the life and blog of daniel peake
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cryTunes
Jul 5th
Something bothers me about my music collection in iTunes – and not just the large quantities of 80s poptastic cheese – all the files are in their folders on my computer as normal (maybe 100 or 150 folders), but they appear as thousands of albums. This really really irritates me, and so I decided to empty the database and import the music back into iTunes once again. THIS HAS TAKEN OVER AN HOUR SO FAR, and my computer is by no means shabby. It’s driving me mad, and it really is enough to drive me away from my iPhone, the iTunes management side is terrible. I really don’t like it.
There is a phone at the moment that I really really want, it’s the HP Pre3 and the associated TouchPad. I do love the WebOS operating system – i had the original Palm Pre a couple of years ago. The reason I got rid of it was the lack of apps that WebOS has. I’m hoping this is starting to change, but it’s a change that’s so slow you can witness continents moving in the meantime. I’m hopeful that the WebOS platform will start to take off under HP’s guidance, but they’ve had it for months now and no real change has happened yet… I’m still hopeful though! I do love the look and performance of the Pre (aside from pitiful battery life), and I really really REALLY want a Pre3 and a TouchPad tablet that all talk to each other. I don’t have the necessary £400 to buy the tablet and (expected) £350 to buy the phone though. So, if anyone is feeling generous…. you known what I really want. Thanks in advance.
Speaking of which, it’s the £150m Euromillions Draw tonight. I’d really quite like to win the jackpot all to myself, because I can’t quite think for the life of me what I would actually do with the money. It’s just way too much. I’d like to have fun finding out though…
Does Not Compute
Jun 14th
You know you’ve been working hard all day when you start thinking: “wow, those data files are small, they’re only 2010 bytes”, only to realise later that 2010 was the date.
It doesn’t happen often, but today has been one of those working hard days! Shock, horror, amazement! I’m sure normal service will be resumed shortly though, I’m not sure I could cope with two whole days of work…. could I?!
In other news, I’ve not yet won any lottery jackpot.
Memory Lapse… WIN!
Jun 11th
Last Monday I had the pleasure of having a day away from my rubber cell and I went to Thorpe Park with seven friends. We were all meant to meet up at Wokingham Station at 8:55 so we could all go in two cars for a quick 30 minute journey to the Park.
Myself and Jon were going by train to the station, the others by car. I got on the Reading to London Waterloo train and waited for Jon to join me at Earley so that we could both get off at Wokingham. However, when he got on at Earley, he didn’t find me and as such when we arrived at Wokingham station, the thought going through my head was “Jon will be getting on here” not “Jon and I should get off here”. As such, and this is in no way Jon’s fault, I forgot to get off the train to meet up with friends. I am a complete moron for forgetting to get off, we’d been talking about the travel arrangements for days!
Luckily, the very train I was on also went to Staines, where you can get a bus to the park. So, to try and save face, I instigated a top gear style race to get to Thorpe Park – car vs public transport. I was at an early disadvantage in that the train would be taking a long and slow route and then the bus would also be quite slow. I was delighted to find out that the cars were struck in traffic in Bracknell – I could see the traffic jam from the train! My train was then delayed at Ascot… which was also the scene for a second traffic jam for the cars.
After getting off the train, and taking time to pay my excess fair, I waited for the bus and found out I was about 30 minutes in the lead, and not even Staines traffic could prevent me from reaching the park first! WOOHOO! I’m very relieved I didn’t make the other seven wait for me.
It turned out that my excess fair ticket was still usable – somehow – and so when one of my friends felt ill, he used it to go home early along with the bus return ticket that I wasn’t expecting to buy. So despite the huge idiocy of forgetting to get off the train, it all worked out very nicely. Aside from the ill friend, a good time was had by all. I went on Stealth and I’d forgotton just how BLOODY FAST it goes. I challenged Jon to name as many animals as he could beginning with C during the ride, and he manage a respectable 4 – cat, cow, carp and cock. He later admitted that he only said the last one as an expletive, and didn’t realise it counted! Well done that man.
Dis-orienteering
May 30th
The weekend before last I went orienteering around Reading University campus. It was a free event hosted by the Berkshire Orienteering Society. It is very surprising just how lost you can get in a space you know – or think you know – very well. I decided to (read: was pressured into) doing the long course rather than medium. The long course was 6.4km as the crow flies from orienteering control to control, which accounts for about 10km of actual running. It was great fun… but not the *best* idea to do the day before you move house. It was the first time I’d gone running in several months, so I had the standard aches and pains for a couple of days afterwards. I felt like I was creaking out loud everytime I moved boxes up and down the stairs!
I had a very random day last Wednesday. Who needs context? Here’s some titbits:
- I accidentally caught the bus from Thatcham to Reading
- There was a swarm of bees outside our department
- I walked passed a man boasting “I FELL OVER FOUR TIMES!”
- I got mango chutney on my sleeve.
All in all, a standard day there.
Cross Words
May 12th
I do enjoy attempting The Guardian’s daily cryptic crossword. I don’t often complete it with out help. To appear intelligent on a train I tend to fill the extreme sudoku in with random numbers. Sometimes with greek letters. Sometimes even with heiroglyphs (I know six!). But the crossword… that’s an entirely different beast.
