A Computer Scientist's Attempt at (un)Creative writing. Ok, well it's not, it's a Blog.
Thursday, January 30, 2003
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Last minute cramming never works
I am writing this when I really should have been in bed hours ago on the night before my second to last exam, which is at 9.30. I have just spent the last four hours cramming, as over the last three days, I have (yet again) managed to faff around consistently and do nothing that is really useful. Really have to manage how much I do this.
This morning at 3am, the dsl line magically died again, and didn’t come back until 4pm, although this could have meant that I was not distracted by MSN and ICQ and could therefore get more work done, this was not the case, and I managed to waste all my time on the phone to Demon convincing (the initially quite unhelpful) person on the end of the phone that it was indeed their fault. They logged a fault at around 3pm, informing me that it would be looked into the next day; the reason as to how it came back at 4pm is a total mystery.
After exam tomorrow I have shed loads to do, so best get the best sleep I can today, going to bed in quite high spirits : )
Current mp3:
Obsession – always on my mind
Learned:
That I need to improve my time management considerably
I am writing this when I really should have been in bed hours ago on the night before my second to last exam, which is at 9.30. I have just spent the last four hours cramming, as over the last three days, I have (yet again) managed to faff around consistently and do nothing that is really useful. Really have to manage how much I do this.
This morning at 3am, the dsl line magically died again, and didn’t come back until 4pm, although this could have meant that I was not distracted by MSN and ICQ and could therefore get more work done, this was not the case, and I managed to waste all my time on the phone to Demon convincing (the initially quite unhelpful) person on the end of the phone that it was indeed their fault. They logged a fault at around 3pm, informing me that it would be looked into the next day; the reason as to how it came back at 4pm is a total mystery.
After exam tomorrow I have shed loads to do, so best get the best sleep I can today, going to bed in quite high spirits : )
Current mp3:
Obsession – always on my mind
Learned:
That I need to improve my time management considerably
Friday, January 24, 2003
Tommorrow is first exam, maths, am braced for failure, didn't really do enough revision, as always, but then again the content is very uninspiring. Got to go as precious revision time is being wasted.
Faxed my MP - Michael Spicer about the fact that it seems that the enlgish are not getting as good a deal as the Scots and the Welsh after devolution, i.e tuition fees and the WDA funding broadband subsidies. Quite a funky service, but it took a few attempts to get it working.
Really must go and finish revising now, normal blogging service will resume next week.
Faxed my MP - Michael Spicer about the fact that it seems that the enlgish are not getting as good a deal as the Scots and the Welsh after devolution, i.e tuition fees and the WDA funding broadband subsidies. Quite a funky service, but it took a few attempts to get it working.
Really must go and finish revising now, normal blogging service will resume next week.
Monday, January 20, 2003
Examining things
Quite a lot has happened since my last blog, and as it’s been so long I don’t think that I could even hope to remember it all. To be honest it hasn’t been all that an exciting time.
Now back in aber after the usual stress of packing and finding that your stuff is spread about the house, not something that I ever enjoy. Seemed that I had taken way to much back home with me, mainly because I kept thinking “oh and I’ll need that” “oh and perhaps that…”. Next time I shall just take a small suitcase and computer with me!
Exams are looming and my knack of completely avoiding doing any useful work and faffing around for hours instead has shown itself once again, really need to sort out my time management skills. Been working from home and managed to get a fair amount done over xmas, it being a welcome diversion from everything else that we have been doing.
I have borrowed some wireless network adaptors off a friend (USB and PCMCIA) for server and laptop, getting the USB one working was relatively painless once I realised that I first had to find a card with an identical chipset and THEN search for linux drivers. Went ‘wardriving’ around aber tonight, which was entirely unsuccessful, but on returning I found that we had a setting wrong and it would only find my home network!
As I said before, exams are looming and they start on Thursday with maths, which is one of the modules that I really would like not to be taking. In the next few weeks I also have to sort out housing for next year, which is a real bind and not doing anything for my stress levels.
