Friday, January 31, 2003
Reasons to be Cheerful :: Part 1
My dad had his operation to remove the tumour from his lung on Wednesday. He's out of intensive care now and doing well despite the fact that in the end, they had to remove 2 thirds of his lung. I think his specialist put it best when he said "He's had a lucky escape". If everything goes to plan, he'll be back home within a week. Now all my dad needs to do is stay on the 'ex-smoker' wagon. As an incentive, he's been told that if he continues, he'll be pushing up the daisys 2 within 18 months...incentive indeed!!!
Part 2
Alex is just over 3 months old now, I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. It only seems like yesterday since I was posting on here at 4am saying that we were off to hospital. He's venturing into the world of proper food now and seems to be enjoying his first tastes of stuff carrots, sweet potato and pear.
He's also realised that if you hold something with 2 hands, you stand a better chance of getting it in your mouth.
One of the most satisfying things is getting him out of his cot in the morning. When he first catches sight of you when he wakes up, its like you're a long lost friend. He just beams this massive smile from ear to ear cos he's *really* pleased to see you...smart.
Part3
We've decided to spash out some of our hard earned dosh on some gadgets like a Garmin etrex Venture GPS and a Fuji FinePix S304 digital camera....sweet.
I've been pretty busy at work today, which means I've had hardly any time to play Miniclips version of the Capcom classic bubble trouble Not to worry, I'll play it on Monday after we've (finally) had satellite broadband installed...yay!!!
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| Posted by: An-D at 16:08
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The end of the Internet???
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| Posted by: An-D at 09:17
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Wednesday, January 29, 2003
After using Blogger for about 6 months or so, I thought I'd dip my toe in the water that is MovableType. I've been picking up bits and pieces about CGI, PHP and CSS etc in the last few months and I thought MT would be an excellent way to put them to good use and update Blogtrooper.
My only problem is my ISP. MT utilises an SQL database... now I know next to nothing about SQL yet, but what I do know is that Blueyonders server doesn't support it. I'm not the only one with this problem either. The BY support newsgroups are peppered with posts about SQL, many users, like myself have subscribed to the Tier-2 webspace service (an extea £4 per month on top of the 35 quid I pay for their 1Mb service). This includes lots of scripting stuff like Python and Pearl etc, but no SQL.
The BY guys are saying that SQL 'might' be coming in the near future..maybe, but by looking at the posts, they've been saying it a good while now. BY Users are (quite rightly) getting pissed off.
So, what other options do I have? I could leave the site as it is ATM, or use something like Grey Matter Or I could wait for BY to sort out SQL....
In any case, theres a lot of experimenting to do, and Blogtrooper will probably look a whole lot messier before it looks any better...
Oh yeah, nearly forgot the obligatory game link. Heres Happy Pills where you have to bounce a pill around and make people happy without overdoing it and killing them....Ooops.
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| Posted by: An-D at 16:34
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Saturday, January 25, 2003
As soon as Alex donned the mask, he could feel the ancient evil powers surge through him as he became **Plastic Frog Boy**
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| Posted by: An-D at 19:18
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I've been on Acid again.....
Mixing MP3s in Acid seems to be the flavour of the month...primarily due to the fact that I cant be arsed with coming up with some kind of melodic inspiration for my next track. Really should learn to play the piano one day... I havent a clue about music theory, my knowlede goes abaout as far as knowing which key is 'C' so even coming up with a basic 4 chord riff (by playing ramdom combinations of notes till it sounds right) takes hours...
Anyway, continuing on in a fashion from Methodical I decided to dig out my old Leftfield CD and chuck a few of their tracks in with some more Hybrid and tracks from the Rez soundtrack... It still needs tidying a bit, but it sounds pretty good. Click here to hopefully stream the MP3 or here to download ...Word of warning, theres quite a powerful sub-bass kick drum used near the end (Last track is Ian Browns F.E.A.R). If your system isn't up to the job, you might want to turn the bass down a bit.
I've also done some work on Gravity, the track still needs a bassline, but that involves thinking so it'll have to wait (I'm having a brain free weekend). Stream the mp3 with this clicky or download it with this clicky
Apart from the mixing, last night was mainly spent lowering my IQ. I was getting far too intelligent for my own good so I decided to go blonde. What the feck was I thinking.
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| Posted by: An-D at 14:28
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Thursday, January 23, 2003
Darth Vader brings The Force to Exeter....Nuff said!
