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Busy and bored

Tagred — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:54:57 GMT

16th September 2009 i'm busy and bored!

since the joint venture with rolls-royce things got hectic, lots and lots of things to change, from the name right up to how the business is run.

Im charged with helping to plan and implement the safety strategy for the next 3-10yrs.

all very interesting and gives me something to do. Im in my new place now , been here since January 2009, its not bad, theres less grief here but i got my own office and stuff to go with it so its cool.

Been to Belfast a few times, it's weird, i always expected to see roads with big metal walls, paintings of various terrorist organisations and a continual feelilng of dread.

But not so, Belfast is a beautiful city, it's a shame that because of religion and some stupid hold on history, these guys want to kill each other. Everyone i have met in Belfast have been really nice, it just goes to show you dont really know until you have experienced something. Like with America my view of the place has changed, and for the better, not that i had much against Northern Ireland anyway.

Anywho, my girlfriend, has now moved in with me and has a job as a teaching assistant, shes the total opposite of the pig i was seeing before, i still feel odd though, it still doesnt feel quite real yet, but im sure ill get used to it. also inhereted 2 cats and have got 6 fish in the tank. The house and garden are coming along and its feeling like home.

I thought i made a few more blogs than this but i guess obviously not :P.

Off to swindon for the weekend to see the outlaws (gf parents) probably spend some money on stuff i dont need. Then to derby next week for work.

i start my NVQ4 at the end of the month, I thought that i might as well get some more training while im here, another degree equivalent would be nice on the old CV.

anyways, hope you who read this are ok, hope to hear from you, and keep TFing

All Associations Resistance Region

BabyBear — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:56:44 GMT

I been trying to switch between certain hunting grounds with my mage. One of them is the All associations Resistance Region. This is the map between Diad fortress and the beginning of the Lastavard.

Here you see me on that map with 2 of the monsters I can summon since i'm level 48 and a ring of summon control (gargoyles)

The reason i'm hunting this ground is that I'm trying to get a spellbook for my mage named 'Holy Walk'. This is a spell that can buff my character for a certain period of time, so I can move faster then I'm used to now... Handy to apply the tactic hit and run ;)

Unfortunately I haven't got the spellbook dropped yet :( but I'm able to give you some scenerie screenshots of the place I'm hunting now :)

The monster I really like to kill here is the Dire Wolf... as I know they have a chance of dropping me that holy walk spellbook ;)

Just wish me luck on my quest for my holy walk book ;)

My account is expired, so it could be that the next blog entry will take some time before it is posted.
Also my playing time in the coming weeks is very limited as I'm looking with my wife for a plot of land to build ourselves a house. (our current house is just not 100% what we want ;))

Glarielle and other bosses

BabyBear — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:29:59 GMT

Just been hunting with my mage, nothing special to say about that ... only maybe that I reached level 48. So an update to my blog of some of the bosses I hunted. Currently I check 3 easy bosses from time to time (ones I have experience in killing). These are crocodile, glarielle and caspa group.

I was able to find Glarielle on Elven dungeon 3F:

I was actually rather stupid... I only had 1 orange pot on my (to recover hp)... Forgot to stock up. So I had to practically kill it without pots. To avoid the tornado spell she is able to cast, I killed her from a distance. This results in the drops going to the ground instead of directly into my inventory, so I had to pick up everything:

After scanning through the items in my bag it seems the best drops are n-zel and Top Quality Saphire and as usual a lot of elven ingredient items. This is an ok drop from here :jig: Not the best drop, but also not the worst.
After killing glarielle, I stocked up in town (this time buying pots :P) and I went to check for Caspa group.... This was the result:

This time I didn't forget to screenshot them all :P As you can see on the screenshots, I took the easy way to kill them by waiting on the otherside of a door. This way I could only be hit by 1 of the group and I was able to save on pots to kill them all at once :). First time that I didn't had to tele away to regen some hp/mp and get in for a second round.
As you can see, nothing good was dropped again from the group :(. Oh well, better luck next time :mcool:

Land of the Abandoned

BabyBear — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:03:21 GMT

Completely in the north part of lineage you can find a special portal called Twisting of Space. This portal can be used to go to the Tower of Shadows and to the special leveling spot for level 45-52 players.

I haven't really explored the Tower of Shadows yet, but I have been hunting the Land of the Abandoned a lot lately to gain experience on my mage.

The land of the abandoned is an open outside area with all undead monsters. Most monsters in there have a ranged magic attack like the undead demon (fire attack):

With my mage, I can turn undead most of the monsters in there except for the ones that look like a lesser demon (wings seems clipped):

I always run away from them or when there are too much following me, I just teleport away. I do hunt without polymorph there, as the monsters there see through it. It's one way to save some adena as the drops in the land of the abandoned really is bad.

Next to the lesser demons which are hard to kill for my mage (actually don't want to waste my mp on them). There is also an annoying monster that looks like a succubus. They are not hard to kill with turn undead, but they are just annoying as they have the ability to teleport you next to them. So first you sit on a safe spot on the edge of the screen and 1 second later you could be in the middle of the action:

While i'm hunting there, I just enjoy the scenery of the snowy landscape:

So this is the land of the abandoned I'm currently hunting with my mage, so if you need me, you now know where to find me ;)

Caspa Group

BabyBear — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:25:23 GMT

Aside from leveling my mage, I sometimes wander around certain places in lineage to find some special monsters. Most people call them boss monsters as they are stronger as most other monster in their area, they have a higher chance to drop something nice, but are harder to find.

Few days ago I went to mainland dungeon. There are several boss monsters you can find in here depending on how deep you go. On the 3rd floor of the dungeon (there are 7) I found the caspa group. This is a group of mages trained in their own elemental line (fire, earth,...). You have Caspa:

Merkyor:

Baltuzar:

And I forgot to take a screenshot of Sema :( The reason for this is that I encountered the group directly when going down the stairs to 3rd floor and killed Sema immediately before taking time for screenshots.

I'm not able to take them all on at once with my elf, it is still to weak, but I try to seperate them from eachother and kill them 1 by 1. In the end I didn't get any drops that are worth to mention, but because I did take a screenshot of it, this is what I got:

Since my characters are still rather new to the game, I'm actually not yet a boss hunter type of player. So maybe next time I will try to post some story about me leveling my mage in THE level-spot for level 45-52 characters. The land of the abandoned (noob ToS)
But offcourse it is always easier to make posts like this, as it is a special event for me and my characters that I don't accomplish every day :)

Wanted Criminal Kuzak

BabyBear — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:36:19 GMT

I been lucky this week to find this monster within the game. I was working on some bookmark for my mage around the mainland of lineage when I encountered Kuzak. This monster is very hard to find, but on the other hand, drops very nice things and is easy to kill.

