Yesterday was crap.
On Wednesday evening my boss had a deadline to meet. She had to print off and bind a proposal so that she could post it. It had to be there by 10AM on Thursday morning, so this meant it had to go the special delivery that guaranteed it would be there on time.
Well, that service itself has a deadline of 5PM. After that time you can't send it via that service.
And she missed the deadline. That meant that, because I was the only person who was available I had to drive all the way to Bristol in order to make it there by 10AM to hand deliver the proposal.
I've never even been to Bristol, let alone to where this parcel had to go, so my Boss leant me her Sat Nav.
That was kinda the start of the problems (well, excluding the whole thing as being a problem full stop :/). Her Sat Nav (and I guess all Sat Navs) are meant o be plugged into your cigarette lighter. Well, my car doesn't have a cigarette lighter.
Which is a little weird when you think about it, because it has a hole in the dash which presumably would normally house a cigarette lighter, but there's no actual cigarette lighter in there.
Anyway, the charge on this Sat Nav was pretty low, so that meant she had to drive home and pick up her AC charger and drop it off at my place so that I could charge it overnight.
Now as I'd mentioned, I've never been to this place, so I didn't really know how long it would take. According to Google maps it was about a 2 hour journey, but of course I'd be getting there at about 9AM which is rush hour, which isn't exactly famed for smooth traffic flow.
I therefore figured it this way - it needs to be there by 10AM, but the place probably opens at about 9AM, so I should aim to get there between 9AM and 9:30AM as that gives me some leeway in case I have to walk somewhere or get lost.
If it's 2 hours normally, then it's gotta be about 3 hours in rush hour. I therefore se off at 6:15AM, having got up at 5:30AM.
In the end, even though those numbers may seem way over-cautious, they weren't far off. I did get slightly lost twice. I also had to stop for a pee. That meant I deliver the parcel at about 9AM, so not that far out all told.
But then to be fair, the sat nav took me on a bit of an odd route. I think it was set on shortest distance, so we went on this very odd rout I just wouldn't have used. The route I would have used would have been a good 15 miles further, but it's roads I know like the back of my hand and can get good speed on, but also they don't suffer from much traffic at that time, which I know from all the times I've been to Devon.
The Sat Nav also only just lasted the journey. The battery literally conked out as I was pulling up at the final destination. Thinking about it now, it would have been better to find my own way t the M4 and then switch it on and use it from there - that would have mean tit was only on for half the time.
When I was driving down the weather was bloody awful - it actually hailed at one point! It cleared up later on, but then I had the problem of bright sunshine shining on wet roads, which is always fun.
Having set off at about 6:15AM I finally got to work at about 12:15PM - of that 6 hours, 4.5 where solid driving.
So yeah, not much fun.
But what makes it tedious and annoying is that having started at 6:15 and done 4.5 hours driving across 6 hours did I get to go home early?
Did I buggery.
That's what annoys me about my boss. I mean, this was her fucking up and me having to go way, way out of my way to fix it, and is there just a little consideration for that? Is. There. Fuck.
Friday, 27 November 2009
Thursday, 26 November 2009
it's a mario!
Until Saturday I had never played Super Mario Brothers.
Well, that's not strictly true. In fact, it's not at all true now that I think about it - I had a super mario game on the original gameboy.
But that was in green and black and on a tiny, tiny screen. The only other mario game I've played was a thing released for the Amiga that was more like bubble-bobble if you've ever heard of that. It was a single screen thing where you used to have to kill baddies that came out of pipes on fixed platform single-screen play areas.
You see, the problem was my family was always towards the poorer side of middle class. I don't actually know quite how they decide on classes - I don't think we were working class, but then we didn't seem to be as well off as all my friends families at school.
So where all my friends had all sorts of games systems as they grew up (I remember there was the divide between Nintendo and Sega fans, a bit like X-Box versus Playstation nowadays) I kinda missed out on all that.
So as I say, I thought I'd never really played a mario game - certainly I've never played the 'classics' back in the NES and SNES eras. (I've definitely never played Sonic.)
Anyway, the point is that on Friday evening I got a lovely package from Amazon that contained Tropico 3, which I've not really had a chance to look at, and New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.
So not only do I now own a 'proper' mario game, I've actually bought a new game for my Wii! A veritable double whammy.
So what do I think of the game?
Well, I've been enjoying it, although I've been suffering from what I believe is called "Nintendo thumb" where the tip of your thumb hurts where you're been pressing on the hard D-pad control.
It seems the basic idea is that the game has a multiplayer mode as its big feature. I've yet to try that out, as I'm just pleased to have the chance to enjoy the old mario game. Is that a bit sad at my age? Probably, but I'm not sure I really care.
