Soon to be another internet meme

The Bad Astronomy blog had a post saying "I'm updating the server, don't comment until the update is up as all comments will be deleted."
So, of course, all of us put all the stupid silly and funny things we could think of down on the comments. Some were bad (the link to a bad music site) but most were brilliant, and now they're all gone. You'll just have to believe me that my comment was witty and well observed. :D

In a similar vein, amazon sell pens, and Neil Gaiman's blog pointed over to the reviews of the humble Bic pen.

And finally....
The squadrons at work have phone based briefings and at the start of each one they call us up and count down to the time check. For most of the groups when they reach their own number (eg for XV, when they count down to 15 seconds) a cheer goes up.
T'other day at the end of a shift I was briefing 12 and heard the count-down get to 12. All was quiet to I went, fairly quietly, "Yay."
All I could hear for most of the rest of the count was cheers and laughter from the aircrew. Still makes me smile.

Northern Lights

(There are soooooo many things that title could refer to...)
Or, to give it the name it goes by, "The Golden Compass."
I'm re-reading the book atm, so I'll tell you how they compare soon, but for the film itself, great.
First off, and google it if you don't understand, what a steam-punk world!!!! If you're a fan of girl genius or any of the other gas-lamp/steam-punk worlds, or a fan of the book, have a look. Not as much of a PG as some others I've seen, but not for very young kids (ie, Matt, don't take Ellen!). Obviously a set up for the next couple of films and the film manages to NOT mention the Catholic church at any time, unlike the book! But a huge cast, and Daniel Craig is brilliantly cast. Not as world conquering as New Line's other recent ventures (cough *LOTR* cough) but looks promising.

Thinking about the PG thing, went to see something a while back, can't exactly remember what but there was a scene in it that was a bit gory, nothing really horrific but enough that a few people I know would go ewwgh. On the way out I heard a parent, who had taken their child along with them, complaining to a member of staff. The queue monkey called over the manager who gave the complainer the address of the head office and two pieces of advice: you can leave the cinema any time (they hadn't), and it's a PG, which means that the parents are advised to view it first and then decide whether or not to take their children, so if they choose not to do this, it's the parent's responsibility.
I almost cheered.
As it was, as she went off in a huff I caught the manager's eye and grinned. Bugger me if there wasn't a flash of answering smile.
As we used to say in Blacks, the customer, while possibly stupid and potentially about to do something suicidal, is not always right but is always the customer.

Back to Family Guy

A good weekend

This weekend my good friend Tasha drove up, with dogs. It was good to see her and we got out to do some proper outdoors stuff.
Friday we went out to Cairngorm (starting out at 7:20 - way before sunrise) and started walking up the hills with head torches until the sun came up. We ended up doing two Munros and a few extra tops (peaks above 3000 ft only count as Munros if there's 500 ft drop between the highest named point and the peak you're looking at, otherwise they're tops) and went up Cairngorm itself at the end. This was pushing me to the limits of my endurance, Tasha was bouncing ahead and "encouraging" me. On the way down we stopped off at the Ptarmigan restaurant and asked the nice bloke outside if the furnicular railway was running, although we knew it wasn't supposed to open until the next day. It wasn't but he said to hang on and sorted us out with a free ride down on the railway. That saved us about 90 minutes to 2 hours worth of walking so I owe the mountain guys a few favours I think. While we were out Tash convinced me to wander over to have a look at the Larig Ghru (sp?) which is a HUGE glacial valley. It's hard to describe the size of the valley, we were sat in the snow level with the top of the valley and, no, I just can't describe it. Google it and have a look and any Colin Prior type photos, it's just immense and beyond what I can put into words.
Well, that night we went to take the dogs out for a walk on the beach, mainly to stretch our legs out a bit. Next day we went to take the dogs for a walk in the local woods, in this case Culbin Forrest, and the little 3 and a half mile walk tired out the dogs nicely and almost stretched out all the muscles. Not quite though, today (Sunday) we went to the Inverness climbing wall and Tasha once more showed that she can climb a grade and a bit higher than me, although I managed to boulder to the same level as her HAHAHA.
After a few routes I knew that I wouldn't be able to drive safely if we climbed to my limit so I called it a day, or to put it another way, wimped out like a little girl.
Showed Tash to the A9 (main route south) and drove home, wincing when changing gear, but that's the fun of climbing.
Weeked after next she'll be back up, as she's agreed to be my +1 for the mess ball, and just found out that there's a possiblility that Matt (EMB) may be up in the mean time, although it may be too short notice. Hope Matt can get up, would be great. I'd like to get all, or at least most, of my friends up here at some time, but that may take a few months to organise.......
Put my Christmas tree up as well, all 3 FT of it, drunk a bit tonight (enough to feel happy) and the Jameson's advert with the harp is back on, so happy at the moment. If I can keep my weight loss on track and get a few more forecasts right I'll be even happier. Or, failing that, if I can beat Guitar Hero II or III on medium, let alone hard.
Must stop blogging drunk though, may have to edit this for spelling or excessive honesty.

Dear Santa...

For Christmas I would like...

An Amazon Kindle. When I was at uni one of my friends and housemates, Sally, told me about some developments in electronic paper. The stuff she was looking into used duel coloured molecules/units that could be turned with an electrical impulse, and as it was pretty much solid state, once the page was set there wasn't any more power needed until your wanted a new page. (Apologies if I've got the details wrong, or explained it badly, it was 5 years ago we had the conversation). The Kindle isn't that sort of electronic paper, but is a form of digital book/newspaper/magazine. First time I've seen it was on Neil Gaiman's blog and after watching the video on the amazon.com website I think I want one. Maybe not first gen but looks like the future.

New arms. Been bouldering today at Inverness, my arms and hands ache. Pulled a muscle in my leg as well, hopefully all will heal in time for climbing at the weekend with Tasha.

A new (or second hand) car. Need a bigger one, maybe then the arseholes in BMWs will see me when they're pulling out into traffic and not smack me in the back bumper! No damage apart from scratches but annoyed me. The sod didn't even stop! Now, I know with advanced driving I'm supposed to look ahead and expect things to happen, which is why when the car pulled out I was already trying to move out of the way but why the hell didn't they stop? I know that my car is small but when it's in front of you it's visible, REALLY visible. Argghhhh!

An iPhone. Okay, it doesn't do as much as the Viewty but like most Apple things, what it does do, it does really well and really easily. Had a play with one in the O2 store and I'm now desparately telling myself that it's too expensive (it is), I don't NEED one (I don't) and I don't want one (ah, but I DO!!!!). I'll hold out for a while, mainly as I can't afford one....

Playing catch up..again

Sorry I've been lame at updating this thing, I'm rubbish.
And for Pippa, yeah, not sure why the instructions have gone all Danish...

So, what's been happening? Well, went down to see Swiral and EMB in Brum, also Dajousephine and Jules and Ulrich da dog. Was brilliant seeing them all again, and we went to a great rock pub in Birmingham. We need one of those up here ,there aren't any rock clubs up here as far as I can tell. I'm planning to get at least Matt, and preferably more of them, up here at some point in the near future, there's plenty of Scotland to share and I want to get friends up here. While I was down Matt gave me a memory stick, which was cool, and Sian filled it with mash up tunes, which was amazing. Was sat in a service station uploading from a laptop to the iPod then plugged it in and had the best trip north I've ever had. Motorways were pretty clear then the A9 was beautiful. Any slow traffic I came across moved out of the way, signaling nicely and the music was superb.

