Welcome to my Web space!

This space will be updated every so often. Various musings, and notable things that have gone one in my life. Some kayaking, a bit of mountain biking, a few astronomical items, maybe some car stuff. There may be the odd rant or two!

Happy 21st Birthday to Quake

Quake turned 21 years old today. This brought me back to playing the game in the evenings in UL, after coming home from co-op. It was certainly a lot of fun playing against people on the east coast of the US as an LPB.. I have actually played this game through to completion a few times, and I have purchased it at least twice. And, because some of my classmates in college were all players on the international tournament scene, there were more than a few stories from this game! Plus, I ended up getting an early user ID on …

Systemd stupidity – or why Poettering is an idiot

Yes I work as a Unix admin, and I’m getting so sick of “systemd”, that complete ball of crap that Poettering has foisted upon the Linux community. His poor quality of work has singlehandedly caused the most problems I’ve had to face in my day-to-day work in the past year, through his shoddy code, his abysmal system design and his complete lack of knowledge on how to do things the Linux way. Things that systemd breaks, in no particular order, and I’ll update this as I see them: The use of binary log files breaks the simplicity of administration with …

Alps trip, quick notes

Alps 2017. An interesting 3 weeks, 2 of which were “interesting” in the Chinese Curse meaning of the word.. Photos to be added at another point. Personal goals and observations from my time away. Climbed Col d’Izoard on the road bike, from Briancon. 2 days after the Col opened for the summer. Highlight of my trip. About 3hr to climb to the top. Many stops, but achieved the goal. Longest distance I’ve personally driven in any 24hr to date: 1144km from leaving Alberto’s campsite 08.30 Sunday to Cote de Nacre shopping centre in Caen on the Monday morning. Longest distance …

It’s a First

The award I’ve earned for my postgraduate studies has been released. I’m the proud holder of a First Class Honours, Graduate Diploma (Electronic and Computer Engineering) in Information and Network Security, awarded 2017. Finally! :)

Postgraduate studies completed and sorted out, finally!

I’ve gotten confirmation today, that I am to be awarded First Graduate Diploma in Information and Network Security. This will be awarded at the University of Limerick Winter Conferring, in January 2017. That’s a win for me, and the First level it is to be awarded at reflects well under the circumstances of the studies. At the time, I was working a full 40 hour week evenings and weekends, as well as full-time college work Monday to Friday. Working a 9-day week was not easy. So, I’ll have a decent piece of paper to show for the work done and …

M.T.Cranium’s Winter Outlook 2016-2017

From his boards post in the weather forum here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=101273387&postcount=4231 “Winter 2016-17 Outlook: I am expecting a rather different outcome from last winter, and something a little similar to 2010-2011 which started out very cold and snowy, then turned much milder. This winter, I am predicting rather cold weather to start, from late November through much of December, and the opportunity for some significant snowfalls. It probably won’t be as intense as the cold or snow of late 2010, let’s say on the order of two degrees below average and 5-15 cm snowfalls possible in the period (recall that Dec 2010 …

First hike with OPC

Last Sunday was a great little amble along part of the Kerry Way with the UL Outdoor Pursuits Club. I had signed up for another year of membership at the recruitment drive, and got told that the first event for the club this academic year was to be a hike along a 12km portion of the Kerry Way from Glencar to the town of Glenbeigh. The bus collected us all at the Stables at about 9am on the Sunday morning. Travelling down, chatting with old friends and making new ones on the bus, stopping to get the lunch we’d eat …

New car for me!!

It became time to upgrade my car from the A4 estate I’ve been driving for the past 10 years, to something a bit more suitable for my needs. I travelled to Swords in Dublin last weekend to pick myself up a very nice and shiny beast of a bus! 2007 Mugello Blue Pearl Audi Q7S-line Quattro. 3.0 V6 Tdi engine, 230BHP (so far! Maybe a 300bhp update to come soon) 20″ 5-Spoke S-Line alloy wheels Adjustable air suspension 6-speed Tiptronic automatic, with paddle-shifters on steering wheel Black leather/alcantara S-Line heated electric sports seats Panoramic roof Bi-Xenon auto headlights Auto wipers …

Citroen Jumpy Multispace, a little review..

On the recent kayak club Alps training and development trip, we rented a 9-seater Citroen Jumpy Multispace. I drove this tank of vehicle for some 3200 km across France, Italy and Slovenia. My impressions overall? I’d cry every day if this was my main mode of transport. It is really not a good vehicle. Things that were not good with it: The gearstick was extremely loose and felt more worn than the gearsticks in my previous Landrover 109, and this made selection of gears a best-guess at best all of the time. The window switches are in a really awkward …

Way to go Tesco Mobile – cut off your paying customers..

See here: http://www.boards.ie/ttfthread/2057590673 Pretty much if you’re on Tesco Mobile as a PAYG customer, they can and will randomly cut customers off until they provide a scan of a PASSPORT. Absolutely dismal policy. They didn’t require that level of documentation to set up the account and start taking the cash. To see then that they’ll actually completely stop service without any warning? Preposterous!