90% fit

Well I have to say that was not fun, I even coughed up pure water at one point, which according to google is a sign of pulmonary edema.....not good, Lucky I don't get all hypochondriac on my own ass about things like that. Google is never a good place to diagnose yourself...but clearly it was a mother fucker of a chest infection.

But there wasn't a lot I could do in-between coughing fits so I waited...I had planned to go the docs on Wednesday morning  but couldn't get out of bed early enough to book a same day appointment, so waited a bit more.

And Thursday night finally I started to stop coughing after one especially severe fit and resulting lung water episode....but I think that was just my lungs clearing out.

So I am on the mend, incredibly croaking and squeaking  voice and still coughing a bit from congestion rather than infection but nearly there.

I also had the most wonderful lie in this morning to celebrate my 1st full 10 hour sleep in over 6 weeks...Boy I needed that.

Normal service should be resumed after the weekend, I'm going to stay in out of the cold as best I can (dog walks are unavoidable) and should be back to 100% soon.





Ahthankyew

Brian's health update....for both of the visitors who are interested

Even though I seriously wasn't up to it, I managed to do a walking dead like shuffle into work to support my co-lecturer as he was giving his 1st lecture in our PR4 course... I coughed and wheezed though the whole thing but at least I didn't go down as taking a sick day.

I am just a little bit better, sill having the odd little coughing fit, but it is clearly reducing....I can only hope a few more nights sleep will see the back of it... I have a friend who's been sick for 11 weeks so far with a similar cough, I can't imagine how horrible that is.. I hope she gets better soon.



Ahthankyew

only a teeny bit

still coughing up a lung so fever might be gone but my god I am sore....ribs are at breaking point.

If I can get to sleep I might be ok...but so far no go.


Might have to take another sick day tomorrow, can't believe that, I've had almost none in 5 years and already this year I've had 4 maybe 5if I can't get to sleep.....bahhh!


Ahthankyew

0.01% improvement

Better whisper it...but I am a teeny bit better...still coughing and my ribs are aching from it all, but slightly less and it seems the fever and sweats have passed....now the problem is just the cough...how long will it last.




Ahthankyew

Week 5 in the big brother hospital

ohhh goawd....just kill me now

constant coughing, sweats, headaches....this is just horrible.. I would go to the docs but its just COLD......the cold from hell but just a cold, on top of a cold on top of a possible chest infection that they wont' give me AB's for because its just a cold..

Another day in for me I think, hmmm though I do have to take the dog for his obligatory walks, maybe that's what keeping me sick, the constant exposure to cold air on the dog walks.... Harvey is killing me???


He did a funny thing last night though, as I got all wrapped up, in double coat, scarf, hat and gloves to take him for his evening walk..he trotted to the door, then stopped dead in his tracks.....

looked up and me and pretty much said, 

"Yo..Bitch....It be raining, I ain't goin' out in no rain"..

And stood his ground...totally refused to go...

At least I got away with that one, but had to force him to go out before bed time, otherwise there'd be a present or 2 for me in the morning that I wouldn't want.



Ahthankyew

Really???? I mean...REALLY?

So despite not quite being over the last cold, and coughing pretty much all the time...I am the recipient of yet another virus from the cold hell.
runny nose, headache, often caused by dry cough/heaving, sweats and fevers....this is just fucking unreal. How long to have I have to feel like shit physically, when I'm still coming to terms with feeling shit mentally.

And yes I have been swallowing OJ like its water, bought a bulk pack of it from Macro last month and have had 2 glasses at least every day.. proof as if it were really needed that nothing stops a cold kicking you when you're down.

I've not enjoyed much of this holiday break at all, marking and working and now the last weekend I will be in bed most of the time sniffling.. There's more tissues round my bed than a 14yo boys room...grrrr



Ahthankyew

No X factor for me....dammit

It's taken me several days to get a video made, I had all sorts of issues getting the sound in to the laptop and it just was a pain.

