Scents of Direction
  
 

   
 
This is what I think...
  
 
 
   
 

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
 
I've been passed the baton by him, so here goes:

Total volume of music files on my computer?
A lowly 901Mb, I have more mp3's than this but they aren't music

The last CD I bought was?
The last one I bought for myself was Riding with the King - Eric Clapton and BB King
It was a long time ago now, I don't buy music often.

Song playing right now?
Paris - Guerilla Funk It was a random selection, but it's quite good.

Five songs I listen to a lot/mean a lot to me?
Hazel O'Connor - Will you? (I've always liked this one, even before the liaisons with the opposite sex that the song is all about!)
Martha and the Vandellas - Nowhere to Run (I know it from the Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack. Reminds me of the freedom to travel I got when I passed my driving test, trips to Wales and beaches)
China Drum - Wuthering Heights ( A great cover of a great song, I first heard it while Clare was in Hospital having Georgia (it was either just before, or just after))
50 Cent - P.I.M.P. (Teasers Bar in Amsterdam...)
Armand Van Helden - My My My (This is my "driving track", it's impossible not to attain stupid mph when this is on)

I'm passing on the baton to?
Ohhh, I think Jim (good timing as he's all mp3 playered up), Sapientum (I think he'll enjoy it) and Smallkat
- Steve, 7:08 PM,
 
A note to London Underground users: If you're at the turnstiles swiping your oyster card and the screen says "Seek Assistance", bloody go and seek it! Don't just stand there repeatedly swiping it and getting the same message, if you do that a big baldy man behind you will probably start huffing and puffing.
- Steve, 3:05 PM,
Monday, May 30, 2005
 
I have appallingly bad handwriting, it's never been particularly neat but since leaving school it has consistently gone downhill. The problem is that there is rarely any need for me to write anything by hand, it's all email and Word documents. The only time I do write by hand is when I take notes in a meeting (no PDA for me) or leaving post-it notes for other people, at least with the post-it's I do try to make the legible. I have a bad habit of writing in capitals too, even if I make an effort I occasionally put the odd misplaced capital in a word (usually P or L I think)

I've decided that I am going to put some practice in to see if I can achieve a standard I can be proud of. My goal is to have handwriting that looks like it was done by a grown up, then I'm going to work on my signature as that is pretty poor too.

I've been spurred into action* by this page, link from bsag. I'm feeling confident because this task requires more practice than concentration, a ratio that suits me fine at the moment.

If this all works out I'll post a before and after sample for you...

* Well, alright "action" may be a bit too strong, but I have read most of the page
- Steve, 3:03 PM,
 

I don't consider an audience when I write here and there are a couple of reasons why; firstly most of the "content" here is pretty inane and is unlikely to need any sort of censorship no matter who was reading. Secondly, I don't actually know anyone who reads this stuff*.

I've not kept this site a secret, each post has my real name after it and I've made it clear where I live and where I came from, but I have never brought this site to the attention of any of my family, friends or work colleagues. I don't think anyone I know in the real world has stumbled across this site by accident because either they would mention it, or I would spot something in the site stats to tell me.

The reason I'm mentioning this is that the current Mrs Turner has (with permission, of course) passed on the address of this site to family/friends on a couple of occasions recently, so you could well say that I've been "outed".

I'm not worried by this at all because I'm just being myself here, but it's got me thinking about how much of the "real me" comes across in these posts. Probably not very much and that seems like a bit of a waste.

If you have a blog, do your family and friends read it? Was it always that way? Did somebody ever discover it by accident? Did you change your style as a result?

* Well I sort of knew Sheila at college and Pfish and I share a couple of the same old friends...
- Steve, 1:17 PM,
Sunday, May 29, 2005
 
Great, my posts now seem to taper off to a point as you scroll down the screen. A neat effect but purely accidental.
- Steve, 7:34 PM,
 
Still having problems with the comments, I've changed to YACCS and now comments are working but not without an error message when you add one. I'll sort that out when I get some time.

