Phones and Tea

They don't mix.  My beloved Samsung S2 was had a brief dalliance with some tea.  Turns out, actually, the whoring thing spent quite a long time in tea as it got trapped in the "protective" case which let it stew for a while.  Green tea takes a while to stew as does an S2.

From that moment on, it randomly buzzes as it thinks it is getting plugged in for charging.  Not for long!  The part is ordered and hopefully by the end of the week the thing will have been expertly teased apart and lovingly restored.

Or it'll be torn asunder clumsily and the thing will be completely fucked.

I'm excited at how it's going to turn out.  Aren't you?!

I promise pictures.

West End Hotness

Doing a top 5 hotness rating for West End joints. (No, I'm not in any way addicted to hotukdeals.com)

Add heat if you agree:

1- Firebird! Food and booze and they know what to pour when I walk in.  Perhaps that isn't a good thing.

2- Dukes! Asahi on tap.  And closer than Firebird

3- Bar Soba! Great Asian food and Kirin on tap (expensive beer in general however)

4- Ichiban!  Lovely sushi and lunch time deals.  Kirin on tap also.

5- Big Slope!  Sunday Roast.  Enough said. Sagres on tap is very nice too.


Saw some twat in a fur coat and a beard on Byres Road tonight just after and spicy meal at Bar Soba.  What an embarrassment.  I'm guessing lack of personality and tiny cock.  I'm pretty sure I'll never see him in my top 5 bars.

If I do, they will lose heat immediately!

Have some more- !!!!!!

And Obi Wan using the Force

Up In the Air

A friend very kindly took me up in his little plane the other day.  What an excellent day out.

I shall tell this tale in the medium of photograph.

Back to basics!  No toilet either.

 We headed north and west

Nice day for it!

The black waves is the propellor spoiling my photo

Rannoch Train Station

Loch Eigheach with Loch Rannoch in the distance.  On our way home.

Low Level down Loch Rannoch.  Great fun!

Back home to Perth 

Great to get back in the air and get my hands on a plane.  This time-out I'm forced to take from work has been getting on my tit end.  This day out was very good for me.  Thanks Ali!!

Borderlands 2 Rocks

With the extra time on my hands, I've been playing some games.  Guildwars has been dropped for Borderlands 2 recently (doesn't mean Guildwars is crap!).  I played the original Borderlands a few years ago and loved it and couldn't wait to get my hands on the new one. 

From the word go it is really funny and fast paced.  It's a FPS and has a distinctive graphic style.  Kind of cartoony but not.  Hard to describe but it works and is brilliant.  All the in-game characters are fun, great voice acting and  the whole thing is tongue in cheek.  

Four different player characters available (a DLC one is available soon).  I played this assassin dude.  He can specialise in sniping or close in chopping.  Really enjoyed this character and I completed the game with him.  I now have the choice of playing through again with the same guy and keep the level, guns, money etc or start with a new fellow. 

His name is Zero.  Hence the zero on his napper

If you enjoy a good shooter  and a good laugh you will adore this game. I promise you!  I've only scratched the surface of this as I've not played the other characters and gone through the skill tree system.  I'll let you find out about that.  It is joyous!

I'm glad I've completed it as I've bought XCOM: Enemy Unknown and it activates on Friday morning. Can't wait to play the remake of this classic.  I'll let you know how I get on with it.

Warnings

Bought a wireless keyboard and mouse so I can pump the laptop through the big TV and have a huge monitor.  Guild Wars looks lovely but who gives a shit about that except me.

The more interesting thing was the warning on the little plastic bag the keyboard was in.  Let me show you, beloved reader-

The funniest thing I've seen today

What I've been warned about is-

1) Don't let your baby crawl about with this bag on its head while you sit and watch

2) Don't put this bag on your head, choke yourself (and I'm assuming masturbate furiously)

So, 1 is aimed at shit parents and 2 aimed at Tory MPs.  

Logitech, you are a funny company.

Anime and Star Wars Mash

This thing is a work in progress and I can't wait to see the final version.  Looks like it leans quite far to the Dark Side.  Suits me just fine.  Poor rebels, they just don't have cool uniforms and, as such, I'll need to hate on them.

