Hangovers, but now the walk-throughs and a possible break through on the colecovision

Had some things to do last week that stopped me doing lots of other things I had to do, but now I have to do them, so they are getting done.

At home, finished a clearup and now have to just dust, wetwipe and vacuum the place, ready for painting. If I am feeling brave I might even put some woodchip on the attic walls which are exposed plasterboard still.

On the book, Finishing up the 2D projects and the walk throughs, which is cool but slow, however it does give me about 20 pages of content per project to push the book forward to its target. I should get 100 pages this week..

Also I make have a tip on the long standing bug on the Colecovision sprite system that caused sprites to randomly go crazy on hardware but not emulators, am going to check that out tonight and see.. I hope that fixes it, the game is done, barring some testing and tweeks, and this sprite system issue has been preventing me from clearing it off.

Also have to admit to being a bit delecate this morning after a fun night out with my Puddin, bandmates, many things we discussed, most of it drunken rubbish, but it was still a fun night out where we ate half a cow between us at Goucho's Ed, had lamb...hes far too culturedn then got massible drunk....nice, not done that in ages.

Need to get a lot more coffee inside me, but time to head up stairs and continue, 20 pages today, then the CV test...





Ahthankyew

8 years

Yup 8 years ago this week, I started out on this phase of my life...Moving to Breda.

It was an exciting and challenging time, and its never really stopped being exciting and challenging, a lot of bumps in the road for sure, illness, relationships, some work stresss.

But its had so many more upsides...This is still the place I want to see myself in when I retire...though when I do actually retire, I hope to have enough cash to buy a small tropical island somewhere to actually end my days.. Tahiti maybe?

Brexit, has cast a shadow over things a bit, but I am going to move forward with my plans to take Dutch citizenship and leave the small minded idiots who voted out,  to their own devices I've always consdiered myself European, British, Scottish, in that order, so adding a Dutch label in there isn't going to give me any sense of loss....apart from Pies!


Onward....need to get back to the book writng, Tahiti will need a lot of books sold!


Ahthankyew

fucking migraines

I hate these silent migraines, I know I am lucky in not getting crippling pain, but the disuption to my vision and the wiped out feeling afterwards is very unsettling.

Was on a nice flow this morning working out some ideas on the book, when the scotoma started, small at 1st down in the corner of by vision, then increasing.....until I could not read the screen,

My vision is now starting to return, I can almost read this as I type it...but the wiped out feeling wil come next....bugger...its worse than watching 2 hours of daytime TV.


Ahthankyew

Home sweat home

Wow, its even hotter here in Breda than it was in London, lucky though I have air con in the attic if it gets to be too much.

Loved my trip to the UK this time, mainly due to being able to just be a tourist for a change. Every other time I've been in the last 8 years has been business, so little or no time at all to actually just be a tourist.

My highlight has to be the trip to the RAF Museam at Hendon, oh I love that place, and going there myself meant I could really geek it up and take pics of all the silly stuff like undercarriage cables and cockpit details, even the nail patterns on a simply  stunning Supermarine Southampton, such a lovely resporation of both a boatbuilder and aircraft designers craft. I could geek rant for days about  the Boulton Paul Definent which sadly was shown in a dismantled state, but still one of my favourite quirky planes.

I even took time to get rid of my remaining cash notes to have a trip around london on an open topped bus with a tour guide...pure cheese but very informative. Though the blazing sun has give me a bit of a reddish hue on my arms and face...its all worth it.

Back home now, sleeves up, writing the book, finishing the CV game, after getting some on-line advise which might solve the long standing bug...and decorating, Time to get some paper on the bare walls in the attic and some paint on the walls.

5 weeks of rest, relaxation but lots of work.

Ahthankyew

Book progress

Well, aside from walk throughs on getting the projects up and running,(and actually writing a few more) I seem to have done all the major content....pre-edit phase of course, I need to print it out, have a good read through, since I know I waffled on a few points and sometimes repeated myself.
I also have to include  the code sections but I think I've got all the main topics covered now...

I scanned through it all last night and yeah, its what I wanted it to be. :D A beginners guide to programming on any machine.

