huskypup.com

Hot Chip at the O2 Academy Bournemouth

huskypup — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:53:50 +0000

In my previous post I mentioned the Hot Chip gig I was going to while
staying in Bournemouth. In fact the whole trip was based around seeing
them. The tickets were a birthday treat for Paul, who really liked
their previous album, Made in the Dark.

The venue was Bournemouth’s old opera house which provided a rather
eccentric setting, stripped of all it’s seating and fitted with a
dance floor and three bars. Whenever the lights were on you could see
the white and gold décor, it had a great atmosphere. And despite being
the obviously poorer end of town, where as new visitors we felt slight
wary (not that I can comment living in a seaside town myself) the
crowd was there for some good music and dancing.

Hot Chip released their new album, One Life Stand, at the beginning of
the month and what better to promote it than with a series of gigs.
With CasioKids (from Norway no less) providing the opening act, it
turned out to be a really good night out. Paul and I enjoy
electropop/dance and both bands were excellent live and played some
truly uplifting tracks. Playing tracks that I was unfamiliar with as
well as the ones I knew, they saved my favourite and probably their
most recognisable hit until last, Ready For The Floor.

If you’ve not heard of Hot Chip, seriously, check them out on an
online music service like Spotify.

Hot Chip on MUZU

Hot Chip’s new album One Life Stand is out now and highly recommended.

Top cars at Beaulieu

huskypup — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:24:19 +0000

I’ve had the past week of from work which to be honest has been a god send. Last weekend we traveled along the coast to Bournemouth for a two night stay. I’d bought tickets to see Hot Chip at the O2 Academy Bournemouth (more on that later). The weather wasn’t great so we had to find an indoor attraction to wile away the hours before Monday night’s gig. We opted for an afternoon at the Beaulieu National Car Museum. I’d never been and although I’m not that much of a petrol head, I do enjoy looking at some of the more classic cars. So here are a few photos taken with my iPhone at Beaulieu, which featured James Bond and Top Gear exhibits alongside the main museum pieces.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

[insert expletive here] angry!

huskypup — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:25:42 +0000

First of all, I must apologise for the swearing that's about to follow. I have a need to vent and I'm hoping that by writing it all down, it will allow me to get it out of my system. At times go off on a tangent too as my mind is somewhat frazzled due to a constant lack of sleep.

It's been roughly 10 months since my last blog entry. I had promised myself to start afresh and start writing again as over the years it was something I enjoyed. I had also promised myself only to write events which were positive. However, as you can see, it's been roughly ten months since my last blog entry. The thing is I had an operation in October 2007, a cholecystectomy, my gall bladder removed. I was told that it was a routine operation and that once recovered, I could resume eating anything I liked. Well the surgeon was FUCKING wrong! Turns out that as a result of the trauma involved in having surgery on my digestion system that I now have Irritable -Fucking- Bowel Syndrome.

Over the past two years I've tried a number of things to address my I-F-BS (with a D bias – points awarded for those of you who guess what "D" is). I've consulted my doctors surgery a few times, done my best to address my dietary habits which no easy thing as I love food. I even saw a dietician, though that was a fucking waste of time. The irony of course is that I hated food as a child. In fact I made my parents sick with worry because I simply wouldn't eat. If you saw me now with my rather stocky waistline, would any body guess the issues I had with food as child? I doubt it.

And that's another thing that makes me fucking angry. My relatives would constantly comment on my lack of weight as a child. Now they think they're fucking smart, commenting that I've put too much fucking weight on. Seriously, these comments would fuck with most peoples' heads. I should point out that my parents and siblings aren't included in that list of relatives.

Not long after my surgery my two colleagues at work left for new pastures. Considering there was only three of us, this came as a huge fucking blow to me. I don't blame them and in fact I tried to leave myself. Coming second in a job interview didn't get me the fuck anywhere, but it did boost my confidence slightly. However, things at work have been fucking mediocre at best. I am now a team of one. The sole member of the Web Team and the least technical one at that. I'm also not part of "the gang" within the rest of the organisation, which basically means my career development has stagnated these past two years. I should count myself fucking lucky as I have a job and one that pays okay. Actually it's not that great, but it's keeping me and my significant other above the parapet. Fucking recession. Fucking Labour Government. Fucking Gordon Brown. Thank Christ we have an election this year. Hopefully all the apathetic people who are eligible, me included, use their right to vote and send a big "FUCK YOU" to the current Government. No doubt men with black suits will be knocking on my door not too soon after posting this. See, tangent. IBS to the state of the English Government.

