Favourite Links

22 May 2007 11:50

I've decided to start building a list of small websites and blogs which I enjoy reading and which other people might like. The links can be found in the right side menu area my blog.

For the time being there are 2 links there.

Get Rich Slowly

Tight-fisted? I prefer to think of it as Frugal living, and it is something very close to my heart. I don't know why but it always has been and now I found a website for people who feel the same way that I do (actually it's a bit like an alcoholic finding the Campaign for Real Ale website).

It's an American site so the details are not directly relevant here in Blighty but the general principals still apply.

Post Secret

I've mentioned Post Secret on this blog before but I still find it fascinating. People anonymously make postcards that reveal a secret which then gets scanned in and posted on the blog.

Note: the site is not always work safe although this week seems quite tame.

Who knew I would be voyeuristic?

BMF Bike Show

19 May 2007 23:10

Today was the BMF motorbike show in Peterborough.

I had booked a car from Tim Britons in St Neots, this is the second car I've booked a car from them and the second time time that they didn't have a record of me doing so :-(

Last time, the phone call got diverted to Marshals Peugeot in Cambridge who own
Tim Brinton but I didn't realise that at the time and so I got a phone call from marshals after I had picked up a car asking when I going to collect the car. This time there was no record of any booking either at Tim Brintons or Marshals. While the pape work was being perpared I checked my phone log and I definitely rung the number for St Neots branch of Tim Brinton on the 14th at 11:45.

I picked Matt up at his house in Cambourne then we drove over to the Peterborough show ground.

Since I am a member of the BMF, I got my ticket £2 cheaper than a standard ticket, such are the many benefits of being a member of the BMF.

It took us about 4 hours to walk around the show, I sat on a couple of bikes that i'm interested in; the new Honda Deauville, the honda VFR, the triumph Sprint (i liked that one alot), the truimph Tiger. Unfortunately Suzuki were not at the show show I was unable to try the two VStroms on for size whiich is a shame because they are currently my bike of choice (but I really did like that Sprint).

While I wa at the show I found a couple of really cheap helmets which I could use as a backup in case my helmet is ever damaged or lost, this would mean that the I could carry on riding the bike unti I could find a decent repacement at the right price instead of being force to buy what ever the local bike shop has.

The weather was great, the roast pork roll I had for dinner was delicious and the show had lots of stalls for me to browse even if not all the manufacturers were there, as well as Suzuki, Kwakaski were not there either.

A great day out for anyone interested in bikes, 2 thumbs up although if you are looking for all the manufacturers in one place then the NEC show in November is better.

Zombietastic

16 May 2007 22:35

Tonight I went to see 28 Weeks Later at Cambridge Cineworld with Matt.

For some reason the girls didn't want to come which is a shame because they missed out on Zombie attacks, snipers shooting zombies, snipers shooting everyone and helicopter pilots saving the day as in all good zombie movies.

On the way out noticed I loads of cars had been clamped for parking in the car parks of some nearby business's even though all the business's dosed at 17:00 and the car's must have parked there after 18:40 because that's when I arrived and the car parts were empty then. Why enforce parking restrictions like that when there is no other use for the space?

Interview-a-go-go

16 May 2007 14:39

I've been having a busy couple of days on the interview front at the moment

Yesterday I took the whole day off as holiday.

In the morning I had an interview with a computer animation company based in Cambridge. The application looks interesting and the interview must have gone reasonably well since I have been asked back for a second interview tomorrow afternoon.

In the afternoon I had a second inteniew for a financial software consultancy based in Harpenden, I would be the First tester on site and could effectively run the test effort as I saw fit. A fantastic role but I am corcerned about the commute distant involved which would be about go miles cads way.

I have also arranged a first interview with a company that makes security software based in Cambridge for next Thursday although I'm hoping for an offer that I can accept from one of the other companies before that interview goes ahead.

Not a good day

10 May 2007 05:59

Yesterday was not a good day for me.

First there was the much anticipated appraisal which had been delayed from April by the need to arrange more finances from the city.

Last year after having only joined the company 5 months earlier I received a £1000 payrise on account of the good work I was doing as a tester and after another month or so I was made team lead for the SNAZ project, and I took on the role of administering the Software Groups file Server. There was also talk of making me test manager, if I just put the effort in, although it was a role which didn't really appeal to me it did encourage me to put extra time in.

My first project as team lead severely over ran due to issues with the hardware and I had to put in alot of overtime split between the testing project and trying to keep the file server up and running to make any progress. I remember one occasion when my sister was visiting Cambridge for the first time in 3 years and we had arranged to meet at 18:00 but because I got stuck at work I didn't arrive until 21:00.

My second project was completed on schedule which is the first project at work which I have seen completed on time and which I needed to do a little overtime to complete but nothing on the scale of the first project.

So I was expecting a reasonable review this time around given the extra responsabilities and workload I had taken on in the last year.

Boy was I wrong, my new manager really doesn't rate me as a tester at all, scoring 2/5 in almost all categories.

When I asked about the overtime I had done the director just stared blankly at me and asked what overtime despite having worked side by side with him on the project and always giving him a verbal report of progress before going home at night.

