seawolfsanctuary : /etc

Bristol Flash Mob: Freeze

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:04:00 +0000

:eof

Flash Mob: Freeze at Cabot Circus, Bristol on Saturday; via ThisIsBristol

in the 'Pool at the shallow end

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 23:55:00 +0000

Tonight was the monthly meeting of the Liverpool Linux User Group (LUG) and I didn't go.

Today was my first day off from uni assignments for a couple of weeks, after a long and tedious programming project; it would have fitted in very nicely.

Only Monday I was in Liverpool, meeting my brother for lunch, and I have jumped on those bloody Merseyrail trains what seems like a hundred times. Riding back and forth over the Mersey makes Liverpool seem quite close but it takes about as long to the centre from my house, door-to-door, as 'home' to Bristol... by bike.

I'm somewhat disappointed that I didn't find out about the meet until it was two hours in. The journey after dinner would have made my day rather well rounded off, icing the book-filled cake. I'm looking to make next month's my first, though, after sufficiently stalking and poking the appropriate places, hopefully seeing a couple of those at it's sibling, the Chester LUG.

:eof

Smurf Fail.

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:35:00 +0000

"Although it was a fantastic night and we had over 1400 people attend only 747 people we signed in as Qualified Smurfs...

The adjudicator took the decision to stop the registration process at 12.00 as it was clear we were not going to break the record."

Gutted, Chester Smurfs!
:eof

one minute writing: recap

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:17:00 +0000

Now Playing: Tonic - Lemon Parade

I've written and re-written this about five times now but have only come up with one critical conclusion: live for today, plan for tomorrow. It's hardly two thousand-odd words but it's what's in my head at the moment and will be for the next few (hundred) days...

:eof

quotes of the week

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:13:00 +0000

Now Playing: Everything I Need - Aynsley Lister

Things I have overheard or, possibly, read this week:

- "Blogging is boring, right? So let’s have a little idea party." [Michael Buffington via project.ioni.st

:eof

the unfinished swan

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:00:00 +0000

The Unfinished Swan - Tech Demo 9/2008 from Ian Dallas on Vimeo.
:eof

one-minuite writing: chicken

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:10:00 +0000

Now Playing: David Gogo - Silk and Stone

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, that is any number of questions one may as of it. I fear, however, analysing the surface of such an action would be ignoring any underlying issues that may affect the poultry in question. Dig deeper: who is the chicken; why and how did it come to be at the side of the road; is it even a chicken at all?

:eof

quotes of the week

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: You Talk Dirty - Aynsley Lister, Erja Lyytinen & Ian Parker @ Blues Caravan 2006

Things I have overheard this week:

- "We're not here for fun, we're here to get married!" (shop assistant gossiping with friend)

:eof

all together now

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Now Playing: Phil King - Smiling Eyes

A thought came to me this morning which I had previously ignored; the vast majority of blogs I read are hosted on the Wordpress platform over my choice, Blogger. I have two Blogger blogs but wonder if it is any better to host them on WP: I suppose there's only one way to find out.

I migrated both over to similarly free packages with great ease -- WordPress can import all the posts and comments with one click -- and skimmed over the settings and such that would differentiate the services. To cut a long story short, I've found Blogger to be a basic publishing service if one just wants to get words on a page with a bit of theming, whereas WordPress offers more bells and whistles if one has time to play with them. While it's certainly true I have added and taken parts of the default layout, it is mostly the odd widget here and sentence or two there, nothing iconic or original. The blogs are pretty standard, even the theme is a given though I don't feel they really count for much as a designer dedicated enough could make the blog look however they want.

I saw that Kevin Oliver in his Moments In Time blog thinks he has found a way to make your blog incredibly awesome -- with more hits, comments, diversity and interestingness: if we all write about the same thing at the same time. He calls it synchroblogging. Always a sucker for a meme, I'll give it a go in my next few posts while I make up my mind. Amusingly, he is hosted on Blogger!

:eof

in and on in the morn

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: Rob Thomas - Here Comes The Night

I finally have a geek's morning. Three weeks in waiting, I've finally sat down this morning to breakfast and read some RSS feeds.

