Busy Day at the Newsroom
OK, 3 news clippets for you today. Smog from car fumes has become such a problem in the northern cities of Italy that they have actually banned cars completely on some days, and have an alternate-day policy depending on the car's registration number for the weekdays. All I can say is that it's going to be interesting to see who turns up at the office there. The best current method of solution seems like we're going back to witchcraft again: "Church leaders, led by the Bishop of Turin, have been praying for rain".
In the Basque region of northern Spain there are protests under way by the inhabitants against the bombing campaign that ETA terrorists are currently undertaking against journalists. More info from the this BBC page.
And finally, on a lighter note, an american woman on a plane to New York flushed the toilet before getting up and as the vacuum cleaned out the contents, it also stuck her in that position. Cabin crew could not get her out, and she had to wait 2 hours before landing when the ground crew gave a hand.
A quick change of topic; I signed up for the gym yesterday, and will now be getting back into shape after 6 months of doing nothing more than sporty writing notes during lectures. Oh, and if anyone is interested, I have put up my new timetable here so that you can SMS me during my lectures. Just don't do it during my exam !!!
New week, new labour (work, that is).
Tuesday, January 22, 2002
Monday, January 21, 2002
Some Other News
I thought I should also add a little news that wasn't about me, so checked up on a few websites I hadn't seen for a while.
The BBC reports that an AS-Level maths exam (taken by 18 year-olds) had an unanswerable question. It didn't just stop there, however. When the teachers phoned up the exam board to ask what they should do, they were told to make an announcement in the middle of the exam to correct the mistake. This would have been fine, it it wasn't for the fact that the correction was wrong as well !!!
Older generations might be complaining that the exams are getting easier each year, but did they have to contend with Maths examiners that couldn't add up? Or IT ones who distributed the results to the wrong people !!!
On another note Geir's website is introducing some worrying trends. In amongst the icelandic he writes in, the words Latex, Plastic, and Freud appear. Furthermore "Björgvin" seems like a locally based wine, based on the melodic charms of Iceland's most famous musician. I expect an explanation Geir !
As they say in the southern states, "Keep your piece". Handy, that is.
I thought I should also add a little news that wasn't about me, so checked up on a few websites I hadn't seen for a while.
The BBC reports that an AS-Level maths exam (taken by 18 year-olds) had an unanswerable question. It didn't just stop there, however. When the teachers phoned up the exam board to ask what they should do, they were told to make an announcement in the middle of the exam to correct the mistake. This would have been fine, it it wasn't for the fact that the correction was wrong as well !!!
Older generations might be complaining that the exams are getting easier each year, but did they have to contend with Maths examiners that couldn't add up? Or IT ones who distributed the results to the wrong people !!!
On another note Geir's website is introducing some worrying trends. In amongst the icelandic he writes in, the words Latex, Plastic, and Freud appear. Furthermore "Björgvin" seems like a locally based wine, based on the melodic charms of Iceland's most famous musician. I expect an explanation Geir !
As they say in the southern states, "Keep your piece". Handy, that is.
Sunday, January 20, 2002
Free Weekend
Far away from the celebrations that would be going on in Valencia for the birthdays of Gloria and Agueda, I also had some fun this weekend. Nik, a german friend of mine, came and stayed for the weekend. We met up with Sophia and Rebecca and their lovely housemates for a balti (indian meal typical of Birmingham) at a local restaurant. Apart from us all drinking quite a lot, and Sophia telling a joke that nearly got us thrown out, we had some great food. We then went to a local pub for last orders where I met up with lots of people from my uni course as well. Afterwards we went back to theirs where we sat around chatting for a bit before leaving with Rebecca for a private house party, which a friend of a friend knew about :)
Saturday was spent mostly in front of music television and reading. The evening, however, was far from lazy. We started off at the local pub again with friends from my course. We stayed there chatting and drinking for about 2 hours. When everyone felt they had enough energy inside them, we descended on a club (discoteca for the spanish where club means something completely different) where they were playing rock and indy music. Despite the title most of the music was more popular than hard-core. Having never been to this club we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was lots of floorspace and there were places you could talk to each other (albeit shouting). Leaving at 2.15 in the morning we got a taxi back to where we live. Not to sleep, mind you, we went to 'Subway', a local filled roll shop. Here a special offer was on until 3am. Buy a drink for one pound and get a six-inch (15cm) roll with whatever fillings you want. So at 2.45am we promptly bought 2 drinks and a foot (30cm) of roll with various meats and salads. This was then taken back to Andy's, Griff's and Ben's where we consumed it whilst watching TV and chatting. At 4.15 we left the house and finally got to bed at 5am. 10.30 saw me wake up and watch even more music television whilst finishing my magazine. After dropping Nik off at the coach station I returned to do some more reading, washing and chatting on the internet.
