17/10/03

Things are going slow here as you have probably noticed.  Yes I have not updated much until now if at all!  This has now changed.  I went to Italy, Umbria to be exact to have a well deserved two and half weeks break from University.  Whilst I was there I had the chance to finally sit and reflect upon my life and what I had done so far, and I think it has helped me focus now for the next year at least on what I need to do in order to succeed.  In a sense, a life changing event.  I stayed and lived with great people, ate wonderful authentic Italian food.  No tourist traps out here, this is as real as it gets.  And I loved it.  As soon as I stepped onto the tarmac in Rome, it felt like I had come home.  Don't ask me how this is,  must be that Latin part of me (if you can call being part Mexican American that)?  Now I want to learn Italian, I was getting fed up with this feeling of amnesia, as if I had known how to speak this language, but somehow forgotten it along the line somewhere. 

Other things going on?  Well, I have started my last year now at Coventry.  And to be honest so far I am actually enjoying it.  This is the first year where I am actually enjoying this course.  I love design, I love to design, but man can Coventry bring you down!  I guess I know the way things are now, so I can just work round it and tuck into the problems that I need to solve.  So much so that I did entered a competition at the same time!!  Check out my portfolio page if you are curious as to what I have been up to during the summer...

Anyway, check out the Italy photos and enjoy the view.  I have also included pictures I took from the Southampton Boat show.  Lots of Sunseekers, and generally nice scenery.

Ciao.

02/08/03

Well, just thought I'd write to say hello and say that this website is still on and fully functional.  Sorry I have not added the pictures that I said I would.  Part of the explanation would lie in the fact that I don't have a proper camera to take pictures with at the moment, but this is now fixed, I just have to pick up the camera from my parents house and away we go with the snapping!

22/07/03

First of all, I would like to say hello to Whitney and everybody else that is in lovely Florida at the moment, including the parents that are there as well!.  I wish I could be there to join in the crazy festivities that weddings entail!  I miss you all very much, and speaking to you guys after all this time brings a tear to my eyes...but I'M A MAN so that won't happen...but I am sure you get the point all the same.  Kicking around Coventry in the summer when I am the only family member on this tiny island is not really as wonderful as one may think, and to romanticise it would only be technically qualified as little white lies!  But Anyway...I wish Whitney and family the best on the special day that will occur only in a few days now.  It must be above all exciting for everyone and their parental units!

 With that said I close this entry with the hope that we can all meet again in some not so distant future (maybe next year?).  Its been a crazy few years, but I think you guys will find that many people that you have not spoken to for a while are starting to try and reconnect those memories, i have certainly noticed it here in the UK.  So, again all the best, I miss you guys tons, keep in good health and all that! 

Magnus

08/07/03

Hello everybody!  Things have moved on.  Things have changed.  I have seen lots, done lots, made lots, etc...  Have worked with jaguar on a uni project, I have spent a stressful Easter trying to find a placement and failed...had a nice three weeks in the US whilst trying to learn alias at Uni, this took me about another three weeks in order to be able to form a basic shape on that programme.  Its been crazy.  And finally an interview.  Today yes my friends, I actually had ONE interview.  most of the time I have not even made it past the short-listing.  Goodness knows why this is.  I must have some strange vibes about me or something?

I apologise for not adding more pictures.  This week, now that I have more time, I will work on it more (hopefully).  It also doesn't help that my slr has been broken for some time, and only now is being fixed, in Sweden.  I will get that one back eventually, and then it will be snappy happy all over again. 

Anyway, not much else going on for the moment, but watch this space, I think its about time for some rehashing of websites.  Plus I will also be working on my portfolio website.  Its not done yet, so there's no point in telling you the address because you would see very little!

Whilst i was in the states, I saw loads of movies including 2 fast 2 furious.  Good in its own way, certainly entertaining.  But Charlie's angels 2 was pretty spectacular.  Worth seeing if you are a guy, entertaining certainly for girls too, with some healthy doses of spice-girl "girl-power" evident.  Maybe I should do a page on what movies I like?  hmm.

actually, I just realised something.  All my pictures have been slightly packed in for my move at the end of august when I move to yet another place in Coventry.  looks like this is going to take longer than i thought!!!

