Blog: The Life Of A Supreme Ruler

0118 999 881 999 119 7253 revisited

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— orudge @ 26/06/2007 4:56 pm

I was looking through my web site statistics today, and was interested to find that the most common phrase people entered into search engines to find my site was “0118 999 881 999 119 7253”, for which I appear to appear first on Google. 13.9% of people who arrived here from a search engine arrived here searching for that! It is a rather funny sketch though – I’ve been rewatching The IT Crowd in anticipation of the second series, which is due to be broadcast in the autumn. And if you, visitor, are looking for that particular sketch, it’s here. 😉

Other results on the list:

• when i was young life was so wonderful
• lotr funny
• random stuff (rather a generic term, I would have thought!)
• paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin
• passing out parade

Also got people searching for everything from Advanced Higher French, to the University of St Andrews, to photos of Budapest, to “ash nazg durbatulûk ash nazg gimbatul ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul” (which used to be in my signature on tt-forums). So, if you’re a random visitor looking for something unusual, do say hello. 😛

As for my real life at the moment, not much going on. Still looking for employment. Went up to St Andrews on Thursday for Rachel’s party, which was good fun, and we’ve got the first perhaps-annual official TT-Forums meet in Birmingham on Saturday, which will hopefully be an enjoyable affair. Weather’s been awful. And that’s pretty much it!

Welcome to the new look owenrudge.net!

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— orudge @ 16/06/2007 3:29 pm

Well, if you visited the blog yesterday, you’ll have seen the new look, which has now been rolled out to the rest of owenrudge.net! (Except the guestbook, which I intend to bring back from the dead soon, and the photo gallery, which I’m working on). The new look is a lot cleaner and generally more pleasant than the old site, in my opinion, and people I’ve talked to seem to like it. Feel free to leave a comment saying what you think! While going through and updating the code (the site is entirely XHTML 1.0 Transitional valid), I also updated a load of the content – the Age of Empires section is no more, for instance, as it effectively consisted of one page! (You can still find that page here should you want to download the campaign.) I also updated other pages such as the About Me page, some of the GEM pages, and various things hither and thither.

Enjoy! 🙂

New design for the blog!

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— orudge @ 15/06/2007 10:17 pm

Well, if you’ve visited my site before, you’ll notice that the blog has been totally redesigned! The new design is all very fancy and XHTML compliant (well, except for one little thing on the blog that needs fixing) and suchlike, and will be adapted to all of owenrudge.net soon (tomorrow, likely enough). I also upgraded WordPress to the latest version, which I’d been meaning to do for ages. What do you think of it? Let me know 🙂

EDIT: Before you start commenting about the validity (Sacro :P), this page does give 102 warnings. That’s because of the one flaw in the design, which is more a problem with WordPress kind of (related to a <ul> being inside an <h5>, which obviously shouldn’t be there), however, there are many posts on this page, so it replicates itself and causes other problems. Try validating, say, this page, instead. 😉 Also, not all of the blog entries are necessarily compliant, I can’t be bothered to go back and correct them all. From now on, though, they should be! The actual web site is 100% XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant.

And the summer begins

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— orudge @ 26/05/2007 11:54 am

Well, it’s been a busy couple of days. On Wednesday, I got most of my stuff packed up and loaded into the car. The plan was to drive down to Wales on Thursday. However, I discovered on Wednesday evening that not all of my stuff would actually fit in the car, despite my best attempts. (I guess if I’d literally packed the back of the car full it probably would have been able to fit, but then I wouldn’t have been able to see out of my rear view mirror, which I figured would be useful to be able to do on a 320 mile drive). So on Thursday, I set off on the first of three drives. Had a nice journey down to Wales, there wasn’t all that much traffic for the most part, and it was a fairly quick and smooth journey. Unpacked my stuff, had something to eat, then got back in the car again and headed off… was a bit tired at first, but got over that, and again, had a pretty smooth journey. It was really very quiet once I’d got onto the M876 towards the Kincardine Bridge (it was also getting quite dark by then), and the trip back from there to St Andrews was fairly quick and painless. Went to sleep, woke up yesterday morning, packed the rest of my stuff up, tidied up and cleaned my room, and started heading south again! I was a bit late setting off, as the aformentioned took a bit longer than planned, but the journey was fine enough, until I hit the M74. Roadworks (which the previous day I sailed past quite happily – also note that they weren’t actually DOING any work on either of the days) caused a massive queue of cars, and I ended up stuck in traffic for about half an hour. After that, things weren’t too bad, although a bit busy – until it was time to turn off for the M56 towards North Wales. Got onto the M56, and traffic was pretty much not moving there, too. Damn Bank Holiday weekend. The A5117 was just as bad (particularly as it’s currently undergoing roadworks now, too), and the A55 was a bit slow, but finally, I got home. I was originally meant to be picking Tom up from Flint railway station, but due to not knowing exactly when I would get in, he made other arrangements – I actually passed the turn-off for Flint at about the right time, so I would have been there in time for his train. But anyway – I’m here, so is he, and this is me now for the next few months.

