iand.net

Some quick updates…

• Virgin Media’s tech support is useless. My IP address still resolves to Ireland despite the fault seemingly being fixed. Trying to get any sense out of tech support is difficult at best. Seriously giving consideration to moving to Sky broadband now. It will be slower, probably disconnect slightly more but almost a 1/4 of the price of Virgin. At that price a few MB of speed isn’t much.
• Really looking forward to Radiohead at Glasgow Green this Friday. Hoping the weather will be drier than the last few days though. Coincidently it’s Glastonbury weekend too - chances of dry weather are slim. Wimbledon starts tomorrow too - I guess we’re fecked.
• Firefox 3 has been a really good upgrade for me. Stable, faster and plugin’s (sorry, add-ons) I use have been updated to support it. Happy days.
• Great looking Ironman and Joker figures. I feel a purchase coming on.
• Euro 2008 - fantastic groups stages, not so fantastic quarters. Same for most tournaments now. Tonights game was poor. Penalties again. Cheating Italians. Some things never change.
• The iPhone’s shocking cost of international downloads. I guess the journo was desperate for someone to read his article so targeted the iPhone? The real problem is the telco’s and what they charge but it’s an old story and been down to death. Very shoddy. is it even more surprising it’s from the Times?
• 728 tonne ball helps stabilise a skyscraper
• Doctor Who - a poor season 4 has really lifted over the last four episodes. Final two parter looks good but could it be too jam packed with people to be enjoyable?
• Battlestar on the other hand has been cracking so far. Episode 10 felt really rushed though…and it’s not back until next year. Fail.
• Hardly watching any Big Brother. A good thing by all accounts.

• Just had a great week of work. Weather was glorious and I got a lot done around and outside the house. Also organised for the fireplace to be removed and replaced with something nicer and safer. It turns out our chimney is a bit defective and potentially dangerous so that needs a new lining. A horribly messy job awaits but needs must and it means I’ll need to decorate afterwards. Just hope the back gets a bit better as it’s very sore today. Too much straining this week.
• Loving the Thunderbirds Specsavers advert.
• GTA IV. Metacritic shows it’s the highest rated game. Ever. While reviews and scores are all pretty subjective it certainly is a must own title. The world simulation is so impressive. You can easily lose yourself in the game and forget about doing any missions. Driving around, phoning people, taxi runs, sight seeing, surfing the net etc. So much to do and it’s so enjoyable doing it. Mission have been pretty good so far although I’m only 15% into the game. Multiplayer is also starting to show some hidden depths. The free race modes are a great laug and very unpredictable. Cops n crooks is also a favourite with a lot of strategy required behind a seemingly simpe concept. This game has months of gameplay. Whenever I load it up I do a couple of missions and a little exploring - a great mix which is keeping the game very fresh.
• Battlestar series 4 is a return to form so far. Certainly up there with series 1 & 2. Episode 3 is a highlight so far.
• Summize is a nice way of searching for topics on Twitter. Also let’s you track tweets on topics you are interesed in - iPhone for example.
• Scottish football - totally mismanaged. I hate the fact we still have the split in the SPL and no winter break. We also need more movement between the leagues. Having only one team drop from the SPL just isn’t enough. In fact, four leagues is too much. Two bigger leagues would be far more interesting and sustainable for Scotland. However the biggest joke has been the lack of support for Rangers in their Eufa Cup quest. Back in 2003 Cetic were given a free week before the final to help them prepare. Not so Rangers who have been forced to play two games against strong opposition the week before their final. Shame.
• Can’t wait for the final on Wednesday night though. Changed flight so that I can get back to Glasgow from Bristol on Wednesday afternoon. I just hope there are no delays!!! Do not fail me Easyjet. Do not dare!
• Not that it will be this year (and probably won’t be until end of next) but I’ll replace the desktop Mac and laptop Mac with…one laptop. Keeping data in sync between the two is easy with .Mac but it’s keeping software installed on both that’s a pain and to be honest the only thing I’d miss is the desktop real estate. A 24 inch screen is very nice and is far more productive than a laptop’s screen. One option to consider is a screen for the laptop but that’s way in the future. Resolution independent software and higher res screens may be a reality by the end of 2009.
• Monotone is a photo theme for Wordpress. It’s pretty simple but has nice archives and also colours each page by analysing the photo displayed on it. Very neat. I set up Crackle and Pop on Wordpress.com and may use that to publish photo’s. Individual photo’s that is with links to Flickr sets. Time will tell - need to take mor ephoto’s first.
• Gears of War 2 trailer. Looks very impressive. Roll on November.
• Codemasters get the F1 licence. So yet again we’ll get an F1 game with great intro’s, great graphics but questionable handling (try the Race Driver demo to see what I mean). Maybe the 2009 rule changes will make for a better game…and a more exciting F1.

