And Now for Something Completely Different!

London!

2005-02-26T01:29:00.000-08:00

Having spent the night in Glasgow’s flagship luxury hotel, we got up bright an early for breakfast and left the hotel at 8.30 for the airport. We dropped the car off at the airpark and their shuttle-bus took us to the terminal. The flight was leaving on time. Self service check-in where you give the machine your credit card and it checks to see if you have a pre-paid ticket to your name for today. We did so it highlighted it and gave us the chance to select our own seats on the plane! So I picked the furthest row forward that was completely free, and as by coincidence we always seem to sit on the starboard side of the plane, I chose seats A B and C. So it spat us out our boarding passes, and we went to the desk to give in our bags. We did so without even showing any proof of ID. Not sure if that’s even legal but hey we had it if he’d asked. I was searched after setting off the metal detector, I presume it was my belt buckle. When we got on board the plane, on closer inspection of the tickets the machine had infact given us seats C D and E. What bloody use us that? It didn’t give us what we selected so why did it bother asking? I didn’t get my window seat which pissed me off royally and there was an aisle between me and mum. Anyhoo live with it. I got out my paper and we set off. Very windy down the runway – pilot had trouble tracking the centre line. I was going through the take off in my head.
*Advance throttles to 80% N1
*Advance throttles to 105% N1
*Track centre line of runway
*Reach V1
*Rotate
*Reach V2
*Assume 30 degree climb at full throttle
*Confirm positive rate of climb and retract landing gear
*At various height increments retract flaps one setting at a time while lessening climb
angle.
*level off and retract throttles to approx 55%.

So there!
Get me.
Landed in Heathrow 15 minutes early! Got the HE, Horrendously Expensive, (Heathrow Express) into Paddington. Walked the short distance from the station to the hotel. Lovely hotel, slightly pokey rooms! Left it a wee while then headed out to get the ultimate grockle mobile. An OPEN TOPPED BUS!!! Or as predictive text so delicately puts it… open tossed cup. We were on the damned bus for ages, but we did see most of the worthy sights in passing. I spotted a car I would never have dreamed of seeing, but being parked in the Dorchester I’m not surprised. A MCLAREN MERCEDES SLR!!!!! Absolutely the epitome of class and wealth! Spotted a Ferrari 550/575 (wasn’t close enough to tell) there are Porsches everywhere, too common, we went pas an Aston Martin Garage next door to the Dorchester, saw three Bentley Continental GTs, I love those, their shape, their noise – everything about them speaks to me. Caught a quick glimpse of Vauxhall Cross, and we saw a whole bunch of embassies, so I’m getting well chuffed by it all hehe!
Came back round on the bus, cold and by this time soaked through, we had a shower and went for tea in a Thai/Japanese restaurant on the twenty-third floor of the hotel. Views were breathtaking! Zonked out in lounge and soon after went to bed. That’s now, I’m writing this entry. It won’t get posted now – no internet connection but I’ll get it blogged on Monday along with my other entries. Big day planned for tomorrow!!
Night-night folks.

Long Time no Post. Fun at night in Glasgow, drinking and car maintenance! (dirfferent nights) hehe

2005-02-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Feeder - Feeling a Moment

Hi peeps.
Here's the long awaited new post, I've just had another lovely weekend in Glasgow. The city doesnt make it, the company does! Claire and I went out for dinner in the Radisson, a Times reader special offer. It was really good, nice little restaurant, relatively informal, yet smart. Then we wandered through to their bar, which was a really nice place with a great atmosphere. We started off with a margerita for me, ad a G&T for Claire, gorgeous drinks then we realised that the bar stocked Imagin, the stuff I got Claire for christmas. so we both had a double Imagin with Tonic. oooph that was just absolutely stunning. Then after deciding what to purchase next we watched a girl at the bar having a cocktail made, the barman put strawberries in the glass, mulched them down and added a whole bunch of other things Claire decided that whatever that cocktail was she wanted it! So I went to the bar and asked for "whatever it was you made earlier with strawberried in it" plus a doubleshot of Grey Goose vodka with ice and lime for me. The cocktail turned out to be a strawberry daquhiri (sp?) and it was like drinking alcoholic (though barely detectable) liquid berries. Mind blowing and also potentially very dangerous. My vodka was also gorgeous. We settled the bar bill which was slightly more than the food bill (eek) and then headed back up the road. We stopped at Peckhams on the way up the road and grabbed an esspresso, really really tasty! It was a spur of the moment thing.

