Monday 31 December 2007

DragonForce Rock!

Awesome. That is the only word that can describe the force that is DragonForce.

Until very recently, my only experience of DragonForce was listening to some crazy double bass drumming that leaked from Joe's headphones. A couple of casual attempts to listen to DragonForce did not make me want to listen any further.

Little did I know, that is because DragonForce cannot be listened to casually. Oh no, you have to become immersed baby! You need to become one with the DragonForce. You need to feel their awesome-ness coursing through your veins!

My recent introduction to DragonForce has come through the highly cool game of Guitar Hero III, which Fraser got for Christmas. More on that in a second.

First, so that you too can feel the awesome-ness of DragonForce, have a look at this video:



Next, to also hear how awesome DragonForce is, plus see how difficult Guitar Hero can be, see this video:



It could be argued that if you spent less time playing computer games and more time playing real musical instruments, you would be able to play the song on a real guitar.

Sunday 30 December 2007

Dumbledore!

This video is guaranteed to have you singing at least one of the Harry Potter character's names!

Sunday 2 December 2007

Nokia N95 accelerometer applications

In the past week my Nokia N95 has gone from lingering disappointment, to actually meeting expectations. Main reason is the aforementioned firmware upgrade. GPS locks in less than 30s baby!

Now I've started playing with the accelerometer. The only Nokia use for this so far is the stabiliser on the video camera. However, lots of other people have started writing software for it.

So now I have RotateMe, which allows my phone to act similar to an iPhone and automatically rotate the screen (I had to play around with self-signing a certificate to get this to work - not exactly straightforward but the instructions are okay).


Then I got the lightsabre. Completely pointless but kinda cool:



And from Nokia themselves we have the ball game, which really just demonstrates the accelerometer in action:


I expect that when the N-Gage is released in December there will be lots of Wii-style games released.

Wednesday 28 November 2007

N95 upgrade!

I finally built up the bottle to upgrade my N95. Last time I tried this it killed the phone and I ended up with a rather expensive brick, which, fortunately Nokia replaced.

This time I wanted to upgrade the phone to get the Assisted-GPS feature. The phone's GPS has been a huge disappointment - I don't think many people would consider an average time of 10min to get a GPS lock to be acceptable.

To get the firmware upgrade I had to use some software to rebrand the phone as a generic since Orange can't get their asses into gear to release the software. I was bricking it hoping the phone would not do the same as changing the code invalidates the warranty. Well Orange can kiss my Scottish ass because it worked!

I now have A-GPS, and I got a lock in my flat in less that 1min. Result!

I also have access to the previews for the new N-Gage games which look like they will be quite cool.

Ref: I used this guide and this guide to update my phone.

I also rather like the look of this iPhone like software.

Saturday 10 November 2007

Saturday 3 November 2007

Chugged

I've been thinking for a while now that I should maybe give more money to charity. I give £3 a month to Oxfam - the result of being chugged a few years ago in Covent Garden. £3 was the minimum you could give back then and, ok, it isn't much, but it's £36 a year which I probably wouldn't give to Oxfam if I wasn't on a direct debit payment.

I've taken to heart the government advice about not giving money to beggars, figuring it gives me a good excuse to ignore their grubby out-stretched hands. However, I kind of neglected to do the second part of the Government advice which was actually give money to a charity instead. Ho-hum!

So I thought that the next time I see some chuggers from Shelter I would let them have their wicked way with me. Today they were out in force on Cornmarket. I walked up and down the street a couple of times, but none of them would take the bait. Typical! Can't avoid them when you don't want to give any money!

Eventually I just walked up to one of them. I had my spiel ready in my head. I wanted to be all Duncan Bannatyne-like: "I'll give you £3 a month, no negotiations, that's my final offer. Oh, and I want a 30% stake in all homeless people."

Okay so I didn't actually say the second part. I did manage to fairly confuse her anyway. They don't often get people coming up to them actually offering to sign up.

Turns out the minimum you can sign up for now is £6 a month, which made me look a bit stupid. My hobo-investment plan lay in tatters! Damn inflation! I rolled over and signed up, investing 100% more than I had intended.

So now I can ignore homeless people without a guilty conscience! Result!

I figure I'll maybe sign up to CRUK next (seems they're happy to take £2 a month. Hmmm... bums are more expensive than labs). Then I can ignore sick people! Just kidding - I maybe feel I should repay the scientific world for not contributing my genius to academia any more. Ahem. Only thing that holds me back is knowing how it gets spent. New PCR kits anyone?

Closer to the dark side

Today I took a few steps closer to the dark (geeky) side. Walking past Games Workshop in Oxford today, I thought I would pop in and ask the guys in there if they had any idea where I could get a display cabinet for my models. They didn't. However, as usual they asked a bit about whether I played any of the games and as usual I told the guy that I hadn't played for years but occasionally thought about it.

He offered me a chance to play a game, but I turned him down. Thirty minutes later I was back in there commanding my Dwarf army against a horde of Goblins!

Now, hats off to the guys who work in these shops - they are very passionate about the games. However, I have slight trouble handling this enthusiasm when it's coming from strangers. It might enthuse the kids but I get slightly, well, embarrassed. I like the games, but I still can't deny they are a bit... geeky. However, I don't have a problem with being a bit geeky (just a bit mind).

If I was head of GW Marketing I would do two things: have adult only evenings for playing the games. I can't be bothered with getting my ass kicked by a bunch of smelly kids.

Which leads me to point number 2. They need to have some kind of advanced air filtration or freshener system in the shops along with a very strict personal hygiene policy for their staff. Too many over-enthusiastic people spending all day in one confined space does tend to result in a smelly shop. Last time I tried to go in there in Wendy she was straight out the door it smelt so much. I guarantee increased revenues for GW!

Sunday 28 October 2007

Au revoir Claude?

I put my good old Claude Butler push bike on Freecycle and within a few hours I had had 5 offers to take it off my hands!

I will be sad to see my old bike go. I've had it since I was about 15. It was a reward for doing well in my Standard Grade exams. Either that or an admission by Mum & Dad that my old "Free Spirit" bike was a death trap.

Well the Free Spirit was a death trap due to poor design and dodgy bits (who needs two pedals?). Ol' Claude is no death trap but he has become a bit run down due to my neglect.

Of course out with the old - in with the new! Andrew recently upgraded from his Claude Butler and bought a super expensive downhill mountain bike. I did something similar and took Dad's old Peugeot bike off him, while he acquired Andrew's old bike.