Well, that's not strictly true. In fact, it's not at all true now that I think about it - I had a super mario game on the original gameboy.
But that was in green and black and on a tiny, tiny screen. The only other mario game I've played was a thing released for the Amiga that was more like bubble-bobble if you've ever heard of that. It was a single screen thing where you used to have to kill baddies that came out of pipes on fixed platform single-screen play areas.
You see, the problem was my family was always towards the poorer side of middle class. I don't actually know quite how they decide on classes - I don't think we were working class, but then we didn't seem to be as well off as all my friends families at school.
So where all my friends had all sorts of games systems as they grew up (I remember there was the divide between Nintendo and Sega fans, a bit like X-Box versus Playstation nowadays) I kinda missed out on all that.
So as I say, I thought I'd never really played a mario game - certainly I've never played the 'classics' back in the NES and SNES eras. (I've definitely never played Sonic.)
Anyway, the point is that on Friday evening I got a lovely package from Amazon that contained Tropico 3, which I've not really had a chance to look at, and New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.
So not only do I now own a 'proper' mario game, I've actually bought a new game for my Wii! A veritable double whammy.
So what do I think of the game?
Well, I've been enjoying it, although I've been suffering from what I believe is called "Nintendo thumb" where the tip of your thumb hurts where you're been pressing on the hard D-pad control.
It seems the basic idea is that the game has a multiplayer mode as its big feature. I've yet to try that out, as I'm just pleased to have the chance to enjoy the old mario game. Is that a bit sad at my age? Probably, but I'm not sure I really care.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
zodiac
David Fincher Directed Seven, which is one of my favourite movies, and certainly one of my favourite crime-thriller movies.
Zodiac was a serial killer who attacked 7 victims, killing 5 of them in the San Francisco area during the late-sixties or early-seventies. He was never caught, but he was also one of those serial killers who taunted the police, sending them letters that included ciphers - coded messages, basically.
If you've ever seen Seven, I think you can see where I'm going with this - it seems like perfect Fincher material, with a series of murders committed by a serial killer who behaved in an 'interesting' way.
And as far as that side of the film went, it's really good.
But there's a weird split-personality to the film that I have to admit I didn't like. It's like the film is trying to create a dichotomy - to break itself into two mutually exclusive parts, but it can't because the parts are inextricably linked. But also, it doesn't make any sense to try to split them up, and yet it seemed to be trying to do that.
The two parts are relatively easy to define. The first part where the Zodiac is active and the police are actively trying to solve it and the press are reporting the story and the public is interested and aware. The second is the part where Robert Graysmith is completely obsessed with trying to find the zodiac killer.
Why these don't work as two separate parts is because Graysmith was working as a cartoonist at one of the newspapers the zodiac was sending his ciphers to while he was doing it. In other words, he was actively involved (albeit on the very periphery) in the press side of the story.
So the split can't work because he's there in both parts. Also, when he's trying to solve the case the zodiac is still out there. He's maybe not actually killing any more, but there's nothing to suggest he's not a threat to Graysmith (and his family).
See, one of the particular problems with the narrative is that it's trying to weave real life into a satisfying narrative. The problem is that life doesn't give you nice narratives.
So where Fincher can show you the actual killings in a way that allows him to tell a satisfying, joined up "story-like" way, other stuff doesn't fit that mould. A good example of this is the cipher. Ideally, from a fictional point of view, all of the ciphers would be decoded, but they can't be, because they haven't been in real life and Fincher wants to stay true to that.
I mean, in a super-ideal world it would actually be Graysmith or someone close to him solving the ciphers. However, instead, the first one isn't solved by him, but a random couple who like doing puzzles.
Which is fine, if things are being portrayed in a documentary-like fashion, but they aren't, it's trying to weave these facts into a satisfying story.
I dunno, it feels more like he'd have been better doing a story inspired by the zodiac, rather than actually doing the zodiac if you see what I mean.
Another problem is that even though the film is 2 and a half hours long, it feels like a lot of it is given short shrift, because there's so much to fill in. The story covers many characters across many years and it just isn't possible to fit all of it in, but Fincher seems to want to try.
I'm giving it more of a mauling than it deserves as it's not actually that bad, it's just I think I was kinda hoping for a lot more than I got.
Zodiac was a serial killer who attacked 7 victims, killing 5 of them in the San Francisco area during the late-sixties or early-seventies. He was never caught, but he was also one of those serial killers who taunted the police, sending them letters that included ciphers - coded messages, basically.
If you've ever seen Seven, I think you can see where I'm going with this - it seems like perfect Fincher material, with a series of murders committed by a serial killer who behaved in an 'interesting' way.
And as far as that side of the film went, it's really good.
