richorama :: blog

Marrakech

2012-02-14T15:19:00.000Z

On a recent business trip to Marrakech I had the fortune to have a guided tour to the centre of town (after going straight to the guide's mate's rug shop).

Dartmouth Regatta

2011-08-27T11:59:00.002+01:00

I spent two days racing a Farr 45 to launch two10 degrees, the new consultancy I'm working for. It was fast paced, and exhausting stuff. The team work was inspiring, there were 12 of us crewing the boat, part professional, part 'never been on a boat before', but there are no passengers on a boat like this, so everyone had a part to play.

View the photos here

Uncle Arthur's

2011-08-27T11:52:00.000+01:00

On a recent trip back to Marple, we cruised past by great uncle's old house, to see if the buyers had done anything with it.

Before:

After:

This blog isn't dead

2010-11-09T08:34:00.001Z

Whenever any blogger says "I'll promise to write more blog posts", you know that you won't see another post ever again. This blog has taken a sabbatical, mainly because most of my time is spent with my toddler, and we don't really want to put photos of him online (he can do that when he's 18 and on facebook).

In the mean time, I have been writing a technical (programming) blog over here: http://coderead.wordpress.com/

Elliot's First Year

2010-02-09T10:42:00.003Z

I can't believe a year has passed since Elliot arrived, looking back to early videos of him it's amazing to see how much he has changed and grown. His personality has really started to emerge in the last few weeks, as well as an obsession for cars and an eagerness to throw himself head-first into dangerous situations (he'll make a great snowboarder).

Here is a compilation of a few of the videos we took over his first year.

Happy birthday!

New ride-on mower, with free house

2009-11-18T20:18:00.010Z

It's not pretty, but as of now it belongs to us. Some serious work is required to improve the 1962 build, as it hasn't had much attention since then.

France Holiday

2009-09-22T21:32:00.004+01:00

This year we chose to re-live our youth, and go back to an area of France we've been to 3 times before, with the Holdsworths. This is always a dangerous thing to do, the world moves on, and the fond memories you had (of drinking giraffes of beer and eating takeaway pizza from a particular vendor) are not always fulfilled (or in this case dismally dashed) when you return years later. However, despite these setbacks we were somehow able to find ways of having fun with a pool, a load of sunshine, a couple of small people and a number local delicacies (beers).

View the album

This is why I love NewNet

2009-08-19T08:27:00.002+01:00

8:41pm

This is why I hate Tiscali

2009-08-10T19:37:00.004+01:00

8:48am

7:34pm

58kbps? I might as well be on dialup. So I'm switching to newnet, who claim not to do any traffic shaping...

run bike run bike run

2009-03-21T07:45:00.003Z

After months of training, last week Dan I did the Rendlesham Forest Challenge 2009. This was a 22k race which you do as a pair. You are allowed one bike between the two of you, but you must stay within 10m of each other. After sizing up our opposition (mostly people from running clubs) we realised that this wasn't a race we were going to win. However our 10 minute swapping strategy worked well, and we completed the course in a respectable 1hr 52min.

Homebrew

2009-03-14T09:54:00.004Z

For Christmas (after quite a lot of hint dropping) I got a homebrew kit , complete with the malt and yeast for a strong dark Belgian ale. It didn't take me long to get the brew gurgling in the airing cupboard.

After 10 days it was bottled, and a secondary (6 week) fermentation started which gave it the flavour and fizz.

And the product of my toil is an 8% tramp killing special brew, that any Belgian monk would be proud of.

Next it's pilser...

http://www.brew-it-yourself.co.uk/

Elliot's first month

2009-02-28T10:49:00.003Z

I can't believe a month has gone by already. Elliot has put on some good weight (precisely average on the growth chart) and has settled into a bit of a routine (when it suits him).

Sadly my time off work has come to an end, so It's back to the office on Monday.

View the album

Elliot Astbury

2009-02-02T17:19:00.006Z

Elliot was born at 9:54AM on Sunday 1st February 2009 at Ipswich Hospital. He weighed 8 pounds and had a normal(ish) delivery. Mum and Baby are doing very well and are now back at home after spending the night in the Hospital.

View the album

GRIM 2008

2008-12-10T20:39:00.004Z

After completing the GRIM challenge last year, I talked my brother-in-law Joe into doing it this year. Accompanied by Heather's personal trainer (Nik) we ran round the 8 mile course of mud and deep ice covered lakes with the 1900 other mad people. It was fun, and I beat last year's time (1 hour 19 minutes 47 seconds). What's next? A 20k race in Rendlesham forest where teams of two have to share one bike, but you have to stay within 10m of each other. Dan and I are tackling it in March 2009. Can't wait.

View the album

Back online

2008-12-10T20:28:00.003Z

After a few months of upheaval (new jobs, house move, imminent baby) we are finally settled (well almost). We're sitting out the credit crunch in a rented house, which is a stone's throw from both sets of parents in Woodbridge. Perfect.

Sri Lanka

2008-08-10T09:21:00.002+01:00

Clare and I just got back from an awesome two weeks in Sri Lanka (via Dubai). We stayed with Jan and Lesley (who arranged most of our trip, and really looked after us - thank you!). Also, a big thanks to Mr B.C. who drove us around the country and acted as our guide, utilising many of his special 'BC shortcuts'. We stayed on a tea plantation, watched 70 elephants bathing in a river, went to a turtle sanctuary, stayed in a 'eco hotel' in the jungle, chilled on the beach, body-boarded and drank a lot of tea.

