Wednesday, April 26, 2006

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*Insert hideous girly high-pitched scream here*

eeek?!

Not the best pic of me on th'internet....

Sunday, April 23, 2006

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Test Transmission on old slow computer

ok, so that went fairly well. A couple of things that I knew would be a problem were halted prior to any sort of transmission happening - such as the closure of email programs and MSN.
I kept mIRC running and kicked open a channel on ircnet called #cygnusradio which, as of now, will be the chatroom home for my show until I can say without certainty, that the current cygnus chatroom won't consume 60% of my CPU - which at the moment, it currently does - and I can't keep doing that, not with only 700mhz of processor at my command.
I've looked all over the internet for the necessary bits that we desperately need - and by crikey, we do need 'em!
This current machine is all fine in theory - but don't please push it too hard... it doesn't bloody like it!
That said, it held pretty good for the test transmission I did, so, with that in mind, next Sundays show will be conducted in the same manner - and you DO NOT need an invite to join in! As always, coffee is meant to be shared with friends - be it the actual caffeinated coffee (or de-caff..), a mug of steaming hot tea or whatever.. even the AUDIO sort hehehe... where there's a will and a determination, there's a way. And if there isn't a way - heck, we'll MAKE one!
But thats it confirmed... the show WILL go on! The Coffee that is the stuff of life on a Sunday morning WILL CONTINUE!
Right, now I got that said, I look forward to your company next Sunday at 7am Eastern time (USA), 12 noon in the UK and 1pm across most of Europe.
and don't forget... IRCNET and #CYGNUSRADIO - why? because for now, it has to be that way...
Until the situation here looks a little rosier.............

Friday, April 14, 2006

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newspaper


newspaper
Originally uploaded by _Abi_.
Ok, so this isn't the best image, but it's an image anyway. Proof, if you will, that with knowing the right sort of people, the right sort of things happen.
I just CAN'T get to grips with that headline and laughed uncontrollably when I saw it.
FYI: Page 20, Stockport Express, 12th April 2006

Thursday, April 13, 2006

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No smoke without fire...

We have a massive problem here with our main pc, in that its now not the main pc anymore... not since the power supply caused untold damage to it the other night when it unexpectedly blew up.
We've managed to save the media disk from it - and thats about it. The memory is fried, so that too would also mean the motherboard fried too - and other components that we can't test on the remaining pc as it's just not capable of doing such a thing as it's just not powerful enough to cope with these new fangled things (six years old and it's not the fastest thing on the planet.)
Yep, welcome to the world of 700mhz processing, for the time being anyway.
Our plans for upgrading have been somewhat shelved for the time being. Gone is our dream of upgrading both computers to be faster than what they are at the moment.
Gone are our plans of networking and doing the kind of things we take for granted on both machines. Gone is our plan of getting some kind of external hdd for all our media.
I've had to put my show temporarily on ice until something is sorted out - and I don't know how long thats going to take.
Granted, this pc has done well for the last 6 years. It's laughed in the face of other computers which have come and gone in that time.
This disaster puts several projects temporarily on hold for now.
Plans have been made to try and restore some sort of order in all this chaos, but it won't be quick and it won't be easy.
It saddens me that this happened at all. It's not exactly helped with our plans for the year.
My only hope is a miracle happens and everything is right as rain in the morning.
We got two computers, one sux and one blows.
Good thing we got insurance! BUT!!! will they pay out? if they do, will it cover the cost of what needs replacing?
Who knows.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

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Lantern Procession

From a couple of weeks ago

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

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What a week already!!!

... and it's only Tuesday.
Yesterday marked a new level of cuteness - all captured on webcam (rather poorly, I admit)which will be uploaded somewhere over the course of the next 24 hours or so.
Ok, the squirrel decided to have a look inside our kitchen and it's a film you don't want to miss if you're squirrelified like I am. The unedited film is called 'Squirrelscape' and is approximately 9 minutes of furry goodness which,like all good films, gets better the more you watch it.
Last night heralded the arrival of the fire brigade here across the road as some containers the council have been using went up in flames - and I know that it was deliberate as kids had been seen prior to the fire starting hanging around in there.
Like, they're bored already? they've another week and a half off school!
I remember being that young, we had to make our own entertainment up and it was always that way that we never bothered anyone but ourselves.
How parenting has changed in that time... do you really know where your kids are? are you really bothered? because.. if you're really that much of a proper parent, you'd ensure 'little Johnny' and his mates aren't up to trouble - drinking, drugs, setting fires and menacing people (on whatever level).
So, I'll leave this post be now.
It's wet outside and I have to go out at some point. I'm out of nuts and squirrel deserves his/her own weight in nuts after yesterdays display of absolute cuteness.
I also backed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Saturdays 'Grand National' and need to pick up the winnings, and also a ball of wool...
Since getting into 24 and as someone who can't sit still for a minute, I decided that the only way to keep my backside stuck to the seat to watch episodes, was to make a blanket. I got a crochet hook.. I got me a massive blanket made already.. but I refuse to watch the last two episodes on dvd without any wool.
I'm a lousy spectator... I have to be doing something...

