Basildon... Chav central....

We decided to pop down to my old home in Laindon for a few days this week (We came on Sunday and are returning home to Evesham tomorrow), and although we've had a nice break, I would just like to say how arrogant, and horrible some of the people from the area have become.

To those of you who have pissed me off (and especially that silly brat who decided to call Kieran a c**t for no apparent reason while her mum (a typical essex single Mum in her tracksuit, talking on her mobile) just ignored the whole thing...... UP YOURS!!.

And why is it that Basildon is so full of scenes like this.......

Has Basildon become the Chav capital of Great Britain since I moved away in 2002?

Can't wait to go home now back to the country!

Note to Dan *** Sorry mate that we couldn't meet up while we were down visiting. I did try ringing your phone a few times, but I couldn't get through.

Uh oh.. Rant time....

I'm in a bad mood at the moment. I feel like having a rant today...........

One thing about working in a school is having to work with lots of highly qualified, professional people who have degrees, and all sorts of higher education qualifications that most of us wont have unless you have been to university, or something like that.....

.... So why is it that some of these 'professionals' have little or no computer knowledge whatsoever. I'm talking about a teacher who has to ring for technical assistance because they can't start their computer only to find that it just isn't plugged in at the mains, or a teacher who can't log on to the internet because he is trying to log on using the wrong username (even though they have been using the same username for the past couple of years).

I've come to the conclusion that all teachers should now have some sort of basic IT training because even though they may have the degrees, and the certificates to prove that they can teach, they simply can not work the simple things, which I hate to say, can be done by almost anybody these days. Come on..... this is the 21st century - todays children are tomorrow's workers. Most will end up working in an environment which requires them to have some sort of contact with computers and technology. How will they be able to do that when the people who teach them can not even switch on a computer, or even copy and paste a file in Windows.

I taught myself everything I know about computers, from the first day I touched a computer in the early 1980's to today ; How to build them, how to program them, to develop and code a website using HTML, programming (Visual Basic and other languages), networking, 3d CGI graphics, video and audio editing. I never went to university after school (simply because I just couldnt afford it). Not wanting to sound big-headed, but I know more about computers than anybody in the school where I work, and yet because I lack that piece of paper saying that I have a degree, I end up not being able to earn as much as someone who say has got a higher qualification. Why should I have to pay just to do an adult course (ie Open University), so that I can learn stuff that I already know. The wage divide between University graduates and 'common' school leavers like myself is discrimination - having a degree doesnt necessarily mean that that person is better at a particular job.

I'm constantly told at school by the teachers that I would make a really good IT teacher. Unfortunatly without a degree, that'll never happen. Fair enough, I could never teach a subject like Modern Languages, Maths, or English without having to study those subjects at a greater level than those I did at school, but my experience, and knowledge far surpasses a lot of the teachers at my school in regards to computers.

Personal experience and development will always beat qualifications.

Rant over....

Vocalist Wanted......

Opps, I was meant to include this in my last post but I forgot....

I thought all of my visitors (well, all one or two of them) might like to listen to an early version of a song that I am working on. I've titled it simply 'Dreams', and I think it would sound great with some lyrics and some awesome vocals and chords, but I guess that will never happen.

Hey, I suppose I could always sing on it.....

......Ok, maybe not.

Anyway, CLICK HERE to enjoy Dreams

'Running Up That Hill'

As part of my 'Get Fit & Healthy' regime, I've just been out for a run up a nearby hill here in Evesham called Bredon Hill. 4.08 miles of gruelling climbing and muddy terrain!

Do I feel better for it...... I'll tell you when I've had a bath and a long rest!!!

Click on the images for a bigger, more detailed view of the route.

MAME CABINET UPDATE

Haven't had too much time lately to work on it. The existing cabling for the joystick and buttons was a bit shabby, (two actually came loose from the circuit board) so we've re-soldered the wires and it should be much better now with less of a chance for the wires to come loose again.

MAME Part 2

Apologies for the lack of posts lately - mostly due to stress and stuff!! I just wanted to post and update regarding the MAME cabinet that we are working on at the school. We've already taken the whole thing to pieces and started to update the whole thing. So far we have done :-

- New motherboard (Pentium 4 2.6Ghz with 512Mb)
- Replaced the old monitor with a newer Dell model
- Spray painted the front of the monitor black.
- Tidied the cabling and wires inside the cabinet.
- Installed new speakers into the cabinet.
- Replaced harddrive.

We had the chance to replace the monitor with a flatscreen monitor, but in order to keep the retro 80's feel to the thing, we've kept to a traditonal CRT monitor.

Still loads to do yet, but its coming along nicely.

MAME

Christmas has come early... I've finally got myself a MAME cabinet!!!!

As many of you know, I love playing retro games, and one of the many emulators that I use is MAME, which allows users to play classic original arcade games on a modern PC. It has always been a dream of mine to build one myself one day.

Anyway, during the school sumer holiday, I got chatting with an electrician who was doing some work for the school. He said that he had built his own arcade cabinet and that he would bring it in one day for me to see....

Today he popped in to show me it - To say I was shocked when he said "Do you want it" is an understatement. I mean, I was prepared to give him some money for it, but he just said that he wanted to get rid of it because it was using up too much space in his house. He insisted that I just take it.

So now I am the proud owner of a custom made MAME cabinet complete with original arcade joystick and buttons (and about 13gb of arcade roms.... ssshhhhhhhh)!!!

It even has a beer glass mark on the top!!! Just like an authentic arcade machine!!!

It needs a little work done to it, so I have left it at the school so that me and the ICT technician can improve it during lunchtimes and after work, but it works really well. Its basically an old motherboard with 512mb onboard and an old AMD Athlon XP 2500+ processor stuck to the base of the cabinet which is made from MDF. An old CRT monitor has been placed into a slot to hold it in place, and it has had an old pair of speakers disassembled and stuck to the sides for sound. A bracket supports the harddrive to the side of the cabinet which has a very basic Windows XP operating system installed. The whole thing is set to autorun MAME32 on startup, although it it quite capable to play other emulators. A Nintendo64 emulator is also included on the drive, so it'll be great to play Mario 64 arcade style!!!!!!

I'm sooooooooooooooo happy!!

I can't wait for Monday now - then I can play Commando, Paperboy, Pac-Mania, Buggy Boy, Chase HQ and all of those other great games that I spent so much money on down at Southend Seafront during my childhood!