Cycling
Prepared?
Nose
Doom III Hardware Specs
Medicine at Swansea
Things I Hate The Most
Ahead
Bashing bridges
Star Wars III
July 2004 Archives
July 31, 2004
July 30, 2004
Nose
I've been converting some presentations from a histopathologist into web-based self-directed learning packages recently. So far they've mostly been about skin and tumours - all interesting and some of it new to me - with lots of great pictures. Tumours. Neoplasias. Carcinomas. Adenocarcinomas. Lots of adenocarcinomas.
I have sunscreen on my nose today cycling in to work, for the first time ever.
July 29, 2004
Doom III Hardware Specs
HardOCP have teamed up with id to deliver a hardware guide for the soon to be released Doom III. Link.
Interesting stuff. It looks like low res may play fine on low spec (2 year old) machines.
July 28, 2004
Medicine at Swansea
So how's the preparation for the new postgraduate entry medicine course in Swansea going?
Hmm, let's see. The timetable is in place, and so are the huge number of lecturers from the Swansea NHS Trust and the University of Wales Swansea that will be teaching in the course of the first year. Lectures are written, computer based learning packages are ready to be uploaded, all the important administration stuff is in place, and the equipment is mostly (95%) where it's supposed to be. We've all completed the handbooks for the individual modules, which are going off for printing, complete with all those very important learning objectives. I guess we just need students now. September the 8th is their due date for arrival.
As far as my individual modules are concerned, the anatomy (human structure) module has been the most work. Luckily Jo, the module organiser, had done most of the work before I got there. (I had to write that - she'll read this). I've been at Swansea for 5 months now (almost) and for most of that time I've been working on the anatomy segment. We have a huge amount of material, information and specialist manpower in place to teach this most fundamental and important chunk of clinical knowledge.
The module I'm coordinating - development, growth and reproduction (DGR) - has been something I've only been able to get to grips with recently. Luckily it's much smaller, but I must make contact with the many clinicians teaching in this part of the course (that I haven't already), and with my Cardiff counterpart. (We're tightly associated with the Cardiff University/UWCM medicine course).
There's an update. If you're a student due to start with us in September, we're ready for you. With any luck I might be able to get some research done soon...
July 27, 2004
Bashing bridges
Always novel.
My train was delayed getting into Bridgend (while I was on it) because a lorry drove into the bridge we were just about to cross. Different. We had to wait for engineers to check that the bridge wasn't going to collapse beneath us. 45 minute delay. Not bad. With an iPod, iBook & GPRS I'm not bothered. I'm scratching my head trying to work out why my Adobe ImageReady droplet I created to automate the conversion & compression of 40 images won't work. Its giving me a file permission error. Little bugger.
Hey, did you know that the iPod was always engineered a little louder than other MP3 players because Steve Jobs is a bit deaf? Apparently so. Hey, it *might* come up in Trivial Pursuit... right?
July 26, 2004
Star Wars III
Dunno if anyone cares, but the next Star Wars film just had its title announced: "Revenge of the Sith". I'm sure there's some history to that. Wasn't the "Return of the Jedi" orignally likely to be the "Revenge of the Jedi"? I'm probably just spouting some playground bollocks I heard when I was 9 as the words "Jedi" and "revenge" don't really go together.
If you must, here's the official link.
I don't think I'll bother seeing it at the cinema unless the fat kid gets a cameo.
Fanatics
From MacNN:
"Thousands of people lined up outside electronics stores in Japan on Saturday as Apple debuted its iPod Mini digital music player, according to the Mainichi Daily News. "About 1,500 people were lined up outside Apple's store in Tokyo's Ginza district before the store opened at 10 a.m. Tens of thousands of the devices have already reportedly been reserved by customers.""
I find it amazing that any company can create such a blockbuster product with this sort of a following. It's cult-like. Imagine 1,500 people queuing up outside a store in your city or town for the release of one luxury item that's not even on sale. Yeah, so it's consumerism gone mad, but still, it's an incredible thing for a modern company to achieve.
Will there be mass iPod marriages?
July 25, 2004
Swiss Ironman
The boys from the tri club completed the Swiss Ironman today in very impressive times. Nice one Gumby, Miles and Steve!
Miles 11hrs 40
Dave 11hrs 55
Steve 12hrs 07
July 24, 2004
July 23, 2004
Open Day
We had another open day for the postgraduate medicine course today - the last this year. Physiology experiment demos!
July 22, 2004
Apollo Photo Gallery
You've got to see these:
http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html
NASA have digitised a whole new bunch of photos from the first moon landings and stuck them up on the web. Superb.
Stopped
I've stopped bleeding now. Didn't mean to be melodramatic. My bike threw me off when the pawls of the freewheel failed/broke/slipped as I jumped out onto a roundabout and spun when they shouldn't. Ouch. Gravel burns in the usual places. At least I'm not too old to bounce yet.