A couple of weeks later I popped down to see Tash and Chris. We're going to be going climbing in Inverness around New Year's with a few others and both Tash and myself wanted to make sure that we were good enough to supervise a friend.
Now the thing about climbing is that you can buy all the kit you want and go to a cliff and climb. There aren't any rules about who can and can't climb, it's your life, it's your responsibility. Indoors climbing is different, you're using someone elses place so legally they ask you to sign a bit of paper (or take a course) to show that you're good enough not to anything too silly. The course in Inverness has about 18 months of waiting list on it. I'm pretty happy that I can remember all of the stuff for wall climbing but it doesn't hurt to go back over things and get a refresher, especially as there's going to be a kid climbing with us after Christmas and with kids you don't take chances.
So Tash and myself went to the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho.
Oh ye bloody hellfire.
I've seen big indor walls before, the Welsh International is big. Ratho is in another league. You walk in on the second floor and look through from the reception aera to windows going out onto the floor and think, "oh, that's big." Then you walk towards the window and realise it's not just big but you look UP and then you look DOWN! This place is huge! Pricey but massive. We had a great guy checking us over, running through the basics and suggested wrapping the ropes a couple of times at the top to add some more friction to stop Tash taking off when she's belaying me, always a problem. Almost worked as well, until we had an overhang, then she DID lift off, so Ewan (instructor) held her down and then we tied her to the wall for the next climbs. By this point my arms were pumped, the forearms solid and I managed most of a couple more climbs then just belayed Tash. It's quite depressing, she's less than half my weight, much shorter reach than me and is climbing over a grade higher than I am. Ahh well, she always was better than I was. Gives me something to work on.
Next day went swimming with Tash, found out I need to work on my stamina, but then I knew that anyway. Only really managed 32 lengths of a 25 m pool, need to get that better. Then later on had a go on Chris' bike, a lovely 600 ninja. As I've only got a CBT I was of course only riding on closed private areas, and not at all on any kind of by-pass, but even then it was great to get on a bike again. Makes me think I need to get my full license as soon as possible. But not that bike, the geometry is too short for me, would cripple me within two hours and I'm going to need something with more tourer than sports. Besides, the micky taking from the guys due to the ninjutsu training we did would be horrific, and perfectly justified. And it's green.

And that's pretty much me up to date, Tash is coming up next weekend, we're going to have a look at Inverness climbing, and possibly Aviemore as well; and I'm going to have a chat with a couple of car places, see if I can get a new (or different) car within my budget.

Reading - Greg Mandel series by Peter F Hamilton,
Listening to - Mash up mixes.
Watching - Long way down.

Sometimes you see the most when you can't see what you're looking for.

At nights, like most forecasters, I’m alone in the office so I have to do the observations for cloud, visibility and anything else significant that the computer can’t pick up.
Once an hour I go outside and look for clouds. This is one of the few times that I like it when I can’t find what I’m looking for.

That's about it, had a mare of a night shift on Sunday when the communications died, and another (extra) on Monday night when I had to go to Kinloss to produce everything then drive it back to put it on our network, and have to wait an extra couple of days before I can get any fish for my bowl. Oh yeah, and got an expensive bill for getting the last bit of exhaust fixed on my car. Okay, admittedly when I say the last bit, I mean that the last bit fell off and it'll cost me much to get fixed but meh, do it up and sell it I think; supermini city car not quite what I need these days.

Aplogies to all my rabid readers

I've been told that I don't update my blog enough, by a lady that scares me somewhat, but in a good way.*edit to add* I mean of course a wise lady who kindly takes the time to remind that that people remain interested in the blather I put on here, and many thanks to her (and you all) for that. *Better? ;> *
I'd say that's mainly because nowt much has been happening recently but that would be a bit of a lie....
For a start there's Andi and Sarah's wedding down south, which was brilliant. The bride looked amazing and the groom looked like a 14 year old dressed up for the day, but then that's Andi for you. Photos on Facebook, and will be on Flickr when I can get the new Macbook to log in properly.
Was unbelievably good to see all of my old friends again, shame that I'll miss Ria and Richie's wedding this weekend but best of British to them and every good thing. Also managed to get through a whole night of kilt wearing action without being groped too much, and most of that was by blokes. Which reminds me, the weekend before I'd been down to Edinburgh with some friends to see the Scotland South Africa game and Chris wore the Swansea tartan, I was in a Utilikilt and got a little bit abuse from a drunken Scotish girl for it not being a "proper" kilt, despite my comments to the same effect.
While I was down south I managed to get to see Pippa again, which is always good, but is something that I don't get to do anyway near enough, do love that lass. Also made it to Swansea, initially with the intention of having some more time with Pippa, maybe meeting up with some more of the old gang but I took the operatunity to pop in to visit my gran in Penlan. I'm really glad I did, I don't get to see her much since I moved up north, and since grandad died I worry about her more. By the time I left gran it was too late to see Pip before I had to head back to the hotel in enough time to get some sleep before the early start the next day. Which was a real shame, I'm going to see if I can her and the rest of the guys up here over winter, either people could crash here or I can see about hiring the civil service lodge near Cairngorm (if anyone's up for this let me know). But I digress slightly.

I got back on a Tuesday and was on a night shift that night. Since then, just under two weeks ago, I haven't been away from work for a complete day. Was hoping to break that tomorrow but there are some aircraft movements that require me in, or at least a foreacster and I'm the only one available. Damnit!
Also was talking to Tasha last weekend after the abismal performance by the England rugby team about general stuff and we agreed that I would loose 5 kg in four weeks and she would gain 5 kg. May not sound like much to some of you but it's alot for both of us, bit weird that she's trying to gain it and I'm the opposite but then she is about 40% of my weight, which makes it even stranger that we used to climb together, she got very good at belaying me while suspended in mid-air.
One week into this deal and I'm down buy........all of half a kilo. Shite.
Been to the gym for a couple of good sessions this week but I guess it'll take longer for anything to show up. Planning to get in for a swim tomorrow before work then maybe catch a film afterwards. Got to make sure that I don't weaken and have a supersize ultra sugar hit at the cinema as well..
Aside from that though, and work, nowt much. Trying to get some time off to go over to America and see some good friends, and also to get a certain bit of time off to see more friends down south again, party is good! I'll try and write while at work some time, should be easy enough... providing no sodding pilots get in the way.

Blogger security

The BBC is reporting that a group is cracking Blogger and posting malicious blog entries that cause the reader to download spam or malware. Links in the entries put trojans on your system and some of the entries purport to be looking for testers for software and digital greetings cards.
The subject line will generally give it away, apparently most of the entries have things like "HAHAHAHA, man your insane!" (sic) or other such TXT SPK drivel (not that I ever use such things, oh no...). Unfortunately the system can use news stories to update some of the headers so unless you're sure the message is from me, don't use the links - or, hover over them and have a look at the target for the link without clicking on it, much as one would do with phishing emails.
Which does raise an interesting point. If the virus writers were switched on, they'd use an entry warning of the virus and containing the link to the virus itself, disguised like this entry. Ohh, existential!

New Webcomic

Been sent to another webcomic, xkcd, which isn't always clean, and sometimes most people won't get the jokes (knowing about computer languages, physics and maths helps) but there are some wonderful bits about getting your heart broken that I think almost everyone will understand.
My favourites so far are pages 137, 154, 128, 123, 112, 92, 90(!), 10, 13, 21 (google Kepler laws of planetary orbit), 36, 40, 45, 52, 54, 55, 59, 67 (nerd girls rock!), 68, 75, 77, 78, 83, 84, 88, 164 (politics), 169, 171, 179 (geek alert, I laughed out loud.), 184, 197, 207 (makes me think of Pippa in the last panel), 209, 229, 231, 236, 241 (if you don’t get it, read Ender’s Game, brilliant book), 242, 249, 250, 253, 256, 258 (oh so true), 273 (some sick stuff there), 275, 277 (another one for the engineers), 281 (been there, had a package marked as "left Aberdeen" and arrived six hours later. It’s 60 miles people! Arggh.), 282, 283, 288, 289, 291, 295 (DNE – do not erase), 296 (look for the hover over text), 300, 302, 304 and 305.
Don't forget to hover the mouse over the image for the hidden text, often an extra joke.

