An Airbag Saved My Life!

Yes, I know I missed yesterday's post, but I was late getting back from Uni, I had a migraine and couldn't be arsed really! But, I'm going to make it up to you today. First off, check out the video above of the 2006 Pride of Arizona Radiohead Part1 and 2 (UW Game). Why don't we ever have stuff like that in the UK? I'll tell you why, it's because we have no vision. Yes, the Americans have guns and a genocidal president, but at least they get to do cool stuff.

You want to know what's in the video before you watch it? Well, it's a marching band playing Radiohead songs right before some big American Football match. What struck me was the choice of songs that they selected; Airbag, Paranoid Android, Optimistic and The National Anthem. Now while I prefer the 2 more obscure tracks from those 4, I imagine the crowd at the game were largely ignorant of Radiohead. But, why? OK Computer is largely hailed as the Best Album Ever and certainly the Best Album of the 90's. Radiohead's headline act at Glastonbury 97 has also been voted the Best Concert ever. You get the picture? If you haven't heard the albums then what are you waiting for?

I'm going to post a couple more interesting videos today. Just stuff that has come to my attention for one resaon or another. Let's face it, you could sit watching videos all day, if you had the time!

A Snapshot Of the Future!

I'm toying with the idea of buying a digital camera. I know, hard to believe that I still don't actually have one. Well, there were a couple reasons for that; firstly, I had my camcorder, which had a camera facitlity, albeit woefully inadequate, and secondly digital cameras were fairly expensive for a long time, while not being very good at all. Now, I believe that the cameras are of a suitable standard for me to make a purchase. Although the cost of "extras" concerns me a bit, I must admit.

There are several good reasons for my acquiring a camera;

• I need to take more family photos
• I can use my own photos for blogging purposes
• It's handy to have a camera sometimes, when you see something unexpected

I'm rapidly coming to the realisation that I may be living and breathing teaching over the next year or so, and possibly the following year, and even forever maybe. Don't get disheartened when I spout heaps of legislation and teaching standards etc. It will only be because I've been brain-washed. I don't mind, this is the path I've chosen. I will try and retain my personality as far as possible, but it may be difficult to do so.

I've met a good few of my prospective fellow teachers now and I'm certain that I'm as capable as any of them, of being a good teacher. When it comes down to it though, only the School Experience will offer a true test of potential. That's where we'll either be broken or be all conquering. Say, in about 5 weeks time!

3-D TV!

So scientists have taken the first step on the road to developing 3-dimensional television, except no they haven't really. The image in the photo is created using a mirror spinning at what is probably a dangerous speed. Notice also, how the lines at the extremities are slightly blurred while those in the centre are sharper. It seems that white light is the only type workable at this point as well.

Clealry, there's a long way to go until we see television akin to that demonstrated in 2000AD, back in the early 80's, with their Halo Jones series. That's where I first saw the concept, and it made me stop and think at the time, "Will this ever be possible?" As I've said before, so many ideas demonstrated in 2000AD have come to be, and in some instances I suspect it was former 2000AD readers that brought them to fruition.

I was trawling through Digg this morning, when I spotted a link to an Asimov short story and thought "I'll have a qucik squizz at that then!" See the Sci-Fi connection coming through again, nothing wrong with a bit of Sci-Fi, especially 50's-60's, when anything was thought possible. Quite a nice little short story, it reminded me of the time when I had to take a book out of the school library for 'O' Grade English. I just sort of randomly selected a short stories compilation, which was mainly rubbish. The one exception was a Ray Bradbury short, which if I recall correctly had some time travellers travel back to the time of the dinosaurs, where they had several dramatic encounters. The twist in the tale being that, on returning to their own time, they found that everything was slightly different, back to front in fact. And, it was all because one of them had crushed a bug. Very thought provoking, especially when you're 13!

Gradually Graduating Towards Graduation!

Hard on the heels of my degree certificate, came the information pack and guest tickets for my graduation in about 6 weeks time. Early indicators suggest I might be wearing a kilt to the ceremony, we'll have to wait and see though. My wife and I had a, should I say, "heated discussion" about why there were only 2 guest tickets in the pack, when I had asked for 3. I explained that there was only meant to be 2, that it had said I would only get 2, and that it also said there was great demand. Of course, that wasn't sufficent, I would have to phone and demand an additional ticket. The whole "discussion" became a moot point really when she picked up the tickets and discovered there were 2 stuck together. That was my fault too. As a husband and father, I find that being to blame is just part of the job.

