Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The Lure of the Dark Side...

Jonathan and I have had a long standing argument about a (not so) new programming language called Ruby and one available framework it has called Ruby On Rails - RoR.

Myself I have been a Java programmer for a while and I'm at the point where I probably can do anything I want with the language. Java is similar to C in that its in many ways a low level language - meaning you have to work harder to get the same result. Ruby on the otherhand (especially when coupled with RoR) is more of a higher level language and promises to reduce the effort to produce the same result.

Perhaps it was curiosity, perhaps I was fishing for arguements against Ruby/RoR but I have started to read some of the RoR websites... And I'm liking what I'm reading. If it delivers on its promises and reduces the pain of development, surely that is a good thing??!? Then again, my personal trainer at the gym says: "pain is the weakness leaving your body".. Ruby then is for weaklings. Java is for real men!

There are 2 things I actually don't like about Ruby.
1. The syntax. It isn't as readible as Java as it borrows somethings from Perl.
2. You can dynampically add methods to objects. Doesn't anybody else hear the word VIRUS or DANGER when you hear that?

Addicted To New � Blog Archive � Ruby on Rails < First Impressions

Gawd I hope Jonathan doesn't read this entry....

Friday, July 22, 2005

Its good to be Aussie

I copped a lot of crap from my English colleges this morning. Australia is playing English for The Ashes. Australia was loosing. "It's the weather.. its too cold, we're used to a warmer climate! We can't function under these colder conditions. You just wait until we thaw out!" I scream in defiance!

I believe The Green and Gold has thawed. 21 for 5 wickets... According to my English college, this may be the worse Ashes score in history.

The whimpers of pain eminating from the English corner of the office amuses me greatly...

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Feeling Kinda Buff Today...

On a slightly different topic than the previous entry....

One of the benefits of working at my current employer, Netengines, is that I get £50 to put towards gym membership. Monday I finally got up my fat arse and joined after looking at several gyms close to where I work in the city. The Soho Gym that I joined is close to where we live which was the deciding factor.

My trainer put me through my paces and worked out a program to achieve my goals. It seems I'm quite unfit. No shit Sherlock! It only took my 5minutes on a treadmill to turn my legs to jelly (I wasn't just walking it, I was really pushing against the treadmill too!!).

With the explosions today, I might walk home again and cut my training short tonight.

More London Explosions... But we're OK!!!

More blasts have hit London. Both Lulu and I are fine.

The blasts this time around appear to me to be copy-cat like with no real intention to cause the devastation. Three blast on trains, and a single blast on a bus. The explosions themselves appear to have been rather small. Not serious injuries have been reported. Witnesses suggest that the people responsible where British (no mention of them being from any ethnic background)

It is possible that no harm was actually meant by the incidents - perhaps this was some sort of (sic) prank. Or its a warning to say we still can hurt London.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Oh one more thing...

The attacks were no were near where we work or live. They were also not widespread across all of London. Most of London was actually untouched, and now it seems the attacks are over. I say that based upon what has happened elsewhere.. 9/11, Madrid train bombings.. they were not prolonged attacks, but targetted to go off all at once.

I'm not suggesting its all over... sure the attacks seem to be... there is still the aftermath... the clean up.. the investigations to perform, etc

We safe! Don't worry!

Yes we are safe at home. But you probably heard it first here or there.

I left work about 2pm this afternoon to avoid any problems getting home. I had atleast a 2 hour walk back. I knew the route back, atleast the bus route. The problem is that my bus route takes me past Whitehall (where the goverment offices are - e.g. MoD / Ministry of Defense, etc , the Houses of Parliment (i.e Big Ben), Westminister Abbey, and the MI6 building (remember the one used in a James Bond film?). To me these would also be targets for terrorist attacks as they are large tourist attractions. Where possible I walked the back streets.