25/01/03

Well, after another long respite of not writing much, I return.  The excuse?  I was given the most amount of work that I have ever been given in my life.  So anything that was remotely connected with fun was quickly removed from the activities calendar.  Which was probably why I was an inch away from going completely nuts.  So I have done little to my website as far as mods are concerned, but changes are due.  I am going to take away a bit, add on some.  Maybe those of you who have surfed this site recently, may have noticed after a while that geocities says that there is too much information and therefore you cannot be shown etc...basically saying that you can only see so much or something.  Don't know what that is about, but it may have to do with the amount of photos I have on there. 

As some of you may also remember I have been to the Indy GP and I do have photos of those, and maybe they will even be added tomorrow, but that is not definite. 

As far as uni is concerned, things are getting really exciting now, with placements on the go, and before that happens, I am in a group (there's about 8 groups in total) working for Jaguar cars in creating a new car for them.  I know it sounds silly, but I actually cannot say much more than that!  Confidentiality agreements etc... which makes it all the more interesting i guess.  But so far so good, the group I am in at the moment is really good, we have a lot of fun, and actually so far have come up with some pretty exciting ideas. 

The previous project that I worked on, the Essential Transportation Vehicle (For Sweden) proved to be quite close to the truth of the matter (my goal was to create a car that reflected the Swedish weather, and the Swedish social persona).  Many people that I spoke to agreed, and or reacted in the way that I thought they would.  Some would argue that it's because I am Swedish myself; sure I am Swedish, but I haven't exactly lived there until recently.  Its all childhood memories for me.  Only now in this last year have I been able to relive Sweden.  This has been fun/interesting/ even disappointing, but a good experience in total, in a way showing me where my roots are. 

Come to speak of it, this was my first time celebrating Christmas in Sweden for close to thirteen years.  Now that is something.  And actually see some snow as well.  That was fun too.  Next time  I go to Sweden, I am going to take pictures of the locations that meant something to me back when I was 8 years old.  And I guess ultimately I will write a book about it, and probably bore people with my outdrawn romanticised reminiscing.

BY the way, it was as cold as -24 c when I was in Sweden. And I wasn't wearing thermal underwear.  Lets just say I was quite chilled by the time I came home.

04/10/02

After a long holiday respite I have now finally returned to Coventry. I am now going to focus even more on work. I definitely feel a little bit wiser after having A: worked in Sweden for a whole two - three months and speaking Swedish 24/7, working at a Cafe at the airport.  And then B: going to USA right after that.  Comparing the two countries and seeing what they could offer me as far as my future is concerned, I thought America seemed to have it all. Sweden, as nice as it is, I think sometimes lacks drive.  People are not motivated enough.  I guess that is what happens when you have 50% tax? Sweden like I said in my older previous entry, has lots of design stuff to keep me happy and interested, but the place is saturated.  Everyone expects Swedish design to be just Swedish Design.  England unfortunately is getting to that point as well. albeit the creativity to think outside the bubble is still there, but only just.  America is still learning and deciding what it wants to do with itself as far as any subject is concerned.  The usual statement is of course "Be the biggest and the Best", a tad clichéd i know.  In regards to recent world events, it seems as though this has done more harm than good. However, look at the facts;  with only 200 years of history, USA is a young country. A good and a bad thing.  I could say that USA doesn't have as much experience as all the other countries, but 200 years isn't an excuse because 200 years ago, all other countries weren't exactly peachy either?  But with only 200 years, the mental baggage, the weight that is carried on its shoulders as far as history, tradition, and viewpoints is very little.  And maybe that is why USA can be viewed as pushy?  Nothing to hold them back (more correctly, very little), so the only way is forward.  This could explain the mass consumerism.  Constantly trying new things.  Trying to get the next high (legally or illegally).  But before I start edging into unchartered territory (stuff I could try to argue about, but with no solid backing) I will stop.  Lets just say that I am interested to see what there is on offer.

