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July 6th, 2007
11:18 pm - How to ride a bicycle up an escalator
Last weekend I decided I was going to spend some of my hard-earned money and do some upgrading of my computer. Looked around ebay, won some parts and they arrived over the past week. Apart from the graphics card and power supply, which came when I wasn't in so I had to fetch them from the depot. The first was easy, as it was at the royal mail depot in Cambridge, a short(ish) bike ride away. The second was a bit of a problem, as it was waiting at a CityLink depot located a good 10 miles away. No problem, I thought, I'll just take Friday afternoon off and go on a nice cycle ride to pick them up. Things did not go as planned - perhaps some maps would help explain:
Intended Route
Actual Route
The short time that I spent on the A14 was ... an experience, shall we say (though interestingly it is perfectly legal to ride a bicycle on a dual carriageway - I wouldn't recommend it though). I ended up stopping at the Tesco in Bar Hill in order to buy a map as by that point I had gotten completely lost, but after that all was well (apart from being briefly rained upon) and I got home safe and sound, though somewhat sore and tired. But I finally had all the parts I needed, so I opened up my computer...
... and realised that the new motherboard was too big for the case. Crap.
So this evening I went on ebay again and found a suitable case, which was promptly bought and should get to me sometime next week (and I hopefully haven't forgotten anything else).
In case anyone's interested, here are the various bits and bobs I bought:
256Mb ASUS GeForce 7300 GS (EN7300GS) PCI Express GDDR2
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe & AMD 64 X2 4200+ & 2GB PC3200
E31 MAXTOR 120GB 7200 RPM SATA HARD DRIVE
Black Front Fan Intake Tool-Less ATX Gaming Case
Xilence ATX2.0 420w PSU
As it turns out this means that the new computer will in fact be a new computer which just happens to use some parts from the old one (hard drive, dvd, floppy) rather than an upgrade. And I'll also have a spare computer to do something with (lacking only a hard drive - the current one will be going in the new computer),
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June 3rd, 2007
11:45 pm - Barre chord
Having said that I was going to get a new bike in my last entry, I only got around to doing so yesterday. So much better than the old one, makes cycling feel almost effortless. The gears use a friction shifter though, which will take some getting used to.
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May 17th, 2007
10:48 pm - Auger electron spectroscopy
Not been up to anything of great import. Thought I'd just ramble on for a while.
I'll be getting a new bike this weekend as the one I currently have is quite literally falling apart. The rear gearing has reacted badly to to the wet weather we've been having recently causing it to get (more) rusty and start disintegrating. There's also the fact that the front brakes are lopsided, with one side constantly rubbing against the wheel and the other being far enough from the wheel that I really have to squeeze the handle to make it brake properly..
In other news I bumped into a girl I went to secondary school with on tuesday, which was something of a surprise. I was just entering New Hall on the way to a Tai Chi Chuan class as she was leaving. Small world it seems.
Speaking of Tai Chi Chuan I managed to do something to the muscles in my right shoulder which made any kind of arm movements somewhat painful these past two day, though it's much better now. Also the muscles in my neck are kinda sore, probably from two much resisting when practicing a throw whose name I can't remember.
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February 9th, 2007
12:37 am - musica ficta
Once again it's been a while since I last posted. Haven't done anything of great import. Work is going well - finished c99 complex functions (though complex square root took a while as it was a mighty pain to figure out how to calculate it accurately), and have now moved on to wide character I/O, as well as general bug-fixing and stuff.
I've decided to take up Tai Chi Chuan, which I started last Sunday. It's with the Cambridge University Tai Chi Chuan Society, which does Wudang style and teaches it as a Martial Art, rather than just as a form of exercise. 'Tis fun at least.
Recently I've taken an interest in baking, so here's a recipe for banana biscotti (which I made some of today, and have been eating too much of).
