Moved

The blog has now officially moved! Click here for the new blog

SPLAT!

My eating habits are not too bad, I eat with my mouth closed, I try not to slurp too loudly with my drink and keep most of my food on my plate when it's not on it's way to my chasm-like mouth. So I ask the question, if a fly lands on your forehead at dinner time and you whap your hand against your forehead, thus splattering the fly across the palm of your hand, is it rude? The blog is moving soon!

The Potato Theory

So, what is a potato theory? Well quite simply it's a theory involving potatoes. It's all about love and how it's shown and what it means. Lets suppose there was this really nice young lady I liked, I'd met her and liked her quite a lot and wanted to ask her out (or maybe she wants to ask me out). I could do this with a rose, ladies apparently like them. What does a Rose signify? What does a Rose stand for? Why use a Rose over say, a lump of grass? Roses are pretty Roses smell nice Roses are symbolic So, we can say that by giving a rose to a lady you are saying that she looks nice, smells nice and further reinforcing your intentions by giving an item that is symbolic of what you are trying to say. However, how long do Roses last for? Well, if you can manage to make it last 2 weeks it'll start looking a bit down by the 1st so we'll say 1 week. Now, lets look at a Potato. Potatoes do not look pretty Potatoes do not smell nice Potatoes are not symbolic Potatoes do however have inner goodness Potatoes last longer than roses Potatoes are very versatile, there's a load of things you can do with them So, by giving a potato to someone you say that they have inner beauty (it's called a personality), that this inner beauty will last and that they're a really cool person that can do whatever they put their mind to. Now, I'm sure you've at some point been told by a lady to stop being so superficial, to stop judging by looks and to start judging by personality. They clearly want to be given a potato, or do they? While the theory is spot on, it doesn't account for one very very important fact. Ladies don't make sense, they tell you not to judge on physical appearance yet they want to be told they look nice Armed with this crucial bit of information we can see why despite making complete sense, the potato gift idea is doomed to failure. But now that leaves us with a huge problem, if we want to be true Gentlemen then we can't just give out a rose, it gives out completely the wrong message (i.e. that are obsessed with physical appearance). Thus I propose a new theory. The Strawberry Theory! Granted a Strawberry isn't symbolic and doesn't last for as long as a potato but it does taste awesome, looks quite nice, has lots of inner goodness and can be quite resilient (you try getting those seeds out of your mouth). Alternately, Rosmary suggested simply using a whole rose bush. I still however think that's rather superficial thinking. Remember, the blog will be moving soon.

New Blog!

I've decided to move my blog completely to my server (the woarl.com one). There are a few reasons for this. I can customise more of the way it works I like the Admin Interface more It's no longer one of the fixed width templates that waste screen space I will continue to post here, it's quite possible I change my mind about it. The new blog is located at http://woarl.com/blog. Tomorrow I plan to create an entry fully explaining the Potato theory and where it works and where it doesn't.

Cheltenham (Long Post)

Day 1 - Arrival : Wednesday I got a lift to Jon and Becca's house for 0900 and then we packed the car and left for Cheltenham. Jon is the pastor of Ammanford Evangelical Church and Becca (His wife) is the leader of the youth "expedition". Becca remembered halfway there that her Bible was in one of the many many other bags in the house. It wasn't a problem as all the rest of us had Bibles, of course, we mocked her for the whole time. We got to Cheltenham and managed to find out where we were and what room we were using, I did a lot of running that day as I found out where various things were and went to get stuff. It looked like we'd have around 80 children (we had a capacity of 120). Our accommodation was called "Hunters Lodge", Jon, Sam, Rhodri, Tim, Tom and Myself had entered the room and seen 35 beds, all bar one being bunk beds. I claimed the single bed for my own very quickly and we looked at the loo. We discovered 2 cubicles a latrine, 2 sinks and 1 shower. We looked back in the main dorm room and yes, there were 35 beds, oh, this was not going to be nice. As the providence of the Lord would have it (I don't believe in Luck) there was nobody other than us in that room so we were all okay. Evening 1 - Food : Monday I saw Becca from CU and went to the local area for some food, it was very tasty and the company was good (though they completely failed to understand the Potato theory). My group planned to have a meeting at 2100 but due to locked gates I was the only one that made it (I seemed to have a natural ability not only to run everywhere but also to find doors that were not locked, I also tried climbing them and wriggling under them). We eventually managed to have a very short meeting but we cut it short because it was so late. Day 2 - Eugh! : Thursday Becca, Ceri, Charlotte, Jen and Laura were the female members of our team and they joined us for an early breakfast in the Panorama Restaurant. Suffice to say, the food was not up to the standard I'd expect myself to cook (and that's pretty low). In retrospect, eating very little for breakfast might have been a good thing as you will soon see. Our theme was called "Big Bother" and based a little around Big Brother. I was one of the 4 Youth Leaders that were "in the house". Day 1's challenge involved food, nasty food but that's okay, we were blindfolded. I managed to spit the Anchovy into the audience (about 80 children) and not throw up at the smell of the muscles (though it was a close call). I didn't even bother doing more than licking the Chillies or Ginger. The Baby Food however was actually rather nice (tasted of marmalade). The message for the day was about inward and outward appearance and how it doesn't matter what the World thinks of us, it's what God says that is important. I had a nice greasy burger for lunch (it was really nice) and met some of the group from Portsmouth, I also saw Becca from the CU but she's mentioned later today. The afternoon involved a Bible Study on the theme of the day. The Children gave very good answers, the sort of answers I'd expect from a much older group. I had another burger for dinner (along with a selection of doughnuts I'd charmed from the staff of the Arkle bar), it was very nice and I enjoyed it. Evening 2 - I need a Man! : Thursday I went to the Ceilidh (pronounced "Kay Lee"). I turned up late because I'd attended a talk on Bible Handling skills. I saw only one group of people I knew there, Becca and her friends. After the song that was in progress Becca ran up to me and said "Will you be my Man?". Here are some facts that'll help you to put the situation into context.      I am single      Becca is not single So, we can instantly see that clearly there is something wrong. And that is that I've not explained the 3rd point (which you probably guessed anyway) is that it was for the duration of a few dances, that Luke was not there and that it was not in an intimate setting or manner. I of course danced (making many a joke such as saying "Wow, I'm holding hands with a lady!") fast and vibrantly. I got back to my room and had expended so much energy that I had to take a cold shower to be able to think straight. The Woodpecker Band were really good and my favourite entertainment group of the whole festival. If you want to listen to some of their music, they have 3 samples here. Day 3 - Jaws : Friday I got up and realised that after wearing my red volunteer t-shirt to the Ceilidh last night, wearing it now would probably not earn me any friends. Thus, while the rest of my team went straight to the Burger van, I took a slightly longer route in hunt of a new t-shirt. I got to the Burger van and was separated from my group by another group of volunteers. I got chatting to them and they invited me back to their table. In a bid to make new friends I accompanied Tom, Leanne and Anna back to their table (bringing with me my burger of course). I got chatting to them and their friend Hannah. My co-leaders completed their meal and then left, barely nodding at me as they walked past. I thought nothing of it. During the rest of the day they started calling me Jaws. Apparently I was "sharking" or "going for the ladies". This wasn't my intention but they seemed convinced it was. Today the "housemates" had to put on some makeup. However, we were not doing it ourselves, we had the "aid" of some of the children. Specifically blindfolded Children behind us. To the right is a picture of me with said "improvements" performed. Several of the children dared me to keep it on for the whole day. I decided not to (it was not very comfortable in the heat). Today the theme was about Peer Pressure and weighing up what your friends say and what God says. Originally only Jon, Tom, Rhodri and Tim were calling me Jaws. However, by the afternoon Becca had joined in (she tried to get me to go to the church mission for the sole reason of meeting young, single, christian ladies), sadly other than point out a continuing lack of Lady Friend there was naught I could do to silence them. Phatfish are a Christian band and were playing on the Friday, I went to see them. Jon and Becky from Portsmouth had sat right at the front, they had a space next to them and were quite happy for me to sit there next to them so I did. It was really nice to sit there with them and also very amusing to see a completely new side to Jon. Normally Jon acts in a manner that you would attribute to a "wise" man, he acts in a thoughtful manner that suggests he has contemplated what he's actually doing. However, while at the concert he acted in a much less restrained manner, it was nice to see this side of him. Day 4 - Water Bombs : Saturday Yesterday I spent a lot of time filling up Water Bombs, today I continued to for our morning event. We got all the children onto the grass (today there were around 60) and played some rather messy games and then we brought out the Water Bombs. All of it was completely planned by the leaders, we planned for me to be the one that was pelted (I came up with the idea) and I got completely and utterly drenched. Becca, Jo, Rosemary, Pete, Kathryn and Jacky very kindly invited me to their BBQ for lunch and it was really nice (and very yummy). The evening session was good, I got to lead my first Bible Study and all the children were really really well behaved (maybe because of the way that I gave out Cola Bottles in a very stingy manner). It was around this time my name changed from "Jaws" to "Jaws with Dentures" because apparently I was still after a Lady but was rubbish at it. Evening 4 - Concert : Saturday I have negative musical talent, I cannot clap in time to a song and sing it at the same time. Worse yet, when I do clap out of time, I'm a varying amount out of time. Suffice to say I am unable to play any musical instrument and have apparently got a terrible singing voice. As such I like to listen to music for it's rhythm and sound rather than lyrics and clever melodies. So, perhaps that is why I didn't enjoy the Stuart Townend Concert as much as I thought I would (I once again got front row seats). The picture is taken from Steve Haskew's mobile phone. After the concert I went back to my room with Jon and read the book of Ruth, Jon then went through it with me and explained not only what the book was about but how to realise that's what it was about which will help me next time I try to figure something out. Day 5 - Hectic : Sunday We got up late as we had an 1100 start. Some extra volunteers turned up and we did lots of games but because we'd not realised we had to run today too we didn't plan as much so had to improvise somewhat more than normal. We had a quiz, one question in particular was quite amusing. Becca: What Month was Teifion Married in? *I stand up so everybody can get a good look at me* Becca: The answer? It's a trick question! He's not married, note the lack of ring Jon: He's single, so if you've got any older sisters about his age, send them over Nobody took him seriously but we all had a good laugh about it and you can too. Then began the fun task of clearing up, I was tasked with deflating two inflatables about the size of a 5 year old child. There are several ways of deflating things. Firstly there's the age old method of sitting down holding open the valve and hoping someone kind helps you (only works if you're lucky/attractive enough for help to arrive), the second method (my normal one) is that you hold the valve open and sit on the inflatable. However, today I figured out a better method, get a pointy object, the lid of a biro works well, and poke it into the valve. In doing this you open it up far more and it can deflate several times faster than my normal method. Where next? Several people have commented that I am gifted with youth so I've decided to start volunteering for more things. A group from my CU is almost certainly going to Word Alive and I'll be looking into volunteering there. Jon of Wales reckons that I'd be better with the age group just below what we had at Cheltenham (we had 11-14 year olds). And according to Amanda from Portsmouth, some of the Children were talking about me while in their tents at the campsite. It's quite rewarding to know I've made an impact on them (I am going to assume it's a good one). So, what's the next big adventure going to be?

