Darkest Before Dawn

Dawn

2012-01-13T08:36:00.001Z

Dawn, a photo by Darkest Before Dawn on Flickr.

Highland Cattle Calf

2012-01-07T13:51:00.001Z

Highland Cattle Calf, a photo by Darkest Before Dawn on Flickr.

Sun, Goop and Running

2007-04-29T20:08:00.001Z

Well it has been a good weekend for weather, lovely sunshine not too hot which was good for the two runs I managed on Saturday and Sunday.

I have learned two thing this weekend. The first thing is that I need to push myself a lot more when I am doing what is supposed to be a training run.

The second is that if you try to make bread in a bread making machine and you forget to put the mixing blade in, then you end up with hot bubbling goop instead of bread!

The Hair Must Go!

2007-04-18T14:23:00.000Z

My hair has got quite long in the last year and I will need to cut it before I start running races next month. Instead of just getting it trimmed I will be shaving off my hair and beard on the 19th of May in aid of Multiple Sclerosis International Federation and would really welcome your support.

Please take a moment to visit my online fundraising page and make a donation. It's really easy - you can donate by credit or debit card at the following address:

All donations are secure and sent electronically to Multiple Sclerosis International Federation. If you are a UK taxpayer, Justgiving will automatically reclaim 28% Gift Aid on your behalf, so your donation is worth even more. Please join me in supporting Multiple Sclerosis International Federation and a fabulous cause.

Thanks and best wishes,
Kev

Back and Hair

2007-04-16T20:41:00.001Z

For the last month I have not been in
much of a mood for blog writing or reading. However in the last couple
of weeks I had a few days holiday from work and I manage to get some
relaxation and I am feeling more alive, so I will be catching up on my
blog reading. Today I even got out after work and went for a jog and I
am feeling good after my short run. More details at Beat the Hour

I thinking about cutting my hair short again, it is beginning to
annoy me and it will be no fun when I am running races. However I am
thinking that as my hair is about as long as it has ever been and
likely to be it would be a shame just to get it trimed or chopped
without some sort celebration. So I am toying with the idea of setting
up an online sponsorship form and getting my head shaved for some
charity. My blog pal Ti-Jae over at Tomboy has done this the last couple of years.

Nan, I will get that Meme filled out for you in the next couple of days.

Kev

The Best Job in the World ?

2007-04-07T18:05:00.001Z

From this BBC news story

Wayne Jones, a professor in experimental alcohol research at the University of Linkoping in Sweden

Okay I guess it will not as exciting as it sounds but one can dream :)

Kev

Comment Meme

2007-04-05T22:01:00.001Z

Tagged by Waltzingalong @ better living through chemistry

Comment and I will:

1 - Tell you why I friended you.[if it pertains].

2 - Associate you with a song/film.

3 - Tell a random fact about you.

4 - Tell a first memory about you.

5 - Associate you with a character/pairing.

6 - Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.

7 - Tell you my favorite user pic of yours [if it pertains].

8 - In retort, you must spread this disease in your LJ [or blog].

Snotty Coughy Phlegmy

2007-03-27T07:36:00.000Z

Snotty, Coughy and Phlegmy were the three dwarfs who didn't make it into the final cut of the movie. Walt Disney preferring the mysticism of the number 7 to the round, easy to calculate, figure of 10.

The above is a blatant lie, but what is true is that I have had a cold for over a week and I can't shake it off. I feel terrible in the mornings with all the symptoms above but over the day I feel better, only to start again the next morning, I obviously have the "Groundhog Day" version of the common cold.

My voice is in my boots, as my mother would say, and that means one thing. I spend most of the morning singing, in my world renowned tone deaf way, the first two lines "Ol' Man River" not that I have ever seen the musical that it hails from but Paul Robeson has always been someone I admired.

Looking through the wiki entry it has just struck me that I can't remember a there being a 'Bio-pic' movie about Paul Robeson, is he still too hot for Hollywood to handle?

Photo Fun

2007-03-26T07:57:00.000Z

Museumr on Dumpr discovered via Photojojo

Progress Bars

2007-03-20T11:51:00.001Z

How much of modern life is spent watching progress bars?

I know I will spend a lot of time today doing just that as I have 12 Flash
files to upload for my work and they are on average 15Mb. As well as
uploading and downloading from the Internet I have spent many hours
waiting for new software to download to Mac's when I worked in a tech
support role. I remember rooms full of Mac +'s with SCSI hard disks.
Setting up a master system, copying to one hard drive then two, four
etc... All the time more and more progress bars slowly moving.

If I was planning on being buried when I die then I would be tempted to
request a completed progress bar on my head stone, but I plan to be
cremated so there is not much point.

Maybe you should have a 'Life Progress Bar' so you know how much time you have left? It would take the surprise out death, you could plan better, you would save
money by not buying expensive insurance you won't benefit from. Then
again knowing how inaccurate most progress bars are I think it would
add more confusion.

Okay three files uploaded, on to the next :)

Random Music Meme

2007-03-19T21:43:00.001Z

Kind of tagged by Waltzingalong @ better living through chemistry

Instructions:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool

Opening credits: Better Living Through Chemistry : Queens of the Stone Age [Totally random honestly, that is weird!]

Waking Up: Gays in the Milltary (standup sketch) : Bill Hicks

First day at school: Hearts of Olden Glory by Runrig

Falling in love: Telegram Sam by Bauhaus

Fight song: Orpheus by Carly Simon

Breaking up: Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey

Prom: Our Favourite Shop by The Style Council

Life is good: Boy About Town by The Jam

Mental breakdown: Bare by The Cure

Driving: Working On The Highway by Bruce Springsteen

Flashback: Vision Thing by The Sisters of Mercy

Getting back together: Monday by The Jam

Wedding: Dumb by The Beautiful South

Paying the dues: Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus

The night before the war: Alison Gross by Steeleye Span

Final Battle: Slow Down by The Jam

Moment of Triumph: Homeward Bound bySimon & Garfunkel

Death scene: We Are The Sleepyheads by Belle & Sebastian

Funeral song: Super Trouper by ABBA

End credits: Ghostdancing by Simple Minds

A Long Week

2007-03-09T13:52:00.001Z

Need I say any more? Okay you persuaded me. :)

This week seems to have had seven days between Monday and Friday. I
have been tired all week and getting my head off the pillow in the
morning has been next to impossble, but that may just be that I need a
haircut :)

I had wanted to write up a 'feature' type article for here this week
but I had to fix a problem with my WordPress plugin and that ate up two
evenings. The plugin issue aside I must say I am not too impressed
WordPress 2.1 it seems to have created problems without a great amount
of extra features I think a couple of extra weeks in development would
have saved everyone some grief. Drupal looks as if it is becoming my
web development base of choice and there may come a point where I look
seriously at moving Darkest Before Dawn to Drupal. I have already
completed a successful experimental of a port to Drupal but currently I
have no compelling reason to make the switch so I will stick with
WordPress.

Tonight I am being very brave and watching SAW if you hear someone screaming it will probably be me.

Congratulations to Laasya on her engagement :)

Will get round everyone's blogs at the weekend take care and if anyone offers you chocolates hold out for the coffee cream. ;)

Reorganising and Planning

2007-02-25T22:40:00.001Z

This weekend I have have been, once more, reorganising my computer area. If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know happens at least once a year. I think i have a long term workable solution now. The monitors for my Mac and Linux computers are raised and side by side so I can easily work with both. The boxes themselves are sitting on top of a small cupboard which makes them a lot more accessible than in the past and I have the power block on the wall so it is easy to get at. Most importantly I now have all the desktop space I need for keyboards. mice, books and cups of tea. Here's a pic :)

I am hoping that a comfortable working area will let me get on with some of the many projects that I have under way including Hb and some original posts here at db4dawn. In planning I have posts on Firefox add-ons and the 1970's BBC Tv Series 'Survivors'.