Current page count (with almost no code) is 340 pages...another 50 or so for walk through, and maybe another 10 pages for illustrations,  leaves 300 pages for code, That should be it!.

wooo hoooo

As I say though this is all pre-edit, I will probably cull quite a lot of it and re-write major sections but I feel I've covered all the relevent points I wanted to include and that anyone with some aptitude for coding should get themselves up and running in 30 days....

still 2 months till I hand over but happy so far



Ahthankyew

London is busy

I mean Daaaamn its busy, so much hussle and bustle.
I  am having what should be a nice quiet weekend, of tourism in the daytime and writing/coding in the evenings but I find the simple process of walking around london to be quite exhausting, mostly avoding bumping into people

I went to see a west end show last night too, something I seldom have time for when I am here.. It was ok, a Michael Craford piece called the Go-Between, it was his name that convinced me to give it a go, but I wish I hadn't. Not hat it wasn't well acted, or staged it was, but it was a total musical with the flimsiest of plots, which sounded very old fashioned and outdated to me.. Even worse there was not one stand out musical number from any of the cast individually or collectivly. 2 hours, and it was pretty dull. The guy next to me didn't return after the intermission and the half full, quite small theatre would suggest its not going down all that well. In spite of a rather enthusiastic Bravo call from the guy in front of me, who I think was actually an actor taking over one of the roles as he continually read from a script, silently mouthing his words when before the play and in intermission.

Other things..well I went for a foot massage, in china town, as I was really feeling the burn on my old plates, and I have to say was rather surprised half way through to be offered an extra special massage...ermm.. I came in for my feet love..if I wanted extra's I'd be naked and oiled up by this point. She seemed quite surprised that I didn't take her up on it.. I guess I mistook the type of place it was...seemed legit to me though.
Did do a good job on my feet though :D

Book is coming along well too, I feel I'm in a nice flow, and will continue when I get back, though my hotel room in London is far smaller than in Brighton, and I don't have the space to set up the raspberry Pi and small screen, so just focusing for now on concepts rather than code..Thats next weeks job :D

Brighton was fun too, somehow I got my dates mixed up for checkout, and returned after a final session at the Develop Conference to find them packing up my stuff...I had to hurridly collect my used undies and so on and pack up  then head over to London.. but I did enjoy my time in Brighton, very proud to be with Yan when he recieved his Search for a Star award
I have a pic somewhere but the new iphones upload system seems to have stored it somewhere I can't find at the moment





Ahthankyew

Summers here...

I have one more day effectively of teaching, and then have to head to the UK for a week attending conferences and other such things....a bit of a chore, but at least it does finally signasl the end of a long hard year.

I won't deny I have issues with our new teaching system, some of those issues have been listened too, and changes will be made,  though I still have other issues, but I will pick my battles. and try to make sure that whatever happens students are educated to the same high standards we've always taught them.

Ultimately how good a student is, isn't really down the teachers, its down to their own desire to improve and use what the teachers tell them, we are still doing that. I still get the chance to motivate and demystify the arcane science of programming, hopefully when my book is done (plug) I can use that as well.

But there's not going to be a lot of holiday time I have to finish my colecovision game, yes its still there...it just never seems to want to finish....finish the book, and also planning to do a bit of decorating- 6 years I've been here and not a lick of paint has been applied, so  its time to add a little bit of colour to different rooms.
I quite fancy having a new kitchen too, but I think I'll wait and see if the book generates the money to do that.

oh well better go start packing...have to take a suit with me this time as I am attending an awards dinner for a student as well....going to be rather a long week, but I get a nice free weekend in London, as it would be more effort to fly home then fly back

No guitar for a week though...gulp...must not go to Denmark St...must not..






Ahthankyew

I got a cheque!

An actual paper cheque....from my publisher... My advances on royalties for signing the deal

amazing.. I didn't know anyone still used cheques these days, and I did give them my bank details so it was quite a surprise.

But also...how sweet. I can scan it and frame a copy of my 1st ever payment for writing...hopefully it won't be the last

Mind you, I need to go to the bank and ask them how to deposit it, I wonder if there's even a counter left at my bank,its all done electronically these days.