Previous to today, I’ve solved it twice without any aids at all. The first was whilst I was rehearsing to be the narrator for a panto. The second was when I was trying to avoid work at absolutely all costs. It appears that I have to be unfocused from work to do the crossword properly. I have to disengage my brain from useful things, rotate it 90 degrees to look at the world sideways, and jiggle it about a bit to make the neurons talk to each other. It’s not a pretty sight for the others in my office.
Today was another of Those Days where things go in fits and starts. In between productive bits and during lunch break, I looked at the guardian crossword. I was able to solve just three clues, rubbish. I decided to try the Financial Times cryptic instead, and I made swift progress on it and have solved it all… except three clues.
Adding it all together, this means I’ve solved the crossword today, right? Right?! Oh.
Brace Thyself
May 10th
I’ve waited a week to write this post, because I didn’t want the first day’s experience to turn out to be a momentary blip. Sadly, it isn’t, but it’s getting better…
One week ago today, I had an Inman Aligner brace put in my mouth to try and correct the crooked upper set of teeth that I have. They looked a bit like a scree slope, and I want them put straight. The Inman Aligner is basically a spring loaded brace, with one plate pushing the teeth forward from behind and one pulling the teeth back from the front, ‘squeezing’ the teeth into place as it were.
I was warned there would be ‘mild discomfort’ and that I’d have a lisp for a bit. Mild discomfort, you say? If the past week has been mild discomfort then I wouldn’t like to know what pain actually is! Mild discomfort – my buttocks! All this week has been a very painful experience as the teeth get used to the idea of having to move in my mouth. Eating has been painful too, I can’t put any pressure on my teeth, and I’m now very self consious about eating in public. It’s most painful after just taking out / putting in the brace, as there’s the change of pressure then.
Having said that, the ‘mild discomfort’ is now easing, with the past 48 hours (whilst not pain free) getting much better. The severe lisp that I had initially (I was able to say “shuffering shuckatash” extremely well) has half gone, but I still can’t quite speak properly.
I don’t want to appear like I’m bad mouthing (haha!) the Inman Aligner, at least not yet. It’s much quicker than other dental methods, and also cheaper, and maybe I’m a complete wimp for not dealing with the pain. It only kept me awake two nights, after all. But I do think that, with the discomfort lessening, that the pros will now start to outweigh the cons, and in just 4 (ish) months time, I’ll have a nice straight set of teeth.
Then you can punch me in the mouth for telling bad puns, and I’ll start the start the treatment again.
Edit, mid-June: I’ve now been wearing the brace for three and a half weeks and the pain has finally subsided. It’s actually not uncomfortable to wear now, easy to take in and out. There were just a few initial teething difficulties where it was getting the teeth to move in the first place, but that pain has now gone thankfully. Fingers crossed, it will uncross my teeth.
Further edit, early-July: Well, things have moved on tremendously, it’s really straightened my teeth up. I’ll admit to being sceptical, but the difference the brace has had to far after nine weeks is amazing. The dentist even reckons it could be done within one more month! I’ll post up before/after pics as the difference is quite astounding.
Accumulate Grand Final is Live!
Apr 1st
CAN YOU CONTAIN THE EXCITEMENT? Oh, you can. Well, anyway, the grand final of Accumulate is here! http://ruon.tv/ondemand/video.php?vidid=243
Amongst other things see: Board games, wires on the floor, bad puns, a close contest and a man with a duck on his head.
All this, and more, await you. Thankyou for the support you’ve shown! We couldn’t do it without the encouragement.
That’s not a chip, it’s a potato!
Feb 22nd
That was my reaction upon finding this chip in my dinner today: http://twitpic.com/42n7zk – it went across the entire plate, about 8 inches across! That must have been one heck of a potato!

In even-better-than-finding-a-huge-chip-in-your-dinner news, my game show Accumulate! is back for a third season! I return as host for seven more shows to find out who can accumulate the highest towers and most points to win six board games from Eclectic Games (our sponsors for this series). The first few shows are now available, the latest show (show 3) can be found here: http://www.ruon.tv/ondemand/video.php?vidid=193
I’m incredibly proud of this game show that I co-devised with Gary Male (we are both former countdowners, he got to the semi finals, I made do with the quarters). I’m currently trying to tout other formats to the TV industry – please let me know if you’re interested!
I’ve been busy recently writing more questions for the next series of Only Connect, hopefully my name will appear in the credits of the next series too – here’s a quick image from the latest series (Series 4) with my name! Yay!
Scan-iel Peake!
Jan 25th
Recently I’ve been having difficulty with breathing – nothing major (obviously, I’m still here!), just a near-permanent blocked nose that probably makes me snore like a trooper at night.
I saw the doctor about this back in the late summer / early autumn and finally it was found to be a polyp in the right side of my nose. It’s basically like having a pea in my my nose. Quite excitingly, I had a CT scan this week so that they could work out how to remove it. The machine was very cool, you lie down and are put in the centre of this donut type thing, it spins around you, and it’s over before it’s begun.
Apparently they built up a 3D image of my sinuses and I’ll hear how they’ll remove the polyp within two weeks. The tests on whether they could find a brain in my head remain inconclusive. Speaking of which, is it weird that I’ve called it Polly the Polyp?
Oh. It is.
