Working Working Working
Today finds me sat at my desk at work somewhat pleased that I am not out in the rain.
Posts from 2005
Testing New Features
The next feature that will find it’s way into the Blog script is smilies.
Autumn Fire Necklace Arrives
A couple of weeks ago I contracted a friend of mine in the states to make a necklace for W as a present for our anniversary this year. The necklace is a “one...
Shocked Stunned And Amazed
A friend of mine asked me how many times my CMS script had been downloaded, and I had to tell her that I didn’t know.
Just Released A New Version Of The Blog Script
After a bit of a slog, I have released a new version of the Blog script for people to download.
Cider Making Sunday
We have just spent our entire Sunday pressing apples from our tree in the back garden to have a go at making Cider. The following photos illustrate the steps...
Its The Weekend
It’s finally the weekend, and I feel better than I have in days.
Burning Out
I’m getting closer and closer to burning out at work. I worked late on Friday night, went back in and worked from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday, did a course all day ...
Feeling Very Low Indeed
I’m feeling about the worst I have ever, after a client called me at home (on Sunday) today and started giving me a load of hassle about a work project. I’m ...
Working At The Weekend
It’s the weekend at last - except it isn’t really for me, because I have to go back into work this afternoon to try and save a project that’s gone wrong.
Long Day
It’s been a pretty long day today. I guess it felt longer than it should because I didn’t go to bed until 1:30am last night.
Searching For Deep Sky Objects
I had the telescope out in the garden last night (mainly because it was warm). Although the visibility was appalling - you could hardly see any stars due to ...
Killer In Our Garden
I think I just caused the death of a small bird in the back garden… the picture above shows the last thing the little bird saw too.
Government Meddles With Internet Laws
It looks very much like a law is going to come into force in the UK to make it illegal to posess any media depicting a violent sexual act. This all came abou...
Flying Spaghetti Monsters Rule
In these days of internet censorship, and legions of Dudley Doorights walking the land preaching their bible-bashing sermons upon the great unwashed (read: d...
Sunday Morning In Cornwall
It’s Sunday morning, 9:15am, and I’m sat here in my parent’s study tapping away on the computer… it’s been a few days since I did a blog entry, so I thought ...
Tuesday Ends
I’m sat in the lounge, tapping away on my laptop, downloading music from e-music, and feeling pretty tired. I guess the computer clock says it’s nearly midni...
Pictures Of The Garden
It was a nice afternoon, and I had a few minutes to kill after cleaning my mountain bike (did I mention for the 50th time that I have the whole week off work...
End Of The Weekend
It’s late on Sunday night and I guess it’s the end of the weekend.
Comic Artwork Is Great
Here’s where I admit in my blog that I’m a massive fan of comic artwork. I don’t actually own many comics (about 4 I think - in various places around the hou...
Im On Holiday
It’s the weekend, and I have a week off to look forward to!!
Late Night
Last night I finally called my cousin in California after missing each other with various phone calls over the last few weeks. It transpired that she has MSN...
Quiet Sunday
It’s coming up to lunchtime on Sunday and we’re having a quiet day at home (isn’t it great sometimes when you get to just have a chilled out day at the weeke...
Early Hours Of Monday
I’m sat here playing the old trick of trying to make the weekend last longer by staying up late on Sunday night.
I Got A Gamecube
I went to Maindenhead this morning and finally got myself a Gamecube console from Gamestation. They had a few of them in second-hand, and loads of games.
Hedgehogs In The Garden
We just heard some huffing and puffing out in the garden, so turned everything off and went out to investigate - and found our resident family of hedgehogs o...
Ink Blot Test
I just took an inkblot test on the internet - where you answer set questions about a series of ink blots, and your perception of what you have seen is interp...
I Took The Brainiac Test
I just did the “Brainiac” test at www.tickle.com - I got 28 out of the 30 questions right - here’s the result summary (and I’m not gloating, honest)…
Its Late And Im Tired
It’s nearly midnight as I write this, and I’m getting tired. The X-Files movies is on the television though, so I guess I’ll stay up and watch through to the...
So Ends Another Day
If you hadn’t figure this out yet, I tend to write in my blog every day. I write about anything and everything - usually the most boring humdrum things that ...
Old Photos Re Surface
I have just discovered an old Yahoo account of mine from around the time I got married with lots of old photos in it, so have lifted them out and made a new ...
