I've always liked magpies. Plucky and smart little buggers; according to The Internet they are the only non-mammal that can recognise themself in the mirror.

So when, after hockey last week, Malcolm found an injured one just sitting in Platt Fields Park, we knew we had to do something. The RSPB office was closed, and the RSPCA just suggested taking care of it overnight and taking it to a vet the next morning. So Malc placed Charlie (decided after a quick vote) on a spare t-shirt and carried it to Hardy's... where a lot of very drunk and loud freshers were celebrating the end of term.

Not a good place for Charlie.

Since I lived close, I took it home and, having failed to get anyone in possession of a car able to take it to the vet, put in a quiet, dark and comfy box for the night. Despite some nasty looking injuries (lots of missing feathers and bare, somewhat bloody, skin showing) and heavy breathing, Charlie survived the night, and it's breathing had improved substantially by the morning. I took it to the vet who said the injuries were mostly superficial, but confirmed my suspicions that the stress and shock were the biggest danger. I had hoped that, having survived a night, the worst had passed.

Unfortunately, I rang them up this morning and Charlie hadn't survived the weekend. Damn.

Since I got my new iPod  I've found some things rather awkward. I have some suggestions, and I'm sure Apple will take them on board pronto. Hmm. Anyway:

iTunes

• Be more object-oriented. Pretty much every object can be easily drag-and-dropped in the Zune software: songs into albums, albums into other albums, genres, playlists... that kind of thing. Moving things about in ITunes requires extensive and laborious tag editing.
• Embedded album art. Personally, I much prefer art to be embedded into the files themselves rather than linked via a library or folder structure. iTunes should allow this option. Changing the artwork also requires messing about with tags when it could easily be done with a right-click option or, dare-I-say-it, drag-and-dropped.
• Artist and song linking. Sometimes bands change names, or artists form new ones, or have side-projects, or collaborate, remix, or get bootlegged. Some way of linking these bands together would be rather handy! And songs get covered, performed live, come in different versions and in different releases. Again, these need linking.
• Object classification. I have lots of LPs. I have lots of SPs. I have EPs. I have lots of isolated, orphan tracks. I have lots of compilations. Albums contain singles. Singles contain A- and B-sides. This all needs recording somewhere.
• Sorting options. iTunes has its own ideas of how to sort things. Sometimes this is useful. Sometimes I need things sorted by several fields and it won't play ball.
• Library Management. A common complaint: if songs have moved or been deleted, please at least provide an option to update the library. Active scanning would be a plus!
• Library as tags. Ratings, last-played... these could be embedded into tags, if required. I am all about portability and backups, and a library database on its own is rather limited/ing.
• iPod Transcoding. Let iTunes transcode songs as they sync to the iPod. Especially my Ogg tracks!

iPod

Now, I own a classic and am purely and selfishly interested in updating its functionality, so sod those newfangled iPod Touches. This is just for the click-wheel posse:

• Now Playing. Whatever is playing now is part of a queued playlist. Being able to view, edit, append-to (enqueue) and insert-into (play next) that playlist would be more than just handy. This could come under the general umbrella of Playlist Management.
  
  • View. We already have a Now Playing Screen. A simple option from holding or tapping the central button should show the queued playlist.
  • Edit. An option through holding the central button whilst viewing the playlist; Delete, Select Multiple and Move are obvious options.
  • Enqueue and Play Next. I admit, I saw this general idea somewhere on the net. When you are viewing your library, there's usually no need to skip tracks. After all, the Play/Pause button is already co-opted to play your current selection.
    
