The cold snap has relented with rain washing away the snow and temps rising to a quite respectable 2 or 3 degrees.
I gave my presentation on the trip to Liverpool on Friday, it went down really well, with funnies and information wrapped up into an hours de-brief. All hail the Dave Gorman school of presentations.
Some of us went for an end of week drink and dinner to cap it off. I was very pleased to hear that so many people enjoyed it and found it informative.
Its not common practice at our place to do a de-brief after a trip to a conference or event, which I found odd and not very helpful. Hopefully the success of this presentation will encourage others to let us know what they get up to when they go off on their jollies. The Glorious and Beloved Leader that is Frank, seemed to think it should be standard practice now.
Facebook is now full of pics of me in various drunken states dressed as a monk while at Ken's 50th Birthday party, which had a Priests and Prossies theme...unable to find a suitable prossie costume, I opted for a monk complete with tonsured wig and my Ipad in its leather binder, acting as a Bible playing Gregorian chants as I made a big entrance to..3 people. :D Bina was in her usual Friday night home with the Beukens outfit :) More people turned up later and a good night was had.
The Late night resulted in a serious case of oversleeping today though, did not wake up till after 4pm...even by my weekend sleep standards that's pretty over the top. Not sure I'll get to bed very early as a result. I must pick up the script for the sleeping tablets the doctor gave me at my last checkup.
We have 2 weeks now till the Christmas break, I am looking forward to it a lot I must admit, our 1st Christmas and New Year in our new home. It'll be fun.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Snow/Sleep/Lack of.
1st Snows hit Breda on Monday, not much thankfully but a nice light dusting that has frozen hard.
Early winters mean chances of a hard winter are high..might be a chance to try out my skating skills then!!
Can't sleep again...its 4.26 and I've been reading/marking and other stuff to avoid boredom but the insomnia is pretty bad..never mind, look on the plus side, only 3 more sleeps till Christmas (via several facebook friends)
Going to head off to bed now and see how long it takes to get to sleep, fortunately I have not got an early start tomorrow but I do have a full day of classes, must try not to yawn..or at least what passes for a yawn these days.
Ahthankyew
Early winters mean chances of a hard winter are high..might be a chance to try out my skating skills then!!
Can't sleep again...its 4.26 and I've been reading/marking and other stuff to avoid boredom but the insomnia is pretty bad..never mind, look on the plus side, only 3 more sleeps till Christmas (via several facebook friends)
Going to head off to bed now and see how long it takes to get to sleep, fortunately I have not got an early start tomorrow but I do have a full day of classes, must try not to yawn..or at least what passes for a yawn these days.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Avoid the Adelphi
Just got back from the UK, my collegue Jeremiah and I were over for a meeting with Sony and also to attend the Develop Liverpool conference.
I'll be filling in my work collegues on the good stuff that happened over there and indeed some of the bad stuff but it was an interesting trip.
It started off on Tuesday morning with me falling down the stairs, not something I reccomend when you get past a certain age and are carrying a few extra kilos, I banged my backside on every step after slipping on the top one. Fortunately I didn't really hurt myself beyond a bit of carpet burn, but it was a taste of what was to come.
Got to the train station and the machine would not take any of my damn cards, 4 of the buggers, so Jeremiah had to do the honours there.
Finally get on the train, only to be told as it left Breda that it was only able to go 2 stops ahead due to some "incident" on the line which they hoped would be clear by 9pm..not much use when we had to catch a connecting train at 6-40.
"Incident" btw probably means a jumper..The Dutch train system is the preferred method of suicide here in Holland, given there are no cliffs to jump from..its rather common sadly.
So after the train stops in Lage Zwaluwe, a middle of nowhere station, which is not even a town/villiage as such, we discovered there was no connecting bus...Lucky for us, there was 1 taxi which we rushed to..despite noting as we walked/trotted down the crossing bridge, the rather congested motorway we knew we had to travel on.
No one seemed to have thought of using the taxi, everyone else being quite content to wait till 9 in the middle of nowhere for the trains to get fixed, but we had a flight to catch and so we started a stop start motorway trip to Dordrecht where the line was running again.
Though since neither of us had any cash on us, in preperation for our use of UK pounds, the trip to Dordrecht ended with me hunting down a cash machine, a mile away from the station it seemed.
Up and down several stairs later, we squeezed ourselves into the next train heading to Rotterdam, and I do mean squeezed, we were now well and truly into commuter rush hour, and despite having 1st class tickets, it was every passenger for themselves when it came to occupying a precious 6 inches square of standing room. Didn't help either that it was a stoptrein, ie one that stops...every bloody stop and has more people squeezing on.
But we made it to Rotterdam, missing our intended hi speed train, by now we were about an hour late. But we did manage to get on another hi speed and worked out that if we were very lucky, we would get there with 30 mins to spare.
We got there with about 25 mins to spare.
Checked in, machine told us bording had already started and to go to the desk, which we confirmed with the lady standing around helping people....Unfortunatly the desk was hidden behind a queue of people checking in for some holiday bound flight, so we had to try to cut in...which we did, with a few grumbles..But still we could not get to the desk so someone could help us. Eventually..bearing in mind the standing around lady was fully aware of our rush..the standing around lady, told us to go to the service desk at the end of the check in desk...grrr..who in turn told us to go to the service desk further down the lobby, grrrr...where 3 nice KLM ladies were helping a group of 4 Irishmen with their presumably also imminent flights to Dublin...I say 3 ladies who were helping, I should of course say 1 lady helping and the other 2 chatting to themselves while looking at their comptuer screens...they were'nt actually doing much helping at all...despite us turning up and looking stressed and rushed with less than 15 mins till departure.
Finaly the Dublin mob sorted, the 1 helpful lady, asked what we wanted..and we explained we'd been sent to check in urgently on the flight to Liverpool..At which point the 2 unhelpful ladies suddenly aquired a state of awareness and chipped in that it was impossible due to their being a bus to the plane which was now loading.
grrr grrr
and another grrr for good measure.
