Chinese Grand Prix this weekend.
I haven't really blogged much about the Grand Prix season so far. This has primarily been due to time issues - by which I mean I've not really had time to pay a lot of attention to the Grand Prix, rather than not having time to do blog posts. Well actually, truth be told, both have been a little difficult to devote the time to.
Indeed, if I'm totally honest, I haven't really watched either of the two Grand Prix. I've had the coverage on, but I haven't actually watched it in the sense of sitting down and giving it my full attention.
Now I used to do this to some extent last year, in that the practice and the radio coverage I would have on as background, but then I'd watch the qualifying and race coverage (be that highlights or live) properly. However, this year I've backgrounded those too.
Part of the problem has been that the first Grand Prix was when I had the stag do. Although even then I could have watched it, but the other problem has been SimCity. Even though I've been posting about how I've found it frustrating that hasn't stopped entire days disappearing to it.
For example, in my post about Cheetah speed on Monday the thing I didn't say was that, having finished cleaning the bedsit, I sat down at 11:45AM to have a quick go to check if a post I'd read about Cheetah speed being back was true and to install the Nissan Leaf thing and didn't stop playing until 11:45PM.
Which isn't to say I played solid for 12 hours - I had my lunch, put stuff back in the kitchen once the floor was dry and re-arranged the bedroom bits, had my dinner, etc, but basically I did nothing else with the rest of the time other than play SimCity. So I didn't watch recorded TV programs or DVDs/Blu-Rays or read any manga/books.
So I've struggled to find the time to properly watch the GPs. However, China is usually a good race as the circuit offers some good opportunities to overtake. It's also on in the early morning, though not so early as to be stupid, and the BBC is doing live coverage, so I will hopefully watch this one!
Friday, 12 April 2013
Thursday, 11 April 2013
shave update
I thought I'd do a quick update of the shaving today.
Last time I posted I think I was basically at the stage of using the DE blade, doing the prescribed 3 passes for each shave.
Well I'm not currently doing that. Unfortunately the results were not all I'd hoped for and the time issue became a real pain.
I mean, the results were okay - I could get a reasonable shave doing the 3 passes (with, across and against the grain) - the problem was that it was giving me a lot of razor burn. I'm not sure of the root cause of this - when I did with and across I was getting little burn, but then I wasn't getting a particularly close shave. As soon as I added against the grain I got lots of burn (a lot more than with my Mach3), though the shave was acceptably closer.
It could of course be technique, but I was rather unsure how to really improve the technique. It worked okay with 2 passes, but not with the third one. Also I found that adding the third pass seemed to eat through the blades - if I used them for 3 shaves I would get nicks. Now, to be fair, this is not a new phenomenon, as my beard is so tough it basically kills any blade. However, it did mean that the cost wasn't quite as much of an improvement as it could have been.
The other issue was time - it was taking ages to do 3 passes. 2 took long enough, but adding in the third meant it seemed to take a small ice age. I actually tried switching so that I just did across and against, but this gave poor results (yet still with burn!).
As such, I have basically switched back to my Mach3. I still do a 3-pass DE shave on Sunday mornings when I have plenty of time and can take a very long shower to help soften the beard further.
I may still have another go at the DE blade, but for now I'm happy with the Mach 3.
What I think the DE shaving experiment has done is improve my technique. The additional beard prep and just generally how I hold and manipulate the blade and the way in which I shave my face has been considerably improved, I think.
Last time I posted I think I was basically at the stage of using the DE blade, doing the prescribed 3 passes for each shave.
Well I'm not currently doing that. Unfortunately the results were not all I'd hoped for and the time issue became a real pain.
I mean, the results were okay - I could get a reasonable shave doing the 3 passes (with, across and against the grain) - the problem was that it was giving me a lot of razor burn. I'm not sure of the root cause of this - when I did with and across I was getting little burn, but then I wasn't getting a particularly close shave. As soon as I added against the grain I got lots of burn (a lot more than with my Mach3), though the shave was acceptably closer.
It could of course be technique, but I was rather unsure how to really improve the technique. It worked okay with 2 passes, but not with the third one. Also I found that adding the third pass seemed to eat through the blades - if I used them for 3 shaves I would get nicks. Now, to be fair, this is not a new phenomenon, as my beard is so tough it basically kills any blade. However, it did mean that the cost wasn't quite as much of an improvement as it could have been.
The other issue was time - it was taking ages to do 3 passes. 2 took long enough, but adding in the third meant it seemed to take a small ice age. I actually tried switching so that I just did across and against, but this gave poor results (yet still with burn!).
As such, I have basically switched back to my Mach3. I still do a 3-pass DE shave on Sunday mornings when I have plenty of time and can take a very long shower to help soften the beard further.
I may still have another go at the DE blade, but for now I'm happy with the Mach 3.
What I think the DE shaving experiment has done is improve my technique. The additional beard prep and just generally how I hold and manipulate the blade and the way in which I shave my face has been considerably improved, I think.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
transformers - dark of the moon
I seem to have missed something with these new transformer films.
In the original comic book series the Ark crashes on the earth millions of years ago. It crashes in a volcano, from memory, and the robots on the ark are from both sides - autobots and decepticons. I seem to recall that the ark is revived by the volcano re-activating and proceeds to repair all the robots utilising modern man's technology as the template for their rebuilding.
Reading the Wikipedia entry this isn't quite what happened in the first film - there's a crash landing on earth, but it's only Megatron. It's also not millions of years ago, but probably hundreds.
I mean, I'd twigged that it was not millions of years (no Dinobots ever :() but I dunno - for some reason I'd thought the film was closer to the original, and not just Megatron. The problem for me is this makes the stories in the films even more confusing. I mean, I'd found them a bit confusing and non-sensical the first time, but having missed that it wasn't the ark that crash landed, I was very confused to find that in this third film the ark crash lands at the beginning :/.
I mean, why do the autobots and decepticons look like human cars and planes, etc, if they've not been remade in the image of our machines? It gives them a stealth quality while here, but surely that would have been ridiculous on their home world? But also does that mean they can change what they transform into?
Anyway, point is I hadn't realised the films were quite so divergent. When I did realise this, at the start of this third film, I think it kinda made me see this third one in a slightly different light. I mean, I don't think it's a good film in the sense of having a deep plot and well written characters, just that the fact that it was different to the comics/cartoons didn't bother me as much - I judged more on its own merits.
I think this film is the best of the three, though as I say, I may be judging it slightly differently. The plot is certainly more coherent in my opinion. Also, rather than try to be a direct sequel, it seems to simply be "later on" so you don't get so much in the way of those rubbish bits in the second one where they try to fudge things to get Megatron back to life.
And I think that's its main strength - it's not really carrying any baggage. The first film you had all the issues over what they'd changed (which clearly I missed some of!), the second they were trying to make it a 'proper' sequel, but this third one they don't care so much and just spend the time blowing as much stuff up as possible (well, it's still a Michael Bay film after all).
I guess it's more playful is the point, so I found it a bit more enjoyable.
In the original comic book series the Ark crashes on the earth millions of years ago. It crashes in a volcano, from memory, and the robots on the ark are from both sides - autobots and decepticons. I seem to recall that the ark is revived by the volcano re-activating and proceeds to repair all the robots utilising modern man's technology as the template for their rebuilding.
Reading the Wikipedia entry this isn't quite what happened in the first film - there's a crash landing on earth, but it's only Megatron. It's also not millions of years ago, but probably hundreds.
I mean, I'd twigged that it was not millions of years (no Dinobots ever :() but I dunno - for some reason I'd thought the film was closer to the original, and not just Megatron. The problem for me is this makes the stories in the films even more confusing. I mean, I'd found them a bit confusing and non-sensical the first time, but having missed that it wasn't the ark that crash landed, I was very confused to find that in this third film the ark crash lands at the beginning :/.
I mean, why do the autobots and decepticons look like human cars and planes, etc, if they've not been remade in the image of our machines? It gives them a stealth quality while here, but surely that would have been ridiculous on their home world? But also does that mean they can change what they transform into?
Anyway, point is I hadn't realised the films were quite so divergent. When I did realise this, at the start of this third film, I think it kinda made me see this third one in a slightly different light. I mean, I don't think it's a good film in the sense of having a deep plot and well written characters, just that the fact that it was different to the comics/cartoons didn't bother me as much - I judged more on its own merits.
I think this film is the best of the three, though as I say, I may be judging it slightly differently. The plot is certainly more coherent in my opinion. Also, rather than try to be a direct sequel, it seems to simply be "later on" so you don't get so much in the way of those rubbish bits in the second one where they try to fudge things to get Megatron back to life.
And I think that's its main strength - it's not really carrying any baggage. The first film you had all the issues over what they'd changed (which clearly I missed some of!), the second they were trying to make it a 'proper' sequel, but this third one they don't care so much and just spend the time blowing as much stuff up as possible (well, it's still a Michael Bay film after all).
I guess it's more playful is the point, so I found it a bit more enjoyable.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
i could be cruel
Margaret Thatcher died yesterday.
I could be cruel and give a link to the sequence in the Wizard of Oz where the munchkins (are they munchkins? I forget) sing the song celebrating the fact that Dorothy has killed the wicked witch. Suffice to say I'm not a fan.
She's a bit of a puzzle Thatcher - the conservatives seem to hold her up as some sort of beacon of conservatism, but in reality she was actually the opposite. Thatcher was a Libertarianist, which is she believed in individual freedom, freedom of the market (basically unrestrained capitalism) and small government. She had more in common with the Tea Party in the US than she did the conservatives. Yet she was also the leader that took us into Europe, which is essentially about the opposite.
Conservatism is about the maintaining of the traditional social structures - in our case that particularly emphasises a royalist structure, though tempered nowadays towards a democratic version. Conservatism is about the old guard, lords and ladies, the idea of 'social betters', that rank has meaning and that there are elites.
Thatcher was, in essence, more opposed to these ideas that with them. She often railed against experts and "old boy's networks", though I think with a desire to maintain the basic ranks - she would never have done away with them, but would prefer they had no actual influence.
Of course neither of these are in synch with my own political beliefs.
