My not so latest thoughts

What on earth possesses people to spend large amounts of money on small explosive devices, then stand in their back gardens in the pouring rain setting them off? It's reminiscent of the Gulf War around my neighbourhood tonight, with loud bangs and whistles every few seconds, despite the beginnings of a small storm. Still, I suppose it keeps the cats at bay.

I've spent a whole week in my new job, and have already managed to obtain a phone (well, I have to share it, but it's a start), and a chair. Who knows what I'll acheive by this time next week? Oh, and I now know how to shutdown and boot Solaris boxes.

I'll be starting a new job at the end of October, although it'll still be within British Airways. It's a bit more techie than my current job, and will be more of a challenge, which is what I need now.

Just got back from Cape Town, South Africa, where we spent a week on holiday. Details & pics are now posted on the Travelogue page!

Someone has spoofed my email address, and sent hundreds / thousands of emails out advertising some moronic get rich quick scheme that you'd have to be a cretin to be part of. Hmmph.

I now have a WAP homepage, for those individuals who have WAP-enabled phones. It's at http://www.holten.demon.co.uk/index.wml if you're interested. There's not a huge amount of content there yet, I'm just experimenting with wml.

The restoration of Yukari's old bike is nearing completion! Watch this space.

I have become a long-haired person. Today I did lots of DIY around the house, and then tinkered with an old motorbike which I keep in the garage for the purpose of tinkering. I am wearing ripped jeans and I don't care. The highlight of my day was buying a drawer unit for the garage, then sorting out my screws, bolts etc. into the various little drawers.

These are just some of the reasons why I can never become King of England.

Oh yeah, check out my latest Drag Racing pages, 'cos it took me ages to create them, and I think they're cool.

Just got back from Malaysia, where we spent a week with friends. For a couple of days, we were on the uninhabited (except for the hotel) island of Lang Tengah, where I got variously sunburnt, bitten by mosquitoes, and eaten by something that might have been a shark, which thought a mole on my side was supper. It probably wasn't a shark, really, but we did see some blacktip sharks, and I did get my mole almost bitten off whilst swimming (stop laughing).

I'm such a helpful guy. I love getting emails from people who visit my site, and try to help out with peoples' (sometimes weird) requests where I can. Over the last few weeks, I have:

• Sent some digital photos of a former Teddington resident's old house to him in to the USA
• Provided the colour code off my bike to someone with the same model, so he could order a new fairing for it while he was away from home
• Sent details of Teddington B&Bs to someone who plans to visit from France

Just went over to the States last weekend, to catch some NHRA dragracing in Virginia. I had a great time, and even enjoyed the 300 mile plus round trip I had to do from Washington DC to just south of Richmond VA to get there. I'll scan some of the photos if they turn out OK, and post them here.

Update 3rd June: Here they are!

I keep having this recurring dream, where it's my first day back at university, and I'm moving into a new room in halls of residence. Sometimes I've got an impending exam as well, which I haven't done any work for, so I'm really panicking. What does this mean? Any psychiatrists out there reading this?

I finally got some mugs, er, punters, er, tenants to live in my flat in Teddington, so I'm going to sit here on a large pile of filthy lucre and count gold coins for at least the next 6 months (I wish). Maybe I could retire and buy a '57 Thunderbird and drive round London laughing at people while I'm at it...

Just come back from a long weekend in Dubai, so I'm a slightly darker colour than before. It was Valentine's Day yesterday. So where are all my cards, then? Has there been a postal strike since I went away?

Just waiting for my pizza delivery to arrive (and I am ashamed to say I ordered it over the net, even though the shop is 5 minutes walk away), so I thought I'd update my adoring public with the latest Holtenews.

Christmas and New Year saw me having severe central heating problems, in that the flippin' boiler packed up, and would only work if you hit it three times in the right spot, recited an ancient Malayan mantra, and danced a tarantella to rid it of demons. But, after much expense (and not a little coldness), we are finally back in the world of warmth.