    • Tap >>| Enqueue selected object to Now Playing
    • Hold >>| Options to enqueue, play next, or change working playlist... or even just plain Skip Track/Fast Forward
• Group playlist by song or by album. Looking through a list of song titles can get a little unwieldy. Grouping them into albums (and I am generally an album person) would be handy. This could be an option in Settings or used on the fly with the |<< button
• Quicker Scroll. Navigating long lists with the scroll wheel is a pain. There are currently two options: Search (requires premeditation!) and Quick Search, accessed by scrolling very fast. But I find that awkward: on the Classic, at least, it is very hard to keep my finger on the wheel without it straying to the outside or centre. So I have a Zune-inspired solution: swipe scrolling! On any part of the wheel, just make small quick swipes in the direction you want to navigate. After 3 swipes, it should move, say, 1/10th of the way through the list. Every additional swipe should move another 10th. How easy would that be?
• Small Album Grouping. If you've got lots of singles and orphaned tracks, it would be handy to group them up so they don't clutter the place. Perhaps any album of less than 5 songs could be grouped into one meta-album under its Artist. Again, maybe an |<< option?
• More codec support! Please, please, support Flac and, more importantly, Ogg!
• Sleep timer extension. More choice of minutes, after n songs, or the end of the playlist!

I wish this kind of thing would stop happening.

I was already annoyed that my iPod had frozen and so I had to ride back home in silence. And I had a feeling that something was going to happen.

Location: Wilsmlow Rd, outside Owen's Park. As I prepare to make the switch from the cycle lane alongside the pavement to the one next to the bus/taxi partition, a taxi weaves in just in front of me. No matter, I think, I shall just steer right and get to the lane as I meant to anyway. But the taxi driver apparently did not mean to stay in lane - no, he was going to turn a 180.  With me coming along his right hand side. I couldn't brake without him hitting me, so I just turned as much as I could without toppling over... but surely that would be OK: surely he couldn't miss me?

Well, no, he did not miss me. At least I took the bugger's wing mirror off.

Now.... well, I the pannier rack is a bit bent out of shape and the rear wheel is a little buggered. Got the iPod working though.

Well, hey, I'm not sure you're going to believe this, but this is intended to be a fairly long post with absolutely no angst whatsoever. I kid you not.

Zune Vs iPod

As many of you are aware, last year I bought a Zune:

A quick review: Zunes are (still) not even released in this country, so why buy one? Well, given that I wanted a large capacity there was really only a choice between the iPod classic (then available in 80 and 120Gb versions) and this. And this had a built-in radio. And a large, shiny screen. And, yes, I wanted to be different.

And it was good. True, I couldn't access the store/social side of things as I'm here in the UK, and it was hard to accesorise, but I was happy with it. With at least 2 firmware and software updates since I bought it, navigation and general use has been enjoyable too. That 'squircle' pad in the middle? Actually very easy to use.

And last week it broke. The pad stopped responding, and I could not fix it. So later that very same day I ordered an iPod Classic 120:

I outfitted it with a FM radio/remote control and was ready to rock. I am also taking this opportunity to rerip all my songs as very high quality aac tracks, the ones currently in the incompatible ogg format first. My work computer can do this ridiculously fast.

So, my thoughts: it's certainly smaller than the Zune, though the old boy had a rugged, generally pleasant feel and aesthetic to it. iTunes is... well, I'm not too sold on it. It doesn't feel as friendly or intuitive as the Zune software is. And I am finding the clickwheel thingy tough-going too. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though. After all, it's not like I have a choice.

.... Well, actually, I do. After spending £200 or so on a replacement, the Zune has returned to life! After properly powering down through lack of use (something that could not be done manually without the pad working), it has decided it doesn't like being replaced quite fickly.

So... Zune Vs iPod?

Well, I like the remote! And being able to use iPod docks and whatnot is surprisingly beguiling. I think I'll use the iPod for music and the Zune with its bigger screen (double the size, in fact) for videos. Videos are not something I've bothered about before, but now... yes, I think I shall.

Phoney Phings

I recently went and upgraded my HTC Diamond's firmware to a hacked version of its successor's - hell, let's continue with the gallery!