I'm more left leaning, probably ending up most squarely in the "democratic socialist" camp, due to an acknowledgement that communism is unlikely to work until technology progresses to such a degree that it renders much of what we squabble over mute. Imagine if you could buy a machine that would be able to manufacture anything you need (think Star Trek replicator) - what use would money, gold and jewels be if your machine could simply make them? These new 3D printers are a step in that direction.
The worst thing that Maggie did was deregulate the markets. That, in essence, is the root cause of the huge pickle we have now found ourselves in.
She didn't invent the idea of a deregulated market, but began the implementation of it in this country during the 1980s, with a similar process going on in the US (the so called "Reagenomics"). The up-side is that very clever people get to find extremely inventive ways to make money. The down-side is that the market wrap themselves in such knots that one failure causes a massive cascade of failures and also, those clever people who are making money are also then not constrained by things like morals and ethics.
The fundamental flaw in the system is also the central belief - that deregulated markets will not act in such a way as to be self-destructive. I don't see how this could ever have seemed like a sensible or logical thought process. It's like saying that people who drive cars will never be reckless enough to have an accident. Firstly it ignores that external forces may cause an accident, but it also ignores the fact that the market is underpinned by people, and people can be just as moronic as you imagine - indeed, more so.
Of course it's not entirely her fault - others did the same thing and successive governments had ample opportunities to reverse the policy or otherwise rein it in - but the implementation all traces back to Maggie.
I could be cruel and give a link to the sequence in the Wizard of Oz where the munchkins (are they munchkins? I forget) sing the song celebrating the fact that Dorothy has killed the wicked witch. Suffice to say I'm not a fan.
She's a bit of a puzzle Thatcher - the conservatives seem to hold her up as some sort of beacon of conservatism, but in reality she was actually the opposite. Thatcher was a Libertarianist, which is she believed in individual freedom, freedom of the market (basically unrestrained capitalism) and small government. She had more in common with the Tea Party in the US than she did the conservatives. Yet she was also the leader that took us into Europe, which is essentially about the opposite.
Conservatism is about the maintaining of the traditional social structures - in our case that particularly emphasises a royalist structure, though tempered nowadays towards a democratic version. Conservatism is about the old guard, lords and ladies, the idea of 'social betters', that rank has meaning and that there are elites.
Thatcher was, in essence, more opposed to these ideas that with them. She often railed against experts and "old boy's networks", though I think with a desire to maintain the basic ranks - she would never have done away with them, but would prefer they had no actual influence.
Of course neither of these are in synch with my own political beliefs.
I'm more left leaning, probably ending up most squarely in the "democratic socialist" camp, due to an acknowledgement that communism is unlikely to work until technology progresses to such a degree that it renders much of what we squabble over mute. Imagine if you could buy a machine that would be able to manufacture anything you need (think Star Trek replicator) - what use would money, gold and jewels be if your machine could simply make them? These new 3D printers are a step in that direction.
The worst thing that Maggie did was deregulate the markets. That, in essence, is the root cause of the huge pickle we have now found ourselves in.
She didn't invent the idea of a deregulated market, but began the implementation of it in this country during the 1980s, with a similar process going on in the US (the so called "Reagenomics"). The up-side is that very clever people get to find extremely inventive ways to make money. The down-side is that the market wrap themselves in such knots that one failure causes a massive cascade of failures and also, those clever people who are making money are also then not constrained by things like morals and ethics.
The fundamental flaw in the system is also the central belief - that deregulated markets will not act in such a way as to be self-destructive. I don't see how this could ever have seemed like a sensible or logical thought process. It's like saying that people who drive cars will never be reckless enough to have an accident. Firstly it ignores that external forces may cause an accident, but it also ignores the fact that the market is underpinned by people, and people can be just as moronic as you imagine - indeed, more so.
Of course it's not entirely her fault - others did the same thing and successive governments had ample opportunities to reverse the policy or otherwise rein it in - but the implementation all traces back to Maggie.
Monday, 8 April 2013
cheat-ah
So cheetah speed returned to SimCity just recently.
It makes the game infinitely more playable. You can now slam it into cheetah speed and it eats up the time like nobody's business. You may still have to sit and wait of course (for that budget payment to come in or for your buildings to finish upgrading, for example) but now the wait is a fraction of the time.
Indeed, cheetah speed often means you can spend the time pondering where is best to place your new water treatment plant and by the time you've decided you've got the money to place it. Which is how it should always have been, but it's remarkable how much it helps the game play.
Of course it brings problems as well - bad stuff can happen and be in full swing by the time you even realise there's a problem when it's in cheetah, but that's to be expected.
Not that it totally fixes the game. There's still a whole load of bugs and stupidity in the game. While the bugs will be fixed in time I'm not sure the stupidity will be without them completely overhauling the underlying mechanics. So they've already tweaked the behaviours of agents like garbage trucks and buses so they don't all drive round in a single train, but they now drive around in several mini-trains and often are actually simply taking different routes to the same destination.
But to fix that will take significantly different game logic. They're all heading to the same place because they're all operating on the same list of priorities that's in the same order. To have them behave differently you would presumably either need different logic sets for each agent or for the agents to be assigned differently to the priority list or for the list to be worked up differently. I mean, there are a number of options, but my guess is that to do many of them they would need to rely much more on storing stuff in memory. And storing stuff in memory means having using of memory if there are lots of them and then you're into system restrictions and presumably they want the game to work on as many systems as possible.
It's a bit of a catch 22.
The real shame is that these things kinda force you to do certain things in the game that are either illogical or make things less flexible. So, for example, with the incredibly simplistic way that traffic junctions operate (so traffic lights simply rotate around the junction switching to green depending on the type of road, rather than factoring in traffic conditions like real lights) cross-roads become a no go. If you have a cross road - particularly if all the roads are at the same density level - it virtually guarantees a grid lock.
As such you have to ensure you use T-junctions. Now if you're clever with it you can still get about the same number of buildings in the space, but the point is why should you have to be clever? Why are you being forced to avoid cross roads? Particularly for a game that's essentially recreating the US where the grid is king.
So despite the return of cheetah I'm still hanging on for the 2.0 patch that's hopefully going to iron out a lot of this stuff before I really play it 'seriously'.
They also released the first new DLC for the game. This was a Nissan Leaf charging station. So it's basically an advert.
Obviously this has caused some umbrage in certain circles, but I'm really not fussed by it. The station has a benefit for the game and isn't massively in your face. Also it's optional - you don't have to install it or use it. About the only downside is it takes up space in your tiny cities.
It makes the game infinitely more playable. You can now slam it into cheetah speed and it eats up the time like nobody's business. You may still have to sit and wait of course (for that budget payment to come in or for your buildings to finish upgrading, for example) but now the wait is a fraction of the time.
Indeed, cheetah speed often means you can spend the time pondering where is best to place your new water treatment plant and by the time you've decided you've got the money to place it. Which is how it should always have been, but it's remarkable how much it helps the game play.
Of course it brings problems as well - bad stuff can happen and be in full swing by the time you even realise there's a problem when it's in cheetah, but that's to be expected.
Not that it totally fixes the game. There's still a whole load of bugs and stupidity in the game. While the bugs will be fixed in time I'm not sure the stupidity will be without them completely overhauling the underlying mechanics. So they've already tweaked the behaviours of agents like garbage trucks and buses so they don't all drive round in a single train, but they now drive around in several mini-trains and often are actually simply taking different routes to the same destination.
But to fix that will take significantly different game logic. They're all heading to the same place because they're all operating on the same list of priorities that's in the same order. To have them behave differently you would presumably either need different logic sets for each agent or for the agents to be assigned differently to the priority list or for the list to be worked up differently. I mean, there are a number of options, but my guess is that to do many of them they would need to rely much more on storing stuff in memory. And storing stuff in memory means having using of memory if there are lots of them and then you're into system restrictions and presumably they want the game to work on as many systems as possible.
It's a bit of a catch 22.
The real shame is that these things kinda force you to do certain things in the game that are either illogical or make things less flexible. So, for example, with the incredibly simplistic way that traffic junctions operate (so traffic lights simply rotate around the junction switching to green depending on the type of road, rather than factoring in traffic conditions like real lights) cross-roads become a no go. If you have a cross road - particularly if all the roads are at the same density level - it virtually guarantees a grid lock.
As such you have to ensure you use T-junctions. Now if you're clever with it you can still get about the same number of buildings in the space, but the point is why should you have to be clever? Why are you being forced to avoid cross roads? Particularly for a game that's essentially recreating the US where the grid is king.
So despite the return of cheetah I'm still hanging on for the 2.0 patch that's hopefully going to iron out a lot of this stuff before I really play it 'seriously'.
They also released the first new DLC for the game. This was a Nissan Leaf charging station. So it's basically an advert.
Obviously this has caused some umbrage in certain circles, but I'm really not fussed by it. The station has a benefit for the game and isn't massively in your face. Also it's optional - you don't have to install it or use it. About the only downside is it takes up space in your tiny cities.
Friday, 5 April 2013
wait, did i miss something?
Did I miss summer this year?
We seem to have skipped straight from winter into autumn... again. I'm really getting bored of this, tbh.
I've never been a fan of hot summers as, being a fat person, I get overheated very quickly and tend to just sweat constantly. However, spring and autumn are usually good - temperatures sufficient that you might only need a jumper or a light coat when you're out, but occasionally nice enough for a t-shirt.
I mean, I like winter as a season, overall, but you have to have the other seasons in order to appreciate it. It's the contrast thing, otherwise, when it's cold all the time it just becomes grinding and miserable.
Not to mention the heating bills - about this time of year I should only be putting my heating on when you get the odd chilly evening or morning, but I'm actually having it a lot and it's costing me a fortune.
What's particularly dispiriting is that, bar a few meagre blips, there doesn't appear to be much prospect of the thermometer rising in the next few weeks and possibly even beyond that into next month.
We seem to have skipped straight from winter into autumn... again. I'm really getting bored of this, tbh.
I've never been a fan of hot summers as, being a fat person, I get overheated very quickly and tend to just sweat constantly. However, spring and autumn are usually good - temperatures sufficient that you might only need a jumper or a light coat when you're out, but occasionally nice enough for a t-shirt.
I mean, I like winter as a season, overall, but you have to have the other seasons in order to appreciate it. It's the contrast thing, otherwise, when it's cold all the time it just becomes grinding and miserable.