On a lighter note, my trip to America went as follows;  visited my Grandmother and got to see most of my relatives and cousins.  I was also a provisional baby sitter when my Brother in law and my sister had their hands full with trying to get green cards.  Lots of fun because I got to be with my nephew!  Got to go to a baseball game, and in general just hang out.  Then to end the holiday in a grand way, I went to Waco to visit my friends again (Scott, Amanda, John, and all of their friends too, and then to the Indianapolis Formula One Grand Prix for the final weekend.  That rocked my party world!  And I will soon show you the sights of Indy, because I took loads of pictures whilst  I was there. 

As always, I will continually put more and more pictures on this website until I am satisfied that I have covered everything of visual interest to me and hopefully to you.  Don't know how long that is going to take, or how little memory there is to go, but hopefully it will work out.  And if things don't work out the way they should, then darnit, I will start to pay for my own webspace!  Hopefully that shouldn't happen though.  The one thing I am going to clean up is the Coventry section....but hopefully that shouldn't take long?!?!?!

Anyway, hope you all had a good summer.  I most certainly did.     

28/06/02

Stockholm strikes me as odd. This probably has to do with my unfamiliarity with it, rather than blaming the city for my initial observations. I have been away from Sweden in general for over twelve years, and that more than anything probably explains my unfamiliarity with this place. Now that my parents have moved back, I look forward to the next few years. I have often compared Stockholm to a kind of walk-in version of Wallpaper magazine, with its many design shops and generally fashionable walks where pretty much nothing that you see in the most central area looking gritty, nasty or out of place. Now especially during the summer, an added aspect is added to this place. There are always activities going on, exhibitions are shown. Really pleasant cosmopolitan feel. Once again I have to relearn what it is like to be Swedish! It's like finding a box full of tools in your shed that you have not seen for a while, and then realising the new opportunities available to you. And for the first time I felt really unfashionable. I have never felt that way before in my life. And that day I was actually making a positive effort to look good too. How strange that felt I cannot fully describe to you. It just wasn't as nice when you compare it to the flash-brand addicted execs and almost-models that seem to line the street (Grev Ture Gatan on a warm sunny day check it out). However I don't scorn them. I envy them, I love that this is the way it is here. I want the nice phone with their polyphonic colour displays, I want the bomb-shell girlfriends that insist on wearing solely prada shoes and dkny tops (don't get me wrong, personality still stands adamantly in my books), all mixed with the lovely discussions regarding the latest gossip on docu-soaps and shareprices whilst eating swedish dishes such as Toast Skagen subtly washed down with a bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pape (From a particularly good year, 1982). All this of course topped off by a young lady around 25 years old wearing hugo boss business suit and driving off casually in a Ferrari 456. Having been out for the first time in stockholm and only touching the tip of the ice-berg, I can gladly report the night scene is an euphoric delight so far. So far so good.

19/06/02

Hello EVERYONE!!!  It's all over now.  This year for me now is officially over.  Thank GOD!  This has been the worst year I think, and it was all capitalised by this last module, which lets face it, was too long!  Other than that, everything is fine.  Just nicely relaxing.  Saw Spiderman on the big screen the other day and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Bit extreme overacting at some points, but what can ya do?  Changing back to uni discussion though, did have a chat with my tutor about what my grades would be this year, considering it makes a huge difference as to if I am in the Mdes course or BA course (mdes means you get another two years, with a placement that is essential for experience in the industry, BA is just a year and then you are out).  The tutor however reassured me that I was in the green and that all will be fine.  BUt we won't find out our grades until two to four weeks from now, so it's a bit nerve-racking to say the least!

Anyway, will be going to Sweden in just a few days time, and then in September I will be going to USA for about a little under a month to see my relatives and friends. You guys can still get hold of me through texting and/or e-mail.  I will put this info in the box to your left.  Anyone that wants to come and visit is more than welcome, I will be working most of the time in sweden, but tell me ahead of time and I can make plans etc...flights are cheap to Sweden, only about £14 one way from stansted.  minor inconveniences from this can arise those, like the airport you will be landing at is a bit like landing at Stansted in England, but like  I said, minor technicality.