I rehearsed some songs over and over again, and in my headphones I sounded fucking Ace...really, best ever. Confident, strong, in tune, good phrasing, I nailed them.

finally I get the audio sorted, I sing and play a test track


And its not fucking Ace..its fucking awful....but why was the sound in my headphones so good??

sigh....the guitar playing was good though, I just need to find a singer.

Ahthankyew

Nice weekend....but frustrating

Been catching up on all the code stuff I have to do, finishing marking and as a special treat to myself, been setting up an Acoustic recording session. I find I need sometimes to provide myself with a reward to drive myself to do the boring or hard work I need to do.

So after 4 hours of so of practice on Saturday getting 4 songs sounding just right I got ready to record them during my Sunday session......nope, technology decided to get in my way.

My Zoom R24 is a lovely bit of kit, and it does an amazing job as an 8 channel live mixer with USB out, but no matter what I tried I could not get Debut video to take the sound..it saw it, it registered the input but all the resulting videos were mute...grrrrrr

5 hours I spent doing that... 5 HOURS! and still no joy...my enthusiasm for recording went.

I can resolve this by hooking the R24 to my RC300 which I know works fine with Debut, but I really shouldn't have to, but I want to get these songs on my youtube library since I've done nothing for months, despite practicing a lot of nice songs...

So even when doing something simple like an Acoustic session, technology twats you about.


Oh well, maybe todays session with the RC300 as the A/D system will work... I'm betting something will screw up.

Ahthankyew

Carnival madness...or in my case peace

Avoid Breda for the next 4 maybe 5 days...Carnival is here.

10's of thousands of people in costumes singing and drinking and having a generally good time, but its all a wee but too much for me.

I enjoyed it the 1st couple of years I was here but now its just a bit of a madness I try to avoid.

But I will gratefully take the weeks holiday we are given to celebrate it and rest and relax and do as much coding as possible.

Brian time.....


Ahthankyew

phew

Fortunately slept fine,  though didn't get to bed till late.....

no major ill effects so it was not a cold/flu thing probably just a shitty numb throat from surgery thing that sometimes crops up. I probably should note it in my cancer blog....wonderful things to look forward to for the rest of your life.....

marking is sill ongoing, I've got most of the PR and PRF's done, will try to finish the last of the PR's today so they can go in,the PRF's are a bit quicker to mark since they are much smaller projects but not really very well done....shame.

Anyway...gotta go get ready for a lecture and then back to marking.



Ahthankyew

Oh C'mon

Coughing again....

weird kind of cough, more like a something going down the wrong way choking cough, probably due to phlegm dripping down my throat, which normally just gets swallowed, but if it hits the right spot on my right side, I have no feeling there...so it gets breathed in.....nasty retching cough follows.

Very unpleasant and not much I can do about it except wait for it to settle and try to sleep

fuuuucccking sick of being ill...especially when I don't currently feel especially ill.




Ahthankyew

Picking up the pieces

So after more than a week of feeling utterly shit, its time to get things back in order, dishes done after stacking them for days, guitars and gear left on the floor put away, clothes off the floor and in the wash basket, or wash and generally trying to get a momentum going.

I let things slip when I was ill, mostly marking which I tried to do some of but was unable to do very fast.

Will be mainly catching up on that for the next few days, hoping I can still get them all graded within the 10 days deadline..I might miss by a weekend though.

Kinda pissed I didn't have the energy to do more on my Z80 work, but I was just so wrecked with the cough, tiredness and general lethargy. I will get back on to that when I am done marking.

Quite pleased that my new cheapo reclining chairs for the attic arrived though, and were taken in by my neighbours, which considering the size of the boxes was very kind of them

I built one up to try it out, only took 30mins or so, and well....its cheap, its supposed to be leather, but its not really, however it seems hardwearing enough, and once built, with the obligatory missing washer, and unscrewable bolt..it looks quite nice and is indeed quite comfy for sitting back and watching the movies on the big screen. So job done. I look forward to sitting back with wine on the side table and popcorn watching movies in 5.1dolby surround on my 300cm screen

As I was sitting checking it out I also took some more time to investigate my new projector which was troubling me with its highly saturated redness...but I found some settings (colour) to drop the saturation down from 50 to 20 which produced much more pleasant skin tones... I think its all set to go now.  Only thing left to try is a PS4, not that I play many games if I am honest but will be interesting to play a race game or something on a movie screen. I doubt I will buy one though.