So, what happens now? Well, Tom and I are going into Wrexham in an hour or so to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 – hopefully it’ll be good. Heard some reviews on Radio 1 yesterday which seemed to be mixed. I thought the last one was alright anyway, so this one shouldn’t be too bad. Apart from that, I need to tidy up the bedroom (not much room to move at the moment with ll my stuff, and Tom’s too), and then try to find a job of some sort, I guess!

Toodle pip for now, kids.

Lack of bloggage

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— orudge @ 22/05/2007 12:23 am

Hmm, I haven’t blogged as much as desired in recent months, or maybe even years. However, I’ve just been having a read through some old entries, such as:

• My trip to St Andrews in summer 2005 – my first real taste of St Andrews, fun was had.
• Freshers week 2005 (ie, my freshers week)

My own freshers week feels like so long ago now. I’m half way through my degree now, and in theory, this coming year I’ll be an academic parent. How did time go past so quickly, eh? I kind of miss the days of my freshers week – reasonably carefree, not all that much pressure, going out a lot and having fun. Don’t tend to do quite so much of that these days. I still tend to have a good time, although I am working a lot more of course, and am often busy with other things such as Ents. And, of course, people move on too – a number of people I know at the moment will be leaving this year. September will bring new freshers though, they’d better be good ones. 😉 But reading those blogs brings back memories… “the way things were”, and suchlike.

Anyway, back to the present. Exams have been and gone. My exams took place last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (it would have been nice to have had a day or two between each one, but oh well, they’re finished now). I think they went reasonably well, and I hope my marks should be fairly decent. Results in a couple of weeks, so we’ll see then, I guess! I did my Pas Plus driver training on Thursday and Friday, which involved two three-hour lessons in various driving conditions, etc. That seemed to go alright, although it was a bit odd being back in Bill’s car having been driving my own around for quite a while now! On Saturday, we had a bonfire on the beach, although I left after a bit to go to Rocksoc with Caroline, and when we came back everyone had gone! A fun night was had though. As for now, I’m slowly getting things packed up. Helping Silvia move her stuff tomorrow, and storing some of my stuff at her house over the summer (non-essential things, etc, plus my bike). Then I’ll be heading off myself on Thursday probably. Grandad’s birthday on Friday, and Tom’s heading towards Grandad’s on Friday I think for the weekend, so we’re going to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in Wrexham at the weekend.

I’m considering a redesign of owenrudge.net over the summer. I have a basic theme I may work on – will see if I think it suits or not. It’ll be all nice and XHTML-compliant, too, instead of this site which, while vastly better than the previous site, is still not perfect. Other than that, I have some STAR FM stuff to do over the summer (IT/Tech team work), and ideally would like to find some sort of employment down in North Wales. Something vaguely interesting would be good, although I guess some menial work in Tesco or something would do. Basically, I could do with earning a bit of money this summer. Ideally I’d like to go to Brazil to see Dad, if I have the money – but that requires earning said money, as described before.

Oh well, that’s you lot updated on things. I’ll see if I can keep this a bit more up-to-date over the summer, not that there’s likely to be too much to blog about!

And that’s another year over and done with

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— orudge @ 05/05/2007 10:59 pm

Doctor Who was good tonight, wasn’t it? Well, the teaser trailer at the end if nothing else! The next few episodes look to be rather good. 🙂

Other than that, that’s my second year over and done with (well, with the exception of exams, of course, which start in a week’s time). It’s been a rather busy year, although this semester has been quite enjoyable. It’s vaguely scary to think that this is basically the half-way point, and that next year I’ll be in Honours. (No 9am lectures, at the very least!) I’m not sure what I’ll be up to this summer at the moment – probably heading back down to Grandad’s and finding something to do there, some form of employment. The financial situation could do with bettering at the moment – a few too many trips abroad, perhaps. 😉

And that’s me for another couple of weeks!

Stop!

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— orudge @ 30/04/2007 5:33 pm

Hammertime.