During the week I was in uni on Tuesday night to work on the Formula student car. The plan was to finish wiring the Data Acquisition sensors then get the engine runing and test the Kliktronics gear shifting mechanism. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. The electronics took longer than anticipated, then the engine sounded awful on turnover, and wouldnt start. So we ran loads of laptop driven ECU diagnostics and nothing seemed to be wrong, the plugs were firing ok (we thought) and the fuel injectors were injecting, as we found out by removing the intake manifold and putting our hands underneath the injectors (lol) there was definitely petrol coming out. So we decided to question the last guy to have played with the engine, he'd assembled the head counting the cylinders in the opposite direction to the way it had been assembled before, (this is as per the engine manual but not what we'd stuck with before) so we too the engine head to pieces and turned the cams around to go back to what we knew. cylinders 1-2-3-4 are now 4-3-2-1 this doesnt make much difference (actually in theory no difference at all) as long as the cams are alligned perfectly in each orientation and the sparkplugs are inserted in the correct order! So we turned it over and got pops, bangs and a huge backfire. No luck. One guy pulled out sparks 2-3-4 and left 1 in, we turned over the engine and essentially what this did was fill the other cylinders with fuel and then ignite 4 times the normal fuel in on cylinder so we got a big big big bang which sounded so much like a gun shot I'm surprised no police were called. We tried all manner of things, continuity testing all sorts of home made electronics components, re pinning an ECU connector, after usingf a soldering iron to melt the plug which incidentally smelled awful! the Laptop ECU diagnostics said the engine was "stopped" and a loose connection ad (unbeknown to us) come loose to make this happen, when someone lifted the fuse block the screen changed and caught my eye. It had seen the ecu with power again, so again we tried to turn the car engine over, but no catch at all, and the ECU's battery level sensor was saying it was dropping voltage significantly when we ran the starter. Time for another backup. A phonecall to security got the bollards outside the lab removed, Callum brougthis car round and we hooked the batteries we had up to his car battery. The next time we ran the starter we got about twice the speed out of it! After running the starter for about 10 seconds the starter speed increased by some amount, sounded awful and the starter was getting hotter and hotter. Bad news and we didnt want to cause damage. So next plan, retrace all the wiring and double check the cam allignment for timing. Electronics seemed ok, and everything else seemed ok so by 1am, as I was leaving (yes thats 1 AM!!!!) the three/four guys left were seriously running out of ideas. Time for drastic methods. "Fetch the Carbs!" Apparently every time they reverted to the original Honda bike carburettors, everything was super. Not this time, after fitting the old honda wiring loom, and removing the fuel injection system, the car STILL didnt start. Team directors were now really beginning to kack themselves. This had never been this bad before. So at 4AM they gave in and went home. The cancelled the testing for the following day and we had a meeting instead. So the plan: Do a compression check to make sureits not engine internals, it may be a delayed symptom from when the engine seized in last year's competition through overheating. If the piston rongs ae gone thats a huge job to fix. Compression check done, the result was almost perfect. Thats even worse, now there's no idea. Some fresh people and fresh minds, suggested the spark not being strong enough. This appears to be the issue, so our sparkplug high voltage wiring is screwed, spark isnt reliable or strong enough to get the engine to catch when releaing the starter. So now we've ordered a new set of wires and coils, and something funky which I havent asked anbyone about yet but apparently it mimics a distributer. We shouldnt need a distributer because of the ECU but hey we'll see. If it works then I'll not say anything! The engine is now apprently running very poorly, (which is better than not at all) after we've paid some attention to the ignition wiring system.
Its been a very informative and learning experience for me!

Jeez this post is getting long, I've not talked about the karting yet! I'm also beginning to think about my tea....