Not to mention the heating bills - about this time of year I should only be putting my heating on when you get the odd chilly evening or morning, but I'm actually having it a lot and it's costing me a fortune.
What's particularly dispiriting is that, bar a few meagre blips, there doesn't appear to be much prospect of the thermometer rising in the next few weeks and possibly even beyond that into next month.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
well that's a shitter
I wasn't going to post today.
I didn't pre-write any posts over the Easter weekend and I have to confess I'm struggling a bit with motivation (in a general sense, as well as in terms of writing a blog post), plus I'm way behind on reviewing rental DVDs so I couldn't just slap one of those up either.
However, browsing the BBC site I've just encountered some rather crappy news - Ian Banks has final stage cancer and is not expected to live for more than a year or so. Here it is on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175 ; and on the Guardian website - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/03/iain-banks-gall-bladder-cancer
I'm a big fan of Banks - his Culture novels are some of the best SF I've ever read, and I enjoy his mainstream stuff too - so this is particularly crappy. He'd actually just started writing new Culture novels having not done any in a while, but it seems that the most recent (Hydrogen Sonata) will be the last. A great shame.
I don't think I've ever blogged about it here, but my mother died from Cancer. This was some time ago, but when hers was diagnosed it was "late stage" as well. Cancer is a complicated (and odd) disease, but late stage is basically where the original cancer has spread to the degree that it's uncurable - and I mean that in a definitive sense.
My mum's original cancer was breast cancer, but by the time it was diagnosed it had spread to a quite catastrophic degree - it was in her bones, lymph nodes and liver. It was actually the liver that delivered the final blow as it was essentially total liver failure that she died of.
Interestingly with my mum it was actually several years between the point she was diagnosed and the point she finally passed away and you get to late stage by having it for a long time without detection. She didn't have chemo (there's little point when it's like that - it may add a few months but you feel awful for ages, so it's just not worth it), but I seem to recall she had a bit of radio-therapy, though nothing major. I think they just wanted to knock a bit of it out to help extend life a bit and so she was in less discomfort. She also had some other experimental treatment, though I don't recall what this was - whether it helped or not I have no idea.
One thing about this period that was different to what you'd expect was that she wasn't really in pain as such - she was fully active until the very last week and without being told you wouldn't even have known. That's part of the problem with this sort of cancer - like Banks it's something that is discovered by a symptom that isn't directly related.
So my mum had breast cancer, but there was no big lump in her breast (it was a load of tiny cancers and she wasn't quite old enough to be having regular screening anyway) and it was actually a fractured bone in her spine that was the point of discovery. She'd been riding with my sister while on holiday and been thrown off. It wasn't a big fall particularly, but because the cancer had weakened the bone it fracture so she was in a lot of pain and went home on the train (I recall this day vividly) to see our GP. That triggered a battery of tests to try to ascertain why the bone was so weak, eventually leading to the discovery of cancer.
I didn't pre-write any posts over the Easter weekend and I have to confess I'm struggling a bit with motivation (in a general sense, as well as in terms of writing a blog post), plus I'm way behind on reviewing rental DVDs so I couldn't just slap one of those up either.
However, browsing the BBC site I've just encountered some rather crappy news - Ian Banks has final stage cancer and is not expected to live for more than a year or so. Here it is on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-22015175 ; and on the Guardian website - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/03/iain-banks-gall-bladder-cancer
I'm a big fan of Banks - his Culture novels are some of the best SF I've ever read, and I enjoy his mainstream stuff too - so this is particularly crappy. He'd actually just started writing new Culture novels having not done any in a while, but it seems that the most recent (Hydrogen Sonata) will be the last. A great shame.
I don't think I've ever blogged about it here, but my mother died from Cancer. This was some time ago, but when hers was diagnosed it was "late stage" as well. Cancer is a complicated (and odd) disease, but late stage is basically where the original cancer has spread to the degree that it's uncurable - and I mean that in a definitive sense.
My mum's original cancer was breast cancer, but by the time it was diagnosed it had spread to a quite catastrophic degree - it was in her bones, lymph nodes and liver. It was actually the liver that delivered the final blow as it was essentially total liver failure that she died of.
Interestingly with my mum it was actually several years between the point she was diagnosed and the point she finally passed away and you get to late stage by having it for a long time without detection. She didn't have chemo (there's little point when it's like that - it may add a few months but you feel awful for ages, so it's just not worth it), but I seem to recall she had a bit of radio-therapy, though nothing major. I think they just wanted to knock a bit of it out to help extend life a bit and so she was in less discomfort. She also had some other experimental treatment, though I don't recall what this was - whether it helped or not I have no idea.
One thing about this period that was different to what you'd expect was that she wasn't really in pain as such - she was fully active until the very last week and without being told you wouldn't even have known. That's part of the problem with this sort of cancer - like Banks it's something that is discovered by a symptom that isn't directly related.
So my mum had breast cancer, but there was no big lump in her breast (it was a load of tiny cancers and she wasn't quite old enough to be having regular screening anyway) and it was actually a fractured bone in her spine that was the point of discovery. She'd been riding with my sister while on holiday and been thrown off. It wasn't a big fall particularly, but because the cancer had weakened the bone it fracture so she was in a lot of pain and went home on the train (I recall this day vividly) to see our GP. That triggered a battery of tests to try to ascertain why the bone was so weak, eventually leading to the discovery of cancer.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
tired
I always really struggle when the clocks change.
I have quite fixed routines and am very much a creature of habit. I mean, I can do things as I need to - get up really early on stay up really late, it's just that I can't do these regularly and consistently without paying the consequences. Heck, nowadays I pay some sort of consequence even if I just do these things once or twice.
Anyway, the point is that the change of going an hour forwards is pretty disruptive for me and I'll likely be really tired all week.
Easter was okay.
I'd obviously put together a to do list, though remarkably for me it was relatively light. I'd therefore basically achieved everything on the list by Sunday morning, and that was without trying.
Actually, it turned out I'd made a bit of a cock-up and should actually have cleaned the flat over Easter (Grand Prix season is now in full swing and has gone for lots of double-headers again, so it buggers about with my usual pattern of cleaning very fortnight). However, this cock up was actually that I shouldn't have cleaned wen the Malaysian Grand Prix was on and did, so it didn't matter.
Anyway, point was that Monday I did nothing except watch TV and a few Blu Rays. I needed to catch up a bit with TV as my PVR was filling up quite badly so this isn't as decadent as it sounds. It's now at about 50% full, down from about 80% full (I deleted a few bits as well since it turned out they were a bit rubbish).
One of the things I got quite far with was the George Orwell season that Radio 4 did a little while ago. I'd recorded all of it and listened to about half of the programs (not half of the stuff - I mostly focused on the stuff they put out in small chunks). It was quite interesting, though clearly of its era, so it had historical interest as well as political interest.
I have quite fixed routines and am very much a creature of habit. I mean, I can do things as I need to - get up really early on stay up really late, it's just that I can't do these regularly and consistently without paying the consequences. Heck, nowadays I pay some sort of consequence even if I just do these things once or twice.
Anyway, the point is that the change of going an hour forwards is pretty disruptive for me and I'll likely be really tired all week.
Easter was okay.
I'd obviously put together a to do list, though remarkably for me it was relatively light. I'd therefore basically achieved everything on the list by Sunday morning, and that was without trying.
Actually, it turned out I'd made a bit of a cock-up and should actually have cleaned the flat over Easter (Grand Prix season is now in full swing and has gone for lots of double-headers again, so it buggers about with my usual pattern of cleaning very fortnight). However, this cock up was actually that I shouldn't have cleaned wen the Malaysian Grand Prix was on and did, so it didn't matter.
Anyway, point was that Monday I did nothing except watch TV and a few Blu Rays. I needed to catch up a bit with TV as my PVR was filling up quite badly so this isn't as decadent as it sounds. It's now at about 50% full, down from about 80% full (I deleted a few bits as well since it turned out they were a bit rubbish).
One of the things I got quite far with was the George Orwell season that Radio 4 did a little while ago. I'd recorded all of it and listened to about half of the programs (not half of the stuff - I mostly focused on the stuff they put out in small chunks). It was quite interesting, though clearly of its era, so it had historical interest as well as political interest.
Thursday, 28 March 2013
easter
Easter this weekend so this is the last post of the week.
I’ve no particular plans for this weekend other than to relax, given how busy these last couple of weeks have been. I think the main challenge will be to stop myself from playing SimCity constantly. Really it’s the perfect opportunity to catch-up on a lot of recorded TV and watch and read some other stuff - particularly since the weather is forecast to me more of this cold stuff.
One thing I didn’t mention from the last few weeks that I thought I should record in the blog was how I locked myself out of my car before the stag do.
Basically I went to the driving range (I haven’t played golf in 4 years and wanted to “warm up” and there’s a course with a range just up the road from work) and managed to lock the car with the keys on the dashboard.
I’ve done the same basic thing loads before - I sit in the driver’s seat with the door open to change my shoes, dumping the keys on the dashboard. Once changed, I then close the door, obviously, walk around and get in the driver’s side.
Well I guess on this occasion I hit the lock button as I took the key out of my pocket (it was in my trouser pocket, where I usually put them in my jacket/coat pocket). So when I closed the door that meant the car was locked and when I went round to the driver’s side I couldn’t get in.
Luckily I’d kept my phone in my jacket pocket, which I was wearing, so I was able to call work and explain and then call for help. Basically I called the RAC and the guy came out fairly quickly. The big problem was that the keys were clearly visible on the dashboard, so I couldn’t leave the car, which, even though he was still quick, it was a couple of hours before it was all sorted.
The RAC guy had the car open in about 10 minutes. Basically he slotted some airbags into the car and slowly inflated them to create a wedge where he could slot a long pole with a hook on the end in and fished the keys off the dashboard.
It really did take him just 10 minutes. Of course, it’s not something you could do without attracting attention, but it just goes to show you - it he’d used a stiffer rod he could have used it to pull the handle, which would unlock the door.
I’ve no particular plans for this weekend other than to relax, given how busy these last couple of weeks have been. I think the main challenge will be to stop myself from playing SimCity constantly. Really it’s the perfect opportunity to catch-up on a lot of recorded TV and watch and read some other stuff - particularly since the weather is forecast to me more of this cold stuff.
