-12-20T21:09:00.002Z

My apologies, I have not posted anything since the 29th of November. Primarily down to utter laziness. I did get very drunk and the next day I had one of the worse hangovers ever. It was great though.
Thank you all in C.A.R. and in Guimaraes as a whole.

This weekend, the last before Christmas, we had snow.
Heading into the city centre you could see the wall of snow drifting in from the south west. The temperature dropped and everything began to be muffled. I managed to take this down by the riverside.

Boa Festas

2009-11-29T15:16:00.002Z

The christmas lights are on here in Guimaraes and it is Pinheiro tonight. It's a shame, but I don't have a drum. I am also hoping to avoid getting horribly drunk as is the norm for people around my age for this particular festival.

Em Guimaraes

2009-11-25T17:23:00.002Z

Ola world. Landed late last night and stayed in a rather bizarre hotel with porn architecture and facilities. very firm bed, lots of mirrors placed with voyeuristic intent and a massive marble double bath on a raised white platform. Nice...
Now in Guimaraes. the hotel has a fantastic view of the city and the room is very nice. Sadly, only one mirror and no jacuzzi double baths on marble plinths. Dammit!

success and failures, lists and random events

2009-11-15T02:52:00.002Z

Hard pushed on the first one just now, other than I have finally organised a short return to Guimaraes, Portugal which will be nice. Been making lists of stuff and slowly chipping away at stuff. Still got to hire a car and book the front and rear end hotels, but the rest is sorted. Has up to date GPS, has Hotel em Guimaraes and has masses of enthusiasm.

Need to find some good geo caches in the area which will be really cool.

Managed to fail to convince the world of some stuff only to have the answers flood my brain 15 minutes later as I drove away. damn it.

List is some of the above maybe with buying a small hoover after finding out that I am massively allergic to cats.

Got to insulate the loft space as I've never gotten around to doing. I've bought the stuff, I'm thinking an extra layer of aluminium foil would help. I'll do the calculations and see how wrong I am.

I'm looking for a tasteful yet stylish waist coat.
That's all.
Time to sleep.

Fictional Space ship spotting

2009-10-25T22:19:00.001Z

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but the image below, does it not seem to show a Firefly Class spaceship? Where did this frame come from? 14 minutes into the Pilot of the Battle Star Galactica remakes.

how do I type this?

2009-10-16T17:21:00.002+01:00

This week has been so long but still not enough time to do what I need to. Been hacking away like an old goat with bronchitus (?) but finally feel a bit better.
If I could photograph this week it would be grey.
however, booking some flights to Portugal for the end of November :)
will be there from 24th till 1st dec.
basically going for a party, yes, Pinheiro!
Yeah!!!

poor widdle 19 year old needs to launder some brain cells

2009-10-14T23:17:00.002+01:00

Got this. Hilarious. I think she is out by a factor of 2. D you think I could keep that and just slip her the $2.3m?

It's not Red Barchetta (does that come with olives?)

FROM : PRINCESS SANDRA JOANNSON
LOME TOGO
WEST AFRICA
PLEASE REPLY TO THIS MY DIRECT EMAIL (princessjoannson1@yahoo.fr )

DEAREST

I AM PRINCESS SANDRA JOANNSON.THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF LATE KING AND QUEEN. EVANS EDWARD JOANNSON.
PLEASE DEAREST, LET US REASON TOGETHER AND HAVE TRUST IN GOD, I AM SEEKING YOUR ATTENTION TO HELP ME TRANSFER MY INHERITANCE MONEY THE SUM OF($2.3,000,000,00 US DOLLARS)TWO MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATE AMERICAN DOLLARS. INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.PLEASE IT IS MORE THAN URGENT BECAUSE OF MY LIFE IS IN DANGER.
DEAREST, I AM WILLING TO COMPENSAT YOU FOR YOUR EFFORT AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF MY INHERITANCE MONEY INTO YOUR ACCOUNT OVERSEAS.

THANKS.
YOURS IN GOD LOVE
PRINCESS SANDRA JOANNSON

latest memory frustration

2009-10-10T10:33:00.002+01:00

you kowe that thing where you hear a few bars of something and you recognise it but can't quite nail it down?
well,channel hopping the other night and stumbled upon the rather low budget "Banzai". Based on the idea that you can bet on just about anything.
There is a scene where two unfortunates have to jump shopping trolleys over chocolate cakes. The background music is a slow build up, ancient sounding with bells and the promise of much more.
Now, initially I thought Rush or Genesis. But now I'm convinced that it's Rush Just don't know which one.
Bugger.

I couldn't find the trolley challenge, so have this instead:

Glasgow

2009-09-29T18:27:00.003+01:00

back in Glasgow. it's a bit wet and dragging myself out of bed this morning was terribly unpleasant. Work wasn't so bad though. vague chaos ensued whilst I was away, but no fault of mine, as far as I can tell. which is good. it's only 6.30 pm and it's nasty and over cast. weirdly it's pretty though. I think I might have gone mad. :)

blog difficult with no Internet

2009-09-27T23:55:00.004+01:00

Claiming to no have any internet is something of a lie actually. Mainly I was lazy. When we got to Durness I really didn't have any interwebs, for some reason my Asus would not connect via GPRS. Did some cool walks, saw the Smoo Caves, and got sand blasted as we tried to walk up to the MoD path out from Balnakeil. Really needed goggles for that. Here are some pics. My battery for my iXus 95 ran out and that was when we discovered that it has a different battery from the one SB has. I then went onto kill her battery too. Bad me.