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| Posted by: An-D at 10:44
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Nice scribbly marker pen thingy from GE, of all people
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| Posted by: An-D at 15:34
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Another game from Titoonic (who made space cab below). This one is like those puzzles you get in christmas crackers where you have to line up the corresponding shapes on each card. A word of warning though, this one requires thought...probably not best played if you've used up your daily thinking quota... Titoonic A/S - Squares
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| Posted by: An-D at 15:29
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Could the end be nigh for P2P file sharing? RIAA wins battle to ID Kazaa user - Tech News - CNET.com
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| Posted by: An-D at 15:24
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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Wouldn't it be great if you could scribble down a 2-D sketch of something then have a search engine go and find 3-D models of it on the internet...
Whats that??? you can!!!
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| Posted by: An-D at 15:56
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Friday, January 17, 2003
Its Wendys birthday today, but before I whisk her off for lunch at Heathcotes this afternoon, I've got to spend the morning at work sorting out another infamous bodgit and scarper job.
Lucky for me, someones combined elements of Nemesis, Galaxians and Space Invaders with the agility of mouse control to come up with A-Blast
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| Posted by: An-D at 08:53
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Thursday, January 16, 2003
My mate Rob has put together a site containing hundreds of luvvly tasteful pics of foxy ladies....Rather unsurprisingly, its called Rob's Babes. If you want a groovy chick as your desktop wall paper, this is the place for you.
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| Posted by: An-D at 13:07
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Don't you just love them Lunar Lander style-ee flash games. This one throws in a few extra challenges in the form of fare paying passengers....Titoonic Space Cab
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| Posted by: An-D at 10:59
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Wednesday, January 15, 2003
This should please Jessica.....June debut for Potter latest
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| Posted by: An-D at 16:32
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Tuesday, January 14, 2003
My dad came round last night and as soon as he said "I've got something to tell you" I knew exactly what he was going to say....
40 years of smoking have taken their toll and a few weeks ago my dad went to the doctors after coughing up bits of blood. The docs did their stuff and last week told him that he has lung cancer.
The really wierd thing about this is, that I knew he'd get this one day..... I also know he's going to be ok.
The cancer has spread across the bottom part of his right lung. Apparently, according to the consultant, my dads really lucky as they've caught it early and they can operate to remove the tumour. Only 25% of people diagnosed with lung cancer get this option.
So, on the 28th of Jan, he's going into Blackpool Victoria hospital for major surgery to have a quarter of his lung removed.
I think the way I reacted has thrown my dad a bit...but when you know something is coming, its difficult to be shocked by it. Also, getting upset about it isn't going to do him any good whatsoever. The last thing he needs, in my opinion is to be worrying about people worrying about him.
I'm generally very optimistic, and I really believe that focussing on the positive helps much more than thinking that my dads egg timer is nearly done....
My dad reckons he's getting on a bit now, but he's still one of the strongest and fresh minded people I know.... I asked him if he'd had his last smoke.... he said "yeah, I rolled a BIG fat one"....
I've got good vibes about the operation, I think its going to be a success. He's going to need to take it easy for a while, but if I only offer him a minute fraction of all the help and support he's given me in my 32 years, he's going to be just fine...
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| Posted by: An-D at 16:24
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Sunday, January 12, 2003
What do you get if you cross 6 of my favourite MP3s with 43 samples of drums, synth riffs and pads that I've made recently and Soundforges audio sequencer, Acid pro?
You get a 24 minute, 148bpm Hip-Hoppin, Breakbeatin, Progressive Saturday night soundtrack.
I really like mixing, but I got bored with 2 records and turntables about 5 years ago... Acid goes far beyond turntables in many ways. Why limit yourself to 2 or 3 tracks when you can accurately mix as many tracks at once as you like. You can take anything with a tempo between 70 and 240 bpm and beatmap them all to the same BPM with the click of a button. Tons of DirectX plugins mean you can get all creative and really expand the sounds... don't take my word for it though, have a listen to this, its called Methodical after Method Mans 'Judgement Day'.. Roni Size's remix is the first track and it provided most of the inspiration for the mix. They're some Hybrid in there too and some of my own stuff. Its Realplayer only at the moment as I haven't got enough space on the server for the MP3
PS, If anyone can tell me what I was on on Saturday night, I'd be very grateful... I want some more...
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| Posted by: An-D at 19:02
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It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but despite the fact that its mostly plastic, my revolutionary enhancement is starting to give me a headache....Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. In a effort to better the totally pointless transmitter that 'Professor Cyborg' Kevin Warwick had inserted in his arm in an attempt to crown himself thw worlds first cyborg, I had my webcam surgically sellotaped to my head...well, baseball cap actually... the sentiment is the same but I couldn't find the staple gun to do the job properly. However, I am proud to announce that I am now one with my PC; connected to its very core like an embryonic thingy by a life-giving umbilical USB cable.
I'm quite pleased with the result though. Both functional (I've started doing weddings and the likes... group shots a speciality...) and aesthetically pleasing....though it wasnt all plain sailing...
