Useless Information: Mine All Mine

As I may have already mentioned, I'm going to spain on holiday tomorrow, and the taxi is coming to pick me up at 4.30am!

I got up at 6am on Thursday, and 5am this morning and yesterday as a sort of practice for tomorrow. Which means that it's only 9.17 and I'm already knackered. On the bright side, it also means I have already done the bit of coursework I needed to do before I left.

Anyway, it occurs to me that my blog is not really living up to its name, so here for your enjoyment is a random (completely useless) fact:

The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry is so named because during WWII, Coventry sent ambulances to Belgrade and after the war the people of Belgrade sent timber for the theatre construction as a thank you. Unfortunately, a lot of the timber warped in transit and had to be thrown out, and the only bit of the theatre actually from Belgrade is the auditorium roof.

This will be my last blog entry before I jet of tomorrow, so I hope you liked it!

James.

I got my proposal for my Final Year Project back today, and I only got 55%. Thankfully, it's only worth 5% of the module (and therefore a miniscule fraction of my degree mark) but it's still annoying: I hate getting bad marks.

I (obviously) didn't have much of an idea of what was expected. Why would I, I've never done one before, and there doesn't seem to even be a coursework handout (or if there is, I've never been given one -I suppose I should ask, but I feel like a bit of an idiot asking for something like that eight weeks into the term).

Still, as long as I do better with the other 95%, I'll be OK.

James.

There are not one but two separates adverts running on the radio at the moment based on the conciet that student pay for everything by cheque. Does anyone know where this idea comes from? I've been a student twice, and I have never paid by cheque in a kebab house, or a pub, or indeed anywhere at all except for things anyone might pay by cheque (like rental deposits), nor have I known anyone else to.

Even stepping away from real students, the stereotypical student is both potless and lazy. Two further thing that mitigate against paying by cheque: they require you to have money in the bank, and they're a hassle to fill in!

So, where does this idea come from? Anyone have any explanations?

James.

I've just discovered I'm to be picked up at 4.30 am on Sunday. And this is supposed to be a holiday?

Cov lost again last night, 2-0 to Palace. We've got Norwich at the Ricoh on Saturday. Maybe I should kill two birds with one stone and go home to bed at half time!

James.

Coventry managed to draw 1-1 with Ipswitch yesterday!

I watched it from the relative comfort of corporate hospitality rather than my usual season ticket seat, but not even the 'Platinum Club' could do anything about the temperature. Although the padded seats probably helped.

I hadn't quite finished my half-time pint by the time the second half kicked off, and the stewards wouldn't let me watch from the lounge window, so I missed Ipswitch's goal. Not there fault -it's illegal to consume alcohol within sight of the pitch- but it's a bloody silly law in my opinion.

I stepped back so I could see the scoreboard but not the pitch, and asked if it would be OK to watch the replay, but apparently it doesn't do replays yet. Still, it's the first game we've actually had a scoreboard, so things are moving forward. Maybe by the end of the season the ground will be finished.

And if we keep taking points out of the likes of Ipswitch, maybe we won't have the nicest ground in League One.

James.

The saga of my trying to get contact leses has been going on so long (longer than I have been writing this blog) that I have run out of ideas for 'contact' related titles! But finally, the waiting is over, I have 30 pairs of daily disposable toric lenses in my hot sticky little hand -metaphorically, at least.

The current plan is to wear them around the house for a few hours a day to start with, then gradually up the time oiver the course of the next week or so.

When I went into the shop this morning, the staff were all in fancy dress, presumably for Children in Need. Most of them seemed to be dressed as faeries (or possibly angels -they looked more like faeries but they had halos), but the woman who (eventually) found my lenses was dressed as a cowgirl; 'Well, thank you kindly, mam!'

James.

On the way into work this morning, I was listening to the radio and an advert came on. A woman said: 'You can get out of debt without borrowing money'. In fact she said it three times at the beginning of the ad, and again at the the end. She said it as if this is some great revelation.

Is it just me, or is that kinda obvious?

Not only can you get out of debt without borrowing money, but the only way to get out of debt is to stop borrowing money!

James.

I went for my second 'teach' at the contact lens place today, and things went much better. Strangely, after having such difficulty getting them out last time, this tim I had more problem with getting them in. Still get them in I did, and out again.

Having repeated the process once more, much more easily, the woman doing the teaching was satisfied, and I could finally take some lenses away with me, if they had any in stock.

Which they didn't.

James.

I've just come across this and I had to share it:

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

James.

Yesterday afternoon I watched England win the rugby, then I watched England win the football, then I watched Great Britain win the other rugby. Unfortunately, I did all this in the pub, so I am more than a little hung over.

But hangover or no, I'm still in the office, working on coursework (in theory -in practice I am reading and writing 'blog entries, obviously).

James.