We tried at least...but walked away dejected...We were told to go to the KLM desk to try and re-book our flight so off we went.
Needless to say on a day of repeated dissapointment, our flight was not re-bookable, since the travel agent had rejected the 7 euro fee which would allow booking. We'd have to buy another ticket, at 275euro's.....each.
Since the flight was not leaving till 1 we decided to see what Easyjet had to offer.
A trip to terminal 2 and a hunt around found the Easyjet desk where we were indeed able to order flights for a plane leaving in 40 mins for 120odd euros.
yipeee...we booked, got on, no hassles.
Finally some progress.. we jetted of to Liverpool on a totally unremarkable flight.
Taxi from the airport to the Adelphi hotel...which I just remembered is the subject of this long rambling post...but I think the headline says enough..its a dive, old, cold and well past its prime. It is in the centre of town which is handy, but its a really poor hotel and not worth its high costs...I won't be going there again anytime soon.
It was however the scene of our next dissapointment, as I get a phone call waking me early on Wednesday morning from the travel agents, noting that we did not get on the flight to Liverpool. I explained the train/missed/easyjet story, and was told, oh..ok, but you do know your flight back is now cancelled!!
No I bloody well did not know as I started to fume at the poor chap on the line, who's company had saved 7 euro's by not taking the re-bookable flight option. It seems it is standard procedure on 2 way trips that if you dont' get the outbound flight they cancel the inbound...this despite us being at the KLM desk and telling them we'd try to use another flight.
We'd need to book return flights home..and did we want them to do that......grrrrrr
So while the meeting and conference themselves were worthwhile and useful, though most of the presentations at the conference were pretty dull, the actual travel sheannigans were not fun, the hotel was not fun, and I can't say I enjoyed my trip to the Adelphi...it even had 2 guitar shops accross the street, that I never had time to look in...hmmmm maybe I will stay there again next time, so long as I can make sure I can get some time to shop ;)
Ahthankyew
I'll be filling in my work collegues on the good stuff that happened over there and indeed some of the bad stuff but it was an interesting trip.
It started off on Tuesday morning with me falling down the stairs, not something I reccomend when you get past a certain age and are carrying a few extra kilos, I banged my backside on every step after slipping on the top one. Fortunately I didn't really hurt myself beyond a bit of carpet burn, but it was a taste of what was to come.
Got to the train station and the machine would not take any of my damn cards, 4 of the buggers, so Jeremiah had to do the honours there.
Finally get on the train, only to be told as it left Breda that it was only able to go 2 stops ahead due to some "incident" on the line which they hoped would be clear by 9pm..not much use when we had to catch a connecting train at 6-40.
"Incident" btw probably means a jumper..The Dutch train system is the preferred method of suicide here in Holland, given there are no cliffs to jump from..its rather common sadly.
So after the train stops in Lage Zwaluwe, a middle of nowhere station, which is not even a town/villiage as such, we discovered there was no connecting bus...Lucky for us, there was 1 taxi which we rushed to..despite noting as we walked/trotted down the crossing bridge, the rather congested motorway we knew we had to travel on.
No one seemed to have thought of using the taxi, everyone else being quite content to wait till 9 in the middle of nowhere for the trains to get fixed, but we had a flight to catch and so we started a stop start motorway trip to Dordrecht where the line was running again.
Though since neither of us had any cash on us, in preperation for our use of UK pounds, the trip to Dordrecht ended with me hunting down a cash machine, a mile away from the station it seemed.
Up and down several stairs later, we squeezed ourselves into the next train heading to Rotterdam, and I do mean squeezed, we were now well and truly into commuter rush hour, and despite having 1st class tickets, it was every passenger for themselves when it came to occupying a precious 6 inches square of standing room. Didn't help either that it was a stoptrein, ie one that stops...every bloody stop and has more people squeezing on.
But we made it to Rotterdam, missing our intended hi speed train, by now we were about an hour late. But we did manage to get on another hi speed and worked out that if we were very lucky, we would get there with 30 mins to spare.
We got there with about 25 mins to spare.
Checked in, machine told us bording had already started and to go to the desk, which we confirmed with the lady standing around helping people....Unfortunatly the desk was hidden behind a queue of people checking in for some holiday bound flight, so we had to try to cut in...which we did, with a few grumbles..But still we could not get to the desk so someone could help us. Eventually..bearing in mind the standing around lady was fully aware of our rush..the standing around lady, told us to go to the service desk at the end of the check in desk...grrr..who in turn told us to go to the service desk further down the lobby, grrrr...where 3 nice KLM ladies were helping a group of 4 Irishmen with their presumably also imminent flights to Dublin...I say 3 ladies who were helping, I should of course say 1 lady helping and the other 2 chatting to themselves while looking at their comptuer screens...they were'nt actually doing much helping at all...despite us turning up and looking stressed and rushed with less than 15 mins till departure.
Finaly the Dublin mob sorted, the 1 helpful lady, asked what we wanted..and we explained we'd been sent to check in urgently on the flight to Liverpool..At which point the 2 unhelpful ladies suddenly aquired a state of awareness and chipped in that it was impossible due to their being a bus to the plane which was now loading.
grrr grrr
and another grrr for good measure.
We tried at least...but walked away dejected...We were told to go to the KLM desk to try and re-book our flight so off we went.
Needless to say on a day of repeated dissapointment, our flight was not re-bookable, since the travel agent had rejected the 7 euro fee which would allow booking. We'd have to buy another ticket, at 275euro's.....each.
Since the flight was not leaving till 1 we decided to see what Easyjet had to offer.
A trip to terminal 2 and a hunt around found the Easyjet desk where we were indeed able to order flights for a plane leaving in 40 mins for 120odd euros.
yipeee...we booked, got on, no hassles.
Finally some progress.. we jetted of to Liverpool on a totally unremarkable flight.
Taxi from the airport to the Adelphi hotel...which I just remembered is the subject of this long rambling post...but I think the headline says enough..its a dive, old, cold and well past its prime. It is in the centre of town which is handy, but its a really poor hotel and not worth its high costs...I won't be going there again anytime soon.
