Monday, January 30

soothsaying

someone asked me today what I thought was going to be happening in technology in the near future. hmm, I haven't really prepared any punditry. but it doesn't look hard. Most people did theirs at the end of 2005. I hadn't planned to do this, but the start of the chinese new year seems like a good time to stick my neck out. I include some share prices at the close of trading on the first day of the year 4703.

1. VoIP
Skype has been bought by eBay, Cisco are apparently the world's largest telephone producer. Everyone hates paying phone bills. and IMHO it's a pain in the arse to deal with BT*. I'd say that VoIP taking off is a no-brainer. VoIP on mobile phones seems like a fairly safe bet, although it won't make the telcos happy

eBay Inc. (EBAY) At 9:00PM : 43.09 $ Down 0.98 (2.22%)
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) At 9:00PM : 18.89 $ Up 0.11 (0.59%)

2. Free and Open source software
Apache seems likely to continue to be a major web server. IBM will probably keep promoting Linux as a great complement to their hardware. OpenOffice and ODF are getting noticed in the public sector. And people love free stuff

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) At 9:00PM : 81.63 $ Up 0.61 (0.75%)

3. Security
The more stuff goes online the more people will try to steal/sabotage it. I predict good business for firewall, IDS and secure authentication providers


I can't find a share price for SmoothWall Ltd

Check back in 12 months to find out if I'm right

*and if anyone from BT is reading, these are my personal opinions. If you want to discuss then ring me up. Tell me you're from BT and I'll make you wait an hour on hold, out of spiteful revenge

Fruit & veg today? - two bananas, swede and carrot, really Exercise today? - those weights I was going to do yesterday Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 8. maybe

Sunday, January 29

Sheffield in January 2006

This weekend I've been to a city famous for it's cutlery, and such musical giants as def leppard, pulp, and the human league
Fruit & veg today? - huh?
Exercise today? - maybe some weights later
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - really hoping for 8


Some wierd sculpture thing Posted by Picasa


Howard Street by night Posted by Picasa


a big fire on the moors, taken from the A57 (AKA Snake Pass) Posted by Picasa


More space-age design.I think tbis building used to be the museum of pop music Posted by Picasa


Sheffield Hallam University. I was getting carried away by textures at this point. & shiny things Posted by Picasa
I refer you to my previous caption Posted by Picasa


The view from our hotel room. Not so much scenery, but a beautiful texture Posted by Picasa


Palm trees growing in the Millennium Gardens (in Sheffield) Posted by Picasa


A very space age en-suite bathroom Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 22

low-impact weekend

I hate to disappoint you, beloved readers, but I've had a fairly dull weekend. little of note has happened to me, and I haven't had any exciting thoughts to relate either. friday night was spent in the delightful little village of Charnock Richard courtesy of a work event focussed on evaluation and improvement. at the drinking/quiz machine session afterwards my knowledge of early 1900s clowns stood me in good stead but doesn't merit a blog entry.

a curry with family on saturday gave me the sustenance to work for far too long on a new blog for work. most of the time was spent modifying the template which looks quite pleasing. though now I want to tweak my personal blog to bring it up to my new high standard

and today I've vacuumed and washed my car, but I haven't got a photo. so as i said, nothing to write about

Fruit & veg today? - olives and a banana
Exercise today? - 70 sit ups, 60 press ups and some chin ups
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7 and a half

Wednesday, January 18

Japanese

occasionally i come across a word or phrase in Japanese, and I try to remember these so that one day I can

  1. impress someone from Japan, or
  2. impress someone who isn't from Japan but is easily impressed
but I have a bad memory so I'm going to type them in here. (disclaimer - I may have got these wrong, or someone may have told me incorrect information, or I may put something in wrong out of mischief. you never know do you?) Karoshi - death by overwork Kawaai - cute Dakara nani? - so what?

Monday, January 9

Ecover

It's good to use ecover clothes washing liquid.It helps the environment.And ecover toilet cleaner too.They both have the same scent tho.But that shouldn't matter.I mean,if yr clothes smell like clean toilets they're still clean.

