This is the first time I’ve ever posted a link I spotted on someone else’s blog, but this story is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.

Whale Explodes in Taiwan

This, rather surprisingly is the 100th entry I have made in this weblog. It seems the usual thing on these sort of occasions is to consider what is gone before and reflect on what may be coming up in the future.

The 100 entries covers just short of the last year of my life and I think that most of them probably make pretty depressing reading, as I think the post count increased after early September. Writing what I think has been quite useful, even if it does only keep me on the verges of sane.

It’s funny how you can start to feel better about things in general, when one daft thing has a habit of bringing it all crashing down around you. I really did have a good time chatting with Helen on Saturday night, and I thought maybe there could be something there, but as per usual at the moment, she’s got a boyfriend. I thought this to be the case, but wasn’t sure. This really is getting irritating now, why oh why cannot I not meet someone who is nice, likes a chat, and is single? Surely I can’t be the only single person of my age around? I think this entry nicely sums up the last 100.

You know my never used livejournal is called “An Adventure in Disappointment”? I did it as a joke at the time, but it seems to be pretty apt. I hope for the good of my mind things change by the time we get to 200 entries. Join me, dear readers if you will…

Well, its been a busy few days, but my PC is now fitted up with Windows XP, and is back on the network after I put a ?10 network card in from PC World.

Went down to Bristol last night for Neal’s birthday. My last minute idea for a present seemed to go down quite well, which was a surprise! Caz was there too – they met at my 21st party and this was the first time I’d seen them together since and they make a really nice couple.

In addition there were Neal’s flatmates Sam and Woody, both cool people who I seem to get on with quite well with. Advantage is that Bristol is nice and close, so that’s something to do on the weekends, hehe.

Sat in the pub for most of the afternoon, then tried to go to Browns at about 8:30pm. Hour and a half wait. Tried Wagamama. Enormous queue. Tried Pizza Express, and got in straight away as we didn’t mind sitting in the smoking section (where not many were smoking). Pizza was really nice, although the waiter seemed to be suffering from raging indifference (which is my phrase of the week). I think he clocked me as a common Pizza person when I asked for pineapple. Apparently they don’t do pineapple at Pizza Express. Ah well.

Now, also there was Neal’s cousin Helen, who I spent most of the night chatting too. She was really nice, pretty, tall, and interesting. Everyone else went to bed about 12:30 I think, but we stayed up chatting until about 1:30. She did mention a boyfriend once early in the evening, but I was asking her what sort of stuff she does and a boyfriend was never mentioned. I could ask Neal what the deal with, but maybe he’d find it weird. I didn’t want to ask in case she did have one and then I would have felt just a little foolish. Better to play it cool perhaps?

Went on a long run to Reading and back in the Mini to look at a house for Laura next year. That car really can move. It’s got loads of grip, corners like it’s on rails, and the steering is so, so good. You can really feel what is going on at the road, which I love. I know I promised more pictures, but it’s done 400 miles and is now covered in dirt, and I haven’t had an opportunity to wash it. Once I get that done I shall take more pictures

On a slightly more light-hearted note, I read a review of this and I had to have it. I had a MegaDrive when I was young, and Sonic is much better than Mario. Obviously. He’s a speed freak and doesn’t have a slightly camp mustache. Can’t wait!

Also, I insist you go here and sign up, or I shall come round your house in the night and wreck up the place. Ten points to the person who spotted where I paraphrased it from. Say I sent you and all!

I’d just written a long entry on my problems with XP, and my network card and how I was stuck using this laptop for online stuff at the moment, when the entry disappeared. Arse.

Picked it up from the garage after work with Mum, and drove it home, and then to Monmouth and back with Dad and Nan in it, and dear god, it’s amazing. Even though I’m not allowed over 4500rpm for 1250 miles as it’s run in, it is already phenomenally quick. The acceleration from 2nd off a roundabout had me giggling all the way home.

I even drove most of the way home with the radio off and window open just to listen to the 163 horses galloping quietly away under the bonnet. Fan-frigging-tastic. More pictures are available in the Photos section. Only 4 at the moment as it was dark when I picked it up. I’ll get some better ones on the weekend if it’s sunny. Probably write up a more detailed account on Sunday as I am off to Bristol on Saturday night and there are some good roads on the way.