When we moved in to our new house (for this year, anyway) we didn't give much consideration to the utilities for a few days. We let things take their course for a few days before doing anything to change them. We had no phone line, thereby no Internet connection and the water, electric, gas and heating bills in a bit of a state. Now, though, things are actually sorted.

A phone call to BT from a mobile (irony?) and five minutes on my housemates mobile operator website got the ball rolling, albeit for about a week to get the jigsaw to fall together. But it's here; wireless box sat in the front room, everyone's laptops feeling good and my desktop connected too.

I can now start my morning with the ritual of geekness over breakfast as I normally do, for the halfhour it takes my brain to wake up!

I just had to get that out. I've struggled to come up with *any* decent topic worthy of blogging recently... I'd better make post #100 a good one!

:eof

damn coffee

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: matchbox twenty - Push

Coffee usually makes my head get a bit ahead of itself. Starbucks or Coffee #1, moreso: the philosophy of life is usually mulled over with whomever happens to be sat next to me. It needs to be someone close, only one of them.

As I write this, some of my housemates are preparing to go out for the night. Well, when I say preparing, I mean drinking to add to that they will do when they are out. I would be joining them as it is the first time anyone is going to a certain place since March but, alas, I have about £30 to my name and need to spend it on food. I'm not really up for it right now but would be after being around everyone. A night in is on the cards then.

I like nights in, mostly. I want to read more than I currently do -- a bookshelf of countless books await my eyes as well as anything I could pick from both the city and university libraries. I could do a bit of uni work - practice a little programming that has slipped my mind over the summer - but I won't, that tends to need daytime. The perfect line-up for a night in with a good book, or seven!

And I'm genuinely happy with that.

People are different. On the surface, one could surmise the majority under some category of another, with varying degrees of accuracy; dig a little deeper and the similarities become slight or sparse but still there nonetheless. The most common personality variation that I have seen is how outgoing a person is: inside I think I am -- no, I know I am-- a passionate but quiet-ish person with opinions and values that I am proud of and will argue for. The consequence of this came as I was sipping a caramel coffee in an armchair.

Starbucks in Chester centre felt somewhat uncomfortable, the atmosphere was sharpened by ill-suited background music and groups of children (teenagers that didn't fit with the rest of the suited or shirted workers and students, big difference within 'young people') which gave unnecessary noise to the comforting and refreshing surroundings. While it is true that we both felt a little annoyance, possible anger, build up inside of us, we both found a little calm in chaos.

I re-realised (sic) that my life, as I want it to be, would be different. Specifically, the people I live with would be a little more mature. Don't misunderstand me, I love to go out on the town or stay up in to the early hours doing whatever and ever. The rest of the time, though, I feel a separating mentality twixt myself and a couple of people, such that I feel I am hiding away from them when I am just enjoying time alone, doing my own thing.

Next year, I know things will change. I know because I will make them. Unless a catastrophe unfolds before me, I would love to spend my third and final year of university living with my girlfriend of many years because we have the same approach to work and play: I know there will be days we could both walk to the library in the morning, return home when it's dark, however together we stay inside; talk through the evening about some personal or social or even philosophical (loose use of that word) issue or concept; if one of us has some crucial work then the other will help as much as possible without being a pain in the backside. At the moment, if someone has work to do, they are alone in their room with occasional visits from whoever is in and remembers. It feels more alone than I'd like it to -- that's why I want it to change. I want my life to suit me more.

EDIT: 23:30:
Okay, everyone in my social group, including my girlfriend and her friends, are out on the town tonight. It's just me and one other person -- who I believe is freezing in her room watching DVDs -- in three big student houses. Now I could go out, people are different but when they are the same, it's a persuasive force.

:eof

i'm here

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:45:00 +0000

Now Playing: Eric Clapton - On Top Of The World (with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers)

Ten minutes of astounding blues music and three newspaper articles read on my gorgeous new mobile phone, using Opera Mini. I just need my girlfriend to walk through my bedroom door holding enough chocolate to send us to sleep, to give me a shot at heaven.

Another one of those times where so many passionate ideas are flying around my head that they won't end up here.

They're staying where they are. For now.