Fruit & veg today? - tomatoes,broccoli and a banana. Exercise today? - 3x 20 press-ups.3x 6 chin-ups. Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7 hours,unless i get woken up by the boiler

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Saturday, January 7

Herman Düne play Manchester

Herman Düne are a band I first heard described as "miniature lo-fi swedish sergé gainsbourgs" or something like that. The concert is at Manchester Road House on wednesday 11th Jan 2006 at 20:00, price tbc. They are one of the best bands I've ever seen live. these MP3s are on their website

You Could Be A Model, Goodbye
Various Medicines
Suburbs With You
Orange Hat
A Wiser Man
(Also, they don't eat meat)


5 fruit & veg today? - too early for food
Exercise today? - too early for exercise
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - loads

Friday, January 6

Recipe - Vegan Miso Soup

one of my favourite meals at wagamama is the big bowl of soup with noodles in. soup is so filling it really is good food. anyway, i saw some shiitake mushrooms reduced at el supermercado and i figured i could put them in some broth made with one of those miso packet soups (like the one I enjoyed so much last wknd) but then I couldn't find any soup packets. To cut a long story short I bought a jar of miso paste and this site was very helpful in working out what to do with it. This site reassured me that by consuming miso i'll never grow old and I'll never die. My recipe deviated quite a bit from the instructions though, so apologies if I offend anyone. what do you expect from a gaijin?

  1. First get a packet of tofu, cut into 36 pieces and marinade for 30 mins or more in soy sauce, lemon juice, black pepper and chili powder
  2. drain the tofu, then fry in a few tbsp of sunflower oil. when it goes a bit crispy remove it from the pan.
  3. chop up about 10 shiitake mushrooms, a medium sized aubergine and most of an onion. fry them - aubergine first so it loses the plastic texture. leave about 10% of the onion raw and dice it finely for use as a garnish or "suikuchi"
  4. make up a broth (aka "dashi") I used 1.2 litres of boiling water, two oxo cubes and the flavouring sachet from a packet of instant mushroom noodles. I expect 3 oxo cubes would be just as good. put the fried tofu and most of the broth into the wok. Keep a cup of the broth back and dissolve 1-3 tsp of miso into it
  5. bring the stock and the vegetables to the boil, and simmer until you think it might be nearly edible, lower the heat and put some noodles on.
  6. you shouldn't boil the miso, so when the soup has cooled a little add the miso/dashi mixture and keep on a very low heat. when the noodles are ready put them in a bowl and ladle some soup over them. add the suikuchi, then eat...
5 fruit & veg today? - a clementine and some cherry tomatoes so far, plus the aubergine and mushrooms described above Exercise today? - maybe later Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - i'm hoping for a lie-in

two bowls - who was the other one for? well, actually they were both for me. I ate the one on the right first Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 4

a night in

went to martial arts today, but the gym was locked up so had a chat with Steve, took a few photos (all too dark, picasa rescued one of them) for the freshly minted blog and came home. had a bit of a home work-out then bed
5 fruit & veg today? - two bananas, clementine, some cherry tomatoes
Exercise today? - 60 press-ups, situps and 5 + 5 + 5 chin ups and some weights
Hours of sleep I'm going to get tonight? - 7, could be worse

Monday, January 2

Vegan Recipes

Mmmm, I'm motivated to cook because I love to eat. Here are the recipes I've put on my blog or click here to Search this blog for recipes!

film review - King Kong

It's nearly time for me to go back to work.Part of me is filled with dread,the other part is just really opposed to the idea.Where is the leisure-based society which science was supposed to bring us?

Went to see King Kong last night with my lovely gf.Slightly too many dinosaurs but still a good film.Great acting,esp from KK and his love interest.Sad ending though

I think i had a new years resolution but forgotten it now.May edit it in later.Perhaps stop blogging from bed? EDIT: I've remembered - it was read Heart of Darkness which Jimmy in the film is reading. although since the amazon reviews sound quite familiar I think maybe I should be re-reading it.

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