XKCD

Another web comic has come to my attention, from a number of sources,
www.xkcd.com

It's not always safe for work and many of the jokes aren't funny unless you know quite a bit about physics/computers/other specialised subjects. Quite a bit of "bad" language, but always justified. My favourites so far are:

pages 137, 154, 128, 123, 112, 92, 90(!), 10, 13, 21 (google Kepler laws of planetary orbit), 36, 40, 45, 52, 54, 55, 59, 67 (nerd girls rock!), 68, 75, 77, 78, 83, 84, 88, 164 (politics), 169, 171, 179 (geek alert, I laughed out loud.), 184, 197, 207 (makes me think of Pippa in the last panel), 209, 229, 231, 236, 241 (if you don’t get it, read Ender’s Game, brilliant book), 242, 249, 250, 253, 256, 258 (oh so true), 273 (some sick stuff there), 275, 277 (another one for the engineers), 281 (been there, had a package marked as "left Aberdeen" and arrived six hours later. It’s 60 miles people! Arggh.), 282, 283, 288, 289, 291, 295 (DNE – do not erase), 296 (look for the hover over text), 300, 302, 304, 305.

Don't forget to hover the mouse over the picture to get extra text!

Great dreams, crumbling away

In work on a Sunday morning, great.
Does mean I can catch up with the internet, there isn't much to do on these sort of shifts.
Looking at the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, they link to an old article in Esquire. The article could also have been featured on Phil Platt's Bad Astronomy blog, probably was to be honest. It's about the creationist museum in Kentucky, but in a broader sense it's about how American (and British to an extent) culture is being subverted by the lowest common denominator. It's a good article, if slightly biased (not much, but enough to be noticeable and I share pretty much the same bias).
Thing is, I like the idea of the USA, it's just the current implementation I have a problem with. Well, and the tendency for much of the US to ignore the rest of the world, the trend to think WWII started in 1941, that the founding of America was purely about freedom and not at all about tax and the right to occupy the land to the west - killing or moving the native occupants as necessary, all those things. Britain isn't much better, and it's getting worse. Most of the Americans I've met have been great, but while I was over there I saw plenty that filled all the stereotypes (especially the good ol' boys in the back of the rusty pickup tilting their stetsons at us while going "how ya'all doin'?"). Still going to try and go back, I do like the place but it's like having a friend that you know could do so much but they can't be arsed so spend their entire life sat watching Corrie and complaining that the world doesn't do enough for them, all the potential wasted. Maybe things will change, maybe the average American will realise that intellect is a good thing, that education is vital and that truth isn't always pleasant or what you want it to be, but may still be truth.
Well, that's me depressed, I'm going to go and watch a violent film when I finish here, just for the sheer hell of it.

From the e-goat

Starkle starkle little twink
who the hell you are I think
I'm not under what you call
the alcofluence of incohol
I'm just a little slort of sheep
I'm not drunk like tinkle peep
I don't know who is me yet
but the drunker I stand here
the longer I get
Just give me one more drink
to fill me cup
'cuz I got all day sober
to Sunday up.

Liked this one.

Mountains, midges and muscles

This weekend I've been out with Tasha, Chris and some friends of theirs from their work.

We went to Glen Coe camping (me in my new wonderful tent - oh it's nice!!!). The idea was that we'd do a peak on Saturday with all of us and another couple that would meet us at the start of the walk, then on Sunday Tasha, Chris and myself might get another peak in. We met up in the car park, and I discovered a new part of Scotland. The Midges, (they deserve the capitol M). We were next to a river, which was bad enough but when the sun was heading down the sky filled with them. The little bastards were biting every bit of exposed skin available. Out came the Deet 50, with a warning to the others not to get it on synthetic materials, but it was the barbecue that drove them off until morning.
The hill we were planning on Saturday was Buachaille Etive Mor, or as Nicola put it as Tasha and her drove past it on the way in, "Oh My F***ing God!" Starts at 280 M and ends at 1022 M, with most of the ascent 2 1/2 KM. Or to put it another way, 920 ft to 3350 ft in a mile and a half. As the peak is over 3000 ft, it's a Munro. There's another three Munro tops on the peak, the plan was to do all of them and follow the route out but after the second one with the wind blowing strong as hell, the cloud below us and the rock wet and slick, we had to recalculate. Three of the group hadn't done any hills like this and had no ridge time. The ridge to the second peak was quite broad, and from Stob An Doire (second one) to Stob Coire Altruim it looked about the same.
It wasn't.
The ridge went from ten foot wide and gentle to about two foot wide and nasty looking. So we did the only thing we could in the circumstances. We binned it. Cue a back track to the saddle and a descent via scree, wet stones, wet grass and seating glissade (sitting on the wet grass and sliding down the hill - it was good enough for Shackleton!). By the time we got back to the cars my legs were sore as hell. Nicola and the other couple (whose names I can't spell I'm afraid, nice guys though) headed back to Glasgow, while Chris, Tasha and myself headed into Fort William for dinner. Our kit was sodden and we were all damaged in some way or other.
And then came the next morning. Tasha and Chris' knees were buggered, as were my thigh muscles, so we scrapped the idea of doing a hill and dispersed, planning another hill for the coming weekend. We did also find what could be the one of best pubs in the world, the Clachaig Inn. To say that it's a climbers pub is a bit of an understatement. Think I'll be back there at some point.
I think some of the sodding midges hitched a lift home with me, though, I've been itching like a bastard all day (from the midges! Nothing else).

It depends on what you are expecting

I've been to see a few films recently, one major one on DVD and five on the big screen.
The DVD one was at work with Si, Blood Diamond. Not a comfortable film for anyone wearing a diamond that is anything less than certain about it's origin, but a truely excellent film. 92 %
Then we have:
Shrek 3: I liked it, there were a number of jokes about relating to a younger generation, and the characters didn't develop any stupid new traits. Nothing radical but if you liked the first two (and I'll assume you did) it's good fun. If you (or someone you know) has had kids recently, or is expecting, you'll find parts of it funny in a way that is impossible to explain to the other people in the audience. 70 %, rising to 88% if you know someone with young children.
Die Hard 4.0 (pointless .0 really, even if they release a directors cut as 4.1, is anyone going to be awed?), what can I say, it's a die hard. And it's fun, everything you'd expect from a good franchise, cheesey at times but great fun, and if the F35B can do what they suggest in the film the guys up here will have kittens of fun. 82 %
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Felt like someone had the plot explained to them while drunk and they were putting what they could remember on film, although they knew the characters and made the film with love for the original. If you haven't read the book, 85%, if you know the book like some obsessive fanboy (like me), 70 %
Transformers: Slammed by the critics, which is always a good start, it depends on what you're expecting. If you're looking for high art - WHY?!?!? It's TRANSFORMERS!!! If your childhood was formed by cars and planes and trucks that were more than meets the eye, you'll LOVE IT! Not a remake of the cartoon movie but there are moments of similarity. They get a couple of things wrong (It was ESA not NASA/JPL that sent Beagle 2, and there's the whole magnetic field thing), but great to watch. 82%
And finally,
The Simpsons
Okay, it's hard to describe, but it's not an extra long episode, there's things in the film that would NOT be in the series (such as gratuitous nudity), the story has more arc than a two part episode and the jokes are generally more grown up than the usual episode ones. Which is saying quite alot from me. 90% if you like the Simpsons, 88% if you don't (I refuse to believe that people exist that don't like it), I mean, Green Day doing the opening music and then a Titanic moment, it's genius!!
(For reference, Equilibrium was a 98%, Hot Fuzz a 94%, Merchant of Venice 88%, Gladiator 70% and Robin Hood Men in Tights 89%.