The good thing about YACCS is that there is an XML feed, so at least I'll know if someone does actually manage to leave one!
- Steve, 7:11 PM,
 
Another fatal crash in the area and four more lives lost. It looks like there were 8 passengers in one small family car, certainly not enough seatbelts to go around.
- Steve, 4:58 PM,
Friday, May 27, 2005
 
Comments are down, should be temporary.
For now; steve dot turner at gmail dot com should you wish!
- Steve, 11:29 PM,
 
There was a terrible motor accident last weekend on a notorious local road which has tragically resulted in the loss of two young lives.

One of the young girls involved was the daughter of a local Blogger and he has documented events on his site. I've read the posts and I have literally been moved to tears, but I have also found them to be an inspiration.

Family, Faith and Love all make for strong bonds and at every parents worst nightmare it's comforting to know that they help to ease the pain a little.
- Steve, 10:42 PM,
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
 
So for once I have been hit by a wave of enthusiasm and a genuine desire to get organised for a busy day ahead. I've sketched out a comprehensive to-do list for all the stuff that I need to get done tomorrow, that is 18 whole tasks and I want to leave by 3.30 if possible.

All I want to do is create a tada list so that as soon as I hit the office in the morning I can get on with it all. I'm in a hotel and only have a shoddy gsm connection, I've got half way down the list and it keeps disconnecting... I remembered there is an internet cafe thing downstairs and decided to use that instead. The browser they use here (some sort of commercial offering I've not heard of) doesn't work with the tada site.

Enthusiasm foiled by technology! Where is my pen and paper?
- Steve, 11:10 PM,
Saturday, May 21, 2005
 

A modern Fairy-Tale right there isn't it?
- Steve, 4:25 PM,
 
There seems to be a bit of a problem with surpression on the stereo in the car, if you have the volume up and you're listening to something quiet (if you see what I mean) you can hear interference from the engine. Oddly this only seems to happen when listening to CDRs normal CD or radio is fine.

I noticed yesterday that if I accelerate hard it sounds like I'm driving KITT from Night Rider...

I liked that.

A lot.
- Steve, 10:27 AM,
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
 
It's getting late.
I've got a cold (possibly Bird Flu).
I'm still working.
I'm stuck in Spreadsheet Hell.
I have just used the last Tea Bag.

Send help
- Steve, 11:13 PM,
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
 
While out for a meal and beers with my boss last night he mentioned that he drove past a dead kangaroo at the side of the A34 at Botley (Oxford) recently. I was more than a little surprised, but he insisted it really happened and that it had been reported in some of the local papers.

I can't find any trace of the story on the 'net so I can only assume he's been smoking Crack.
- Steve, 6:48 PM,
 
There is a development of very nice new houses around here (the North West) that are set in the grounds of a golf course, they are arranged into a handful of Hamlets which I suppose they have done to create a community feel. I really like them, partly because they are well designed properties that make use of their surroundings by having full length windows and balconies and partly because they provide a modern village setting.

The odd (well I think it's odd) thing about them is that you can only approach them through a manned security post. I guess you have a pass if you live there and any visitors have to sign in with security before they can proceed, much like a lot of modern offices. I'm not really sure how I feel about this because it seems wrong to live in a private gated community, but at the same time it really appeals to me. It's a bit like private schools in that I find myself opposed to them (well, a bit) on principal but I would probably use one if I had the means.

It's the same with these houses; I know I can't afford one so it's easy for me to be against them, but.. if I won the lottery this weekend my views would probably change and I'd move right in?

So what does this tell you about me then?
- Steve, 2:56 PM,
Monday, May 16, 2005
 
I've been having a play with some new (to me) technology this weekend in the form of Bittorrent and it's really very good.
I have been struggling with my poor IT set-up at home though: I have an HP laptop that lives in the house and runs a copy of XP pro that I (cough) happened to have, this machine is the one that I do most of my non-work stuff on and try new software on too.
The other machine is a Dell Laptop that belongs to work and is also XP but I don't mess with this one (much).

