OK, the first thing you will notice is that apparently, I haven't blogged in a week. Wrong. I have blogged this week. On Saturday. I even got comments; but apparently my host can't be keeping backups as often as they say they do, and when some little haxor freak kicked over mine and Tongy's sites this week they couldn't cope. Camel, straw, back. Dave, if your reading this I might be coming a knocking sooner than I had anticipated.

For anyone; I am trying to retrieve Saturday's post. If you know a way of getting it back, or have some offline/cached/feed version, please let me know. This is the second time in a year this has happened, and I'm getting a bit fed up. I've managed it. It caused a headache, but I've done it

I've also had a miserable time of spraying up my major project. For that reason I won't talk about it; however I will tell you that for the past three days I've been back home in The 'Bridge driving around in Austin Healeys, Mk II Jags and watched my mate sort out the aftermath of a break-in which claimed his sat nav. This sounds like fun (for the most part) but it doesn't reflect the disastrous nature of things.

On Monday DDS and I finally dished out the IDT Stash, although that hasn't been an easy ride, and the only sanity this week has been brought by an unexpected meal out with The Parents last night. I'd like to tell you about the ridiculous shapes mown into our lawn, my opinions on the winner of The Apprentice and say happy 21st birthday to Sean, but I haven't got the time.

I wish I had a week (just a week) to myself.

Well, the whole weekend has been a bit chaotic. Not that I actually lost control at any point, but it certainly has been a case of leapfrogging from one thing to the next. On Friday I finished up in the workshops at about 4.30pm, still reticent about going home and missing the IDT BBQ going on, but I realised I needed to bite the bullet and get back before Saturday. Jon drove me home after a flash delivery of the IDT stash. Nick supplied me with three full bags of the stuff, and tonight is going to be spent labelling the things up ready for distribution sometime tomorrow or the next day. It's going to be a mission, but a necessary one, especially if I am even considering getting into bed tonight (it is currently stacked with the garments in question). They are looking fantastic however, so I'm not going to whinge.

Yesterday was my second Multipack meeting. Numbers had grown and there were around the twenty mark, if not over. The staff at Pennyblack's were clearly under the misapprehension that we were there for food, when infact the majority of the event was spent under an alcohol cloud. Dave and I hashed out some new ideas for a project that could be very beneficial to both of us, and the night ended at around 11.30pm in a bar devoid of lager, discussing the intricacies of resolution support. It was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Photos here.

Today I've had to deal with a hacked site and a backlog of other rubbish that I seem to attract like a oversized crap magnet. It is not so fun as the rest of the weekend's activities, although I have had one or two emails that brightened my day.

Last night was partially boozy. I decided it was a bad idea to get drunk as having to be in the workshops at 9am in the morning doesn't sit well with a hangover the size of Latvia, especially when operating heavy machinery and if you like to keep the tops of your fingers attached to the bottom of them. The plan worked, but I still felt crap. It was mostly sleep deprivation which my tutor spotted straight away as he told me to be careful while I tried to impale myself on a flatblade screwdriver. Once again an early sign that the day would switch to the dark side.

In reality it was actually quite light; sunny in fact and I cycled in just wearing a t-shirt which is the first time this year. It's nice outside, but it didn't make up for the fact that my new RP was 3mm too short on the one axis. I was very annoyed. I then found out that my rubber didn't cast properly again (for the third time) and the foam looks to complex to CNC mill properly. Things weren't going well. I was similarly disheartened to find that DDS couldn't get The Apprentice to play on his laptop, so much of lunch break was also ruined. Instead I caught forty winks before heading back into the sauna that is my department.

I consoled Leon, went home, watched The Apprentice, took a shower and slept for an hour. It's twenty past nine and I've still not eaten. I've also got to finish this report for tomorrow. Why do buses come along all at once, and why are they full of bastards?

The build process continues and once again I found my way into the workshop at an hour that my body still doesn't classify as 'awake-time'. It was however, another good-progress day and I've now got a little rubberised flap for the box I'm making. Everything was curtailed though when I had to leave to go to a creative talk mid-afternoon. Despite my hope for something earth-shattering (or at least interesting) the lacklustre performance was matched only by the poor audience attendance. There were some interesting parts - a couple of local businesses talking about their progress; but for most of it they might just have well handed out some eggs and some old ladies.

Jimbo and I were asked to provide some vox pops for the video at the end of the presentation (we got nabbed because we were quick enough to get out first); look out for Andy Higgs on the next Leicestershire promotional film you happen to watch. Note their maybe some inconsistencies between what was said then, and what has been said now.

Swan got back from Derby today (coming back from Essex, he tried to get off the train at Loughborough, but the doors didn't open and he ended up stuck on the train and paying twenty five quid to get home in a taxi). He's trying to persuade me to go out. It still could happen.

After some bug identification and suggestions (cheers Si and Linda) things are now looking a bit more ship-shape. You'll have to get used to the new calendar; click on the title (right) to expand or contract it, but you should manage that. Unfortunately MapSurface is still being rubbish, so I've temporarily disabled it.

In the workshops today there was a much better rate of progress and success than Friday. I've now remade my resin mould, reordered the snapped rapid prototype (I haven't got the time to fiddle about) and expanded my thermoformed lid. Good job done, meaning as soon as I get the 1000 word report sorted by Friday, I'll be back on track.

There is a talk tomorrow afternoon run by Creative Leicestershire, and I think I'm going along. Some web company is giving a spiel and I'm quite keen to find out what they have to say. Can't say there has been much else to excite me today, so I'm going to get on with sending these invites out for Sean's 21st. Its nice to have a play with a bit of fun Photoshoppery once in a while.

So this is probably the most ridiculous stroke of coincidence that you will read today, and chances are you won't believe me, but the fact the blog has got a new look as of today strangely has nothing to with the May 1st Reboot. In fact, when I started to fiddle around in Photoshop at midday yesterday, I never even intended to change the design. I was actually waiting until the summer. Unfortunately my current hard-work ethos got the better of me, and hence a brand spanking new look for JBTB. Truthfully, I only realised the whole date-coincidence thing about an hour ago.

As this was built from the ground up in less than a day, there maybe a few little bugs to iron out - if you spot one, comment me or drop me an email, I'd really appreciate it. Also I'm keen to know what people think of the new look? It can't really be worse than the old design, can it?

I managed to complete a presentation-tarting-up exercise for Tours4 today, and also caught the end of Romeo and Juliet. It's nice to think I've got another day off tomorrow, but I'm still concerned that it is pushing my MDP progress back.