:eof

i'm there

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

I've spent nearly twenty years on this planet and 95% of my worldly possessions amount to what could fit in to the boot and a seat of a Ford Mondeo. Yes, I've moved the three and a half hours back to university again.

I am one of six in this terraced house currently; a main 'A' road to the front and a barely-used railway track behind. The rooms are modest and the company familiar; the life so far all to so. I do not feel homesick despite being out of this city for two months -- I'm so glad of it and I relish the opportunity to begin the two years of self-guided, mind-stimulating freedom I crave after a lazy first year.

I've been known to feel frustrated through the past twelve months that by lectures covering topics I already had a sufficient understanding of -- sometimes wondering how those who needed it have found themselves in a degree-level course. That said, last year was Freshers and the grades do not count toward anyones final degree (just make sure you pass somehow) so I can forgive people for taking more a laid-back approach to their £3,000 per year education and the use of it's residential accommodation. Even from the opening day of teaching, where I would imagine it is quite long enough to gain a first impression for a second time, one or two of my housemates are 'same old'. Yesterday saw an argument about the state of the kitchen against them, the same people who missed some - if not all - lectures of their first day. Heck, one of them hasn't attended a lecture in eight months, so why start now? Sure, the Fresher's week we all had together of settling in to the new house was fantastic but this is now the bit that counts. Go out drinking for the night by all means but really the night before those 9am-midday lectures? It's just some people seem to be wasting such a golden opportunity, that's what gets me.

I won't waste my time, though. If there is something I want to do with what's around me here then I will ignore the judgements and pressures of anyone else. To have a big enough loan to give me a good room in a university city with everyting in it, unconstrained access to any book that the university library can get their hands on, all without being tied down to a job is too good to miss.

Oh, yes -- I caught Fresher's Flu this week. It's all okay, though: I think I gave it to my girlfriend. Score.

:eof

"Any fool can use a computer. Many do."

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: Smiling Eyes - Phil King

That's a quote from Ted Nelson, with whom I wholeheartedly agree. I'll tell you why. First, though, I wish to make clear that although I consider myself to be very computer literate (if there should even be such a term) I am not acting in a know-it-all kind of way. I want computers to be usable by many people to make their lives easier, that's the whole point of machines in general: you try dragging a suitcase to France and back then tell me it was a good holiday without a car. I digress.

People are stupid. I am. If someone tells me something about anything I don't know or understand in the slightest, I'll probably trust them if it doesn't sound ludicrous. It is that balance of understanding that is built upon prior knowledge. If you know that the writing on the front of a book is usually it's title and author then the next time you pick up one, you will probably identify it in the same way. We are constantly learning and building upon that which we have already learnt. I believe any psychologist, teacher, sociologist etc. will agree - it's called inference.

Case in point, I can't really remember the first time I used a computer but it was probably when I lost my brother's game of Destruction Derby rather badly.

Consider the situation: I saw my brother having fun playing that game, sitting in front of the screen with lots of colours on it. I would have had no idea what I was doing except for pressing buttons and watching the cars go around a track. It seems to amuse him rather a lot, I could have some fun too. He sat me next to him and put my hand on top of the keyboard. Pressing left, watching the car go left a bit and thinking I was in total control of said automobile, I had no idea that it was a computer game sprite and another was about to smash into the bonnet and disable me -- and I didn't care. All I knew was that, when I pressed a button with an arrow on it the car moved in the same direction.

I didn't know that the key told the computer that I wanted to move the car left; the computer didn't know it either. The key sent an electrical signal down a wire and the machine dutifully looked up what the hell it meant and performed the attached tasks. I had no idea what happened, I didn't think what happened, all I knew was that something happened.

This is the feeling I get from some computer users.

to be continued
(Please only comment on content directly said in the post, preferably waiting until I have finished the series.)

:eof

august, september 2008

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: matchbox twenty - Girl Like That (Live)

I love being a teenager: it gives me a solid excuse to have higher/lower mood swings than a hypochondriac at a play park.

The low bit was evidently Wednesday but one must not dwell on that: the future is forthcoming. Why look back when we can move forward?