Yes, the old bone-rattler (ironic name due to the spring mounted saddle) that I used to mock is now mine. Mine I tell you! MINE!

Minibar Mistake

When I was in Vancouver I was staying in the Fairmont Vancouver for the first half of the week.

Had a look in the minibar and found it had little switches underneath all the food and drink in there. I kind of thought they would measure the presence or absence of an item. In fact I got kind of fascinated by the switches and started... playing with them. I probably pressed the whisky switch a few dozen times as well most of teh rest of them.

When we went to check-out we had pages and pages of minibar expenses. Could have been an expensive mistake, but the hotel employee agreed with my reckoning that if I had drunk as much whisky as that I would not be in a fit state to stand, let alone check out.

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Vancouver Crystal Meth Zombies

Last week I was on a business trip to a conference in Vancouver, Canada.

I've read quite a few times that Vancouver is one of the best places in the world to live so I was looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about.

Yeah, I can see it could be a nice city, but when we got there is was really quite dirty. I had expected it to be all perfectly clean like some Scandinavian city, however, it turned out that the people who clean the streets and empty the bins were on strike. Way to go and make your city look like dump!

It rained almost all the time we were there - my best investment all week was an umbrella.

The weirdest thing about Vancouver was the level of deprivation. I never expected that there would be so many homeless people there. Loads of bedraggled looking people wandering around collecting all the cans and plastics from the bins.

Then, on the first day I had off, we took a walk to the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum. Now the museum was great and I would recommend visiting it, but I would suggest you don't take the same route as we did.

We decided to walk there along Hastings Street. What we didn't realise was that this is one of the most deprived areas in Canada, if not North America. While walking along there, we slowly realised that there were no normal people there. Everyone looked like zombies - the living dead. They had sunken faces with sallow skin. They're mouths were rotting and most of them looked disabled in some way. It was as if some hideous mutant bomb had gone off.

They are all crystal meth addicts. Dozens or hundreds of them that have been shepherded by town planners into the most squalid disgusting area you can imagine.

Since then I've become kind of fascinated by crystal meth and started reading up on it. What is most morbidly fascinating are the before and after pics of addicts. They look like they have aged about 30 years in 18 months. You would have to be absolutely insane try this stuff - its more like a slow suicide.

I also find myself feeling slightly guilty that these people are so ill and at the same time apprehensive about the though of this drug taking root in the UK. It's already here, but in other parts of the world it has ruined communities.

I hope I never have to see somewhere like that in the UK.

Back to Blog

Well, now that the blog is working again, it's time to start blogging again...

Sunday 30 September 2007

blog fixed again

Thanks to Curtis my blog is nearly functioning properly again. However no-one will read this for a while because I am using majorgrooves.com while I wait for the settings for majorgrooves.co.uk to change.

I shall get back to blogging shortly...

Saturday 25 August 2007

Sunday 29 July 2007

Blog fixed!

Yes my blog was broken. I'm not sure why. Something to do with my server being full. Man, I just blog too much. There are so many interesting things to say. Actually, I can't really be bothered posting these days. I have become an extremely lazy blogger. I do apologise.

After a while talking everyday things gets boring. I do eventually run out of things to say. I don't have anything to complain about at the moment!

I am now trying to move my blog from my own server to the blogger servers. I've made a back-up so I just hope it all goes smoothly!

Sunday 15 July 2007

Family weekend

oop

Wii weekend

Old mate from Dundee UNi, Neema came to visit this weekend. I hadn't seen him for years so it was a great weekend. Spent most of the weekend playing the Wii. I also found that I'm a bit rubbish at most games as Neema, who had never played before, managed to beat me on most games.

I bought Wii Play so have got quite a few more fun two-player games. Ping pong rules!

Also managed so sneak the first BBQ of the "summer" in. We really could do with a lawn mower...

Thursday 12 July 2007

Man-eating badgers

UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."

Well they would say that wouldn't they? Who's going to admit to releasing them? Typical government conspiracy!

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Monday 2 July 2007

The Pain

Body is aching quite a lot from this weekend's netball. My back and legs are killing, and my fingers and ankles have gone stiff. Fortunately, this does mean I can do some quite impressive knuckle and joint cracking this week.

What is much more frustrating is trying to play the guitar now that I have cut my nails. I can hardly make any sound! They'd better grow back quick...

Sunday 1 July 2007

Netball

Today I played in an Oxfordshire mixed netball tournament with some peeps from work. The aim of the tournament is to raise money for Oxfordshire to have its own netball centre. Yes, Netball is for girls, but its a fun game. As with most sports I got off to a good start - 6 goals in the first game - then took my foot off the gas and assuming a more, ahem, defensive role.

We managed W3 L3 D1, which comfortably beats last years achievements. I am now rather tanned/pink, even though it was very cloudy. That's about as much colour as I will ever get in my cheeks. I'm also mourning the loss of my finger nails. The flamenco guitar will have to wait for a few weeks.

Monday 25 June 2007

Rufus Wainwright Gig @ New Theatre, Oxford

Despite feeling ill most of today, we went to see Rufus Wainwright play tonight. Was he any good? Well... I suppose. I suppose he was probably about the most talented person I have ever seen on stage. The guy is amazing. What a voice. Ok, he forgets how to sing and play his own songs, but he gets a laugh.

He is an amazing entertainer. His overt campness wasn't too off-putting. Now I have to admit I only know one Wainwright album - Poses - and on that I only really know one song off the top of my head - Cigarettes and Chocolate milk. He didn't play that one! I believe most of the songs were from his new album and they were all pretty damn good. And this is coming from someone who isn't a particular fan.

Talking of fans - the crowd was an interesting bunch. A real mix of ages, and quite a few oddities, including dumb and dumber sitting behind us (hey Beardy - you may love the sound of your own voice - but the rest of us don't and you sound nothing like Rufus so please SHUT IT - and get your harpy to pipe down too!). Whoever had the burst of Tourettes* when he was singing the song without the microphones should really have been strung up and used as target practice for Rufus' sharpened stilettos. Yes, stilettos - the "cabaret show" at the end was very entertaining. Also very entertaining was the theatre staff trying to stop everyone taking photos. Why bother?!

Now somewhere in the crowd, I could hear, but not see, my good friend Alfonso, author of the Wet, Dark and Wild blog. I suspect my old buddy will post a rather more thoughtful post about the gig. I just hope the Wet Dark and Wild blog is ready for the influx of visitors that having a link from here will create!