Lulu and her mother couldn't resist the lure of the bargin. There is nothing like a 4 letter word to elicit such excitement, such anticipation like the word "SALE". This I know from experience with Lulu. Harrods was having a sale. An upto 50% off sale.

My 2 hour march home turned into a hike to Harrods. Unfortunately my trail through the back streets meant that I over shot Harrods and ended up at South Kensington (where many of London's great museums are located). My first savour was in the fact shops were closing early due to the attacks, so we didn't stay long at all (it closed at 5pm, normally 8pm).

My second savour was the resumption of bus services, which otherwise would have meant probably another hour walking! Due to an accident up ahead, the bus had to detour close to our home, so we had to walk the final part of the journey.

When we finally got home I was dead tired. Lulu and her mum were lucky, they didn't have to walk as much as me!

Lulu's mum certainly has had an exciting trip to Europe. They were in Paris when it was announced Paris lost the Olympic bid (while I was in Trafalgar Square, London :) She's seen how London can respond to terrorist attacks. I wish now that she could resume being a normal tourist and go back to shopping and seeing the best London has to offer. Tomorrow I hope things will be more normal.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

London - Ghost Town

In the wake of the explosions, which the authorities are saying are terrorist attacks, London has turned into bit of a ghost town. Below is a picture of the streets outside the office building where I work. Few people seem to be on the streets. Few cars on the roads. The eerie silence is broken by the sirens of police and ambulances.


My office is between Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square (they are very close). Picadilly Circus, for those not London savy, is where that big neon Coca-Cola billboard blazes away over the Eros statue. The funny thing about the Coca-Cola billboard, yes it mainly advertises Coke, is that there are McDonalds signs below it, and below that there is a Hungry Jacks. Does that amuse me? You bet!

By an order of magnitude.

Regular readers might remember I posted an entry about Jonathan my work colleage who runs his own blog and wrote up a 'Denzil Squirts' entry. The other day Jon (who I might add looks like Dean Cain and somehow also like Johnny Bravo) was showing me his site statistics.

Should I be worried that the average hit for any entry on his blog is no more than 10, while the Denzil Squirts one was a whopping 54?!?!?

Perhaps its google's fault and the 1000's of old geezers / pimply kids who google with 'squirt' as a keyword.

*sigh*

What will my mum think if she only knew...

2012.. And the winner is... **BOOM**

Yesterday the city of London celebrated at the news that London will be an Olympic city in the year 2012 and hold the 30th Olympics. At 12:30pm Irfan (work colleage) and I went down to Trafalgar Sq to here the vote live on big screens. The hoards of people cheered at the announcement as jets flew overhead streaming coloured smoke in their afterburners.

Today London is in chaos as explosion rip through the capital. Explosions on trains, and stations. Explosions on buses, tearing them open like a can of sardines. It started out with the tube (ie the trains) and a couple of explosions. At first they are saying it was power surges, but the power companys were saying there was nothing to indicate that. 3 buses have reportedly been bombed also, only one have been confirmed.

Getting in to work was murder (probably a bad choice of words for the current situation). But people were not being allowed onto the tube. Score of people were waiting at the gates of the stations. Others tried to catch buses which were already overcrowded. A screaming mother told off my bus driver because he would not let her and her baby in a pram get on. With the number of people on the bus it would not be safe for her and her baby he argued. I could see his point.

As I got into work I called Lulu. I told her what was happening but still wanted to come into the city to go shopping with her mum. Later news reports told of the havic in the city. The bombing of buses. Dead bodies covered on the pavement. I was getting really worried about Lulu. Her mobile was not ringing (the mobile networks overloaded), and no answer on the house phone either! I kept trying until I finally got through. She and her mum had gone down the road to the supermarket for food. I was so relieved that she hadn't come out!!

We're ok. No need to worry. Although I'm stuck in the city for abit. Not sure if / how i'll be able to get home yet. But I will, don't you worry about that. I can always walk... 2 hours is all it'll take :D