Time flies, as is usually the case

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— orudge @ 23/04/2007 9:25 am

I could have sworn it was only the start of April a few days ago, and now it’s nearly May. With May comes exams… my exams are on the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th. I would have preferred a day between each if possible, but oh well, this way gets them over and done with quickly I suppose! Then I’ll probably be sticking around up here for a few days (I hope to do my Pass Plus then if I can), before heading down to Grandad’s for the summer. I guess I’m going to try to find some work of sorts down there – working in Tesco or something glamorous like that probably. If I can afford it though, I would like to go down to Brazil to see Dad for a bit, but we’ll have to see what happens there. Otherwise, it’s going to be a fairly unexciting summer.

Where did this year go?

Back in St Andrews

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— orudge @ 07/04/2007 4:40 pm

Well, after an enjoyable but relaxing couple of weeks at Grandad’s, I’m now back in St Andrews. Drove up from North Wales today, and had quite a nice run. The weather has been lovely this past week or so, and today was no exception. Made it in good time, too – set off at around 9.40am, got into St Andrews a bit after 3pm. Just been pottering about since I got in, although I think tomorrow the project of the day will be tidying up this room a bit more!

North Wales

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— orudge @ 29/03/2007 3:51 pm

Well, I’m currently down in North Wales, staying at Grandad’s, for the Easter break. Yesterday, John got the car ready and I picked it up, and so I’ve been driving around and about a bit since then. The car, an old (J-reg – 1991) Ford Escort 1.8 litre diesel, isn’t too bad, all things considered – I went out to Wrexham and took it out on the dual carriageways today (A483 up to the A55, then back along there to the Rhosesmor turn-off) and, with the exception of trying to go up hills, it ran well enough. Tom is heading over here tomorrow for the weekend, so I’ll have to pick him up from Flint. Then on Sunday, I’ll be dropping him back off and heading down to visit Mum for a few days. Other than that, I’m just pottering around here really, nothing too exciting happening!

I passed!

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— orudge @ 21/03/2007 11:57 am

4 minors! But nevertheless, a pass! Woo!

Driving test, Mk3

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— orudge @ 20/03/2007 4:12 pm

Well, tomorrow at 10.20am or thereabouts, I have my third – and hopefully last – driving test. Bill’s picking me up at 9am, and hopefully all will go well. As I probably mentioned, my last test, back in December, went really really well, until the last minute or so when I guess I stopped concentrating a moment and messed up the gears at a set of traffic lights, during which time the lights went red, and the examiner thought I was going to drive through them!

Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. If I pass, then I’ll be picking up the car from John Williams next week when I’m down in North Wales, and will drive around a bit to get used to it. I plan on taking a trip down to visit Mum while I’m there, too, which will be a nice little practice drive (or if not, a £10 train journey!). Fingers crossed, eh?

An update to the TT Station!

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— orudge @ 10/03/2007 6:30 pm

It’s time for my yearly update to the Transport Tycoon Station, and after many years, I’ve finally completed one of those pages that said “This page will be completed soon”. Only one of them though, I’m afraid. 😛 I’ve also uploaded some new, high quality renditions of the TT Music, and performed a few assorted updates here and there. Enjoy!

Time for my yearly update!

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— orudge @ 12:00 pm

Well, after many years, I’ve finally completed one of those pages that said “This page will be completed soon.” 😛 I’ve also uploaded some new, high quality renditions of the TT Music, and performed a few assorted updates here and there. Enjoy!

Woo, strobes

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— orudge @ 03/03/2007 8:06 pm

March already… I know I say this every month, but where has the time gone? It’s been a fairly busy month, particularly with Rag Week (ie, spending the entire week in Venue 1), two 30 credit CS2000 modules and life in general really. Myself and some friends didn’t get into Albany for next year, too, which means that we have to find somewhere to live – fun fun.

I’m tired.

Toronto/New York photos up

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— orudge @ 11/02/2007 12:40 am

My photos from Toronto and New York are now up on the photo album, all nicely split up into days, with a brief commentary for most of them. Enjoy.

Eek!

