As i mentioned on my previous post, i move out tomorrow. I've started packing already. I have some stuff from when i moved out a few years ago, but surprisingly not as much as i had thought i did. This confuses me as i cant quite figure out what was so big in storage (other than my bed) which stopped me from just keeping it in the shed and saving me £120-£80 a month.

So yeah, i move out on Sunday. I'm staying in university managed accommodation. I will be just off campus, unfortunately the far side of campus, but there's an upside to this. University park is one of the prettiest university campuses in the UK, I will get lots of exercise, I walk past the building in which my Dad works/teaches in, so when i'm poor i can (maybe) invite him out for dinner, and then have him pay? Or more likely, it's good having family well within reach.

I am in self catered accommodation, so i have to get back into the swing of making myself food. I have an en suite bathroom though, which is good. I am going to be a boring university student, one of those ones who stays home and works and does assignments on time (that's the aim anyway).

Stuff i've bought:

I bought a lovely new bag. This bag fits my laptop nicely! My current bags arent that well suited. I have a laptop backpack, which is designed for 17" laptops. My laptop is 11.1" and somewhat drowns in it, plus i dont really need that much space. My other bag is a camera bag. It's great being able to have my SLR and my laptop together, but not so good for university where i wont be needing a camera, but will be needing paper and pens.

Lots of kitchen stuff. Well, my Mum actually did. She gave me a lot of the old stuff in the kitchen. Partly because it's old, partly because it matches nothing, partly to make space. She topped up what i didnt have on a trip to Tesco. The result though is i have the strangest set of kitchen utensils of all time. I have mugs which are black and white lines/bubbles, pale green plates, vivid orange vegetable peelers, white bowls, black dinner trays for example. It's free so i dont care, and half of it will get broken/stolen/knackered so it's a moot point.

A printer! This is actually part of my 101 list! I bought a laser printer. I made the best of the last of my staff discount and got a £75 laser printer for £49. Lovely job. Although the equipment on campus is good, around essay time, the print queue is around 6 hours long. I could send stuff to my Dad to get printed off in his office, but it's far from ideal if i'm working late.

A fridge. I got a smallish fridge as it was cheap and i would like somewhere which i can store my luxaries in without worrying about it vanishing if i'm away for 24hours. It may sound petty, but it's a sad case of life for many university flats. I just hope it's the size i think it is (it arrives tomorrow). I would hate to find it's too large to fit in my room.

Linen, blankets, Stationery. Quite limited buy on this. It's not really something i like buying too much of in advance before i figure out what i'll need. I have folders, paper trays, blankets, sheets, pillows, trays for bathroom etc. I'll buy whatever else in due course.


I get internet access as part of my room. I essentially connect to the university network. This is good. It means i'll get 30-500mbps internet. Unfortunately, it will be locked down to hell. It already says no torrents, which i can deal with as i dont download stuff anymore, but other ports are blocked as well. I just hope they dont block gaming ports etc. Another pain is, you get 1 data port in a room. You can only have 1 thing plugged in at once, you cannot bring your own networking equipment (router, bridge, wap), so wtf am i going to do with my laptop? I figured i'll bridge my ethernet ports on my pc and just tether my laptop. Far from ideal, but if i get bothered, i still have WWAN (cellular) internet. and

I'm about 15 minutes walk from Beeston train station, where there's hourly trains direct to Birmingham. I can also change in Leicester to get to brum, making it a train every 30 minutes. This will mean i can see pixiepanic simply and easily.



I should get some sleep now, as i have an epic day of tying up loose ends, packing (including my computer?!?!?!?!)  and laundry. wish me luck

Tags: engineering, technology, university, update
Current Location: Leicester, uk
Current Mood: sleepy

I move out on Sunday. I start university on Monday. I have so much to do!

That said, i'm going to start posting more now, just not this second because my printer is here!

Tags: technology, uni, update
Current Location: Leicester, UK, Home
Current Mood: giddy

My laptop got delivered the other day, well, in fact almost a week ago! The past week has flown by. In fact, the past 2 weeks have flown by, in a sort. Last week Maz was in Spain which sucked, so i worked some night shifts at work to try and ensure i no longer bounce in and out of my overdraft before i start university which, by the way, is getting scarily close. She arrived back on Saturday night, i drove up after work on Sunday, and we drove back here on Tuesday. We're both full of cold right now. Well, i dont think i have a cold, but i have this weird sickness feeling which sucks.