I'm beginning to get the sense that this could be an incredibly hard year. There are high expectations on me, from everyone including myself it seems. I envision that some of the things I'll have to do in the coming months will test me like never before. Not that I doubt I can do it, and I certainly want to do it. It's just this external pressure that's beginning to build even after a week. What will it be like later on if it continues to build? You just don't realise what it takes to become a teacher, it feels like I'm climbing Everest, and that when I get to the top, I'll find it's just the first mountain in a chain of peaks.

So far, the lecturers and tutors have been amazing. I just can't believe how good these people are at talking, and with such confidence and exuberance. Perhaps that's where a lot of the pressure is coming from. They're setting the bar so high for us, that the task seems enormous, but I've met teachers before, and they're not all geniuses, far from it in fact, some of them haven't met up to my expectations of what a teacher should be at all. Perhaps I'm merely realising just how prestigious a Uni I'm in, and seeing first-hand why it's so damn prestigious.

I've Lost My Smell!

Got a bit of a double boost when I arrived home this evening. First off, my certificate for my BSc had arrived, and secondly, on starting up my computer, I spotted that my internet speed has doubled yet again. Furthermore, my upload speed has also doubled, that's a first. Although, it's still 1/10th of my download speed.

Otherwise, it seems Uni has changed me! In what way you ask? Well, I think I've lost my smell. Everyone has their own unique natural smell, which you will know very well and be accustomed to. However, mine has changed, and I blame public transport for the outrage. I don't like my new smell, it smells of trains and buses, and worse, of the great unwashed. It makes me feel dirty, and I just want to get in to the shower right now. But, I feel it is my duty to report this to you, so that you will be better prepared, should you have to resort to public transport yourself in future. God help you! It's not pleasant, it's not funny and it steals your smell.

I enjoyed today. Today we had an active teacher come in and tell us a bit about what teaching is like right now, what issues we will face and how we will be given the tools to deal with them. Basically, at the lowest level, he told us that a teacher is an actor. You have to seem confident when you're nervous. You have to act knowledgable, even though the kids ask questions you don't have the answer to. There are tools for coping with these things, all that's needed is a tool-box to put those tools into.

No Entry For Drunks!

Back for my second day at Uni today. I left early so that I could hand in my application form for a Young Person's Railcard, at Keith station. On both accounts, I failed my mission. Firstly, the road to Keith was closed because there had been an accident (unfortunately fatal, I found out later). So, I had to go round by Fochabers, and any extra time I had gained by leaving early was lost. Secondly, the guy in the ticket-office refused to process my application because it would hold up the queue. Meh!

The bus part of the journey went much smoother than on Monday though. As I came out of the train station, I saw a bus at stand 10 of the bus station, which is the one I want. So I hurried over, got straight on, and the bus left right away, exiting the station without a hitch this time. The upshot being, I arrived at the Uni 20 minutes earlier than I did on Monday.

Today we were learning about multi-culturalism and specifically social inclusion. Skipping that quickly to the homeward journey, it seems like I'm some sort of drunk magnet. This time the guy opposite me across the table on the train was absolutely paralytic. Fortunately however, he slept for most of the journey, waking occasionally to mumble some gibberish or to type a couple letters into his mobile. I think he was trying to text his wife saying he was on his way home, but he never finished it. He managed to get off at some point anyway, which was a relief. Back again tomorrow. This time I must make a conscious effort to avoid attracting drunkards.

Information Technology and Political Correctness!

OK, I'm sort of recovered from ny knackering day yesterday. I do have an assignment of sorts for tomorrow, based around Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Apparently social inclusion is to be a key component of the course. I see what they're trying to achieve here, but I am slightly concerned about getting caught up in some political correctness orientation, since I'm not particularly aware of which current politically correct tendencies and usages are acceptable. Ah well, winging it again I suppose!

On a lighter note, I had intended to mention previously, the return of the Channel 4 comedy "The IT Crowd" last week, which I had decided wasn't that brilliant first time out, although to be honest, I can't really remember if it was or not. Anyway, new series and willing to give it another chance, and how clever was I, it was actually hilarious. This fits in neatly with the political correctness theme, because the characters found themselves at a gay musical called "Gay" and mucho capers ensued, managing to drag in disability as well without actually offending any minorities. Dangerous ground, but they got away with it. Funniest thing I've seen in some time, British comedy really has gone stale hasn't it?

On the IT difficulties front, I saw something in the paper yesterday about some of the ridiculous problems that people had phoned up AOL about. Some guy said that his modem wasn't working and it transpired that it was still in the box. I also found these:

• Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
  Female customer: A white one…

• Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can’t get my diskette out.
  Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?
  Customer: Yes, sure, it’s really stuck.
  Tech support: That doesn’t sound good; I’ll make a note.
  Customer: No , wait a minute… I hadn’t inserted it yet… it’s still on my desk… sorry….

