Structured Blogging

I have been reading about Structured Blogging recently and I think it sounds like a really good idea. I don't know whether or not this will ever be supported on Blogger, but I hope so. I've already sent them an e-mail suggesting it. If anyone else likes the sound of it, please let Blogger know - if enough people request it, it just might happen! I hope.

I saw Kylie!

On Tuesday evening I went with my fiancée and her sister to Manchester to see Kylie Minogue! It was amazing! It was my fiancée that wanted to go (I like Kylie, but I'm not such a huge fan), but it was one of the best concerts I've been to! I was pleased that she did some older songs, not just her recent ones. I think my favourite bit was a laid-back jazz/swing version of 'The Locomotion'. As you'd expect, there were plenty of way-out costumes.

The supporting act weren't bad either. It was a band called Melody Club who originate from Sweden. They did a kind of pop/rock music that in places had a sound not too dissimilar to Abba. All in all, it was a very enjoyable night!

Sooner than expected

OK, so 'the next week' turned into a few hours. In my last post I said that I was modifying a new template I'd found, but it wouldn't be up for a while. I guess I got carried away and finished it sooner than I expected (I should've gone to bed at least a couple of hours ago, but when have I ever done anything sensible like that‽)

Too much to do, too little time to do it in!

I'm just approaching the end of my final year at university so as you can imagine, I've been rather busy! The phrase "too much to do, too little time to do it in" has been uttered often in response to questions like "how are you getting on?". I don't seem to have had the time to think of things to write about! However, I have found a nice new template for this blog that I've started to modify, so sometime in the next week I expect that to be unveiled.

Time To Reveal My 'Geeky' Side!

Lately I've been writing a program in Java to send notes to a keyboard that is attached to the MIDI port on the soundcard and also to detect notes that have been played on the keyboard. I eventually got it figured out (or so I thought) and had code that could send a note to the keyboard and list notes as they were being played.

And then it stopped working. I've no idea why it stopped. My code didn't change. Nothing was changed on the computer. The keyboard didn't change. I could still play notes through the computer speakers, but I wanted to play it through the keyboard. Anyway, I resigned myself to the fact that it just wasn't to be. At least I could still play notes and detect notes, that's the important thing.

Then last night things got stranger. For no apparent reason, it just started working!

But today it's stopped again.

Just occasionally, I really hate computers!

Film Review - "Sahara"

I hadn't heard anything about this film before I went to see it. I'd seen a couple of trailers about it a while ago and thought it looked quite good, but nothing special.

The first scene kicked off with a bang (literally!), but apart from that it took a while to really get going. Once it did, things moved along quite nicely for the most part, though there were a few occasions when it dragged.

On the whole, it was an easy film to watch, the plot wasn't particularly deep or difficult to understand and there was a good smattering of humour and good ol' fashioned action.

My rating: 7/10

Site Updates - Part 1

I have made a few subtle changes to the main part of the page. The main changes have been when and how permalinks are displayed and a Home link has been added to the Item pages. Next time I get chance, I think the sidebar will be seeing some adjustments.

Election 2005 - It's Official!

On Tuesday, Tony Blair finally announced the General Election will be held on 5th May. It already feels like the parties have been campaigning for months, but now they start 'officially'. I heard on the radio on Wednesday night that in some marginal areas, Labour would be sending out DVD's to try to convince people and the Conservatives would be ringing people up with recorded messages from Michael Howard! As if we don't waste enough time on the phone with peope wanting us to answer surveys and the like! If I start getting phone calls from politicians, and even worse, recorded messages, then it's going to make me less inclined to vote for them, not more!

Update To "Should Road Tax Be Scrapped?"

I just found out how to add a poll. My earlier post about Road Tax seems like a good topic to test it on. Please vote!

Quick Hiccup Update

I'm cured! No hiccups at all yesterday, but I did have a funny lump in my throat all day which I think must have been caused by the excessive hiccups over the last couple of days. Fortunately that has gone today.

I suppose I shouldn't complain. Two posts have caught my eye recently that made me realise how lucky I am, this one in a very serious way and this one in a funny way.

Hiccups

I haven't had hiccups for a long time, until last night that is. I'd been to the pub for a meal with my fiancée and had a couple of drinks (I never drink much). Later on in the evening, after I'd got home, I started with hiccups. They kept coming and going for the rest of the night. Shortly before I went to bed I had a really painful one - I've no idea why it was painful, but it was! Anyway, I assumed that after a night's sleep, I would be OK today.

How wrong could I be! I've had them all day, on and off. No painful ones, but still very annoying. I work in a shop on Saturdays, so it was particularly embarrassing serving customers while trying not to hiccup! Everybody seemed to have a "guaranteed method" to stop hiccups, usually involving combinations of drinking water and holding my breath. I did try a few, but nothing seemed to help!

There are some interesting 'remedies' on this page which I might have a go at tomorrow if I'm still suffering. The Wikipedia section mentions the longest attack of hiccups:

Charles Osborne (1894 - –1991) of Anthon, Iowa, USA, started hiccupping in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure, and continued hiccupping until February 1990, a total of 68 years.

I don't know how he managed to stay sane!

Should Road Tax Be Scrapped?

It's that time of the year again. Yesterday I paid £110 for my car tax. I know some people who drive a lot more then I do, yet (depending on their car) they pay the same amount. If the money raised from road tax is to help pay for maintenance of roads, then surely those who travel further should pay more as they provide more wear to the roads. Therefore I propose scrapping road tax and adding it onto the price of petrol. This would have several advantages:

• There would be no avoiding paying it.
• We wouldn't need to pay the administration costs.
• It would further encourage people to leave the car at home, especially for short journeys.
• Those who use the car more, pay more
  

There is a downside to this. Companies who rely on transport for their business, for example lorry companies, already complain that they can't compete with companies based on the continent because of the fuel prices. To compensate for this, they would have to be reimbursed in some way.

My First Blog

This is my first ever blog. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I'm going to write about, but I will try to write something every couple of days or so. This first post is only a short one, so I promise I'll try to think of something more interesting to put later on.