Protest / Campaign - lost marks - lost team members

4th Post
Howdy All - well that is the week over - Started with Java this morning - was up nice and early and in for 09h00 - bought a coffee on the way @ Roland Butter as they have a special at the moment - Made Java and had hoped that Ian would spend some time with me also Christian was coming in so we could work on AI together . . . Mostly uneventful - hung around for a while changing code tinkering and fine tuning and I was rewarded eventually - not before Christian had already showed up - to start work on AI - I had to tell him I was not available, yet. Lab was empty to start with . . .when I arrived it was only Colin & Rory . . .and had I not stopped for coffee - we would have arrived at the same time.

Well, received the dreaded AI exam on web at about 10h30 - but couldn't look at it until after Colin had had a look at my work was roughly 11h05 - it was everything I had feared and some - had to leave whole sections out as I did not know what they wanted - I can't hope for more than about 40% and as for the exam which is still - I reserve judgement - but it will still take a major amount of work - before I am able to say I am on top of it . . . . .

3rd Post - Thursday
Well I had decided t go into Uni this morning as I needed to get my Java material as I had made changes but not replicated my work to my home PC - such that I was now running different versions of this new Practical . . . .never a good idea - always somehow get things mixed up or confused . . . so even although I had no classes needed to go in.

Was up bright and early and the idea was get into the gym before 09h00 - all went according to plan was a wee bit late but still on target . . . got down to the gym only to see 'Closed for staff training - sorry for any inconvenience -reopen @ 10h00' - I could have screamed - anyway no problem - I thought I'll just shift everything around - I'll go to uni first - now my monthly ticket expired during the week - so I had to buy a ticket before boarding the train . . . So they announced the train was arriving when I started buying a ticket by machine - do you think I could conclude my transaction in time to catch that train - You guessed 'No' I was still getting my change when the train was already pulling out of the station . . . I could have screamed - it was onyl later that I realised I had spent more than I should have as I had bought a standard ticket instead of the cheap day return???? So it was not a good start to the day - it got better - it could hardly go down now could it . . . .lol. Got into uni and downloaded my Java material - Mission accomplished - left went to gym and spent the rest of the day studying . . . I have to admit I am now in a panic as there is literally just so much to do - we break up for 2 weeks for tomorrow 30 March - but in the week we come back I have my Java project to hand in; eCommerce presentation to make; A research paper on handheld and mobile browsers to both write up and present; as well as rounding of Designing Usable Systems . . .so lots to do and not much time to do it in. I plan to take a break and holiday and then climb back in with a vengenace . . .hope it works - we are so close to finishing with this next round - on the home street so to speak.

2nd Post
All photo's - went up Arthur's Seat - Edinburgh Holyrood park - above is the logo for our eCommerce idea - and lovely building which I'd buy at the drop of a hat is Pollock Residence - part of university of Edinburgh . . . Oh correct me if I'm wrong . . lol

Wow - the week has kicked off with a bang - had an eCommerce group meeting - guess what? Not a soul turned up? I have some problems here - methinkest - need to get the work done as marks are group marks - Nicole sick (although rumour has it she has gone on holiday) Murv had some other work; Ratna - not sure where he was - Pelagia never turned up . . . a waste of time . . . - I wasn't there last week because Iw as sick so wanted to make sure what we had to do for the next class - Lesley asked us to present and I nearly died - other group presented and there presentation was excellent - so we really have tons of work to do just to catch up. (designed the logo above) . . . . Now Sonia - who has been missing for the last 9 weeks of the course suddenly turned up - and she is in our group - the more the merrier . . .tra la la la la . . .lol.

Maria lectured up a storm - pity I was falling asleep - she was telling us what is happening research wise at Strathclyde - looks like they are world leaders in the Planning arena - with a number of publications under the belt . . . its actually good to know that your studying with some of the best in this area . . . as I say I was falling asleep though, I am afraid - Maria may fall asleep when she marks my exam paper . . .lol - hope not - although I received the fright of my life when I saw the exam paper on line - which is this weeks practical - we are to complete it and hand it in for marks - I thought I had a cunning plan - work on it during the week and then hand in on Friday - only to hear there will be a different paper on Friday - damn - just when you thought you had it covered.

Designing User systems was interesting - David who was supposed to hand in on Friday - asked for an extension - as he was not finished yet - Nicole handed her portion in - even although David said to keep it back until his was finished - Nicole & I took one look at each other and we said we'd hand that portion in so long - just as well because it turns out David never got round to handing anything in - with the result that we lost 50% of the marks before we even started this week - when I asked if we could hand in still - I was told for feedback but not for marks . . . so myself and Murv (as previously stated Nicole not around) - were not impressed - I have completed the documents that should have been handed in, this evening and will forward it in anyway. Murv built a very fancy prototype of our project using an emulator - which allows you to manipulate a mobile phone on the PC as if it were a fully operational mobile phone and show how our program would work - we have even downloaded it and it works fine on various mobile phones - not mine though because I am with Orange - it won't allow me to just download a file - it needs an authenticated file which tells it what the file is and what it does before it will allow its installation on my phone an added layer of security - Murv says it is a good thing . . ..
Emulator works like this - have a look at link mini Opera . . . so Murv is a clever lad . . .