I can confirm that it's much nicer than the original. However, it can be slow and buggy, and occasionally a bit resetty. So tonight I think I shall have a go at upgrading it to something else. Not sure what yet.

EDIT: I went to a ROM with a hacked copy of the as-yet unreleased Windows Mobile 6.5:


In other techy stuff, I now have on my laptop...

New Operating Systems!

I upgraded Ubuntu to Jaunty Jackalope (9.10)


Which seems alright but can't detect my sound card. So I've pretty much left it alone. But, more exciting than that, I have replaced my XP install with the brand spanking new release candidate of Windows 7.

And it's bloody nice. Yup. I recommend it.

Everything Else

First of all, I recommend everyone go over and start using Spotify. It's bloody good. I've been spending quite a bit of time in university at my computer, and it's helped a lot.


Secondly, I've just read the greatest book of all time: Shatnerquake


And thirdly, I got Player of the Year (for the 3rd team, anyway!) at the hockey club do. Wooh me!


And Wooh Mahinda, who was the 2nd team's winner!

I've had it a year, but the touchpad on my Zune has stopped responding, so it looks like I need a new mp3 player. Well, damn.

It's been some time, I think, since I last put anything even vaguely substantial on here, so here we go!

Nothing much has happened. Last week I went on a teamworking exercise for my PhD with the rest of our cohort, the Warwick DTC and a few from one in Nottingham. We all got well fed, had some fun activities, and got the Myers-Briggs psychological version of Everybody Poops. (I am INFP, in case you're interested)

I was fairly hyper all week, and as you can see by my rather un-locquacious description, I'm now on the following downswing. Not depressed, per se, but... certainly more introverted, reflective and frustratable. (Although I managed to divert myself today on the Go Ape ropes.)

A fair amount of discussion was given to why the hell I am the way I am - introverted?! - and the answers I mostly gave were along the lines that I am a bit bipolar and neurotic, and all full of social anxieties. And I think that's true. But I didn't really say anything about the fact that most of the time I really am kind of melancholy or bitter-sweet at best, as no-one really wants to hear that and certainly not get into the reasons why. Essentially, I have difficulty forming real relationships with people, most significantly and obviously in the form of a, well, relationship. When I really feel this, and am around girls I like, it's something like a lonely dog in my mind, keening away for people on the other side of a wire mesh, completely unaware. Yes, damnit, I'm lonely. Lonely, not expecting anything to change, and still not able to deal with that.

Of course, depression and loneliness aren't things to advertise; people are too afraid that by coming in contact with an aflictee that they'll be clung to in possibly extremely awkward ways. I might give off that impression; certainly girls who've found out I like them have shown a distinct reticence to ever be around me again....

Well, before I really start getting myself down, I should probably sign-off.

