NomenLoony.com

If anyone is really stuck for something to do and fancies a quietish new years eve eating curry and drinking cocktails, we will be at home and are doing a very low key last minute thing. If you can read this you are welcome to come.

Give us a call on 07908 145245 if you fancy popping over to Rawmarsh.

I've found the screen resolution problem and sorted it... little bit of editing of a config file (adding 1200x800 as a valid resolution)... but it's looking very pretty now. May have to increase the font size slightly through... my eyes aren't what they used to be.

As for the sound issues, I know what's causing them - and have downloaded the files to sort the problem. Hopefully, I will be happy by 10pm!

I'm now on Day 2 of linux and I'm loving it.

Current breakages that I've got to fix:

Sound - very quiet - can't figure how to get it louder. Apparently, it's a kernel thing and I need to delve into the depths of config files. Perhaps I'll live with it until new year - I have an MP3 player for music.

Graphics - can't get out of 1024x768 mode... it's useable, but I have a 1280 x 800 laptop with widescreen and the pixel artefacts are quite bizarre.

Other than that, I'm very happy with it.

Meanwhile... is it wrong to eat biscuits with pieces of toblerone on top? - I haven't got any chocolate biscuits but REALLY did fancy some so broke some up on top of a peanut cookie... num num.

I have just taken probably the biggest computing decision of the last 20 years (for me anyway)...

I have just DITCHED Windows! - after trying out a test disc of Ubuntu Linux for a few weeks and liking it, I've now uninstalled Vista (boo hiss) and reformatted my entire laptop as a Linux PC.

God I feel so happy!

My 1.8Ghz Celeron already feels like a 3Ghz P3.

Klein Sexual Orientation Grid
I scored an average of 2.1


width="132">

012345
6
HeterosexualBisexual
Homosexual
MeaningThis result can also be related to the Kinsey Scale:


0 = exclusively heterosexual
1 = predominantly heterosexual, incidentally homosexual
2 = predominantly heterosexual, but more
than incidentally homosexual
3 = equally heterosexual and homosexual
4 = predominantly homosexual, but more than incidentally
heterosexual
5 = predominantly homosexual, incidentally heterosexual
6 = exclusively homosexual

Summary
The idea of this excercise is to understand exactly how dynamic a person's sexual orientation can be, as well as how fluid it can be over a person's lifespan. While a person's number of actual homo/heterosexual encounters may be easy to categorize, their actual orientation may be completely different. Simple labels like "homosexual", "heterosexual", and "bisexual" need not be the only three options available to us.

Take the quiz

Thanks, first, to Brindy for adding me :-)

Secondly... I just did a spanking new feature on LJ that should (in theory) now update my facebook every time I post... if you're seeing this on Facebook, then it works. If not, then facebook really is drivel.

I wish people would use bebo - it's far nicer and doesn't have quite the same level of dross plug ins cluttering up your homepage.

Today, I had to work... I fitted 4 lights (one of which is broken - grrr - and needs a new backplate) and the kitchen and kiddies toilet at the nursery I'm currently wiring up now have lights (but no switching just yet).

Last night was cool at 's where we ate copious amounts of bread and cheese. Thanks to them for the open invite :-)

Tonight... well, isn't feeling too well, so I'll probably play some Super Mario Galaxy and make her the occasional Lemsip.

We'll be at 's tomorrow early evening? for party type things so hopefully see you there?

Yep I haven't been around for a while (playing with Facebook et al) so I thought I'd just update those of you who have not seen me for a while...

The band goes from strength to strength - we had loads of label interest in the new album (you can hear loads of it here: http://www.ilike.com/artist/Crimes+Of+Passion )... in fact we had so much interest that we had labels fighting over us and eventually decided to sign with a fairly large label (within our field of music).

We toured the UK again in late November supporting Jeff Scott Soto... it went well (and there's photos on my flickr for those who wish to see - link at right on my homepage or follow this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/khl/sets/72157603403404293/ ).

Meanwhile, I ripped the bathroom apart this September/October, removed all the tiles, and moved it all around. A little cat related accident caused a leak (she bent a pipe, bless her) and we ended up with a mini flood, but other than that the bathroom now looks muc…

That thunderstorm really tested our drains... to the limit.

It was my sad duty to wrap my arm in rubber glove and bin liner and stick it down, pulling out the many years of detritus that has caused the blockage and associated flooding.

It now drains, and thanks to improvisation (8" flower pot) we now have a good filtration tank which sits on top of the hole and filters out any cack which might end up down there, plus I've put pebbles into the rain gulley to allow water to get through but prevent crap from running through.

Me:

"No, windows, please turn off that spinning ring thing and actually respond"

5 minutes later...

