Back To Work

Back to work. Loads of things to do. I've made a list of them. The first thing on the list was "make a list of things to do". I've crossed that one off. Does this count as progress?

The Pain of Progress

Son: Does your camera have manual exposure.
Me: Nope.
Son: Oh (in a faintly condescending way)

I think the fairies may be paying a visit and spiriting that camera away. They can bury it at the bottom of the garden next to the tin whistle and drum kit received around 10 years ago....

Sunday Cheese

Spent most of today working on the Smartphone programming articles. These are fun to write and, hopefully, fun to read.

You can find out more about this (it will become a recurring theme) here.

A Better Camera

Number one son has a better camera than me. I know this because I've just bought it. It cost just more than half as much as mine. And it has around twice as many features. This is the price of progress I suppose. But mine is a nicer colour...

Sent Packing

Spent some time today packing things up ready for a move by dad. Found lots of scary things and went to the tip a number of times. At least we didn't bring back more than we took...

Uses for an empty red pen

More marking today. My red pen is nearly empty. When it runs out I'll have to decide what to do. I hate throwing things away. Even though we can't get refills and they cost nearly nothing. I kept a bunch of old pens for a while before realising that this was slightly scary behaviour and so now I close my eyes and drop them in the bin....

Welcome to Resit Country

Been marking resit exams and coursework. Some of it drives me mad. Not because it is so bad, but because it is so good. Of course, because the submissions are all anonymous I can't tell which is which, and some of the papers are first attempts because the particular student was unwell or unavailable first time round. But still, there do seem to be a lot of rather good ones.

People, if you can do this well, please do it first time when you can get full credit for your work. Resit marks are capped at 40%, even if you get double that. It doesn't matter for the first year papers, since these don't count for your final mark, but it does matter for all the rest.

Preston Foster Lite and the End Of The World

Meeting of the Preston Foster society tonight. Kind of light, in that there was just the two of us - but at least it made the rounds cheaper....

Conversation turned to impending doom, as it does.

Sets and Violence

Last week I bought a broken television. I didn't do this entirely intentionally. I am not the kind of person who strides into a shop and demands "The finest intermittently defective 32 inch widescreen 100Hz TV you have in stock please. Oh, and with 3 SCART sockets". That would be beyond even my level of stupidity. No, the purchase was entirely accidental.

Last week a big white van drew up and they dropped off the aforementioned broken beast. At first, of course, the darned thing worked. Then it broke. Then it mended itself and worked again. Then it broke once more. Ho hum. Since I (and the entire family) really wanted a device which would light up every time the on switch was pressed I called the supplier. OK, they said, we'll sort you out.

What I thought would happen next is that the same, or even a different, van - I'm not that fussy - would turn up. They would carry away the broken set and swap it for a new one. Well, I guess we are half way there.

Today a van arrived. Much excitement, unplugging and removal of old set, discourse on the best DVD to watch on the new box etc etc. Then I was told that they were only here to take the broken one away. Once they have convinced themselves that it is properly duff they will supply me with a new one. Or perhaps the old one back. As Han Solo says at regular intervals in any Star Wars film "I've got a bad feeling about this".

Oh well. At least the old set is working fine (and perhaps allowing itself the occasional electronic snigger).

Let's hear it for Tankersley Manor

Here's a tip. If you want a night in a four star hotel, with a slap up breakfast for two, in plush surroundings and with attentive and polite staff, you could do a lot worse than head for Tankersley Manor. Particularly if I tell you that the price of such a night is only fifty quid. We've just got back from there and it is a splendid place.

I'll post some pictures when I get back into the office. I happened across the hotel via laterooms a neat little web site which offers a multitude of deals on hotels. "The Manor", as we've taken to calling it, is around 15 miles from Sheffield on the way to Barnsley. It is around 40 minutes from the middle of the Peak District, which is a truly lovely part of the world.

We've just got back, and now we want to go again...

The Shock of Good Weather

This summer the weather seems to be running in inverse. Normally we get horrid weekends and bright sunny weekdays. Just to make you feel good about going into work on Monday morning. Last night we drove to our hotel through a deeply unpleasant downpour, pondering nervously our decision to spend a weekend in an unfamiliar town in cloudburst conditions. But today the weather is superb. I now have high hopes for Sunday, and am fairly confident that we are going to get serious rainfall on Monday. Go us!

