The Good, The Bad And The Cisco Lesson

Sometimes you start something and you haven’t prepared… and it shows!
Sometimes you start something and you have prepared… and that too shows!
Then, just occasionally you spend ages preparing and you look forward to that thing… and it’s still awful anyway!

Teaching teenagers can be a lot like this. For instance you spend an entire morning thinking through an alternative way of describing decimal, binary and hexadecimal number conversions. Then when you have thought it through and prepared a lesson it just doesn’t work out!!!!! Instead you start, they get confused, you fail to ease that confusion and it just goes downhill from there! Today’s lesson was a time just like that… Actually I think this blog post is going much the same way. I’m gonna go and program some computers, they agree with me all the time… and if they don’t I can just turn them off anyway!

Explanations to old people

Explanations to old people
Originally uploaded by Jasonthejoker.

Tue 29/11/2005 16:02 Old man So this is me in the pub, trying to explain LifeBlog to an old man. Ok he's a technically minded old man, but still an old man. I think I'm winning though!

Lifeblog post

Lifeblog post
Originally uploaded by Jasonthejoker.

Mon 28/11/2005 16:36 28112005

Ghostbusters

It's true I loved the film then, but I love it even more now. I'm currently lounging on the sofa with the screen filling the wall. Ghostbusters got better! There was no dolby 5.1 when it was first around and I cerainly didn't see it in the cinema. now I get to enjoy the whole glorious experience, in stomah churning surround sound, with a massive screen!

That;s not all that canged... Ghostbusters got saucy! Perhaps I was more naieve then, perhaps i only saw cut versions or perhaps I just never noticed it! Either way it's even funnier than I remember...and really quite close to the mark!

Well the adverts are nearly over (Yes every experience has a downside!) so i;m gonna get back to the film!

Christmas Is Coming!

Our Christmas lists are ready! There's one for me and one for me and Di together. I'll grant you some of the items are a little steep, but you have to put them down, don't ya???

They're both on Amazon under my name.

And the point of this post? Well, firstly in the vain hope someone would buy the stuff on it... Secondly because in the same visit that I made those lists I also started my Christmas shopping! That's record breaking early for me!

The Amazing £55 Sandwich

So you’re visiting your parents and you decide to get lunch. You’re already in The Town, having had a rather fussy hair cut so think of the best take-away eateries to purchase said lunch. On a whim you decide that Subway would be good. They do good subs, it’s different and hey there’s no queue. Herein lies the mistake! The mistake is multi-faceted! On the one hand Subway is a wonderful personal eating experience – you can choose the bread, the fillings the salad, the ancillaries and even the sauce. You can salivate as each item is carefully placed in the sub. You can glee with delight when the microwave dings (If you’re having a hot filling of course) and watch on wistfully as the ingredients are carefully placed in the roll. All of this adds up to a wonderful experience. By the time you have done you can’t wait to eat that sub! You practically throw the fiver (If you got the cheap one!) at the server so that you can dash and enjoy that lunch! All of this is of course delayed if you are with a friend (or wife) and have to wait for theirs before you can pay… now imagine the shock when you realise there are another two rolls to purchase. You have to choose the bread, decide on a filling, take a guess at the salad and finally choose the sauce. All this while your beautiful sub is getting cold and lonely!

Imagine the further horror when your server is the new girl. In fact she’s the foreign new girl, who’s English is not fantastic. Luckily her trainer can communicate with her perfectly… however she has a similar problem communicating with you!

So here is my advice – Save Subway for lunch when everyone can choose their own ingredients!

And one final piece of advice…. Whatever you do, do not wait until you are returning to the multi-storey car park to realise that neither you, nor your wife bought a pay and display ticket! If you do, be under no pretence that the nice ticket inspector will realise you are stressed out parents who made a mistake. You will have a ticket.

(Note: This post was not at all inspired by Jon’s Chicken Sandwich.)

Surreal Moment

Surreal Moment
Originally uploaded by Jasonthejoker.

Fri 11/11/2005 11:08 Surreal moments No, not the Afterlife song, the image of my bike on a train platform. It sounds illogical, but really it makes sense. My bike was at work. I wanted to conserve my energy for moving stuff, so I decided to take my bike on the train.

The only down side is that I needed to year the tights for the ride... Not looking so good for a train commuter though!

Chocolate, beer and biffs

Chocolate, beer and biffs
Originally uploaded by Jasonthejoker.

Thu 10/11/2005 21:25 Massive hair So this is Ben's biff! That's all I've got to say really!

Tights, Cycling shorts and Vanity

So yes I have bought some tights. Well strictly speaking they’re leg warmers, but to all intents and purposes they are tights. You may scoff, you may laugh, you may even wonder why the shorts have a funny pad thing in the crotch, but I am happy! The tights, sorry leg warmers, and shorts are both extremely comfortable. They keep me warm while I’m cycling and the pad keeps my bottom comfortable. All in all I think a very good investment!

As to a picture??? Well I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture, it just seems too vain!

How Not To Get To Haverhill

Going to haverhill ot see te in-laws was a very good idea... Going via the A10 was not! The route is in the picture; A10, B1368, B1038, A1052, A1307, Haverhill. Sounds like a nice route to me. There's a small chance I may have taken a wrong turn at the B1038, but didn't realise. Anyway we got there in the end and are currently enojying a relaxed breakfast, having had a good nights sleep!

Also, I love unsecured wireless connections!

Microsoft Can't, But I Can!

So it’s a Group Policy problem. Basically some users can’t access the internet. Some research shows me that there is a Microsoft Hotfix available. When I finally get through to Microsoft they send me the hotfix (Ref 88245) and I ask whether there is a way to roll it out automatically…. “Not at this stage” comes the reply. Well I’m not going to 150 machines to do it manually I thinks, and I set about resolving the problem another way…

2hrs later and several restarts the problem is solved! So Bill [Gates] my phones on… give us a ring!