Journey of an ECDL time waster

Nothing lasts forever...

2005-03-17T19:58:00.000Z

Well, it had to come to an end sometime I guess. It was "fun" while it lasted, but as of this afternoon, I am no longer an ECDL waster.

< cue sad music from Incredible Hulk >

< cut to: me packing my belongings into a box, walking to the door. /me stops at the door frame and looks back into the room. With a sigh, the light is switched off... >

But, yea. Me as a Kustom employee. That's cool.

Life at Kustom

2005-03-14T15:19:00.000Z

damn! this stuff is tireing. i start at 9 and spend all day just reinstalling windows, running adaware and avg and replacing hardware till i finnd the broken piece.

don't get me wrong, its fantastic fun. i genuinly love it. the guys are great. the atmosphere is casual. theres always a cup of tea not 5 minutes away. what more could i want?

so ill be evaluated on thursday, to see if i am being kept on. if i get the full time, ill be one of those people that everyone hates : someone who loves their job.

also, i'm reading the princess bride. its so funny. and charming. go buy it now!

How would you close your currently open document?

2005-03-10T11:35:00.000Z

Bad news...when I went to buy Red Alert it had been sold. Within the 3 hours that i saw it and went to buy it, someone came along and bought it. Who the hell want to play Red Alert these days anyway?

More bad news: I am gonna have to take a hiatus from the blog...at least a week. Maybe longer, but for now, just a week. Y'see I'm going for a work trial. at Kustom PCs. *cue Ode to Joy*

Frankly, I'm a bit excited. And slightly nervous. Its working in the software repair area, i.e. someone brings their machine in, I'd scan for virus & spyware. Its just like going to CJ & Simons. The software is where it all started for me. I only got into hardware out of necessity. I can do software.

But it the unknow aspect of it that scares me. On the other hand, theres really very little to fear. Theres only a few new people to meet, as I know most of them already. So thats good. New people scare me, y'see.

So, I start tomorrow, 9am and am evaluated on Thursday. I just have to go see my Job Centre Lady(tm) so that if I'm not at JHP, I'm not signed off. Because, if it doesn't work out at Kustom, then I have to wait 6 months before I can claim again. If the Job Centre insist on making things too complicated, I guess I have litle choice but to just sign off and take my chances. Opertunities to work at Kustom do not come along very often.

P.S. note to self: shave when you get in. Maybe a shower too.

How would you move a slide within a presentation?

2005-03-09T14:33:00.000Z

One of the noobs stole my seat today, so I've been relegated to sitting next to Wee David (tm). But thats not the worst of it...this mouse has no scroll wheel! I mean, come on! It's downright essential. Its like the dark ages in here.

I'm gonna come in a bit early tomorrow and get my computer back. Or someone elses. Someones with a wheel. and a deent keyboard. Thats not near a boken, constantly open window. grrrrr...

Still, gaming news, I found a copy of Red Alert for £4.99 with its add-ons in original packing! none of this "Best of" or budget range. I'm gonna grab it once i'm done here.

Thats all for today...move along, nothing more to see here...

How would you resize a drawn object or chart?

2005-03-08T13:12:00.000Z

Dungeon Siege is great! I really don't know why I like it, because I hate Diablo. But I'm glad I got my working copy. But its not the best game ever. After some internal mulling and soul searching I came to the conclusion that I would quite like to actually own all of my favourite games. This, granted, is not a new thought, hence why I bought both Splinter Cells and Max Payne. And HL2. And Mr Driller. and Evil Genius.

But one game (and its expansion packs) is, as i see it, clearly missing. And so began, last week, my search for Battlefield 1942 Anthology (which is BF1942 + Secret Weapons + Road to Rome for less then £20 from Game! Thats a silly low price!). Now, it would be too easy to go into Game and buy it, they don't have it in. The website, sold out. Every other site I've searched has priced it at about £30-40.

So during lunch just there I thought I'd try GameStation. Johnny was working, so that was cool, I could ask him...nope, they had none. BUT, Johnny did inform me that he plans to leave Gamestation quite soon. And so are quite a few other people. So, that could be a job for me. He's gonna see what he can do about getting me in, which would, praise the lord, get me away from here. I think I'd like working there...but I remain cautiously pessemistic. I've already proved I'm nigh on un-employable.