Travelling Man and Wife

Going off tonight for a weekend away. We are celebrating a wedding which took place some considerable number of years ago. So the blog entries might be a bit scarce. I'll let you all know how most of it went on Monday.

Film Frenzy

Went out to see a film today. So did everyone else. I think it must be the "Orange Wednesday" promotion where you can get two tickets for the price of one. That and the fact that the multiplex that we went to had taken the rather cunning precaution of making all the films in all the theatres start within fifteen minutes of each other. This resulted in a huge queue of people wanting to get in. I wonder if the management were surprised by this?

The delay meant that we missed all those adverts and "coming soon" presentations which I quite like. Although I always feel cheated if the adverts are just big screen versions of the ones on the telly.

The film we saw was Spiderman 2. A very good film as it turned out. Well worth the wait

Olympian Effort

It has proved hard to ignore the Olympics in our house. Although I'm not too sure about watching it number one daughter seems to find it fascinating. Swimmers with unpronounceable names doing unimaginable actions to move through the water. Why were things like butterfly and breast stroke invented? Presumably the human race developed the art of swimming as a way of avoiding the alternative, which is drowning. Once in the water the imperative is often to get out again as fast as possible, especially if being perused (or indeed pursued) by a shark.

So I'm confused about the point in time at which we sat down and said "Right, we know that the fastest way to get through the water is by front crawl. But just to make things more interesting we'll invent lots of silly strokes which you can use as well. Then we'll invent competitions in these silly strokes and have rules so that we can ban people if they don't swim this way properly".

We don't do it in running. We don't have the "100 metres hurdles walking sideways whilst doing the hand jive". So why do we do it in swimming? And I'm still horribly confused as to how synchronised diving was invented.

Summer Drifting

The summer seems to be ebbing away now. The resit exams start next week and so students are starting to reappear and ask me things. Although the question "What are the exam questions?" always receives an answer which disappoints.

I'm working on a Smartphone course at the moment, whilst keeping a weather eye on all the other things which will need to be in place for the start of the semester, which is only a few weeks away.

Sunday Lunch

Our first proper Sunday Lunch for a while. I really like a proper sit down meal on a Sunday. Particularly if I don't have to cook it (but I did take care of the washing up).

Quite looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow, lots of plans and stuff to do.

Printing T Shirts

Number one son got hold of a T shirt printing kit today. They were selling them off half price at a local PC warehouse type shop. He wanted to make up some Firefly T shirts (after the underrated and early canceled Science Fiction series).

It worked surprisingly well. The image is printed on a clear plastic sheet which you then glue onto the shirt using a hot iron. Not sure how well it will wash, but for now it is looking good.

Results Thursday

A level results today. This hits me at two levels. Son and daughter both got their results. And so do people who have applied to study at my institution. News would seem to be good on both fronts. Son did well enough to get into his desired university. Daughter just did well. And I've already heard from a couple of people who have been very pleased to inform me that they will be turning up in Hull in September. Good stuff. Perhaps I will work out some new jokes. Hmmm. Perhaps nobody will notice.

Last Orders

It is the last day of our holidays today. Just a weekend and then back to the coal face. Ho hum.

5,000 Steps Short

On the way down yesterday we stopped of at a fast food restaurant and were given a stepometer as part of the meal deal. It measures how many paces you take. You are supposed to walk 10,000 steps a day. I wore the dratted thing all day as we went out and did stuff. And wound up 5,000 steps short.

However, I reckon that this may be due to my rather long legs. I'm wondering if I dare wear it at work, where most of my time is spent sitting and typing. Perhaps I should attach it to the space bar.

On the Road Again

Off on our travels again to visit family. I don't mind driving, the car is comfy and the scenery whizzes by at a reasonable speed. Even on the M1. I'm trying to pull "Drivers Rights" and get to be the one who chooses the music, but it isn't going too well

A Quiet Day At Home

Spent the day doing not much, but in a very enjoyable way. We are off on our travels again tomorrow, so today we are just relaxing for a while.

I seem to have a talent for doing not much. I wonder if I could make a career out of it (no cracks about lecturers please).

Back Home for a while

Drove home today. Slightly cheered by the fact that the good weather of yesterday is now a distant memory, with huge rainfall and grey skies. Then, uncheered by remembering that we are still supposed to be on holiday.

Cheered again by the fact that the house is still where and as we left it.