Offcourse I did take a screenshot of it's drop this time :)

The scroll of enchant armor was cursed. Not that bad to get a cursed scroll now after the boss island event ;)

Lvl 45 Mage Quest

BabyBear — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:39:10 GMT

The boss island event is over and I didn't got any drops anymore that are worth to list :( I did picked up on my leveling with my mage and I reached level 45 a few days ago :D

For those familiar with Lineage know that on level 15,30 and 45 there are quests for your character. These quests are different for each class in lineage. After reaching a safe exp level I started the quest with my mage. What is safe exp some might ask? Well in lineage you lose experience points when you die. This could even result in you downgrading a level and I wanted to prevent that from happenning :)

Ok forward with the quest. For the level 45 Mage Quest you first need to speak to Talass who can be found in the Ivory Tower. I put on my new robe I could wear on level 45 (Ancient Robe) against the cold and I went north to the entrance of the Ivory Tower

After entering the Ivory Tower I moved up to the 3th floor and searched for Talass. He told me about a surprising creature which I need to find. Some kind of talking Rock

So I went to the forest of Mirrors as Talass told me to find the strange Rock. After finding the Rock he told me that he was actually a mage before, but got cursed by the Elf people as he was seen as an Invader of their land.

The rock asks me to find a special Doppelganger, feed him a bless of Eva potion (same potion you use to breath under water) and that the doppelganger will regurgitate, which is what I need to collect.

Ok now to fight those doppelganger. There are different kind of doppelgangers, some will just walk around, others will turn into the first playable character they seen. The doppelganger which we need to find is one of those polymorphing ones.

The only difference you can notice between the one you need to find and the normal doppelgangers is that the one you need hits harder and takes longer to kill.
What I did is just fed every morphing doppelganger a bless of eva and killed them. Once I found the right one (around location 33765, 33237, type /loc to find your location) it gave me the doppelganger regurgitation

Next I also needed an Ancient Magic Crystal (and I am playing Depardieu server). I got mine from taken a book of Cancel Magic (I still had one in store) to Orim. Orim can be found on the Mainland Cave 7f. The easiest way to get there in my opinion is by using the underground passage between Talking Island cave and Mainland cave. So this is the route I took. Once at Orim, I asked for the Ancient Magic Crystal in exchange for the Cancel Magic book

Once I had both the doppelganger regurgitation and the Ancient Magic Crystal, I went back to the mysterious rock (I did bookmark it, so just needed 1 blessed teleport scroll :)) and he gived me the Record of the Ancient Devil

Now I needed to get back to Talass and give him the Record of the Ancient Devil. In return I got Magic bag of Talass

After opening the bag (just double click) I got the Wisdom of the Ancient People (needed for the level 50 group quest) and a mana cloak

This mana cloak also has a hidden +5mp regeneration each tick. So certainly an ok cloak for a mage :)
With the reward gotten, I finished the level 45 Quest and can start leveling again to higher levels ^^

Boss Island Event

BabyBear — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:08:06 GMT

As promised, I'm going to show you some screenshots of the current ongoing event. The boss island event.

First you can see the group i'm currently hunting with, all from my pledge the XRated :hail:
We are currently killin a Knight Vald (named "The Leader" on the boss island):

The Knight Vald is the one with the red eye :P

For those not familiar with lineage, the icons in the top right hand corner are called buffs. It are special effects currently affecting my character (for example haste, extra strength, extra bow damage,...)

Next we have a Grim Reaper. In lineage you have all kind of bosses with all special effects as you can see.

An Ice Queen. The bear you see in the screenshot is a Dire Bear. This is a beast a level 60 mage can summon to help him during hunts.

Iris using a Tornado spell. She looks nice though with her whip and leather outfit

If you didn't noticed yet, my character is that red looking archer (fire archer). This is not the standard looks of my character, but in lineage it is possible to polymorph you in different monsters within the game. The higher level you are, the better polymorphs are unlocked. The fire archer polymorph is the best one I can get on level 51. These polymorph have next to their looks also other benefits. For example moving faster or faster shooting.

Next we have a Beleth, I like this one. Depending on my position, this mob isn't able to hurt me. So it's an easy kill for me :P the most annoying about this one is that he spawns skeletons to aid him.

The bossmobs most characters in the game are able to solo is the mambo rabbit:

Offcourse we don't always kill them nicely one by one. Sometimes there is also chaos. Spot the 4 bosses within the next screenshot:

Last but not least, I was lucky today to get a very nice item of the game. I was killing a mambo rabbit and was running out of pots. Since I do ranged damage I ran away from the rabbit and started shooting, run, shoot... and it dropped me a kaiser claw. I was so excited with the drop that I forgot to even take a screenshot of it :(
Oh well this is a screenshot of it in my bag after I allready enchanted it to +7

Yes in lineage it is possible to upgrade your items (both weapons and armor pieces). You do this buy using special scrolls within the game. The Kaiser claw can be safely enchanted to +6 without it breaking. It is now +7, so if I try to enchant it further. There is a chance the claw will just evaporate away.

I hope you enjoyed my first screenshots. And wish me luck so I can get another good drop from the event that I don't forget to screen :sssh:

The beginning

BabyBear — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:15:18 GMT

This is the first time i'm writing a blog, so it will be something to get used to for me.
As writing about myself would be boring, I picked a topic for my blog which is Lineage 1. This is a mass multiplayer online game I'm currently playing. I hope you will like it :sssh:

The start off, I would like to give an little introduction to lineage and my place within it. I don't got any screenshots yet, but I will try to make some for future posts within my blog.

Lineage 1 is allready an older online game. This can be seen by looking at the graphics of the game itself. When I had my first internet connection back in the year 2000 my bro introduced me to lineage. It was an online game he found on the internet which was at that time free to play (beta). Once the beta was over, I didn't play lineage again for quite some time. 1 year ago I couldn't find any good game to play until I thought, why not try lineage again. The game evolved a lot in the past years so it felt like I never played the game before.
There are currently 5 playable classes within the game (Royal, Knight, Mage, Elf, Dark Elf). Yes Elf and Dark Elf are classes and not races within this game :smart:
In the beginning you need to get used to the gameplay and the playing style. Once this is done, you can start to enjoy the game. The game is 10 years old, but it also got the content to show for it. There is a lot to do within the game. After 1 year of playing, I haven't seen everything yet within the game. (I play average of 2 hours a day)

Now to get to my place within the game. I got 2 characters I currently play. I got a level 51 elf (my starting character) and a level 43 mage (only playing for a few weeks now) In the beginning I hunted alone or with my brother, who also rejoined the game. But my bro allready took a break from lineage few months ago. After that I joined a pledge within the game named XRated.
So in my future blog posts you will find things back from my 2 characters and maybe together without some of my pledge.

