Ahhh... presentations!

A stacking game for you all to enjoy: http://www.thegamehomepage.com/play/super-stacker/

Starkey in the national news: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3851561/Bursar-who-stole-500000-put-future-of-university-college-at-risk.html

Library

The new library policy has made me very angry. Instead of allowing students to take books out for the duration of the holiday, the books need to be renewed according to their loan length throughout the holiday. I am particularly annoyed because I took out a book before I left Durham (after term had ended) and was given a renew date of three days, however, what I wasn't told was that the book had already been put on hold for someone else. So, now I cannot renew the book and will be fined £1 per day from tomorrow until I return it. I have been slightly lucky though, as the library is closed from Christmas eve until the 5th of January (when I will be returning to Durham) and they cannot charge me the fine between these dates. Still, it is a very silly rule.

SNOW!

For anyone not in Durham, it snowed today, properly!
Best snow I've seen here I believe (I even saw someone wandering around with a snowboard)!
Yay snow!

My entire life...

has been leading up to the point when I can comb bind things, using the comb binding machine, for free...

Brei

Watch out Steph!

Bond complete set

We've just ordered three complete box sets of James Bond DVDs as a house... because you can never have too much Bond.

Chuck is a cat

The other night I caught Chuck drinking water from a bowl... I think he or she was a little drunk.

Wooo Internet

We now have the internet back after forever - woo!

Hilarious?

This is hilarious. Or is it just me?

Nice Weather

I was walking to church this morning, (quite a short walk since it is next door), while thinking to myself - "typical, it's the first day of Autumn and the weather is nicer than it has been all Summer; I can't remember weather this nice since..."* and then it dawned on me that I hadn't actually been outside since walking home from church last week.

Seven days, I think I've just set myself a new record.

*Yes, I did think the semi-colon as well.

RPG - Ridiculously Poor Glogging

Hello everyone.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the summer so far. I have also said very little on here recently, so I thought I'd add a little summary before term begins. Most of my time this summer was spent working on a summer project in the Maths department, I have finished this now and the outcome was an offer of a PhD to start in Durham next October. Apart from that I have done very little to be honest. A few of our housemates have been taken over by the world of online gaming, and I reluctantly (at first) followed suit. It really is quite addictive.

I have just been driven home by Eden. He was surprisingly confident driving on the M1, although when he accidentally ended up in the far right lane of a 5 lane stretch of motorway there was a slight panic! This weekend I am going to London with my Grandma and Auntie to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and to do a bit of sightseeing. This will be followed by a week of catching up with friends and family in Leeds, and then I will be returning to Durham on Monday (29th September). I'm really looking forward to seeing you all again; but for those who won't be returning, I hope you are enjoying life wherever you are and I look forward to seeing you very soon.

Chuck xx

P.s. Glogging is the act of writing a blog in the first person...

MMO - Massively Minimal Orator

I realise I have been pretty rubbish on here. I have had more spare time than anyone can have and yet I haven't decided to share any of the the things i have been doing with you lot.... wait.. oh yeah.. thats why. I haven't done anything.

As I said to Sparky today, I am so lethargic i consider some computer games as too much effort. I better stick to grinding then (not in a sexual sense, although to some, it is)

Anyway. the big news is... wait for it... I have bought a car, take a look:

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/advert+search/Ne-2-4-5-6-7-8-27-44-49-53-61-64-67-103-133-146-236,N-9-14-41-109-240/advert.action?R=200808304147541&distance=5&postcode=Dh1+3be&channel=CARS&make=&model=&min_pr=1000&max_pr=3000&max_mileage=60000

Mobile John.... Signing out

Facebook Tetris

Tetris is quite possibly the most addictive game of all time - but the idea to add an online leader board to facebook was truly inspired, you should all download the application, if you haven't all ready.

I don't understand...

It's already 26th August and there is still no sign of Christmas coming in the shops, despite there being less then four months to go... What's going on?

Summer Update

So, my summer so far. Well my lack of blogs has mostly been down to a lack of internet but I am currently on a train with free wifi so here we go:
Stage 1:
Home. After leaving Durham I spent a couple of weeks at home this was very relaxing but quite boring so on to the more interesting stuff:
Stage 2:
Ethiopia. I spent three weeks in Ethiopia doing a mix of teaching children Physics and more tourist-y stuff. It really was a fantastic experience and I can't really begin to explain it all here. Ask me if you want to know!
Stage 3:
Durham. My birthday was spent moving in to the house in Durham and I spent a further three days enjoying lots of lovely sunshine.
Stage 4:
Edinburgh. I have been spending and will be spending the rest of the summer working in Edinburgh. In short, I love Edinburgh and really enjoy the job. Been spending lots of time seeing comedy shows at the fringe festival and exhibitions as part of the arts festival.

Have just popped back to Durham for the weekend to the house and had a lovely time. See you all soon guys!

Boozy stole my bed

I arrived at the house for the first time last night and was horrified to discover that the highlight of my bedroom, (a nice sturdy metal frame bed) had mysteriously decided to teleport itself 2 metres across the hallway and into Boozy's bedroom. Even more mysteriously, the slightly shabby looking mattress that used to adorn my magnificent bed had remained in place, but was now supported by a dated box that looks and feels like it was designed and made by myself in Mrs Finch's year 9 home economics class. Interestingly enough, the stylish mattress in Boozy's room has remained in place, (although of course now supported by a very stylish bed).

Now to be fair to Boozy, I can see that there may be a very good reason why she would prefer this bed... reasons which are probably not suitable to mention here! So I am left with a bit of a dilemma. Should I:

1. Take my bed back and keep it hostage until some sort of deal can be made.
2. Be a gentleman and not respond to her acts of theft, (but keep a careful eye on my cheese in the fridge from now on)
   
3. Reach a compromise, and just take the mattress from her room, letting her keep the bed.

Embracing the spirit of web 2.0, I will welcome your comments and suggestions on this problem and will be soon adding a poll to the website to help inform my decision.

Back from Holiday

Just arrived home from a very relaxing holiday in France.

This week I have:

• Started to design a Slitherlink solver with my Dad
• Become a Five-Star Commander on Elite Beat Agents
• Been converted to Linux, (possibly)
• Become Audiosurf champion of "Shine Jesus Shine"
• Failed to set an Audiosurf time for John Cage's 4'33
• Decided to buy an ultra-portable PC
• Spoke a total of two words in French, one of which was "Margherita", (the French word for Margherita)
  
• Not done any Maths...

I'll be moving in on Monday - and then straight to the Library on Tuesday to catch up on missed time.

Good News Nobody

So I have had a few days to digest the news. Next year I will be a student. Does this mean I will be a grumpy fifth year, or a raving fresher?

<- Is this what I am to become?

Yesterday really was quite a great day of sport. Watched the Grand Prix at the cinema, which was an interesting experience but definitely not worth the money over plain old TV. Was a brilliant race though. An englishman dominating at the British Grand Prix in a British Car (with a German engine). 

Right, I would say something else here; my awful admission. My dark dark secret. I will never tell... Am I the biggest nerd of the house? Is the end of the world....?

P.S. Who is this "John" in Chuck's post.... "That's not my name!"