And another WOO-HOO!!

Today I had my first experience driving a motorbike. Previously I'd had a bit of time on the back of Chris and Tasha's bikes (lovely tourer 600s) and lots of time on my push-bike (that's bicycle for anyone wondering).
Today I went for my CBT. This is the first stage in learning to ride a motorbike in Britain. You've got to have a provisional license first (full car or prov bike) then you do a short course covering basics of riding, maintainance and other stuff. The idea is that from never having been on a bike before, you're now safe to ride a small (125 cc) bike on the roads until you take your full test. Before this you could just hop onto a 125 straight off.
After this you do lessons on a more powerful bike. For over 21 year olds you can take it on a 500 cc and there are now legal to drive any size bike (this is called the "Direct Access" method). If you're under 21 (or too short to sit on a 500 - as was the case with Tasha) you use a smaller bike and then have to wait 2 years until you can ride bigger ones. You can do the CBT and the
direct access in one intensive course, but that looks to be more expensive.
I think I'll hire a 125 for an afternoon and get some road time in, to get used to things like canceling my indicators after turning, road position and not thinking that I'm on a push-bike. Then I'll get the rest of the lessons.
Stay tuned for more info.

50 years ago

As mentioned in the excellent Bad Astronomy Blog, it was 50 years ago that this marvelous cartoon was first broadcast.
Generally held as the best cartoon made, it goes by many names, but generally "What's Opera, Doc?" and has, for myself as well as many others, resulted in people singing "Kill the Wabbit!" to some classic opera.
Enjoy!

Rope tricks

I've splurged a bit (wow, the spell checker actually recognised that one) and bought a rope in the Tiso sale, thought it was 50 m of 10 mm, actually got 60 m and a free belay plate. Seeing as I was in the store and physically chose it, I was suprised that I was suprised. Anyway, my point.
In this age of legislation for everything, the fact that anyone can go into a shop and buy enough kit to go and do silly things in the hills is kind of gratifying. And also worrying- I mean there's nothing to stop people killing themselves or just getting into serious trouble but on every piece of kit, and in most stores, there's the disclaimers:
"Warning: Climbing is a dangerous sport!"
"No liabilities are accepted!"
"Use your own judgement!" - these from an American book.
"The authors..cannot accept any responsibility for [anything] while following any of the techniques described." - From a British book.
These are all fairly standard but the one on the back of the packaging for the belay plate (minimal packaging which is nice to see) struck me as just, well, just about right:
"Climbing and mountaineering are inherently dangerous. It is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or user of this climbing equipment to get proper instruction and to act safely and with caution while using this equipment.... You are responsible for your own actions and decisions."
And that's the thing. "You are responsible." The companies give you the kit and design it to be as good and as safe as it can be, but in the end, if you choose to take the risk, it's your call. You have the say over what you do. Nobody is forcing you to do it, (in all but the VERY rare cases of product failure) nobody is responsible for your safety, apart from you.
This is, I think, part of the appeal of the sport and the lifestyle. That and the feeling you get on a good climb, were everything is flowing and it's like you're dancing up the rock.

With this in mind, there's a great quote from Edward Whymper, a British climber who was on the first ascent of the Matterhorn - on the descent of which, four of the team died.
"There have been joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon which I have not dared to dwell; and with these in mind I say: Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nought without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste; look well to each step; and from the beginning think what may be the end."
The passage from "Climb if you will..." is (or at least was) displayed on the wall at the Plas y Brenin National Mountain Centre.

Magazines

There was someone a while back said something that struck me as being true, and I was reminded of it while watching a trailer before Shrek 3 (brilliant film by the way, was worried about it but didn't need to be).
Look at the front of most womens' magazines and you'll see articles on how you're not slim/pretty/generally good enough.
Look at the front of most mens' magazines and you'll basically get one message: "You're a GOD!"

And they wonder why there's a problem with self image?

Think I've already mentioned Facebook, I've also got a page on MySpace, although there's less on it. I've heard that the American sociologists reckon there's a sociological breakdown that can be deduced by which of these two social sites people use. Arse as far as I'm concerned, I was introduced to Facebook two days before MySpace, and Rupery Murdock owns too much of MySpace for my liking. Haven't had a look at Bebo yet but the week is young.
Also I've put some more photos on the Flickr pages (linked --> somewhere), mainly of Clyne Halls in Swansea.

Leave, or holidays for the rest of the world...

Wine is a wonderful thing, especially when combined with the knowledge that you haven't got work for almost two weeks. It might seem like a minor thing but I had a bit of time off over Christmas (as the station was shut) but this time I haven't got much driving to do, unless I choose to.

Well, aside from that, today I have fixed the doorbell (ha, I am man, see me do DIY!) and
found links on Youtube for some of the best adverts made (except for the Guiness and Honda ones).
And here they are:
Snowman.
Goth holiday (current one)
and a classic one.

I'm not sure why, but they're not shown down in't far south in Ingerland. Mind you, Coke and Pepsi rank behind Iron Bru in most of Scotland.

and the answer is

Disk five, twenty minutes in.
I could have finished but the observer came into work at that point so I really had to stop.
Think I'll keep the last bit for the flight back up north, or at least the airport. It's going to be Bristol airport, so I'll need something to keep me occupied, that or the bar upstairs.

Which reminds me, had a rather good cup of coffee in Newquay the other day, and I realised that it IS possible to overdose on caffeine. And fun. It may have something to do with asking for a "large with an extra shot" without realising that a large already has three shots of espresso in it.
Buzz buzz buzz.

Marathon - my style

On a night shift, way down south in the hinterland of Cornwall and I'm going to try something.
While I'm working I've got the Lord of the Rings on in the background.
The extended editions.
All of them.

Don't know how far I'll get, but I've got 12 hours or so to try....

I'll let you know how it goes.

5 am, and I've been up for a couple of hours already

One of the least fun bits of shifts is the way it messes up your sleep patterns.
Managed three and a bit hours last night, probably sleep on the plane south - something I didn't say, I'm down south forecasting for a week, the office is paying for the flights and the hire car down there.
This is part of the reason that if I'm off, even if I'm not on a night shift, I'll sleep in when I can. Ahh well, as my dad said while loading me with roofing felt to fit, "if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined." And to be honest I like night shifts, hell, apart from the early starts on days and the disrupted sleep, I like shifts. Besides, it's like we used to say, "Sleep is for the weak, caffeine is for the strong!" or, as I put on a website, "Sleep patterns? Ha, I **** 'em!"
On the plus side, I got Sky a while back (Scotland and channel 5, and digital reception, just doesn't happen) and at the random times I'm watching TV, the knowledge package I got means that the Discovery channels and the like usually have something good on, or there's always the BBC news. Reminds me, Bill Bailey did this bit when I saw him in Cheltenham.