All in all (despite some illness) we had a great time, and can't wait to go back. Didn't think all that much of Dubai though...

View the album

Bun in Oven

2008-07-21T07:56:00.003+01:00

Cooking for 9 months at 200 degrees, it should be ready by Feb 2009.

Graduation

2008-07-21T07:40:00.002+01:00

Clare became a member of the elite group of Warwick University graduates last week, she also swore the Declaration of Geneva, making her a proper doctor. Since she started studying for medicine almost diectly after we got married, we never got the chance to have a honeymoon, so we're off to Sri Lanka for a much needed break, 4 years late.

View the album

France

2008-07-08T21:38:00.002+01:00

We just got back from a week long break in the Loire Valley with Mum & Dad and the Tal-bots (Astburys in Disguise). It was to celebrate my father's 60th birthday this year, so we stayed in a huge chateau as a treat. We had a great time, and it was thoroughly relaxing. The highlights of the week were a great meal out on the last night, and the polar bears in the local zoo.

View the Album

Doctor doctor...

2008-06-03T20:56:00.002+01:00

My medically minded wife (pictured) has successfully passed her final exams and is now, albeit short of saying the Geneva declaration, a doctor! Well done to Clare, she's worked hard for 4 years, and passing came as a great relief. To celebrate the end of this era we went to an excellent medical ball, and had a surprise barbecue at our house on Saturday.

Sadly its not all good news, as the health of my camera has deteriorated. Now all my photos look like the above image. Although many would argue that the artistic quality of the shots have improved, the subject matter I feel is slightly obscured. However, a new Ixus has just arrived, so you'll all be enjoying 7 megapixel masterpieces shortly.

Nice new house on the the market

2008-05-29T11:27:00.001+01:00

Let's hope it sells...

View the details

Raiders of the Lost Bungalow

2008-04-21T21:00:00.003+01:00

On Friday we went up to Manchester to Great Uncle Arthur's (GUA) bungalow. GUA is eccentric, and definitely a favourite great uncle, but sadly he's moving into a retirement home - so many of the family heirlooms (and much else) have to go. With Great Auntie Astrid (GAA) we went through many of the memories, and photos of past Astburys. GUA is a great collector, and has assembled a museum's worth of ornaments. Who knows if there is something priceless amongst the collection of unidentifiable relics? We took away a few artefacts which have been passed down the family, including a 200 year old solid oak dining table, and a rather dodgy statue of the Duke of Wellington.

Stepping into GUA's bungalow was like teleporting back in time 50 years. With the exception of a kettle and microwave, there was nothing modern. I kind of liked the place, from the ornament-lined windows you could see rolling hills of peaceful countryside. It must have been an inspiration to the enormous amount of writing he did over the years. I aspire to one day be just as eccentric. All I need are some great nephews and nieces.

View the Album

Disney, Daytona and Dunkin Donuts

2008-03-02T19:42:00.003Z

I spent last week in meetings in Orlando, so Clare came along to catch some winter sun, revise and eat steak. We spent our first day in the Magic Kingdom, where it was drummed into us that if we believe, our dreams will come true. If my dreams came true, Earth would be invaded by giant warmongering robots from another planet, so let's hope there are some exceptions to Disney's claim.

On the last day we (along with my work colleagues) took our 3.5 litre monster SUV up to Daytona Beach, just in time to catch 'Bike Week'. This was an interesting assortment of large beardy men riding high-powered choppers and Harleys up and down 'Main Street' with scantily clad young women trying to sell them beer. Needless to say, fun was had by all.

Thanks goes to my parents for looking after young Morris for the week we were away. I think he misses his doting grandparents already.

View the album

Grandpa

2008-02-09T08:43:00.000Z

On Thursday it was Grandpa's funeral, a very sad occasion, we'll all miss him. He filled his 90 years of life with learning, engineering, humour, interesting anecdotes, and giving his grandson rides on his back (when I was small anyway). I hope by the time I die, I can achieve just a handful of the things he did.

How big are your carbon feet?

2008-01-31T21:03:00.000Z

Carbon footprints are all the rage these days, so I decided to calculate mine using the Act on CO2 website provided by the government. Its a nice site, and I recommend you have a go. I was astounded to find that our household footprint is over 22 tonnes - maybe I should change a few light bulbs. How does yours compare?

http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/

Board stupid

2008-01-31T21:00:00.000Z

Long time, no posts - I've been too busy snowboarding with Al and EJ (as pictured above).

View the Album

GRIM Challenge 2007

2007-12-03T22:09:00.000Z

On Saturday I successfully completed the GRIM Challenge, an 8 mile off-road race over a vehicle testing ground used by the British Army. It was wet, really wet, and on several occasions I was waist deep in cold muddy water. Surprisingly though - it was really fun - and I can't wait to do it again - well I can wait until my joints have stopped hurting. There were 1560 people running on the same day, I came 705th, with a time of 1 hour 21 minutes - which I was very pleased with. Many thanks to all of my supporters (including those who couldn't make it). I'm trying to decide what to do next, a marathon or Mont Blanc?

View the Album

Brussels

2007-11-22T22:01:00.000Z

Clare and I just spent a long and very cold weekend in Brussels with Kev and Suzanne. We had a great time eating exotic uncooked meats, drinking rather nice beer and sampling the sights and sounds of the city. We headed over to Bruges for a day trip, although the highlight was taking part in a debate in the European Parliament - yawn.

