brick; front window; bank weekend; away

Well its possible you know what's coming . . . lol - But let's start at the beginning. I am off to Rome tomorrow - Judi & I are off for 5 days - so before I went I thought I would sleep over at my Mum's place and take her for shopping the next day - I'm glad I did as it was nice to relax and have a good blether - we had a few whisky's a game of scrabble watched 'Have I got news for you' etc., - went shopping - she had bought a suitcase and asked them to keep for her as it was bit awkward size wise and we picked that up etc.,

Anyway I left her place at about 14h00 and arrived home some time before 15h00 - as I pulled up and got out of the car - something caught my eye - some movement - it turns out it was my curtains - I stood there for a few seconds trying to come to terms with it - that's weird because the window is not open and there is not gap or draught that I am aware of ???? I conjured up a few implausible explanations and then I stopped as I saw a gaping great hole in the window - suddenly it made sense - that was why the curtains were moving . . .it now made sense . . . phoned police - who seemed more interested in where I was born than my specific complaint - they gave me a case number that was that - all over the phone - next housing people - they were actually quite nice - a contractor working for them I think - he put up a board and that was it - earliest I can get it done Tuesday as it is a bank holiday Monday - Of course I will be in Rome and don't get back until late Thursday evening - probably Friday morning before I actually walk in here . . . . I'm sure it will be fine . . . Nothing much else I can do ??? My Mum offered to come and house sit whilst I'm away - but she doesn't really know anyone out here and its not the same when your in somebody else's place - so I told her it will be fine.

Photo's - speak for themselves - The brick, the whole brick (not quite) and nothing but the brick . . . souvenir . . . plus what's left of the window - looks safe to me - not . . . but I am convinced it will be fine - now where is my insurance policy - let me see am I covered for . . . . .

'Twas the week that was

Well as you can see my new glasses arrived - although looking at them you'll ask did I order them over the Internet . . .lol. Actually its my new swimming goggles - I now slip into the water and inspect the pool floor - why do so many women go swimming with kirby's in their hair - judging from the few I saw must be a number who wear them - I suppose when it gets longer its a valid means of controlling it - but for how long. I had great fun down at the Meadows - so much so that everyone got out the pool - well not really - at least I don't think so - must just have been co-incidence - you think? Who knows - who cares - all that was missing was the wave machine - I fancied that on - but I would have felt a bit silly - me being the only person and all asking for the wave machine to be turned on - no doubt would have caused a raised eyebrow or two ???? lol


Well in a state of flux at the moment - waiting for results - waiting for dissertation subject to be approved - I have no doubt that I will have passed and in all likelihood will be given my first choice of dissertation topics . . . but until such time as it has been approved and it is confirmed that I am on the Masters part I feel uncertain and unsettled - I know once it has started it will be over before I know it and if I apply for Dublin and I am successful - I will need to complete my dissertation earlier to take up the Dublin appointment - so why am sitting around twiddling my thumbs - I have no idea!

Guess what - I went into the academic support services to talk to them about - wait for it PROCRASTINATION! I basically came away grinning from ear to ear - we had a chat about it and they gave me some material -so I've got a problem - well they asked me to tell them about it and I tried to explain that when I have a set deadline i.e. an exam next week Wednesday - No problem I can and will work 18 hours a day studying but when I have to hand something in in 3 months time - I think I have all the time n the world - there response - Yes, this is normal - how have my other assignments gone etc., Oh, you have handed them all in on time? No extensions? You seem to be doing very well, don't you think? DO you think you are / have procrastinated? You've been to see your prospective supervisor already - and you don't know if you'll get that topic - Very good (here is a chocolate for you . . [not really] but this is how it is going) - And you sound very organised / Project plans - all sorts of ideas - I'm impressed - you sound very good at this - a true therapist - I'll be walking on water soon - I think I'll just go for the water into wine trick - that could come in handy - as long as its red wine - I wonder if you get to choose . . lol. So my fears of procrastinating are unfounded it seems and I was worried too - oh well I can sit back and relax then . . . lol - not! Left with a meditation CD and some hand outs from the last procrastination workshop they ran - apparently the person who complied the CD is both a therapist and a hypnotist - so I am looking forward to trying it out. Discussed South Africa / Self Actualisation / Balance in life & study - making time for fun and further studies . . .also therapist is from Rome so when she heard I was going to Rome on the weekend we had a good blether about that as well . . .