It was however the scene of our next dissapointment, as I get a phone call waking me early on Wednesday morning from the travel agents, noting that we did not get on the flight to Liverpool. I explained the train/missed/easyjet story, and was told, oh..ok, but you do know your flight back is now cancelled!!
No I bloody well did not know as I started to fume at the poor chap on the line, who's company had saved 7 euro's by not taking the re-bookable flight option. It seems it is standard procedure on 2 way trips that if you dont' get the outbound flight they cancel the inbound...this despite us being at the KLM desk and telling them we'd try to use another flight.
We'd need to book return flights home..and did we want them to do that......grrrrrr
So while the meeting and conference themselves were worthwhile and useful, though most of the presentations at the conference were pretty dull, the actual travel sheannigans were not fun, the hotel was not fun, and I can't say I enjoyed my trip to the Adelphi...it even had 2 guitar shops accross the street, that I never had time to look in...hmmmm maybe I will stay there again next time, so long as I can make sure I can get some time to shop ;)
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 21 November 2010
not totally dead
A whole week and nothing posted...not much to report really, some interesting things at work, which is mega busy at the moment, I have revamped one of my courses due to the fact that last year the students hated it, (artists hate having to do coding they much prefer to do art!!) and as a result I have way more work to do, as indeed do they, so they now have to keep focused.
I also have a shed load of marking to complete which is always a slow process for me, and finally update some grades from last year that never got posted for various, I can't be arsed I think I'm dying sort of reasons...or just bad bad work managment.
I've got most of next week "off" though, since I'm heading over to Liverpool for a Sony event to launch the PS3 edu program which we are part of as initiates to the scheme, as well as Develop Liverpool converence which will be my 1st chance to meet up with old industry collegues and mates since leaving the UK. Its not going to be totally fun, I have to try to raise the IGAD profile while I am there and see if I can persuade some people to pay us a visit and check us out, but it will be good to be back in geek country.
If anyone here reads this and is going, drop me a line we'll try to have a beer somewhere and ponder how to fix the industry and other things that get discussed at game conference bars.
Guitar practice has been a little sparce this week, I've not added to my amazing Muse riff skills, but I will soon. We'll be doing one of our famous, "thats just noise", jams again soon and I want to get the whole song in my fingers by then.
I am proud of myself too, I managed to keep my GAS (guitar aquisition syndrome) in check on 2 occasions this month. A beautiful Breedlove C25 pro going for about 60% of list price. And, something I wanted for a couple of years a Moondog, only the Spirit model not the much lusted after Grand Auditorium, but still....pretty.
The Breedlove will come again one day, its a big company and they make a lot of them.
The Moondog though is a rarity, though in this case not really as its not an original...I must explain.
All Moondogs were made by a Chinese co-operative and sold by a guy called Tim, he was based in Wales and owned the Moondog brand, he imported them in bulk, chucked out the rubbish ones! He would carefully set them up, added electronics and ensure good quality control. But the trouble with Chinese guitars is they are very random on quality, so he could not keep up a steady line of guitars that met the standard and eventually he went under.
If you can find an original "Welsh" Moondog they are amazing and stunning value for money. But the ones now being sold are the same Chinese companies trying to keep sales going using the name and patterns with a few upgrades...some are great, others are ...meh...This one was a "new" Chinese one, but the seller said it was top quality...All the same...lovely as it is, I passed. I want to try to find an original Tim's Moondog Grand Auditorium. Martin/Gibson quality, for under 500quid (2nd hand 300-400)...they do pop up from time to time but people tend to keep them, for good reason.
Ahthankyew
I also have a shed load of marking to complete which is always a slow process for me, and finally update some grades from last year that never got posted for various, I can't be arsed I think I'm dying sort of reasons...or just bad bad work managment.
I've got most of next week "off" though, since I'm heading over to Liverpool for a Sony event to launch the PS3 edu program which we are part of as initiates to the scheme, as well as Develop Liverpool converence which will be my 1st chance to meet up with old industry collegues and mates since leaving the UK. Its not going to be totally fun, I have to try to raise the IGAD profile while I am there and see if I can persuade some people to pay us a visit and check us out, but it will be good to be back in geek country.
If anyone here reads this and is going, drop me a line we'll try to have a beer somewhere and ponder how to fix the industry and other things that get discussed at game conference bars.
Guitar practice has been a little sparce this week, I've not added to my amazing Muse riff skills, but I will soon. We'll be doing one of our famous, "thats just noise", jams again soon and I want to get the whole song in my fingers by then.
I am proud of myself too, I managed to keep my GAS (guitar aquisition syndrome) in check on 2 occasions this month. A beautiful Breedlove C25 pro going for about 60% of list price. And, something I wanted for a couple of years a Moondog, only the Spirit model not the much lusted after Grand Auditorium, but still....pretty.
The Breedlove will come again one day, its a big company and they make a lot of them.
The Moondog though is a rarity, though in this case not really as its not an original...I must explain.
All Moondogs were made by a Chinese co-operative and sold by a guy called Tim, he was based in Wales and owned the Moondog brand, he imported them in bulk, chucked out the rubbish ones! He would carefully set them up, added electronics and ensure good quality control. But the trouble with Chinese guitars is they are very random on quality, so he could not keep up a steady line of guitars that met the standard and eventually he went under.
If you can find an original "Welsh" Moondog they are amazing and stunning value for money. But the ones now being sold are the same Chinese companies trying to keep sales going using the name and patterns with a few upgrades...some are great, others are ...meh...This one was a "new" Chinese one, but the seller said it was top quality...All the same...lovely as it is, I passed. I want to try to find an original Tim's Moondog Grand Auditorium. Martin/Gibson quality, for under 500quid (2nd hand 300-400)...they do pop up from time to time but people tend to keep them, for good reason.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 12 November 2010
I can play....