I am doing a lot of development with the Drupal CMS at the moment, at work and for my personal projects. I had looked at Drupal before Christmas but had decided to pursue the Joomla! route. The main reason I have reconsidered Drupal is the extension system, I hope to post a piece about this over at the newly revamped (once again) rickis dot net.

Cya all soon

Kev

Reflection on a walk

2007-01-21T22:17:00.000Z

The rain took a break for a few hours today, yay! I was able to get out for a walk and get some photos taken. The light is still not great for photography but I managed to get a few interesting shots. The shot above was taken while laying on what remained of the footpath and looking across the surface of the pond. There are a few other shots including a panorama of the flooded pond on Flickr.

Next week I hope to get out for more walks and possibly runs. I think I am going to have to ignore the weather if I am going to start getting fit.

2007-01-13T22:05:00.000Z

View from Skye

Today has been another dark, wet and very windy day all over Scotland. In the last couple of months it seems as if there have only been a few days when it wasn't raining and raining hard at that. It gets quite depressing after a while so I like to go through my photographs and remember how nice it can be here when the weather is good.

The view above was constructed from three photographs. It was taken from a cliff view point north of Portree on Skye in February 2005. The water in the photo is the Sound of Rassay with the Isle of Rona in front of the mainland. I don't have a detailed map so I can't at the moment name the mountains but the area is Wester Ross.

2007-01-05T20:27:00.000Z

Path to Temple Wood

Ballymeanoch_10.jpgOriginally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I have uploaded some more photos from my summer holiday in Argyll.

The photos in this set are of the Ballymeanoch Standing Stones and landscape in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland.

I like this photo because it has a tranquil feeling for me.

2007-01-05T00:54:00.000Z

I am Man...

... see me search pathetically for stock cubes!

Today I managed to get up before it got dark again, which is a major step forward. I needed a few things from the shops so instead of taking my car and assisting the destruction of the environment. I decided to have a walk as I am in desperate need of some exercise. So I walked to near by Super-Multi-Mega Store (SMMS) which destroys the environment.

On my way there I stopped by my local dealer for 50 grammes of extra hot dried chillies. It is good stuff, a few of them in a chili con carny and you can guarantee your head will sweat.

At the SMMS I got a packet of lentils and a packet of Scotch Broth mix as it is winter and it is time for soup making. At this point I remembered that I needed to buy some stock (bouillon) cubes. Now I usually expect to find stock cubes around where the jars of herbs and spices are or where the gravy granule's are kept but could I find them? Well no, as it happens.

So I start my search pattern, going up and down the rows until I reach the dairy section or the hard goods, nothing. Of course it had now become a 'thing' I must find them and I must do it without assistance mainly because I too scared to ask in case I am told "they are right behind you mate".

Passing the 'Fantastic Sale Offers' or as I would think it would be more honest to title 'Christmas Crap We Couldnae Shift', for the third time I noticed copies of Instant Confidence by Paul McKenna

Now some Instant Confidence is what I could use at this point and more especially when I get to the checkout and my IQ does it usual 100 point dip. However unlike the Super-Multi-Mega Book Shops that destroy the environment this sort of store is not happy about you sitting down in the aisle and reading books. From the infamous 'Duck a l'Orange Incident' I know they don't like you trying out their recipe books with produce from the shop unless you have actually bought the book and ingredients and taken them home first.

So without Mr McKenna's assistance I check throughly all the shelves around me several times and I am at least 50% confident that the stock cubes are not lying in wait to embarrass me and I ask a member of staff stocking a fridge where the stock cubes are. The answer was 'in the far corner of the shop above the freezers'. Of course I should have remembered that in shops with open top freezers the stock cube take up residence there.

Okay I am off to write to the Stock Cube manufactures to point out that their products are not actually cubes.

2007-01-03T03:28:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

.. for now anyway

The two images in the header are now selected at random from a list, the same image cannot be displayed in the two positions. If anyone is interested in the code for this then comment and I will post it. The flickr image strip is now set to display squares as it is neater and it is using the same method as the header images to display either a random selection of images or the latest stream.

The menu buttons are now using a single file with the origin being moved on a:hover to achieve the mouse over effect. This prevents a flash of missing button when the user first hovers over the mouse and prevents the need for pre-loading of additional graphic files.

Kev

2007-01-01T08:40:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Hope your New Year is going will, mine was kind of quiet until 5:30 this morning when flat upstairs played Chas & Dave’s “Rabbit” at high volume while stomping about. It didn’t go on for long but I have been wide awake since then.

My new theme is based on the work I have done to construct Joomla! themes and only has a small section of code from my previous Jura theme. The 3 Column layout is based on one of the designs by Alex Robinson published under the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication it is valid CSS and XHTML 1.1 I have tested it in FireFox and Safari but I have not had a chance to test the theme in IE. I will get this done later today, in the mean time if you spot any faults please comment here.

The theme is not quite finished yet, I want to add a way to display random images from a chosen set in the header and I want to add another one or two buttons to the header, when I remember what I had in mind!?

It has gone quiet upstairs now so I will try and grab some more sleep.

2006-12-31T23:03:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Happy New Year and wishing all a prosperous 2007.

Mood : none

2006-12-31T00:34:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

The project that I have been working on for the last few months is now on-line, Crafts Network. Currently the main feature is the forums, however I hope to add more features to the site over then next week. So if you are involved in Crafts in the UK in any way then please stop by.

I have also redesigned the rickis dot net site with a less wintry look.

At the moment I have no real plans for Hogmanay but I expect I will be on iChat/AIM if I am at home and anyone wants to chat.

Kev

Mood : creative

2006-12-23T12:51:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Gacked from Morgaine.

LOST is a student project that aims to show how 7 million people can connect to each other. It’s also a game, and is trying to reach the highest number of players for any game, ever.

Want to give it a GO?

Mood : none

2006-12-21T13:45:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

See me dance

Mood : none

2006-12-18T17:08:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

So there I am innocently checking my LiveJournal user info when I noticed the Google Ads.

Now the first three make sense, or is that AdSense? But the fourth one is a mystery, I mean I always practice safe surfing, what could have gone wrong!?

Mood : none

2006-12-08T23:13:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have set up a Christmas Tree cam for the duration of the festive period.

Festive messages can be sent using the form on the page and I will put them online as soon as I get the chance.

Oh and the scary looking Santa’s were in the flat when I bought it, there are three of them!

Hope to get the tree decorated a bit better as well.

Kev

Mood : Festive

2006-12-04T20:11:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have set up four previews of the Joomla! templates I have been working on.

Snowflakes Blue

Snowflakes Red

Snowflakes Green

Snowflakes Yellow

I am working on the WordPress version.

Mood : none

2006-12-04T15:07:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Mood : none

2006-12-03T23:44:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Well snow would be a bit of a change as all we have had in Scotland for the last few weeks is rain, very heavy rain at times. The combination of rain and the Autumn leaves from the trees blocking drains have turned many streets in Glasgow into rivers rather than roads.

I have competed the design for my first Joomla templates and after a lot of messing about and a few swear words I have got the template packaging method sorted out. The plan now is to construct WordPress templates with the same design. I hope to get a chance to do this tomorrow evening. Once that is done I will release them for download, I am not really sure anyone will be interested in using them but you never know.