Hoping there is a Jar Jar Binks and Ewok torture scene in the final version.  No doubt, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Enjoy

Judged Awesome

Yes, you know what I'm talking about.  Dredd 3D.  (Fruity language alert).  It is fucking brilliant.

Not in a long time has a film let me walk out of the hall buzzing.  Everything about it was electrifying.  The 3D special effects, the banging sound track and the brutal violence.  This is not your normal Hollywood cop-out to a comic book hero.  This is how it is meant to be.  The first 18-cert film in a 2 years.

If you are a non hipster, middle age guy (girl) who knew 2000 AD as they grew up in the 80s then you will adore this as an adult.  It is apocalyptic, brutal, sexy and everything that is base in you that you daren't admit.    You'll love and hate Ma-Ma as much as you do Dredd.  You'll do it to Drum and Bass.

Just go see it.  Show these people we don't need washed down, sanitised, perfectly packaged, happy ending, taste a little bit of sick in our films.

You are numbed by modern day TV and film.  Go see this and take a cold shower.  You'll come out the same as I did, refreshed and grinning from ear to ear.

Then spread the word.

Guild Wars 2!

Never mind about all this boring plane talk.  Onto important things- computer games!!  With some extra time on my hands it seemed the natural thing to do and go buy a game.  I chose Guild Wars 2.  I played the first one a few years ago and enjoyed it but it was a bit restrictive and you were forced down a narrow path of the story line.  Not so with GW2, it is very sand-boxy.  This is a good thing.

The makers have done a good job in getting away from the usual boring aspects of MMORPG of grinding, doing the same thing over and over to get experience points.  Things that get serious XP are good fun, set pieces that pop up, story line and other missions that are marked on the map.

Graphics are great and plenty of people on the servers to help out.  I tend to wander into areas that are too difficult but always some friendly soul will resurrect my broken, pathetic corpse.  Repeatedly.  I run out of ways of saying "thank you".  Talking of dying, not tried the PvP side of things so can't comment on it, although it is meant to be pretty good.

I can recommend the game.  Takes the genre forward in a good direction, has been well crafted and is just good fun.  Kinda what a game should be, don't you think?

If you're on, come look me up.  I'm on the Gunnar's Hold and I'm called Tricky Man.  Yes, I installed it in the evening when all sense of imagination had abandoned me.

And fashion sense.

Just in Time

Just in time.  My sanity was slipping away and I was beginning to panic.  Even Ethiopia seemed like a great place to work.  Then the phone call.

Want to fly a 787?

Yeah, alright.

Cool, you start in January.

If you go to Flight Radar website and filter B788 you'll only ever see a couple flying in the whole world!  How nice it will be to be exclusive and special.  It won't last long, they are pushing these things out at a tremendous rate.

I shall ponder my place in the universe from the comfort of my bed.

Yes, it has beds! And internet.  Messy combination

A few months to hang about before I start.  Bit of volunteering or some other project to waste the time.

Excitement is a great thing, especially after a forced period in tracksuit bottoms and string vest.  I feel I can contribute to humanity once again!  Just not straight away.

The Transition

Oh dear.  The little company I've been working for went bust.  Wouldn't have known if it wasn't for the wonders of Google Translate.  Sat in the hotel playing Sins of a Solar Empire (awesome game), Finnish email came through.  I'll translate it later, after my game.  Unfortunately that game takes hours but something nagged at me.  Translate.  The word "bankruptcy" leapt out at me.  I leapt out my chair, shoved everything into a bag and legged it calmly out of that hotel in Birmingham and drove home.

And here we stand, hoping very much for a transition from this-

Retro and Hipsterish.  Not acceptable

To this-

Shiny and new.  I'll have some of that

The Boeing 757 was designed about 40 years ago.  It is a classic in every way but they don't make them anymore.  This means job opportunities get less and less.  This does not please me.  As much as I love it, I hope never to fly it again.

To the future!  I want to fly the 787.  Brand new with the new plane smell I have never smelled.  It may mean moving away for a while but I'm willing to do it for the career.  And head-up display!!  

The transition will be straight forward.  Boeing are lovely people and keep a certain philosophy to their design.  It is one I know well.  I'll just have more toys to play with.

To the future.

Gee us a job....