Mar 2009
Fe Fi Fo Fum!
I am a GIANT and I live in the sky.
By giant I mean hobbit and by live in the sky I mean I have bought a loft bed. I'm very happy with my purchase. Now normally this isn't something that I would have considered but I thought it would be prudent to move into a cheap rental property. So I'm living somewhere cheap and as such my room is tiny.
Specifically it is 2.6 x 2.9m or 7.92 sq.m.
Now that is not a lot of space, the standard double bed takes up 1.4 x 2 = 2.8 sq. m. The door takes up a further square meter. Desk, 1 sq.m. bookcases, chest of draws, wardrobe, not having stuff in front of the window, chair for the desk etc.
It was going to be a squeeze and completely untenable. I basically resigned my self to not having a desk or bookcases. This was until I happened upon the Tromso loft bed when searching for a bed base (It came with a mattress on the floor). Its an absolute revelation, it is like equivalent of someone say "here, let me make your room a third bigger, would you like that?". I now have room for all the things I want from a room, a big desk, bookcases, a double bed and some box storage. There is very little else I actually need. It only cost me £129 and I think it has made my room the equivalent of one that would cost me £40 or more extra. That isn't to be sniffed at.
I can't say that everything is perfect, I'm still a little paranoid about it collapsing and killing me. Rationally I know it won't, but those little creaking noises take on new meaning 1.6 meters in the air. Especially when you built it yourself (with some help from me Dad - thanks Dad!). Additionally I'm 28, it seems a little weird having a bunk bed. Finally my friend Katy pointed out "You'll never entice a lady back if she knows you have a bunk bed". Lucky this isn't on the cards right now, if I meet someone great, but I'm not really looking. Since I don't get trollied and pull randoms, I think I'm safe.
Helping all of this out is the fact that living in someone's spare room for 2 months really forces you to be a lot tidier and I'm finding it much easier to not collect pointless crap. Being tidier is certainly helping and I find myself not buying things because I need the space more than I need the item.
All good, all the time.
Tim x
By giant I mean hobbit and by live in the sky I mean I have bought a loft bed. I'm very happy with my purchase. Now normally this isn't something that I would have considered but I thought it would be prudent to move into a cheap rental property. So I'm living somewhere cheap and as such my room is tiny.
Specifically it is 2.6 x 2.9m or 7.92 sq.m.
Now that is not a lot of space, the standard double bed takes up 1.4 x 2 = 2.8 sq. m. The door takes up a further square meter. Desk, 1 sq.m. bookcases, chest of draws, wardrobe, not having stuff in front of the window, chair for the desk etc.
It was going to be a squeeze and completely untenable. I basically resigned my self to not having a desk or bookcases. This was until I happened upon the Tromso loft bed when searching for a bed base (It came with a mattress on the floor). Its an absolute revelation, it is like equivalent of someone say "here, let me make your room a third bigger, would you like that?". I now have room for all the things I want from a room, a big desk, bookcases, a double bed and some box storage. There is very little else I actually need. It only cost me £129 and I think it has made my room the equivalent of one that would cost me £40 or more extra. That isn't to be sniffed at.
I can't say that everything is perfect, I'm still a little paranoid about it collapsing and killing me. Rationally I know it won't, but those little creaking noises take on new meaning 1.6 meters in the air. Especially when you built it yourself (with some help from me Dad - thanks Dad!). Additionally I'm 28, it seems a little weird having a bunk bed. Finally my friend Katy pointed out "You'll never entice a lady back if she knows you have a bunk bed". Lucky this isn't on the cards right now, if I meet someone great, but I'm not really looking. Since I don't get trollied and pull randoms, I think I'm safe.
Helping all of this out is the fact that living in someone's spare room for 2 months really forces you to be a lot tidier and I'm finding it much easier to not collect pointless crap. Being tidier is certainly helping and I find myself not buying things because I need the space more than I need the item.
All good, all the time.
Tim x
Log books
How hard can it be to find a decent log book? I have
looked high and low for the perfect log book for me.
