Category: Uncategorized

Well, it’s about time I posted something up about the latest phenomenon, Ruby On Rails. I downloaded and installed it earlier today, and went through one of the tutorials on the website. I am seriously impressed.

I realise now why everyone’s been going on about it recently — it allows web development to be done really quickly. And I mean, really quickly. Viz: this evening, I managed to go through and create the “cookbook” application in an hour or so. Given that I’ve never touched Ruby on Rails before, that’s not bad. Especially given that doing the same thing using J2EE and a combination of Spring, Hibernate, JSTL etc would actually be quite an effort. (Having said that — I’m not saying that Spring, Hibernate etc don’t save effort in their proper context — they do, they’re great frameworks and I use them all the time at work!).

RoR just cuts straight through all the configuration, all the messing around, and lets you be productive. There’s nothing I can really compare it to… all I can say is, if you’re a web developer and you haven’t checked out Ruby on Rails yet — DO IT NOW!

I can guarantee that you will be impressed.

I nearly forgot to do a “The Weekend” post today! Shocking, I know!

Anyway… what did we get up to this weekend? Well. On Friday night, we went to Alex’s. We went to the chippie for dinner with Chris B, it was a very good dinner albeit rather huge! I think you get bigger portions if you eat in the restaurant part than if you get takeaway. On Saturday morning, we did a bit of shopping — nothing particularly exciting to tell you! In the evening it was a film night down at the chaplaincy, so we went there and watched “The Emperor’s New Groove” (fantastic Disney film, Cronk is a great character!). Afterwards we played on the Eye Toy (on Alex’s PlayStation 2) for a while. It was very fun, although I don’t think I’m very good at it!

Yesterday, we went to Fordham in the morning, and afterwards came back for lunch… um… the afternoon wasn’t particularly eventful! In the evening we watched the final part of the BBC’s “Jane Eyre” series they’ve been running. I quite enjoyed it, Philippa said they cut a lot out of the book but nevertheless I thought it was worth watching!

That’s all for the time being… 🙂

I’ve used Apache Struts for a few of the projects we’ve had to do at work now. It’s a great framework… but I think it’s beginning to show a few signs of age. Although there are still a large number of development projects using Struts, I think if you’re going to start a new project, it might be a good idea to try out something more modern.

Enter onto the scene the Spring Framework. I’ve been using Spring for a while now — firstly I just used the JDBC abstraction layer, then I started to use the application context (“Spring Beans”!), and just recently I’ve got into the Web MVC part of it. I’ve been more and more impressed! I would suggest looking into it, if you’re starting a new J2EE web application. I might even get around to writing a quick tutorial or sample application…

Anyway. What else has been happening this week? Not much really! On Wednesday, Philippa and I went to our Moore Course group meeting. The Moore Course is a theological correspondence course run by Moore College in Sydney. I think I might have mentioned it here before… anyway, the first meeting of the first module was on Wednesday, and apart from us getting lost on the way it went very well! I think we’ll enjoy the course, and I don’t think it will be too much of a drain on time.

That’s all for now…

You know, I almost forgot to do a “The Weekend” post this week! But, fortunately enough for you lucky, lucky people, I’ve remembered in time!

So, what did we get up to this weekend? Well, it was fairly busy… Philippa was being a bridesmaid for her friend Julie from home. We headed into Kent to stay with Philippa’s parents on Friday night. The wedding itself was on Saturday afternoon at a lovely church in the Kent countryside. It was a really nice service, and the weather was beautiful! The reception was held at the Brandshatch Hotel. The place itself was really nice, very plush! Anyway, uh, what can I say about the reception? The food was delicious, the dancing afterwards was fun (it reminded of cheesy tunes!)…

We stayed overnight at the hotel. The room had an absolutely massive plasma screen in it — unfortunately I wasn’t able to actually get it to display anything! There was a DVD recorder (not just a player!), but we didn’t have any DVDs. Of course, it goes without saying that the room was very expensive, but anyway.

Um…. and there’s not much else to say really! We went to Phil’s parents for lunch yesterday, and then we came back home in the afternoon.

