Lightbody Live: Me and my life

The Transatlantic Greyhound proves she still has it

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:35:15 GMT

On the 18th of March 2008, nearly 39 years since entering service, the QE2 achieved a maximum speed of 32.8 knots and over a period of 24 hours averaged 30 knots.

This is quite amazing stuff - NO Other cruise ship can do anything like this. NO other 2-propellor ship. Let alone one that is nearly 1,000 feet long and in her final 7 months of life and which has travelled an astounding six MILLION miles - further than any other ship, ever. Her brand new ugly sister ship, the Queen Victoria, is a full TEN knots slower.

My opinion? The chief engineer and his staff are wanting to make a very loud and clear point - that there was lots of life left in the old girl and that she is STILL the fastest in the world.

New webpage on my website

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:07:31 GMT

I've spent quite a few hours putting this new page together on my website.

http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/1969_POBI

Its from 1969 when Britain was still 'Great' and made things. World-leading things. Britain was hip. Advanced. Modern. Cutting Edge. And it all came together in the then state of the art, radical, brand new QE2. Engineering, Interior Design, furnishings, art, technology - its all there, as far advanced as could be.

Oh how far we've fallen...

Rain

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:43:26 GMT

Oh My GOD. Make the rain stop PLEASE! Its non-stop. For weeks, and months. Driving through floods, torrential rain, storms, howling winds and always, always RAIN.

Every night I hear the cars outside my flat going past with a long slooooshing noise, then in the morning i have to go out in it and make my own slooshing noise all the way to work. No crispy frosty mornings. No clear blue skies. No snow. No fog. Just mild and wet the entire time.

QE2 : Wonderful Memories

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:06:32 GMT

Despite me being ill with a chest infection and temperature, I still had a truly wonderful time on board QE2 this past weekend. It exceeded all my very high expectations!

I'm putting together a full write up of it here - http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/full_review.htm

QE2 is a wonderful old ship - its like stepping back in time, and in my case like stepping back 21 years into a memory. Its a shame they're getting rid of her - they should just market her as a classy old liner and keep her going, with cabins and portholes instead of staterooms and balconies - some people actually want that... and she has such class, there will never be another like her.

Packing for the QE2 : Bon Voyage Me!

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:21:28 GMT

I've been looking forward to this for 6 months (or 20 years...) and then I go and get sick less than a week before! I've been struggling since last week with a horrible cold/flu-like thing. I've ended up taking 3.5 extra days off work (which costs me...) on top of the days off for my trip and my Christmas Hols - I'm gonna be broke for a while! On top of that BOTH my cars broke in the past week and need fixed.

Anyway, the bags are getting packed, the new Tuxedo seems to fit and I've got most of the rest of the stuff i need. Its just been a bit more chaotic than it was meant to be due to me being sick.

I'm going to be photo blogging my trip - watch my flickr page for details - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightbody

The QE2 & a large Cruise ship - taking on large waves - an exciting video comparison.

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:46:24 GMT

and

15 days until...

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:49:24 GMT

I'm excited.

When I was 14, my Dad took my Mother and I onboard the world's most famous ship. The world's only superliner. The world's most luxurious ship.

And boy oh boy did it leave an impression. My memories are of a truly immense ship. Fantasic luxury in the restaurants. Amazing shows that I'd never seen the like of. And terrific excitement as they put the newly rebuilt ship through her paces. Cheering crowds and fireworks thronging the banks of the German rivers for miles that we made our ways along. A wonderful midnight buffet with ham that I could see through. Shops selling things we couldn't hope to afford - and my first visit to Harrods!! Important people on board knew my Dad well, and we got welcomed all around the ship.

Well, 20.5 years later, I'm returning to my beloved QE2, sadly without my Dad this time, but I'll certainly be thinking of him. I cannot believe I actually made it happen and its getting closer and closer. My best friend Rob and I will be onboard in just over 2 weeks for a short trip to Belgium and back. I hope he enjoys it as much as I did at 14, hopefully some of my enthusiasm will rub off on him. We should have luxury food and drink, entertainment, night clubs, the casino, the spa all at our disposal and I intend to make full use!