It’s coming today! w00t w00t! (Today will now officially be the longest day ever). Vroom vroom!

Glad I brought the camera now, pictures later…

Just watched “Best of Top Gear” on BBC 2, and respect is due to Toyota Pickups. Next time you want a car you can take on Bristol with, drown, burn, crash through a shed, hit with a wrecking ball, drop, put a caravan on and indeed park on top of a condemned building, blow up the building and still drive away when you return from the shops, this is the car to have.

Other viewing this evening has been the new series of Scrubs on Sky One. I haven’t seen any adverts for it, so I don’t know how long it’s been on, but is one of the funniest things on TV, not just now, but ever! Why oh why isn’t it on DVD yet?

My car went earlier this week – it was bought by these people on ebay. They had the gall to leave negative feedback, claiming the car wouldn’t start and had a dent in the drivers door, neither of which were true, and then it’s on their site (even as Car of the Week as I write this!) with the description containing “excellent condition throughout”! What a joke…

My phone would just not stop ringing today – only 27 support calls to deal with! Oh to be a developer who doesn’t sit on the support desk as well. Still, we’re getting someone in to man the phones this month, so I’ll be able to get back to doing some proper work.

I did quite a lot of overtime over Christmas, so when I get paid on Friday I should be nice and flush, so I’ve decided at long last it’s time to plump for a new hard drive and ditch Windows 98SE at the same time. I got my current 11Gb drive way back in the summer of 1998, which makes it a rather impressive 5 years 7 months old, if you’re interested it’s a Maxtor Diamondmax, so they come recommended purely on durability terms!

Question is, what drive do you go for? Back when I first built this PC, I went for the largest drive I could get my hands on, as the general rule of thumb with hard drives should be “Think of how much space you need, double it, and then add some more”. Fine then, we’ll go big. But then if you’re going big, you probably best go for Serial ATA, so you can transfer data at a decent rate. This would make sense for when the rest of the PC is upgraded. But your motherboard doesn’t support Serial ATA, so you’d need a new one. And a new processor, and memory. Hmm, it gets expensive. So I’m going for a middling 160Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus at a very reasonable price from ebuyer. It’s only UDMA100, but my motherboard doesn’t support anymore than that (I think), but it should be speedy and they have a reputation for being quiet, so that’ll fit in nicely with my Quiet PC stuff that I have. Why not a Maxtor you ask? Well, from what I’ve been reading they don’t have the best reputation for reliability at the moment. 1998 is a long time ago after all.

So when that comes I shall be making my first proper adventures into using Windows XP. Windows 98SE has been getting on my nerves recently (login is currently broken, WinTV crashes, etc etc). Let’s hope XP doesn’t hurt too much!

Well, it’s taken a while, but PHP pissed me off today. Most languages gets on my nerves quickly (C++ – 1 day, Java – 2 hours, Tcl/tk – 30 seconds) but PHP is great, so no annoyances yet in over a year. However, I was writing some code for uploading a file in work, and it turns out the method I was trying to use, that would work on this here website does not work any longer in a minor point version difference. I suppose that’s the problem with Open Source software, that you might well get a random change like that in the name of performance, but doesn’t consider those who use the system. Still, I found the right way to do it in the end, so I’ll forgive it for now. Just don’t do it again. That’s a bad PHP!

The various orders I’ve placed have turned up, so I now have the following to get through.

• Splinter by The Offspring
• Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Soundtrack
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: Special Extended Edition
• Due South: Season One
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Lonely Planet Guide to India

So that little lot should keep me quiet for the next few weeks! I’ve started watching Due South, and luckily it is as good as I remember. I’ll probably settle down to watch The Two Towers over the weekend, as it’ll be loooong. The Lonely Planet book is to help me plan my holiday for the summer, and from what I’ve read so far, India really would be a cool place to go, I can’t wait!

The other books part of my Big Read mission. I’ve read 10 of the 21 so far, so I’ve still got a while to go yet, and then I’ve got 2 more books to read that I got for Christmas, so I think I’m done for reading matter for the next few months!

On first listen, the music is all good too, but I’ve lost my usual listening place, the car, now as it’s sold and gone. Still, the Mini comes soon, and then we’re back on the road, hurrah!