The reason behind this escapade was that we had just handed in our project on the friday, and before the new one starts (this week) we wanted to be able to enjoy ourselves.
Well, I'll await more emails detailing what you have done this past weekend as well.
'til the 'morrow
Far away from the celebrations that would be going on in Valencia for the birthdays of Gloria and Agueda, I also had some fun this weekend. Nik, a german friend of mine, came and stayed for the weekend. We met up with Sophia and Rebecca and their lovely housemates for a balti (indian meal typical of Birmingham) at a local restaurant. Apart from us all drinking quite a lot, and Sophia telling a joke that nearly got us thrown out, we had some great food. We then went to a local pub for last orders where I met up with lots of people from my uni course as well. Afterwards we went back to theirs where we sat around chatting for a bit before leaving with Rebecca for a private house party, which a friend of a friend knew about :)
Saturday was spent mostly in front of music television and reading. The evening, however, was far from lazy. We started off at the local pub again with friends from my course. We stayed there chatting and drinking for about 2 hours. When everyone felt they had enough energy inside them, we descended on a club (discoteca for the spanish where club means something completely different) where they were playing rock and indy music. Despite the title most of the music was more popular than hard-core. Having never been to this club we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was lots of floorspace and there were places you could talk to each other (albeit shouting). Leaving at 2.15 in the morning we got a taxi back to where we live. Not to sleep, mind you, we went to 'Subway', a local filled roll shop. Here a special offer was on until 3am. Buy a drink for one pound and get a six-inch (15cm) roll with whatever fillings you want. So at 2.45am we promptly bought 2 drinks and a foot (30cm) of roll with various meats and salads. This was then taken back to Andy's, Griff's and Ben's where we consumed it whilst watching TV and chatting. At 4.15 we left the house and finally got to bed at 5am. 10.30 saw me wake up and watch even more music television whilst finishing my magazine. After dropping Nik off at the coach station I returned to do some more reading, washing and chatting on the internet.
The reason behind this escapade was that we had just handed in our project on the friday, and before the new one starts (this week) we wanted to be able to enjoy ourselves.
Well, I'll await more emails detailing what you have done this past weekend as well.
'til the 'morrow
Tuesday, January 15, 2002
Important Virus Warning
This posting is mainly to warn you of a hoax virus warning spreading by email. The email claims that a file sulfnbk.exe in the windows directory is a virus and that you should delete it straight away if you find it. This is not true. It is not a virus, but in fact a file windows needs to recover after the computer crashes or it has been infected by a real virus. DO NOT DELETE IT. You can find more information about it at the Symantec Antivirus Website.
Furthermore, you should contact the person that sent you the email and tell them this information so that they can warn the other people they sent it to before they all corrupt their computers.
I hope you all sleep better at night now :)
This posting is mainly to warn you of a hoax virus warning spreading by email. The email claims that a file sulfnbk.exe in the windows directory is a virus and that you should delete it straight away if you find it. This is not true. It is not a virus, but in fact a file windows needs to recover after the computer crashes or it has been infected by a real virus. DO NOT DELETE IT. You can find more information about it at the Symantec Antivirus Website.
Furthermore, you should contact the person that sent you the email and tell them this information so that they can warn the other people they sent it to before they all corrupt their computers.
I hope you all sleep better at night now :)
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Films and Timetables
Just come back from the cinema now (well, midnight anyway). Saw two great films. The first one was a french one called "Doberman" which was very brutal but amazingly produced, and starring Monica Bellucci. The other was a mexican film called "Amores Perros" which was really well scripted. Needless to say I came back in a very good frame of mind, just cooked myself two mini microwaveable pizzas and eating some chocolate.
As always, but definitely more so this year, my timetable has been messed around and there are some very important clashes. Namely that they coincide with my Catalan lessons. This is a problem. I'm hoping they will change again so that I can still go to the class, but more likely than not I will only be able to attend the final thirty minutes after my lecture finishes. Fingers crossed that this will not affect my learning too much.