Kev

Mood : geeky

2006-11-21T23:39:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

My sister’s online shop is now live made by val so if you happen to be looking for handmade fairy doors then you can find them there. Shipping is only to the UK at the moment however Val hopes to expand this in the 2007.

ZenCart was used for this project, I found that it can be a bit overwhelming when you first look at it but I guess it is the number of options that make it powerful. The template system takes a bit of learning when you are used to your templates being contained in a single folder as with WordPress or Joomla! The ZenCart template system is explained here if you want further reading.

Now that the shop project is live I am reviving on my loooong neglected rickis dot net site. I am working on a set of Joomla! templates which I want to convert for WordPress and if possible ZenCart so that sites can be created using a combination of these applications and have a unified design.

I will be changing the theme here before too long, Jura was my first attempt at writing a WordPress template and theme from scratch and although I like it does have a few problems. I have learned a lot of CSS in the last couple of months and I have a few new ideas that I want to try out, so as they say “stay tuned”

Kev

Mood : calm

2006-11-15T22:03:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

There is a danger that this blog in turning in to a health blog, or should that be a lack of health blog?? My toe is fine now and the nail is growing back so yay!

The past week I have been stressing out a lot and I frequently have a stress tone in my head. If you have never had one it, for me anyway, is like the whine you get off an old television. If you have never had an old TV then it is like when you have been in a loud club or concert. If you have not been to those then… sorry I am out analogies just now.

Last weekend was particularly bad and if Louise hadn’t come over on Saturday evening I don’t think I would have got out of bed all weekend.

The route cause of the stress is the stuff at work which I cannot talk about here but to add to that last Friday my car decided that it would signal left even if I was not indicating left. It was possible to stop it signalling left if I signalled right, this is of course no use if I didn’t intend to go right. In the end I put my hazards on when I was going straight on and took them off when I had to signal.

I got the car back today so at least that is done with. Last Sunday I had really wanted to take a walk along a beach and clear my head but without the car that was not possible, this Sunday maybe if the weather is better.

Anyway how you all been? At least one blog on my blog list seems to have disappeared which is a shame as it was an entertaining & interesting read.

Hope to get some nonsense going here again soon.

Kev

Mood : stressed

2006-11-15T21:56:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

There is a danger that this blog in turning in to a health blog, or should that be a lack of health blog?? My toe is fine now and the nail is growing back so yay!

Last weekend was particularly bad and if Louise hadn’t come over on Saturday evening I don’t think I would have got out of bed all weekend.

Anyway how you all been? At least one blog on my blog list seems to have disappeared which is a shame as it was an entertaining & interesting read.

Hope to get some nonsense going here again soon.

Kev

Mood : stressed

2006-11-01T15:36:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I had the toe redressed today and the nail was gone, I am sure it was in the dressing somewhere but the nurse insisted it wasn’t. It looked okay and it wasn’t bleeding so Yay!

Kev

Mood : none

2006-10-31T09:45:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

The problem that I had with my bleeding toe came back a couple of weeks ago and in the last few days a lump grew around the wound. I am just back from Accident and Emergency at my local hospital where the Doctor numbed the toe and removed the lump and a large part of the toenail.

I have a load of antibiotics to take and some pain killers, it is still bleeding through the dressing at the moment given the blood on my sock and I am feeling a bit queazy so I am heading to lie down for a bit.

Kev

Mood : crappy

2006-10-25T22:32:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Tagged by Waltzingalong

Comment with your username or name and I’ll give you an honest compliment. Then post this in your journal or blog and spread the love.

Kev

Mood : awake

2006-10-22T03:45:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

In the last few years I have gone to see a few films in the Slasher Horror genre and I must admit that I am not exactly a fan I honestly prefer a good comedy to seeing someone’s kneecaps fly across the room. However I have noticed a few things that may be useful as a diagnostic aid to tell if a town has Slasher Horror potential.

So here is the Darkest Before Dawn Slasher Horror Quiz

Economy

Was a Highway constructed 10 or more years ago that killed the passing/tourist trade?

Has the only factory, usually a meat packing plant, closed down?

Law & Order

Is the local Sheriff married to his cousin or sister or both?

Is the Sheriff pissed off about what happened to him in Korea or Nam? Even if he didn’t actually fight in the wars, remember the later episodes of M.A.S.H. caused a lot of trauma!

Does the Sheriff rant about Bikers and Long Haired Hippies even though no one has seen such a person in 20 years?

Cars

Do any of the local families have dozens of cars laying around their property just rusting? Some of these cars may date back to the 1940’s

Does the family have a tow truck but not run a car repair/rescue/scrapping business?

Gas Station

Do the gas pumps belong to a company that ceased to exist in the 1920’s?

Does the garage attendant sit out front and when asked a question only answer ‘Yep’ or ‘in back’

Pickling Jars

Is there someone in town who constantly buys pickling jars even though there is no fruit or vegetables in season?

Shopping

Is the only open shop also in the Gas Station?

Does it have very few useful items like food but lots of pickling jars for sale?

Fashion

Do all the women of the town wear clothes that were only in fashion for five minutes in 1953?

Do all the men wear dungarees, with the exception of the Sheriff?

Children

In the past was a group of children responsible for the death of a caretaker or child who was a bit different?

Outsiders

Unlike the townsfolk do people passing through look like the come straight from the pages of Vogue?

Clowns

Is there someone in town who dresses as a clown even through there is no circus or fair on and they are not a children’s entertainer?

Score one point for each question answered Yes

1 to 5 : The chances are you will be safe but stick to the soulless highway just in case.

6 to 10 : Expect to loose 75% of your travelling companions and remember the cute lovey dovey couple making plans for the future bite the big one first.

10 to 17 : Ain’t no one getting out of this one alive, you may think you are but the Sheriff will have a road block just out of town and you will think he is there to help you. The last words you will hear are “Squeal piggy squeal!”

Mood : none

2006-10-18T21:37:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have at last got around to typing up Chapter 5 of my online novel, it has been a while since the last chapter was published but I am already typing up Chapter 6 and it is a lot longer than the previous ones.

If you haven’t read any of it and want to start here is Chapter 1

Kev

Mood : none

2006-10-16T22:49:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

It has been a while but hey I’ve been busy, lazy, tired, emo and most of all I have had very little worth saying.

I am still working on my “top secret” project but thing hopefully will start to progress next month and I will no doubt be posting here about my struggle to get Joomla to work the way I want In the last couple of day I have also been doing some work with Zen Cart again and I hope that the shop that I am helping to build will be online soon.

A few of my friends are going through rough times at the moment, you know who you all are my thoughts are with you and you know how to contact me if you need a chat. ::huggs:: to you all.

Okay a quick little rant. Once before I had a rant about the British media obsession with Pete Doherty and I fully realise the irony of posting about him again, however I’m gonna do it.

My rant is not about him but about people calling him Pete Docherty. It is mainly on the radio, so I think BBC Radio Scotland are the main culprits as I mainly listen to it going to and from work.

The two names may have the same genealogical roots, Doherty being the Irish version and Docherty being the Scottish version, but if you are going to bore me with the antics of a self-destructing coke-head then please at least show some standard of journalism and get his name right.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-10-09T20:53:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

From her corner she looks,

but does not see him.

From his corner he sees,

but does not speak.

From the fear of rejection,

only loneliness wins.

