Yep, it's just been confirmed, right now I am really going to bed, GLOBAL TERROR or not.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2275195.stm

Aber - your friendly alternative to sanity

I've just had about the wierdest 48 hours in quite a long time. It all started yesterday (saturday) went out for a drink with some friends, went to a couple of pubs, but people I was with were not all that interested on carrying on, gave matt a ring, and ended going up the hill with him and a few others. Got to the union, and it was really bizarre to realise that I knew so many people, ended up trying pints with blue aftershock in - had about 4, learned that things that taste nice at the time usually have implications in the morning :| I think we randomly ended up in someones house in the early hours, no idea who they were, and I also have vague memories of us sitting in our kitchen with some random girls from town.

After a fairly quiet day, just about managing to get a bit of food from the shops, the randomness continued today as Bug, si and I were stood in si's room and somehow we managed to get onto the topic of nuclear war, and things like civil defence and stuff, just as we were talking about if we would want to survive or not, there was a shaking and a clatter noise as bug fell onto a table, the house was shaking! Cor, I just experienced my first earthquake, yes, an earthquake, in good old britain too! After a couple of seconds, I realised what was happening, and simply said "earthquake", after it had finished, we just stood there and looked at each other, quite, quite bizarre. We then went outside to see what was going on, (and to get out of what we thought was a nice secure, stable building) and started having a chat with matt accrross the road about what had just happened. I then came back in the house and went into protect and survive mode, grabbed coat, torch and then logged on to #aber to see if anyone else had experienced it and others had too, all over the country.

I then went back outside, only to find bug chatting to some random guys who seemed a little "under the influence" then to my horror noticed that one of them was carrying a gun! I wasn't quite sure what to do, and this guy was pointing it everywhere so it took me a few seconds to realise that it was in fact a BB gun - phew, but I did notice the guys who were leaning out of the window over the road dissapeared back inside very quickly! I now really can see why the police have to treat every situation as if it does involve real firearms, because in lots of situations, it is very hard to tell exactly what is and what isn't real, especially in less than ideal conditions.

I must say it took a good half hour before it had any mention of the quake on the radio, or indeed BBCi or even BBC news 24, initial reports off radio five said a while ago that it was 4.8 magnitude, and epicentre somewhere near Birmingham, freaky.

There is just an uncomfirmed report now of a bomb going off near US embassy in indonesia, fucking madness unfolding on the world, and I have to remove a pile of clothes from the bed before I can sleep. Who ever said that nothing ever happens in aber eh?

Web Site

Finally got around to starting on the massive amount of stuff that I would like to add to my website, ended up just adding some photos, ones of my visits to some ROC bunkers in derbyshire, and ones of my in car mp3 player (see pictures section, surprisingly).

It's been quite a quiet week, not really done much of note apart from settling in, really glad that I came down early to give me chance to settle back into my "hectic" student lifestlye of, er, doing nothing at all really! Looking forward to lectures starting, and this year in general really, hope that I can come out of it with some decent grades as long as I acutally being assignments when I get them a lesson that I really should have learned long ago.

After going to bed at 4.30am after a random late night drive somewhere random with bug, ended up getting woken up at 9am by the plummer - who fitted a new tap washer while i was attempting to be asleep in the same room. grr!

Spent a lot of this evening looking at other civil defence related stuff on the net, and the whole day seems to have evaporated, ah well, only a few days left before registration.

Tommorrow brings hair cut and possible night out, but who knows what will or won't happen.

Moving Stuff

Well, wow, I'm finally here. After lots of box lugging and a lot of arraging my room, I'm kind of moved in - cor! Room is a bit on the small side, but big enough for the bed and two desks, so I can have a dedicated one for the laptop =) Managed to get a cheap £20 computer workstation from argos, not bad for the money really, although it is a bit wobbly, but for that money i'm not going to complain, and it means my posture is better than with a standard desk. The house network is really taking shape now, there are now two switches, and I suppose we technically have a house backbone - how 31337!

On friday spent some time cleaning the bathroom ready for kat arriving on saturday, seemed a lot better, but she scrubbed it this morning and got every last bit of dirt off the shower, I'm quite impressed how well this place is shaping up! Now I am on broadband I really don't have any excuse and I am going to finish the site off tommorrow, so I suppose I should get some sleep. Might even set up a webcam.

