Vanity Publishing for the terminally tightwad....

Stuff

2007-12-04T23:50:36Z

Finally got the fricking wireless router to route. All I can say, if that is some anal bastard raises another documentation defect such as "the order of configuration file settings is different to that in the installation guide" I _will_ be nailing their head to the desk with a rusty spoon.....

Andy

(filling out the green anarchists membership form)

Shooter... are you ready?..... Stand by...... BEEP!

2007-09-11T21:09:00Z

Thanks for everyones kind words - it may be a year or two before I move, so plenty of time.... I've been rubbing down plaster and filler recently, so I'm leaving little clouds of plaster dust as I walk around the house...

Anyway, one thing I missed of my list of Great Things Wot I Have Done was last Sundays shoot @ Bisley - this competition actually went ahead, the last one was canceled due the foot and mouth scare, the one before that was washed away by a freak rainstorm (we've had flood and pestilence, the club-house burned down in '99 so that counts as fire). And I came second in class. I have a certificate and a prize and everything! What was interesting was that I didn't screw any stages up (missing targets is a good one) and kept my nerve. 85%[1] of top shooter, since he won the last shoot I did, and I was 75% for that one, I seem to be doing rather well.....

Andy

[1] In practical shooting, the shooter with the highest score (points divided by time) gets 100%, and everyone else's score is their percentage of the top one.

Onwards and upwards......

2007-09-11T14:31:31Z

Some much to tell, so little bandwidth......

Got my result for my GCSE spanish on the 24th - I got an A! Which is quite impressive considering my less than stellar academic record with languages....

...and the plummeting bike story can be expanded on a bit - I was on my way to London for job interview at the time and parked the bike at the station.....

...and I got the job! So I'm back to being a dog of software once more, except I have finally (after about ten years) bitten the bullet and started work in london. I'll be communting up, so you won't be getting rid me that quick. We need to get the house into a slightly more saleable state, hence the new shiney double glazing and stuff....

Andy

Crunch

2007-08-21T19:06:19Z

Dropped the bike on my foot. It rolled off the side-stand, squishing my toes. Ow. Not impressed - I know have to go down the garage and tape the indicator back on. Anyone know a good respray place?

And I have the begginings of a stinky cold. Grrr.

When viking funerals go horribly wrong....

2007-05-11T14:58:39Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6645491.stm.

Yikes - the boat yard is in front of my house :o

Reccomend me something....

2007-05-09T17:16:16Z

After watching RahXephon of late, I (and indeed Vane as well) are in the market for something in a similar vein (with blokey mecha bits and girly slushly bits). Anyone got any recommendations? I was thinking of Neon Genenis Evangelion....

Andy

PS. I have recently aquired a Cthulhu Elvis. Thankyouverymuch....

Bookcase, looking a for a home

2006-11-28T15:41:25Z

Black ash, six foot, by fourish foot by one foot. Nice and sturdy, ideal for those with weighty tomes. Two adjustable shevles. Free to a good home.

Any takers? I could possibly deliver, if its not raining - (coz its made from chipboard at the end of the day, and if it gets wet it will turn into a giant bookcase sized weetabix. (it will fit on the roof rack).

Andy

Well, according to my schedule, genocide is booked for _Sunday_ morning.....

2006-11-22T22:37:37Z

For those that didn't go, here are some photos....

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f17/Andysuter/Treeowen%202006/

If you like the idea of running around a manor house with a sword...

2006-11-08T22:28:51Z

... nows your chance.

Final call for anyone wishing to play at the Medieval LRP Weekend at Monmouth, Wales, 17-19th November.

There are several player and crew places still open.

It will be an immersive experiences provided by an outstanding crew in one of the finest LRP locations in the UK, Treowen Manor house. This may be the last chance to use the site for LRP.

Please see www.johncurryevents.co.uk

(or contact me for the John's number - there have been some cancellations, hence it will be only £50 for the w'end (full catered).

Andy

Lunchtime meeting...

2006-07-11T13:58:21Z

As suggested by thepussykat, does anyone want to do a Southampton Lunchtime meeting on thursday? I start new job in Winchester next week, so this is the last opportunity.

Oh, please, leave the ventana open, Federico lorca is dead and gone

2006-07-06T13:17:20Z

Off to Spain tommorrow, for a wedding. Not my wedding though, unless someone isn't telling me something :o.

Satans furry little helpers have someone to look after themselves, so thats one less thing to worry about.

Have packed "Homage to Catalonia" as reading material this time. "Death in the afternoon" can wait until next time.....