Mood : none

2006-09-27T14:28:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

My Dad asked if I was on drugs after reading my blog, had he read some of my, hopefully, funny weird stuff? My rants? No he had read my entries on the Drupal and Joomla CMS engines. Luckily he missed the entry on how to cultivate 6 foot high magic mushrooms.

On as far as choosing a CMS for the project I am going with Joomla. I am sure Drupal has a lot going for it but the integration of phpBB was a major factor and it was easier to get that working on Joomla.

Mood : none

2006-09-25T13:44:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

In the past week I have been looking at Drupal for a project I am working on.

The main reservation I had about Drupal was the forums module. Looking at the discussion on the Drupal home site I was not the only one. Most people seem to want a fourm that looks like phpBB, mainly because that is what existing users seem to be used to.

There are two ways that go someway to achieving this goal. The first is to alter the Drupal forums to look like phpBB. I found various pointers to this but not what I considered a complete solution. The second method is to set up both Drupal and phpBB and use a Drupal module to handle the login’s for both and to exchange the user data. It also requires the use of mon_rewrite to direct the user to the correct place for logging in. This seems to have the unfortunate side effect that I at least cannot get in to the phpBB administration panel. I can get in if I suspend the mod_rewrite rules but the effectively breaks the site for other users, not a problem while testing but once it goes live it can’t happen.

This morning I was about to buy two books on Drupal and phpBb from Amazon when the recommendations in the checkout mentioned Joomla. I came to a full stop on the check out and found the Joomla website. There seem to be several options that work with phpBB and I am now setting up and install to evaluate.

Any one out there have any opinions on Joomla?

Kev

Mood : none

2006-09-21T00:07:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I am looking at Drupal for a project and was wondering if any of you who pass this way have any experience of it and what your views of it are?

Cheers

Kev

Mood : none

2006-09-20T16:02:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Jura is the template/theme I have been working on for the last few weeks. It is still in beta but I want to give it a proper run on the blog to see what people think and on the basis that many eyes find more bugs

I plan to slowly add more features and if I can read up on things like ’sidebar widgets’ I will release a general version under GPL.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-09-20T15:02:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have posted the answers to the quotes quiz that I posted before Christmas, they are below the more tag

Kev

1	Oh, but the feeling is bad, the feeling is bad.	I Don’t Wanna Dance Lyrics	Eddie Grant
2	I pray every single day. For a revolution.	What’s Up	4 Non Blondes
3	No life at all in the house of dolls.	No Love Lost	Joy Division
4	We’re leaving Babylon, y’all!	Exodus	Bob Marley
5	Candy came from out on the island.	Walk on the Wildside	Lue Reed
6	I was shakin’ in my shoes. Whenever she flashed those baby-blues	Centerfold	J. Geils Band
7	You better run, you better take cover.	Land Down Under	Men at Work
8	When she dealt out the rations. When she dealt out the rations.	Up The Junction	Squeeze
9	Three shots from three feet. Dragged himself to the phone	Terror Couple Kills Colonel	Bauhaus
10	I never thought I’d meet a girl like you.	I Ran	Flock of Seagulls
11	It was a kind of so so love, and I’m gonna make sure it doesn’t happen again	Say Hello Wave Goodbye.	Soft Cell
12	And we’re not little children And we know what we want	Road to Nowhere	Talking Heads
13	Though it could be arranged With just a word in Mr. Churchill’s ear	Olivers Army	Elvis Costello
14	The love after the hate. The love we leave too late	My Ever Changing Moods	Style Council
15	The flood swells his clothes and delivers him on, delivers him on	Sometimes	James
16	Running through the rubble of a thousand broken hearts and in their eyes	Children of the Revolution	Kirsty Maccoll
17	Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow	Mad World	Tears for Fears
18	Look at me standing. Here on my own again.	Wonderful life	Black
19	And if you flash him a smile he’ll take your teeth as deposit	Sheriff Fatman	Carter USM
20	You took your sacrifice to the gods of war	Protect And Survive	Runrig
21	Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, oh oh oh oh	Back on the Chain Gang	The Pretenders
22	But she knows if this show was televised no one would watch it .	Live Bed Show	Pulp
23	And I’ll lay right down in my favorite place	I Wanna Be Your Dog Lyrics	Iggy Pop
24	Where the strong and the quick alone can survive	Avenues and- Alleyways	Tony Christie
25	And the sickest joke was the price of the medicine	Lost Weekend	LLoyd Cole
26	True it’s a dream mixed with nostalgia	Tales from the Riverbank	The Jam
27	I was gonna be king. And she was gonna be queen.	Spirit of 76	The Alarm
28	He only drinks in restaurants. Where the girls are fully covered	Chocolate Girl	Deacon Blue
29	Hey there baby, I could use just a little help	Dancing in the Dark	Bruce Springsteen
30	Open your eyes, open your imagination	The Beat(en) Generatio	The The
31	Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.	Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)	Baz Luhrmann
32	When they ask me “what are you looking at?” I always answer “nothing much”	Left of Center	Suzanne Vega
33	I want my sun-drenched, wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss	Good As Gold	The Beautiful South
34	He thought he’d be like the police. But now he finds he is at war	The Lebanon	The Human League
35	How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals ?	Romeo & Juliet	Dire Straits
36	Some have a style. That they work hard to refine	If She Knew What She Wants	Bangles
37	Your purple prose just gives you away	Unbelievable	EMF
38	What’s it gonna take to make a dream survive?	Alive & Kicking	Simple Minds
39	I wake up every morning with a smile upon my face	I’m the Urban Spaceman	The Bonzo Dog Band
40	She lied to me with her body you see,I lied to myself ’bout the chances I’d wasted	The Saturday Boy	Billy Bragg
41	Take a look up the railtrack. From miami to canada	Letter from America	The Proclaimers
42	Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables	West End Girls	Pet Shop Boys
43	I’m dancing through the fire, just to catch a flame-	You do something to me	Paul Weller
44	Scratches his head and does his best James Dean.	Jack and Diane	John Mellencamp (Cougar)
45	The juice of the carrot, the smile of the parrot A little drop of claret - anything that rocks	Reasons to be cheerful part 3	Ian Dury And The Blockheads
46	Then he approached her like a little child Too scared for what he had to say	Louise	Human League
47	Those bloody great ballads we hated at first	One Last Love Song	The Beautiful South
48	Use only the drugs described by your boss or supervisor.	Shut Up, Be Happy	Ice-t
49	So I lay down in the darkness with the beer and coffee stains	Under Your Thumb	Godley And Creme
50	And that prince philip tells us we gotta work harder!	Just Who is The 5 O’clock Hero	The Jam

Mood : tired Tv : The Simpsons

2006-09-18T17:36:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Been tagged by waltzingalong

28 things about you. I don’t care if we’ve never talked, never liked each other, or if we already know everything about each other.

1.Your Middle Name:

2. Age:

3. Single or Taken:

4. Favorite Movie:

5. Favorite Song:

6. Favorite Band/Artist:

7. Dirty or Clean:

8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:

1. Do we know each other outside of LJ?

2. Whats your philosophy on life?

3. Would you have my back in a fight?

4. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?

5. What is your favorite memory of us?

6. Would you give me a kidney?

7. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:

8. Would you take care of me when I’m sick?

9. Can we get together and make a cake?

10. Have you heard any rumors of me lately?

11. Do you/have you talk(ed) crap about me?

12. Do you think I’m a good person?

13. Would you drive across country with me?

14. Do you think I’m attractive?

15. If you could change anything about me, would you?

16. What do you wear to sleep?

17. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out?