The most famous ship in the world.
The furthest travelled ship in the world - of all time (approaching SIX MILLION MILES)
The most successful ship in the world.
The most powerful passenger ship afloat (130,000 bhp / and over 98 megawatts)
The fastest liner afloat, by some margin - at 34 knots.
The last Clydebuilt liner.
Arguably... the last true Transatlantic liner (having made over 800 crossings)

I love my Zen (again)

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:40:21 GMT

After the initial problems getting podcasts set up and understanding what the Zencast software does and does not do, i've had no more problems and have fallen back in love with my wee Zen.

During the week my 90 minutes in the car each day now feel MUCH shorter, with a wide variety of podcasts stored up to listen to. When i plug it back into my PC it all just sorts itself out with updates, and recharges. Pretty cool.

Its also got every single CD I own loaded onto it (and a few that I don't...) for when i'm in the mood for tunes.

QE2 on the Clyde - one of the best days of my life.

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:29:09 GMT

I was part of an enormous flotilla of small ships, escorting the legendary QE2 Ocean Liner down the Firth of Clyde 40 years to the day since her launch there.

Read about it, see the videos and pictures here - http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/qe-2/20_sep_2007.htm

I'll never forget the day for the rest of my life. Being close alongside such a huge ship underway was simply amazing.

Goodbye Kettle!

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 10:55:25 GMT

I bought a Tefal QuickCup yesterday. The future is here! Instant filtered hot water at the press of a button. A hot cup of tea in under 30 seconds. No more waiting for the kettle to boil! Absolutely superb. Its a bit noisy, a bit expensive and the water's not at boiling point but apart from that, its completely genius and my Kettle has just become completely redundant and looks very old fashioned all of a sudden!

www.quickcup.co.uk

First commute in the Puma

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:14:20 GMT

I've done out 120 return trips to Kilwinning (30 miles) since the new year, almost all of them in my Classic Mini.

This morning I made the journey in my "new" 1999 Ford Puma. I wasn't quite sure I'd done the right thing, but I am now. It was superb. What a brilliant wee car. Very very smooth quiet responsive engine. Very quiet. Very easy to do 90 without trying. Comfy seat. Great handling. Good stereo... i genuinely felt better when I got to work. On top of all that, I think it looks completely awesome. The 'cat' face is genius.

The car needs some work though to get it ship-shape so tomorrow its in for a mega service at a Ford garage, its first for a while I think. I think it also needs a full set of shock amd rear tyres so i will see how it feels when i get it back.

The Ford Puma

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:43:11 GMT

I bought a new (to me) car yesterday! Its a Ford Puma. A car that had largely passed me by to be honest, but suddenly i realised that it was exactly what i was looking for.

Now that I've got it, i'm absolutely gobsmacked. What a fabulous wee car. Its based on a Fiesta (cheap parts!) but you honestly wouldn't know it. The driving position and view out is radically different to anything i've ever driven before - very laid back. The engine is a peach - smooth and revvy and quiet when you want it to be quiet. great handling (although i think it needs new shocks) and the boot/back seat are both bigger than the ones I had in my 2001 & 2004 MINIs.

The question now is.... what am I going to do with Alfie, my 1994 Classic Mini...

Converting tapes to MP3 or CD

Sat, 26 May 2007 12:18:39 GMT

Now that I've got my MP3 player sorted, I've realised i want to hear all my old tapes. The last tape bought was in about 1996, but before that they were all I bought. I have HUNDREDS to convert.

Spin it again from www.acoustica.com

My colleague Colin recommended it to me and it works a treat, and is easy. The recordings sound superb, really loud, crisp and clear and i think i'll be hard pushed to tell the difference from a CD-rip or a tape-rip.

Now that they're ripped, they could be converted to audio CD, MP3 or anything really.

when is an ipod not an ipod?