On a lighter few notes, joined Facebook, found a few more old friends blogs, and loads of old friends. Since I've moved up here I've found how important friends are, even if they're not sat infront of me, that they are there somewhere, be it down south, on the other side of the world or on the end of a phone line, makes the world so much a better place. Like Jo Burt said in a Mint Sauce strip (January 2003) -
"I look out into the dark and it just reflects the night inside,
and my friends ride through it with big bright lights."


And if any of my friends fancy a cheap holiday in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, I'm declaring an open house! If I'm in, everyone's welcome! I think I can fit about 7 people sleeping in the living room with inflatable beds for three, a sofa and a Thermarest.

Webcomics and T'Interweb in general.

Please note, this is not about time wasting, it's about what to do when there isn't anything more immediately demanding on your time.
At work, especially on nights or quiet days, we have quite alot of spare time. I had been using this to do more work on my NVQ and the job folders, but those are all done now. So the problem arises, what does one do with the time?
Should I try and carry on writing the story I've been working on for about three years (not sure how far I've got in words or chapters but I'm about 30% through the story), should I take a book in to read (problem, this will increase the number of books I read, which can become costly), should I surf the net for new and unusual things to do or should I take up the OU where I left off and try and improve myself. Or I could do something for the office.
Aside - here's one for you, the office has a whole PR and marketing department (not counting brand managers ;) ), whose job is to market the office to wider world. I mentioned to them that the Wikipedia page about the office is frankly pants and did they think it was worth improving, seeing how invasive the Wiki is these days. Their response was to invite me to write the article for them to have a look at. Now given that I'm almost complaining of having too much spare time on some shifts this may well seem fair but my point is that this is their job, they can get to all of the office, all of the little specialties, whereas I'm a forecaster in the north. In the outfield. One of those not too pleased with some recent events. Meh, aside ends here.
I would do the OU but there are enough other things on the horizon at the moment that would cause problems with that, so it's down to the internet!
I won't say I was there from the start with the net, in fact it was 97 before I saw my first web page, but we did use it alot at uni, so I was amongst the early adopters, but there's SO much of it. I've even edited pages on Wikipedia. I think I may have added some pages but I can't remember.
So to fill my free time, I was directed to the Order of the Stick (OOTS), and from there to the many wonderful worlds of web comics. WooHoo, goodbye spare time!!
Particular favourites are Gone with the Blastwave, Schlock Mercenary, Girl Genius, Flipside and Inverloch, but OOTS remains my favourite. If you've ever played any role play games (not that sort Beth!) you'll love it.
What worries me most about the comics, aside from the fact I get far too many of the jokes (I've only done one RPG that I can remember) is how often the characters remind me of my friends, from Captain Tagon in Schlock (scarily like Andi in looks and occasional directed violence - usually in my direction, but nothing like in intellect or current employment) to most of the cast of Girl Genius, I can relate to most of the players. What worries me is where I'll end up fitting in. Hoping for Kevyn, more likely somewhere between Durkon and Belkar.
One of the things I like about the wonderful worlds that people produce is that, okay, not all of them are brilliant, but someone's made the effort to create a story, and there are many, many of them out there.
Shifts just got shorter. Hurrah!

Internet and Dr Who

Now got internet at home. Broadband no less. Yay!
Been doing some test type things on a site that was sent to me by a friend. No giggling at the back there, she did send me the link first!
Try this one: how ****ed up by Bush are you?
Dr Who's just been on, the episode "Blink" about statues that kill you by sending you back in time. Wow! I think it was better than girl in the fireplace! (for these in the know, that's pretty high praise). Properly scary at times, and ends with you thinking, "okay, I'm not trusting statues ever again!" I won't say too much about it (Kev won't have seen it yet but I think he's going to like it) but there's some wonderful use of quantum interference theory.

Weather music

I’ve been thinking about weather music, or, to put it another way, music that refers to the weather. Mainly as I’ve been thinking about putting together a playlist of met songs. With a bit of google and wikipedia, I’ve found some good ones. Note the "good" bit there, it’s relative, but there will be NO sodding "raining men!" B*Witched is in for the drunken memory of the drunken rendition in the mess.
Some examples, The Orb – "Little fluffy clouds," Guns ‘N Roses "November Rain," Berri "Sunshine after the rain," Metalica "Ride the Lightning!" Jimi Hendrix "Wind cries Mary," Dylan "Blowin’ in the wind," Feeder "seven days in the sun," Rolling Stones "Get off my cloud," Len "Steal my sunshine." B*Witched "Blame it on the weatherman," (the one they made me sing in the mess!) Eurythmics "Here comes the rain again," Garbage "Only happy when it rains," Zoe "Sunshine on a rainy day," RHCP "Snow (Hey Oh)," Doors "Riders on the storm," Soundgarden’s "Black hole Sun," Bill Withers "Ain’t no sunshine," Smashmouth "Walking on the sun," "Over the rainbow" – either the Eva Cassidy or the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole versions.
So here's the thing, I think I need more. Good ones, just because a song has a reference to the weather isn't good enough, it has to be a song you would choose to listen to normally.
Suggestions please.

More weddings

And a big huzzah to Pam on joining the ranks of the affianced. Congratulations lady!
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While perusing the Jim Butcher website and forum, I was directed to the Order of the Stick.
Most funny, especially if you've ever played any RPGs - or know of those that have. And if you get the joke about "Tragic the Saddening by Lizards of the Toast" then you will enjoy the strip quite alot! *editted to correct a joke*

Taking it on faith.

In a bit of thinking mood this morning (it's grotty out and likely to stay grotty, so the forecast's fairly easy) and while trawling the net I began thinking about faith. Mainly because of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the whole intelligent design debacle out in the US.
Now, I have faith.
I have faith in a number of things. My Gore-Tex jacket, my Pukka (the link is to one like mine, but with a smaller blade), physics and other such things, but I mean in something less physical.
I am a Christian, which surprised a number of my friends, I guess because I don't appear to live like a Christian (not sure what they expect...) but I do try to.
Thing is, I'm more of a Taoist Neo-Pagan than a Christian in many ways. Which I see as no problem. It's like I said to a friend that classed himself as atheist (actually he's agnostic), I believe in, as was said in a film, "a unifying spirit that animates and binds all living things."
Whether you call that spirit God, gods, Gaia, the Force, whatever, to me it's the Divine and there's a part of it in all of us, indeed, in all things. We should respect each other because there's a part of ourselves in them, and anything that damages a part of the Divine damages the whole.
All major religions have this at their core, as Bill and Ted put it, "Be Excellent To Each Other!"
You might think that this is an odd philosophy for someone in the MoD but in this case it's the greater good.
I believe that this Prime Mover was at the core of the creation and may be guiding us, but if so, it's subtle. And here's where intelligent design and myself differ. I can't understand how they can look at evolution and not think it a miracle. How they can look at the wonder of creation and not think, "this is Divine, this shows us the movements of God." No, they look at it and say, "All was created by the Designer directly and evolution is false." Seems inelegant to me. I'd rather think of a Prime Mover that created a system for life to find a way to overcome it's own problems.
I'm not trying to say that my version of faith is better than anyone elses and I can see the reasoning behind those who say that no religion would be better, in that if we had to justify our actions here and now rather than having something else excuse them then maybe things would be better, but not always.
Sometimes though I do find that people don't so much have a religion as a routine. I'm fortunate that I know alot of people for whom their faith is a living part of them, and it matters to them, but I've met quite a few that it's just a reassurance that there is something bigger than they are. And to be quite honest, mostly that's not a bad thing. When people start to twist the message of love into one of faith, then I have a problem. When people look to religion to excuse their actions, or to provide a solution that is within their own power, then I have a problem.
There were some wrist bands around with WWJD on (you know, I used to think they meant Whisky, Water and Jack Daniels rather than What Would Jesus Do) and those I liked, make the person think about what someone they hold in the highest regard would do in that situation. One I wasn't so keen on was PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens. I didn't like it so much because like the man drowning, you have to do what's in your power.
Only one I would have thought of wearing was GATMNFM. God Act Though Me, Not For Me.
The prayer I say more than any other (excepting the Lord's Prayer - yes I still say it every night) is one I found when I was chaplain for a day on a Boys' Brigade camp.
"Lord, I pray not to ask that the path ahead be made easy, but that you will help me to find the strength to walk it."
I don't think we should seek someone else to find a solution for most things, although there is a limit. Course, I have trouble living these ideals, but I'm getting better, I hope.
So, given the fairly wide definition of faith stated above, why do I consider myself a Christian? Because I believe that two thousand years ago a man was born with more of the Divine in him than any other, that he showed us a different path and that the core of those teachings is still valid. And I've had some personal experiences that put me firmly into the Christian camp. Just on the edges, hanging out in the tent with the interesting smells, laughter and funky music, rather than in the middle, in the big tent with the chanting.