18. Would you go on a date with me if i asked you?

19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?

20. Will you repost this so i can fill it out for you?

Mood : none

2006-09-17T21:32:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Today I ran my last 10K race of the year, that makes six in total, there is a brief report at Beat the Hour

The work on my new template and theme has stalled a bit in the past week mainly due to a feeling I have that it is not going to be good enough or in fact different enough from templates that are already available. I am going to have a rethink about some of the design this week.

Mood : none

2006-09-10T20:49:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have just published Chapter 4 of Hb my Online Vampire Novel. I promise that Chapter 5 will not be such a long wait.

The work on my WordPress template is going well and I am taking my time to get it working properly and looking just as I want it to look, getting fussy in my old age I will also be sorting out my Categories soon as they have always been a mess.

I have a new web project that I am working on and I am stalking a web address for it that looks as if it is going to become available as it hasn’t been renewed, more news if the project progresses.

Kev

Mood : chipper

2006-09-07T07:51:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have started to move my new theme from xhtml/css mock up to WordPress template and it is going well. So far I have overcome all of the IE display problems without the use of any hideous hacks and it is still validating to XHTML 1.0 Strict and valid CSS.

Question : Do any of my fellow CSS Hacks out there know if XHTML 1.1 now replaces XHTML 1.0 Strict as the goal to aim for, it seems logical but what are your opinions ?

This evening I hope to get to work on the Search and Sidebar coding.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-09-05T22:13:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Okay I have pulled the theme that I was using for the past few months. I got carried away with all the whizz-bang Ajax stuff and lost something.

I am working on my own Template/Theme and it may take a few weeks to complete but I think it will be worth it.

Kev

Mood : creative

2006-09-04T21:41:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Would a Spellathon in aid of Dyslexia be considered insensitive?

Mood : cheerful

2006-09-03T19:21:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Europe’s lunar satellite, the Smart 1 probe, was today crashed onto the Moon’s surface in a controlled collision. News Report

Concern for the Clanger communities on the Moon was raised by the reception of a Clanger broadcast two hours after the impact, unfortunately no soundtrack was received.

Still from Clanger broadcast.

The whereabouts of The Soup Dragon are currently unknown.

Mood : none

2006-09-03T11:03:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

This morning I finished the Great Scottish Run 10k in an unofficial time of 1 hour 12 minutes.

I will post a report over at my running blog Beat the Hour once I have had something to eat and a relaxing bath

Kev

Mood : none

2006-08-28T19:42:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Gacked shamelessly from Suthern

From the Advertising Slogan Generator

Go On, Get Your Kev Out.

Get More From Kev.

The Lighter Way To Enjoy Kev.

Only The Crumbliest Flakiest Kev.

Kev Is Good For You.

Mood : cheerful

2006-08-27T19:45:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have decided to make a serious attempt at running a 10k road race in under an hour. This will require training and running as many races as I can next year. So that I can keep track of my training and list up coming events when I find out about them I have started an off shoot blog called Beat the Hour

Kev

Mood : none

2006-08-23T14:31:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I hate being back at work as I don’t seem to have any energy left for the important things in life like blogging! I promise I will start doing the rounds of my blog pals again very soon and find out what you have all been up to

On September the 3rd I am running the Great Scottish Run 10k this is the big one of the year for me. I had thought about getting sponsorship for this, however with the recent problems with my toe I have not had a chance to get organised and there was a chance that I wouldn’t be able to run anyway. However it is looking a lot more certain now. Maybe next year for the sponsorship.

Louise and I are going to play golf this evening, no don’t worry I haven’t started on the slippery slope to becoming a golf bore, it is indoor Crazy Golf

Kev

Mood : none

2006-08-13T20:40:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

After my cut toe and blisters I am able to walk normally again. I hope that by this time next week my feet will be healed enough that I will be able to get out for a few runs. On 3rd of September I am running the Great Scottish Run 10K which I think will be my last 10K of this year. I had hoped to run the 10K in under an hour but I think this will have to wait until next year. I must get more serious about training!

This week I will post the next chapter of Hb

I am once more battling with Linux on an old laptop to get wireless connection. I am trying Ubuntu at the moment but I think I will try SUSE again.

Kev

Mood : okay

2006-08-11T19:44:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have not been blogging much the past week, writing or reading. The first thing has been that I am back at work after my holiday and I have been quite tired in the evenings. The second reason is that I have been having some toe problems.

On Saturday evening I noticed dark patch on the toe next to the little toe on my left foot, like an idiot I touched it and it started bleeding. I must have cut it at some point, I have no idea when or how. It is a small cut just at the left corner of the nail so it may just have been a sharp nail edge that caused it. It took ages for me to get it to stop bleeding not before I had dripped blood up and down the bathroom carpet. It was fine all of Sunday.

Monday morning being my first day back at work I really needed to have a shower in the morning, so it did and the toe started bleeding again and once again making my bathroom look like a scene from CSI !

On Tuesday morning my toe felt a little sore so I was starting to get worried about it being infected. I took another shower but this time I decided to protect the toe from the water, the only way I could think of doing this was to put a condom over my foot. This worked very well although I had to be careful not to slip, however my strategy to prevent my toe from bleeding came to nought as while I was drying myself I knocked the hairbrush from the shelf above the bathroom sink and it fell straight on to my toe and started it bleeding again!

I got it stopped again but decided to phone my Dr to get an appointment. Now I have never actually met my Dr as I have never been ill enough since I move to Glasgow. I was to be denied the chance as the receptionist said I would have to go to Accident & Emergency, which I did after work. The Dr there cleaned it and told me to keep it clean and if it got worse to come back.

Wednesday my toe was very sore but it had stopped bleeding, I was limping badly this was due to my toe now having blistered due to the rubbing of the plaster against my trainers while walking. I decided not to wear my trainers while I was at work on Thursday and Friday, it was weird walking around the office in my socks but at least I wasn’t in pain.

To add to this lunacy I borrowed a pair of sandals as I was going into town on Thursday evening, not wanting to commit the fashion faux-pa of wearing sock with sandals I went without. This worked in that my toe was okay and I could walk normally, however I got blisters on the soles of both my feet. I really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

So here we are at Friday I bet you are glad, if you have made it all this way. I have drained the blister on the toe so it won’t rub as much and and I am hoping it will be better tomorrow.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-08-04T13:27:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Islay & Jura Panorama

Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I have uploaded this panorama of Islay & Jura to Flickr it is best view on the Large setting.

Kev

2006-07-30T19:53:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 3 of Hb is online.

Mood : none

2006-07-29T18:19:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Sunset over the Isle of Jura

Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I have been on holiday for a week at Port Ban in Argyll, the beach looked across the Sound of Jura to the Isle of Jura where George Orwell completed Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Louise and I had a very relaxing time and we hope to go back in the future and do some of the things that we did get round to doing this time.

I have around 150 photos from the week, several of Jura with sunsets and mists. I also have photos from two Standing Stone sites in Argyll. I will post many of them to my Flickr steam tomorrow.

I had a chance to do a fair bit of writing and when I get it typed up I will be adding more chapters to Hb

It was good to be disconnected from the web for a week to get a little break, even my mobile phone was useless as it didn’t get a signal and I forgot the charger

Anyway enough about me how you all doing?

Kev

2006-07-20T10:47:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Argh!

When I got my new mobile phone about 4 months ago I went round the online job agencies that I had registered with and update my CV and details with the new number. I have just discovered that I had entered a 7 instead of a 1 into my the Address Book on my Mac, so when I referenced the number I put the wrong number down everywhere!

