Looooot

  Got a very good haul this year in the Christmas loot stakes. Nothing too surprising if you know me but a rough synopsis would be:-

1. 4 Lego sets, one of which has over 4000 pieces.
2. 5 videogames, all of which I've already played (but not completed).
3. A commissioned painting from my wife, very unexpected and cool.
4. Some films on blu ray.
5. Super Mario PJs.
6. Some other stuff that skips my mind right now :|

  So there we go, lots of stuff I like which is all you can really ask for at Christmas. Not to mention the huge seriously yummy dinner my wife made while suffering from a cold (with some help from me), more snacks, chocolates, sweets and other treats than you can shake a stick at and getting some time off work. All in all pretty damn good really.

  Now my wife and I just need to work out what to spend our amazon gift voucher on and hope the US State department actually returns our naturalization certificates properly since we had to send them away to apply for passports.

  Addendum: my wife just reminded me of the huge box of Monster Munch crisps. Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom. So glad they are making those again.

The final days of Lego advent

  Well here it is, the last three days of the Lego advent calendar. Some good models to finish up the calendar. First we have another very recognisable ship.

  Then to be festive we have to have a Christmas tree.

  And finally we have probably the most unique minifig yet, Santa Yoda complete with sack and presents.

  All in all a lot of good little models in this Lego advent calendar (despite the few clone wars ones sneaking in). It made for a very unique way to do an advent calendar.

Now I've gone and done it

  Well we did it. My wife and I are now US citizens officially. We even have the certificate to prove it :| . It was a very long morning all told with the queuing, more queuing, boring ceremony, still more queuing and finally a bit of queuing to finish it all off. Mad props to my wife who did all that standing in line in her nice grey open toe highish heel shoes as opposed to me who did it in his usual comfy work shoes. Overall though not much has changed, we can now vote, we can get a US passport (which we have an appointment for next week) and we filled in a fair bit of paperwork. Other than that life is carrying on as normal for us.

  We stayed at a cheap hotel literally right around the corner from the auditorium the ceremony took place at so getting there in the morning was very easy. It was just a matter of walking a single block and crossing the road twice. It wasn't a bad place for the price (despite some online reviews that said it was rundown) and we got a free cheapo breakfast as well. Yay for bargain hotels. We also went out to dinner the night before to a chain Chinese restaurant that was pretty good food if a little too much "ambiance" as they put it. In other words 2 minutes after we got there they turned the lights down so low my wife with her less than perfect eyesight could not read the menu so I had to peer at it and find some stuff for us to eat. I don't think we were the only ones who noticed how freaking dark it became either since there was laughing and WTFing from a couple of other tables as well.

  The really strange thing about the ceremony was the big deal the judge and other officials were trying to make it out to be. For us it was a quick 3 month process, which isn't going to change out day to day lives, so that we can carry on living as we already have. We've been here over 14 years now so it really didn't seem to be as big a deal to us as they wanted to make it seem to be. I suppose for some people it might be depending on when/why/how they are becoming citizens and the generally shittier parts of the world you come from. Coming from the UK though things didn't change drastically for us when we came to the US (other than earning a decent wage) so it really isn't that much of a big deal. Now though we can vote for which idiot we want to be our idiot though so that is a potential "upside"

  Also I need to post the next 3 days worth of Lego Star Wars advent stuff for all you waiting for them with baited breath. For day 19 we have a Tie Fighter Pilot minifig.

  Then day 20 had a very small if recognisable Tie Fighter that I don't think the minifig is going to fit in to.

  And on day 21 we get a neat little version of a ship everyone should know.

Even more Lego

  Did some more Legoing (yay for noun to verb :| ) this weekend since Sunday was a sick day for me. Felt like throwing up just looking at meat so got looked after by my wife and took it easy. Anyway lets first catch up on the advent calendar. For day 16 we have a Clone Trooper Pilot

  For day 17 there is a simple weapons rack, I suspect for an upcoming minifig in the set (hint: the lightsabre is green).

  Then day 18 we have a good old Y Wing the less glamourous cousin of the X Wing.

  The main Lego building of the weekend though was actually dismantling my large Imperial Flagship since it was taking up far too much room (really, it is a huge set) which is a shame since it really is a good looking ship. I then built the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean, which is a smaller ship that still looks really cool. Also since it came with a Jack Sparrow minifig I now have 3 Jack Sparrows. Time to reenact various scenes from the films I think. It also came with some really cool other minifigs that I don't have which are rather unique. I seem to be getting quite good and fast at building these sets now, this one took me less than two hours since it isn't quite as large as some other sets. Very cool in the end though and looks as good as the other ship.

Chips glorious chips

  Until you have had properly made chips, not crappy "French fries", but real English, cooked twice to be right, delicious chips you have not lived. Lucky man that I am my wife made these very chips last night and due to her incredible culinary skills they were absolutely delicious. Crispy on the outside with nice soft inside, smothered in salt, vinegar, gravy and cheese. *drool* I'm salivating right now thinking about it.

  In other slightly less wonderful but still very cool news is the fact that Lego have acquired the rights to The Lord Of The Rings and they have a website up already. Considering the rumour is that not only will there be Lego sets but one or more Lego videogames, of which I am a particular fan, this news pleases me greatly.

