So today, May 16th 2010 – I have decided to finally pull the plug on my ailing blog. I am continuing writing over at www.vkernel.co.uk on my technical day to day life, but for now i am putting my blog on hiatus until further notice.

Sam

So this month has been a fairly hectic one yet again. I have been rushing around like a blue arsed fly trying to sort things out but here goes.

Start of the month I began to start moving things from my home address to my grandparents such as registered addresses etc which is a royal pain. After that, I ventured oop north for a week before Easter to see my parents, take some stuff home, help organise what is/isnt being taken and say goodbye to Zena.

Later this month they came down moving my brother back to Oxford and dropped my stuff off (the remaining stuff I have there), and we had a curry and a few beers to say goodbye as I wont be seeing them again until Xmas.

Other than this, I’ve been house hunting furiously. Looking through contracts, letting agencies, etc is terribly draining but I have 6 viewings this Friday evening, So hopefully Me and Raj can get it sorted by Saturday evening We saw a few on Monday/Tuesday which were OK, but one was with a very disreputable agency, and the other was on the 5th floor, with no lift and 20 flights of stairs, i felt like Rocky when I’d finished!

Other than house hunting and parents moving etc I’ve been pretty much doing the “normal life”; heading out for mad Saturdays in Sakura, getting my last filling of the year done (Wahoo), paying bills and planning for my brothers arrival and sorting him out.

Finally, I’m back playing football after 6 weeks Which feels amazing. My ankle held up well in the 1st game back, although I ached like a mother F on the morning after. 6 weeks of no cardio at all has stuck me back to square 1.

Also, purchases wise – once my house is sorted financially, I intend to buy:
1. Corsair 800D (Get watercooling back on the scene)
2. Intel X-25 M 80GB SSD (Install Fedora 13 on it)
4. IcyBox with eSATA port multiplier + 4 1.5TB Samsung EcoGreen’s for my 6TB backup solution

Then its back to overclocking like hell and trying to sell my HAF932

Sam

Well, 2 months since my last blog – And to be honest theres not much worthy of blogging about.

Life has been fairly pedestrian – I have some irons in some confidential fires at the moment which I cant really talk about in public, and them along with my parents emmigration, sorting my brother immediate future and trying to learn as much as i possibly can from my ever increasing reading list is keeping me well and truly busy.

On a personal note, the Monday before St Paddys Day i managed to tear my ligaments in my ankle making a tackle at football and as such im out for 6-8 weeks – which sucks. Hobbling around for 2 weeks wasnt fun, but more fun than being unable to walk at all on Tuesday morning and having to have one of my mates drive me to A&E with what the doc’s suspected was a broken ankle.

So no football for 4 weeks now is driving me insane; almost as insane as it was not being able to drink on St Paddys on account of a lung infection. I’m definitely falling to pieces. Thankfully I’m on the mend, which means i can drink, dance and soon – play football again Good times.

Other than that, I’ve sorted my brother a job out, now we’re sorting accomodation for him (either me moving or him bunking in the front room for a while) and then i’ve gotta arrange his moving arrangements then i’m done. Oh, and the other untold victim – allllll things which had my old address on (driving license, bank accounts, student loan, etc) all have to be updated now they are selling the house. Superb. That was very fun indeed.

So, Now its 10pm on a Thursday evening – And like the true geek I am, I’m reading about the impact of block size on file system performance from a Cisco book. All in the name of self development!

PS: If you get the chance, watch Fringe (TV Show) it is absolutely amazingly good TV. Also, “White Rabbits” (The band) are great too – “The Plot” is a truly superb tune, me and my brother are hoping to go watch them in Highbury in May. Fun times.

Adios, Sam

PS: I’m now webmastering my parents moving blog at http://www.marshsdownunder.co.uk – give it a read when its all up and running, and update your RSS you fiends.

Well, 6 weeks – i told you i was busy. To recap:

1. Bank account fraud!

2. Partying

3. Women

4. Work

From the top, since returning back my life has generally revolved around Work during the week, interweaved with 2-3 footy games and the occasional NFL Game in January, and week day Premier league / champs league. Other than that, i’ve been studying more networking joy – from TCP/IP and NFS to MHSRP and EIGRP in a performance environment.

I had the fun pleasure of being defrauded in February, somehow someone gained my bank account and sort code numbers and managed to set up a fraudulent paypal account along with a direct debit to rinse me over £1.5K – thanks guys! Got it all back instantly, i cannot honestly say enough about Barclays, their customer service is second only to Apple.

Partying has been going well too Had an amazing night out for Lockwoods birthday in Reading, with the usual lads plus Robin, Russell etc it was superb – one of the best nights ive had. Other than that, we’ve doing the usual routine of nandos, drinking, nandos – including a lovely valentines day which Raj spent wearing a “Worlds best wife” badge Lockwood so skillfully bought- the Friday night before i spent being wined and dined by a new female acquaintance in High Wycombe, fun times but she doesnt let me get much sleep – the problem with these older girls (just kidding!).

