Silver Fox's Space

The new year is upon us I hope you all had fun over the festive period, I know I did.

I have recently submitted a wallpaper to gnome-look .  It seems to be fairly popular.  I would love to have some feedback on this picture that I took last year at Yosemite National Park.

(click  image for full size)

I don’t know why
I don’t know what is wrong, oh no
Is karma gonna get me?
At times that’s all I see, it’s not real

Wanna feel
Like I did before

Mornings I can’t breathe
Wave crashes over me and drowns me
Mind’s running rings around me
It takes me time to see what is real?

Time changes things
Like I never thought
Like I never saw
Time changes me
I’m like I never was, oh no

I’m thinking back to what I was
I’ve seen my face right on the floor
And I love you, being around
I say it again, I’m not fucking around

I’ve seen it before, I’ll see it again
It’s knocking my door and it never pretends
I’m down on my knees
And I don’t know where to go
To find my way back home

I’m drowning

It has been exactly a year since I posted my last speed test result.  Here is the state of play today:

Not too bad I guess.  I should get around posting a wired test result.

Who can honestly say they have not played / heard of Space Invaders?  Nobody!  This take me really far back.  Think I first played this game on my ancient Acorn Electron. Very retro.

Space Invaders​ (スペースインベーダー Supēsu Inbēdā?) is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from popular media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars.

The game has been the inspiration for other video games, re-released on numerous platforms, and led to several sequels. The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system’s sales and became the first “killer app” for video game consoles. Space Invaders has been referenced and parodied in multiple television shows, and been a part of several video game and cultural exhibitions. The pixelated enemy alien has become a pop culture icon, often used as a synechdoche representing video games as a whole.

- Wikipedia

For an unspecified amount of time I will be paying tribute to this classic by keeping an invader in the header of my blog.  Feel free to zap the little guy if you want =)

Thought you might like to see this clock with css3 styling.

So, what is going on at the moment in my life?

Well, I am currently in the process of looking at apartments with a view to moving early in the new year. I have been considering moving for sometime now, but only really got enough things sorted to make this possible recently. I will keep this blog updated as things progress, as well as posting pictures of any new place that I move into.

I have recently (last few weeks) been trying to learn a few more songs on my piano. I have been plugging away at Imagine (John Lennon) , Hey Jude and Carry That Weight (The Beatles). Imagine is going “okay” but not great. Hey Jude would be done if I could just sort my timing out a little (more practice needed and probably more listening to the original). Carry That Weight is surprisingly simple and a nice warm up kind of song. I happen to love the original but always thought it was too short. Now I can make it as long as I want

Work is going alright, projects are coming to an end. This will give us time to improve existing systems, fix known bugs (shouldn’t be many) and then scope out our next development. As some may recall it will most likely be on the iPad, which will be something new and fun to learn. I am genuinely looking forward to it.

I haven’t been up to much in the world of Ubuntu. Mainly just moderating on the Ubuntu Forums ( starting to love spam ) but I have also been doing my duties as mentor admin for the Ubuntu  Beginners Team. This involves just checking up on mentors and mentees and seeing how things are moving along.

I am not sure what the coming few days will bring but I expect that they shall be fun

My lover’s gone, his boots no longer by my door
He left at dawn and as I slept I felt him go
Returns no more I will not watch the ocean

My lover’s gone no earthly ships will ever bring him home again

My lover’s gone, I know that kiss will be my last
No more his song, the tune upon his lips has passed
I sing alone while I watch the ocean

My lover’s gone no earthly ships will ever bring him home again

Google is celebrating John Lennon‘s birthday (9th October 1940) a day early. Wow, bit of an epic fail.

These last few weeks have been super busy so I am sorry for not posting new content.   I have also been a little ill.

I have been a bit of a social-holic.  I have been out to places :-

• Cinema  ( I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and also The Expendables )
• Couple of parties
• Shopping in the cities of Leicester and Coventry
• Bowling

Work has kept me extremely busy :-

• Had to do a bit of a last minute database overhaul of an information system we are building
• We are nearing the end of a very large project, so throwing all hours at it to get it done
• Reading up on building applications for iPad and iPhone
• Attempting to read Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People by James Borg

In terms of my personal hobbies/ interests :-

• I have completed Halo Reach campaign
• I have discovered Van Halen all over again.  Dreams is probably my favorite song
• Bought a game for my Mac,  Black and White 2.  Very enjoyable
• Still plugging away at improving my photoshop skills.
• Bought a new domain for a little music project of mine (I will post a link when it is done)
• Getting to know other Ubuntu Forums staff a little better

Well that is enough lists from me for today. Enjoy the video below