But there's a weird split-personality to the film that I have to admit I didn't like. It's like the film is trying to create a dichotomy - to break itself into two mutually exclusive parts, but it can't because the parts are inextricably linked. But also, it doesn't make any sense to try to split them up, and yet it seemed to be trying to do that.
The two parts are relatively easy to define. The first part where the Zodiac is active and the police are actively trying to solve it and the press are reporting the story and the public is interested and aware. The second is the part where Robert Graysmith is completely obsessed with trying to find the zodiac killer.
Why these don't work as two separate parts is because Graysmith was working as a cartoonist at one of the newspapers the zodiac was sending his ciphers to while he was doing it. In other words, he was actively involved (albeit on the very periphery) in the press side of the story.
So the split can't work because he's there in both parts. Also, when he's trying to solve the case the zodiac is still out there. He's maybe not actually killing any more, but there's nothing to suggest he's not a threat to Graysmith (and his family).
See, one of the particular problems with the narrative is that it's trying to weave real life into a satisfying narrative. The problem is that life doesn't give you nice narratives.
So where Fincher can show you the actual killings in a way that allows him to tell a satisfying, joined up "story-like" way, other stuff doesn't fit that mould. A good example of this is the cipher. Ideally, from a fictional point of view, all of the ciphers would be decoded, but they can't be, because they haven't been in real life and Fincher wants to stay true to that.
I mean, in a super-ideal world it would actually be Graysmith or someone close to him solving the ciphers. However, instead, the first one isn't solved by him, but a random couple who like doing puzzles.
Which is fine, if things are being portrayed in a documentary-like fashion, but they aren't, it's trying to weave these facts into a satisfying story.
I dunno, it feels more like he'd have been better doing a story inspired by the zodiac, rather than actually doing the zodiac if you see what I mean.
Another problem is that even though the film is 2 and a half hours long, it feels like a lot of it is given short shrift, because there's so much to fill in. The story covers many characters across many years and it just isn't possible to fit all of it in, but Fincher seems to want to try.
I'm giving it more of a mauling than it deserves as it's not actually that bad, it's just I think I was kinda hoping for a lot more than I got.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
a hundred quid
Yesterday I spent just under £100 on bed linen.
That's a lot of money in anyone's book, but then to be fair I bought a lot of stuff: a duvet, 2 pillows and 3 complete sets of bedsheets, pillow covers and duvet covers.
See, what I think normal people do is they replace things when they need replacing. So if I was normal at the point that my sheets and duvet cover started to wear thin, I would have bought replacements.
I don't do that. I wait until the point where the duvet covers have holes in them and then... well, and then I wait a bit more until the holes are big enough to fit your hand through. At that point I then think about replacing them. And a few years later I get around to it.
As such, rather than the occasional spend on the occasional item, I end up needing to spend a fortune to buy a completely new set of everything :/.
I'm useless like that.
I'm pretty tired today. Yesterday I was bouncing off the walls for some reason, but I seem to have crashed today.
It's actually a little weird that I was hyper yesterday because first thing in the morning I had to go to the dentists. I've mentioned before that I'm not the biggest fan of the dentists.
I think part of it was because I chipped my porcelain crown a few months back and was therefore fully expecting him to say it needs replacing and it would therefore cost me another small fortune, plus involve all the hassle of more trips to the dentist.
However, I mentioned there might be something wrong, but he said he couldn't see any problems. This was really surprising as it was a big lump of stuff that was chipped off and I can see where it's come from.
My guess is that because it was several months ago I've kinda polished the area smooth with brushing, so he couldn't tell it was chipped. Also, the bit that's broken off was kinda a big protuberance, so it breaking off maybe wouldn't seem apparent.
Whatever it was, it's saved me some cash!
That's a lot of money in anyone's book, but then to be fair I bought a lot of stuff: a duvet, 2 pillows and 3 complete sets of bedsheets, pillow covers and duvet covers.
See, what I think normal people do is they replace things when they need replacing. So if I was normal at the point that my sheets and duvet cover started to wear thin, I would have bought replacements.
I don't do that. I wait until the point where the duvet covers have holes in them and then... well, and then I wait a bit more until the holes are big enough to fit your hand through. At that point I then think about replacing them. And a few years later I get around to it.
As such, rather than the occasional spend on the occasional item, I end up needing to spend a fortune to buy a completely new set of everything :/.
I'm useless like that.
I'm pretty tired today. Yesterday I was bouncing off the walls for some reason, but I seem to have crashed today.
It's actually a little weird that I was hyper yesterday because first thing in the morning I had to go to the dentists. I've mentioned before that I'm not the biggest fan of the dentists.
I think part of it was because I chipped my porcelain crown a few months back and was therefore fully expecting him to say it needs replacing and it would therefore cost me another small fortune, plus involve all the hassle of more trips to the dentist.
