Photos: well Judi & I at dance (photo courtesy of Isabell & John) - My Java project layout; Mike at concert - bands name Grenville Dodge; Edinburgh side street
Ok folks - sorry a tad late with blog - so where are we - Sunday 17 Decemeber the year 2006 - what does that mean I wonder - probably depends on your belief system - to me its an arbitrary reference - something that allows you and other people to refer to a time and date different to any other - I know the Chinese have a different New Year - and in Sauchiehall Street / Rose Street (for some) they seem to be celebrating a New Year every Friday & Saturday night so at the end of the day you have to ask yourself what your own value system is and this is usually the time of year that it comes to the fore - what is mine - well I think that may take another unique blog, to give it the attention that it deserves - in short though - I identify with the notion of peace on earth and goodwill amongst all people - and I am happy with that - also believe in tolerance for everyone and their beliefs and expect the same . . . . enough said.
So presented my Java project - handed in the documentation for project and then IT in Business assignment . . . started week calmly and ended it frantically - BDC community project night out + uni pub crawl in West End . . . uni broke up for Christmas recess . . .
Arran got away OK - and when he booked in for his Manchester - Cape Town leg of the journey - had to pay £90 for excess baggage . . . not the last of Arran's problems as he left here with a
very bad chest infection - he had hardly arrived back in South Africa than he had to go to the Doctor / clinic and ended up with medicine and antibiotics and was eventually rushed to hospital because his nose wouldn't stop bleeding - what did they eventually give him to stop the bleeding - like any good hospital cocaine done the trick - told him he would have been better of buying that on the street corner - rather than the local emergency ward rates . . . lol.Well needless to say I was quite stressed - what with the Java project looming - made some decision and spent my weekend relaxing with Judi more than working on project - but did it with Java in the back of my mind - no regrets - was a conscious decision I made . . . had a lovely weekend - was well rested and re-focussed on work at hand.
A very interesting lecture in IT in Business - Cisco in Scotland - discussing the way the Internet is going web 2.0 - video / TV across the web - improved / increased connectivity across the UK and world - how it makes people more productive and how they can work even whilst sitting on the train etc., . . .
Worked on Java - Sunday and most of Monday - probably the longest sustained period I have thus far put into Java - I actually surprised myself with some of the code that I came up with - didn't know I had it in me - managed to chat to Matthias online - and although he had a completely different methodology we were able to talk through the one part of the code that was bothering me and I actually worked it out - it was bothering me and then after chatting to Judi on phone - it fell into place - the oracle - No, but it's funny sometime you don't think about something and it can just fall into place as opposed to sitting there and wracking your brains andnothing happens . . . well Monday night I was still having a couple of hiccups and then I thought who better to go and visit and have a chat with - Colin our lecturer - taken over from Reuben - asked if he could spare me 1/2 hour and he managed to fit me in - we went through the code and discussed a couple of areas and I'm pleased to say I was able to sort out my problems. Went home that night sorted out Supervisor and Exception classes and that was me - went in the next day and Colin had a look and he was quite happy -wasn't 100% but I had effectively man
aged to complete and have the company working as it more or less should . . . . As for the documentation - well discovered that BlueJ actually generates its own API for the entire project - this really lists and details everything that you have used - entire project - all classes - how they work what variables are defined and used - the methods (sub-routines) etc., so what more could I say - I wrote about 3 pages giving a general overview and described in detail what one of the more involved methods was doing and how it was doing it . . .Even travelled to Edinburgh Wednesday knowing I had test the next day (went to see Mike - Judi's son who plays in a band called Grenville Dodge - see photo's - and was playing that evening at a local club in Edinburgh) also first time I met Judi's boys face to face - pleased to say it went really well (so I thought anyway - haven't seen my report card yet) they seem like a nice bunch of guys. Also just so happened that my gas was turned off for that evening - not planned but that was how it turned out and I was sleeping out anyway . . . OK - so there was serious flooding everywhere on Wednesday afternoon - when I went through Drumchapel station the water was gushing off the platform as if it were a waterfall - when I looked down I couldn't see the ground as there was so much water flowing around . . .this was on my way home - rushing back for the gas works - as they had said they wanted to connect the gas for my neighbours above me Ian and the one above him . . .this turned out to be a standard phrase over the week . . .anyway they had connected me on Monday but were unable to sort out the upstairs flats as there was no one home . . . so they had asked me to be home T