View the album

Book review: Frankenstein

2007-11-11T21:34:00.000Z

I don't normally do book reviews, partly because I'm a really slow reader, but this book surprised me so I thought I'd write something about it. I was expecting to read about the green monster complete with bolt through neck, brought to life with electricity. However, none of these elements exist in the original book. Instead it's a sad story describing how Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with a scientific experiment to create a life form. The result of which is a polite, well meaning and rather pleasant being with an unfortunate appearance, so disgusting that his creator abandons him without giving him a name. A series of rejections, and the refusal of Frankenstein to create a partner for the monster forces his creation to seek revenge, and to destroy Frankenstein's life. The story is really more about how the scientist attempts to make good his tragic experiment, rather than the trail of destruction left by the monster. At times the book's linear path begins to drag, but it was written by a 19 year old girl in 1818 so I guess I can forgive that!

6 Months Left...

2007-11-11T21:14:00.000Z

There are now only 6 months left until Clare sits her final medical exams, so the long slog of revising started today with the creation of the 'revision plan'. This mass of paperwork has been stuck to the wall to assist in the planning of time, and to record the coverage of each topic. I'm not sure I quite understand it, but hopefully Clare will by the end of May.

Richard is doing his part by cooking and baking some delicious food. Sadly yesterday's apple pie was not a shining example - bit too much butter in the pastry :¬[

Esbjörn Svensson Trio Live

2007-10-30T12:16:00.000Z

Last week Clare and I went to Warwick Arts Centre to watch E.S.T. play live. The Swedish three piece played an awesome jazz set, I particularly like the way they mixed traditional grand piano, double bass and drums with modern effects units, such as delay, overdrive and phaser, to achieve some brilliant 'soundscapes' (for want of a less poncy word).

Anyway, the video above is from another concert, but if you get the chance to see them live, I recommend it.

http://www.myspace.com/esbjornsvenssontrio

Holidays

2007-08-28T20:47:00.000+01:00

Clare and I had a two-stage holiday this year, starting with 5 days by Lake Garda in northern Italy.

View the Lake Garda album

We then spent a week by the Coast in Wales, with Heather, Joe, Steve and Kim. The holiday involved the usual rounds of 'Ring of Fire', with a vocal accompaniment on the Sing-Star (my singing skills, whilst very entertaining, do not seem to score many points - I need to have a word with Sony about their customer acceptance testing). We also did some walking, went into a dragon infested cave and sat on the beach. Awesome.

View the Wales album

Whilst in Wales, Heather and Joe treated Clare and I to an afternoon of mountain boarding, as part of a 30th birthday present. It was excellent, and surprisingly easy to pick up. Sadly confidence got the better of me and it didn't take me long to sprain an ankle. It didn't stop me though - can't wait to have another go. Here's a video montage of our boarding skills:

BBC iPlayer

2007-08-05T21:23:00.000+01:00

I have been trialling the new BBC iPlayer (beta) service. The basic concept is that you can download programmes up to 7 days after they are broadcast, you then have 28 days to watch them before they expire. This is the perfect thing for me, as I'm stuck on a train for two hours a day with nothing to do, and in the evenings I'm normally busy.

I have to say, I've been quite impressed. The files download quite quickly, the quality is almost as good as broadcast TV and the application doesn't take over your computer (like the channel 4 on-demand service).

However, there are some short-comings, firstly the lack of content. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the TopGear Arctic special, there haven't been that many programmes that have caught my attention. Secondly; it's a bit complicated. You have two usernames and passwords, you use a website to browse the programmes, and an windows application to download them. Thirdly, the service needs some features like 'subscribe to this series' or 'favourites' to make it easier to find the programmes you want. This is only a beta, so I'm sure things will improve, but it's a great first step towards a far more preferable way to watch TV.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayerbeta/

Draycote to Rugby

2007-08-05T21:17:00.000+01:00

To celebrate the only sunny day of the year (well that's what it feels like anyway) Clare and I cycled from Draycote Water to Rugby, stopping in at the walkabout pub for a much needed Australian beer.

View the album

Warwick castle with the Laughlins

2007-08-05T20:54:00.000+01:00

Richard, Claire and the girls came to visit for the day, so we went to Warwick castle to take in some medieval action including dungeons, sword fighting, a giant trebuchet and ice creams. For certain younger members of our party, the main attraction was a giant mirror into which funny faces could be displayed at great amusement.

View the album

Godiva festival

2007-07-15T23:13:00.000+01:00

Kev and Suzanne visited us for the weekend, so after a quick BBQ we headed off to the Godiva festival in Coventry. It was a free concert, with the Super Furry Animals headlining (who were excellent and weird as ever). However, the show was stolen by the support band, and Coventry locals 'The Enemy'. Amazingly the weather held out and we were treated to a great sunset, I can't say the same for our long walk on Sunday afternoon.

London maps

2007-07-10T13:06:00.000+01:00

LondonTown.com have added a nice map to their website.

It has the tube stops and lines marked on, as well as some landmarks. You can also pan it around in the google maps style. Nice. It only covers central London, and is really geared towards hotels, but I think it's worth using to plan a trip!

View the website

Drayton Manor Park

2007-07-08T21:33:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we decided to make ourselves feel dizzy and sick by going to Drayton Manor Park. The highlight of the day was 'shockwave', the UK's only 'stand up' roller coaster. It was one of those strange experiences where you think: 'why on earth did I agree to go on this ride' whilst you're slowly climbing up the first slope. For the rest of the ride you realise it was in-fact the most stupid mistake of your life. But by the time you get off, you think its brilliant and can't wait to get on again.

