November, 2006:

Suspect Result?

So – who thinks Chelsea threw yesterday’s Champions League game against Werder Bremen?

1 Chelsea       5  3  1  1  8  4   4  10
2 Werder Bremen 5  3  1  1  7  3   4  10
3 Barcelona     5  2  2  1 10  4   6   8
4 Levski Sofia  5  0  0  5  1 15 -14   0

Assuming Chelsea beat Sofia in their final they have a better record over Bremen (Chelsea won at home 2-0 compared to Bremen’s 1-0 win last night) so they will almost certainly top the group despite the defeat.

All Bremen have to do now is avoid defeat in their last game in Barcelona and Barca are out. Can’t say that would upset Chelsea can you.

Music of the Night

phantom-of-the-opera.jpg We went to see one of the most famous of all musicals this weekend. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. I’d seen two of the Disney musicals but this was my first “old school” musical. I thoroughly enjoyed it while Kathryn had seen it before in Bristol thought it was a lot better than the touring version.

Have been listening to the music on and off since the weekend.

Bond Begins

casinoroyale.jpgKathryn and I took in Casino Royale in the Leicester Square Odeon as part of our trip to London.

Much like what was successfully done with the Batman franchise with Batman Begins, Bond has been taken back to its inception so that you can once more see how Bond got started. Daniel Craig manages to pull off the role and this film is certainly better than any of the recent Brosnan efforts. It has a better script and there is less reliance on flaky CG. What irked me slightly was the pointing out of the rules of Texas Hold’em at every opportunity but I guess they have to allow for the viewers who wouldn’t have a clue without this help.

Film Game

Fun little game care of the M&M web site. It’s in the form of a painting that contains clues to 50 films. Can you find them all? Game here

I can offer hints if anyone posts queries as a comment

Kathryn gets her MCP

mcp logoI suggested Kathryn write a blog entry but she hasn’t as yet so I’m going to. Last week Kathryn took her first MCP exam in Microsoft Clustering and scored 901/1000 which I think is pretty good.
She revised loads and despite going in very nervous I had every faith in her passing. She’s now looking at doing more exams towards an MCSE 2003. Current plan is to do another by the end of the month I think.

Fitness Drive

Adding it to the blog so I can be heckled if I don’t stick to it.

Decided I really need to push myself on the weight-loss/fitness-drive campaign so I have set myself the challenge of running 5K every day for the next couple of weeks to see where I get too. Planned on starting at the beginning of the week but was recovering from a twisted ankle and bruised foot but managed it today and felt good for it. I am trying to do it before work so that I have less excuse to put it off.

Today I did 5K (3.1 miles) in 31 minutes but that was starting slowly due to me wanting to test my foot first. Should be able to bring that time down and I’d like to think I could get a 7MPH average but the end of the fortnight but we will see. Hopefully get the running machine upstairs soon too so it make using it a bit more convenient.

The Never Ending Kitchen

My new kitchen is almost complete but it’s amazing how long it’s taken and my dad has put a serious amount of hours into it (as have plenty of others). Below is the list of tasks that have been done to give you some idea.

  • Design and purchase kitchen (done pre-Alaska)
  • Demolition and disposal of old kitchen
    • about 15 cabinets including the sink demolished
    • wallpaper stripped
    • carpet pulled up
    • temporary removal of fridge freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher and all items from cupboards
  • Redo electrical cabling
  • Walls replastered
  • Take delivery of kitchen and check all items
  • Rework gas pipes
  • Rework water pipes including wall outlet
  • assemble and fit base cabinets
  • get worktop cut
  • fit sink
  • sand door frame and wood boxing
  • paint walls – 2 white coats and one coloured
  • replace and paint skirting
  • fit hob and oven
  • assemble and hang wall cabinets
  • fit all cabinet doors
  • restore dishwasher and washing machine
  • fit outside piping
  • drill hole for power to shed for tumble dryer
  • channel shed cabling into concrete
  • wire shed for power and lighting
  • fit soft shut fittings for doors

Still to do!!!

  • refit carpet
  • restore fridge
  • fit edging
  • fit plinths
  • put up glass shelving
  • clear shed for dryer

I think that’s most of it but this list still probably doesn’t do the job justice. And to think I thought a few days off and we’d get it done. Also originally set a budget of about £1000. It became obvious that this wasn’t realistic so revised target to around £1500. It’s probably cost about £2000 in the end!!!!!

Interesting Web Page Effect

Go to a web page with images on it (this one for example) and then paste this:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName(“img”); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position=’absolute’; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+”px”; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+”px”}R++}setInterval(‘A()’,5); void(0);

into your address bar and press return. Weird huh?!