Netflix is a bit of a hit and miss, most of the movies are pretty B grade moves, which is a shame, as it would be nice to have a real choice of movie. I still like having my actual DVD's though, and will soon be buying my 1st BluRay to see what the fuss is about. But, the odd buffering problem aside, likely due to my router being a fair distance from the player, its not really a bad system, and if I have no new movies to watch I am sure I can find something to watch.




Ahthankyew

Make that 4 nights

Although the coughing has seriously reduced, its still keeping me up...just as I doze off I wake up choking, and I used the last of the bromhexineHCL up, which never really stopped it just make it easier to cough up.

This is truly horrible... I've come down to have a few drinks to relax and then try again, but I really can't explain how tired and sore I am now....


oh well, whiskey and honey is finished, back to bed.  I'm not setting any alarms though, if I am fit to go to work when I wake up I'll head in, otherwise  I need the sleep.


Ahthankyew

3 days.....phew

3days (and nights) of non stop coughing,  I am utterly shattered, ribs and throat are sore as hell. and I am totally wrecked...but finally it seems to be passing, I even managed a few naps today

Need to try to get some more UK cold meds, its not so much that you can't get meds here but there are pretty week usually just paracetemol and/or vit C. Nothing to help with congestion, or other symptoms of colds which leads to other things.

Had to call in sick today which is a pain as I really wanted to go in to voice some concerns I have  over peoples perceptions of what we do at NHTV..

There is a slowly developing idea that interactive Apps, are "games" which is partly true, but there is a world of difference between am advertising app for a phone and a 2 year project built from scratch for a console...They are both "games" but the difference in what they are, how they are made and how they are sold is so vast that its hard to see any synergy with them...but people seem to be forcing that and pushing NHTV as a place to learn to make apps, rather than games....to my mind this is utterly wrong and needs addressing.

We had an education day today where someone from a company that develops these apps was going to give a talk... I really have no idea why they were brought in, and wanted to make that point, but I simply wasn't up to it.. I do hope I get a chance to voice my concerns another time.. We need to put some of our high ups in the picture a little more.

Ahthankyew

Nearly better

Not Man-flu
Just a heavy cold this time, think I'm over the very worst symptoms now...though today am getting a bit worried about the dry cough I seem to have developed over night.. I hate getting chest infections here cos the docs are so unwilling to give you antibiotics for them and as a result they seem to last for weeks.
In the UK a quick course of something non penicillin based (I'm allergic) has any chest problems cleared up in no time, without them it seems to take 2-4 weeks and they end up giving you steroid puffs, which probably do more harm than good. Given that I am now having to pay for my annual drugs due to the 375euro own risk policy, if I have to go to the docs I'll be insisting on some decent AB's.

I've not had to go into the office the last couple of days so just been busying myself at home wrapped up warm,  with students work and some of my Z80 project which I have gotten back into, I can finally see an end to this, and the client is start to get impatient, so one last push and I should be done.

Oh and I finally have my new LED HDMI projector up and running, I had to order special tools to remove the mounting clamp from the old one, as well as new screws to mount the new one into the clamps, then risk life and limb on a not very safe looking, but really quite secure ladder arrangement on the stairs to fit it.  But it is finally up and running and I'm now up to date with a BluRay based cinema system... I suppose I should buy a BluRay film so I can see if there really is much of a difference.
Still sad that the old one is broken, I could have sold the complete unit for a decent wedge but as it is just selling the old projector alone, won't raise more than a few quid.




Ahthankyew

17 days... a new record

17 days into the new year and I managed to stay fit and healthy, until I started sniffing and sneezing and became the world largest producer of raw snot....

Bugger... I have a cold....just as I was going to go to the gym....again..