Folk Alley Rules
I found a wonderful music feed on the internet this morning called “Folk Alley” (http://www.folkalley.com). As the title would suggest, it’s a folk music web...
Book Im Reading The Heart Of The Sea
I’m currently reading “The Heart of the Sea”, a book about the true story that “Moby Dick” was inspired by.
Its That Saturday Morning Feeling
Saturday morning is almost over, and I have got nothing done. I’ve been messing around with Yahoo 360 all morning (which I knew nothing about until an old fr...
In Need Of Friends
I have been playing with the online beta of Yahoo’s new “360” service today - and so far I think it’s fantastic. The only problem I have so far is that I hav...
Bumbling Along
It’s just gone 10pm and I find myself sat at the dining table with my old laptop (so rubbish that a name has been coined for it - “the craptop”).
Advice From Swiss Tony
People outside of the UK may not know who “Swiss Tony” is. He started out as a character on a comedy sketch show called the “Fast Show”, and was so popular t...
Crap Day Gets Better
Today started out as a remarkably crap day, then got even worse, but ended on something of a high.
Truly Awful
Ever since I woke up this morning at 7am I have had a banging headache. I’ve felt really tired and feeble too. I drank water all morning to see if I was just...
Uploads Are Working Once More
I have managed to get file uploads up and running in my blog script once more (for those of you who do not know, my main blog at http://www.pluggedout.com/bl...
Putting A Crap Day Behind Me
It’s getting pretty late now, and I’m looking forward to putting a pretty crap day behind me.
Difficult Times
After dragging myself out of bed this morning I was blundering around the kitchen in my half awake state and managed to kick an empty wine bottle across the ...
Sharpening Chess Skills
Following a few defeats against a friend at work recently I decided it’s time I started putting some work into playing chess once more. I have Chessmaster up...
Cruelty To Animals On Television
I’ve just read something that has really upset me and made me incredibly angry.
Dont Want To Be Here
I’m sat here at work this morning, and I really don’t want to be here at all. I’m fed up with working here.
End Of A Day Off
It’s the end of my day off, and I find myself wondering what I’ve done all day. I got up at about ten to eight this morning because W had to go to the chirop...
30 Things About Me
This post is an attempt to write 30 things that people might not know about me. Hopefully it will be interesting to somebody somewhere. Here goes.
Fantastic Sunday
Fantastic Sunday
Home Alone
W has gone to Crystal Palace (stadium in London) to watch the Athletics with her mum tonight. I was worried that a lot of the big names were going to pull ou...
Really Really Annoyed
Okay - I am officially, really, really annoyed now. I know my blog is usually full of me moaning about things, but when events like this happen, you’ll start...
Potter Arrives
I’m in something of a quandary. My better half arrived home tonight with a present for me - the new Harry Potter book.
All Worship The Flying Spaghetti Monster
Okay - before I start, I would like to state that this will be the last post in the near future where I attack people with strong religious beliefs. I’m not ...
Slowing To A Crawl
The World Crawls
Conspiracy Theories
While sat at work this afternoon one of my colleagues asked if I had ever thought about resurrecting the ThoughtCafe website. I’m starting to wonder if there...
A Slower Pace
Today finds me relaxing into a slower pace of work than I have been used to recently. It’s nice - I get time to think about what I’m doing rather than just r...
Thoughts For The Day
Today was a strange day.
An Interesting Question Printed Books
Here’s a question for anybody who happens to read this. When a book is published internationally, do they change the spellings used to suit it’s target marke...
Thoughts On A Sunday Night
I’m sat here wondering what to write about, and I can’t really think of anything. Perhaps if I put some music on, inspiration might strike.
To Potter Or Not To Potter
I’m sat here wondering if I should order the new Harry Potter book from Amazon yet, or wait until I’ve finished reading the book I am currently reading.
On My Way To Replacing Wordpress
Hi all,
How Old Do You Think You Are
I just did the BBC “How Old Do You Think You Are?” test, and am quietly pleased with myself.
Going Back To A Home Grown Script
After a couple of months playing around with WordPress, I have gone back to my own blog script because I can do what I like with it - rather than be constrai...
Infinite Stupidity
Somebody emailed me this news story this morning because they couldn’t believe it, and I can’t believe it either…
Now I Have Seen Everything
You know there is a saying “I thought I’d seen everything but…” - well now I have.