However, I mentioned there might be something wrong, but he said he couldn't see any problems. This was really surprising as it was a big lump of stuff that was chipped off and I can see where it's come from.
My guess is that because it was several months ago I've kinda polished the area smooth with brushing, so he couldn't tell it was chipped. Also, the bit that's broken off was kinda a big protuberance, so it breaking off maybe wouldn't seem apparent.
Whatever it was, it's saved me some cash!
Monday, 23 November 2009
wasted weekend
Not wasted as in alcoholically, wasted as in potential squandered.
As I cynically predicted on Friday I spent a hell of a lot of time playing Anno. The problem (if it is actually a problem) is that I've finally got myself a game where I'm not wanting to abandon it and start again.
It's actually in the sandbox (free play) mode and I've finally got it sorted in such a way that I can build up the entire map. In other words, I'm well on the way to doing all the cool stuff like building the Cathedral and Mosque.
I've gotten close to these before, but found myself in a situations where I'd not quite planned it out properly and needed to completely trash and restart some islands. The net hassle of which would have been less than restarting altogether, so I did. But now I think I'm in a situation where I can go to the "end" and build a complete world.
Trouble is, the bigger things get, the more complicated it is and the more time it absorbs. Indeed, this weekend I did little else, even to the extent that my shoulder began to ache. I may have to lay off it for a bit, just so that I don't end up with shooting pains down my arm again.
I also played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii a bit, but more on that later.
The other major thing at the weekend was the weather.
A large part of Cumbria is now under water it seems, and while I don't live in a real flood risk area my part of the country has also been suffering with some severe weather.
On Sunday morning it was actually so loud it woke me up. Very little can wake me up when I'm in deep sleep, but this did. Although the weirdest thing was that it was like a burst of wind.
It seemed to be doing that quite a lot - it would be relatively calm (it was even sunny at a couple of points) and then suddenly there would be a huge burst of wind and mad driving rain with dark skies and then just as suddenly it would all calm down again. It was a little disconcerting actually, and you almost didn't know what to do.
When I went out on Saturday morning to get some shopping in (it was a big one as I'm entering my "buy tonnes of stuff now so that I don't have to do any shopping at Chrimbo" phase) I wrapped up preparing for one of these monsoons, but I overheated because it was actually rather mild. But then as I was coming out of Tesco's the heavens opened and in the short dash to my car I got drenched.
The prospect seems to be that it's going to be a very wet winter. I don't mind that so much, so long as it means it's also a mild winter. The last few winters have been terribly cold, which has cost me a fortune in heating. A mild, wet winter would therefore not be a bad thing for me.
As I cynically predicted on Friday I spent a hell of a lot of time playing Anno. The problem (if it is actually a problem) is that I've finally got myself a game where I'm not wanting to abandon it and start again.
It's actually in the sandbox (free play) mode and I've finally got it sorted in such a way that I can build up the entire map. In other words, I'm well on the way to doing all the cool stuff like building the Cathedral and Mosque.
I've gotten close to these before, but found myself in a situations where I'd not quite planned it out properly and needed to completely trash and restart some islands. The net hassle of which would have been less than restarting altogether, so I did. But now I think I'm in a situation where I can go to the "end" and build a complete world.
Trouble is, the bigger things get, the more complicated it is and the more time it absorbs. Indeed, this weekend I did little else, even to the extent that my shoulder began to ache. I may have to lay off it for a bit, just so that I don't end up with shooting pains down my arm again.
I also played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii a bit, but more on that later.
The other major thing at the weekend was the weather.
A large part of Cumbria is now under water it seems, and while I don't live in a real flood risk area my part of the country has also been suffering with some severe weather.
On Sunday morning it was actually so loud it woke me up. Very little can wake me up when I'm in deep sleep, but this did. Although the weirdest thing was that it was like a burst of wind.
It seemed to be doing that quite a lot - it would be relatively calm (it was even sunny at a couple of points) and then suddenly there would be a huge burst of wind and mad driving rain with dark skies and then just as suddenly it would all calm down again. It was a little disconcerting actually, and you almost didn't know what to do.
When I went out on Saturday morning to get some shopping in (it was a big one as I'm entering my "buy tonnes of stuff now so that I don't have to do any shopping at Chrimbo" phase) I wrapped up preparing for one of these monsoons, but I overheated because it was actually rather mild. But then as I was coming out of Tesco's the heavens opened and in the short dash to my car I got drenched.
The prospect seems to be that it's going to be a very wet winter. I don't mind that so much, so long as it means it's also a mild winter. The last few winters have been terribly cold, which has cost me a fortune in heating. A mild, wet winter would therefore not be a bad thing for me.
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