I have one Broadband connection and on the end of it is a USB ADSL modem, no router or anything flash like that! I also have no network at home to allow me to connect the two machines together. This suits me fine.

So the struggle I have had is that I have got myself "something" from bittorrent that I want to amuse myself with when I'm away tomorrow, it's just over 700mb and it's on the HP machine at the moment. I want it on the Dell.

Could I figure out how to do it? Well, yes I did eventually (sorry about that anti-climax). Ideally I'd have an external DVD writer but that means actually paying for something and that's not my bag, baby. I do have a cat5 cross-over cable but I could not get the two machines to connect to each other, I will try it again for next time though.

I thought about sending the file through infrared, but at 700mb that might have taken a while. Eventually I got myself a bit of file splitter software and transferred the file between machines on my USB flash drive in a few chunks.

After stitching them all back together the bloody file wouldn't play!! It worked fine on the HP but not on the Dell. After tearing out what's left of my hair and a bit of a google session I sussed out that the Dell didn't have the correct Divx thingy installed and now it has, result!

I have to get up in 5 and a bit hours.
- Steve, 12:05 AM,
Sunday, May 15, 2005
 
Dan Brown
- Steve, 8:46 PM,
Friday, May 13, 2005
 
We took a trip the local VW dealer yesterday for them to reset the service clock thingie* and while there had a good look at the current range.
The current car will be changed in about a years time and I have become a big VW fan, big enough to get myself another one in preference to a BMW or Mercedes that are also on the short list (bit of an image problem with them y'see)

We are both quite keen on the Touran and it would be handy for traveling to family holidays around Europe (if we ever manage to have enough spare cash). We were almost convinced, but then we asked if they had any details of the new Passat...

Looky here! I'm thinking I'm gonna get me one of those 160bhp Diesels, sweet!

*There is no set service interval, it tells you when it needs one and that is normally after around 20,000 miles. It had it's last service about 5000 miles ago so it was confused!
- Steve, 6:31 PM,
Thursday, May 12, 2005
 
It's been a sunny and mild evening so I took the opportunity to get out in the garden with my squeegee in hand.

So that's the windows cleaned then.
- Steve, 8:18 PM,
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
 
Forgot to mention that Radio Vietnam has the odd motivational speech by Gunnery Sargent Hartman from Full Metal Jacket . If you ever need to hear those special words to spur you on then visit the Soundboard
- Steve, 4:54 PM,
 
Still loving Live365, I'm sure there are plenty of services that do a similar thing but this is the first I have come across so I tend to stick with it.

It's a bit of a novelty for me to have music on while I work, I don't listen to music at work and nobody else does either because it's just not that sort of place. A shame really.

Today I'm listening to Radio Vietnam and it's great: Stealers Wheel, Van Morrison, The Byrds, The Allman Brothers Band... It's all good!
- Steve, 4:44 PM,
Monday, May 09, 2005
 
- Steve, 7:13 PM,
Sunday, May 08, 2005
 
I think it's time for a change around here, I should really buy myself a domain and put something on it that is a little more "custom". Will I ever get round to it? Possibly...

I suppose I could just pick another template from Blogger, or have a crack at making my own.

Maybe I should just try to thionk of something interesting to put here in terms of content?
- Steve, 9:30 PM,
 
On the way back from dropping Clare off at work this morning I came across an accident that looked like it had happened recently. There only seemed to be a motorcycle involved but it looked quite serious to me.
As I hadn't witnessed the actual accident and there were a few cars stopped to help already I didn't stop, I'm feeling guilty about that.
This got me thinking that I really should do something to make myself a bit more useful on the scene of an accident. I'll always stop if I think there is something I can do, even if it's just being a witness, but I think I need to have some proper first aid training so that I can offer more.

I've done first aid courses in the past but they were quite basic and a long time ago, I need to look for a new course.

