Town & Gown

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

Gladiators

Fun game:

Swords And Sandals 2

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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...

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

Oxford City Council Pretend Recycling
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

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.

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?

Free Alan Johnston

Fake HT820

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

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.

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!

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.

Rabbits

Because Wendy likes the video...

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

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!

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!

Market Harborough

Do I know anyone that lives there?

Teaching English in Scottish

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.

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!

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?

Let us never forget...

... the potato revolution!

Wooden Spoon Prank

This made me "laugh out loud"!

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.

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!

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.

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...

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)



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!

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! ;)

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?

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).

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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)

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.

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.

Funny wind up call

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

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.

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!

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!

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!

Praying for snow

It's just over two weeks till we go to Switzerland for ski-ing. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst seasons on record for snow cover. I knew it was bad around Xmas, but I thought things had been getting better. Aparently not.

There's no snow at Villars-Gryon where we're going yet although the forecast says there is snow on the way.

Still two weeks to go and it just takes one decent snow dump to sort it out. We just have to get praying for snow (and world peace and all that other important stuff...)

Villars Webcam.

Scawny legs

Not long to go to the ski holiday. Can't wait!

I've been trying to do some leg work in the gym to avoid the initial "argh my thighs feel like they're about to explode" feeling you get when ski-ing for the first time in ages.

Normally I don't bother doing any leg work (or sit-ups for that matter), which isn't a great idea because, if I ever actually ever develop any upper body muscle mass, I would still have ridiculously scrawny legs (and a belly by that time most likely!). Anyhoo, I only have about 40min 3 times a week so I just do what I can.

Dundee's misery

One of Dundee's last big manufacturing employers has announced that it is to cut 650 jobs in Dundee and move production to a plant in Hungary.

How depressing. Dundee has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs over the years, but this one, with the knock-on job losses to suppliers etc., really is sad. I can imagine there must be a real black cloud hanging over the city at the moment. It's just a sad consequence of globalisation. There's no way manufacturing in the UK can compete with cheaper workforces in Eastern Europe and beyond.

I was watching a BBC2 programme the other day with Jon Snow explaining that the UK was moving away from manufacturing to become a "knowledge economy". Fair enough. Dundee has a very good biotechnology sector, which now employs around 3,800 people and accounts for 15% of the local economy.

Somehow though, I doubt these 650 NCR workers will be donning lab coats and taking up molecular biology. With no offence meant to people who work in supermarkets and the like, I always think it's a real shame when these skilled workers are told that they could get a job stacking shelves or working a checkout till. That must be so demoralising.

I sometimes wish I was a rich Richard Branson-type, and could invest all my money in Dundee. Trying to help set up companies and stuff like that. I think I've played too much Sim City. Hey, you never know - maybe one day I'll be a Venture Capitalist and set up a fund for biotech start-ups in Dundee!

Next Phone - Nokia N95

Getting a new phone on contract is great. It's like getting a shiny new toy for nothing! It's time to stop taking the freebies though! Nokia's newest phone will have GPS [STOP!]... no need to say anything else - I must have it!

Due March 2006. Watch the ad to see what else it has:

Oxford Puddle

Wendy and I tried to go ice-skating last night to the temporary open-air ice rink at Oxford Castle, but when we got there it was mostly just a puddle, with some guy practicing his ice hockey. So we probably would have just got soaked, and got some teeth smashed from the hockey puck. I didn't realise it before, but there is actually a proper ice-skating rink in Oxford, so we will probably just go there instead.

Just call me Torvill...


(Cute picture credit)

new goggles

new goggles
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

My new Spy Optics rule. Can't wait to get on the slopes. There's been a big dump of snow recently so hopefully that will continue and the conditions will be great by the time we get there. Off to London now to meet the Swiss miss et al.

Celebrities are mostly thickos

In today's celebrity-saturated world it seems the great unwashed would rather get their information from overpaid and overexposed "celebrities" than actual reliable sources of information... such as people who have a clue what they are talking about.

Celebrities like to talk about science too.

To try and counter some on the nonsense they spout, science information charity Sense About Science has launched a leaflet to point out some of the worst celebrities' "science" quotes and a helpline so that they can phone to check their facts before they open their cake holes.

One of my favourite comments comes from lifestyle "guru" Carol Caplin (favourite of Cherie Blair) who says:

women should be informed about avoiding breast cancer and that they should be "keeping the lymph system clear and unclogged".

to which Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at University College London replies:

"Carol's idea ... has no meaning whatsoever. It is not based on knowledge of anatomy or physiology of the human body, let alone of breast cancer."

BBC story.

Genius.

Hello 2007!

We had a quiet civilised New Year's Eve affair at Keno's last night. Keno, ably assisted by Elle-Marie, cooked some amazing food, the highlight of which was the oxtail-stuffed peppers.

