It's my Birthday!

Yes, thats right, you heard it here first!

24 today, would like to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes and presents to those who gave them! I think it's official that I shall consume no more muffins... ate too many at work today!

Also, as I predicted, i'm single!

Finally, check this out...

Sideblaggin'

So a bit out of the ordinary today, I'm posting another blog, not for any real reason...

It's a quiet night here in Pitlochry, well.. i say quiet, currently the door is creaking and I can hear the faint noise coming from the TV in my parents lounge, oh and lets not forget the rapid typing noises coming from this keyboard.

I've recently started to wonder if i'm living in the correct time. Fair enough, I know about computers, I use my mp3 player religiously, but there's some things you just can't beat. Like the feel of vinyl records, or the sound, I don't like TV (nor do I watch it), I much prefer reading (which will bring me onto my next point very shortly), and generally, the culture of today is... well odd. Reality TV, really is not my cup of tea, I don't wait for the next instalment of Big Brother, Strictly come dancing or any of this reality TV lark.

As for my next point... people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. Instead of talking, they text, or instant message, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people at a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the Queen's English.

Ok, fair enough, I'll admit right now, I've used "LOL" to death when IM'ing, it's quicker, but from this moment on, I promise to Stop using "LOL" and any other abbreviation. Oh and as a side note for my would be readers, I always type text messages out in full English, grammar included!

As for Wikipedia, and everyone who "trusts" it to be the worlds most accurate source of information.. all I can say is "Wikipedia, must be accurate then!" (Please note the Sarcasim!)

They say that everything is connected to everything. The butterfly effect. You drop a pebble into a pond and the ripples radiate outward, affecting everything. I sometimes question this, how can we possibly say that me drinking this nice, ice cold Heiniken (it's my b'day weekend, i'm allowed to break the rule especially for it!) will have some significant impact on my life?

As for other random thoughts.. currently contemplating getting my first tattoo, we shall see...

Anyway, enough of my ranting! Have fun folks :)

Further Songs of a madman

So here we are 2nd post of 2009, it's now Friday the 16th of January and it's 3 days to go until my freaking B'day folks!!!!!

So whats new this week? Well nothing much, that chick that I talked about in my last blag, decided to have "The Talk" last night, so i'm pretty much expecting that I will be a single man at some point this weekend (Shitty way to go onto your b'day huh?) But I will blog more on this after I've had confirmation.

So what else? Well completed the wonderful 2nd week of work, didn't exactly do much to be fair! Had Monday off, so I partook in a monthly ritual of getting the hair cut (free head massage thrown in!) and generally dossed around in the cold capital. Unfort, not a lot going on there these days, so nothing really to report, well except the god damned tram works, but less said the better.

What else?! Black rose, ah yes, my beloveded tavern, how I missed thee.. but I'm back! Pub quiz nights! Huzzah! Funnily, with a reduced team, we actually won :)

Otherwise it's been pretty quiet, i've been bored out of my mind (apart from when I've actually done stuff), so it looks as if joining the gym will actually go ahead!

Anyway that is all blag readers, until next time, I'll leave you with this music video (I seem to be listening to more of my old music).

Papa roach - Scars

Locked In Brutal Nothingness...

First post of 2009 and only 6 months late from when I should of actually posted.. oops!

So, even though that tickers been doing sweet F*#K all, except for me occasionally checking to see if it's clocking up.. infact I think I shall remove it.

Firstly where to start, oh my xbox 360... oh man where to begin..
The past few weeks I've been hitting Battlefield bad company pretty hard (xmas holidays, some free time and well, generally nothing better to do in this shitty weather). Anyway, my Xbox started to crash and yet continues to do so. So being a sensible person, I decided to call M$, apparently the warranty is expired and it'll cost me £60 to get it looked at... F#!k that.
So then the non sensible side kicked in and well, I decided to try and open it, a challenge without the proper tools and my fingers are all shredded now... I wish that I could muster authentic rage, but I loved that thing. I feel more like I'm burying a Goddamned pet.

What else is new... I seen slipknot in December.. absoloutley fantastic gig! Machine head supporting, with Children of Bodom!



I finally got a flatmate, but however this is not working out so well, he's very arrogant, lazy and well generally a pain in the arse, so I'll be kicking him out soon! Plus, it's time to start the flat renovations!

I've been seeing a new girl, slightly older, but I don't care about that. She's great, funny, beautiful, pretty much everything I like, but alas she has a hectic work schedule!

Nothing new on the hobby front yet really, just trying to save up to get the flat done, then I'll look into buying my DSLR camera! Also looking at joining a gym to kill the time.

Anyway, that is all for now folks, need to start cooking. Oh yeah, final note, decided to start getting in shape, so this years resolutions are.

-Give up non social drinking (aka: no drinking in a house, has to be a bar or restaurant)
-Give up Soft drinks (coke a cola, fanta etc etc)
-Give up eating non freshly made food (good by frozen crap)

Currently the results appear to be good, feel like i'm losing weight, but we shall see in a week when I hit the scales!

Anyway bye for now folks!

Will blog later...

No dongle to get the pictures off my phone, so no point doing this just now! So best comic ever...

I can't think of a decent punch line...

