Archives
March 31, 2004
Jack loves the beach
The weather is "improving" down here in Spain. It certainly isn't bad for March.
Jack loves the beach and the sea, and is running around everywhere, exploring everything and entertaining everyone. He was fantastic whilst travelling - interested during take off and landing (he shared a window seat with his mum) and sleeping the rest of the time on the plane. As long as he has a view, he's happy, taking it all in.
I've just finished reading "Pattern Recognition" (can't be arsed to find an Amazon link) by William Gibson on my Palm PDA. It was excellent, and only took me a few days by virtue of being on holiday. It's my first Gibson novel, and I think I'll be working my way through his back catalogue. It has made me want to buy a Cube from Ebay...
I have not checked and will not check my email, in case you were expecting a reply. Blogging is fun, wading through email is not, so it will wait until I get home. Likewise I haven't done any work while I've been here. Unusual for me.
Back to the San Miguel!
Sierra Nevada
Nice hills in the background. We must come back and climb those. Some are snowcapped.
March 29, 2004
Nerja Coastline
Kim and Jack on the Nerja coastline!
March 27, 2004
Walking
Out for a stroll with the boy.
This has been a bit of a monster post today because I'm off to Spain tomorrow for a week. Nerja, near Malaga. I probably won't blog while I'm lazing in the sun. See you when I get back!
Girls, girls, girls
Thanks for coming out to see me last night, girls! (Don't worry, that's Kim to my left. But I can't remember whose thumb that is.)
Tapas
This was from the 25th, when Kim and I went out for a meal at a tapas restaurant. It was the first time we'd been out without Jack for a very long time.
Yes I ?
Does this license plate say what I think it says?
Shaun of the dead.
Watch out for this - it's a full film by the Spaced crew. It's going to be good. Oh yes. Go see it on the 9th April.
March 26, 2004
Novel
At 30 I have become the man who has everything, and thus the typical male for whom it is impossible to buy gifts for. I'm terrible for CDs and DVDs because I've usually already bought them. I do fish a bit, but again, I have aquired almost all the kit I'll ever need over the years. Likewise with climbing, and all the other sports I do, although they're harder to buy for anyway.
So what did my family and friends chip in together for my 30th birthday?
You know the race days on a track? The rally driving days? The jumping out of a plane experiences? They're all well and good, but don't quite suit me. I've either done it or I'm not that fussed about doing it. For example, I thought about doing a parachute jump some years ago, but came to the conclusion that I was much happier going climbing.
So my family and friends bought me something that both suits my character and is something I could never have decided to do myself. They're sending me out on a day's espionage training.
Oh crap. How daunting is that?
I will be learning how to:
diffuse bombs
crack safes
use the latest high tech surveillance kit
fire pistols
fire sniper rifles
and kick ass with unarmed combat.
You know those skid pans? With those little wheels beside the main wheels? Well forget that. I'll be taught on a normal track in a normal (?) car how to do J-turns, U-turns and drive-by shootings. Ha! Insane! I've always wanted to do that (well the first two anyway)!
I'm going to try and do it in May or June. Thanks everyone!
March 25, 2004
VideoConf
Using iChat and my iSight on my iBook to videochat with Kim and Jack!
30
I've managed to survive to the age of 30, I'm healthy, happy, and have been of some use to the world so far. Shall we see if I can do better in the next 30 years?
March 24, 2004
29 today
Wow, I'm 30 tomorrow! I know, I keep harping on about it, but still, I'm 30 tomorrow! It has kinda crept up on me this week. I didn't realise it was Wednesday for a while today. You know how it is, when you're busy.
Tomorrow night I'm going out for a meal with Kim, and on Friday I'm out in Cardiff for a few beers and a snack with lots of good friends. It's an open invite. My mum is babysitting both nights, which I think she's really looking forward to. We're back in Cheltenham on Saturday, for more beer and food with the boys, and then off to Spain early on Sunday morning. I suppose I should think about packing.
I don't think I'm going to have much/any internet access in Spain (Kim and Mum won't let me), so no blogging for a week!