Bone Caves:

Looking inland from Rhue Lighthouse:

Various Shots from Sango Bay, Durness:

Ullapool

2009-09-21T16:31:00.001+01:00

In Ullapool. Seems very nice. The room at the Argyll House Hotel has a very nice view and a bookcase. First impressions are good.

cycle-view-cycle

2009-09-20T18:36:00.002+01:00

we went for a bit of a cycle. weather hasn't been great, but it's been ok.
found a nice little bay nears the SAMS facility.

bike bike bike

2009-09-18T00:07:00.004+01:00

last week I had a sort of birthday which was nice. lots of loot was had. :o) I actually avoided getting too hammered on the Saturday because I wanted to practice jumping my bike over stuff. A very nice George had given me some guidance on getting the thing into the air and whilst i'm still only getting about 6-8 cm off the ground, it's a start. My technique possibly sucks, but with a sucky technique, I'm doing not too badly. Picture below, including link to some of the efforts. Yes I do clip the bottles at one point, but it's only fair to show the screw ups as well as the relative successes. I think I'm not doing enough with the legs and weight distribution. If you can do this better, feel free to give advice.

09-09-09

2009-09-09T23:36:00.000+01:00

i thought i should say something.
i bought some nice grips...

Tuesday Rant

2009-08-25T13:44:00.002+01:00

Just went into the city centre for lunch. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Some days Glasgow looks fantastic. On other days, it looks like the mutant scene from that particularly schonky Arnie Mars based movie, Total Recall. I am now downing vodka smoothies to numb the violence of the recollection of the drooling horrors. It looks like the circus came to town, stayed, and had lots of tadpoles. It's possible that sometime in the '70s there was a nuclear attack and we are all blanking it. It's equally possible that we are in the matrix and someone is playing a hugely cruel joke.
Worst case scenario, this is real life, the muttering man talking to his burger as he bumbled down the street colliding with everything is real. The vastly over weight man who was spinning a basketball on his finger with his planetoid sized girlfriend looking on were real. All the too short, too tall, too fat, too thin, freak show escapees are real and normal and it is me that is having a crisis. I have lost concentration and in that moment my standards crept up and now I am shocked. After I get past the shallow judgements of peoples physical peculiarities, I am left with the other horrors. The fact that society still has casualties littering our streets dependant on our all too wanting compassion simply to eat. It's no wonder they drink. Our Earth's populous are obsessed with vengeance whilst claiming moral superiority, our politicians are clambering over themselves to condemn acts of compassion that their religions place as the foundations of their faith. Those in power will manipulate political instabilities to promote civil war in order to sell guns so they can buy a bigger yacht and increase the value of their shares in pharmaceuticals. And it's all so futile and so wretched that the cattle, you and I, despair and sometimes lose concentration and rise to outrage.

This is the shit that tocsin should be outraged about.

Halfords - why they are a terrible bike store

2009-08-15T01:12:00.002+01:00

They don't let you try out the bike before you buy it!!!
We bought a bike from Halfords recently, and aside from the gear changers, I think it is an ok bike. It arrived badly set up. the brakes dragged and the gears hadn't been properly adjusted and the chain went into the spokes. Not really an acceptable set up.
Simply, if the bike shop you go to won't let you try the bike, go somewhere else!!!

that advert for glade air freshener, with the kid who has poo issues. Don't buy glade, put the dysfunctional brat up for adoption. Obviously the kid is pretty smelly, so you might want to try charcoal biscuits first. But whilst you are doing that, you might want to get the paperwork in order.

The special K advert. mini breaks. how weird does her hair look? Now, if you put a spike through her head (you can tell i've thought about this, can't you?)on the horizontal plane, then how come her head is constantly tilted at 10 degrees above the horizontal? How smug is that woman? I'm going to buy some cake. Or a competitor's low calorie bland snack.

living with the music

2009-08-14T21:46:00.002+01:00

ok, i bought both CDs.

The La Roux one has a couple of tracks I will listen to if I know no one can hear. Lyrically a bit naive and simplistic. It's competent pop music, but it is pop music.

The Florence and the Machine CD, "Lungs" is just very good. Very very good. It's just a bit more mature and sophisticated in it's lyrics and lyrical styling. For me it hits a lot of spots. Like a cross between the wedding present and...?

Dreadful confessions...