I sent an application away to Dell Glasgow today, to work on their Tech Support. I could do that. I couldn't sell Dells, I'm just not that good a liar. "Of course you can play your brand new Mega Blaster 3000 game on a Dell, it has an integrated 3DFX Voodoo 2 right on the mother board! A Voodoo 2, thats twice integrated video controller of any other company that gives you a Voodoo 1..."

As for the people that leave weekly, they either get jobs, or are opted out of Job Seekers Allowance for 6 months. 6 months is a long time with no money. And yea, some of them are doing different courses, like Training for Work. I don't think theres much difference, but there must be some.

P.S. sorry about my creativly vapid post titles...I have no inspiration these days. Normal service will resume when I can think of a funny title, else I'll keep using random questions from my course. Actually, maybe the questions are alright ... certainly keep the theme, dont'cha think? Well, we'll see...

How would you add a shadow effect to an AutoShape?

2005-03-07T15:07:00.000Z

You know your getting old when hangovers last for a day or two...And I've caught this flu/cold thats going about.

So, I nearly left this morning at about 10am. I was just miserable. But I went for a walk in the fresh air, bought some lockets (it is impossible to buy cherry soothers these days! plenty of blackcurrant one, but i dont like blackcurrant) and now I feel fine.

A whole host of new faces today, literally outnumbering the recognised faces. I even have a trashy looking pikey sitting next to me. I took a stealth photo of her. I'll put it up later.

I got so bored I designed the floorplan of the JHP offices in a powerpoint presentation. At the minute, when not blogging or forum reading, I'm drawing housing in powerpoint. I think I'll animate them in a minute.

I can't wait till I get home. I think I'll try and leave in 15.

No, elephant books.

2005-03-04T11:42:00.000Z

Ahh, Friday. Friday, Friday, Friday. I like the half day on Friday idea. Its a good scheme. Promotes moral.

The people here keep calling me a "whizz kid". I assume it's because i usually get roped into helping someone and since its all easy stuff, I always know the answer, more or less. Or I know to search help for it. Either that or it's cos I smell of pee.

I think my computer (Takara) is well again. Or at least on the way to recovery. I put a clean, fresh new 80gig (IDE) in as master and reinstalled windows and such. The I added in my old SATAs (2x120gb) and set about copying the files from one to the other. It was taking an age. about 83 minutes quoted to transfer about 8 gig.

Turned out windows decided to default my SATAs to PIO mode, instead of zippy-ninja-speed DMA. And refused to change back to DMA. Long story short, I fixed it. It now transfers full speed. My internet transfers full speed. And I have plenty of space on my HDD.

The plan now is to copy all I need from my old C and D drives (one drive, partitioned) to the now IDE and other SATA and then format it. If I feel really posh, I might concider RAID 0 -ing my SATAs and leaving the IDE as a system drive.

Anyway, enough computer talk. I can see your eyes have glazed over with bordem. That happens. Got some more pics to put up, but I need to reinstall the drivers for my data cable first, and set it all up. I even have photos of Mark Taylor. On a bus! (I was on the same bus, y'see. I didn't just stand on the pavement and wait for him to pass by. That would be wierd.)

I'll post them to Elvis Street when i get the chance. He has no sideburns. None. Shaved right up to the start of his hair line. It was like looking at someone with no eyebrows...you can see something is wierd but your maybe not sure what it is...and then it hits you! I hope its visible in the pics.

One manslaughter is another man's laughter.

2005-03-03T14:13:00.000Z

Well, that was quite a holiday. Long story short, I now have a 42" Plasma TV (with montior cables) and stand-alone DVD-RW drive for ripping TV programs and spent a night in the Hilton. And have a new 16x dual layer DVD burner. And a new 80gb HDD.

But now I'm back here. It's enough to depress you, is this place. And these people.