"Hold in power button for 4 seconds - perform forced reset"

Reboot....

5 minutes later...

"FFS Windows Vista, you bag of shite... Increased task stability my arse... increased startup time my arse... you sack of pretty but pointless crap will you respond?"

Eventually.... it boots...

5 minutes later...

"No please don't load Media Player, I don't want that loading... Why are you loading media player?"

STOP loading media player, why doesn't this little [X] icon work?

"Windows Media Player has stopped responding"... OK, close it.

"Windows Media Player has stopped responding"... OK, close it.

"Windows Media Player has stopped responding"... OK, close it.

"Windows Media Player has stopped responding"... OK, close it.

"Windows is checking for a solution to this problem"... "No Windows, DON'T CHECK F…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/khl

Oh did I mention you need to be a friend of mine on flickr to actually drafts of our new album artwork.

The album is really taking shape now, and the track listing is still in flux but here it is as we presently have it:

1. Intro (1 min 45 seconds moody intro)
2. Fight You on My Own
3. God Made Me Your Angel
4. The Me I Lost
5. Die Alone
6. Exit Wound
7. Breathless & Beautiful
8. Pretty in Blood
9. Unbreakable
10. Dream of Me

B. Miracle (bonus on Japanese release only)
Still no title, as yet, and we may just call it "Crimes of Passion" and not title it... there's a bit of a story running through the entire thing though, not quite a concept, but close... basically it runs like this:

Dale plays the angel (in the artwork at least), and the rest of the band play various other characters important to the story... I play a dark angel (current thoughts and my preference)... but the angel guards a woman, who he then falls in love with. Since angel/mortal l…

I was watching Towering Inferno on Sky earlier, only for it to suddenly "go off air"...

At least now I understand why... Glasgow Airport.

Bugger! That's not good.

The Ulley Reservoir
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. From Google Earth - the Ulley Reservoir...

I've taken the view down the valley pointing towards the M1 and the junction of the M1 and Sheffield Parkway - actually it points more towards the end of Rotherway...

Not that I'm the scared type, but I'm really worried about Ulley Ressy... it was very full when I went over the bridge the other day (nice pub at the top of Ulley by the way) - they've been on about the fact that it will flood the M1 etc, which if you know where Ulley is you'll understand what I mean...

However... the thing that also worries me is that in the valley near the M1 is the main electrical distribution station for Rotherham. If it goes, expect loss of power.

I really feel for the people in Sheffield who are seeing the same sort of thing, but worse.

I have more photos on my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/khl if you want to see what we're experiencing in the Don and Dearne valleys... Morphy Richards is flooded though.

I hope everyone is OK, and am checking LJ regularly for updates.

Has anyone heard from Cis & Steve?

Everyone still here?

We've not been washed away over in Rawmarsh, but I can report that there is virtually no way out of Rawmarsh at all... and Rotherham is also cut off.

If anyone is stuck around Rotherham / can't get back to Sheffield / can get to Rawmarsh, please feel free to drop in and we can offer comfy sofas and crash space.

I was going to buy Sim City 2000 on the DS the other day, until I realised that actually it's a bit crap!... I love Sim City 2000 - over and above SC3000 and SC4 - Sim City 2000, for all it's clunkyness is still the best by a long way.

Things missing from Sim City 2000 DS:

Water - no laying pipes
Highways & onramps & cloverleaf junctions
Terrain - no hills!
Tunnels - the above, hence no tunnels
Signs - you can't rename areas of your town "bumsville" and "shonkytown"

I just registered Sim City 2000 for my pocket PC instead - $20, rather than £30... oh and it's compatible with the full size PC version.

LJ seems to have gone very quiet on the Nevs front just lately... I think we need to get some new blood into the LJ way of thinking, don't you?

Meanwhile, stayed in a spa hotel in Leeds last night... nice :-)

Class Rock 2 (1)
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Band photo shoot - this is unprocessed but I'm sure longrat will love this one.

What do you think about the sale of petrol going into these stupid little trials bikes, you know the ones I mean - no number plates, no tax, insurance, etc.

Swinton Service Station on Bridge Street, Swinton... seems to think this is fine.

I also think it is fine not to buy petrol there... well I used to buy petrol there... I won't again. Obviously they need his £4 fill-up more than they need my £45 fill up.

Apparently...

Summer is a more popular tag than Winter
Japan is more popular than London
Music is very popular (as a tag)

but the all time most popular tag for photos?

Wedding of course!


My personal take on this though is that around 20% of the time logging onto flickr and seeing the latest 4 photos uploaded... one of them is a bad transvestite (which means either there's a lot of bad transvestites in the world, or transvestites are very web literate)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1yoDH1Vq6Y
It's us at the Boardwalk this March... cool!