Formula Student Karting Event
We all troopped off to Cumbernauld, and took partin a karting event, it was superb fun if not exzctly great value for money (disregarding time spent at the venue we only averaged about a poud per lap!!)
I did admirably well considering most people are older than me and many of them have experience in motorsport of some kind. I was lying second for much of it, we had 5 heats of five laps, I was winner of the first heat, had a horrible heat 2, where I was absolutely mauled by about three karts at turn 2 (evil decreasing radius hairpin) in heat three I was winning by a large margine but I came across two backparkwers crashed and had nowhere to go on the last corner of the lap, but the guy in second decided it was better to smash past me and ram home to victory, I was livid and really should have won that heat as well. In the fourth heat I started fourth and remained there after swapping some places. In the fifth heat I didnt do so well, I started fifth and finished 6th, I was 3rd at one point but got punted wide at one corner and a stream of traffic went past me. After all that, I was 6th on the entire leaderboard, which was good enough for a back-marker place in the grand final. Two guys were way out frint vying for the win. On lap one, I made two places off the start, it so happened that my kart had a really good low-rev punch, but at turn 4, someone hit me so hard from behind that my left front wheel came right off. The race was stopped, I was granted a new kart and I successfully persuaded them to have a re-start. (I thought that was only fair and ANY formula of motorsport would have done the same). ony one person had begun lap 2 by the time the red lights came on. So my restart was poor cos the kart was awful. By turn 2 I was last. I didnt mind as I knew the whole final was populated with exceptionally talented people but I just made inroads into the back of the guy infront and hassled him all the way home. Overall I set a very quick "best lap", and proved my ability not only to myself but to the other guys there which I was eager to do. I'm fed yup typing and I know most readers wont have made it down to this bit of the post so all that remains is for me to go, bid you farewell and make myself some tea!!

ttfn

:: Thrill Chasers : UK Extreme Sports :: Daves website links to me now!

2005-02-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Where : Uni Room
Listening to : Ludivico Einaudi Piano music

I havent blogged for ages so just incase you thought I was dead, I'm not!

Uni is great this term. Nice and simple so far, Formula Student is really gettting moving I'm loving it!

speak at length later, ttfn

Google are listing me now!!!!!

2005-02-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Rangers / United match

epitrochoid.co.uk is listed on google now!!!! Type in "Alastair Stevenson Cars" and up I come. Very good indeed. I'm well chuffed.

I have Fridays off now for certain - this is great news.

I'll post a better story later but I must go just now.

ttfn

2nd Day off

2005-01-25T05:20:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: John Mayer - Something's Missing

I'm wrapped up in my duvet, I feel a bit cold but I'm sweating. I have a sore throat, and you dont even want to know what happens when I cough.

MY University timetable looks good this semester, I might even get Friday entirely off! This is good in that I can have either a three day weekend, or a whole day to work on whatever I like. Thursday it would appear that we don't get lunch though. We had that last semester so it doesn't matter too much.

I'm off to sleep I think

ttfn
ferrari mazda rx-8 rx-7 787b maserati porsche lamborghini

No More RU-21 for me!

2005-01-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: John Mayer - My Stupid Mouth

Woke up last night with mad heart palpitations, I thought my time was up!!

I had taken am RU-21 pill the night before and immediately assumed it to be the cause. I got up this morning and searched for "heart+msg" (monosodium glutamate) in google, MSG is the largest ingredient in the pills, and it is indeed linked with racing heart in intolerant people!

So therewe go, I'm sensitive to MSG in large-ish amounts, and therefore I have about 15 of the pills if anyone wants them!

(Its good to be alive lol)

ttfn

Alastair Stevenson's Webpage of Cars and Photos

2005-01-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

On the upside...MY WEBPAGE EPITROCHOID.CO.UK is ALIVE!!!!!

go there, click adverts, make me money!

:-D

bye folks, I'm a bit happier now
But not much

Such a terrifying thought.

2005-01-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Eerie Silence

Never has there been such an absolute feeling of impending doom. The tragic realisation that the moment has come and you're certianly nowhere near equipped to face the manifestation of your fears.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH

*deep breath*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ttfn

www.epitrochoid.co.uk [+- the www].

2005-01-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Radio 4 - "Sorry I havent a Clue"

Alastair Stevenson's Webpage
I HAVE A WEBPAGE DOMAIN ALL OF MY OWN!!!!!! Everyone must go to it. At this very moment the new page is under construction but just now we have the Greece photograph album to keep you happy!
If anyone wants to be part of my domain and have a subdomain link to their website then let me know!

I should be reading my notes.

ttfn

Monday Night

2005-01-17T13:28:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Mr Jones pt 2 - Ben Folds

I miss my piano. Amongst other things.
I'm getting absolutely nowhere with this signals stuff. I'm beginning to worry. Well actually thats a lie, I started worrying at about week 3 of the semester.

I'll get together with Mr Lewis perhaps and see if two heads aren't better than one.

On a lighter note, I made a lovely website, and told me that www.ukreg.com will give me a .co.uk address for £2.95 per year minimum 2 years. I'll do that. Maybe I'll start making money out of this adsense stuff yet!

Devised a nice layout etc.

Mazda are crooks, they think our 323 is only wirth 800, which will be rounded up to 1000. WOOPDYDOO, its worth at least 2000. (Bee in my bonnet, chip on my shoulder etc).

