Barry John Williams' Blog

Wow! It is February already and I haven't posted anything on my blog for a while... I better post a quick overview of my 2009. I like to make postings like this as I use the blog as a kind of diary for me to read over in years time.

2009 saw my increased use of Twitter and Facebook. The result of which is decreased blogging.

In May I had my Gallbladder removed, I've had pains which I can trace back to when I was 15 at school. Severe enough for a number of visits to A&E, one of which they noticed unusual blood enzyme levels the investigation into which diagnosed my condition. Whilst this investigation started in 2008 I only requested to be added to the waiting list in February 2009 and had my operation a few months later in May (delayed to the need for an MRCP scan). They called me up and asked if I could go in on a particular Friday, this would have meant missing my prebooked showing of the new Star Trek movie so I requested I have it one week later which they agreed to!! It took a number of weeks for me to fully recover, but I have never felt better! I never realised how much pain I was in until it was gone!

As a bonus I got to watch the Star Trek movie twice at the Imax as I won tickets through Forbidden Planet too!

When our campervan conversion insurance was due we were asked if we had our V5 document updated from "Panel Van" to "Motorhome", we hadn't so we lodged the change request in with the DVLA and were asked to appear for an inspection at the VOSA inspection centre in Bishopbriggs. We got our updated V5 a few weeks later with our camper conversion now official! To celebrate this I treated the van to a some new overhead cupboard fascias and a rebuild of the frame structure to make them more sturdy.

In July we took a 3 week Campervan holiday through Europe to Spain.

On return to Scotland we found out Louise was pregnant which we were both delighted at. Our due date is in May 2010 and I cannot wait! Since then we have slowly been getting pieces together and converting our back bedroom into a nursery, this also meant I get my own room which I have dubbed a Manden. I can now put my posters up on the wall without Louise complaining! We now have loads of baby stuff and a few outfits.

On October 23rd, the company I work for had their official launch event - we had had a few false starts before this event so it was difficult for me to pluck up the enthusiasm prior to this, but I was surprised on the day itself and happy to see everything finally being made available to the public.

We spent Christmas 2009 at my brother-in-law's house in Bristol and enjoyed a snowy walk through a nearby park.

Labels: 2009, review

Pumpkin Halloween 2009
Originally uploaded by barry_williams.

Louise and I carved our pumpkins for 2009. I attempted Ed from Shaun of the Dead!

Friday 23 October was the date of the Innova Clothing launch party at Glasgow University in the Hunter Halls. I had no idea what to expect having never been to a fashion show or event similar to this before. I arrived a little early to take some photos of the hall and university before lots of people arrived.

I was very impressed with the show, the video at the beginning was superb and the clothes looked great! All the model's clothes were created using this new technology.

Plenty of complimentary wine was a bonus and the after party in SWG3 was enjoyable too.

I've uploaded the photos I took at the event to flickr and a slideshow of the set is below.



http://www.innovaclothing.com/

Labels: clothing, fashion, glasgow, innova, launch

I don't normally blog about work stuff, but something I did recently I thought was pretty cool - in fact so cool I am blogging about it...

It is an installation of Windows XP being performed on a virtual machine running on a remote Linux host being accessed via Hamachi and VNC from a Windows virtual machine running on a Mac OS X host...

I've had Spotify installed ever since Gail Porter reviewed it on the Gadget Show in April. I've used it increasingly since then until right now when I realised I've not used iTunes (in which I have a lot of purchased music) for weeks! Over the past few years I've scrobbled all the music I've played in iTunes and on my iPod to last.fm and now this suggesting new music for me to listen to in Spotify!! I'm loving the combination of Spotify and Last.fm.

I've not used my iPod since my holidays as in the UK I listen to Spotify over a 3G connection on my Dell mini 9 netbook as I'm usually on the train or something!

I'm now considering the monthly subscription to Spotify which gives better quality music and no adverts. Though at £9.99 it is a hard sell over the free version - perhaps at £5 a month I'd jump.

My iTunes collection is looking rather lonely now...

Labels: apple, itunes, last.fm, music, spotify

Skyride Glasgow - 06
Originally uploaded by barry_williams.

Today I decided to something energetic...

Years ago I bought a bicycle and used it about 4 or 5 times and then stored it in the shed or garden occasionally washing it...

Skyride is a push to get more cyclists out and about, so they closed portions of the roads between Glasgow Green and Bells bridge. Marshalls and police then directed thousands of cyclists around this traffic free circuit.

I went around the circuit twice - enjoyed the atmosphere and regained my cycling enthusiasm, I even signed up for a "Skyride local" around Bellahouston park next week!!

This was quite a large event and included some celebrities (Sir Chris Hoy, Ross Edgar and Gethin Jones) along with mountain bike stunts and extreme BMX. I could even say I cycled along with Chris Hoy - but so did a few hundred others...

Quite fun - this photo is of "Rock God" one of the tricyclists who played out music whilst doing the circuit. I quite liked the "make some noise" drummers from Real Radio under Glasgow Central Bridge along Broomielaw.