Are his possessions terribly acted, or what?

With a length of 3x2 round the head that is...

Who am I talking with such violence about? It's the manager of Violent Storm of course.

If you can stick with me, please do, and read what is written below (in private!) and then make your own judgement based on my findings... and feel free to reply if you wish.


Arrival
Arrived at the Corp yesterday at about 2:30pm after picking up gear. Was met by "M" and a few of the Corp crew who helped with load in. All good. Shortly after I was asked by "M" if I'd like to meet their manager... I went upstairs and met her.

Meeting the bitch
She said "oh you're Crimes of Passion then" and then, obviously having heard good things, proceeded to enquire about if we were interested in a deal and a management deal. I said "well we have a manager at the moment, and we've got a few record deals on the table but we're interested in all offers" she said "who's your manager?" - I said "Rupe…

If you're around Sheffield tomorrow night, why not pop over to Corporation and see us supporting Vaughn?

We're onstage about 8pm so don't be late... and if you are late you'll be an equilaterally sided geometric shape with four sides.

If you're around Sheffield tomorrow night, why not pop over to Corporation and see us supporting Vaughn?

We're onstage about 8pm so don't be late... and if you are late you'll be an equilaterally sided geometric shape with four sides.

Panorama of the re-enactment at Whitby Abbey
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Well, as you have probably gathered from any other blogs on here, Whitby was the re-enactment to remember...

As they say, you can't live off the view, and that was true for Whitby. The view from the tent was stunning - a sea view - and at the back of the tent was the harbour.

The site was great, although the lack of toilet emptying left something to be desired, as did English Heritage's pettyness with a couple of students who had travelled all the way from Sheffield for some footage for their projects.

The battlefield was so-so - rabbit holes were everywhere - but someone had taken the decency to mark most of them.

The archery was rather lacklustre - we shot about 12 arrows each and due to the one way shooting there was no chance of arrow recovery for more volleys...

But the wind... well that was another story... on Sunday the wind got up to quite phenomenal gusts and blew down the awning and forced…

Panorama of the re-enactment at Whitby Abbey
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Well, as you have probably gathered from any other blogs on here, Whitby was the re-enactment to remember...

As they say, you can't live off the view, and that was true for Whitby. The view from the tent was stunning - a sea view - and at the back of the tent was the harbour.

The site was great, although the lack of toilet emptying left something to be desired, as did English Heritage's pettyness with a couple of students who had travelled all the way from Sheffield for some footage for their projects.

The battlefield was so-so - rabbit holes were everywhere - but someone had taken the decency to mark most of them.

The archery was rather lacklustre - we shot about 12 arrows each and due to the one way shooting there was no chance of arrow recovery for more volleys...

But the wind... well that was another story... on Sunday the wind got up to quite phenomenal gusts and blew down the awning and forced…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9cNEX47e_Y
An interesting night in Whitby. Many tents collapsed, and we spent the end of the night in the back of Tim's van. A full report on the weekend to follow shortly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9cNEX47e_Y
An interesting night in Whitby. Many tents collapsed, and we spent the end of the night in the back of Tim's van. A full report on the weekend to follow shortly...

do some people insist in trying to get into the country and work without the correct permits? Remember to update them you muppets!

Reference: Jeff Scott Soto and the cancelled dates (we should have been in JB's tonight)...

Oh well... I suppose later this year will have to do.......

do some people insist in trying to get into the country and work without the correct permits? Remember to update them you muppets!

Reference: Jeff Scott Soto and the cancelled dates (we should have been in JB's tonight)...

Oh well... I suppose later this year will have to do.......

Well a few weeks ago actually, but I always said I hated pocket PC... and I did... but Pocket PC running windows mobile 5 isn't three bad! - it still crashes like a Nova GSi with a 17 year old behind the wheel (regularly and with spectacular results), and it has some quirks that even make me think "Microsoft what were you thinking?"... but firstly it has Block Recognition - yay! - Palm!!! - I used to use that when it was called Graffiti on Palm OS4.5 and 5 devices (before they removed it and replaced it with the godawful Grafitti 2), and it was good... and secondly... how good is the calendar!

Anyway, whilst I'm geeking.... 10 ways to tell you're a geek:

1. You have a smartphone (that's me got 1 then)
2. You have a laptop (er.... yep... got me there then)
3. You have a travelling USB cable "just in case" (er... yep got one of those)
4. You understand WEP keys (yep, me too)
5. You have more than one device capable of playing MP3's (yep... er about 5 at…

Well a few weeks ago actually, but I always said I hated pocket PC... and I did... but Pocket PC running windows mobile 5 isn't three bad! - it still crashes like a Nova GSi with a 17 year old behind the wheel (regularly and with spectacular results), and it has some quirks that even make me think "Microsoft what were you thinking?"... but firstly it has Block Recognition - yay! - Palm!!! - I used to use that when it was called Graffiti on Palm OS4.5 and 5 devices (before they removed it and replaced it with the godawful Grafitti 2), and it was good... and secondly... how good is the calendar!