Back to the laptop, I got my laptop last week. It arrived, no problems with it. Battery life is as expected, very very very good. I've been trying to set it up to how i had my previous laptop, but still needs a bit more work. I should really consider sending it off to Sony as well so it can be tinkered with for that product recall thingymabob a few months ago, (a few months? wasn't that like last year?). Anyway, yes. I have my schedule for my first week of university which starts on the 21st. I'm moving in before that because there's little to be sat around here for. I finish work on the 13th. I would like to make brownies for my co-workers for my last day. It would be nice. Most people when they leave just slack and whatever, or get to give people a piece of their mind that they never had the guts to do before hand. I'm in a strange situation that i quite enjoyed my job on the whole, didn't have any feuds with colleagues, and will probably miss working there (but not my much really).

My accommodation provider is already being a fucktard by saying OHSHIT ARE YOU STILL COMING? COS LIKE, WE HAVENT HAD YOU SAY YES YOU ARE, SO ARE YOU? yes, yes. i am coming, hence why i've got a few thousand pounds of my money in your bank account ffs.

Gotta sort out insurance too. I hate having to put a value on my belongings. It's like, well i bought you 3 years ago, so do i put your current value or the value it would cost to replace you?

Anyway, sleep time for me, so i guess i'll have to continue this post another time. Enjoy reading until then :) x

Tags: laptop, sick, sony vaio, travel, uni, update
Current Location: Leicester, UK, Home
Current Mood: sleepy

I'm alive and well (ish, i've felt a bit bleh tbh). I'm in Leeds with pixiepanic who gave me a present today :D

Anyway, i shall endeavour to do a nice proper post some time in the next week with all the details.

take care.

Gareth

Tags: update
Current Location: Rawdon, Leeds, UK
Current Mood: cheerful

I fell asleep last night at a really really early hour. I had too many days with too little sleep. I woke up finally this morning at 04:35 rather amazed at how blue the sky was. I quickly glanced at the news and read the bombshell that 8 out of the 10 current teams in Formula 1 have had enough of Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley and are intending to make their own championship.

There are enough websites which explain how this has come about. What interests me is: If there is a breakaway series, what circuits will be raced, what kind of rules will there be, what aid will there be for smaller teams wishing to compete.

A good way to save money is not change the rules so drastically each year. R&D costs are by nature very high and if the rules and regulations change yearly, you end up spending money but not reaping the benefits for more than 4-8 months before you have to start again.

The Silverstone circuit is likely to want to be part of any new series, as they have been told repeatedly that they aren't going to be back on the F1 calendar for at least 17 years. Bernie Ecclestone said if Donington park isnt ready for when it takes over the British GP in 2010, then there just wont be one.

The fans are in agreement over the circuits fiasco, with there no longer being any F1 activity in North America, both of which would usually fully sell out of tickets. France cancelled their GP after prohibitive costs also. At the same time, exotic locations such as Turkey and Bahrain remain on the Calendar, yet there aren't many fans that care for the sport there. (At Turkey there was 40,000 spectators out of a max capacity of 150k).

I know a lot of people find politics in sport tedious, but i find it rather absorbing and interesting. I will be watching carefully what happens. I will quite likely watch both series' if any breakaway happens. I'll be focussing on the breakaway, but i cant wait to see ForceIndia and Williams fighting it out for the constructors championship.


Enough F1Bawwwwww.

I walked up the stairs and Oscar was sat there looking pretty. I remarked at how clear his face was (he usually has major snot problems around his nose) and he looked at me and blew a bubble out of his nostril !

I have a presentation to make today. I'm jotting down notes. The powerpoint half of the presentation has to be e-mailed off today. I have an interview next Wednesday. I've been focussing really hard on getting my college work done, that i haven't really been giving this the attention it really needs. Regardless, i will give it my all, and hopefully receive the sponsorship/job in question.

Tags: cats, formula1, update, work
Current Location: Leicester, uk, home.
Current Mood: excited

Sorry for not really having a proper blog post in over a month.

That said, this isnt going to be a 'proper' blog post either.

