http://www.xanthein.net there will be no further discussion of recursive cows Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:53:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last week was pretty bad. Work has been as manic as usual and we're still a couple of people down - that and the director of our department has resigned and left on Thursday. I've found out that two more relatives of mine have cancer - hopefully treatable ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/12/04/bad-week/ I don't normally post links to other blogs, but I just had to point out these amazing pictures of a space shuttle launch taken from the ISS. Clicky here for the link... UPDATE: They were really taken from one of the high altitude (FL600) NASA "chase planes" - see Snopes ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/11/08/bestphotosever/ So I've been working on the BATS website recently - http://www.bats.uk.net/ If it looks familiar then you'd be quite right as it's based on Wordpress - the same blog engine that I use on xanthein.net. So, why did I use a blog system for a "normal" website? Firstly, you ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/10/29/bats-website/ So Al and I went to see Dylan Moran on Friday at the Hammersmith Apollo. A fantastically good show, well up to the standard of his previous show at Vicar Street Dublin, which we'd seen on DVD. As you'd expect, it was a typically rambling performance touching on a wide ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/09/16/and-the-cage-comes-down/ Not a lot's been hapenning around here. Work seems to keep stealing my time away from me - of course there's been a lot of holiday shift cover as it's August. Looking forward to the team having a full complement in the office again! Rehearsals for the latest show ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/08/17/an-update-for-updates-sake/ Flying Time: Today: 1:12 Total: 9:12 So, at the very last minute decided to book a lesson of circuits for this weekend, and sure enough, it's "Can you be here in half an hour?". Sure I can! After a quick run-through with an instructor I'd had one lesson ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/07/29/first-circuits/ Flying Time: Today: 1:06 Total: 8:00 A fairly nondescript catch-up lesson really. Covered steep turns which seemed to go OK - I need to concentrate on holding my altitude when turning - in medium or steep turns! Did a few practice circuits at a higher altitude ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/07/15/steep-turns-stuff/ Flying Time: Today: 1:30 Total: 6:54 A fun lesson today. Another different instructor, and something totally different to do - like stalls. While I knew roughly what to expect, it was still surprising. In a stall there is basically insufficient airspeed to keep the plane flying - ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/06/10/stalling-for-time/ So following up from the previous drama festival this year, we entered the Welwyn Drama Festival at the Campus West Theatre in Welwyn Garden City. We performed the same show that we performed last time and got some good, valid criticism.  The show itself went fairly OK, although we did get ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/06/06/welwyn-drama-festival/ Flying Time: Today: 1:00 Total: 5:24 I flew again after a month away on Sunday and despite only 4 hours of training I was able to pick up fairly easily - this was quite gratifying at this stage, although I guess Had a different instructor as ... http://www.xanthein.net/2006/05/28/some-revision/