View the album

REZ style game in flash

2007-07-05T12:58:00.000+01:00

http://www.geocities.jp/flashgame_zone/zero.htm

It's a bit like REZ, hold down the mouse button and move the cursor over the targets to get a lock on them. Press the space bar to fire and say goodbye to your Friday afternoons.

MUSE at Wembley

2007-06-18T12:25:00.000+01:00

Last night Clare and I went to see Muse play Wembley. Arriving just as 'My Chemical Romance' finished their last song (perfect timing!) we waited we waited for Muse, whilst admiring the stadium's civil engineering, listening to Pendulum on the sound system (a good omen). With a dramatic opening, straight into 'Knights of Cydonia', they delivered a two hour set of their usual heavy riffs, over the top guitar solos and rock showmanship. With a light show which became progressively more jaw dropping, including ballerinas suspended from large helium balloons, swivelling satellite dishes and plenty of fire and smoke, we weren't disappointed. Such performances surely secure Muse as the greatest band in the UK/World/Universe? I think they are pretty good anyway.

First medical article

2007-06-11T21:56:00.000+01:00

Clare just had her first article published, a letter to the Rural and Remote Health Journal - yey! You can read it here.

In other news, the Neufelds have gone back to Canada - boo. And the Talbots (Astburys in disguise) have returned from Cameroon - yey!

30 years old, and still looking good.

2007-05-13T20:28:00.000+01:00

What an excellent birthday! Clare took me on a mystery journey, which involved driving, walking, the train and the tube, and ended up at the London Eye (I've never been on it before!). As soon as we arrived we bumped into my Mum and Dad, Clare's Mum and Dad, Kev, Suzanne, Rich, Claire and the girls (amazing coincidence?). So we took a trip on the big wheel, saw lots of good views, and had a great time.

We then stopped by the Tate Modern, and wandered up to Belgo's in Covent Garden for a bite to eat. When being shown to our table I recognised Josh sitting on the end of it. It then slowly dawned on me that the whole table was filled with 26 of my friends, some of which I've not seen in years. I was overcome! We had some excellent muscles and Belgian beer, and continued the party later at the Porter House.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and most of all to Clare, who has been scheming and plotting behind my back for months! I should really change my gmail password...

View the photo album

Castle run video

2007-05-02T21:32:00.000+01:00

Josh shot some video while I was doing the castle run, and compiled it into this excellent movie.

There are also some photos here.

Thanks Josh.

Australia

2007-04-28T06:50:00.000+01:00

Clare flew out to Australia in March to do her medical elective. For those of you unfamiliar with medicine, it seems that part of the course involves jetting off to some exotic location to relax on a beach, drink a few cocktails, and occasionally pop into the local hospital.

I joined Clare at the start of April, and we spent three weeks working our way down the east coast, from Cape Tribulation to Sydney, with a few stops in-between. I was amazed out how diverse Australia is. Having been educated in the culture by watching 'Crocdile Dundee' and 'Neighbours' I had always assumed that the country was a dusty, arid place with a housing estate in one corner. In fact we found rain forests, miles of beach, coral reefs, modern cities, extremely friendly people, perfect weather, and abundent wildlife. I highly recommend a visit, and I can't wait to go back.

We took 850 photos in total, there are a small selection in the following web albums:

Newcastle
The Blue Mountains
Port Stephens
Armidale
Melbourne
Cairns
Cape Tribulation
Magentic Island
Fraser Island
Noosa
Sydney

Things to do before you're 30: Task 6 COMPLETE

2007-04-28T06:31:00.000+01:00

The final task to achieve before turning 30 was to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. As you can see from the above photo, I did it (thanks to the sponsership from my parents as an advanced birthday preset). All I need to do now is wait two weeks and complete the greatest challenge of them all: becoming 30 - argh...

[yes I know it's a terrible photo, but they made us do the pose before letting us off the bridge]

Things to do before you're 30: Task 5 COMPLETE

2007-04-01T00:23:00.000+01:00

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to achieve this one. For the last couple of days I have been feeling under the weather, with a sore throat etc... and I couldn't do the training schedule I had planned. I decided I would give it a go anyhow, so I eased off from Kenilworth Castle at about 4pm on Saturday. Josh accompanied me, taking photos and videos, and being generally encouraging. I also had my secret weapon, the Radio 1 essential mix by Pendulum playing on my MP3 player.

So I arrived at Warwick castle sooner than I thought, it took me 45 minutes and 40 seconds, and I'll be honest, I could have gone further. Bring on the next challenge!

Photos and videos to come...

Suits you sir...

2007-03-26T22:09:00.000+01:00

I don't think the large number of gadgets do him any favours, but you can't knock the originality.

Things to do before you're 30: Task 5

2007-03-19T22:45:00.000Z

There's not been much blogging recently due to Clare being in Australia with the digital camera, and me being at home with two dogs (and not much to do).

However, the clock counting down the days 'til I'm 30 has not stopped ticking, and for March's task I have decided to run between Kenilworth Castle and Warwick Castle. I'm not a particularly athletic person, and I have never been all that good at running, so this is quite a tough challenge. The route is 5.4 miles long according to google, and I think I can do it in under an hour.

All I need is a pace car (well someone to take some photos and give me a lift back). Any volunteers? The day I run will depend on the weather (I don't like rain).

View the route

Smoking pipes

2007-03-02T10:20:00.000Z

Yahoo recently launched 'pipes' (beta). What on earth are yahoo pipes? - well it's quite a cool internet based application which allows you to 'mash' the web. Which basically means that you can do clever things with RSS feeds to mix together content from different websites. I wasn't really all that excited about pipes when I first read about it. I've never seen a 'web mash up' which has been either interesting or useful. So pipes, although having a very impressive user interface, seemed like a bit of a waste of time.

