July 2005

I don’t really want to dwell on the London Bombings any more than I have to (as it has been covered well over at WhiteBoyBob’s blog) but I am glad to see things returning to normal today in the capital. Being a small island means that we all know someone who works or lives in London and i expect we have all in some way have been personally affected by this.

The majority of transport services are operational, most people are returning to work and life goes on. Stiff upper lip n’ all that. That’s what i feel most proud about - our resilience to such an attack. Whilst watching the news reports yesterday morning I am pretty sure that people were having a go at the police for not letting them past the cordoned off areas into their offices. Twits. Wish i have a job i liked that much! I was also amazed at how the majority of the casualties and people interviewed after the attacks were not british! I bet we find that many people of different nationalities have been killed.

After the 9/11 incident i was left shocked and amazed and can remember feeling really shaky standing waiting for my train home that night. Not through fear of it happening to me - just total shock. Today i just feel strong and resolved that this will not bring the UK down - we are better than that. Obviously it is not anywhere near the scale of the 9/11 attacks - so i am not making direct comparisons, but it is a biggie for us.

The Police and the other Emergency Services did their jobs perfectly after well rehearsed planning for such an event. Well done to them.

What is really going to piss me off is the inevitable criticism of the police, government and the lack of security on the bus and train networks in London. This is pointless and a waste of time. Fingers have already been pointed at the hotels for charging £250 for an £80 room which is just ridiculous. Some people will always try to make money from this kind of thing - they are just plain sicko’s.

Technorati Tags: london, bombings, explosions, terror attack, bus

For someone like myself who has played a Didgeridoo on-stage at Glastonbury to thousands of people, it is nice to hear that some decent research has lead to the finding that the knack to playing is all to do with the opening and closing of the glottis, the part of your larynx that contains the vocal chords.

The practice also (not mentioned in the article) relies on the use of Circular Breathing, practiced by trumpeters and operators of other mouth instruments.

-Insert blow job joke here-

Technorati Tags: didgeridoo, rolf harris, glastonbury, glottis, larynx, australia, blow job, trumpet, circular breathing

So, i work hard all day at the PC only to come home and spend another 3 hours tweaking my Blogger template and learning CSS code by the seat of my pants.

I am not totally happy with the end result. I can see that the picture behind the post title is really going to annoy me after a few days.

The picture in the header was taken by me from my back garden on manual mode, fidling with the ISO and F stops to get a dark image. It worked out ok - no ammendment in Photoshop apart from cropping it.

Comments / feedback please…

And check out my template test blog at taotest now and then - expect it to get all “iPodded up” sometime soon.

Technorati Tags: blogger, template, css, html

Whizz bang!
I thought i saw this somewhere before during my dark and distant web surfing past.

Portable Firefox

Runs from a USB drive/folder on your hard drive etc.
Perfect for those places where you are not allowed to install the full version!

Technorati Tags: firefox, portable firefox, usb

Here are my bike stats from today using my new Cat Eye bike computer that my parents got me for my birthday on Saturday.

Time: 19.00 mins
Distance: 4.58 miles
Average Speed: 14.4 mph
Max Speed: 26.3 mph
Total distance so far: 6.6 miles

Let this stand as the milestone for me to surpass…

I then realised after i got to work that i had not set the exact wheel size on the little computer thing - so its all rubbish! But near enough for me. 19 minutes is pretty good i thought. I was’nt really pushing it either and it was also windy which, as every cyclist knows, is the devils breath!

Technorati Tags: bike, bike computer, stats, mileage, cat eye, devils breath

I am not one to overreact, but my birthday was totally excellent!

We had a BBQ over at my Parents-in-law’s house and around 30 people were there to help me celebrate.
The kids ran riot all afternoon in the garden and the adults ran riot through piles of beer, wine, vege and meaty food. Too much food was made but my wife and her mother and father did me proud and gathered up a real feast for everyone. Thanks!

For my pressies, i got a Gatecrasher CD, an iSkin, a box of Caffreys, a photo frame, a pair of jeans, 2 shirts, a bike computer, a cycle helmet and 2 of my butterfly photos printed and framed.

The 2 framed pictures are totally wicked! The pictures look good on the PC screen but in print the color and detail is amazing. I will definitely get some more printed in the near future.

Also, a big thanks to my 2nd wife, Mrs Swimpig, who made me the iPod cake you see in the photo above. An orange and almond cake! Yummy. Payment in kind available when ever you want it love! My wife also made some of her Ginger cake too which went down a storm. Shame I only got one slice of it though…

It was also great to see all the kids playing together too. Mr and Mrs WhiteBoyBob brought along their daughter who i have not seen for about 4 years and also their new little bundle of joy, who is really cute. It was all just perfect! Kids playing, men drinking, women in the kitchen….. no.. whoops! Sorry!

And to end the night i watched in total awe as Pink Floyd took the stage at Live8 after 24 years and were totally excellent! All those years apart have not changed the way they sound at all. Brilliant! I hope they reform again!

A class act!

Technorati Tags: iPod, birthday, cake, bbq, presents, butterfly, pink floyd, live8

Tomorrow I will be 34.

I don’t really feel 34 which I guess is a good thing. Although it doesn’t stop me from my blood running cold in the middle of the night when the reality of my mortality sinks in. That’s a real adrenaline kick at 4am I can tell ya! I hope that feeling passes.

You hear old folks (anyone older than 40) saying “I feel the same today as I did when I was eighteen” and I think I can now see that it is probably true - not some medicine induced false memory. Although it’s a little odd to think that i was skateboarding around my city before alot of the kids I see doing the same now, were born! Gnaahh.. youth of today…. etc.

My 33.99 years have been good ones so far and I have managed to get a super wife who gave me two super kids and can also hold down a stress free well paid job for which I am constantly commended! I am still on talking terms with all of my family and have no debts at all (apart from the mortgage). I didn’t try too hard at school, didn’t work at getting a good career and didn’t cause my parents too much grief. However, I did annoy the police a few times and make a few drunken mistakes with girls - but who doesn’t!

At the moment, life is good.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Tags: birthday, 34, death, mortality, wife

Scary huh!