One thing I didn’t mention from the last few weeks that I thought I should record in the blog was how I locked myself out of my car before the stag do.
Basically I went to the driving range (I haven’t played golf in 4 years and wanted to “warm up” and there’s a course with a range just up the road from work) and managed to lock the car with the keys on the dashboard.
I’ve done the same basic thing loads before - I sit in the driver’s seat with the door open to change my shoes, dumping the keys on the dashboard. Once changed, I then close the door, obviously, walk around and get in the driver’s side.
Well I guess on this occasion I hit the lock button as I took the key out of my pocket (it was in my trouser pocket, where I usually put them in my jacket/coat pocket). So when I closed the door that meant the car was locked and when I went round to the driver’s side I couldn’t get in.
Luckily I’d kept my phone in my jacket pocket, which I was wearing, so I was able to call work and explain and then call for help. Basically I called the RAC and the guy came out fairly quickly. The big problem was that the keys were clearly visible on the dashboard, so I couldn’t leave the car, which, even though he was still quick, it was a couple of hours before it was all sorted.
The RAC guy had the car open in about 10 minutes. Basically he slotted some airbags into the car and slowly inflated them to create a wedge where he could slot a long pole with a hook on the end in and fished the keys off the dashboard.
It really did take him just 10 minutes. Of course, it’s not something you could do without attracting attention, but it just goes to show you - it he’d used a stiffer rod he could have used it to pull the handle, which would unlock the door.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
simcity thoughts
So I've been playing SimCity quite a lot and enjoying it a great deal, but also mentioned before finding it a bit frustrating.
My main frustrations have centred on how I'm meant to achieve stuff. I've basically focused on two city types, trying to use and unlock all the bits relating to the mining and drilling specialisations. I've done this in several different maps but I've found it all a bit confusing.
If this were another type of game people would complain about the difficulty of the learning curve. However, "learning curve" implies that you have a path to learn that they've created. For the new SimCity it's more like a learning orienteering adventure.
By that I mean there's probably a basic set of points that you have to find in order to learn, but you're simply given end-points and kinda expected to find your own way there. I mean, there's in-game information stuff and challenges that I think are meant to push you in the right direction but the information is often generic and therefore often unhelpful. The challenges get you pointed in the right direction, but often without any clues how you're supposed to get there. And your advisors just bleat on about the same stuff.
So, for example, it will challenge you to unlock the next level of the mining HQ (you're merrily drilling for ore and coal) and you're told you need to make so much in daily profit. It will then shade this bar in as a percentage of how far you are away.
Well that's all well and good, but how do I increase the profit? Open more pits? What if I'm already mining all my coal and ore seams with the maximum number of pits? Is there a way to make things more efficient? I generally add in the maximum number of delivery trucks so stuff doesn't build up at the trade depot. But is this the best way to maximise profit?
I've actually found the mining one not too bad - it doesn't seem to take too many pits to make the required amount. However, drilling is a different matter. You seem to have to open up at least 3 (and usually 4) oil extraction places in order to make the required amount of money. This makes it much harder to achieve your goals. And it's not clear to me if you should open a single field with lots of derricks or lots of separate fields. It will tell me a field is producing x barrels a day, but I've no idea how this works or what it really means.
However, I'm also doing all this with the game partially disabled. All the global market stuff seems to still be disabled and I've no idea whether there will be a tendency for the price to go above the level it currently is or below. If it will tend to be much higher than that will make these elements easier to achieve, but if it goes lower I can imagine it would make the game rather frustrating.
The game also lacks cheetah speed still, which again makes it rather frustrating. SimCity has always been one of those games where you have to sit and wait a bit for your new budget to arrive so you can buy that extra thing you need. Yes you can take out bonds, but only so many at low value and of course you have to pay them back with interest.
Also you might want to whack it in cheetah speed to wait until your city develops - until all those big apartment blocks have finished building and your revenue settles down. Or just to watch things unfold, but not take all day about it.
My other real frustration is that the game is still very buggy. I won't go into all the details as you can search online (YouTube in particular) and I personally haven't had too many annoying issues (I think partly because what I've been trying to achieve doesn't rely too much on the areas where the worst bugs are) but I find some stuff in my cities bizarre.
In particular the guy winging on about zoning is quite tedious and the whole RCI system is either broken by accident or they've designed it such that you can never achieve perfect balance. If it is intended, then presumably it's so the game is "never finished", but with such tiny cities you can easily fill them and it's still moaning about you to provide RCI for everything (how can there be huge demand for all residential types, all commercial types and industrial - it makes no sense).
It's also quite frustrating when the police advisor is moaning about "crime having the upper hand" and people are protesting city hall about all the crime, but when you go to edit the police coverage you see there's actually only 1 criminal in your entire city. 1 criminal = crime has the upper hand? What?
But then it's difficult to know what things are bugs, what is simply down to poor tuning or bad design and what is deliberate.
Roads in particular are very frustrating. You lay down all these roads and they just seem to fill up for no apparent reason. The whole logic system seems horribly simple. I think this is because it's simulating Sims in an incredibly simple way and everything rushes about going to the next "event", irrespective of it that makes sense or not. And if that changes while they're on route then they all decide to go to the next most important event at the same time.
You can really see this with the buses. You lay down buses and set stops for them, trying to get the best coverage (it shows green). You instinctively think this means lots of stops with stops on both sides of the road and lots of buses to service them all.
In reality what happens is all the buses set off at exactly the same time and go to the exact same stops in the exact same order. And because they're going in some sort of priority about number of people waiting they wander all over the map in a great chain of buses, making ridiculous U-turns and going up and down the same street over and over, clogging up the traffic.
I mean, why can't I just set the bus routes? If the AI is going to be dumb, let me control it. Bus stops can simply be waypoints - something that's been in games for donkey's years. I can buy a new bus route and it lets me put down 10 stops and the AI simply path finds to them in the order I put them down. If I've done something dumb then it's my fault.
The solution to bus spam is therefore contradictory - you need fewer buses with stops a good distance apart and that are all on the same side of the street if they're on the same road. Of course your public transport claims to carry less people, but that way at least your buildings don't all die because all your Sims are sat in their cars while 50 buses undertake millions of U-turns.
The region stuff is even worse - all the buses from all other regions turn up at the exact same time and try to go to the exact same stops in the exact stuff. Then add in the police cars, ambulance, fire trucks, garbage and recycling trucks and it's like your neighbours are trying to cripple your city, even though they point is they're meant to be helping.
Wow - longest blog post ever!
My main frustrations have centred on how I'm meant to achieve stuff. I've basically focused on two city types, trying to use and unlock all the bits relating to the mining and drilling specialisations. I've done this in several different maps but I've found it all a bit confusing.
If this were another type of game people would complain about the difficulty of the learning curve. However, "learning curve" implies that you have a path to learn that they've created. For the new SimCity it's more like a learning orienteering adventure.
By that I mean there's probably a basic set of points that you have to find in order to learn, but you're simply given end-points and kinda expected to find your own way there. I mean, there's in-game information stuff and challenges that I think are meant to push you in the right direction but the information is often generic and therefore often unhelpful. The challenges get you pointed in the right direction, but often without any clues how you're supposed to get there. And your advisors just bleat on about the same stuff.
So, for example, it will challenge you to unlock the next level of the mining HQ (you're merrily drilling for ore and coal) and you're told you need to make so much in daily profit. It will then shade this bar in as a percentage of how far you are away.
Well that's all well and good, but how do I increase the profit? Open more pits? What if I'm already mining all my coal and ore seams with the maximum number of pits? Is there a way to make things more efficient? I generally add in the maximum number of delivery trucks so stuff doesn't build up at the trade depot. But is this the best way to maximise profit?
I've actually found the mining one not too bad - it doesn't seem to take too many pits to make the required amount. However, drilling is a different matter. You seem to have to open up at least 3 (and usually 4) oil extraction places in order to make the required amount of money. This makes it much harder to achieve your goals. And it's not clear to me if you should open a single field with lots of derricks or lots of separate fields. It will tell me a field is producing x barrels a day, but I've no idea how this works or what it really means.
However, I'm also doing all this with the game partially disabled. All the global market stuff seems to still be disabled and I've no idea whether there will be a tendency for the price to go above the level it currently is or below. If it will tend to be much higher than that will make these elements easier to achieve, but if it goes lower I can imagine it would make the game rather frustrating.
The game also lacks cheetah speed still, which again makes it rather frustrating. SimCity has always been one of those games where you have to sit and wait a bit for your new budget to arrive so you can buy that extra thing you need. Yes you can take out bonds, but only so many at low value and of course you have to pay them back with interest.
Also you might want to whack it in cheetah speed to wait until your city develops - until all those big apartment blocks have finished building and your revenue settles down. Or just to watch things unfold, but not take all day about it.
My other real frustration is that the game is still very buggy. I won't go into all the details as you can search online (YouTube in particular) and I personally haven't had too many annoying issues (I think partly because what I've been trying to achieve doesn't rely too much on the areas where the worst bugs are) but I find some stuff in my cities bizarre.
In particular the guy winging on about zoning is quite tedious and the whole RCI system is either broken by accident or they've designed it such that you can never achieve perfect balance. If it is intended, then presumably it's so the game is "never finished", but with such tiny cities you can easily fill them and it's still moaning about you to provide RCI for everything (how can there be huge demand for all residential types, all commercial types and industrial - it makes no sense).
It's also quite frustrating when the police advisor is moaning about "crime having the upper hand" and people are protesting city hall about all the crime, but when you go to edit the police coverage you see there's actually only 1 criminal in your entire city. 1 criminal = crime has the upper hand? What?
But then it's difficult to know what things are bugs, what is simply down to poor tuning or bad design and what is deliberate.
Roads in particular are very frustrating. You lay down all these roads and they just seem to fill up for no apparent reason. The whole logic system seems horribly simple. I think this is because it's simulating Sims in an incredibly simple way and everything rushes about going to the next "event", irrespective of it that makes sense or not. And if that changes while they're on route then they all decide to go to the next most important event at the same time.