Learned:
Blog more regularly
Friday, January 03, 2003
Happy New Year
By the time it got to new year time things were much less stressful, and went back to aber on new years eve. Chris, James and a couple of his friends came came up from their relative parts of the country, and while it was not a usual bunch of us really, ended up being an allround good night. Introduced people to Tequila Vodka Redbull, which is quite possibly one of the more foul concoctions that I have been known to drink, possibly scared them :) Only realised it was the new year when I recognised that people were singing some song that I recognised, then I dawned on me it was Auld Lang Syne (spelling of that I haven't got a clue on). Unfortunately I was too drunk to be successful catching up with people from #aber which really annoyed me, I believe we were in the same pub for a time, but I think at opposite ends! Suppose there is always next year.
New years Day was quite possibly one of the most civilised I have had for a long time, dispite dodgy stomach. Met up with some old work colleagues for lunch at Half one, then took them back to the house for coffee, to tell you the truth I felt terribly old!
Set off back home on new years day evening, however once underway I noticed that I only had 1/4 of a tank of fuel, now normally this would have just about done, and I could have picked some up at another garage, but they would definately be shut buy the time I made it accross the border, so I went around all the petrol stations in aber, all shut - damn! Decided to use the WAP "where's my nearest" feature, which was very sucessful in finding me all the open stations within a few miles. Naturally it found all the ones that I had already been around, but there was this one that seemed to be out in some tiny village in the middle of nowhere, so I gave them a ring, and the phone was answered by an oldish sounding woman who said they would be open for the next half hour, I head out in entirely the wrong direction thinking that it was north of aber, but after a bit of aimless driving I realised my mistake, and headed back to aber, at the same time giving them another ring to ask for directions. It turned out that after about 20 minutes of aimlessly driving around a tiny villiage a way off the main road that I didn't even know existed, I just about managed to locate them - phew!
Today my cable arrived to connect the Mp3 player to the head unit, was quite neat, as It has the exact same connector as the transfer tape I was using on the Ford head unit, only problem is I think I need a new audio cable from the boot as all i can hear is bloody alternator! and the sound is a bit "flat" too. Might start looking at some sort of interference filter if a new cable doesn't do the trick.
Current MP3:
Oingo Boingo - Little Girls
Learned
Stock up on fuel early on bank holidays!
By the time it got to new year time things were much less stressful, and went back to aber on new years eve. Chris, James and a couple of his friends came came up from their relative parts of the country, and while it was not a usual bunch of us really, ended up being an allround good night. Introduced people to Tequila Vodka Redbull, which is quite possibly one of the more foul concoctions that I have been known to drink, possibly scared them :) Only realised it was the new year when I recognised that people were singing some song that I recognised, then I dawned on me it was Auld Lang Syne (spelling of that I haven't got a clue on). Unfortunately I was too drunk to be successful catching up with people from #aber which really annoyed me, I believe we were in the same pub for a time, but I think at opposite ends! Suppose there is always next year.
New years Day was quite possibly one of the most civilised I have had for a long time, dispite dodgy stomach. Met up with some old work colleagues for lunch at Half one, then took them back to the house for coffee, to tell you the truth I felt terribly old!
Set off back home on new years day evening, however once underway I noticed that I only had 1/4 of a tank of fuel, now normally this would have just about done, and I could have picked some up at another garage, but they would definately be shut buy the time I made it accross the border, so I went around all the petrol stations in aber, all shut - damn! Decided to use the WAP "where's my nearest" feature, which was very sucessful in finding me all the open stations within a few miles. Naturally it found all the ones that I had already been around, but there was this one that seemed to be out in some tiny village in the middle of nowhere, so I gave them a ring, and the phone was answered by an oldish sounding woman who said they would be open for the next half hour, I head out in entirely the wrong direction thinking that it was north of aber, but after a bit of aimless driving I realised my mistake, and headed back to aber, at the same time giving them another ring to ask for directions. It turned out that after about 20 minutes of aimlessly driving around a tiny villiage a way off the main road that I didn't even know existed, I just about managed to locate them - phew!
Today my cable arrived to connect the Mp3 player to the head unit, was quite neat, as It has the exact same connector as the transfer tape I was using on the Ford head unit, only problem is I think I need a new audio cable from the boot as all i can hear is bloody alternator! and the sound is a bit "flat" too. Might start looking at some sort of interference filter if a new cable doesn't do the trick.
