Journal: March 2008

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I'm scared
Tue 18/3/08 (Link to this entry)

Legolamsey is back
Mon 10/3/08 (Link to this entry)

One of the good things about being back up north is being able to shoot with my archery club, Green Hollow Bowmen. Yesterday a small group of us braved the wind, rain and hail to get some clout practice in ('clout' is long-distance shooting - 180 yards for men). My dad had the idea of taking some videos to help with coaching, the idea being that it's easier to correct faults if you can see yourself making them.

The title of this post is explained by the video below. Sadly, people only compare me to Legolas on account of my ultra-fast shooting style - the nickname isn't related to accuracy in any way! I've worked out that it takes me around twenty seconds to shoot three arrows. Compared to boring compound archers who are allowed to take up to two and a half minutes for an end of three arrows, that's pretty quick - though nothing like as quick as war archers who were reputed to be able to keep two or three arrows in the air at any given time!

If my memory serves correctly, the result of the three shots in the video can be seen in the photo below, which was my best end of the afternoon. The small white target is only 30 inches across, so it's not a bad feat to be able to hit it from a distance of 180 yards. That's the first time I've done it this year.

We're thinking about ways of putting some video content onto the websites of Green Hollow Bowmen and the BLBS in Scotland, since it's a pretty good way of showing what we're all about. We'll definitely have to see about getting some volleys recorded - there's nothing quite like watching a rain of arrows screaming down a field towards a distant target. If anyone's got any requests or suggestions, ping them this way!

Frustration
Sat 8/3/08 (Link to this entry)

This has been another one of those weeks. Uni looks like it's going to be challenging in the coming months. I'm studying four different classes this semester and the coursework for all four is predominantly group-based. I've been worried for some time about this because I don't know many people at uni these days, seeing as most of my friends have now graduated. This usually means ending up in groups with various unknowns who, for their own reasons, don't find themselves in a group. This can have good results and bad results...

In two of my classes this hasn't a problem and I've been able to team up with good people, but in the two others I've ended up being saddled with a varying number of numpties. They range from people so quiet you wonder if they've taken an oath of silence, to people who might be talkative for all I know but I won't know until they actually turn up to any group meetings. It's pretty annoying that a significant portion of a student's individual mark depends on the people they end up working with - it looks like I might have to put in a bit of a shift to get these projects done.

I haven't talked much about the Sun Campus Ambassador saga for a while now. The intention was that I should have had a meeting with the heads of the relevant university departments yesterday to finalise the university's involvement. Of course, that would have been too easy. Late on Thursday afternoon I got an email asking if I could confirm my availability for the meeting on Thursday the 20th. A flabberghasted request for clarification later, I was informed that the meeting had to be postponed (with no explanation as to why).

So, the timetable has now gone from originally looking something like this:

• Late December: Request details of who to speak to in the Uni from contact in Sun.
• Early January: Finalise details with University before the semester starts.
• Late January: As lectures start, start promoting the program and raising awareness among the students.
• February: Set up mailing lists and get programme of tech demos kicked off.
• March: Get people involved in Sun programs like the Academic Initiative, OpenSolaris User Groups, etc.
• April: Carry on the work and lay down foundations for next year.

To looking something like this:

• Late December: Request details of who to speak to in the Uni from contact in Sun.
• Early January: Wait for Sun contact to get around to replying.
• Late January: Get reply from Sun contact, set up meeting with Vice-Principal of the Uni to sort it all out.
• Mid February: Hold meeting with Vice-Principal, am told to set up meeting with department heads to finalise details.
• Early Late March: Hold meeting with Heads of Department to finalise details.
• Late March/April: In the four remaining weeks of the semester, do everything in the original plan from Late January.

Nae bother then.

It's not all been bad though. After a dodgy firmware update bricked my mp3 player, I managed to restore it to its factory settings (and along with it, my faith in humanity); I've been given some part-time work on the side by my old boss Paul; nobody has asked me for any significant tech help for about a week; and Scotland beat England in the rugby today despite being written off by pretty much anyone with two functioning eyes. There's hope for the trodden-down underdogs of the world yet :-)

Sun and snow
Mon 3/3/08 (Link to this entry)

Finally, after weeks of dreich* sleet showers and vicious hail storms, we have had a sprinkling of proper snow. Sadly it didn't lie very much, probably due to the fact that it's been raining for the last two months or so. Still, the back garden currently sports a light white covering which is sadly being rapidly mauled by the sun.

The weather's been pretty weird recently, not to mention wild at times. Just yesterday I had to turn the volume right up on the video I was watching because the wind and hail were battering so loudly against my windows that it was drowning out my speakers. Strangely, though, when I looked out the windows on the other side of the house, there was no hail to be seen at all and the wind was much calmer. One of those Truman Show moments...

* Translation for Sassenachs: the word dreich (pronounced 'dreech' with ch as in loch) means dank, dreary, wet, cold and miserable. It is most often used to describe the weather in Glasgow.

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