Software
I've been getting early presents this week ;) I've had to buy the latest versions of my favourite (very expensive) pieces of software for my new job. We must have bought nearly £1500 worth so far, but we pay nowhere near that because we use the software solely for educational purposes. Isn't that nice? Thanks Macromedia and Adobe!
I'm off to the gym. I need a mid-afternoon workout.
March 23, 2004
Spot the iPod
Can you spot my iPod? It's in its case with just the iTrip sticking out of the top.
March 22, 2004
My Second Office
My second office (on the intercity between Cardiff and Swansea).
Swansea Clinical School
The Swansea Clinical School (Grove building), where I am working. In case you ever need to find me...
March 20, 2004
Server
I went to post something last night, and found my SQL server that runs this blog was down. Uh-oh. It was too late and I'd had too much Scotch whisky to sort it out right then.
I just checked the server, and it had rebooted itself, and an entire drive was missing. Assuming a hard disk failure I checked my backups and they were all intact, although some reinstallation and a new disk drive would have been required (which I probably have lying around somewhere). Still, it would have been a pain in the arse.
A cold restart fixed it though. The drive reappeared. Apparently the server had been up for 9 weeks and 5 days, which I'm very happy about. I take this as a warning though. I must buy a pair of new hard disks so that one is backed up redundantly to the other.
March 18, 2004
Last Week
One week left of being 20-something. Hmm. Interesting.
I had a physical exam with my GP today. Apparently I am extremely fit and healthy!
March 17, 2004
Cycle Commute
It looks as though I'd save around £80 a month if I cycled to and from the main train stations in Cardiff and Swansea. Hmm. That's good motivation. I'll follow that up.
March 16, 2004
Doing well
This makes a change. I've started a new job as a lecturer (a permanent post, unlike the potential of decades of short-term post-doc contracts), I've had a scientific paper of mine accepted to a good journal (pending a few revisions), and I've been invited to speak at a conference in Belgium at the end of May. This can't last.
But wait, it gets better. On top of continuing my research, which I love, I am also revising my knowledge of anatomy, my first degree and the subject that pulled me into research. Our brand new, fully kitted out anatomy suite was completed today. Plus, a great deal of this medicine course will be taught by "self-directed learning", i.e. web-based tutorials. So I am also using my web design background to help create this huge intranet site, which is loads of fun. And I'm writing a small grant to get some more computing power so I can get on with some of that bioinformatics work I mentioned a while ago, so I should have more tech equipment to play with in the future. The days are long, but well worth it.
Kim and Jack are both very happy and very healthy, and my commuting seems to just about work for them. The weekends are spent together, and the odd weekday working in Cardiff gets me home a bit earlier.
Life is good. Fingers crossed that it stays this way.
Oh, and I will be 30 years old next Thursday.
March 14, 2004
Ioan's Birthday Party
Another party for Jack, this time Ioan's second. Lots of fun for Jack, mostly with ball pits and slides.
March 12, 2004
Port Talbot
No snow past Bridgend, except on the hills.
Garden
The front garden at 7am. Not that much snow after all.
March 11, 2004
Swing
Check out this photo I took of Jack on the swings at the weekend:
How much fun is he having?
Snow Starts
Hey, Ele, it has started snowing! I'll take another pic when I leave for work tomorrow morning. It is promised to be a big one :)
I hope I can get to Swansea tomorrow morning :(
March 10, 2004
Park
Walking through Singleton Park this morning in the sun.
Apple shipped me a brand new iPod to replace the broken one. It's got no scratches! It'll never stay that way. Commuting was a lot nicer this morning with my iPod plugged into my ears.
March 09, 2004
Live Departure Boards
This is cool. I hadn't heard about it before, but you can see the departure boards of your station of choice live over the web. This means I can check, either from work or Starbucks (which opened today, by the way!) if my train is running on time.
Swansea rail stations departure board
Another grande latte, please, the 17.30 is running late!
March 08, 2004
iPod
I just checked my Apple support page and my iPod got shipped today! Hopefully it has been repaired FOC. I wonder when I'll get it? That'll really help my commute.
You know how you sometimes you think you see the face of someone you used to know well, but has departed (either this or other worldly)? I keep seeing people with white earplugs in, listening to their iPods, and I wonder where mine is. Now I know!
