The Psychology of Retail Therapy

Funny thing the human brain. Yesterday morning I was resigned to spending huge amounts of money on a broken car. I've had to spend some, but not as much as my most pessimistic estimate. So, the reasoning is that since I've already written that money off, I might as well buy something nice for myself with it.... Well, it works for me. Two second hand video games later......

Got the Grand Theft Auto games for the XBOX. Now, these are horrible examples of how to live a good and Christian life (which I of course endeavour to do at all times). So I'm kind of ashamed of my last mission, where I had to despatch a traitorous accomplice with a chain saw (did a good job though...). However, the fact remains that the Grand Theft Auto games give the most realistic impression of being somewhere else that you will find in any video games. The care with which the environments have been created, the way that they change over time, and the interaction with the objects and people milling around is amazing. You really can take the day off and go sightseeing if you want. I've played the games on the Playstation, but the XBOX experience is much better. The lighting effects are nicer, as is the sound. The game itself is just the same though, so don't buy it again unless you find a copy cheap like I did.

I bought another game really cheap. Ford racing for the XBOX. It is great fun for a driving game (I love driving games). It even lets me race the car that Ian sent me a picture of. But no Edsel. Or Fiesta.....

 

Garbage in, Gasoline Out

Got the Fiesta fixed. Yay. Only cost an arm and a leg. I now know what a "lambda sensor" is and how much they are to buy. The Fiesta apparently makes use of one of these devices to decide how much petrol to squirt into the engine. If the sensor starts telling lies the engine gets given the wrong amount (in my case too much) which causes problems. If your engine is fed too much petrol the spark plugs (the things that set fire to the petrol that is squirted into the engine) get all covered in soot and stop sparking. And then the engine stops working. And then you have to drive to Bridlington and play with jump leads that won't work.

And I don't have to pay the man who mended the car yesterday, because my roadside cover provides some spanner time as well as recovery. So I guess in the great tennis game of life I'm at around Fifteen-all on this one. But the other side is serving......

Got a message from Ian. Thanks for your words of support about car trouble. And the joke about jump leads is nicely apposite:

A pair of jump leads go into a bar. "Now listen you two" says the barman "You'd better not start anything....."

And there will be news of Preston Foster apparel soon. I'm just a bit busy sorting some other things out at the moment.

 

Early Starts and no starts

So at six am it is ho for the open road and off to find out why Ye Olde Fiesta won't go. Turns out the answer is very simple. It is broken. Ring up Green Flag Recovery (we have a recovery only contract with them) and they come down and make the darned thing work. Ho hum. Now I have to pay the man who has mended the unmendable. And I've taken the car into the garage anyway for more potentially expensive tinkering to try and get our confidence levels back to where they were at 8:59 yesterday.

And then back for one of our last Open Day Experiences (tm) Only two more after this one. I'm thinking of using a new line:

I've been trying to make machines out of toast. Because I've always fancied having a working breakfast.

Seemed to go well enough, even though I didn't use that one.....

 

Reliability

Funny thing reliability. Something that has worked unfailingly for ages can become the most despised device, simply because it has failed once (or am I just very fickle)

Yesterday the Linux box that we use for the departmental forum got stuck. Up until then it was the most reliable machine in university with over 200 days of continuous uptime. I had to reboot it and we are now trying to trace the problem which caused it to slow down. And it is now the least reliable machine on campus.

And at 9:00 pm I get a phone call telling me that the Fiesta had failed to start. In Bridlington. So it was out with the jump leads and away into the night. The car has been wonderfully reliable for ages, but now we have the prospect of every journey being a trip into the unknown. In the end I had to leave the vehicle out there and I'll sort it out tomorrow.

 

I'm not proud of myself

Over the years I've done quite a few things I'm not particularly proud of. Today I'm doing one more. As an AUT member I'm supposed to be on strike today, but I've come in to work. I'm sorry, but I just don't do strikes. I'm painfully aware of the way that people in my profession have been downgraded over the years. I also know that the new plans involving changes to pay scales are potentially divisive and will make things even worse. And I know that good quality higher education is very important to the future of this country. A lot of people who I have great respect for are presently out there, giving up two days pay and standing in the rain on the picket line. But I don't do strikes. And I'm very sorry about this folks.

 

Prince of Persia, and the missing link

Spent the day doing lecturer type things. The labs seemed to go OK and I'm enjoying taking the lid off .NET and having a look inside. I hope the students are enjoying it too...

Then home to play some Prince of Persia on the XBOX. The game reminds me of the very first Tomb Raider game, in an almost completely good way. There is a similar mix of puzzles and fighting. The nice thing is that you are given plenty of time to think about the puzzles and explore your environment before deciding what to do. The difficultly curve is just about right, and you are introduced to each new ability of your athletic hero in a very well managed way. It still has some really frustrating moments though, and at the moment I'm battling through a serious of rooms in the palace which all look remarkably similar. I've not arrived anywhere which gives me the same sense of scale as some of the Tomb Raider levels did. However, I'm enjoying playing it at the moment.

And so to the second link that I promised you. This one is just plain weird. Just make sure you turn the speakers up before running it....

 

Crawling around in the loft

Yesterday I bought my daughter a DVD player thingie for 69 quid. Today I had to install it. No problem, clear some shelf space and drop the thing into place. All I have to do now is install and connect six speakers. Ho hum. After experimenting with locations and wires it seems the best way is to slap the speakers on the wall and then run the wires over the room. This means lucky old dad crawling around in the loft, getting that lovely glass fibre material all over himself and battling around assorted junk and cold water tanks. Ugh. Never been keen on going up to the loft, especially since the time I put my foot through the ceiling whilst fetching the christmas decorations (which the neighbours found highly amusing I might add). Anyhoo after lots of drilling and hammering, and pulling on wires and stuff we get the system in and working. And it is a peach. The sound is not totally HiFi but the picture is very clear and the whole thing works a treat. I don't know who "Technosound" are, but they make decent stuff. As long as it keeps working I'll be a very happy chap.

As a kind of thanks daughter sent me a couple of links. This one is rather poor quality video, but it is amazing. If anyone finds a good quality version please let me know... I got a second link as well, which I'll post tomorrow.