That was until I was driving home last night, stuck in traffic, and I thought - I wonder if I could use pipes to give me traffic information for my daily commute? I drive through Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, and use the A46 and M40. The BBC traffic RSS feeds are organised by county, and just display all the roads affected. So I created a pipe that searches for traffic problems on the roads I use, for the counties I drive through. It outputs a single RSS feed, which I can add to my google desktop homepage. I know, I know - I'm cool.

Preview my pipe

Things to do before you're 30: Task 4 COMPLETE

2007-02-25T12:41:00.000Z

As previously mentioned, task four of my 'things to do before you're 30' was to spend a maximum of £5 on an outfit to wear at Jake's house warming party. I had a good look around Kenilworth charity shops on Saturday afternoon, and I was struggling to find clothes cheap enough. That was until I stepped into the 'Cat's Protection League'. I knew I had struck gold when I saw a perfect pair of brown cords (every charity shop's flagship product) for £2. After trying on a few different tops, I settled on a long sleeve t-shirt for just £1.50. That left me a whole £1.50 under budget, so I decided to accessorise. I found a fantastic scarf and belt for just 50 pence each, the perfect additions to my great new look. So I went to the party in my £4.50 outfit, and nobody said a word. Task four accomplished.

Silverstone

2007-02-24T09:59:00.000Z

Yesterday Dad and I went to Silverstone to race Lotus Exiges around the southern part of the grand prix circuit. It was a wet and windy day, but it didn't stop us from having a great time. We did two sets of 4 or 5 laps with an instructor telling us how to get the most out of the car. We then swapped seats, and the instructor took us around for a lap each. He was rather quick. I now really really want a Lotus. My 30th birthday is coming up!

View the album

Things to do before you're 30: Task 4

2007-02-20T09:13:00.000Z

I have based the February task on one of Joe's ideas. The plan is to go to Jake's house warming party on Saturday wearing only clothes that I have purchased from charity shops using a very limited budget. So the question is: What should the budget be? Should the budget extend to cover shoes and underwear? Should I look for a particular theme of clothing? I'll be shopping on Saturday, so if you have some ideas, add a comment!

Livin' La Vida Loca

2007-02-05T19:18:00.000Z

I'm currently living the 'crazy life' working in Spain for a month, travelling back home at the weekends. However last weekend Clare came out to visit, and we spent a couple of days wandering around Madrid, eating lots of bad food and having a few cervezas. Scorchio!

View the album

Things to do before you're 30: Task 3 almost COMPLETE

2007-01-22T22:17:00.000Z

So at the weekend Dan and I attempted the 3rd of my 'tasks to do before I'm 30' (going down the deepest cave, and up the highest mountain in England). Well we didn't get all the way down to the bottom of Peak Cavern, and we didn't get all the way to the top of Scafell Pike (it was snowing, and we were tired from doing a bonus climb up Mam Tor - and we did get very close - and we didn't really get enough time - and to get to the bottom of the cavern you need scuba gear).

But we had a great weekend, and certainly achieved the spirit of the task if not the physical displacement. Rather annoyingly my camera ran out of batteries, so I wasn't able to capture the blizzard conditions in the lakes, but for a close approximation watch the begining of 'Empire Strikes Back'.

I've not decided on the precise nature of the next challenge, I'll keep you posted.

I'm in Madrid now (well a suburb nearby) for a month, although I'm home at the weekends!

View the album

Admiral Morris

2007-01-01T22:33:00.000Z

Inspired by a series of Dog Portraits by Thierry Poncelet I decided to paint morris dressed as a 18th Century admiral. The result is a 1m x 1m portrait painted with acrylics (and white emulsion) on canvas. I'm quite pleased with the result as it is the most ambitious painting I have attempted.

=

+

Can you spot the obvious mistake?

PS - happy new year.

Things to do before you're 30: Task 2 COMPLETE

2006-12-31T01:24:00.000Z

The December 'thing to do before you're 30' was to make a short video with Morris (thanks for the suggestion Josh). You can see the result below! Unfortunately Morris had an accident with a barbed wire fence, so we weren't able to complete filming. His condition is improving, after having had a few stitches at the vet.

The January challenge is to go down the deepest cave and up the highest mountain in England in a weekend (as well as stopping off at a youth hostel and a having a few pints in the local) so if you want to come along come along, you're very welcome.

Weekend in Wales

2006-12-11T22:02:00.000Z

We spent last weekend in Wales, which was great fun. We climbed a mountain, saw a lot of sheep, and got very wet - just a typical day in North Wales. It started to snow at the top of the mountain (Cadair Idris) so we took shelter in a small hut, which was filled with men offering us tea from thermos flasks. We politely declined after being made to feel rather poorly equipped:

"Don't you have any gloves?"

And no, that's not my dressing gown.

View the album

Things to do before you're 30: Task 1 COMPLETE

2006-11-29T22:22:00.000Z

In the middle of Tuesday night, under the cover of darkness, I ran all the way around Kenilworth castle in nothing but my pants (and a hat, and a pair of trainers - which I think is allowed as it's a harsh winter night). I decided to take Morris for support (he would be running virtually naked as well). I also thought that if anyone approached us we could both bark at them, which should keep any weirdos at bay.

Fortunately nobody saw me until right at the end, when I was stopped in my tracks by a pair of bright headlights beaming directly at me. I hurriedly got into the car, so Clare could drive us away at high speed (after she'd taken a few photos and laughed a lot).