The real sod of it is that I had the stuff from Wiggle to fix the problem delivered this morning. I have, of course, fixed it now. At the moment it's cheaper to bleed than buy a new bike.
July 21, 2004
More Doom III news
Aaaaah fudge. There's an article out there on the web quoting id with the recommended min specs for running Doom III:
"Todd Hollenshead, id's chief executive, said Doom 3 will require:
• A 1.5-gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 chip or AMD Athlon 1500.
• 384 megabytes of memory.
• Two gigabytes of hard drive space.
• An nVidia GeForce 3 graphics card or better; or an ATI Technologies 8500 or better."
What that really means is that the above spec will *barely* get the game running. To play it properly you're looking at 1GB RAM, 2.5GHz Athlon, and an ATI 9800 (Pro?) or nVidia 5900. My vid card's OK, but I'll be out buying RAM, and my mobo should just go to 2.4Ghz. Hey, that's actually not too bad. About the cost of a PS2 just for a minor upgrade, but hey, that's what sets us PC gamers aside as the serious players ;)
Of course the really funny thing is that us suckers all upgraded our PCs last year expecting Doom III and HalfLife 2 to be released any minute and now our gear is obsolete....
Thanks ActionTrip for the link.
July 20, 2004
Building in the Anatomy Suite
Lots of these:
Plus lots of these:
Equal this:
We've got 14 PCs here, in the back of the anatomy suite. The Formacs are very nice, and we've been getting lots of good comments. They sent us a couple of black ones, which I didn't know they did, and I guess the guys shipping the boxes at Dabs didn't know either. "Raven", apparently. They look pretty good, so we won't send them back. Very nice.
Buying microscopes
Demo'd a microscope today and a couple of colour cameras from Olympus. I think we'll buy a couple. I had a bit of a spending spree today, ordering a Sony VX2100 camcorder, another 13x Formac monitors, and a bunch of bits and bobs from Dabs. We're getting good discounts.
Summer?
Woohoo! Summer's here again! It's blue & sunny this morning, & apparently it might stay like this for a while. Swansea University really should sort out WiFi network access on the beach. I'm sure my productivity would go up if no-one was able to find me.
I might also get to use the garden I built if it's going to be sunny, I suppose.
July 19, 2004
July 18, 2004
July 17, 2004
July 16, 2004
Watch these
I was searching the web for new watch straps and came across this site by a guy from up North:
This fella's a watch enthusiast with excellent taste. Check out the Glycine watches. Those things are gorgeous. I'll buy myself a watch like that one day. Something I can pass down. Something that will last more than a lifetime.
Dads
We just watched Road to Perdition. Top dads and sons movie, if you're in that situation. Very good.
July 15, 2004
Trains
I'm avoiding the 5.30 intershitty as usual by getting on the slow 5.35. Less hassle this way with my bike. But what's strange is that while sat on the slow train across the platform from the intershitty I can see the train manager checking tickets before they get on the train. What's that all about? Does he want a skive when the train gets going? Are there a lot of people trying to get to Neath without paying? Is he just a jobsworth?
Of course, what's really dumb is that you could completely avoid him by getting on at a different carriage....
Kim Runs
Here are a couple of pics from Cosmeston Coutry Park last night. There's an annual 5km off road relay run that all the running/triathlon clubs in Cardiff tend to go to. It's very much a fun event, partiularly for the Cardiff Triathletes. There's usually a good club spirit and much enthusiasm and support. People run their legs in sub 16 minutes or plus 30 minutes, it doesn't matter.
This year Kim ran instead of me - I can't run much because of an overpronation problem (that I really could get fixed if I wanted to spend the money on a good podiatrist) and Kim's been running 3 or 4 times a week in preparation for the Race For Life the other weekend. She was very nervous - apparently for some days leading up to last night - but it went very well. She ran around 28 minutes, which is great and much better than she expected, and she was hugely encouraged and had loads of fun. I think the girls team she was in did quite well, with Gwen and Leisa both putting in good times.
There are more photos up on www.cardifftri.net.
July 14, 2004
Little Red Riding Hood
A video of Jack running around Cosmeston park. Kim was running a 5km relay race with the Cardiff Triathletes.
July 13, 2004
Swansea by the sea
I was chatting to one of the ladies at work today, at Swansea University. She's off on holiday next week but she told me, "there's no need to go away anywhere when you live in Swansea, not with the Gower so near". I'd have to agree - cycling alongside Swansea's beach this afternoon in the sun with the tide in was very pleasant. The sea was a pale blue-green and the sand was perfect yellow; clean and (apparently) untouched. The beach is huge, and quiet in most places. Those that were about were fishing, windsurfing, lazing or playing beach volleyball.
Maybe we should move to Swansea or Gower....