* no offence meant to genuine sufferers of Tourettes.

Matt's Stag Weekend Report

There was a stag weekend. It was in Spain. There were boats. There are no photos.

Thursday 21 June 2007

Off to Spain!

Well, I should have been in London out on the town with Matt by now...

however, I ended up getting back to the flat late, had loads to do, so I am still here.

Plan has changed - now I will be getting the bus from Oxford to Stansted directly (rather than going via London and staying at Matt's). I say directly - I really mean it will be a rubbish 3h+ journey via every crappy place between here and Cambridge. Bus is at 1am and I will get to the airport at 4.10am. Flight is at 7.30am. Go Ryanair!

I think I will need a holiday to recover from this holiday.

Stag weekend report to follow....

Sunday 10 June 2007

Brighton baby!

Met up with Dave at last. He's been working round Gatwick for ages but never had the chance to meet up with him. Yesterday I went through to Guilford on the train where he picked me up in his Audi A3 company car (jealous of the company car!) and we went for a night out in Brighton.
Scary number of hen parties out in Brighton! Went to various bars and ended up in Tru. Was a hell of a funny night!

Who's your daddy?

Wii!

I bought myself a Nintendo Wii today. I've got Wii Sports and Medal of Honour. So far I've just been playing Sports. I had a quick go at Medal of Honour but it looks like it will take some getting used to.

Wendy and I have both made our Miis. We just need Dave to get his Wii online, then they can go visit each other. Or something like that... I don't really understand it yet.

Sunday 3 June 2007

Celebrity look-alikes

It didn't really work for me but here we go:

http://www.myheritage.com

Saturday 2 June 2007

Big Pig



I saw a story on tonight's "Have I Got News for You?" about a giant wild boar that had been shot in the US. That thing is a beast! The family that caught it even set up a website about it.

Reminds me of a picture I took last year.

Thursday 31 May 2007

No smoking sign


No smoking sign
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
This sign has appeared outside our flat. Is it really necessary? I don't remember anyone ever smoking in the public part of our flat building.

It is a damn ugly sign - and they've not even fitted it level! So this sign has to go at the entrance to every public building?! I'm all for the smoking ban - but this is just ridiculous.

Typical UK, only we could take a great idea, and still manage to get some ridiculous rule out of it.

Even churches will have to have signs!

Monday 28 May 2007

Blackbird

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I been getting back into the guitar. Last time I was up in Dundee I heard Uncle Colin playing Blackbird on the guitar. Today they played it on Radio 1. It is an exquisitely beautiful song, so I am now attempting to play it. I'll also see if I can sing it at the same time! ;)

I just want to be able to play as well as this guy. Even his singing is good enough for me:



Hopefully this tab will be a good enough guide. If not, there are also loads of "how tos" on YouTube.

Sunday 27 May 2007

Knock-out kicks

After the inappropriate video of a toddler getting kicked I thought I would post some more videos of people getting kicked. Again, most of them involve kids, but at least this time they knew they were gonna get kicked.







Jump kick (embedding disabled).

Baby Buffalo about to be eaten

If your online video attention span can stretch to more than a few seconds, this is a pretty cool video. The sound is a bit dodgy (on my computer at least) until the whole file has streamed.

Saturday 26 May 2007

World's Biggest Climbing Centre


One of the few things I dislike about living in Oxford is the lack of a decent indoor climbing centre. Oh how I miss the Castle! As a result, I don't really climb any more, other than occasional visits when in London.

Meanwhile, back in Scotland the world's biggest climbing centre, set in a disused quarry, has just re-opened. It's had lots of financial and building problems, but if it's as popular as the Castle is (queues for every route - annoying, but a sure sign of the centre's popularity) and it caters for climbers of all abilities (apparently it was aimed at more experienced climbers at first - the biggest market for such a centre is surely the "social climber" i.e. the sort that experienced climbers dislike), then I'm certain it will be a success.

Public transport access may be important. I;m not sure where it is exactly and how accessible it is, but they are hoping to get a direct bus service. The Castle is easily reached by bus of Tube. Maybe they should run a mini-bus service if the centre is isolated?

Thursday 24 May 2007

Underpass


19052007133
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Taken in the underpass at Marble Arch, London. Might have made a cool photo if it had been a bit more in focus. It has a certain infinite allure to it though...

Fleet of Fleas


Fleet of Fleas - Helmet
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
On nights like tonight I'm glad I don't wear an open-faced helmet!

Chelsea Fans


Chelsea Fans
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Such neat and tidy people!

Tuesday 22 May 2007

Town & Gown




Congratulations to Wendy who ran the Oxford Town & Gown 10k race at the weekend in 54m 10s!

Sunday 20 May 2007

Gladiators

Fun game:

Forgotten amiga games

I'm trying to remember the name of an Amiga game I used to play but I can't for the life of me remember.

It might have had a word like "sorcerer" or "tempest" in the title and maybe an "of the". Or one of the letter might have begun with a D or T. It was about a witch that controlled some kind of medieval country. The only bits I can really remember is the starting scene which had lots of horse riders silhouetted by the moon and riding from the left to the right - at the time I though the graphics were amazing - and some kind of sword fighting scenario. I never completed the game, so would like to maybe download it on my PC and try again. I'm sure the box is somewhere still at home (we have several boxes full of old game boxes). I can still remember the box!

Maybe one of my bros will remember what I'm on about.

In the meantime I am going to try downloading Wings of Glory. If that works I might seek out the Wing Commander series.


/edit Got it! It's Lure of the Temptress!

Wednesday 16 May 2007

Breakdancing

Most people in the dancing world know that break dancing is out - and the skipping dance is in.

However, this break dancing move deserves maximum respect. Or insurance cover.


Breakdancer Kicks 3 Year Old - Watch more free videos


What kind of dumbass mother lets their kid wander out into the middle of that?

Sunday 13 May 2007

Guitar playing

I've been trying to play the guitar a bit more recently. I think I was prompted when some of the clan were down recently. Andy has been playing a bit more so was sounding quite decent on the guitar.

I can't be out-done by a little bro so I have picked up the guitar again. At the moment I'm playing Razorlight and Paulo Nutini songs. Funny when you start playing these songs you realise they are all quite simple in terms of the chords, it's getting a good melody and lyrics that is difficult.

Of course I still reckon I could write some great songs and be a mega-star. Shame I never bother to write any songs down. I just don't feel I can justify calling a G,C,D sequence of chords a "song", but if Razorlight can then so can I!