Apparently the effort to keep the file server up and running was also considered a side role which bearly rated a mention.

Part of the problem with the review is that it was done by my new test manager who has only worked directly with since I had given up on the company after the snowday holiday decision which effectively tried to steal a days holiday from me despite that fact that I had gone out of my way to help complete the second project on schedule after I had fallen off my bike trying to get to work.

Sometimes I am too cynical but there is that little voice at the back of my mind which says, "well done trev, you've put in a load of extra work for vague promises of reward further down the line at exactly the point when it was needed by the company without actually getting anything for my effort."

Just to top the day off, there was a ramblers pub meet in Peterborough which I had decided not to go to since it was raining, and it's a long way for me to travel just to sit in a pub for a couple of hours but decided some company would probably be good for me and rush to get there on time through the 30 mile of driving rain, unfortunately no one else from the ramblers decided to turn out in their cars for that taxing 5 mile journey. I 've double checked the program, I was in the right pub on the right day at the right time and I gave them 40 minutes before leaving.

Insurance Claim

08 May 2007 20:04

I've just spoken to the insurance company about the bike claim but it turns out that the garage haven't forwarded the estimate on yet which has really annoyed me because it must mean that any decision is at least a week away.

Mean while the brakes are getting worse and I not going to get any work done on them until I have heard what's going to happen with the insurance claim because if it does get scrapped any money I spend getting the brakes sort out would be waste of money.

Grrr

Freeloader Portable Charger

I have just brought a Freeloader Portable Charger from Maplins which I can use to charge my phone/PDA/iPod etc using solar power.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=N23CX%20%20&source=15&SD=Y

I've been looking for one of these for a while but Maplins currently have a sale on and so I thought why not.

Once it's arrived I'll play around with it for a few days and then rewrite up a review.

Account Cancellations

01 May 2007 19:17

Today I have been cancelling things.

I have cancelled my lovefilm account, I've been a member for over 2 years and I have run out of things I actually want to watch. That combined with what I see as a deteriation in the quality of services as Lovefilm got bigger and bigger spelt it's doom (ok, that might be a little dramatic)

Then I downgraded my broadband sevice from an 8GB download limit to one with a 1GB download limit because I'm not using my internet connection any more, although I might need to upgrade it again if I ever buy myself a PS3.

Unfortunately the one company I really want to get rid of, T-Mobile, can't be cancelled until September. I have made a note in my PDA to remind me because if I don't let T-Mobile know that I'm leaving by the 05th September then I'm going to be stick with them for another 18 months.

Ramblers Pub Meet

26 April 2007 23:39

Tonight was a Ramblers Pub Meet at the Boathouse in Peterborough which is a generic family pub type of place.

However there was a pub quiz which I don't think was expected when the event was put into the clubs calendar so we broke up into 2 teams and took part in the quiz.

My team won but I think that was only because we were sat slightly closer to the announcer, the speakers in the pub were very distorting. It was like trying to take a quiz via the tannoy system of a train station but it was a lot of fun.

That was close

25 April 2007 10:49

I was riding down a B-road yesterday between Luton and Harpenden when a sheet of plywood which had been lying on the road got flicked up by the lorry in front of me, I didn't even see it coming until the last moment when it's angle to me changed from being edge on to being flat side on. It must have been about 0.5m 1m in size.

The sheet hit my bike head on, then slide around the right hand side of the bike, scrapped my leg and splintered into little bits behind me.

It didn't feel like a particularly hard hit, the bike didn't even get moved from the course it was on, no wobbles or anything and I didn't give it much thought since the impact seems so light.

I guess because the impact was almost head-on hid how much weight that sheet of wood had because when I walked around the front of my bike this morning I found a big hole in the front fairing below the headlight and what looks like a compression crack on my lower right fairing.

I've made a claim on my insurance and I'm taking the bike to be examined next saturday so some pictures can be taken and the insurance company can decided on what to do with the bike. The bike is still rideable so I can't see them doing anything other than authorising the repair.

And then there was 3

25 April 2007 06:57

This week one of my friends is moving back down to Devon to be closer to her family.

That leaves just 3 of us who go out on a regular basis.

Last night we went to Zizzis in Cambridge for a goodbye meal before moving on to All-Bar-One while we waited to fee if Ginny was going to make an appearance.

Quote of the Day:
Martina - "Do you want to put your helmet my boot."

Laser force

22 April 2007 09:06

Last night a few of us Ramblers went to laser force in Peterborough.

It was great fun, we got 2 games with a free drink between the games to cool of and discuss strategies.

On my team was Debbie, Karen & John. On the green team was Gordon, Roger, Katie & Wendy.

Our team won both games and I got the highest score in the first game and the highest accuracy in both matches.

After the game we walked into town for a few pints before going our seperate ways.

These brakes were made for stopping ...

21 April 2007 14:07

... And thats just what they'll do. Even if I don't want them to (ok so it doesn't have quiet the same ring as the song)

Yes, my bike brakes are sticking even after buying a heavier lube last night to try to fix the problem.