Seems like may be off tomorrow and Thursday and then Friday last day before a 2 week break - Yippeee! thereafter it will be 2 weeks of classes and then EXAMS . . . Judi & I are booked up for a short break in week in Rome after the exams end of May . . .another Yipppeee! but lots of hard work in between . . everything to be handed in after Easter break so not all holidays I can assure you.

1st Post
Just spent a lovely weekend with Judi in Edinburgh and after having tried the bus - which is soooo much cheaper I still prefer the train - half the time and a lot more comfortable and convenient - not dependant on traffic etc., - whoosh and your there - yes that's whoosh . . .Ok, here's the thing though - I can go online and buy a bus ticket return for £3.50 . . . . just have to let them know exactly which bus your going to use - fair enough only so many budget tickets . . . .the train however is £9.20 yes £9.20 a single and £9.30 yep 10p more for a return - except that I can't buy a return - because its only valid for same day return - personally (these are off-peak times) I don't think £9.30 for a return is unreasonable but I never return on the same day so I have to buy 2 singles = £18.40 . . .now this does my head in because I feel it is a rip-off . . .So what I now do is I always buy a return and give the return portion away to someone when I arrive on the other side . . . . I keep a careful eye on Scotrail staff - I don't ask for anything in return although on Friday last week the guy insisted I take £2 as he was only going to Linlithgow it would have cost him £4 one way . . . .

When I came home on Sunday I waited ages or someone to come along so I could give them the ticket - eventually gave up and left the return part on the machine that you have to buy your ticket from - when I was almost at the other end of the station saw someone rushing towards machine - saw him stop in front of it - glance down - pick the ticket up - look around - then looked at ticket again and walked off towards barrier - he hesitantly inserted the ticket and was probably both relieved and pleased and he was on his way. Mission accomplished.

I intend doing this every time I travel . . . . for the extra 10p someone else saves £9 - that's a bargain . . . I explain to people why I am doing it - and say that if they give me 10p I am not out of pocket - but I don't really want anything.



This week from "What the world knows about South Africa online journal"

Q: Can you give me some information about Koala Bear racing in South Africa? (USA)

A: Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific. A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe which does not... oh forget it. Sure, the Koala Bear racing is every Tuesday night in Hillbrow. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is north in South Africa? (USA)

A: Face south and then turn 90 degrees. Contact us when you get there and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into South Africa? (UK)

A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Dundee - More to Life - delay

Photo's -
All from Dundee trip - Megabus front window - Arran @ Old Trafford - Dundee sky - David, Mathias, Amanda, Antonio - Lei Wei, David, Amanda, Mathias - last photo was quite funny guy on the side was getting the winners of the entrepeneurial competition in place and they all thought I was the photographer as I kept taking photos . . . whereas that was the photographer amongst them.

Post 1:
My theme for the is week is “More to Life” or Life is more than XYZ –

Wow with that as a lead in I may have built up certain expectations – I read a couple of things this week which I found really interesting

1) The ‘Meaning of life’ - can be found in the freedom of a jazz band. All the musicians know the tune / song but then go on to do whatever they want to do – any band will include a solo spot – when the melody is finished – everyone on the band is highly satisfied – most of the people listening are happy although they don’t really know why other than that the emotional response has been a satisfying one.

2) Progress has freed us up – supposedly giving us more free time than we previously experienced. Is this true? What about the amount of time spent on mobile / Internet / email / etc., Seems as if progress hast actually decreased the amount of actual free time we have.

3) The mass genocides that took place in Germany – the blind and autistic etc., people that were first sterilised and then at a later stage euthinised – these were the first examples, which were ignored, of a policy which had been imported from the states – eugenics.

SO what am I really on about? Cant quite put my finger on it can’t quite my finger on it. All about balance – and not just seeing life from one perspective. Take this blog for example it was initially all about my uni life / experience but it has somehow managed to transform itself – it is still predominantly abut that however things have changed – I have changed as have circumstances – plus lets face it we are never just one thing in life – we always fulfil multiple roles in life, at any one time, father; son; friend; lover; partner etc., - changing from one role to the other at any one time.

I just think, that at the end of the day everything is about balance - and when we have too much of one and forget about others – we are missing a certain part of ourselves.

Plan to take some photos this week with the mobile phone – started with my mobile – and then had Wednesday in Dundee that I took a few photos at as well . . . so those are the photos basically.

I am also considering writing whenever it catches my fancy – will still keep it to one posting but it may be made up of multiple parts to it . . . and have been contributed at different times . . .