Is it any wonder I have not had a call from anyone, they could e-mail but if you called someone who claimed to be a techie person and found they had the wrong number on their CV would you bother!!

As the saying goes, PANTS!

Kev

Mood : pissed off

2006-07-20T01:27:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

At the moment it is too hot to sleep, if I have the fan on it is too noise for me to sleep and the instant I turn it off I feel as if I have been set on fire. Okay I exaggerate but it is not pleasant.

Tomorrow evening I am running a 5k race, I think I will need plenty of water!

I am off for a weeks holiday on Saturday, a chance to escape the computers and recharge. Of course me being, well, me I am starting to worry about all the little things that could go wrong, they won’t but that won’t stop part of my twisted mind from torturing some other part.

The internet connection to our office went down today and our head technician had a conversation with some one at our ISP’s tech support that went a bit like this.

Our Tech (OT) : How long before you can give us an update.

ISP : I could be 24 hours.

OT : 24 hours!

ISP : But we will keep you up-to-date as we progress.

OT : I’ll give you the number to phone.

ISP: We can’t phone, we’ll send e-mail.

OT : That’s no use.

ISP : Why?

OT : Because we don’t have an Internet connection!

I honestly think it was Dogberts tech-support we got through to.

Kev

Mood : hot

2006-07-18T15:04:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Chapter 2 of Hb is online.

Mood : none

2006-07-16T16:48:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

For a while I have wanted to have a writing project to focus on so I have decided to take one of my writing ideas to produce an online novel, it will be published on its own blog. My plan is to publish at least a chapter a month, initially it may be more.

The first chapter of my online vampire novel can be found at Hb

News etc will be published on my Writing Blog

Kev

Mood : none

2006-07-12T23:16:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Mood : none

2006-07-12T00:15:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

In the last year I seem to have become obsessed with Vampire stories. I guess it started off when my girlfriend lent me her Buffy tapes and DVD’s. I have been watching Angel on the Sci-Fi channel and I have just watched Ultraviolet on DVD and it is also being repeated on Sci-Fi .

I have written a skit piece about a Vampire hunter. I am planning a second part and now I have another much longer Vampire story forming in my head which is keeping me from switching off and getting the sleep I need.

If the story does manage to escape from my brain to the word processor I will post it here.

Kev

Mood : awake

2006-07-08T15:37:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Actually I haven’t forgotten about blogging it is mainly I have had nothing worth blogging about, no change there you all shout.

It has also been quite hot for the last month or so, something we are not very used to in Scotland, this tends to mean I am too hot at night and I don’t get a very good sleep. As a result I have little or no energy left when I get back from work, hence the lack of blog writing and reading. I will do my best to catch up with my blog list this weekend.

Updates here will be thin on the ground until I return from my holiday at the end of the month as I have a web development project to get started and I am working on a couple of projects for the blog. I have a few ideas for a follow up to Diary of a Wannabe Vampire Slayer and I am working up some ideas for a PodCast script. Also I hope to have some photos to share from my holiday.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-23T21:05:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Stonehenge Panorama

Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

Yesterday I downloaded the latest version of the Mac OS X driver for my HP scanjet 3670 scanner. I don’t know if it was with previous version but I discovered an application called HP Panorama Stitching in the software folder. So I gave it a go with three photos of Stonehenge that I took last summer and the result I got can be seen above. The full size version is huge.

Does anyone out there have a large format printer?

Kev

2006-06-19T21:14:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I had to leave work before mid-day today as I had a migraine. I had felt it coming on before I left for work and had taken the first dose of the pills that I take for migraines, but I forgot to take the box with me for the second dose and my right eye started to go so I bailed, went home and slept for 5 hours.

In blog related news, I have removed the message box after it got spammed, it is replaced with an image from my new webcam and online chat indicators. If you want to chat and don’t have my details already then comment with the system you use and I will email you my details.

Kev

Mood : tired

2006-06-18T15:21:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

10k Race Medals

Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

This morning I took part in and completed the Vale of Leven 10k races which was the fourth and final race in the Polaroid 10K Series. My finishing time was 1 hour and 6 minutes which I think is quite good given the rain and that it was the hilliest of the four courses. The second kilometre was a killer all up hill. I have an abrasion on my left foot and a small blister on my right, both of which originated in the race at Helensburgh. I think I need to get new socks for running. Due to the rain my running shirt stuck to my body a lot more than usual and I have a slight case of joggers nipple.

At the moment my next race will be a 5K at Glasgow Green in July but I will keep hunting around to see if there are any more 10K that I can get to before the Great Scottish Run in September.

Kev

2006-06-17T20:03:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Tagged by Waltzingalong under condition 3, but I have opened out condition one for non-LJ blogs.

1) Comment and I’ll ~~pick one of your LJ interests~~ have a quick read of your blog and make you an icon.

2) You have no say in what I make.

3) Put this in your journal so I can do the same. (unless you’re unable to make ‘em)

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-13T21:46:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have released version 2.0 of my WordPress plugin myMooMus the post for this can be found at my development blog Coding All Hours here

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-12T20:37:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I have at last booked my two weeks summer holidays with the work so all I need to do now is organise somewhere to go! The plan for one week is for Louise and I to head up to the North of Scotland and just chill out. I hope to get some photography done and I must remember to check out if there are any ancient sites where we end up going. I don’t have plans for the second week at the moment.

This week I hope at last to get version 2 of my WordPress plugin, myMooMus out to the world, I am getting kind of bored with it and want to move on to other projects. I will still support it and fix it when things go wrong but I think it is more or less “feature” complete and I other projects rattling around my brain that I want to have a go at.

Okay off to check my blog list and see what everyone has been up to

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-08T15:55:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

At the moment Scotland is in the grip of a heat-wave, by that I mean the temperature is what most of the rest of the world would think of as just nice but here we are melting. The office I work in rarely has a comfortable temperature, it is too hot or cold and at the moment it is too hot. Today we hired an air cooler and it has changed the problem. The problem is now the noise from the air cooler, the delightful fish like smell and the heat is still there.

In other news my official time for the Clydebank 10k last week was 1h 03m 40s and I was placed 841 out of 861. I am running the Dumbarton 10k this evening, hope it cools down a little

Kev

Mood : hot

2006-06-06T07:52:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yes I have changed my theme yet again. The teaser posts were leading up to this and hopefully they make sense once now.

I discovered this theme thanks to Aj who is also using a theme by Derek Punsalan

Now the reasons why. Well first of all I saw the “drawer” effect on Aj blog and the geek in me took over, go on click about or blogs above, you know you want too

The second reason for the change was that although I liked a lot of things about my previous theme there were things that I was never happy with. The banner didn’t really turn out as I wanted and I missed my old B&W inverted images, three of them have now returned. The drop cap was a nice idea but it broke some older posts and made blogging from Flickr impossible with out editing by hand afterwards.

Originally I had wanted to break away from the default WordPress layout but when I gave up writing my own template that kind of got lost.

I have kept most of the colour scheme from the previous theme, this was a last minute decision when I decided that the colours I had been using were too stark.

This theme gives me some more room to play with due to some stuff being tucked away in the “drawers”. So I have added recent comments and a message box. My recently played tracks from last.fm are now at the bottom of the page wit the technorati search box. The last.fm chart includes a preview button for tracks that they have in their system so you can get the usual 15 second preview by clicking the green speaker.

I will continue to tweak the design over the next few days and if the browser you use is doing something terrible with it then please let me know. I have still to run it through the checkers.