Have been busy chatting to lots of people this week with MSN Messenger. Namely Jordi, Alberto, Elena Carasco, Javi (the guy that moved into my room) and another Alberto (friend of Jordi), oh and last but not least, Ethelvina. It really brightens up my day to do this, I only hope it continues further on into the year.
OK, I should really get some rest now so that I can do some revision in the morning.
Sleep tight.
Just come back from the cinema now (well, midnight anyway). Saw two great films. The first one was a french one called "Doberman" which was very brutal but amazingly produced, and starring Monica Bellucci. The other was a mexican film called "Amores Perros" which was really well scripted. Needless to say I came back in a very good frame of mind, just cooked myself two mini microwaveable pizzas and eating some chocolate.
As always, but definitely more so this year, my timetable has been messed around and there are some very important clashes. Namely that they coincide with my Catalan lessons. This is a problem. I'm hoping they will change again so that I can still go to the class, but more likely than not I will only be able to attend the final thirty minutes after my lecture finishes. Fingers crossed that this will not affect my learning too much.
Have been busy chatting to lots of people this week with MSN Messenger. Namely Jordi, Alberto, Elena Carasco, Javi (the guy that moved into my room) and another Alberto (friend of Jordi), oh and last but not least, Ethelvina. It really brightens up my day to do this, I only hope it continues further on into the year.
OK, I should really get some rest now so that I can do some revision in the morning.
Sleep tight.
Sunday, January 06, 2002
New Photos and Weather Report
Still sorting through the huge pile of photos I have in front of me, but did find the ones from the final party in Hechtsheim where Ethel's mum came along. You can see them at Photos->Parties->Final Party.
There are also some other photos taken in the final weeks that might be of interest, go to Photos->Others->Final Shots to see them.
Although you might be outside sunbathing on the beach or wearing shorts, I am pleased to announce that the temperatures here have increased to a massive +10 degrees ! This is, admittedly, only because it is raining, but at least it's not so cold any more.
The new term starts tomorrow so back to revising now. Ciao.
Still sorting through the huge pile of photos I have in front of me, but did find the ones from the final party in Hechtsheim where Ethel's mum came along. You can see them at Photos->Parties->Final Party.
There are also some other photos taken in the final weeks that might be of interest, go to Photos->Others->Final Shots to see them.
Although you might be outside sunbathing on the beach or wearing shorts, I am pleased to announce that the temperatures here have increased to a massive +10 degrees ! This is, admittedly, only because it is raining, but at least it's not so cold any more.
The new term starts tomorrow so back to revising now. Ciao.
Friday, January 04, 2002
Happy New 2002 !
Yes, it's finally here, another year goes by and we ask ourselves what we have actually managed to achieve in the last 12 months. This is usually answered with a resounding "nothing". However, this year I want to stand up and say that I finished an amazing 12 Erasmus months and got to know some really nice people. In fact this new year will signify a new beginning to me - I don't know how yet, but it will.
I am finally up in Birmingham for good now, managing to chat with Jordi, Javi, Alberto (Jordi's friend) and Elena Carasco over the internet at night. In fact I seem to be chatting all the time...
Apart from working at the international office of my university again, I am basically trying to catch up with work for this following semester, which promises to be very hard considering it's my final one.
Went and saw "The Lord of the Rings" tonight with Rebecca. We both enjoyed it very much. Despite not having read the book yet I have to say it really was a good film. Worth seeing.
Another question is up in my poll section if anybody is interested in voting, and Jordi is updating his website on a regular basis as well.
OK, got to go and get some shut-eye.
Wishing you all the best for this year.
Yes, it's finally here, another year goes by and we ask ourselves what we have actually managed to achieve in the last 12 months. This is usually answered with a resounding "nothing". However, this year I want to stand up and say that I finished an amazing 12 Erasmus months and got to know some really nice people. In fact this new year will signify a new beginning to me - I don't know how yet, but it will.
I am finally up in Birmingham for good now, managing to chat with Jordi, Javi, Alberto (Jordi's friend) and Elena Carasco over the internet at night. In fact I seem to be chatting all the time...
Apart from working at the international office of my university again, I am basically trying to catch up with work for this following semester, which promises to be very hard considering it's my final one.
Went and saw "The Lord of the Rings" tonight with Rebecca. We both enjoyed it very much. Despite not having read the book yet I have to say it really was a good film. Worth seeing.
Another question is up in my poll section if anybody is interested in voting, and Jordi is updating his website on a regular basis as well.
OK, got to go and get some shut-eye.
Wishing you all the best for this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)