Not a vast amount - Tuesday

I got up, went to my Java lecture, got my laptop insured, went to Tesco, went to my other lectures and went home. I played some Warcraft 3 and did a lot of Java. The chess program now has some inkling as to the rules of checkmate, most of the Java time however was spent fumbling around with something in the User Interface (something important), however, after talking to Gareth about it I soon realised what to do (mostly because he told me what he'd done) In the evening I went over to Jo's house because it's her Birthday and she was having a social gathering/party. I left early and went to bed after doing some revision.

Sorry for the Delay - Monday

Friday involved some Warcraft 3, packing and playing around with my new computer. Saturday I travelled to Portsmouth. My plan was to amuse myself on the train by watching one or more movies. However, that was scuppered when I met a friend of mine from Secondary School called Thomas. He took a year out and is now studying Paleontology here at Portsmouth. So we talked for a while, played some 2 player games on the computer and then watched Ice Age 2. The computer battery is very very good and it would have lasted a whole trip watching a film, playing games required processor power so not so long. I got back quite okay and sat down for the night to watch the Incredibles and Lord of War. Sunday was somewhat more interesting. I first walked Becca to Eastney, on the way collecting Siän and Ceryn. The morning service was about the Magi and Jon used the pun that it was the first Star - Trek. I think I'll have to put it on a par with my Dad's poor jokes. The Hackers very kindly invited myself and some students back for Lunch, it was really nice and I would have liked to have stayed for longer after lunch but had to leave to do some work. I got some work done and also played some games. I then walked the ladies from their respective homes to Church, we also brought Lauren along this time (I'm not trying to imply that she's not a lady). That night I spent a little longer playing games than planned and so forgot to blog. Today was a very interesting day. Firstly I got to my lab quite on time, then I found out that I had the following deadlines. Exam this Wednesday (Almost nobody knew it was this Wednesday) Java hand in on the 17th (next Wednesday) Professional Practice hand in on the 17th Digital Coursework marking on the 17th This is not actually as bad as it sounds. For a start the exam I have on Wednesday is one of 4, I've had two of them (or maybe that marked lab counted as one, I'm not sure). In my first exam I didn't do too well, about 45% to my memory. However, the mark I received 80% from the last test. The Java program today started as something that allowed me to hard-code some moves and displayed a very basic board. It now displays a much better board, allows you to make moves and enforces most of the rules. It still needs castling, checkmate, check and also networking. In the evening the CU all went to the pub, there I played a very tough game of Chess against Dan, I won by a slim margin. I talked a lot to Huw about WoA, I'll not be doing much to do with WoA for the next week and a bit as I've got a lot of work. I got back, blogged and went to bed.

Zooming around - Tuesday

Monday wasn't incredible, I did mostly WoA type stuff, some programming and in the evening we played Poker (no real Money) as a family. It was a nice day and I also did very well at Counter Strike. Today I woke up as usual around 0900ish, as usual I had no real desire to get out of bed. This changed rather abruptly when I was told that my new computer had arrived. Well, I was downstairs so fast that I got laughed at (actually, doing most things in my family will get you laughed at, you just gotta live with it). The new computer had indeed arrived and it's very nice. To put it simply, the one I had been using (which shall be referred to as the 12") was a nice computer, it did what I needed it too and only took about 15 seconds to boot up my MSN and Firefox, maybe a little longer if iTunes was playing music. This new one (which shall be called the Macbook) boots up MSN, Firefox and iTunes instantly. Better yet, it has a working DVD Drive and so while I am MSNing and WoAing, it's ripping DVDs to the Hard Drive (converting them from the DVD to the Computer itself), better yet, the Hard Drive is 4 times the size of my old one. It gets better. I now have a built in web-cam, so I can run a 2nd MSN client with webcam support alongside what's already happening and also play Flash Games. Before, running nothing but Firefox I could play a certain Flash Game, minimum settings at about 5fps, now it barely dips below 30 on maximum settings. As I type I've finally found a way to push both Processor Activity bars up to 100%. I'm converting 2 movies into new formats because the format they're currently in doesn't play properly. Dinner was very nice and involved me eating a stick of Broccoli and a Brussel Sprout. Overall, it was a very good day for all. Well, all but the Brussel Sprout and Broccoli stick.