But today hasn't been so bad, I guess. Certainly better now I have a new HDD, cos I think my computer is dying. Reinstalling windows made it sicker. The only solution was to format the drives (the new HDD is for backing up all essential files, such as the photos from my camera and all my precious mp3s. And probably some word documents too. They always seem more important that they are...).

So, I really can't wait to get home and get formatting. Its just after 2:10 the now, I'll try sneak out about 3:15-3:30 ish.

So...yea, the course...not so bad today. Mainly because I havent done anything. I did have my lecturer enquire as to where is "hip" to lunch in Glasgow. I think she wants a list. The only prerequisite is that it must sell long vodkas. What would I know about being cool or hip? I have, on many occasion, been called the physical embodiment of biege!

Anyway, I have some forums to read...see you tomorrow, I guess.

Holiday

2005-02-26T10:12:00.000Z

Hello! right now i am on a bus heading for a well deserved break. alas, for i shall be returned to jhp on thursday.

ill write more when i can use a qwerty.

2005-02-25T12:30:00.000Z

Grrr! the other day i bought Dungeon Seige from a tiny game shop only to find out the disk is knacked! theres a label on the case thats states its a new game, not pre-owned, but clearly, from the state of the disk, its pre-owned. i've got no problem with that, really, except it doesnt work. it just stalls at 93%.

and worst of all, i dont have a reciept. i vaguely remember getting one...maybe not...but i cant see them acceping a return. grr. i really wanted to play it too.

maybe they'll give me a like-for-like exchange. that would be good enuff for me.

i've done nothing today, excpet made a cunning pun on an arrow question. the guy that signs us out is here, so if i go now, i can leave.

Get back, you choc chip fiend!

2005-02-24T14:04:00.000Z

Ok, here they are! PHOTOS!!!

the guy that sat next to me...he's gone now...dont know if he'll be back, but he had a wicked cool scar right down his face. Like Sub Zero, but left a bit.

view to my right. nothing to see here. move along.

new view to my right. the observant may notice the addition of new people. well done you.

a sample of the course paper. oooh hard questions.

the one at the front....thats me. the one behind, thats Denise, the lecturer.

other than that, not much has happened today. my dvd writer is shafted, but im working on it. Katie is coming home tonight. Maw and *ahem* Dad2 have left for their holiday.

but i can download games to my mobile for free. XIII on the mobile is great! think im gonna go play it now.

**If any of this pics dont show, its the host server not allowing hotlinking. let me know, ill fix it**

*edit*

egad! the lecturer has just stated the main use of a firewall is to prevent cookies! i dispair.

"Je suis votre père, Luke."

2005-02-23T13:17:00.000Z

I got my data cable for the phone, so now I've disabled the camera noise (upskirts, here I come ) I can take photos of the class and such and upload them too. So you can just wheest!

The woman who sat next to me last week and constantly bothered me for help, but never listened, has left! she got the job she was applying for, so she's gone. YAY

HAHA! One of the girls in the class just approached me with a petition to sign : Sign here if Denise is of no help : I signed. One of only 4 odd people. But I'm not worried that it'll come back to me or anything, I mean, she doent help me. I dont ask for any, and I wouldn't accept any if she offered it.

Anyway, hang tight, I'll upload the photos tonight.

forgot to say, while not strictly ECDL related, theres a genius T.A.T.u / Rammstein mash up kicking about. I think it may even have been released as a single! anyway, its on all torrent sites, go grab it.

But whats that done to the graph...?

2005-02-22T13:14:00.000Z

A bit more exciting today.

Got an email from the nice lads at Kustom PCs, saying Taymar Computers were looking to employ someone on the hardware installation/repair side of things. I phoned the number a couple of times till I got through. Had a mini over-the-phone style interview, which revealed that he was actually looking for someone who knows more than he does about corporate/business network installation and maintainance. And he knows more than me.

But he said he'd keep my CV and let me know if anything else popped up. So thats cool. But doesn't get me out of here just yet...

