Unlucky my foot - Friday (the 13th)

I got up, went to my 0900 Digital Processors lecture (which for some reason isn't on the timetable but that's okay, I'm not stupid). After the lecture we went straight to "Professional Practice". I'll not lie, it looks like it'll be a complete waste of time and I'm not overly happy about it. But, that's life. After that lecture I went to the Library with Big Chris (so called because he's about half a head taller than me and very well built) and we got some Java books out (well, he got three and I got one). He's going to be my partner for Java and Digital Electronics. That's good because I'm very good at the Java and he's very good at the Digital Electronics. After that I went to Tesco and got 8 sausage rolls for a quid, not a bad lunch really. I sorted out my connection to the university wireless network and did WoA stuff, mostly the database I'm messing with. It now logs all transactions and does a half decent job of displaying the results of said data. The Networking lecture was better than the one I had on Wednessday or Tuesday, whenever it was I had the last one. After that lecture I got the bus most of the way home, walked the last bit and did more WoA stuff. I then watched the second half of V for Vendetta on DVD. Myself, Peter and Lauren went over to Lizzie, Jo, Emma and Charlotte's house for Charlotte's going away party. We all left at about 2300 because we wanted to get back, we had a "fun" time walking back because it's a Friday night so there were plenty of drunks on the streets and some chavs. Lauren has apparently got a lot of experiance of such people because wherever it is that she lives is full of them, apparently it was good that we were walking as a group. I agreed.

There is such a thing as a free lunch! - Thursday

I woke up and because I had a bit of a blocked up nose and was tired, stayed in bed. Yes, I had no lectures today, woo! I did get out of bed by 0930, and for my breakfast, a pack of crisps (I have quite a few still) and half a cup of tea (a normal cup, not my monster mug). Anyhoo, on with the day, I walked over to Lizzie, Jo, Liz and Emma's house. Chris was doing some painting and general DIY work there today and said he'd love for me to help him, seeing as I had a free day that wouldn't be a problem. I got there 10 minutes late (oops) and was met by a very tired Lizzie who wasn't even aware that Chris was doing any work today. Turns out that Chris simply hadn't told any of them, even Emma whom he talks to quite a lot. Lizzie apologised for her reaction on Monday which I thought was quite nice, I was impressed she remembered considering how tired she looked. Emma made me a cup of tea and phoned Chris, he got there 10 minutes after me and we began work. There were two main jobs to do, sand down some plaster so we could paint it later and also to paint a coat of weather paint thingamie on the wooden fence. Being very slight (Chris isn't big, but he's not as slim as me, though, I am almost officially underweight) I got to do the first part of the fence as it was in a really hard to get to part, I managed fine. Then I did some Sanding, after about 5 minutes I hit upon the idea of sticking my t-shirt over my mouth and nose to help stop the dust further clogging up my nose. In short order I got into the hang of sanding and had all of the walls sanded. I then did some more painting of the fence. A bit later Chris went to pick up a van from someplace and I went along. We cycled up there, I was on Jo's bike, it's sadle being about 50cm too low for me made for a tricky ride but Chris' bike is can't change the pedal centered gears so neither of us were into racing. It took half an hour for Chris to fill out the paper-work, mostly because the lady serving him was new and didn't know what to do. We got back and had lunch. I had a total of three sandwiches and a slice of pizza, note how I didn't pay for it (I can't count it for my free stuff competition as it's from friends). I then fixed Chris' brakes, apparently he was going to be charged £15 for them to be changed, I then did more fence painting. I later had a crack at fixing Chris' gears but it wasn't possible, the spring that pulls against the cable is stuck. After applying WD 40 to most of the gear system we were able to loosen it up a bit with a Birmingham Screwdriver, hopefully next time I'll find out what's actually stopping it working, the spring is still there. Chris and Emma went out to dinner somewhere, Jo and Lizzie went to Steve H's house for dinner and I was cooked dinner by Liz. Liz cooked Tikka Masala Chicken and Rice. The Tikka was a bit hot for my liking (I prefer a Korma) but notheless it was a delicious meal and included some vegetable name that I cannot spell. Corgettes. My spell checker can't help me either. Anyhoo, it was most excellent and it was nice to talk to Liz and Charlotte before walking home to WoA and the database I've been writing. Now, you're probably thinking "Hang on, you sanded, painted and fixed in return for those meals, they're not free". HA! I am way ahead of you. I was going to do those things anyway because I'm a nice person and I like helping my friends, the meals were just an added bonus. And before someone says they'd have fed me anyway, I think not, Lorna's house would probably feed me if I just turned up, but I don't think this house would have. Now, wasn't that an interesting day? Best part? I HAD AN EXCUSE TO WEAR SHORTS!!!

