Slushy

Nearly compacted my coccyx on a stroll to the supermarket thanks to wimpy summer trainers and melty sleet.  Strangers assumed the girlish scream came from Niamh, so it was more embarrassing for her really. Time to switch to boots and winter-tyres. 

The dollar-euro rates have really taken the pain out of replacing my nicked bike-bits - a saddle is in the post, and I'm planning to replace my wimpy lights with some seriously bright numbers so I can continue to take the forest trails to uni even in the dark.

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WE THE ROBOTS

WE THE ROBOTS » Archive » Birdwatching

Marvellous new webcomic - love the art and the humour.  This isn't the funniest of strips, but I love the third panel so much I had to share.

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Study recommences

Back into study mode with a bang. I've signed on for an intensive week long course starting Monday. What was I thinking. The preparatory reading comes to a hundred pages at the minimum. Eep.

I've noticed one remembers better and gets a deeper understanding of the material by explaining it to someone else. If the other person actually requires the explanation, it's all good and karmic. If it's just me ranting at Niamh, then the arrangement isn't so great. I'm tempted to start a lecture blog somewhere else, and see what happens.

Finally, best wishes and a speedy recovery to Ma' Taarzaan. I hope get-well-soons from strangers half a globe away aren't too creepy.

Cycling

There's something a bit zen about cycling alone.  There's no competition, but it's always a race against self.  Setting the pace, then having to deal with it.  Accepting the discomfort because it brings pleasures.  Reigning in when the going is easy, and pushing hard when things get tough.

Feeding in enough power to maintain, nicely ticking over, it feels like maybe, just maybe there might be a way to do this in life too.

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The times they are a changing

There's a characterful little café located on prime tourist-trap real estate - Cafe Engel - that makes fabulous use of it's inner courtyard in summer by screening old movies there late night.  We went to see Kiss Me Deadly last night, and while throughly enjoyable, there are so many disconnects with the modern world it's a bit alien.  (Interestingly it was banned in Finland upon release in 1955).


Everyone smoking constantly, knocking back bourbon insouciantly whenever they happen to pass by a decanter (whomsoever it might belong to) - culminating in the protagonist ordering "a double bourbon and leave the bottle" at a bar, drinking till he passes out, before being roused from his stupor by the barman to stumble to his car and drive home - a scene that caused more horror amongst the modern crowd than any of the tame by modern standards violence.  Not a single woman was able to resist kissing the leading man at any meeting (but it was a noir, so of course the femme fatale fixes the men good in the end).  Massive bits of archaic technology built into walls like it wasn't going to be obsolete in 12 months (like a 3'x3' answering machine running off tape reels). 

There were moving men with burden-belts lifting objects no single professional would be permitted to lift by health and safety regulations.  There was uncomfortable looking furniture, and cars with no outside door handles because you reached in through the window.  Men wore suits period.  Best of all (at the risk of giving too much away), there was mysterious Nuclear Radiation - similar to Stephen Spielberg's imagining of the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders Of the Lost Ark -  both in appearance and effect, elliciting giggles from the crowd.  Even the actors seemed jarringly out of step with modern counterparts - crooked teeth, imperfections - natural! 

Even though the movie industry was thriving then, and there's a wealth of recorded history from TV and radio too - the era is a bit strange and mysterious (at least to me) today - mostly because we don't get to see any of that lovely old material any more - either because the works are orphaned, or it's just not worth the cost of showing them for curiosity's sake.  That's a pity, but the silver lining is it makes sitting in a damp courtyard watching a black and white reel movie feel that bit more special.

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Wedding Season

'Tis the Season to get Married (fa-la-la-la-la?) - normally this is a fairly academic issue where the author is concerned. However, it seems recently I've unwittingly crossed over into the dreaded "That Age" - friends and cousins seem to be getting hitched at an alarming rate. Thus far the friend/family matrimony rate (ffmr) corresponds to the Fibonacci numbers - if current trends persist, in ten years the ffmr will hit 377! Clearly I'm to meet a lot of new people between now and then.

Dreadfully sorry, there was supposed to be more, but I've to find proof of travel and make it to work soon so we can go sofa shopping tonight. The two plastic chairs covered in a duvet just aren't cutting it any more.

Summer

Hola!

It's been a while, I'm short on time and misery, so both my writing and musicianship is suffering terribly.

News: The project I was hired for, almost 3 years ago now (where did that time go?), finally died after 6 months on life support. It's been fun, it got me to the US on the company dime, and even got a bit of exposure, but now it's over.

Now, at least for this month, I'm a web-developer, fixing up some pretty shoddy PHP a sub-contractor knocked up that has to go live at the end of the month. This would be easier if I'd had any PHP experience to speak of, but learning is fun. [If the previous sentence was too nerdy skip to the next paragraph now] Plus, since the whole setup is LAMP, I get to develop on a linux box, running my favourite disto (Fedora), and I got root, baby - aww yeah. [No sympathy, you were warned]

We moved again - this was my fifth move in 3 years, I think I'll try to stay put a bit longer. We're now in the south west of the city, right beside where I work, in a modern 2 room apartment with a balcony and... a sauna! Well, a tiny hotpress in the bathroom with some electrically heated rocks, but it does the job. We're sofa shopping at the minute, which is tricky business.