Intoxicated by the knowledge that *I* 'Tri-Clops' had become the worlds first truly useful cyborg I decided to share my joy with the rest of the world via my Earthcam page I was a little disappointed in the turnout, but its hardly surprising. The plain truth is that the webcam watching public are more interested in digital voyurism than scietific breakthroughs. Obviously, I haven't got much to offer by comparison with Jenny cam which promises (if the chatroom is full...which they always are...with people adopting really clichéd Nyms like ToRmEnToR) a lovely, rich blue background accentuated by lime green text...
The 'live now' page on the Earthcam site is overflowing with channels of people who appear to want to be seen as sexual cavaliers who relish the though of millions of beady eyes watching them as they perform their 'rumpy-pumpy ballet.' In reality the most flesh you're likely to see is where the cam owner has been picking flaky bits of his/her atheletes foot and leaving a small pile next to the TV or dresser (where the cameras are usually pointed). The channel descriptions speak for themselves too "HELLO Lady i will chat with nice Ladys ,write me a message for my PW . smile i hope i see you later bye smile. No Gays".
Bugger, I was going to hit the hay then, but someone has just tuned in to headcam.... I suppose I better give them a look round unless.... it could be Kev Warwick trying to find out how I have succeeded in an area where he only knows the bitter taste of crushing defeat....Ha..I'm gonna just sit here and look at the monitor...
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| Posted by: An-D at 04:25
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Friday, January 10, 2003
Nearly 3pm already!! cool!!... soon be time to go home. Though its hardly surprising the day has gone so fast when I've had things like this Eidos Hitman stylee christmas game, a rather odd game where you have to balance stuff on coathangers called levers from vectorpark, this excellent Silent Scope style game called full time killer and this Marble Madness inspired game called Gyroworld from happymonitor to play with....sweet.
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| Posted by: An-D at 14:57
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Thursday, January 09, 2003
Incredibly addictive this... One of those 'must carry on when I get home' sort of games. Its called Interface Escape and quite original in a 'bounce a bloke armed with a jetpac off the wall to score more points' sort of way.
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| Posted by: An-D at 16:15
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Make peeps in your office feel ill by using these as desktop wallpapers...
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| Posted by: An-D at 09:37
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Monday, January 06, 2003
It’s a bit late, but hoppy nude beer!!
I’ve been doing my best impersonation of a bloke in his 30’s with a cold over the last week or so. As you can imagine, I’ve been moping a bit and not feeling like going to my PC when the sofa is so comfy and Wendy is looking after me…
Its actually been a great holiday, culminating in my 32nd birthday on New Years Eve and Alex sussing out that he can do ‘stuff’.
As I mentioned before the hols, Jessica spent Christmas with us this year. I was quite excited and woke up at 5am expecting Jessica to pounce shortly afterwards. Seems as though the sleeping gene that usually emerges in children in their early teens has struck Jessica at an early age. I had to go and wake her up at 7:30….
Anyway, we all had a lovely time together (our first ‘family’ Christmas with Alex), Jessica was really pleased with the stuff Santa brought her, especially considering she couldn’t think of anything she wanted in the weeks before Christmas. She particularly liked the little robot kit she got called Hyper Peppy I must admit, even as an adult, it was great fun to help Jessica build it then watching it race round on the floor (which is strangely compelling for some reason). Also, thanks to my mum and dad, she now has enough art materials to open her own shop. At the end of the week, Jessica went back up to her mums for Christmas II…. She’s one lucky little girl!
Next I should tell you about my birthday…but theres not much to tell… sorry, that’s a lie. It was a great night, lots of my friends came round. I got very drunk very early in the afternoon and can’t remember much between 2pm and 4am. Wendy totally surprised me by getting me Edward Goreys complete Amphigorey collection ( Amphigorey, Amphigorey too and Amphigorey Also). This is exceptionally cool of her as I often lament loaning my treasured Amphigorey book so someone who I never say again and refusing to pay the extortionate Waterstones price for it when I saw it in the said bookshop (actually, you can’t get it in the UK anymore). So she ordered all 3 from the US. She’s a top girl my wife y’know.
If you’re unfamiliar with him, heres one of my favourite tales, The Gashlycrumb Tinies
Finally, Alex is now 10 weeks old and last week he did something amazing. He was playing under his baby gym (which plays sounds and lights up when you bat the shapes dangling from it) and just randomly waving his arms about when he managed to hit one of the shapes. After about 5 minutes of trying, he did it again and got really excited, you could almost see the thought process on his face...."Whoa.... that wasn't just something that happened.... I waved my hand on that thing and it did that stuff I like... I wonder what would happen if i did it again." It was a marvellous moment, me and Wendy cheered him on as he batted away, proudly showing off his new found skill. It was great.
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| Posted by: An-D at 17:01
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