I Have The Weirdest Dreams
It’s official. I have the weirdest dreams.
End Of A Long Day
It’s the end of a pretty long and boring day today. My spirits seem to be a bit up-and-down recently. Yesterday I had a great day - and although I didn’t rea...
Thoughtcafe Seriously
Once upon a time I built a website for amateur writers to post their writing, and get feedback on it. The website became far too successful for it’s own good...
Stepping Back From The Edge
After giving it a couple of hours thought, I have decided that if a site like ThoughtCafe does happen again, I am not going to be directly involved in it.
In A Strange Mood
I’m in a pretty strange mood today - the helpdesk at work was pretty busy this morning (Monday morning - nothing unusual there), but things have quietened do...
An Overdue Rant
While sat here drinking my coffee, I realised there have been quite a few things over the last week or so that I have been distinctly unhappy about - and in ...
War Of The Worlds
We just got back from the cinema after going to see “War of the Worlds” - the new Stephen Spielberg movie.
Friday Feeling
It’s Friday, things are slowing down, and I find myself sorting little details out here and there.
How Busy Am I
Today has been one of those days. It is now just gone 4pm, and I have hardly had time to think all day. I have been covering helpdesk for the last few weeks ...
As Promised The Eden Project
As promised, here are some pictures of the Eden project near St. Austell in Cornwall, UK
Putting My Life Back Together
After a couple of weeks away from work following our loss of the baby (although it hadn’t been born yet, we always thought of it as such), it feels somewhat ...
Going Away
We’re leaving for a few days in the morning to go and spend a few quiet days in Cornwall. We’re there from Thursday through till Monday.
Difficult Post
I’m wondering if I should be writing this or not, but thought it’s probably best - otherwise people will wonder if I’ve dissappeared off the face of the worl...
Grump Old Men
It struck me earlier this afternoon that I have not been writing in my Blog regularly.
Finally Its Friday
It’s finally friday and I am looking forward to the weekend.
Busy Busy Busy
I have finally hit a patch of calm at work, after several days working on all kinds of thingsmost of them not involving development.
Working On Cms Yet Again
I have a meeting later in the week with a BIG company to look at using my CMS code for their intranet, and later for their public internet site. It’s been sa...
The Apache Trailing Slash Problem
I just spent the best part of an hour trying to solve the infamous “Apache Trailing Slash Problem”, and then found salvation in an O’Reilly Book excert that ...
Darth Tater Invades My Desk
I got in to work this morning and discovered a Firebox package on my desk - to me, and I had no recollection of buying anything. Following a phonecall home I...
Boycott Bali
I just read a headline in the news after getting into work that made me just a bit angry…
Fantastic Weekend
This weekend marked the start of my immersion into the world of XBox Live, and quite possibly the end of my social life for a while. To paraphrase Winston Ch...
Benchmarking The Cms Project
I spent some time this afternoon benchmarking the “Content Management System” project I have been working on. For those who have no idea what that is, a “con...
Kylie Has Breast Cancer
I just read on the news that Kylie Minogue has breast cancer… quite a shock.
Tennis At Lunchtime
Myself and a colleague went and played Tennis at lunchtime today - it’s the first time I have played in about 7 or maybe even 8 years, and it was a bit of a ...
Monday Morning Shattered
It’s 11:28 on Monday morning and I’m having a break from my work for a minute or two to write in my Blog.
Saturday Morning Feeling Groovy
Hmmm… “Saturday Morning - Feeling Groovy”. Reminds me of the Simon and Garfunkel tune. I guess it sums up my mood this morning though.
Wondering Why I Bother
I really can’t figure the world out sometimes. I posted to the linux community on LiveJournal earlier about my CMS project, and rather than getting other ope...
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
We went to see the new movie of “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” last night - and I came away with mixed thoughts about it.
Photo Friday Action
The image below was taken at the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris, where people gather to play chess in the park. For me, the picture catches the moment wonderf...
Photo Journey From Work To Home
I thought it might be fun to do a “photo-journey” from work to home - so those outside of the UK can perhaps see what a typical town is like. Most of the pic...
Ran The Marlow 5
It’s 3pm now on Sunday, and I have just finished watching the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari didn’t finish the race because it ate it’s ...