Post 2:
Judi seems to have hurt her back – complaining bitterly about my futon as it is really hard and has almost no give in it at all. May have to invest in a new bed – I’ll go and have a look down Dumbarton Road – see if I can pick anything up.

Post 3:
Wednesday 6 March Scottish
Met 07h15 and had a Megabus take us to Dundee – I had to use my mobile the night before to check what time the 1st train from Dumbarton was – to see whether I could make the bus from uni – it turned out that it was 06h25 – which was the only train I could catch – managed to get up in time and made it in plenty of time. As I walked up the street to the bus there was some furious waving from the front of the bus – turned out to be Mathias and Antonio - +/- 70 other students turned out as well. We set off at about 07h30 – Amanda turned up and plonked herself down next to David, brave girl, and ended up spending the rest of the day with myself and the rest of the guys – she turned out to be a pleasant conversationalist and she, Mathias and I sorted out the worlds problems well we discussed a whole load of things. David had a hip flask and he was hitting it not long after leaving uni – not surprisingly it wasn’t long before he was fast asleep and he ended up sleeping most of the way.
I realised I had not seen much of Mathias this semester as we have different subjects apart from Software Construction – have seen even less of Antonio as we don’t have any shared subjects.

Roughly 2000 students from across Scotland but also some from Wales & Northern Ireland. Kicked off with a bacon buttie (roll) & some coffee.

(1) BJ Cunningham: Brand Evolution – Death Cigarettes unambiguously marketed cigarettes which carried a ‘enjoy them but be aware they will kill you’ – Marketed from Luxemborg but sold here in the UK the deal lasted for about 6 months before Customs and Excise stepped in and closed him down – even although he had the law on his side. It ended up going all the way to European High Court which although agreeing with him ruled against him – as they claimed that the law had never been intended to be used like this it had never been designed to function in this manner.

How had he started – went to uni then went to the states and bought a Carmen Ghia – coming through customs the official had asked ‘how much did you pay for it?’ and had then gone on to offer him double that amount – he didn’t think twice and sold it – went back to the states and bought 2 Carmen Ghia’s – cut a long story short ended up making a mint until they changed the tax law overnight – and ended up with a £800 000+ overdraft – phoned his dad as any son would – his dad asked him how much in the red he was – and he told him – there was a deathly silence – and his dad told him – ‘your on your own now son’ and that was when he came up with Death cigarette’s – which incidently Barclays gave him a loan for . . .

(2) Second speaker – Mick Jackson – passion and bold gave an inspiring speech which centred on you believing in yourself. He has 4 photo’s on his PC – which inspire him to succeed. He pulled out a punch and told us how he markets stationary to large corporate companies – who have to buy this type of equipment – RBS spends more than £25m per annum on this and he gives them an option which allows them to contribute towards charity but receive something tangible in return . . .like the punch.
(3) Jacqueline Gold – Ann Summers CEO – sorry she did not impress me – 3m vibrators sold in the UK . . .An interesting story but somehow she was less credible to me than the other two speakers who came across as true off the wall entrepreneurs . . . . her parting comment – size really does matter – Now I’m not sure if you she was speaking from a distribution point of view – i.e. the more branches you have the better or whether or perhaps she was being more direct.
Lunch – quick tour guide (that’s me) to Groucho’s – 2nd hand CD store – didn’t have any Eddi Reader – which is what I was looking for.

(4) David Sibbald - The Summerian Foundation & Johari Fashion Show - Kenya – didn’t enjoy – fashion show component was good but found the rest a little too self patronising.

(5) Tom Ilube - Egg – Garlik and everything else was a breath of fresh air again . . .
(6) Vicky Featherstone - National Theatre of Scotland interesting challenge and we had some poetry which provided some light relief
(7) Alistair Campbell – who was the headline attraction. I was interested to hear that both his parents are from Scotland and that he considered himself to be a Scot – has played the bagpipes since he was 7 and even busked around parts of Europe at one stage – His history was interesting to me – to inform and give me some background into who he was but him as a speaker I was not impressed. SO in the end I was mildly disappointed.


What did I take away from the whole experience:
a) Really life is all about yourself – What do you really want to do? Do you know? If you do – get on with it and do it – nothing else counts or matters – forget about chasing money – it is all about self realisation and when you realise that things will fall into place.

Friday
Mathias birthday on Friday - went for a few beers at Print Works . . . myself Chris, & David hung around and had a good blether . . . well its my Birthday this Saturday - so it will be back at the Print Works this Friday . . .

Last post:
Well apologies for late posting - somehow things never quite worked out best of intention and all . . . . As I have said may try to post more frequently - but having said that held up - its Wednesday evening of the following week now.

This weeks Extract from: What the rest of the world Knows about South Africa:
Q: Are there supermarkets in Cape Town and is milk available all year round? (Germany)

A: No, we are a peaceful civilisation of vegan hunter-gatherers. Milk is illegal

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in South Africa who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)

A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All South African snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets. Good examples of snakes as pets are mambas (both green and black), rinkhals and municipal workers.