Here's mine:
Got home from the PDC last night after a 20 hour journey from the states. As I had the ten minute shower I'd promised myself for the previous 10 hours I noticed that the shower unit would not turn off properly. It seems that the tap has worn out. This afternoon we went off for a drive and discovered that the local DIY store was having a 10% sale. Buoyed by my success repairing a drawer in the kitchen I decided to buy a replacement unit to fit. The old one was, well, very old, and I figured that a new one I could fit myself might even be cheaper than getting a plumber in to repair the fault.
Now with me jetlag is a bit like alcohol. It removes my inhibitions about doing something, whilst at the same time removing my ability to actually do it. So of course as soon as I got home it was into the bathroom and out with the big spanners. I had figured on a 20 minute job. Remove the old shower and drop in the new one. They were both the same brand and model. What could be simpler? Turns out that almost anything could be simpler. The old one would not come off the pipes. They use a powerful one way fitting which is very determinedly one way. After half an hour of heaving and pulling I had achieved nothing more than a bunch of skimmed knuckles, some outbursts that shocked number one son and a pile of dirt in the bath.
So I went and calmed down for a while, then fetched the hammer.... The new shower is in place now, and the bonus is that it is way better. I now have to get myself into a happy place regarding the possiblity of leaks (none at the moment but I'm a worrier). And now I'm off for a shower.
When I came to the PDC in 2003 I noticed a star on the Hollywood Boulevard for a certain Preston Foster. I had no idea who he was and so I mentioned this in my blog. A (perhaps the) kind reader told me that he was an actgor in the 40's and 50's and also very active in the US Coastguard. I liked his style, and his name, so our pub nights back in Hull were consequently retitled Preston Foster Appreciation Society Meetings. It was therefore quite an emotional moment when I was able to return to the star on the pavement last night. (thanks to David for finding it).
I'm getting some T shirts made for the fan club, if you want to be an affiliated member let me know and I'll send you a shirt (at cost price of course). You can find the original post here.
I've been playing more with my Imate Jasjar device. It really is nice. I've also been feeling rather guilty. All around me there are folks muttering that I'm lucky to have one and there are more deserving people etc etc.
I'm trying not to care. I'm going to work off my guilt by writing a bunch of bits and bobs for the jasjar and putting them out there for everyone else. And what's wrong with nice things happening to me anyway. The only problem now is getting it (and the ten or so T shirts I seem to have aquired) home.
Went out last night to Universal Studios. It was the PDC05 party and we had the place to ourselves (although there were quite a few of ourselves there). We went on a number of rides. The Terminator one was even better than I remembered, I reckon that they must have jazzed it up a bit recently. However, the scariest part of the evening was hearing the Windows startup sound from all the speakers around the park. It was really strange to suddenly hear a very familiar sound in a totally different context. Who would have thought that the theme park ran windows?
I promised Andy that I'd put this picture in the blog. I took a couple of other photographs which kind of came out ok:
The boardwork at universal.
Artistic Fountains.
My chum from Microsoft, Andy, has just pulled off what I thought was impossible and found a way to get me one of the Imate devices. What a dude! The device itself is lovely to behold. I've been too busy doing things like going to sessions and writing blog posts to do much with it yet, but first impressions are very good. The machine is actually the first Microsoft based 3G phone. Of course it works as a 2G phone as well. The big screen is well pretty and the overall finish of the device is lovely. Not particularly shiny as such, but I can live with that. It alslo runs the latest Windows 5 moble operating system (it is the first device ever with that as well) and I'm really looking forward to writing code for it.
I'll have a more detailed review, with pictures, when I can get around to having a proper play. I popped the SIM from my UK Orange phone into the device and it found a mobile network, but I'm too mean to make any calls. The only slight problem is that I managed to use my well developed stupidity skills to stop Outlook from synching with my new toy. This means that I can't make it my main mobile phone just yet, as I can't get my address book into it.
Went to an authentic burger joint for tea. You'll probably guess the name from the below..
They even had the jukebox things on each table
I had a plain (!) burger. This was around two inches thick and packed with beef and lots of other stuff, a large amount of which ended up down my shirt. Paul ate his burger with complete elegance and in record time. Mine ended up looking as if it had been savagely beaten. Tasted nice though.
