Blogging from Terminal

So been playing around with the googlecl package in fedora and it's pretty cool being able to blog, add calendar events and view google docs all from terminal :)

Well hello there Waterford

So today marked the start of my 3 week research placement in the wonderful city of Waterford, Ireland. An early start saw me get to the airport ridiculously early, which did mean I got to perve at all the awesome 747s and 777s taking off and landing. Around 10.20ish my gate opened and I walked over to the window to check out the magnificient marvel of engineering that would get me to Ireland and Bam! A teeny, tiny DHC-8-400 sat on the runway. It's twin turboprobs gleaming in the sun.

After the incredible amount of #planeenvy (yes I hashtagged in a blog post, what you gonna do!) that I was going through watching Boeing dominate the airport, I boarded and was quite impressed. There is something cool about being propelled through the air in a tiny metal can at approx 350mph with only about 30 people on board including crew.

Anyway I landed safely and was picked up at the airport by the guy in charge of the placement and got an awesome tour around Waterford before settling into the accommodation they provided for me. Which I have to say is pretty nice, and has quite good broadband, so what else do I need :P

So tomorrow I start at 9 and get to see what I'm actually going to be working on, all I know is that it involves Wireless Sensor Networks and photovoltaics.

Anyways I shall keep you updated :)

L8rs.

S

I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!!

So today I found out about bento boxes... 'bento' originates from the Song Dynasty slang term for 'convenience' or 'convenient' and has now come to mean a small lunch packed into a box. 

Usually comprising of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and rice; they can form a healthy and nutritious lunch. In light of this and my ever pervading battle with 'what to eat at lunchtime' I have decided to get myself a 2 tier bento box and start eating more healthy. 

So here goes my adventure.. learn to make sushi and make some awesome bento box creations.

On another note, and as is usually the way; reading about Japanese Cuisine has rekindled my love of all things Japanese including the language and culture.

I might have to swap my plan to learn Russian over the summer with a plan to learn Japanese instead.

Let's see what happens.

See ya.

S

Bye bye Bangor

So today i'm leaving Bangor for the summer... 

Got a call at 9am this morning from my wonderful mother telling me that she's on her way to pick me up. Now considering that it takes 2 hours to get here and I hadn't packed anything up it was a pretty stressful morning. But I'm glad to be going home.

Gonna be a bit odd trying to readjust to life in a big city but no doubt it'll fly by and I'll be back before I know it.

Look forward to some posts covering a wide range of topics including my research trip to Waterford, Ireland.

Bye for now.

S

Nexus 4 - best phone ever???

One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog was getting a new phone. So I thought I would try and do a bit of a down to earth review on what I use it for and how it compares to my previous phones.

So after my previous phone (Nokia N900) was getting a bit battered I decided to get a new one. Obviously the best choice was Android but what phone to get. I finally decided on getting the Google Nexus 4 and I'm so glad I did.

So on to the review... Google integration is a god send. Between Blogger, Youtube, Hangouts, Gmail and even keeping synced notes in Google Keep. It's nice to be able to just pick up the phone and have access to all these services without having to login to each one.

Internet browsing and Social Media- So this is the main thing that I use my phone for. Nothing better than just picking up my phone and having easy access to the whole of the internet. The Nexus 4 handles this easily allowing multiple tabs, incognito mode (aye aye) and all my bookmarks synced from my PC.
Social Media is another big thing. From Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Tumblr, having access to all the latest apps and their updates from the play store makes this so much easier.

Camera - I'm not really a photographic master nor do I want to be but the Nexus 4 allows me to take some pretty nice shots whilst I'm out and about. From the main camera screen you are one press away from modes such as HDR (which makes even the worst photos look amazing), Panorama and the quite impressive photosphere.

Finally the one thing that I have to say about the Nexus 4 is the battery life, even with my constant browsing, Tumbl-ing, Facebook-ing, Twitter-ing, Instagram-ing and the odd game of Osmos HD my battery still hangs in there until I get to bed and set it down to charge. Hopefully when it's released I'll be able to get the wireless charging orb and wont even need to plug it in.