Just came across this - Judi discovered this in the Weekend Guardian - sounded interesting and within no time . . . hope you enjoy!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Week ??? Who knows - I've lost count . . . .

Cartoon from The Guardian -


Came across this item on Climate Change - I know there are a lot of sceptics out there - but I agree in sentiment - that we are not getting the full story here - anyway it claims:"In the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change. So why are global leaders turning a blind eye to this crisis?"

Well exam did not go too badly - although I have just sent an email to the lecturer - pointing out that some things could have been a little bit better in my opinion . . . oops, that might cost me a few marks . .

Judi & I had a great weekend - lots of discussions and we have decided to go to South Africa for my birthday next year - just need to decide on how long but probably between 2 & 3 weeks next year - my Mum, her friend Cathy & my sister as well as Sam & Hud should all be going - at this rate we'll just charter a flight . . . well not quite but beginning to look that way - we'll have McKenzie row on the airplane . . .should be a nice experience - looking at hiring a house or something for us - as it will work out a lot cheaper I'm sure.

I've put in my vote for a topic for Dissertation and I chose "Visualising State Trajectories in Hidden Markov Models" OK - I am joking . . . although that did look interesting - if only I could work out what it is all about, needless to say that is an Artificial Intelligence topic . . . . I chose 'A Comparative Evaluation of Teaching Environments for Java Programming' and have set up a meeting with my possible supervisor for 15h00 on Wednesday . . . turns out he is a Kilmarnock supporter and they beat Rangers on the weekend . . . sow e'll see where it goes from there.

I've applied for a part-time job as a research assistant with the university ona project called FRILLS -sounds right up my street actually . . .lol - stands for

Forensic Readiness for Local Libraries in Scotland. Its aim is to produce a
better system for detecting misuse of public-access computer facilities
in public libraries and to produce training material therefore.

So that should bring in a little more pocket money . . .

It has all passed so fast - it feels like yesterday we started - September last year - now with the
dissertation ahead of us it feels like we have loads of time - but as Murvin - pointed out we know
how fast this time went - so 3 months will be over in no time - basically some words of wisdom
as it is nothing compared to what has already passed so in reality not much time at all .
. . I had better get started then . . lol

Did I mention that I got tickets to watch FC Barcelona against Hearts - well I do really like Barcelona
- so when Scottish Rugby Union sent me an email to say the game was on didn't hesitate - got hold
of Judi - just to check if any of the boys should be included and bought an extra 2 tickets - I'm going
as a scholar (concession) of course - they were only £20 - all sorts of rumours already as to who will
and who won't actually play - Ronaldinho; Messi; Eto etc., - we'll see.

So Blair finally steps down - well about bloody time - excuse the pun - all the speeches - quite
nauseating actually - as for Brown against Cameron - I don't rate Browns chances at all - actually saw
him smiling - scary!

SNP; DUS; Dissertation; Dublin; Alliteration

Well I predicted Scottish Nationalist Party Alex Salmond would win and he did - only by a whisker mind you -but hey try telling that any SNP fans - locally SNP came 2nd Labour still in majority although frankly I don't know why?? Jackie Baillie however who had a 42% majority in the last election now has a slender 1000 majority -so I dont think Dumbarton will be looked upon as necessarily a safe seat anymore and I think there will be a continued swing towards SNP - well that is a bit optimistic - a lot will depend on what happens over the next 4 years of course - I predict that Gordon Brown may not wait the full term of Westminster either - although I'm not sure he may be damned either way??? We had parliamentary elections as well as local elections - the results were Labour 10 SNP 9 Independents are about 3 or 4 and Socialist Party 1 - so no one has outright control - interesting as well as SNP only had 3 councillors last time . . so quite a bit of growth there. The big SNP gain was Govan - Glasgow - if they can take a staunch labour seat such as Govan in the central belt they potentially could take nay seat - but they were unsuccessful in a number of areas - so those will need to be analysed to see what when where and how. Was this all just a Labour doing - I think not - I have no doubt that Tony Blair is very unpopular but this is more than that people are genuinely fed up with Labour and Jack McConnel . . . this is the first time in 50 years that Labour does not have the majority in Scotland - interesting times, I say . . .

