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I've kind of moved a lot of my social tracking stuff over to facebook.
not because it's a great blog server or anything, because I'm still trying to work out what I do there, but because it's proved to be a great way to keep in touch with or even get in touch with old friends or relatives.
anyway if anybody wants to add me as a friend over at Facebook then you can find me really easily by sticking in
john at jlguy d0t c0m
obviously substituting the o for 0 and making it into a real email address
into the search box.
or you can pop in John Guy and look for a photo of me that's very flattering, but nearly 10 years old.
potentially intersting is the fact that I'm coming back to the UK in June and I'll be around London for a few days, kind of about a saturday in the middle.
I know that's vague, but it's late (3:0am) and I've been drinkin. |
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I'll be there!
You wouldn't believe the shouting and cheering in my house this morning when I heard the news.Current Mood:  ecstatic |
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A couple of things have happened recently to draw my attention to the music of my youth, the glory days of early '80s heavy rock.
One was the installation and use of Genius playlists on the iPod Touch that I listen to at work and the other was recently getting in touch with one of my best mates from when I was at school (age 13 - 18), who is actually moving to New Zealand in the next couple of months.
Over the years my music tastes have certainly broadened, and I've even been able to totally appreciate the truly heavy end of heavy metal (the Slayers and Panteras of this world for example) now that I have started playing more guitar and can appreciate the skill.
However I'm seriously loving getting back into some of the older bands I used to listen to:
Diamond Head
such a shame they never really broke through
UFO
in the Schenker days they turned out some amazing hook ridden stuff
The Scorpions
I prefer their '80s stuff but you can't fault it at all
AC/DC
a recent revival due to the new album but the old stuff is flawless
Magnum
never gone away for me, but their old albums bear listening to rather than the greatest hits and live stuff I tend to have on circulation
Rush
stuff from Exit Stage Left and earlier era is such a personal indulgence it's a little like chocolate.
Status Quo
the older stuff up to about the 12 Gold Bars era, particularly 1976s phenomenal Quo Live
Trust
underated french band probably most noted for their song Antisocial that was covered by Anthrax. I'm still annoyed that I haven't got a copy of their "Savage" album on CD and I hardly ever play vinyl these days.
there's loads more but those are enough to get my mind sailing back to when I was much younger and the world seemed to be a much more fun place, and a time when local bands covering Paranoid wasn't simply predictable (especially when they forgot the lyrics due to alcohol and substituted really rude ones instead).Current Music: Diamond Head - Out Of Phase |
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We've finally decided on the things that we are doing to the house and garden so I've been starting to spend some serious money:
Just bought a nice big 19HP Ride on mower to cut the paddock grass in what will be the extended garden. Should take delivery on Saturday.
We've pretty much decided to add a Spa to our house/garden. Pretty much chosen the model and I'm just sorting out the electrics and planning consent issues before making the payments - looks like it's going in the garage till I get the next item completed.
Finally I'm getting a nice new "Man Cave". We're turning my current office back into a spare bedroom which means I need a new studio/office. It's been decided that I'll have a new office built out the back of the house, almost attached to the house (only 1.5m away). It's going to be huge (9mx7.5m) and have a deck outside into the garden and the Spa will be under cover but open to the paddock and the mountain views in a 3m extension. I'll have to do a large amount of the assembly to keep the price down and I may be able to start it over the Christmas holidays if I am lucky with planning permissions.
I'll probably need to get someone in to help with the plastering (Gib Stopping really)
I can't wait the studio will be isolated from the house so I'll be able to be as noisy as I want with my guitars and hi-fi, and I'll have the projector installed for big gaming sessions.Current Music: AC/DC - Big Jack |
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I was supposed to be going to Wellington this morning for a work meeting with the Tax Office.
It's only a quick flight, about 30minutes, left Christchurch at about 6:45am, at about 7:15am we're coming into land at Wellington and it's a "bit" bumpy with plenty of breakers on the sea as we come in for final approach. Then at the last minute just as I'm expecting the wheels to hit the tarmac we're back off accelerating and taking off again. The Pilot had aborted the landing due to the wind and gusts (it was gusting over 100kmh apparently).
Circled for a while and then gave up and returned to Christchurch.
I sort of noticed it was bumpy as I had to stop reading my magazine since I couldn't keep it still, but I'm a good traveller and it didn't bother me. My work colleague did comment on the phone a little later
"...no, I was feeling to nauseous to start feeling scared"
Oh well, that's Wellington for you.