uesday to sort them out - I said I couldn't but would try to get home earlier - they had said fine - but for some or other reason they were not able to do so - Wednesday when I did get home they were on about me getting home earlier on Thursday - but with the test and me sleeping out - I had told them I had an exam (the Java test) - so wrote my test and rushed home after Colin gave us an overview on Swing an a graphical user interface (GUI) - I was genuinely surprised and touched as to how many of gas work employees asked me how the exam had gone . . .??? just shows you . . . I had mentioned it to one and the next thing everyone knew and somehow it wasn't just an excuse that someone had used - they had obviously believed me. . . within an hour or two they had restored the gas to the upstairs flats . . .I have to say they made one hell of a mess in my cupboard - put a new pipe in and they should / could have used the old pipe . . .but they didn't ended up drilling a new whole through from upstairs - almost solid concrete 30 cm / 12 inches - but everything is working fine now. I actually started this story with the flooding and that idea seems to have been washed away - lol - well set off for Edinburgh and train conductor on train said to me - your a brave man trying to get to Edinburgh on a night like tonight - 1 line between Dumbarton and Glasgow had already been closed and it was touchand go - I explained to the conductor how important it was for me . . . and that flooding and wild horses would not keep me away . . . lol.Thursday night saw me working on IT in Business assignment - another almost all nighter up till about 4am again . . .and in the end what did I think of my assignment . . . .I thought it was bollocks . . . I actually went to sleep about 04h30 but set the alarm for 06h45 . . .needless to say I slept in and only woke up at 08h10 - which was probably a more reasonable time . .but it forced me to take my car in as IT in business had to be handed in by 09h30 . . . did I make it No - got to uni in time but decided to print off both Java (which I had been handed an extension for) and IT in business - so they were both in for 10h00 . . . well no use crying over spilt milk - we'll just have to wait and see what marks we get . . . which reminds me - our electives are out for next semeseter our choices are:
- Enterprise Networking
- Distributed Information Management
- Computer Security
- Designing Usable Systems
- Mobile Software & Applications
- Special Topics 2
(that is the order I have selected / chosen them - so hope I am early enough - we have been told that we will need to share these topics with 5th year students - seems the uni now offers a 5 year Masters programme - so we will be joining some of them - not sure what there numbers are i.e. how many but it as suggested that we might not get our 1st choice in everything as positions are limited.SO Friday started off badly but it got worse as the day progressed - what was it lack of sleep - received a phone call problems down at the project office - went through there and ended up down at the bank trying to sort things - then Robert had managed to somehow get his car stuck in the mud . . . tried to get that out - this was about 14h30 . . .remember I slept in well - after handing in assignments had to run to IR lecture then get Internet access sorted for my macbook and then off to the library get some books out for 2 weeks for PHP & Javascript etc., then to the project and then Roberts car - well I had not even, at this stage, had a chance to have breakfast, let alone lunch - then Judi sent a message to say she was on her way - so took Robert down to Marshall's garage for a tow truck to come and rescue him - actually haven't even heard how he got on . . . . oops had better give him a ring. SO mad it into Queen street with about 10 minutes to spare - just enough time for the first time that day to catch my breath, a cup of coffee and a quick toasted sandwich . . . which was like a feast for me . . .Judi arrived - whisked her off and managed to have a complete rest before the dance @ 07h30 that evening - turned out quite well - poor turn out from project - Brain; Margaret; Isabell - Robert had paid but did not attend . . . Nan; Agnes & a few from Blue Chip were there - and Graeme ex project employee had come along - so all n all not a big crown - but hey - I think most people enjoyed themselves in the end Judi & I did - stayed on the dance floor most of the time - hence I am a tad hot in the photo . . . some red eye but generally a lovely glowing photo of Judi. Irene would have been there but it was the one night that she couldn't make . . .
Just to make the week more interesting was finalising arrangements for my Mum's 80th in January - phoning aunt's that I haven't seen in 14 / 15 years . . finishing off the design and just generally keeping myself busy - went down to photo Ecosse - and they don't do cards only post cards (like a photograph) only print on one side - so had to redesign everything on the fly - no problem for resillient me . . . not! - just had to quickly / mentally rejig it - went down to see proof on Tuesday and made a few changes - Judi gave some valuable inputs - then when I went to pick it up on Wednesday - they hadn't done it - and needed the original pho
to's again . . . Aargh! - but picked it up on Thursday afternoon and was very happy with the finished product . . .Now on to the much awaited pub crawl - nearly the whole semester in the planning - well not really - I thought Ashton Lane was ideal - I went to sleep over at my Mum's place after telling Judi I couldn't come through to her as I had basically organised the whole thing - I mean how would that look - and she was quite understanding about that - As it costs too much to get home to Dumbarton - the night bus has been discontinued - so £20+ for taxi that was why I had decided to sleep at my Mum's - set off caught a bus - then a tube and was in Ashton lane for about 19h35 - made my way to Brel - the designated meeting place - just in the door when I spied Andy - the other student rep and that was - wait for it - the entire turnout - the two of us . . . .????? Well we had a few beers there made it across to the Ubiquitous chip - Wee pub and later Oran a Mor - so technically the pub crawl still happened - caught the last tube home 23h35 and was in my Mum's flat by about 00h15 - so much for the big night out - maybe just as well what with late nights two nights in a row - I'm not sure how I would have coped with a full on heavy drinking evening - with Andy & myself it was fairly relaxed - we just had a good blether and a laugh and got to know each other a little bit better . . . .
Well uni has broken up until 2nd week in January - I will attempt to maintain blog on weekly basis . . .might not manage but hey! we'll see what transpires - in actual fact I will still be working over this period - Internet Programming; Entrepeneur Interview & an exam coming up . . . cheers - Andrew
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