The bass riff to Muse's Hysteria....very very happy
Took 3 days of very very intense practice to get it up to speed and force my fingers into it, but it's there.....its actually quite an easy riff for a guitarist, but I never claimed to be any good ;)
Why am I doing a bass riff?
ermm....becuase Its a great riff and as it plays pretty much all the way through the song its a greate candidate to use on a loop pedal to play along to. I am going to have a mess about with my Zoom GX2.u to see if I can work out the pitch drop system to make it sound really bassy on the DF, then loop it, then drop back to normal pitch to play the guitar parts.
Ermm I still have to learn the solo though, that's going to be at least another 3 days....4, ok 5 days or a bit more...
Ahthankyew
Took 3 days of very very intense practice to get it up to speed and force my fingers into it, but it's there.....its actually quite an easy riff for a guitarist, but I never claimed to be any good ;)
Why am I doing a bass riff?
ermm....becuase Its a great riff and as it plays pretty much all the way through the song its a greate candidate to use on a loop pedal to play along to. I am going to have a mess about with my Zoom GX2.u to see if I can work out the pitch drop system to make it sound really bassy on the DF, then loop it, then drop back to normal pitch to play the guitar parts.
Ermm I still have to learn the solo though, that's going to be at least another 3 days....4, ok 5 days or a bit more...
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Coding is fun again
I'm busy working on a bunch of things at the moment, fixing students coding assignments, planning next blocks courses and most fun, coding on OokiBlocks which will be my next commecial game (publishers willing).
Its proving to be a lot of fun getting my coding head back on after 7-8 months or so not having much interest.
I've been doing school work coding but nothing that stretched me so its nice to be back into a project. I put it on the back burner when the cancer thing kicked in and have been building myself up to get back into it again.
I find that I don't really have the obsession I used to have for coding and very much tend to work in bursts, but this is a fun project which has involved several of my students in some level and game design so its important to get it done and out there for their sake and let them see that good ideas do get coded sometimes.
Fixing the 1st years work is quite challenging though, its amazing how much students deviate from the lessons I give them, some in clever and imaginative ways, others.....wtf..were they even in class?? But its good to give them a bit of a boost in the right direction.
I find the balance of showing them and doing it for them to be great fun and a source of great mischief for me, though its not always appreciated by "some" students. But those who get it, realise they have to do the work to move forward..those who don't...well....we'll have to wait and see if they really want to be game programmers or producers who claim credit for everyone elses work ;)
One thing I am not so comfortable with is my new Flash coding course for artists, it didn't go down too well last year, so I am re-working it to be more focused this year...I find flash very dull and boring though so its hard to set the level right to enthuse them...most really don't want to do it, but its part of the course so I have to make it good, hard, fun and informative..who knows perhaps I can persuade one or 2 of them to cross over from the dark side and switch to "proper" coding. ;)
Ahthankyew
Its proving to be a lot of fun getting my coding head back on after 7-8 months or so not having much interest.
I've been doing school work coding but nothing that stretched me so its nice to be back into a project. I put it on the back burner when the cancer thing kicked in and have been building myself up to get back into it again.
I find that I don't really have the obsession I used to have for coding and very much tend to work in bursts, but this is a fun project which has involved several of my students in some level and game design so its important to get it done and out there for their sake and let them see that good ideas do get coded sometimes.
Fixing the 1st years work is quite challenging though, its amazing how much students deviate from the lessons I give them, some in clever and imaginative ways, others.....wtf..were they even in class?? But its good to give them a bit of a boost in the right direction.
I find the balance of showing them and doing it for them to be great fun and a source of great mischief for me, though its not always appreciated by "some" students. But those who get it, realise they have to do the work to move forward..those who don't...well....we'll have to wait and see if they really want to be game programmers or producers who claim credit for everyone elses work ;)
One thing I am not so comfortable with is my new Flash coding course for artists, it didn't go down too well last year, so I am re-working it to be more focused this year...I find flash very dull and boring though so its hard to set the level right to enthuse them...most really don't want to do it, but its part of the course so I have to make it good, hard, fun and informative..who knows perhaps I can persuade one or 2 of them to cross over from the dark side and switch to "proper" coding. ;)
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
We're no 1 ;)
IGAD, the dept of NHTV where I work, has just had its official accreditation process.
Lots of interviews, intense examination of our processes, and scrutity of the work we do. Quite a rollercoaster few months which saw managers chainsmoking (well he always does that) and people stressing about dotted t's and crossed i's or something.
We came through it with flying colours, not just that but, we achieved a very rare "excellent" standard in several catagories, including quality of staff.
That puts us way up the top of the list as far as Dutch HBO (technical/vocational) courses are concerned and way out in fron of the other Game related courses in the Netherlands.
I always knew this was a great place to work, I am very proud of the staff, students and managers who contributed to making IGAD the best game development course in Holland, if not Europe...we need to get that message out there.
yeeaaaahhh for us!
Ahthankyew
Lots of interviews, intense examination of our processes, and scrutity of the work we do. Quite a rollercoaster few months which saw managers chainsmoking (well he always does that) and people stressing about dotted t's and crossed i's or something.
We came through it with flying colours, not just that but, we achieved a very rare "excellent" standard in several catagories, including quality of staff.
That puts us way up the top of the list as far as Dutch HBO (technical/vocational) courses are concerned and way out in fron of the other Game related courses in the Netherlands.
I always knew this was a great place to work, I am very proud of the staff, students and managers who contributed to making IGAD the best game development course in Holland, if not Europe...we need to get that message out there.
yeeaaaahhh for us!
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Dark Fire is....
What can I say, yes it is amazing and awesome and all those other superlatives and I a have not even scratched the surface, but...yes there is a but. What the hell is going on at Gibson QC? There are so many minor details that are wrong here, the switches are sticky and noisy, the tuner CPU cover is loose and comes off with a tug, the tail piece is waaaaaay too high as is the bridge, though thats partly to avoid a string contact on metal which shorts out the electrics. I hear also that the electronics may not be up to par, but I'm not that far down the learning curve to tell yet.
She's a mighty beast all right but can't help but wonder how much better she would be if she were made 10 years ago rather than 10 months. Gibson seem to have lost the plot a bit, selling high end guitars with sloppy control does not bode well for them. Fortunatly none of the issues I have found so far are unresolvable, but if those electronics do go south it's going to be a pain to repair.....
