Ben Shephard

Work didn’t go so well. It was one of those days where every job I do spawns five more. It’s really dragged. I had to assert myself a bit on a few issues because sometimes when you explain something to a user and they think your wrong or don’t want to do something the way you tell them. I hate being in this situation because I tend to come over as if I’m just being a bit of a twat. I don’t want to appear like that but perhaps that’s something I can try to improve on. So it’s just been one of those days really as far as work goes.

As for other things I’ve been batting a few messages back and fourth on twitter to an old friend of mine. If I remember right we have only seen one another once since school and that was just a chance meeting in ASDA in the fruit and veg isle. He also writes a blog over at http://townsintocities.blogspot.com. I’ve spent the evening reading a few posts, drinking good beer and listening to good music. The beer was Schoefferhofer Hefeweizen, A cloudy light colored beer with strong sweet flavors. I tend to drink a lot of Bud because it’s sweet and reasonably pleasant but it’s got nothing on this stuff. This is in my opinion what real beer should taste like. The music was an Aussie act on Jamendo called TenPenny Joke. I haven’t really heard enough of it yet to write a review but it sounded well produced and I didn’t find myself hovering over the skip button. See for yourself. All in all It’s been a nice end to a pretty naff day. Couldn’t really ask for a better way to end a cold wet English summer Wednesday really.

= 5.5

Over the last few days I’ve been putting together a toolbox for work. I’ve got loads of tools because I used to carry a huge tool kit as an AV technician but they haven’t seen the light of day for a few years. I am short of a few IT specific tools though. I’ve been looking for some RJ45 crimps and a cable tester for a while but not really come across any that looked good and cheap enough. After work I decided to head out to Maplin to see what they had in. They had one cable tester in which was pretty basic and expensive at £20. Their crimps weren’t much better. Most Maplin tools seem to be Rolson brand  which I’ve never really found to be of good quality and of course at Maplin they charge the top whack price of about £30 a set. I headed down to B&Q to see what they had. Their crimps were better priced at £15 but their cable tester was £40. I nearly fell on my arse when I saw that price tag. So I decided to get myself on EBay after years of avoiding it and see what could be bought on there. I got myself a set of crimps, a cable tester (same one as in B&Q) and 50 RJ45 jacks all for £9.99. The seller is in China and it may take up to a month for delivery but postage was free. If they arrive and they are OK I might be convinced to buy more stuff off EBay. I’ve always been a bit sceptical of online auction sites because I like to see and touch something before I buy it and it’s also easy to get ripped off if you aren’t careful. Sometimes it can be a great place to find stuff that’s hard to get hold of in mainstream shops and the like. My uncle bought us a quad LNB for the satellite dish when he lived here which was only £11 If I’d have bought that in any shop in the UK I’d have paid three times that amount at least. I think the good thing about EBay is that it can put the buyer in touch with the source and remove the middle men making a massive mark up on goods like this. Like a lot of things nowadays most electronics are produced in China where the wages are really low and it seems that’s where most of the sellers are based. I think it’s now become impossible to ignore EBay because of the price and the amount of stuff on offer that would be impossible to get hold of any other way. You can find all manner of really obscure items that you just wouldn’t be able to get in a shop. A while ago I saw some adaptors on there to turn an SD card into a solid state IDE hard drive and they were dirt cheap. Ideal for using as a hard drive in a really low power machine. I think I’m the last person in my family to get an eBay account so I’m probably a bit behind the times on this one but I decided it was time I gave it a crack.

Ben

  = 5.8

I don’t usually get hang overs but today was an exception. I don’t tend to drink much but last night I decided to meet up with an old friend for a few beers. I decided to walk it to the pub so I didn’t have to worry about driving home but as I was walking through town a bus pulled up just as I got to the bus stop so I decided to bus it most of the way. I got off up the road from the pub and got myself a bag of chips because I hadn’t had chance to get any dinner. I ate them walking down to the pub. When I got there he had already been there a while and had been having a pub dinner with the family. When the kids got a bit tired his other half disappeared off to take them home and left us to it. We sat out in the beer garden drinking and talking all night. The weather was pretty good and the beer was nice and cold. By the end of it I’d had four pints and I was becoming a bit wobbly. I was planning to walk it home but his brother met us towards the end and offered to drive us home which was very good of him. I got in and went to bed but when I woke up I felt really rough. I’ve not managed to get all the things I wanted to done this weekend because I’ve not really felt like doing much today. I’ve cleaned up some of the kitchen and defrosted the freezer. I can’t quiet work out why but my left arm aches today. I probably should get out more but the day after experience is not one I’m keen on. I think tonight I’ll stick to water and sit and play my guitar for a bit.

Ben

= 5.8

Just lately I feel like everything that can go wrong has done. Some how it feels like life is spiraling out of control and I just can’t pick myself up again. Tonight I watched Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure. This isn’t something I do often and the only reason I watched it was to test some kit I’d been playing around with earlier. I ended up watching it all the way through and it’s about how life can just get completely out of control. It made me feel a bit better about myself because that’s how I feel right now. I just don’t feel like I want to wake up in the mornings any more and I’ve lost all my enthusiasm for everything I’ve been doing. I’m looking for a way out of all this but I just don’t see it. I really don’t feel like I have anything to look forward to any more. Everything I’ve done over the last few months has just been trying to make the most of a bad situation but I just don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I only feel happy when I’m on my own, I just don’t want to be around people any more. I’ll just keep plodding on for now and keep myself to myself for the foreseeable future but I have to find a way out eventually.

Ben

= 2.8