Gillian has been told her computer is fine by someone who doesnt know what's wrong with it. I'm really angry, her computer is so far past being fine that it could melt at any moment. and thus I dont get to build her a new one [wasp in my bonnet, FISH and Chip on my shoulder about that one].

Rant over, for now.

ttfn

An 88 year old Sings Unchained Melody...

2005-01-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Something's Missing - John Mayer

Well hello! Its sunday night, I'm back in a moist Glasgow, but all is not lost, the Tonic is in the fridge and the Gin is within arm's reach... all being well, my lemon isnt entirely dead either! I know its not as good as lime but hey, its better than nowt.

I've taken two of the RU-21 pills so far since the last post, and I've not died, so maybe they're safe! I must say I felt absolutely on top form this morning, but then again I only had 2 Beck's, and one measure of Jura last night, interspersed with much soft drink and a bottle of water to wash down my pill, so that probably did as much good as anything else. If it doesnt kill me, maybe the psychoscematic [sp?] effect will benefit as much as anything. I just checked and its spelt psychosomatic - so there you go.

Oh its nice to have this cd on without the jumps and skips I had on my poor quality mp3s of the album.

WE'RE GETTING A NEW CAR!!!!! A 34 mile old [Mazda 3 1.6 TS] plate: ST54YNR, its reduced in price like mad cos its pre reg and getting to the end of the 54 times, they also need to shift stock ready for the 05s. I'm very excited, It should be smoother, better built and more plush than our previous stalwart, I mean don't get me wrong, I love our 323 and I'll probably cry to see it go, I learned everything I know about driving in that car, I have the clutch feel perfected, I can heel-toe in it, I have learned to love the long throw gear-box, I wasnt enjoying the chassis creaking, squeeking, clonking and banging though. I think struts and bushes are going in the rear [and front?] suspension. It'll also be nice to have a car with proper brakes. It wont have DSC (dynamic stability control) because the likelyhood of you wheelspinning or sliding the 1.6 about isn't as promemant as in the 2litre or the diesel, but hey just means the traction control remains at the right foot of the driver! Lets hope this car is keener on turn in than the 323, which was plagued with cronic understeer! But again: I had learnt to deal with such feubles, and drove the car accordingly. I wont be doing any high speed runs along me and dave's rally track for a good few months, until I get a feel for the chassis and its capabilities. It sounds promising in that the platform is deemed suitable for the volvo S40 (more luxurious car supposedly) and the Focus (and C-Max monstrosity). Mazda have beefed up the suspension to make it much more solid, this means its slightly harsher than the focus but it lends itself more to Mazda's zoom-zoom policy! The engine is a Mazda unit, no info sharing and joint ventures here, 1.6litre MZR, I've just spent a good half hour looking for info on how to describe the Sequential Variable Valve Timing and the Variale Induction System, but I cant find anything. I will eventually, never fear. I'll shut up now, and let you get on with whatever you were doing before you tackled this blog!

ttfn

HOORAY!

2005-01-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: John Mayer - 3x5

YAAAAY! The adverts are working!
Incase they're broken again by the time you read this, I have adverts for mazda, adverts for Ferraris and blogs and all sorts of relevant things!

Very pleased. Now I just sit tight and await the cheque from google.......

dum de dum..... erm.. ok so my account is only sitting at 5 cents, and they wont send a cheque till its at at at least $10, but I'm on my way.... like song off the shrek soundtrack.

I purchased RU-21 today!! If you know what it is then good for you, if you don't I'm not going to tell you!!! muhahaa. I'm off to get a beer. I am not however, going to drink the urine that Mubine very kindly gave me, lovely present, lovely girl, but cheap, cheap wine. They keep the grapes used a secret. How's that for odd: Moulin D'Arvie, French Table Wine. oh dear.

I had my Measurement and Feedback Systems exam today. Three hours long!!!!! I expected to be finished by about the second hour, but no, I needed every single second of the triad. It was reasonably difficult, Armstrong says its the hardest thing he's ever done, that would be true if you'd not done any work (I dont presume he didnt, but I did a bit of prior reading and it seemed ok. I was amused at the amount of people who had "notes booklets" that were almost bulging at the binder.... hmm? could it be possible that.... cough.

**[I'm talking about class-wide ceating here]**

Even if they did it wouldnt have served ay benefit as the stuff we did had never been in an exam before.

