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Author Archives: Dave

My Big Geek Bucket List…

Written on February 13, 2012 by Dave in Personal, Scientific stuff, Stuff...

I’ve made lists before, but this one is celebrating my inner geekness. Many involve great science fiction, others are just for fun, while some would be a wonderful way to learn a little about someone and their view of the world.

Some are a personal wishes, perhaps a little esoteric, others refer to movies that might be a little off the mainstream, but here we go.

Have George put Star Wars back to the way it was. We all saw Han shoot first.
Walk away while an explosion goes off in the background in slow motion
Have a glass of rum with Captain Jack Sparrow
Fight zombies with a yell of “Yeah-boy”
Tell Captain Picard to “Make it so…”
Have Jar Jar Binks meet with a very messy end so we can have no doubt he’s gone
Drive the cool Batmobile from Batman Begins
Understand Vogon poetry
Get a real cone of silence
Take the Tardis out for a spin
Dinner with Terry Pratchett
Find that the Serenity 2 movie is going to happen
Walk into a casino wearing a tux and order a Martini “shaken, not stirred”
Enjoy slow barbequed Ewok, St Louis style.
Have a sonic screwdriver in the tool box
Sit and listen to Isaac Asimov and Philip K Dick discuss robotics, replicants and the four laws.
Re-read the entire Foundation series in order
Look good in an Indiana Jones fedora and learn to crack a whip
Complete all levels of Angry Birds with three-stars
Visit the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley
Shoot an original (Buster Crabb) Flash Gordon blaster
Burning man
Have a “Law” named after me
SXSW Interactive
Have the Swedish chef cook dinner
Car chase through the hills of San Francisco Bullit style
Leia, gold bikini and…
Listen to the history of the universe as told by R. Daneel Olivaw
Work out what the hell was going on in Lost
Don powered armour and into the drop-capsule
Learn to wield a lightsaber from Yoda
The ultimate dinner party: Josh Whedon, Hunter S. Thompson, Stephen Fry, Stan Lee and finally Gene Roddenberry
Visit Westworld and take on Yul Brynner, after all the bugs have been worked out
Beat the Kobayashi Maru
Partner Logan 7 for a day
Tour the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough with Nevil Shute
Number-5 in the red dress
Sit in a cool chair, wearing a collarless shirt and monocle, while stroking a white cat and utter the classic line “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die”
An afternoon on the Holodeck
“Beam me up Scotty”
Have a Monolith in the front garden
Fly through the air firing two guns Hot Fuzz style
Watch a live game of Rollerball (“Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan…”)
Road trip with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost
Have HAL ask me “What are you doing Dave”
Hear an Avro Vulcan take off on full reheat one more
Watch the Killer rabbit take on the Black knight
Go hiking with Bill Bryson
Get shot out of a launch tube from Galactica
Fit a shock collar to George Lucas that goes off everytime he tries to re-edit one of his movies

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127 Words about Jerez (and ugly noses)

Written on February 12, 2012 by Dave in Personal, Racing

I was going to carve out a little time this morning to look at the times from the first F1 pre-season test at Jerez. But then I realized why?

I could put down five or six hundred words about times, but as with every other year no one really has a clue what’s going on.

The headlines are
• Times went down over the test
• The step noses on the cars are ugly
• Ferrari have a lot of work to do, but it’s promising
• Hamilton looked good
• Red Bull were fast
• Torro Rosso, Lotus and Force India did OK
• The step noses on the cars are really ugly

Absolutely nothing there we did not know before the test started and I just saved myself a bunch of time.
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Revisiting Boxing day

Written on February 9, 2012 by Dave in Football

I got sent a like to this today on YouTube. , it’s the game highlights of the Boxing day fixture of Woking hosting Farnborough Town. It’s not the beautiful game at it’s finest, but pretty typical of non-league football in England.

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10 things I’ve learned about writing…

Written on February 6, 2012 by Dave in Books, Work

In the last few months since I seriously started to put finger to keyboard I’ve learned a lot about the process, but that’s only been a small part of the journey. It really has been fun, that’s been the biggest discovery for me.

1. Find a time that works for you.

Someone told me when I started this that I would need one of the following: insomnia, proper coffee maker or a case or two of Red Bull. I know that every conversation I have with Sharon the editor she keeps pausing to take continual sips of coffee, but I never developed a taste for the stuff. I’m not in a rally car sponsored by Red Bull any more, and that stuff is spendy when purchased by the case. Ignoring the amphetamines option just leaves insomnia. After everything that went on last summer I still struggle to keep my energy level up all day, it is often lowest in the evening after work. So I adapted and discovered that by getting up at four I get a couple of hours in with good energy before I’ve got to go to work.

2. Prioritizing my writing

You don’t get to be a proper storyteller by putting it so far down “the list” that it’s sitting between “Ride a Motorbike around Alaska” and “Climb El-Cap”. I have discovered I enjoy writing (editing less so), more than I expected and while I don’t spend two hours every day writing it is something I make sure to carve a little time out for. I am a writer because it’s not just what you do, but rather, it’s part of who I am. And something that important to me becomes a priority.

3. It’s not supposed to be easy

What’s more, for me it’s probably not going to get much easier. Dad once said that stuff really worth doing (I think he was trying to talk me into paint the front of his house at the time) requires a lot of work and skill. I’m starting this as someone who got “could try harder” in English Lit at school, so I’m less prepared than most. This writing thing is hard work, but that’s fine, it’s going to be worth it in the end.