Managed to get back from London to Oxford without any bother today. However, I did feel really sorry for the people that didn't manage to get onto our bus. They must have put extra buses on though, as when we pulled into Oxford, there was another one close behind.

So, to anyone that I didn't send the "send to many" text message last night: Happy New Year! I hope to see many of my friends very soon in 2007!

Next climbing trip?

Maybe not!

Jimmy Chung's Doesn't Serve Seagulls!

Jimmy Chung's Does NOT Serve Seagulls!

When I came back up to Dundee I heard the bizare rumour that the Scottish Chinese buffet chain, Jimmy Chung's, had been closed down in Dundee for serving seagull instead of chicken.

At first I believed it and talked about it to other people, some of whom hadn't heard the rumour before. I nearly texted Wendy as soon as I heard to tell her about it.

However, a few more level headed people pointed out it was probably a load of rubbish. Would seem they are correct - it's just an Internet gossip fueled load of nonsense. Sounds like they just closed for a week and someone has taken it upon themselves to start this rumour. Sadly, it seems to have badly affected their takings. Seems really wrong that their business can be ruined by numpties like me believing ridiculous rumours.

I hope that the power of this blog puts it at the top of an Google search for "Jimmy Chung's Seagull" and I can help put the rumour down. I walked past last night and it was deserted. Maybe if you see any of this seagull nonsense posted elsewhere you could put a link to this post (use the permalink) or to the Daily Record story. Maybe leave a comment (below) to acknowledge your support for the restaurant.

However, I did eat next door in Papa Joes, which was fine, then went drinking in several West end pubs, then off dancing in Fat Sams. While I was in the queue for Fatties, blethering to anyone who would listen, some girls told me that my clothing "style" (in particular the scarf, leather gloves and sexy, sexy shoes) made me look like a "pretentious, English metrosexual". I think saying I look English was a bit of a cheap shot, and has left me feeling quite low. However, they also gave me two compliments so that's nice! ;)

which shoes?

which shoes?
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Hmmm


UPDATE: Some time later... So the problem here was that I was in the shoe shop and I couldn't decide between these two pairs of boots. Being the techno-geek that I am, I thought I would send a picture to my blog, then get someone to look online and help me decide. Well the first bit worked - I just couldn't find anyone to look at the picture.... except Dad who thought the ones on the left were best. Phone calls to Wendy, Da Jingster and Julie were of no help. I actually had to get Andy and Phil to come to the shop to help me choose. Anyway, I went for the ones on the right. I think I preferred the other ones but they didn't fit quite as well.

Genius Irn Bru Snowman Advert

What Christmas is complete without watching the Snowman? Or at least briefly hearing it and remembering the time you did bother watching it years ago.

Well, good old Irn Bru have taken it and "adapted" the classic "Walking through the Air" song from the animation and turned it into an advert. Genius! Unfortunately Irn Bru adverts are rarely shown in England so here it is for your viewing pleasure on YouTube:



There's loads of funny Scottish adverts that you don't get to see in England, such as the Tennants ones. I'll maybe post them up some time.

A Gentleman's Wardrode Expanded

Got up early today and to hit the sales shopping and got in to town for 9.30am. It was pretty quiet at first but we didn't realise that the Next sale had already started so by the time we got there, there was only dust and empty sweetie wrappers left.

Still, I managed to spend a whole whack of money and got 3 pairs of work trousers, two shirts for work and a tie, a whole bunch of Carhartt stuff (cords, jumper, t-shirt; look at their website - I had no idea they made protective gear - must be like CAT starting to make shoes, then making plant machinery!), a Bench jumper a casual shirt a t-shirt and a few bits and bobs.

Andrew managed to spend much more money than he intended but got a pretty nice YSL suit and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Need to go back in tomorrow to buy some boots. Go cowboy!

Now I'm about to go oot with Andy and his friends. Tomorrow heading out with Kev et al.

Merry Christmas!

Being the sad little Blogger that I am, I thought I should pop onto the computer to blog a very Merry Christmas to everyone.

I've just had my Christmas dinner so am feeling very full. Went to church last night with the family where my singing of the hymns was very impressive as usual.

Time for the Boxing Day sales chaos tomorrow!

Flying home for Christmas

Yesterday's journey home from Oxford to Dundee was remarkably straightforward.

Left the flat at about 4pm, got a bus and caught the 4.36pm train to Birmingham International. The train was packed but I managed to get a seat and the train was only about 15min late. I was sitting next to a bunch of soldiers who couldn't appreciate the problem that some paying customers might have with standing, when their kits bags are taking up two seats.

Got to the airport and had a BK for dinner. The queue to get through security was huge - took about 1h to get through. Loads of flights were being canceled, including some from Birmingham to Edinburgh. I don't see why British Midland couldn't fly to Edinburgh but their cheapo version, BMI Baby could!