I have been given the following advice. Should I follow it? :D

(12:53:12 AM) rosyatrandom: so: what should I change?
(12:53:23 AM) A: become more perverted
(12:53:36 AM) B: take some chances
(12:53:38 AM) A: don't listen to what girls say
(12:53:46 AM) A: they will say they don't like something
(12:53:51 AM) A: but they do
(12:53:55 AM) A: girls don't know what they like
(12:53:58 AM) B: try rape
(12:54:06 AM) rosyatrandom: Judges are notoriously against this line of reasoning
(12:54:21 AM) A: no
(12:54:26 AM) A: you dont rape them you just
(12:54:29 AM) A: insinuate yourself upon them
(12:54:38 AM) rosyatrandom: I think I know too many girls 10 years younger than me to be more perverted
(12:54:48 AM) A: yes this is your problem
(12:54:51 AM) rosyatrandom: it would be so wrong :D
(12:54:57 AM) A: girls want a man to be the sexually charged one
(12:54:59 AM) A: it gets them off the hook
(12:55:19 AM) A: girls want to be ravished and have their socks licked and all that
(12:55:23 AM) A: but they don't want to ASK for those things
(12:55:26 AM) rosyatrandom: ...
(12:55:28 AM) rosyatrandom: socks?
(12:55:29 AM) rosyatrandom: licked?
(12:55:34 AM) A: just an example
(12:55:41 AM) rosyatrandom: O-o
(12:55:49 AM) B: girls don't want their socks licked, rosy
(12:55:53 AM) rosyatrandom: Oh good
(12:56:03 AM) B: it's just something A neeeds to tell himself
(12:56:05 AM) rosyatrandom: I was beginning to consider celibacy
(12:56:14 AM) A: im sayin
(12:56:20 AM) A: lots of girls
(12:56:21 AM) A: get off to like
(12:56:23 AM) A: tentacle rape porn
(12:56:36 AM) rosyatrandom: are you sure you mean girls?
(12:56:42 AM) A: there's a little fantasy in all girls' heads about just being sexually owned
(12:56:49 AM) rosyatrandom: are you sure you don't mean 40-year old Japanese business men?
(12:56:55 AM) A: them too but also girls
(12:57:00 AM) A: not all gilrs are into THAT specifically
(12:57:01 AM) A: but the point is
(12:57:08 AM) A: the thing that that taps into
(12:57:11 AM) A: for the girls who ARE into it
(12:57:11 AM) rosyatrandom: I... I don't even have any tentacles! /cries
(12:57:12 AM) A: that's universal
(12:57:27 AM) A: they want a freaky perverted guy
(12:57:32 AM) A: you just have to be able to be smooth about it
(12:57:39 AM) A: if you can be charming and perverted
(12:57:41 AM) A: you've got it made
(12:57:43 AM) C: yeah
(12:57:51 AM) C: freaky != creepy
(12:57:55 AM) C: its a delicate balance
(12:58:07 AM) A: yeah
(12:58:10 AM) A: girls call me creepy a lot but
(12:58:13 AM) A: that's just testing to see how i react
(12:58:29 AM) A: ;D
(12:58:52 AM) A: the steps from "ew creepy" to "wake up and fuck me again"
(12:58:55 AM) A: are few
(12:58:58 AM) A: i've found
(12:58:59 AM) C: so true
(12:59:35 AM) A: so that's what you need to do rosy
(12:59:37 AM) A: be more sexually charged
(12:59:40 AM) A: even if you have to fake it

Those paying attention and with good memories may recall that I got a pair of new glasses in November. They were quite nice, rimless affairs:

And here's how they looked:

Ah, hair, I barely knew ye.

Well, here are the problems: they were a bit loose, tended to sit on my face at weird angles and, most importantly, were lost at the pre-show party.

My back-up pair, themselves replaced because of an unfortunate tendency to fall apart at the bridge, have been holding up so far but I have decided it is time to get a new pair. This pair, in fact, which I have ordered today:


Here's hoping they arrive soon and look OK!

I seem to be feeling dissociated from the world again, like I'm hovering on the edge of things and unable to form any real connections. And once more I have begun to wonder if I'm capable of being in a relationship. 

Well, anyway, there's your update for today.

Ah, it's good to be back home.

I just made the hockey game, which was nice. Played well, apparently, and seem to be becoming a wing-back rather than a winger... at least until I get a bit better, technically. Went to straight to a curry at Spicy Hut with Emma, Ade & James and noticed my pannier bag had fallen off at some point. After a lot of worrying and retracing my route in James' car, it turned up at Jackson's Boat, where some cyclist had handed it in. Yay!

Still have a nasty, phlegmy, cough.

As to the rest of Austria... well, the last official night was quite fun, but Friday sucked. Had a long lie-in and walked around the village, randomly meeting up with one group or another. Whatever it was they ended up doing last night, no-one seemed particularly eager on telling me where it was happening, so I went back to my (internet-less) room and had a very early night. So, yes, I felt very excluded and annoyed... but fuck them if that's how it's going to be. I refuse to care.