Weddings and things

Two of my mates from uni, Andi and Sarah, are getting married in September. Best of luck to the two of them, and I'm already planing the kilt!
When I think about it there's quite a few of the guys from Swansea and before are hitched, Tash and Chris (T and C from earlier posts, I can't be arsed any more with the initial things), Sian and Matt, Jules and David, amongst others, and more are engaged, for example Ria and Richie and Alice and her gent. And much love and the best of luck to them all.
Now, don't think for one minute that I'm getting (as my sister-in-law would say) broody.
I wasn't broody at their wedding (I was busy, either being best man or chatting to the guests), I wasn't while holding my niece (the look wasn't longing, it was fear that the sprog would puke/crap/jump out of my arms and smack head-first into the ground. I know, unlikely, but I don't handle small children as a matter of course) and I'm not while I plan how many of my friends are hitched/deeply involved. Now, what I was wondering is this, is there a guaranteed wedding present? I can't always do whisky because some of my friends are allergic to alcohol, so it could be shortbread and tartan dishcloths all round.
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On another topic....
There's a signature on a forum I sometimes visit that I think says it all:
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways Chardonnay[prefer whisky or champagne] in one hand - chocolate[cigar/other] in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride"
.
And the final bit, a little rant.
What's happened to the words "twice" "people" and "the/of" ?
I keep screaming at the TV when someone says "two times" rather than the wonderful "twice" or "two persons," when I'm still rather sure that the plural is people. "The" in this case is with regards to dates, at least when used by British. For example, "Sunday the sixth of March," instead of "Sunday, sixth March."
Meh, I'll stop now.
.
Okay, one more thing, anyone remember when Tesco only sold food? I've bought a sofa, toaster, vacuum and, today, a fridge.
(And Pam, I took the Star Trek test, apparently I'm equally Jordi, Capt Picard and Worf. Get in!)

Some things that made me laugh

1. go to Google
2. click on "maps"
3. click on "get directions"
4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)
5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box) hit enter
6. scroll down to step #24
(Thanks Strawberry Pip)

And from the Office news groups:
An American woman has found the cause of global warming...

Giggle loops

From "Coupling," a giggle loop is the reaction when it's a serious occasion and the worst thing you could do would be to laugh. So you supress it and think, "how bad would it have been had I laughed then?" so it gets worse, and worse and worse...
I'm briefing a squadron in about 45 minutes, so this is slightly preying on my mind.
Meh, to quote the Simpsons.
Not much else to say, this is my last shift down here in Leuchars, got some time off now.
That's about all that's happened, except for going mountain biking in the Trossachs and walking in the hills behind T and C's place - both good fun but knackering. I'm going to have to get much fitter and I've only got a short while to do it. Not sure if I should record progress here, it might help motivate me, or it might expose my obsessive optimism.

Si and myself went up a hill, as you can see, Si is in jeans. I could have hit him when he turned up in jeans. Ah well.


The reason I could have killed him is that in the background you can see snow. Snow and jeans is not a good combination. The hill we are on is higher than the one in the background.



Yeah, we were higher than that one.
Fortunately all was good. I was trying out my Buffalo special shirt, which was really warm at the start but had lots of venting on it so it was good, and when we got to the cooler areas it really paid off.
On a sad, weatherman note, the wind really picked up near the level of the weather inversion (where the temperature rises instead of falls as you go higher and traps low cloud and poor visibility) and the snow was pretty much gone above the inversion, showing the increase in temperature quite nicely. Told you it was a sad metman thing.

There was another picture here but I decided that if I know you well enough for you to see it, I'll send it to you personally. Opsec and all that. Besides, burning pianos is just an urban myth, isn't it?

Tea

I've been drinking quite a lot of it, still having it NATO standard (white and two sugars), although thinking of cutting down to one. There's NATO, Julie (Andrews. With milk and no sugar, after her performance as a "white, nun{none}") and a Whoopi (Goldberg. No milk or sugar, Sister Act, Black Nun) but there's no slang for white and one as far as I can tell.
Anyway, during the second Gulf War the Americans where assigned to provide drinking stuff for the Brits and radically underestimated the British armed forces capacity for drinking tea.
There's an odd website called "nice cup of tea and a sit down" that rates biscuits and sometimes tea and one of my favourite quotes of all time comes from Neil Gaiman's book (and TV script) Neverwhere. The hero, Richard Mayhew, has to face a great ordeal to end up facing the Angel Islington. The ordeal is presided over by the Black Friars of Black Friars in London, but first, "the nice cup of tea."
And that, for me, is the thing; step up and face your challenges, but first - the nice cup of tea.
Lovely.

Talking points

There's been a bit of discussion recently about global warming - and more specifically Man Made Global Warming (MMGW). Mainly as a result of the program on channel 4 - The Great Global Warming Swindle. This was a privately produced program that was aired on channel 4. Not, as has been stated in some of the American press, made by or broadcast on the BBC.
The show (note I'm not calling it a documentary) aimed to refute all the claims of mankind's involvement in global warming. It was wrong. Now, by that I don't mean that MMGW is absolutely certain, but that's because I was trained as a scientist, and more specifically, a physicist; so I have to acknowledge that there is room for doubt, although if I was as certain of the Lotto numbers as I am about MMGW, I'd put every penny I had on it, and win.
No, what I mean is that the program used inaccurate data, presented it badly, misquoted many of the scientists and generally did a bad job of presenting both sides of the debate. It would take too long to put all the problems here so I'll link to some brilliant pages that handle most of them.
First off, the Met Office's own FAQ page on Climate change. Read this first, and any further questions can be dealt with much easier.
Next, a section from the weather and climate group RealClimate.org, where climate scientists go to relax.
Next, an article from the Independent (which is not my favourite paper, but it's the one they chose to use) about the program.
And finally a short critique on the issue by Sir John Houghton FRS CBE.

Now, if you're involved in a pub based discussion on how global warming is all a ploy by the Met Office to get more funds, you have the knowledge to put down your opponent and make them feel silly.

I've also been made aware of an article on Gillian McKeith, which I think is rather marvelous.

That should do it for now. When I can be objective I'll put something up about intelligent design, but it'll just fire up the blood if I do.

And todays random thingy

Library thing, a list of some of the books I own. Not all, partly cause most are still down south, I can't remember the rest, you only get 200 free listings and it takes quite a while to add whole collections.

Playing with the boys in green.