I get to lead a Bible Study!

Today myself and the rest of us going to Cheltenham all met up, I get to lead a Bible Study we do (I've never led a Bible Study before, should be fun). The Bible Study I'll be leading is titled "Love". Becca has organised it all and the subject it'll be on along with the Bible verses to use so that'll help me a lot, still, I'll have to read the verses in advance and make sure I understand them. Today I drew an interesting difference between Jonathan in Portsmouth and Jonathan in Wales and the way that they preach. Jon from Portsmouth is a lot more formal in his manner than Jon of Wales, he looks into the Bible verse a lot more and requires us to think more. Jon of Wales however is a lot more informal and preaches in a much easier to digest manner, or as I put it "Preaches as if to a group of slightly dim people". Jon from Wales found this funny. Overall my task for helping with the Youth was categorised as "Door Watch", we figured this translates as "Bouncer" much better. However, I'll be doing a few more things than that and it should all be good.

Should I take a career in teaching?

Friday morning I got up, I as per usual did some of that World of Arl stuff, played a little Warcraft 3 and generally relaxed. I then did some more World of Arl stuff and it was still before lunchtime! Then, my sister who is not even at Secondary School yet asks me a question. Cerys: Teifion, how do I make a website Me: You write out some stuff and the computer turns it into a webpage Cerys: Can you teach me? Me: Sure, it's really easy 11 Hours later Cerys was making websites, I think I'll make a set of free tutorials about learning Web Design. I did a quick hunt on iTunes and looked at the selection of pod-casts on HTML and it's pretty poor, looks like it's my time to shine! Today I mowed the lawn and yay, I found more wildlife. I found 2 toads and a frog, though I only bothered to catch the first toad, in retrospect I should have gotten at least the frog too and kept the very small toad I found.         Click for slightly larger versions For much larger pictures, click for Toad on Rocks and Toad on Hand.

Did I miss a chance?

I returned from Portsmouth and I think the exams went well, however I can't make that last an entire post and if I did, it'd likely be boring. What I can tell is a story of my manly charm, swashbuckling manner and downright awesomeness of myself. Yes, a most magnificent tale, I shall tell it. The Hackers had very kindly allowed me to stay with them and rejected any and all attempts at me to offer them money. Well, I wasn't going to let them win, a thank-you gift was clearly in order, left in the room just before I left so they couldn't try to return it. I wasn't sure what to get them, they are so content and happy with what God gives them, reminds me a lot of the way Paul writes in his letters, minus the whole imprisonment stuff. Anyhoo, I decided that if they wanted something, Argos would probably sell it and there's an Argos near the Tesco I was buying my lunches from, so I sauntered over to the Argos. At this point it must be noted that I was wearing trousers, I forget why, I think it had something to do with rain, must have been feeling ill from all that revision. Me: I would like to buy a gift voucher please Young Lady at till: We don't do gift vouchers any more, instead we have gift card things, it's the same result, just a different system Me: (confused as to why this would matter in the slightest) - Ummm, okay, I'll have one of those then Young Lady at till: Is it for a special person or occasion? Me: Not really, some very nice people have let me stay at their house for my resits and I wanted to thank them Young Lady at till: Oooh, well, feel free to stay at my house any time you like! Me: Really? Give me your number and I might call you sometime Young Lady at till: Here you go Me: (Leaves store smiling) - Now, lunch time! Okay, I didn't ask for her number and I'm glad I didn't (no matter how funny it'd be to look back on or how much it'd boost my self esteem if she gave me her number). I would never have called her, she probably wouldn't have expected a call (we're assuming that I actually got her number, it's quite possible she'd have said yes) but if she had then I'd have been a letdown, it'd be a cruel joke which she'd suffer for. No, I am a true gentleman (ignore any comments that Emma or Lorna post saying anything to the contrary) and draw a much better and longer lasting satisfaction from it. Anyway, I felt you'd like to hear that story ;)

A good reason

I decided that I'd blog one more time before going to Portsmouth and possibly being without an internet connection for a week. Today at Church Jon talked about opposition when spreading the word of God. Normally any service on evangelism will focus on the good things and try to encourage you. Jon did encourage us, he just spent 95% of the time telling us about all the opposition you can face telling people about the word of God. He did reference the Bible well and explain how the Lord will stand with us, he also read a bit of a book I think was called "Fox's Christian Martyrs", I probably have the name wrong. Later today I then cycled to and from Ammanford to drop off a form to Becca for the Cheltenham Bible Festival which I'd managed to forget several times. Speaking of Becca, she was a bit disappointed to hear I would not be attending the Mission week/fortnight thing the Church is running, still, she tried to provide me with a good reason. You'll understand it better if you're familiar with the "why I joined the Christian Union" part of my testimony. Below is the exact reason that Becca thinks I should go to the mission. There will be lots of nice ladies there, maybe you could find a Girlfriend Granted, it's almost certainly not word for word, and yes, I have noticed that Christian events and settings tend to have a much fairer Lady to Guy ratio than my lectures (about 1 - 200 or more). I responded by informing Becca that though I at some point would like to meet a lady that likes me enough to date me, I've yet to find someone like that. I suggested that maybe if they were a little geeky it'd help, I then suggested asking them if they know the Fibonacci sequence or indeed, what it actually is, that's a good start. I'd write about how Becca then managed to embarrass Emma but I don't think Emma would appreciate it, suffice to say that Becca might not have thought it through completely.

Long Journey

I've completely forgotten to blog for the last week! On Wednesday I went to see my Dad affirmed as a probational police officer. Friday afternoon I found when my Referrals are, Tuesday, Monday and Tuesday. Yes, there's a week gap between the 1st and 2nd. However, the Hackers have very kindly said that I can stay at their house (thus solving the biggest problem of accommodation). So, the odds of me blogging over the next week and a half are very low as I'm going to be trying to revise a lot.

Structure and Organisation

Yesterday I didn't go to Church! I went to the Sunday School instead to help. In Portsmouth the children leave mid-way through the service, just before the main talk. The children in Portsmouth that I help with are a few years older than the ones in Wales and there was a marked difference. For a start, we're in a different building so the Children run around a lot and make as much noise as they please. Secondly, because they were younger and were allowed to run around a lot, they were quite chaotic. There was a very vague structure to it, we watched a DVD thing where some (admittedly fairly good) music was played along with dancing. At first I thought "Oh great, it's another rubbishy music thing with cheesy songs that hurt my ears with their sheer lack of quality". The first song was quite good, the second not very good and the third okay so I was surprised. After that there was a story from the Bible, Becca explained the story of Solomon and his many wives. Then there was a quiz and colouring in. In addition, Becca and I helped ourselves to some of the sweets used as prizes for the quiz. It was good. Filling out a form to be a helper at the Cheltenham Bible Festival I found something quite funny. Section 5: Emergency Contact Details Next of Kin: Address of Above person: Contact Details: Okay, I know why it's needed, however, I laughed a lot and thought you might too. In the evening my extended family came round and we had a big dinner. It was lots of fun and really nice (

Blogger isn't letting me put a proper title on this post...

