Ramblings of a Coder

Three O

Wednesday 01 September 2010 at 01:58 am

So, during the recent celebration of my birth and the stark fact that I have begun my journey into my thirties. Someone asked i think jokingly “So what are you going to-do now that your no longer a kid.” I laughed it off, here i thought i stopped being a kid years and years ago… At the very latest at least when my own son was born, but it seems nope.

But the question seemed to stick in my head, I’m not exactly sure why. But i don’t really have that many things going on in my life, and in all honesty I’m actually pretty happy with it. I don’t work as much as “Normal” people do, but that's through choice because i don’t have any interest in working that amount. I’m classed as “Lazy” which i feel is unfair over, sure I’m not your most active person (understatement) but if i have something to-do. I do it. Just the whole concept of “Normal” working outs irks me, i have no interest in it. Give me some room and let me provide for my own family myself, Don’t expect me to sit somewhere for 8 to 12 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. It doesn’t work for me, i can’t live like that.  Throw in living and dealing with a child with a disability, and neighbours who can spend 4 or 5 days a week fighting from 10pm right through to 5am, then ask that person to try and work a normal job. See how long it takes for them to snap

Either way, I’m happy with my life and once we move house. Which we will be very very soon, I’m sure it will only get better

These were all initial thoughts of mines to the original question, and yes i internally answered it with the above. But really it doesn’t come over as an answer, it comes over as a bunch of excuses. Why am i making excuses? So the stark and honest answer to this is:

“I’m going to continue my life the way i have been, I’m going to finish my degree’s and then I’ll probably continue on exactly as i am. Why? Because i enjoy it, I’d be a liar if i said that i wouldn’t like a bit more work or to be working on some sort of lasting legacy. But the work will come when it comes, and i already have my legacy”

If they’d asked what i wanted to do in the next 10 years, I’d have been an easier answer

• Finish Degree/Degree’s
• Move out of Central Belt
• Start providing family with our own food/energy
• Actually finish this blog design
• Get married finally

Just some basic things I will have done, maybe kick about the idea of having more children

Hopefully this gives an insight into me from this view, but if its not been glaringly obvious. Money or wealth holds absolutely no interest to me. Just about every one of my happiest memories in life happened when i was living below or on the poverty line.

and to finish it even though the post is after my birthday, “Happy birthday sis”

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | Two comments

Blitzcoder won’t rest.

Saturday 19 June 2010 at 10:49 pm

So i stumbled across a thread on Blitzbasic.com the other eve when i was bored and thought I'd look in on the blitz community and see what was happening.

Now, i dunno why but at least twice a year this topic appears in some form to me, either via email or some other method. For either a Blitzcoder revival or me making some archive out of the backup i have, I’m not really sure why.  Yes i remember the blitzcoder years fondly, it was a great laugh at the time and introduced me to some really amazing people, a few of whom i still keep in regular contact with too. But i have absolutely no intentions of going back to those days in any form, And certainly no interest in making some sort of searchable archive of the old site. Yes, i could pass my backups along and someone else could do it. But i won’t. Not because I’m selfish, but because that would require me to actually do some work on the backups to remove stuff, etc, etc. Can’t just pass people’s personal information onto any old person out there, Even though that information is now years out of date.

Actually quite a few people made it perfectly clear that they didn’t want there information passed on when the site died to and became codersworkshop or whatever came after. And i will maintain that promise to not pass on that information.

So please, PLEASE, just stop asking for it. It’s never going to happen, well i wouldn’t say never but I’m never going to-do it. One of the other people who had access to backing up the site may, Though i don’t know if anyone else actually did.

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | Three comments

Struggling.

Friday 26 March 2010 at 5:33 pm

Time since the last entry has been tough, We had a weekend of hell with the neighbours.  Thankfully by Sunday it had calmed down but still by Sunday i was exhausted and also coming down with a bout of Man-Flu. So yea it continued like that till… well till yesterday when i finally got a full night’s sleep.

Been considering starting to actually just post here when the neighbours start up, Public announcement and all that. Not that anyone local needs that, the noise level from them does it just fine. But it’ll let me keep note, Don’t know yet, watch this space!

Anyway, I’ve had this assessment sitting on my desk for weeks and did plan on using this week to start and finish it. But i just can’t seem to focus on it and its due on Monday. So I’ll have to be forcing myself into it over the weekend, praying that the neighbours actually give us a quiet weekend this week. But for today I’m just going to relax with some mindless and pointless programming, No goals just start up VS and see what occurs. Hopefully energise me enough to get stuck into the assessment… hopefully.

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Coding, Neighbours, Random | One comment

To Infinite and beyond!