Banana Biscotti
Ingredients:
- 2 bananas
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3 cups flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 250C
- Put butter in a large bowl, then bung it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften
- Mix in sugar
- In another bowl place bananas and mash thoroughly, then mix in to main bowl
- Whisk the egg then put into main bowl and mix
- Add flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix like crazy (it helps to add the flour in bits instead of all at once)
- Cover a tray in baking paper then place the mixture on it in a rectangular blob
- Cook for about 20 minutes - there should be no gooey bits in the middle and it should have risen fully
- Cut in half lengthways, then perpendicularly into rectangular bits
- Place the bits on their sides and cook for 5 minutes or so
- Turn them over then cook for another 5 minutes
The end result should be slightly crisp on the outside and soft in the middle (and very tasty). Based on a recipie I found on the rpg.net forums (strangely enough). I'd better note that I don't ever bother to measure anything (and I'm not sure how much a cup is anway) so results may vary.
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November 17th, 2006
01:10 am - schizophrenic scissors
It's almost two weeks now since I've started work at ARM. I'm working on C99 complex number functions - trigonometric and hyperbolic functions, roots, logarithms, and all that crap. It's something non-essential but which needs doing at some point, so it should give me something to do while I get used to how things work here.
Luckily I've managed to find a place only 10 minute's walk from the ARM offices, though I'm thinking of getting a bike to make getting in and out of Cambridge proper a bit easier.
And now for some reviews of stuff, as I haven't anything interisting to say.
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam: Ecole du Ciel
Nifty. Starts off looking like a high-school drama (but with mobile suits), but it's also started doing the job of filling in the gaps between Gundam and Zeta Gundam and is really quite interesting. Also has some very pretty art.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Lost War Chronicles
Not so good, but not bad either. Got the first volume but don't think I'll be getting any more.
Yubisaki Milk Tea
Started with reading scanlations of this then decided to buy it when it got licensed. Though I like it it's probably not for everybody, what with the whole transvestitism stuff.
Anime
Simoun
Started off kinda ambivalent - the whole lesbian-powered flying machines thing seemed a bit daft and I wasn't sure where they were going with the plot. However it really picked up after the first few episodes and now I'm really enjoying it (up to episode 16 at the moment).
Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion
I'm liking it so far. Interesting characters and plot and good quality animation. Also, Lelouch is a CHAR.
Honey and Clover II
Simply awesome. Ending was unexpected, but very fitting.
Books
A Song of Ice and Fire
Very very good. I've read the first three books (kinda four, as the third was split in two for paerback release), and I'll probably get the fourth soon, and they're all excellent. Interesting and compelling world, characters and plot.
Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time Book 11)
I actually like Robert Jordan's writing style, which probably makes me crazy. Even disregarding that, this book was surprisingly good, in that stuff actually happened. Let's hope he finishes the thing before he dies.
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September 29th, 2006
02:21 pm - Spivak pronouns
At long last I finally have a job. Starting on the 9th of November I'll be working for ARM in their Compilation Tools team working on C/C++ libraries. Had the interview yesterday, and got a call during the drive home telling me I'd got the job. So as soon as I've found somewhere to live I'll be packing up and moving to Cambridge.
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June 15th, 2006
01:12 pm - Butterfly soup
Results are out (for Computer Science at least) and it seems I've managed to get a 2:1.
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May 26th, 2006
01:03 am - Dai-un is dead
Advanced Theory of Computation wasn't too bad. I did quite a bit of proof by handwaving, but hey. Now I've just got to wait for the results and see how badly I did.
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May 23rd, 2006
12:18 am - Nonsense on stilts
Had my first exam today (or rather yesterday) - Advanced Software Applications And Methodologies. Hopefully I haven't failed it totally. Everyone else didn't have much luck either, so that's some comfort, kinda.
The next (and last) exam's on thursday. After that I'd better start looking for a job (bleh).
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May 2nd, 2006
06:11 am - Gar
My dissertation is done, at long last.
15,313 words worth of utter crap that probably makes no kind of coherent sense but fuck it. The deadline's four in the afternoon and I really need some sleep, so it'll have to do. Let's just hope I manage to wake up in time.
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