Currently there is an event ongoing in lineage named 'Boss Island'. This is an event with an island inhabited with bosses from around the game. And like in the normal lineage world, they also drop nice items. (Special drop rate is created for the bosses on the island). So I hope to provide you some screenshots and my ingame experience from this event in my next blog post. I hope you will enjoy reading it

Another year and a new discipline

Harv — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:04:54 GMT

Well after the winter off season have returned to the circuits for annual training days. Completed experienced marshal training did another fire training session and got my book signed to allow for my next upgrade at Cadwell Park.

Also this year was invited to be part of Racesafe Bike marshals and snapped their hand off to join :)

Will be doing the sort of stuff shown in the following ( ** don't watch this if your squeamish** )

I took their training day at Mallory and did more fire, incident, flag and medical training ( now know the correct method for removing a riders helmet if they are not breathing ), the result of which I am now eligible to marshal for British Superbikes :clap:

Will be there at Brands Hatch for the first round and will be doing 4 rounds in total ( 2 at Brands, Donnington Park and Cadwell Park ).

Really looking forward to those days :approve:

Didn't manage to get selected for the F1 GP this year ( too many applicants for last Silverstone GP :( ) but will be out doing a different circuit for those dates or watching it on TV ( now that would be novel ).

Putting name down for WSR marshal again this year. Maybe we can get a gathering from TF to go this year ( ITS FREE FOR SPECTATORS YOU KNOW AND ALL THE ACTIVITIES ARE FREE TOO )

watch this space for further insights into race marshaling and if anyone wants to give it a go drop me a pm and i will sort you out with the right contacts and may even see you at circuit a few feet away from those really fast cars :D

Other People's Children

Laz — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:55:34 GMT

Have you ever noticed that children behave differently when they are away from their own parents? And usually for the better.

I have been a soccer coach and a parent volunteer for the school drama productions, both for several years. These activities allow me to work with lots of kids aged 10-15. I know that there are problem children out there, and I haven't really had to deal with them yet, but most kids have been polite and attentive, and have focussed on the tasks at hand. Plus, I make sure we have fun.

Eventually, the parents come to pick up their kids, and some will say "I hope Johnny wasn't too difficult today." I'll reassure them that Johnny was fine, and then wonder what happens at home, and how much of any bad behavior is driven by the family dynamic. But their parenting can't have been too bad, as Johnny is well behaved around me.

Back before there was a USA, "fostering" was a common practice. And of course, back when debts could be inherited, running away from home at a young age was a good idea.

Today, parents seem to be very reluctant to let their children go out and explore the big bad world. I wonder if this is a good thing.

Of course, in my case, I wish my kids would stay home a little more..:doh:

24th August: Work is a four letter word

Tagred — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:28:59 GMT

24th August 2008

Been a few weeksa since my first blog entry so i though i'd do some more. Theres been a few changes in those weeks.

Changes at work, Rolls Royce have decided to partner with my company to create a joint venture. This means that there my part of the business will be owned 50-50 by Rolls Royce and Goodrich aerospace, so it means that i will be part of a new company with 2 owners. Most people don't know what this will mean, who is actually going to own us, whose procedures do we work to? No question of redundancies yet as we are going to incorporate about 500 engineers into our part.

On the plus side it could mean that i can finally make our systems work and that we will have more autonomy
and get things done the way we want them to be, simple and efficient with less beaurocracy. Who knows until it happens? I have been told that i will be looking after another site, not 8months after moving to the one i'm currently in, but that's ok, its only about 300yards from where i am now, and means that i have been running health & safety in all the 3 local sites, more money? Probably not but heres hoping.

Right now i'm in New York state in a place called Rome, nice place, great room even better air conditioning as it's hotter than hell outside. I got a week's worth of auditing to do, but when this joint venture comes about i might have to give it up, which means no more travelling the world. Oh well, it was great while it lasted and has given me a great deal of knowledge about business and how it works on an international scale, a great addition to my CV if nothing else, it means that if i move on, i could probably get a decent paying job fairly easily.

My house is pretty much finished decorating wise, the girlfriend decorated top to bottom, and for some strange reason was more than happy to do it while i was at work, a good thing since im too much of a lazy git to do it, but shes helped me out of my melancholy and i can see a future now both with my house (if things dont get more expensive) and getting what i want out of life. All i need now is to start saving again so i can get the things needed and to help the family out.

Anyway, things are steadily working, though my problems arent as bad as anyone elses as old Thom Sawyer once said, "the grief and pain of a small child who has lost her doll is as bad as a king grieving at his lost kingdom" or words to that effect. Basically just because my problems arent as bad as most people, it doesnt mean i feel any less as someone who has had a really bad time of it. Think about it, it works, it will help you to understand others.

Right time to bugger off and watch a little american tv with all those too good to be missed offers and adverts that appear from nowhere in the middle of a programme.

Take care all

Moving is not fun.

Laz — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:56:57 GMT

If you've been following along, you know that I/we have just moved from Westport Connecticut (1 hr east of NYC) to West Chester PA (1 hr west of Philly).

We had lived in Westport for 12 years, and Connecticut for 20. We went from a small house to a bigger one, a small property to a bigger one - all for much less money. Escaping the NYC metro area has its advantages.

Anyway, packing and moving is a terrible chore, and then unpacking takes forever (years!). The kitchen layout is different, so which drawer does the silverware go in? Registering our new address with everyone is annoying. How come they can't figure this out on their own? Hmmm, maybe we just won't tell them we left.

The worst part has to be making new friends. We had the most wonderful goodbye parties before we left (why is that?) Our kids are mostly grown (16 and 20) to there are no playdates. We don't have time yet to start up volleyball and music jams (ref unpacking above). And our neighbors all seem to be on summer vacation.

So why did we move? The Wife got a fantastic job that acknowledges that she is really good at what she does. The past 5 years have been very tough, as her boss really didn't understand the situation he was putting her in, and himself as well. I was able to find a new job as well, which is similar to my previous place, so not too bad.

Stay tuned - hopefully happier stories soon.

Change is change

Laz — Fri, 30 May 2008 22:42:07 GMT

My family is moving for the first time in 12 years. My wife has accepted a new job about 200 miles from where we live now. We've bought a house, and are trying to sell this one. I just got a new job, which is a big relief. I've been the "trailing spouse" for 25 years.

We hate to move, which is why we have done it only a few times. In fact, my wife stayed at her current job about 2 years too long because she loves it here, and she hates to move. But her job was really making her miserable, which makes us all miserable, so away we go. Her new job is fantastic; she can already tell that it's going to be a lot better, and she hasn't started yet. We will miss being near the water, but we'll soon be up in the hills with a wonderful view.

I also tend to stay in one place. It takes a lot of effort to get me to leave - I've only quit on my own once in my entire career. Both of us are loyal to a fault.

