Robin hood, Robin hood, riding through the glen, robbin beer from other people then going to the bar again.......

This was the aftermath of our Digital Signal Processing hand in day I'll leave you to fill in the blanks........

Another salford nite out!

Here we are again! The salford crew on another piss up, on a friday nite this time! It was for the big guy MARK HAMBLY's birthday! The photo above is courtesy of his very own website, where you will find a load of photos f his life in Canada and here in sunny salford (as to which he prefers you'll have to ask him!

So much to say.......

Where do I start ? Well the first thing to say would be that I've got a job! Yes I have a career, well the start of one! From the end of this year I will be an employee of Sound research Laboratories Ltd of Suffolk UK! Crazy! I'm the first on the course to have a secure job offer! Company car, just under 18G a year and I'll be near london (most likely Colchester)! Can't really belive it, hence the large number of exclamation marks in the preceeding text!
Apart from that amazing news, I also got the new Hundred Reasons album "Kill Your Own" which is (as expected) amazing so go an buy it now all you rock loving monkeys! Whats more amazing is that me and my bro are going to see them on the 4th april in manchester which will be sweet!
Also been re-discovering my love of jazz particularly nu-jazz thanks to my friend mike and his viynl collection, I now also want a record player! Started listening to Gilles petterson on radio one and through the magic of mini discs now have some interesting stuff to keep me occupied and provide another distraction from work! Thanks to Gilles me and mike have found out that a nu-jazz duo called kyoto jazz massive are playing manchester next weekend so were gonna go check that out adn you all shoudl too if you can, promices to be funk filled fun!
Not been very active on the blog recently, which is dissapointing, but gonna keep trying, I've setup a flickr account so hopefully I can put a permanent link to my photo gallery soon, so all the drunken photos will be plain to see! In the mean-time my msn space has a load of photos on it (link should be on the left hand side bar).
Well back to listening to Gilles and playing on my gameboy, the ultimate chill out!

Well its snowing.......

Walking in a winter wonderland......bla bla bla. I think unless it is christmas or your under 14 snow is a pretty annoying thing, it a combination of two really annoying things, being wet and being cold! Don't get me wrong when the hills are covered in snow its a beautiful thing but when your walking to work or to uni its pretty annoying. Anyway enough talk about the weather, I have been going through the very scary process that is applying for jobs! Sent off CV's to about 7 companies and will have to find a few more before the month is out. I got the expected chorus of "Thank you for your CV we will contact you soon." a bit soul crushing but did get an email from the managing director of one company to come in for a chat so thats a result!
Had to go to my girlfriends grandpa's funeral this weekend, which was a sobering experience as I went to my nan's golden wedding the next day, I've been on a bit of a merry dance around the country in the past week and now I have to get on with yet more assignments as well as worry about going for this "chat" with this prospective employer whatever "chat" entails?
Anyway oh neglected blog of mine.... I shall be back soon I promise!

Well its time for a change....

Well as I am sure no body has noticed I have changed the look of my blog! I really should learn how to use HTML then I could make the place look a little less generic but that is for when I have time to spare which I don't foresee happening for atleast the next 6 months! I have added a few links to check out on the left (more to come) and a funky little skype button to tell people when I'm online, not that anyone I know has skype apart from my girlfriend which may highlight a major flaw in that particular plan but what the hell it looks good!
I haven;t blogged in ages because I have had nothing but assignments to do for the past month and have nothing but assignments to do for the next 3! Oh well its the price you pay for success, or failure (as is very likely in my case!), it will all be over one day and I will look back on this post and laugh.....Or cry depending on my mood I suppose! Well enough rambling form me! I really should get back to work!

One bloody good reason and a hundred more!

One reason to fight on through the quagmire that is my current assignment schedual is the fact that hundred reasons are touring! Yes a new album in the works and a chance to see this amazing band live again! Their web site has had a much needed content boost in the form of free (yes free) downloadable tracks, several live tracks and 3 amazing demo tracks that everyone must listen to, they are classic 'reasons and the track "This Mess" just moves me! There are nother words for it, it is a moving track. So GO NOW and download them.............why are you still here?......get your browser over to www.hundredreasons.com and go to the media section NOW!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all!

Well i've just got back from Manchester. After the last few weeks if feels great to be free of assignments, work and any resonsiblities (for a few days atleast). Handing in my Pyscho-acoustics assignment felt so good, i really was saturated after that one, burntout would probably be a better description. Anyway happy christmas and a merry new year to all those who bother to read this blog. I will proceed to eat, drink and be merry for the next few days and forget for a moment that 4 more assignments await me on my return!

Science fiction becoming science fact!

Well the next big step in spacecraft technology has been taken, ladies and gentlemen I give you the Plasma Drive! Yes no longer does this peice of tech exist in the minds of sci-fi nuts, its here and its real! More powerful than the current ion drive but the same size and of similar power consumption it can get you from A to B or indeed Earth to Saturn in less time! Who knows with tech like this maybe human deep space missions are approaching reality! Heres hoping!

>Full story here<

A bear, arctic temperatures and some suspicious stains.......

Just like to say thanks to Sarah and Alice for a great night out this saturday! Sorry about the photo Sarah but its the only one I had of you two together! The only thing that would have made the night better is if Dave the bear hadn't been on the prowel and if the managment of 5th Avenue hadn't installed two industial blast freezers over the dance floor! Anyway hope to see you guys soon (don't worry i didn't mention the suspicious stains)!

In other news....... I am yet again having hell with assignments, had to give one in on friday in a completely unsatifactory sate, a situation that can no doubt be ascribed to my total lack of motivation! These 20hrs a week at Dixons are really sapping all the energy out of me! Well thats the official line anyway, it pretty hard to schedual any down time in my week so work time and down time merge together into one totally unproductive mess! Arrrgh!