Current MP3:
Oingo Boingo - Little Girls
Learned
Stock up on fuel early on bank holidays!
Right, it’s been a while since I have blogged, and it’s also been quite an eventful week or so, which means this one is going to be a long and particularly badly structured one :)
Christmas
Christmas day was alright minus the customary family-in-the-same-room-for-too-long stresses that occur every year but were amplified this year for various reasons that I won’t go into. Got some money a few clothes and a few bits, while Christmas will never be as fun and awe-inspiring as it was when I was a child, this year seemed particularly non-christmassy, I was talking to becky (from the US I met online via James) and she said that she felt the same this year, we have provisionally put it down to age. I mean this is my (quickly does sums in his head) 19th Christmas, probably my 10th that I really knew what was going on, suppose it's natural for my view on it to change.
Well, thats the slightly more gloomy part out of the way, otherwise I have been quite busy avoiding all the work I should be doing seeing as the exams are creeping up on me. The Saturday after Christmas, me, pete and few local (ish) friends, a couple of which I haven't seen in ages decided to go to Worcester for a night out. overall it was a reasonable night, managed to randomly meet up with Duncan, a friend I have not really seen properly since the end of Secondary school. The main difference between worcester and aber has to be the fact that Aber is almost always student-friendly no matter what time of year it is, prices in 'The Postal Order' the Wetherspoon in Worcester were comparable to Aber prices, but as soon as we got into the club, the difference hit, THREE pounds for a pint?!! come on, I ususally pay a maximum of that to get into a place yet alone for one drink!
Oli, one of the guys who went with us very kindly gave me some speakers for the car (Sony Xplod 6x9 for those who care), which then enticed me to make the trip into worcester again and buy myself a new head unit to go with them - ended up getting a Blaupunkt one, as they are available with CD and external input for the MP3 Player - more on this later!
It turned out that that Sunday after christmas was an even more expensive flights, as I have booked my flights to America when me and Chris go and sleep on James' floor in Milwaukee for a week. Quite looking forward to it, seems like a trip to Chicago for the weekend is on the cards, and few other things. Flights heathrow - Chicago were only £237 - Bargain!
New years to follow!
Christmas
Christmas day was alright minus the customary family-in-the-same-room-for-too-long stresses that occur every year but were amplified this year for various reasons that I won’t go into. Got some money a few clothes and a few bits, while Christmas will never be as fun and awe-inspiring as it was when I was a child, this year seemed particularly non-christmassy, I was talking to becky (from the US I met online via James) and she said that she felt the same this year, we have provisionally put it down to age. I mean this is my (quickly does sums in his head) 19th Christmas, probably my 10th that I really knew what was going on, suppose it's natural for my view on it to change.
Well, thats the slightly more gloomy part out of the way, otherwise I have been quite busy avoiding all the work I should be doing seeing as the exams are creeping up on me. The Saturday after Christmas, me, pete and few local (ish) friends, a couple of which I haven't seen in ages decided to go to Worcester for a night out. overall it was a reasonable night, managed to randomly meet up with Duncan, a friend I have not really seen properly since the end of Secondary school. The main difference between worcester and aber has to be the fact that Aber is almost always student-friendly no matter what time of year it is, prices in 'The Postal Order' the Wetherspoon in Worcester were comparable to Aber prices, but as soon as we got into the club, the difference hit, THREE pounds for a pint?!! come on, I ususally pay a maximum of that to get into a place yet alone for one drink!
Oli, one of the guys who went with us very kindly gave me some speakers for the car (Sony Xplod 6x9 for those who care), which then enticed me to make the trip into worcester again and buy myself a new head unit to go with them - ended up getting a Blaupunkt one, as they are available with CD and external input for the MP3 Player - more on this later!
It turned out that that Sunday after christmas was an even more expensive flights, as I have booked my flights to America when me and Chris go and sleep on James' floor in Milwaukee for a week. Quite looking forward to it, seems like a trip to Chicago for the weekend is on the cards, and few other things. Flights heathrow - Chicago were only £237 - Bargain!
New years to follow!
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