Archive for 2006
September 21st, 2006
Sunday saw me and Katie meeting half-way between our two home towns in Oxford (yeah, long distance relationships are a bitch). And man, the weather for late September was amazing! So off we trottled on the open top bus, and had a day of touristy-magic. Including a trip to the Turf Tavern, a pub which was unsurprisingly full of American tourists and Oxford students not having the kind of conversations that I remember from University.
But not just that, oh no, not me and Katie! We went all out crazy-go-nuts on the tourist trail stopping off at the Oxford Story a trip back 900 years into Oxford history, and then (much to Katie’s delight) a bit of shopping at Alice’s Shop.
But, I think the pinnacle of the day was Oxford Castle Mound. Not that the mound itself was that amazing, just a lot of dirt, but the security system for keeping people who’d not paid the one pound entry fee was pretty much state of the art.
To get on the mound you first have to go in the shop and buy yourself a ticket. Upon exiting the shop you then make your way to the mound itself. Before ye can pass, ye must buzz the buzzer on the 5′ (possibly electrified) gate. Then, when your identification has been verified using a series of voice and DNA checks, the gate is opened electronically.
As we came down the mound we passed a guy who’d obviously missed the sign that said “this mound cost’s a pound” and was chased down by the huge guy who worked in the shop. I wouldn’t have liked to get on the wrong side of him.
So was the mound worth a pound? Well, we damn well made sure we got our monies worth! A whole 30 minutes we sat on the mound. It was quite a moving experience.
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September 11th, 2006
The decision to grow facial hair is one I took well over a year ago after being inspired by a freind who’s beard added a certain something cool to his face. So night and day for a solid month I’d have a constant straining-for-a-poo look on my face as I attempted to force the hairs out into the cold hard light of day.
Eventually I succeded in growing what some would call a beard, some would call “idiotic” and yet others would just call in to question.
I did try removing the beard once, but this only resulted in me getting id’ed for beer in my local Tesco. I quickly regrew it, again employing the straining technique.
So, for now at least, the questionable face fashion is staying. I did dabble with the idea of a Tom Selleck cos I think every man needs to experience the feeling of a bristly top lip at least once in his life. I guess watch this space.
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August 30th, 2006
Okay, maybe not a tan but you can certainly see the sun-burn line on my neck thanks to a groovy new haircut. What a week I’ve had in sunny (aka drizzly) Littlehampton, home of my No.1 lady-fan who also took a few well earned days off work.
So back at work again and last week feels a million miles away. This coupled with the impending winter and uncertainty about my future finds me in a melancholy mood this morning readers. Where oh where has our summer gone? Only a few weeks ago we were set for another heat-wave, and now we’re facing the arse end of August and hurtling towards colder weather faster than a greased-up fat man on a steep hill.
Perhaps it’s also because I’m moving out of my house that I’ve been in for six months this weekend. Admittedly I haven’t been there much, but I enjoyed my time at Drayman Close.
So all this leaves me feeling like I’m hanging on my the skin of my teeth, waiting for this storm to pass and coming to the realisation that I have no-one to blame but myself. Maybe it’s post holiday blues, but I suspect that’s just a contributing factor. I’ve felt God in all of this, I have had people I didn’t expect shore me up at times, and for that I’m very thankful.
So where now? What now? I guess I’ll just have to find out…
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August 15th, 2006
Ah, there’s nothing quite like basking in the warm glow of making a comment that stuns everyone in the room into silence. So it was one rainy October day in 2003, as Ross, Colin and I were trying to decide on whatever entertainment our dwindling student loans would allow. When, for some reason, my brain engaged my mouth without even asking me if it was OK and I herd myself say…
I know, lets play the hello world game! You know, where you have to think of as many ways as you can that you could write “hello world” in a programming language. Then the others have to guess what language you’re writing in!
It was a shameful moment for me. I knew as soon as I said it that it was a mistake. It was half meant as a joke, but there was no getting away from the disdainful looks that the others gave me. There was no choice, I had committed myself to this, and now I had to see it through, so I opened my and out flew this gem…
I’ll go first. What language is this… “Response dot write ‘hello world’ ?”
Needless to say Colin and Ross have taken the p*** ever since.
The Century!
On a completely unrelated matter, this is my 100th post. Hopefully it wont take another year and eight months to write another 100. I might even get myself a little cake to celebrate!
16 Comments »
August 11th, 2006
On my Friday lunchtime stroll in Lichfield park today I was surprised to find a whole load of Cowboys and Cowgirls gathered in tents, tee-pees, motor-homes and caravans for the Wild West Weekend. Ok, so Lichfield isn’t in the Midlands, but it’s near enough. Besides it’s a clever title right? Right??
I love Lichfield for stuff like this, we’ll randomly get interesting things in the park, but this has to be one of the most surreal ones I’ve seen to date. Especially the shootout at the OK Corral, where two guys shoot at metal targets about half a metre in-front of them
Wish I’d have had my camera with me rather than just my phone, those guys shooting stuff would’ve made some pretty cool pictures. Oh well, just thought I’d tell you about the random craziness that is occurring this weekend. If you’re interested, get down there. It’s on til Sunday apparently.
Oh, and I resisted the lure of the Coca-Cola today!