Also, Katie has gone for a wee holiday to her friends in Dundee and Edinburgh and wont be back till the Thursday. So I'll be all alone playing Playboy : The Mansion (not a great game, but enought in the mold of The Movies to keep me amused. Also has a slight Pokemon Snap aspect to it and I will not hear a bad word about Pokemon Snap) and the Splinter Cell 3 demo. And trying to find a copy of any Lupin III movie whose subs don't suck so badly I want to weep. I thought I'd seen bad sub, but nothing could have prepared me for this copy of Lupin : Return the Treasure. I die a little even just think about it. Such a waste of an excellent film.

But I digress...if I gets capitalised when your talking about yourself, why not Me? Hmmm.

Anyway, I've applied for a holiday for the 28th, 1st and 2nd (the Monday - Wednesday, next week) partly because its the last days of Katies holiday and partly because my maw decided it was appropriate to order a 42" Plasma TV. Which is being delived on the Wednesday. With a DVD-RW stand-alone box. To burn TV progs to DVD.

I expect to recieve my phones data cable this week, so I can disable the camera noise and take photos of the class. covertly. So stop going on. Your worse than a CounterStrike forum poster!! and thats saying something.

Now, if you dont mind, I have to get back to reading theories as to who the G-Man is and who hired out Gordon Freeman.

eventful day

2005-02-21T14:10:00.000Z

wow. nothing has happened. at all. all day. I went for lunch 5 minutes early to meet Katie. Thats honestly the only thing thats happened today.

i suppose the fact that nothing has happened in a sence makes it interesting. i mean, how often does that happen?

beep beep beep-beep-beep They're right on top of us!! ZOMG STFU LOLZ etc etc

2005-02-18T10:56:00.000Z

Little known fact: I love the splinter cell series. Yesterday morning when looking to see what torrents I could queue up while I was "studying" I saw the demo for the new Splinter Cell game. Oh joy of joys, you have no idea! Anyway, seems it was only released in a german games mag, and so is quite hard to download. Needless to say, it was fully ready for me coming home, so no complaints from me.

But this is just back story. I've spent the past however many hours looking through steam forums and splinter cell forums and concluded thus: the world is full of idiots.

No, really. There no excuse. I almost can't bring myself to think of it again, but someone, asked...in all seriousness...they asked ( /me breaks out in a cold sweat ) they asked what ROFL means.

I know thats not the worst thing in the world, but just the whole forum. I ask you. i feel marginally suicidal.

Everyone has to start somewhere, we were all noobs once, etc etc. But we lurked. We watched from the shadows of anonymity and learned. That which we couldnt learn by watching we asked people. REAL people. They still exist. Why clog up a discussion with constantly asking ridiculus questions. I mean, if it was a straight, face to face conversation, between you and a friend, and some stranger walked up and started asking how you tie shoe-laces, or how you can tell where the sun is, you just wouldn't accept it.

I am normally tollerant of noobs, I know fine well we all were once, but today, it just got to me. So many of them. So many stupid questions already answered in the appropriate places.

Maybe a manditory computer licence is a good idea. One recognised by all of Europe. Some sort of European Computer Driving Licence. heh!

If the courses here taught people anything, then I'd be all for it. If the books were anything other uslessly vague, or just full of lies, I'd fund it myself. Maybe one day. Maybe when we are all old enought to have kids, and have taught our kids how to use computers, there will be no need for computer teaching. They will just know.

we are the bored. resistance is futile.

2005-02-17T14:31:00.000Z

Had a test today...thats 3 down, still dont have any results back yet. If i get bored later, I'll enquire.

Generally, nothing has happened today. I've been roped into helping half the class, mind, and moving boxes for the lecturer fairly often, but thats fine. It only serves to distract me from the modules, and so slow me down. which i guess is a good thing. If I go through them too fast, then I'll be bored...but going through them slowly is boring.

Anyway, bit of a nothing day really...

at least the sun's come out.

nope, nevermind, its gone away again. Oh, just behind a cloud...it'll be back.

Cut without paste? Like Cannon without Ball!

2005-02-16T13:57:00.000Z

When I first started here, my biggest concern was 6 months with no internet access, for the computers at the time had no net connection. Turned out this was just a dodgy router, not God punishing me. Today say another outage, one just a notch above internet: power.