You can really see this with the buses. You lay down buses and set stops for them, trying to get the best coverage (it shows green). You instinctively think this means lots of stops with stops on both sides of the road and lots of buses to service them all.
In reality what happens is all the buses set off at exactly the same time and go to the exact same stops in the exact same order. And because they're going in some sort of priority about number of people waiting they wander all over the map in a great chain of buses, making ridiculous U-turns and going up and down the same street over and over, clogging up the traffic.
I mean, why can't I just set the bus routes? If the AI is going to be dumb, let me control it. Bus stops can simply be waypoints - something that's been in games for donkey's years. I can buy a new bus route and it lets me put down 10 stops and the AI simply path finds to them in the order I put them down. If I've done something dumb then it's my fault.
The solution to bus spam is therefore contradictory - you need fewer buses with stops a good distance apart and that are all on the same side of the street if they're on the same road. Of course your public transport claims to carry less people, but that way at least your buildings don't all die because all your Sims are sat in their cars while 50 buses undertake millions of U-turns.
The region stuff is even worse - all the buses from all other regions turn up at the exact same time and try to go to the exact same stops in the exact stuff. Then add in the police cars, ambulance, fire trucks, garbage and recycling trucks and it's like your neighbours are trying to cripple your city, even though they point is they're meant to be helping.
Wow - longest blog post ever!
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
a course of course
I mentioned yesterday that I spent Sunday and Monday basically playing SimCity and this wasn’t a particularly great idea.
The problem was that SimCity's the sort of game where you sink hours on end into it, and I had a lot of stuff to catch up on, plus I stayed up incredibly late to play. Unfortunately I also picked up a cold - where from I’m not sure. No-one on the stag had one that I could remember but then they could have been carrying it. But also my landlord had a cold and when I got back to work some people there did too so it could have been caught any time.
It turned out to be a wimpy cold - I’m basically already over it - but as I say, I’d not really slept after a heavy weekend, so Tuesday I was like some sort of sniffling zombie. Of course, rather than just go to bed when I got home I played more SimCity... (More on the game tomorrow probably.)
Wednesday and Thursday I went on a course for work. It was really good and I learned a lot, but it was also very frustrating. It pretty much confirmed a lot of the stuff I’ve been worried about at work. However, there’s some stuff I think I can implement without too much fuss.
Friday I was back in the office. It was a very bity day, but I also discussed the course with a few people at work. It was interesting and also confirmed many of my frustrations.
This last weekend was really weird. I had a bunch of domestics to do but I also had to clean up all the clubs and stuff from the stag. And I woke on Saturday to find it snowing...
It wasn’t forecast for here and it wasn’t deep, and on Sunday it pretty much cleared up, but I mean seriously - it’s nearly April, how comes it’s snowing and settling at all? It’s Easter next weekend!
It feels like summer hasn't really happened for about 4 years and I have to confess it's getting a bit boring. I'm not much of a one for hot weather, but a bit of it is good each year - it makes me appreciate the times when it's more to my liking. Plus if you have a hot summer then it tends to mean autumn is more pleasant and to my liking too.
The problem was that SimCity's the sort of game where you sink hours on end into it, and I had a lot of stuff to catch up on, plus I stayed up incredibly late to play. Unfortunately I also picked up a cold - where from I’m not sure. No-one on the stag had one that I could remember but then they could have been carrying it. But also my landlord had a cold and when I got back to work some people there did too so it could have been caught any time.
It turned out to be a wimpy cold - I’m basically already over it - but as I say, I’d not really slept after a heavy weekend, so Tuesday I was like some sort of sniffling zombie. Of course, rather than just go to bed when I got home I played more SimCity... (More on the game tomorrow probably.)
Wednesday and Thursday I went on a course for work. It was really good and I learned a lot, but it was also very frustrating. It pretty much confirmed a lot of the stuff I’ve been worried about at work. However, there’s some stuff I think I can implement without too much fuss.
Friday I was back in the office. It was a very bity day, but I also discussed the course with a few people at work. It was interesting and also confirmed many of my frustrations.
This last weekend was really weird. I had a bunch of domestics to do but I also had to clean up all the clubs and stuff from the stag. And I woke on Saturday to find it snowing...
It wasn’t forecast for here and it wasn’t deep, and on Sunday it pretty much cleared up, but I mean seriously - it’s nearly April, how comes it’s snowing and settling at all? It’s Easter next weekend!
It feels like summer hasn't really happened for about 4 years and I have to confess it's getting a bit boring. I'm not much of a one for hot weather, but a bit of it is good each year - it makes me appreciate the times when it's more to my liking. Plus if you have a hot summer then it tends to mean autumn is more pleasant and to my liking too.
Monday, 25 March 2013
long time no see
Feels like months since I last blogged.
It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks.
So the first thing that happened was the stag do. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I was a little worried that there would be some uncomfortable stuff - you hear all sorts about stag dos, but there wasn't anything like that.
I mean, they gave the stag something of a hard time - they stole his clothes and he had to wear a skirt they bought him, for example - but nothings spectacularly bad or that made me feel uncomfortable. The planned events were also good.
The stag was in Bristol and on the Friday we played golf. This harked back to when we were kids (I’ve known him since school) and was a good idea, except for one thing - the Great British weather. As I arrived at the course it started raining and got steadily worse. Not only was it raining hard but it was windy and cold too so it was truly horrible to be out playing golf.
We ended up only actually playing 9 holes and calling it a day. We then ate at the clubhouse and found the house. This was a mess - no-one knew where the house was and only some people had directions/sat nav. I tried to follow someone and it worked okay for a while, but he was rubbish at it - he dashed through a red light and that was t, I was lost.
However, after a dozen phone calls for directions I eventually found the place. And it was a weird place.
I mean, the building was a bit unusual - a huge mansion - but also it was oddly furnished in that it looked like some students lived there. As in still lived there and they’d been murdered and buried in the back garden. It was weird.
So we then got drunk - and I drank much more than was probably sensible for the first day. On the second day we went clay pigeon shooting. This in particular I was rather unsure about, but as I said, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
I dunno - it’s difficult to explain, but I was rather nervous around the gun. I mean, that’s understandable - it’s a 12-guage shotgun, after all - but I dunno, I was really worried about doing something stupid. And it didn’t help I was tired and it was cold and drizzling again. But as I say, it was more enjoyable than I expected.
We then went out on the town. As it happened it was the last game of the six nations (he decider between Wales and England - England deserved to loose) so we watched that and then went for a curry. Then it was back to the house for more beers.
This second evening was a bit weird. We got back fairly late and I started drinking, but suddenly it was 1AM and we had to be out of the house by 10AM so I went to bed. I think quite a few sloped off to bed early - certainly I didn’t see as many people about as in the first night.
I drove back on the Sunday and it was the journey from hell. I wouldn’t say I was hung over particularly, but I was extremely tired. So I was shattered and when the weather played up - driving snow and all sorts.
I'd taken the Monday off to recover and should have used that stuff to do stuff like watch the Grand Prix and tidy the flat. Unfortunately I basically just played SimCity solid.
I’ll continue with more about the intervening time tomorrow.
It’s been a hell of a couple of weeks.
So the first thing that happened was the stag do. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I was a little worried that there would be some uncomfortable stuff - you hear all sorts about stag dos, but there wasn't anything like that.
I mean, they gave the stag something of a hard time - they stole his clothes and he had to wear a skirt they bought him, for example - but nothings spectacularly bad or that made me feel uncomfortable. The planned events were also good.
The stag was in Bristol and on the Friday we played golf. This harked back to when we were kids (I’ve known him since school) and was a good idea, except for one thing - the Great British weather. As I arrived at the course it started raining and got steadily worse. Not only was it raining hard but it was windy and cold too so it was truly horrible to be out playing golf.
We ended up only actually playing 9 holes and calling it a day. We then ate at the clubhouse and found the house. This was a mess - no-one knew where the house was and only some people had directions/sat nav. I tried to follow someone and it worked okay for a while, but he was rubbish at it - he dashed through a red light and that was t, I was lost.
However, after a dozen phone calls for directions I eventually found the place. And it was a weird place.
I mean, the building was a bit unusual - a huge mansion - but also it was oddly furnished in that it looked like some students lived there. As in still lived there and they’d been murdered and buried in the back garden. It was weird.
So we then got drunk - and I drank much more than was probably sensible for the first day. On the second day we went clay pigeon shooting. This in particular I was rather unsure about, but as I said, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
I dunno - it’s difficult to explain, but I was rather nervous around the gun. I mean, that’s understandable - it’s a 12-guage shotgun, after all - but I dunno, I was really worried about doing something stupid. And it didn’t help I was tired and it was cold and drizzling again. But as I say, it was more enjoyable than I expected.
We then went out on the town. As it happened it was the last game of the six nations (he decider between Wales and England - England deserved to loose) so we watched that and then went for a curry. Then it was back to the house for more beers.
This second evening was a bit weird. We got back fairly late and I started drinking, but suddenly it was 1AM and we had to be out of the house by 10AM so I went to bed. I think quite a few sloped off to bed early - certainly I didn’t see as many people about as in the first night.
I drove back on the Sunday and it was the journey from hell. I wouldn’t say I was hung over particularly, but I was extremely tired. So I was shattered and when the weather played up - driving snow and all sorts.
I'd taken the Monday off to recover and should have used that stuff to do stuff like watch the Grand Prix and tidy the flat. Unfortunately I basically just played SimCity solid.
I’ll continue with more about the intervening time tomorrow.
Thursday, 14 March 2013
never bloody here!
Well, as mentioned earlier this week I am away tomorrow and next Monday.
Next week I am also attending a training course on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not sure if I will blog on the Tuesday and Friday. I expect I will have stuff for a post or two, but whether I sit down and write that up next week or the week after I'm not sure.
The timing of this stag isn't the best if I'm honest.
Friday is actually comic relief. I have no idea if we'll encounter it or not, but it could be a bit of a pain. The Saturday there's a big rugby match on (it's the 6 nations, but I don't care so I haven't a clue what match it is).
It's also the first race of the new Grand Prix season. Now that's sort of okay in that I'll be coming back on the Sunday so should be back in time to watch it on the BBC, except the race is in Australia so will actually be run very early on Sunday morning. Normally I might therefore be able to avoid it (or record the Radio commentary and listen to that as soon as I get up) but I'm guessing I will be told or hear it on the radio or something.