To add to my New Year misery, my motorbike refused to start, having got the hump because I didn't start it for a few weeks in deepest midwinter. I sought advice from a neighbour who campaigns a dragbike, recharged the battery, got new sparkplugs, and I'm back on two wheels again. Just in time, as my car's MOT has expired.

What else? I'm growing my hair long again (well, it's too cold to get it cut), I went on a Java course last week, I got the Pulp Fiction DVD last weekend (and have been watching my favourite bits ever since), and the pizza hasn't arrived yet, dammit. Oh yes, and my website is now complete once more with the re-enabling of my CV.

Here we are on the eve of a new millennium (yes, I know it's not really the new millennium until next year), and I write this from inside the Millennium Dome (yes, I know it's not actually a dome, but a partial hemisphere). I would have been writing this from the top of the Millennium Wheel, but it seems that one of the capsules is deemed unsafe, and you wouldn't get me up in that bloomin' thing anyway.

I am currently surrounded by celebrities and dignitaries, so I would like to hand the keyboard over to one of them to give you their very own special message on this momentous occasion. So, the following message is being typed by Mr Bert Scroggins of Purley:

Happy milennyum to all you sad computer peopel out there. bog off.

Thankyou Bert, I couldn't have put it better myself. Now it's almost time for me to go to work, because I am one of those dedicated computer peopel who will gallantly be fighting the infamous Y2K bug from their workstations while the rest of the world parties, unaware of the efforts of those unsung heroes who unflinchingly

Does anyone want to rent a flat in Teddington? Lovely location, dead cheap, guv.

Had to travel into central London using the train & tube a few times recently, to go on some courses. I really cannot understand how anyone can do that every single working day. I guess I'm lucky in that my journey to work only takes a maximum of 20 minutes (by car, shame on me), and I hardly ever encounter traffic jams on the route I take. This must be why I'm such a laid-back un-stressed out kinda guy.

I know I haven't updated this in a while, but I've been busy moving house! I now no longer live in quiet but dull Teddington, rather in Lower Feltham, near the 'Young Offenders Institute'. Teddington can at last be revealed to be just a street with 57 hairdressing salons, 94 Italian restaurants, and a cheese shop. Anyway, we spent last weekend moving, and I returned to work on Tuesday expecting a nice rest from packing and unpacking, only to discover that my department was due to move to a new office this weekend! I will let you know how that goes in due course. The pic is of the 'office' in my new house, BTW. Do you like the 'Winnie the Pooh' wallpaper?

Last night we went to see BBC2 comedy news quiz 'Have I Got News For You' being recorded. Readers in the UK will know this as one of the funniest TV programmes around, and I'm always happy to be able to get hold of tickets for this. A nice break from all the other stressful things happening.

Wow, another free trip.. this time to Washington DC, to see the new British Airways Webservers (big black boxes), and meet some more nice Cable & Wireless people. Oh, and I managed to do some sightseeing in D.C. this time.

Work, work, work. Had a business trip out to Boulder, Colorado a couple of weeks ago, to see some of those nice IBM people. Hopefully the BA website will soon reap the benefits of all this hard work...

Just got back from a round-the-world trip... Los Angeles, Cook Islands, Fiji, Osaka, & Tokyo. The accommodation was mostly booked by e-mail, incidentally, and this seems a much easier way of sorting stuff out. Anyway, we had a brilliant time, especially in the Cook Islands, but now sadly have to return to work to pay for it all. I know I have your complete sympathy in this matter, dear reader.

The photo is of the Cook Islands god Tangaroa, who is presently sitting on top of my PC. Yes, he is a big boy.

Busy busy busy. I'm working on British Airways' new Ecommerce system, which should be jolly good. I had a business trip out to see Cable & Wireless, BA's web hosts, in the U.S. a few weeks ago. I've won another Lonely Planet guidebook (USA this time). I bought a computer game (this is unusual for me) - EA Sports' Superbike World Championship.

I'm not well. Spent the last two days in bed feeling like death. Bored.