So there you go, I am eagerly anticipating a nice cheesecake promised by Clare, and I'm already thinking about December's task: to make a short film with morris.

Craggz and Parallel Forces

2006-11-21T12:24:00.000Z

There's a great video of Craggz and Parallel Forces playing a live session at Maida Vale on the 1Xtra website. It's worth a watch just to see The Jungle Drummer in action.

Watch here

Like Lambs to the (Lower) Slaughter

2006-11-20T21:47:00.000Z

On Sunday we took a trip to Lower Slaughter, a pleasant Gloucestershire village. We had a quick walk, pub lunch, and then looked around Cheltenham. lovely.

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Things to do before you're 30

2006-11-12T19:38:00.000Z

So today I am 29.5, which means there are exactly 6 months left before ~~the world ends~~ I turn 30. So to keep my mind from this tragedy, I am going to undertake some crazy challenges. If you have any ideas for what I should do before the 2nd half of my life starts, then comment below. I will take the 6 most interesting (amusing), and attempt to do one per month, documenting my progress on this blog.

It's not like the old days...

2006-11-12T19:26:00.000Z

Nick, Heather and Oli came to stay for the weekend, so we took the opportunity to visit our old student haunts at Warwick Uni. We had a great time (as you can see from the photos) but we can't help but think that it's not like the old days. You see, back when we were students...

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Blood Donor Online Launch

2006-11-10T09:04:00.000Z

The National Blood Service has launched Blood Donor Online, a portal for blood donors to book appointments, change their details, look up medical and travel information related to blood donation, view their donation history etc. etc... This is of particular interest to me, as I worked on it while I was at the NBS, so it's good to see that some of my work has gone live to the public.

Congratualations to Mr Cook and the rest of the team for completing an ambitious and hopefully very successful project. If only I could remember by Government Gateway username, I would log in!

Fireworks

2006-11-06T22:28:00.000Z

Jake, Emy, a couple of their friends and I went to the fireworks display at Kenilworth Castle on Saturday (Clare was at home with Morris, who was cowering in the corner). As usual it was a good display, despite some weird Winnie-the-pooh music in the middle, and was a welcome break from wallpapering the bathroom.

Avvenu heard of it?

2006-10-25T17:50:00.000+01:00

I have been trying out a new service recently called Avvenu. It's quite cool, you install a small program which sits in your system tray, that then enables you to access (and share) all the files on your computer via the web. It bypasses problems like firewalls and handles image and music files quite nicely. You can also download entire folders at a time as a ZIP file. Security is one concern, and I don't personally leave it running on any of my PCs (you can include up to 4 computers) if I don't need it. I have even accessed my computer via my WAP enabled phone, although I can't think of a single reason why I would actually want to do that. The basic service is free, they make their money by offering a premium service which allows you to save files on their web space, enabling access while your computer is offline. I've been quite impressed by the service (as you may be able to tell). It's ideal for people who want to share files between several machines without the fuss of firewalls and creating shared folders etc. etc... My only concern is that it encourages people to leave their computers on all the time - just think about the carbon emissions!

Scrapheap Challenge

2006-10-15T19:53:00.000+01:00

Saturday was bad car day, as Josh had some major car issues after someone drove into his car at 3:30am and then drove off. So we went down to Leamington Police Station to make a report. After that we went to a car wreckers to look for a windscreen wiper. Would you believe that some yobbs snapped the wiper off Clare's car one night last week? What has Kenilworth become? Do these people not know they are building a Waitrose here? Anyway, having never been to a car wreckers before, it was quite an interesting experience. A note for next time, bring a pair of wellies and tool kit, because you have to wade through large amounts of mud before you can take apart the car parts you need. Anyway, the mission was successful, and Clare's car wipes again.

The Future of UI?

2006-10-13T15:46:00.000+01:00

Just watched this video on some research into a 'hands on' way of interacting with computers. It's very 'Minority Report', and a welcome break from the boring keyboard and mouse.

I'm sure it'll be years and years before anything like this makes it to the market place - but one day, perhaps computers will be easy to use.

B&Q start selling wind turbines

2006-09-29T09:18:00.000+01:00

So B&Q have started selling windsave wind turbines on their website and in the their larger stores. They cost £1,500 which includes a survey and fitting. You can't buy for self install. Their claims about money saving seem quite high, I'm not convinced that everyone will see their money back before the end of the turbine's 10 year life.

However I think this is a great move, and I'm sure the price of turbines will drop, when some more competition move into the marketplace, so the payback period will improve in the future. I think the law also needs to change to relax planning permission, allowing turbines like these to be bought like any other appliance, with 'Do it Youself' fitting (something I'm sure B&Q would welcome!)

Personally I'd like to open a small wind farm with some much bigger turbines, but sadly I lack the space. Perhaps I'll put some in the local park instead. It's either that or a domestic nuclear power station.

Wind turbine on B&Q

richorama :: music

2006-09-27T10:02:00.000+01:00

In my spare time I produce music on my computer. I thought I would publish some of my recent compositions as a separate blog for you to listen to and download if you're interested. It's mainly drum 'n' bass (so don't worry - I don't sing!) produced using Reason 2.5. I'm no professional, so if you have any tips - let me know. I'm also interested in obtaining more sounds and influences, so if you play an instrument send me some samples!

richorama :: music

An app a day

2006-09-26T16:59:00.000+01:00

Some fella called Dana Hanna has decided to write an application (computer program) every day for 30 days. Ok - so they're not all that useful, in fact they're not useful at all, but I take my hat off to him - some of them are quite impressive.

