Psycho's and Madmen

View of Weynouth, and Chesil Beach from Portland

We're back!!!

...And not a moment too soon may I just add. Probably one of the worst holidays I have ever been on. I won't say what ruined it for us, but all I will say is next time me, Michelle and Kieran will be going on our own.

Still, it wasn't all bad. We did get to meet my very good friend Fiona who lives in Jersey. I've known her for over 8 years and have never been able to meet her up until now. She's getting married in October and both me and Michelle can't wait to fly over then and see her getting hitched.

We're getting back to normaility again now, but still need to unpack the suitcases!

The Stumeister has returned..............

We're all going on a summer holiday

Today will probably be the last day I'll be able to post anything here on my blog for a week as we are very shortly due to leave to go on holiday. We are only spending a week in some farmyard cottage in Weymouth, and I very much doubt I will be able to connect my laptop to a wireless internet connection while we are there. We are going with Michelle's family (her mum, stepdad, grandparents, sister and her partner. Not sure how I am going to cope, but I am making sure to take my laptop, a fair number of games and a couple of DVDs to watch on the laptop when I'm bored.

So.... until I return............ WHOOSH
(vanishes in a puff of smoke)

"I Want To Break Free..."

Someone who doesn't seem to mind the hot weather at the moment is Kieran! He just loves to sneak by without me watching and escape into the back garden. Fortunatly our garden is rather large (well, 54ft long), and he has lots to explore. I'm sure however that if he could talk he would tell me to cut the grass. Its like a jungle at the moment.

As you can tell from the picture, the poor little sod has a bit of a sweat going.

I'm having problems with my PC at the moment. The bloody thing keeps crashing for no apparent reason. I think it may be a driver issue with my graphics card. For some reason, when I was playing Dreamfall the other week the game wouldn't run properly with nVidia's latest GeForce drivers so I had to downgrade to the 81.98 drivers. Now, since I've upgraded back to the latest 91.31 drivers, I've been having problems galore. Hopefully nVidia will release some sort of fix for this as it is really p*%!ing me off! I'm amazed I've been able to write this post without the computer crashing on me.

Schools out..... for summer!

I'm off work and on holiday for 6 weeks..... YAY!!!

It Ain't Half Hot Mum!

Its official... Today is the hottest day of the year, with temperatures reaching 38.6°C in places! Add another 10°C or so to that if you want to know the temperature in our server room at the school!!

The picture above is actually a view taken about 2 minutes ago from the server room using the Evesham High School Webcam (website designed by me of course). What you don't see is me melting behind the camera.

Less than 24 hours to go, and I finish work for 6 whole weeks!!! Wooooooooooo

Aye Aye Cap'n

Michelle is out doing a disco, Kieran is in bed sleeping, and I'm sat here in front of the computer having spent the last hour writing a very basic little tune called "Sailors Song". It was written using the fantastic SkaleTracker software, (amd slightly edited using Goldwave).

Download "Stuart's Sailors Song" <---- Right click and select Save Target As

Credit where credit is due - This song is based on "The Sailors Hornpipe" by Mike Oldfield which of course is featured on his excellent album "Tubular Bells", and this particular version which I have done is based on Bob Hartsthorne version which was featured on CRL's Tubular Bells music demo on the Commodore 64.

Bloody Gypo's

Had a phonecall from the police this morning. Apparently some kind hearted old man found Michelle's purse in the river and took it to the police station. All the credit cards were still in it (albeit wet), but of course all the cash had gone. Apparently there has been a number of pick pocket incidents in and around Marks and Spencers in Evesham town and it looks increasingly likely that Michelle was a victim.

Crazy thing is, Michelle had put her purse in Kieran's changing bag on the back of the push chair, so whoever it was, they must have been really quick. F!@#*ng gypos must have had a whale of a time spending our cash!! Evesham is full of them. The dirty, rotten scum. They walk around town smelling awful, they can't talk properly, and they will try anything for some easy money, even if it means robbing from decent people like us.