Worked at the end of year summer ball for Coventry university the other day, and earned £150 for 12 hour shift.  NICE!  That saved me from being skint I tell ya!

Anyway, I am going to do a few mods to this website before I leave it for the summer and let it rest.  I will probably still add to this page but it becomes a lot of hassle with running a website fully from two places because you need to sync the files...and that can be annoying. 

Have a good beginning to the summer!

23/05/02

It's a Thursday evening, and the weather has actually been quite nice today.  Just finished off the dreaded design theory report that we have been working on now for the last few months.  Finally over.  I can't believe it....now I can finally get going on all my other project that I need to finish!  What I had to do yesterday was interesting though, I had to write my own personal philosophy of what I think design is. really deep question.  And rather than write some nice stuff that the teacher likes, I wrote something that I thought was genuinely what i believe in (Sara gave me some inspirational thoughts, thank you!).  Of course, I would like to earn loads of money, have a large famous design firm, and own a very large amount of cars!  However there has to be more to it rather than just material gains.  So I've put it up on this website next to my CV...read it and see what you think.  Most of you may think it's probably drivel, which I can sympathize with, probably if I read it and was cynical about it, maybe that is what it is?

Got two neat things to look forward to this weekend.  Autocar sports car show, of which I will take many pictures I promise, all to be shown on this website!   and then there's the f1 in Monaco, renowned nowadays for the extreme pressure it puts on some teams!  Saw "Attack of the Clones" this weekend, and boy was that something!  If you are a star wars fan, do go and see it (indeed if you are a fan, then you will have most likely seen it already?!?!).  It is very good, sure beats the first episode.  I think most of the movie I was just looking at all the designs that were just briefly being shown as the movie passed, and for some reason, the movie hit me in some way that I have never experienced with the other movies.  It must have been the seriousness of it or something.  I think I will have to see it again at the cinema, I enjoyed it too much!

Any other exciting things happening?  Not much...I should probably be doing work at the moment, but I am too tired, and I think I shall chill out tonight, do some light sketching, etc...All in all, I feel great!  Oh yes, there' s Australia day two here in Cov at our house, what will happen next???

13/05/02

Well this was an odd weekend.  Tried to do some work, but easily distracted.  Formula One served a nice load of controversy with the team orders of Ferrari making sure Schumacher would win even though Barichello was beating the heck out of him.  So much for competition.  One could make a rule to stop this kind of thing from happening, but you would not be able to police it!  Oh well, at least Schumacher explained that it was not his fault, but the fingerpointing did not stop because of that, and I think Ferrari had better do some drastic PR because otherwise if this trend continues, people are going to stop watching this sport.

The website now has more pictures on it, a little all over the place, and I have slightly rearranged the folders for easier management of files, don't know if this will improve the overall performance? Does anybody know anything about this? 

Saw A.I this weekend, and I was not sure whether I liked it...I think I will have to see it again, or maybe do a thorough inspection of the bonus material on the DVD.  That could explain a few things.

As for the school work?  well it's progressing slowly at the moment.  Loads to do, but I feel that I will be able to finish it.  What I do need is a day or two to just sit down and do nothing else but work.  By the end of that day,  I will definitely be sorted!  A day is a day though, and much happens in a day!  Enough....

08/05/02

Well, had another barbecue, but it's just not the weather for it, and so consequently it was very cold!  So I am completely stuffed!  And I need to do so much stuff for my tractor project, and there just isn't time...arrrgh!  Wish I could just stop time or something. Oh well, I can work all day tomorrow and then have a crit when I want to.  But that is not the way to do things.

04/05/02

A new month, a new way.  Well, maybe not.  But things are going well anyway, academically and socially.  Everyone is generally stressed over this integrated design project, but at the same time, people are also a bit more chilled out.  Hard to explain that one, the only thing that  I can say is that because it is nearing the end, people just are looking forward to the summer! 