Today I mowed out the front of the house again. First off, I found a hedgehog. It made something crossed between a grunt, a sniffle, a snore and a snort. I sprinted back to the house (it was a good 100 - 150m away) and returned with a Camera and Cycling Gloves (you'd be surprised how thick they are). Suffice to say he was a prickly customer and even through the gloves it was quite possible to feel the spines! I got some nice pictures of him. All the pictures are larger than my screen so there's a chance they're larger than yours. The best way to get them is to right click on them and select "save image as" or "download image as" depending on what browser you use. Normally I'd put up thumbnails but there's a lot of pictures and the thumbnails tend to take up a lot of space on the blog. As such I've got a list. - When I found it - Close up, just before it curls into a ball - Distance shot of it sitting in grass - In a ball after being rolled onto it's back - Sniffing gingerly at the plate on which we put some cat-food - Closer up version of the previous - It's thinking about making a break for it after deciding cat-food wasn't good enough A bit later I found a frog. It took be about two minutes to actually catch the thing and then it leapt out my hands again, I managed to get it slightly faster the 2nd time and then got my Dad to take some pictures. Warning, they're pretty big pictures. Also, someone that studied physics fancies themselves as a wildlife expert and reckons it's a toad. On general principles I will both disagree and compromise with them. - Me holding the Tog - Close up of the Froad My Sister managed to find a Newt so we got some pictures of that. - Good overall picture of it in my sister's hands - It makes a break for freedom - What you'd think is a shot taken just before the last - Newt on the palm of my sister's hand - Close up of the Newt's head - Close up of the whole newt - Newt crawling over my finger - Closeup Newt in the palm of my hand - Newt in a (muddy) white bucket thing with water, again, it's first response was to try to escape We released all the animals into their preferred environment after taking the pictures.

FlyGesture

I watch a page called "I Use this". It's a site that lists new Mac software, lots of said software is freeware. Most of the stuff that appears there isn't of interest to me, however, once in a while something really cool appears there. That was the case with Fly Gesture. I saw that it was a mouse gesture program and thought to myself "this could be cool, odds are it's horribly hard to control and results in your quitting all applications by mistake". From my experience, mouse gesture things are not the best way to control your computer, mostly because they're not very easy. However, FlyGesture seems to work nicely. It takes a bit of getting used to, I suggest setting no modifier keys and starting it from a mouse button. There are a load of actions already there that you can edit or remove or add to as you wish. With Fly Gesture, you push a key or mouse button (you set which one it is) and the window shown to the left pops up. You connect the dots and it tells you underneath what you will be doing if you click. The window is actually a little larger than that on the left, I shrunk it to look nice on the blog. The disadvantage of a fast computer is that I cannot tell you how good it is on lower end computers. However, as luck would have it, I garnered access to a slower computer (768mhz with 600Mb of Ram, should be slower than most Macs) and it ran fine. I did have one incident where I was playing warcraft 3 and pushed the middle mouse button by mistake, when Warcraft 3 crashed about 20 minutes later I found that there were yellow lines all over the screen and Fly Gesture sucking up 99% of the CPU power trying to catch up with the mouse (you don't have to push and hold the button, just push it once). I needed to go into Activity Monitor to quit it as it doesn't show up if you Command + Tab your way through the apps (though by default it does show up, I just prefer it not to).

What it's like in my house

Well, with one thing or another I've forgotten to blog. Firstly, my house is inhabited by Coel, Gethin, Brecon, Cerys, Mum, Dad and Taz (Cat). Coel is home all the time as he's finished his first year of Uni, Gethin is also home having done all his A Level exams. Brecon and Cerys attend school so are missing for the middle of each day. My Mum is also home all day while my Dad has recently started his new job. I sit in a room on my own using my computer most of the day. Apparently thats a bit "sad" or "boring". Well, I worked on my CV today so hopefully that doesn't count as either of the above two (I found it a little boring). Additionally, no matter how old we are, we still manage to act like infants. Take Coel for example, today he had scrambled egg on toast and brought in some brown sause from the kitchen to put on it. We found brown sauce on the floor, walls, door, Coel's elbow and sleeve. We're not sure if he got any on the plate but we all laughed at him a lot. My music tastes are a little "odd", I like a wide range of music yet I also only like a few bands from each part of it. People will say "hey, you like so and so, odds are you'd like this group" and despite them sounding fairly similar, I don't. It's really odd. Recently I've been listening to Dance music. Is it sad and boring that I don't dance to it?

How to win at Twister

I believe that if you follow these simple steps you are sure to win at twister. 1) When a colour and limb is called out, make sure that you end up spread out as much as possible, ideally you want to have your legs at near opposite ends of the mat 2) When you move, be sure to push over all the other players, you'd probably not be surprised how bad the balance of some people can be 3) Be sure to play with people smaller than yourself, that way they can't push back very well Yes, I won all 3 games of twister I played at the youth group today, I won the first just by putting my foot onto the mat at which point they screamed that my leg had hair on it. I wasn't aware it was such a bad thing to have hair on your leg, they reacted like it was Bubonic something-or-other! I suppose I should give tips for the Animal Game 1) Be as loud as possible 2) It's impossible to actually win so make sure you at least leave everybody else with hearing problems And because I know that you will need this information at some point, I'll explain how to win a water fight! 1) Find out what your opponent is using, now make sure you have something that works in a different way, if they have a gun, get a bucket, if they have a bucket, get a gun (or hose) 2) Work out what the plus and negative point of each is, if you have a bucket and them a gun, they can out range you but you can deliver a lot more water in 1 second 3) Move in such a way that you can deliver more water to them than to you, if you have a bucket, move forwards, if you have a gun, sidestep or run in random directions 4) Before the fight, get a bucket-like implement of water holding (the large open top is the key part) and "deposit" water over someone you want to make sure you beat 5) Repeat 4 after the fight if possible, preferably with the "group refill" pot as then they cannot get you back I hope these tips help and I hope that my next blog entry will be just as helpful to you.

What a lovely day

The day was bright, the sun shining, there was tell of impending rain but the sky was clear and the day lovely. A gentle breeze carried the Moth towards it's next landing point, it rested gently, folding it's wings onto itself. Suddenly, there was a tremor! The thrumming noise grew louder and louder! Slowly, a great shadow began to fall over the Moth, the breeze had vanished, replaced by a roaring wind pushing in all directions, the sun was blotted out by this massive monstrosity! The Moth leapt into the air to fly away, it began to flap but alas, the pull of the giant engine of darkness was too fast for it! WHOOOMP! Today I cut the lawn out the front of my house and out the back, I killed about 6 months (or maybe they were all the same moth that reincarnated?) and a Bumblebee (it tried to fly away but I was too fast for it). See, when you think like me, even mowing the lawn can be fun!

Typical Student

Felt you might find this story funny and/xor amusing, warning, it is a little messy so if you're eating, you best not read it just yet. It was a Sunday morning, this morning as I write to be precise. Church for me in Wales is a good 4 and a half miles away, that's about an hours walk and getting a lift means I have to get one back and basically, it's a lot of hassle compared to a 20 minute cycle ride. Yeah, a lot of hassle. Anyhoo, my dad is currently in the middle of a big "get fit" sort of thing, those that have seen him will note that he doesn't look particularly unfit, well, he's been doing a lot of exercise and said he'd cycle with me. It started off well, I'm lightweight and built for cycling. However, it was cold and my airways decided that a healthy layer of mucus would insulate them very well against the cold. My Dad wasn't having a problem and for the most part, neither was I, keeping up was however proving harder and harder. My dad suggested going up a mountain on the way there, yeah sure, why not? It was 0955 and Church didn't start until 1030, I had loads of time! I got to the top not feeling amazingly well, I'd had to wash my mouth out on the way up because of all the stuff from my nose and throat. It was pretty icky but there's a lot of vegetation on the mountain, some of it now has my snot over it (I'm polluting!). We cycled down the mountain and my Dad challenges me to go as fast as possible, I don't have a speedo but I think I broke the 30mph speed limit, it was pretty good. During this speeding exercise, my legs moved pretty fast, infact, they were about as fast as I could go. I got to the bottom and really started to feel bad, I managed to turn onto a main road and BLEUGH! Yep, I threw up, a big load came out and I thought that might be it, but no, more came out, and some more. I somehow managed to remain in a straight line but also managed to hit my left leg and shoe. I pulled to a stop on the pavement and decorated it with what was left in my stomach. Now see the difference between a city and a town. A man came along and stopped (he was driving) and wanted to know if we were okay, the Firebrigade (we were just outside) all came along and gave me a bottle of water to wash off the worst of it. In the end I got a lift home from my Mum as I was feeling a little rough at that point. Once I got home, had a shower and had lunch I was fine again. Of course, that story becomes a lot funnier when you condense it a little so it looks like this. Teifion didn't go to church because he managed to throw up over himself while cycling, typical student...

Home

I am now home and enjoying the home cooked food a lot, it's also been nice to see the people at the youth group from my church. When something noteworthy happens, I'll post it here.