• Tech support: Click on the ‘my computer’ icon on the left of the screen.
  Customer: Your left or my left?

• Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
  Male customer: Hello… I can’t print.
  Tech support: Would you click on “start” for me and…
  Customer: Listen pal; don’t start getting technical on me! I’m not Bill Gates.

Who'd want to be the IT guy? Makes teaching look like a safe bet!

First Day At Uni!

Whew, that was a long day, I'm knackered. I was up at 5:45am, which might not seem too early, but I never got home till 6:50pm. I cocked things up a bit going in early anyway, as I thought I had to meet a studies adviser in the morning, although I didn't know what time. Turned out it was only those training to be Primary School teachers that had appoinments, so I was kicking my heels till mid-day.

From noon till 1pm we had to attend a welcome meeting in the Arts Lecture Hall, at which point I realised how many trainee teachers there were in the Uni this year. About 400 it was reckoned, but that's Primary and Secondary combined. After that, it was waiting around again until about 2:45, when I went to complete my registration. That went quicker than expected, so I hopped straight on a bus for the train station about 3:10. Damn bad luck, I missed the train by about 2 minutes, and they only run every two hours. Crap eh? It's like a third world country up here in the North of Scotland.

When the next train finally came, it had some technical problems. Deja-vu! The last time I used the same train, the driver couldn't get it started. Third World efficiency too! The train finally got going, packed to the rafters, and about 10 minutes behind schedule. The guy I managed to find a seat beside had come prepared, he had 6 bottles of Bud with him, nothing else mind, just the beer. I heard him mutter "alcohol" every time he reached for another bottle. His burps were reeking too!

So, I'm back on Wednesday and Thurday for similar punishment. We have to attend a reception from 3:30 till 5pm on Wednesday. I'll be leaving that before it finishes, I'm not going to catch the 7:15 train. That would make it near 9 before I got home, no way!

Let's All Join Hands!

Hah, yesterday I discovered the joys of Bebo, sort of. I don't have any intention of making a page for myself on Bebo, but I'd heard that there were some pics from the mother-in-law's 60th birthday party, on a relative's Bebo page. So, obviously when my wife found out that her picture was on there too, she insisted that I look it up so she could see how horrible the photo was (typical women eh?).

So, it was easy enough to find the page we were looking for, we had a look at the photos, then of course we recognised some of the friends listed, so we went to their pages too. Before you knew it we were howling with laughter at hilarious pictures of relatives, friends and even our next-door neighbours. It's a very odd thing though, looking at someone's photos like that, it feels as though you've broken into their house and are rummaging through their belongings.

The one thing we did notice though, is that the sort of person who has a listing on Bebo, and uploads loads of photos of themselves, are clearly vanity personified. Every single one of them was posing and pouting and clearly of the opinion that they looked fantastic. However, my experience tells me that only ugly people are convinced of their own beauty, just as idiots consider themselves to be the most intelligent people they know. How they come about this conviction I do not know, but I've seen it manifest itself innumerable times. It's a social distortion, just like someone very intelligent is unlikely to make a fortune. But, someone a bit dim is far more likely to earn themselves a fortune, because taking stupid risks is the key. In that respect perhaps intelligence and beauty are double-edged swords!

It's Crunch Time!

I have a fateful decision to make tomorrow. Well, it's not entirely down to me, but nevertheless, I must take part in it. A decision which could effectively put two guys out of work, one of whom has had the job for more than twenty years. You see, I'm on a committee for a club (have been for almost 10 years) and it's gotten to the stage where there's way more going out than coming in. The cost of running a business of that sort these days is unbelievable. For instance, although we use little in the way of water, having a water supply costs us about £1200 per annum.

We were just about getting by alright though, until the insurance company asked for an electrical inspection. Well, the existing electrics are 30 years old and the inspection found over 50 major problems. So basically we'd be as well re-wiring the whole building, but we don't have that sort of cash available and there's no way of acquiring it really. We could take out a loan, but it's doubtful we'd be able to re-pay it the way the business is going. So, the decision must be taken on what to do next. I have some ideas on how we can possibly continue operating, but like I said, the whole committee must decided together. It could be messy, as the two employees will be in attendance... groan!

Have you ever wondered how it must feel to put a load of people out of their jobs? I think major companies hire people specifically to do that nowadays. What a horrible job, you'd need to be soul-less or downright evil just to avoid getting manically depressed. It's true though, to be a success in business you need to be ruthless. I'm not really into ruthlessness, I do have a soul, I have scruples and I'm holding on to them!