Anyway, point is this is the last post of the week and I'm not sure I will post at all next week. The week after is the one leading up to Easter so is only 4 days as well - it's a really weird month for me actually.
SimCity turned up on Tuesday and I've lost two evenings to it already, so I must be enjoying it. However, I'm also finding it a bit frustrating.
I think I'll blog about it later - I'm actually kinda wondering if the stuff they've disabled due to the server issues (no cheetah speed and a lot of region stuff is essentially disabled) isn't part of the issue. I suspect it's magnifying some of the bugs or making some things that are meant to cover the "asynchronous" region play seem like bugs.
Next week I am also attending a training course on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not sure if I will blog on the Tuesday and Friday. I expect I will have stuff for a post or two, but whether I sit down and write that up next week or the week after I'm not sure.
The timing of this stag isn't the best if I'm honest.
Friday is actually comic relief. I have no idea if we'll encounter it or not, but it could be a bit of a pain. The Saturday there's a big rugby match on (it's the 6 nations, but I don't care so I haven't a clue what match it is).
It's also the first race of the new Grand Prix season. Now that's sort of okay in that I'll be coming back on the Sunday so should be back in time to watch it on the BBC, except the race is in Australia so will actually be run very early on Sunday morning. Normally I might therefore be able to avoid it (or record the Radio commentary and listen to that as soon as I get up) but I'm guessing I will be told or hear it on the radio or something.
Anyway, point is this is the last post of the week and I'm not sure I will post at all next week. The week after is the one leading up to Easter so is only 4 days as well - it's a really weird month for me actually.
SimCity turned up on Tuesday and I've lost two evenings to it already, so I must be enjoying it. However, I'm also finding it a bit frustrating.
I think I'll blog about it later - I'm actually kinda wondering if the stuff they've disabled due to the server issues (no cheetah speed and a lot of region stuff is essentially disabled) isn't part of the issue. I suspect it's magnifying some of the bugs or making some things that are meant to cover the "asynchronous" region play seem like bugs.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
future employment
This is going to be a particularly difficult post.
My problem is that what I want to talk about is technically confidential information. I mean, I've not signed anything but the information was relayed in confidence.
Basically last Friday they outlined the future of the company. Well... ish. It wasn't really done that specifically. I mean, I've been told some stuff and that didn't feature in the thing in Friday directly, but the meeting focused on that area.
See - it's difficult to say without saying.
I guess the thing I wanted to post about was that it wasn't quite as I expected. In some ways that's good, but in other ways it's bad.
A particular bad point was the length of time. Apparently this thing they've set up could take 10 years to come to fruition. I found this a particular punch in the gut - there's no way I want to be hanging around here for 10 years. To be honest I don't really feel like I want to be here next year.
However, a good thing is that it won't cost me anything. In effect it's a free gift and there's a degree to which the expression "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" has to apply. Better to have the gift horse, even if it's a bit dodgy, than no horse at all. Of course, the problem is that said horse may be a poison chalice - looks like a good thing, but actually isn't.
I had a chat with my dad about it over the weekend. He was more positive about it than me. His main point was that it's something for nothing and I felt a bit more positive about it looking at it from this point of view. The problem of course is that he doesn't really know how stupid some of the stuff here is and when I explain some bits of it he's always a bit stunned, because a lot of it is really dumb.
Anyway, we'll actually be getting individual info packs across this week where some of the more specific details are provided, but if I'm honest I'm not expecting this to really answer all of the questions I have.
I'm sure it will answer some but I don't think it will address the key ones - the ones that I need answers to in order to consider staying here. They have said we can ask questions and I will but I don't I think the key ones will be ones they'll be willing to answer.
My problem is that what I want to talk about is technically confidential information. I mean, I've not signed anything but the information was relayed in confidence.
Basically last Friday they outlined the future of the company. Well... ish. It wasn't really done that specifically. I mean, I've been told some stuff and that didn't feature in the thing in Friday directly, but the meeting focused on that area.
See - it's difficult to say without saying.
I guess the thing I wanted to post about was that it wasn't quite as I expected. In some ways that's good, but in other ways it's bad.
A particular bad point was the length of time. Apparently this thing they've set up could take 10 years to come to fruition. I found this a particular punch in the gut - there's no way I want to be hanging around here for 10 years. To be honest I don't really feel like I want to be here next year.
However, a good thing is that it won't cost me anything. In effect it's a free gift and there's a degree to which the expression "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" has to apply. Better to have the gift horse, even if it's a bit dodgy, than no horse at all. Of course, the problem is that said horse may be a poison chalice - looks like a good thing, but actually isn't.
I had a chat with my dad about it over the weekend. He was more positive about it than me. His main point was that it's something for nothing and I felt a bit more positive about it looking at it from this point of view. The problem of course is that he doesn't really know how stupid some of the stuff here is and when I explain some bits of it he's always a bit stunned, because a lot of it is really dumb.
Anyway, we'll actually be getting individual info packs across this week where some of the more specific details are provided, but if I'm honest I'm not expecting this to really answer all of the questions I have.
I'm sure it will answer some but I don't think it will address the key ones - the ones that I need answers to in order to consider staying here. They have said we can ask questions and I will but I don't I think the key ones will be ones they'll be willing to answer.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
piss poor timing
So SimCity didn't turn up at all over the weekend.
I'd taken Monday off and was hoping that the game would have arrived, but no sign of it. This was a little mystifying I have to admit, since it was posted last Thursday and something that was posted last Friday did turn up on Monday.
To be totally fair their free delivery thing is within a 5 day window so it's not late or anything, just a bit puzzling that something sent afterwards has arrived first. And I wouldn't want you to think I took the day off just to play the game - I was owed the day as time in lieu and I wanted to take it as soon as practical. The alignment with SimCity's release was just a coincidence.
It would be nice if I was able to say that I'd "done loads" with my extra day off, but it didn't really work like that. I mean, I did some stuff, but I wouldn't really say it was massively productive. Most of the time was spent doing nothing in particular - I did a lot of lazing about with a bit of telly watching thrown in for good measure.
One thing I did do was go to the Sports Direct in Farnborough and buy some golf-related stuff. I used to play Golf quite a bit but since starting my current job (where no-one has ever been a golfer) it has kinda withered on the vine. Part of the problem was that the only cheap public course nearby has terrible drainage problems and I once played a bit of a round that basically destroyed half my gear.
I wasn't going to buy quite as much stuff as I did but they had a sale on that was really good value - everything I bought was 50% off so I got loads of bits including new golf shoes and a bag and it was less than £80!
So why am I buying this stuff now?
Well, obviously because I'm going to be playing golf next week. The game is part of a stag weekend for an old friend of mine. The golf game is on Friday (weather forecast up until now was that it would be bone-chillingly cold, but now is that it will piss down - hurrah!). I'm sure there will be drinking that evening, and then we're going clay pigeon shooting on Saturday and more drinking that evening before heading home on Sunday.
As per usual I'm a bit trepidatious - I'm nervous and quiet around new people and there will be a lot of new people there (loads of his other friends I've never met before). Hopefully it will be okay and at worst it's two days.
I'm not sure how I will be on Sunday but I've taken Monday off as well, just in case.
I'd taken Monday off and was hoping that the game would have arrived, but no sign of it. This was a little mystifying I have to admit, since it was posted last Thursday and something that was posted last Friday did turn up on Monday.
To be totally fair their free delivery thing is within a 5 day window so it's not late or anything, just a bit puzzling that something sent afterwards has arrived first. And I wouldn't want you to think I took the day off just to play the game - I was owed the day as time in lieu and I wanted to take it as soon as practical. The alignment with SimCity's release was just a coincidence.
It would be nice if I was able to say that I'd "done loads" with my extra day off, but it didn't really work like that. I mean, I did some stuff, but I wouldn't really say it was massively productive. Most of the time was spent doing nothing in particular - I did a lot of lazing about with a bit of telly watching thrown in for good measure.
One thing I did do was go to the Sports Direct in Farnborough and buy some golf-related stuff. I used to play Golf quite a bit but since starting my current job (where no-one has ever been a golfer) it has kinda withered on the vine. Part of the problem was that the only cheap public course nearby has terrible drainage problems and I once played a bit of a round that basically destroyed half my gear.
I wasn't going to buy quite as much stuff as I did but they had a sale on that was really good value - everything I bought was 50% off so I got loads of bits including new golf shoes and a bag and it was less than £80!
So why am I buying this stuff now?
Well, obviously because I'm going to be playing golf next week. The game is part of a stag weekend for an old friend of mine. The golf game is on Friday (weather forecast up until now was that it would be bone-chillingly cold, but now is that it will piss down - hurrah!). I'm sure there will be drinking that evening, and then we're going clay pigeon shooting on Saturday and more drinking that evening before heading home on Sunday.
As per usual I'm a bit trepidatious - I'm nervous and quiet around new people and there will be a lot of new people there (loads of his other friends I've never met before). Hopefully it will be okay and at worst it's two days.
I'm not sure how I will be on Sunday but I've taken Monday off as well, just in case.
Friday, 8 March 2013
launch day
I've made a bit of an error when it comes to my plan to play SimCity all weekend.
I ordered it through amazon, but I always use the free delivery by default and I've forgotten to change it to first class for the SimCity order. Since I almost always order a bunch of stuff all at the same time I would have had to order SimCity separately and didn't.
Bit of a blow, but then given a lot of people still seem to be having huge problems with accessing and playing the game, perhaps it's not too bad if I have to wait a while before I start. I understand there's a bunch of patches being applied to the servers so hopefully that will help.
The game also seems quite buggy.
The slightly odd thing about some of the bugs is that they were identified back in the first beta over a month ago. Terrain and roads seems to have quite a few issues and you'd think that, even if they couldn't change the game code for launch (production and shipping issues) then that would be one of the first things it patches.
Games of course are generally like all forms of entertainment for me in that I have huge stacks of them sat waiting for me to play. Occasionally I do of course and I remember one time I launched a game that had been quite big and popular at release and the first thing it did was download a gigantic patch that was bigger than the game code itself.
