Two for the price of one!

I love the Intertron.

I was in a discussion about form vs function for websites, and it reminded of the spinning/flaming logo IBM ad from, oh, æons ago.

Anyway, here it is.

Huhhhhh

So, there's a good reason why posts have not been forthcoming.
When last I wrote, I was stuck in the T5. Not so much any more.

That day, actually, was a harbinger. Of DOOM!

So, the 7.05 flight, or whatever, was full. This is because I'd failed to check in online, and it was oversold.
Naturally, the 8.40 was also oversold, and so there was no room there either.
I got the 11.45, which was delayed by 1 earth hour, due to some screen being broken.

I arrived in zeDam at 3, and was in the office by 3.45, with 15 whole minutes to prepare my presentation.

Woohoo!

So, the presentation went fine, as far as I'm aware. People seemed happy, and Reinoud from Hyves did an awesome job.

When I was done, I called a friend to see if they wanted a drink, and we met up - hurrah! I needed to hit the ATM before we went out, so we went there.
I am a fool, and after obtaining my cash, stepped backwards without looking. The side of my foot went over the kerb, it collapsed, and all my weight went on my ankle.
Ouch.
The dutch are very kind, in my experience, and a lovely lady on a bike sat with me until my friend had scored some ice. Then we went drinking, while I put more and more ice down my sock.

After a few beers, I went back to the hotel, and got some more ice. I wrapped ice in a towel, wrapped that around my ankle, wrapped myself in a duvet and passed out.

I woke a few times through the night, when my foot moved around.
In the morning, I couldn't move at all. No weight on it, and I could barely move my leg. Called the Doctor, who referred me to hospital, where I had a delicious xray.
Nothing broken, which leaves me with mixed emotions.
Nothing broken, so all the pain I'm feeling makes me a total pussy. However, there's also nothing broken, which is awesome.

I did rip a ligament, or tendon, or something, though. It wasn't entirely clear.

Anyway, home I went, to take some insanely strong painkillers, anti inflammatories and general sleep aids, so I was a drooling wreck for the best part of 5 days.

I say 'went home' like it was a no big deal.
I had already missed my plane back home, and the hospital didn't want to give me crutches. They said I needed to walk on it.
I was happy to walk on it, but literally couldn't, and just wanted some crutches to get home, so I could, you know, not be in a hotel with no clean clothes and a foot the size of a planet.
Anyway, after much to-ing and fro-ing, they sold me some crutches and I got to lug myself, and my 5kg laptop around Amsterdam and Schipol, trying to get home.

Moving on, the reason I took the mind-altering drugs instead of just resting was because I needed to be in Dublin yesterday for a keynote, which would involve walking and so forth.

It's actually feeling a lot better now - I can put weight on it, and move it up and down (but left and right or rotation still feels like razorblades under my skin).

So, while I was drooling, I was mostly asleep, but by Saturday, things were feeling a little better - I could get upstairs without crutches, which is awesome.
So I set up the Xbox, and had a poke at Ninja Gaiden 2, Alone in the Dark, Penny Arcade and, uh, oh, yeah, GTA4.

I probably should have done some work, to make up for being so unproductive the last few days, but, well, what the hell. I've done enough weekends and stuff to justify this.

I'll write up my feelings on them over the next couple of days (I fly back from Dublin tonight), but, very quickly:
NG2 - great if you liked DMC4, but a very different approach.
GTA4 - Couldn't play for more than 20 minutes. Didn't grab me at all (although in the intro is frickin' awesome).
Penny Arcade - most I've laughed at a game in a long time. Not the best game in the world (frankly, the engine sucks), but a great package (if you like PA. If you don't know it, check penny-arcade.com).
Alone in the Dark - Meh. Nice design. Cool fire. Interesting approach to puzzles. Something missing.

Calm before the storm

I have a monster headache today. Taken some ibuprofen, though, so I'm sure it'll pass.
I put it down to the fact that the TV last night was stellar, and I got in around 11, fired up Sky+, and then didn't move for 4 hours.
So, no liquids. Hence headache today.
So, yeah, 2 episodes of My Name is Earl, 2 of Heroes, new Scrubs, Cheerleader Nation (the final!), and a re-run of the InBetweeners.
A veritable treasure trove.

A wedding this weekend, in, erm, Wimbledon, or Greenwich, or something. I should probably find out, actually.

Sunday, if there's wind, I'll be out on the kite. Otherwise, I guess I'll get some work done. Or play the DS, or something.

3107/82/231/434/--

Wednesday morning

What have I been up to?
Played some more TWEWY last night, after leaving work pretty late.
Sky+ had nothing for me - Reaper finished, as previously mentioned, and anyway, that's Wednesday's TV. I'm trying to remember what was on tuesdays. Maybe Big Bang Theory or the Inbetweeners, or something. I have no idea.

Anyway, yeah, reading about Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (DS, geddit?), seems like DS is "better" but shorter. Hopefully, since I *loved* DMC4, NGII will go down well.

The house was painted recently. When this happened, I packed up all the consoles so that things could be painted. Since then, I've been travelling pretty aggressively since work. The consoles (Xbox 360, Wii) are still packed up, and I've now got 4 games still unwrapped that I'm gagging to play.
GTAIV, Lego Indiana Jones, Ninja Gaiden II, Super Paper Mario.
I think there are more coming.
Erk.
Actually, talking of GTA IV, did you see the Google Maps thing they did?

Oh, and we launched some new Street View stuff. Seems like it's a load of new imagery. I am preparing for the inevitable blogs covering more topless and embarrassing pictures.

Now, some of the links on those pages don't work so well any more - we've got newer imagery, you see!

Wait. What? You don't know what Street View is? Well, take a look!

Still, at least the cleaner comes today. Oh, and I need to ring a man to fix my washing machine. Right, best get on that.


Currently: 2012/70/147/355/--

Day 2

In the big brother house.
Well, actually, on that note, Big Brother UK starts today. I only know because Channel 4 were pimping it in every commercial break last night, including during the series finale of Reaper, which is awesome. If you're not already watching it, well, partly it's too late, because it just finished, but, well, you can catch up. Well, sort of.
Or you can try something else.

So, yeah, anyway, what else?
It looks like we launched some updated stuff for Google Earth. Go fire it up, and search for Disney World. Don't forget to turn on 3d buildings in the bottom left panel.
If you don't have Google Earth, take a look at this
We just launched a browser plugin, which kicks butt.

It took me just under 10 minutes to knock that demo page together (mostly cutting and pasting from examples)- I love how easy our tools are to learn.
Go and have a play, and let me know what you develop.