Anyway, whilst I'm geeking.... 10 ways to tell you're a geek:

1. You have a smartphone (that's me got 1 then)
2. You have a laptop (er.... yep... got me there then)
3. You have a travelling USB cable "just in case" (er... yep got one of those)
4. You understand WEP keys (yep, me too)
5. You have more than one device capable of playing MP3's (yep... er about 5 at…

A review of camera policy has shown one serious issue - the biggest pains in the neck aren't members of the CRS anyway... so here it is written in stone and thus it shall be done.

Non members CANNOT bring cameras to gigs. Members - bring whatever you like - SLR, Film or Digital (although obviously if we have a no cameras policy for a particular gig that will override this rule) - and if you intend to take photos at a gig, just tie a small luggage tag or similar to one of the eyelets or the strap on your camera/camera phone showing your membership number and make sure you have your membership card with you!

We can't say fairer than that can we? - yet another benefit of CRS membership - you can take photos at our gigs.

Note that, contrary to what a certain non-member and general PITA did today, video and audio recording of CRS gigs is not permitted.

A review of camera policy has shown one serious issue - the biggest pains in the neck aren't members of the CRS anyway... so here it is written in stone and thus it shall be done.

Non members CANNOT bring cameras to gigs. Members - bring whatever you like - SLR, Film or Digital (although obviously if we have a no cameras policy for a particular gig that will override this rule) - and if you intend to take photos at a gig, just tie a small luggage tag or similar to one of the eyelets or the strap on your camera/camera phone showing your membership number and make sure you have your membership card with you!

We can't say fairer than that can we? - yet another benefit of CRS membership - you can take photos at our gigs.

Note that, contrary to what a certain non-member and general PITA did today, video and audio recording of CRS gigs is not permitted.

From Rotherham Advertiser
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Noticed this in last week's Rotherham Advertiser and brought child abuse a little close to home... does anyone know who Gary Ratcliffe is? - the name doesn't ring a bell to me, but I wondered if any Nevs or Medieval Society members out there know him?

From Rotherham Advertiser
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Noticed this in last week's Rotherham Advertiser and brought child abuse a little close to home... does anyone know who Gary Ratcliffe is? - the name doesn't ring a bell to me, but I wondered if any Nevs or Medieval Society members out there know him?

The Mazda was collected by the repair company for an estimate on repairs to the damages. We are really hoping they decide it is a viable repair because I had to trail all the way to the arse end of Leeds to find that one, and we must have looked at 20 first.

As for the little git "what did it", he's been charged with attempted theft of a motor vehicle (apparently, this is more severe than TWOCing a car) and has also been charged with attempting to drive whilst disqualified and without insurance. He has been detained, and judging by the fact that the witness testimony is watertight (red handed...) and the police and authorities have been trying to get this little bastard for ages, I suspect he may well be spending quite a long time in prison...

Hannah now has a Yaris courtesy car which she isn't too keen on but I love... she says the boot is too small (er... Lydia).

Or at least I hope so...

Yes, I am.

Yes, I am.

It's a lovely sunny day. Temporary repairs on the Mazda are well underway. I've sewn up the canvas roof, put PVC electrical tape over all the seams and bonded it on with damn good glue, and am preparing to put a coating of sealing adhesive over the top to bond them on. It'll be as good as we can get with a 10" slash in the roof... and hopefully the roof will still actually work afterwards.

Unfortunately, it's an insurance job for a new roof (£500 ish) and a new steering lock mechanism (£200 ish), but we're pursueing compensation under the victims of crime scheme.

My guess by the tone of voice and general attitude of the police officers who came and took the statements was "at last we've got enough witnesses and evidence to bang this little shit up for a long time".

I expect the CPS will slap his wrists and tell him not to do it again... isn't life unfair.

Personally I'd love to sharpen that evisceration knife.........

It's a lovely sunny day. Temporary repairs on the Mazda are well underway. I've sewn up the canvas roof, put PVC electrical tape over all the seams and bonded it on with damn good glue, and am preparing to put a coating of sealing adhesive over the top to bond them on. It'll be as good as we can get with a 10" slash in the roof... and hopefully the roof will still actually work afterwards.

Unfortunately, it's an insurance job for a new roof (£500 ish) and a new steering lock mechanism (£200 ish), but we're pursueing compensation under the victims of crime scheme.