Added a large amount of pictures to the car section today, like last year when I visited the Powertour series at Silverstone. That, as well as two smaller picture files, all for your visual enjoyment.  I will have to cut back on the wallpaper mission, since i have just about used up a third of my space here.  Wish geocities would give more space, how about 20 meg rather than 15?  15 is such an odd number?!

I really should be getting on with some work, but general socialising and fun has been a priority as well here.  I think it's one of those "I know what I want, I know what I want to do, I just have to sit down long enough to do it" scenarios. 

Tomorrow my friends, I will go to Silverstone again, to see the action.  This time with Lamborghini supertrophy at 9.00 sharp.  Party on!  Earlier this week I also went to the Commercial vehicle show, and was awe-struck by very large Scania-trucks as well as your very large Volvos!!  Not very exciting though.  Worth going all the same. 

Anyway, best be making myself some dinner.

30/04/02

Hi there!  As you can probably see, not that much has happened.  You're not wrong, because I have had too much to do outside of this website to be able to constantly update it as I promised, so sorry guys, but I will try to add pictures when I get them,  It will have to be in small numbers!!

Tough few weeks ahead of me, with this integrated design project looming its ugly head.  That and design theory are the only thing between me and the summer.  The weather here in coventry was quite nice here for a few days, but now it's back to its usual self.  Dull, and grey.

Designing a tractor is harder than I thought, and even though I thought that I had done enough research for it, now that I am actually starting to draw the thing, I just look at it and say;  I really don't know enough to try and modify these properly!!!  The one thing I need to do is try and get on top of my work because at the moment, I fear it is hanging precariously close to my head!!!

15/04/02

Well, not much is happening, and all this moving and packing of boxes is making my home look like a bomb-site.  Added even more pictures, with even more to come, so do come by, hopefully I will have put in (fit in?) all the photos that I have!!!  I have even come up with the idea of adding a wallpaper section.  Of course that takes up a lot of space, and I have on 15 megs to play around with...3.4 of which are already gone.  Not bad going though is it?  Heck, guess I'd better get back to packing in boxes,  We need to get this all done for this weekend!  And then my parents are off to Sweden!

13/04/02

Back once again from easter.  A very nice easter actually, got to relax, went with my parents to Sweden, and more importantly Stockholm, where my parents will soon live.  It was a really great experience, something that I think actually benefited from!  Speaking Swedish all day initially wore me out, but soon I got used to it.  I will be putting up pictures of Stockholm for you all to see.  I'ts a really trendy place.  And even though it is the capital of Sweden, you can get around the whole city largely by foot, it isn't actually that big at all!  Of course a fully working transport system (The British Government should visit and take notes) helps when you do need to take a bus. 

Most of the time I spent enjoying broadband internet, a normal thing nowadays in the city, and watching MTV, getting to see two of the Daft Punk anime videos.  A trip to Sweden would not be complete without sampling some of the candy that you can buy there.  All in all it brought back a lot of memories, and the week ended with me visiting my old friend Fredrik who invited me to a Beer-Tasting, and then two very intense games of Risk with his friends.  More to be told soon,  guess I'd better get back into the Coventry groove?!

23/03/02

I guess it's all over now?  No more UNI for a whole month.  That sounds very surreal, yet very nice.  Yesterday was Coventry at it's finest though, I would like to report! 

Colin, Lena, Nick, and I, decided we should culture ourselves by seeing the new "Ali G Indahouse" Movie.  A very interesting experience.  That's all I can say about that movie.  Nothing else comes to mind.  But whilst we were walking back home, we were treated to the cultured side of Coventry.  All the pubs were closing, making way for the nightclubs that were now opening. So what happens?  Mass-migration of loads of people to different places all over Coventry.  First thing that happens, we walk by two drunken men urinating on one of the pillars next to the Evening Standard building.  I think of their ladies was watching too.  Further cultural enhancement took place as we passed by lots of women who all were wearing what I can only describe as napkins with bits of strings attached, lower buttock revealing skirts, and high heel, knee high white shoes.  Make-up consisted of  inch-thick glitter, further enhanced by what probably was once a subtle hue of eye shadow, but due to their liberal  application, tool of choice maybe being a spade, the whole effect was lost.  The topping cherry on this Sundae was their ability to fit into this apparel they were wearing, even though they might as well have been posing for a beached whale competition.  The resulting image is this abhorrent, torturous visage.  How did they get into those clothes?  Where blood-clot inducing clothes edge met an opening, the skin stuck out an inch further.  It was a psychedelic Picasso gone wrong.  Now I am not in any way, saying that there is anything wrong with being larger than average, not everyone can be Cindy Crawford, Cameron Diaz etc...but due care has to be taken when choosing clothes.  And I cannot understand how those ladies last night could has seen themselves in the mirror at the shop, and then actually consider it to suit them perfectly?!?  Isn't this the responsibility of the shop-keeper as well?