One problem I encounter as a singer-songwriter is that I can't sing and play at the same time! If the strumming rhythm is a bit unusual I lose it completely when I start singing. Also my singing isn't great (stop singing out your nose, says Wendy), but I don't that's stopped many bands.

I've only ever played one gig, and that was in 4rd year Biochemistry as a Beatles tribute band where we had a screaming audience of a few hundred. It was amazing! I would love to have the guts to play in public again. Only thing holding me back is not being very good at the guitar, or singing, or having any songs, or being in a band.

OMG! Jake Gylenhall [sic] is sooo cute!

A friend of mine recently started a Jake Gyllenhaal fansite blog. To protect their anonymity, I shall refer to this person as Alfonso.

Alfonso is quite the Jake fan and has all the restriction orders necessary to prove it. I had been hoping that this site might be a "OMG Jake is soooo cute" style fan-site, which would give me some ample ammo for some stalker-style teasing.

Well I was wrong. I forgot to take into account that Alfonso is a published writer, so Alf's blog posts are all very well written and about interesting (as far as anything Gyllenhaal-related can be) topics.

Maybe I'm quite jealous. Alfonso's blog is really very good. What is more, it attracts hundred's of page views and each post gets loads of comments. Why would people want to read about Jake's life when they could read about my starter motor? I don't get it...

However I did inspire Alfonso to start blogging (I think) so I can take some credit for that!

Monday 7 May 2007

The starter motor turneth

 

Thanks to a combination of Dad, JJ at work, my Haynes manual and the good people at bikechatforums.com, I have got my bike running again.

In an extreme feat of manly-ness, I stripped the starter motor and replaced the brushes. The photo shows the dodgy old brushes. A week ago I had absolutely no idea how a starter motor worked. I'm still not entirely sure, but I know know how to strip it an dput it back together again.

It's amazing what a reluctance to part with cash will drive you to learn.

Next week: Steve extracts his own wisdom teeth!
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Saturday 5 May 2007

Dundee Monopoly

Hasbro is bringing out a UK version of Monopoly where the streets are now represented by towns and cities. They are having a vote on their website to decide the rankings of the cities e.g. who gets to become Mayfair and who has to be Whitechapel.

I presume this is mostly generating interest on Facebook as most of the places in the top 10 are university towns, with Oxford and Cambridge numbers 1 and 2.

Dundee is at number 7! I voted for Dundee - I think Oxford is doing well enough on its own. Personally I would like to see Dundee number 1 and Oxford number 2.

Go now and vote for Dundee!

Ebay, PayPal and Council Victories!

I just got an email from PayPal. They have investigated my complaint against the guy who sold me the fake Motorola and decided in my favour! Result! The money will come out the cheating git's account! Ha! Teach him to mess with "Honest Steve".

I'll have to wait to see how much money I'll get. The email says that the full amount has been recovered for me and will be credited to my account, but I'm sure I read that PayPal take a "processing fee" for recovering money. I hope not - I don't see why I should have to pay anything for counterfeit goods. Counterfeiter git!

If I do get the money back this will restore my faith in Ebay.

Also, Rina pointed out that BA were breaking the EU regulations for delayed flights by not compensating us for our rubbish flight to Geneva this year, so I wrote back to them demanding compensation (they have already told me to get lost once). Rina already got £50 from them for the same flight, so Wendy and I should get the same. Nice try BA gits!

Lastly, The council have finally collected our recycling. Quite efficient - it only took them about 4 months! I'm sure that has nothing to do with my complaints though. Loser council gits!

Tuesday 1 May 2007

May Day Oxford

 

It was May Day today so that means that idiots in Oxford try to throw themselves off bridges. This morning, while waiting about 45min fo the bus (how I love buses!) I was treated to the sight of a cow giving out hugs to passers-by.
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Friday 27 April 2007

Birmingham to Dundee flights!


Well, I guess if they're not going to fly from Kidlington Airport, this is the next best thing.

A Polish airline, White Eagle Aviation, will be operating a service from Birmingham to Dundee, booking through the website flyWhoosh.com (not yet operational). If the prices are reasonable, this will be great! I will save so much time on my journeys home that it would be worth paying much more extra. I could even ride my bike to Birmingham Airport and leave it there.

Maybe I'll see if I can get myself on the maiden voyage and get a frequent flyer card!

Maybe because I blogged nicely about them to give the publicity they can give me some free flights and I will mention them again and again every time I use them? Maybe I will email them to offer them this great opportunity.

I'll have to plant a few trees to off-set the carbon emissions.

Sunday 22 April 2007

Ocean & Collins

I often end up comparing my home town, Dundee, to where I currently live, Oxford. They're both about the same size and have two universities, but that's about where the similarities end.

I love living in Oxford, but I've decided it totally sucks for one particular thing - clubbing!

Luckily I'm not a huge clubber, or I would probably hate living in Oxford. Last night, I made my long overdue first visit to Ocean & Collins. The people I know that have been either loved it (Miguel) or hated it (pretty much everyone else I know who has ever dared set foot in the place).

I can now declare that I fall into the latter category.

It's basically a big room, with no atmosphere.

Some clubs have smoke machines on the dancefloor, or sometimes have bubble machines. Ocean & Collins don't go for any of that boring rubbish - they have a layer of broken glass to dance on! Brilliant - add the element of danger to your dancing - fall and you will lacerate yourself! I was probably about 2cm taller when on the dance floor with the amount of glass embedded in my shoes. At one point a guy came onto the dance floor, kind of pushed me out the way, then started sweeping up some glass. Quite futile. I held up my foot so he could scrape some of the glass of me too.

Maybe it would be an idea to ban bottles from the dancefloor?

Dundee is no clubbing Mecca, but, expanded commercial sell-out that it might be, Fat Sams is a decent "large" club and London is also quite good (I'm really talking about them as venues - I'll make no comment on clientèle and music).

...and I still remember the good ol' days in the Mardis Gras... not forgetting the Student Union where I spent most of my student days. It's been completely refurbished since I was there and is quite a modern club venue now. I reckon it's probably lost of of it's "student" charm. The shape of the old Liar Bar, whilst completely impractical, was great for me and Kev to go on "tours".

Ahhh those nostalgic student days...

Saturday 21 April 2007

Pirates on the Cherwell!


Pirates on the Cherwell!
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
It wasn't even International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Oxford City Council Pretend Recycling

What is the point of trying to recycle in Oxford? The council don't care. What they have cleverly done is set-up a "pretend" recycling scheme, whereby they hand out recycling boxes and leaflets and then never, ever bother come to collect the recycling. Genius!