You can view his blog here:

http://www.anappaday.com

And download his applications here:

http://www.anappaday.com/downloads

You can also 'chat' with him to influence his ideas - perhaps by the end of the experiment he will produce something useful.

My kind of workout

2006-09-22T13:50:00.000+01:00

Clare showed me this video last night (while I was painting the sitting room). I thought it was quite good.

Peak Practice

2006-09-12T22:48:00.000+01:00

We went for a walk in the Peak District on Saturday. The weather was great and the eight mile walk, which took us up Mam Tor, was good. Needless to say, we all ached by the end of the day.

View the album

Man blows up speed camera

2006-09-06T15:30:00.000+01:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/5320092.stm

Just seen this (rather amusing) article on the BBC news site. A guy basically gets flashed by a speed camera, already has 10 points on his licence so in fear of loosing his licence, he blows the camera up with thermite.

Great plan - and I guess even though he's been found guilty of damaging property, he still retains his licence - although I think four months in jail is considerably worse.

Perhaps it's better to keep to the speed limit when you have 10 points.

New wheels

2006-09-06T09:36:00.000+01:00

The time came for Clare to have her own wheels - so last week we bought this little motor. It became apparent that the last owner had not been doing too much servicing, so I changed the air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, engine oil and even the gear box oil (unintentionally). I also removed an extra 'gary boy' tin can which made the exhaust look bigger, badder and quite stupid. Sadly not all parties considered this to be an improvement - I was stopped before I could remove any other non-standard components.

Holidays

2006-08-27T16:51:00.000+01:00

We've been on holiday for the last two weeks. We spent a few days at home going for walks (see photos) and bike rides etc. We also took a trip to Suffolk to see Hannah Laughlin our new neice and ride on Wytchcraft (see photos). We then spent a week on Mallorca (see photos).

Mallorca was very pleasent, after a small baggage mix up, we stayed in an old converted barn in the middle of the island. There were plenty of fruit trees growing on the grounds, so we had lots of fresh grapes. We took a few walks, did some sight seeing, and had plenty of pool time. We hired a Mercedes ~~SLK~~ A class with the hotel points I accumulated in Pittsburgh - so we drove around quite a lot on tiny mountain roads. Lots of fun.

Board stupid

2006-08-11T09:13:00.000+01:00

I just saw this video on YouTube. Needless to say, I was quite impressed.

I need this car

2006-08-04T13:18:00.000+01:00

Tesla Motors will soon be releasing their first car in partnership with Lotus. It goes from 0-60 in 4 seconds, reaches 130 mph and has 248 bhp. All this and it runs on batteries. One of these would seriously reduce my travelling costs (I spend around £75 a week on fuel) and would get me to work a lot quicker (well perhaps not legally). The problem is the estimated price tag of around $80,000. Never mind, perhaps I should search for a milk float on autotrader instead.

Stuck

2006-07-28T02:53:00.000+01:00

I'm stuck in Pittsburgh. My route home is via Chicago, where bad weather has grounded all flights. So my flight is delayed by three hours, which means I have now missed my transatlantic flight back home, and the BBQ that Clare and I were going to have on Friday night. I'm booked in on the next one which lands at 10:40 PM Friday (12 hours late). I guess I'm going to have a night trying to sleep on airport seating. I am so fed up.

Time Up

2006-07-27T02:05:00.000+01:00

So my time in the States has come to an end - this is my last night. I must say, I have enjoyed my stay here, people have been very friendly, there has been plenty to do and hotel living has made life very easy! I'm certainly looking forward to getting back home though, I have missed friends and family (and morris), healthy food and commercial free television. I have also missed out on all this hot weather! It had better not turn cold on my return. I think I have also built an appreciation for the vast history that Britain has. There are hardly any old buidings or landmarks here, and you don't realise how these things provide a sense of identity for British people. I'm waffling - see you all soon!

MySpace Sucks

2006-07-25T00:05:00.000+01:00

I don't like MySpace for the following reasons:

It's difficult to use, stuff just isn't laid out very well

It's full of annoying adverts

It's frequently broken or not working properly. It's just badly coded

It's ugly, and customised profiles look even worse most of the time

There isn't much functionality, for example; customising the appearance of your profile is essentially a hack, you have to use 3rd party tools to embed css in your description

It's full of annoying teenagers anyway, and has little useful content

So why is it so popular? I admit, I have a profile, I guess the answer is that it was the first. It now has so much weight behind it that I guess it's here to stay.

Personally I preferred the old days of the internet where the world only heard your opinion if you were prepared to learn HTML. This automatic entry test screened out some of the muppets who now use MySpace.

Loose Change

2006-07-24T00:16:00.000+01:00

I watched the Loose Change film on google video the other day. It puts forward an argument that the American government planned the destruction of the World Trade Center. In particular, the video shows evidence supporting claims that charges were set to bring down the buildings, and the Pentagon was hit by a military aircraft/weapon which was then covered up. These are of course outrageous claims, but after watching the video I too was swayed to believe that some sort of conspiracy may have existed. Many of these thoughts were put to rest after a bit more research. Thanks to sites such as 911Myths.com, I reaslised that the loose change film wasn't presenting all the facts. Draw your own conculsions, but I generally find the most simple explanation is the correct one.

More Pittsburgh

2006-07-18T03:52:00.000+01:00

Tonight I took the incline (a train that runs at about 45 degrees) to the top of Mount Washington to get a good view over the city. You may notice amongst my collection of photos a tall sky-scraper made mostly of glass, with lots of sharp points at the top. It belongs to the local glass company and the design was inspired by the Houses of Parliment. They seem to have missed off the big clock.

