It's been a whole year since I started this little project. Originally this was going to just be a place I could drop in my travel photos and experiences for Joe & Joanne Public to find out about far flung places, but I became sidetracked (just about the time I split up with Lucy), and this blog was the product of those first few days. It's just like 'The Real World' without the early 90s haircuts.

I think back then I was probably a little more serious, a little more careful about linking and a little clueless about getting the CSS (design) to work on browsers other than Firefox and Internet Explorer.

It's now something that I am told a lot of people read (although sometimes the evidence is hard to find), so, as a special birthday treat, I would really, really appreciate it, whoever you are, that you leave a comment on this article just with your location and your age. It can remain nameless (just write anonymous or something like that in the name box), just there is only so much my website statistics can tell me. Think of it as a blog birthday present; and I don't care if your a first time reader or a die hard reader either - all contributions welcome - whether you have read this today or fifty years down the line...

With regard to the day-to-day running of life - things got a bit hectic yesterday, but I think I can see some blue sky ahead. I managed to shape up the majority of the Touchline Soccer website template, but was devastated to see just as I was about to sign off for the evening that the code was half missing, and I swore out loud. I finally found a backup, but it nearly finished me off.

Olivia has made good progress with the bag for the major project which cheered me up. Devito went and go his second tattoo done in as many weeks, the little Wanyard nutter. Looks good though. Sean came back up yesterday too and reports are coming in that Swan hasn't done anything in two weeks. Makes a change [smell the sarcasm].

The last working day of the week means I'm on full kilter... here goes...

Today I was on a mission. I knew that I had to be at a certain point by the time I went to bed, and happily, I am (although it doesn't make for exciting storytelling).

The only deviation from work today has been for cooking and to watch the Apprentice. Leon has moved in, Mike and Joe visited, but I didn't even have much time to pay attention to that.

Olivia text me to tell me that the back part of the bag is now finished, so I'm going try and get out the house tomorrow to assess the progress. It's not good to stay in front of a screen as long as I have today.

Hooray for bed.

So I'm sitting here, happily munching away at Mini Cheddars covered in gherkin relish, which means only one thing; I'm back in Loughborough. The only place in the world where this is passable at lunch. I tried to do a jacket potato with tuna, but as I am lacking a potato, this became difficult. I then tried to do soup, but couldn't find the tin opener. So out came the mini cheddars and the gherkin. Jublee.

Anyway, this weekend has been Good. It was full of exciting things; things that made a change from workshops and stress levels. On Saturday morning I hitched a lift with Nick, Scott and their mate Liam into the Bullring, Birmingham via some fairly major motorway blockage, and arrived around 11am after which I split from my ride (they were doing some Diet Coke promotion) and spent the next couple of hours wondering around the city centre until I met up with Mother for lunch at a place called Madisons. Good pasta. It was also a good time to explain that I had discovered that morning (during a conversation with Nick) that I might be lactose intolerant. Eh? I here you say. WTF is lactose intolerance? Well apparently it's when you can't drink milk without feeling bad or drinking red wine without falling asleep. Unfortunately I encounter both these, and think I might be allergic to some dairy stuff. If this is the case I'm gutted. I'm the sort of person who really would kill for a cheese and pickle sandwich. I hope it's just a phase I'm going through - I wouldn't like to be thought as intolerant to anything - let alone cheese.

Anyway, I digress. The next point on my agenda was to meet up with the Multipack. This was my first encounter with the Midlands based web-discussion group, and I came away very pleased I'd managed to attend. Lots of like minded people talking about stuff that goes over the head of my housemates. Oh yeh, and a couple of pints and some pizza. I would have finally been able to tell you what the Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory was like inside if it hadn't been (rather unexpectedly) shut (this time I didn't even get inside). We ended up in the cafe opposite mopping up a cloud of CSS, server side scripting and accessibility debate.

I will be a definite returner.