Back at home now, going to work from home for the rest of the day since I left my laptop and everything here and I can't be arsed going into the office.Current Mood: all shook up Current Music: David Gilmour - Live In Gdansk |
| » Must be spring |
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Saw two ostriches shagging in a field as I drove to work
Sep. 26th, 2008 @ 10:37 am
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| » Safe Trip Bog! |
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Just a quick post to wish Bog a safe flight as he ups sticks and moves to New Hampshire
Safe trip mate!
Sep. 8th, 2008 @ 11:09 am
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| » Happy Fathers Day was had |
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Just celebrated fathers day here in NZ. It's a different date from the UK, which caught me out this year as I forgot my dad's fathers day earlier in the year - but I made up for it by sending a great card to him for this one (it's ends with "blah blah, yada yada, mushy feelings etc.").
I must be getting a little old as I had a fairly quiet fathers day and actually quite enjoyed it...
Up early to let the kids give me a card and present, nothing extreme just a leather guitar strap. Out of the house at 9ish to take Niamh for her swimming lesson in town followed by a coffee in the Mall.
We finished off with Yum Char (Dim Sum for those that know what that is, chinese dumplings for those that don't) before heading home for a quiet afternoon mooching round the house.
Niamh, Jack and I watched one of the Circue de Soleil DVDs in the afternoon as well which was fun.
Sep. 8th, 2008 @ 10:49 am
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| » Moore's Law strikes again |
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I've been living nervously ever since I digitised my entire CD collection at full CD quality in case i get anothe hard drive fault and lose a chunk of it since it's spread across four 350G external drives.
Finally today for the very modest sum of NZ$300 I bought a shiny new 1Terra drive (that's 1000G) and an external enclosure, so about 130quid.
So iTunes will over the course of the next few days be making a copy of my library in Apple Lossless format and storing on the backup drive. From this point forward my backup and master copy will simply get smaller as hard drives shrink in size and cost :D
For those that are interested I opted for Apple Lossless format instead of FLAC for the following reaons:
1) Compression ratio is within the same ball park as FLAC at it's best compression
2) iTunes makes it trivial to backup my whole library and store the results in Artist/Album folder structure
I really wanted them all in FLAC or another "Open" format, but I just couldn't find a suitable tool that would take the directory organisation I had and make a backup in a largely automated fashion.
Aug. 7th, 2008 @ 11:07 pm
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| » First Ski of the year |
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All the family went off up north for a few days and left me alone from Sunday afternoon for a week.
So on the spur of the moment I decided to go skiing, and fabulous it was as well for a couple hours of downhill excitement while listening to Iron Maiden on the iPod.
I was testing out my new boots which seem good so far.
Legs are absolutely killing me though now and I don't think I'll be able to walk tomorrow.
Off to see Hancock this evening
Jul. 7th, 2008 @ 04:00 pm
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| » The things kids ask you |
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So Niamh started school this week and is loving it, and doing really well.
On Tuesday she asks Elaine the following question, which isn't from school but has probably been bugging her for a while.
"Mummy. If our world is round, like a small football, how come all the roads are straight?"
Interestingly she seems to have some ideas there are more than one world out there! we're assuming she means the fantasy worlds of TV and films and the reality world, but with her I wouldn't count on it.
So if you have any answers for me to give her then feel free to post them here ;)
Jun. 13th, 2008 @ 11:57 am
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| » Movember - sponsor opportunity |
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Hi All,
During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about men's health and the fight against prostate cancer. Why...
Every year in New Zealand 2,656 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 600 die of the disease, making prostate cancer the second largest cause of male deaths, after lung cancer.
The average life expectancy of a man in New Zealand is 4 years less than a woman.
To sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/nz/donate, enter my registration number which is 124311 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to the "Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 124311. Please mail cheques to: Movember, PO Box 87 150, Meadowbank 1742, Auckland. All donations over $5 are tax deductible.
All donations are made directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand who will use the funds to create awareness, increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer, fund research and scholarship programs.
For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the detail at: Fundraising Outcomes.
Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Tom Selleck and Borat look-a-likes battle it out for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title. If you would like to be part of this great night you'll need to purchase a Gala Parté ticket.
Thanks for your support
John
More info is available at www.movember.com.
Movember is proudly grown by Holden, L&P, The Rock, Tui and Schick.
Movember a proud partner of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.
Nov. 1st, 2007 @ 03:58 pm
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| » funniest thing ever |
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I was at a Microsoft presentation today and I heard the presenter attempt to claim that the largest computer in the world ran Microsoft operating system?
He was claiming that since the Botnet out there was all compromised PCs running windows then t he largest computer in the world was Microsoft.
I don't think he was bragging, I think he thought it was a funny annecdote, but boy did it come across wrong!