But sometimes change is good. We don't really have many close friends here, and my daughter hates the school she is in. My current employer is going through some really tough times, while my new employer is still growing.

And soon we start the really tough part - sorting and packing. What to keep in, what to leave out. Arrggh!

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes.

Quiting Smoking Diary

Detomah — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:57:20 GMT

Ok, it's been planned for a few weeks now, but the day itself is now upon me.

30th May 2008 = Quite Smoking Day for me...

To catalogue the feelings I go through and struggles I endure to make sure I actually quit properly this time and don't give in the cravings and so that I have something positive to look back at, I will be doing a daily diary of my quiting, so each day I will come back and add a new section to this as I progress.

Yes I am scared, i've been through this before and as such a heavy smoker, I know what the first three days will put me through. :eek2: I can do it though!

Anyway, to start, here is the day before process i'm going through...

The Day Before Quiting - 29th May 2008

I have 1 packet of papers, 1 lighter and enough baccie left for 5 more roll-ups, once that is gone, every single cigarette and smoking related item is going straight into the bin, including the ashtray.

All clothing that smells of smoke is getting washed.

Desktop wallpaper is changed to a help quit smoking desktop, together with changing my avatar on TF and adding a positive siggy banner.

My new desktop is:

Robyn has been prepared and knows what needs to be done to keep me positive.

I have my Nicorette Inhalator ready, i've already tested them to make sure they are suitable and they are, they work a treat and with no nasty side effects for me luckily.

So, as the evening passes, I will slowly smoke those last 4 roll-ups, making sure I remind myself as each one passes, why I am quiting and what I stand to benefit by quiting.

So why am I quiting?

Well... there are a whole bunch of reasons, including the normal smelling, health and finance ones and the biggest of all, I want control back, I am sick of little white cancer sticks controlling what I can do and the cravings ruling over me.

My dad had a heart attack a couple of year ago, it's acted as a very big kick up the arse for me. Not only with the smoking issue, but with my diet, exercising and generally every single aspect of my life. When I went for a health check up 2 years ago and was warned about my blood pressure and cholesterol and that i'd be lucky to get to 50 if I didn't start changing things, I knew I had to get real and do something about it if I want to live to a decent age. Quiting smoking is the single biggest part of making sure I give myself every chance of living a much longer and enjoyable life and of course, with a lot more money too.

So, tomorrow evening, I will add to this how the first day has gone, if i'm not climbing the walls too badly that is, otherwise it may have to wait a couple of days until I am coherent again.

Oh how I wish i'd refused that very first cigarette that was offered to me.

Quiting Day - 30th May 2008

Woke up at 8am this morning, last cigarette was at 11:50pm last night, so the urge is already strong, using that to my advantage though, I twist it and call that not bad an 8hr head start for me.

Breakfast was a struggle last time, well actually the post eating breakfast cigarette was the actual struggle, but i've quickly got past that this time by taking a quick shot on the inhalator.

Decided to have a slightly early lunch, knowing full well that food is a great side track, of course the after lunch cigarette was replaced by a shot of the inhalator again, great way to kill the craving on the spot, whgile still allowing the tar and crap to start clearing.

By 3:00pm it's getting a little difficult to concentrate, the throat has started going through it's restriction phase and all the other major withdrawel symptoms are kicking in. I know the key time for me is making it to bedtime today, I don't have a single doubt in my mind at all that I can get there though, every single bone in my body is completely commited and determined to be successful.

Ok, so made it to midnight without breaking down, it's been tough, but that's the whole 1st day done with, so that's the first mile stone achieved. I'll make this a little more coherent at some point once i'm feeling a bit more sane, as it really is tough to concentrate right now.

Day 2 - 31st May 2008

24hrs have now past and I have managed to resist tempation. I am feeling really motivated about this, but the cravings when they come are really strong, so it takes a lot of effort to keep on believing and a lot of concentration to stop it getting the better of me.

The first major signs of irritation and not being able to settle kicked in through the night. I went to bed aorund 12:45am but was back up at 5:50am having had a really restless night. Fortunately I already know from past experience that this bit gets a lot lot easier over time.

Fast forward to midnight. Today has been a big struggle. The body now knows it's not getting any more cigarettes and it's started fighting back. I've managed to survive the day without buckling, but it's been really tough. I'm really glad it's over with. My weakness today has been food, but I have deliberately made plans for that and made sure certain food stuffs were in the house, but i've kind of pigged out today to break the smoking cycle and to also give me somehting else to focus on, aka not sticking to my current diet means I now have to focus double as hard on that, which should mean I will forget about smoking much quicker.

Smoking for 18yrs and smoking up to 30 a day at times has been stupid, but it's only when you quit or at least try to quit that you ever think that, the rest of the time you consider it as part of normal life. Just think though..... 18yrs of smoking equates to around 130,000 cigarettes, 6500 packs of 20, or around the �25,000 to �30,000 spent buying them mark. I really have to stop and think to myself, how much i've poisoned myself for 18yrs, taking in crap like cyanide and carbon monoxide voluntarily. I mean, I wonder just how much tar i've got lining my lungs and insides right now and how long it's going to take for that to clear up?

The one thing I think I can say for certain... The Nicorette Inhalator works a bloody treat for me!!! Ok so i've not completely got over the nicotine addiction itself just yet, I am pretty damn certain that even at this very early stage in the proceedings, I am not craving for cigarettes at all, what I am craving and need is the actual nicotine itself, but the little plastic replacement is working great in giving me that and in a much reduced but sufficient level. I really shouldn't speak too soon though, I'm still getting hot and cold flushes at the moment, together with stomach cramps, lack of concentration, irritability, blurred vision and all the other normal quiting smoking type symptons.

The last time I quit I was successful for 3 months, but at this stage I was under a constant state of siege mentality with myself, I seriously wanted to go to the shop and buy cigarettes and it was continuous, right through to the point were I did actually fail at the 3 month mark and went and bought myself a packet. This time, even after only 2 days, I don't have anywhere near the same kind of urge to go and buy more. The only possible answer I can give for this, is that last time my heart wasn't really in it, I wasn't really wanting to quit for me but more because of being nagged at, this time it is 100% for me and I am damn determined this time.

Day 3 - 1st June 2008

I honestly thought i'd have something much more interesting to write, but things have gone very quiet for me, it's almost being TOO easy to quit this time, I don't know if i'm going to get some kind of delayed reaction and some nasty side effect or something, but so far, it's been all very straight forward and a hell of a lot easier than I was expecting.

Anyway, 3 days have passed so far and I can honstly say, I don't need or want a cigarette and i'm not just saying that to try and sub-consciously convince myself, I actually feel like i'm a none smoker, for the first time in 18 years.

