Thursday 29 October 2009

Bishop Kristoff

Rock on brother says Bishop Kris. Always up for a curry.

April as happy as Larry

Who's Larry? April having a sizzling plate of meat at a restaurant last week. Hot granite is excellent.

BBC Studio

BBC Studio for Buzzcocks recording last week.

Never fear, DHL is here

Amazon have despatched my FM2010 with DHL. Screw you Royal Mail idiots.

Argh!

Bastard work shy striking ass wipes! If I don't get the new football manager tomorrow there will be hell to pay...

... or maybe not hell, just mild annoyance.

I'm also still waiting for an extra HDMI cable. Cocks! Mother flipping ass cocks in fact.

Wednesday 28 October 2009

I am rapidly going nuts

Our head office over in Tokyo have asked for a massive dump of data out of our model. My working spreadsheet is currently over 400mb and constantly crashes. I'm going to kill it if it doesn't pull itself together!!!!!

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Famous spot

I had lunch with James today at the Weatherspoons in the city. It's a huge venue that's nice and cheap and service is pretty quick. It reminded me of th last time i'd been there with him where we spotted Andy Fordham.

For those that are not in the know, and I count myself in that catagory, he is a professional darts player and used to be fat.
I did recognise him but didn't know his name, hence when looking for his name in google when typing this up all I needed was to type fat darts player and he popped straight up.

Anyway, looking at him now, he looks ill. Surely there's a happy medium...

Guess who's a numb nuts?

Yes, it's me. I've just this minute spilt a large coffee all over my desk, leg and shirt! April will be pleased trying to get the stain out. Oops!

What an idiot. Looks like i'm popping out at lunch to get a new shirt.

Doh!

Monday 26 October 2009

Old Business Cards

I picked up a book to read this morning, Player of Games (Iain M Banks) and inside were two of my old business cards. One for Lloyd's one for Gallagher. That means it's over two years since i'd picked it up before.

Maybe i'll read it this time.

I don't have cards at the minute as I rarely meet clients, maybe I should though as book marks are certainly handy.

Christmas rugby night out

I've just been informed about a rugby night out before Christmas. The theme is revenge of the nerds.

Guys, can I borrow some of your clothes???

Bristol shenanigans

I went back to Bristol last weekend to meet up with my old flatmates / uni palls. In total there were 9 of us out, some of which I hadn’t seen since 2001. Bloody hell! It was really good to see them though and we had a great laugh. Getting in at 3 on the other hand is not something I want to make a habit of. I'm shattered.

Yeah, free half day off

We've just been told that we're getting a half day on Christmas Eve off! Plus at our manager's discretion New Years Eve afternoon off. Seeing as he's not in I reckon that's virtually guaranteed...

Friday 23 October 2009

Correlating friends

It probably won’t surprise you hear that I have a spreadsheet that I update on a weekly basis that details my rating of each friend out of 10. It's quite an arbitrary score and can be based on more or less anything.

Not replying to an e-mail or missing your round of drinks in the pub may get you a 6 rather than a 7. Or ironing my work shirts on a Sunday night may get you a 10 rather than a 9…

I’ve been keeping it up to date for nearly four years now so have amassed a fair amount of data so when bored at work yesterday I decided to attach a correlation matrix off the back of it to see if different friends (or my ratings of friends) correlate with each other.

It’s interesting to see that certain clusters of friends do correlate, it must have something to do with me being happy (or not) with that group as a whole at any given time. Interestingly certain groups of friends also negatively correlate against each other. I guess if one group is moving down the scale I make more time and effort with another so they raise in my expectations.

All very interesting, or at least useful as I found a new technique for excel where I use an indirect expression so that I can use named ranges in the correlation function.

If you want to see YOUR average score over the last 4 years let me know…

Terrible story but interesting quote...

When asked about "sawing" injuries to her neck, which appeared to be an attempt to cut her head off, he replied: "I have no reason to cut someone's head off, I've never cut someone's head off.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8320753.stm

Why would someone have a reason to cut someone's head off? Also having never cut someone's head off before does not exclude you from cutting someone's head off in the future.

Feeling a little rough this morning

I went out with a James last night and got back pretty late. Jeez, did I not feel well this morning. It can only have been down to the chips with chilli peppers I ordered from the kebab shop.

Quiet night for me tonight though.

Urgh!

Wednesday 21 October 2009

FM 2010 demo

Whilst ill yesterday I stumbled upon the new demo for Football Manager 2010. My first impressions were that they'd messed everything up as I couldn't find anything but once I got into the hang of things it was pretty much the same.

Other than the updated database, there only seem to be a few changes. Improved tactics and assistant are the two that seem most improved. Some of the other changes aren't working however, like the Premier League table. I click on it to see where I am and am faced with a blank screen. When I click on the club injuries table it takes me to my fixture list. When I click on the match analysis tab when playing a game, there's nothing there.

Hopefully these'll all be resolved by next Friday when my full version should arrive. In future though, rather than messing with the interface (which works fine) concentrate on the database and game engine. If it aint broke don't fix it.

This all won't matter if the idiots at the Royal Mail don't deliver it on time.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

I'm off ill today

I'm no better than I was yesterday, in fact if anything i'm worse.

Bloody colds...

Monday 19 October 2009

4 games of rugby 3 smashed fingers

When I finally quit i'll eventually have a couple of claws.

Man flu not swine flu

I've just filled in the online National Pandemic Flu questionnaire and it's official, I don't have swine flu. It's only man flu.