More Pictures From The Loft
I just had a dig around up in the loft and turned up another old drawing book from the 1990’s
More Drawings From The Past
Here’s a couple more drawings from the far distant past when I used to make time to sit and draw.
Having A Good Day
This morning I went for a run with a friend - “G” - who is just starting out. We went for about a 2k run down to the edge of town and back just for him to fi...
Lunchtime Comes To An End
It’s the end of my lunch break and I’m back working on the same stuff I have been picking at for the last couple of days. It’s essentially a “plugin” for the...
Found Some Old Artwork
I just found some old artwork on an ancient Yahoo account of mine that I had forgotten about.
Watching The Clock
I’m at work this afternoon, and find myself watching the clock. We went to the clinic early this morning for W to have a blood test - by 4pm this afternoon w...
Looking Good
I had a text message on my phone from W at 4:30pm, with the word “woohoo!” in it. I called home immediately and got a very tearful W on the other end of the ...
Am I In A Minority
We sat and started watching the movie “Meet the Parents” last night - and after about an hour of it I switched the television off. I’m not sure if it’s just ...
Photos In The Garden
While kicking around the house looking for something to do this afternoon I ended up wandering around with the digital camera. What follows is the result of ...
Thinking About Open Source
I’ve just been sat here this Saturday morning talking to my other half about politics (strange, I know).
Feeling Rough
W had a bodyshop party at our house last night, so I went over to a friend’s house with the Playstation and Gran Turismo. We sat, drank beer, and played Play...
Working On Something Interesting
I am finally working on something interesting - the company website. I have a bit of a slack week this week, so have taken the chance to get going on the new...
Drained And A Bit Depressed
We had to buy a new car this weekend, because W’s is dying slowly. We discovered it had a problem the last time we went to visit my parents in cornwall - on ...
Tired But Happy
I got up at about ten to seven this morning, and went straight out the door for a run (well - I put some clothes and shoes on first, obviously). I misjudged ...
Where Did The Evening Go
I’m sat here typing this at 23:06 and wondering where on earth the evening went…
One Of Those Mornings
This morning has so far been one of those mornings. One of those mornings where everything you try and do takes twice as long as it should because you keep d...
Foundations In Place
I took the decision to request the project setups at SourceForge. I’m anticipating that my webhost will come back with a “no can do” following my enquiry abo...
Building A Development Community
I have spent the last half an hour putting the foundations in place to open my “open source” projects up to the world - to try and build a community of devel...
Running And Feeling Good
I feel just a little bit smug this evening. I got in from work (remember, I cycle 3 miles home on a mountain bike), got changed, and went out for a run. Just...
Monday Morning
It’s Monday morning, and I’m back at work.
Slow Sundays Rule
You know how you reach the end of some weeks, and are really looking forward to the weekend? (yes, I know… that’s every week). This week was one of those wee...
End Of A Long Week
This week quite a lot happened.
Playing With Livejournal
Hi all, If you’re wondering why there have been hardly any entries in my Blog for the last few days, it’s because I have been writing in LiveJournal. I start...
Its The Weekend
It’s the weekend, and finally we are getting some quality time to ourselves.
Tired And Annoyed
I checked into gMail a little while ago to send an email into work warning them that I might not be available to go on client site next week, and discovered ...
Soaked To The Skin
I just got in from work after a pretty dreadful cycle home. For those that don’t know, I cycle to work (about 3 miles) on a mountain bike.
Hacked Off
I’m sat here at work this afternoon, and I really don’t want to be here. I’ve got a dreadul cold that I’ve had since Thursday last week. It’s really getting ...
Yay Ferrari Score No Points
Fantastic - Ferrari scored no points again in the Formula One grand prix in Bahrain. Absolutely brilliant Words cannot describe how good it is for motor raci...
Hypocrits
Does it not occur to anybody else in the world how hypocritical the church is being about the Pope?
End Of Another Day
Today has been a strange kind of day. For the first time in several days the support calls have not really flooded in, meaning I could get on with developmen...
Chess Website Under Construction
Yet another project… I’m not sure I really have the time (or the will) to get this project up and running anytime soon, but I have started on the development...
Happy Easter
Just a short posting this morning to say happy easter to everybody who might read this blog - I have no idea who you are, but I hope you have a good easter w...