Day 4 - 2nd June 2008

Hmmm, frankly I'm thinking about not bothering writing up this blog after the first week of this, because if anything, this little exercise has proved a damn sight more boring and less eventful than I suspected it would. Saying that, I never suspected it would be so damn easy to turn cigarettes away when quiting this time either.

So me and Robyn wandered into town to do a bit of shopping, I thought this would be a test, coming face to face with smokers and cigarette selling shops and smoke being blown straight at me, but instead of wanting to grab the cigarette out of the first person I saw smokings hand to smoke, I actually found my first thought was that of an 18yr old me who was a serious anti-smoker, in that I wanted to go up to the smoker grab the cigarette off them and stomp on it, the smell of the smoke repulsed me and for the first time in 18 years I realised just how bad smokers actually smell. Walking into the super market, this fat woman with stained yellow hair was stood right next the doorway, making it completely unavoidable to get a full on waft, but rather than the smoke itself getting to me, what hit me was the pungent smell of the woman herself, it smelled like she had been bathing in an ashtray and to me, something i'd taken no notice at all of for 18yrs, suddenly it was like being hit by a sledgehammer, I obviously used to smell like that myself, I was a pretty heavy smoker. What I don't get though, is why nobody besides Robyn ever told me about it, yeah sure these books all say about smoke smells, but nothing like as powerful smelling as I found out in the supermarket. Walking down the aisles, it was as easy as seeing who was white, black or asian, smelling who smoked and who didn't. What really made me laugh though, was that it seemed that a heck of a lot of the people that I smelled smoked on were either office workers or looked like upper management type people, smart suits, neat hair and all that kind of thing, yet I'm pretty sure the one thing they are completely oblivious to and that makes the effort they put into their appearance completely futile is the overpowering smell of smoke radiating from them like some real cheap and overpowering aftershave.

I don't really know why quiting smoking has been so easy for me at this time, maybe it really is down to motivation and determination, maybe I have had the willpower to do this all along and the only thing that's stopped me succeeding in the past has been my own state of mind and my only trying to convince others I wanted to quit and not actually convincing myself. Whatever it actually is, I can genuinely and confidently say I will never smoke a single cigarette ever again and the simple thought of it seriously repulses me and I am so SO happy that I have finally seen past the nicotine addiction.

The only thing nibbling at me now with this, is the damn cravings. They are completely managable and are getting easier to control each time it happens, but every time it does happen it catches me off guard just for a moment. I can quite easily see how without serious concentration this kind of thing catches people out and makes people grab a cigarette and ultimately meaning failure with the whole quiting project. I don't know whether my working from home is a curse or a godsend with this, in a way it's like being in a cell, I can lock the world out and maintain complete control over everything, yet at the same time, the lack of stimulating conversation means that my mind finds it very easy to wander back onto the subject of smoking and my having quit. There is no fear at all of me needing or wanting a cigarette, but the craving thing does bother me slightly and I wish it would hurry up and subside enough to be forgotten about completely.

Another thing that is helping me I believe, is that before I quit smoking, I cut down my caffeine intake dramatically. I went from around 20 cups of coffee a day to 3 cups, 4 on a long day, with half the amount of coffee and sugar in the cup too. From every guide i've read, caffeine when trying to quit smoking, is an absolute killer of stamina and abilty to control the situation.

Just one more thought for you for now.... Remember I posted on Total Format about my superb experience and results of Yakult and how well it has benefited me. Well.... I honestly think I can attribute the ease of which i've quit smoking to Yakult too, which if proved fact would make the stuff a serious miracle for me. The reason I think it helped me quit, is that as soon as I started taking Yakult, I replace my first cigarette of the morning with my Yakult and I think it may have helped break the repetitive daily routine that i've had in place for as long as I can remember. I also think that the Yakult improving my feeling of health and well being has made me feel better about myself and made me feel more self confident and with that it's given me a much stronger level of self belief in that I could beat smoking and so far it's clearly proved to be the case.

Anyway, I've still not touched a cigarette and with each passing day, I am more certain that I never will again, but at the same time I am chuffed that my first test of seeing and smelling others smoking had no kind of effect over me at all, other than to think that those people who smoke really stink very badly of smoke. All it says to me is that smokers obviously lose a hell of a lot of their sense of smell and become oblivious to how terribly bad the smell is to non smokers and I know I certainly don't ever want to smell like that again, knowingly or otherwise.

For all you smokers out there... If you are planning on quiting, I really reccomend getting a huge jar, half filling it with water and then tipping all of your full ashtrays into it, putting the lid on and letting it all soak in for a few weeks. Then after a nights sleep, go out into the garden with this jar, before you have your first cigarette and take the lid of the jar and take a deep lung full of the smell of whats in the jar... That's what you smell like to non smokers. That's what i've smelled like to non smokers for 18 years and obviously most people are either too polite or simply not ballsy enough to tell you just how rediculously revolting you smell and i'm not talking about dirty people who wash once a week and stuff like that, i'm talking about clean looking people, people who have a lot of pride in their look and appearance. The moment you put that lit fag in your mouth, you turn into a walking ashtray and smell as bad as that too. I am so very glad i've finally woken up to it.

Day 14 - 12th June 2008

Ok, we've fast forwarded a few days, as the last few days have generally been pretty much the same thing day after day. Get the odd craving, fight it, beat it, have the occasional little struggle to concentrate, get over it, get on with normal daily stuff.

The hardest time to fight is after an arguement. Of all the cigarettes throughout the day that could be missed, it appears that the grab a cigarette quickly due to getting stressed due to arguement type thing. Which isn't much fun when quiting smoking makes you very easily aggitated for the first few weeks as it is, meaning pretty much anything can trigger an abrupt eruption.

What I do find annoying, is that just cause a few days have passed, people aren't bothering to offer any kind of support like was offered during the first couple of days any more. Don't people realise, that quiting smoking is bloody tough and reassurance is needed for a damn sight longer than the first 7 days.

I think at the moment i'm actually going through the most difficult patch so far, which i am pretty certain has been triggered by a domestic between me and Robyn, which is seriously annoying, considering it's Robyn that has nagged at me about smoking for the last 9 years and Robyn who bought the Alan Carr books, etc, etc.. Clearly she hasn't bothered to read the information regarding being supportive and what a quiting smoker goes through, otherwise she would have known that by knocking me out of position and putting me on a downer about it all, she has seriously made it 10 times more difficult for me to focus and a lot harder to concentrate on anything. I really hope this passes and that I can get back to how I was feeling last week very quickly, because this little phase is very much NOT fun.

Day 24 - 22th June 2008

Ok, so we are now into the 3rd week of being an ex-smoker and the novelty of being quit has really warn off, leaving the standard daily grind of overcoming cravings and trying to concentrate on other things, while at the same time trying to resist these over powering hunger moments. I can seriously see why they warn that you have to allow for weight gain when quiting, cause the nicotine cravings are seriously replaced by bouts of real hunger.