Cheers guys, hope you enjoyed reading about my new phone as much as I enjoy playing with it.

L8rs

S

I'm a busy busy man

So last month was pretty busy...

Not only did I celebrate my 22nd Birthday... (yeh I know that's old) but I had my final exams of second year along with a multitude of other things. So here goes.

To start with I had 5 exams to get through. As is always the way there were a couple that I knew I'd do well in and then a couple that... well let's just say that they were a struggle. Definitely have to say that if you enjoy the subject matter then the exams will be a lot easier, but there are things that we have to do even though we don't like them, so I studied and hopefully did well enough.

Once those were over you'd think I would have done the normal thing and gone back home to spend some time with the family but no... I had been booked onto a UKCC Level 1 Coaching Course in Trampolining. The first day wasn't too bad, apart from being in a class room for 8 hours learning subject matter that wasn't really specific to Trampolining. But the other 2 days really made up for that. After spending over 16 hours in 2 days in a sports hall coaching children, not only did I realise that children aren't my favourite people; but I learned a lot of stuff. How to talk to children, how to coach effectively and more importantly the skills to pass my knowledge onto new trampoliners. So hopefully I'll have a few more sessions to hone these skills and then pass my assessment day in September.

In between these I've been trying to organise the Bangor University HackerSpace, a society I set up to provide a community for 'hackers' and non hackers to come together to explore the fun side of computer science, engineering and technology. There will probably be a more indepth post about this in the coming months.

Finally I'm going to be visiting Waterford in Ireland come July for a research placement with the WIN-IPT programme looking at wireless sensor networks and photovoltaic technology. So hopefully I'll get some good pics and stuff to post a few blogs whilst I'm over there.

Anyway that's enough about me, shall speak to you all soon.

Ta ta.

S

To blog or not to blog...

Hey guys.

So as aware as I am if this blog becoming just a list of articles apologising for not posting and such. Blogging is definitely something I want to keep up. If only to recollect old stories when I'm ancient.

So I'm going to write as if this were a diary, albeit a rather public diary in which I probably won't divulge many secrets :)

The past month has been pretty hectic between 2nd year exams and trampolining courses add to that a new part time job and my days are pretty much full. But I'm gonna definitely take time out to blog at least once a week. Maybe more if something exciting comes up.

So farewell for now and hopefully speak to you guys next week.

BAI!!!

S

101 things to do before I die...

So, being judged on this currently pitiful attempt at a blog; I am the resident expert at blogging in my house. I have been asked for my input on a new blog that a friend is creating; focusing on her 'bucket list' or list of things to do before her death (which I must say sounds more morbid than it is).

This got me thinking about some of the things that I would like to achieve in my life. Having researched the lists of a lot of other people they seem to include just about every activity one could imagine; and I was reminded of the brevity and fleetingness of ones life. Now normally this would terrify me, but today for some reason it has filled me with confidence about what one can achieve in their lifetime and the mark you can leave upon the world.

By no means do I plan to write an entire bucket list but I feel that the following activities/ interests have pervaded my life so far and deserve special mention when discussing a topic such as this.

So here we have it the top 5 activities I plan on making a reality;

1) Continue my Kung Fu training and study different styles
2) Learn Chinese
3) Visit China and possibly study with Shaolin Monks for at least a year
4) Finish my Degree with a good grade and embark on a career that I love
5) Feel like I have made a contribution to the world

So that's the main objectives for my life at the moment, but in more pressing matters; I need to get revising and pass these first year exams.

That's all for now folks,

S

Find the blog mentioned above at http://genuineimpulse.blogspot.co.uk/

It's been a while, Thought Cascades and My Love for China

So I know I've been away from this for a while; but University must take precedent and to be fair I've not had much to talk about. It seems that no matter how much I wish to keep this active something always crawls from the woodwork to distract me. However I shall keep going; and hope we can make this go somewhere.