Oh that sounds like I am being very negative about something I spent so much on, no not really, there are just silly little issues there I do not expect to find when you spend so much on a guitar. Gibson always had a reputation for quality and it seems to have gone in the last few years as they have hit various well documented issues. I'm also realisic, the DF is an electronic, techy experiment, and as with everythng high tech it will become old hat soon, (indeed the new FirebirdX has just been anounced with even more toys onboard..but its uglyand absurdly expensive). I hope that I can find the real guitar inside all the tech that makes it worth keeping as a playing instrument rather than a technical curiosity for years to come.
That said though...I love it, not quite as much as Lucille, but certainly a close and exciting 2nd place. She looks great, sounds amazing and feels fantastic. I am sure I will be spending a lot of time getting to know what she can do.
Ahthankyew
She's a mighty beast all right but can't help but wonder how much better she would be if she were made 10 years ago rather than 10 months. Gibson seem to have lost the plot a bit, selling high end guitars with sloppy control does not bode well for them. Fortunatly none of the issues I have found so far are unresolvable, but if those electronics do go south it's going to be a pain to repair.....
Oh that sounds like I am being very negative about something I spent so much on, no not really, there are just silly little issues there I do not expect to find when you spend so much on a guitar. Gibson always had a reputation for quality and it seems to have gone in the last few years as they have hit various well documented issues. I'm also realisic, the DF is an electronic, techy experiment, and as with everythng high tech it will become old hat soon, (indeed the new FirebirdX has just been anounced with even more toys onboard..but its uglyand absurdly expensive). I hope that I can find the real guitar inside all the tech that makes it worth keeping as a playing instrument rather than a technical curiosity for years to come.
That said though...I love it, not quite as much as Lucille, but certainly a close and exciting 2nd place. She looks great, sounds amazing and feels fantastic. I am sure I will be spending a lot of time getting to know what she can do.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Home again.
Back home after a week in the UK...no burglaries to report, Attic playroom is almost finished, and house guests have left food and pressies.....can't complain ;)
I picked up a couple of freesat systems complete with dishes to get full UK channels set up on lounge and Jodies room. Need to go get a bundle of cable and a bloody big ladder, but will try to have that up this week.
1st things 1st..its good to be home!
Feet up for a bit then plug in the mighty Dark Fire and see what she can do!!!
Ahthankyew
I picked up a couple of freesat systems complete with dishes to get full UK channels set up on lounge and Jodies room. Need to go get a bundle of cable and a bloody big ladder, but will try to have that up this week.
1st things 1st..its good to be home!
Feet up for a bit then plug in the mighty Dark Fire and see what she can do!!!
Ahthankyew
Monday, 25 October 2010
Surprising lack of insomnia.
We're back in the UK for a week, staying at Bina's mum's who is fussing around us ;)
Crossing was a bit rough and I had trouble sleeping, though caught up with a long lie in the next day..and an even longer lie in the day after, with an EARLY night. Most unusual, but quite welcome.
Bradford is...Bradford, its all dank and dirty, full of people wearing sweatpants and cheap/fake bling looking stoned or lost.
We were shopping today and it really was quite depressing to see so many closed shops and To-Let/Sale signs up.
The people, all wandering around looking for bargains in the many pound shops that blight Bradfords once impressive shopping centre, all seemed to look the same, depending on race and colour. Chav's abound, shady teens with too much bling and fake designer clothes. I can't believe how many people, mostly asian princesses, have all opted for 1 particular look, long fringe over one eye. Groups of people all wearing the same hanging around in cliques and gangs..its all a bit strange having come from the very cosmopolitain and indivudal styles around Breda.
Stranger even was the number of full face veils on display. I remember when there was some controversy about Jack Straw MP asking a constituent to remove her veil when she spoke to him, it really hit the headlines at the time and made people sit up and take notice of this odd and to my mind sad practice. The consensus was that it was a minority of women who did this...I guess that minority are mostly based in Bradford...in just 3 hours walking around town I counted over 20 women wearing full cover robes and full veil. I really do wonder if and when this crazy non islamic and medievil practice will ever be cast away....religion...funny, dangerous shit!
Driving in a left hand drive car is proving to be odd..I ended up on the wrong side of the road one time when I went to town, fortunatly there was nothing coming the other way, this time :D
Picked up a nice strap for my DF, with a Simpson theme, but other than that shopping was a it dull for me..Bina and Jodie got to pig out in Primark though.
Ahthankyew
Crossing was a bit rough and I had trouble sleeping, though caught up with a long lie in the next day..and an even longer lie in the day after, with an EARLY night. Most unusual, but quite welcome.
Bradford is...Bradford, its all dank and dirty, full of people wearing sweatpants and cheap/fake bling looking stoned or lost.
We were shopping today and it really was quite depressing to see so many closed shops and To-Let/Sale signs up.
The people, all wandering around looking for bargains in the many pound shops that blight Bradfords once impressive shopping centre, all seemed to look the same, depending on race and colour. Chav's abound, shady teens with too much bling and fake designer clothes. I can't believe how many people, mostly asian princesses, have all opted for 1 particular look, long fringe over one eye. Groups of people all wearing the same hanging around in cliques and gangs..its all a bit strange having come from the very cosmopolitain and indivudal styles around Breda.
Stranger even was the number of full face veils on display. I remember when there was some controversy about Jack Straw MP asking a constituent to remove her veil when she spoke to him, it really hit the headlines at the time and made people sit up and take notice of this odd and to my mind sad practice. The consensus was that it was a minority of women who did this...I guess that minority are mostly based in Bradford...in just 3 hours walking around town I counted over 20 women wearing full cover robes and full veil. I really do wonder if and when this crazy non islamic and medievil practice will ever be cast away....religion...funny, dangerous shit!