You think I am being a sexist male chauvinist pig?  Don't worry, the story continues. 

Walking up far Gosford Street, we saw one of many "tuned" cars that haunt the streets of Coventry.  This was a particularly good example a Ford Fiesta Xr3i, with a nice dent in the back of the car to perfectly show the skilful driving of the prepubescent pilot.  Sporting a large wing, an exhaust that would have put a dustbin lid to shame, your normal, grotesque quad-light conversion, and the absolutely annoying "venom" alloys that everyone all of a sudden bought about three years ago (let me remind you this was in an effort to be original), and it went out of fashion quicker than a cheetah on fire. Oh yes, lets not forget the body-kit, like the bumpers etc.  He had parked the car in front of one of the many strange and unapproachable pizza-kebab places that exist on that street,  and then proceeded to put on his stereo to max with the most awful rap music ever. This all probably amounts to about 5k spent on a car not worth £500.  He might as well have spent 5k on horse manure, because it has the same effect. 

So he and his two equally prepubescent friends were trying to chat up equally aged girls wearing nasty shiny adidas track suits and gold earrings, all finished off with streaky gelled up hair tied up in a pony tail, with a fringe at the front.  Those two friends of his?  They then started to yell at these people on the top floor of one of the houses on the street to throw down the speakers.  This is in the middle of the night.  The people at the top floor were slightly confounded by the issue.  We continued on walking up far gosford street, and as we came near the large Binley RoundAbout, a Volvo estate drove by with a kid shouting this out the window "GET YER KIT OFF!!!"

Charmed.  What can I say? this is Coventry, armpit of England.  That was actually the first thing that a person told me when  I started studying in Cov.  Thank goodness it is Easter. 

19/03/02

Well it's the last week of UNI now and we had nothing big to do, so we went to the Chemical Brothers Gig at Birmingham Academy.  And boy, was that a gig.  I never thought I was going to stand to close to the stage, but we did, and you could pretty much see what they were doing with their music as they jammed along the night. The gig ended suddenly though, which was slightly odd, and it did say on the ticket that there was a special guest apparently.  I have always assumed that when it says that, it means that some artist or the other is going to come along and sing or accompany the band on a song that they have made.  No such person came, however, the DJ that was playing this quite good Prodigy-dirtchamber style mixing, funky beats slowly fusing into a more electronic sound.  He was apparently this special guest.  I think this was lost on quite a few of us.  Kind of shame really, considering the DJ probably didn't get the attention that he deserved. 

Heck a good night out.  my right ear is still recovering from standing too near the speakers!  You'd think that I would have learnt my lesson from going to a Steve Vai Concert.  It's not too bad though. It will be back to normal in about a day or two... sounds reassuring doesn't it?

17/03/02

Saw the GP at 6:45 in the morning, after two hours sleep,  went back to sleep.  Woke up at 12:35 PM, took a shower, and ran to the newsagent to get the Sunday Times.  I felt really awful and groggy...it wasn't fun, and then just as I was about to go to my room to work on my PC, I realise that I am in fact 5 minutes late to this meeting that I am supposed to go to at the Student Union Bar.  Grrreat!

Got there, learned about the new developments, apologized for my lateness, gave the new manager some ideas of how to improve the place, went home, would have gone and done some more filming, but due to the madness of the midlands, it started to rain.  Double-Grrreat!

