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Feb. 18th, 2005 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katsmeatMore snowboarding at the dry-slope this evening. I'm slowly accumulating safety equipment - each time I hurt myself, I go out and buy the bit that protects that part of the body - so it's knee pads next. I wonder if there's an easier way to do this.
I also signed up to help out. You get free hour on the slope in exchange for each hour behind the counter, handing out boots and skis. So that's Monday's 8pm till 10pm sorted out. According to the bloke who run's the snowboarding side of things, the big benefit is that the instructors are much more likely to help you out. Generally, they're wary about giving people pointers because a lot of cheapskates deliberately take one or two lessons, then try to leech free advice to get themselves up to standard. If you're a known 'staff member' then the the instructors are much more relaxed.
I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow, to go to Galloway and Porter's warehouse sale of academic books. I used to dislike Cambridge, it always seemed too crowded, grimy and had too much traffic - really a mini-London. But it seems to be growing on me. I should get up there more often.
I also signed up to help out. You get free hour on the slope in exchange for each hour behind the counter, handing out boots and skis. So that's Monday's 8pm till 10pm sorted out. According to the bloke who run's the snowboarding side of things, the big benefit is that the instructors are much more likely to help you out. Generally, they're wary about giving people pointers because a lot of cheapskates deliberately take one or two lessons, then try to leech free advice to get themselves up to standard. If you're a known 'staff member' then the the instructors are much more relaxed.
I'm off to Cambridge tomorrow, to go to Galloway and Porter's warehouse sale of academic books. I used to dislike Cambridge, it always seemed too crowded, grimy and had too much traffic - really a mini-London. But it seems to be growing on me. I should get up there more often.
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Date: 2005-02-18 08:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 08:45 am (UTC)The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick - I figured it was worth £2 to see what the famous uberhacker had to say.
The O'Reilley book... PC Hardware in a Nutshell
Secrets and Lies by Bruce 'Mr Crypto Guru' Schneier. I wanted to get this anyway.
Another O'Reilly Book - Unix for Mac OS X
Irv Englander - The Architecture of Computer Hardware and System Software I wouldn't have bothered but the friend I was with said it was good. She was pissed off because she had paid the £50 cover price for her copy.
The Day the World Took Off- Based on a Channel Four TV series. I remember this was interesting because they advanced the thesis that unlike civilization (which arose multiple times during history on all continents), industrialisation was a chance event that only occurred because of a peculiar set of circumstances present in NW Europe (Britain in particular) in the late 18th century - it might easily not have happened.
Beyond SETI. A Guide to Communicating with Alien Civilizations
Generic geeky reading, I know. All £2 each. I think next time you're spending the weekend with some Camspods. Try to synchronise your trip with one of these sales. Though you might have trouble carrying home everything you buy. After that, we had lunch in one of Cambridge's most interesting historical landmarks - a place called C2. In 1995 it opened as the UK's second internet cafe!
I'm still amazed there are people stupid enough to try and drive a car into Cambridge in a Saturday afternoon. But I suppose you'd at least have plenty of time to admire the pretty architecture, given you're going to be stuck in the gridlock for most of the time.