Our recycling hasn't been collected since way back in January. When I complained at first I was told it was because there was a new recycling scheme and I needed a blue box. Well why not tell me that instead of just leaving the recycling you dumbasses?

So I get a blue box and put all the tin cans into. Ooh - now we can even recycle plastic stuff (PET1 and PET2). We got our blue box around the 26th of January - and it has not been collected since. The green box with glass and paper still gets collected.

I've made three phone calls to Oxford Council about it. Each time they tell me they will look into it as a priority and get back to me. LIARS! They've never got back to me and my recycling box is still full.

I'm perfectly prepared to accept that I could have done something wrong. Perhaps I've committed some heinous recycling crime, like left a label on a tin can or something. It's a new system - if people do things wrong they need to be told. Not just ignored.

Well, I can only presume that this is all part of Oxford "bloody useless" Council's clever pretend recycling scheme.

We'll stop trying to recycle now. We'll just chuck everything in the main bin. Serves us right for bothering to try.


Thursday 19 April 2007

Upload and Download speeds

I'm going to have to ask Curtis what this means...



I don't think it's very good - and it's smuch lower than the last time I tried it.

Test your internet connection speed using the tool linked from the image.

Last time I did it I got a download speed of 395Kb!

I just repeated it - download is the same - upload is huge!



What gives?

Monday 16 April 2007

Fake HT820

Yup, as suspected, my Motorola HT820 is totally fake. :(

Sunday 15 April 2007

Ebay fingers burnt


I think I might have had my fingers burnt on Ebay.

I bought a Motorola HT820 bluetooth headset from a seller in Hong Kong, intending to use them with my Nokia N95 for wireless music listening. Unfortunately there is so much sound pausing that they are nearly unusable.

There is a good guide to getting over this problem here, but reading it does also lead me to think that my headset is either a fake, or a refurbishment. There are traces of glue at the connection to the earpieces, there is no designation/serial number on them, and I can't get it to enter flash mode so that I can even try the above linked fix.

So although I got them cheap - I don't think I've got the real deal. I've emailed the guy to tell him I think they are fake/refurbs, and I have asked for my money back. I suspect he will ignore me and I will have to escalate this with Ebay.

Family visit etc


Mum, Dad and Andrew came down to visit over the Easter weekend. Highlights included one of the best meals I have ever had at Brasserie Blanc in Jericho and a trip to Pendon Museum. See the photos from the weekend (Wendy was with us but she's shy so I have to remove any pics with her in).

Also this week I took a quick trip to Budapest, Hungary, for work, but I didn't take any photos and I was there for less than 24h so there's not much to report.

Saturday 14 April 2007

seeds, peers and leeches

Oops, sorry for not posting for a while! me bad!

I've been trying out using BitTorrent to download some TV programmes. To be honest I don't really know anything about downloading files, so I think I am doing it like a complete n00b. I'm using µTorrent and so far I've had to change my connection so that port handling is done manually. Nope, I don't really know what that means either, but I found some instructions for how to do it online and I can now download some files fairly quickly.

I don't actually advocate just downloading movies and TV programmes for free. These programmes cost money and someone has to pay for them. I still think that if we want to see quality movies or TV programmes get made, then we have to accept that we have to watch adverts, or pay to go to the cinema.

So I'm a hypocrite? All I want to download is TV programmes that I've missed on regular TV. I've missed the last two episodes of Prison Break and the last episode of Life on Mars. I can't find anywhere to legally download them so I turned to the BitTorent.

Unfortunately as I mentioned I am a bit of a n00b at this, so, so far, I have managed to download one episode of Prison Break... in Spanish and an episode of Life on Mars where the sounds isn't synched with the video. Bah! I did manage to download another episode of Prison Breaks which seems fine but it is the second one!

I do have a DVD of Borat to watch tonight... but the freakin' TV died this morning!

I suppose I can be grateful the toilet isn't blocked too...

edit/ I downloaded DivX player and now Life on Mars plays fine!

Monday 2 April 2007

miguel 1 - steve 0


miguel 1 - steve 0
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Another Scottish loss against the Dutch. This time the stakes were much higher than some poxy game of football or cricket. Steve orders new phone in advance and arranges transfer to new network. Steve still has on new phone. Miguel walks into O2 and gets an upgrade for the price of a McChicken sandwich. Bah! Even more worrying is that i now blog about myself in the third party. Pic is of shrunken head in Pitt Rivers museum oxford.

Wednesday 28 March 2007

Rabbits

Because Wendy likes the video...

Sunday 25 March 2007

Nokia N95 Cheap with E2Save

I couldn't wait any longer. I've bought the Nokia N95 with E2Save.com.

I've spent ages looking at different offers on the web, but in the end I've gone for the Orange "Dolphin" tariff, which costs £35 a month for 500 minutes and 500 texts. Seeing as the N95 is designed for lots on internet stuff I've bought a 4MB a month bundle which costs £4 a month.

The handset itself cost only £89.99, which isn't bad for something which, sim-free, is around £500. I should actually save money overall as I can now bundle my broadband in for free saving me about £22 a month! In fact I will pay £4 to get it upgraded to an 8meg line.

So overall for mobile and broadband I should be saving around £5 a month. Plus I still get Orange Wednesdays (not that I've ever actually used it yet - they only allowed it for broadband people recently - I intend going with the little miss once a week).

With E2Save you actually get cashback on a number of your bills too. However, it must be said, that looking at the reviews of E2Save (which is a CarPhone Warehouse company - so at least secure financially) they seem to have very poor customer services and actually claiming the cash back seems to be torture.

So E2Save - good deals and potentially very cheap with cashback, but bad customer services and difficult to get said cashback.

I have a referral code, so if you want to buy from them I would be very grateful if you use my code - once you sign up you get a referral code too and can make £20 on every phone purchased through the site.

http://www.e2save.com/?money4me6879471

Saturday 24 March 2007

Golden Compass preview



We went down to Oxford Town Hall today to see Philip Pullman give a discussion about the Golden Compass - the movie adaption of his book "Northern Lights" from the trilogy "His Dark Materials". Also talking were the producer, Deborah Forte who bought the rights to the books 12 years ago and Michael Fink, the visual effects supervisor.

We didn't get to see any actual clips of the movie, but Fink did show us some of the proceses that went into making some of the special effects. So we saw some animation testing of Pantalaimon as a ferret and a mouse which looked quite cool. We also saw the ship that takes them North and the Mrs Coulter's sky ship.