My guess by the tone of voice and general attitude of the police officers who came and took the statements was "at last we've got enough witnesses and evidence to bang this little shit up for a long time".

I expect the CPS will slap his wrists and tell him not to do it again... isn't life unfair.

Personally I'd love to sharpen that evisceration knife.........

DSC00308
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Some chavvy little TWOCing bastard decided in the early hours of this morning that he had more rights to our car than we did.

He slashed the roof, got his thieving little arm inside, unlocked it, climbed in, forced the steering lock and managed to roll the car all of 30ft before being defeated.

He was caught in the act and has been arrested... thanks to a concerned neighbour... and we're now waiting for a police visit to do the details of the crime before we can make an insurance claim.

I'd love to be able to return the favour to him... I think slashing a similar shape into his abdomen and watching his viscera plop out would be quite satisfying at the moment... unfortunately, I can't do that so I'll just have to drown Lara Croft a few times to release some tension.

DSC00308
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. Some chavvy little TWOCing bastard decided in the early hours of this morning that he had more rights to our car than we did.

He slashed the roof, got his thieving little arm inside, unlocked it, climbed in, forced the steering lock and managed to roll the car all of 30ft before being defeated.

He was caught in the act and has been arrested... thanks to a concerned neighbour... and we're now waiting for a police visit to do the details of the crime before we can make an insurance claim.

I'd love to be able to return the favour to him... I think slashing a similar shape into his abdomen and watching his viscera plop out would be quite satisfying at the moment... unfortunately, I can't do that so I'll just have to drown Lara Croft a few times to release some tension.

Grim sign about bogies
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. "To the members of the Nose Pickers and bogie club. Please refrain from depositing your trophies on the wall."

Nice :-)

Grim sign about bogies
Originally uploaded by volcanodancer. "To the members of the Nose Pickers and bogie club. Please refrain from depositing your trophies on the wall."

Nice :-)

Fantastic or what?

Dr. Who is better than ever - quirky, eccentric, and downright bizarre... his new assistant is as good as Billie Piper, and I'm afraid I can only show respect for a race that wears NEW ROCK BOOTS!!! - yay... it's turning into farscape with all the leatherwear.

Not that I'm complaining of course... New Rocks are always good.

Fantastic or what?

Dr. Who is better than ever - quirky, eccentric, and downright bizarre... his new assistant is as good as Billie Piper, and I'm afraid I can only show respect for a race that wears NEW ROCK BOOTS!!! - yay... it's turning into farscape with all the leatherwear.

Not that I'm complaining of course... New Rocks are always good.

We should have been going to Towton today, but unfortunately altacoustic has a bad back and can't walk too well so we've had to give it a miss.

Meanwhile, I've been looking for cheesy stuff on youtube and have found yet another Indian classic - this time it's a parody on Thriller which appears to take itself very seriously. The link is here. The main character, playing Michael Jackson, seriously can dance very well.

Vistablog
I'm getting used to Vista. It's very pretty (read: Mac) and a lot of the changes do appear to be for the better, however, I'm still disgruntled at what doesn't work with it... and I'm not convinced that Media Player is the thing of the future. It seems that each media player is getting weightier and weightier every time it is updated, including itunes (Apple DRM sucks canal water) and Realplayer...

We should have been going to Towton today, but unfortunately altacoustic has a bad back and can't walk too well so we've had to give it a miss.

Meanwhile, I've been looking for cheesy stuff on youtube and have found yet another Indian classic - this time it's a parody on Thriller which appears to take itself very seriously. The link is here. The main character, playing Michael Jackson, seriously can dance very well.

Vistablog
I'm getting used to Vista. It's very pretty (read: Mac) and a lot of the changes do appear to be for the better, however, I'm still disgruntled at what doesn't work with it... and I'm not convinced that Media Player is the thing of the future. It seems that each media player is getting weightier and weightier every time it is updated, including itunes (Apple DRM sucks canal water) and Realplayer...

Due to a slight problem with Quickbooks and a few changes at work, I've had to have laptop number 3. That in itself is not a major problem, except that it's fitted with Windows Vista.

Hmmmmmmm...... it's a bit quirky isn't it? - but then I hated XP when I first started using that and I now think XP is the best version of Windows ever... you can keep Me and 98 for me, give me XP.

Anyone else tried it yet? or even using it full time?

Due to a slight problem with Quickbooks and a few changes at work, I've had to have laptop number 3. That in itself is not a major problem, except that it's fitted with Windows Vista.

Hmmmmmmm...... it's a bit quirky isn't it? - but then I hated XP when I first started using that and I now think XP is the best version of Windows ever... you can keep Me and 98 for me, give me XP.

