Blogtackular Random Blatherings!

Tried something new today

And went out track cycling!

Never thought about it before, but Cycling Ireland were running an accreditation day, so a few of us off boards.ie went down and had a pretty good day I’m used to riding a fixed gear track bike, so had no problems with the riding, but the banked track and poor, slightly damp surface was a bit tricky to get used to -still, it was fun, and with accreditation, it leaves the way open to cycle in the Summer league on a Wednesday night, and I think I’ll do just that -it’s great training for road cycling too!

Busy Weekend

This Thursday and Friday are my last two days of the internship, so it’s ‘bye bye’ from me then… two years coming to a close. It’s a little strange that I’m nearly finished college now, and will be hitting the real world again in about 6 weeks… eep!

Speaking of Friday, after work I’ll be heading for a bus to Belfast to see these guys.. been a while since I saw them last, and cant wait! Neasan’s flying over for his fifth viewing of them, and as soon as it’s over, we’re off for the red eye bus back to Dublin. Will have my usual Saturday bike ride I reckon, and then it’s off to see the Presidents again in Dublin.

Sunday, I think I’m going to enter the Orwell Wheelers Randonne -if I can get up in time that is The course is just over 100k, and takes in a couple of the climbs found in the Wicklow 200, so is great training (see route below)

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Been busy lately..

Finished my project, and got it all handed in, so it’s some pressure off!

Got offered a job for when I finish, which I think I’m going to take

Designed cycling kit for a pile of us active on the boards.ie cycling forum, should be with us in about 4 weeks

Finally… my road bike arrived from Wiggle last week (a Focus Variado Expert) -it’s a fantastic thing, and will make the Wicklow 200 a much easier prospect!

Code Submitted!

Yep, another big step in my finishing college has happened -at 12 today I submitted the code for my thesis project. I’m not 100% happy with it (I never am with anything I code), and have niggling doubts as to if it’s complex enough for them, but it’s all done and dusted, and I can’t take it back!

Just go to finish off the manual for it, which is getting there slowly, and has to be printed, bound and handed up by 1pm on Monday, and also has to be demoed then too. Once that’s done, a third of my degree mark is in the hands of the examiners…. *gulp*

Then there’s only my internship report to write -a load of waffle, but fairly straight forward, for another third of my mark, and a couple of exams, and by the end of May I’ll be a graduate

New Wordpress, and Nearly Done!

Well, since I update this site using svn, I have the bleeding edge of WP 2.5, and I have to say that I like it so far!

It’s looking prettier, it’s easier to get around, and generally feels nicer to use -lets just hope it works ok with Safari now (I’m not holding my breath, but we’ll see!)

As for the nearly done, I’m about 3 days from finishing coding for my project… I’m on the final leg now, doing some validation and stuff -ooo fancy AJAX and the like, and it’s not looking too bad at all!

No presidency for Al….

Yup, didn’t get in… one of the current VP’s was elected. I’m not too pissed off, and glad it’s all over as there was so much tension around for the last two weeks, and now it’s over, I can concentrate on my Final Year Project (henceforth known as FYP)… it’s coming along nicely, and a screenshot is posted below to give you some idea of what it looks like (as if you care )

iPhone in Ireland…

Well, finally it’s been announced, the iPhone is coming here on the 14th March, but once again we get screwed over for everything!

First off, the price: 399euro for the 8gig, and 499 for the 16gig, a full third more than the US (with the exchange rate as it id), then we get into the nitty gritty -O2 may be the exclusive partner, but we don’t get visual voicemail. Plans start at 45 quid a month, but you only get a max of 1gig of data, no matter what plan you are on… why oh why can’t this damn country get itself sorted out when it comes to mobiles… am fed up of being ripped off!

Getting Better…

Well, it don’t hurt much any more, but I’m still gappy, and will be for the foreseeable future… have so much on, what with elections, college work, internship, and other work, that it’ll be 3 weeks or so before I get anything done, be it crown, bridge or implant. The folks are checking prices in Newry, as the UK is a lot cheaper than Ireland, so we’ll see what we can manage.

As for the project, it’s coming along nicely… I’m doing a project management app, kind of in the style of Basecamp, but with a few changes, mainly that you install it on your own server! It’s not easy, but it’s going to be nice in the end -and displaying Gantt charts in CSS is an interesting endeavor

Oops!

Well, following the lead(ish) of others, I came off the bike on the way into work this morning! Coming round a roundabout, I was either too fast, or leaning over too much, and my bike went one way, and I the other -chin first into the pavement!

Thankfully, I didn’t break anything as serious as Krys did, but I have a nice gash in my chin (hidden in the beard) that isn’t stitched as steri-strips don’t grip to facial hair, a pretty bruised up palm, and finally a lopsided grin -yup, as I hit the ground I saw fragments of tooth fly out my mouth

One of my front teeth is pretty much gone, so the morning was spent in the medical centre getting my chin sorted, and in the dentist getting a bit of root canal to remove the exposed nerve, and I have to decide next week if I want a crown, bridge, implant or a denture fitted… until then, it’s sympathy votes all round for the elections! 

Almost a ton….

…well, 97 odd km today. It hurts, but in the good way… only downside was A not being home when I went to surprise her!