Apparently they won't be shying away from the anti-relgious theme of the book. Philip was keen to point out that the book wasn't anti-religion, rather anti-organised political religious theocracy (at least I think that's what he said). That said, I guarantee there will be religious types denouncing the book as blasphemy and there will surely be organised book burnings in the US bible belt.

So we know the book in the UK as "Northern Lights" whereas in most other countries it is "Golden Compass". Apparently the person who changed the title was the same publisher who changed Harry Potter's "Philosopher's Stone" to the "Sorceror's Stone". i.e. this person is an idiot.

Philip's favourite scenes in the movie are when Lyra first meets Iorek Byrnison and when Lee Scoresby and Serafina Pekkala are flying in Lees' hot air balloon and Lyra is lying asleep.

How will they represent Dust? Fink was very elusive about that, so I'm not really sure what the answer is.

I would have liked to ask if they will continue to use Dakota Blue Richards in all three films as by the time they get to the third film she'll be too old. Unlike Harry Potter where the characters grow older with the books/films, Dark Materials takes place over a short time period. I would also like to know how they found an English girl called Dakota Blue? What a daft pretentious name to give a child. Odd considering there's another precocious child actor by the name of Dakota Fanning who probably could have fitted the role, had they not been looking for an unknown. As it was, someone asked a similar question, but all they would say is that the next two films were not yet confirmed but would probably go ahead.

I think it's going top be a great film and am looking forward to seeing it!

16th

Okay, so Scotland might be rubbish at most sports, but, somehow, we are ranked 16th in the world for football!

We're playing Georgia this afternoon in the European qualifiers - where we're top of the group ahead of France, Italy and Ukraine - let's hope the Scottish losing streak ends!

Thursday 22 March 2007

Scotland - officially useless at all sports

In the battle of the lanky, orange, healthy socially advantaged gits vs my short, tubby, narrow arteried countrymen there could be only one winner. Cr@p!

Saturday 17 March 2007

Sorry Ireland

On behalf of the nation of Scotland I apologise for our poor show against the French. :(

Rubgy - bad idea?

With the Six Nations being on at the moment, I'm getting kind of tempted to take up rugby again. I'm 27 now, the last time I played was for Carnoustie HSFP when I was about 20. My memories from that one season include:

  1. Feeling like my head was about to explode and having to put it under a running tap for about 10 minutes after my first summer training session on the beach.
  2. Scoring 2 tries on my debut against Waid and getting into the Guide and Gazette with some kind of headline like "Youngster Score Twice on Debut" (I think they thought I was about 16 - Kev my still have the cutting).
  3. They thought I was some kind of new star - but I never scored again!
  4. That 7s tournament where I had to go and lie down for about 2 hours after the first game. "It's only 7 minutes each way - I can manage that!"
  5. Sexually deviant Royal Marines with an unsettling penchant for young blond wingers...


Obviously something has happened to my memory over the past 7 years as there are some very good reasons for me not to play rugby:
  1. I'm skinny and fairly weak.
  2. I'm not a particuarly fast runner.
  3. I'm aerobically very unfit - one sprint and I am shattered.
  4. I'm not very good at playing rugby...
  5. I was always rubbish at tackling
  6. and spin passing to the right
  7. and taking passes
  8. and catching high balls
  9. and kicking
  10. Sexually deviant Royal Marines are everywhere!


However there are some reasons to play:

  1. I like rugby
  2. I should try to get fitter rather than just accept the wheezing.
  3. It is a good excuse to try and bulk up a bit


So there are some reasons to play, but they are more than outweighed by the reasons not to play.

I think I'm one of these "take something up then forget about it again" type people. Yeah, trying Ju-Jitsu again at Uni was a great use of my time!

Maybe it's some kind of "late 20s" crisis? I think it will be rugby or wargaming. Or maybe both? Hmmm....

Well, maybe I'll join Oxford for their summer training and try to get fit before the next season. I'll also try to gain some weight. Apparently I am 72.5kg at the moment.

Monday 12 March 2007

YouTube News

One thing that YouTube does is give lazy BBC reporters something to write about.

For some reason the BBC News website keeps reporting on videos on YouTube that have apparently become incredibly popular. What 50,000, 100,000 views? Maybe 500,000? Nope - some of the crappy videos they are telling us about are getting a few thousand! That's like Z list movies for YouTube.

BBC Scotland is one of the worst culprits, reporting on a clip of a couple of guys doing Proclaimers songs which got 5000 views! Yup, read it in astonishment - a whole 5000!

The most recent movie to feature in BBC Scotland is about a movie of pictures of Edinburgh, which has, so far, got 13,000 views. "Huge Hit" says the BBC. Hmmm, me thinks not.

Imagine if someone from Scotland had made the recent Ladybird Sex on my Hand video. 625,000 views so far! That would be stop the press stuff! My God, how many times have mating ladybirds landed on me and I haven't made a video of it. So many wasted opportunities! If only I'd realised how perverted YouTube users are!

Sunday 11 March 2007

Investing

I thought I should start acting maturely and look to the future, so with the end of the tax year looming, I have opened an ISA. To be honest, I still find some of the ISA stuff a bit confusing. However after looking at a few options, then getting bored looking at these options, I opted for an ISA with ING. It wasn't necessarily the best rate, but it seemed to be the most convenient for someone who isn't really sure what they are doing with their money. Because the end of the tax year is looming I need to invest a lump sum (up to £7000), so have decided to take the plunge and invest... £10!

I actually started investing in shares last year (with Hargreaves Lansdown) and am doing reasonably well. At the moment I am up about 26%, although they've dropped quite a bit in the last few weeks. I think I was up between 35-40% a few weeks ago. My stocks are fairly volatile, but most are performing well so far. I will profile them here some time.

It's the shares that I don't really understand. If I sell them now do I have to pay tax on my gains? Or not because they are less than the capital gains tax allowance of £6000? Can I just transfer these shares into an ISA and they are protected?

Friday 9 March 2007

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Wooden Spoon Prank

This made me "laugh out loud"!

Sunday 4 March 2007

Please Vote for us!



The voting code on ComprehensionClothing is now working, so please go to the site and click on the logo to vote for our site!



This is what the counters look like (but you can't click on them here - go to the t-shirt site then click on them. Ta!):

Return of the gamer

I went into Games Workshop yesterday. Since I have pretty much decided not to sell my miniatures, I am actually considering trying the whole GW thing again.