I'm helpful (yeah, I know it's not easy to believe)

Friday involved me ummm, getting up very late. I've got no exams and so had no motivation for actually getting up that day. I spent the day a little with WoA, then I went over to Huw's and played various Warcraft 3 maps until about 0100 Saturday. Walking home Friday night is never plesant, as it was however now Saturday morning there was no problem so it was all good :) Today I got up quite early, I think it's because Portsmouth is so hot right now, it's really quite a big problem for me. I was working on WoA, for one of the pages I want to create a small tutorial that explains very simply what the game is. I have two options. 1) Use several pages to break up the content 2) Use one well formatted page to break up the content 3) Use Javascript and do something like this (click the left and right arrows) Well, number 1 wasn't a very nice idea as if the server was a little slow or the internet connection of the user was dodgy it'd be horrible. Number 2 just didn't appeal to me, it's what I'm currently using and I think that suddenly seeing a page of text just looks "eugh". So, number 3. Of course, looking at the Javascript that Panic use I noticed two things. 1) It was amazingly complicated 2) I wasn't allowed to copy it So, I decided to make a very naff version of it using some Javascript I'd already written. It achieves the same effect but without the pretty scrolling visual. That is todays web-design message, now for the reason for the blog title. Celestine is one of the ladies at the CU. Today all the students have to move out of halls. Celestine had a problem, namely that she was a Lady and she had a lot of stuff to move, thus, she asked me for help. Seeing as my plans for the day involved "listen to Techno remixed Classical Music while being a geek" I decided that it was probably what I should do. I arrived and went to the 2nd floor to Celestine's room, noting that there was a lift, me being the "can do" sort of person that I am decided that it might be fun to use the stairs on the way back when carrying stuff. First however the last few things had to be packed. Surveying the items I wish I'd brought my camera, however, I think I can list them. 3 large bags you could fit me into 6 regular carrier bags 1 large suitcase you could fit me into 1 small suitcase you could fit a child into 2 small boxes about the size of a small TV 2 large boxes, I could just about curl up into 1 broom, dustpan + brush, mop In addition, a lot of it was heavy, so my fun plan of the stairs was right out, infact, I had to figure out how to get the stuff from Celestine's room to the front of the hall, safely (specifically without it being stolen). First we moved it from her room to the lift, then I put a load of stuff into the lift with Celestine and sent her to the ground floor, I raced the lift (I wasn't carrying anything) and managed to win, we then got the stuff out of the lift and I raced back upstairs to the stuff (which was still there) and then loaded that into the lift. From there we were fairly close to the door so it wasn't too hard. However, I'm worn out and knackered after that. I might have to abstain from being helpful for a while...

Time for an Update

Sorry, I've been rather busy with exams and then last night, a party and as such have not blogged! Tuesday involved an exam which I think I passed, wednesday was involved with revision for my least favourite exam, that exam did not go amazingly well, however, I feel that I passed it (hopefully). There was then a party yesterday where I had great fun and spent most of it not dancing like a looney but instead talked to a guy called Luke about many different things, he lives in Swansea (so that's two Lukes I know from Swansea). I sort of regret going to the party, Lorna tried to get me to go to the Union dinner or something or other (she didn't try that hard). The reason I didn't go is that it was £25, granted there was a three course meal but I weigh so little the odds of me enjoying it for it's full worth were pretty low. Luke, Becca, Lorna and Justin went (only because the CU were nominated for a prize) and came to the party at the end. If I'd gone then I'd probably not have met Luke and gotten to chat with him as much, however, if I had gone, we reckoned that I'd have come back with a lot of free stuff. Overall I'll take a new friend over free stuff so I'm happy with my choice.

More Stuff

Saturday was filled with WoA stuff but that's to be expected. Today I went to Church, had lunch, went to a BBQ and got back late. Tomorrow I will be revising all day and all of Tuesday before my exam.

More Examination!

Thursday was not the day of my exam, it was today (Friday). Thursday involved very little revision because     1) It was Java     2) The test questions are in such a way that revision is actually of very little use, you can either program in Java or you can't In the evening I went to see Pirates. I enjoyed the film and am very glad I went to see it, I didn't think it was anything overly amazing but I did really enjoy it and find it both very funny and mostly exciting. I would strongly recommend people that are unsure about it to go see it. Today I went to the Exam and was done very quickly, I then went home. I'm pretty sure I did very well. Huw came over and we played Warcraft 3 as a break from revision. I also have my house for next year 100% sorted!

Examinationism!

Tuesday involved almost nothing but revision, normally there's some warcraft 3 and WoA in there but no, all revision (okay, 5 minutes of WoA while I ate breakfast). Today was the day of the exam. It was hard but I think that I have passed it, I have doubts that I've done amazingly well however I wrote more than some people and normally I write too little so that is surely a good sign. After Prayer lunch myself, Greg and Sam Groves (back from placement for a short holiday) went to see Spiderman 3. I've never been a big spiderman fan, the films are good but not my favourites. I felt that spiderman 3 was "just another spiderman film". I am glad I went to see it, but wouldn't see it again and probably wouldn't have seen it if not for Sam and Greg going to see it and I wanted to relax after my exam.

Stuff

I've been sleeping quite badly over the last few days so while I was going to blog yesterday, I felt tired and decided to skip blogging in the hope that I would sleep better. It didn't work amazingly well. Saturday didn't involve a lot happening, nor did Friday. Sunday it rained a lot and we had lunch at the Thatched House, hmmm, thinking about it I didn't do a vast amount on Sunday either. After the evening service Andy talked to me about a very low level operating system used on Mainframes called "zos". We wondered a bit about why I'd never heard of it, particularly why not in my Software Systems course this semester. Well, I have no found the reason, it's because Martin Cripps isn't mentioning any operating system except in passing. We've covered things that are used in zos but not specific to zos itself. Incidentally, that exam is on Wednesday.

Renewed Hope

The "Company" that I have been trying to get a placement with is actually the University of Portsmouth itself! Yes, I've been trying to get a placement with the IT department (called IS or "Information Services"). Stuart has attended the faculty board meetings and in one of them when I suggested IS did such and such he replied told me that they were understaffed. I know that at least one of their projects is written in Java, hey, I know Java! Stuart said that the idea was a good one and that if I sent him a CV he'd send it on to his bosses. That was done, sadly however there is some internal rule stuff at the Uni I was unable to be employed by them for a student placement. Under normal situations this rule makes good and perfect sense, however, in the present one it does not. I decided that I should find someone who could solve this problem. I emailed the Vice Chancellor of the University, I went straight the top and wrote him an email explaining why I liked the Uni and why I felt this rule was silly. I admit, I was not completely sure of the response I would get, would the Vice Chancellor of the entire University care about a single student that can't get a placement? Odds are he's never heard my name. Purple Doors is a Uni service related to jobs when you leave the University, however, I didn't realise that they also delt with placements, the placements department in the ECE department certainly never mentioned it. The Vice Chancellor has contacted them on my behalf and I have now sent them my CV and hope to meet wit them at some point. So, thank you very much Professor Craven, it's most appreciated and I will most certainly not hesitate to add this to the list of reasons I like Portsmouth University.

I got a pass

I awoke at 06somethingorother and thought "eugh, time to fall back to sleep". I awoke again, I looked at my clock and saw it said 0830. This was "not good" as I had to see a guy from IS at 0900 and it normally took people 30 minutes to walk to uni. I got out of bed, had a very quick wash and skipped breakfast. I packed my bag and ran some of the way. After almost throwing up due to a massive bought of coughing I decided to forgo any more running and walked the rest of the way thinking "God, why am I going to be late?". I of course arrived on time and reminded myself to be a little more patient. All the points I raised were forwarded on to the relevant people and some people even have my contact details for further discussion if need be. Later that day I had my Haskell Exam. So far I have achieved an A, a Pass, two Fails, a B and now another A, the 5 best will be taken and used to work out my final mark. I calculated that regardless, I've gotten a pass. CU tonight was about Money, it was quite good and made me think a little about how I spend my money, for the most part I think I use it well, maybe I hoard it a little too much.

Bullet Points

Saturday and Sunday, both have involved nothing blog-worthy or at least, of interest to anybody but somebody so obsessed with my life that they have picture of me on their wall. As that person or persons does not/do not exist, I will summarise what has happened. - I won a lot of DotA games - I went to Church - I had lunch at the Thatched House and managed to peg some people while they were looking at me (and they didn't notice either) - phpBB3 was released and I've already installed it on my server and am testing it - I have one housemate and need two more

Cough vanishing

The cough is starting to vanish, again, nothing much has actually happened over the past couple of days. There has however been one thing, one of my placement targets emailed me a message saying that due to some administrative stuff I wouldn't be able to get a placement there. I'm chasing it up and hoping to get that placement, they seemed like they would like me to work there.

Cough cough

I submitted my coursework and also saw Ioannis about it, he found the Ioannis mode amusing as predicted. I also got a card for my sister and maybe tomorrow I can get a stamp on it and find a big red box where postcards go. I spent most of today dying of a cough, well, it felt like I was dying. No doubt I will look back on this in a few days and think "wow, I was such a wuss, what was I making all the fuss about?"

