"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #15 on May 19, 2003, 4:23pm »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0305.19
It's been a couple of days since my last post, but I've been taking things a bit easy. I still haven't returned to work yet, although I should be back tomorrow. Last night was pretty rough though - because of my throat, I didn't get to sleep until after 1:30 am, then I was awake again at about 3:30 am and I've been up ever since!
Spent part of the day in a productive state, packing up envelopes to send out to people, doing a bit of writing for some articles I plan to put online in the next 48 hours or so, and the usual posting to the forum.
A large part of the day has been taken up with watching a WWE pay-per-view event that I taped late last night. Pretty good stuff, but it does your head in watching about 5 hours worth back to back!
Had a bit of a clearout of my wardrobe earlier as well. I decided to throw out some old clothes that either didn't fit anymore or were a bit worn... I was only expecting to get rid of a couple of things, and ended up filling a large binliner! Still, they're not going to waste as they are all being recycled.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #16 on May 21, 2003, 3:20am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0305.21
Two posts for today, as I didn't get the chance to write anything last night!
Not a lot happened yesterday. I managed to finish off a few more files on my writing website, and hopefully I'll be uploading all of these at the end of the week. There are some more things I want to add, including some examples of my work, so I'll just keep working away at it.
Things were a bit weird at work last night. When I left the building to go home last night, there were a lot of police and police vans surrounding the building. It turned out that it was one of our full council meetings where all 72 of our councillors are expected to attend.
Because we had two councillors from the racist British Nationalist Party elected back in May, the police were there incase there were any protests or any problems that may have cropped up.
As far as I know, nothing happened, but it was still weird trying to go home past a police barrier.
Well, I'll be back later tonight with today's update.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #17 on May 21, 2003, 4:04pm »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0305.21 - Supplemental
As I said earlier, it's two posts today! Well, it's almost 10:00 pm as I write this, and it's been another busy day.
Cher's had the second of her exams at university today - I can't even begin to imagine the stress she's going through with it. I just wish I could be there with her.
Auto Assembly, our Transformers event, has done well today with quite a few bookings arriving in the post. One guy sent the form in without payment, and another just wanted booking information so they could book three places. At this rate, we're going to have a great event. Why not see the official website at:-
www.autoassembly.org.uk
Not much else is going on at the moment. TV is obsessed tonight with The Matrix - Channel 5 showing the movie, an animated short and a documentary, and not wanting to be outdone, the BBC are showing Johnny Mnemonic (sp?). Not seen that one, so I might spend a couple of hours infront of the TV tonight!
Anyway, that's me definitely finished for tonight... back tomorrow!
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #18 on May 23, 2003, 5:58am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0305.23
Not much to report on today. I spent part of yesterday updating a few of our websites, adding more content to the main Infinite Frontiers site, reworking a number of pages on my personal site, and adding some new content and features to our Transformers website, including launching our new downloads section on there.
One of the latest additions there is a great new jigsaw for the PC with some stunning artwork. The image below is just a thumbnail of the full size jigsaw:
Had some other news this week as well. We're just finalising a deal with another software company to bring another selection of free games to our website. The majority of them will be in our regular downloads section, but some will be exclusive for forum members.
Also, I'm working on experimenting with the forum at the moment, changing the colour schemes and adding background images. I'd love to know what you all think and if you have any suggestions. I'm hoping to add more Avatar images soon as well, and possibly changing all the icons too. As with everything on here, it's all a matter of time.
I'm having a short day at work today, as I'll be travelling down to Cardiff tonight to spend the weekend with Cher - I can't wait! As such, don't expect any posts from me until Monday night, and if anyone emails me, there might be a few days delay in me posting!
We'll probably end up watching Big Brother on TV tonight - as long as there isn't another Jade this year, we should be okay! It's going to be total addiction stuck in front of the TV again now for the next 10 weeks!
Oh, must make an extra mention here with hello's to Mark (DukeBlu01) - nice chatting to you on AOL last night. It's a little strange chatting to people online who I've only had contact with through the forum, but why not!
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #19 on May 26, 2003, 5:35am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0305.26
Well, I've started watching Big Brother this year and boy is it boring. The mix of people in the house seems to be fairly bland this time around, with loads of younger people, who seem to have been chosen as eye candy as much as anything else.
One again, there's no-one in the house who's disabled (not that the house design is disability friendly) and it hardly represents a balanced mix of the viewers.