In the grand scheme of things, it hasn't been that bad since my last post. My other half and I have bought a pair of motorcycles. We've made some new biker friends. Our relationship is the strongest and best it's ever been. Indiana (our dog) continues to be a great source of fun and comfort. And although there are stress factors at home, they're external (work, finances etc).

Unfortunately the things in my life that should be making me happy are being affected by my lack of sleep. I don't know what the cause is, but since my operation my sleeping pattern has been pretty lousy. In fact, it's been fucking awful. Coupled with my I-F-BS it's left me constantly drained, in discomforted and at times in pain or very sick. When I go out, I have to be careful of what I'm eating and drinking or at least be popping an anti-diarrhoea capsule or two. Stress also kicks it off and because I dropped my brand new CBF600 twice within a week of buying it I find myself going to the toilet several times within the hour before getting on it to go for a ride. Motorway routes have the same effect.

It's a good job my other half always rides up front.

I saw myself in the mirror last year realised how much this had all fucking aged me. I had my mid life fucking crisis early and wanted to get on a motorbike. It was a "now or never" moment should be bringing me fun and adventures. Instead, my constant feeling of being drained and the need to be close to a toilet has left me less than thrilled at the prospect of riding out. Fucking Irritable -Fucking- Bowel Syndrome.

Under another guise I used to podcast. I really enjoyed it and I truly miss recording my thoughts with my partner in crime on the latest sci-fi/horror movie. We would have a laugh with it and it was well received. I keep the website running, but it's hard work and unfortunately the podcasting much like my blogging has fallen to the wayside too. I can't be amusing while feeling so crappy. I tweet, but not as often as I used to. I tend to follow timeline and dip in now and again. Funnily enough I've seen headlines pertaining to the death of blogging due to micro blogs like Twitter and Facebook status updates. I've certainly seen a number of my Twitter peeps stating that they've been remiss in posting to their blogs.

Work is also proving to be a huge cause of irritation. Having been left to pick up the pieces of the loss of my team members, recent events have been causing me more stress. I can't go into detail yet. I'm sure you've heard of past bloggers who've got themselves into deep shit publishing work related posts only to be found out. Suffice it to say, there is some "toing and froing" and a whole lot of politics. I'm hopeful that once all sorted, it'll be to my benefit.

I'm sick and tired of being tired and sick. Last week was a particularly difficult week. On the Saturday I had a severe attack of the squits, which cleared me out thoroughly. I apologise for the rather graphic imagery just presented there. My life these past two years have pretty much revolved around my bowel and its movements… The following day I cooked a rather tasty chilli last Sunday using Quorn mince. Low in fat and lots of vegetables, it was a very healthy meal. This had the rather rare and surprising effect of bunging me up. Of course, after Saturday's sojourn on the toilet I didn't realise the effect my chilli had until Tuesday evening and another helping of my pretty damned good cooking. I suddenly realised I hadn't been to the loo for 48 hours. By Wednesday night however, the world had fallen out of my arse and I spent the next four days very unwell.

Yesterday I went to my doctors surgery and was glad to be seen by the GP who originally diagnosed me with gall stones back in the summer of 2007. I think he's a locum and I hadn't seen him since that first appointment. He listened to me as a I spoke of my two years of life without a gallbladder and the lack of sleep. He said it was unacceptable that I should frequent the toilet as often as I do and prescribed me Spasmonal, an anti-spasmodic drug which relaxes the smooth muscle in the colon. He hopes that by treating the IBS, my sleeping pattern will improve. And while I'm grateful to be on medication to sort this out, why the fuck did it take two years to prescribe it!? The surgery made the diagnosis two fucking years ago. Every time I've made an appointment to see a GP I've told them the rough time I was having and not one of them suggested trying an anti-spasmodic medication. God it makes me so fucking angry…