Monitoring the Situation

Aber-eve

Well, off to aber in the morning, and as I sort of predicted, I am nowhere near finished packing, still got to sort out all my clothes, and I'm meeting up with someone from work tonight for a drink, it's all stress, not much time left.

Got a text today from si saying that they have dug up the road, so I hope I can acutally get access to the front of the house to drop off all my stuff! I'm not carrying it all down the road. Also just this second remembered I have to sort out contents insurance - Arse.

Got to go now, uberStress mode almost entered.

Indicating Failure

2 Days Until Aber - :-D

Well, I finally finished work on friday, seemed weird to be finishing for the 3rd time! Managed to make a suitable nuisance of myself when I left, asked for photocopies of everything that I had signed, don't think they were too impressed. Was a fairly quiet weekend, went shopping again, and yet again failed to find some shoes to go back to uni with, no-one seems to have anything acceptable in size 11 for some reason, I mean it's not like 11 is an usual size or anything, in fact quite common isn't it?

Went to aber for the day with mum to drop off the free washing machine, was an OK journey apart from being totally knackered from driving there and back in one day. Finally picked myself up some keys for the house, which means I don't feel quite so bad about paying rent on a house that I don't even have keys for! mental note: mum's car handles like an antique bus with a washer in the back.

Now, on to my rant for the day. Why is it that people are INCAPABLE of indicating properly on roundabouts? I am sick of tired of the following:

1) The dreamy people turning left, who decide that sufficient information is for them to flash the indicator bulb ONCE when they have already started leaving the roundabout

2) The inconsiderate prats who decided when turning right that they dont actually need to indicate more than once, and just indicate right, even as they are leaving the roundabout.
.
3) The brainless people who are simply incabable of using that stick thing attached to the steering weel.

What is this about? I guess that roundabouts were not covered until a certain date in the DSA sylabus, so another thing indicating that 5 year retests would be a very good idea. And if your not sure what an INDICATOR or a ROUNDABOUT is, I suggest you read here and fcuking learn it, look it even has a picture. *rage*

Gray Imports

9 Days Until Aber

Hmm wednesday, typical middle of the week day really, iIm now very tired after staying up till about 2.30am for many nights in a row, last night due to calling the states from my mobile, which I was quite impressed with acutally. Direct dial, no noticeable voice delay (I take it that this means landline as apposed to satellite?) and what is most annnoying, is it was cheaper to phone the states than it was to phone a mobile on another network in the UK!

Monday was the start of my last week at work, and to be honest it is dragging so far, spent a lot of time reading newsgroups, and just getting things finished off before I go. One thing i'm starting to consider again is converting the car to run off vegetable oil, aside from the technical side of getting a heated fuel filter and some othe things it seems there is a lot of red tape, for one you can't just take waste oil and put it in your car, you have to pay duty on it, and in order to do that, you have to technically be registered as an oil distributor! When I phoned Customs and Excise, they were very helpful, however he didnt seem to know if there was any mechanism for catching people who don't pay tax on their waste chip fat, so I really don't know what to think/do, think I'll put it off until next summer.... For the next project, the car needs a service, needs the shocks changing, and needs a new radiator that started leaking this week :

As usual I have not acutally bothered to put up any pictures, but for more info on Diesel-Veg oil conversions see : Goat industries

Off-White Goods

13 Days Until Aber

Firstly, I'm going to apologise for the last post, it was crap, I think somewhere the email acutally apologises/explains why it was nonsense, but even I am having difficulty making sense of it :o) Well, picked up the washing machine, it was in working order, but apparently leaks a bit, and it seemed a bit rusty, brought it home in mums car and on saturday night I started to try and remove some of the rust. Dismantled it, and had a go at it with some rust stabiliser I had, didn't try too hard as it only has to last a year longer, if that!

This morning went to a computer fair, it was a bit crap really, not many stalls, but picked up a new soldering iron, and my 4th computer, another P200, which I intend to convert to another linux server (i'm thinking Mandrake this time), maybe even some sort of cluster with dafad... dunno yet... Finished off the washing machine this afternoon, resprayed the front panel white (the whole thing was originally beige/brown/rust), as it was rusting loads anyway it acutally works! cor!

Tommorrow brings the start of my last week at work - cor :O then not long until aber :O Ive just been thinking its now over 2 years since I started my Year In Industry.. life seems to be passing so fast! Must remember to get cakes in the office before I leave, that always goes down well :)