Oh well, life goes on... I'm not going to let it bother me any more. It's just money. Let this be a lesson to everyone who is reading this - take care of your belongings, and make sure you never leave your wallet or purse out of sight (especially if you ever visit Evesham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

A day in the life of an...

ICT Network Technician

This is what I have done today, and gives you an idea of what each of my days at Evesham High School is like.

- Start work at 8.00am. Switch on all computers and printers in all classrooms.
- Create new user accounts in Active Directory on our server (running Windows Server 2003)
- Change tons of passwords because the students keep forgetting theirs
- Create VBS scripts to run on the server.
- Salvage old PC's and rebuild them in new cases for a new ICT suite
- Setup, install and configure brand new PCs for yet another ICT suite.
- Design a Star Wars flash animation for use as an example to 6th form students currently learning how to use Macromedia products.
- Run a very quick game of Halo over the LAN between myself and another teacher.
- Purchase 4x Sony Memory Stick Duo Pro for new digital cameras
- Losing a screw in a laser printer and having to dismantle the thing just to get it out (and put it back together again).
- Network installation of new Business Studies software
- Configurating wireless access points so that the laptops in the DT faculty can connect to the wireless network.
- Making lengths of Cat5e cable (with RJ45's and my trusty crimping tool!!!)
- Go home at 4.00pm
- Plus lots more which I have forgotton to mention.....

And if thats not enough, we also had the Evesham High School Staff Ball tonight at Dumbleton Hall, and as we were doing the disco, I haven't had a chance to rest until now.

Oh.... and all our credits cards and over £100 in cash were lost earlier today!! Oh joy!!

Still, only another 7 days to go before I finish work for 6 weeks!! I love working in a school, as its great that I get all the school holidays off!!!!! Not only that but its great to get a wage at the end of August even though I haven't even worked in that month!!!!

Roll on Friday 21st July

The Beeb...

I collect computers.... Mostly Commodore computers, but I love collecting old, retro computers. My latest addition is a BBC Master which I found hidden in a cupboard at the school that I work at, with about an inch of dust covering the keyboard!!

It even comes with a 3.5" disk drive! I wasn't expecting the thing to work as apparently it has been sitting around for ages (well, ever since the school threw away a ton of them over a decade ago!!)

I gave it a good clean, plugged in the power, flicked the switch at the back of the computer..... and then.....

BEEP....

Yes... That immortal sound brought back so many memories of Computer Club when I was at school.

I actually have a couple of old disks (unfortuantly 5 1/4") with some little basic programs which I wrote back then which I would love to run. I might have to look on eBay for a compatible disk drive now.

Still, I've managed to load Repton on it (remember that game Dan?), and it nearly brought a tear to my eyes. Those were the days!!!

Anyway, the school wont miss it, so I have given it a new home. It'll probably end up with the rest of my old computers up in the loft in a few weeks, but I'm gonna make sure it gets a good amount of usage initially. I wonder if I can find Elite for it?

Oh bugger.....

Opps - update!!

The link to my Doctor Who Dalek Invasion website was pointing to an old version. Try this link for the latest version (with sound). Flash and Quicktime are required.

http://www.stu-wilson.com/drwho

You will be EX-TERM-IN-AT-ED

A few months ago (actually, it may have been a year ago), I created a special 3D scene for my website depicting a scene of Daleks about to invade an unsuspecting planet.

Now, I uploaded it, but I never actually put a link to it on my website, so unless you actually knew the URL, there was no way for anyone to see it. I am such a prat!!!!!!!!

Anyway, being as the last episode of the current Doctor Who series was shown tonight on BBC1, I figured now would be a good time to make sure it's available for everyone to see..... so.....

Click here for "Doctor Who - The Dalek Invasion"

Oh the above picture has nothing to do with the 3D scene, but I created it anyway to showcase my new improved Tardis 3D object, and since this post is about the good Doctor, I figured I'd put it here. All my 3D graphic work can be viewed at my website

www.stu-wilson.com

Comments welcome, good or bad :)

Kieran hasn't been feeling too great today, and he has been spending most of the day crying, and generally not being happy. We think its due to a large tooth which is trying to come through.