Well I have another exam this week Designing Usable Systems - DUS - still plenty of work to do - we write Wed 9 May 14h00 in same room I wrote Artificial Intelligence . . . looking forward to getting it over with so I can start looking at Dissertation . . . I don't think it will be a breeze - but I plan to be ready for it . . .

Had an interesting email about a Phd studentship in Dublin - 3 years though - Subject area web 2.0 looks very interesting - I have no idea if I would stand a chance - I don't have exactly what they are looking for - they would pay course fees and a stipend to cover living expenses - its do-able - I'll need to give it some more thought and have some discussions with all involved . . .

Art of Living

Photo's:
My hero - Stephen Hawking experiencing zero gravity - OK I admit it - I've never read his book either - it was the book you had to have but when you really find out nearly no-one has read it . . . guilty .

My fav Internet radio station










Wednesday 2 May
Well its exams today - my prediction is that we will be asked about LPG - which is a new approach to searching for a plan in a planning graph - its a strategy based on stochastic local search using a heuristic distance measure and involves Temporal Action Graphs which search for a plan within Temporal Graph Plans . . . here's an example of a Temporal plan - filling a bath - for simplicity I have ignored time taken - kept it simple

(:action fill-bath
:parameters (?t – tap, ?b – bath)
:duration (= ?duration (- (capacity ?b) (level ?b))
:condition (and (at start (off ?t))
(at start (next-to ?b))
(at end (next-to ?b))
(at end (on ?t))
(over all (on ?t)))
:effect (and (at start (on ?t)) (at end (full ?b)) (at end (off ?t)))

The day after the day before (i.e. the exam)
Well did LPG feature - short and simple Yes, but so did a lot of other things - came a bit short with SAT they wanted some formula - didn't have a clue - probably know it - and also compare SAT & GraphPlan & why one was more suitable than the other - went down the correct reasoning, I think but blew it by mentioning LPG which is not a SAT method but did mention DPPL & zChaff - another language, I know, tell me about it - well let's just say I have written easier exams . . . nothing I can possibly do about it now.

Went to a movie afterwards - saw The Reaping - avoid it like the plague - it is horrendous - it is The exorcist meets Lake Placid . . . saw most of the punch lines coming - a mile off 'no visions' a whole lot of religious mumbo jumbo - an African sacrifice thrown in . . . .etc., Don't torture yourself - a Sunday afternoon type film - nothing else to do - its pouring with rain outside 'maybe' - why on earth did I go and see it - well finished exam - spoke to Christian - and he was telling me he thought he would get about 80% - so I had to get away from him - quick - also don't believe in discussing a paper in retrospect - you always hear about things you did not know about and hence end up beating yourself up - and there is nothing you can do about it - so what's the point - its done - gone - finished - history - get on with the rest of your life . . . .

Arrived at cinema - and with me its now - don't really want to hang around for an hour etc., - The Reaping had just started so I knew by the time I got up there could basically look forward to the film just starting - and that was how it panned out - I actually wanted to go and see This is England - which I hear is great . . .but it only started one and a half hours later . . didn't feel up to it. As it was I was actually exhausted - came home had something to eat and was on the phone to Judi and was basically falling asleep - went to bed and and only got up this morning - 12 hours later - feeling quite woozy and a bit disorientated . . .taking it easy today - voting , cleaning up and popping through to my Mum's . . . then its time to start preparing for the next one - exam that is . . lol