Gone with the wind...

Were you woken up last night by that ferocious wind and rain?? We were well and truely batten here in Evesham (as was much of the UK by the sounds of it!!)

Retro-spec

My retro gaming sessions usually consisted of me running an assortment of emulators on my PC, and playing them on my television via a very long S-Video cable from my graphics card to the TV.... From one side of the living room to the other... Not ideal, especially when you have a young child rampaging through the living room..... TRIP!!

Readers of my blog will know that I recently purchased one of those Linux based GP2x portable game/entertauinment consoles, and one of the many good things about it is that it has a TV-out port for hooking up to an ordinary television (something you can't do with PSP's and Nintendo DS's!!). Anyway, I purchased a TV-Out cable for my GP2x yesterday from www.gbax.com and amazingly it arrived this morning in the post - I would highly recommened this company if you wish you purchase any GP2x related products.

Anyway, as you can see from the pictures I can now play all of my favourite retro games via my GP2x on the television as if it were a normal games console or old computer. The top picture shows me playing one of my favourite games of all time - Flashback (using the excellent DrMD Sega Megadrive emulator) , and the picture below is of course the startup screen on a Commodore 64 (using the VICE emulator).

Now, I've got emulators ranging from the Philips G7000, Atari ST, Atari 800XL, Commodore Amiga, Plus 4 & C64, Acorn Electron, Archimedes, Sega Megadrive, Spectrum and many many more - all stored on a 2Gb SD card on my very portable GP2x. Imagine having all those machines, and the thousands of games available on them on the go... in just one small machine!!!!

Oh.... I've also been playing Day of the Tentacle and the first two Monkey Island games on it as well using the Scumm interpretor. Happy days are here again!!

If like me you like retro gaming..... GET ONE!!!!

No talking, and no mobile phones...

I was asked to go and setup the sound system in the large Sports Hall at work yesterday for the mock exams, and as I walked in, this is the view that I had...

What is the point of this post? Well, it just made me think back to when I did my exams - 13 years ago! It certainly doesn't feel that long ago since I was sitting my very last exam (a CDT exam on Friday 25th June 1993)

How things have changed since then...

Another driving post!

Yet another Driving Lesson post.

Todays lesson consisted of roundabouts, three-point turns, and generally going back on everything which I have been practicing to do over the past 4 weeks. All in all, it went pretty well, although I am still having trouble with controlling the clutch.

OFSTED was a success at the school last week, and the atmosphere at work has been much more relaxed.

Oh, and as all of you know, Christmas is fast approaching and we have still not yet gone out to buy Kieran any presents. I hate Christmas shopping... Come to think of it, I hate Christmas.... Its great for kids, but as an adult, I just hate this whole time of year. It's depressing and its hard to appear happy just for the sake of Kieran. Call me a miserable old git, but I am a non-religious person who never gets into the Christmas spirit. If Michelle or Kieran want something, I usually get it them, regardless of whether its Christmas or not. And if I want something, I normally can't wait for Christmas and just go out and buy it for myself.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm obligated to go out, and buy smellies, socks and other silly gifts for people and if I don't, or if I accidently forget someone, then I become really bad person.

Bah Humbug!

Cruisin' Evesham

Today's driving lesson consisted of me tackling roundabouts, and doing three-point turns. Although I was able to do them (eventually), I was less than sucessful, with me stalling the car for the very first time (on a roundabout of all places). I keep asking myself if I'm ever going to get this driving mastered. Still, I have only had four lessons. I guess its something you either pick up easily or don't.

OFSTED have been and gone at the school, and from what I have heard, things have been satisfactory. We won't find out until Monday what the final outcome is, but in regards to ICT (infrastructure-wise), everything went smoothly with only two data projectors packing up. Not bad for a school with over 500 computers and a lot of fiddling and tampering kids.

The school is closed today so I've got a nice day at home relaxing. My parents are coming to visit for the weekend and Kieran is really looking forward to seeing them.

Driven round the bend!

Another day, another driving lesson. This time I stayed in Evesham, and was shown how to turn into a road, and how to handle bends. My major problem is that I just can't get to grips with lifting the clutch without lifting the accelerator. I have never been any good at multitasking and whatever one foot does, the other does exactly the same. Clutch control is something else I get into trouble with when I am at a junction waiting to turn.

Work has been hectic these past few days at the school due to the fact that we have a big Ofsted inspection which begins tomorrow. Its been rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, with me running around and making sure all the IT in the school is running without any problems.

Roll on Friday as the school is closed for a day which means I can relax and have a nice day off!