As I'm on the road all the time there is a good chance that one day I'll be the first on the scene of an accident where real medical help is needed, I should make sure I'm prepared.
- Steve, 10:14 AM,
Saturday, May 07, 2005
 
Last night Bicester Village held an event to celebrate their 10th Anniversary and they invited the whole town. It started at 7.30pm and was a carnival style thing with Jugglers, Candyfloss, Face Painting and Stilt Walkers and then a fireworks display at 9pm.

The whole thing was really well organised and the atmosphere was great. Everything was free, including refreshments, and the outlet shops were closed so that it was all about having a good time. The only thing we paid for was coffee at Carluccios but that was worth it because it's good stuff!

You'll see the results of the face painting over there on the left in the Flickr photos.

They really went to town on the fireworks, they were excellent and much better than the display the town put on in November.

We had a great time and it was refreshing to attend an event that wasn't all about making money.
- Steve, 5:18 PM,
Friday, May 06, 2005
 
I just finished reading the book, it was fantastic and so different from anything I've read in the past. I highly recommend it and it's not a long book either so you don't need to invest much time in it!

It was so good that I've had it open in the background while in the office so I could read a bit when it was quiet...
- Steve, 3:20 PM,
 
The election is over and the results are (almost) all in.

I voted yesterday but not for the winning party or even the second place party, but I think the result today is a good one.

The current government with a smaller majority and a stronger opposition is probably the outcome that suits me best.
- Steve, 10:00 AM,
Thursday, May 05, 2005
 
I finally finished reading Crime and Punishment last night, I have found it hard to stick with it but that hasn't really been the fault of the book. The problem is that I had it as an ebook from Project Gutenberg and, while that is my favourite format to read at the moment, it's not always easy to get the laptop out and start reading. I like to read on the train, but if I don't have a table in front of me I can't really do it as the Dell is quite a chunky beast.

Time to sort out reading ebooks on the Gameboy, or get a really cheap PDA that can read .txt files.

The next book I've started is "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. I read a few chapters last night (ebook again) and it's really good.
- Steve, 9:44 AM,
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
 
My in-laws are in Spain at the moment looking for a property to buy in Valencia, they are thinking of selling up and moving out there permanently. I really hope they go for it because I can see the appeal of selling here when the prices are high and retiring to a cheaper place with a better standard of living (and weather!) and a pocket full of change from the sale.

On a purely selfish note I see that Valencia is well serviced by cheap airlines and long weekends in the sun are quite appealing!
- Steve, 12:08 PM,
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
 
I was driving up the M6 Toll road this morning when there was an appeal on Radio 4 from Avon & Somerset Police for the public to be on the look-out for a red pick-up truck that had been stolen with the owners baby daughter inside. I can only imagine the panic that would cause to the parents, it's got to be every parents worst nightmare.

I've been following the story from work and it now appears that the baby is safe and well and at home with her mum... So it didn't happen?

Helicopters, national appeals, probably all the police out looking... Someone is going to be in a whole world of trouble.
- Steve, 1:49 PM,
Monday, May 02, 2005
 
The weather today has been almost perfect, it's been sunny enough and the temperature has been around 20c (what's that, around 70F?) I'd be happy if it stayed this temperature all year round.

Clare was working, so Georgia and I went to feed the ducks and do some exploring around Port Meadow. We had fun and must have walked for miles, it was a proper Bank Holiday.

I'll be finishing off the day with cold beers in the garden and a curry in the oven.

This is the life.
- Steve, 6:44 PM,
Sunday, May 01, 2005
 
I decided not to get up early this morning and head in to Oxford and I kind of wish I had. It's only once a year and it's quite a spectacle so I should really have made the effort.

I see that people have been jumping off the bridge despite all the warnings this year (the water level is low).

40 people needed treatment for injuries! I'm not one for a "Nanny State" and I don't think people should be banned from doing stupid things but I think anyone who injured themselves by jumping off the bridge should be presented with an invoice for NHS resources they have needlessly used up.
- Steve, 6:53 PM,

 

  
 
   
 
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