I've also been risking life and limb trying to install my new projector, which turned out to require some interesting ladder placement, coupled with some surprising degrees of vertigo resistance.

Also a lack of tools as it turned out. I did finally managed to unhook and remove the old BenQ unit, after working out its clap was secured in place with a squeeze pin system. But actual removal of the clamp from the unit so I can put it onto the new one, requires special tools I didn't know existed. Tamper proof Allen keys..which are basically the same as normal Allen keys but have a hollow middle. the screws themselves having a bump in the middle of the hole, preventing normal Allen keys from going into the hole and allowing you to engage....major pain...

Will pop to Hornbach later, before the major manflu symptoms kick in and buy a set. The Ladders are still in place until then making access to the attic tricky, so don't want to leave it in that state too long.

The reconditioned Roomba I got on ebay is fantastic...It arrived  yesterday, and could not wait to see it in action so left it run through a cycle which also helped to flatten the battery, which is apparently a good thing on 1st use....Aside from being a bit of a cable puller-outer, so I need to make sure cables are not loose on the floor, it works perfectly. Especially on my hard floors downstairs.. So its now set up and scheduled to do its thing every other day at 6am while I sleep. No more hovering downstairs...and once a week letting it loose upstairs which also has hard floors should be more than enough. Though not this week as there will be more snotty tissues on the floor than a teenage boys bedroom before and after his 1st prom.
There are apparently mop versions of this you can get which would also be nice to do once a week, but I am not so impressed with those so I will have to stick to the bucket an mop method..once a year.

I thought Harvey might go a bit nuts at it, but he just looks at it with distain and keeps out of its way.

Better get a lemsip or 2 down me then head over to Hornbach... I can feel the life draining from me as my eyes start itching..........manflu!!!!!!!

Ahthankyew

Operation clean up....nearly done

So without actually setting any specific resolutions I have been quietly cleaning up. My house, my work, my life...kinda

The very cool sale at C&A has allowed me to restock my wardrobe with garments more fitting a man of my advanced years....though I did also buy a few new pairs of jeans to replace the desperate old and ill fitting ones I cling on to, like much loved children... I can wear them at weekends.

Sales in the shoe store also reaped some new basic shoes, so I can keep my "good" shoes for....y'know I never know what  you should keep good shoes for?


But a few hundred euros of sales spending has given me a totally new wardrobe and look, which pretty much everyone at work has commented on, saying how smart I looked? what the !@&*#!? ...making me feel a little self conscious but I guess it proves my old "style" was a little too scruffy, just wearing a collar shirt and jumper makes stand out so much now...I must have really been a bit of a sight.

Now I really have to learn how to iron.

The house is also cleaning up nicely...I am still pissed off about the death of my old reliable  (well it did last nearly 7 years)  DVD home cinema, now replaced with a Sony BluRay unit, but which also resulted in the need to replace the old and still reliable, just no longer up to date, BenQ projector... It can't handle the output from the BluRay. I suspected as much as my projector could not handle PS3/PS4 output either....At least I can sell it on.. It will still be useful.. I did briefly consider setting it up downstairs..but...why have the attic cinema then?
Fortunately  I managed to find a decent priced HDMI unit on ebay... only a few hundred for a new one. I just got myself out of a financial deadfall, thanks to the Xmas bonus, so don't want to be spending too much replacing these things. It should have arrived yesterday but I was out when the DHL man arrived and it seems he didn't want to leave it with the neighbours.
But overall a good ebay buy if it all works ok.

Oh and while on ebay, I could not resist a bargain bid on a Roomba Robot Vac....an extravagance perhaps but I think it's perfect for my hardwood floors and it can be set to work when I am not around... assuming Harvey does not try to kill it. It should be here in a day or 2.

New projector will need a bit of installing as will the speakers for the new BluRay, so the attic at the moment is a work in progress, still a bit messed up.... I will have a proper go at it (maybe let the Roomba loose) soon.

I also want to source a couple of nice recliner chairs for the attic.. I really don't like the Ikea sofa bed any more, its far too bulky and not that comfy when you want to actually watch movies... Time for something else.