After spraying everything in sight with this heavy lube I then drove off down to Harpenden to see what the roads are like down there and was still having problems, I managed to break a key at a layby trying to force the brakes open. Luckily the key was for my cycle lock which was nicked along with the bike so I don't need that key for anything.

I can free them up for about an hour but eventually they will start sticking again sucking performance out of the bike, heating up the pads until they start to fade under heavy braking and costing the earth in needlessly burnt petrol.

I've come to the conclusion that the only solution is going to be to dismantle the brakes, clean the gunk out of the piston and relube it properly.

I would like do the work myself since if everything goes to plan it's suppose to be an easy job but if something goes wrong it is supposed to get very complicated very quickly and I am very aware that it's my brakes i'm dealing with and maybe that's not the best component for a DIY disaster like myself to start messing about with.

What to do?

Dentist Appointment

16 April 2007 21:17

Tonight I had a dentist appointment, just a routine check-up booked last year.

I was in the chair for all of 45 seconds at the end of which the dentist said every was fine and charged me £15.90 for the privilege.

It took longer to enter my credit card pin number and have the transaction authorised than the dentist spent examining me.

I worked out that is the equivalent of £1275 per hour. I'm in the wrong business.

Happy Birthday to my bike

15 April 2007 19:12

Today is the 1 year anniversary of getting my bike.

In the last year I have

* riden 22876 miles
* burnt 393 gallon's of petrol
* spent £4742 on insurance, tax, maintenance and petrol
* fallen off once in the snow
* had to perform 4 emergency stops - 1 cat and 3 myopic car drivers

Oxborough Walk

15 April 2007 18:46

Today's walk was from Oxbraugh Hall in Oxborough near to Thetford.

It was 7 miles going through Brahamwell and Gooderstone in surprisingly hot weather.

I think the heat caught everyone by surprise, we all had coats and only a few of us had hats with us.

I think I'm going to have to buy some walking shorts because my trousers cling to me when it's hot.

Early Morning Starts

13 April 2007 07:03

Since the clocks changed a few weeks ago I have been waking up as soon as it gets light and it is starting to get on my nerves, this morning I was awake by 04:45 and couldnt get back to sleep.

Do you know whats on TV at 04:30 in the morning? Nothing.

I wouldn't mind but because I'm getting up so early I'm also getting sleepy earlier and earlier at night, last night I was in bed by 21:00.

On the plus side, it is giving me some time to sort out the photo album on the computer, review my bank accounts and search the job sites online for a new job.

Meal with the family

08 April 2007 16:39

At lunch today, I ate out at The Royal Oak with Mum, Nan, Granddad, Shirley, Roo, Jen, Matt, Dave & Anita.

I asked for a Gammon Steak but I was later told that they had run at of Gammon :( so I had to change the order to a rare Rump Steak which was very nice but was a bigger meal than I had hoped for so I left a lot of it.

After the meal we all went our separate ways, last right we discovered that Mums car had a blown head gasket and so was prone to overheating.

We debated calling a Breakdown Truck to carry mums car home but decided to drive it home and I would follow on the bike.

People really dont like having to drive at 50mph which is what mum was doing and the number of drivers who got so close to me that I could see the drivers face in my wing mirrors.

One driver in particular was bad, a Mauve Sierra who kept dropped back then speeded up to get as close to my bike as possible before breaking hard and dropping back again.

Both the outside lines were clear at this point so he could have past me and mum very easily but instead decided to play chicken.

I tried slowing down gentle hoping it would prompt him to pass me but that didn't work. By this point mum was a quarter of a mile ahead of me so I accelerate out of his way and when he finally catches us up again he goes past safely. This guy was chasing me for abolt 8 miles for no reason that I could see.

Ian & Sarah's Wedding

08 April 2007 07:53

Yesterday was Ian and Sarah's Wedding.

I rode down to Shirley's house in the morning where I realised that although I had shirt, jacket, tie and shoes I didn't have my trouser :(

I had to run into Orpington to buy a pair of trousers; the cashier, who had I very nice smile, thought it was hilarious and suggested that next time I don't bother bringing any clothes to the wedding and just go shopping on the way to the church.

The wedding was at Ripley Arts Centre and was very nice, after the wedding there were photo's, then some more photo's, followed be yet more photo's - In fact, there was 2 hours of photo's before everyone headed to the reception.

The reception was at flamingo Park which is a local football club. The reception was good but the hall was cold and far too smokey.

During the night I fell back into my old habits and acted as taxi driver taking Nan & Grandad home before returning to take Mum, Jen & Matt home.

Congratulations Ian & Sarah.

Sunshine Tickets

05 April 2007 21:10

Today I have been trying to organise a trip to the cinema to see Sunshine with Matt and Martina tomorrow.

We finally agreed on a time so I went to book the ticket's but found the booking fee is now £1.65 a ticket! The last time I booked a ticket the booking fee was sop a ticket. The money grabbing gits.

So I rode up to Huntingdon after work and bought the tickets in person avoiding the booking fee.

Of course it helped that the weather was perfect and the roads were very twisty :)