Mondays
Oh dear. Monday mornings are very hard when you have to get up at 6.45. More coffee required?
March 07, 2004
Turd
I forgot to mention: Jack curled out his first turd in the bath this evening. Nasty.
jackwebster.net update
I have updated Jack's website with all the videos and a collection of photos up to the end of January.
Photos
Just a couple of very recent photos of Jack and Kim:
Thunderbirds Puppet
Here's a video of Jack wandering around the living room in his jammies. Check out the Thunderbirds puppet style!
It's 3.7MB because it is straight from the camera, I'm afraid. Download it via this link.
March 06, 2004
Walking
To give you an idea of how well Jack is walking now, he will wander about the house, hands out in front and to his sides, like a Thunderbirds puppet, bending over to pick soft toys up and will bring them back to you on command. Clever boy! He totters this way and that, rebalancing himself if he trips on an obstacle (most of the time), occasionally collapsing on his knees. Just today he has begun pushing his bum up in the air, with his hands and feet on the floor, and then standing up from this triangle without external support. A first! He hardly crawls at all now.
He has also got the hang of his new shoes for walking outside. He'll have reigns on soon!
March 05, 2004
Run run run
I've just been running! Running along the beach at Swansea when the sun is out is almost on a par with running around Central Park for a view (running around and around the reservoir does get pretty dull after a while, believe it or not). The changing facilties are OK, and not too far from my office.
Of course you can only run two ways (East or West), and then you have to retrace your steps.
Starbucks
Check this out. They've actually built a Starbucks just for me, on my route between the train and bus stations. How did they know I was coming to Swansea?
It isn't finished yet, so their timing is not quite perfect.
March 04, 2004
Gym
I popped to the UWS Sports Centre today. It's right next to the new Wales National Pool, which I'll also be making a visit to.
I met Brian, the rottweiler (not a real one), who has been working there for 20 odd years (a UWS lifer?) Apparently the climbing wall is off limits unless you are the climbing club, and they haven't been for a couple of weeks. So that's a bummer. But the gym looks good, even if it is in the basement, and my induction is next week.
I guess I should go for a run tomorrow. If it's not raining.
Yet another webcam!
Oh dear. Another webcam has been added. This is from my iBook via my iSight, so could come from anywhere, I guess.
March 03, 2004
New desk mk2
Better?
I think I'll have to get one of these to raise up my laptop.
March 02, 2004
Screencam
I've changed the screen cam to show a screenshot of my main home PC instead of my work PC. I seem to just use my Mac most of the time these days...
University 'for sale' on eBay
Swansea University is up for sale:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3522969.stm
And yes, I've got internet access at work now.
March 01, 2004
New boy
Yep, I started my new job today. And I got a fair few hits to my website today from you lot wanting to find out how I was getting on, which was nice! Sorry, but only minimal internet access via my mobile phone and lots of stuff to do meant it had to wait until I got home. Incidentally, this website helped me get the job in the first place, proving that blogging is worthwhile.
I drove to Swansea, and commuting like this would definitely drive me mad. it's just such a waste of time! It took about 1hr 10 to get there (accident at J38ish on the M4) and 50 mins to get home. Not too bad, but I think I'll see how I get on with the train. It should be cheaper, and I can work on my laptop while travelling, and thus make it part of my working day. The main problem is getting between Swansea rail station and Swansea University. I'll try the bus.
The day was largely taken up by moving into my office (shared!) and getting myself sorted with personnel, information services, etc. The usual running around. Coincidentally we began interviewing the prospective students today, so I got to introduce myself and meet possible future medical students. Although graduates, they generally seem younger than me, which is probably helpful. I had several phone calls/messages from Cardiff too, requiring my attention, sorting things out.
It looks like I'm going to be a busy boy, getting up to speed on the anatomy teaching preparations done so far. I'll also be giving a number of developmental biology lectures. It's going to take me a while to switch my brain over from a researcher's mentality to a teacher's perspective.
Time for bed. I have to get up early for the early commuter train, dontcha know? Hopefully I'll have internet access and my phone line will go live in the office tomorrow.