A building wide shutdown (except the stairwell, which I'd like to imagine was some genius idea as to aid escape in a fire, but I believe something far less exciting, namely, luck) with no lighting, kettles, fridges, heaters or computers.

So at least we got an extended, early lunch. from about 12-1.30. which was nice. and the power didnt come back on proper till just before 2.

So, pretty much that is all thats happened, othr than aquiring a new best friend.

Yesterday a woman sat at the computer next to me and proceded to ask everyone around her to help her. Cut to today, and there being noone else about but me. So I've helped her all day.

It wouldn't be so bad, but she near point blank refuses to listen to me. I have to repeat myself about 3 times, minimum, before she'll do something. Just click on the icon there, that icon there. This icon, just click it. No, you have to click this icon before it'll do that.

argh.

she wont be back till monday. so thats cool, i guess.

Roll on Summer!

2005-02-15T11:14:00.000Z

Argh! Was reading Slashdot and found an article on the most anticipated games of 2005, which turned my mind to the game I'm most anticipating : Lionhead's The Movies.

the last time I was at the Movies site, i self issued a ban on going back any time soon. Not because its a bad site, because it's not, but because I get all worked up, salivating with enthusiasm but ultimatly frustrated that i can play it right now. Or anytime soon. The most current date announced is an unofficial June.

Speaking of June...AOL have decided to upgrade my 1mb connection to a 2mb connection, as of June. For free! Quality. Another thing I can't wait for.

It's just a shame humans can't hibernate so well.

Anyway, figured I'd give you an update on the class. Nothing has changed. The same people coming in, with the exception of 1 person leaving and that new start kid yesterday (who isn't in today, btw), the same staff "running" the place, the same lack of jobs on the jobcentre website.

The same questions in the books, but for different applications. Surly even the most computer inept will realise that having finished the first 4 modules, that the application in module 5 (Acess, since your so interested) opens, saves, closes and can be edited in the same way as all the other apps in all the other modules. File > Save. File > Close. The lil X in the corner. It's driving me mad. I'm starting to get sarky with Word. I know its not Words fault, but I find my self increasinly answering questions in a semi sarcastic manner, or refering to previous sections.

And I have an ulser under my tounge. and Im thirsty. and havent eaten any chocolate today. maybe thats why I'm cranky and apathetic. Low sugar. I'm sick of this.

Happy Valentines Day!

2005-02-14T11:50:00.000Z

Although it may seem irrelevant at first, you must remember this blog is a chronicle of my time spent at JHP. Therefore, anything I do during these hours is relevant, no?

Read this Red Nova news story. I dont know if I'm scard or excited.

~~
Cool. i can edit my posts via my phone. this tiny pad will not replace the full qwerty anytime soon however. maybe im just old .
~~

Also, since it's valentines days, dont forget to swing by Subway to get a free cookie, no purchase necessary!

I've done work today, well, more than I did on Friday. I can't wait to get home and its only 11:39. Lunch soon, so that may help. As is customary of Mondays, we have a new start guy, but he wont start proper till tomorrow. May God have mercy on his soul. And mine.

It wouldn't be so bad if any of this meant anything. Because the ECDL is given to everyone who is unemployed for X months, it really has no value. It has no rarity. No skill is required to get on the course, and certenlay none required to finish it. But still, the others here, some who have been here for nearly 5 of their 6 months ahve not sat a single test. My step-brother (still makes me giggle that i can draw a line from him to myself) is one such test-a-phobic. They are multiple choice! with 60-80% required to pass! And you get 3 tries to each one!

Many people have asked me what placement they put me on at the end of this. And tha would be a good idea, some sort of job, even as a trial, so the able could display the skills, with hope for permenant occupation, but such a scheme doesn't seem to be logical to the Job Center. They even withdrew the oppertunity to train at college for any course. Because these things would be useful.

But I digress. The main point, nay, the sole point of todays post, in fact of the whole blog, is Kevin. My good friend who wishes to achive blog fame. And who wishes the world to know that he has officially come out. My condolences to Jen.

Free stuff!

2005-02-11T10:55:00.000Z

I don’t know if you remember the moment you discovered you could find stuff on the net for free, that others would need to pay for. Well, neither do I, specifically, but I have had a second go at it.