2009-08-10T23:17:00.003+01:00

For months I have been HATING La Roux. I've been hearing that ear straining caterwauling EVERYWHERE and...
Well, something happened. I think I heard another track and I liked it. Very minimal keyboards, very eighties. So big fat hippo has changed his spots. My best friends would testify that I have prior for liking crap, so make your own judgements. I think it was seeing the advert for Florence and the Machine and La Roux back to back. I'd already said I liked a track by Florence and the Machine, "Rabbit heart" apparently. Anyway, as testament to my ability to back pedal and admit I've got different pyjamas, I'm buying some CDs tomorrow. Another weird thing is that since a few stores went to the wall, unless I simply can't get it in a shop, or it really is prohibitively expensive, I'm more inclined toward going to a shop.

Was out playing on my bike last Thursday. Playing on stairs and learning to pull the bike into the air to get over stuff that is there (glass) and stuff that technically isn’t there (potholes). Need practice but was lots of fun. Managed to fall over going up an incline, was fine coming down though.

Put eeebuntu on my Asus and it’s such an improvement. Only gripe is I’d have preferred a KDE environment, but I’m happy to live with Ubuntu based system.

The Scottish Cycle Cross series visited Cathkin Braes on Sunday. That was fun. Good track and nice to see the Braes being filled with families just having a damn good day out.

Recent exception to the new shopping rule was a pair of Shimano MP66W shoes which were £60 in Alpine Bikes and £45 on Wiggle.co.uk
They look quite mad, if I could get my hair to slope up at an odd angle and wear strange cyber clothes, I'd feel like I was in a Manga cartoon.

Yes; exactly.

God Module and Velvet Acid Christ

2009-07-27T22:37:00.004+01:00

I just can't loving these bands. They satisfy just about all of my industrial musical desires.

So, God Module. hmmmm.
Favourite tracks:

Image

Resurrection resurrected

False Pretense

Still So Strange

And then we have Velvet Acid Christ. Again.. hmmmm
Favourites;

We have to see, We have to know

Satan Complex #42

Crused by the curse

Do you think what you consume

There is no God

They just seem to have an edge that gets under my skin and lovely musical layers with either a level of nihilism or frustration that makes all the pointless bleating and religous waring factions slip away from my conciousness. Not because of denial, but because someone out there is as sick of it as I am. And once you've calmed down, you can dance.

If you don't believe me, go and have a look on you tube. Don't go looking for fab videos, go looking for the best quality sound.

Cursed Sunday

2009-07-20T23:25:00.002+01:00

Sunday was a weird one. practically everything that we attempted to do was thwarted by what seemed suspiciously like divine intervention. It was probably my fault for wearing the Laibach "...we don't trust him." tee shirt. Went to IKEA to get a rug that they didn't have any of. Boo hiss. We also had the worst coffee I have ever tasted whilst there. We can only assume that the employee learned his trade from Baldrick. It tasted no better than slightly watery sweetened mud. In contrast, we were in the Crooked Lum in East Kilbride today and had a gorgeous coffee. Food was nice too.
Back to Sunday:
Halfords - brake pads for car - not in stock.
Evans - Base layer - not in stock.
Ikea - Rug - not in stock.

There was much more but I can't abide my constant whining so I will shut my neck.

Today I was mainly practicing bunny hops on my bike. Surely there is a more macho name than bunny hops...
Anyway, seems getting the back wheel up is easier than I thought. Got it a good half metre off the ground. yes, i nearly threw myself over the handlebars! :)
Grippy shoes are a must. The grub screws on kona platform pedals work extremely well for removing a 3 mm core of skin/flesh from the front of my (and no doubt anyone elses) shin. Apparently I can swear in four languages...

Weekend.

2009-07-06T00:59:00.000+01:00

I usually just ramble on this, but I'm feeling a bit emotional.
Saturday was dinner in an un air conditioned restuarant where our table of 12 consumed 21 bottles of beer and 5 bottles of wine.
food was nice and company excellent. Then went to a bar, very precious about their balcony, a casino which was slightly tatty around the edges, and a club which had the advantage that it was free, but the disadvantage that it was crap.
This was all arranged around some of Helen Jones' mutual friends and given the variety of venues, level of alcohol consumption, and shockingly bad music, I'm sure she would have approved.
Today (Sunday) we went to visit her parents, her grave, and just remembered her, it was a happy afternoon. We miss you dear.
Each day is terribly precious and if there are people you love or someone you haven't contacted in a while, barring any restriction orders, drop them a line or just take the time to let them know.
thanks to all who made this weekend very special.

Huge hugs to you know who you are and I'll see you tonight (Monday)

Monday

2009-06-23T01:18:00.001+01:00

Had a nice day. Tonnes of work to get done and only two weeks to do it in. :o| Pressure!!!
Tonight was nice. felt a sense of satisfaction having broken free of Tesco. The Sky was gorgeous as I drove over to see SB and the music was loud and electronic of stature. God Module are just sooo relaxing.
Saw a really rough looking crow at the side of the road. He was just looking about and made me smile.
Bed time!!

