I accept that it’s a bit jejune to get worked up about Reality TV, but last night’s Apprentice took the biscuit.
The Apprentice: I demand a recount!
June 14th, 2007Xen Linux kernel configuration for dummies
May 21st, 2007First let me offer my apologies to readers on GUFF or Facebook: normal service will resume shortly. Now, who’s been having trouble with their paravirtualisation?
LimoLiner
April 28th, 2007Well, it’s the final day of my holiday-cum-business-trip in the USA, and I wasn’t relishing the four-hour journey from Boston back to New York, the long wait at the infamous JFK Terminal 8*, and the cramped overnight flight back to Heathrow.
Currency
April 2nd, 2007A couple of weeks ago, I returned to Scotland, because where else is better to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? As with all of my northern sojourns, my chief concern was returning with fistfuls of “queer Scotch money” that I’d be unable to spend in Cambridge. My anxiety was heightened by an article in the Sunday Times that detailed how the Sheraton Hong Kong charges a different (and poorer) rate to exchange Scottish banknotes.
You can imagine my amusement, then, as I stuffed my face at the Glasgow Airport Burger King, and watched as the till operator refused a new £20 Bank of England note, as “it doesn’t say ‘Sterling’ on it.” Oh such irony that this should be the first English note to depict a Scotsman.
It’s just too bad the person affected was a bemused foreign tourist instead of an ignorant southern shopworker, but voyeurs can’t be choosers….
It’s Christmas
December 25th, 2006As anti-commercial whingers tend to remark, Christmas is starting earlier every year. And I have no reason to disagree, as it seemed this year to have ended by the 7th of December, when I sat down to Christmas dinner for the second and final time that week. In fact, as I’ve spent the rest of the month slogging through overcrowded shopping centres, and watching ancient repeats on TV, I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas is actually dragging on a bit.
But don’t let such contrivedly-symmetric Scroogery get you down! It’s Christmas Day, and wherever you are, I hope you have a great day.
PS. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll get some slush at the New Year.
My Year in Cities, 2006
December 23rd, 2006I remember, last year, seeing Jason Kottke’s digest of 2005 in terms of the cities that he had visited. “What a nifty idea,” I thought, and contemplated doing the same. That was before I realised it would be a four-item set, comprising {Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Culrain}, all in Scotland. Although, in retrospect, perhaps 2004 was even duller, comprising {Glasgow, Guildford, Crawley}.
Gael Force Winds
December 4th, 2006Many years ago, it would have been inconceivable for me to say, “It’s good to be back in England.” However, as I stood today, 27 miles south of Durham in the city’s eponymous international airport, this sentiment was first among my thoughts.
Things I am excited about, part IV
September 15th, 2006Ignoring a bus tour of the Highlands, two whisky trips and a long weekend in Crawley, it has been five years since I last took a holiday. (We’ll be charitable and assume that the student lifestyle isn’t “just like being on holiday”. For once, it’s far less stressful.) I decided that, after completing my Masters, I would remedy this. I conducted an impromptu census of my international friends, and discovered that the largest single group is the Americans. (Malta scored an honourable second place: maybe next year!) So I called everyone’s bluff and took them up on their kind invitations to come and visit, and now I’m here. Thanks to Jen, Abby, Garth and Nicole, I’m seeing America in the best way possible. Rent-free.
In seriousness, though, I’m halfway through my stay here, and it has been great to see what real life is like in this country. I’ll blog more later about each part of my trip, but a preliminary investigation reveals that it “centers” around beef-eating, binge-drinking and an abject under-reliance on public transport.
So far, I’ve visited Boston, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Nantucket, Cape Cod, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. (I also visited Arlington, VA and passed through Delaware and Maryland, which totally counts.) Tomorrow I travel (intrepidly, by a combination of bus and commuter rail) to New York City, and next week I move on to Chicago and finally Wisconsin.
It’s been great fun so far, and I must give thanks again to Jen and Abby, who have been the most gracious hosts. There’s another near-fortnight to come, and so I think you’ll understand why I’m verily excited!