Wed, 23 May 2007 20:59:58 GMT

When its better than an Ipod, thats when!

Got my new Creative Zen Vision:M (bit of a mouthful) yesterday and I love it already.

Plugged it into my PC, started windows media player, and hit 'sync'. And it loaded the Zen up with all my music -4000 tracks.

Sounds better than an ipod, has better battery life, a higher-resolution screen, and can play a wider range of formats. Oh and it was cheaper too.

It takes me back to my first Sony Walkman in the 80s - its the same kind of excitment at having your music with you!

Completely Knackered!

Sat, 19 May 2007 17:29:16 GMT

For the past few months I think I've been working harder than I ever have in my life. Things seem like a blur, especially compared to 2006, which i spent mostly unemployed. I spend most of my time exhausted.

I've been working on a big new software project for the Scottish government and it goes "live" next week and an awful lot of the outstanding tasks are my tasks all of a sudden! Trying to balance work and life and just about managing i think.

The fact that I have no holiday entitlement, no sick pay, no pension and no job after the 2nd of July just adds to the "fun"...

TomTom satellite Navigation

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:32:35 GMT

I tried my boss's TomTom 700 one night a week ago, to see what it was like. It amazed me instantly, showing the names of the streets I was passing, and the road ahead - i could even see how tight corners were and which bit of the roundabout i was on.

I was hooked! I bought it from him, and then updated it with new maps, voices (John Cleese!) and speed camera alerts. It also links into my phone to give me bluetooth handsfree functionality, and I can download traffic and weather updates on the move using my phone's GPRS internet connection.

Anyway, this morning was the first time i'd used it to take roads i didn't know, as i explored an alternative route to work. It makes your driving dramatically safer, when you're unsure of where you're going. You're able to choose the correct lane in confidence ahead of a roundabout for instance and know that if you do take a wrong turn, it will guide you back on track.

I had thought these things were a bit pointless, how wrong could I be.

Having no memory

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:19:17 GMT

I've got a really terrible memory and I just realised that its completely exhausting.

It makes me feel lazy even when i'm not. i forget things and then have to think of ways to find the info again and look them up again (or find wherever i wrote it or whatever). Thank god for the internet and search engines or i'd be completely stuck and in a permanent fog.

It seems to be getting worse, and it does worry me.

My friends know to work with it, and not take offence when i forget things they've told me. i'm sure it must be exasperating sometims for them, as it is for me.

Dusting off my brain with a genius gadget.

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:13:19 GMT

My good friend dave is into mobile gadgetry, and is an experienced developer for them. For this reason, he sourced both PSP (Playstation Portable) and Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) devices before they were available in the shops here.

I'm not really into games (i usually tire of them quite quickly), but I do like gadgets so I had a look.

He showed me them both on the same day. The PSP had the biggest immediate wow factor - the screen was amazing and the games looked just as if they'd been shrunk from the TV screen, and it could show widescreen movies.

But then he showed me what the DS could do. It looked like one of the silly wee electronic games we'd had in the 80s, but then he showed me that it had a touch screen and could do voice recognition and games with relatively simple graphics suddenly came alive, were amazing fun and I realised that this was the more fun device, that i would be more likely to actually use and enjoy.

A few months later he introduced me to "Doctor Kawashima's Brain Training". This is a work of genius, making full use of the DS's unique abilities to allow it to calculate your brain's "age" and then train your brain through a variety of challenges. You write the answers to sums using the stylus and you speak the answers to some other challenges, like the stroop test.

So here I am, not having worked for a few months, and i genuinely feel as if my brain is losing some of its sharpness. My memory in particular is appalling. So I went out and bought a DS and the Dr Kawashima game... first age calculation? 44. Then 34 yesterday (my real age) then today its down to 28. The surprising thing is that when i'm doing the wee tests, i don't feel like i'm doing them any better, in fact i feel worse, then it tells me i got more right and did it quicker than yesterday. Amazing.