This morning when mucking about on my new phone, I accidentally opened my WAP browser. Not something I normally do: I’m too poor for that sort of jazz. But today, greeting me on the homepage, was a nice notice telling me I could have free WAP until April 30th from the kind folks at Orange.

So, first thing I did was try to download some new wallpaper from the Orange site. £3 a wallpaper. Who would pay £3 for a phone wallpaper? So I fired up Google and straight away found: Johnny.org.

Jhonny.org, or Jhonny.org/wap to be exact is a lovely little haven for free wallpapers for your Nokia. Granted, I have a Siemens, but a phones a phone. I’ve just spent the past 2 hours browsing though the pages, downloading pics, then every now and again phoning up my balance to check. Still sitting at £10.57 even after 4MB if GRPS data transfer. Life is good. And I have Pocky wallpaper. And a half-day.

And the dentist. I forgot about that. Well, even he can’t stop the glee of piracy I feel inside. ^_^

And the course? Still nonsense, still way ahead even though I’ve only typed 2 lines today. Anyway, I’m off to see if I can blog from my phone!

2005-02-10T10:30:00.000Z

I wasn't in yesterday. I was ill. Still, at least my phone came ^_^

Its a bit cool. Full of nonsense I’ll never use...but it does have a "photopet". Like a tamagotchi, but the quality of the photos you take (based on a RGB / luminosity sorta scale) determines how successful your action was. Its cool.

So, yea, I have a test today. 80% needed to pass, not multiple choice this time. This one is actually a practical test!!! Egad! Granted, alls you need to do is create folders within folders on your disk, and count how many txt files there are. I’ll know more once I've sat it, at about 12ish.

Now, all I need is to find other people with camera phones, so I can send them crappy pics they don’t want. The good news is you don’t actually need a camera phone to receive a MMS, as it sends you a text message with a web address where you can download the pic and message. Which is quite cool, I guess.

I’ll have a lot more fun with the phone when I get my data cable, which should be here by the end of the month. This will let me put any sound or pic from the pc to the phone and vice versa. So no need to worry about running out of space on the phone. I can also backup contacts and text messages. So yea, that’s gonna be cool.

So, just to recap, I’ve been here about 3 weeks, or so and I am on module 5 of 7. I’ve not jumped about and picked the best ones first, I’ve worked my way through 4 modules and am on the 5th. And today I will sit the 2nd module test. Cos we only get tests on 1 day a week.

Did I mention that if I finish early I still have to stay on till august?

damned nubs!

2005-02-08T09:55:00.000Z

Well, that’s a fine start to the day…I’ve lost my usual computer. Y’see as a course with no formal structure, no exercises and no learning, there is no start or stop to a “course”. There is a constant influx of new faces, usually on a Monday, who have an induction half day, then start proper on the Tuesday, using the computers.

These newbs, n00bs or whatever they call them these days, were expressly told in their induction, that no computer in the room was owned by anyone other than JHP (the people who run this ECDL course) ergo, there is no “but that’s my computer” style comments to be had. So what do they do first thing on a Tuesday morning? Sit at all the computers that have workbooks, pens and floppies at them. There could be no bigger hint at such a machine was occupied unless I was still sitting there.

Now, I know what your thinking, “does it really matter what computer you’re sitting at?” well, yes, as a matter of fact, it does. Unlike the rest of this room, I don’t have an unending faith in the floppy disk. I know they enjoy nothing more than a nice corruption, or snap in the middle. So, I’ve copied all my stuff on to the machine I usually sit at. So, if this disk breaks, or rather, when, then I am stuck with nothing to show for my wasted time.

But it’s cool. Two can play their game. If I come in early the next day, I can take whatever computer I like. I mean, they surly would have a problem with that, they don’t own the computer, do they?

*edit*
just found this, for those that are interested JHP Training. Second picture down...thats my "teacher"

bad day all round

2005-02-07T10:48:00.000Z

Alas, about 15 minutes ago, i sneezed.

And my phone, when i went to buy it on friday, was out of stock. So I've ordered it from the Orange site, and it'll be here in a few days.

nothing else to report, so far.