Summary of week

2009-06-21T01:04:00.003+01:00

Well. weather was a bit crap during the week. mainly overcast with threat (or promise) of rain. first few days were spent preparing for the bike week event on wednesday and picking up a new bike from Halfords. The new bike was for the delightful - name deleted to protect the innocent - and all initially seemed fine. The frame was good, the forks fine, and it had cable discs which looked ok for the money. Got it home to find the brakes binding and the gears hadn't been properly adjusted. It wouldn't go onto the largest cog on front and went into the spokes on the rear. This caused a total failure in faith and actually resulted in many sleepless nights due to guilt and foolishness. I returned the bike and complained, picked it up on Saturday and it seems the set up is, "perfect". I am relieved and impressed.
Back to Wednesday...
Cyclist Breafast at Broomilaw. up at 6 am, cycled into city in the pissing rain. Marquee and catering already setting up!! Chap from Community Action Team there already and ready to go. M'colleague had also turned up uber early despite much personal family trauma (all in the mend, nothing emotional) and so, all that remained was to embark to said marquee and engage with said cyclists.
All in, went well. :o)
Other work related stuff is dull so won't bang on. But after picking up Halfords bike and being happy, it just remains to get to IKEA and buy a rug, come home, play with the cat and start all over again.

Other stuff (mainly bike). Went to buy a multi tool for bike. felt "uncomfortable" with the topeak range, even though I really like them, because they have a selection in the office stores. Did not want to have to carry the receipt around with me. bought a crank bros. M19 and I kinda like it. It had it's own little tin, ahhh... Ordered some new pedals online, Evans, koni JJ primos for £20 :)and some Shimano STX quickfire changers for the halfords bike. twist grips are not nice.

Tesco, Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow

2009-06-15T20:26:00.002+01:00

On Saturday evening, June 13th, we were at Tesco Extra, Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow.
After having a reasonable wander around, picking up items we don’t really need, we gravitated toward the check outs.
Spying an almost clear checkout, we approached and began to empty our basket. However, the check out assistant directed us to the self service area under the guise of it being quicker. He was quite insistent. Normally, we try to avoid him as from previous visits we know he can never be bothered, and he always tries to fob you off, even when you have few items.

So, at self check out, as well as the groceries, we have two DVDs. We put the items through and attract attention of the staff member who is assisting the self check-outs who detags the DVDs as my partner pays. However, she doesn’t give one back…
I ask her for the DVD, to which she insists, “I gave it to you”. “No, I don’t have it”, “well I definitely gave it to you”; I look in bag, no, not there. I reaffirm my position. “Sorry, but I don’t have it”, “well I definitely gave it to you”; repeat three times, with her tone growing ever more accusatory. I was beginning to think that perhaps I had taken it, hidden it, and was now in a state of denial.
Finally she looks down and sees the DVD box under her nose. “oh, there it is” she says, handing me the plastic box dismissively and walking off without so much as a mumbled apology.
Naturally, I’m appalled.
What has just transpired was a face off between a customer and an incompetent shop assistant who in no way should be dealing with the public. I have worked in retail before and I acknowledge that errors occur, but to take such an attitude without checking your facts is unthinkable. My partner and I looked at each other in quiet disbelief.
When I returned to say that I thought the exchange was quite unnecessarily rude and complain that there was not even so much as an acknowledgement of fault on her part, or hint at an apology; she snorted “well obviously I’m sorry” or some other too little, too late, too damn rude platitude. “I will make a complaint about this”, “fine, do that” she replied rather sneeringly.
In short, she was rude, unnecessarily confrontational in manner, and unrepentant.

Additionally; recently when in the store, increasingly I find it necessary to weave in and out of staff who walk steadfastly onward with little concept of the respective purposes of customer and shop assistant.
It seems to have become the normal practice to block the “drop off” point with trolleys, particularly on Saturdays, making it extremely awkward to drop off my elderly mother. I have mentioned this problem to staff who have little interest in this inconvenience.
Lastly. Despite being on a main cycle route, I haven’t seen any evidence of the presence of cycle parking. Which, given the assumed environmental credentials of Tesco, surely flies in the face of provision for customers and facilities for employees.

Needless to say, Tesco will no longer be benefiting from my all too often impulse buys. Nor will they benefit from my essential shopping, nor that of my family, nor my partner’s family.

tis been a while

2009-06-10T23:41:00.005+01:00

Tis been a while. This is for a few reasons. I have stopped using my laptop which has carried me for over two years day and night. The problem was that I had become so dependant on the excellent fingerprint reader to sign in to all my stuff and could no longer remember passwords. So, I wrote them down. Could have probably done that a few months back...
The weather has been very acceptable here and I have been cycling into Glasgow city centre 3 or 4 days a week, I even did all five a couple of weeks back which i was quite happy with considering, as I have previously said, it's about 20 km round trip.
Work has been fine. It's a strange one sometimes, but I think if you get stuff done it's really quite rewarding, so I think I can honestly say that despite not being two people, I'm enjoying it.
SB and I went to one of the places I marked on the GPS last August as a place to return to. It was a large obelisk on top of a remote hill northish of stirling.
It was a fantastic place. Beautiful flowers, trees, and deer moving quietly through the grounds. Having a look at the inscription on the pillar I could see what's gone wrong with the world. I believe the second coming possibly occured sometime in the Victorian period, and the newly corporeal deity stumbled on one of these things. I urge you to read the inscription and argue that there really is any need for you to hang around. I think the phrase perhaps is "bigging him up"

