Archive for April, 2009

Missing the good old days?

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Last week I popped down to London for the Ubuntu Jaunty release party (congratulations, by the way, to all involved). Even though it’s practically the opposite end of the country, I can still use the term ‘popped’ because the journey was less that 3.5 hours. Coolness #1.

I thought I’d be productive on the way down (and back) and took along my old Nokia N95 with Pay As You Go SIM. Turn it on, plug it in, a short configuration procedure (i.e. pick your provider) and I was online. What happened to hacking PPP files and AT commands? Coolness #2.

It didn’t take long to burn through my credit on the SIM, after which I discovered that Virgin now offer T-Mobile WiFi on their west coast trains. Coolness #3.

Today I picked up a T-Mobile PAYG mobile broadband dongle (for days when I want a bit more social interaction than the numerous animals that inhabit our house, and Chai Tea Lattes of course!) and, unsurprisingly, it just worked – like my N95.

We’ve come a long way baby.

SSiS (Surprisingly Still In Shape)

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

After not running at all (discounting a couple of goes on the jogging in Wii Fit!) for 5 whole weeks, I finally stopped making excuses and made the most of our good weather for a 4.5 miler today and – surprisingly – I’m still in reasonable shape. I ran only slightly slower that I did in my half marathon – which I blame entirely on having to wait for the dog to catch me up every so often :) – with only a couple of stops and one brief walk. Not bad IMO.

Now to keep up the training and look for some races post-UDS.

The reason for my break in training – which resulted in me skipping my second planned race – was that I was waiting for my new tattoo to heal. I’ve only recently (i.e. the last year-and-a-bit) started getting tattooed (any comments about a mid-life crisis will be directed to /dev/null :) – but it’s true what they say: it’s extremely addictive. I’ve already got about 4 more planned!

Eye Of Ra Tattoo

Photo of my tattoo at about 1.5 weeks old - the bruising is still evident!

The tattoo I’ve had done is a stylised Eye Of Ra, also known as the Eye of Horus. The design comes from Tattoo Tribes, and the basic meaning is protection although there are lots of other interpretations and meanings. I also have a few personal reasons for using this particular symbol.