So, what did I do yesterday? Well, I'm glad you asked (okay, this is a bit self absorbed but sod it, it's my blog).
Yesterday was the station AWEL day, that's Air Warfare, Ethos and Leadership. This means that it's a training day for everyone to learn how to fight wars, the ethos (why you fight wars) and how to lead troops in war, or numpty workers in a cubicle laden office space – if you believe the hype about all the lessons of war being applicable to everyday situations and hence all leadership techniques being interchangable from the battlefield to the office. To an extent that's true, but there aren't many day-to-day scenarios that require navigating to a hidden covert rendezvous with an undercover agent of a foreign occupied state when you're working in a place that uses Dilbery to guage how well the day went ("We only had three pointy haired boss moments today, we're doing well!").
The boss said to us, a few weeks back, that there was this training day. On most of these we have a down day as there's no flying so no need for met information. We also usually have a staff meeting at the Skerry. This time – partly as there was flying programmed – the boss decided that we'd join in with the AWEL day instead. The, how shall I say it, more elderly mature of the staff had the option of a few different lectures on the current world status, the profile and role of the RAF and the history of the 140 EAW (Expeditionary Air Wing – organising the entire base to be able to deploy as a complete unit, rather than rely on other sections for maintenance and the like).
The other younger member of staff was going to be doing the more active stuff as well but he had a family matter he needed to attend to. Si was going to be doing the "rowing the channel on rowing machines" and "Tornado Pull". The last one was basically a tug-of-war with, yeah, that’s right, a Tornado GR4. He’s flying back up today so I’ll be able to tell him what he missed.
I was scheduled to do "something in the woods." The briefing I got was to turn up at a certain place and time with kit suitable for trogging through the woods.
I was doing the weather on Friday so I knew what to expect. Snow with fresh to strong northerly winds
So yesterday I rocked up on the base, after three Weetabix for breakfast, and joined cohort 2 of section A. We picked up our packed lunches (God bless the catering section) and piled onto the buses. Hour and a bit later we offloaded at the Colbin forest by Nairn and I was introduced to the rest of the cohort. Flt Lt Davy T from six foot was in charge and there were four others, ranging from SAC (senior aircraftsman) to Corporal.
Our situation was that we were downed inside of enemy territory and had to escape to the UN safe area some 10 km away, after building a bridge to cross the "ravine" and meet with Pedro, our local undercover agent. So our mission was to build the bridge, meet Pedro, make a rendezvous, rescue a downed airman and enable medivac and then make it to the extraction point in the UN safe zone. The main point of the day wasn’t to complete the tasks so much as to develop the leadership skills of the members of the group. This started with the briefing system, known as SMEAC (pronounced "smee-ack" to rhyme with the car firm SEAT). The acronym is for Situation, Mission, Execution, Any questions, Check understanding. To use it, you state your situation, your mission, your plan, you ask if anyone has any questions and then you ask random members of the group questions to check that they understand all the aspects of the plan. You might pick the SAC and ask what the mission is; you might ask the Cpl how long you’ve got to complete it and so on. It’s the standard system that the armed forces use so good to practice if you’re planning to join or go to officer selection.
My role for most of the day was as navigator, as I had the most experience, although I also handled most of the knots when we made our bridge (and my end was solid, hahaha). I will admit that the pace they set was faster than my normal but that was good. Also there were occasions where I didn’t keep as tight a track on the features that we passed, which is essential for close work nav, and as a result there were a couple of times when I wasn’t completely, absolutely certain of our location on the track. Only out by a couple of hundred metres at the most but with what we were doing, and considering my nav training, that was too much. No one minded, after all, I’m an evil civvy, but I was annoyed.
In the end we walked about 15-20 km, by the end of which I was feeling the blisters on the underside of my feet – shouldn’t have happened with the socks and boots but I didn’t wear the extra liners that I normally do (they’re in the wash) and I was also somewhat parched. I hadn’t filled my drinks bladder that morning, not being sure if I’d be able to fill it up later, and the opportunity never presented itself so I had to make do with the drink in the lunch provided.
It was a brilliant day, the guys were superb and the weather was great – fresh to strong northerly winds, cold and snow showers (it’s always nice when I get it right) – any the kit I had dealt with the weather wonderfully. I wasn’t wet, the cold was only a slight problem when we stopped and the wind wasn’t an issue, Gore Windstopper is expensive but damn it’s worth it. I think everyone in the group (except for the officer) had a Leatherman on them, myself being no exception, and mine came in useful for when we were making the landing zone for the medivac helicopters, admittedly only for cutting open the sacks for marking the area but even so.
Lessons learnt – SMEAC, ALWAYS fill your water bottles, double your socks, the right kit is wonderful.

Oh and Pip, the only reason I had a Primera was that was the car I was given by the rental firm. Hoping for something a bit more interesting next time.

(Edited to correct the E in SMEAC - it's execution, not "evaluate plan of action")

Yeah, I was bored at work. Found the link from the e-goat.
Hoping to talk to a couple of old friends tonight, then getting stuff sorted tomorrow. There's a good chance I'll be doing more detatchments around the place, which is grand.
Well, that's about all I've got to say, except that I'm not a fan of Nissan Primeras - nothing wrong with them as such, just didn't wow me.

Alot can happpen in 24 hours, more in three weeks.

Haven’t posted for a while so I think I’ll put some of what’s been happening up.
Let’s see, I was down in St Mawgam for a while with work, which was mainly great although having the exhaust fall off my car wasn’t so good. Sounded great but is a touch illegal. Back up via mum and dads, picked up some stuff and then to Scampton to sign the Reserve Forces Agreement, followed by the MMU annual dinner.
Driving back north the next day on the east coast (I prefer the west) and stopped over with T and C (not really sure why I'm not using their names, think it's to give myself "blog-cred").
When I got back up north, started to get settled into the new flat/bungalow, still had only one chair, an airbed and the beer fridge that mum and dad got me for uni. On the weekend T and C came up to visit, bringing bookshelves, storage boxes and (God bless them) a new single mattress! We went snowboarding on the Sunday on what can only be described as frozen concrete and towards the end I got the turns back. C goes boarding lots. Mainly at his local dry slope and once I get my finances sorted I think I’ll do something similar.
On the following Monday Si, who started his met training the same time as I did but spent a year observing (wish I had, would have REALLY helped) went to the bombing range at Tain. That was cool, watching the bombers come in and drop their little 7 kg practice bombs, practice strafing and loft bombing. Got a good feel for the physical layout of the range, which is good because we forecast for it. One of the things I hadn’t thought of was that the range is VERY low lying so storm surges can be a problem. It also cut short our visit as the tide was coming in and we had to leave or we’d be stuck there for another 4 hours or so. As it was we ended up driving through about 6-9 inches of water running at about 8-10 knots. If you’ve never felt that, it’s a strong current. We could feel the car being moved by the water. The road we were on had markers every six feet or so that I’d thought were just for snow but I soon realised that they were all that was keeping us on the right path. Like I said, fun.
And on the Tuesday I drove down to Leuchars, where I’d done some of my early training as an observer. Now I was here to learn the forecasting ropes ready to cover a few shifts for them. On the weekend I was over at T and C’s again, this time we went off to Stirling for a night out with the engineers, Nolan, Lisa, Sherl, Piotr, Stuart and the rest. Very messy, very fun. Needed it after the horrific performance by the England rugby team.
And that pretty much brings me up to date, the advanced driving thing at student rooms seems to be going well, lots of people reading it and a few commenting or asking questions. It’s here, and I’ll be adding to it tonight hopefully.

