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Sun, 29 Jun 2008
Bloo at his best.
Posted @ 20:06 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Wed, 09 Jan 2008
As of today my monster truck, once amusingly referred to by Tim as my "paramilitary vehicle", has been returned to the dealer and I shall henceforth be piloting a rather more modest Subaru Impreza. I really enjoyed the Durango but it was overkill for my needs and rather too thirsty for my pocket so when the lease came to its end I turned it in rather than keeping it. The new scooby has much to recommend it particularly when the road is less than straight but there's one feature I'm really going to miss: heated seats. Granted I now have cloth rather than leather seats so theres less of a need but its hard to beat a heated seat for fast warmth on a cold day.
Posted @ 14:38 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Fri, 03 Aug 2007
Further to Tim's recent post, Avoid Heathrow At All Costs, I have to concur. I flew out of Heathrow last Sunday after this years XML Summer School (excellent event BTW) and I have to say the experience was miserable. In all I had to queue 6 times before I finally got on the plane:
- Check in, not too bad thanks to having premier status on United.
- Documentation check, again not too bad.
- Security screening, awful, long snaking line with less than half the possible lanes being manned, took about 45min to get through, lots of folks getting concerned about missing their flights due to the excessive delay.
- Documentation check, they already checked my documentation, what's the point of doing it again ?
- Shoe screening, they have a separate queue just to scan your shoes so just when you think you're done you have to get in line again. Why can't they scan your shoes the same time they scan you carry on ?
- Gate entrance documentation check, fair enough they need to make sure my boarding pass matches the flight I'm about to get on.
I got to the airport about three hours before my flight was scheduled to depart. Even with that kind of time margin I barely had any time to do much beyond walk from the departure area to my gate before it was time to board. That's probably just as well since the departure area was completely packed and I'd have been lucky to find a seat anyway.
Another thing I don't understand is the limit of one carry-on item when leaving from the UK. Only the UK imposes this and I've yet to hear any explanation of how this improves security ? Given the recent baggage fiasco you'd think more carry-on would be first thing they'd try. Anyway, it seems the heat is building on this issue so perhaps the government and BAA will see some sense eventually. For now, just say no to Heathrow.
Posted @ 15:34 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Wed, 20 Dec 2006
AT DESPAIR, INC., we believe motivational products create unrealistic expectations, raising hopes only to dash them. That's why we created our soul-crushingly depressing Demotivators® designs, so you can skip the delusions.
There are so many good ones its hard to pick a favorite but effort, individuality and humiliation are all up there.
(Via Kontrawize.)
Posted @ 09:48 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Tue, 20 Jun 2006
I'm attending the Identity Mashup Conference in Cambridge, MA this week. Its a different kind of conference for me, for one thing I'm not speaking which oftentimes is the price of attendance, for another its not a solely technology-oriented conference. Many of the sessions focus on the social aspects of network identity, things like reputation, trust, privacy, civil liberties and community building. Its quite an eye-opener to look up from the bits and bytes for a while and learn something about the human aspects of network technologies.
Interestingly there are lots of Mac laptops in evidence here: in the session I'm sitting in now, about 30% of folks are sitting in front of Apple kit.
Posted @ 10:24 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Wed, 12 Apr 2006
This blog cracks me up: Chad’s Reviews.
Posted @ 22:28 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Wed, 08 Mar 2006
British Airways - Not Too Shabby
Flying back from the W3C Technical Plenary in France last Sunday I ran into some weather related problems (Munich was basically snowed in) and got transferred onto BA flights to Boston via Heathrow. The flight out of Nice was delayed due to baggage counting difficulties (one too many bags on board, they're very strict on that kind of thing these days) and it was looking like I'd miss my connection to Boston as I had to switch from terminal 1 to terminal 4 at Heathrow. Now in my experience in these kinds of circumstances, most airlines just dump you at the gate and wish you good luck but in this instance we were met by a BA rep who ushered us through security and then drove us to the gate for the Boston flight which I still only made with minutes to spare. Thanks BA !
Posted @ 16:19 | Category: /misc | Permalink
According to the Great Circle Mapper, that's how many miles I flew last year. Here's a map showing the routes I flew.
No wonder I was little tired over Christmas. Unfortunately that still left me 10,000 miles short of full "tinsel of the ionosphere" airline status but as things are looking quieter travel-wise this year that's not such a bad thing.
Posted @ 16:06 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Sat, 04 Mar 2006
I've had to disable comments due to the amount of spam that was accumulating. I'll turn them back on once I find a suitable Blosxom plug-in to stem the tide of crud.
Posted @ 11:34 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Fri, 17 Jun 2005
Finestkind indeed.
Posted @ 14:21 | Category: /misc | Permalink
Fri, 27 May 2005
 I am a Defender-ship.I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones, and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger groups. What Video Game Character Are You? Interesting, Defender is my all time favorite 80s video game. Posted @ 08:46 | Category: /misc | Permalink Sat, 12 Feb 2005Congratulate me, my permanent resident (aka green) card arrived today although, slightly disappointingly, its not at all green. Our application to adjust status was approved on Jan 13th while I was in Melbourne and we went to visit our local USCIS office on the 24th to hand over photos and get our index fingers printed for the cards. I was told it could take up to 6 months to get the physical card but in the end it was only 3 weeks - which was nice. Having a green card has the following advantages:
We still don't get to vote in presidential elections and could be deported for a misdemeanor but for all intents and purposes we are now free to stay here for as long as we like. It took a little over 2 years to get through the green card process. I was quite fortunate as I qualified for a 'manager or executive' visa in the first place and that allowed me to skip one of the longer steps in the process. If anyone reading this is in the queue for a green card, good luck and hang on in there. Posted @ 22:32 | Category: /misc | Permalink Sat, 22 Jan 2005This has to be the best/worst case of jet lag I've ever had. I spent last week at a W3C WS-Addressing meeting in Melbourne, Australia (very nice btw) but have been home since Thursday evening. Its now just after 5am on Saturday morning but I've been awake since about 1.30am. This is pretty churtling because I'm 'very tired'(TM). Posted @ 04:09 | Category: /misc | Permalink Sun, 05 Dec 2004Got myself a new truck the other week. Rather unimaginatively its the same make and model as my old truck (a Dodge Durango) but, as they say over here, its an 'all new' model. The new truck has major benefits over the old one including brakes that work, headlights that light the way, heated seats, suspension that dulls road imperfections rather than amplifying them and, most importantly, a really good stereo. Oh and er, yeah, its got a Hemi :-D. Posted @ 16:12 | Category: /misc | Permalink Mon, 15 Nov 2004Scary new toy. This purchase has been brewing for a good while but what finally tipped the balance was checking out how much a load of logs would cost to have delivered and noting how many fallen trees we have in the woods at the back of our garden. A mornings work in the woods and now we're stocked up on logs for winter. All together now, 'I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK...'. Now, anyone with an axe who fancies a doing a bit of log splitting, just let me know. Posted @ 07:47 | Category: /misc | Permalink Mon, 27 Sep 2004NTL customers told to 'f**k off'. A Freudian slip if ever there was one. Posted @ 15:36 | Category: /misc | Permalink Sat, 25 Sep 2004
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