Driving in a left hand drive car is proving to be odd..I ended up on the wrong side of the road one time when I went to town, fortunatly there was nothing coming the other way, this time :D
Picked up a nice strap for my DF, with a Simpson theme, but other than that shopping was a it dull for me..Bina and Jodie got to pig out in Primark though.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 18 October 2010
More Insomnia issues
I really am going to have to do something about this...its 2-30am and I have to be up at 8-30....not good.
I have been able to keep myself busy with some work at least which is proving to be great fun, both student related and my own pet projects. My students are getting ready for their final lecture tomorrow and have homework assignments to finish up. A few of them hit a major speed bump when I was trying to explain the use of pointers via linked lists..so I've had to help them move forward, which has meant debugging a lot of, sometimes strange, code...fun though.
Without that I'd probably be down stairs watching late night TV, avoiding the silly dutch soft porn adverts in the middle of My name is Earl, or drinking..often both.
I find I tend to think too much when I'm awake so late...not always happy or easy thoughts...Life is good, don't get me wrong, but in the quiet times when you're alone with just your own thoughts, doubts and fears come back to you, especially when you try to yawn and the pain of doing so reminds you that things are not 100% normal..I'd kill to be able to yawn again, I really would. I am thinking of taking up jogging....dont you dare laugh! To see if it might help...but I dunno, I hate excersise and even if I did it once or twice I'd get bored pretty quite.
Anyway..I had a bit more of a tidy in the shed today, clearing things away onto more new shelves I got from Ikea today (never...I mean never..go to Ikea on a Koop Zondag, (shopping Sunday). I'll soon be able to have my work station ready to do a bit of scale model building in there.
The upstairs play room is out of bounds at the moment, we have our builder friend Xavier in, boxing off the stairway entrance to it so it can be a closed room. Better soundproofing and better privacy for people staying over. I'm hoping the soundproofing works on 2 levels..I want to play guitars without headphones and not have Bina shouting up the stairs when I'm only on level 2.
But mostly so that when Jodie has her friends over, I don't have to listen to girlish giggling until the wee small hours cos the room has no door or walls before the stairs.
Felt good this weekend too, not having to struggle with that VAL course I was "trying" to do. I will have to see if I can find a few good books on teaching methods and didactic stills in general and try the more traditional approach....called learning.
Ahthankyew
I have been able to keep myself busy with some work at least which is proving to be great fun, both student related and my own pet projects. My students are getting ready for their final lecture tomorrow and have homework assignments to finish up. A few of them hit a major speed bump when I was trying to explain the use of pointers via linked lists..so I've had to help them move forward, which has meant debugging a lot of, sometimes strange, code...fun though.
Without that I'd probably be down stairs watching late night TV, avoiding the silly dutch soft porn adverts in the middle of My name is Earl, or drinking..often both.
I find I tend to think too much when I'm awake so late...not always happy or easy thoughts...Life is good, don't get me wrong, but in the quiet times when you're alone with just your own thoughts, doubts and fears come back to you, especially when you try to yawn and the pain of doing so reminds you that things are not 100% normal..I'd kill to be able to yawn again, I really would. I am thinking of taking up jogging....dont you dare laugh! To see if it might help...but I dunno, I hate excersise and even if I did it once or twice I'd get bored pretty quite.
Anyway..I had a bit more of a tidy in the shed today, clearing things away onto more new shelves I got from Ikea today (never...I mean never..go to Ikea on a Koop Zondag, (shopping Sunday). I'll soon be able to have my work station ready to do a bit of scale model building in there.
The upstairs play room is out of bounds at the moment, we have our builder friend Xavier in, boxing off the stairway entrance to it so it can be a closed room. Better soundproofing and better privacy for people staying over. I'm hoping the soundproofing works on 2 levels..I want to play guitars without headphones and not have Bina shouting up the stairs when I'm only on level 2.
But mostly so that when Jodie has her friends over, I don't have to listen to girlish giggling until the wee small hours cos the room has no door or walls before the stairs.
Felt good this weekend too, not having to struggle with that VAL course I was "trying" to do. I will have to see if I can find a few good books on teaching methods and didactic stills in general and try the more traditional approach....called learning.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 15 October 2010
drummer boy me.
I re-instated the monthly jam sessions yesterday, 4 of us turned up, and my collegue Oliver turned up too for a while, he plays a mean guitar and did some vocals on a very loud verion of Crossroads..it was all a bit of a mess but great fun with little spots of musicality from time to time.
Overall a great time was had, I was even given a short lesson in how to play drums and managed to maintain a regular beat on bass and snare after 10 mins or so.
Was an awesome night.
Ahthankyew
Overall a great time was had, I was even given a short lesson in how to play drums and managed to maintain a regular beat on bass and snare after 10 mins or so.
Was an awesome night.
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Nope thats it.
Attended another group meeting day, and it was very instructive, not as far as didacctics are concerned but. I discovered pretty much everyone else hated the system, and that it is really geared towards promoting itself rather than teaching any specific didactic skills....Hearing others feel exactly the same as me has made me stop vacillating, I am drafting an email to explain why I want to quit the course and get on to something more traditional with an actual teacher doing some actual teaching.
so are several others....shit..meet fan...go!!!
Ahthankyew
so are several others....shit..meet fan...go!!!
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Vacillation
Is a very odd word...but I am vacillating on this didactics course, I'm still coming up against frustration and lack of information, as well as dealing with a limited number of people within the group who seem more intent on showing how clever they are without demonstrating or sharing any actual knowledge of the subject we're supposed to be "learning". Trouble is this limited number seem to be the only ones actually contributing.
There's no doubt my patience levels are still considerably reduced post April27 but my ability to learn and soak up information is as strong as ever, when its directed, which just is not happening here! So I'm getting frustrated and angry at the time and effort that is being wasted. I can't participate on cue in a discussion when I can barely speak the language never mind understand the subject under discussion. That's what this feels like,
Apparently there are alternative learning methods available, so am going to see about those next week. I have one more "meeting" tomorrow with this course, which I will try to sit through but I don't feel postitive at all about this learning method at all so best I quietly leave and find a method I am comfortable with as soon as possible.