I have this week, the next in Paris and one more before moving back to university. This adds up to a whopping eight (count 'em, eight) days before Somerset and Bristol is no longer mine to exploit. I want to fill those days with as much as I can. Most of my uni friends have been to Download, V or Reading festivals this summer with friends and, although I have experienced the awesomeness of the Bristol Harbourside Festival, it was on my own. I would love to close this time with all of my friends.

Let's make it so.

Yes, I know I still have to write about the Ben Folds gig. Hold off.

:eof

to the editor

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: Hand Me Down - matchbox twenty

Dear Sir,

I would like to dedicate this blog post to the notification of Chaucer By Chance, 'a collection of fiction writings, made up as I go'. These were taken from a Facebook application I added nearly a year ago but updated with the two parts of each story that was published on the launch. Hopefully, moving it to a blog will not only encourage more posting -- to keep my creativity silenced -- but also a wider audience. Okay, maybe an audience at all.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerly,
the bestest author ever.

:eof

summer 2008

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: Ben Folds - Brick

In front of me is a pile of money - it is my three-day week's pay. Behind me, my muddy and smelly work clothes lie on my bedroom floor, waiting to be taken to the washbasket - as is the binbag of bedsheets I brought home from uni to wash¹. This round of circumstances brings the total to four so far this summer, I re-started my job a month ago. The four payments in to my bank account are about all I have to show for my summer.

I wake up on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays to go to work. I come home, lazily dwindle in front of some RSS feeds as I re-cooperate from a knackered bike ride home before (eventually) showering. Dinner follows and takes me to about 7:30pm, where I usually catch up on some television recordings. I start yawning about 11/12pm and go to bed. This sleep normally extends though Thursday because I am weak. Fridays though, my personal catch-up days, I am refreshed to usually make short trips in to town or work on little personal errands and projects. Saturdays have recently held the enthrallance of putting a fence up or otherwise maintaining the back garden with dad. Since it's the only thing we do together short of a eating, I don't mind. That's family time. Sundays... who does anything on a Sunday? If I'm not watching the rallying, I'm... I don't know. Something. I couldn't tell you what has happened in a seventh of my summer... or most of the rest of it.

14th May was when I finished university; 1st July I was living back at home. Between those dates, I had the house to pretty much myself. I jumped on several trains to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Cheshire Oaks, Wrexham - some of them more than once. I met some lovely new people, too. Now, though, it's the middle of August and I have next week, a week's holiday and a fortnight before moving back to Chester.

I have done nothing this summer, short of one concert, one day in Bristol for the Harbourside Festival and a birthday party. Not so much as an hour's bike ride to Nailsea, the next town over. I may as well have been in Chester. At least then I could have have friends stay over, or continued to explore the area. I could have ironically come back home for a week or so to catch up with those who wouldn't be able to come up. I though the weeks at home would be a chance to claw back some schoolboy French for my holiday, to revitalise some seemingly deceased piano-playing ability and to work on a university project I have continued: but none of that has happened and I don't expect it to. I'm not even sure if I will have a holiday because my passport will have just under six months left. If they get picky at six in the morning, I won't be bothered to explain why I still signed the declaration on the booking and insurance saying otherwise. The only thing I am looking forward to is having time to do things other than the everyday stuff that makes no tangible difference.

Sunday is my birthday. That is, quite literally, all there is to it. It is a day past which I can say I am nineteen instead of eighteen. Being eighteen is better anyway, otherwise I am in that levelling out between that and twenty-one - which I am reliably informed is where it all goes downhill!

This summer has gone, as far as I'm concerned. It hasn't even been.

:eof

1: Don't worry, I have washed my bedsheets etc. regularly through the year. These are the last ones I didn't get round to doing. I'm not that bad.

2: That picture is not me, by the way.

twit twoo

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: The Script - Breakeven

They're pulling the plug, it's official. Twits in the UK will no longer receive text messages when their favourite people update, nor when one receives a direct message. This is a very bad move.