I've also bought "Brain Academy" which is also clever, but doesn't have the same instant wow factor as the first game.

YouTube

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 18:22:44 GMT

I'm completely addicted to it.

I use it like a sort of personal video recorder, particularly to watch American TV such as Craig Ferguson on the Late Late show, and clips from Jon Stewart's fab today show. The TV companies should probably worry, because i'm not aware of watching any adverts.

It works well, the clips start instantly, even on my old PC, and I usually end up spotting something else in the 'Related' list that I want to see too.

None of the other video sites are as quick and easy to use. Thats the key - the interface. Google and MSN's efforts weren't a patch on it.

Can you tell i've got too much time on my hands....?

3 years of uncertainty.

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:17:59 GMT

3 years ago today, I was forced to leave my previous employment (a long frustrating story in itself). This meant I was unemployed for the first time after 9 years of non-stop permanent employment. I was good at what I did, I enjoyed doing it, I got great feedback from people. Work made me more confident and happier in myself than I'd ever been. Fortunately, after 6 weeks of unemployment I managed to get a temporary 3 month contract in the public sector. This went well and they renewed my contract multiple times until the end came at Christmas last year.

I then thought I'd found the perfect (or close to it) job at a large international bank in Glasgow. I absolutely hated it. It didn't use any of my skills, i didn't like the environment at all, it was very stressful for no obvious reason and I felt the job had been completely mis-sold to me by over-enthusiastic agencies. I quit after 5 weeks. I still think it was the right thing to do despite what happened next...

3 months of unemployment passed by (the longest work gap of my life) with me frantically job hunting and interviewing the whole time until I finally found a temporary 5 week job. This was OK but again I really didn't like the place even if I had the option of extending my contract (I didn't). Since then ... nothing.

Agencies - Some good, most are terrible. All are out to get their commission and are not actually there to help you. They confuse the matter. They change and exagerrate job specs. They make requirements mandatory that are not mandatory at all. Or you find yourself in an interview for a position that you're clearly not suited for - wasting everybody's time.

Well meaning family and friends - sending you job ads that are completely unsuitable and then assuming you're not doing enough to look for work. These same people have never had a hiccup in their career and needed to look for work.

People assuming that I'm enjoying the time off - I'm not.

Work is a huge part of your life. You have to enjoy it. It has to be fulfilling. You have to want to do it for more than just the money. A bad job was bad and made me really miserable. Having no job is starting to become nearly as bad.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:14:21 GMT

My first chance today to have a proper look at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum which re-opened in July after a multi-year refurbishment.

Wow. I'm very, very impressed.

A stuffy museum, with stuffy unimaginitive displays, has been brought to life. Of particular interest was the swords display which was brilliantly done to make you feel the way they were used in the past and some simply brilliant uses of multimedia including the oil painting of 3 people at dinner, where you can choose what to put in the thought bubbles that come out of their heads. This is an amazingly clever way to make people think about the pictures in a new way and to put themselves in the picture.

I highly recommend a visit. Leave yourself about 3 hours minimum though, and spend at least half of that upstairs.

Vodafone ultra-rip-off

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 14:34:51 GMT

I'm angry.

Very angry.

I went to Italy for 10 days and was forced to use my mobile phone to read emails (because my job hunt couldn't stop just because i was on holiday).

I managed, however, to only use a very moderate 2.7mb of data during this entire time - and all using Vodafone - I didn't allow the phone to connect to other operators.

So imagine my surprise when my bill came in.... £365.

I've since read and re-read their website explanation of their charges, and gone through my bill in detail and still don't understand how it works. It just seems like a spectacular rip-off to me.

I'm phoning OFCOM on Monday, and will not be renewing my contract with them.

Heather and Marc

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 23:03:03 GMT

I was honoured to be asked by my good friend Heather to take photos at her wedding yesterday.

It was a wonderful day and I'm delighted that some of my photos came out really well for Heather.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightbody/sets/72157594233953284/

I think I'd like to be a photographer... I enjoy it, and seem to receive positive responses...