There are two types of days generally at the moment. The first type is when Robyn is at work and I am home alone working on TF. Its pretty hard going at times, especially when the work being done is so boring, like uploading pictures to the gallery, or doing news stories, it's hard to concentrate at times. I am managing though, it's not something I feel will ultimately make me fail at this, it's just annoying that it happens. The second type of day is when Robyn is off work and I take a few hours during the day off myself to go out shopping or for a long walk or something. During those days it is a real doddle and it takes absolutely no effort at all and I don't have to concentrate or overcome cravings at all, much nicer days really.

Oh and the bonus... Look at my siggy.... �160 less spent so far... That's a big BIG saving already.

7 Weeks - 21st July 2008

Well, thought I should give a little update... I'm still very much quit and have no doubt at all that I will remain quit. My big problem right now is not smoking though, it's food. As time has past, i've started feeling hungry more and more and at the moment have a bit of an issue trying to control it. I will get on top of it, it's just going to take a little while.

One annoying aspect is this money saving business. Yes I have saved over �300 since quiting smoking, problem is, is that with this damn credit crunch and the prices of everything going through the roof, I'm not noticing any extra money in my pocket and it's doing my head in.

Was nice that when I went to my parents, they did notice that i'd quit smoking and that was a big moral booster.

Oh and if you are thinking of or planning on quiting, be warned that one thing none of these so called "quit smoking" guides bothers to warn you about is the micro management of your life once you have actually got cigarettes gone from it. They all say keep busy when you get cravings, relax when you get stressed, go for a walk when you can't concentrate, etc, etc, yet they don't actually follow it up with the actual ins and outs of what the hell you should do post 3 weeks type period and no matter how positive you are about quiting smoking, it is absolutely impossible to remain permanently positive about quiting and if like me , I found it was after the high of visiting my parents that i've now hit a kind if a natural post holiday low and as a result motivation and moral is really low, yet nowhere can I find the post quit smoking "pick me up" type guide. I won't go back to smoking, that would be plain stupid, I just hope my weight don't go through the roof with the confort eating thing.

Anyway, I'll probably update this next when I get to the 3 month mark, that's a pretty big marker. Hopefully by then i'll have got the eating under control again too.

Grande Passione Donington Park Masters weekend

Harv — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:08:07 GMT

19th and 20th April Masters hold a race weekend and I do my first full weekend on post :)

Sign on takes place early on the saturday to a surprise �10 note as a thankyou to each marshal for turning up to work for the day and an embroidered cap sporting the race series name and date in ferrari red :)

I am posted to Coppice Corner in the raised box to allow drivers to see us properly.

I drive round to post after the briefing and find myself on post with 2 others and end up doing both incident and flagging which is really fun :approve:

The Masters Club is running the show for the first time here at Donington and have put on a show that promises to be highly entertaining if not a bit long ( last race is not set to finish till 8pm :???: )

So whats to be expected of Saturday? 11 qualifying sesions in the morning followed by 5 races in the afternoon.

There are :-

Grand Prix Masters - F1 cars from 1966-78

Word Sportscars masters - Le Mans care from 1960's/70's

GT & Sports Endurance Masters from 1950's/60's

Sports Racing Masters upto 1965

Masters Proto70s

Along with a few other visitors to add to the splendor.

First up is World Sportscar Masters 25 F1 cars from 1970-1977 lotus, mclaren, brabham, suteests and more all racing round qualifying for 20 minutes vying for pole position.

Next up is Ferrari owners club followed by pre 1961 GP cars, Sports racing masters follow then the gentelmen drivers over 2-litre cars take to the circuit.

All these cars are lovingly restored to there former glories and raced around trak with finess and passion slideing round the bends and roaring along the strights its enough to bring a tear to the classic car appreciators.

Lunch break brings demonstrations and a pit visit to get a chance to look at some of the wonderful race cars close up and personal.

Afternoon sesion brings more qualifying and the first 5 races of the weekend culminating in a 90 minute Over 2-litre endurance race with drivers pitting to swap half way through the session. How amazing it is to watch so many cars racing so close for position and really pushing these classics to the limits :)

The day finishes at x past 8 and I'm staying over in a local B&B hotel tonight so I go back and give sash a ring and tell her what I have been upto :D

Next morning im back on the same post but with a new set of marshals today we are 5 strong but I am given the opportunity to be flaggie for the day so jump at the chance. The observer today is incredible he knows most of the drivers by name/helmet/car and can identify whos where in the race from further away than i can even see numbers :sssh: he keeps me on the ball and nudges me when i lose track of which cars need blue flagging. Its great fun and an amazing learning experiance. I even found out that the winner of one of the races is Phil Collins record producer :clap: another day of amazing cars and information ending with another 60 min endurance race with even closer racing than Saturday.

Will post some picis of the cars that raced this weekend to the end of this blog entry.

Attached Thumbnails

HSCC Cadwell 13th Apr 2008

Harv — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:59:15 GMT

Back at Cadwell again this weekend for a days racing with the Historic Sports Car Club.

This started out as a great days racing before the clouds opened up and let rip with sheets of hailstone which left the circuit slippy again.

I was on post with one other guy ( trainee of the year 2007 ) and I was doing the flagging. A car decided to slide off the track at our post and then rejoin by sliding sideways down the embankment in front of us. As he did this he got the gears stuck and couldn't select a forward gear properly. My fellow marshal went to help push the car off the circuit while i frantically waved yellows in the rain and approached to help. Found out that the driver was trying to rejoin and a few seconds later he slammed it into 1st and rocketed of leaving the marshal to roll about on the live circuit and getting nice and wet in the process.

Well we reported the incident and got cleaned up a bit in our hut and carried on with the racing.

Then the next few laps and the race was stopped. Apparently there had been a fatality at the top of the mountain :( a 68 year old had had a heart attack in the car and had gone off the circuit and crashed into the barriers. The medics were in attendance within 5 secs of him stopping but despite there best efforts and speedy response he had died before he hit the wall. The racing was called to an end and we all exited the circuit in a saddened mood. My best wishes to the drivers family and his friends but, and this view is shared by many I have talked to about it, at least he went out doing something he loved.

This brought home to me the fact of just how dangerous the hobby I had taken up could be and I found myself feeling down for the next few days coming to terms with what had happened. ( I talked at a later meet with the observer that was on the post which he crashed at and felt better knowing that it didn't spoil his enjoyment of marshaling and that he held the same views as others that he had gone out doing his thing ).

Made me appreciate my wife and family more though.