Oh and click the search link at the top it is way cool.

Oh and if you are reading this post on my LJ or Blogger mirror, sorry for wasting your time.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-04T01:30:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yes I have changed my theme yet again. The teaser posts were leading up to this and hopefully they make sense once now.

I discovered this theme thanks to Aj who is also using a theme by Derek Punsalan

Originally I had wanted to break away from the default WordPress layout but when I gave up writing my own template that kind of got lost.

I have kept most of the colour scheme from the previous theme, this was a last minute decision when I decided that the colours I had been using were too stark.

I will continue to tweak the design over the next few days and if the browser you use is doing something terrible with it then please let me know. I have still to run it through the checkers.

Oh and click the search link at the top it is way cool.

Oh and if you are reading this post on my LJ or Blogger mirror, sorry for wasting your time.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-04T01:28:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yes I have changed my theme yet again. The teaser posts were leading up to this and hopefully they make sense once now.

I discovered this theme thanks to Aj who is also using a theme by Derek Punsalan

Originally I had wanted to break out of the default WordPress layout but when I gave up writing my own template and decided to use K2, which is not much different from the standard one and I didn’t do much work to change it.

I have kept most of the colour scheme from the previous theme, this was a last minute decision when I decided that the colours I had been using were too stark.

I will continue to tweak the design over the next few days and if the browser you use is doing something terrible with it then please let me know. I have still to run it through the checkers.

Oh and click the search link at the top it is way cool.

Oh and if you are reading this post on my LJ or Blogger mirror, sorry for wasting your time.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-04T01:27:00.001Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yes I have changed my theme yet again. The teaser posts were leading up to this and hopefully they make sense once now.

I discovered this theme thanks to Aj who is also using a theme by Derek Punsalan

Now the reasons why. Well first of all I saw the “drawer” effect on Aj blog and the geek in me took over, go on click about or blogs above, you know you want too

The second reason for the changes was that although I liked a lot of things about my previous theme there were things that I was never happy with. The banner didn’t really turn out as I wanted and I missed my old B&W inverted images, three of them have now returned. The drop cap was a nice idea but it broke some older posts and made blogging from Flickr impossible with out editing by hand afterwards.

I have kept most of the colour scheme from the previous theme, this was a last minute decision when I decided that the colours I had been using were too stark.

I will continue to tweak the design over the next few days and if the browser you use is doing something terrible with it then please let me know. I have still to run it through the checkers.

Oh and click the search link at the top it is way cool.

Oh and if you are reading this post on my LJ or Blogger mirror, sorry for wasting your time.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-04T01:27:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yes I have changed my theme yet again. The teaser posts were leading up to this and hopefully they make sense once now.

I discovered this theme thanks to Aj who is also using a theme by Derek Punsalan

Now the reasons why. Well first of all I saw the “drawer” effect on Aj blog and the geek in me took over, go on click about or blogs above, you know you want too

The second reason for the changes was that although I liked a lot of things about my previous theme there were things that I was never happy with. The banner didn’t really turn out as I wanted and I missed my old B&W inverted images, three of them have now returned. The drop cap was a nice idea but it broke some older posts and made blogging from Flickr impossible with out editing by hand afterwards.

I have kept most of the colour scheme from the previous theme, this was a last minute decision when I decided that the colours I had been using were too stark.

I will continue to tweak the design over the next few days and if the browser you use is doing something terrible with it then please let me know. I have still to run it through the checkers.

Oh and click the search link at the top it is way cool.

Oh and if you are reading this post on my LJ or Blogger mirror, sorry for wasting your time.

Kev

Mood : none

2006-06-03T11:18:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Old things are always in good repute, present things in disfavor.

Tacitus

Mood : mischievous

2006-06-02T12:27:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

A safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past is to force open a crammed drawer. If you are searching for anything in particular you don’t find it, but something falls out at the back that is often more interesting.

James M. Barrie

Scottish dramatist & novelist (1860 - 1937)

Mood : none

2006-06-02T07:27:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Test Post

2006-06-01T20:59:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Well I am pleased to say that my legs and feet are no where as sore as they were last week and I completed the Clydebank 10K in an unofficial personal best time of 1 hour 4 minutes.

I seems there should have been medals at the Helensburgh 10K last week but it seems the supplier sent ones marked Half Marathon by mistake, I should get the Helensburgh medal at the fourth race in the series.

Okay off for a soak in the bath.

Kev

Mood : Thrilled

2006-06-01T07:59:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Change is inevitable. In a progressive country change is constant.

Benjamin Disraeli, Speech, Edinburgh (1867)

British politician (1804 - 1881)

Mood : none

2006-05-31T01:12:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Well it is past 2 am and my brain is still buzzing away and refusing to consider sleep. I have been through my blog list and commented on a few. Apologies if I have made no sense, what’s new you all say, or left very bad spelling. Okay off to try and find something boring on TV to shut my brain off, and no I will not stoop to watching Big Brother. I have totally ignored it this year and I will continue to do so.

Night, night.

Kev

Mood : tired

2006-05-29T21:18:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

The results of the Helensburgh 10K race that I took part in last Thursday are online. I finished in 943 place out of 958. My official time was better than my estimate 01h 12m 33s my only other time over 10K was 01h 07m 01s. Another outcome of the race on Thursday was that it became obvious to me that I needed a new pair of running shoes. I have loved my asics GT-2090 that I bought two years ago since I first ran in them, they are so light I hardly knew I had them on, sadly after Thursday my feet were sore in a way they should not have been. When I wore other trainers or shoes they were okay but when I put on the GT’s my feet started to complain. Looking at the soles they are well worn and my arches are not getting enough support.

Today being a holiday here I took a leisurely stroll into town to the Run 4 It section at the Tiso shop. I had a look at the shoes they had but there were a few people about trying on shoes so I couldn’t get to some of them, so I decided to grab something to eat at the in store cafe.

I had a nice bowl of soup with crusty bread and a pot of tea, being the sad geek I am I took a picture of the cup of tea and tea pot.

When I returned to the shoes I was able to spot the pair I had in mind, the asics GT-2110. These are the current version of my old shoes and when I tried them on they felt good. They have a treadmill in the shop so you can try your shoes while running which is a good idea, the new shoes felt like my old ones at their best when I took a run, so I am now the happy owner of a nice new pair of running shoes with that new trainer smell

I hope to go out for a little run tomorrow evening to test them out a bit more and they will get a good run on Thursday at the Clydebank 10k.

Kev

2006-05-29T18:23:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

I hope to go out for a little run tomorrow evening to test them out a bit more and they will get a good run on Thursday at the Clydebank 10k.

Kev

Mood : happy Tv : V on the Sci Fi 80's weekend

2006-05-26T21:31:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Gacked shamelessly from Oasis oh and check out the cracking joke here

Kev

Mood : none

2006-05-25T21:20:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Three to go.. Earlier this evening I completed the the Helensburgh 10K road race in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I was about 5th to last I think but getting round was the aim and I did it. The only other 10K race I have run was 2 years ago and I completed that in 1 hour and 7 minutes so I am quite happy with the time considering my lack of preparation.

The race is part of the Polaroid 10K Road Race Series the other three are at Clydebank Thu. 1st June,Dumbarton Thu. 8th June and Vale of Leven Sun. 18 Jun.