I have one more of the triple exam-header. Professional issues. It really ought to be called an idiots guide to not being sued in the workplace. Data Protection Acts, Computer Misuse acts, Forms of Business, ethics, professional accreditation and standards. Yaaaawn.
Its not such a bad class in its own right, but its certainly not a level three class, (not that I'm complaining) it is a "credit in the bag" one hopes.

Oh oh- my mouse is hungry, get gets all red and angry when he;s hungry and he begins to misbehave. Its fine, he can feed over night or over the weekend and I'll use the baby super-sub mouse.

I also bought some eye-Q today. A food supplement with EPA and DHA in it, these are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are the stuff you get from the oily fish we're all supposed to eat. Well I dont eat enough of the stuff so 'm going to take these capsules. They help your eyes and brain stay healthy by improving the repair mechanisms and inter cell communication. Sounds good to me, except..... You buy it in a months worth pot, but it says on the box if you are taking it for the first time you are supposed to take SIX capsules a day for twelve days and then reduce to 2. I guess thats for people who have no brain left and are blind. This will regrow their brain and restore their sight magically, but I'm not going to buy intothat gimmick. Its probaly got something addictive in it which needs a kick start.... no idea. With that and mt RU-21, I spnt a smidgin over a tenner in Boots, so the girly who served me gave me a money off voucher, or maybe its cos she fancied me, not sure! Anyway its a five pound voucher off.... skincare. Well thats ok, I use all that stuff, keep me looking 20 when I'm 90 an all that, but I use Nivea, and Evian. Neither are on the ticket, its oil of olay, Seven, ad all sorts of Uber girly bits and bobs. Not even someone as "moisturisey" as me can go and buy oil of olay to put on my face.... that would be outrageous.

I'm rambling on but I feel in the mood for chatting.

Oh notable mention: lets hear it for Morrison's "beard". He evidently wishes to look like jesus, but unfortunatly, his facial hair isnt quite condusive to beard growing, you can see every single hair, sticking out perpendicular to his skin, it makes it look like a [flock?][gaggle?][pod?][herd?][skene?][tribe?][pride?][litter?] of hedgehogs has taken residence on his chin and upper neck.

OK its play it at home time, please could you tell me what a group of hedgehogs is called, if you dont know, choose the one from above that you like best or suggest another I've missed! Post a comment to this post, click where it says comments at the end of the post, after where it says "posted by epitrochoid". I'll look forward to the one or two that do it.
Ignore the space beneath this there's nothing there honestly.
Mr Jerrard suggests a prickle, there must be something, because, and I quote, there's such a thing as an implausability of gnus. I dont evenknow what a gnu is. I know what GNU is, its importantto my course (ish) but I'm google a gnu as we speak. AAAHAHAHAHA there's something not to be taken out of context, go on say that back to yourself, its brilliant. Its not a euphamism [sp?] either.

I've had enough now. I'll get that beer I said I was going to have earlier.

ttfn peepsferrari ferrari ferrari ferrari ferrari mazda mazda rx-7 rx-7 mx-6 mx-5 rx-8 ferrari mazda mazda MSP blog blog blog alastair stevenson

For crying out loud

2005-01-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

blah
blah

didnt work. I'm angry.

Public Service Adverts Give me no revenue!

2005-01-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Daft Punk - Digital Love

Why on earth has Google decided it cant associate ads with my page? It says that I may have subject matter which is preventing it from allowing company's ads to be shown due to conflicting interests etc, this is obviously nonsense, unless google have read some kind of deeper significance to what I've been writing?! I don't know.

I'll try planting some subliminal messages for the google page-crawler, here we go, see if you can spot them?

FERRARI, CARS CARS CARS, FORMULA ONE, PORSCHE, LAMBORGHINI, FERRARI MICHAEL SCHUMACHER, LOTUS, MAZDA

CARS CARS CARS CARS. [donkeys are aliens] - hehe just kidding! MAZDA MAZDA RX-7 RX-8 787B ok lets see if that works it's magic.

Sorry for the waste of time posts, but its just a little odd that google seems to think it can't advertise on my page for some reason.

ttfn

Monday Evening

2005-01-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: long lost mp3 of Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles - brings back some memories. Mostly Salzburg.

I havent listened to this song for ages, it has so many flashes of memories attached to it, mostly because I did nothing but listen to it for about 3 months solid a couple of years back. Anyway thats beside the point!

I'm Finally back into Pegasus (Portal Engine Giving Access to Strathclyde University Systems), where I can get my exam past papers, I was beginning to really panic, it was dead all day, not good timing.