UK mobile operators charge around 10/12pence for a single text message (SMS) across networks. This means that, for every tweet one receives, Twitter is charged at least 10p. For each tweet. For every person with a UK mobile 'device'. Equally, if you update, it is sent to all your followers that want it. Every tweet. All day. Every day. The costs, as you could imagine, build up. If they can't afford it, fine. That's not entirely their fault; they knew from the start that they would probably run out of money. In their words, they "set the clock ticking."

Since using the service for about four of my followees, I have felt more connected with that service than any other I use. When I was sent an update, it asked me to update myself. Now, even on the first couple of days, I have updated... three times per day (ish) and had so many more tweets to catch up on. My appetite for updates is rather diminished. Sure I can use my phone's Internet capabilities to update, but only when I remember -- not when I'm prodded all day long, which I do not mind in the slightest. It's effectively loosing custom.

Anyone that can enlighten me on how they could afford this in the first place, please do. It would be greatly appriciated.

Twitter is known for it's blue whales, the quirky graphic that displays when something has gone belly-up. If the servers have overloaded, someone pushe the wrong button etc. the site is pulled and replaced with this beautiful image.

They must save a lot of cash by cancelling the SMS updates... use them to employ a engineer! Keep the servers going! Please!

The net little while is going to be an interesting one for Twitter, I feel.

-----

Do you think Twitter can keep it's faithful following? Could you make enough money catching fish to keep a heavily-used website up? Did you get those puns? Either way, whatever your views on the subject: let me know in the comments below =)

:eof

what works for me

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: Sara Bareilles - Bottle It Up

Everybody is different; no two people will think exactly the same about some things. That's a slight generalisation but I think it's true for the most part.

To give an elaborated example, based on what Chris has said - so many social websites exist, often in drect competition with each other and offering 98% of the same features. My point moreover, they will do it in either the same or different ways. It is this choice which gives the user (that's you, by the way) preference to one over others. Take online profiles and friend networking: Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn all allow you to create a personal account, attach a picture, build up a history of personal details and make links between users. This is, essentially, social networking. Features like photo albums or expanding your page with other data is only worthy if the aim of a site includes it. I say this because I do not feel that my (very few) LinkedIn friends - for want of a better term - would care how many sights I saw on my recent holiday or the latest in-joke with my close friends; likewise, my Facebook friends may be too informal to read my current lifestyle objective with any interest. Any musicians I like wouldn't care of any of it from my MySpace page. This handling of features gives each site it's worth to each user.

My personal choice comes in to play with so much of what I fill my life with, not just those that are a matter of pure taste (which car one drives, music one listens to etc.) and it is up to each individual to use what is availible to them how they need/want to. In the last couple of weeks, I have experimented with these very choices, indeed these very examples: all of my friends have an account of Facebook with which I am friends, both myself and those I wouldn't annoy too much use Twitter, many of my favourite bands or musicians have a MySpace account from which I follow updates and writings, the reletively few of my business contacts have a LinkedIn account to which I am... linked. I post things that involve just me on Twitter, things that involve my close friends on Facebook... you can write the rest of this paragraph for yourself.

So, I have discovered that the way I use what is availible to me depends on my needs and wants of them. If they satisfy said requisites then they have my vote, if I have a gap for it. If I can use them painlessly and connect with the way of thinking and doing, the better. You've probably a friend for a good while - no pun intended. I have relgated MySpace below Facebook because of it's lack of profile customisability, not just because most of my friends are FB users. Preference comes into my choices a fair bit.

Are you a one-for-many or a many-for-everything? How do your needs define what you use and why are your preferences so?

:eof

this is what i do

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: Alphabeat - Fascination

My limbs feel like jelly and, so I'm told, it's sign of a good day's work. Ha.

For six weeks of my twixt-first-and-second-year holiday from university I was, am and will be continuing my part-time job as a horticulturalist at a local garden centre and plant nursery. Usually filling the spring-summer bridge is continuing the growth of herbs, shrubs and trees by expanding and sustaining their environment (okay, putting the in bigger pots and watering them) to grab the sun on the little ones. Otherwise it's jobs like weeding and throwing out dead'uns on to a humungous compost heap which is becoming more unstable by the day.