I was wrong

No matter how you look at it, 700 miles (well, 735 but who's counting) is a long way to drive. I had to stop just by the boarder to have a bit of a kip as I'd moved into the flat on Friday. Which meant I didn't get out of Lossie until almost 4 in the afternoon. I got to my parent's at just around 1. In the morning.
Looking at it, England isn't that big a country really. You're never more than 100 miles away from beautiful countryside and the transport infrastructure is good, if sometimes slow and unreliable, and if using the trains, expensive.
Well, the sun's out in Newquay, a little later than I'd thought it would be. Okay, 9 hours later than I thought it would be but that's not that bad...
No seriously, the front stalled, I'm not making excuses.
Been writing an advanced driving thingy over at the student room, if it doesn't get deleted I'll post a link to it. (hint, it's in the "motoring" section under a title of "advanced driving")

Time and distance

Do these things really exist or are they creations of humanity to measure the world and divide it into managable portions?
Or, to put it another way...tomorrow I'm driving home to see mum and dad on the way to a two week stint at Newquay international airport. Or, to give it the proper name, RAF St Mawgan. Mum and dad live just over 500 miles away (509), which would have seemed like an impossible distance to travel a couple of years ago. My closest friends live 180 miles away, which would have been unbelievable not too long ago itself. Now it's just a number, you take account of the time it takes, add it to your travel plans and bosh, there's your new plan.
There's a saying that the Americans consider 100 years a long time and the Brits consider 100 miles a long distance, which is true to an extent. Both can be long, for example I'd like to be re-reading this in a 100 years, but not if I have to live those hundred years crawling on my stomach over broken glass; I'll visit friends that are 100 miles away quite happily but not if I have to travel those 100 miles hopping backwards while singing Take That songs (which I consider worse than crawling over broken glass).
The guys here at work (the throttle jockeys that is) wouldn't consider 100 miles that far, but then they can travel 100 miles in about 10 minutes, which makes my little car seem a little under powered. 'Course my car doesn't have afterburner but then their jets don't have a stereo.

On the latin note, the BBC have a great list of "handy latin phrses."

Latin

Some phrases:
Catapultam habeo; nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabris, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. - I have a catapult. Give me all of your money, or I will fling and enormous rock at you head.

Bibo ergo sum - I drink therefore I am.

If I find any more I'll stick them on. Submissions welcome.

The point about the hair

Yes there was one. I'm 26. Not very old, but hey. About a year ago I began to notice grey hairs, not many, but definitely some. Now my mate C, he's got the whole "bits of grey in dark hair" thing going on, sometimes called "salt and pepper hair." I've not. Also, for as long as I can remember I've had a bit of a widow's peak with high sides of my forehead. This, and the fact my hair is fine anyway, makes me look somewhat older. (There's other reasons as well but that's not the point.)
Over the Christmas period my brother was taking the micky saying I was going bald, I didn't believe him but while cutting my hair I realised that yes. I am thinning on top.
Arse.
C, and loads of other guys I know, would get a buzz cut and to hell with it. I'm tempted, but it's not a good look on me. Trust me on this. Also, it's not a look that fits the job, and confidence in the forecaster is half the job. Once I actually loose more hair, yeah, I'll get it short and it'll be okay, but at the moment there would be just a patch of fuzzy looking stuff in the middle of the head and not much else.
Also, the same day I found my first grey, my mate Tris, who's six months older than me, was ID'd to buy a lottery ticket.

Just a short one (ohh err missus)

Got the bike out today. Went riding. Found out that riding a MTB into unexpected sand makes it somewhat difficult to steer, or generally stay on the sodding thing. No epic, just got the inside of my leg oiled nicely by the chain.
On an unrelated note, cut my hair today. I decided to do my own last year when I realised that the only hair cut I'd need was basically a grade 5 with 3 on the sides and I could learn to do it myself or spend £6 every few weeks. Okay, I haven't got it right yet, but I'm not far off. My mate Tris told me I look better with longer spikey hair and my Cebe glasses on, but then we were drunk halfway up a slope in Meribel. But then he's looking at things from a trendy London style point of view and I'm more looking at the "keep it simple, keep it easy care and get it so that it can be worn under a helmet/hat/dive hood" frame of thought.
Well back to work, series one of "Coupling" is on in the background - check Wikiquote for some classic Jeff lines about the nudity gap, the giggle loop and captain subtext (actually captain subtext isn't on there but googling it could help) and to anyone that knows - "Cleft! Gusset!"

New Year, or "Arrrgggghhhhhh!"

But at least I didn't have an hangover...
To expand. This Christmas I've driven over 1500 miles to spend Christmas itself with my family then hoofed it back up to Scotland to be with a couple of friends (I'll call them T and C) over New Year. We'd made plans to go walking/camping over New Year's itself, which we duly did. Up to the Cairngorms on a route called the Minigaig. The group consisted of myself, T, C and the dog, Rossi. We had to drop one car at the end and one at the beginning (Dear Daihatsu, I bought a city car from you, you'll never guess what I've been doing with it...) so by the time we were walking we ended up being faced with the choice, carry on walking to the bothy (stone hut usually open but basic) which we weren't sure was there or open so as the weather was coming in and sunset wasn't far away we decided to find a good spot and camp for the night, possibly reassessing the plan once we'd had some scran.
We camped, cooked and got into our bags, hell we were pretty much asleep by 6, after having a few wee drams each from the booze we'd carried in. Did I mention the fact that it's the middle of sodding winter and we were all carrying close our limits in safety kit and supplies? Well, I have now.
C's tent is a Lightwave 2 XT, which is a big two person tent. Three of us could sleep in relative comfort, with the dog it was a bit more of a squeeze. The porch area is a great size, it's big enough for all of our kit and it holds up in poor conditions rather well.
After a couple of hours kip we were woken up by a bit of wind. I say a bit of wind, there was a trough passing over head which means showers and strong winds. I would put the winds at about 50-60 KT, which is around 55-68 mph. The tent was great, we were a touch nervous. By which I mean bricking it. Nasty though the idea was we were all thinking about worst case scenarios, if the tent failed what would we do. None of the options were particularly attractive. Fortunately, the tent held and after 2300 (11 pm) the wind eased somewhat but was still strong. We knew we would have to walk over a high plateau the next day in very strong winds, and the weather was turning showery with a definite blizzard potential so we decided to have breakfast the next day and then walk back. I'm bloody glad we did. Not only was the kit soaked (although my kit did all I could ask of it), but the snow showers hit us as we were driving back, the wind did what we expected and we were all a bit out of shape.
So we did spend New Year's Eve on the hill, drinking and praying that the tent would hold (well, I was) and then we walked out the next day. This left us with a few days to fill. So we did what anyone else would do, we all slept in (except T, she had to go to work on the 3rd) and C and I went snowboarding at the indoor snow slope in Glasgow. It's pricey but good, there's one at Milton Keynes and another at Castleford. Was good to find out that I can still board, even though ever time I tried to turn heel to toe edge on the steeper slope I stacked, usually at the top in front of everyone. Ho hum.
After leaving my friends further south I had to transport more of my kit back to the mess. My little car holds a surprising amount of stuff. C was amazed I think (Dear Daihatsu...). Now in my room I have bows and arrows, diving, climbing, snowboarding, walking/camping and mountainbiking kit. And two of what I believe to be some of the best coffee table books around. These are "100 Suns," a book about nuclear explosions (hey, I did physics and I'm a geek) and Banksey's book "Wall and Piece." I disagree with his politics and his methods but I do love some of his work. All I need now is a coffee table.

Oh and it turns out that you can get the nagging GPS patch, and does say things like "You NEVER listen!" Legend.