I tried watching some of it last night, and they seem to be sitting around doing nothing, they seem to be fairly immature, and from what I can tell so far, they are all playing up to the cameras. Still, at least I can watch what I want for the next 10 weeks!
Been making more changes to the forum, fixing a few colour problems, adding an information box at the bottom of the forum, and generally tweaking things. I made a big mistake experimenting with some of the colours that made a lot of the links unreadable... unfortunately, there were some members online at the time, so it didn't help them much!
Been adding more stuff to the forum as well including a support area for all our staff, more links to other sites (including Cher's dedicated to Team 17 musician Bjorn Lynne), and probably adding a new section for fans of Bjorn's work later today.
It's a typical bank holiday as well - nothing worth watching on TV, loads of old repeats, and everywhere closed so there's not much to do. I might go out shopping later just to get out for a bit, but I haven't decided yet.
Well, that's it for now. Might be back later with more though...
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #20 on May 28, 2003, 4:33pm »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0305.28
Another fun-packed day (yeah, right!). Been fairly busy on and off at work, and came home to a load of post that needed to be dealt with. More bookings for Auto Assembly to start off, followed by sorting through a selection of goodies sent to us for review.
Been making some more tweaks to the forum over the last few days, in terms of the look to the forum. We've now got links to other forums at the bottom, as well as links to a few websites, plus there is some statistical info on the forum as well as hot links to a few notable threads. Well, I thought it might make the forum a little more user-friendly...!
Mark (DukeBlu01) has been helping out with our website the last few days, and has been helping us find errors that have needed fixing. He sent me the first batch last night, and I was ashamed to see the number of typos that had crept into one of them - no less than 19 mistakes in one interview!
Anyway, thanks Mark... I think! lol
Not much else for me to say for now, apart from extending a big welcome to everyone who has joined the forum recently.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #21 on May 31, 2003, 4:20pm »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0305.31
Has it really been three days since my last log entry? Where has the time gone? Well, it's been pretty hot the last few days so I haven't really felt like being online too much at home.
All I seem to have done is go to work, eat and sleep - usually when I least expect it! Most time I get on a bus I seem to pass out within a few minutes, although I'm pretty lucky as I wake up just before my stop!
Lately though, all I've felt like doing at home is drinking constantly, snacking (although I've tried to resist this), and lying down doing as little as possible. Then I usually end up falling asleep again, no matter what I am doing!
Work's been mixed - busy sometimes, fairly quiet at others, but it's a job and someone's got to do it!
I've been doing a little publicity for the forum again, swapping links with other sites - it might not generate much interest, but every new member helps!
I've been bored senseless watching the latest series of Big Brother on Channel 4. Maybe it's because everyone in the house seems so young, or that they're just not doing anything worth watching! They are all getting on too well at the moment. Maybe it will pick up when the sparks begin to fly...
Saying that, I felt like this about the last series early on, and by the end I was completely hooked!
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #22 on Jun 3, 2003, 8:58am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0306.03
Another couple of days away from the keyboard, so what's been happening lately?
Been doing some publicity today for our Evil Dead competition over on our website through the Games Press news service. Things seemed to go well with some early entries coming in, and then, as seems to happen with some of our press releases, about an hour before Games Press issues their daily news digest, our server went down!!
I'm still waiting for it to go back online, but as you can imagine, it doesn't help promote us when this happens!
I'm hoping to issue more press releases over the next few days covering lots of new issues and projects - as long as the server holds up - leading up to our site's first birthday next Monday.
Got a much more important date coming up before then though. On Sunday (8th June) it will be 18 months since me and Cher started going out together. It's been a fantastic time, and I can't imagine what my life would have been without her.
Okay, now you've all recovered from needing the sick bag, I'll leave you for now, and possibly come back for more later.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #23 on Jun 8, 2003, 11:17am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0306.08
It's been a few days since I posted here again, but I've been distracted and to be honest, it's hard to think of something to say every day!
It's a special day for me today as me and Cher have been together 18 months today. It's been a fantastic time, and I just can't believe how lucky I am to be with her.
I got my scanner out earlier today - it's been a long time since I last used it - and I've been making up for it, scanning everything in sight! I've scanned CD covers, book covers... pretty much anything you can think of. It's going to be useful in a few days to illustrate some articles on the site (and possibly add some illustrations here on the forum), so it was worth the effort.