Another day out today. (I'm feeling a bit guilty about this, but the conference, and thus the work, start tomorrow - and we have been talking about Slide 6 and a number of other work related things, honest. Anyhoo, we thought we would go and dip our toes into the Pacific, an ocean I've never seen before. So we did. After a taxi ride through Beverley Hills we made it to Santa Monica pier.
I love taking pictures through cab windows. When we got to the pier we saw a sign which basically made the whole day worthwhile there and then....
I wish I'd been around to see him in his prime. The view from the pier was superb, but we decided not to dip our toes in the water.
On the pier they had an amusement arcade, where we were able to continue the pinball thread that we started earlier.
Then we went for a walk along the front. Some of the hotels looked really neat.
Then the lure of the shops overcame us and we spent a happy couple of hours bending plastic. My favourite place in all the world is probably now Circuit City....
Then it was onto the bus for the trip home. An LA tip, use the public transport. The trip back from the beach took a little longer, but cost a huge amount less. And the slice of LA that you see is amazing. My favourite bit was when a huge bunch of schoolkids got on and packed us out, one of them clutching a huge book marked "Geometry". I'm sure the bus nearly fell over as it went round the corner. You get to see all the sites, and do a quiz on the in-flight mass transit TV. Great fun and amazing value. YOu can get a weekly pass which lets you do this all round LA LA, for 16 dollars. A snip.
Just next to the hotel is an underground bowling alley. We were invited there tonight. Free beer and food. Count me in. Now, I'm no great bowler (perhaps I shouldn't do it left handed). John, who heads up the Visual Studio team at Microsoft, is though. Very impressive. The ball goes where he sends it. Whereas when I bowled it seemed to have a strange affinity with the gutters. Never mind.
The beer bottles were shaped like bowling pins, which I thought was well cool. And the food was ace, I had the best hotdogs I've ever tasted..
Down these mean lanes a man must bowl. Note that they were not actually at an angle like this, but for me they might as well have been....
The balls came in different flavours. I tried blackcurrent and melon, but neither worked for me... The place also had a very old pinball table. Andy and I gave it a bit of a thrashing.
If only I was a pinball wizard. I particularly liked the way that the zeros on the score displays were just fixed in place so that the lowest score was always ten. This indicates a degree of pinball score inflation over the years....
I thought the signs for the bowling alley were cool.
I wasn't, and I didn't. But it didn't matter. I was having too much of a good time to care. Thank you Mr. Microsoft for a great night out.
We went on the "Odd Tour" of LA today. This eschewed the touristy places for something a lot more interesting. First stop was the Bradbury Building. This was built on a "money no object" basis for a rich bloke around the end of the 1800s. It is famous for many things, amongst them being featured in the film "Blade Runner".
The interior is lit by a huge skylight and features elaborate decoration and some water powered lifts. Very impressive.
Then, for lunch, we went on the Chinatown for some Dim Son (no jokes about number one offpsring here..). They work on an "bring it all along, all you can eat, basis and all the food was interesting, with some of it delicious. They also had tanks in the wall from which you could select whatever took your fancy.
After that it was on to the Watts Towers. These were built by one man out of bits and bobs over a thirty three year period. The artist, Simon Rodia, just put them there beceause it seemed a good idea at the time.
He used no scafolding, and bent and glued the items together with plaster. Something must have worked though, since they have survived a number of earthquakes. The towers are decorated with broken glass from bottles, crockery, and all sorts.
Then, with nary a pause to catch our breath, we moved on to the "Museum of Jurassic Technology". This is a strange place. A strangely odd slice of out and out weirdness all on its own. It is as if art and science met up, art gave science a serious kicking and then threw it out of the window. Where science landed, they built this museum. Inside this unassuming front you can find things that will make you wonder. Big time.
I have no idea what this is. And I don't care. If you go to LA you must go to this museum. It is as simple, or as complicated, as that. So good I bought the T shirt. Then, after brief trip to try and get closer to the Hollywood sign, we headed back to the hotel. Whowever dreamed up this take on the place has my thanks and admiration.
Nip-Tuck season premier.
The sign...
This is the view from my bigger seat. Bonus points for telling me what the film is..
On the way we flew over Greenland. Those little white bits are icebergs.
On the way to check in I spot a method of transport which might be quicker. But then again perhaps not....
Today we are going to LA. This involves starting at 4:00 am in the morning. This is what Humberside Airport looks like around that time...
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
A proper developer conference in Hull. Find out more here.