Two days (again)

Monday was mostly full of lectures. CU was replaced with a BBQ which was for the most part good. Today I spent most of the day completing my Java project, I put the final touches on it and it's now downloadable as an actual .jar file! To run it, simply double click it. Windows users, you will need to install Sun Java, not currently sure of the exact location to get it from. I am suffering from quite a bad cough and I'm hoping that tonight I will get a decent night's sleep.

Not much to say

There really isn't a lot to say, Friday and Saturday were a bit dull! Today it rained a lot but that was more than made up for as I was invited over to Pauline's for lunch! It was really really nice, I actually liked the broccoli! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will have completed the Breakout game (as it's due on Wednesday, this is a good thing) and will save it as a .jar file so it should be able to be run on any PC with Java runtime enviroment installed, if possible I will also get a hold of the games made by my friends and put them there so you can compare them all.

Breakout returns, now with flashy colours!

I got up after a very nice lie in. This was the first Thursday in about 4 months where I had not had to go in for a 3 hour lab. I spent most of the day programming Java, some of it was spent playing DotA and even less was spent running WoA. Java. Well, Java itself is great, the language is fairly easy to understand, there don't appear to be a large number of stupid things about it. The key difference between it and C (what I did last year) is that it's called "Object Orientated Programming" or OOP. C on the other hand is, okay, I don't know what it's called but it's pretty linear. The 1st Semester of Year 2 was all about OOP, I was already mostly familiar with it and as such, I feel very comfortable with it. Alas, I have vast numbers of problems with it. Specifically, they're all related to drawing graphics in Java. I don't know why, but I find I come across many many problems the moment I put in a user interface. As such, one of my suggestions to Ioannis (I think I got the name right this time) will be that in the 2nd Semeseter to have a choice of project that doesn't need a GUI. I think that despite the problems it has given me, learning how Java creates a user interface is important as I believe other languages use a method that's not too dissimilar. Anyhoo, enough about the problems that mysteriously crop up for me and onto the improvements for V0.5 - Download from here - Ioannis mode now works, I wanted to make it activate with a key-press but alas, it just won't work and I think I've exhausted every possibility - There are now unlimited numbers of levels - The fonts are now of various sizes - A proper win sequence (sort of) Also, my last exam is on the 7th of the 6th, my first is on the 21st of the 5th. I'll have a pretty timetable for them up tomorrow or sometime later.

Progress has been made, it's just not very apparent

I got up and wasted an hour and a bit of my life walking in the rain to my Java lecture. Last semester Ionnais was a really good lecturer, I wonder why he's not so good at teaching the newer stuff? On the plus side, the exam will be made from a similar batch of questions from the first semester so that's good to know. Java project wise I spent most of the time trying to get it to draw off-screen in an attempt to make it run faster but alas it eluded me. Likewise, I've not yet had the ability to take in keyboard input but I didn't spend as much time on that and Ryan linked me to a site with a lot of Java tutorials which may even hold the answer to both my questions. This evening there was a BBQ to celebrate the day that Guernsey was liberated from the Nazis. I got back and fixed PHP on my computer (I broke it a few days ago) and also installed MySQL (though I fear that will break itself as it did last time).

Worn out

I got up later than planned I then came close to completing the second section of the Database I'm working on. It's been a lot more problematic than thought and combined with busy days has meant it's still not complete! However, that's going to go on hold for about a week as I work on the Java project again, it's due in week tomorrow! Huw came over and for the first time ever beat me at DotA, as such we agreed he had clearly improved over his constant losses (he's not been playing nearly as long as me). We went online and won a game, then managed to lose the second. I've mostly recovered from my injuries yesterday, though was too sore overall to perform any push-ups or situps (I reckon I can get 7 pushups in a row and 4 situps in a row).

Scavenger Hunt!

Today mostly consisted of driving around with Steve H, Fi and a gentleman called Graham. The purpose of the game was that there were several teams, each with a car. They would drive along a route and gets a series of pictures of various silly things. One of the aims was to get as many different types of carrier bag. I managed to get about 12 for our team, my amazing charm even allowed me to get 5 different ones from Waitrose (the staff there were really nice). While jumping from one rock to another (they were car-sized rocks) I managed to misjudge the distance ever so slightly, that or a sudden gust of wind threw me off. Either way, my foot didn't make as much contact as was hoped for, the rock was at an angle and slippery so I slipped. Luckily I managed to not smash my face into a big lump of rock, rather I grazed my right thigh, bruised my left knee-cap and right palm. It's now mostly okay, though the graze stung a lot when I washed it in the shower. Later was Playzone! It was really good and I reckon that I burned up a lot of energy there, I'm now generally all around worn out and should hopefully sleep really well tonight.

I scare children

First off, the Java project still hasn't been updated. Still, it's located here for those that want a copy. I was not present for most of this mornings church service as I was helping with discoverers. It was quite good fun and very nice to help. After the weekly cup of tea I played with some of the children, running around the pews and generally being immature. At one point I was making silly faces and one of the children whom was rather tired started to cry. Now, I'm aware that I am quite ugly but this was a bit unfair. To make it worse, Brierley laughed! And people say I am horrible! Clearly, Brierley was not laughing at the effect but at the cause. So, I ask you, in return to Brierley calling me ugly, should I come up with some elaborate and probably problem ridden scheme to get her back? Or should I just squirt her with water the next time I see her? Now, I am aware that in the Bible it's written "Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself". Well, if I called someone ugly, I am quite happy for them to squirt me in the face. That's really the interesting stuff for today, the rest of it is warcraft 3 and WoA related.

Cleaning Effort

I got up somewhat later than would be optimum, but, I was well reseted. I did some work on the database (going to be called Daan) and then decided that since I could no longer see the floor, tidying up might be a good idea. I made sure to take regular breaks (otherwise I might strain myself) and then decided that if I was going to clean the floor, I might as well rearrange the furniture to suit my new requirements. The chest of draws was moved next to my desk and my speaker tower placed on it. The main computer desk was also rearranged, now the area directly behind the computer is free from clutter and the speakers themselves went there, this somehow provides a nicer sound. I even took pictures! As can be clearly seen, I now have enough room to do some pushups and sit-ups, I've noticed my stomach is no longer quite as trim as it was a year ago. I'm probably eating less but snacking more. Though I'd have thought I was doing more exercise, either way, some sit-ups and pushups might be good for me, then again, maybe they'll kill me? There is a mug on my desk, a glass, a bottle and next to the desk another bottle. The mug was holding some tea until I drank all the tea, it was very nice. The glass is holding water, one of the several pints I have had today. The small blue bottle holds water which I use to wash my hands. If I use the computer a lot, especially while gaming, I find my hands get greasy and thus a quick squirt of water will solve the immediate problem. The bottle on the floor is one which holds water, I normally place it by my bed while I'm sleeping incase I get thirsty at night. Over half the books in the corner are programming related. The other half is a mix of Dale Carnegie books and books related to Christianity. The laptop is propped up on two printer cartridge cases, I find it helps to keep it cool. The mint imperials from Asda are very nice and only 30p a pack! I would have included a picture of me performing a pushup, however, as soon as I let go of the camera it fell to the floor and smashed into lots of little pieces. Luckily with my amazing skills I was able to put it back together again and repeat the mistake (hey, I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke!)

More PHP

Most of today consisted of making a PHP program, one for WoA. It's coming along really well and I hope to have the 2nd of 3 stages working tomorrow. Still no word on my placement. Tomorrow should be somewhat more interesting, I'll think of a reason why tomorrow.

Group Project

Well, it went a lot better than I thought it would. I was one of the most smartly dressed (Hassan told us it might get us more marks) and so that was good. Hassan took into account that Tom was in our group and also ruined our group. I don't think we failed. Afterwards I went to my last lecture of the day, then home! I got back and decided I'd like some lunch, I decided that with my newfound wealth (I got a pittance for some of the websites I'd done, technically this means I am a professional web programmer) I decided I'd like to have some nicer bread. You know, the long sticks of bread, it's really nice. So, I strolled down to the Co-op to get some and also some sausage rolls for later. Alas, they had no sausage rolls and were charging £1 for a couple of tiddly sticks. Well, I just carried on up the road to Asda. Granted, it turned a 3 minute shopping run into something more like 20 or 30 minutes, but it was a nice warm day, I was wearing shorts and had my trendy sunglasses on, as shown around this paragraph. Said glasses were £2 and are really good, they pass the "Teifion test" for sturdiness. They also block out only the glare of the sun, so I can see clearly with them even in a low light setting! If I'd bought the Sausage rolls and a full sized stick of bread from the Co-op, it'd have cost about £2.50. For £4.50 from Asda I got a huge stick of bread, a lettuce, 3 packs of dipping crisps, some mild salsa dip, 2 litres of lemonade and 4 good packs of Custard Creams. In warcraft 3, the most annyoing thing is not losing, no, it's leavers. People that leave a game just as it's getting good, usually because they are not winning as well as they'd hoped. PC users have a program available for free that allows them to list these people and add them to a banlist. This banlist works by remembering the name of the user, not very useful in the long run as people can make new accounts. There may or may not be something that records the internet location, but that's not hard to fake. Note that that only works for the PC. I have what is called a "Packet Sniffer". It's not user friendly for what I want to use it for, but it records the serial number (Mac address) of the users connection. It's not very easy to fake and the only other way around it is to get a new computer. I've gotten a command that performs packet sniffing and am slowly working on something that'll record who connects to my computer and when. It will also record when their last connection was, at the end of a game I can run through the list, compare times and add them to a list. So, that was my day, see how productive it was? (I also had a 3-4 hour nap).