Reading "The Vesuvius Club" by Mark Gatis of "The League of Gentlemen" fame. It's rather good.

até ja

dull dull dull

2009-04-11T22:09:00.001+01:00

Sorry, but that previous post was shockingly boring. Factually accurate, and possibly even of some informational value, but terribly and unforgivably dull.
Sorry

Bike Stuff weird GT Avalanche 3.0 mount

2009-04-11T03:34:00.004+01:00

I have been cycling into Glasgow to work rather a lot recently. Well, I say alot, but by that I mean two days a week. but that's better than the no days a week when I spent all my time filling out application forms.
Dennis (my bike) has not disappointed. He's quite fab.
I added a carrier as rucksacks are just not comfortable.
The one I got was the Top Peak something or other with the slider for locating into their very expensive bags. It was the disc brake version which basically means it's a bit bandy and has drilled square section welded on to offset the mount from the fram so as not to foul on the brake mechanism. Now, if anyone has a GT Avalanche, they will know about the weird rings in the frame, see picture below.

These have an internal diameter of about 11 mm and are about 22 mm deep. So, how to mount? I made a couple of T type flanges from an old aluminium towing eye. I gave the sections 14 mm and 10.5 mm diameters with the section that would sit in the ring being 10 mm deep. These were then tapped to an M5 thread. The peg on the rack was filed down to allow it to sit in the ring to about 11 - 12 mm.

He's looking good but I've changed the tyres to Continental Double Fighter IIs as these have a smooth center which is better for road use.
Scary thing is, on using them, my journey time was 10 mins less than usual. This could have been the following wind, but...
In the meantime, Whilst down near the Bells Bridge I saw this excellent graffiti.

latch key blog

2009-03-26T11:33:00.000Z

I have been neglecting the blogland for a while. Been busy. Finally started cycling as a commuting option, which is a 20 km round trip. I have to confess to struggling a bit on the hills, but with time...
To day I was out surveying some of the responsibilities which means, according to google earth, I did 40 km.
Which isn't massive, but it's impressive for me.
I'll post real stuff soon as I've got tonnes to say.

Acoustical conundrum

2009-02-12T13:36:00.001Z

After about an hour trying to trouble shoot the mysterious echo I could hear when I was listening to the BBC News channel via my computer, I gave up and went to make a cup of tea.
That's when I saw that the TV was on downstairs on the same channel...

Delay was caused by the distance travelled, hence echo. Bugger.

Mystery solved.

last bus...

2009-02-09T01:41:00.002Z

Marvellous :o)

Snow Dalek

2009-02-02T20:54:00.001Z

As I said, I had nothing doing tonight. And there was so so much snow...

DALEK!!!!

Snow Daleks defend the winter citidel of Tocsin!

I only wish I had a sink plunger

dammit!

Let it snow :)

2009-02-02T17:37:00.002Z

As certain areas of the country descend into misplaced nationalism, we had snow.
needless to say, everything ground to a halt :o)
In the garden I have put this:

Nothing doing tonight, so I'm thinking a dalek to guard the front :o)

Frank Skinner's Stand-up DVD - A bit of a whine

2009-01-30T10:00:00.002Z

I don't really go in for reviews or panning things in this space. However, sometime over Christmas I was watching "Have I got News for You" and they had Frank Skinner on the panel. I have to confess, I always regarded him with some level of distain.
I wouldn't imagine that would really upset him, but I guess if you are an entertainer, you are supposed to entertain. Although, you can't entertain all of the people all of the time.
Anyway, HIGNfY, I thought he was rather good on it. He had matured. I adjusted my previous position to one of neutrality pending further evidence.
Introducing exhibit A
FRANK SKINNER STAND-UP
This started off rather well I thought. The inner sleeve has the performance broken down into chapters and by chapter 5 (one night stands) he, rather sadly, felt comfortable enough to regress to “amusing” stories of his sexual exploits whilst being a lad on tour. I’m afraid it all went down hill from here, with him coming across as a rather socially inexperienced, yet ladish, adolescent.
Puerile recounting of one night stands can only amuse for a limited time and this subject just went on and on. His sad reference to sexual encounters by what sounded like a juvenile scoring system, “The sexuals”, “The orals” et cetera just left me feeling rather embarrassed for him. It just all sounded so wretched that by the time he was halfway through chapter 7 (oral sex) it had descended into a world inhabited by well meaning but ill thinking leftwing teenage Jim Davidsons. The annoying thing is that I’m sure he can write funny material, but I’m really not that interested in a 50 year old man recounting his sexual history. One would imagine that with the inferred quantity, tastes and attitudes would mature, but obviously such a life style is deeply damaging. If you want to feel that you are a font of sexual sophistication over sheer quantity, maybe also including, then give it a watch and you’ll soon feel good.
The sleeve boasts “comedy gold”, but is a bit tarnished and embarrassing. Many other comics can cover similar material; they just don’t seem to wallow in it as much as Skinner.
On the upside, it was £4 in the sale and will no doubt be cheaper on line if you are so inclined.
The downside of this DVD was that it took the edge off “The Man with Two Brains” a bit. And the £4 could have contributed to a pack of beer or bottle of wine.
It was countered by Wallace and Gromit’s “Close Shave” and a glass or three of Dão.