There are some photos of the wedding here, if you want to have a look 🙂 Anyway, that’s all for now…

“The way is shut. It was made by the dead, and the dead keep it. The way it shut.”

So read Curly, Blondey and Shorty as they prepare to go and raise the undead army in “Lord of the Rings”. Why am I mentioning it? Well, I was thinking about it earlier as I came across another one of those mysterious “Road Closed” signs.

I was slightly mystified earlier when I accidentally drove past a “Road Closed” sign… only to find that the road was not, in fact, closed. I think the workmen must have just forgotten to remove the signs once they’d finished working… a tad inconsiderate though, given that going around would have added an additional five or ten minutes to my journey into work.

I thought that perhaps “Road Closed” signs be replaced with the following notice:

The Road is Closed
It was made by the Highways Agency, and the Highways Agency keeps it
The Road is Closed

A tad more poetic, and it would at least fit in with the mysterious air of a lot of these “Road Closed” signs…

Apologies for the random title – this is my regular “The Weekend” post, but I just wanted to mention a new book I’ve just ordered from Amazon, entitled How to Survive a Robot Uprising. Needless to say, I had to buy it just because of the title… I can’t let something like that pass me by!

Anyway, I’ll read and review it as per usual. Speaking of reviews — I mentioned last week that I’d ordered Green Wing Series 2. Well, it’s arrived and I’ve watched through half of the episodes already. So far, I’ve definitely found it just as funny as the first one… I think once you get into the sense of humour, it’s very funny! Still very random though, so you probably wouldn’t appreciate it unless you have a rather surreal sense of humour…

Right. What did I get up to this weekend? Well. On Friday night, we went to a music practice at Fordham (I wasn’t really involved, but Phil plays clarinet in the music group). On Saturday we went into town in the morning, and then went into town in the afternoon and bought a new lamp for the flat and other bits and pieces, and in the evening we got ourselves a rather huge chinese take-away from “Yummy” down the road, and sat down and watched some Green Wing (see above). Yesterday, we went to Fordham in the morning and stayed there for the harvest lunch. It was good fun – a lovely meal with good company! What more can you want? Anyway. In the afternoon we didn’t do much, apart from some practising for the evening, where we played at the evening service.

And… I think that brings you up to date! Apologies for the lack of excitement recently, but … well, my life has not been particularly exciting!

… you wait ages for decent DVDs to come along, and then three come along at once! OK, there are only a couple I want to mention here, but still. I was browsing through Play.com, and I came across a couple of DVDs which I have now ordered 🙂

The first one is Green Wing Series 2. I’ve had series one since it came out last year, and to be completely honest the first time I watched through it I was a little disappointed – some of the scenes were quite funny, but I thought it was a little too cringe-worthy. Also, the episodes are 50 minutes long which means that it’s not really a convenient length to sit down and watch an episode in between doing a couple of things (or while you’re having dinner, or something similar).

Having said that… I’ve started watching through it again just recently, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I think for some reason when I watched it through the first time, I didn’t really get it… either way, I’ve definitely found it more funny the second time through! Perhaps it’s something which grows on you. Anyway, I’ve ordered the second series, so I shall report back once I have watched it through!

The second DVD I ordered is Family Guy Seaon 5. I didn’t actually realise that they were doing another series until someone mentioned the other week that they’d been watching season 5 on the internet… I haven’t seen any of it! I’ve been a fan of Family Guy for some time now (Mr. Anderson), so I’m really looking forward to this one 🙂 Fortunately Family Guy episodes are shorter than Green Wing episodes – in fact, they’re under half the length – so getting through a season of Family Guy shouldn’t be quite so much of a marathon…

So… it’s time for another “The Weekend” post! Yay!

*ahem* On Friday, Philippa and I went to see “Clerks 2” at the cinema. More on that story later. On Saturday, we went into Norwich to get a wedding present for the people Phil is being a bridesmaid for in a couple of weeks (their wedding list was with John Lewis, and as there isn’t a John Lewis in Colchester we went to the one in Norwich instead). In the evening, we went to the Crown in Ardleigh for a drink with Jon B and some friends as it was his birthday (actually, it was his birthday last week, but nevermind).