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday involved not a vast amount happening, that's the second reason nothing was blogged. I saw David Ndzi but I'll cover that in today. In the evening I went over to Steve H's to see Phil off, he's moving somewhere-or-other. I played with the Wii and won some games yet lost others. I also managed to peg Phil quite a few times before he started to watch me carefully. Today I got up and went to the Faculty Board meeting. There was just about nothing there to discuss but I brought donuts and lo and behold, the cookies they supplied were rubbish. As such the Donuts went down well. Pity I don't actually have any real favours to ask of them yet. Stuart from the IS (Information Services) department of the Uni was there and mentioned how they were understaffed and that was causing most of the problems. They were understaffed, they did not have enough programmers They did not have enough programmers I am a programmer So I asked if I could perform my student placement with IS! I've emailed Stuart a copy of my CV and we'll see what happens as he's sending it on to his boss. It'd be quite nice to work for IS, I'd get to stay at Uni yet have all the perks of a Student Placement! I then went to the lab and tried to work on the Group Project thing. I'll be honest, I'm rubbish at this hardware stuff and I'm sick of it. We're being assessed tomorrow and if I fail I'm kicking up the biggest fuss about it possible, I'll list the problems with it if I get failed. I attended Prayer Lunch which was very good and encouraging before returning to Uni. Today I got an email from David.       "Teifion, I need to see you asap" So, I went to see David and lo and behold he wanted me to make another website. However, I've decided that I don't want to have the hassle of making websites while still looking for a placement. David is now aware of this and has made a few enquiries, he likely realises that if he finds me a placement he can use me as cheap programming labour. I've not got a problem with it, I enjoy programming and as long as I've not got a deadline the next day, should be able to do what's needed.

Empty

Today I am too tired so the blog spot will remain empty. Tomorrow I shall write a full account of today and tomorrow.

PHP is fun

Today's lectures were not amazing, pure and simple. After the lectures I went home and checked up on WoA stuff and then returned to Uni for the Student group that make websites (there's a name for it but I cannot remember it). David Ndzi knows that I can write PHP and MySQL and so while the rest of the group are working on something for a company called "RM Marketing" I was asked to create a user registration system for a conference. Users could register and then login to upload documents. David: When do you think you could have it ready? Me: I've got a group project thing to do for Thursday, so I'd say that Friday or early next week would be quite possible David: Could you have it for tomorrow? Me: Ummmm, I can try... Now, I know how fast I can write stuff if I put my mind to it and I reckon I can have it ready tomorrow. I plan to ask for some money for it (in the words of Martin Cripps "the word 'pittance' springs to mind") or the possibility of a Student Placement for someone making websites. I then journeyed to CU. As you're likely aware, I am currently in the middle of a phase of attaching pegs to people. On Sunday one of the ladies I pegged was (and I assume still is) called Sarah H (so not the Sarah R that is normally mentioned). Last night on MSN (after I had pegged her), the following was said... Me: see you tomorrow Sarah: yeah. night night xx Me: and I'll peg you without you noticing too :P Sarah: wanna bet?! Me: no, betting is wrong, but I'm sure I'll manage it ;) Sarah: lol Me: and then I'll blog it too :P Well, the gauntlet was thrown down! I pegged her once and left her alone, this was all part of my cunning plan, she'd been watching me carefully any time I came near and it took several tries to get this one peg near her without her noticing. Of course, after that peg was pointed out by someone else I waited a little then attached 6 or 7 pegs to her in the space of a few minutes. In the end Lawrence felt pity for her and went over to explain that she had been well and truely pegged. So, as we can see, I won. Becca was intent on not getting pegged yet tried to peg me at least once. However, years of being a computer nerd have sharpened my hand-eye coordination to the point where Lawrence said I was like a ninja (I'd just successfully put two pegs on Becca). I repeatedly got Becca for the rest of the night. Sarah R seems to like watching, yesterday she dared me to peg someone over 40. Some funny stuff happened but it was more of a "you had to be there" sort of thing so loses a lot in retelling. I'll post tomorrow regarding what happens about this database project, most of it is already done.

Energizing!

I got up nice and early and got to Siän's house for 0830! There I got a lift to Church for 0900 where all the students had a big fried breakfast. Andy and Cora not only organised it all but did the cooking. It was really really nice, very much appreciated and all around awesome. The service itself was about following Jesus and the cost of it, how Jesus rearranged priorities and that he knew what he was going towards yet still went. After the service I went home and did WoA stuff for a bit before leaving for the International Christian Students Fellowship meeting. There were lots of people from all over the world there and most wearing very bright clothing native to their country, it was really nice. The service started with something similar to the singing from the Blues Brothers. I came close to expecting some people to start somersaulting to the front to dance! There was a sketch about how God works and then a guest Pastor spoke. He explained how Jesus made an offer. And to illustrate his point he held up a £10 note and said that it was there for the taking. After 3 seconds I started to vault the chair infront of me (I was in the second row and the front row was empty) but as I did so Chris Brough thought to himself "I can't let Teifion get that" and ran ahead of me. However, when the pastor held up a book I got that so it worked quite well. The book is currently in the possession of Justin as I asked him to hold onto it for me and forgot to get it back later. After the talk and some more (slightly more coherent) singing there was some free food served. I went to the loo and when I came out I asked where I should go (assuming I'd be told where to join the queue). I was sent straight to the food so that worked out really well. What didn't was that almost all the food was laced with spices and/or vegetables. I left holding a few cans of coke and went to see Greg get Baptised at Kings Church. Kings Church has a much louder and more "modern" band, as it were, than Eastney. I don't know that it's better as such, but it is nice to have a change in style of singing. Overall I see Eastney as being a very family based Church while Kings seems to have a much larger youth population and so works differently. It was really good to see Greg be baptised and be there to show my support. The speaker there was a guest speaker from Australia. He had some odd things to say, however, the crux of the message he brought was that if we give and pray on behalf of others, God will act. He had some stories to tell explaining it all and drew from the Bible too. Afterwards there was a load of prayer stuff and I asked to be prayed for which was really good, I then went home and went to bed feeling closer to God than I have in the past few weeks.

Tired

I got up and for the rest of the day played Warcraft 3 and wrote Java. As per usual, here is the link you want, and the changes are... - 1 type of powerup added - Simple tail added to the ball - Passing a level gains you a life - Basic readme printed on the game when paused - The game now responds to mouse-clicks when the mouse is moving I also sliced three boxes of Mushrooms, tomorrow there's a big group breakfast at Church. The problem is I need to be up early...

No progress

The project has not been updated today as I was busy all day and thus distracted. However, I have a new activity to try. I am going to say something I like about every person I met today. I don't mean "I thought your t-shirt was funny", I mean things that make the person nice to know and be around. The people should be in the rough order that I spoke to them (I saw lots of people I know but most never spoke to me). Speaking over the internet doesn't count for the purpose of this exercise. In addition, the people must speak to me at least once a week or I simply don't know them well enough to list them here. Ceryn - Almost always excited with a big smile on her face and an attitude to match, interested to talk about anything troubling you and offer impartial advice Siän - Always innocent and well-meaning (as in, moreso than anybody else) Lorna - Happy to offer uncompromising points of view, won't compromise her principles to sound better Sarah - When not tired, always excited and awake, full of energy that enthuses those around her Brierley - Always has something positive and supportive to say to people, somehow seems to have some sort of a rota and seeks out different people each time to offer words of encouragement and renew social bonds Ryo - Talks about anything geekish but also happy to just listen to anything he understands, also has a very good sense of humour Huw - A sense of humour on the same level as myself, what more is needed? Lauren H - Happy to make sure I'm eating well, if she's making some food and I want some she'll make extra if I help cleanup and suchlike (actually, she doesn't require it I just do it out of courtesy but it's similar) Gareth - Has a similar sense of humour to myself and is happy to help with most geekish things Pete A - Is happy to share what he has if you haven't got it yourself

Progress?