Last night was another bad night for me. I woke up at 1am and not long after I heard Indiana go out through his dog flap. Moments later he was pawing at the kitchen door and so I got up. He's a funny little soul, only wanting to do a number two out the front of the property, so I went out with him and lo and behold he squatted down to business. I stayed up for the next hour, couldn't sleep, reading a magazine with Indiana curled on the sofa next to me. Not long after, the reason why I was awake presented itself and my I-F-BS kicked in – twice. Feeling tired and drained, I tried putting Indiana back to bed so that I could get some sleep but he started crying. Last time Indian awoke during the night, I spent most of it trying to get him to sleep in his own bed. He cried, he barked, all night. Not wanting a repeat of the same, I let him sleep with me for the remainder of the night.

Today, I'm tired and fucking irritable. I'm hopeful that this medication will work for me and I have four weeks worth to try out. It's a shame one of the side effects doesn't include drowsiness or euphoria…

One last thing, another apology. This entry isn't very insightful, probably jumps around a bit and most likely is just plain uninteresting. However, it is a means to get some of my fucking stresses of my chest. If I can get my I-F-BS under control and then hopefully my sleep, then this year will be the year I start blogging positively again.

Star Wars – A Musical Journey

huskypup — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:05:50 +0000

Friday 10th April saw the start of Star Wars – A Musical Journey’s premiere at the O2 Arena in London. After the enjoyment Paul and I had attending a similar concert featuring music from a number of Gerry Anderson’s works, I happily booked tickets and made the necessary arrangements for a trip to London. The basic premise of the concert was the music composed by John Williams for all six Star Wars films was grouped into themes. Performed live by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, a giant video screen played key scenes to match the score behind them.

Experience has taught us that if we want to go to the O2 Arena for a relaxing evening, including time for something to eat, we have to get there very early. So we turned up 4 hours early and went to Goucho’s for a good old fashioned meat-fest and cocktails. With food in our bellies and armed with the customary programme, we set off to have a gander at the Star Wars exhibition that accompanied the concert. I have to say I was a little disappointed. To put things in perspective, we had already seen the larger Star Wars exhibition when it was on at County Hall in 2007. The O2 Arena’s exhibition paled by comparison, but at least they had the favourites, Darth Vader, C-3PO and Bobba Fett. Also in attendance were a number of Jedi Knight, Storm Troopers (one, a little too short to be a Storm Trooper), some Crimson Guards and a certain Dark Lord of the Sith.

After having a wander around the O2 Arena I took advantage of being an O2 customer and got us it into the O2 Lounge. After a couple of more cocktails and also bumping into a couple of Twitter acquaintances we made our way to our seats for the concert (thank you O2 priority check in).

The venue wasn’t nearly as full as I expected it to be and I wonder if this was because of the Easter weekend or due to the current worldwide economic crisis – it also annoyingly explained why they resorted to a 2 for 1 offer on the tickets a few days before the first night.

Unfortunately, as beautiful as the programme is, it neglects to breakdown the running order of the themes in the concert. I’m having to resort checking the the running order of the bonus DVD that was included with the musical score of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. While there are some differences here are for me, the most memorable.

  20th Century Fox Fanfare / Star Wars Main Title (from all six films)
  Duel of the Fates (The Phantom Menace)
  The Imperial March (The Empire Strikes Back)
  The Asteroid Field (The Empire Strikes Back)
  Luke and Leia (Return of the Jedi)
  Throne Room / Finale (A New Hope)

The themes themselves were titled as “A Long Time Ago”, “Droids”, “Dark Forces Conspire”, “An Empire is Forged”, “A Narrow Escape” etc. Each section was narrated by the man in that golden suit, Anthony Daniels who did an excellent job and kept us, the audience, entertained. I have to admit that as soon as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra started playing, I sat there with a stupid grin on my face, which grew when the large choir launched into the Duel of the Fates. Once the Imperial March was performed, I wondered how the first half could be topped after the intermission. Well once the orchestra started to perform “The Asteroid Field”, I knew they had. With scenes of the Millennium Falcon negotiating the asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back, my evening was complete.