Ok, so admittedly i've actually got nothing to report on this week...

Finally got my life back! Projects are done.. i've done like over 40hrs of overtime, and I'm knackered, however... got a week off work and it's time to relax.

Oh for anyone reading.. it's the highland games in Pitlochry this weekend, I'll write an update on Sunday about all the tom foolery (with pictures) and shenanigans!

Till then...

PS: I'll stop with the promoting of linux... i swear!

Linux, and why you should switch...

Sorry to anyone (if there is anyone) who follows this blog regularly. I haven't properly in a while, and to be honest there isn't much to report!

Just work, work and more work.

Anyway I'm becoming a sort of Linux campaigner these days, i'm loving the customisations and the community, lots of very friendly and helpful people! Plus well it's fast and secure :)

However 10 reasons to switch...

1. It Doesn't Crash Linux has been time-proven to be a reliable operating system. Although the desktop is not a new place for Linux, most Linux-based systems have been used as servers and embedded systems. High-visibility Web sites such as Google use Linux-based systems, but you also can find Linux inside the TiVo set-top box in many livingrooms.

Linux has proved to be so reliable and secure that it is commonly found in dedicated firewall and router systems used by high-profile companies to secure their networks. For more than ten years, it has not been uncommon for Linux systems to run for months or years without needing a single reboot.

2. Viruses Are Few and Far Between

Although it is possible to create a virus to target Linux systems, the design of the system itself makes it very difficult to become infected. A single user could cause local damage to his or her files by running a virus on his or her system; however, this would be an isolated instance rather than something could spread out of control.

In addition, virtually all Linux vendors offer free on-line security updates. The general philosophy of the Linux community has been to address possible security issues before they become a problem rather than hoping the susceptibility will go unnoticed.

3. Virtually Hardware-Independent

Linux was designed and written to be easily portable to different hardware. For the desktop user, this means that Linux has been and likely always will be the first operating system to take advantage of advances in hardware technology such as AMD's 64-bit processor chips.

4. Freedom of Choice

Linux offers freedom of choice as far as which manufacturer you purchase the software from as well as which application programs you wish to use. Being able to pick the manufacturer means you have a real choice as far as type of support you receive. Being open-source software, new manufacturers can enter the market to address customer needs.

Choice of application programs means that you can select the tools that best address your needs. For example, three popular word processors are available. All three are free and interoperate with MS Word, but each offers unique advantages and disadvantages. The same is true of Web browsers.

5. Standards

Linux itself and many common applications follow open standards. This means an update on one system will not make other systems obsolete.

6. Applications, Applications, Applications

Each Linux distribution comes with hundreds and possibly thousands of application programs included. This alone can save you thousands of pounds for each desktop system you configure. Although this is a very small subset, consider that the OpenOffice.org office suite is included as well as the GIMP, a program similar to (and many people say more capable than Adobe Photoshop); Scribus, a document layout program similar to Quark Xpress; Evolution, an e-mail system equivalent to Microsoft's Outlook Express; and hundreds more.

For the more technically inclined, development tools, such as compilers for the C, C++, Ada, Fortran, Pascal and other languages, are included as well as Perl, PHP and Python interpreters. Editors and versioning tools also are included in this category.

Whether you are looking for Instant Messaging clients, backup tools or Web site development packages, they likely are all included within your base Linux distribution.

7. Interoperability

More and more computers are being connected to networks. No system would be complete if it did not include tools to allow it to interoperate with computers running other operating systems. Once again, Linux is very strong in this area.

Linux includes Samba, software that allows Linux to act as a client on a Microsoft Windows-based network. In fact, Samba includes server facilities such that you could run a Linux system as the server for a group of Linux and Windows-based client systems.

In addition, Linux includes software to network with Apple networks and Novell's Netware. NFS, the networking technology developed on UNIX systems also is included.

8. It's a Community Relationship, Not a Customer Relationship

Other operating systems are the products of single vendors. Linux, on the other hand, is openly developed, and this technology is shared among vendors. This means you become part of a community rather than a customer of a single manufacturer. Also, the supplier community easily can adjust to the needs of various user communities rather than spouting a "one size fits all" philosophy.

This means you can select a Linux vendor that appears to best address your needs and feel confident that you could switch vendors at a later time without losing your investment--both in terms of costs and learning.

9. It's Not How Big Your Processor Is...

Because of a combination of the internal design of Linux and development contributions from a diverse community, Linux tends to be more frugal in the use of computer resources. This may manifest itself in a single desktop system running faster with Linux than with another operating system, but the advantages go far beyond that. It is possible, for example, to configure a single Linux system to act as a terminal server and then use outdated hardware as what are called thin clients.

This server/thin client configuration makes it possible for older, less powerful hardware to share the resources of a single powerful system thus extending the life of older machines.

10. Linux Is Configurable

Linux is a true multi-user operating system. Each user can have his or her own individual configuration all on one computer. This includes the look of the desktop, what icons are displayed, what programs are started automatically when the user logs in and even what language the desktop is in.

A lot of the features listed here might be in Vista, however Linux doesn't carry the bloatware! Also the community is just fantastic, you have people offering support left right and centre on the forums for each Distro.

However enough ranting.. here's a nice lil video :)