I got up and went to the Group Project lab, it's not looking good but next week we've got our presentation. I'm going to be making the report, as such the Breakout game is going to have to slow-down a little. Speaking of which, the latest version is here. And the changes are... V0.3 - Some basic graphical acceleration used, it now redraws less per cycle than in V0.2, there might be more I can do so I am going to leave it as a "to do" item - The game now has three levels, the blocks change colour each level (Black, Green, Blue) - Lives and current level down the bottom are now colour coded - Speed is now displayed in the label at the bottom and increments by 1 for every 12 blocks removed, there are 48 blocks per level Tomorrow I hope to have some powerups functioning along with some cooler effects and the ability to turn said effects on or off with keys (for those with slower computers). If you're wondering why a slower computer is struggling under such a basic game, well, it's because of Java. I shall explain why. "Compiled" Languages such as C, C++ and Objective-C are saved in a language the computer understands. "Interpreted" Languages such as PHP, Python and Ruby are saved in a language the computer does not understand very well, but there is an on-the-spot translator saved with them Java I believe falls somewhere in between the two. I shall now explain the above concept in linguistic terms. C (a very fast language) saves itself in English (we're assuming computers speak English). PHP (not as fast as C) saves itself in German. As such, to run PHP programs, the computer must translate the program before it performs each instruction, thus, slowing it down. Java stores itself as a German language with some English notes in it, thus making it easier. Does that make any sense to anybody or have I simply confounded the issue?

More work done, maybe I should be Chairperson?

Firstly, the Java project of Breakout. The correct link for yesterday is here, sorry for the broken link. I didn't bother going to the Java lecture, this semester they have been very poor and I would rather work on my project than attend a lecture that teaches me nothing. The project is coming along nicely, it now does several things. - When the ball hits a block, it bounces correctly, inverting only a single axis (based on the direction it hits the block in) rather than inverting both. - Pausing it really does pause it properly, it no longer resets the ball position, good luck cheating now! - The ball accelerates by 1 pixel a cycle every 10 blocks destroyed, it starts at 5 pixels a cycle - Download it here Midday there was an SSCC meeting. For some reason there seems to always be an item that is of interest to me and the rest are of no interest. Well, today's was the chairman item. Prof Cripps has been Chairperson for 10 years and has been trying to get a Student Chair for a while, he started by hinting at it and now he's put it on the agenda. There was a 2-1 ratio of Students to Staff today and of the vast horde of students, guess how many were eligible to be chair? Correct, just me. The rest were 3rd year and so would be leaving, I told them that if I didn't get a placement I'd accept it but my Mum has very helpfully found another company to apply to. Back when HP told me I was unsuccessful (I've re-emailed them to make sure they got my message asking why) I talked to a friend called Daan. Daan has had some interesting theological discussions with me and I told him that my faith was still strong and that despite the HP incident, God still has a perfect plan for me. Obviously, you can take the view that an 800 mile round trip to Newcastle and Back could be God's idea of a joke, maybe it is. The key thing is that I still believe He has that perfect plan. The thing is, I have to be able to accept that God does not want me to take a placement, it occurred to me while on the loo, "what would God do if He didn't want me to take a placement?". What's happened so far would be a good start in my opinion. So, unless something big happens, if this next chance fails then I will probably not take a placement. Tomorrow's Java project should have some speed optimisations, apparently a single core 1GHz computer isn't quite as good as a Dual Core 2.33GHz computer, odd that!

Maybe I should do some work?

Today (yes, I'm missing out yesterday) I decided that seeing as my Java project was due in in about 3 weeks (I've been putting it off for a little too long) I should at least think about which of the three options I'd take. - The first was a "chat" program. Well, after the chess game, I hate Java and Networking (at least for now, it's probably because I couldn't understand it at the time) and so don't want to do that. - The second is a game called "breakout". I asked Ioannis how hard it'd be and he said it'd be really hard because Animation in Java is really hard. - The third is a "Customer Database System", it's also a 4 man project (apparently). Tempted as I was to do #3 I decided to do #2. Having no idea how to perform animation in Java or respond to input I was not enthusiastic about it. Thankfully, the first Sun Java tutorial page told me all I needed and even gave me a load of code to start with. Over the course of about 6 hours, I have expanded somewhat upon the code that Sun have on their website to produce something that should get me a pass. I am of course going to be ensuring a First in this Coursework so will be improving it. You can get a copy of V0.1 here. Incidentally, animation in Java is just as easy as in REALBasic, I was very much "at home" as it were in writing most of it.

Nothing to report

I'd say "It does what it says on the tin" except there is no tin and my blog gives data not function. I am also quite tired.

Walking 500 Miles would be very Slow, 1000 would be worse

Wednesday morning I got up and went to the Java lecture where I learnt very little. After Java I decided that I needed some Sunglasses and Chocolate. After comparing prices I found some nice glasses for £2. here is a picture of me wearing them. I packed and got a train to London. At London I met my Dad and we travelled by train to my Uncle (Brett)'s house. When Coel, Brett and one of Brett's friends Anthony arrived we all tucked into some Kebabs. It was really nice to see Brett, Coel, my Dad and to meet Anthony. The Kebabs were really nice and we had a really good time. That night I went to bed about midnight and despite the heat I got a decent sleep. At 0600 my Dad and I left Brett's and headed for Newcastle. The roads were near dead and we made good time. Once we got some distance I started to rest my eyes, I was feeling semi-sleepy. I was jolted awake when my Dad yelled "No no no!" I thought I'd had some sort of a bad dream and then the car started to hit the hard shoulder. No, my Dad is actually a very good driver and it's because he's such a good driver that we were not in an accident. A truck on the left-most lane moved into the center lane just behind a car with a very low trailer. The truck could not see the trailer and as such moved into the trailer, we were to the right of the trailer and thankfully my Dad saw what was happening and accelerated while dodging the moving problem. Later we passed something with a cherry-picker, it'd happened probably a minute before we got there and so didn't hold us up. We heard on the radio it took an hour to clean up. At Newcastle I was to have an interview with HP. The interview was at 1500 and we arrived at about 1000. This was very useful as it allowed time to relax a little by visiting the Angel of the North (a big metal sculpture). Here are some pictures of me standing by it. Click to Enlarge. We also walked around PC World where I poked around with Vista for a good 15 seconds. I can see that the interface is laid out almost identically to XP but with more of a Mac OSX look to it. The computer I used it on responded fairly fast but I don't know how fast that computer was, I have doubts it was 400mhz with 1GB of RAM (which is what I have found you can comfortably run Mac OSX on). I put my shirt on and we took some pictures of me in it later that day, note how non-photogenic I am. The interview with HP went really well. I first had to give a 10 minute presentation with 5 minutes afterwards for questions. First of all I gave them a plastic sleeve of 3 handouts, in the sleeve was a biscuit which they obviously asked about to which I replied "Well, I put it there incase you were hungry, my Dad and I figured it'd lighten the mood a little". As predicted, it did. The presentation was about a Database system I wrote for WoA. First of all I outlined the system, I then explained how I made two key choices, they were.... 1) The old system was Paper Based, did I really need to change it? 2) Should the system be part of the phpBB forum we use or should I make it standalone? The first two handouts listed the pros and cons for both sides, I elaborated on the pros and cons and used these two points to show my logical thinking and analytical approach to problems. I then moved on to explaining how I overcame problems that arose during development and testing. They were... 1) Where to host it? 2) Dealing with Users that made typos 3) Storing the key data These points showed how I looked into things that people suggested, how I got as many of my users onboard and provided a very "customer focused system". The last point was crucial as it showed that I am not afraid to re-do what I've already done if it is needed. The final section involved me telling them how great the users thought the system was, how they really appreciated the open-beta (where anybody can test out the system) and finished by giving them login details to a test account I'd setup on the system which they seemed quite impressed at that. After the interview my Dad and I went to Tesco to get some food for that night and the next morning. We would be staying at a Travel Lodge in Newcastle. Newcastle was blocked up as it was rush hour, we sat in a slowly moving car, me alternating between shoving pringles into my mouth and placing pringles on the dashboard for my dad to eat without needing to take his eyes off the road. We got to the travel lodge and watched some of "My name is Earl" and a little "Scrubs". We both started feeling very tired so went to bed at.... 2100 However, we did get up today (Friday for those that have managed to not keep up so far) at 0500 and left around 0530 where the roads were again clear. Amazingly we got into Birmingham without hitting a load of traffic and walked around. We had a Mc Donalds breakfast (mmmm) and then visited the Apple Store. I really really like the look of the 30" display, however, I am not sure that it's anything but a display and I believe other places might make them and sell them in at less of a price, if I ever get a desktop Computer I might invest in one :) At 1030 my Dad dropped me off at the station and continued on his way to Wales, I waited for my train. Normally I get a rubbishy looking "Alpha Line" train to Wales and get onto a more normal sort of train which has a smoother ride to it. The train from Portsmouth to London was also in the "Normal" category. The train I got here was a Virgin train and it had a power supply in it! I spent the journey writing everything above this line and listening to some music (Nightwish are really good). I really appreciate all the help my Mum and Dad gave me. They sorted out all my travel arrangements, my Dad helped loads with preparing the presentation and also Drove me all the way to Newcastle. It's just a shame that when I checked my email when it read the following. Dear Teifion Further to your Interview Day with HP, we are writing to inform you that you have been unsuccessful in meeting the required criteria on this occasion. May we take this opportunity to thank you for the interest you have shown in HP and we would like to wish you every success with your future career. Now for the reason that I am very very confused. I am not confused because I think that the interview went well, I think most of my exams go well and I fail those. It's quite possible (and quite likely) that someone else was more suited to the job. No, I am confused because everything up till this point has "worked". I've been praying to God that He would be in control of the situation and direct it, I believe others have been doing so too. God's hand has been apparent over the past couple of days, so why make it abundantly clear that I should go to the interview if I would gain nothing from it? The CU did a Social thing on the Southsea Common. I went and we were going to play rugby when it was changed to touch rugby. I was not in the most amazing of moods, probably tiredness. So when people kept moving when I touched them or tried to bend the rules I moved to simply stop them. It turns out that when people move from "fast" to "almost stopped" in under a second they also move from "vertical" to "almost horizontal", the rate of the two changes appear to be correlated. So, touch rugby was abandoned (I did tell them that it'd fail but they ignored me) and we played Baseball. Overall the social was nice but it was overshadowed by the whole interview thing. I am very confused as to what God wants me to do. There has however been 1 good thing today. Recently I began the creation of a second game, it was put on hold due to time constraints, I have no figured that I started it because I was not happy with the way WoA is being run and felt I had no way to solve the problems. I've since decided that's silly and with the tact of a honeycombed brick I will be solving the problems, should that fail I'll use the tact of a normal brick.

