Bomb.org.uk
August, 2007
20.08.2007 5 Reasons I wouldn’t Marry Me
So, the big day is looming ever closer and yet instead of spending time writing my speech I find myself procrastinating and posting on my blog and it got me thinking – I have so many flaws, so many annoying imperfections, I can’t think why the missus would want to marry me.
For example, here are just a couple of my flaws:
1) I’m an uber geek
Seriously, whether it’s writing code, talking computer gibberish or playing computer games I’m a geek all week baby, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Living with me is a full time geek fest and you know what – sometimes geeks can be real boring and/or annoying!
2) The toilet is my library
I like to read quite a bit but what with being in front of the computer all the time, I rarely get the time. So, being Mr efficient, I make the most of my ’spare’ time reading. The only problem is my only spare time is when I’m sat on the crapper. At this exact moment in time, there are two magazines and a book littering the bathroom floor – you have to climb over books to get to the loo!
3) I’m an insomniac
Want to cuddle up and fall asleep together? If I’m involved you can pretty much forget it. Sleep doesn’t come easily to me and while I enjoy a cuddle as much as the next guy the chances of me staying put once you’ve fallen asleep is next to none – even when I want to sleep, I can’t!
4) I’m a dirty old man
I’m talking both literally and metaphorically! I’m one of those people that hates to waste time on cleaning myself and while I take the time to have a quick flannel wipe and apply a bit of deodorant in the morning it’s rare for me to take a shower more than once a week so normally I stink pretty bad by time I get home from work. Add to that my completely sick sense of humour and you are left with one dirty son of a bitch.
5. I’m obsessive impulsive
I do things on a whim without thinking all the time and I mean, ALL the time. Last year, I went to buy some pet food for my hamster and came back with another hamster, a couple of weeks later, I went to buy some bedding and came back with two dwarf hamsters. Last month I was bored while the missus was trying on clothes in a department store so I went and pre-ordered an Xbox 360 elite before the pricing was even set in stone. I pull this kind of shit all the time and while it can be fun and result in surprise meals, flowers and weekend getaways it’s got to be bloody annoying at other times.
Trust me – this is just the start of a very long list of reasons why I’m totally not marriage material, but you know what… there’s one reason that Steph is totally marraige material that’s more important than all the others – she doesn’t care about any of the above or the other reasons (either that, or she’s seriously tolerant of my crap!) 
09.08.2007 My Treat!
I’ve been without a games console for a while now and short of watching TV don’t really have a lot on to do when I’m feeling like chilling out. So I’ve pre-ordered a shiny new Xbox 360 Elite from Game. I was going to get a standard Premium pack a couple of weeks back but decided to hold off for a while since the inclusion of a HDMI cable is going to save me having to run a stupid amount of cables between the Xbox, TV and surround sound system since the HDMI cable includes all of the good stuff in one convenient cable.
Add to that the 100Gb-bigger-than-standard hard drive and I figure it’s worth the wait. Oh yeah… and it’s BLACK!
As a hardcore mac user, I had doubts about buying anything from Microsoft, but since having a go on a friends Xbox, I’ve decided that it’s the console for me. I had originally thought about a Wii, but the games just seem to childish for my liking. I much prefer serious ‘adult’ games, rather than cutesy mario type graphics. All of the Xbox games that I’ve played have been serious gaming affairs, all of the Wii games I’ve played have been pick up and play instant gratification type games. I’m not saying that all Wii games are for kids or all Xbox games are grownups, but certainly both sets of consoles are more skewed towards those respective markets.
I had planned to buy a bunch of matching accessories at the same time, but I’m heading to America at the end of the month for my honeymoon and with the exchange rate being at 2 dollars to a pound at the moment, I can pick up a 360 controller for half the price I can get it over here. I’d be stupid quite frankly to do it any other way. It’s just a damn shame that the games aren’t compatible, otherwise I’d be picking up a shit load of them as well!
I pick up the console on the 24th if the pre-order delivery dates are to be believed. So don’t expect much in the way of blogging during September as I’ll be either out of the country or up to my eyeballs in Xbox.
09.08.2007 Link Roundup
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any of my latest finds from t’internet so here’s a few of the better ones
Jewellboxing – these guys make some really kick ass CD / DVD cases. They seem a lot more solid than your average run of the mill jewelboxes and they come with printable inserts and templates too! For people making large quantities, they also do printing kits.
Web Application Form Design – An interesting article about creating forms that maximise usability and discusses the pro’s and cons of various different form layout methods.
Official UK Postcode specification – I’ve recently had to write a script to properly validate UK postcodes, this guide to the UK postal code specification proved invaluable while writing that script.
Top 80 Photoshop Text Effects – Yes, they can be tacky when used in the wrong place, but it’s handy to know how to do them, especially if you ever delve into the world of creative print work.
Input Draw – A flash / javscript combination to allow users to draw into a form and then have the information about what has been submited posted to your scripts (contains co-ords for all the points n stuff). Could have a multitude of uses, although I can’t really think of any at the moment!
CodePress – Finally a form input box capable of line numbers and syntax highlighting. Uses javascript but I can see it being really handy for use in CMS systems and things like that.
Well… that’s all for now, hope you find some of these links useful!
(Comment?)
02.08.2007 The Weekly Picture Quiz – #2
WARNING: EXTREME CLOSEUP!
Hopefully you know the drill by now – below is an abstract picture of *something*. This weeks picture is an extreme close up… but can you tell what it is yet?
Answers /guesses in the comments please. First correct guess gets kudos 