Off for some food and a bath

Kev

Mood : Not a mood but sore feet :)

2006-05-24T16:22:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Mood : amused
Tv : Enterprise

test again

2006-05-24T16:17:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Mood : Fine
Music : It's Magic

Test please ignore

2006-05-24T16:15:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Another Test

Mood : artistic Music : Test Tv : Enterprise

2006-05-23T22:36:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yep! I have finally got my sister blogging. So for blogging on Crafty things, Greetings Cards and the like, checkout made by mee the Crafty blog from made by val.

Kev

2006-05-22T18:18:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Mood : curious Tv : Test

Trying to debug the mood plugin

2006-05-19T21:45:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Friday, yay! Honestly I must stop saying this every Friday, but I doubt I will. I have spent the evening adding new photo’s to my Flicker account and listening to whatever the party mix on iTunes throws at me. I have added a recently listened to chart on the sidebar near the bottom.

Tomorrow I am going to see The Beautiful South, wiki, at the Carling Academy.

Next week I will be running, or more likely jogging a bit and walking , my first 10K race of the year. I am doing a series of four in the next four weeks.

Kev

Mood : tired Tv : United We Scam : Jello Biafra

2006-05-15T21:06:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

For part one and useful links about the Glasgow to Loch Lomond route please see the post here.

Bowling to Loch Lomond

The path from the Bowling Memorial Park is wooded and offered some nice shade on a warm morning. This section also as some of the few gradients on the route and even then they are nothing that should bother anyone who is aiming to cycle 20 miles. Twice you have to dismount and cross a road before rejoining the path. The second crossing is at the exit and entrance to a busy roundabout so care should be taken map

After crossing the road the path runs behind Milton, wiki, with the railway on one side and a nature area with reed ponds on the other. I take it there would be some information about this but I didn’t spot any, to be honest I didn’t spot them at all until I was on the way back. The path now reaches the outskirts of Dumbarton, wiki, satellite, and there is some on road cycling.

In Dumbarton I had the only mishap of the day, just after I crossed the road to go over Dumbarton Bridge my back wheel stuck! It had come loose some how, luckily I was not cycling at the time. I quickly reset it and made sure it was secure. Now the farside of Dumbarton Bridge has a slight mystery. If you check out this satellite photo Dumbarton Bridge is at the bottom and the route is signed posted to follow the road round to the left and up the hill then the you are directed down the back of the tower blocks. However there is a cycle path that runs from the end of the bridge which would avoid this detour. I took the photos below from Dumbarton Bridge on my way back.

The path from here is straight forward and it is good to be able to count down the miles as you pass Renton, wiki, satellite and Alexandria, wiki, satellite. As it was a nice day along the riverside there were plenty of people out fishing and walking dogs.

I reached Lomond Shores in Balloch, wiki, satellite, at 10:30,

Balloch has a train station so if you want to take the easy way back to Glasgow you can hop on the train. I cycled back, a little slower than the cycle out as I was getting tired and the wind was now in my face.

I will leave you with a photo of “The Worlds First Sail Thru’ Fish & Chip Take Away” on the canal side at Clydebank and one of the sunburn pattern on the back of my hand thanks to my cycling gloves

2006-05-14T23:20:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

On Saturday I cycled from Glasgow to Loch Lomond and back. I followed the National Cycle Network N7 route. You can find a PDF with information and a route map here. On my way I took some photos and video clips on my phone, some of which I have included here.

I wanted to start early as some of the weather forecasts were saying there would be rain later, however this turned out to be wrong as my sunburn testifies. I started off from my flat at about 6:30am, which is a totally unnatural hour to be doing anything on a Saturday.

Part One : Clyde Walkway to Bowling

I started the route proper on the Clyde Walkway at the corner of Clyde Street and Gorbals Street on this map

The first part of the route to the Tall Ship take you past some of Glasgow best known landmarks and attractions. The Finnieston Crane, wikipedia, satellite. The Armadillo at the SECC, wikipedia, satellite and the Glasgow Science Centre, wikipedia, satellite, my photos of GSC. At the Tall Ship the route crosses the motorway, I took the photo below from the bridge.

The next section is not the most picturesque, it starts off along side the motorway and then take a few diversions before taking an underpass back under the motorway. There is a lot of construction going on in this area so there is not much to see. The route eventually joins a path along the old railway line through Scotstoun, wikipedia, satellite. The tarmac along this section is graffitied with the names of local gangs and I would not be comfortable being there at night. The route through Yoker, wikipedia, satellite, to Clydebank is well sign posted, however at Cart Steet I missed the fact that there was an underpass on the right, satellite This only caused me to take a brief diversion as I knew from the map that I needed to pickup the path at the back of the Playdrome Leisure Centre.

The path from Clydebank, wikipedia, to Bowling, wikipedia, along the Forth & Clyde Canal, wikipedia, is one of the most beautiful parts of the route. On this stretch you pass under the Eskine Bridge, wikipedia, satellite. Below is a photo of the bridge taken from the canal tow path on the Bowling side.

At the end of the canal there is a bike shop which also sells cold soft drinks from what I gather from the signs outside. I stopped at the memorial park in Bowling for a breather and took the video and photo below.

Bowling is the half way point and it is the first time I remember actually seeing the distance remaining marked on the signs.

Tomorrow Bowling to Loch Lonond

Kev

2006-05-12T12:13:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Thanks to the WordPress plugin LiveJournal Crossposter (LJXP) I am at last able do what I said I would when I set up my LJ account which is to run both in tandem. I could have done this by hand but I am far too lazy I am going to contact the author of LJXP to see if it is possible to send the mood from myMooMus to LJ’s mood.

On Saturday I had a great time The Alarm concert it was worth the wait I have booked tickets for The Beautiful South, who are in Glasgow in May.

I have sent out the second beta of myMooMus 2.0. I am hoping that I can get it released so that I can concentrate on other things for a while.

Kev

Mood : geeky

2006-05-11T21:13:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

W00T! This evening I managed to get out on my bike, my attempt on Tuesday failed when I realised that my back tyre was a little soft and when I went to inflate it the pump died, not sure how as it worked the night before but it wasn’t pumping air any more.

I went to Pollock Country Park and did the ‘Green’ and ‘Blue’ mountain bike circuits. Just at the end of the ‘Blue’ circuit my front mud guard got cought up behind the wheel and jammed. I only put the mud guards on when I used the bike to go to work, so I think this was the bike saying “Well if you are going to use me as a mountain bike at long last, let me look like a damn mountain bike!” I removed it and dumped it in a bin. You can see details of the circuits here.

I almost swallowed a bug ::eugh:: & I will spare you from the photo of me in my cycle gear that I had thought about posting with this entry

Kev

Mood : excited Tv : Battlestar Gallactica : Lay down your burdens Pt 1

2006-05-09T16:43:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Please remember to feed your passengers

feed

Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

2006-05-09T07:55:00.000Z

This entry was originally published at Darkest Before Dawn

Yesterday while doing a little shopping for anti-histamines at Braehead I decide to pop in to the Govan Lidl as I reckoned that the two eggs, carton of orange juice and half used jar of red pesto I had in the fridge was not going to make a very satisfying meal. If you are not familiar with Lidl they are a German low price supermarket and on a weekly basis they have hard goods for sale, one week it could be BBQ equipment the next fitness or computer equipment. This week they had bicycle stuff!! I picked up a wireless bicycle computer for £5.99. A couple of years ago I bought one, for more than double that on eBay, and never got it to work due to fixing provided not permitting me to set the transmitter and the magnet close enough. So the good news is that I have it set up now and after making sure my back tyre is on the right way ::red face:: It took me two goes ::even redder face:: and getting oily hands which are still not clean after 5 washes I am going for a cycle tonight.

Mood : high