MSVR Cadwell - 6 Apr 08

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:00:58 GMT

First time at cadwell as a marshal - only been for training day before today. Still getting my footing and getting to grips with sign on procedures and the likes got posted to post 3 ( which I now know is charlies infield ) and on my drive round the circuit had to do 2 laps to find the right post :doh: they stick the post numbers on the inside of the huts the wrong side of the post to see from the track so ended up searching all over for the right post ><.

Loads of racing today including the second outing for Josh Hill, Damon Hills young lad in the Ginettas which he performed in really well and got a podium finish.

It was the Ginetta festival so the races were all different classes of Ginetta cars. Apparently you can race in the club ginetta series for �320 per event :eek2: think i will stick to donning the orange probans for now :)

We had a car bomb out behind us with the fiberglass body ripped over itself like an old car bonnet with lots of steam and water oozing from the radiator and a bit of a dent/bend in the tubing but it didn't seem too bad compared to some we saw further round the circuit.

Highlight of the day being a car dropping its oil load all down the course between Park and Chris Curve only to have a fire needing the fire truck to go and attend to then spin on the oil left by the car :doh:

had a spot of hailstone during one of the races too - turned the circuit white in seconds but besides slowing down the next lot of cars a little for a few laps it cleared up and the remaining races were good. Had to have my card signed by the Chief Marshal - John Watson too as the guys on post with me didn't think they had the experience to sign.

750MC Mallory - First meeting of the year

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 19:41:37 GMT

Put down for the First race meeting of 2008 at Mallory as an opener to the season this tends to pull in a lot of marshals and this year was no exception. 185 marshals turned up to watch some cracking racing. Again I was one post off all the action but my god what action it was no less than 6 MR2's spinning out of control over spilt liquid on the track and a RED Flag stopping the race which later appeared to have not been requested by race control but by the marshals on the post up from us. :???:

plenty of action during the day and good fun with some of the guys on post.

got my first signature towards upgrade and wore my new probans for the first time and can definitely state that Tango man was an understatement they almost glowed with newness :o

Found out that one of the best gadgets a marshal can buy is a scanner to hear race control over the radio's to give you a better understanding of what is happening out of sight of your post.

Must invest in one :)

Training Day

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 14:09:18 GMT

Arrived at Cadwell Park bright and early to take part in the training day. 80 or so marshals in attendance all doing different disciplines (observer, flag, incident, course... ) so we split into groups and do a briefing on our discipline. We then do fire training where we learn how to put out a car fire properly and which extinguisher to use on which fire in what order.

Also get our attendance/upgrade cards and some more information booklets to help with instructions on what to do on post.

Good day had by all and now have 2 training day signatures one for the fire training and one for basic marshal training.

Record Card and Training

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:38:16 GMT

Well its now January 2008 and I have put my name down for marshal training at Cadwell Park in March this is an opportunity to receive free fire training and marshal basics to give you an understanding into how to perform the job and what is expected. I also received my NE area magazine with some other information on who to contact to do different venues and racing.

Looking forward to that with anticipation as it is the real start of my role as Tango man/Race Marshal :)

First day on the job November 3rd 2007

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:21:53 GMT

My first days racing as a marshal at Donington Park for the BARC winter series.

This was 4 qualifying sessions and 8 races throughout the day.

Took the wife and kids with me to the meeting as they wanted to watch the racing and the spare ticket they send worked well ( under 12's are free ).

7.00am Sign-on ( probably the worst bit about marshaling :) )

Arrived at circuit at 6.30am ( didn't want to be late for first meeting ) parked in paddock 3 where security told me I needed to be and left the family to try and find sign-on ( had no idea where to go ) after asking several people and finding routes locked to where i needed to go I high tailed it across the race circuit and climbed a fence to finally arrive in the right area to find that actually I could drive to sign on via a different entrance and under a tunnel :doh: apparently they don't tell gate security where everyone is meeting each day so they didn't know any better.

So I signed on and got my post number and hot footed it back to the car which was ow much faster as some of the routes had now been unlocked and drove back to sign-on.

Couldn't find my source for an extra pair of overalls so was starting to panic a bit not really having any idea what was going off. Went back to Sign-on point and found one of the chief marshals who had a few sets of spare probans on hand for trainees to use so got myself a set that fit and got myself ready.

8.25am Observers briefing

8.35am Marshals to be on post

My post was on the far side of the track and I was told that I would have to drive on the track to reach it :eek2: :approve: so got in the car and drove me and the family round the circuit ( 3/4 of the track ) to my post.

When I got there was the first person on post closely followed by the flag marshal ( and to her surprise observer too ) we got out the equipment comprising, foam and powder fire extinguishers ( 3 of each ), a set of flags, brooms, shovel and bucket of cement dust ( for oil spills ).

We tested all the extinguishers to ensure they were in working order - pressure was ok, pipes were clear and the powder slid down the inside so it was not a solid block, and placed them out on circuit ready for the racing. Flags were unrolled and prepared, brooms put in easy reach and cement dust ready just in case.

We had 3 other guys turn up while we did this to make the post have 5 people on it for the day we also had an incident officer join us for the day too.

We worked in pairs on each side of the post for 2 race sessions then swapped.

The observer and IO gave a post briefing telling us what to expect and giving us info regarding procedures ( how to indicate different types of tow required, how to indicate a doc or ambulance was required and so forth)

Then we settled in for the first session.

8.45am Course car comes round and checks that all posts have the required equipment and everything is in order.

9.00am Renault Clios 20 mins qualifying.

9.30am Caterham Graduates 15 mins qualifying

9.55am Formula Renault 20 mins qualifying

10.25am BSA 250cc Superkarts 15 mins qualifying

not much in way of incidents but the karts where a bit nuts and w had a few go wide and through the gravel trap. In between each session we checked the track for oil, debris and stones etc to ensure nothing would cause damage in the next session.

11.00am Races start

nothing too bad happened in the morning session some good racing but they were being slightly careful as they had another race to follow.

12.45pm - 1.15pm Lunch

1.30pm afternoon racing starts.

The karts come out and all hell lets loose :doh: the corner before us is full of karts and the flags are out. :igi:

after much pushing, shoving and a bit of helmet throwing the problems are solved and racing continues :)

The racing becomes a bit more frantic and the tow truck is called out every session now to bring multiple cars in behind on straight tows from various gravel traps and pull offs. then comes the last race of the day Karts again. :hmm:

There are karts going off all over the place we are called out to one that gets stuck in the gravel in front of us and as the guy from the previous corner is getting one driver out of the kart another kart comes flying past in the gravel missing driver and marshal by about a foot :eek2:

The observer reports the car for dangerous driving under yellow flags and everything gets cleared up and racing continues.

4.30pm the racing finishes we return all the equipment to the bunk and retire back to our cars to return home.
I pass back my probans and set off for home having had a fantastic time being only several feet away from racing cars doing their stuff with no obstructions.