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— orudge @ 09/02/2007 4:11 pm

That nasty Aegir bloke lobbed me ‘ead off! —–>

Toronto, New York, Boston…

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— orudge @ 03/02/2007 4:19 pm

Well, the past couple of weeks have been quite something. I was in Toronto for a week, which was cold, but rather good fun – went to Niagara Falls, went to London, ON to meet Dan, and did various things around the city – the CN Tower, the Steam Whistle brewery tour, Casa Loma, amongst other things. Photos will be up next week when I’m home. Then a nice 14+ hour train journey ensued down to New York City, which ended up being about half an hour late due to customs taking a bit longer, and being stuck behind various frieght trains… again, photos from the journey will be up. It got progressively less snowy as we got closer to New York, and also darker… so there wasn’t that much of interest to see really on the journey – just snow, and then darkness. 🙁 But finally, I was in New York City, and it was vaguely scary. The Subway wasn’t too bad though, and the city as a whole seemed somewhat less scary in the light of day the next morning. Did all sorts in New York – walked the length of Central Park on my first day, which was rather nice. Also did all the usual sort of things such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, visiting Ground Zero, and so on. Actually, the Statue of Liberty was funny… when I was passing through the second security checkpoint to actually go up the Statue (it was like an airport), someone came up to me and said, “you look familiar”, and asked me where I was from. I said Scotland, and they then proceeded to tell me my name and that I go to St Andrews. I was understandably a bit surprised at this – turns out they know me from The Sinner, although I didn’t know them. Was quite fun in the end really – rather coincidentally, he also went to Boston on Thursday (well, I went on Friday morning) and is flying back from there tonight! Maybe we’ll bump into each other in the airport. 😛 Anyway, yes, this disjointed ramble that I’m calling a blog… I got the train to Boston yesterday morning, which was a nice journey – Amtrak may be pretty bad at things like punctuality, but their trains are a lot nicer than the ones we have in the UK in my opinion – much more legroom and seat width in standard class than we have! The plan was to meet up with a couple of people while here – unfortunately, that didn’t quite happen… Lewis apparently saw me in the subway but didn’t have time to say hello, and Oz was available yesterday, but his phone had no signal so I couldn’t get in touch with him! All in all, it was a bit of a merry mess, but I went to the cinema in the end instead and saw “The Last King of Scotland” – I went into it thinking it was actually going to be a film about the last king of Scotland, so was somewhat surprised when it wasn’t. But it was a good film. And now, I’m sitting here in the hostel tapping away for a bit, as I need to head towards the airport in a couple of hours.

Oh, I got my exam results when I was in New York, too… two of them were somewhat better than I expected, one was not quite as good. Got CS2002 and CS2003 this semester – starting on Monday – so that means a 9am and an 11am every day, but that’s it, lecture-wise – nothing in the afternoon. I do of course have two practicals a week to do though, so that’ll keep me busy!

See you back in the UK…

Heathrow Airport

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— orudge @ 20/01/2007 2:29 pm

Well, I’m currently sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting for a gate to come up for my flight to Toronto. I nearly didn’t end up here… this morning, I got up bright and early at 5.30am, pottered about and headed out. I bumped into two of my friends outside, standing around waiting for a taxi, I presumed, said hello, and then it started pouring with rain, which was nice, as I walked towards the bus station. Got to the bus station, completely soaked, got on the bus and headed to the train station. Learnt that the Tay Road Bridge was closed. Went to buy a ticket, learnt that the Tay Rail Bridge was also closed, as was the Forth Road Bridge. As a result, there were no trains coming southbound. Oh dear. The station master advised us who had to travel to get a taxi down to Kirkcaldy, where trains were running normally over the Forth Rail Bridge. We ordered a taxi, and that’s when they then announced that the Tay Bridges had in fact been reopened and that a train was expected in about ten minutes. The train finally arrived, and it was only really 10 or so minutes later than the train I would have actually got. Got to Haymarket around 9am (it was a slower train, stopping at more places) – I’d decided not to risk stopping at Inverkeithing and getting the bus across the Forth Road Bridge – and I got on the bus to the Airport. Finally, I was there. I’m also glad I’d checked in online – all I had to do was take my boarding pass (already printed) and my bags to the Fast Bag Drop, and under five minutes later I was upstairs, having a drink and reading the paper. While doing this, I heard a familiar voice behind me – my friends I’d seen outside Albany were there. Turns out one of them was on the same flight as me, two seats behind. All in all, the journey so far has been eventful… an hour or so and it’ll be off to Toronto, if all goes well!

Exams over, Toronto beckons!

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— orudge @ 17/01/2007 3:19 pm

Well, I’ve been pretty quiet since the start of the year. Exams have come and gone, as of this morning, and I’ve now got a couple of days before I head towards Toronto on Saturday! Spending a week there, including a day in London (Ontario ;)) and a daytrip to Niagara Falls, and then a week on Saturday it’s down to New York City for a week! It’s all exciting stuff. 🙂

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