Long time.....

....since last post - over a month!

Well, since my last post I have left my job as a computer systems administrator in Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy. I currently have 2 short-term posts, both in systems administration and both in Cardiff University. I now work 2 days per week for the School of European Studies, and 2 days per week for the School of Dentistry. So 4 days per week meaning I get mondays off! I have recently bought a bonsai tree (a Chinese Elm) which I haven't managed to kill yet. I am also looking after a friend's hamster (trying not to have him die on me either!).

And, of course, the World Cup is on........

Doctor Who - The Girl In The Fireplace

The Doctor Who episode entitled The Girl In The Fireplace was the best episode of the series so far. A very imaginative story, well-worked, complete with humour but also with a very emotional side too. Nice little twist at the end too!

Doctor Who and K-9

Doctor Who once again proves to be compulsive viewing. The interaction between Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler was pretty good, and seeing K-9 again brought back memories. The ever-helpful K-9's answer to Mickey's problem of how to open the school's locked doors with "We are in a car" was priceless! For me the series is improving though, given that the Doctor can travel in space and time, I think they need to visit other worlds occasionally.

Digital Fortress and the new series of Doctor Who

I finished the remaining book of Dan Brown's that I had left, Digital Fortress. I was rather disappointed by this book. It seemed to have a lot of potential at the start but it just got weaker as it went on. And how the "most brilliant cryptographic minds" couldn't work out the simple problem at the end when it was blatantly obvious I have no idea (note to self - remember it's fiction!). Not a patch on the other three books by him.

Saturday saw the eagerly awaited return of Doctor Who to our screens. Ok, so it wasn't the strongest episode, but it did have some fantastic lines (Oh no, I'm a chav!). Still, I think David Tennant has managed to step into Christopher Eccleston's shoes rather well, and I hope that the future episodes will have more strength to them just as they did in the last series. Having said that, it wasn't a bad episode. Well I enjoyed it anyway!

Deception Point

Finished Deception Point over the weekend. Again, quite a good book from the pen of Dan Brown. Whereas the first two books I read by him were a mix of science and religion, this one combined science and politics (US based). Another rollercoaster of a ride, far-fetched but a good, fun read. Just started reading the last of his books, Digital Fortress.

Angels And Demons

Finished Angels And Demons at the weekend. Found this to be a much better book that The Da Vinci Code (both by Dan Brown). Albeit a little far-fetched at times (then again, it is fiction after all!), I found the story riveting and very hard to put down. Would definitely recommend it.

Reading, 'riting, and rugby(?)

Not quite the usual three R's.

Reading - After debating whether or not to buy and read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, I finally decided to give it a try. As just a work of fiction (which is what it is) it is quite a good book. The problem, it seems, is that that some people seem to forget the "fiction" aspect of it and take the arguments within the plot to be "fact". This is accentuated by Brown's "factual" quotes, which can be debated as either believed by the author, or just put in by the author to draw the reader deeper in to the story. I guess someone's interpretation of the book depends on how susceptible they are to suggestion. Overall though, I would say it is worth reading. I have now started reading Angels and Demons which is also written by Brown.

'Riting - Having thought about it for some time, I have finally started to write up my family tree. The plan is to write a book outlining the tree, along with stories and tales of particular members of the family, including memories and pictures, as well as historical events of the time and places and how they may have impacted on my ancestors' lives. Obviously this is a rather long-term, on-going project, but it feels good to get it started. The main write-up so far has been about my great-grandfather who died during WWI - my nan (his daughter) never knew her father as she was born whilst he was at war, and she always thought he died at sea. However I discovered that he actually died in France and is buried in Belgium, where I visited his memorial last year.

Rugby - Took a friend to see Wales v Italy on Saturday. She had never been in the Millennium Stadium before so she was rather excited about the whole thing. It was a shame that the game, particularly the second half, was a bit of a let-down, but I think she enjoyed the whole 6 Nations experience.

Not the greatest of weeks

Bit of a gap in the blog entries mainly due to a pretty bad week or so.

Firstly, it looks like my contract here in the School of Physics and Astronomy (Cardiff University) is highly unlikely to be renewed. So after 13 years in the School, including 7 years as a staff member, it looks like I'll be leaving.

Secondly, I get a phone call from the Cardiff Police saying that an officer of theirs had collided with my car whilst on patrol. Not too much damage, offside front wing rather dented, but of course I had to give a statement to the traffic police who were investigating the incident. In order to give that statement I had to be cautioned - I wasn't even in the car when the collision happened and yet I had to be cautioned!

And to top it all off, Wales get humiliated in the rugby against Ireland - although this wasn't totally unexpected.

Hmm, a week I'd rather forget.

An improvement in the rugby

Well, Wales gave an improved performance in beating the Scots, albeit against 14 men. We still need to play better if we are going to challenge the remaining teams though, and we are definitely missing our injured players.

Weekend of ups 'n' downs.....

The down being on Saturday when the Welsh rugby team came back down to 6 Nations earth with a very large thump. A disappointing performance but England thoroughly deserved their victory - although the final scoreline did flatter them somewhat.
On Sunday I went to see Katie Melua live at the Cardiff International Arena. An all-seated affair (which makes a change from the usual concerts that I attend). The support act was pretty average but at 8:30 Katie came on stage ...... and she was fantastic! Her voice comes across much more powerfully live than on CD. With a variety of moods from blues to jazz to semi-rock, and some great covers with a different slant (covers such as The Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Bobby Gentry's Fancy, The Cure's Just Like Heaven, and even Babylon Zoo's Spaceman) she had the audience in the palm of her hand. A beautiful performance from a beautiful perfomer.

Long time no write......

Hmm, been a while since last post so thought I'd better update - not that there's much to update really!
Visited a relative I had never met before (through family tree). He seemed a nice chap. He was a given a bit of a shock though when I told him that his grandfather (my great-grandfather) who died in WWI actually died in France and is buried in Belgium. He thought, as did my nan, that he died at sea. He may even plan to visit the grave (which I visited last year).
Some of the rest of the family tree is still annoyingly difficult to trace. Waiting on some replies from people on the Worcester mailing lists.
Other than that it's been pretty much work, work, work.......

Who Do You Think You Are?

Watched Sheila Hancock tracing some of her ancestry on Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC2. Interesting to see how she learnt about the person in the photo she had which had been passed down the generations. Of course, her research was done by other people on her behalf. In reality, tracing such things is very time consuming and even more frustrating!

Crosswords and word invention

As usual, the battle to complete The Times cryptic crossword came down to working out how a word is built but not actually knowing that the resulting word is an actual word. Had 3 "guessed" words today, and had a 100% hit rate.

Hereros - a member of a Bantu people of central Namibia
protasis - Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek, premise of a syllogism, conditional clause
outwash - detritus chiefly consisting of gravel and sand carried by running water from the melting ice of a glacier and laid down in stratified deposits

Ah, the joys of cryptic crosswords!

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Went to see the Doctor Who "Up Close" exhibition in Cardiff Bay.
Pretty good set-up on the whole. Some of the older monsters needed to be 'revealed'. They were hidden behind info screens but could be seen when you pressed a button to change the lighting. This was a nice effect but it unfortunately meant that you couldn't get photos of them (well, I couldn't anyway). The Daleks were displayed very well though!

Let's hope the new series is as good as the last.

The start of the blog

Well, after seeing numerous people starting blogs I thought I'd give it a go. How long it will be kept up-to-date is anyone's guess (although probably mainly mine....)