Only thing that remained was to drive back round the other side of the circuit and watch the firework display that had been put on for bonfire night. Great display and kids enjoyed it for first time ever without screaming in fright :)

So I had my BARC card stamped for my first day but didn't realise I didn't have an attendance card to have signed for my upgrading :mad: never mind would sort that when i got home.

A record of membership

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:26:47 GMT

After watching F1 on TV for years and promising that one year we would definetly get tickets for the british GP we found out about the World Series of Renault which is a 2-3 day event held free of charge at different race circuits throughout Europe.

We visited Donington Park last year (2007) for both Saturday and Sunday sessions and enjoyed the experience immensely. On the back of the programme was a page regarding volunteering for marshals which up until that point I thought was a paid job performed by the circuit a race was taking place at.

When I got home I looked up the address on the net and found that rather than a paid job marshaling was a voluntary service provided to each circuit by a range of motor-sport loving people that gave up their time to ensure racing drivers were as safe as possible during there racing. ( its a lot more but this is a blog not an essay ).

I looked around and found that the easiest way to start was to join up to one of the main clubs in the UK which were from my initial hunt BMMC and BARC.

I found an application form for BMMC ( British Motor-sport Marshals Club ) and joined up ( �17.50 a year ) got my membership pack back and had a good read through the pack. I chose BMMC as this is a dedicated marshal club as opposed to BARC which is British Automobile Racing Club and is more Racer orientated ( although you can still be a marshal via their membership )

That was Oct 2007 and I volunteered for one of the last meetings of the year in November at Donington Park.

I received my acceptance letter telling me when to arrive and what the days racing would involve and my tickets and passes for the day and was ready to go.

I managed to find a source to borrow a set of orange probans from for the day ( orange probans are the standard apparel for UK marshals in the main )and was set to do my first day track-side.

A Marshals Record

Harv — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:00:17 GMT

Well as the family has gone and taken a bite out of the motorsport world and started down the role of race marshalling ( im about to do my grading meet to lose the "traniee" badge and gain course marshal status ) along with my eldest who has just started as a Cadet.

I thought I Would do my blog on my life in the fast lane as a race marshal.

Its a very interesting job with loads to learn and more to do ( on good/bad days depending on your view )

Here is a list of entries following my journey from green trainee to who knows what and a bit of insight into how and what marshals do at a race circuit. Hope you enjoy it :).

Politics

Laz — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:04:13 GMT

Here in the USA, we're in the middle of the presidential election race. In November, we will also elect all of our Representatives (House of Commons?) and a third of our Senators (House of Lords?).

When discussing almost every election, people always ask: "Why do we have to choose between these candidates? Why don't better people run for office?"

Well, being a politician is like being a B-movie actor. You work hard, you're underpaid, people think they might know you, and if you're recognized, people usually want something from you. Only a handful of these "actors" become A-list performers. Except that when you're a senior Senator or even the President, you get to work even harder, earn less respect, have a lot more stress, and then have to go out on the campaign trail to get re-elected. At least real actors have agents to campaign for them. On the plus side, eventually the money gets good, but not from your primary job. You earn extra cash from book deals, speaking tours, and insider knowledge.

Almost always, the best and brightest stay out of public office. Unless they're a Kennedy or Bloomberg, and have already made their fortune, smart and talented people go into business and make lots of money. Why didn't Colin Powell run for the presidency 8 years ago? He was smarter than that.

So next time you have the urge to complain about how the town/state/federal government doesn't get things done to your satisfaction, ask yourself: Would you run for office? I know I wouldn't.

First Blog Post

Laz — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:52:15 GMT

OK, this is cool.

It's been a crazy Spring, with our trip to Manchester UK, my 30th high school reunion, 25th wedding anniversary, and moving the family 180 miles to Philadelphia.

I'll try to post once a week about a specific topic.

Another MMC

Cintaria — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:03:24 GMT

So I finally got my menubar into the main menu bar :P Need to put in a keyboard shortcut so people don't have to just use the mouse >.>

Got the add button checking that the city isn't already in the local file, then it tries to check that it is an xml file. Having problems getting that work. I've given up trying to work out it's file-type as it reads the file - the server generates the file on-the-fly. Lord knows what the starting page type is? Atm I'm trying to take the returned file apart and read the first line, or at least the first word or two, so I can check if it's an xml file or not. This checks if the city exists. If a city does not exist you get forwarded to a page that lets you create the city. So, I want to check that the city already exists before saving the city to the local xml file...
Got the view button as a sub-menu with the cities in the local xml file being loaded as menu-items :) What I want is for them to be loaded as sub-menus themselves. Then I can go about extracting their xml details and showing THEM as the menu items =/

Made a post asking Det if he wants a link in the menu to TF. I plan on spamming mmc 10 or 15 times telling them about it. They then tell their friends, they tell their friends and so on and I think there'll be a push in activity for TF. Not that it needs it. According to Det we're getting a lot of traffic. Still, every little helps :)

mmc-w update :)

Cintaria — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:53:23 GMT

so I've got the program reading from my local xml file and the xml files of specified cities :)
I've changed direction atm. I was focusing on viewing the xml file and creating the links. Now I'm focusing on adding a new city to my local xml list, and from there, to a drop-down menu where the user can select the city and it's available links :)
What I've got atm is a script that will add items to a drop-down menu, but not to a sub-menu of that drop-down menu :( THAT is what I'm working on atm - getting my menu sorted :) Then I'm gonna work on getting the city's xml file taking what needs doing and dumping that in a sub-menu of that city. Then I'll head back to adding the city to the list. And THEN I'll work on taking the item OFF the list >.<

I've also got two pieces of coursework to do (one for today and one for the coming Wed), and my final year project to do serious amounts to >.<

Mmc-w

Cintaria — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:33:36 GMT

Programming of my extension goes on. The main problem I have atm is getting the extension to read/write from/to a local xml or txt file. I have found a link and after my two current courseworks are done I'll take a look at trying that. After that, I'll need it to read an xml file from my minicity as a proof of concept. THEN I need to find a way to do a while loop so that the extension loads each city stored in the local file, fetches it's xml file, sorts out what links it is allowed, and makes those links.
My idea atm is to have a drop-down menu which allows the user to add, view or remove a city (can you guess what add and remove do? ;) ), with view listing each city as a sub-menu. Selecting a city will load a sub-sub-menu listing the links that are available.

Sod knows what advertising I'll put in next to the drop-down menu? Perhaps have it search all <15 rated adverts limited to the country that the minicity is in (so if it's in the uk, you get adverts from the uk, if it's in france you get french adverts and so on). The info is available in the city's xml file.

Something I am interested in, is that the xml file has a 'signature' tag. What the holy hell is THIS used for?

Right, I got coursework to do, so I'm gonna go do that for two and half hours :)

ciao