And after a short break we return - Sunday

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were to say the least, a little dull blog wise. I spent a lot of time programming, playing CS:S and WoA. Sunday however was much more interesting. I Went to church and it was much more interesting. Kevin Adams, the old pastor from when I first went there, he spoke a little about how the church was when he was there and about how the Youth didn't have somewhere solid to meet yet grew to up to 50 people. Jon talked about the Sluggard from Proverbs, he tried to get in some digs at students but we all know what he's like and he was happy to admit that he likes to have a lie in. It's really good that Jon can poke fun at himself because you can connect with him and realise that though he's the one at the front teaching, he's not perfect either. After the service I gave Emma her Birthday/Christmas present and apparently she'd told me before that she really liked Toblerones (and I'd gotten her one) so was very happy. I cannot recall her ever saying that but just nodded and smiled. After Church I got home and did some WoA, some programming and then my Mum showed me how to make Parm - ee - yays (okay, I cannot spell it, it's probably French). I took said tasty food to a New Year's eve party at Jon and Becca's house. It was really good. We played Taboo, the object of the game was to tell someone what a word was but you were not allowed to use that word or a set of other words. The best part came when I had to get across Potato. I managed it VERY fast. "It's something round and I'd give it to ladies instead of a rose" Emma yelled out Potato as she knew the story behind it and everybody just looked at her and before we went onto the next round I had to explain the story. After the New Year arrived we young-uns sat down and talked to John (Emma's step father) about stuff, or more accurately he tried and failed to have a go at us for relying on Calculators too much. We mocked him a lot, he mocked me a lot (and sometimes the other young-uns) and we all had a good time. I told him that maybe one day he'd get over his fear of computers and use the internet, apparently he's already done that so maybe he'll stumble onto my blog and leave a less than constructive comment ;) I cycled home and played QWERTY Warriors, if you're looking for a way to improve your typing, this might be it. I enjoy the hardest difficulty, so if you use the computer to type as much as me, it'll be interesting to see how well you do, I've yet to die so I can't tell you my high-score ;) Note that I've accessed the SWF object directly as on my computer the page lags with all the adverts the site has.

And back - Wednesday

Monday involved getting up and opening presents. I've read one of the books already. I slept on some of the trip down to Somerset, we got there and had a very nice lunch which scored something unimpressive on the vegetable scoring system. We stayed overnight at my Nan's and left the next day, but not before one of her cats had set fire to a tea towel. While there, we mocked my Nan a lot (such as complaining that the Christmas decorations were too low, then lowering them before we left so even my Nan had to duck). Anybody that's met me knows I will mock people, well, this is where I get it from. It's always like this and my Dad is the worst. Getting home I was quite tired and so forgot all about blogging. Today I had a lie in while my brothers went to Marks and Spencer's sale. Over the course of the day I WoAed quite a bit, played a lot of Counter Strike Source and worked on my Java Chess Game that I've got plenty of time left to do it in. I played a semi-competitive Counter Strike game which I ended up not letting the team down TOO badly.

Ill Divo - Sunday

I got up a little later than would have been best but got to Church quite on time. The service was about the attitudes towards Jesus of the Magi, Herod and also the Pharisees. I had cycled in and my hands were very very cold, cycling back more slowly they were not as cold. I was wearing gloves both ways which leads me to believe that the wind chilled the blood in my arms then was very cold by the time it got to my hands. I got home and did some WoA stuff, more WoA stuff, some programming and then Aunties, Uncles and Grandma came over. We had a massive lasagna meal which had some vegetables in it, about 7 cubic cm by my guess. We opened some presents as tomorrow we're going down to Somerset and so would not be able to do it. In the evening I cycled into Ammanford again for a Carol service, I put on a jumper and it was much better for my hands. The service was very good, especially the male choir. Afterwards was a hot chocolate and then a long and slow cycle home where I browsed the net, blogged and bedded. I will not be blogging for a day, maybe two, possibly three as I will be away in Somerset.

What a day - Saturday

Well, I had a nice lie in, did some WoA, did some more WoA and had lunch. Around 1500 or 1600 we found that Brecon had still not actually washed that day and I promised I would blog it. Dinner was a very tasty Torta - Lee - Nee (hey, I can't spell it) with almost no vegetables. Yeah, I need a new scoring system.