However, despite having fun using the scanner again, I had to spend an hour or so digging it out from underneath the PS2, Gamecube, and Dreamcast on my computer desk!
I'm still getting swamped with parcels all the time for reviews, and I'm rapidly running out of space where to put everything. I think I'm going to have to start bringing in some fresh writers to help out with the website just to get all these reviews done!
Big Brother is starting to finally get interesting! Thanks to a few failed tasks, everyone in the house is facing a food shortage problem, and the tension is mounting. With Jon boring everyone in the house and Federico failing every task set for him, it could be fun! I'm definitely going to make sure that, when they are up for nomination, I'll vote to keep those two in, just to create a bit of extra tension in the house... well, it makes for better viewing.
Auto Assembly, our Transformers event - www.autoassembly.org.uk - is doing well. The pre-bookings are up by about 30% on the previous event, and we still have a couple of months to go! We've just heard that we're being featured in the July issue of Model and Collector's Mart, and we may even have some TV crews coming along!
Finally saw Star Trek: Nemesis this week after Sven lent me the DVD (I never had the chance to see it in the cinema - it was taken off pretty quickly), and I have to say I really enjoyed it. There were one or two moments I wasn't mad about, but overall I thought it was a really good film. It was pretty obvious where all of the cuts had been made (45 minutes had been taken out), but it's still a great movie. The DVD was really good too, with loads of extras! Thanks, Sven!
I'll keep it brief for today and end it here, but I'll try to get back into the habbit of posting every day again.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #24 on Jun 13, 2003, 6:17am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0306.13
Oh well, so much for my intention of posting to this log every day! It's been an eventful few days though, so I've got lots to report back on.
The downloads section on the website has been doing really well this week with a new developer coming on board in the shape of Scott Adams - legendary 8-bit adventure creator. I've been a fan of Scott's work since 1982 on the Vic 20 and I'm really proud to be able to bring his games online.
We've only got a couple online at the moment, but there will be a lot more coming over the next week or so as we've got a lot of files that are in the testing process..
Had some more goodies for a competition from Codemasters. We had a review copy of Colin McRae Rally 3 for the PC arrive this week, with a note offering us competition prizes. I wasn't going to pass that opportunity up and within about 10 minutes of opening the package, we'd managed to get something organised!
The weather's starting to get hot here, and it's pretty unbearable at work. We have a cooling system (not proper air conditioning though) and even with that running and all the windows open, it's far too hot and gets really uncomfortable. If this weather is anything to go by, it's going to be a really hot summer so I think I'll have to make sure I've got plenty of drinks on hand. Time to get ready for office fights over space in the fridge!
This time of year starts to cause havoc with my hay fever as well. I had loads of non-stop sneezing sessions last night, and it's pretty much the same today. I can handle the sneezing, but when my eyes start to get affected, it's pretty annoying - my eyes just get so bad that I can hardly see. I've got some drops for them, but boy do they sting!
There are a few other things that have happened as well, but it's not really something for discussion here, but it's left me and Cher feeling down for the last few days.
I might post an update here later, if not I'll be back with more on Sunday.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #25 on Jun 22, 2003, 7:40am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0306.22
I know I've not posted here for over a week, but it's been a week of experiences and fun...
Saturday 14th June
Today, I spent the day in Cardiff with Cher - another great day as always. The weather was really hot and we ended up drinking as much as we could all day long.
Probably one of the weirdest parts was when we were sitting outside a cafe having a drink. A goth came along and stood by a wall... I could have sworn it was Uncle Fester from the Addams Family!
A fantastic day, only spoiled by being all too short...
Sunday 15th June
Nothing physically happened today, but it was the first anniversary of when me and Cher physically met (although we'd been together for some time before) - I can still remember that day clearly, right from the first words I said to her when I saw her.
Monday 16th June
A frightening day. I woke up at about 1:00 am thinking that I had a runny nose. After a couple of minutes, I knew I needed a new hankie so I put the light on... and found myself and the bed covered in blood. I managed to get into the bathroom, and I ended up spending the next 30 minutes or so with a heavy stream of blood pouring out of my nose.
One of the problems I have is that I have a hereditary blood disorder and it affects the way my blood clots. As such, it didn't stop bleeding for ages and I felt pretty rough all day. Seems like my hayfever was to blame - I spend a lot of the weekend sneezing, scaring people everywhere I went!
Other Stuff
Still been keeping in touch with one of my gaming heroes, Scott Adams, all week and I've had the first draft of an interview I'm doing with him. I never thought this would ever happen and it's still feeling a little strange.