Ahthankyew
There's no doubt my patience levels are still considerably reduced post April27 but my ability to learn and soak up information is as strong as ever, when its directed, which just is not happening here! So I'm getting frustrated and angry at the time and effort that is being wasted. I can't participate on cue in a discussion when I can barely speak the language never mind understand the subject under discussion. That's what this feels like,
Apparently there are alternative learning methods available, so am going to see about those next week. I have one more "meeting" tomorrow with this course, which I will try to sit through but I don't feel postitive at all about this learning method at all so best I quietly leave and find a method I am comfortable with as soon as possible.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 9 October 2010
hurumph & Hungover
Had a housewarming party last night..loads of guests and much drink drunk and nibbles nibbled. Went to bed very wobbly after several tequila's....woke up with a belting hangover.
Decided not to quit the didactics course just yet...going to get some coaching help from a colleague and Bina....well see if I'm just stoopid or if it really is impossibly hard.
Ahthankyew
Decided not to quit the didactics course just yet...going to get some coaching help from a colleague and Bina....well see if I'm just stoopid or if it really is impossibly hard.
Ahthankyew
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
balls
I dunno, maybe I'm just thick, or stuck in an old fashioned rut, but I still can't get a grip on this VAL teaching system, direct questions asking for a pointer to reading material are being met with responses like, search the library, use google, use specialist education libraries and the clincher, its up to me to decide what is and is not relevent, and still missing the point that I am unable by virtue of ignorance of the subject, to make any kind of rational decision on what is and is not relevent materia
I've resigned, its just getting me more and more frustrated which in turn is making me feel very negative about the whole process...which may or may not be justified, I don't know.
I do know the system is confusing when there is no expert in the field who can direct students to useful and relevent information, and the website portal is one of the most unintuitive and clumsy portals I've ever seen.
I'll see if there is another more traditional expert led course availble I can go on to improve my didactic skills. But VAL...not for me.
Ahthankyew
I've resigned, its just getting me more and more frustrated which in turn is making me feel very negative about the whole process...which may or may not be justified, I don't know.
I do know the system is confusing when there is no expert in the field who can direct students to useful and relevent information, and the website portal is one of the most unintuitive and clumsy portals I've ever seen.
I'll see if there is another more traditional expert led course availble I can go on to improve my didactic skills. But VAL...not for me.
Ahthankyew
VICTORY
Well perhaps not totally yet, but certainly the 1st of several death knells ringing in Dr Tim Langdell's IP trolling ears.
Its a big document and I've done an imbed here, but it might be easier to go read it at this location
Just brilliant 23 pages of awseomeness, its a very clearly written and damming legal judgment refusing a request to stop EA selling their Mirrors Edge game and several comments on Langdells clear and obvious fraudulent submissions and lies to the US Tradmark board which he's been using to support his semi-legal blackmail of any small company who happen to use the word Edge in some way in their game.
He's managed to scare a few companies into giving in to him but I've been a staunch supporter of those companies who have stood up to him..eventually resulting in EA stepping up and swatting him away like the shit feeding blowfly he is.
There's still more court action in the works, but there's also a very real chance Dr Langdell will now find himself facing criminal charges for his frauds and lies and spend some quality time with a large hairy man he'll have to call Daddy in a US prison.
We can but hope.
Ahthankyew
Its a big document and I've done an imbed here, but it might be easier to go read it at this location
Just brilliant 23 pages of awseomeness, its a very clearly written and damming legal judgment refusing a request to stop EA selling their Mirrors Edge game and several comments on Langdells clear and obvious fraudulent submissions and lies to the US Tradmark board which he's been using to support his semi-legal blackmail of any small company who happen to use the word Edge in some way in their game.
He's managed to scare a few companies into giving in to him but I've been a staunch supporter of those companies who have stood up to him..eventually resulting in EA stepping up and swatting him away like the shit feeding blowfly he is.
There's still more court action in the works, but there's also a very real chance Dr Langdell will now find himself facing criminal charges for his frauds and lies and spend some quality time with a large hairy man he'll have to call Daddy in a US prison.
We can but hope.
Ahthankyew
One more thing will do it.
After a bit of a conflab with my fellow VAL students its clear I'm not the only one that is very confused by this training program. So I decided to have a word with the work co-ordinator of the programme and explain my frustration with it. She is going to raise the matter with various people to see if it can be tailored to suit..
My main issue stems from the lack of base knowledge many of the participants have and with no expert to guide us to relevent information we're scrabbling around.
Asking for help just seems to be an impossible task. Even today it seems I put some feedback on a project, but didn't put it in the right place. The online co-ordinators response was...does anyone know where it should go?
Now this approach works well in a real class, (especially with primary school children...yes I do consider it a bit patronising) but now I have to wait till people log in and wait till someone can be bothered to tell me the answer..until then it is clear I've made a mistake of some kind but won't know how to correct it until someone in the group tells me.
Why can't the co-ordinator just tell me, even a simple private email while still leaving the question open.
I am getting very fed up now. I think its only going to take one more frustration to tip me over the edge and walk away.
EDIT...the on-line coordinator sent me a message telling me to post my comments in another section..I looked at that section...and the comments were posted there automatically....rolls eyes.
Ahthankyew
My main issue stems from the lack of base knowledge many of the participants have and with no expert to guide us to relevent information we're scrabbling around.
Asking for help just seems to be an impossible task. Even today it seems I put some feedback on a project, but didn't put it in the right place. The online co-ordinators response was...does anyone know where it should go?
Now this approach works well in a real class, (especially with primary school children...yes I do consider it a bit patronising) but now I have to wait till people log in and wait till someone can be bothered to tell me the answer..until then it is clear I've made a mistake of some kind but won't know how to correct it until someone in the group tells me.
Why can't the co-ordinator just tell me, even a simple private email while still leaving the question open.
I am getting very fed up now. I think its only going to take one more frustration to tip me over the edge and walk away.
EDIT...the on-line coordinator sent me a message telling me to post my comments in another section..I looked at that section...and the comments were posted there automatically....rolls eyes.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 3 October 2010
lovely day to study
It's a lovey day outside, warm sunshine and dry. Which is just as well for those poor buggers doing the Breda half marathon thing today, which has closed the town centre.