11 Comments »
August 10th, 2006
I can’t remember who it was but someone once told me a story of the first ever Coca-Cola factory. It went a little something like this…
As soon as construction on the original Coke factory was completed the then CEO of the company ordered another identical factory built right next door. This was done because in the two years it would take to complete the sister factory, the Coke would’ve eaten away at the mixing vats in the original building to such a degree as to render them unusable. The whole operation could then be transferred into the new factory, and they would have a two year period in which to repair the original vats before the whole operation needed to be moved back again.
Now I’m pretty sure this is just an urban legend (don’t you just love ‘em?), but it illustrates the stuff that may be believable about “The worlds favorite soft drink”. I must admit, I love Coke, and lately I’ve been drinking on average a half litre bottle a day. My desk a work is a grave-yard of empty red-labeled bottles.
Besides the environmental damage I’m doing by throwing away all that plastic, I’m pretty sure I’m damaging my insides as well. I gave up Coke for lent this year, and I couldn’t wait for my first glass on Easter Sunday. Even to the point of waiting to get to a pub where I knew they had ice-cold Coke in a real glass bottle. Yes, it was even harder than giving up beer as I’d done the month before.
So am I addicted? I realise that an addiction to a sweet sticky drink isn’t perhaps the most serious thing in the world, but maybe I should try going without for a while again, just to see if I can. Anyway, that’s all I have to say on the matter.
14 Comments »
August 9th, 2006
Yes, this is a complete geek post, so I apologize in advance. You may have noticed a few subtle changes around the place if you’ve been visiting lately. It was about time I had a clear out and a much needed tidy up. So many things were left unfinished or shoddily done that I needed one big blitz.
The two biggest changes are the logo (and the associated subtle colour change) and the finalised footer (Kris: what competition, I don’t remember any competition… Think I owe you a pint mate). Oh and changing from “roobottom dot com” to “roobottom”, yeah, cos that “dot com” was so 2003. Ahem, anyway here is the full list of things I’ve changed, added or updated.
- The NEW logo!
- Ah, my footer, finished at last!
- Added a sign-up form for my E-mail Broadcasts, thanks to those nice people at Zookoda
- Added Google ads*
- a new 1 minute feedback survey type affair
- the comments are now coComment enabled
- I fixed the icon height problem
- I’ve added feedburner support
- I’ve update some of the link hovers to underlines rather than the background you couldn’t see
- Gone are the cluttered icons in the top and left hand corners
*Google ads: Only on the homepage, please support me if you feel the need. I usually get really made when people say stuff like this, so I’ve tried to keep them to a minimum. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be needing all the money I can get soon. Maybe a post on this in the near future.
Oh, and I’m aware of the problem with the links in the e-mail newsletter, I’m working on it!
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August 4th, 2006
Having just read a news report on the men who hijacked a Boeing 747 in Afghanistan in 2000 I’ve been thinking about the question of why it’s such a mine field of red-tape to grant people seeking asylum leave to stay in Britain.
These men were obviously so desperate to get out of their country they were willing to risk a substantial prison sentence. It would be very easy to lump everyone who comes to the UK into one category and say that we should give them shelter from the evils of whatever regime is the controlling power in their country, but as Home Secretary John Reid points out this position is thwart with dangers.
I continue to believe that those whose actions have undermined any legitimate claim to asylum should not be granted leave to remain in the UK
You can see his point. Everyone must be judged on their own merits. While desperately wanting to offer a safe haven for those people who’re at risk in their own country’s, the UK simply doesn’t have the resources to cope with everyone in search of what may be perceived as a better life.
My personal feelings on the matter are somewhat different, having witnessed people going through the political wranglings and heart ache of desperately trying to get permission to stay in this country which had been their home for a substantial number of years. Very often they have made a life for themselves, and have established friends and family, and are settled, just to be told that they face the possibility of being returned to a country where they could face persecution. I definitely think something needs to change, but as usual I’m at a loss to know what.
Maybe the way forward is to let those people who face even the tiniest risk of danger in their home country stay and be part of our community, a full British citizen. Let them contribute to our economy, let them work and pay their taxes. I know this is a very simplest answer compared to the complexity of the problem, but it seems to me that for an “enlightened” nation we should be offering the hand of friendship.
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August 1st, 2006
Ah, I used to love a bit of photography, getting down in the mud to get that perfect low angle sharp focus background, soft foreground shot (you know the sort). But then, it all stopped. My Flickr became a bit of a waste ground of random holiday shots and friends eating ice cream.
So then what to do? Well, If it’s anything like all my other “creative” ideas it’s simply to stop the boredom at work when the clients are procrastinating. Nevertheless, I have made a start! Armed with a couple of photos of Katie and good old Photoshop 7 I made this…
… Okay, so maybe it isn’t the most creative idea in the world, but with other my friends out doing me at every turn, I’ve gotta start catching up!
11 Comments »
July 28th, 2006
At last! I’m ready to release the public beta-1 version of greeneStripe, a new theme for Wordpress!
It’s still very much in the testing phase, but if you can cope with a few bugs then please feel free to download a copy and install it on your wordpress. It even includes support for Automattic’s Wordpress Widgets, which work very nicely once installed.
Please post any bug reports / design ideas / slag-offs here rather than on the theme blog! Thank you!
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