Anything else? Not that I can remember - it's far too hot at the moment to think clearly, and I'm drinking too much all the time. Can't wait for the heat to subside a bit.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #26 on Jul 5, 2003, 4:07pm »
Captain's Blog - Stardate: 0307.05
Well, it's been almost two weeks since my last post here. It's not that I haven't had anything to say, but I've just been doing so many things that it's slipped slightly... Anyway, here's a few thoughts from the last week...
Saturday, 28th June 2003
Spent the day with Cher - always a good thing - and despite having a few disagreements in the local branch of Rackhams over the lack of disabled access to their internet cafe, it was a fantastic day.
Got home eventually, to find that I had won £10 on the lottery... just the start of an eventful week...!
Sunday, 29th June 2003
Not a lot happened today. Was the first anniversary of Cher tasting my cooking... she's still going to be my wife, so I must have done something right!
One thing of note was watching Smallville on Channel 4. It was the episode with Christopher Reeve, and I have to say that it is one of the best television episodes I have ever seen of ANY series.
When Christopher appeared on screen, it brought tears to my eyes, and when the movie theme started playing in the background, I just lost it completely!
Cher really needed to calm me down after that one!
Monday, 30th June 2003
Not much happened today... well, that I can remember!
Tuesday, 1st July 2003
OH MY GOD!! Today was pretty unbelievable. We'd been invited to London for a press event where THQ were going to unveil the new WWE game for the PS2. We (Matt and me) arrived the night before and found out that WWE legend, Mick Foley was doing a book signing session.
We managed to get to meet Mick and get copies of his book signed, as well as copies for Cher and Matt's brother Phil. We were pretty much on a high meeting him... and he was a really cool guy as well!
Wednesday, 2nd July 2003
This was the big one! We went to the event and had a world's first look at the game - it was awesome. We managed to play it a bit, talked the developers, and we met WWE Superstar Test who we also interviewed and got autographs for competition prizes (as well as some for ourselves!). He was a great guy and nothing like his character on screen.
We had a few other pretty freaky experiences that day, but I'll leave all of that for the article on the website. Ended up getting back to Birmingham, England at about 8:00 pm, only to win another £10 on the lottery! And that's a good thing!
Thursday, 3rd July 2003
Back at work for a short respite, although I did leave early. Went round to see Sven, Claire (his wife) and kids in the evening. Normally, their youngest, Daniel, is a pretty shy kid (he's only just turned two - ahhhhhhh!). There are only a few people he's normally comfortable with, and whenever I go there, he runs into the kitchen and hides!
He was still pretty shy this time, but I got hold of a Winnie The Pooh ball of his, and managed to get his attention and we spent about 30 minutes playing. Almost brought a tear to my eye!
Friday, 4th July 2003
A big day for me... my 32nd birthday! Had some fantastic presents from Cher, Sven, and my brother, and generally felt good. The only thing that was a downer was that me and Cher couldn't spend the day together... but we were on the phone for most of it.
It was good to see my brother again. He moved out a couple of months ago, and it's seemed empty around the house without him. We went though a tense patch when he left, but things are pretty cool again now.
"Sometimes it makes you wonder if you're on the right planet..."
Joined: Jan 2003 Gender: Male Posts: 592 Location: Birmingham, UK
Re: Captain's Blog « Reply #27 on Oct 29, 2003, 7:07am »
Captain's Blog - Stardate 0310.29
Oh my god! Has it really been over three months since my last post here?! Oh well, I'd better fill you in on what's been going on!
July 2003
Most of July was taken up with preparations for our Transformers convention, Auto Assembly. Bookings kept coming in right until the night before and it was a massive task sorting the hotel out, producing the event magazine, talking to guests and dealers, and everything else.
It went fantastically on the day though (2nd August) and we had over 230 people attend from all over the UK. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and they all asked about 2004! We had to spend a week or two recovering, but it's an experience we'll never forget!
Can't think of anything else right now, but I'll update this post or thread later on today or during the week.
![[Home]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
![[avatar]](http://www.infinitefrontiers.0catch.com/ForumSupportImages/SimonAvatar.gif){kind=avatar}
![[aim]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/aim.gif)
![[homepage]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/www_sm.gif)
Logged
![[image]](http://infinitefrontiers.0catch.com/AutoAssembly/TransformersScenethumb.jpg)