But the trooper that I am still managed to drag himself into work. Let's see how many people I can infect. A problem shared is a problem halved.

Thursday 15 October 2009

Modern Family

I watched the first episode of Modern Family tonight.

Excellent!

Pub crawl

I had a mini pub crawl with James last night, and went to around 5 new pubs. Some were even quite good. I'm a bit bored of the city these days so it's nice to go somewhere different.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Fringe

I've just watched the first episode of Fringe on Virgin on demand, I get it for free with our extra large package (ooh er misses). Can I be arsed to watch all 20 episodes of the 1st series? Probably. But when?

Series to yet watch

4-6 Sopranos
All of West Wing
Stargate Universe

I guess it'll keep me occupied and out of trouble for a while.

1/2's not bad

I poured the last of my cider out at the weekend. I reckon at most 5% was drunk. I have to be honest and say that it wasn't great. Oh well, at least the first lot wasn't bad.

April will be glad to get rid of the huge barrel in the utility room though.

On another note, "Like Son like Father", my dad's bought a cider press for something to do during his retirement (Jan next year) and over the last couple of months has been harvesting his and neighbours apples. Apparently it's nearly ready for tasting. I have to admit, there's nothing like real scrumpy.

Ouch!

Finally got my phone bill back from the trip to America...

Eek! £156. Oops!

Monday 12 October 2009

Late notice beer

I was going to go to the gym after work today, surprisingly I feel fine after Saturday's game, but a friend from Lloyd's e-mailed to say that he was inviting a few out for a beer or two after work for his birthday.

The fact that I forgot my headphones (stupid gym music) and the fact that the beer will be free, he twisted my arm...

Anyway, a while back we spotted a load of wrapped presents in an unused desk at work and ended up opening them. They were cuboid paper weights filled with water and a floating boat. We bought a Belgian Marine insurer not so long ago and they were they marketing gimmick.

Anyway, we're got one left that's still wrapped and i'm going to give that to him as a present. Let's hope he likes it.

£1.99 HDMI Cable

I've just bought a HDMI cable from amazon, and that includes postage and packaging. Not bad really, let's hope it works.

I bought a splitter a couple of months back and haven't got round to using it yet as I was one cable short. I've now got the x-box (which came with it's own) but am still one short. When it arrives i'll be all connected without having to whip out cables all the time.

Watch this space...

Sunday 11 October 2009

It's raining it's pouring

Sundays can be really boring. I guess at least i'm not at work.

Good win yesterday

We won 7-10 yesterday away to Sevenoaks, good win as they were top of the league. That should move us into top spot with 3 wins out of 4. Not bad having been promoted last year.

Friday 9 October 2009

3 weeks till the new FM!

He, he. It's going to be good!

I can't get to the site at work though. Spoil sports.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Food, glorious food

I went to lunch (not that sort of lunch) with a friend from work yesterday, and another friend today and am out for dinner here later tonight

http://www.dimt.co.uk/

I've been before but it's very nice. Even the website is pretty impressive. Scroll over the x-mas menu button. That's a nice touch.

Stargate Universe

I watched the first couple of episodes of Stargate: Universe last night. It's not that bad. I really enjoyed the film but never thought the series (s) after was any good. Although i'm sure they had their fans it wasn't for me.

I'm looking for something to watch during the autumn / winter so thought i'd give it a go. I'm quite glad that I did. Robert Carlyle plays a leading role and is excellent, so too is his comedy computer game playing maths genius.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Oops!

I was running late for my train on Monday night and I felt someone hitting me with a newspaper. I didn't hear anything as I has my headphones in and as I was late I ignored it. I was hit again. I turned around about to give whoever it was a shout when I noticed it was Soph, my old flatmate. Oops!

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Where's my slice of the pie?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8291825.stm

"US regulators will for the first time crack down on bloggers who fail to disclose fees or freebies they get from companies for reviewing products."

I'd like to make it explicitly clear that I have never received payment or service in kind as part of writing this blog.

That's not to say that I wouldn't of course...

Vine

I was supposed to be taking Steve and Jenny out for a belated wedding present last night to a fancy restaurant in Borough called Roast but at short notice Jenny went home ill. Having quite looked forward to it all day we (April and I) went out anyway.

We ended up going for a quick drink in a Sevenoaks pub called the Black Boy. A Shepherd and Neame pub, not a BNP members club.

http://www.shepherd-neame.co.uk/pubs/pubs.php/blackboy_sevenoaks

As luck would have it their chef was trying out new starters so gave us some black pudding and apple wrapped in bacon. Mmm...

We were booked into the Vine later so it was a nice little starter to get us going.

http://www.vinerestaurant.co.uk/index.php?q=sevenoaks-restaurant

It was pretty dead, only another 3 tables booked but it was great anyway. April had a haddock risotto followed by Belly Pork, I had scallops followed by peppered steak. All in all a very nice meal.

Monday 5 October 2009

New umbrella

I bought a new umbrella at lunch today. £40. We couldn't find the umbrella that April acquired for me from her company so I was stuck borrowing one of April's tiny ones, it barely covered my shoulders. Luckily it wasn't pink.

As it turns out my old one had a two year guarantee. No reciept = No refund.

Doh!

Sore hand

I've got a sore hand today. Not sure what's wrong with it as I didn't really hurt it again on Saturday when playing rugby. It's only when I use the mouse though so just for today i'm going to use my left.