It was a good evening, although I would like to point out to anyone else that the Crown in Ardleigh is not actually in Ardleigh. It is, in fact, very close to the roundabout at the junction between the A12 and the Ipswich Road. Why they claim it’s in Ardleigh I don’t know, but there you go!

On Sunday morning, we went to Fordham. In the afternoon we didn’t really do very much, and in the evening we went into Wivenhoe to meet up with Alex, Elisa and Alison for a curry at the Bengal Spice. It was a very enjoyable meal – I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal there which I haven’t enjoyed, which is quite impressive really!

Anyway. There are a couple of short reviews I want to give here of things I have seen / listened to over the weekend.

Firstly, Clerks 2. I’m a fan of Kevin Smith, I’ll admit it. I have all his films (with the exception of Jersey Girl) on DVD. So that may have a bearing on what I’m about to say, but I’ll say it anyway: I loved this film. It was absolutely hilarious in places. Elias is a great character, and the scene with Randall’s take on the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a classic. The film is pretty crass in places, but that’s what you can expect from Kevin Smith really! The bottom line is, if you liked his previous stuff, you’ll like this. If you haven’t seen any of his previous stuff, I’d advise you to go and see it (particularly the original Clerks — you can see Clerks 2 without it, but you won’t get the whole picture unless you’ve seen the first one).

Secondly, “I Choose Noise”, the third album from Hybrid. I listened to this on the train on the way up to Norwich, and I have to say – I like it! Although (as per usual with Hybrid) some of the tracks will take a bit of getting into, once you have got into them it’s worth it. The production quality is excellent – I would expect nothing less of them! Once again – if you like Hybrid, you’ll love this. You might even like it if you’ve never heard any Hybrid before – check out some of the samples on your favourite CD buying website (if they have any).

And that concludes my essay on why I am not a salesman!

Bit of a random post, this one… we went round to Alex’s this evening, and got talking about song parodies (amongst other things). I was reminded of one I wrote ages ago (well, a few months), but didn’t get round to posting up here. Possibly for fear of being sued for libel, but hey ho!

This song is dedicated to SX Express, the fast food outlet on campus at Essex University. SX Express (or “minging” as it was affectionately called by many of us), we love you.

[N.B. The original song is “Starlight Express” by Andrew Lloyd Webber. I think there are two versions of this song, the new one has a few extra lines. This is a parody of the newer version]

When you just feel like you’re hungry
But you’re feeling too lazy
To make yourself a bite

And though you’re fighting against
The feeling you can’t pretend
Is going to stay away tonight

That is when you feel it coming
That is when you feel your stomach have that

Midnight crave, here again
Can’t explain that midnight crave
That midnight crave…

(Chorus)
SX Express, you must confess
Is your food real or fake?
SX Express, answer me yes –
Did you cause my belly-ache?

When I get there so much choice
I can’t believe, I rejoice
And take a while to think

I want to take it away
And bring it back to my place
Without spilling the drink

I believe in them completely
Though I may be feeling queasy
From that midnight crave

Here again
Can’t explain that midnight crave
That midnight crave…

(Chorus)

(… second half of Chorus)

(Chorus)

As I’ve already told you what I was going to do this weekend, just a quick update today!

On Friday we drove down to Kent to stay with Philippa’s parents for the weekend. It was a fairly trouble-free journey! On Saturday, while Philippa was out, I cleaned the car. Phil’s Dad gave me a hand, which was very kind of him – in fact, it was his suggestion, as the problem with parking in a car park is that it’s a bit difficult to clean your car there… vacuuming is right out of the question!

Aaaanyway. In the evening we went out to the pub, which was good 🙂 On Sunday morning we went to St Nick’s (the church we got married in – the first time we’d been back there!). It was nice, as we managed to see the minister who did the ceremony and have a chat to him.

In the afternoon we headed back home, and had the evening in! We watched “American Dreamz”, which was actually a really good film. Neither of us knew exactly what to expect, but Alex had told us that it was good… we both really enjoyed it anyway. Quite thought-provoking in some ways. It was a cross between political satire, a comedy, and a drama… sort of. Well worth watching though – recommended!

That’s all for now…