Other than that, i guess the only real news is that my parents have finally decided and formalised that they are moving to Australia. I’m now left here trying to ponder how i am going to help my brother, who is at Oxford until 2012 – who will probably need holiday accomodation, storage, etc. Along with having to help my grandparents and family in Manchester etc. This “growing up too soon” / “young tory” rap i seem to have is being swiftly justified.

So, to summarise – earn the money in the week, blow it on drink and women at the weekend. This is truly the year of self destruction, along with a little bit of protocols and possibly a CCNP sprinkled over the top. Heres to even further independence and better prospects.

Sam “Stringer Bell” Marsh (Yes I’ve been watching “The Wire”, and String is the man!).

Wow, 3 weeks since i last blogged, i’m starting to think about canning this old girl!

The weekend of the 20th didnt really contain much, did some xmas shopping, wrapping paper and the usual crap and spent it packing for my journey home on Wednesday. The journey was a nightmare, with the frozen ground providing no end of problems for trains etc meaning i nearly missed the last train home and would have had to sleep in a station – fun fun.

Xmas eve i went bowling with the family and cousins etc which was fun, i even won the first game by a point which annoyed my dad and brother no end given i am totally round armed! For Xmas we had the usual Xmas dinner, presents etc although a little belated as my mum was working until 12. I got the usual socks, smellies, books etc plus a new iphone alarm clock w/ dock as my current one is ultra low tech!

For Boxing day we went round to my aunties for a buffet and a few drinks, which was fun given the ice on the paths was ridiculously thick! Nearly fell over about 50 times, so suprised i didnt break my neck!

From the 27th-30th we were up in the Lake district, however we couldnt really go on any long walks as the ice and snow had made all the paths too dangerous to walk on, so we had a wander around Cartmel and spent the rest relaxing and driving to Kendal etc where i bought a bottle of Balvennie 15 year single malt, yum yum!

The night of the 30th, on a spur of the moment, myself and Matt booked hotel rooms in the Midland hotel and met up with Joe Joe for a night out in Manchester for old times sakes; the rooms are normally £300 apparently but we picked them up on laterooms.co.uk for just £70 which was awesome. We met up with Emma in town after a nandos and proceeded to do the usual Printworks circuit of Lloyds, Norweigan Blue and Opus before Emma made her way home and we made our way to the strip club which was closed. On walking to Deansgate locks we met a guy who said he knew a strip club that was free in and round the corner, so we followed his advice and what a night it turned out to be! Place called Silks Gentlemans Lounge, pretty nice inside (no laminate for starters!) and the girls were unbelievable. Needless to say we had 4-5 bottles of beer and a few of the local produce before stumbling back to the hotel for 5am.

NYE rolled around and in my hungover state i made it home to pack for Raj to pick me up for our journey to a house party in Cheltenham at my old housemates Shauns. Raj turned up in his new Alfa Romeo GT which made the journey down to Cheltenham via Locky in B’ham a breeze. We picked up a Maccy D’s before setting about drinking the earth dry until about 3am, where we crashed – only to be woken up by a naked Locky and Signorelli, i still have nightmares! Waking up on a floor as Raj and Soph had taken up the bed, i sobered up enough to go to Nandos and then the cinema watching Avatar before me and Raj headed back to the home land of Reading where from now on until work on Monday im doing washing, cleaning and general house shit, not fun.

Anyway, its Sunday so that means Nandos, the boys and back to back NFL on the 37″ baby. God i love this decade!

Sam.

Well since the 4th quite a bit has been going on – most of which i cant be bothered to write about

My TV arrived at the weekend, which was amazing – promptly watched the scousers get beat on it before heading out with Siggy, Raj and Noad to Revs which was an amazing night however brutal it was Sunday was spent recovering at Nandos which hardly any of got ate (that is indeed sacrilege).

The usual Mon-Fri 9-5 ensued but this time with a twist; Wednesday night we went for a TAC curry night in an indian in Wokingham which was very nice, even if the curry i had was hotter than the devils arse (to which the lads reckoned it was mild, im convinced they were winding me up…).

Thursday we had an Xmas meal at work which was pretty tame – still ended up getting in at 1am after missing the hourly train with Gav. Friday night was spent sleeping and prepping for Saturday; which turned out to be a pretty anticlimatic event due to Raj getting a little bit drunk and not making it out! Ended up going out with the HP lads and Gibbs + mates but wasnt feeling it without the boys so made a swift exit around 1am.

The rest of the weekend ive just been pretty much relaxing, watching UFC and playing with hellanzb and lottanzb + Python 2.6 on Fedora 12, trying to get it all automated etc (which i finally have done!) – to which i find out there are 2 f..king RPM’s on a site after 5 hours of blood sweat and profanity.

I’m off to lie down

Sam.

Not much to add since last blogging. Last weekend did very little except sleep and watch sports!

Installed Fedora 12 and spent a while working on compiz which was fun yet frustrating! Went for a few drinks with Jamal on Sunday in Reading but other than that nothing much in my life is going on.

Bought myself a 37″ LG HD TV from Argos which is coming this Saturday before heading out with the lads for yet another mucky night i imagine!

Peace.