:D



Ahthankyew

even more bad news

As if the whole brexit nonsense wasn't bad enough.. I was sat watching TV with my 15 year old bessie mate Harvey 1....when I decided to look up how long Jack Russells live for....13-16 years.

oh great....that means that my longest relationship outside of family, is in its final phase....still at least he does not seem fed up with me, or hide thiings (apart from bones) from me, or only pretend to love me...


He has a cracking life though, still thinks hes a puppy, and I'l make sure he carries on thinking that,


Ahthankyew

UK votes to leave the EU

Mark this well...

The end of the UK........

muppets!

Ahthankyew

Officially scared

Tomorrow the UK votes on the referedum to say or leave the EU.

I have been watching this unfold with ever increasing incredulity, even more so when I analyze the actual facts of the leave campaign... There are none. Its nothing more than really idiotic appeals to emotion.

Take back control?? WTF you never lost it, the whole idea that the EU runs the UK is total nonsense perpetuated by morons who have no actual understanding of how the EU works and where we are in it.

I can list 100 different Leave campaign statements, and debunk every single one of them, every one...really,  but none of that will matter to those who are obsessed with believing the lies and taking back control.....of what?

Its an interesting social issue, the way lies that trigger with misunderstood belief can have far more traction in a group psyche than actual facts which are not just ignored but actively and aggressively dismissed as not relevant. Experts, eh, what do they know, when they don't agree with you. My 10% of world renowned economists know far more than your 90%, clearly!

Tomorrow the UK votes, and its 50-50. If they leave, my own position here in NL, and some 2million+ other brits living in the EU, becomes uncertain. The massive desire to leap into a completely unknown future is utter madness and will impact so many people is so many ways.

Remain have essentially stuck to the facts as far as our current status and situation in the EU are concerned but trying to counter the lack of acceptance of facts weakens them. Worse they engaged the Leave campaigns lies about what might happen after Brexit, with their own set of lies. Estimates about what would happen... causing a backlash and the fantastically stupid thing of the people telling one lie having it pointed out by the people telling 100's.

The honest fact is, no one has any clue regarding numbers on the impact of a Brexit. No one, so saying it will costs this, that and whatever is not even close to being realistic.

The facts are that a brexit will cause absolutely massive upheaval, for an incalculable amount of time, 2 years or 20 years, who knows? Most likely the latter, when the UK will have to try to re-establish trade deals, lines of import and export, as well as tariffs and other crap...its just all crap Crap they don't need to do now, crap that does not impact in their lives, crap that will fuck up the entire UK economy and crap that people seem quite happy to take with no idea exactly what that crap is or how bad that crap is going to be... A friend of mine is voting leave, because....it'll sort itself out in the end.............I have no words.

Bottom line is there is no reason to stick your finger in the fire, when everyone is telling you its a bad idea, the evidence proves its a bad thing, How bad you get burnt is an unknown factor, but hell yes you are going to get burnt.

I plan to take my Dutch citizenship asap, brexit or no, the UK as it is now, really isn't worth being part of, The scars of this vote will linger a long time and the rise of hate and blame politics is not something I want to be part of.
If it leaves I can only hope it does not bring down the EU with it, because that would be the single greatest mistake in history...I don't think it will though, I think the EU can move on without Britain and its miserable whining and obstructive obsession with being on the outside wanting to run the show.

Even so, I hope it stays, but I'm still leaving the UK



Ahthankyew

Writing is harder....

Than I expected... I've come to a bit of a stop, mainly due to me working on the support projects that it needs, which in turn causes me to go back to the book to make changes as I simplify the code or make fixes.

I've got 300 pages now, and not much in the way of code added, so that will bump things up, but finding the energy to do it is proving hard..

End of year workload is always high, as I review graduation projects as well as deal with a mass of 1st year things.

But..I am not beaten, just need to keep going, its not quite a block yet, just a detour on the code. It will get better

:D

I hope


Ahthankyew

Summer's here...

Glorious weather today, makes me give a little bit of thought to clearing he back yard and giving the decking a coat of something...ronseal or whatever...Maybe not today, but certainly soon, also I think this summer the interior of the house deserves a few coats of paint.


Only 6 weeks or so till summer hols...A time to recharge and review the year, and of course finish the book, which is going really well, but still having problems formatting the code to go in, but I have some help from a couple of students to do that so I will try to focus on the the content while they format my code.

Better get back to it...pages don't write themselves even when you get to put in lovely artwork from talented students that say a 1000 words.




Ahthankyew

sometimes you need more than sausages

Well yes they were good, but after eating sausages for 4 days straight the dog got 2 days of heaven.

Overall the experiment was a great success, I can make them, I do need to work on the seasoning and fat content though, and need to find a nice easy local supplier of skins. Once done I'll try making them with pork I can freeze and do batches. No more crap sausages for me, There's a sausage making company in NL who supply sausages by mail in cool boxes, who also sell season mixes, so I've ordered the mixes and a few samples to see which I like best then I'll try to replicate the seasoning myself.

The next experiment is something even more dear to my heart. Pork Pies :D. Need to find some gelatine but pretty sure I can get both skins and gelatine from the local Hanos, an upmarket food wholesaler here. I bought a nice wooden  pie shaper on ebay, so will make my 1st attempts on large pastry and spiced pork filling soon.

Also I did treat myself to a VoiceLive 3 from Thomman..who normally  deliver next day but for some reason this time they waited 3 days to ship so not expecting it till Monday...to add insult to injury, the price dropped 30euros the day after I made the order...even though I waited till pay day :(

oh well.. Cant wait to try it out, I just hope it fits on the board ok in place of the VoicePlay and volume pedal, which I'll try to use as an add on.

But I was sensible, that and a few small things like new cables a new more rugged mic  stand to replace a broken one, and a couple of amp mics, are the limit of my bonus wage spends, the rest has gone to reduce the credit card, on the basis that if I still need it it's there, but reducing the balance on the credit card is important as its my only real debt.






Ahthankyew

Proper Sausages

It was a bit of a pain, and it did take me a good hour to do. There was some mistakes with the way the blade turned on the worm, but finally, I made my own bacon and leek sausages.

Also I can't freeze these as the pork from Macro, has already been frozen, so I'll be eating these the next 3 days :D But I had to try.. I don't know where I can get more pork that is freezable...probably just the supermarket.

The main thing I learned was the blade on the grinder..if its on the wrong way, and there's no way to tell it just mashes the meat and it just gets clogged up.

Also the skins, I clearly bought too much I could have done 4 times as many so there are skin left in the water that will only be usable for another couple of days, I'll try to get some lamb tomorrow to make some lamb sausages, and maybe some beef, but I don't know what kind of beef to use, otherwise I need to buy must smaller skins.

Actually twisting is also a bit of a knack I've not quite got and you can see the sizes are all over the place but  I'm happy.
The pic shows a lot of trapped air, but I've used a clean needle and pricked them to


Of course the proof will be in the eating... hope they taste good, or this is a 15quid experiment that needs refinement.

And the proof, well, great texture, flavour is close, needed more garlic I feel and strangely a bit more fat, perhaps a little olive oil when the fat content is not so high. Also the ends popped so I need to work on making the twists have more turns to lock them in place. I didn't quite get the flavour of the paprika and cayenne I was expecting, so will stick with sage and thyme next time..

But a great 1st try...will experiment with more meats and seasonings

Ahthankyew

Curse of the summer bonus

I promised myself I'd be good this year, since I am not planning any formal summer holidays, my annual double wage in May can go knock the credit card down to size, also there's some advances on royalties I need to chase..so I'm going to be a bit flush this summer.


And then there's the voices in my head, saying buy me, buy me.

A VoiceLive3 in particular is screaming at me to buy buy buy.

I'll resist a few more days.. It will be nice to kick the credit card into touch, and if I buy toys, it'll distract me from working on the book.. I think...if I am  sensible the right thing to do is to buy the toys when the book sells.


Sadly I'm not sensible.



Ahthankyew

Long weekend, sun, wine and work...so not much sun really.

We had glorious weather all week while at work, and then the weekend comes and boom its a bit gloomy, but still quite a nice early summers day..

Sadly though I must continue with work, Project Foundations is now in full flow I have a few students to help me with proof reading and testing and preparing the projects for readers, the cartoons from a very talented illustrator are feeding in, and I have to now keep up with them as well as focus on my deadline.


Today though I am doing Colecovision stuff, as I must clear it out. I finished all the code last week when we had a holiday, but a few annoying bugs that only show in hardware are preventing delivery...the fact its only in hardware suggests an un-initialized value somewhere...something I also had yesterday in a book project, but this is much harder to track down on primitive hardware with no debugger...but I am determined to get it out the way and delivered to my very patient client.

I also seem to have lost my OdroidC2, it went back to Korea to get replaced or repaired due to a fault HDMI connection but it never arrived...I had to buy a new one (no freebies) maybe if/when the other gets there they will refund me...shame as its one of my faster units with no fan I really want to use it as a games console on my TV downstairs...that project will have to wait.


Book content is growing, the 2D stuff is almost all complete now, the projects are a little untidy, but thats what the students are helping me with, so I can focus on getting them working and they can clean them up and provide comments and review the difficulty.

Also I will be starting workshops at uni on programming the Raspberry Pi/Nano Pi, which will be my test bed for all the content....this should push me along and also give me a test bed for deciding if the concepts work well enough..Oh and it resolves some nagging doubts I have with 1st year coding students not understanding the basics well enough, so I'll be covering all that in the classes.

Better get on, going over to Maria and Davids for dinner later, there may be wine.....I might not get much done after ;)



Ahthankyew

freebies, if only I'd known

I am getting some free boards from a particular maker,I won't say who. They contacted me to check on delivery addresses which started a chat where I revealed why I was buying so many little boards.

They were very pleased that I was going to mention their boards in the book, and I am though only as an alternate option, and offered to cancel my payment and send me some free boards.

I have to say that is incredibly nice, I probably could have wangled a few other free boards from other makers too, but I don't want to be accused of any kind of favouritism. Most of the boards I've bought so far are perfectly suitable target system, but nearly all,  have some issue when it comes to being used a general computers. this makers units also have a few flaws but I do think they have the best value for money, its a shame they don't have the user base Raspberry has...which is mind-numbingly  massive

Anyway...quite pleased, but I think in future I won't mention my book in any correspondence with makers, I like the idea of the free boards, very much, but don't want to be compromised in my neutrality.

free boards though.....hmmm


Ahthankyew

Dating eh!

Well that was a bit pointless.....went on date at the weekend, very nice lady, ticked all the right boxes, funny, smart, independent...not to mention fit!

sadly not interested in me....starting to be a habit!


I'll climb back under my rock for another year and lick my wounds.

Ahthankyew

ouch......but I was just sitting!! Time to ring in some changes.

Well sitting awkwardly trying to play guitar in a cool way, and I pulled a muscle in my  back....wtf AGE!!!

I hate these little side-effects of getting old, hurting myself sat on the couch...its not fair.

And I need to get a new bed,I cobbled together a repair on my current bed a few years ago when the centre bar broke (I wish I could boast it was due to high jinx but no), but the repair has become unstable when I moved things around to build the wardrobes. It won't last much longer.

After a lot of hunting around at quite absurd prices... I  think I have found a nice semi affordable box divan that will take a TV in the base, which will make the bedroom a lot more tidy. Will wait for the May Bonus to pay for that though, since I have no plans (or partner) to go on holiday. I might as well splash out on a few things I need at home, and also do a bit of decorating.

This year marks 6 years in this house and I've done no decorating at all since I moved in.. So I plan to paint the walls, hang a a few pics, maybe get a new couch, if I can find a decent priced L-shaped couch and of course a new bed for my bedroom. The new wardrobes have de-cluttered the room quite a bit, so might as well get rid of the big old Samsung on top of the chest of drawers and continue to de-clutter.

Also giving some serious thought to getting a new kitchen setup..the house is about 12 years old and this has been here all that time, I think its time for a change, though that will take a bit of help from the bank to achieve. Will see, lets get the bed and decorating done 1st...Maybe the Kitchen is a next year job.



Ahthankyew