Yes, you are hit by the odour of unwashed bodies once you pass through the doors of a GW shop, and yes, there are grown men, surrounded by kids, shouting loudly about Space Marines in that slightly odd way that only grown men in GW shops do, and yes Wendy left the shop because of the aforementioned smell, but, I am still tempted...

..the models are so cool. I want to paint again!

It may be slightly geeky, but geeky is the new cool.

Saturday 3 March 2007

Well 'ard


Well 'ard
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Went to the Zodiac last night to show Miguel's mate what Oxford was all about. Based on last night's experience, Oxford is all about crappy music and nob-head guys in nightclubs.

I had to resort to putting on my "well 'ard" face (see above) for most of the night, which soon got those punks out of my face....

Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!

Tuesday 27 February 2007

Walk ears


walkers_ears
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Had a haircut today. Same old, same old!

I have the feeling someone's been talking about me behind my back - as you can see, my ears are burning.

Sunday 25 February 2007

ComprehensionClothing MII released


Today I decided to go ahead and release the Joomla-powered new version of the site.

So, I present to you again: www.ComprehensionClothing.com!

Before I could release it I had to upgrade to the latest Joomla version, play around with htaccess files, do SQL exports and generally fumble around until it worked. I have a couple more things to do from the admin side, and there are more t-shirts to be uploaded - the US female section is, as yet, empty.

Overall, the site is a HUGE improvement over the last site. I'm hoping it will pull in lots more visitors. I am considering paying for one bit of software that will kelp with the SEO, but I will check that with Kev first. I need to install some visitor statistics extensions so I can see if anyone visits the site.

Once the site is fully populated I can start the cunning marketing ploy!

Vote for me! If you check out the site, please help it gain exposure by clicking on the "Vote for me" links on the left hand side. I don't actually know if they work properly or not because it won't let me click on them...

Saturday 24 February 2007

Auctioning your childhood memories





A while back, my parents brought down most of my Games Workshop models that I used to play with and paint when I was a kid, the intention being that I would put them all on Ebay and sell them all. Since then, however, they have pretty much stayed in the boxes that they were brought down in.

I could really do with the quick cash to pay for that Nokia N95 I would like to buy next month, but I find it really hard to contemplate selling my models.

These models represent years of memories from me. They range from the first, badly painted models I bought when I was about 10 or 11, through to the finely painted Blood Bowl teams I had when I was 16 or 17.

I have loads Space Marines, a Chaos Man o' War Fleet, a small Dwarf Warhammer Fantasy Battle army, a Dwarf Blood Bowl team a Wood Elf Blood Bowl team along with all the respective games, plus Warhammer Quest, Heroquest, Advanced HeroQuest, Space Cruasade and so many more models. Some of my stuff is very well painted - I even won a couple of prizes in my day - and all-in-all I reckon I might have a few hundred pounds worth - more than enough for a fancy new phone.

But once it's sold it's gone - all those memories. I still even harbour thoughts of one day taking it back up again... maybe a few games of Blood Bowl?

Is it worth keeping them? The chances are I will never do anythign with them. I would keep my best painted models (see below) to remind of the modelling days. But is it worth keeping a Dwarf Warhammer Fantasy army that I could probably sell for about £100? Should I sell the Norsca Braves just because I might never play Blood Bowl again? If I had a huge house with a study I could put them on display!

Tough decision. What do Curtis or Josef think? Stupot? Neuba? Sell or horde? Or should I just start playing Blood Bowl again? Maybe we could arrange a nice tournament? Dad - as someone who parted with a collection dear to your heart when a child, and then got something back only recently, what would you do?

I think whatever happens the Blood Bowl teams will be the last to go. Mind you, I am quite proud of my Dwarf army, despite never actually using them. I could probably sell a lot of the less sentimental ones. Damn I have too much connection to these things!

Here are some of my "display" collection - I will never sell them. (click on them for the full pics)

DSC00293XDSC00295XDSC00299XDSC00302XDSC00304XDSC00306X

Don't know what to do....

Pain and pleasure

Pain: Scotland succumb to one of the most pitiful defeats I have ever witnessed. 3 tries to Italy at Murrayfield in the first 7 minutes?! That is so shameful!

but on the other hand...

Pleasure: Ireland tank England!

Wednesday 21 February 2007

train complain - result!

I got fined for not having a ticket on the train last month.

However I had a good excuse so I appealed. Today I got a letter telling me they had cancelled my penalty and would be sending me a cheque. The tight gits have taken the price of a single fare out of it though! I did even buy a full Zone 1-4 travel card after I got fined anyway so they didn't need to charge me for that!

Still it's satisfying to get some money out of them. The ticket inspector guy was a right git. Quite tempted to take a trip down to London (with a ticket of course) so I can tell him my appeal was successful! ;)

Saturday 17 February 2007

What hairstyle?



I really hate getting my hair cut. With the world's worst "cow's lick", there's not too many options on the hairstyle front here.

I don't want to go to a barber where they treat you like a sheep to be sheared, and I don't want to pay loads of money. It's difficult to find somewhere suitable. I miss good old Clinton Dailly's in the Ferry.

Last time I got my haircut, when the guy said "how do you want your hair cut", I told him he could do what he thought best. Unfortunately he wasn't bursting with ideas, so it was same old, same old. He said next time I should come back with an idea of what style I want.

So... like a girl, I will look for a picture of someone with a hairstyle I want and show it to the haidresser.

Any ideas?

Friday 16 February 2007

Preston on Never Mind the Buzzcocks

On the one hand, the man's wife was getting insulted. On the other hand it was hilarious. Watch Preston from the Ordinary Boys have a hissy fit when Simon Amstell takes the pi$$ out of his wife's autobiography.

Part 1:



Part 2:



It seems that most of Never Mind the Buzzcocks is on YouTube now. Which is great because it means I just watched the episode I missed with Donny "Oooh look at me I'm a rufty tufty punk" Tourette from the Towers of London. It's in theree parts and all worth watching:







Interstingly, after linking to all these videos, the BBC's money programme had a story on the TV tonight about the YouTube phenomena and was talking about how many people watch more internet content than they do watch TV anymore and asking why people bother posting content at all. Here's the Money Programme's profile and some videos on, you've guessed it, YouTube. I probably do watch more internet content (oo-err) these days than regular TV.

I have posted some videos on YouTube but not in a "look at me way". Apparently my videos have had 1976 views to date. They's actually decent videos (imho) although one of them is just of a snotty friend walking in a train station (evidence to appeal against my fine).