I got some things though :)

First off, is a Poster which i ordered back on the 21st. Impressively, it arrived here very promptly considering it was coming from California. Even more impressively is the poster itself, photographed below, complete with a thankyou card drawn by the artist herself. I rather like it! The added fact it's 2/50 makes it a little more special too.



Secondly, my Dad kindly bought me a couple books i felt i needed for my course. One out of two have arrived. The first, as you can see, is "Higher Engineering Mathematics". I'm waiting on "A guide to writing as an Engineer".

Books are expensive. This was £24, the other is nearly £40. I know i will be using these 2 books a lot though in the next 5-6 years though.

Anyway, i sleep now. ciao x

Tags: engineering, pictures, update, webcomics
Current Location: Leicester, UK, Home
Current Mood: sleepy

Hey hey. I've had a rather good Easter break from school. Spent a lot of time doing things other than sitting in front of the computer, which is a welcome change.

Whilst procrastinating this morning i bought a Skadi comic poster.

Skadi is a weekly comic from Dumm Comics, a new comic every Wednesday. There are other comics for each day of the week. I'd post one directly here but they do not have an embed comic option which is a shame. anyway, look here: http://www.dummcomics.com/index?sid=71

Now, i have to finish a shitton of assignments for tomorrow, so i apologise for the short post, and i give you a photo of Betty!

Tags: college, update, webcomics
Current Location: Leicester, UK, Home
Current Mood: bouncy

Madelaine has been in Leicester for the last week. We've done lots of things. She was spending time with her friend Caroline who lives not that far from me, so i went over to visit them both a few times whilst she stayed there.

I've been meaning to take photos of some things locally to me for a LJ community named abandonedplaces and i was thrilled to hear that Madelaine was very much up for coming along. The things i wanted to photograph were of an abandoned farmstead and an old rail tunnel about 2 miles away from the village. Until 1954 there was a railway line that ran from Leicester Belgrave Road station (now defunct) through Humberstone, past Thurnby, Ingarsby (for where i live) and then split towards Melton Mowbray or on to Peterborough station. The railway was dismantled, as were many rail lines at that time. The curious part was that they had a rather long rail tunnel, at least 1200 yards in length if not longer. They demolished one side of it which came out in the middle of what is now a large field that is used to grow crops. The other end was left intact. Measuring it from the last sign of the tunnel (above ground) which is an air vent, to the entrance, it is approximately half a mile in length. This is why it is known locally as The half mile tunnel.

Anyway, we went, we took pictures. I have already made a post to the community, but i'd like to share some photos with you as it was quite a nice little adventure.

( Epic adventure under the cut. )

Tags: !, pictures, update
Current Location: Leicester, UK
Current Mood: accomplished

Today i have the day off from work. I know i only work 2 days a week, but it is very rare for me to have a Saturday off. I took it as holiday as, on Tuesday, it was my Mothers 50th birthday. Today is her party for her and her friends from work and the village etc. What's organised is a banquet at a Thai food restaurant. It should be pretty good. I helped too, kinda. As they wanted to have a champagne toast, i obviously insisted i chose the champagne. To be honest i cant say i have the opportunity to drink much champagne so i have little advantage over my Father choosing, except i know what's the best quality for the target price, and i know the differences in the mixes of grapes and the various differences between brut, demi-sec, doux, etc.

It's been mentioned that i now have to bring my camera along this evening. My sister has a better camera, and did a degree in photography/media, but didn't bring her camera along. I'm not a big fan of having to take photos of people, and at these functions i prefer to keep relatively discreet. However, i had best do as I've been asked.

I have put in my accommodation application to Nottingham University for when i go in September. I should find out where i'm going from April onwards. I put down 3 choices. The main halls on campus at Nottingham are pretty old school. The majority of them are 6 bedrooms sharing 2 showers, 2 bathrooms and a laundry room. They're either catered or have a kitchen to share as well. Most are catered. I'm (technically) a mature student, and i was kinda worried at the prospect of being stuck in a halls of residence with a bunch of 18 year olds who have never moved out before, drinking themselves into oblivion and generally being annoying, so my top 2 choices are self catered halls for both undergrads and postgrads. The rooms are more self contained with most of them being en-suite bathrooms. The drawback is that all of these residences are off campus. What's somewhat more inconvenient is that they are incredibly far away from the engineering block on campus too, so in one case I've got to walk the full length of the campus from halls to the block, which is a long way and over a lovely steep hill. Another case is i'll be actually based at a campus which is described as a 35 minute walk or a 15 minute bike ride to the edge of my campus. Luckily that brings me to the edge closest to the engineering buildings.