This of course was months after it had been released so it was a combination of all the patches most people had gotten over a long period of time, but it shocked me just how much had clearly been broken in the game when it was shipped. Apparently this is quite a normal thing nowadays. Games cost so much to make they want to get them out as quickly as they can so things like proper, in-depth play-testing and bug fixing fall by the wayside.
You can kinda see the logic and it's actually a consequence of the ever-improving complexity and capability of computers and technology. A good few years ago if you did an FPS people didn't expect it to be utterly gorgeous to look at, but now they do and that sort of thing is quite costly to do, even though it doesn't impact he game itself.
Of course there are potential shortcuts in that you can use some else's game engine, but that's never really going to be possible with a game like SimCity, so I image a lot of the money had to go on making the fundamental engine (glassbox) work right, rather than fix some visual clipping bugs to do with terrain and roads.
There might be a side-advantage of not getting the game until next week. Since I've got the Monday off I might be able to use that time to clear up some other stuff I need to do. This is going to be a horribly busy month for me (I'll write a blog about it next week hopefully) and it might be useful to tick a few of the more tedious boxes this Monday.
I ordered it through amazon, but I always use the free delivery by default and I've forgotten to change it to first class for the SimCity order. Since I almost always order a bunch of stuff all at the same time I would have had to order SimCity separately and didn't.
Bit of a blow, but then given a lot of people still seem to be having huge problems with accessing and playing the game, perhaps it's not too bad if I have to wait a while before I start. I understand there's a bunch of patches being applied to the servers so hopefully that will help.
The game also seems quite buggy.
The slightly odd thing about some of the bugs is that they were identified back in the first beta over a month ago. Terrain and roads seems to have quite a few issues and you'd think that, even if they couldn't change the game code for launch (production and shipping issues) then that would be one of the first things it patches.
Games of course are generally like all forms of entertainment for me in that I have huge stacks of them sat waiting for me to play. Occasionally I do of course and I remember one time I launched a game that had been quite big and popular at release and the first thing it did was download a gigantic patch that was bigger than the game code itself.
This of course was months after it had been released so it was a combination of all the patches most people had gotten over a long period of time, but it shocked me just how much had clearly been broken in the game when it was shipped. Apparently this is quite a normal thing nowadays. Games cost so much to make they want to get them out as quickly as they can so things like proper, in-depth play-testing and bug fixing fall by the wayside.
You can kinda see the logic and it's actually a consequence of the ever-improving complexity and capability of computers and technology. A good few years ago if you did an FPS people didn't expect it to be utterly gorgeous to look at, but now they do and that sort of thing is quite costly to do, even though it doesn't impact he game itself.
Of course there are potential shortcuts in that you can use some else's game engine, but that's never really going to be possible with a game like SimCity, so I image a lot of the money had to go on making the fundamental engine (glassbox) work right, rather than fix some visual clipping bugs to do with terrain and roads.
There might be a side-advantage of not getting the game until next week. Since I've got the Monday off I might be able to use that time to clear up some other stuff I need to do. This is going to be a horribly busy month for me (I'll write a blog about it next week hopefully) and it might be useful to tick a few of the more tedious boxes this Monday.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
well that's just great
So I blogged on Monday about how I had been hit by someone while driving a courtesy car, well I went out to my car yesterday lunchtime to find that someone has hit my proper car.
We're not talking major damage - it's a scratch on the rear bumper - but that's not the point. Actually it kinda is - it's a small scratch so they've obviously just fucked off so that I don't demand they pay to repair it.
It's actually the second time it's been scratched on the bumper in that exact place. I therefore suspect that it's the same idiot that's done it. Indeed I actually suspect it's not happened at work at all, but it's the fucktard neighbours where I live.
I know they've already driven into my landlord's garage a couple of times. Part of the problem is they're builders and both the houses next to us have had a lot of building work recently as well and builders are the exact archetype that is the wine van man - or "cunt in a van" as I like to call them.
Of course it could be at work it's happening - that's certainly where I notice it, but then that's where I see the car in proper full light and when I'm not tired. If it is work my guess is it's people who go to the dump and don't find the right turn. We're near the dump/recycling place and although clearly signed a lot of people miss it and end up having to turn around.
I'm surprised there aren't more accidents actually as the roads of the industrial estate have become chocked with parked cars. It started last year after the big snow - I think a lot of people decided not to try parking in the proper car parks when it was snowy and then decided they liked parking on the road. Certainly the proper car parks don't seem full yet there's all these cars.
Although saying that I think also they've been moved over from a neighbouring industrial park that has very little parking. There certainly used to be a lot more cars parked on the proper roads than there is nowadays.
I seem to have really been in the wars with the car recently.
I don't think I blogged about it but a couple of weeks ago I was following a large articulated lorry (it's from a delivery company from the industrial estate and I've seen it a few times). It was going down totally inappropriate roads, because it's shorter/quicker than using the main roads.
But for a big artic that also means he's slow so I was quite close behind. Well, he went through a bit where there's some low-hanging trees (well, for an artic or a bus - they're not low for normal cars!) and he broke off a big chunk of tree that fell off and bounced off my bonnet.
In some ways I was lucky - it was a big piece and wood is quite dense so it would have been heavy and could easily have smashed my entire windscreen. And of course in other ways I was unlucky, because it hit me and could easily have simply hit the road or whatever. It's left a really noticeable dent in the bonnet but again, nothing that requires repairs, it just makes the car look beat-up.
Of course I considered an insurance claim, but unlike the hire car accident it wouldn't have been too difficult for them to say I was too close. Plus it's not really his fault - the road doesn't ban wide/tall vehicles, so could they even argue it was the council's or the homeowners fault for not properly trimming the trees?
And speaking of windscreens, not long after the bonnet I got a stone chip on my windscreen. This of course was just a couple of weeks before the MOT (chips above a certain size in certain zones of the screen are failures) so I didn't have a chance to get it looked at. Small chips can often grow but this one seems stable.
As I say, my car is quite dinged up. A lot of it comes from people in supermarket car parks hitting you with doors or bumping you as they manoeuvre (badly). I always try to park out of the way in empty bits but that isn't always possible and doesn't seem to have helped.
We're not talking major damage - it's a scratch on the rear bumper - but that's not the point. Actually it kinda is - it's a small scratch so they've obviously just fucked off so that I don't demand they pay to repair it.
It's actually the second time it's been scratched on the bumper in that exact place. I therefore suspect that it's the same idiot that's done it. Indeed I actually suspect it's not happened at work at all, but it's the fucktard neighbours where I live.
I know they've already driven into my landlord's garage a couple of times. Part of the problem is they're builders and both the houses next to us have had a lot of building work recently as well and builders are the exact archetype that is the wine van man - or "cunt in a van" as I like to call them.
Of course it could be at work it's happening - that's certainly where I notice it, but then that's where I see the car in proper full light and when I'm not tired. If it is work my guess is it's people who go to the dump and don't find the right turn. We're near the dump/recycling place and although clearly signed a lot of people miss it and end up having to turn around.
I'm surprised there aren't more accidents actually as the roads of the industrial estate have become chocked with parked cars. It started last year after the big snow - I think a lot of people decided not to try parking in the proper car parks when it was snowy and then decided they liked parking on the road. Certainly the proper car parks don't seem full yet there's all these cars.
Although saying that I think also they've been moved over from a neighbouring industrial park that has very little parking. There certainly used to be a lot more cars parked on the proper roads than there is nowadays.
I seem to have really been in the wars with the car recently.
I don't think I blogged about it but a couple of weeks ago I was following a large articulated lorry (it's from a delivery company from the industrial estate and I've seen it a few times). It was going down totally inappropriate roads, because it's shorter/quicker than using the main roads.
But for a big artic that also means he's slow so I was quite close behind. Well, he went through a bit where there's some low-hanging trees (well, for an artic or a bus - they're not low for normal cars!) and he broke off a big chunk of tree that fell off and bounced off my bonnet.
In some ways I was lucky - it was a big piece and wood is quite dense so it would have been heavy and could easily have smashed my entire windscreen. And of course in other ways I was unlucky, because it hit me and could easily have simply hit the road or whatever. It's left a really noticeable dent in the bonnet but again, nothing that requires repairs, it just makes the car look beat-up.
Of course I considered an insurance claim, but unlike the hire car accident it wouldn't have been too difficult for them to say I was too close. Plus it's not really his fault - the road doesn't ban wide/tall vehicles, so could they even argue it was the council's or the homeowners fault for not properly trimming the trees?
And speaking of windscreens, not long after the bonnet I got a stone chip on my windscreen. This of course was just a couple of weeks before the MOT (chips above a certain size in certain zones of the screen are failures) so I didn't have a chance to get it looked at. Small chips can often grow but this one seems stable.
As I say, my car is quite dinged up. A lot of it comes from people in supermarket car parks hitting you with doors or bumping you as they manoeuvre (badly). I always try to park out of the way in empty bits but that isn't always possible and doesn't seem to have helped.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
oh dear
So SimCity launched in the US yesterday... and appears to have been a bit of a disaster.
The problem, as feared, is that thousands (or hundreds of thousands? millions?) of gamers have all obviously been trying to download and play it all at the same time. Now if there'd been some way to stagger them (they've staggered countries) or otherwise spread the load in a sensible way they might have had a chance, but as I understand it the game is the best part of 20gb.
Even if 1,000 people are trying at the same time that's 20 terabytes of data to download so you can image the amounts of data if there's more like 100,000 people. Apparently there have been huge wait times to even get to the start of downloading, let alone downloading or even playing it.
I'm also guessing that a lot of people had to install origin as well so that will also have added to the load.
I recall personally experiencing a very similar issue with Half Life 2 - I tried to install on day one and basically failed as there were just too many people trying to do the same thing. However when I tried the next morning it was as easy as pie.
You can kinda see the issue - the only times the loads are going to be this sever are at launch. So if you put in loads of capacity then when you're into the steady-state phase you're probably way over-supplied with capacity so you either need to strip some of it away later, which in itself will likely cause some problems, or planning for the steady-state and simply taking the initial problems on the chin.
Of course that doesn't stop it being any less frustrating for the individuals who, rightly, feel they have bought something they can't actually use. And that's a particular issue for something like SimCity where it's always been a single-player, off-line game and a game that could still, even in this iteration, work that way.