Thursday 15 February 2007

triple complaint

In the past few days I've made two complaints

1) To the Royal Mail - Why does our postie leave the mail for our block at the bottom of the stairs? I think he is paid to deliver it to the flat, not just dump it. I don't like having to rifle through other people's mail to find mine.

2) To Oxford Council - Why has our recycling not been collected for three weeks? Why do they take the glass and paper but not the tins?

I have to get around to making my complaint to BA for the rubbish flight to Geneva and it will be a triple complaint week.

Complaining rules!

Sunday 11 February 2007

Refuge de Solalex


Refuge de Solalex
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
I had "all you can eat" raclette at the restaurant. I think they underestimated how much cheese one person could eat. Unfortunately i overestimated and felt slightly ill. Not sure if the kirsch that Stefan insisted i drink actually helped but it probably helped me sleep. The skidoo ride was great fun but a tad cold. The view of the night sky on the way back was amazing. I have never seen so many stars. I would have loved to have more time to do some star gazing. It was a great way to wrap up a fantastic holiday.

Saturday 10 February 2007

last day


last day
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Very tired. It is snowing lots. I just ate some cake. My skiing is waning. Tonight we go to a restaurant by skidoo!

Friday 9 February 2007

edge of the world


edge of the world
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Went to the glacier again today. Loads of fresh snow yesterday made conditions pretty good. It was very quiet too. Picture is taken at this tiny shack/restaurant at the top of a mountain. The terrace is literally hanging off the edge of the mountain with incredible views as you can see.

Thursday 8 February 2007

snow snow


snow snow
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
It was raining down at the chalet this morning but up on the slopes it was snowing lots. Less people on the slopes today. Had to keep covered from snow hence photo. Last runs were great i was only person on my favourite black run. I am still rubbish in deep powder snow. I just fall over!

Wednesday 7 February 2007

skiing Villars


skiing Villars
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Conditions much improved today. Snowed quite a bit. Gryon was a bit rubbish but Villars was pretty good. Wendy did pretty well today too. Hopefully more snow overnight. Leg work at the gym was a good idea. Thighs feel fine but should have done calves too as they kill a bit.

Tuesday 6 February 2007

spa day


spa day
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Today we went to the spa for a few hours. Very relaxing. Nice and warm in the thermal spring waters while we are outside getting rained on. Noone was brave enough to go naked in the saunas! It did snow higher up today and more is forecast so the slopes will be better. Back to the skiing tomorrow! (yeah i know it's the same pic)

Monday 5 February 2007

glacier


glacier
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Yesterday snow conditions quite bad. Today went to glacier. Much better. My skiing is okay. Swissland is very expensive. Chalet is very cool. We ate fondue tonight. Tomorrow we maybe go to the spa instead of skiing.

Saturday 3 February 2007

grounded


grounded
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
That metal box is the reason we have been sitting on a grounded plane for about two hours!

fast bag drop


fast bag drop
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Big bag or small man? You decide.

Friday 2 February 2007

Funny wind up call

This is one of the funniest wind-up calls I've heard!

Wednesday 31 January 2007

Builders

It's quite freaky when, at 8 o'clock in the morning, when you're wandering around your second floor flat, half dressed, getting ready for work, and then you see some builders outside your windows. :S

We're getting the roof done at the moment so there is scaffolding up around the flat.

Sunday 28 January 2007

Burn's night


Had a great Burn's night last night with Miguel, Jing, Alex, Keno and Elle-Marie (Wendy was back in London picking up stuff for ski-ing).

Last year I bought a "British" haggis, but this year I made sure I got some proper McSween haggis. I even got a wee veggie version for one who shall remain unnamed (...Jing). It was fantastic - the best I have had for years! Everybody seemed to love it and went back for more. I think it might even have been Alex's first time.

I wore the kilt and addressed the haggis. I really need to work out what I'm saying one day. We didn't bother with the Selkirk grace or the toasts to the lads and the lassies, but it was all fun. We did have the old bagpie music going though! If there had been a bigger group of us I might have stuck to tradition. I maybe need more Scots to help me (Greg?).

One of our group, who shall remain nameless (Miguel) drank too much and went home early. lol!

I tried to round off the Scottish evening by watching the original version of "The Wickerman". We did all fall asleep so I finished watching it today. I love this movie. It is great to hear a movie that is full of Scottish accents but doesn't involve needles in arms. Brit Ekland is okay on the eyes too. There is no way I can bring myself to watch the American remake. Heresy I tell thee! Heathens!

Today I went for Sunday lunch with Keno and Elle-Marie to the Turf then had some pretty sweet hot chocolate in the Old Tom.

I don't have any photos of last night (other than one Miguel sent me which I can't get off my phone) so the pic is of the nice hot chocolate!

Wednesday 24 January 2007

Valencia here we come!


Flights to Valencia for Matt's stag do have been booked! I'm booked with Ryanair. I'm not a fan of them as an airline - their CEO, Michael O'Leary, gives me the creeps. He's like an evil Louis Walsh. Maybe he could be a judge on Airsteward Idol? I can't help feeling they will find some way to squeeze some more money out of me...

Ah sorry sir, there' a new charge on anybody wearing shoes upon European flights with Ryanair. Well the reason we've imposed this charge is actually to be fairer to the passengers who do not wear shoes on our flights. Really, why should shoeless customers pay extra to cover those who insist on wearing shoes? You want to fly shoeless now? Ah, well then you have to pay the "change my ticket to a shoeless ticket" charge.


To be sure...

This will be the first stag do I have been on. 22 June to the 24th. Should be fun. Can't wait!

Reclaiming back charges

That's the way to do it - send in the bailiffs!

Sunday 21 January 2007

fined


fined
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Was down in London for Rina's birthday this weekend and we went to the Spaniard's Inn for drinks and food last night. Today we went for food to Wagamama's in Camden. Ticket office at New Southgate was closed so we got on the train and were (honestly) going to buy the ticket at King's Cross as we needed to travel further anyway. There were ticket guards at the gate but i genuinely thought we would be okay. Not so and they decided to fine me and Louise. None of my foreign guy act or Rina's pleading would work so i had to pay £20! Amusingly they forgot to fine Louise. Then dumbass here buys more travel card than i needed! All very amusing for Rina and Louise. The girls did them pay for my food though. Expensive weekend all in all. £150 i reckon. Too many pricey cocktails last night. All fun and games!