Yay, boo, yum, umm, uhh and WOO!

Yay I had an 0900 lecture on Java Programming, Ioannis is the very cool lecturer that teaches it. I planned to be there on time. Gareth and I waited for the bus and it was full. We managed to get to the lecture in 15 minutes from the bus stop, I'm estimating it to be maybe 2km in distance, we did a fair bit of jogging and fast walking. We got there about a minute late and I sat at the front (I planned to anyway, I was going to be answering questions). I got my chance, Ioannis put something about Java on the screen, saying that there should be a word or phrase there we didn't understand. Ioannis: Who has spotted it? *nobody says anything, I knew what it all meant but I've done this type of programming before, most of the class haven't so I don't want to spoil the learning experiance* Ioannis: So you all understand this? *I nod my head* Ioannis: You're nodding your head like a duck again Me: No, this would be nodding like a duck *nods like a duck* Ioannis: Okay, nod like you did the first time, I assume you mean that you understand every single part of this paragraph? Me: Yep Ioannis: Anybody else? *two other people put their hands up, Gareth is one of them* Ioannis: Right, you *points to me* can tell everybody what it means *I give a textbook answer* Ioannis: Yes, that is the correct answer... I get the idea he assumed I'd not know the answer. Good thing I still remember that Java Crash Coruse I attended last year (even though it was meant for 2nd years). Anyhoo, I enjoyed the lecture and completely understood all the Java notes Ioannis displayed. Most of the class seem uninterested in responding at all, which is good for me because it'll mean I learn more :) After the lecture I went to Tesco to get some drinks for the CU prayer lunch, checked my bank balance to see if the Student Loan has come in (it has indeed, that student offer of a Macbook for £650 is quite enticing but I'm okay with what I have). Actually, I did some research (about 3 minutes ago) into it. This is the page showing the Macbooks. I think that for £650 I can get the one that normally costs $1099. Here's the funny part, that's apparently £591.879, I'm assuming I've got the wrong number somewhere... Boo My Networks lecture was deadly boring and the lecturer said umm so many times it was worrying. He's the one that was in one of the labs and I had to complain about. Fun times ahead for that unit for sure! Luckily there is a second lecturer covering the other half of the unit. Yum The Prayer Lunch was shortly afterwards. The food was very tasty (who'd have thought that Lidl sold such nice sausage rolls!) and the Prayers just as good. Afterwards I walked home and did some WoA stuff. The database part of it I've been working on for a while was almost completed before I had to move on to the next part of the day. Umm I went over to Lorna's and so did Steve H, we got started on the actual design of the CU website. Steve H is very good at avoiding work, I ended up doing the work myself (not a problem, I know what I'm doing, Steve doesn't do as much web design) but it wasn't overly tricky. Steve and myself (mostly Steve) fixed Lorna and Brierley's internet connections too. Uhh I got back home at about midnight and carried on working on the WoA Research Database. It was the last little bit. I'd made it so you could log on, select the lists, select techs from said lists, it'd then show the techs you chose and work out discounts for various things, then the final page. But, I was beset by difficulties, two key bits of text which contained all the key information refused to line up properly and it took me an hour to get it right. Still, it all works now and I know that when you repeatedly make something bigger 250 times rather than re-setting it each time, it might be that that's causing the problem. WOO! The database now works, there are likely some minor problems. I've anticipated as many as I can think of and laid down the challenge to the users to break it. There's more to do but the key part of it is done. In other good news, I have a grand total of 0 lectures tomorrow! Sorry for the long blog, I hope most of it was at least interesting enough that you didn't fall asleep and break your nose on the table...