Less than two weeks until I come home now, can't say how much I'm looking forward to a nice cup of tea (and seeing my Wife).

View the Album

All-Stars in Pittsburgh

2006-07-12T21:24:00.000+01:00

It's All-Star week in Pittsburgh. Which means that the ~~richest~~ best baseball players in the world have come to town to play rounders, sign autographs and attract tourists. Clare and I escaped to 'Racoon Creek' for a peaceful hike, and looked around the Andy Warhol museum for some culture - innit.

By the way - the guys in the canoes are there to catch the odd ball that flies out of the ballpark and into the river. They can be seen paddling franticly towards such balls, and diving into the brown sludge to retrieve their prize.

View the album

Niagara Falls

2006-07-05T21:23:00.000+01:00

Clare has come to visit this week, so we watched the Pittsburgh Pirates play the Detroit Tigers (this was a baseball match) and took a road trip (long drive) up to Niagara Falls. We got back to Pittsburgh in time to celebrate America's independance from the UK - we're off to watch the fireworks right now.

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A Scanner Darkly

2006-06-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

Philip K. Dick is one of my favourite authors, so I was pleased to see that another of his books is being turned into a film. From watching the trailer they seem to have stuck closely to the original too. There are some big names involved (Keanu, Harrelson and Wiona Ryder!) and it seems to be produced entirely in a comic strip style of animation. Interesting. I read the book last year, it's funny, depressing and crazy. All the character are paranoid drug (substance D) abusers, the lead character ends up spying on himself. Can't wait to see it!

View the official site

The Pitts

2006-06-21T18:36:00.000+01:00

Well, I have arrived in Pittsburgh. I am right next door to a new conference centre, and just caught the end of a conference for people who like to dress (and behave) as animals. I saw dozens of people walking around with furry tails, and a few with little ears too. I didn't manage to photograph any, but I found a few photos on flickr.

The good things about the city are:

- The city centre is small, you can walk around the whole thing.
- There are plenty of sports to go and watch.
- There are a couple of museums.

The bad things about Pittsburgh are:

- I can't find any fresh fruit or healthy food.
- There's not much else to do other that what's listed above.
- I'm in the business district, and everywhere is shut in the evenings.

Oh well, I might try and get a car and travel. I took some photos around the area of my hotel:

View the Album

Farewell Orlando

2006-06-18T18:36:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow I am flying up to Pittsburgh, where I will remain for the rest of my stay here in the States. So today we visited the home of CO2 emissions, Kennedy Space Center. We were fortunate enough to (just about) see a shuttle on the launch pad. Walking around the Saturn V rocket was amazing. It's quite daunting to think that when it's waiting on the pad ready to launch, 91% of it's weight is rocket fuel. I wouldn't want to be strapped to the top of it.

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Islands of Adventure

2006-06-12T18:35:00.000+01:00

As a treat we visitied the Universal Studios 'Islands of Adventure' theme park today. There were loads of good rides, and I even got to meet my favourite superheros. The best rollercoaster was the Incredible Hulk. You start the ride by slowly being pulled up a slope which is completely enclosed in a tunnel, and then without warning you are shot up the slope at high speed and fired out, spun up-side down and then straight down a steep drop. You reach a top speed of 67 mph, and accelerate from 0-40 mph in 2 seconds. I was glad to get off.

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Photos of Orlando

2006-06-03T05:01:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures from around where I'm staying. I went for a walk to the local mall, and discovered that walking is not something America is designed for. I had to run across the interstate motorway, and wrestle and aligator (well I didn't actually see any 'gators but I did see an eagle).

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First Day at Work

2006-05-31T04:22:00.000+01:00

I'm sat in a cube (just like dilbert) starting my first day of work in Orlando. The flight over here was fine, but I got told off on arrival for trying to smuggle oranges into the country. I could tell that fruit wasn't allowed in the states after seeing the size of all the immigration officers! They even have a special sniffer dog to track down fruity contraband.

The weather is fantastic, I had a swim in the pool at the hotel, and went out for some great noodles with my british colleagues.

My room has internet access, so you should be able to catch me on skype after about 10PM BST (search for 'richard astbury') although I don't have a microphone yet.

I'll post some pictures up soon.

Stateside

2006-05-25T18:45:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday I'm flying out to America for two months. I'm going to be in Orlando for the first week, but after that I could be anywhere. I'll keep you posted, and will hopefully have lots of photos of me eating huge burgers and freedom fries and big gulps - mmmmm.

Pimp my Snack

2006-05-19T18:45:00.000+01:00

Marvel at the gigantic custard cream, the huge french fancy, and the enormous bourbon biscuit. Pimp my Snack is definetly worth a look at. Although i don't think you'd live long if you ate too many of these treats.

http://www.pimpmysnack.com

The gallery is the best way of viewing the snacks:

http://www.pimpmysnack.com/gallery.php

Internet Radio

2006-05-05T18:46:00.000+01:00

I have started listening to pandora, it's an internet radio station which customises the playlist according to your likes/dislikes. You can use it free of charge, and there are loads of tracks in the database.

You start by naming a band or song, it then plays other songs in that genre, which you can either give a thumb up or down to. It will then steer the choice of music according to your feedback.

Give it a go:

http://www.pandora.com

Other stations I like are:

http://www.HelpMeChill.com

http://www.BassDrive.com (of course!)