Hey ho

It's a gorgeous Friday afternoon, the start of the long, holiday weekend and
I'm sitting in front of a computer matching patterns. It's cold in here
because of the air-conditioning, there is no one else here to talk to and
the lights keep going out because I'm not moving. Only the caffeine is
keeping me sane.

Disappointing

I thought that tonights Question Time with the three main party leaders
would be a bit of light entertainment. But they are on separately, so no
chance of a good scrap then. This election campaign needs livening up a bit.

Well I think it's interesting...

... but I'm probably the only person who does.
The maiden flight of the Airbus A380 ‘Superjumbo’ (although I think the original Jumbo is quite super) was a plane spotters dream and a great engineering achievement. It’s also great that this is relatively environmentally friendly. I do however wonder about the success of this plane though. The planes are likely only to fly long-haul between the major hubs. So while almost two 747s worth of people can fly on a single plane, a large number of those people are likely to want connecting flights at one or both ends. The latest plane Boeing are working on, the 787 Dreamliner, is also going to be more fuel efficient etc. but will be small enough to fit on existing runways. Boeing are also saying it will be capable of flying between any two points on earth, non stop. It is my theory that people will prefer to fly direct, to and from convenient airports rather than three connecting flights. That’s just my opinion. I don’t mind though, I love flying so the more flights the better.

In related news, Northern England has a new airport. And this airport is the only one outside of London with a runway long enough for the new airbus – perhaps we will see the Superjumbo up here! But why Robin Hood? This is Doncaster! Robin Hood is Nottinghamshire. Apparently there are links between Robin Hood and Doncaster but still. The people who came up with the name also changed Liverpool Speeke to John Lennon Airport which still begs the question why Robin Hood? Why not Leslie Garrett or Diana Rigg Airport. And leave Robin Hood to East Midlands?

Just one more complaint, still on this topic. BBC News 24 insists on having a big red banner across the screen telling you what the picture it’s covering up is about. I could only see the top deck of the A380 so it’s a good job it’s a double decker!

Hope: Part 2

Well some of it did work but some of it didn't. Hopefully the half that has worked will be enough to take forward to the final stage but I don't know yet what to do about the stuff that didn't work. As with everything else over the last three years it's a case of two steps forwards and one step back. Or is that one step forward and two steps back!

Hope

Couldn't sleep last night. I've had many sleepless nights over this phd but last night was bad and I was so nervous coming into work this morning. My last chunk of lab work is nearing the end and has taken weeks to get this far with a number of problems, not too mention the cost of this work. Today I find out if it has worked. If not I don't know what I'm going to do - apart from cry! If it has worked then there will be a slight glimmer of light at the and of a very long tunnel. Fingers X'd!

Sleep

I'm so tired today, probably due to a busy week and sleepless nights. Of course it didn't help when some sort of commotion started up outside the house at three this morning. It sounded like a fight, there was lots of banging going on and I was worried about the cars parked out the front. It didn't last long but it woke me up with a start so I couldn't just turn over and get back to sleep. Bring back the guy who used to stagger past at 1am every Saturday morning singing "You'll never walk alone", at least he was entertaining. Then 'The Family' were knocking on the door at 8.30 so a lie-in was out of the question. We're out tonight as well so no early night either. I wouldn't mind but it's our first night out in weeks and we've been looking forward to it for ages. I even have a new outfit - woo!

Money makes the word go round

I took my head out of the sand and checked my bank balance the other day for the first time in a while. Although I've still got some of the money I managed to save while I was still being paid it's going down fast. I have therefore been economising (i.e. have cut down on the wine, the more expensive stuff at least) and been keeping my eye open for a wee part time job that would give me some money while I finish my thesis (but at the same time allow me some time with the wife). So I have spent the afternoon writing all the crap necessary for an application to be an exam invigilator. And it has taken me all afternoon. I've done invigilation before and it is the most boring way to spend six hours a day but it pays well and needs must. Fingers crossed.

What the...

I had just written a post about vibrating toilets (due to roadworks), standing on the dog since he is hiding under the table (he doesn't like the vibrations), and not realising my morning alarm was an hour early leaving me wondering why an unidentified woman was on the radio rather than the Togmeister himself. But then my computer, the very same computer that cost me more than I can afford not more than three weeks ago, crashed telling me it had dumped all the memory or something like that. The shouts were probably heard all across town. All seems well now, however a post probably more boring than this one was lost forever. I need more coffee to steady my nerves.

Sir Clive

Why oh why! For The Lions tour of New Zealand has Clive Woodwood (ex-England coach) picked 20 Englishmen for the tour but only 11 Irish, 10 Welsh and 3 Scots? Now I could complain that only 3 Scots have been selected but even I may leave myself open to ridicule. But why twice as many English than Welsh considering the recent Six Nations success including the Grand Slam. May I also point out that Ireland finished above England. Thank you.

Inflation?

I woke up at about 6 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep so raided my bookshelf. It’s ages since I’ve read a good book and ended up going for Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I was quite amused to read in the prologue that back in 1973 a pint of beer cost 13p, a packet of choccie biscuits cost 12p, and an electric kettle cost £7. While yesterday a pint of beer cost me £2.40 our new kettle was just £6.99. Yay Gordon Brown, vote Labour!

See!

Yes Boss! I stayed at home today. I started working at 9 this morning, paused briefly for a fish finger sarnie at lunch time and had a productive afternoon, stopping a short time ago having written over 7 pages and put together a pretty picture to illustrate my point (actually I probably wrote 14 pages including all the stuff I deleted). I call that a productive day.

Word

Why when I’m typing in word does ‘End’ take me to the beginning of a line, the forward arrow take me backwards and the backwards arrow take me forwards?

Caution: Rant

My boss is an ignorant sod. Since I’m still working at a different site I spent last weekend working on something for him which has no place in my own project so that first thing Monday morning the results were on his desk. Did I get an email acknowledging this? Did I get any thanks? No. Nor did he see fit to tell me that he was going away for a 'few days' however many a few days are. So today I travel up and down the motorway to see him about various things only to be told he has gone I-don’t-know-where and won’t be back until next week sometime. So that was two hours of my day wasted, when I could have been doing something useful. I think he thinks that by telling us nothing we won’t notice he isn't there and so won't take the piss by arriving late and leaving early and taking three hours for lunch. If he trusted us, I might have got some work done today.

Creepy

I don't like being at work out of hours, this building gives me the creeps when empty. Also I'm always scared that I can't get through the door in time to unset the alarm (like the time I was trying to push the door instead of pulling it, the same door I use several times a day). The alarm would cause security to come running and I don't like security (the same security that like telling me that my car isn't parked in a designated space - and you can't get a designated space unless you are at work for 8.30, and that ain't ever gonna happen!). They are probably monitoring my computer now and will come and get me for this post.

Friday

After realising that yesterdays news about the purchasing of useless crap equipment was not an early April fools joke, I have still managed to finish the week on a high. It's great when after several days trying, it all starts to work and I can stick a page of results in my lab book. Unfortunately, in all the excitement I forgot that the week was finished and set up the rest of the experiment. Unfortunately, that means I have to come into work tomorrow. On a Saturday.