splee.blog

Now, while I’m not the biggest bloke in the world, I realise that I could do with losing a few pounds. I’ve been trying to get to the gym regularly, but my current schedule doesn’t allow for it. Add to that the fact that I’ve little to no willpower and you have someone who excersizes properly about once a week.

During a routine checkup at the quacks it was suggested that I try a new diet that’s out, called LighterLife, and use that as a stepping stone to feel better about myself and get to the gym more. I know, it sounds really girly, but it’s true. I think I will feel more inclined to go to the gym if I don’t look like a big red faced pie eater on the running machine. ;)

This diet is only available to you get a refferal from your doctor and if you are “obese” according to your Body Mass Index. Which I am. Oh dear. Apparently, on average, one can lose 3 stone in 2 months. Crazy.

So, within the next few weeks (depending on when the forms get back from my Doctor) I’ll be starting on this diet and I’ll track my weight here.

Wow… nearly a week since my last post. How the time flies, whether you’re having fun or not, eh? I’ve been insanely busy, as per usual, but I’ve been up to a few bits and pieces.

Over the weekend I went shopping with my Mum and sister, which was really nice as I’d not seen my sister in a long while. It was also nice because Mother Dearest paid for a shedload of clothes which I was going to buy for myself. She just plain barged me out of the way as I was trying to pass my card over. Free stuff is the best reason for going anywhere with your Mum. ;)

I’ve also got into Skype in a big way. For someone who only has a phoneline for ADSL and doesn’t own an actual phone (for landlines that is… I have a mobile) Skype is excellent. The majority of people I want to speak to are IT types, or at least capable enough to install and register themselves on Skype, so I save a bundle on phone calls.

I’ve also bought a number from the SkypeIn beta, which means anyone can ring me from their landline. It’s very useful for me as I can now use the phone down by my computer (which wasn’t possible before due to socket placement and mobile phone coverage in my basement). It’s very cheap, with a year’s subscription coming in at €30 (Euro’s being toy money anyway ;) ), so if you want a landline number that you can take with you wherever you’ve got your pc/laptop and an internet connection, it’s ideal.

What else has happened? Ah yes, the Sky+ issue is continuing. Jerky, blocky, out of sync picture and sound has come back with reckless abandon. I’m going to be putting in a complaint about the installation of my dish and how the service engineer wouldn’t fix the dish to the chimney because ‘he would be responsible for any damage if the structure wasn’t sound’.

I got into quite a heated debate with the bloke because that is plainly translated as ‘I’m too lazy to go crawling around on the roof matey’. You can rest assured that I’ll be taking this up with their customer service department, just as soon as I have the time to sit on hold for more time than is considered healthy.

It’s a shame because, up until now, everything about their initial installation and customer service screamed ‘helpfully pro-active and friendly’. It only takes one to crap in the pool though, right?

Mwahahaha! I have a day off tomorrow, on only one day’s notice. Awesome. The reason? Sky+ woes.

My Sky+ installation has been buggered for a while now. I’m constantly getting blocking/freezing on my picture and if the weather turns bad (by turning bad I mean a slight breeze or small amount of drizzle) I lose all my channels.

Sky tech support were really good and the woman I spoke to told me a little trick to get into the service engineer’s menu and tweak some things which temporarily restore full service for 4 or 5 hours.

At the end of the call I had a choice of dates when an engineer could visit: Tomorrow or 3 weeks tomorrow. Luckily my boss isn’t too fussed about days off, as long as my work gets done. So, hopefully, I’ll have a working sky box again. I got really pissed off last night when I missed Dead Like Me. :(

I recieved an email yesterday that was forwarded by one of my colleagues which purported to allow me to:

…have an enormous positive impact on our planet…

Well, quite naturally, I was intrigued and proceded to download the World Community Grid client. I’ve never used one of these clients before but the concept instantly puts SETI@Home to mind, and it’s in much the same vein.

At first I was worried about the impact on my machine’s performance but everything seems to run swimmingly as it did before, even though the CPU is constantly at 100%. I suppose that’s the idea. 99% of the time your PC sits there doing virtually nothing (even while you’re actually using it). This software uses distributed computing to calculate complex things that would normally take days on a custom built cluster. Using the idle power of your PC they can achieve performance that is very very cheap, athough I’m certain it doesn’t match up to the sheer power and processing time that a cluster would afford them.

If you double click the world community grid icon in your task bar you’re shown what it is you’re currently calculating, the progress of the current task, and lots of other info regarding your account and machine.

I’m currently calculating data for the Human Proteome Folding Project.

This project is determining how proteins coded by human gene sequences are most likely to fold. This knowledge will help scientists build the understanding needed to develop new treatments for diseases.

An altogether more useful application of this kind of technology than looking for extra-terrestrial life, wouldn’t you say?

It seems that life has taken me by the scruff of the neck and violently shaken me like a british nanny for my previous misdeeds. Misdeeds that could, in all honesty, be narrowed down to just one misdeed: Terminal Lazyness.

My previous escapades as a care free student have come back to haunt me, I swear. For 3 years of wanton lazyness and willful procrastination I have been sentenced to an undecided period of rushing about like a blue arsed fly, getting hassled for something I can’t provide, and generally being stressed.

Talk about reaping what you sow.

You may also have noticed the frequency of my Under the Influence posts. Considering I only created that category a week ago it’s had a lot of posts in it… 3. But when you think about it, that’s only the three times I’ve blogged while being in an altered state. What about the rest of the time I didn’t blog, eh?

Well, it’s just the only way to stop my mind petulantly murmuring away about things that I should have done, need to do and could be doing. And now, I must adjourn. It’s late and I have to be at work early tomorrow. :(