Anyone else tried it yet? or even using it full time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Pjo0WjBcs
This is sooooo wrong, and yet so good and watchable.

Hooray for Bollywood!

Day 12 - I'll teach you, Ipod.
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. I hate you. You're Apple and all closed architecture and when you fail to be read by my PC and come up with "The Device has Malfunctioned" there's sod all I can do with you.

Yay for PC! - at least you can mend em and they don't cost the earth to buy!

Good? Bad? Strange? What do you think?

Last night I got a sharp jabbing pain in my foot like a severe sprain. I haven't been able to walk, drive etc. all day, and it's been quite horrible pain.

About 10 minutes ago I got a similar sharp jabbing pain in the same place and my ability to walk is back. I'm quite bemused by this - can anyone out there shed any light on how this happens?

I've had my Rav 4 for about 2 and a bit years now, but sadly I've outgrown in. My tools and equipment no longer fit efficiently, and so Dave the Rav will be going up for sale. I reckon Auto Trader is probably the best place to look first... I'll be quite sad - Dave has taken me through Germany, and on numerous tours and has always been dead reliable!

Meanwhile, on Earth, I interviewed Simon today... and he'll be starting in April. I can't wait because I'm now getting a bit knackered wih doing all the work myself, plus jobs are taking so much longer to complete - costing more money.

Yes, today we went to Leicestershire to altacoustic 's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary party. Quite an achievement - 1947 to 2007...

I wore my velvet suit for the first time in years as it now fits me... of sorts (jacket still slightly snug, but getting there). Yay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVgEDSjISQw
Such an excellent video it had to be shared!

Yeah, we're at the Boardwalk on 19th March supporting Warrior Soul... if you wanna come along and give us some support, go for it, but I'd suggest the following Sheffield/Rotherham gigs instead which should be far better:

2nd June at the Corporation supporting Danny Vaughn.
3rd November at the Oakwood Centre, Rotherham supporting Threshold for the Classic Rock Society Autumn Rokfest 2007

Take your pick...

At last, after 740 metres of cabling, over 500 p-clips, 150 girder flange clips (oo-er) and loads of tie wraps the analogue addressable loop... became a loop.

Thanks to Simon for that one! (Simon isn't on LJ yet, but I know he lurks).

Meanwhile, I think it's time for another secret...

I once had a mullet.

It was bad. Everyone had them. I'm glad no photos exist any more.

I'm really, really sorry.

My studio sessions have been renamed Biscuit club after the shop over the road from there started doing 3 packs of biscuits for £1. Currently in the lead for biscuit of the month is Vimto Jammie Dodgers, which are known to redefine deliciousness, as well as revive failing grandparents.

Meanwhile, I think protools has a prejudice against my bass... because of the track order I always seem to end up with my Bass Mic track being coloured what Steve calls Gold, and I just call "Baby's first poo". It's a hideous colour that I think Apple should ban, and Microsoft should just use for Windows Vista (which is also hideous - I tried it for the first time... what were they thinking?)

On the subject of the shoe place I've been working at for ages fitting the analogue addressable fire alarm - the loop is less than 100 metres and 2 devices away from joining. It's like the channel tunnel this thing - I'm sure the cable ends will shake hands or something. To put it in per…

henry
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. Unfortunately, one of my mum's dogs, Henry, passed away today aged 8. He died of heart failure.

Wonderful Fellow - Henry - "Noo Noo"
3rd May 1998 - 26th February 2007

You will be remembered, just for being cute, sweet and perpetually hungry.

Knock
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. After many months physiotherapy I shot again for the first time in ages. It felt good picking up a bow again, although I was a little rusty and could only pull to about 75% draw with my shoulders still a little weak.

I'm under orders to build back into it gently, keep increasing the amount I do, and eventually get up to full speed. I shot about 20 arrows and felt like I'd shot 100... my 40lbs bow felt like a 90lbs bow... but it was great and I am now eager to do more archery again this season.

Ah, life is good.

Any help?

My laptop screen has developed a brightness variation over towards the left hand side. It's brighter, basically, and less contrasty.

Any pointers? Have I squished the screen???? It's not seriously annoying, just minorly tedious.

Anyway, here's another secret...

Nothing very dramatic this time...

I had a childhood crush on Olivia Newton-John... seeing her at the end of Grease in that outfit... grrrrrrr.

(Simpsons - Bart's lines)

Meanwhile, here's a really big secret that will probably make you go oooooooh
I score a 2 on the Kinsey Scale... in simple, plain old fashioned English, I'm not totally heterosexual - but not totally bisexual either... sorta inbetween. I've always kept this a secret, because there's the old how will people respond thingy at the back of my mind.

