Phil Wylie’s Ramblings

Wow, almost half a year’s passed since my last post.

You may have noticed my blog’s theme has changed, very observant! I’m using WordPress.com’s “Custom CSS” tool to rip apart the Benevolence theme so that it looks and feels identical to my new website. When will the rest of my new site be ready? Come on, not even I know that

Sport Relief

We ran the Sport Relief mile in Plymouth, raising £80 in total. Big thanks to everyone who sponsored us. We didn’t raise our £100 target but every little helps and all that… We had great fun, that’s what’s important.

Why in Plymouth? We were caravan holidaying in Devon and it was the nearest “flagship” run.

University

I’ve finished the first year of university; I’ve got the results too. I’ve passed everything, just scraped the maths module mind you. But it’s still a pass!

Got to say, the second semester was a little dull, for a web development course, it seriously lacked in web modules. Not to worry though, next year I’m making up for it with a number of web programming modules.

I’ve moved in with my girlfriend, we have a nice flat in Stafford, excellent location… there’s a 24 hour ASDA just a quick walk away and Staffordshire University’s only a short walk in the opposite direction!

Belated birthday celebrations to me!

It was my 19th birthday in May, Tasha and I travelled to Shrewsbury to spend a few days with the family; we all went out to The Riverside Inn for a meal, nice place… the steak and kidney pie even came with my name written in pastry. Awesome I’m sure you’ll agree.

Thanks for checking out my blog, I’m going to make an effort to keep it a little more up to date, so please subscribe to my feed if you’re interested in my dull ramblings!

Two years ago Nick and I ran Sport Relief in Birmingham, raising just over £80 in the process. The event has come around again, and I will be running another sponsored mile, however this time I’ll be in Plymouth and running with Tasha.

We need your support! Together we aim to raise more sponsorship than before; we’ve set our team target at £100.

Unlike last time, the Sport Relief website is fully operational; you can sponsor me at www.mysportrelief.com/pwnet

Everyone and their brothers talking about it, and I’ve seen a few around the uni, I even hear my old mate Adam has one too! I’m talking about the Asus EeePC, I thought I’d document my recent purchase as taking photos of it gives me an excuse to clean up my desk!

It’s a small, inexpensive laptop which I thought might be useful while at university. It’s in no way intended to replace a desktop computer, but it’s very handy at getting on the internet while out and about. No messing around with mobile phone browsers when I can get free WiFi around the university campus, at home and at my girlfriend’s house.

Still not decided what operating system to run on it though, the default install was too limited, so I replaced it with XP, since then I’ve installed Mint Linux, and now I’m considering going back to XP.

My main concern is related to its screen size; some windows become inaccessible as their height is fixed meaning some of the content is out of sight, and without scrollbars it becomes impossible to use. Most frustrating The solution? In Linux, Alt + left-click to drag the window up to reveal the out of sight content. In Windows, you can use the bundled utility to up the resolution, allowing you to “pan” up and down.

There isn’t much more I can say, so until next time, I wish you all the very best.

Asus EeePC Photos

I’m currently in the process of moving accounts to the new PWnet Central system. During this time you may receive an email containing your username and password.

PWnet Central functionality such as ordering/billing and ticket support are offline until the transition is complete. Check the status page for updates.

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, I’ve been busy with university - coming to the end of the first semester. I’m studying Computing Science: Web Development, a four year course (including a years work placement in the third year). I’m living in halls at Staffordshire University, the Stafford campus. I have a small room, restricted internet usage, but apart from that its a nice place!

I’ve been keeping busy, during freshers week I met the most amazing girl in the world, Tasha. We met at one of the union organised events, Tony Lee’s XXX hypnotist comedy night.

We’ve been ice-skating, the first time since going with my secondary school!

Spent a weekend in Portsmouth with Tasha’s best friend, Shona. Went out on the Saturday night to a comedy night/club. The next morning we took a day trip to London, traveling on the train.

A few weeks back we went to see Pendulum performing live in Birmingham, a totally different experience to when I saw them with Nick in May. Definitely worth it.