So now I am home, after having played an exhaustive session of GT3, trying to learn how to use Macromedia flash, and it is really frustrating.  Lewis has gotten me curious about the programme, and I guess I need time to get it in my head.  Another excuse to get a new pc, since this pc/laptop hybrid is getting slower and slower.  it is really frustrating though, since that website I saw the other day (it is on my links page now) is really awesome.  You think its easy?  Well it isn't!

Anyway, can't complain, my holiday started two days ago unofficially.  So maybe I should get some more work at the SU, because I am just poor at the moment. 

16/03/02

Now that I do actually have time do work on this website so that I can show all you guys what I get up, I end up being really irritated, since all my work is on A3 paper...Now most scanners are A4 sized, and that means that a lot of stuff gets lost apart from maybe some of the stuff in the middle of the drawing... and that sucks.  So as it stands today, I am will not be able to scan any work that I have done, and it doesn't like its going to happen any time soon.  I will have to get a digital camera in the future, or an A3 scanner, or both!!!  Really annoyed about this actually, it really bothers me.  I will have to cheer myself up by playing a bit on the playstation, but one of my housemates is watching TV.  DAMN.

Good news is that loads of filming took place today in regards to small cars III as this feature will be called.  I am only the camera man, the man at the helm of this feature is Lewis Hartley,  check out his website for further updates and developments.  Been watching the GP qualifiers for Sepang Circuit in Malaysia, and so far, it seems as though this race is going to be real good.  I like ferrari, but what I am really looking out for is a decent race with loads of challenges and overtaking...please let this happen!!!

Website Update:  Now I have a hit counter, so that I can boost my ego....which didn't work, so I deleted it.  My ACS section has now been improved slightly, but not much, so don't expect a trip down memory lane, just yet....

15/03/02

Wow.  That was a week.  I am now so tired, I must be running on biological fumes or something...it is that bad.  Thankfully, all this hard work paid off, my presentation took place, my idea was discussed, I showed my range of drawings for the idea, and then I was done.

When I was working on this project yesterday, I had been working on it all day, taking only a break to watch Neighbours (brit-soap that I have unfortunately gotten hooked on) and then later to eat dinner.  I went to bed at 4:00 AM, doing a few final touch ups of the project before I decided it was time to give up and go to bed.  Then got up at 8:30 AM (I was trying to get up at 7:00AM but failed even though I had two alarms on).  Had breakfast using the last remaining milk from the fridge (I still haven't bought some, and no bread either (guess it'll be pasta for breakfast then?). continued working on the final card model that I was building for my presentation, printed out some final things, and then went off to the 2:00PM assessment.  And then waited for about 3 and a half hours for my work to be looked at. 

They liked my work.  Thank goodness for that.

11/03/02

Oh no.  It has reached that point.  The point at which I have less than a week to finish off this short five week project on innovations.  The cutting out of 95th %ile male and the 5th %ile woman mannequins (1/5th scale), and I have reached the point that can only be described as as type of "within-week, deadline-imminent, beyond-stress-oddball-chill".  I am creating rude sexual positions with cut-outs. Oh dear.  Somebody should psycho-analyze me.  Then again this is what everyone is doing at the moment.  Now that we do the package drawings (drawings that designers have to do to make sure that everything fits on a product, be that a car or shopping trolley. Design Students do these so that they get good marks, not because they want to...)  That along with sketch models to show how things work "basically".  What am I doing right now?  Just printing out research material to be part of the presentation, yet another one of those things you do at the very end so that you look as if you got inspiration from these images, when in fact you did everything in exact opposite.  Just like normal then... Just in case you are an employer reading this, before you put a big X over my name, none of the above is actually true, I am a really hard working student, I get a 68% average on my projects (70% is an A in the British system of grading).

I have been thinking about putting one of those visitor page-thingies, guest book?  That must be it...that won't be until this coming weekend though, where I will probably be doing it on a Saturday morning whilst recovering from a hangover.