Off To Cornwall For Easter
The work week is drawing to a close here in the UK as we prepare for the easter break - Friday and Monday are “Bank Holidays” in the UK, so everybody gets th...
Hitting The Roads
Myself and a good friend started our training in earnest for the Marlow 5 running race in May last night - we went out for a gentle run around town just to f...
Just Taking A Break
I’m just taking a quick break from my development work (I’m at work as I write this), so thought I would write about my day so far.
Playing With Gt4
Tonight I have been playing with the “Photo Tour” mode in Gran Turismo 4 - the basic idea being that you do a few laps of a given track in one of “your” cars...
Gran Turismo 4 Rules
In what appears to be something of a pattern, I went into town to get my hair cut on Saturday morning, and there were loads of people in the barbers, so I en...
They Got It Wrong
Today I am very happy indeed. I checked the wording of my employment contract, and it turns out the company I work for DOES NOT have a clause claiming owners...
Kasparov Retires
It was something of a shock tonight to learn that Garry Karsparov has announced he is retiring from professional chess competition.
Getting Over It
I’m getting over the shock now of discovering that my contract of employment basically says that the company I work for holds the intellectual property right...
Very Annoyed Indeed
I have discovered (to my horror) that the company I work for holds the intellectual property rights over anything I do involving software development - no ma...
Getting Up Is Hard
Why is getting out of bed on Monday mornings so damn difficult?
Banished From The Kitchen
It’s Tuesday night and I find myself banished from the Kitchen.
Is It Tuesday Already
This week seems to be going past even faster than last week (if that makes any sense at all).
Testing Blog 165 Out
I’m trying out the latest version of Blog - and making it jump through hoops to work correctly with legacy data from the old version…
On Open Source Development
I have recently been asked by a student in America to help with a college assignment where he will be comparing and contrasting the views of an open source d...
Back In The Office
After what seems like a marathon week, I am finally back in the office and doing development work on projects once again.
Cms Becomes Open Source
Following all kinds of deliberation at work, it turns out they cannot license my CMS software after all - the law more or less prevents them from doing it.
Spectacular Mountain Bike Crash
Last night I had the most spectacular mountain bike accident in my own living memory…
The Monster Is Born
At about 3pm today a monster was born in the office where I work - a 64bit Linux monster
Monday Monday Daa Naa Naa Na Naa Naa
It was the Mammas and the Pappas wasn’t it? (the title of this entry).
Winning And Losing
It’s been an up and down Sunday evening… I’ve been playing chess on “PlayChess” - the Chessbase online chess site. I won a game, and lost a game.
Coasting To A Halt
After what seems like a marathon, my CMS project is finally becoming feature complete, and just needs some user interface work before it can leap towards som...
Well It Made Me Laugh
Yes, your eyes are not decieving you - that really is Anna Kournikova in the picture over on the right, and yes, she really did show the cameras everything s...
Tired And Geeked Out
I have been working throughout the weekend on the CMS scripts, trying to heave them a bit closer to the finish line that says “feature complete” - but of cou...
Stop The World
Have you ever felt like shouting “stop the world, I want to get offseveral projects are running towards deadlines at the same time as each other, and guess w...
The Best Worst Movie
I just wandered into the lounge after working on my CMS scripts for yet another evening, and came across my other/better half watching the movie “Starship Tr...
Sleepy Sunday
For what seems like the first time in weeks, we are doing nothing at all today. What a great way to spend a sunday - surfing the web (and discovering Blogcli...
I Am An Idiot
Yesterday I was working on-site and had to transfer some files from my own development FTP site - so needed the passwords. I have all my passwords on a USB k...
I Want One Of Them New Macs
Apple are releasing a new Mac.
Geeky Personality Test
I just did this test on the net…
Accident And Emergency
We had something of an eventful weekend.
Forums R Us
During my lunch hour yesterday, and a few hours last night, I managed to get a forum solution up and running on my PluggedOut webspace.
Back At Work
Today is Wednesday, and I am back at work after “missing” a day yesterday. I’ve had some paracetamol this morning and loads of water, and so far (touch wood)...
Still Worth Reading
I just had a quick look at the “Clix” chart on Diarist.
New Year Feeling Rotten
It’s supposed to be my first day back at work for the new year today, and I’m sat at home with a killer headache, and a snotty nose.