Things I can't get to work in Linux

2009-01-28T10:11:00.003Z

Despite having managed to accrue a disturbing number of Linux friendly animals over the years I am still having issues with my final install.

After Ubuntu (6.06, 8.04, 8.10), kubuntu (8.04 and 8.10), mandriva (??? and 2009) and fedora (10), I finally settled on Suse (11.1). The others got into such a mess over such things as being too brown (not really a good reason), just refusing to play (fedora), and messing up the boot sector (kubuntu 8.10 and mandriva). From all this I discovered that my preference is for better support and KDE over Gnome. The desktop image preference is also influenced by my Asus PC900 which has a KDE based Xandros OS. I want the desktop and the netbook to be able to sync. We'll see.
Issues with Suse currently are: No access to the data drive which is formatted as FAT 32 so that the XP and the Linux install can share data access for media and office (Open and MS) files.
The dual head is refusing to work. This caused the death of one of my kubuntu installs where I clicked on the advanced graphics tab; leaving me to try and change the settings back with black text on black graphics all nicely overlaid on a black background. I could see the cursor, so I shouldn't really complain too much.
Internet. I only have a 3G Huawei E220 modem. ALL other installs have seen this no problem. Suse does not. It lights up, flashes green, then blue. It doesn't appear anywhere and there are no links anywhere to configure it.

I know these are mainly user based errors, but they are problems I didn't have with the others. I have that nagging I should have stuck with kubuntu feeling; but I'm determined to stick with Suse.

Today, my favourite inanimate object is this:

It makes lovely coffee and reminds me of the fantastic (traumatic) drive to Italy in my old 1275cc mini in 2003. Thanks to Gerard for all the work with the engine/gearbox change and for recommending that I don't do it in the 998cc.
And the other day I saw this:

No gold at the end, although there was some old copper piping :o)

oh deary me

2009-01-22T01:13:00.002Z

I was leaving a comment on another blog when the verification gave me this:

sometimes, I'm such a child

atheist bus campaign

2009-01-19T09:20:00.003Z

I saw a bus the other day with the slogan "There's probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy life". This I thought was a weird one, and also, possibly undermining the useful control mechanisms that religion previously had. Sadly, many of the less sentient out there will see this as a call to do what you like regardless of the consequencies. So I would like to put forward a few alternatives.

There's probably no God, but that's no excuse to abandon your moral and ethical standards.

There's probably no God, so take responsibility for society and the effects you have on it.

It's just possible I could go on for ages here as regardless of your belief structure, most civilisations recognise the relationship between cause and effect. Most civilisations recognise the same undesirable traits regardless of the adoption of a state sanctioned religion.

So,

There's probably no God, but you're meant to be a mature civilisation. Pull your socks up!!!

The world, linux and old monitors

2009-01-14T09:07:00.001Z

Another beautiful morning. There's a nice layer of cloud in the distance, just over the Campsie Fells, adding a transition between city, hills and sky. Bit chilly again, but who cares. I'd rather have zero degrees and this view than five degrees and the city wrapped in a dull grey duvet.
As the number of linux installs on my new desktop machine mounts up, I can now discount Fedora 10. It all seemed to install fine until it got to the "reboot your machine" after which nothing would work. This is probably down to the still piddling amount of memory the creature is trying to cope with. By the time it gets to the kitchen it has forgotten whether it went there to feed the cat, make some tea, or just put the light out.
Additionally, my other monitor (AOC LM727) which was living in the loft space for a while, seems to be as ill as it ever was. Seems the problem of it switching to black screen after a few seconds is fairly common and due to oxidation of the solder points on a couple of inductance coils. So that's stripped down and now I just need to locate my soldering iron...

No Eden in Glasgow

2009-01-08T12:46:00.003Z

I found out yesterday that the hairdresser that I use in Glasgow had "ceased trading". Which is horrible news.
It was a nice place and surely everyone needs a haircut and a nice place to eat cake and drink nice coffee. I can't imagine there has been a run on electric clippers and Home Hairdressing books. So I can only assume that people have decided to stop cutting their hair and go feral.

Image found via google images on Massmind. Specifically here *

If you click on the hairdressing book link, notice that the book is cheaper new than second hand. If that is not faith in a product, I don't know what is.

Alternative Ubuntu wallpaper

2009-01-07T09:43:00.001Z

I have installed Ubuntu as part of the available operating systems on my new computer, as some may know. The dreadful background, which initially I really liked, just became too drab. With this in mind, I put this together.

If anyone likes it, but would like the logo moved, let me know.

what I did on my holidays

2009-01-06T00:48:00.003Z

I've been rather busy doing stuff.
I helped with the engine change on SB's car. This went well except we forgot to transfer the module strapped to the engine, would it start? No sirs. After that it was fine until there was the faulty spanner icon. By this point it was around -5 degrees C outside and we decided that perhaps a garage could just plug in their little computer thing which would tell them which sensor had stopped playing. More news later...