The best part, without a doubt, is being outside in the Great British Summer for seven hours a day straight. Though I did sunburn quite a bit last week, I've climatised and can cope. The people I work with are great and have all been there long enough to know the ropes well. Nearly always in a team, it's hours of It's a great job but one does suffer occaisionally -- not as much, though, as the tractors that grab and drag around up to three full trailers. That may not sound much but the weight of around a hundred 5' Christmas trees is a hefty one, especially up a hill covered in slippy, rutted mud and gravel. Not pretty but, the Kubota and Iseki, we salute your hard work. Seriously, you try it because you'll fail miserably. You'll probably have more than the thirteen - count 'em, 13 - BHP in your legs anyway.

So, after three days solid of tiring, physical work, I got paid and I got happy. Four days off, I can't complain.

:eof

tick.

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: Ben Folds Five - Julieanne

The past week or so feels like it has made up for the two months of nothingness; after finishing my last university exam on May 14th, I haven't done much!

Sure that odd trip home and sorting things out but this past few days have made up for it! Besides I wanted to clear a few things up before I started work tomorrow, so I did:

Bookshelves extended to accommodate recent additions to my library :D
House wired from the kitchen with two network cables, going upstairs to my bedroom and into the converted garage, a proper phone extension to my bedroom and one digital phone extension to dad's bedroom so he can have an extra half-hour lie-in if someone tries to wake him. Lazy bugger.
Darkened corner of bedroom (named Bomb Site Corner but unsure if this refers to the area or the entire room) cleared out of old rubbish and cleaned.
Keyboard cleaned out so the 'R' and 'E' keys don't need hammering every keystroke. This is the replacement to the one i smashed when angry. Whoops.
Installed the 'Moodin' KSplash for a sexier login display; darkens gradually to match my wallpaper matches and everything.
RSS feeds smashed down to just seven to-read items, all of which are links to online articles anyway.
Told the guys at Twitux that Twitter approve the application identification when tweeting - basically putting a link at the end of each tweet.
Started to geekily gander at Python programming language, seems to be cropping up a bit around Linux, especially Fedora, along with places like Google.
Noticed that I'm no longer getting syndicated on the Fedora Planet blogroll - not surprising since it's been about six months since I left my position in the Art team and haven't contributed anything!
Mouse mat upgraded to a hilarious retro Seagate one. The Arsenal 'Champions' photo-mat seems a little dated. Maybe next year :)
Bike pretty much there. Least said about that the better now but the gears aren't yet sorted so I will have to walk forty minutes to work and back tomorrow and Tuesday :(

Just need to watch the half-season review of the World Rally Championship from Dave TV and I'm happy :D

:eof

...in with the new.

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Now Playing: The Ting Tings - Shut Up And Let Me Go

I can't grumble with I'm given, especially if it's free. It is a little disappointing to be misled. Job's a good'un, though!

My uncle very kindly gave me his bike which he bought a while ago but has used twice; it's been sat in his garage idle for ages. As mine crumbled to dust - or to the usefulness thereabouts - I was on the lookout for a new one quickly because I will need to cycle ten minutes twice a day for work, which I start again next week. It was my auntie's suggestion; keep it in the family and all that.

Yes, The term 'mountain bike' was a little off; the tyres are as thin as my dad's racers but have some decent tread on them, the rubber specks from it's moulding are still there! The shine goes right down to the sparkling chain and gears.

Lying in those gears is a problem - I'm restricted to 1st and 2nd on each cog. One tiny spring in the gear changer has gone bye-bye, leaving the metal arm (centre) which pushes the mechanism round stationary. The cog changer is fine and if it wasn't such a tiny space I could just steal a spring from that one but it's doesn't solve the problem.

Sigh. Onward.

:eof

Out with the old...

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Now Playing: MGMT - Electric Feel

Here lies the Townsend Daytona, one of the finest bicycles ever to grace the highways and biways of Somerset.

And what a way to go.

Rusted, worn and tired, it has been put through sun, wind, rain, hail and snow - that's not to mention the mud, gravel, concrete and grass the tyres alone have had to endure day-in-day-out.

I thank you. The memories of your fine service will not be forgetten.