That evening I caught the train home and spent the next day enjoying the luxury of a proper day off. I even managed to tackle some of that huge pile of 1000+ photos from the States that need mounting up properly. I got as far as the end of Yosemite before my hands grew numb. Roast dinner, TV, to bed.

Monday was spent with Jon. Being that I had decided to change my plans on returning to the 'Boro (brought forward a day or two) this was the only day free and so he picked my up at twelvish and we headed over to the industrial estate to go and have a look at what's going on in his workshops. This meant I got to see a few new tanks, the new horsebox he's making and the pleasure of the best bacon and egg sandwiches in the Midlands (the best greasy spoon I know).

After we took a trip back to his and spent a good hour or so whizzing about the hills on a greenkeeper's buggy. Brilliant stuff. I love fast but pointless vehicles. Eventually we got thirsty and met up with one of Jon's mates (Dan) at West One in Hagley. Another first visit, I was surprised to hear the name 'Higgs' shouted out from behind the bar. It's been probably five years since I saw Tom Ford and so spent a few minutes finding out what he'd been upto before heading back outside into the cold and finishing a couple of beers.

This morning The Father drove me back to get on with dissertation. On a further positive, my emails to the Britpack have yielded well and although Andy Budd was too busy right now, Malarkey, Ian Lloyd and Gez Lemon have all said they are happy to help. I am well chuffed. That brings the total up to four. this is going to be the mother of all web dissertations.

I'm at home, that's where I am, and I'll post a new entry tomorrow with the full details of what happened this weekend. As I can't get photos online from here I thought I'd wait a couple of days.

In two.

One of the problems with Rapid Prototypes is that they come in a case of wax which has to be melted off in order to reveal the product, not unlike waiting for Otzi to defrost from the glacier. The only upside of this (like with the majority of processes on my course) is a really good smell. Usually they are a bit more potent (P38 and Metal In A Tube) but in this case it smells of marzipan and if you had walked into the kitchen of number 67 this afternoon you might have thought it was the week leading up to Christmas.

My initial attempts to melt the wax off were cut short when the department turned off the power two days ago and so I had to take my sticky, half-molten product back home where, ever the professional, I tried to boil off the excess in a wok. It worked to some extent but left giant sheets of wax all over the wok, the cooker, the sink and me. Oh yeh, and it left that smell too.

Today I tried a new approach. I needed a new method where I could contain the water and let it run away naturally. Phase two; the shower. I found myself, my shampoo and three rapid prototypes all getting wet, but not losing the desired wax. Approach number three was required and that is how I spent my afternoon; baking my RPs into the grill tray in the oven.

In between all this I was phoning up NTL to complain about the phone bill. Once again we have received a ridiculously large additional 'bonus' to the substantial amount we already pay, and upon enquiring, I discovered that NTL had put us on a package we never asked for. Very annoyed but unable to prove anything we just readjusted a few things, including ordering the itemised phone bill, but I'm still not satisfied. I think Jono is going to give it a go tomorrow.

I ploughed on with dissertation today. I have had a number more responses from the questionnaire (I still need more!) but I was really chuffed to find that my plea for help to several well known faces in all-things-web was answered by one of my favourite well known bloggers and Britpack member on my blogroll. I am hoping for some responses from others too, but I can't wait too long as I need to start putting something concrete together on paper.

Tomorrow I am off to Brum. Nick is doing some promo work at the Bullring for Diet Coke or something and he's said he can give me a lift over. Good stuff. It will mean I have a few hours to kill before the Multipack Meeting later in the afternoon, but I can manage that. I think. More complexing however, is my need to either get my computer home or to get back to uni. I have arranged to meet with Jon this week sometime, but it just doesn't look practical right now as all my useful stuff is up here. That said I could always bundle things together on my USB drive and do it that way, but working at home just isn't that inspiring, although I would have the benefit of the company of the cat. It's at times like these that I wish I had my Macbook Pro already - yep, that's right - I think that's where I'm headed. I've been pining for a Mac for years, and if they launch a 12" version I could see it as the next critical purchase.