Adios amigos!

Andy

Kittys

2006-06-30T13:24:01Z

Can anyone pop over at some point next weekend to feed satans little furry helpers? We'll be in Spain, but we are only going be away friday to monday.

Andy

Shhaken and not shhttirred.

2006-06-27T21:05:20Z

I've just bought a cocktail shaker. And now I can make martinis.

Cool.

Hic!

Andy

Can we fix it.... can me my arse!

2006-06-07T20:36:18Z

grr.....

after [i]thinking[/i] I'd solved the problem with the VFR the great pidgeon of misfortune did poop mightily on the visor of life. The LCD unit did its reset business today after quite happily working last night and lunchtime - got as far as the motorway and everything went blank - then re-apperared - and finally gone blank again. Buggery and arse. The battery seems fine, the rectifier \ regulator is the new one (that dosn't self-distruct). 'Cept the sodding battery in my multimeter is also flat. The bike starts and runs, I just don't have a working fuel guage, clock or trip meter. Or temperature guage either. Arse monkeys. I can still ride it - (I'm off to the Lion Friday!) and I wanted to ride up to Bisley next weekend.... good job I know the distances and the fuel range of the bike....

Andy

Can we fix it?

2006-06-07T12:43:44Z

... course I can. The dicky LCD panel on the VFR can be caused by any number of things, dodgy battery (a little bit expensive), dodgy rectifier \ regulator (mildly expensive), or the PCB behind the clocks (not very expensive, but you have to dismantle all the body work foward of the footpegs). What was the problem in the end? Dodgy battery connection! Ten minutes of gunk and a wodge of vasiline later, everything works - the didgy connection was sucking all the current out the circuit causing the LCD panel to go offline. Go me!

Andy

D'oh!

2006-05-11T10:07:25Z

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=364804&imageindex=1

Looking for family, looking for tribe....

2006-03-13T18:28:20Z

Well, spent most of Saturday wrestling with my garage - or at least trying to make some space. I know have an ever expanding pile of pre-enjoyed crap for fleabay, freecycle and who can I palm this off on.... I have about a cubic square metre of wood offcuts in case anyone is interested.....

Sunday, I went up to see my brother in his swish camden pad. And very swish it was too! And my mother had come down from Altberg-Land to see him as well, so it was a pretty good family re-union. We were actually discussing how to bring my Nan down to London as well, and the answer was "carefully, and avoiding stairs". So hopefully we can arrange a grand tour of the grand children and great grandchildren. In the end we ended wandering up to Camden market, since my mum wanted to look at the art and craft stuff. Mine and Vane's cunning plan to drag here to Black Rose and Cyberdog failed miserably coz we couldn't remeber where it was. Suffice to say, I am convinced Camden Market is bigger on the inside than the outside. And I was the only one who didn't buy anything (unless a copy of "Private Eye" to read on the train home counts).

Andy

From the list of the worlds smallest books...

2006-02-23T22:19:58Z

... we have the "Dick Cheney Guide to Gun Safety"

http://www.quailhuntingschool.com/flash.php

Andy

NYE

2005-12-21T08:55:42Z

Erm, there appears to be a rumour that we are having a NYE party. Sorry everybody, but we're off to London.... (we've not had a New Years do for a couple of years, come to think of it....)

Andy

PS. There might be an oppurtunity for a very late xmas do, say about March.
PPS. I've organised xmas meals in June before.....

Well that was a strange day.....

2005-12-01T20:27:13Z

For a start, I feel like shite. Theres some kind of evil lurgy plague going around, I've got it. So much for the "you'll be much healthier if you give up smoking" line. Since I feel really, really shite, I even took the day off sick. Since I spend a large proportion of my working life contracting, not going into work meant not getting paid. Therefore unless I was actually incapable of focusing on the screen (just with one eye counts), I'd go into work and hope that my spasticated mashing of keys on the keyboards might actually be productive. Therefore I have to be really bad to not go in. The fact I went to sleep just as fter I got home from work on wednesday generally means I'm not in the best state.

So I get a phone call asking me to come into the office. This is odd, on the grounds that things will normally fix themselves, or I'll sort it out over the phone on the rare times the ever do actually ring me on a day off. Oh no this time my presence was actually required. Since my employers were staring down the toilet bowl of financial security I though it better to do so..... to discover that my erstwhile employers were no longer staring down the toilet bowl of fiscal doom, but where happily circumnavigating the u-bend of insolvency. Bugger, said Pooh.