These days, my attitude has changed. If you don't like me for who and what I am, then I suppose... your call. Feel free to comment - I don't mind at all... I'm screening them.

Now that's a secret!

Meanwhile, in other news, Simon helped me out today at work. He was very good and p clipped about 50 metres of cable. Bearing in mind most sparkies assume 100 metres of cable a day, that's not too bad at all.

Finally, altacoustic today chose her engagement ring replacement. The original ring was bought when we were very poor. We're not quite so poor now, so she's having one with a rub…

A long day at work, in fact a long tiring day at work. I ended up rather knackered today!

I've been in Brigg... strange town. Anyone from there before I call it a little bit inbred?

Anyhoo... funny story of the day... a customer I service the fire alarm for (who have allowed me to post this story but would prefer to remain anonymous) had a problem yesterday morning... it goes like this...

Customer A called me at about 7:45am... their alarm was going off in the background and they couldn't find their key. I talked one of the more practical members of staff through opening up the control panel and disconnecting the battery, and then disconnecting the mains. Now... not too much of a problem... but this is the funny bit.

I found out today that the reason it got set off (as I made a call to sort it) was that a rather dopey delivery driver had gone into the building, not noticed the bell with PLEASE RING FOR ATTENTION above it, and pressed the glass on the manual call point thus breakin…

Nah, I'm not telling you 30 - I'll have nothing left to keep to myself... so instead:

I have an IQ that puts me in the 99.5th percentile... even though I don't actually ever want to join Mensa or any other fart-arse society for boffins. I don't show it too often though, do I with my rather peurile sense of humour?

Meanwhile... I have this little teaser for you:

Three men go to a hotel and pay £10 each for a night's accomodation. Unfortunately, there has been a mix-up with the price and they have over-paid by £5. The manager can't split £5 equally, so he gives them £1 each and pockets the other £2 himself.

Surely this means they have now paid £9 each for their accomodation - but 3 x 9 is 27, and with the manager's pocket lining of £2... what happened to the missing £1?

Answers on a comment please.

Today I mostly fitted more of an Analogue Addressable fire alarm system. It's nice and very advanced. My former employee is now gone. He quit last Monday and left me seriously in the lurch.

Then this afternoon I recorded the bass line for "Die Alone". It's very punk......

Tonight, Project Catwalk. How seriously cool is that programme?... and how seriously annoying is Julian McDonald?

A piss-poor attempt at vote winning

Now get me if I'm wrong, and perhaps stab me in the eyes, but shouldn't free or cut price water, electricity or perhaps gas come before TV?... perhaps not ripping the poor off with those appalling Quantum cards?

Tonight I have fitted lights for longhairedhippy, and am now browsing LJ from my Wii...

Brown (and grey)
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. Yep... the photo you see at the side of this entry is my old hair colour. I'm now black haired again (see my flickr).

Leather thigh
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. Today has been a quirky day... this morning I decided to wear my leather jeans. I felt it was that sort of day... full of leathery goodness.

However... it's shown me two hazards of wearing them.

1: At the hotel
We went to a local hotel for Sunday dinner. A rather chavvy wedding party were in the same hotel wearing incredibly bad and ill fitting suits (obviously bought that week from Matalan), along with some bad meringue dresses and lots of bad body piercings (ask me about the young lad in the light coloured suit later... ).

A couple of men who were obviously a gay couple were also in the same hotel. The younger one of the two looked me up and down when I first entered. Hmm....

Anyhow, when we went back from the restaurant to the main bar area after the meal I waited in the corridor and he entered. His comment to me was (imagine the "gay accent")... "are they leather? do you mind?" and without me even being able t…

What's in my NEW bag...
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. I promised a log of what's in uberbag, the son of bag. Here it is... it's absolutely vast, and packed full of goodies - including an emergency rock star transformation kit (you never know when you'll have to put on those leather trousers and become an ego-king)....

Bet, Clur, Hannah
Originally uploaded by ukwarwickdood. Tonight was the night of Hannah's panto (well - actually there's another performance tomorrow). Bez & Clur came over from Sheffield to see it too.

It was great - very professional (especially for a School panto) and of course, Hannah was fantastic as the Emperor of China.

When we came out, there was tons of white stuff all over the roads and people had suddenly forgotten how to drive, and how much space to leave between cars. d'oh!

The roads today seem to have been filled with inconsiderate drivers, inconsiderate companies, and just downright stupidity...

First - the company who decided (probably with permission of our wonderful Police/DOT) to take a wide load, down the M18 two lane section. It was two lanes wide. The wide load occupied the entire carriageway and went at about 40mph. I wasn't impressed... I'm quite appalled that this sort of thing goes on, still. Drivers were racing up slip roads and down the other side to try and get in front - there could have been quite nasty accidents at some of these. I have emailed South Yorkshire Police asking for an explanation as to why this is allowed to happen...

