Norman Ralph

Well, again – apologies for the length of time between posts. I really have no excuse this time apart from laziness and the fact I have had about a million things on my mind recently.

I wish I could write about whats been going on in my world on here, but I feel that the details and in fact the vaguaries of it all are not suitable for public dissemination as yet. As soon as I think the world at large has the need to know, I will share everything.

A few things I can update on are CompSoc, A-Soc, my new tech set up (work in progress) and a few bits of gossip and general gubbins.

Firstly, CompSoc – well things have been relatively quiet recently as we have been focussing on the administrative side of things. Something we found necessary following our President’s (Sam Oakley) house getting broken into and all their laptops getting stolen, including all the data on our members. Note for future reference: do not store all your important data on one system, always have a copy or back up on a different system. We are starting to fill up the calendar with events now (if you are really interested then check out the events listings on the web page). I am glad I got involved in CompSoc, the committee are a joy to work with in the main and I really enjoy the technical side of things too.

A-Soc is not going amazingly well – if you read Chris Worfolk’s blog posts here and here then you get an idea on what’s the matter. Our London trip is going to plan at the moment – really got things sorted now, everything is booked and all we need now is to fill up the last few places and we are set. If any of you readers are interested in coming then it is £55 for members and £65 for non-members (membership fee is a fiver so do the math…) and that gets you transport and accommodation inclusive of breakfasts. Visit our web site for more information and to sign up.

I have just bought an old School of Computing PC and am preparing to set it up as a linux machine to run alongside my windows machine. I managed to get hold of it really cheaply and it came with monitor (17inch flat screen) and peripherals. I am currently using the monitor as part of a dual monitor system – see pics, along with my new Logitech G11 Keyboard. I am hoping to supplement this set up with a KVM switch so I can use monitor, keyboard and mouse with both boxes and also a new mouse.

Liz and I are going really strong too, in fact I think our relationship is starting to mature into soemthign really special. We have had our ups and downs – especially over the last fortnight or so – but we have emerged stronger and better prepared for a future than we were! All in all, I think we are destined for something special here – watch this space!

Well this is a story and a half!

Last night saw the annual Fresher’s reception in the School of Computing. The Long Room was the usual venue, ale and wine the usual fayre and the school disco style separation of Freshers from every body else. As the ale and wine flowed the segregation became less and less pronounced and by the end of the second hour everyone was mixing and chatting away. Kieran leapt to his feet just as the last drop of ale was being quaffed to announce that CompSoc would be continuing the evening’s merriment in the form of a pub crawl into town starting with the Old Bar.

After a few drinks in the Old Bar, along with pizza for those who needed a good lining for their stomachs, we set off on the pub crawl proper with Sam, our illustrious president, leading the way to The Fenton. There was a level of irony that should be mentioned here; Sam is a second year and has lived in Leeds for over a year now yet still doesn’t know where anything is in Leeds! So, with a gaggle of Fresher’s, CompSoc committee and the usual band of hangers on we trekked the couple of hundred yards from LUU to The Fenton (it’s on Woodhouse Lane between Leeds and Ledds Met unis for those that don’t know).

I don’t spend much time in The Fenton unless I’m playing a card game there or I’m on an Otley Run, but it’s a nice enough place and is owned by the same people that run the Eldon so a good selection of ale to be got. We stayed here for a swift one then headed next door to Strawbs.

Strawbs is a quaint little place, a litte bar (about a metre long) and a selection of seats and sofas. It can be a little grotty, but this time round mainly due to the fact we filled the place it had quite a good atmosphere. The drinks are reasonable if a little limited in range.

Dry Dock was the next stop on the crawl. It is a very student orientated place but with a Yellow Card the drinks are about as cheap as you can get in Leeds! The Freshers were starting to feel the pace by now. The beer had been flowing for a little over seven hours (it was ten o’clock by now) and wheat was beginning to separate from the chaff. We had had a couple of drop outs along Woodhouse Lane, namely CompSoc V-P Kieran.