Oct. 19th, 2007 @ 10:44 pm
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| » Spring is defo here |
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I meant to post a while ago as I was suspecting that spring was here:
The hens have started laying eggs big time again.
Pretty much all the sheep have had there lambs and they are bouncing round the fields.
Grass is growing again so lawns need weekly mowing
All the Cherry Blossum is out on the trees
We've had nights where we haven't had to light the fires.
But this morning I had the clincher:
Saw my first family of ducks crossing the road on the way to work, awwww how cute.
Sep. 27th, 2007 @ 01:31 pm
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| » Facebook is an eye opener |
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out of the blue I got an invite to join facebook a couple of days ago, I must have stuck my details in there ages ago for some reason, or maybe someone just sent me an email solicitation or something.
I quickly set up a profile, not sure if I like it or not yet so I may edit it later, and then I trawled round for a few people I knew from my time and work in London.
What's really interesting is that it allowed me to cast my mind back to the times I was working with these people and think about what it's like and what they were like.
I've been lucky enough to spend quiet a few years working in the design and creative industries in London and I have to say it was an incredibly fun time and the people who worked there were really interesting and great to be around. I feel my time there has made me a better person and I thankfull for the experience.
It does make working in corporate software development seem a 'little' bland at times.
It's also interesting to observe that a lot of the people I have met through the computer/console games industry are similarly interesting people, so it's obviously a characteristic of the creative industries
Sep. 21st, 2007 @ 11:58 am
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| » Iron Maiden coming to Oz Feb 2008 |
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I wonder if The Rock can get them to New Zealand
regardless, I'm going to be seeing them in feb next year somewhere :D
UPDATE:
Sign the Petition here to get them to come to New Zealand
Sep. 7th, 2007 @ 04:21 pm
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| » Body good, body bad |
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There's nothing finer in this world than listening to the Scorpions at loud volume while drinking Courvoisier XO (8 year old)
OK it could be a little better, I could be playing at earsplitting levels through real speakers, except it's almost 1am.
that's body bad...
So why body good?
well I'm on the brink of joining a real Gym again, the Uk cost would be silly cheap (like less that buying a paper for the week) but it's a bit more serious here when you add in the exchange rate)
I got them to give me a 2 week trial, seems like a great gym, funnily enough I've dicovered I actually need a busy Gym to help motivate me, as long as I don't really need to wait for machines.
RiK will like this, to help kick start me I've been being generally good about eating (lunches and dinners) and drinking in general (only once or twice, at weekends and if possible under control). but already I've seen 6kg loss in about 3 weeks which is great.
Since this is a lifestyle change I'm allowed a "bit of bad" since I know already it's only a wobble rather than a derailment.
I'm referring to the cognac, not the scorpions, revist my earlier posts for pics of a 50year old Rudy Schenker to see what us aging rockers should aspire to :)
Sep. 7th, 2007 @ 12:51 am
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| » We had a lunar eclipse tonight |
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For the early part of it we were blessed with holes in the clouds, however about 45mins before we got the red moon the clouds came in and have been there ever since.
However I managed to get a few nice pictures of it just starting using the Digital SLR and I've just converted them from RAW and cropped then so here they are.
I'm actually really happy with the clarity of the Meteor crater in the top right hand quadrant.
To all you people in the northern hemisphere I suppose the moon is actually upside down to you so the patter of craters may all be wrong from what you are familiar with
Aug. 28th, 2007 @ 10:59 pm
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| » Thanks for Space Giraffe |
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I have to publicly say thanks to Jeff and GIles for making Space Giraffe for XBox360.
I think the best testimony is that when I look at my friends list right now, 4 hours after launch, 25% of my friends list is online and noboby is playing anything other than Space Giraffe.
And I've even got an achievement.
right! where's those bloody flowers? I want another achievement.
Aug. 22nd, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
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| » It's going to be a great week for gaming |
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Later today Space Giraffe is released for 400 points on Microsoft XBLA, and then on Friday BioShock is launched for the 360, mine is on pre-order.
been playing the demo for BioShock for a couple of nights now and I'm quite excited about this. I hope it doesn't get too hard too quickly.
I was a little late pre-ordering my copy so I couldn't get one of the delux collector editions, however the girl who works in my local EB Games said she has pre-ordered one and probably won't be collecting it so I can have it.
crossing finger for the collectors edition.
Talking of Space Giraffe, it's now Wednesday here in NZ and I can't get it since it doesn't hit NZ till 10pm, it was going to be my only chance at being anywhere near the top of the leaderboards.
Aug. 22nd, 2007 @ 12:21 am
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