Some quick updates, all misc.

• Unlucky St Johnstone. Watching the game as a whole you couldn’t tell who was the first division team. In fact Rangers were shocking and it was St Johnstone who showed more ingenuity and had good spells of possession. I fear that tiredness and injuries are finally catching up with Rangers and i have the genuine ‘The Fear’ for the remainder of the season. Thank goodness we’ve at least won something this season already.
• Tempted to buy a Wii. The urge to play Mario Kart is strong despite some of the iffy reviews. However, I’ve put it off this long and I’m still expecting (really desperately hoping) that a 3G iPhone will drop in June which will need funds. And GTA IV is next week. So I really shouldn’t. If only I didn’t have that urge.
• While on the topic, how good does GTA IV look? Bloody amazing! Watched all the trailers again and I just can’t wait. Spent the weekend listening to Vice City and San Andreas soundtracks - class.
• Not class is Konami. Metal Gear online beta was due to launch today. Firstly the download took a few hours on Thursday. Then as soon as you launch t it requires another 400Meg download which took a very long time and couldn’t be downloaded in the background. Now you need a Konami ID and a Game ID to play the game….which doesn’t work. And their website is virtually unusable. WTF? Why they wanted to use their own ID’s to play the game baffles me and also shows the lack of cohesion throughout the PS3. Shame. Hopefully when the beta finally gets moving later this week the game actually plays well…although Pro Evo online is hardly a good advert of what they can achieve online.
• Alex Salmond. Honestly. Why are you such a smug git?
• Fuel shortage? Panic buying? Doesn’t really take much to get people into a frenzy these days. It’s time we relied less on petrol, cars etc. I’ll fill up tomorrow though, just because I really don’t have any fuel left. The price at the moment is shocking too.
• New BBC idents - very nice but how long has it taken to get to this point and how much money did it cost?
• Job still going well. Time still flies, it all still feels new.
• Radiohead tickets arrived. Just over two months until the concert at Glasgow Green. Cannot wait for that one.
• Weight loss still progressing although rate of weight loss has slowed. Still, can’t complain really although clothes are starting to look baggy so shopping trip required soon.
• Speaking of job there is one downside. There’s a right old moany bastard that sits close by three days a week. Tue-Thurs. Thank goodness for iPod and also being busy as it keeps me focussed. That guy just sucks the life out of anything in the vicinity. Annoys me even as I write this.
• I’ve got a week off soon - first holidays of the year. Lot’s of jobs around the house so hopefully the weather gets a bit better.
• The back lawn we put down last year looks pooh at the moment. Lot’s of moss and what looks like lots of weeds. Sigh. It’s at times like these concrete and chuckies sound like a great idea.
• Still got some old drafts to post here. Onkyo 705 thoughts and also how GT5 plays. Don’t know if I’ll finish them off or not.
• Mum’s birthday at the weekend and I’ve got no clue what to buy her. Wonder if she’d like a Wii?

As it was quite a nice day yesterday I took a walk down to Maplins for a couple of bit’s and pieces which also meant I got to see the annual Easter Egg Run to Yorkhill Hospital. There were thousands of bikes!

The noise was superb and even 30 mins after it had started there were still bikes passing by. I can remember when this event started. I was living in Argyle Street and over 3 or 4 years it grew from a few hundred to a few thousand bikes. Estimates yesterday were of over 10,000 bikes from across the UK. Impressive.

Full set of blurry pic’s can be found here.

So what’s yours?