So, one of our customers have bought the developers that was working on the project. Which as luck would have it, includes me. So I have yet to join the great unwashed. Execpt I'm now an evil kontractor skum _again_. And a contract on its way that could have some really quite nasty tax implications for someone. Hopefully its not me.....

So I've gone from unemployed to self employed in less that six hours. Cool. Got the horrible feeling that my estwhile employers owe me some money, just need to find my contract (assuming theres any money in the pot to pay up....)

Andy

While eveyone was at whitby.....

2005-10-30T22:15:19Z

I was spending the weekend at Bisley BFTO doing my UKPSA IPSC Basic Safety Course. While its only using airsoft and multi-shot CO2, its run to the same standards as centrefire abroad... Bloody hard work, and damn tricky to make sure that your are doing things "right" (as in safe), when the buzzer goes and the clock is ticking. Still I passed, (as did everyone else who completed the course). I have a certificate thing and everything :D.

Funny thing was, saturday night I was doing a bit of practice, grip.... draw..... sight..... pull trigger..... some bastard down the roads lights a bloody firework. Nearly shat myself.... :D

Rattles.....

2005-10-24T11:51:57Z

I appear to have given up smoking. I working on the principle that if I do stop, I'll be to lazy to start again. And the fact since I've stopped, I'm coughing up enough tar to gain me a tidy sum from British Tarmac. Also suffering what can only be described as that nasty edginess you get from cheap speed... that'll be the oxygen then :o

Wibble.....

Andy

PS. If I ever develop the "reformed smoker self rightous smug bastard" attitude, please feel free to hit me repeatedly with a large blunt object till I stop.

PPS. These bloody patches are leaving little red squares behind. I hope the little red squares go, coz there is only a finite area of skin to stick them on. At this rate, I've got about two weeks before I have to start waxing bits of me.

Off to spain...

2005-09-02T17:25:11Z

See you all in a fortnight!

Andy

Why I didn't go Andi's and Jason Party.....

2005-09-02T08:09:35Z

Been up to different stuff of late, so best let everyone know what I've been up to.....

It started with Bristol, a couple of weeks ago for Drew's stag weekend. At some ungodly hour, where-apon I packed a weekend chattels into an overnight bag and was whisked off to a stag weekend. Its nice not to have to drive for
once (and in a car that isn't about to disintigrate). Anyhow after killing a couple of hours in a motorway service station (stupid o'clock would have got us there about three hours earlier) we ended up in a muddy field in the
pouring rain by the M4 where some mad bugger lets us loose on a bunch of Agrocats and Quad bikes. Of course some experimentation is required to find the limits of the handling these things. Suffice to say, yes, you can get
airborne on an Agrocat and the limit of traction can be found when the instructor starts screaming (mine was shall we say a little worse for wear and a full speed three-sixty was making her feel rather ill). And I got asked to "stay on the bloody course" on the quad bike. Its hardly my fault that the thing understeers like a shopping trolly. Perhaps slowing
down and at least making an attempt to stay between the increasingly delipidated course maker poles as opposed to drifting slowly off to the edge of the field might be more sensible, but I was enjoying myself :D.

Back to the rather posh hotel (the staff didn't seem to mind us traipsing half a hundred wait of mud through the lobby, which was nice), for a wash and brush up. Then off to a tapas bar. Again, the UK seems to thank tapas are small snacks, rather than a meal in itself, but I've eaten the proper spanish stuff, and your food fills a plate, not a minuture saucer. Must be something to do with the cornish fishing fleet, all of which appear to be skippered by weatherbeated west country folk called Juan....

Next we were all up scoffing breakfast, and then off to the clay pidgeon shoot. Oddly enough it was organised by a paintball site, alas it was explained to us that shooting the paintballers was considered a very bad thing and that small bits of clay instead where our targets. Manfully overcoming my dissapointment, some lunatic gave me a a loaded shotgun. I
seemed to surprise myself by shooting rather well - never having done this before, and all my sporting achievements being pretty crap, I was rather chuffed with myself. I have a medal and everything. I'm still feeling smug
now..... took about a week for the shoulder to stop hurting, the final shootout what a couple of vertical flyers and the shotgun slipped out of the shoulder pocket and pushed the butt down my chest. Looked like i'd been in a mosh pit....

If anyone is interested in Clay Pidgeon shooting, I'm more than happy to organise a trip to the clay shooting centre at Bisley (its Olympic standard :o)

Andy

This weekend?

2005-08-23T20:02:21Z

Anybody around this weekend? We need someone to pop over either saturday or sunday to feed the cats. Can bribe with alklyhol....
Ta,
Andy