I made the worst mistake today. I spent the entire afternoon (11 - 1) and 1.30 - 4.30 reading my Measurement and Feedback Notes, then I thought I'm pretty tired so I'll have a wee snooze. What I really needed as a night's sleep so I woke up at 6pm feeling AWFUL. I'm just getting the senses back and my eyes have that horrible heavy feeling where they feel like they're going to burst into tears. I'm not, but thats what it feels like.

Hehe Siece Rhuairidh has just come on, how long since this song was introduced to me in Dad's 323f [ H937WRS ] on the road out to Cruden Bay........ hmmmm. I'm in a reflective mood, which is dangerous. I'll go and busy myself with some past papers again I think.

ttfn

"Water lapping round my knees, golden sand beneath my feet would mean a lot to me, there's very little you an say to make these feelings go away to take me there's nothing more that I prefer, to see the boys and the girls, stepping out with Grace and Pride, as honesty flows by their side.., I cannot run from times hard pressed to become a bitter dispossess just like some do.... there may be some place I can find where whale and harp become entwined like I hope to... and nothing matters more to you, to sit and sing a song thats true, the first one there and last to leave, sweet memories for you to keep... No easy lesson for me to learn, just close those eyes and mock concern. I hoped you'd rush to be sincere, there's more in life for you to fear. There's nothing more that I prefer, to see the boys and the girls, stepping out with grance and pride, as honestly flows by their side, and nothing matters more to you, so sit and sing a song thats true, the first one there and last to leave sweet memories for you to keep...."
[ Grace and Pride - Capercaillie from the album Secret People ]

Hehe, Ad-Sense is funny

2005-01-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: BBC 1 o clock news

Google scans the page I've written and picks up keywords. I looked at the advert and it was all to do with alcohol, drinks and drink spiking. I this was because I had ranted and raved about my vodka in the previous post. Very clever indeed. I should do some work......

ttfn

GOOGLE ADSENSE!!!!!

2005-01-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

Where: Uni Room
Listening to: Nothing cos I'm only on here quickly

Ok basically I now have Google Adsense on my page. I get paid for every click you make on them. Be a sport and give them a look, they're at the top of the page and down the sides.

:-D

Cheers
ttfn

I'm back. and I'm very sorry indeed

2005-01-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Where: Remarkably Tidy Uni Room
Listening to: Richard's "The Complete Little Britain Radio Series 1"

I haven't posted for far too long. I'm really sorry, however I'm sure not too many folk read this so its no great loss to anyone!

My room is tidy, and it makes me feel much more at home and productive. I've been sitting doing nothing but Accounts studying for about 3 hours, its reallllllly dull and boring.

I had something in particular to say but in the preceding ramblings I've totally forgotten what it was.

Currently having my solid chocolate Incredibles lolly things. Lovely.

This CD is quite amusing actually, a bit better than the TV.

I need to write some thankyou letters but I think I'll do some more studying perhaps looking over the past paper form professional issues.

I've removed my Vanilia Absolut from the freezer, and as such the bastard-vodka-plunderer can go thirsty. I looked in the bottle to find ice crystals. This would suggest that the alcohol percentage has been reduced. something else has got in or been put in.
GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHH. MY DRINK. MY DRINK. MY DRINK.
It was a huge bottle and lets face it I hadnt had much out of it. Not impressed.

Ok I'm off, not a particularly inspired or insightful posttoday but I'm back anyway.

ttfn

I'm too hot

2004-12-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

Where : McCance Lecture Theatre One (lol)
Listening to : Paul Goldfinch's insessant rambling and endless anecdotes.

Yes I'm posting this from a lecture.
Its too hot to concentrate but at the same time too hot to fall asleep. That's not stopping Lewis however,

I know its a poor show I havent posted anything for ages and ages, but I've not even had time to open my chocolate Advent Calenders, let alone record any thoughts during the week.

Apparently Mr Goldfinch says copying CD's to your computer for ease of use or tranferring music to an iPod is a copyright infringment. Ah well lets all line up outside the nearest jail.

GOLDFINCH JUST SAID FUCK!!!!!!!

Thats unbelievable. Never thought I'd live to hear that.

Today's website of the day is www.itspublicknowledge.info

I doubt that worked, if it didn't, copy the address out of it.

Its nearly time for the Prof Issues Tut. YAAAAAAY.

ttfn

Sunday night....