As I found with the Barry Gray/Gerry Anderson concert, there is something very accessible about going to see live orchestral music being played, especially when based on a movie’s musical score. For those not interested in classical music, unwittingly, this will be the closest experience they will come. While this is a great experience I wonder if I miss out because of this preconception that classical music is boring or sombre. Perhaps the visuals taken from all six Star Wars films helped keep an interest in the music? Without a shadow of a doubt, the evening was a success and perhaps classical music concerts could learn a thing or two from Star Wars – A Musical Journey.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Google’s the daddy

huskypup — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:57:43 +0000

Seems like a lot of people have objected to Google’s Street View in the UK. Personally I don’t have a problem but then again I haven’t been snapped rolling a cigarette outside the house like my old man.

It’s a good job mum is out of the country.

Big Chef Little Chef

huskypup — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:47:05 +0000

Having watched Heston Blumenthal try to turn around the fortunes of roadside eatery Little Chef, Paul and I decided that we'd pop into the Popham restaurant on our way home from London on the first day of February. Some may know that I have a fondness for the more unhealthier types of food but even so, places like Burger King and MacDonald's tend to fill a basic need and are not something I tend to go out of my way for. Give be a grease spoon cafe or Wimpy's and even a Little Chef any day.

There aren't too many of these on the motorway from London to Torbay and we generally stay off the A303. This time however we thought we'd try out the new and improved Little Chef at Popham just to see if Heston Blumenthal was successful in his endeavour to save the restaurant chain. Well apart from the packed car park, the interior of the restaurant was smart and clean and even the ceiling tiles with the "Blue Sky" looked good (The MD kept on going on about Blue Sky thinking). However due to the programme Big Chef Little Chef, the restaurant was extremely busy and we were told that it would probably take an hour for the food to arrive. Well we were there, so in for a penny and all that. The service was slow to be honest and even when eventually seated it took a good 15 minutes such to give our food order. It wasn't the fault of the staff at the Little Chef, they were and probably still are, overwhelmed by its celebrity status.

The food was okay, though after having discussed it with a few other diners, it was felt that Ian Peddler (Little Chef MD) probably did think about profit margin over quality. The sausages looking anaemic, the beans not being Heinz Beanz (though stated on the menu as so). Unfortunately the celebrity status of this one Little Chef has made it an impossible task to live up too. While the food was okay (much better than our previous visits to a Little Chef) and the diner was clean and inviting there were simply too many people wanting to try Heston's menu. The staff just couldn't cope with the volume and from start to finish, we were there for an hour and 30 minutes. Heston was right to push for a number of Little Chef's to be converted into this new menu, new look restaurant. It would have taken the pressure off the Popham restaurant and given customers more time to enjoy the experience for what it is, a good roadside diner.

On a slight side note, we had to make a pit stop at another Little Chef and the difference was huge. The second restaurant looked tired, dull and dilapidated and don't I won't mention the state of the "facilities".

Ian Peddler, Little Chef MD, sort it out before another well loved British brand is lost to the credit crunch.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

A frosted car

huskypup — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:27:06 +0000

I took these photos a couple of mornings ago with my iPhone. It gets very cold up on the hill I live on and as a result when it’s a chilly morning, my car is usually covered in ice. I don’t think the camera can do justice to the ice patterns, but it does give me the opportunity to try out the Multi-Photo Email app for the iPhone, available in the App Store (

An eventful day

huskypup — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:33:42 +0000

Yesterday was an eventful day for me and you'll see in this post that that doesn't mean much for a city lad living out in the countryside.

First of all, I found out that Google are planning to stop developments or support on a number of its online services. The one that affects me is Google Notebook, which I use daily to keep a record of stories that I find interesting and for use on other websites.

Starting next week, we plan to stop active development on Google Notebook. This means we'll no longer be adding features or offer Notebook for new users. But don't fret, we'll continue to maintain service for those of you who've already signed up. As part of this plan, however, we will no longer support the Notebook Extension, but as always users who have already signed up will continue to have access to their data via the web interface at http://www.google.com/notebook. [Google Notebook Blog]

Doesn't sound too bad, I will still be able to keep and use MY notebook but the real problem is that it appears that I will no longer be able to use the Notebook Extension. This browser extension essentially allows right mouse button clicks to quickly add web pages and selected text straight into my notebook. Now it seems I'll have to manually copy and paste anything I want to make a note of. Not very good for productivity.

