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7 Things

January 5th, 2009 | 3 Comments | Tags: ,

Eep, Lorna just tagged me. I’ve not done this before but apparently this means I have to say 7 random or weird things about myself so here we go:

  • I once worked a whole summer in a battery chicken farm in Shropshire, my job was to pass very ill chickens, by their legs, upside down, 5 in each hand, down a human chain to a van, to be taken to be slaughtered. I haven’t eaten chicken since (and Hugh’s Chicken Run was nothing compared to what actually goes on).
  • Most people in my family are giants in comparison to my mere 5ft 6 existance, apart from my nan who is 5ft 3. Some of my friends call my Dad the BFG (although he doesn’t know this, I don’t think, but I’m sure he won’t mind because it stands for “Big Friendly Giant”) and my Dad calls me shorty (as does Rob now).
  • I like cheese, lots. My favorite snack is called “cheese on a plate” which is sliced Cheshire or Wensleydale arranged on a plate and microwaved for 2 minutes, served with tomato ketchup and 2 slices of white bread.
  • We, like Lorna & her chap, live in a 100+ year old house over 4 floors with 4 bedrooms. We’ve lived there for 8+ years now and in that time the house has been re-wired, new heating installed, new kitchen, new bathroom, new plaster, new flooring, complete redecoration. Now it’s roughly about time to start again or move, which we tried last year but failed 2 days before the move (having sold the sofas and packed everything up).
  • I went to a Catholic all girls school (also like Lorna, damnit). I am now naturally quite weary of girls & Catholicism but wondering if I like techie stuff more because of the girls only bit. Most techie girls I have met went to a girls school (really).
  • I’m from a family of hauliers, and when Rob and I got married last year, I got driven to the venue by my Dad in a Bassett’s truck.
  • I’m from a town called Stone in Staffordshire and now live in a town called Otley in West Yorkshire. I noticed recently that the town I live in now is pretty much demographically the same as the one I moved from but 100 miles north.

So alls that is left for me to do now is to annoytag a few people. I pick: Nige, Josie, Richard, Jag, Heva, Paul & Ross

So the rules are:

  • Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
  • Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some wierd.
  • Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
  • Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

Cardboard Christmas tree project

January 2nd, 2009 | 5 Comments | Tags: , ,

Probably a bit late for this now, but I thought my cardboard Christmas tree project was worth a quick post as it’s been mentioned on a couple of friends sites now (cheers Recycle This & The Daily Chump) so I thought it deserved a home.

Tree with modified decorationsHere’s some background: a couple of weeks ago, I decided it would be quite cool to make a cardboard Christmas tree out of a very large cardboard box we had left over after buying a new mattress for our bed. The idea appealed for a few reasons:

  • we had a big box and it seemed a waste to take it to the tip
  • going out to fetch a real tree also seemed wasteful: a waste of petrol, time and also not forgetting it being a total waste of tree
  • I couldn’t face hoovering up pine needles daily
  • Richard Garside & I have a related ongoing project called “Cardboard Laptop Stand” (watch this space) so making cardboard versions of things tends to seep into my mind quite readily

It took about 3 hours to make the tree, and I felt super victorious after it’s construction was complete.
Stuff you need to make your own:

  • Cutting techniquesa very large cardboard box
  • a very sharp Stanley / craft knife and cutting board
  • a metal edged ruler
  • a diagram of the shape of your tree
  • a pen
  • lots of floor space
  • hair grips to secure your decorations, although they mostly stay on on their own

As I was making the tree, I took photos of each step and uploaded them to Flickr, with annotations - essentially forming step-by-step instructions on how to build your very own Cardboard Christmas Tree

GeekUp Leeds Xmas - Tomorrow 17th Dec, 6pm

December 16th, 2008 | No Comments | Tags: , ,

This month is mostly about beer but we’re also going to have a “Makes” show and tell i.e. bring along something you’ve made to chat about - techy or non-techy, food or non-foody :)

Some examples: A website you’ve built, a woolly hat you’ve knitted, an iPhone app you’ve made, chillis you’ve grown, an Arduino powered greenhouse watering system you’ve built, a cake you’ve baked, a ruby gem you’ve written, photograph’s you’ve taken…

Do tell us if you’re coming

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GeekUp Leeds - Quiz Night - Wed 19th Nov, 6pm

November 17th, 2008 | No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Your friendly host for the evening will be Mr Tim Waters (aka Chippy) who will be facilitating a Geeky Quiz (QuizUp?)! There will be 3 rounds with 30 questions in total:

Round 1. General geekness
Round 2. Techy questions
Round 3. Internet memes

There’s been rumor of 20:20 presentations from The Hodge on “Search Like A Superstar” and Helen Harrop on “Creativity and Computing” if she can make it…

Which still means we’re looking for volunteers for presentations as they are not confirmed! :) Please get in touch if you’re interested in talking!

Rob and I unfortunately can’t make it as we’ve both committed to help out at the 20 x 20 Science Cafe at the Otley Science Festival where Rob will be predicting the Future of the Internet!!!!!

Big thanks to Tim for taking on GeekUp this month, I’m gutted to be missing the quiz!

Do tell us if you’re coming

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GeekUp Leeds - Wed 15th October, 6pm

October 13th, 2008 | No Comments | Tags: , , , ,

It’s that GeekUp time again so wander down to the Lounge on Wednesday night for your monthly dose of geeky beery fun. This month we have two 20:20 presentations lined up:

  • Rahoul Baruah (aka Baz) on “Telling Stories with RSpec”
  • Jonathan Powell (aka Squiggle) on “No Nonsense Development”

Do tell us if you’re coming

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