Graduation
It's the Cardiff School of Biosciences day of graduation today. Some of my friends that finished their PhDs recently are graduating this afternoon. You can see a live webcast here.
July 12, 2004
Jack's Vocabulary
I had a meeting in Cardiff today, so I got to spend a bit more time with Kim and Jack and work at home this afternoon. At the moment Jack asks for something by pointing and shouting, "uh, uh, uh!" The new, preferred method is to get him to point and ask, "please?" We're getting there. He's learning, and says, "pleeb". Close enough.
Other new words: please, yes, tick tock, Nemo (yeah, as in Saving Nemo), bye bye, Nick (for Uncle Nick), garden, arm, hand, star, goal, go, 3, 6, and ding. I'm sure there are more. He's learning quickly.
July 11, 2004
Doom III
This is it. The scariest game yet will be released in the UK on August 13th. Promise? This is 9 or 10 days after the US for some reason. I've waited this long, what's another week?
I might have to buy myself a faster CPU and some more RAM....
July 10, 2004
July 9, 2004
TGIF
Thank f**k it's Friday (as usual). And I only did a 4 day week this week.
I'm usually pretty knackered by the end of the week. I guess it's the commuting. I'm usually very busy, but I've been in that state for years now, so it's not just that. The cycling to and from train stations must take it's toll. It *is* helping my fitness though. I don't think I'm losing any weight - I'm eating more chocolate bars to compensate ;)
I'm looking forward to a beer and a bath when I get home. It'll be Jack having the bath though! I hope I get a quiet weekend, but I doubt it.
July 8, 2004
Skipping
I had to skip swimming tonight because of the holes in my feet. Kim cut most of the skin away, but there's an incut that's got a little infected. Needless to say, it's best to keep these things dry so I kept out of the pool. It's germolined and sealed away from the world behind a sterile plastic patch. Give it a couple of days and it should be good. I never damage my feet as a rule, and I've done some hard walking in the past. I'd better put it down to experience and hope that I don't do it again.
The module handbooks for the medicine course are due in tomorrow. We've finished the human structure handbook, and I'm just adding the finishing touches to the DGR (development, growth and reproduction) handbook now, before they get proof read and printed. Guess who's picture I used on the front cover of the DGR handbook? And guess how old he was in the picture? Yep, I used an ultrasound scan photo of Jack at 14 weeks. I wonder how many students will guess it?
July 7, 2004
MS My arSe
I've been struggling with something that should have been really simple all afternoon, and I've been berated for swearing so harshly because of it. I'd forgotten how my swearing had reduced since Jack started learning to speak.
I've been trying to do a really simple layout on the front of a Word document on my iBook, just layering some text over a graphic wrapped to sit in the background. But there's a bug in the Mac version of Office (v.X) and whilst it looked fine on screen, and even in the print preview, it wouldn't layer the text properly to a printer or a pdf file. Naturally I wasn't going to give in, so the stress rose and rose as I got more and more worked up and annoyed. Eventually I used an XP box to open it up in a PC version of Word, and all worked fine. It's extremely annoying to have to switch machines though. Just another example of unfinished work from Microsoft, I guess. There really was no straight forward solution to be had.
So my working day has been extended, my work is behind schedule, and I won't get home until 7 now, thanks to another MS bug. I haven't had a computing problem like that for ages, which is great testament to the robustness of Apple products. When you're busy, there's no time to fix things. They just need to work.
Oh, and thanks to all those that have been recommending Scissor Sisters to me. I'm listening to their album on the train and it's getting louder and louder (which is a good indicator of me enjoying it rather than because I have to cope with particularly loud valley chatter).
July 6, 2004
July 5, 2004
July 4, 2004
Race For Life
Kim did the 5km Race for Life for Cancer Research UK in Cheltenham today, at the racecourse. No horses jokes, please. It made a change, me supporting Kim instead of it being the other way around. Very nice. She ran in memory of her Aunty Jenny, who died of cancer.
The number of women at the event was impressive (5000 runners/walkers), and I found it very heartening to see so many people turning up to a charitable cause, particularly as almost all had cards pinned to their backs with the names of friends or relatives who had died from cancer. I saw at least two ladies who were running for themselves, having recovered from cancer. I did see one kiddie with "in memory of mummy" written on her back. That was a depressing thought.
Kim ran a slow time, but these runs are known for their slow courses and the wide range of abilities slows the faster runners. She knows the distance now, and she's running the Carol Matthews 4x 5km relay at Cosmeston in a week or so, so she can try and improve her time there. I'm sure she will.
Dead Man Walking
I didn't blog on Saturday cos I was doing this horrible thing. 30 miles, walking cross country from my door step out to Cwmcarn, Sirhowy Country Park, Twmbalum, and the Ridgeway back. (Long distance walking challenge). I was unlucky. Bad feet/hips from the start. Ow fucking ow. Not doing that again. I'm sticking to moutaineering.
July 2, 2004