It's been hard trying to keep him happy, but after giving him some Calpol, he has now fallen asleep next to me whilst holding his milk.

I let him play with my tablet-laptop earlier, and he had a great time using the stylus-pen to draw all over the screen in MSPaint.

The image to the left is the result...... I think it would look good in the Tate gallery if you ask me. I had no idea my son was so expressive!!!!!!

Name change...

Stuart Wilson's World O' Wonders has now become....................

CAPTAINS BLOG!

Sorry, but when I found that www.captains-blog.co.uk was available to purchase, I just had to go for it and rename the whole blog!

(For those of you who don't know, I like Star Trek, and Captains Blog of course is an alternative to the Captains Log). I was thinking about calling it Captain Slog, but then I thought some people might not get it!!!!!!!!!

6,629,751,995 + 1

I'd like to use this opportunity to congratulate my friends Peter, and Gemma on the birth of their daughter Amy Gemma Longley, who was born last night (5th July 2006) weighing at a healthy 8lb 3oz.

At this moment, the earths current population now totals at 6,629,751,996

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!

Space... The Final Frontier

Last night, at 19.38pm (British Summer Time), the Discovery Space Shuttle took off! Why am I bothering to mention this on my blog? Well, I think its a very exciting moment when a shuttle in launched into space, and I made sure to watch it live on NASA TV.

Unfortunatly, people just don't seem too bothered about it anymore. Too many people think its a waste of money, and totally pointless. I think the excitement of space exploration dulled a bit when man landed on the moon in 1969 and people realised it wasnt the exciting place everyone had been hoping for. The public just don't seem to see the bigger picture. Space Exploration is essential, and must continue for the sake of humankind. What was once science-fiction is now science-fact and I for one hope that NASA and the various other space organisations around the world continue to boldly go.

The Discovery launch yesterday was only the second shuttle launch since the Columbia tragedy in 2003. Challenger and Columbia were both tragic accidents, and whats even more tragic is that if you ask anyone to name just one crew member from both missions, they haven't a clue. They are more likely to know the full names of the current England football squad.... how sad!!!

: - Challenger --- Mike Smith, Dick Scobee, Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, and Judith Resnik

: - Columbia --- Rick Husband,William McCool,Michael Anderson,David Brown,Kalpana Chawla,Laurel Blair Salton Clark and Ilan Ramon

These people should never be forgotten for their bravery, and their commitment to space exploration. These people are legends and with every launch of a shuttle, their memories live on and will continue to do so. If it wasn't for people like them who are paving the way for the future of humankind, we'd all be stuck here on Earth, perhaps just sitting waiting for an asteroid or meteor to come crashing down and wiping us all out!!!

Having a slightly stressful day today.

Its been one of the hottest days of the year so far, and I've really suffered with my hayfever. Infact, its been so bad I haven't been able to leave the house. I hate the summer - I've always been an autumn/winter person. Bring on the cold days and early dark nights

Michelle is currently out at the moment doing a disco with her step-day while I stay at home with Kieran. All was fine until about 15 minutes after Michelle left, Kieran needed his bum changed.... Took nappy off, wiped and cleaned, and before I had a chance to put a new nappy on, pooh (the runny variety) all over the carpet!

After watching an exciting episode of Doctor Who on the telly tonight, and taking Kieran upstairs to bed, I am now watching Stephen Kings The Stand. I haven't watched this ever since it was first shown in the UK during the mid 90's on Sky TV. I do love a good apocolyptic story, with death and destruction, and as the back of the DVD states - 1% of the world population survive a plague - it can't get much more apocolyptic than that!!!

GOOD NEWS -- England are out of the world cup!! Actually, as I can't stand football, I couldn't really care less whether my country got through or not. What amuses me is seeing grown men cry and get all upset over such a silly game. I mean, I had the windows to my house open, and all I could hear was them sobbing, and shouting... I said it before, and I will say it again - GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!