  One other thing today, more Lego star wars advent calendar stuff!!!! For day 14 we have a mouse droid

  Then on day 15 we have a republic attack gunship which considering the size of these Lego models works out rather well like a lot of the others (if you excuse my slightly not at the right angle wings)

Logical thinking and Lego day 13

  I've spent most of my day looking at something that simply required being looked at logically. I had a bug given to me that was raised last week claiming that an upgrade change some configuration (it didn't, a previous upgrade they had done had already done it) broke something. 3 different people that looked at this bug before me assumed that what was reported was the cause of the bug, knew that the configuration change was deliberate and declared the bug to not be an issue and unreproducible.

  How bad is that kind of thinking. They didn't even think to see if the claim made in the bug was true. It wasn't, the claim made of the cause of the bug is nothing to do with why it broke. There is no logical reason why the claim made (which was a false one) could be the cause of the bug so they should be looking for the actual cause instead of using the false claim made to fob off working on the bug. In the end I've had to ask the reported of the bug for information they should have supplied initially rather than them trying to give engineering what they assumed was needed with their limited knowledge of how our product works.

  As I said, simple logical thinking. Not thinking you know everything already. Until you know WHY something isn't working you don't know everything and even then you may not know how to make it work.


  Anyway, lets move beyond my mostly wasted day and on to another Lego figurine. This time it is an evil astromech droid R2-Q5 (yeah I had to look that one up) who is clearly evil since it is black (other than stormtroopers star wars is pretty literal with its good/bad colour scheme).

Good news everybody

  Not too surprisingly both me and my wife passed our civics/English test and we are being allowed to become US citizens. Next week we will be going to the oath ceremony thingy and will be officially done. The whole handing in green cards, applying for US passports, able to vote for idiots kind of done with the process. 3 months from start to finish is not bad going really.

  And now for other things, more Lego. This time days 9, 10 and 11 of the advent calendar. All of these three are very recognisable to anyone who has seen the films, especially the first one.

Lego advent day 8

Another day another Lego advent (although that is kind of the point of advent stuff :-) ). This time another cool little minifig of a rebel alliance pilot.

  and to make this blog post about something more than Lego for a change I'll include this picture which amused me.

Lego advent day 7

  Day 7 is an assortment of accessories to go with the wookie from the day before. So here we have a nice picture of the wookie minifig with his extras (or may hers, you never know).

This is why programming is easier than language stuff

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

Bits of sickness

  A couple of different things in my life are sick right now. I took the car in to get it smogged yesterday and even though all the emissions were good it failed since it had a check engine light on due to a sensor reading wrongly. This is considered bad enough to fail even though there are cars out there that spew out so much more pollution. Priorities right? I got a garage to clear out the code and it hasn't come back so going for the free retest later today.

  The more important bit of sickness is my wife who seems to have come down with a rotten cold/flu/whatever this is. She has the full on headache and sore throat, which if it lasts until Monday, is going to make the citizenship test really sucky. I'm going to pick up some stuff on the way home today and make sure she has everything possible to make her feel better. Now all we need is to get Andy to not make so much noise running in her wheels at night so my wife can get some sleep. Seriously, she can run for hours and hours without stopping it seems.

  So right now I simply ask you send my wife some nice healing vibes so she can get better and not feel so crappy. A sick wife is not a good thing at all, she doesn't need to suffer through that. And if certain Canadian actors can send healing vibes (preferably in person) then all the better.

Lego advent day 5 and 6

  Much more recognisable items this time for the last two days. If you don't know what these are then you really don't know Star Wars.

Lego advent days 2, 3 and 4

  Missed posting about the last few days of Lego advent calendar. Day 2 is this minifig who apparently is Nute Gunray who is part of the Clone Wars crap that I have no idea about. Anyway here he is (picture borrowed from elsewhere since I forgot to take one of my one).

  Day 3 is meant to be Nute's Mechno-chair and looks like this:-

  Then day 4 we have a Homing Spider Droid that ends up like this:-

Lego advent day 1

  Forgot to take an actual picture of my first Lego advent calendar item but it was a Republic Cruiser. The end result looks like this.

  It is meant to be a Lego version of this ship.

  There is an actual full sized Lego set available of this as well. It looks like this.

Hamster mansion

  We built the new living space for Andy the hamster last night. The resulting construction is pretty huge for a tiny dwarf hamster but once she was in it Andy scurried around quiet happily. To give you an idea of the size of this thing here is the full construction.

  Each of those dome like structures has a running wheel in it and the thinner tubes one the middle one are about the size of Andy. So yeah this is one huge hamster mansion that she should hopefully be happy to live in and have plenty of room to run around and live in rather than a single kind of boring cage.

  There are two water bottles in there, three different pods to hang out in and each dome also has a nesting area for her to sleep in. Today some more tubing should turn up and we also have something like 3 more of the round attachments that can give her somewhere to hang out if we want to. Kind of awesome really.

  We have some very lucky well looked after pets me thinks.

Just popping in

  Been a busy morning already dealing with hassle out of Japan. A small bug and lots of idiocy have lead to all sorts of annoyances. Anyway not going to let that bother me.

  Something came to mind this morning, back when the original Playstation 2 came out. It was claimed it could achieve "Toy Story like graphics". A stupid claim really but it shows that people want to strive for visually striking games. I saw a video this morning of a game that has come out in Japan that is coming out here next year. The style they have gone for basically makes it look exactly like an older animated film. The effect is quite striking and the fact that it is all generated in real time rather than painstakingly frame by frame is quite impressive. It shows that as technology advances we don't have to lose the style or charm of older story telling methods, we can just create them much much faster and with less effort that before which can only lead to more of this style of thing being created. That can surely be mostly a good thing yes?

  Anyway, follow this link to see the video and see for yourself.