My next big event was jailbreaking my iPhone something that I had considered for sometime. I finally took the plunge after fellow Twitter pal ShapeThrower jailbroke his iPhone. The two main reasons why I wanted to try out the jailbreak, video and tethering. So with trepidation I followed the instructions on iPhone Hacks and within ten minutes I had myself a jailbroken iPhone with Qik and Cycorder installed. Next plan is to look up how to tether my phone to my MacBook Pro and use it as a modem – for free – using SSH.

Finally, Paul and I went to see The Spirit at the Apollo Cinema in Torquay. Regardless of the mixed to very poor reviews, I knew that if I didn't see The Spirit on the big screen with all of it's Sin City visual FX, I would end up kicking myself. I won't go on for too long about the film, suffice it to say that without reference to the original source material I was at a loss. Was it supposed to be a comedy or a dark brooding superhero story? It wasn't until I saw Samuel L Jackson's character The Octopus dressed in Nazi regalia with a very large poster of Hitler in the background, that I began to see it for what it was, kitsch. Paul said it reminded him of the Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward and I agree. It's just why did it take so long to get there?

Well I guess my "eventful" day paled in comparison when I woke up this morning and heard about Flight 1549 which crashed into the river Husdon in New York city yesterday.

According to an air controllers union spokesman, a US Airways pilot reported a "double bird strike" less than a minute after take-off and asked to return to the ground, before ditching in the Hudson.

The spokesman, Doug Church, said the pilot apparently meant that birds had hit both of the plane's jet engines. It appears the birds involved were a flock of geese. [BBC News]

All I can say is "thank God" no one died, and that the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, is a true hero for getting the plane down safely, for his passengers and the surrounding population. Wishing all of those injured a speedy recovery.

The EXAMUG raffle

huskypup — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:12:44 +0000

What is an EXAMUG? EXAMUG stands for Exeter Area Mac User Group. I was fortunate enough to be given a MacBook Pro as a "get well/birthday/Christmas present" last year and although I'm quite comfortable with tech, I decided to join the Exeter Area Mac User Group soon after to see what insights I could gain. I did actually go once before a couple of years ago when Paul and I were trying to find out how we could upgrade his iBook G3 Graphite. At that time we didn't feel the need to go back. First attendance is free to potential members so we had no obligation.

That changed when I got my early 2008 MacBook Pro. My thinking was if I could take one peice of information or advice each meeting away with me, it would be worth the yearly membership fee (£20, £30 for household or £4 each meeting). So on our first meeting as a fully paid up members (Paul and I signed up), we entered the raffle to win a copy of Parallels, which was also that evening's demonstration.

Now one of the reasons I wanted a Mac was to get away from Windows, specifically Vista. I had, and still do not have, any interest in getting a PC with Vista installed. Too much bad press associated with it, regardless of how it now runs. However I have Windows software I need to be able to run and Parallels allows me to do this on a Mac.

I bought two tickets and Paul bought three for the raffle, although he was buying to give me a better chance to win and had no interest in the prize. I made it very evident during the demo that I was very keen on Parallels and the chap who runs EXAMUG said not to worry as they may be more opportunites to win a copy in future meetings. Heck, members can buy a copy on discount! Well I was completely bowled over when Paul's ticket was drawn and we'd won it.

So why am I blogging about an event that happened 10 months ago? Well last night was the first meeting for 2009 and the prizes up for grabs were 2 x one-to-one training memberships at an Apple Store and 2 iTunes gift (one £25 the other £15) cards to go with each membership. So again, Paul (who doesn't always come) and I bought tickets for the raffle and Paul's number came up for the second prize, the one-to-one membership and the £15 iTunes card. Paul is kindly letting me have the in-store training and he's looking forward to finding some music to download. Even better, the evening was topped off with a bucket of KFC!

So far I seem to have done really well out of my lucky charm, I just hope Paul realises he'll have to attend every EXAMUG meeting now…

If you're local to Exeter and enjoy using Apple products why not join the Exeter Area Mac User Group?

Indy V

huskypup — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:09:37 +0000

My little lad Indiana is 5 years old today. Here are a few photos I recently took of him cuddling up next to me, when we were alone in the house with no heating.

See and download the full gallery on posterous