Sunday, April 09, 2006

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Fun on Friday....

So, Ok... "Can you come on over on Friday to the cafe? You'll be involved in a photoshoot" I was told... so.. Friday came and at the appointed time, I showed up. As too did the Pure Radio team... and also a local MP that I've known a very long time.
pure_radio_Team
pure_radio_Team
Dave, Caroline and Tim (Pure Radio)

I'd already vowed in advance that, instead of using my real name, I was going to call myself 'Algernon Winstanly Knuckleduster III' - merely so I could then spell my own name... but one mug of coffee can do nothing to help.. really.
The photographer from the local paper turned up. My first instinct was 'this dolt looks like Columbo' and I just wish now that I'd had the forsight to take a picture of him in his grubby looking mac, scruffy pants and shoes and the sort of hairstyle the original Columbo would die for.
In fact.. it just seemed to be that the phrase 'dragged through a hedge backwards' fitted to absolute perfection and beyond.
And so it came to pass that pictures were taken. My pose was to look like I was interviewing the politician with the radio crew behind me and 'Brinnington Community First' representative Karen Reece (there's a reason for mentioning her name.. you'll see)
Naturally, I'm always a bit neurotic when it comes to our local paper because they've a reputation for getting names spelt wrong consistently, so when this Columbo-esque figure asked me for my name, I was poised to say 'Algernon Winstanly Knuckleduster III' when I heard my own name fall from my lips. I could feel my mind screaming 'nooo you idiot!!!' but thankfully, by talking slightly louder than normal and very very slowly, I was able to get him to write down 'A b i'....
With that in mind, this Columboesque figure went around the table collecting names that he was scrawling onto a piece of paper with a pencil (see, our press aren't THAT advanced...) and asked Karen if her name was spelt with a 'C' and 'how do you spell Reece?'
Personally, I wouldn't trust him to put batteries in the back of my own camera, let alone set him loose into the world with a professional camera like that with a seemingly lower than average IQ that really did little to justify his position in the world of media. All he did was further heighten everything I'd ever thought about the local press and more.
Either way, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to next weeks Stockport Express (or as we call it, the 'Stickprot Exproos') because... I don't think that I was doing the 'interested interviewer' look... to me, I looked psychotic and said so. Everyone else thought I was mad and said, "Oh no, you really are brilliant cos the look you did was a rare one that you really really were interested"....
We shall see.. but the price of a mug of coffee says I'm right...
I don't know whether to buy next weeks newspaper now or leave the country - depends on what happens when it comes out on Wednesday, and then I have the divine right to a weeks worth of 'brown trouser moments'.
The upside though, we're gonna laugh at what happened on Friday for a long time

Friday, April 07, 2006

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Black Sky


Black Sky
Originally uploaded by _Abi_.
I just liked the way the cloud was in the sky this evening... and the angel wings in the top left of the picture and the way that the vapour-trail from a passing plane cuts the pic neatly into two halves. The tree is just there...........
Links

pure_radio_Team


pure_radio_Team
Originally uploaded by _Abi_.
Meet the Pure Radio team... Dave, Caroline and Tim.
Thats my mug of coffee on the table in front of the sugar bowl.......
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Oh Crikey!! (something else)

As of about... a few moments ago, I hadn't checked my stats on soundclick.. to be honest, I'd just been way too busy/tired to do so. BUT... today I checked... and... the news is... one of my choons is doing exceptionally well... better than I originally intended in fact...

Name of Track: 'Beep'
#61 in the Electronica charts
#2 in the Ambient sub charts

:-O

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

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Hartlepool Marina


Hartlepool Marina
Originally uploaded by _Abi_.
And the tinkle of the boats just made this a picture crying out to be taken...
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passing bad weather


passing bad weather
Originally uploaded by _Abi_.
Why does the sky (even on a bad day) look fabulous?