Bina went to the UK to do one of her exams for her Masters, as expected she feels she did ok, she always frets over these things but she is actually brilliant at any kind of self learning.
I on the other hand am not! I'm doing a course on didactical skills for work, and frankly I am totally flummoxed. The course is based on a concept called Virtual Action Learning. A training concept being pushed by one particular company which my work seems to have bought into.
While I am totally familiar with the concept of action learning (peer based share learning to raise the standard basically), it seems to me that this Virtual Action Learning is an utter nonsense, few of us know exactly what is needed and without an expert to direct us we're all scrabbling around trying to figure out what we're supposed to study...The search for the information being deemed as important as the absorbtion of the information.
Peer based share learning relies on having people know what they are talking about and explaining gaps in others knowledge, but when you have no basic foundation skills/knowledge available to you it seems prety much impossible to relate to what the others are talking about or what te assignments are asking you to do.
One assignment in particular was find and report on relevent documaentation....how the hell do you find "relevent" documentaion on a subject you know nothing about, I can certainly find documents but "relevent", how the hell would I know? Bit like asking a blind man to describe colour.
...I am not getting it, and I'm a hairs breadth from speaking to the work organizer and jacking it in. I have tried very hard to understand it, but when the answer to what am I supposed to do, comes back as, thats for you to find out, it totally leaves me cold.
I'll give it another week or so, but if I don't start to get a handle on this I am just going to end up as a disruptive influence on the group, which isn't what I want.
Ahthankyew
Bina went to the UK to do one of her exams for her Masters, as expected she feels she did ok, she always frets over these things but she is actually brilliant at any kind of self learning.
I on the other hand am not! I'm doing a course on didactical skills for work, and frankly I am totally flummoxed. The course is based on a concept called Virtual Action Learning. A training concept being pushed by one particular company which my work seems to have bought into.
While I am totally familiar with the concept of action learning (peer based share learning to raise the standard basically), it seems to me that this Virtual Action Learning is an utter nonsense, few of us know exactly what is needed and without an expert to direct us we're all scrabbling around trying to figure out what we're supposed to study...The search for the information being deemed as important as the absorbtion of the information.
Peer based share learning relies on having people know what they are talking about and explaining gaps in others knowledge, but when you have no basic foundation skills/knowledge available to you it seems prety much impossible to relate to what the others are talking about or what te assignments are asking you to do.
One assignment in particular was find and report on relevent documaentation....how the hell do you find "relevent" documentaion on a subject you know nothing about, I can certainly find documents but "relevent", how the hell would I know? Bit like asking a blind man to describe colour.
...I am not getting it, and I'm a hairs breadth from speaking to the work organizer and jacking it in. I have tried very hard to understand it, but when the answer to what am I supposed to do, comes back as, thats for you to find out, it totally leaves me cold.
I'll give it another week or so, but if I don't start to get a handle on this I am just going to end up as a disruptive influence on the group, which isn't what I want.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 1 October 2010
uggg and re-arrangments
Roti Express are a kind of surinamese curry delivery place, 1st one I had there I loved, 2nd one was ok...I just ordered a 3rd and it really didn't appeal, I couldn't finish it, going to leave it for later in case I get peckish.
I'm going to do a bit of rearranging of my amps and stuff upstairs. We had friends over at the weekend, and Martin who plays some mean guitar pointed out some issues with the way I have my pedals hooked up, and he's quite right of course. I am trying to feed them all in line to keep them hooked but it causes problems and you can hear vaious electronic hums from different pedals, I need to have 3 set ups..
1) clean right into the Marshall, with the Wah on the effects loop, miked to the mixer, I have a 2 channel Marshall, so can set my own overdrive on the amps own pedal. This gives me a range of sounds depending on the guitar going in.
2) via the multi fx pedal then into the clean tranny amp/mixer to get special effects and other amp modelling features.
3) acoustics in via the VL4 then into the mixer/tranny amp
The tranny amp is a small 30w cheetah, aside from an echo effect its extremely clean and does not distort the sound you feed it, so it can take a modified sound from the multi pedals and do its thing.
The Acoustics can also go through the tranny via an acoustic multi pedal, but I'll also have the VL4 which likes to keep its sound fx for itself..but will have a play.
That'll stop some of the bleed and signal clip we noticed and keep the electrics well squeely/grungy or whatever, and the acoustics nice and clean.
Need to get a few more cables though and another mic or 2 to feed the output into the mixer.
I think that's it now, I should be able to start making some recordings, not expecting much of course but being able to use the kit I have will be a big deal ;)
Ahthankyew
I'm going to do a bit of rearranging of my amps and stuff upstairs. We had friends over at the weekend, and Martin who plays some mean guitar pointed out some issues with the way I have my pedals hooked up, and he's quite right of course. I am trying to feed them all in line to keep them hooked but it causes problems and you can hear vaious electronic hums from different pedals, I need to have 3 set ups..
1) clean right into the Marshall, with the Wah on the effects loop, miked to the mixer, I have a 2 channel Marshall, so can set my own overdrive on the amps own pedal. This gives me a range of sounds depending on the guitar going in.
2) via the multi fx pedal then into the clean tranny amp/mixer to get special effects and other amp modelling features.
3) acoustics in via the VL4 then into the mixer/tranny amp
The tranny amp is a small 30w cheetah, aside from an echo effect its extremely clean and does not distort the sound you feed it, so it can take a modified sound from the multi pedals and do its thing.
The Acoustics can also go through the tranny via an acoustic multi pedal, but I'll also have the VL4 which likes to keep its sound fx for itself..but will have a play.
That'll stop some of the bleed and signal clip we noticed and keep the electrics well squeely/grungy or whatever, and the acoustics nice and clean.
Need to get a few more cables though and another mic or 2 to feed the output into the mixer.
I think that's it now, I should be able to start making some recordings, not expecting much of course but being able to use the kit I have will be a big deal ;)
Ahthankyew
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