Second - Little Miss Tigra. You may have a Tigra, it may be a bit of a crap Vauxhall, and you may have very darling sweet children... but THE ZIG ZAGS ADJACENT TO A CROSSING ARE NOT THE PLACE TO DROP THEM... if only I'd been a little quicker with the camera phone. This happens a lot outside Rosehil…

The realisation that I have grown from one bag of geekery, to two, has made me realise I need to upgrade from the "Bag" to "Uber Bag", the bloated, well padded, overgrown son of "Bag".

Uberbag was made in China, very much like Bag. Probably by someone paid a large amount less than me. Uberbag is a Swissgear computer backpack with more pockets than incredibly practical trousers have (you know the type I mean...).

Uberbag contains my life. I had better insure Uberbag against theft, really.

Uberbag contains:

1. My Fujitsu widescreen laptop (don't worry, it was only £349).
2. My Canon portable printer
3. Chargers for both the above
4. My Nintendo DS lite (and all it's games - in a case)
5. Charger for the above
6. My cheapo camera
7. A host of cables (USB, Micro USB, Network)
8. My filofax (yes... I AM that old fashioned and I still keep my diary on one of these things)
9. My geek knife
10. A few USB pen drives (64mb, 128mb, 4gb - must copy all these onto the 4gb …

Earlier issues are sorted. Bit of compromise, bit of an apology from someone for an email, and I'm happier now.

As for other stuff... whilst longhairedhippy  is posting dream details,

I was working in a house. It was quite creepy, very high (40ft+). I was installing a fire alarm in the house (it was an HMO).

I had been told I wasn't to do "something"? can't figure what.. I went into the loft - it was raining - and rain was REALLY pouring in down the side of the pitch of the roof and running down into the floor below... but when I told the occupier they didn't want to know about it and told me I shouldn't have been in the loft.

It was like they were hiding something, but I don't know what.

Strange? I still keep thinking about it.

Stream of Passion were supposed to be at the Boardwalk last night... however those of you who mix in CRS circles will know that they got stuck at customs and some members of the band were denied access to the UK. Thankfully a band called Breathing Space stood in at short notice and we ran the gig as a freebie.

Meanwhile, I got really pissed off with the hall this morning, went out and bought a pack of laminate flooring (£7.99! yay!) and fitted it. It looks 1000 times better than the nasty mucky green/grey carpet that was there before. Now I just have to fit the edging strip around when it's settled into place.

Also, Mile High on Sky One... er... is that the bloke off London's Burning and Grange Hill in it?

Finally... I found an OK cheap digital camera - Vivitar 3105s. 3.2 megapixel. Acceptable picture quality, flash is quite powerful (occasionally washes out close stuff) but fine for a second camera, or a happy-snaps thing. Hunt around and you'll get them below £20.

We will be going to the New Barrack Tavern tomorrow... you fancy talking lights/fitting of...

Manchester gets the casino... but then all the stories about alleged holidays on certain Colorado ranches seem to have put the death knell on Greenwich.

Meanwhile, I'm finally pissed off with the Nokia N80. It's just too damn... flimsy... unreliable... and the photo quality, whilst OK, ain't stunning. I've gone back to the good old fashioned Nokia 9500 communicator brick. Ah it's good to be back.

Expect poor quality photos from now on.

I've seen it hundreds of times. Decisions made on where to site a major attraction... and I've seen how London always wins at the cost of all the other areas. The powers that be occasionally throw the North of England a bone to pacify us "simple northerners".

We got the Royal Armouries, we got the Earth Centre (what?! I hear you ask), we got Magna (Steel manufacture - er... in Steel City thankyouverymuch), we got the Museum of Music (you know, that thing that shut because it was rubbish).

Now, where am I going with this? - super casino. I reckon it's a forgone conclusion that it will go to Greenwich and the pacifying elements will be these lesser casinos - each of the losers will get one of these.

I personally can hardly wait... yawn. But I suppose it will confirm the North of England as the poor relation if it does go as I say above.

Or at least please help me to earn loads of Nintendo Stars Points so I can spend them on loads of really cool games for the Wii.

If you really feel like helping me on this, please click this link and register as a Nintendo VIP. It doesn't take long, you don't have to actually use the account for anything - in fact you can close it if you want, but each time someone registers I can get 250 free stars on my account.

Thanks, in advance!

I've replaced a joist hanger under our living room floor.

Yay. No bouncy bouncy any more!

Video of me looking really stupid playing Warioware Smooth Moves.



Wii makes you dance like a pratt! on Vimeo