2004-12-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

Where : My Bed!!
Listening to : My fingers chapping on my laptop's keys

There's nothing to report. I'm sleepy, the film "the Beach" is on and its very odd so I think 'i'll be ignoring it and going to sleep.

To be up at 6 tomorrow morning, train at 7.36. I must remember to do my accounts homework on the train. Thats if I can stay awake.

Tomorrow I have som crap classes.

Ah well.

Night night

:-)

Saturday evening

2004-12-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

Where : CARNOUSTIE COMPUTER ROOM!!! (my first post outwith Glasgow!)
Listening to : Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly (I love this song, I'm streaming it from Murray's comp)

Ah well, here I am its Saturday evening. Claire'll be round in a bit, just had yummy fajitas for tea. I quite fancy going to the pub but not sure whether that's an option. Iain's back from London would be good to catch up properly.

Didn't accomplish much today, slept in, un-disturbed till 11.49. At which point I didnt waste any time moping about, I lept out of bed and had a shower.

I took an old matress from the garage along to the dump, then this afternoon I spent 2 hours trying to break a code from a CD. if anyone is good at breaking codes please let me know and I'll share it with you.

Then mums friend's husband came round to hang the new funkeh curtains. they cover the entire wall top to bottom. Looking nice! [ The curtains, not the guy ]

Murray dented the wood on my guitar by dropping it, I'm not happy about that.

Other than that not much to report.
I'm pleased I'm managing to keep up this posting lark, I thougt I might get tired of it all eventually but its becoming habit and part of daily routine.

My endeavour to firther the spread of Firefox continues, all you people who use Internet Explorer stop using it now, its full of security risks. Even the American Government have suggested you stop using it. Get it by clicking here

Must go, I'll post again tomorrow si-possible.

ttfn

Thursday's finished already

2004-12-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

Where : Uni Room (this may prove to be a redundant piece of information.)
Listening to : Incubus - Echo
Word of the Day : Redundant!

Today we had the control test. Or as it should be referred to as Measurement and Feedback Test. It proved slightly odd but nothing too tricky. I should have arespectable mark, I hope so because its weighted quit heavily towards the final mark. Well done to Emma for standing up to the funnyl little man invigilating and walking out at 11.00!! \o/
We went over the CAD test, (not got results back yet though) I think I should've done ok but there was negative marking and I did get a few wrong. Somewhere around the 60-70% mark I feel would be fair.

Went and moped around the labs. They were hot and smelly. Got my laptop PAT tested to make sure I dont blow up the livi tower next time I plug it in. I'll get to go wireless again in a few days.

OK NOW I'M PISSED OFF.
The reson mubina cant do fridays and saturdays as a student assistant is that she has taken another job. As fas as I can see that isnt a good enough reason to mess me and ewen about.
I think I might pay a visit to the village office to see how that sits with them. This is a job, she's signed a contract (I think?) GGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRHHH

I am getting some serious responsibility on the Formula Student team! Emma wants me to know exactly whats going on in all areas so that next year I can take on more repsonsibility as she gets busier with other stuff. I'm like Apprentice Tech-God this yeah!!!! MUHA!

Might go to Larkhall Testing in a fortnight, depends on my workload. Might even get a spin in the car!!

I've got to go and do some research for the car's gearchanger.

ttfn

Fed Up

2004-12-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

Where : Uni Room
Listening to : Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity

Couldnt post yesterday! The website was fubar. Although you could still read my own post, which is odd.
So yes its wednesday already, going a bit quick I should wonder.... I made it to Accounts at 10 for the first time in ages and ages. It wasnt very exciting. Had eCad, it was super dull and it goes to show that our lecturer is a complete fool. He couldnt do the work he was asking of us. Telling us not to make a certain mistake and within 20 seconds of saying that, he made that very mistake. And moaning that the lecture theatre had to be in complete silence otherwise he culdnt think, even the smallest whisper was met with one of his pathetic yet steely glares.
I dont like that man, his jordie (sp?) accent doesn't do him any favours in my opinion of him either.

I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO!!!! AAAAAAARGH

Got a test tomorrow, it shouldnt be too hard but I'll need to spend all night reading for it.
I'm really quite bored and fed up, those EEE computer labs really drain the will to live out of you.

I want a PDA. Really quite a lot. I might ask for it for christmas. In fact yes.
Whether I'll get one or not is another matter entirely.

Totally uninspired to write stuff today.

Speak to you tomorrow.