Better Lectures - Tuesday

I got up later than I meant to, though, I have a blocked up nose so I need my sleep. I had an 0900 lecture which myself and Gareth got to 1 minute late. The Lecturer was quite funny and made jokes at most things, he appears to encourage class discussion on subjects. He even mocked me! Lecturer: Who here agress? *I nod my head* Lecturer: You there *points to me* why are you bobbing your head like a duck, is there something wrong with you? *laughter from the class* Me: No, I'm just nodding in agreement Yeah, I wasn't going to let him get away with that one. Later on he asked a question I knew the answer to quite well. More importantly, I could be punny! Lecturer: What is a thread? (he meant in programming terms) Me: It's a bit of string! *laughter from the class* Lecturer: You're not allowed to talk anymore I talked to him after the lecture and he assured me it was just a joke and he was happy for me to answer more questions, he apparently jokes about most things. I see his lecturers looking like some of the most interesting, handy seeing as it's apparently one of the worst units in the department. The unit? Programming (my favourite). I walked back home, had some toasted Sandwiches, did some WoA stuff and walked back in. Software Systems is all about taking a problem and turning it into code, this smells to me to be something I should be good at, I've got experiance at it. After that lecture my timetable said I had a 3 hour break, it was infact a 2 hour break. Aaron was driving home so gave me a lift, he drives right past my house on the way home, very handy. I made a start on some more Database stuff then went back into Uni, Aaron drove past me and gave me a lift (the timing was excellent). He had to pay in some money for his society so I waited for him while he did that, then we went to the Digital Electronics lecture. We've got Hassan again, and this time I'm going to make more of an effort to answer questions and ask them. Hassan came up with a nickname for me... Hassan: How do we shorten this equation? *equation gets shortened by someone else, I had however already done it* Hassan: Now, the ne *I wave my hand and get his attention* Hassan: What is it? Me: Couldn't you shorten it moreso if you did this... *I explain how* Hassan: Yes, good plan Batman, you could do it like that. Actually, your name is probably not Batman but I'll call you that. And he did. But, I give you... Man not caring. After that lecture we had another Software Systems lecture (sadly quite dull) and then Aaron drove me home as it was on the way to his house. Myself, Gareth and Lauren went over to Lorna's house. Pete was there already trying to fix their internet, we fixed it and left. Lorna seemed quite tired. For dinner we had a Domino's Pizza, saving ourselves a good bit of money with one of the gazillion vouchers I'd picked up from Freshers Fayre (not shown in the pictures). I then did more database stuff. Looking back at what I did in 6th form is quite amusing, for instance, Emma is doing Key Skills IT and was asking for help, when she said she'd be doing advanced stuff I assumed it was a database and so did she. Turns out that "advanced" is considered to be an excel spreadsheet. Tomorrow I've got an 0900 start (Java Programming, so it's not all bad) and then a two hour break. I plan to use that time to check on my student loan stuff. I'm glad that my lectures are more interesting this time around, it probably makes the blog more interesting.