So recently I've returned to my Martial Arts training through studying Wing Chun; considered one of the 'Three Great Martial Art schools of the South'. Now I've studied Southern Shaolin Kung Fu before but this seems to be something else entirely; It seems to be a lot more 'chilled' and uses less energy but somehow maintains the same energy and usefulness - mainly concerned with conservation of energy and using the opponents force.
Now as some of you may know from previous posts; I'm rather easily swayed by new interests and get carried away; so my new Wing Chun knowledge has relit my passion for all things Chinese and cascaded onwards like a set of carefully placed dominoes. From re-watching my old Chinese Martial Art film collection, to finding a new found respect for the culture, food and language.

Even just typing this blog post stirs emotions and memories from my time in China and Hong Kong and reminded me how much I wish to go back; and making a promise to myself to be back there one day. Doesn't help that I've been told that my Sifu at Wing Chun is going at the end of the year; if only money were infinite.

That's all for now folks; sleep beckons.

S

The next Tony Stark?

So.... Once again there has been a considerable amount of time since the last post but University work has taken over and is currently consuming a fair portion of my time... However I will try to keep this fresh and active.

On an Engineering tangent; I recently decided to re-watch the original Iron Man film and I must say despite being the self confessed 'billionaire philanthropist playboy' in a metal suit - Tony Stark is quite an inspiration. How many people can we say could build a metal suit capable of fighting a large number of terrorists in a cave with limited tools and supplies... Ok, ok I know he's not real but come on inspiration is inspiration.

All this technical know how and impressive genius led to me think about the culmination of my Degree and plans for my final project... The way I see it the final project is the last transition from education into real life and will hopefully pave the way for my future career. I know it's not necessarily needed right now but it wont be long until this part of my life is over and I enter the real world; which begs the question - which direction do I wish to take my life...

Well that's my pondering for this week - I'll keep this updated if I finally decide which way I want to take this Engineering Degree and what the plan is for the rest of my life..

Sounds scary; but until next time...

S

Xmas, New Year and Resolutions...

So it's been a while since my last post. I'd like to be able to blame being busy over the festive period and socialising but truth be told; I was just being lazy and couldn't think of anything to actually post about.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be trying to find a direction in which to take this blog; I have a couple of ideas but we'll see where it ends up.

So probably in the next day or so there will be an actual article appearing here. Unsure of the topic but it'll be a bit more substantial than this.

Until then,

S

Yes.... I am the owner of this blog....

In the quest for publicity and such-like. I have to make a claim for my own blog via 'Technorati'.

Apparently they need to verify that I am the owner of said blog and will be mining my blog for the following code..

63V5DAW54SD3

Lets see how this goes.

S

MSL launch, Phobos-Grunt failure and Xmas approaches!

I have been quite caught up this past week or so with the current attempts to reach Mars and collect more data to give us a greater picture of how the 'Red Planet' is made up..

Following the disturbing and saddening news of the Russian craft Phobos-Grunt being trapped in Low Orbit around Earth after a thruster malfunction shortly after its launch on Nov. 8. Things began to seem more hopeful when a European Tracking Station in Australia picked up a signal and began the E.S.A. and Russian F.S.A. collaborative efforts to try to rescue the stranded Probe... Unfortunately for both agencies all attempts at rescue failed and as of yesterday the European Space Agency Engineers will cease tracking support and stop trying to rescue the Probe.

On a more successful note N.A.S.A made a successful launch of the MSL spacecraft on Nov. 26 - 10:02 EST. The latest attempt at the 'Red Planet' is sending the newest Mars Rover Curiosity to the planet to send back information and data about the composition of the planet and to take readings on the possibility of early life on Mars and to analyse radiation levels in order to make plans to send humans.

All this Space talk reminded me of my younger self applying for my name to be placed on the New Horizons mission to send a probe past Pluto. Upon further research I found that this mission is half complete and will pass closest to Pluto on 1317 days in July 2015. Forgot I was so cool!
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Apart from all the Space related news it's not long till Xmas; Mucho presents and a month away from University - cannot wait  :)

Ta Ta

S

Starting again....

So I'm going to start blogging again...