For me personally I'm obviously just going to have to suck-it-and see. I should have the game for the weekend and I have the Monday off so hopefully if I'm persistent and I pick my times well I should be able to get it working. But it's a very popular series in Europe and they've lumped all of us in together, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar problems to the US.
The problem, as feared, is that thousands (or hundreds of thousands? millions?) of gamers have all obviously been trying to download and play it all at the same time. Now if there'd been some way to stagger them (they've staggered countries) or otherwise spread the load in a sensible way they might have had a chance, but as I understand it the game is the best part of 20gb.
Even if 1,000 people are trying at the same time that's 20 terabytes of data to download so you can image the amounts of data if there's more like 100,000 people. Apparently there have been huge wait times to even get to the start of downloading, let alone downloading or even playing it.
I'm also guessing that a lot of people had to install origin as well so that will also have added to the load.
I recall personally experiencing a very similar issue with Half Life 2 - I tried to install on day one and basically failed as there were just too many people trying to do the same thing. However when I tried the next morning it was as easy as pie.
You can kinda see the issue - the only times the loads are going to be this sever are at launch. So if you put in loads of capacity then when you're into the steady-state phase you're probably way over-supplied with capacity so you either need to strip some of it away later, which in itself will likely cause some problems, or planning for the steady-state and simply taking the initial problems on the chin.
Of course that doesn't stop it being any less frustrating for the individuals who, rightly, feel they have bought something they can't actually use. And that's a particular issue for something like SimCity where it's always been a single-player, off-line game and a game that could still, even in this iteration, work that way.
For me personally I'm obviously just going to have to suck-it-and see. I should have the game for the weekend and I have the Monday off so hopefully if I'm persistent and I pick my times well I should be able to get it working. But it's a very popular series in Europe and they've lumped all of us in together, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are similar problems to the US.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
a minor prang
So yesterday I didn't post, and it was basically because the day was very chaotic.
My car was in for a service and MOT and I'd decided to get a courtesy car. I don't usually do this as the garage and where I work are close enough for the train to be a sensible (if bizarrely costly) option. However, this time I'd thought I would.
So I dropped my car off and signed all the paperwork for the car, which was a Nissan Note, but when I got in the fuel warning was going - there was just 30miles worth of fuel in it. However, I wasn't sure if it was diesel or not (I suspected it was) so I had to dash back in to check.
This and the time it took me to fill up (I had to stop at the Tesco garage as it's the only one I knew I could get to and they had some weird thing on the pump where you have to press if you want to pay at the kiosk or at the pump and I didn't work this out for a while) meant I was late getting to work - not by much, but still late and of course I was wanting to go early in order to pick up my car.
And then the fun really started. I'd figured I would use the courtesy car as a bit of a test drive as I've never driven a note before, but as part of this I checked out the boot and the seats and all the things like that. This made me slightly later setting off than usual and unfortunately it also meant that I was leaving at the same time as someone who works in the office next to ours.
And she hit me.
I was driving along the bit that leads out to the main part of the industrial estate and she basically reversed straight out and hit the car. The damage was pretty minor - scuffed bumper sort of territory - and if it had been my own car I'd have been keen to help her out and let her pay for the repairs direct.
However, it was a courtesy car. Not my car. The damage was also way too obvious that I could have tried to pretend it hadn't happened. If they'd have taken even a cursory look at the vehicle it would have been obvious and if I'd not said anything then that wouldn't be a good situation to be in.
I swapped what details we had (difficult for me as obviously it was the garage's coverage, not mine and she didn't have hers to hand) and then called the garage. Which was when I got my next shock - unless she admitted liability I would have to pay them a £500 excess. Obviously I'd then have to try to recover this from her insurer (or also the garage if it was less than £500).
But of course my car was in for a service and MOT, and of course it was the level 3 (most expensive) service which meant, all together with a few parts that needed doing, it was already going to cost me £390. That could have meant I would have to pay £890!
I therefore decided to dash back home and get my own policy to see if it covered me for driving other vehicles, and the answer was sort of - I was covered for 3rd party when driving other vehicles.
Luckily she did admit liability and the garage therefore said they wouldn't take the excess (although noted that if there was a problem they may need to).
Anyway, that also meant I had to go extra early and of course had to make lots of personal calls in the afternoon and, to be frank, I was rather flustered, so I didn't get any chance to even think about a blog, let alone do all my work.
My car was in for a service and MOT and I'd decided to get a courtesy car. I don't usually do this as the garage and where I work are close enough for the train to be a sensible (if bizarrely costly) option. However, this time I'd thought I would.
So I dropped my car off and signed all the paperwork for the car, which was a Nissan Note, but when I got in the fuel warning was going - there was just 30miles worth of fuel in it. However, I wasn't sure if it was diesel or not (I suspected it was) so I had to dash back in to check.
This and the time it took me to fill up (I had to stop at the Tesco garage as it's the only one I knew I could get to and they had some weird thing on the pump where you have to press if you want to pay at the kiosk or at the pump and I didn't work this out for a while) meant I was late getting to work - not by much, but still late and of course I was wanting to go early in order to pick up my car.
And then the fun really started. I'd figured I would use the courtesy car as a bit of a test drive as I've never driven a note before, but as part of this I checked out the boot and the seats and all the things like that. This made me slightly later setting off than usual and unfortunately it also meant that I was leaving at the same time as someone who works in the office next to ours.
And she hit me.
I was driving along the bit that leads out to the main part of the industrial estate and she basically reversed straight out and hit the car. The damage was pretty minor - scuffed bumper sort of territory - and if it had been my own car I'd have been keen to help her out and let her pay for the repairs direct.
However, it was a courtesy car. Not my car. The damage was also way too obvious that I could have tried to pretend it hadn't happened. If they'd have taken even a cursory look at the vehicle it would have been obvious and if I'd not said anything then that wouldn't be a good situation to be in.
I swapped what details we had (difficult for me as obviously it was the garage's coverage, not mine and she didn't have hers to hand) and then called the garage. Which was when I got my next shock - unless she admitted liability I would have to pay them a £500 excess. Obviously I'd then have to try to recover this from her insurer (or also the garage if it was less than £500).
But of course my car was in for a service and MOT, and of course it was the level 3 (most expensive) service which meant, all together with a few parts that needed doing, it was already going to cost me £390. That could have meant I would have to pay £890!
I therefore decided to dash back home and get my own policy to see if it covered me for driving other vehicles, and the answer was sort of - I was covered for 3rd party when driving other vehicles.
Luckily she did admit liability and the garage therefore said they wouldn't take the excess (although noted that if there was a problem they may need to).
Anyway, that also meant I had to go extra early and of course had to make lots of personal calls in the afternoon and, to be frank, I was rather flustered, so I didn't get any chance to even think about a blog, let alone do all my work.
Friday, 1 March 2013
a week until simcity
About the only up-side of the horrendous work-load I've had to take on this last month is that I've asked for a day in lieu and I'm taking that day on Monday the 11th.
Monday the 11th is significant because it's the Monday after simcity comes out. Well, comes out in the UK. I'm not quite sure why we in the UK are getting the game 3 days after the US. Well, I say I don't understand. Given the online nature of the game I'm guessing it would increase the chances of it crashing if everyone got it at the same time.
Saying that, though, there are apparently going to be multiple servers so you should think the load could be shared, but then I've no idea how those play servers mesh in the Origin. Origin is EA's version of steam and that's where you download the game from - perhaps the issue is more to do with the load on origin.
To be fair, to some extent it's a good thing we get it on the 8th because then I won't get sucked into playing it on the first few weeknights. Or trying to play it - if there are horrible delays in downloads or anything then there's always the risk that I spend a weeknight trying to download it and failing, which I've had before and it's not conducive to a good night's sleep.
I'm so looking forward to the new game - it looks great. They've been doing lots of preview stuff and really giving it the hard sell. In particular this week they've been running a website http://letsallbemayor.com where they've been streaming 4 hour sessions each day where they work on cities with different themes and stuff.
The commentators can grate a bit - they were a bit annoying on the first day in particular - but last night was great as they had a senior guy on and asked him lots of questions about the game and how it works.
Of course the downside of this month has been how horribly tired I am. There were 20 working days in February, and I've recorded 24.25 hours' worth of working days. I'm getting 1 day in lieu and today I've worked a bit less than a normal day, but I've still basically worked 3 days.
And that's 3 days for nothing - no overtime, no double time, we don't do flexi. It stinks, to be frank. Particularly when you factor in a big reason for me having to do that has been because of pathetic levels of support from others in the office.
I might write a rant about it over the weekend to post next week.
Monday the 11th is significant because it's the Monday after simcity comes out. Well, comes out in the UK. I'm not quite sure why we in the UK are getting the game 3 days after the US. Well, I say I don't understand. Given the online nature of the game I'm guessing it would increase the chances of it crashing if everyone got it at the same time.
Saying that, though, there are apparently going to be multiple servers so you should think the load could be shared, but then I've no idea how those play servers mesh in the Origin. Origin is EA's version of steam and that's where you download the game from - perhaps the issue is more to do with the load on origin.
To be fair, to some extent it's a good thing we get it on the 8th because then I won't get sucked into playing it on the first few weeknights. Or trying to play it - if there are horrible delays in downloads or anything then there's always the risk that I spend a weeknight trying to download it and failing, which I've had before and it's not conducive to a good night's sleep.
I'm so looking forward to the new game - it looks great. They've been doing lots of preview stuff and really giving it the hard sell. In particular this week they've been running a website http://letsallbemayor.com where they've been streaming 4 hour sessions each day where they work on cities with different themes and stuff.
The commentators can grate a bit - they were a bit annoying on the first day in particular - but last night was great as they had a senior guy on and asked him lots of questions about the game and how it works.
Of course the downside of this month has been how horribly tired I am. There were 20 working days in February, and I've recorded 24.25 hours' worth of working days. I'm getting 1 day in lieu and today I've worked a bit less than a normal day, but I've still basically worked 3 days.
And that's 3 days for nothing - no overtime, no double time, we don't do flexi. It stinks, to be frank. Particularly when you factor in a big reason for me having to do that has been because of pathetic levels of support from others in the office.
I might write a rant about it over the weekend to post next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)