Oh well! Back to the keyboard I go, this essay on impeadance tubes isn't gonna write itself, although if anyone knows of some way to make that possible don't hesitate to contact me!

A sad day........

Yesterday the world lost a sporting legend and I am not talking about George Best! Richard Burns, the only World Rally Champion that England has ever produced, died yesterday as a result of brain cancer. He was a wonderful man, an inspiration, I was getting into rallying just as he was rising through the ranks in 2000. I watched every piece of coverage I could, always wanting to know how he was doing, he was a fellow counrtyman and it felt good to have a sportsman I could respect and talk about to my football loving friends. I couldn't believe it when I read the news of his death, I had no idea, I hadn't been following the recent season. I was shocked and saddened at first but then I grew angry. Why should George Best be lauded and praised when he was a womanising, alchoholic who just happened to be good a football! Richard not only had amazing talent, but did numerous works for charity and fought his illness with humilty and decency, not squandering any chances he was given! It just shows the flaws in this great society when someone as decent as Richard gets one 20 second mention in the news and George Best gets a 2 minuet silence.

Goodbye Richard, the sport of rallying has lost a great icon and I have lost a hero in a world where they are few and far between, god rest your soul.

Reflections on a week from hell......

Well last week was the week from hell! Not only did I have a big assignment in on the Friday which I hadn’t really started, but I managed to strain my back to the point where I couldn’t walk! So this of course meant I had to miss work, which meant I missed out on £90 just before Christmas! Ahhhhhhh! “But wait…” I hear you say, “this means you have more time for you assignment!”. You would think that and I suppose I did, looking back on it now there is no way I could have done all my hours at work and completed it on time! However after hobbling to Uni on Monday I got back to discover to my joyful surprise that my computer had, quite literally exploded with sparks and all! This as you can imagine did vex me slightly as all the write up and code I had written for this assignment was on it, oh I screamed, shouted and threw things knowing it was ultimately futile but it made me feel better! A lengthy call to my sage like girlfriend calmed me down enough to make me try the computer again, this time armed with a screwdriver, some basic knowledge of electronic engineering, a few swift kicks and a lot of curse words. I managed to backup work and spent the next 4 days locked in my room on the verge of madness finishing my report on my trust old coke filled laptop (that’s another story).
Needless to say I was ecstatic when the Friday came and I handed my work in, I met my girlfriend in town, had some beers with a friend and his other half and went back to my mothers for a relaxing weekend in the country! Now I’m sitting here trying to motivate myself into starting my next in a long list of assignments! Oh well no rest for the wicked (or is it wicket I don’t really know what the actual phrase is, answers on a postcard)!  

Bush is back in town....

It seems Mr Bush has arrived in Argentina to be greeted with the accustomed warm welcome by the local people. He is attending a summit on fair trade in the Americas, something I think the local population at least felt was some what of an irony. The hypocrisy is plain to see and although most voiced their disapproval at the unending march of American imperialism by peaceful protest, many voiced theirs using the American's own much used vocabulary of violence and heavy handedness. It is on some level understandable, the ever rolling capitalist jugger-naught seems to have passed by the majority of the developing world leaving in its wake a haze of broken promises and decay, and Mr Bush being the man at the wheel (a frightening prospect in itself) seems to be the figurehead for this built up dissatisfaction. I am sure it is not all America's fault but when you pockets are that bulging and you belly is that fat it is hard to see anyone else to blame.

More of the same....

For more Assasins Weekender photos (a selection of which are shown below) and random others from Leicester and Drayton go to http://spaces.msn.com/members/tc2001/

Little does Tom know that Alice is about to punch him in the nuts!

"My hair does not look gay!"

Look at My Nips!

The Assassins Weekender

Well here we are, another week has shot by at a rate that seems a slight increment on the rate last week went whooshed past, which itself was at a speed that could be described as slightly faster than the week proceeding it, a pattern it seems is forming!
  Anyway last weekend, the 29th for those not paying attention, was the long planned and much talked about trip to London, to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts no less, by the Drayton Massive. We were there to see my good friend James Russell in a wonderful musical called “Assassins”. He really is going places, he played his serious role, placed among an abundance of comedy roles, with a strength and conviction that made me forget he was the man I had know for so long and I really saw him as this down-trodden polish immigrant on course to shoot the president. It was a great show with great actors in all roles, the lead actor who played John Wilks Spook (who shot Lincon) had particularly commendable facial hair, of which I was most jealous!
  Following this theatrical escapade we proceeded to have a few drinks in the RADA bar, mingling with the arty types in a decidedly less than convincing way as evident in my overwhelming need to pull the aforementioned lead actors facial fur, then it was on to an exclusive actors bar, only to be turned away by the most annoying man in a sequined waistcoat I have ever met! In the end we settled at James’ exclusive London residence and proceed to drink the night away, this lead inexorably to a game of truth or dare, which involved, indecent exposure, a Jaguar xjs, a plastic bag and some green Y fronts to name but a few.
  After 2-3 hours sleep it was time to head home via our friend Alice’s abode. Here we had much need showers and an over abundant pizza intake. Then I had to dash across London, hangover kicking in with avengance, to catch a coach home, the execution of which was I have to say the worst journey of my life, as I tried for 5 hours not to throw up on the very nice black lady next to me as she talked about her grandson!
  In hindsight I wouldn’t have changed the experience for the world I got some great photos and it reminded me again how lucky I am to have such a close and fun group of friends that go so far back in my life we always have something to talk about good or bad. So to you Draytoners I say thankyou and I’ll see you all at Christmas!

In a bit YA!

BOB    

and finally to this!

to this.....

to this.....