And as the end of Block B approaches I can look forward to 3 reasonably quiet weeks to get my work stuff back on track, I have let a few admin things slide, I need to stop letting things slide and get on top of them..

I also made a more focused effort on my Z80 project, I have been having issues with it over the last few months as lack of free time and chronic lack of memory in the ROM, have really stopped me getting on with it.. But I scrapped some of the early set up code on it in favour of some new code and its starting to pull back together again...I really want to get that out there, and start another one. This experiment in the feasibility of Z80 work has taken too long..its fun in some ways but I need to get a proper project done and make a bit of money with it...so this test project needs to get out there...establish my name in the market place and see what the next one can do.

2015 .might even see me visit a gym soon... I almost went on Friday...almost...  I at least considered it...but it was raining and decided not to....damn that rain.... ;)

Ahthankyew

Another Great Gig

the Mighty Starrcase played yet another Graduation party, and were brilliant...a few minor flubs but still brilliant.

I really do enjoy the feedback from these gigs and seeing people dancing is very cool

Next one in May/June....better get practicing.


Ahthankyew

And back to ....

Sadly not the future..but back to work

A New Year and a new fresh start. I will do my best to keep things going for the better. Time to get on with stuff that has been lingering far too long, also a bit of an image change.

I suspect my Jeans and T-shirt look is starting to seem a little jaded, as is my weight...so not exactly a new years resolution but I am definitely going to lose the weight I half heartedly set out to do last year..no more yo yo-ing.
Am going to cut back on the cake...hmmmm cake..
And get myself trimmed...I won't make empty promises about gyms, but I will at least try to go, I have noticed my condition as they say here in NL is less than stellar, so.....we'll see

Also during the sales I stocked up on some sensible clothes, collar shirts and slacks....not quite enough to see me through a week but enough to start the image change..

Apart from my attic, the house is clean and tidy, and I will keep it that way, new vacuum has proven its worth. Just have to work out how to use that iron thing...can't seem to work out where you insert the clothes!!!


Come on the 2015...I'm ready for you.



Ahthankyew

no way to hide it.

Have to be honest, that was an utterly shit Christmas, on my own, for the 1st time in many years.

I have spent a fair amount of it drinking and watching movies to keep me occupied and stop myself getting all wound up. I might do some coding soon when my brain starts to clear. I did however enjoy my mince and tatties Christmas dinner....no really I love that stuff and no point cooking a roast for 1.

I suppose I have to get used to the idea that the future I had partially planned out for "us" is simply not going to happen, things I had convinced myself were going to make my later years happy and fun, are just not likely now.

Oh well... I cheered myself up by buying a new vacuum cleaner for Xmas....yes a strange present for sure, you'd have thought I'd have got a new guitar but the old vac is broken, and though it might be fixable with some glue and a ring clamp(ohh I need to go buy one of those) , I thought it best I just got a new one...it got me showered and out of the house to buy it at least.

Another Christmas casualty is my trusty old Phillips Cinema surround system... I have had it since I arrived here and its served me very well these last 6.5years..but when setting up some lights, I accidently unplugged it while it was showing a menu, and now it won't load any vids at all....I think the motor that spins got damaged

bugger...I suppose it is time to get a new one, but I have held out knowing that any new one I get probably won't work with my now quite old 720p projector...I didn't really want to get a new one of those too...Also...Blu Ray is upon us...oh well... I guess I have some spare funds since I don't need to buy the new mattress Brenda wanted to buy..I'll go see if I can pick up something cheap in Media Markt.


Better go shower....

I'm also going to try to catch up on some jobs that needed doing....the shed needs a clear out,  I was going to build a little herb garden ready for spring, several rooms need a lick of paint, and I still have not put up any wall paper in the Attic after the new walls were fitted. I will swing by the DIY store in the next couple of days and sort that out... Keeping myself busy stops me moping about.

I'll try to head into the new year with some purpose.....................yeah....well whatever.




Ahthankyew