One thing is now for sure, i will be getting plenty of exercise. There are shuttle buses to take also, and most of them are free so i cannot complain.

We ran out of tea the other day. After 2 days of no tea, i think we all got sick of having nothing but coffee, and new teabags were bought. I must say that these are lovely. So lovely that i actually managed to complete one of my 101 tasks (#92).

I've just started doing another one of my 101 tasks too, which is to take a photograph a day of myself for 60 consecutive days. I know many people do the same but for a longer duration of time, but i purposely made all my tasks achievable, i just had to put in the minimal amount of effort, which is often what i lack. I've made a new photo set on my flickr to upload them all to. So far there are only 2 photos, but i hope to upload daily.

Trigonometry, Linear Motion, Curriculum Vitae and Capacitance assignments to do before Wednesday. I best get busy.

Ciao

Tags: college, exercise, food, photography, uni, update, wine, work
Current Location: Leicester, uk, home.
Current Mood: content

Starting with the forecast, it will be getting gradually wetter until midweek, however, towards the end of the week it will start clearing up substantially. Day time temperatures will be cooler than last week and will struggle to get much higher than 10'c. Night time temperatures will start to get cooler as the week goes on due to the cloud cover going. By midweek we might even see some frost in rural areas.


I told you that one of my back-up professions was a meteorologist. Weather report was for Leicester, so if you're across the world, i'd not listen to me.

Well, do start listening now. The things I've been doing this week:

Most of this week I've been stupidly busy, which is why i haven't updated much at all. I've been pretty active on twitter, babbling on about what wine I'm drinking and trying to destroy my house by resonating the supports with a sine wave generator.

You know, the usual stuff.

I made pancakes on Tuesday. In fact, i have a photo of it.
 

( Or three )

Other than this, I had been frantically writing about classical mechanics, in particular Simple Harmonic Motion (note the attempted destruction of my house with a sine wave generator). Well i completed it. It's currently being marked. I'm not that happy with it, but I was not in a position to make it much better without locking myself in a library for a week with nothing but a steady supply of caffeine and pancakes to keep me going. I skipped college on the Wednesday because i had been up all night writing about it, and after i woke up after an hour and a half sleep, I decided it was probably best for me to avoid driving to college. This is for other motorists' sake as well as my own. Thursday i did go in, and had great feedback on my participation at the Student Liaison Team meeting on Monday. This was nice to hear, but to be honest only 5 other reps bothered to turn up (out of about 30). I did prepare for the meeting though so I can take that much credit.

Friday i relaxed and slept. I had been somewhat sleep deprived all week, and what sleep i did have was at awful times like 04:40. Saturday was just another work day. Sunday i had a list of things to do at work, and i only got half of it done. One of the things to do was to merch a bunch of wine stacks by the chillers, and the other was to work through 2 rows of backstock. I came in and got handed a merchandising brochure for Mothers day. I had a mod of wine to merch, so i quickly grabbed the 20 or so lines and did that before taking a tea break. i only got half a row of backstock done as i got nabbed again to train someone using the back-office system.

So, here's the forecast bit! (that thing at the start was just to throw you).
Monday and Tuesday I will be spending mostly drawing triangles and writing about Linear motion. I have 2 assignments to do, and i had best do them! On Wednesday(actually the following Wednesday. bloody February with it's short days.) i have my usual college stuff to do, but i'm going to a guest lecture at Leicester University's Science department. It's all about power generation, and particularly the economics of it. It is supposed to talk a lot about coal, as the lecture is titled "King Coal: Time for restoration of the mucky monarch?". Very relevant to what I'm interested in.More info can be found here.
Back on track, Thursday is more college and Friday i have free to either do work or play or relax. Most likely the last one.

Ciao

 

Tags: college, food, pictures, update
Current Location: Leicester, UK, Home
Current Mood: Spaced
Current Music: High Contrast - Music Is Everything