New Toy?

2005-02-04T12:16:00.000Z

Half day. Great. It’s about the only thing to look forward to on the Monday. So I finish at about 1. Then I can go embrace the dark side:

I’m buying a new phone. Either a Siemens CX65 or the C65. Camera phone, colour TFT screen, all very bling. All very hip. All very expensive, for me at least. But my phone sucks, and this one can run Java apps and if I get the CX65, I can take videos. With a bit of jiggery I can upload all this stuff to the PC and vice versa. And turn it in to an e-book reader. As a new toy, it will take my mind off this course. So maybe 70 odd quid isn’t to steep a price for a nice distraction.

I had no idea that sneezes stock-piled. They just keep building and building. If I ever do sneeze again, its gonna be a big one.

*edit*
Sitting here I feel compelled to do creative things, to write books or TV shows, to learn CSS properly so I can submit a design to CSS Zen Garden. Yesterday I bought (or had bought for me…I have people to do that sort of thing (thank you hunny)) a sketch pad and pencil. I can’t draw. It's a fact. I never could, I never will be able to. But being here has sapped from me something, and maybe creativity will put it back. Looking through the browsers history here (because its locked, and can’t be cleared) I can see even the 2nd day I was here I was looking at creativity sites, at learning CSS, at Orisinal, at Case Mod God and Kustom PCs. Maybe a new phone will help. It can't make it much worse...

Thurdays?...just another day...

2005-02-03T14:49:00.000Z

Mark this day in your calendars, for it is indeed momentous. Today is the day I officially give up sneezing. You see I seem to sneeze a lot. Not necessarily more than anyone else, but you know, it does happen. I do sneeze. There is no shame in admitting it, especially now that it’s behind me. The secret is something I gleamed from a newsletters “top tip”: tickling the roof of your mouth with your tongue will prevent you from sneezing. And it works. This morning, I was gonna sneeze, I did that, and I didn’t sneeze. Conclusive. Since then, I’ve had the urge to sneeze several more times, all of which were combated by this technique, though a word of warning, chocolate makes your mouth dry and subsequently, this technique becomes harder to perform, but still possible.

Chocolate. Leads me to shop workers. They hate giving out change. I mean, think about that for a minute. Why do they hate it? Because then they would have no change, right? But if they never give out change, then they always have it? What are they saving it for? Someone whose bag of Cadburys button is more important than mine? Does the Queen shop there? I don’t get it…and gave myself a mini headache thinking about it earlier on. So I’ll stop now…go play some solitaire or Lander. Look for this gold digging game that has thus far eluded me.

*edit* currently, as is usually the case here, the network is down. Or half down. Well, it’s not up, its between working and not. So if the page is messed up, and only half this text is there…that’s why.

A new beginning.

2005-02-02T14:19:00.000Z

It’s been a while. I wanted to start afresh.

For those who came in late: Howdy, I’m Steven. I’m professionally unemployed. That is, I am paid, by the government for services rendered. Sounds like a waste of money, huh? Well, so is sending everyone over 6 months unemployed to the ECDL training course. The European Computer Drivers Licence has nothing to do with cars, but in theory trains the attendees to be computer literate in Office.

All well and good, you say, computers are the future and everyone deserves to be able to use the future, right? Your spot on, I reply, however, certain individuals don’t need training in Word. I am one such individual. I don’t like answering question on how do I select an icon on the desktop, or how do I delete a character in Word, followed by many more questions expanding the scope to deleteing : a whole word; a sentence; a line and finally, a paragraph.

This wouldn't be such a pain, but the chapter before was all about how do I select these things. Surly it's not such a leap to say "once anything is selected, pressing delete will delete it."

But I digress...

This blog will serve as a sanity maintainer. I will write here, as I am nearly finished the course, and regardless when you finish the tests and what have you, you have to stay here for 6 and a half months. Thats till about August. Do you know what your doing in August? It's a bloody long time away, innit? So, my time will be spent here, blogging, and on miniclip, playing Monkey Lander (like normal lander, but with added monkey).

So...if everyone is comfortable...let's begin.