Sleepy

2004-11-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

Where : Uni Room
Listening to : Ben Folds - Give Judy My Notice [from the Speed Graphic EP]

Woke up this morning to my alarm at 7, re-set it for 8. It went of again, I re-set it for 8.30. It went of again and I fell asleep immediately. Woke up far too late to make it to Information Engineering Software. Ah well, Not quite the end of the world.

Classes were the usual humdrum affair of lethargy and mind numbing boredom. I made the conscious decision to go to Professional Issues however, as I haven been for a while now. I get to the lecture theatre and there's a note on the door "Mr Paul Goldfinch is off ill today". Bloody typical. Came back and embarked up on the bonkers assignment of creating a presentation regarding the health and safety emforcement in our computer science department. How insanely dull, although inserting as much clip-art as I can into one slide has become a challenge. Then I went to CAD, and Joe and I slept together. When I say that what I mean is as we sat beside each other snoozing, we both experienced but a slight amoung of what Smeed had to say :-)

I'm debating as to whether I'm going to go down to the Co-Op or not. 5th Gear is on at 8.30 and Spooks on at 9. If I go I should go now. hmm.

Not happy at the state of Student Assistant duty right now, actually very unhappy indeed. We'll see how it goes. GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHH

Andrew G has the PDA I'm wanting! Ironic!!

I'll see if I have enough bread, if I dont I'm going out to the co-op.

ttfn

Sunday

2004-11-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

Where : Uni Room
Listening to : John Mayer - 3x5

Wow, what a gorgeous day, it feels like christmas, cold, sunny, crisp and dry, kinda like the chips on the advert for the cooking oil. (momma dont want no greasy chips from no cooking oil.)

Just spent a fantastic weekend with Claire, she appeared Friday evening, we did food shopping then had a steak for tea. Very nice, I was on student assistant duty so we stayed in. On Saturday we went into town once I was extracated from my bed. I wasnt entirely obliging and was somewhat sleepy. We covered what felt like miles and miles and yet no christmas presents were purchased. The problem was there was no agenda, like Bill Bailey's weasels, we were agenda-less.
[[(( my god the bridge in this song is so good ))]] hehe
Saturday afternoon we staggered back up the road, and slept. Feet still very sore we headed back down to the ice-rink. Interesting idea, the fools had put a carpetty rug type thing down which was like a sponge. On removing our shoes our toes were greeted with copious oozing rainwater that was probably partially frozen. The skates were slightly too small and I managed to break mine as I put them on. We experiencd a senga-ned fall flat on her face from a height of about 5 feet, this was hilarious, but we didnt dare laugh incase her buckfast fuelled pimp/ "boyfriend" decided to take a blade to one of our more cherished organs. Claire is very good at skating. I, am not. I didnt not FALL though.
I woke this morning, STIFF, achy, and somewhat unwilling to move. However I was coaxed into getting the breakfast, on saturday claire prepared oven warmed pastries, coffee, tea, grapefruit juice and everything, this morning I managed to colect two bowls of prevoulsy prepared fruit and get it back to the room without spilling it: an achievement indeed. Ok do the secret was I left the clingfilm on them as a precaution. Very nice it was too, I'd never had papapapayaayayaya (sp?) before.

Grudguingly we went to the train station this morning, and put claire on her train, she has to work. She as to be nice to moaning people from arbroath, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I got a costa-coffee, and a Paninininininini (sp?). I bough a Sunday Telegraph and a Spectator, [the current affairs mag, not a random trainspotter] and headed for a seat on George Square to sit and look important. There was and I kid you not, ONE bench that wasn't cast in blood-freezing shadow. I sat beside a perculiar woman who evidently also had no agenda, she sat with her suitcase and shuffled closer to me as the sun moved round out of sight, so I ran away.
Back to the flat, I'll go proper shopping this afternoon, get a few things I thought of yesterday but had lost the will to buy.

Incidentally!! This, is only the third sundayI've spent in glasgow as a student. The first one, I spent sad and lonely in my broom-cupboard in Murray Hall, the second I spent asleep all day with Dave McKay last year, I use the term 'with' loosely, almost exactly a year ago actually. This one I intend to do something productive. I'll stop rabitting ;-)

Oh, the song I announced at the top of this post is no longer playing, I've now got John Mayer's Why Georgia. I dont know why Georgia, I thought perhaps Florida would be more appropriate. [for the folks that dont know the song, thats a joke btw] He is a very good guitarist, I like very much his riffs.

I feel quite inspired. Its so nice today I feel like I should write a piece of music, however my brother has comandeered the guitar, and my piano is not here, neither is the keyboard, so its not looking too good.

ttfn