Preperation

I have an interview on Thursday and so I spent today sleeping, preparing for the interview, eating, more preperation, learning about computer stuff, preparing, warcraft 3 and a smidgin more preperation. Sadly I've not been able to come up with any handouts that are any good. Maybe I can get by on my good looks?

And the Pegging shall begin

I didn't post it yesterday or the day before, but I got a letter from Tulleys (the letting agency I am using). It said that I did not pay my rent. This was confusing to me because of two things. 1) I use Direct Debit 2) I have money in my account Turns out it was an Admin error on their part. Apparently they're going to charge me £5 for every letter they send me regarding rent. I sure hope they charge someone other than me for that letter as it's entirely their fault. I went into town and acquired a few varieties of pegs. I plan to make a full review into the different peg types, however, I've only used the Asda ones so far and have only the receipts for the Tesco and Wilkinson ones (so can't remember the price of the others). From left to right it is Woolworths, Wilkinsons, Tesco, Asda. - Tesco Value pegs (they look a bit naff in person too) are 42p for 36 or 1.166667 pence per peg - Wilkinson pegs are 49p for 30, a somewhat higher 1.633333 pence per peg, however, they do look stronger and come in 3 colours. Nothing incredible happened in any of the lectures, however, after the final lecture something very good did happen. I and Gareth had just left our building and who should I see on the opposite side of the pedestrian road? Becca! I tucked my head down and moved my jacket so she didn't recognise me, waited until she had her back to us and then got Gareth to hold my stuff. With a complete lack of noise I darted across the street with a peg in my hand, I then snuck up behind Becca and attached said peg to her bag without her noticing. I darted (near silently) back to Gareth and we carried on. I went back into Uni for the website thing (though the lecturer we thought would be there wasn't) and on my way, yes, you know already, I saw Becca. However, she didn't see me. Yes, I pegged her bag again. Fast-forward to CU. I arrived at the Union building and Becca was very eager to try and peg me, imagine the surprise she had when she arrived at the lecture and noticed a peg on her bag, not having seen anybody that would do such a thing she obviously assumed me. That is bad enough, imagine that when she got back to her halls she found another peg? How can Teifion have been there both times? Either way it was most amusing and Becca really got into the swing of it as did Sarah. I was pegged twice, once by Emma and once by Hannah. Becca failed to peg me and I think I got her an additional 3 times this evening. Some people *cough* Jo *cough* were not so eager to have fun and took a slightly "mature" attitude as it were. We of course pegged them too.

Two new sports

I got up very early considering the time I got to bed last night. I walked to Becca's Halls and then accompanied Becca and Luke to church, acquiring Siän on the way. The service did not (to my memory) contain a specific point which I found a bit off-putting. After the service myself, Brierley, Siän, Lizzie, Becca, Luke and Phil went to Amanda's for a Roast Dinner. During lunch Becca introduced a "Man Points" system. I'm not quite sure how Becca would describe it, however, from my understanding here is how it works. - If you do something nice you get a point - If you make a mistake doing it you lose 3 - If you fail to do something you should you lose between 3 and 10 points - If you do something silly you lose at least 10 - Sometimes points will be deducted on general principles which have no real reason Shortly after I sussed out how the scoring worked I figured if I were to aim for a high-score, I should aim for a negative one. A great tale of logic is also to be had at this lunch. Some of the ladies were surprised that I managed only a single Potato and single Chicken leg. I believe that even the ladies ate more than me, well, at some point Lizzie said "You need to eat more". After the customary twisting of words and asking her why she thinks I'd look better fat it was somehow mentioned (by me) that I have never actually cooked a potato, I might have been mentioning the Potato theory at the time. Rather than accepting the fact and just moving on, I was questioned "How can you never have cooked a Potato?" So, I will now attempt to explain it, for some reason my overly simple diagram still didn't explain it clearly to all of them (most Economics students are fairly smart, some are clearly not). Brierley has cooked Potatoes, therefore she can cook Potatoes or "cooks Potatoes" if you wish to express it so I have not cooked Potatoes, therefore I may or may not be able to cook them or "does not cook Potatoes" if explained so Lizzie and Siän went to Asda to get some Wine (probably to help deal with all the stress I cause) and I got some pegs before going home. On the way to Asda, I thought about how much I appreciate home meals, they're easy to take for granted when you're at home yet when you have to cook for yourself it's a big thing and so I'm taking this opportunity to say thank you to both my Mum and Dad for all the food they cook for me and also all the support with any other endeavor I make. Thank you. Now for the first of the two sports. It's called Pegging, I went to a birthday party and took 8 pegs with me. The objective is to attach as many common clothes pegs to someone as possible without them realising. Becca was an easy target, Jo was easier, Greg quite easy, Siän however proved a challenge, she was (justifiably) paranoid about me pegging her. However, I managed to get her by making her think I had just one peg and attaching that to Lizzie as she walked past. Before I left I made sure to get Becca again (she felt it was a very fun sport and so I feel she's a very good target). Now for the second sport, I just came up with it. During the course of a day (if not, at least a given time period where you will see people such as "when down the pub") you must try to use each adjective no more than once. It's rather hard but I am trying to do it here, I'd not be surprised if I failed.

The Long Road isn't so Long

The plan for today was. Parents give me lift into Cardiff I get on train and hope it all works However, Siän's parents offered me a lift along with Siän which meant that the trip was a lot better and shorter because of it. I got back to my house and everything was fine, Huw came over and we had a fried dinner, played some DotA and watched Monty Python. It was good.

Last few Days

I've been going to bed late. I will now give you an idea of what I've been doing. - Citizen of Arl (notice all the cool effects) - Warcraft 3 - WoA - PHP Saturday should be fun, the trains between Swansea and Cardiff are currently non-operational and we all know how great the bus will be... That's not a huge problem. Thursday I have an interview with HP. I have a week's notice which is a big help, it's also in the afternoon, another plus point. It's still in Newcastle... Well, at least they'll know I want the job! Plans are still underway for it, suffice to say my parents are really good at it and it's been very nice to have their help.

Family

I can't remember what I did on Friday, odds are it wasn't very important as I cannot remember much of it. On Saturday, we journeyed down to my grandparents in Somerset. It was very nice and I enjoyed it. Today I did very little but saw my Gran and Auntie, that was also nice.

Long Day

I got up early, I travelled to Sommerset, I went back, it's now late, I am tired. That is todays blog.

Working out a bed-time

if (earlyMorning == true) {       goToBed(0000);       getUp(0600); } else {       goToBed(0200);       getUp(1200); } It all makes sense when you think about it :D

New Shoes

I got up, did some WoA stuff and then some Citizen stuff. In all my cunningness I often ask the players of WoA things, this week I asked them What would you want to see in a game?. Some of the feedback has been good and I plan to incorporate it into Citizen. Of the people I've asked, the layout for Citizen has so far been nice, though IE refuses to display the images correctly, I'm sure this'll work in my favour as I don't want a vast number of players (at least not at first). After some of that stuff I was taken to get some replacement trainers as my old ones were falling apart. My new ones a much nicer and I like them a lot. Over the last few days I've had a cold, it's been very annoying. My Dad has been wanting to go for a Bike Ride with me this Easter and so I went but not only am I very unfit but my cold didn't help at all. As such my Dad easily out-paced me. One the Citizen site I'm using rollovers, below is the HTML code required for a rollover. <div align="center">     <a href="http://c.woarl.com/forum/index.php"     onmouseover="document.buttonBoard.src='../../images/logos/boardOver.png'"     onmouseout="document.buttonBoard.src='../../images/logos/board.png'"> <img style="MARGIN: 10px 10px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 107px; HEIGHT: 107px;"     src="../../images/logos/board.png" width="107" height="107" border="0"     alt="Board Link" name="buttonBoard"></a> <br /> Citizen Web Board</div> One Rollover link is one of those blocks, clearly this is not a fair system, it involves a lot of typing for me. With some smart use of PHP (it makes the computer think before making the web-page) I can write the following to achieve a similar effect. <?php     addButton('main','index'); ?> As you can see, it pays to be lazy :)