Lecture! - Monday

I got up latish, did some WoA stuff then walked to my first lecture. Formal Computing is all about Logic and Maths I did 4-5 years ago! The only downside was that it is 3 solid hours (yes, we had an extra hour this week). On the plus side the guy is quite interesting and appears to be looking out for our best interests rather than just "being there to teach". I am hoping to get a good result in the unit. After the lecture, myself and Gareth (who has an identical timetable) went to Tesco then home. I listened to some of my 14.6 hours of Christian Worship Music and then went to Immanual Baptist Church. For the first few weeks of Uni we're in there instead of the union building because the Union building runs nightclub sort of stuff. Steve H who knows what he's actually doing with the sound has a lecture from 5 till 6. We start at 7. I therefore arrived at 5:30 to carry loads of equipment upstairs, then I figured out where some of the cables went. Since this'll be happening every week I should actually learn how everything happens this time around! The service was about the Gospel itself and a sort of "back to the basics" type of thing. Huw gave me a sort of birthday present, he's got an excellent idea for the WoA logo and at long last, WoA might actually get a logo! After the service I again carried all the heavy stuff downstairs (I'm not complaining, I'll bulk up if I do this) and then walked to the pub. At the pub I finally beat Lawrence at Chess, it was an excellent game and we both enjoyed it. I then played some game I can't remember the name of. Afterwards I walked some people home. Lizzie, Liz, Jo and Claire were being walked home by Greg and Steve Glen. However, I was going at the same time so I walked some of the way, then Lizzie and Claire walked very far ahead of the others. Even after proving that they were very open for mugging they ignored my advice so in the interests of their saftey I walked them all the way home, Lizzie for some reason got really annoyed about this. I'm seeing three ways to deal with this. 1) Let them walk alone, they're all convinced they'll never get mugged or attacked 2) Walk them home anyway 3) Let them walk home alone and "mug" them several times along the way by running ahead or behind, then sneaking up on them. 1 is out of the question, 3 is a possible but 2 is the current fav. It's worrying, Claire and Lizzie looked behind themselves no more than 10 times on a half hour walk. When I walked from their house to mine, I looked behind myself 10 times a minute. Brierley and Emma who I met on the way back to my house had no problem about being walked back the last part of the way home and even thanked me for it, which I really appriciated. Anyhoo, tomorrow is an 0900 start and it's currently 0045, that'd make today an 0900 start. So, for the gazillions of people that read my blog but never comment, what would you suggest I do about the walking home situation?

Tired? - Sunday

I got up, went to the morning service. It was about Bible Translations, Jonathan emphasised that while a Bible such as the NIV is good in that it's easy to read, missing out some small words actaully has a big effect. I forgot to write down the verses he compared from the ESV and NIV but words such as "slept" and "died" were swapped (thus removing hints of the resurrection) and also "walk" and "live". It's impressive how there are such small changes that can very easily have very big effects. After the service there was a massive student lunch. I'm sure I used to eat more while in Wales, I'm guessing that the sweets I got for my birthday are to blame and that munching on them isn't the best plan going. After the lunch we went to #10 where I spent 20ish minutes in a staring contest. The lady in question is a friend of Steve H and was just down for the day, she's called Em (well, she's got a full name but I can't remember it because she prefers to be called Em). It was strange, after staring (and making stupid faces, which didn't work) for about 20 minutes anything I wasn't looking at turned grey, if I blinked slowly then colour would return. Em apparently experianced the same thing but with a tint of neon green :s In the end I lost the staring contest, went home, did some WoA stuff and then went to the evening service. Sadly I was very tired and found it hard to keep my eyes open! I did however make enough notes to remind myself what the service was about. Jonathan concentrated on Philipians 1:3-8 and how Paul welcomes all of them, not just some. Also today I got more birthday presents! Lorna gave me a book called "Touch Points for Students", it's basically about what the Bible says on issues that affect students, I've flicked through it and it looks good. Lorna also gave me a photo frame thingie, I assumed it'd have a picture of her in it at first (it'd be very like Lorna to do that) instead it had Psalm 23 written "For Computer Geeks" and is very snazzy, I've blue-tacked it to my wall (after my duct tape ripped off some paint I figured blue tac is best). Siän gave me a "Grow your own Christmas tree", I was a bit dubious, it looked like Siän might have put a spring in there but she hadn't. It looks like it'll be really cool and I will have my own tree! I've uploaded my timetable to this location, I've got one lecture tomorrow, but, it's two hours long :(