I got a processor for my shuttle box, a cute little 3.2GHz P4. Main reason for this was I'd painted myself into a corner as I was going to rob the CPU from the old Dell Optiplex. This turned out to be too old to be compatible for the motherboard I'd bought so now the Dell is housed in the breadbox which still needs the Ubuntu logo/grille done on the front; breathe...
I finally got around to looking for a new bike, after looking at the sorry state of my old one which has been sitting in a damp garage since its last use. Picture will follow. I went shopping with my budget firmly capped at £250. I went to Dales in Glasgow, the chap was very nice but kept showing me a) Bikes that were around £450 b) Bikes that did not comply with my desires. Went to Evans out at Braehead and met up with an evil friend who did not talk me down after I begun to fixate on a bike which was considerable more expensive than i wanted to pay. In fact, he may as well have been mockingly shouting "jump!"

I bought the bike.

It's nice.

I went into collect it today, where upon I saw a girl manage to blag a 10% discount. That my dears, is the price of a lock, and I realised that it is indeed a dog eat dog world.

The shuttle box has been set up as a dual boot with XP and Ubuntu and is just waiting for me to connect the 320 Gb SATA HDD and start adding the software. Need to make a list.

I want to do my routing and go out on my bike.

Bike image stolen from here

Blood on the Rooftops

2008-12-30T01:50:00.005Z

Festive TV has been a bit weird here. I have been busy messing about with an engine change (in but not finished) so i might have side stepped the usual array of inappropriate war films; but if you tune into the news, sadly there is enough going on in the middle east to offset any lack there. I watched El Laberinto del Fauno on film four and it was very good. Set in the mid 1940s, when facism seemed to be the disease of much of Europe, the brutalality of dogmatic military conflict is countered with the supernaturalism of a young girl's origin and destiny. Beautiful and tragic. Reminded me a little of the Klimov film, Come and See.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T15:19:00.001Z

I know it's all about the joy of giving. This is very true, but you also have to acknowledge that you have a part to play in letting other people find joy and happiness.
So, I got a diverse and fantastic sack of loot. Satisfying my affection for power tools, computers, comedy, food, cooking and well dressed hand puppets.

Merry Christmas to all

Irritating adverts - It's beginning to feel a bit like water torture

2008-12-23T10:13:00.000Z

The whistling one for McDonalds. No great loss there. I just hate whistling. It's all Roger Whitaker's fault.

The "It's begining to look a lot like Christmas" ASDA advert. I can feel them boring into my head with their insideous sonic treppanation.

That's it. I'm doing well :o)

Bike Shopping

2008-12-22T21:58:00.003Z

I've been looking for a new bike to replace the very long in the tooth racer that I used to trundle back and forth whilst living in the Southside. And the still the easier thing to do is sit down make a list of what you'd like in a bicycle and then try to determine which one fits the bill. After trying this, I realised the quadruple espresso had altered my consciousness somewhat when the short list included:
A tardis, matter transportation, an elephant, an MR2, a jet pack, a sled and husky team, and my old bike that I was trying to replace.
These were all discounted for the following reasons:
Tardis: I suspect those that I see on eBay and amazon.com might not actually be fully functioning. And even if they were, the great risk in Glasgow and Edinburgh is that between me parking it in the morning and returning to it late afternoon it would have been taken over by entrepreneurial squatters and converted to a coffee franchise.
Matter Transportation: Doesn't actually exist as a viable technology. Even if it did, after The Fly, I'm not sure I could ever trust it.
Elephant: Too slow, parking would be only slightly better than a car, they can step sideways!! :o), no hazard lights, poo.
MR2: It's a car and apparently sounds like poo in French.
Jet Pack: Easy parking, could probably just wear normal clothing, could fly above the storms although I would be afraid of scorch marks.
Sled and Husky: This would be great! Girls love dogs, in summer we could put wheels on, stylish. However, lots of poo.
My old bike: I just put this one in as a joke. - Photo coming soon. This has been sitting in a lock up for about 3 years :(

Back to the list...
I have my eye on one, and the credit card is twitching.
Can you reliably use divination to determine a wise purchase?

I saw this! fantastic name! Bike Worry Beads needed

Hielp hielp...

2008-12-19T08:23:00.002Z

Feeling a bit like a girl in a pink coat and, for reasons that were never adequately explored, a leather flying hat, I have been in distress with Ubuntu on my HP laptop. The same install on my breadbox found my 3G modem instantly and it was downloading updates within minutes of being plugged in. On the laptop, it's asking for a password. There is NO password. A quick look on the interweb revealed that I am not the only one to have this problem, but the answers/fixes really didn't help me. I guess I need to read more. This isn't a major problem, because I am exploring the Linux route with the knowledge that it will probably need more participation from me.