I need it to be three things:
1) Harbacked and case-bound
2) Squared paper
3) Acid free paper
It would appear to be a case of pick any two but not all three. I can't imagine that this is a particularly outlandish thing to want, surely there are lots of people out there who would want something like this. I have managed to find two that almost qualify one is a black and red and can only be purchased as a 5 pack and one is made by MAKE (or at least branded as such) and cost $20 + p&p from America. Ouchies.
One a much happier note I have been taking the time to explore the two brilliant new sites: Academic Earth and YouTubeEDU.
Now I fully recognise that these are not a replacement for actually going to university - in fact they are a long way off. They are however, very very good; And they are a lot better than nothing. You may not get the benefit of teaching assistants, lecturers or the other people in your class. You may not get your work marked. What you do get is some lecture courses from some of the worlds best universities. I'm also going to bet best lecturers as it would be very easy to put people off going to your university if you show them the goods up front, I can think of certain lecture courses that would have put me right off Bristol. If you have been to uni and want a refresher, are at uni and want a different take or couldn't go to uni and want a "next best thing" I'd urge you to check it out.
I am currently taking CS106A at Stanford :-)
Tim x
1) Harbacked and case-bound
2) Squared paper
3) Acid free paper
It would appear to be a case of pick any two but not all three. I can't imagine that this is a particularly outlandish thing to want, surely there are lots of people out there who would want something like this. I have managed to find two that almost qualify one is a black and red and can only be purchased as a 5 pack and one is made by MAKE (or at least branded as such) and cost $20 + p&p from America. Ouchies.
One a much happier note I have been taking the time to explore the two brilliant new sites: Academic Earth and YouTubeEDU.
Now I fully recognise that these are not a replacement for actually going to university - in fact they are a long way off. They are however, very very good; And they are a lot better than nothing. You may not get the benefit of teaching assistants, lecturers or the other people in your class. You may not get your work marked. What you do get is some lecture courses from some of the worlds best universities. I'm also going to bet best lecturers as it would be very easy to put people off going to your university if you show them the goods up front, I can think of certain lecture courses that would have put me right off Bristol. If you have been to uni and want a refresher, are at uni and want a different take or couldn't go to uni and want a "next best thing" I'd urge you to check it out.
I am currently taking CS106A at Stanford :-)
Tim x
Starting again
Well here goes, I think I'm going to start blogging
again. There has been quite a gap, and I needed to
get my head right, now its all good.
I used to worry that nobody read my blog and that what I was writing wasn't very interesting anyway. I know realise that I don't care. It made me write, it made me think. I'm going to try and do it once a week, it may not be interesting to anyone but me. And it doesn't matter one little bit.
So what is happening?
I don't have a job and we are in the middle of the biggest ever financial crisis. Apparently.
I don't have a relationship, and I don't know any single women. I have a few more happy memories than the last time I blogged, and a few more hang ups.
I don't really have a goal for my performances, since I can't go to Edinburg (see point 1).
Sound grave doesn't it? Well it isn't, a VERY good friend of mine summed it up perfectly once "Mate, life isn't that complicated".
I have almost never been happier, yeah there are still things that can make me melancholy (see point 2) but most of the time you'd have to prosecute me to get the smile off my face.
So to all the people reading, and all the people who never will, have a lovely evening.
tx
I used to worry that nobody read my blog and that what I was writing wasn't very interesting anyway. I know realise that I don't care. It made me write, it made me think. I'm going to try and do it once a week, it may not be interesting to anyone but me. And it doesn't matter one little bit.
So what is happening?
I don't have a job and we are in the middle of the biggest ever financial crisis. Apparently.
I don't have a relationship, and I don't know any single women. I have a few more happy memories than the last time I blogged, and a few more hang ups.
I don't really have a goal for my performances, since I can't go to Edinburg (see point 1).
Sound grave doesn't it? Well it isn't, a VERY good friend of mine summed it up perfectly once "Mate, life isn't that complicated".
I have almost never been happier, yeah there are still things that can make me melancholy (see point 2) but most of the time you'd have to prosecute me to get the smile off my face.
So to all the people reading, and all the people who never will, have a lovely evening.
tx