Wednesday 03 March 2010 at 8:19 pm

G’s decided his new favourite character is Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies, which is great because personally i was getting sick of seeing McQueen from cars and Dug from Up. We know it won’t last though. He’ll be back to McQueen within weeks.

Anyway, Kirsty told my dad about G’s latest new favourite. So somehow dad managed to pick him up a talking Buzz.. and well dad dropped it off last night for him, and first of all he wouldn’t go to bed. Then this morning he just point blank refused to goto school without Buzz. K managed to pry it from his hands and get him out the door though. And he eventually settled at school without his new hero.

Still fun to watch your kid get that excited over a new item that he tries to say all the words of a sentence at once. Don’t think any of the three of us present in the room had even the slightest clue about what he was saying after his new favourite person “Grandpa” pulled the figure out the bag.

This is only going get worse over the next few months as the promo material for the new Toy Story 3 movie hits the TV!

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | One comment

Well that month passed

Wednesday 13 May 2009 at 02:21 am

Previous month passed by rather quickly, I never did get to the point of releasing any of the stuff I'd programmed. Mostly because i haven't been playing any subscription games at all lately. Its been refreshing actually. I finished both assessments, One of them i was finishing off with hours to go before the submittal deadline. Purely my own fault too, i just kept putting it off and putting it off. And suddenly the deadline was upon me. But they're done and both passed. Got 2 assessments left on the computing course and that's it done for the year. Basically finished one of them just need to cleanup the written parts and format the code. Other is a multiple choice paper, which I'll do in the coming days. Then its 100% focus educationally on the mathematics course till October when i start the next computing course.

I did make some changes to the cramped computer room, I added some shelving. Trying to work out a way of adding more actual desk space without cramping my movement room to much, but i have some ideas. I'll get round to it, The shelves alone gave me plenty of room to move, and they're well out the way of the two smaller people i live with. So its not so much of an issue right now as it was at the time of the last post. Still haven't built G a computer area yet, but i really want to take a decent amount of time on that and do it 100% correctly and make sure it'll last as long as the ones I've built for myself at least.

On the project side, I've been making some headway. Collected a metric ton of research materials and schematics, started slowly building up my parts inventory too, Checking over my current equipment and see what needs replacing/updating before i really get started in earnest. Nothing worse than starting something and having to stop to wait on a part or something to be delivered. There was a lot more to learn though than I'd actually considered, So it may take a bit longer than I've estimated to myself but that's not going to stop me! Its just a matter if finding a good starting point, or even several starting points. Once i get those i'll rush onwards.

On the coding side for the above mentioned project, I do love C#, but when it comes down to it I'm still i Delphi man, and its hard hard work to not switch back just due to how easy i find good ole Pascal to use, especially when it comes to breaking completely new ground for myself. But i think I'll soldier onwards with C# anyway.. or maybe a bit of both depending on how it all goes. Getting ahead of myself here anyway.

Anyway, its damn late as i write this, so i think I'll finish up right here.

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Education, Electronics, Random, Coding | One comment

Slow Writings

Tuesday 11 November 2008 at 6:47 pm

Haven't really said much on here in a while, It's not that I haven't had much to say and more that I just couldn't be bothered to say it.

Still having the problems with my throat and still going to ENT appointments for it. Its not going away but the effect it has on my day to day life is reducing, to be honest really its just that I'm becoming more accustomed to the problems and learning to just ignore them. Next appointment is in a few weeks see how that goes for me, Probably the same as always another type of medication and back in a month or so.

Course work is going well, cant really talk about it though as I'm not actually allowed to mention the assignments till after the fact. but lets just say some of the questions are downright simple.

Thinking of Getting a Sony EBook reader, they look good and flexible. I'd really prefer to get one of the Amazon Kindle things but they aren't for sale in the UK yet. shame, But on purchases I have gotten a few new games for the Xbox360. Managed to pickup GTA4, wish I never had. its crap, controls suck and the story is so transparent not to mention having to listen to those really bad Russian type accents the whole time. For how far I played in the game I ended up just skipping all the cut scene's so I didn't have to listen to it. Then you get to try and drive the car, With what is IMO the worst driving controls and reactions ever. Game doesn't even compare to GTA3:SA, they should've just stopped back then when the game was fun. Also picked up Lego Batman and Starwars Force Unleashed, Force unleashed is great. Amazing game and lots of fun. But its pretty short. Haven't really played Lego batman much myself, but my other half and Garion seem to love it! so its all good.

Looking to get hold of Tombraider and Fable 2 in the very near future along with a few others.