Happy Days

2008-12-17T22:58:00.003Z

I have a job offer. Something that looks worthwhile and will be a challenge. So I'm kind of "over the moon" right now. Not much else to say, other than very happy with the prospects for 2009.
I don't have many new things today. So here are some picures:

View of the cobbler (in the background)

Hedgehog I saw scuttling onto the road, avoided running over, then had to have some harsh words with to stop it doing it again.

I can't remember where this was, i have the waypoint somewhere. It looked stunning though.

dell optiplex. open

2008-12-17T02:21:00.002Z

i saw this as a search criteria from some poor sod in Canada. Basically, there are two darker coloured sections on each side to the rear of the case. press these in. Get a friend/collegue/parent/man servant/indentured worker to pull the two sections at the back apart. it will open like a clam.
:o# that looks like a cat :o)

Electronica!!

2008-12-16T02:03:00.001Z

This is fantastic.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kKO9h-gG4Qg

Off Blast!!!

Ubuntu Speaker Grille

2008-12-14T03:44:00.002Z

I should be sleeping, but I've been messing about instead. reading, having a beer, doing stuff. I was thinking about the grille pattern on my wannabe computer/radio. The machine is for linux use, and I installed Ubuntu 8.10 onto it, which worked very nicely. So I was thinking the grille could follow the ubuntu logo.
Anyway, I knocked this up on AutoCAD.

I'll add a nice stylised T from the tocsin.org logo in the centre.

Could look good. Pictures to follow :o)

optiplex into breadbin will go

2008-12-14T01:03:00.004Z

I had some problems with the install of the dell into the new box. Nothing major, but in a moment of laziness I went online and bought a new motherboard. Then I found that the MB was compatible with every issue of the P4 except the one sitting in the dell. So...
The X-QPack can have the new MB and we'll get that running when I get around to buying a processor.
The Dell...
I went to B&Q and bought a rather presentable pine box:

I stripped the Dell down properly, bining the plastic casing and keeping the metal work that will be of use.
This included the base, from which I kept the metal to locate the MB, and the sections that hold the PSU in place.
I decided to split the levels putting the PSU and the HD on the base, and the MB situated above that.
The optical drive will be replaced with a laptop sized drive and a card reader will be added later. The required space was calculated using a standard CD ROM and a 3.5" floppy drive.
I got to work with a router and produced this:

This seems to work ok. The space is used well and the cooling fans will be added when they arrive. Additionally, the HD will get an air in with an outflow fan placed on what looks like the base (but is actually the back of the case. A large inflow fan will be placed on the hinged lid with some mesh and speaker cloth covering it, as this is going to be modelled on a 1940s type radio.

Problem: The width on the expansion slots needs to be widened by about 2mm. The 13 mm is fine when it's only 1 mm thick, but fouls the VGA plug. Additionally, it seems I need to extend the height of the slot by 15 mm. Doh!!

lazy Playlist

2008-12-12T09:11:00.000Z

I did intend to hunt these all down via youtube, but I simply can't find them. I must get around to making some kind of collage/video thing. This is how I feel today

Worlock - Skinny Puppy
These Remains - TKK
Corpus Hermeticum - Project Pitchfork
There is No God - VAC
Ghostman - Skinny Puppy
You Know What You Are - Ministry
Homeward - VNV Nation
Lady Vampire - Seelenkrank
Ice Isolation - Dream Metaphor
Melting on Analogue Waves - VAC
Barcelona - XPQ 21

busy busy busy

2008-12-11T13:05:00.000Z

I have so much on the go just now that I feel a bit more focused, and weirdly have a bit more time to do those things that have been neglected. The fog must be lifting.

I had some problems with my computer build. Mainly that the box I bought had some weirdness. I made a new backplate out of aluminium treadplate, but something wasn't clicking. So I decided on a new motherboard. Got that to find that it wasn't compatible with the dell's CPU. So, until I buy a working processor it's back to the dell. I have decided to rehouse him in a manner befitting a 1930s radio. WE used to have one of these gorgeous valve driven monoliths in the corner of the living room. I got a box from B&Q which will require a lot of work but should keep me busy over Christmas.

Optiplex GX240 - X-QPack2

2008-12-08T08:44:00.002Z

I mentioned the Dell optiplex didn't I?

Anyway, the new case arrived:

And whilst the old Dell motherboard spec is fine, its position within the case does not correspond to more conventional layouts.

This means, I need a new back plate.
After taking all the measurements and spending an hour or two on AutoCAD,

Off I went to B&Q to get robbed blind for a 50x25 cm piece of 1 mm thick aluminium tread plate.
I probably didn't need it to be so sturdy, but they didn't have 0.5 mm. The first attempt is fine apart from me needing to rebend the top outward angle above the ports. It's about 2 mm too high.

Apart from that, everything lines up. Just need to tidy up the edging and redo that erroneous bend.

Heartbeats - The knife

2008-12-05T13:51:00.003Z

If anyone out there liked "heartbeats" sung by José Gonzalez and couldn't quite work out why, it might be because this is what it originally sounded like. That gorgeous caterwauling. The home made video is good apart from the rather cringy dancing in the middle. who's complaining? nope, no one. Good.
ahhh... MP3 players on random. :o)