Went to Dubai the other week, but haven't updated the travelogue yet.

Still spending too much time on the new computer, natch...

I've won more stuff via the 'net! Firstly, a Lonely Planet guidebook and phrasebook for Westen Europe (yes, Westen Europe - look at the photo more closely), and secondly a Mother's Day flower arrangement (Mother's Day is on March 14th here in the UK). The results for the latter comp are here at the time of writing.

Latest thing on the website: My voice in RealAudio. Luvvly. Also a new pic on the pics page.

Finally, I have a new PC, which is a sight faster than my old 486-DX2. I've spent the last few days copying files across from the aforementioned 486, installing new software, getting rid of some of the more annoying bits of Windows 98, and enjoying fast access to the 'net with the new 56Kbs modem.

Yesterday I bought the "Bullitt" DVD movie, and have been watching that car chase ever since!

I think it's all over now, I'll come out of hibernation.

I've converted my site to use frames! Isn't that exciting? I bought a footpump yesterday. Today I bought a shirt and something that protects my bike's tank from scratches. Who know what tomorrow will bring? Maybe I'll buy a shirtpump, or something that protects my foot from tanks.

I won a book from the Bravo TV website the other week. I like this internet thing, you can still get free stuff if you know where to look...

Oh flippin' 'eck, Christmas is nearly here.

Well, Xmas is coming and I'm dreading doing the Xmas shopping. Maybe I'll just make all my Xmas presents, like I say I'll do most years, but don't.

We went to the Bike show at NEC Birmingham the other week. I didn't buy any more bikes, but I did buy a lovely black balaclava. On the way home, I held up the Oxford branch of the Alliance and Leicester. Heigh ho.

I'm very very very very very very busy at work. And it gets dark too soon every evening. And it's cold outside. Whimper.

I have a hangover.

As promised, a few tweaks to my photos pages have been made... a couple of new ones on the Photos of Japan page, for instance.

Well, I must be getting luckier with age, as I've won another competition. This time it was a caption competition by an Australian company, Red Square. Unfortunately, I had to donate my prize to a work colleague's brother, as the recipient had to be an Australian resident. If you are the patient type, you can check it out here (they must be on the slowest server I've ever witnessed).

I finally got some more photos scanned (thanks, Karl), and the outcome is a history of my motorbiking career. It's probably extremely dull if you're not into bikes, but if you are, try it. More updates to my photos pages will follow in due course.

What else? I sprained my back for the second time a couple of weeks ago, my Japanese class has started again (year 2 this time), and the nights are drawing in.

We just got back from Montréal. It was nice. I recommend the vegetarian restaurant 'Le Commensal', which is a self-service place with loads of tasty choices. And there's no delay while the waiter decides to take your order, or the chef cooks it, as it's all there waiting to be scooped onto your plate... what a brilliant way to eat.

Ahem...

...Enough said. I am the Private Eye crossword king (for 2 weeks, anyway).

Well, the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived. Today I went to pick up my new bike - a Honda CBR600F-W. I haven't had much chance to really ride it yet, but it's the weekend, the sun is out, the tank is full of unleaded, and... what am I doing here typing on a keyboard?

I took a couple of pics with the digital camera this morning, but watch out for more, better ones later on. Should I give the bike its own web page? Maybe when I get time.

Keep it shiny side up, guys.

That can't be right... it's the twenty-somethingth of July???? What happened to June? Oh well. I'm really tired right now, partly due to a cold I've got, partly due to not sleeping enough. Yukari's doing nightshifts at the moment, and I have these good intentions of doing lots of useful stuff when she goes to work, and going to bed early to catch up on sleep, but I usually end up slumped in front of the TV or computer 'til late.

I need a holiday - I haven't been anywhere for ages. I tried to take some days off next week, but the other two guys in my team at work already took time off, so I'm too late. Rats.

Work - a nice touch recently, when I was given three bottles of wine by my manager, for helping to solve some problems. Maybe I deserve them, maybe I don't, but I shall quaff them anyway.