Anyway, got onto the flight only a few minutes late. Easy flight up to Scotland, where Dad, for various reasons, had been waiting at the airport for about...3-4 hours. Nice drive home and I got in at about 11pm.

Total journey time, approximately 7h. Yes it still takes ages, but it was fairly straightforward. I feel sorry for all the people who have had their flights cancelled and miss family gatherings etc.

Fingers crossed for Miguel flying from Heathrow to Schiphol today!

What a bore!

Sorry, I mean - What a boar!

Went into the Covered Market today and saw this fine beast hanging from a hook outside the butcher's.

This butcher's is fantastic. Real old style. None of the sanitised "pretend your meat wasn't once alive" crap. The meat there looks like it could almost get up and walk away. If it wasn't hanging from a hook. Or headless and legless like lots of them are.

I'd like to see what the Animal Activist tubes would make of it. There's a lot of kids these days that don't really appreciate that meat comes from animals. The same kids that don't realise milk comes from cows. Would probably be good to show them a butcher's like this.

That said, I really wouldn't know how to prepare meat like that. I'll just stick to the rubbish from the supermarkets for now.

Misty me

Last night's ride home from work was one of the scariest ever.

Set off at about 8.30pm. Took the turning onto the A4074 and quickly found that because of the thick mist I could see about 10 yards ahead of me. I decided just to stay behind the one car in front and follow its rear lights seing as I couldn't really tell where the road was.

Then I got onto the A40 after the Headington Roundabout and it was all the same. I couldn't see a thing! I was bricking it that someone would just drive straight into the back of me. Before I set off I actually decided to put my rucksack under the bungee on my back seat, just so that the reflective strips on my Derrick day-glo vest would be seen from behind. Made me feel slightly safer.

Added to that, the mist was misting up the outside of my visor every few second further reducing visibility. I was wondering why my hands seemed so slippy, then I realised it was freezing fog. Hurrah! I was covered in a layer of frost!

I see it is just as misty this morning. Let's see how I get on...

UPDATE 0928h: Well that went even worse than expected. Tried to turn the key in the ignition: frozen solid. Spend ages spraying WD40 which does nothing. Eventually go for the old "heat up the keys with a match" trick, which actually eventually works! So then I try to start the bike, but no luck. Pretty quickly the battery runs down. So I think I will just bump start it again. Oops - the clutch cable is frozen solid. Dumbass here tries to just keep pulling it in figuring the ice will give up its hold soon. Maybe it would have, but not before the clutch cable gave up and snapped!

So now I have a day off...

UPDATE 2: Well, special thanks to Kate for going to pick up my replacement cable for me and braving the treacherous driving conditions out there. The price for my day off (and a new clutch cable) was £18.70! Grrrr!

A Gentleman's Wardrobe

Tonight I did an audit of my wardrobe to try and get rid of some of the old clothes I had been hoarding. It's difficult to know what to get rid of. I have clothes that I don't wear, but figure might be useful at some time. I've also got clothes that I wear regularly that I don't really like. What I don't have is lots of money to buy new clothes, but at least there is now room for them in the cupboard.

Here are the clothes I am left with. I probably have about three times as many clothes as Wendy but I still feel like my cupboard is a bit bare:

Jeans - 5 pairs
Cords - 1 Pair
FC linen trousers - 1 Pair
Work trousers - 4 pairs. 2 pairs are looking pretty tatty and need replaced.
Tracksuit trousers - 1 pair
Jumpers - 3? The big black one that makes me look like I have breasts, the golden one that I like and the one Fraser got me for Xmas last year. Big cream jumper was ditched because Alex told me I looked ill when I wore it.
Thinnish jumpers - 3 - mostly for wearing when riding the motorbike to work.
Work shirts - 6 I think, although all but 1 are a bit crappy now and need replaced.
1 SRU Training top
1 SRU Rugby Top
1 Hong Kong 7s Rugby Top
1 Hope & Glory Suit Jacket type thing.
2 Black zip up jumpers (...alright - cardigans!)
Casual shirts - 3
Suit - 1
T-shirts - 15 ( I ditched 9)
Gym grade t-shirts (who doesn't grade, then occasionally demote, their t-shirts?) - 8
Shorts - 5
Climbing top - 1
Leather Jacket
Big Black Jacket
North Face water proof jacket
M/C Jacket and trousers
Kilt plus Bonnie Prince Charlie gear
Old Ski Fleece
Old Ski Jacket
Old Ski Trousers
Fleece Jacket
Very Old Tracksuit style jacket that I love.

So the key questions are - are 5 pairs of jeans enough? 15 T-shirts - could do with more new ones? 3 casual shirts - deffo need new ones!

I will be hitting the Boxing Day sales with Andrew at about 10am! Mwahahaha!

I threw out loads of clothes tonight. Wendy insisted on opening the Champagne. I am feeling it now....

Hot stuff

It's wrong to laugh at people for being odd.

However, in this case I'll make an exception: