Health Check

Have I mentioned that I'm off to India for the Imagine Cup finals? Not in the last ten minutes Rob....

Anyhoo, I am.  And had my jabs. And apparently anti-malaria tablets are required too. I did some research on the interweb and it seems malaria is a really bad thing. From the description of what goes on when you get it pretty much everything bad happens except for your head exploding. So I need some tablets.

The tablets that look the best bet need a prescription. So off I go to the health centre for assistance.  We have a super health centre at Hull. You can just turn up and usually get seen by a nurse within minutes. So ten minutes after I arrive I go into consulting 1 to sort things out.

When they type my name in to the computer it flashes up red. Apparently I also need a health check. Something to do with my age.  So I tell the nurse my height, get weighed and have my blood pressure taken. Then the nurse asks "What about drinking?".  I saythat it is a bit early for me, but if she wants to have a slug that is fine by me.  She was of course asking about my drinking habits, which are fairly abstemious (although I am off to the pub tonight - pure coincidence). Then we cover smoking (which I get right this time), and finally I get my prescription. 

Today's Lessons

Over the years, as you grow older, you pick up bits of wisdom. Some are handed down by elders and betters, others you find out the hard way, through bitter experience. Today it was learn the hard way time. The lesson -  really cheap coaxial connectors are a really bad idea.

I didn't mean to buy the cheap ones,  it was just that they were the only ones in the shop at the time. And I figured that it wouldn't make much difference. It does. Having got a shiny new aerial on top of my house so I can get my TV into the digital age I found that picture actually got worse. Then better. Then worse again. Then better and worse on a three second cycle. Not good.

Having spent hot and unpleasnant minutes in the loft/sauna twiddling with plugs and sockets I find that chucking away all the cheap plastic connectors and replacing them with proper metal ones improved things no end.  I can now watch around twenty channels of drivel on my telly instead of just four or five. Wonderful.

The other thing I learned today, which was much more rewarding, is that the latest version of Vista makes a really good TV. My little media PC is not really powerful enough, and so I'm kind of surprised that it works at all. But it does, and the picture quality is very good, far better than any digibox I've seen.  I think this is because the LCD TV that I'm using really likes being driven at it's native resolution.  Whatever it is, the results are very good and the user interface is rather pretty too.

Happy Birthday Me

Thanks for the cards people, even the rude ones.

Bill Gates is  a rich bloke. In fact there must be lots of people with more money than me. I've even heard that there are some men who are better looking (never seen one, but you do hear stories).

Well, I hope all these richer and better looking people have birthdays as least half as good as the one I've just had. Perfect weather, family and friends round, BBQ in garden, Apples to Apples to finish off. The best times. Thanks for coming people.

Number one daughter got me this fan you can program to display important messages. And I got a flying saucer.

Amazing Fact

Did you know that every year at least two thousand roadsweepers drown in Venice?

Note - this is one of my favourite jokes. Perhaps say number three or so. Now you can all live in fear of numbers one and two....

Free Drinks Coasters

Free. Once in a lifetime offer. This tasteful set of matching drinks coasters will enliven any party or social occasion. Emblazoned with "MR DVD 8X Write speed" on one side and a spiral motif on the other which ends at EXACTLY THE SAME PLACE on all four disks these precision made coasters are also fitted with a central ventilation hole which provides for smooth airflow around the beverage placed thereon.

This is hopefully a limited offer, although given the performance of my Nero software and new DVD burner it could well the the start of a long production run for these special and decreasingly unique items.

Let me know if you want them.

Panda to your every whim

Some of my friends are a bit mad (well duh?). Others might be.

Rory, well, you be the judge. I've only met him a couple of times and in person he is one of the most level headed, professional and sensible people you could happen across. But put him in charge of a web site and really strange things happen. Really strange. His blog is well written and well weird.  And now he has made this Panda thing, which takes strange to a new level and then adds strangeness. I really have no idea what is going on. But I quite like it.  And you might too. Leave your sensibilities at the door and take a look.

Unhappiness is Green Cubes

Not what I want to see at all...

I've been working on my webcast for next week. (if you want a way to speed up your life try doing a series of weekly webcasts - you'd be amazed how fast each one comes round).

Anyhoo, we are reaching the end, where I want to show my style and put some 3D objects on the screen in front of a funky background. The idea is to make a 3D version of the Snake game where the snake moves around with a constant value of Z in each vertex. I'm calling it "Snake on a Plane" in homage to the upcoming movie staring Samuel Jackson. The "snake" is going to be made of little coloured spinning cubes.  Why? I don't know why. I don't make the rules...

So I get my coloured cubes, put a green grass texture behind them and fire up the program. And all my cubes turn green. Wah. Don't want green cubes. Although they do look rather cool.  Tried lots of things to get rid of them. Everything except the right thing, which is to remember to turn the texture off. Ooops. Thanks to number one son for spotting this. Now I'm going to have to find a way of wiping that smug grin off his face.

If you want to take part in the last webcast and maybe win an imp, then register here.

Webcasts and Free Food

Yes, it really is Hull centre...

I did my third webcast tonight. You can find the gory details here. After that we all went up town for a meal with the Microsoft Imagine Cup team. You would think that living in Hull for 30 odd years would mean that I would find the restaurant easily. No such luck. And proceedings weren't helped by the lady in the SatNav being totally unable to plot a route to our destination. Anyhoo, once we hooked up with the rest of the gang a great time was had by all. And Hull centre looked splendid.

New Computer Game Idea

I've just had an idea for a new video game. In it players take control of some little computer memory chips. They have to guide them through life, make sure they are properly plugged in, and manage their address and data bus connections as the chips  grow old and learn new things. I'm going to call it "The Simms".

Armthorpe Invaders

"Why not try a picture with the glasses on" they cried. Why not indeed.

We had a bunch of sixth formers from Armthorpe come and see us today. They are all either studying computing or thinking about it. Anyway, we set up some activities and took them on a tour around the place. By all accounts a good time was had by all.

Retail Therapy with Rats

Ratty (not an original name - but there you go)

Took a day off work today to go to Leeds to do some shopping. Not got anything special in mind, or any desire to buy any clothes (which is just as well in my case). Anyhoo, we went to "The Only Place In The Country Where Rob Can Buy Things That Fit 'Cos He Is Tall (tm)" shop and took a look at all the stuff that we wouldn't like to buy even if we could afford it.  They even had a jacket with specially shortened sleeves. Clever.

On the way out, having bought nothing, I picked up a catalogue. This had lots of pictures of soulful tall people lounging on a beach, including one chap who was playing the bongos in a dodgy hoody. Nuff said.

So we went to IKEA and bought two rats and a shower curtain. Much more fun. And they do meatballs in the cafe.

Complicated Problems

If a plane carrying a load of black boxes crashed, how on earth would they find out what had happened?

Darren gets married

Darren gets married
Originally uploaded by RobMiles.

Degree on Sea

Can you find yourself here? (a bigger version is in the pictures section)

Went up to Scarborough today to do the degree thing. What a day. Magnificent weather and a great bunch of students. Very nice.

Sun, sea, sand, sky and Scarborough

The Uncertain Voice of Rob

At least when you get up early you get some nice pictures. A full size image is in my pictures directory.

Went up town first thing this morning to do a paper review thing for the local BBC station. Oh the things I do in my continuous quest for fame and fortune. It seemed to go OK, even though I'd only prepared three items and the presenter asked me, live on air, for my fourth one. Ho hum. At least it got me into the office early.

Finding Laura

I did a degree ceremony today. By "did" I mean acted as graduand's marshal. This involves telling everyone what to do at the start and then getting the students who have not got their degrees yet (called graduands) down to the stage so that they can go and get their degrees and become graduates.

It is great fun. We use City Hall and, although it can get a bit hot, there is always a fantastic atmosphere in amongst the nervousness.

Today things went OK. Except for one thing. I lost Laura. One of the jobs that I have to do is "slot in" people who register late. This means that they don't have a seat in the main hall, and so they sit down the front, next to me, and it is my job to put them in line in the right place so that they can get their degrees along with all the rest. Laura was one of the students I was due to slot in during the presentations. Things were going well as I fetched down the row into which Laura was due to be placed so I asked her to stand up and get ready to go. Unfortunately I then made a fatal mistake. I looked the other way to see how the queue was going. When I looked back Laura had melted into a sea of students wearing gowns.

Now, put a gown and hat on a bunch of people and they all look rather similar. Add to that my atrocious memory for faces and you have trouble. So I had to start asking people "Are you Laura?" to try and find the right person. 

Unfortunately, people who are coming down for their degrees are not actually in a fit state to answer such questions. They are usually concentrating on remembering who they are so that they can walk across the stage at the right time, worrying about curtsying, and generally being a bag of nerves.

I've actually done the graduation thing  as a student myself, and all this is quite normal. So when a graduand has someone towering over them asking "Are you Laura?" they immediately think "I'm not sure? Should I be? Why does he want to know?". Panic ensues. Two of the blokes in the queue told me that yes, they were Laura.  This baffled me, and we were just entering a downward spiral of confusion when I spotted her and ushered her into the right place. Just in time.  I don't think anyone noticed. And Laura went across the stage just fine.

Another Day, Another Webcast

I've just finished my latest webcast on mobile game development. If you were one of the lucky ones listening you can find the resources here.

If you were not one of the lucky listeners (or have a definition of lucky which does not agree with mine) then you can find the presentation itself here.

Unlimited Internet on the move. At last

When I first got a mobile phone that would work on the internet at first I was very impressed. Then I was annoyed. The problem was not that the phone didn't work very well, it was the cost. Getting hold of a few emails would not be cheap, and as for web pages and downloads,  they were out of the question.

And so it has remained over the years. Until now. T-Mobile, one of the phone operators in the UK, has just launched a new service which is just what I want. For an extra 7.50per month on top of a mobile contract I can now have unlimited network access. I can get my email, surf the web and talk to web services as much as I like.  So I can cancel my old contract, switch networks, have unlimited internet and pay around the same each month. Wonderful.

Better yet, when you sign up you can get a new phone (always nice).  For an extra ten pounds I managed to get hold of a thing called a Vario. It is a Windows Mobile 5.0 device made by Imate so I can use the lovely email synchronisation, write C# graphics games and, because it has a little slide out keyboard, actually do useful things with my network connection.

This is a simply wonderful deal on a lovely phone. You really should check it out if you are in a position to move your contract. Unlimited network access on the move is really liberating and will lead to me finding los of new ways to use the internet and my phone.  Great stuff.

Thoughts You'd Rather Not Have

I'm going to start building models of birds out of chocolates. The first thing I'm going to make is a Malteser falcon.

If Stelios opened a safari park would it be called "Easy Tiger"?

Thank you, and good night.

Shaky Hands..

I'm going to claim I was going for an artistic effect...

I was down in City Hall again today doing my degree warmup thing. Warmup is a bit of an understatement, it was like an oven in there during the afternoon. I took a picture of "my lot" in the audience. Unfortunately I forgot to hold the camera still. I know I wasn't shaking from the cold....