Saturday 3 December 2011

Data Recovery, Salt, Decimal Points and Words

Well now, I've written the title now so I must know what drivel I plan on publishing today. The news that is most relevant to anything right at this very moment is that I've had a noticeable amount to alcohol for the first time since the doctor told me to stay off the booze. Quite amusing that I have an alcoholics liver when I drink less than, well, any. Tonight however Ang suggested Mulled (or Microwaved cheep spiced) wine. Seems to have done the trick. Up to now I've tried my best to keep my writing to at least a level four and tonight (as should be explained later) I've every intention of focusing on my use of vocabulary. Tonight, it is clear, the wine isn't going to help things. 

Let me begin anyway with the decimal point. Last Sunday I decided to hunt for a new camera as there have been too many times when I wanted one handy; at school, on the road and other places that I've probably forgotten about. Ebay had plenty to choose from and an old 6mp Powershot was looking tasty. A last bid is always fun and I hurriedly bid 21 quid and some change with two seconds left. The auction ended at 51 quid and me thinking some twit had just paid far to much for that camera. How surprised was I then when the email told me not that I been outbid but that I had in fact won the camera, thanks to my maximum bid of £2190. OOPS! On the plus side, it takes good pictures and seems pretty good in poor light. Below is the pictures of Ilkley as dawn is about to break and I'm on my way to work. Not the best but the wind was crazy so that's as steady as it was ever going to be. 

Salt is really about muck. There was so much of the stuff on my bike when I got it out today that I emptied most of the water butt just rinsing off ready to wash it. The nights have been pretty chilly this week and the gritters have been out so like any other winter hack, the YBR has been building up a protective layer of corrosive material with every sprinkling of rain (which the good Lord sees fit to arrange to coincide with my commute). That's not what caused the total mess pictured here though. 
 That is thanks to Penny Pot lane (an alternative to the main Skipton Road) which isn't as closed as the 'Road Closed' signs suggest. When Skipton Road was closed by the police last night and we were turned back over the moor, I figured it was time to go all adventurous and sneak through Penny Pot Lane and all the heavy plant equipment. I occurred to me I could always ride the verge like Charlie Boorman himself. This was not necessary in the end but riding down a road being resurfaced does bad things to your bike. Cleaning the bike has made me a huge fan of Muck Off spray without which all the water in Fewson Reservoir wasn't going to get this thing clean. 
Unfortunately, I discovered something else on cleaning the bike. Spot the rust all over the chain? The automatic chain oiler wasn't oiling (or for that matter pointing at the chain). For all I know, that chain has gone 300 miles without lubrication. Needless to say, it took a good 3 flats on the chain adjuster to take the huge slack that had developed back in.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear from a lady in Ilkley about whether or not a nightmare is in fact reality. Two days ago I put my long servering and previously trustworthy (memory stick, thumb drive, jump drive, remembering thing, call it what you will) into my computer which then invited me to format it so it could be used! What? NO! It was September when I last backed it up and everything was on there. The new ICT Scheme of Work I spent a whole holiday working on and was going to roll out to staff on Wednesday was on there. As I type, the nice lady in Ilkley is trying to recover the data and if successful it will cost me £70. That may sound like a small fortune and it's not money I have spare however I just pray I get to pay it. The alternative is unthinkable. 

Which just brings me to words. Friday saw me go on and assessment in ICT course. The course was good. James Langley was great. He reminded me of a use for wordles (www.wordle.com) as a way of showing repetition in writing. It made me think that this blog should be run through it to see what I am repeating because i do genuinely try to keep my writing above the standard I expect of the year 4 children I teach. Hopefully my sentences begin in a variaty of ways, my writing contains details intended to interest the reader etc and so on. Unfotunately, on inspection of the Wordle, there is a bigger problem than my writing. I've circled three words. Remember, the size of the words is increased by repetition. I've circled three words. 
It's clearly not my writing that's unbalanced. It's my whole life.  

1 comment:

  1. I've just taken the time to read what I wrote. It's full of mistakes and for that I appologise. Some have been corrected however, I'm going to leave it at that and take solice in the fact that stats show no one reads my blog. Ang does read it over my shoulder as I write but correcting it later for her would be pointless as she would have moved on to watching something involving people I've never heard of performing in front of the nation to be judged by a bunch panel of people with no apparent right to do so.

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John