The main gossip by this stage was the massive amount of flirting going on. It is always funny to see Freshers chatting up the ladies – it is much like watching dogs on heat. Liz and Charlie were both getting a lot of attention at this stage!

Fab was the next port of call and the temperature was beginning to rise. Charlie and B were starting to have to fend the guys off and Liz was having her drinks bought for her. A few more bodies left at this stage but the numbers were still far better than we could have imagined prior to the event. With Sam still leading from the front the night was beginningt o turn into one that many wouldn’t forget. Most people were merrily drunk byt this stage, especially Sarann who had long since passed her safe limit!

After a couple of drinks in Fab we moved on to our final bar – Bourbon. This is where the fun began. Firstly we were down to the hardcore few, about ten people, half freshers hand half others. Sarann, Liz and Charlie were all busy making new “friends” and really making the Freshers feel welcome. Sarann and Liz were being particularly friendly. Unfortunately, Sarann was now well past her limit and had to be taken home – a job for Michelle and I. The rest of the gang headed over to Grosvener Casino for a flutter. All I can say on that topic is check out Liz’s blog on the night.

Well I am nearing the end of my Fresher’s week as part of the Department of Joint Honours Science. I think i will classify the week as a success. I have met some new people, i have attended all the appropriate lectures, labs and meetings and am now all set for the start proper of my new degree programme. I am particularly looking forward to my computing modules as I feel that these will be the testing yet enjoyable challenge that I require to thrive. I am enjoying getting into linux and exploring all the nooks and crannies within it. The induction programme being run by the SoC has been helpful if somewhat tedious as it focussed on writing a quick HTML file and learning some of the basics of the command line terminal – something I consider myself a fairly confident user of. I am by no means an expert – Kieran will shoot me down for saying anything remotely like that, but I can manage, run, create and delete files and directories etc and write fairly strict html as long as it’s not too flashy. It is the programming side of the course that I am most apprehensive about, but I feel that the challenge is something I need. Roll on Java!

CompSoc and A-Soc Fresher events are getting into full swing and I am really starting to get my teeth into the roles. I am looking forward to the next few weeks despite the fact that the workload is daunting to say the least.

This is just an interim post to keep those of you who are interested in this kind of thing up to date on my general comings and goings.

We had our first CompSoc committee meeting yesterday and things went pretty smoothly. With a bit of luck and a lot of effort I seriosuly think we can pull this off. A-Soc prep is not going so well, we are having pen issues and general lack of time issues. I am sure, however, that we will nail it!

Today was Michelle’s belated birthday party and it was fun. Just the ticket to take everybodies mind off the new academic year starting in less than a week. Lots of cake and chocolate and mayhem are the ingredients to a party of this nature – our theme was kiddies’ party so jelly and ice cream, pass the parcel and such things. A real treat and a fitting way to welcome Michelle back to England.

The rest of the week is going to be taken up by tidying up from today and preparing for the weekend. My housemates and I are throwing a massive party for my twenty-third birthday and to make sure our house is fully warmed up ready for the year ahead.

In support of Chris’ recent post, I am going to try and increase the pinging to other blog sites and try to make sure that we can maximise cross-circle blogging!

Today I attended my first CompSoc meeting. It followed the standard meeting format seeing as it was an Extraordinary General Meeting to make sure the society was well set for the new semester. I went with the intention of making myself known and doing some general networking as part of my ambition to further my political career within the university union. I walked away from the meeting, however, as the new secretary! Why is it that I can’t say no? I had no real intention of taking that large a lead within the society as I was quite happy with my A-Soc role.

In retrospect I may have been a little hasty in the decision to accept the position, but now it is done I feel I have quite a lot to bring to CompSoc and hopefully the job will stand me in good stead to make the step up to president of a society next year and then stand for a union role the year after. I think it is important not to jump straight into the presidency of a society as from what I ahve seen so far it is one big job. I think my two current committee commitments are more than enough. I have also recently been offered the position of treasurer at the Cheese Society, although I think I may have to turn that job down now.

I am looking forward to my new role and taking CompSoc forward into the new semester and hopefully we will have a massively successful year!