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random, Gaming, Education | One comment

ENT on Friday

Thursday 17 July 2008 at 12:29 am

So as I've said elsewhere on this page, I'm finally back to see the ENT tomorrow (Friday) about my throat problems. Still not sure what caused it or is causing it. But I'm pretty sure stress is quite large factor in it all. As I've been quite stressed out waiting on this appointment and the closer it gets the worse my throat seems to be getting. Today was like being back a year ago with me struggling at points to breath and swallow and eating is just out the window. Worry does strange things and as it gets worse I know myself my mind slips into bad circles like "What if its a cancer" etc which stresses me a bit further and makes the whole situation bad until Its at the point I reached for the first time today. I was panicking so much i was gulping in air and as you know if you gulp air it goes to your stomach instead of your lungs giving you heartburn/wind much that in with feeling like not being able to breath. I got myself to the point where i was just about to collapse and seeing spots. It was completely stupid of me as we basically already know that its all down to my Tonsils at this point and that they have to go.

But that doesn't make the stupid mind circles any easier or less frightening. Mixed in with I'm home alone with Garion all day who wouldn't even notice if i collapsed over for real or he would but he'd just continue along his own merry way. and the nearest family member being my mother about 8 miles away with no transport. All that and meh i just panicked and ended up really hurting my throat and feeling really stupid.

Only a day to go tomorrow then the docs, maybe i can find myself some sleeping tablets and just sleep the day away to stop myself from going into that position again. Or find someone to come and sit with my and distract me.

anyway, going to crawl off to bed and try to forget about hospitals and doctors and get some decent sleep. unlikely but I'm going to try

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | Two comments

Weekends

Sunday 22 June 2008 at 7:52 pm

Personally I tend to do very little over the weekend. Because I enjoy doing very little.  Spend some time to just relaxing and watching TV. My highpoint of the TV weekend being Doctor Who, If you managed to miss Rose's return then SHAME ON YOU! Billie Piper making a spectacular return to the character.

Also spent some time playing Mass Effect, many thanks really to Shadee for recommending this one. Definitely a game to checkout on PC or Xbox 360. Though if you get the 360 version expect some frustration with text being off the bottom of the screen. or the Tactical Screen being a bit like doing a Rubik cube with no thumbs at times of extreme combat. But if you can look past that, its a great story and a equally great game.

And of course a weekend with some gaming wouldn't be complete without spending some quality time in Azeroth playing with the Fire Festivals Maypole as can be seen in the picture.

Music was also a big part of the weekend, with last weeks re-submergence into the wonderfully textures music of Bj?rk I had to go look out my entire collection again. Mostly in part to finding this gem of a cover version of Hyperballad on youtube last week.

Interesting choice of words from me too, My written English most certainly seems to improve when I'm discussing things I love.

My father also decided to pop over during the day on Saturday, with his laptop. Hopefully he went away with a bit more knowledge of using the thing than when he arrived. If not at least he went away the proud owner of another "Oor Wullie" annual. So overall a good weekend in my book, With Garion having fun and myself coming out feeling at peace and relaxed and ready to take on the world.

I have Zero plans for the coming week, so I'm completely at a loss to what it will bring just now. Just the way I Like it really.

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | One comment

Smashing

Monday 28 April 2008 at 2:09 pm

Interesting weekend the past one it seems for my Little block of houses. Unknown to us in this house on Friday evening the other houses were plagued with someone constantly Buzzing them between 12 Midnight and 4 am. Really strange because i was still awake and heard nothing. But On Saturday Evening / Sunday morning the trouble came to my house it seems when some twat/Bastard decided to throw something at my Kitchen window and break at at 3am. Again i was still awake and heard the almighty *CRACK*. Didn't see anyone though. Course you have to phone the police so you can get an incident number to give to the council. But that was also the strange part. I encounter a "All lines are busy" message from 999 (UK version of 911 for you US'ers).. wtf eh?

Ah well strange weekend for sure and i got left with look at this every time i go into my kitchen (Least till the glass comes in and we get it replaced)

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Random | One comment

Ears nose and throat

Friday 25 April 2008 at 12:09 am

Finally, after all these months! I got to see the ENT specialist. He did the normal stuck the wooden stick in my mouth looked about, went hmmm. Then stuck a little camera up my nose to see my throat and went hmmm. Then didnt really say anything besides giving me more meds to take and come back in 3 months. OO yea and that i can have my tonsil's removed if i wish to get rid of the Tonsil Stones i have.

Well it was a bit more productive than that, Seems im suffering an alergic reaction to *something* just dont know what, But it also could be a result of the Stones + the infection i had months ago causing it to just never get better.
Hopefully find out more in 3 months when i return. Least i've been told its safe to go ahead and remove the stones myself. Which i partially did tonight with a toothbrush and lots of gagging.

Anyway besides that i've been playing Assassin's Creed and Need for Speed Most Wanted and course the old Favourite World of Warcraft

Slow life sometimes :P

Charles McCrimmon (Specis) | ¶ | Gaming, Random | One comment