:eof

i'm the best sysadmin in the world

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:20:00 +0000

Now Playing: Sister Hazel - Superman

I'm a better computer guy than your computer is. Don't think I'm jumping the gun, blowing my own trumpet or any other corny phrase: I have proof.

There you go, just over there. This is from a game called knetwalk. You are given a bunch of computers to connect to the server, by the wires/pipes. By rotating the pieces, you can fit them together. The difficulty comes from:

completing the puzzle in as few moves as possible
using enough forward thinking so you don't go back on yourself
ensuring that if the end of a wire/pipe points to nowhere, it can't be that way round
and a few more things but telling you may give me competition :)

Usually, one would use all the pieces to solve a puzzle but I have completed it using two less (those of a lighter grey -- i.e. not connected -- toward the top-left)! The best part was that the game wouldn't accept that I had connected all of the terminals because not all the pipes were used!

I'm off to waste some more time on knetwalk because I love it and play it ore than Wormux. If you're interested in this tiny but brilliantly fun time-killer - which I hope you will be - it's in the kdegames package, available from all good repos.

:eof

six months, part six

noreply@blogger.com (seawolf) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0000

Now Playing: Ben Folds - Not The Same

So, what have I spent the last six months doing? Good question.

Six out of six: living the life before me.

You've probably guessed that this post, last in my six-part series - is a bit of a zen one. If you had, you're spot-on.

I am a firm believer that whatever you are doing right now - your activities, feelings, plans, circumstances, everything about you - however you are living your life right now will lead on to a life that is different to that with even the slightest change. If you stop reading this and take a walk for five minutes (don't, by the way) then it will have a knock-on effect that will change your life in some way, big or (most likely) minuscule. You could miss bumping in to the person who you instantly fall in love with. You could bump in to someone that spills coffee on to your jacket, you need to wash it and end up spending your day differently to how you plan. Something will change something else. But, don't worry - if you keep reading, I promise you will be more successful and prosperous than you have ever dreamt of, be really totally awesome for the rest of your life*.

This may sound profound or worrying, perhaps startling... like heck it is.

I am also a believer in living now as it is, acting upon what is available to you in the best way you know right there and then. That's why I plan for things but, if by some uncontrollable reason they can't happen - not that they don't happen - then it's simply up to you to adapt and proceed.

During the past couple of months, as I have written this series, I have finished my first year at university and have a summer ahead of me before starting the all-important second. As my clock ticks midnight, I would like to share a few things I have considered good plans for the next while and share them with you, in the hope that something between us will help not only me, but you in it's own way. That would probably bore you though. Suffice to say there are a few things in my head that will fold out in time. If I manage to get a steady job this summer (the company I have been at for two and more years before university have come across hard times and don't feel they can reliably pay me on top of everyone else there - eek) then it will pass a lot quicker, I'm sure, but no worries.

Yes, this post was really quite pointless. I'm sorry for disappointing you but a blog is so easy to update that when things do happen or I anticipate they will, I can tell you about them - there and then. Even the things that I could write pages about can wait to develop in my head, become writing more worthy of both your reading time and that of my writing.

If you would be so kind as to read, of course. I would love that.

:eof

* As it turns out, this is not a guarantee but a subtle ploy for you to keep reading my post. If you are still hanging around to read this, thanks but you've been had. Ha.

seawolfsanctuary : /etc

Bristol Flash Mob: Freeze

in the 'Pool at the shallow end

Smurf Fail.

one minute writing: recap

quotes of the week

the unfinished swan

one-minuite writing: chicken

quotes of the week

all together now

in and on in the morn

damn coffee

i'm here

i'm there

"Any fool can use a computer. Many do."

august, september 2008

Yes, I know I still have to write about the Ben Folds gig. Hold off.

to the editor

summer 2008

1: Don't worry, I have washed my bedsheets etc. regularly through the year. These are the last ones I didn't get round to doing. I'm not that bad.2: That picture is not me, by the way.

twit twoo

what works for me

this is what i do

tick.

...in with the new.

Out with the old...

i'm the best sysadmin in the world

six months, part six

1: Don't worry, I have washed my bedsheets etc. regularly through the year. These are the last ones I didn't get round to doing. I'm not that bad.

2: That picture is not me, by the way.