Feeling hot, hot hot!

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:01:45 GMT

Eek!

I'm Scottish. I'm not used to, and I dont like hot weather. I like the sun, but I dont like heat... currently we're having a lot of heat here. Muggy sweaty heat. It saps all my energy and makes it very difficult to achieve anything.

Its not hot as many people would define it (currently my thermometer says 27C) but its hot as I define it.

I don't remember weather like this before. Scotland is normally only warm when its sunny...

10 days in Italy - some thoughts & observations

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 15:49:19 GMT

Just back from 10 days in Italy at a luxury villa near Rome with friends. I had a WONDERFUL time and am really glad I went.

Driving - utterly insane. Poor lane discipline, weaving all over the road at all times, very high and very low speeds, poor signs, poor road markings, just fairly horrendous and stressful. Nobody obeys the speed limits and very few police on the roads. People on mopeds doing 80mph CROSS-LEGGED or SIDE-SADDLE while TEXTING!!
Ryanair/"cheap" flights - a miserable experience. Why is not having a specific seat cheaper anyway? Much worse than the EasyJet experience that I used to use all the time
Hertz rentacar. £19/day they claimed. All in. Except it wasn't - it was far, far more. I'm not surprised, car rental places all seem to do this, but someone should outlaw it.
The new Peugeot 207 which we had as our hire car. What a terrible car. It made me very, very, very glad to get back to my MINI indeed. Poor engine performance. Poor seats. Poor design and ergonomics (e.g. not being able to see the dials), various faults already on a new car, poor visibility (who designed the mirrors!?). Poor performance air-conditioning. Overly-huge steering wheel controlling overly-light power steering.
Heat. It was frequently over 30 degrees, and thats just too hot for a peely wally Scots lad like me. I had trouble sleeping and it stopped me doing various sigh-seeing.
Everything everywhere looked run-down and as if the local council was broke.

A great way to spend a bank holiday Sunday

Mon, 29 May 2006 16:01:35 GMT

I had a lot of fun with my friends from The Mini Clan yesterday - have a look at my pics!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightbody/sets/72157594148629302/

How I've cut my energy usage dramatically.

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 16:56:58 GMT

My flat is fairly efficient - its got thick walls, only 2 of which are to the outside world (I have flats above, below and to my sides), double-glazing and a fairly modern gas "combi" boiler. But I've done quite a lot more recently to reduce my power usage.

I bought a "one click" power strip for my PC. This means that when I turn the PC off (or it turns itself off automatically), it also powers off the power supplies to the printer, scanner, speakers, monitor and other gadgets I have attached. This is *no* extra hassle. I also have the PC set so that I can turn it off and on from keyboard - very easy. The hibernate facility on XP works a treat.
I switch off, at the wall, my lounge tv/stereo/xbox/digi box/aerial amp/video. Previously I only powered them fully off when I was away for a while, but that was before i discovered how much power they use even when "off". These all go to the same power socket so its easy to power them down. I do the same for my bedroom tv/dvd/digi box. Same reason as above. These spent about 99% of their time "not really off". More power savings for very little hassle.
My kitchen DAB stereo (which I use frequently) and its amplified aerial now get powered completely off when not in use.
I only use energy saving light bulbs.
When the heating is on, I keep my efficient combi gas boiler at close to its minimum heat output setting and the room thermostats low too. I was told by a gas expert that this is the most efficient way to do it. The heat-spread through my flat is far better this way too.
Replacing my old CRT monitor with a flat-panel one. I also use this to watch some of my TV since it uses so much less power.

All of this means that when I'm out or asleep, the only things in my flat which are using power are the fridge, freezer and boiler, and the PC in standby mode. I think thats pretty good really.

This is why, after 10 years, I decided not to be a progammer any more

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 18:15:08 GMT

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000545.html

My Blog is Back

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:41:33 GMT

Having read that MSN Spaces are going to become Windows live Spaces, and being a bit of a Windows junkie, I thought I'd put this back again...