4. Dealing with fear

One of the themes through my writing is how I deal with change and fear. That could be fear of the unknown, failure, what I will become if I don’t change or fear of what people will think. A little preparation, being pragmatic about it and fear is diminished. I have found that if I face my fear head on and it’s gone. I was told at a conference last year that people who fail at writing typically do so for one of two reasons. First they were lazy, or two because they were afraid. I’m not lazy, so if I failed it would be because of the second. What’s the worst that can happen?

Is writing a book is going to see me fed to the tigers in the coliseum? Nope.

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Midnight Lights

Written on February 2, 2012 by Dave in Football

I got sent a link to Joshua Mayers Sounders FC blog (excelent reading by the way) and this video. It was done at Century Link Field (also known as Royal Brougham Park) by Bodega Studios. I thought it was rather cool and interesting.

The high res version is here at Bodega Studios

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A day playing in the snow with my Land Rover…

Written on January 28, 2012 by Dave in Pictures, Travel

It all started a few days ago, the plan was that would meet in a little town up in the mountains at 8 for breakfast and we would go from there. Of course Carey could not remember the name of the restaurant. But Gold Bar is a little town, how tough was it going to be to spot a place with a bunch of Land Rovers parked outside.

Turned out to be pretty obvious, with us there were a dozen Land Rovers of various types. Series II, Series III, Defenders, selection of Discos and even a Series II Lightweight that still had the British Army number plates on it.

After breakfast, a little looking at each others cars and a quick briefing we drove towards Stevens Pass and up into the snow. Mine is an almost totally stock Discovery II, the only modification was putting the right tires on for the snow and that was it.

One thing I found today, it’s a very capable car. I grounded the chassis rails (hard) a couple or times going over fallen tree trunks, but it kept on going and never missed a beat.

On the trails the surface was hard packed snow, this was as wide as the tracks of the car in front. Off the track there was 3-4 feet of snow, a hard ice crust with powder under it, I sank up to my thighs a few times.

A new LR4 got really stuck, the Lightweight grounded and the single-track road got really slippery. This was a very fun way to spend a day, the scenery was beautiful, the laughs plentiful and new respect for what my car can do.
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What was on my bedside cabinet this year?

Written on January 25, 2012 by Dave in Books

It’s no secret the last three years has seen some quite astounding emotional churn and coming out the other side I’ve done so much to help myself. Some of what I did turned out to be a great idea, getting the courage to leave a bad relationship tops that list. While others… Let’s just say they were not so brilliant. I’ll be talking about both the highs and lows, and some of the people involved some time soon.

If we talk about the journey then it’s been remarkable. Rediscovering deep and meaningful friendships with some very important people in my life, understanding just who I really am and how I got to my low points.

I think it’s been a remarkable journey. I’m not going to be as twee as saying I found myself, I knew who I was and believe that experiences drive us to evolve as we move through this wonderful life. Part of that change has been doing more reading. I created a couple of comfortable places in my house that I can quietly sit, often with a cat hanging out with me.

If you spend time in bookshops you’ll know is that there shelves of books that claim to provide shortcuts to great knowledge, unlimited happiness and deep wisdom. I’m not a huge believer in self help books, and very skeptical of the giant claims, I discovered there was a lot of nonsense talked and finding great books really is something of a lottery.

One of the thing to note was that every book except one on this list was recommended to me, or given to me by someone I trust. Only “The case for Working With Your hands” was picked up off the shelf, and that was in the “Transport” shelf.

Some books have allowed me to understand my actions and why. Others have maybe inspired me. Certainly one or two have helped me reach my goals, while a couple have allowed me a little escape when I needed it.

My reading list has been eclectic and wide, on purpose, I did not know what (if anything) I was looking for and made some wonderful discoveries. The subject matter in some of these books are a little controversial and I understand not for everyone, but each one was difficult to put down.
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View from the kitchen – Part Deux

Written on January 19, 2012 by Dave in Pictures

So this is what the view from the kitchen looks like after another 6 or 7 inches of snow…

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View from the kitchen

Written on January 16, 2012 by Dave in Pictures

Not only would that be a good foodie blog title, but this is what Snowmagedon 2012 looks like from my kitchen window after an additional couple of inches of snow. It’s been fun, power sliding the Land Rover was a blast (“just a dab of oppo”), but it can melt now…

I know that for my friends in Vermont this is but a slight dusting, in Snohomish it’s taken very seriously.

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And the 2012 F1 Season…

Written on January 15, 2012 by Dave in Racing

2011 was a good year for F1, the stats are excelent, more over taking thanks to a combination of aero changes, the Drag-Reduction-System (DRS), the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) and the tires that gave tremendous grip, for a while.

But it could have been more competitive. Perhaps we were just spoiled by maybe the best championship in the history of the sport in 2010. With Kimi Raikkonon returning for 2012 (admittedly with Lotus) there are 6 world champions on the grid, and that’s got to be good.

Lets be clear, Vettel won his second world championship in style. It became little predicable and was wrapped up with four races to go. But such was the speed of Vettel and the Red Bull that there was little real doubt after Valencia. The constructor’s championship (which is what the teams get paid by) was tied up one race later.

Vettels ability in the first couple of laps to pull out a significant lead over everyone was astounding. That first lap was critical and made it clear that baring a mistake, everyone else was running for second.

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