Oh and speaking of those mannequins cut outs; maybe I should start a sex-ed page that shows all the correct sexual positions? It could benefit all those people that just don't know...(as if I was the authoritative source on these issues anyway?)  Uh oh, I'm ranting, not good.  Goodness what will my family, friends, and relatives think when they read this!?  I got it, I'll just say that I have been corrupted by my house mate. Chris Quy.

10/03/02

Filming was attempted again, but now with less wind.  Thank goodness!  This now coupled with a very nice car park, that nobody seemed to mind us using.  Nice.  Odd things were going on though...whilst we were waiting for the supermarket to close and the shoppers leave, I think we saw a drug transaction of some sort, and check this out, between an ice-cream van and a Peugeot 206 with a body kit on.  What the heck?!?  Nothing much else happened though, apart from the fact that it was slightly windy and then the oncoming rain cut the racing short.  But Hey we got some good shots of Colin and Lewis racing.

09/03/02

Went out again with Colin and Lewis to test out their petrol powered r/c cars now that they both have new stuff on them.  Only problem was that it was a tad windy.  I think were were approaching Gale force 4 or something.  So not much done, both cars are 4wd, and Colin's Rear wheel belt snapped, either b/cause of the stones being blown into the chassis, or because of the strain on the car to drive into the wind.  Hey at least it was sunny!  Lewis's two speed transmission that he has got on his car sounds so cool.  Just thought I'd share this brief moment with you guys.  Saw Grand Prix, the 60's classic racing movie.  I recommend this to anyone that likes racing cars, it is one of the best movies I have seen about racing...really really quite something!!!

09/03/02

How can I summarize this week?  Not in short way I promise.  Still stressing about the nasty critique I had from the new tutor, I was getting nowhere fast whilst my eyes were getting used to 24/7 exposure to the pc screen, from constantly tweaking of my "lovely" marketing report on UPS Vs FedEx.  I thought I had comfortably finished this thing, when I send it to my brother who works at Akamai, who then calls me and tells me "we have got alotta work to do!"...what?...You're not serious?  You got to put down your references, otherwise they are going to bust you for plagiarism.  Isn't that what the bibliography section in the back is for?

After a little arguing, me mainly blaming the system (I go to a private school that costed my dad's previous company 14k a year, and they don't even teach me how to write proper essays, what the heck!) for not being taught how to properly write an essay with references, we had a minor phone conference to sort it out. I finally finished the paper at 12:30 at night, then spent the next two hours trying to make the caffeine, from the copious amount of coffee that I had drunk, to go out of my system.  And then went to sleep...except I couldn't...

The next day was hand-in day, and finally as we were all about to a: either leg it because we had not done the essay, or b: hand in the essay, we were told we had been given a two week extension.  "excuse me?"...Ok, the Tutor had given us a two week extension, which in most cases would cause everyone to jump in jubilation, but everyone started moaning and hissing at the idea.  Lets face it, it is not as if the tutor thought that we would find it hard to do the essay, he just thought that we needed the extra time since he felt that we had not covered all the topics that needed to be covered to be able to finish the essay properly.  Those two weeks were given to us because about two or three times in the past, he didn't arrive... at all. It's not as if he didn't know that we were missing information?!?!  SO why didn't he tell us earlier?  Give this man a class 1 moron award for stupidity, I just couldn't believe it.  In fact, one of the other students went up to him and was so angry with the whole situation that he started yelling at him! 

I handed the essay in, and then went home.  No point in letting the essay gestate in my room, because I really needed to focus on my Innovations project.  And that I did, and on Thursday I had a critique with two other tutors that were available.  And strangely enough, they thought my idea was excellent!  I had done some work on it, and I will show and tell when I completely done with it (soon to be released on the web!!).  then Friday, what happens when I show my idea again to the vicious tutor?  He likes the idea.  Go figure? 

Came home exhausted, relaxed for a while, and then went out with two of my housemates to the pub.  That'll be the last night of going out before the end of the innovations project!  Oh yes, the washing machine finally got fixed, apparently clogged up with washing powder. 

05/03/02

I can't believe it!?  I have just spend a day at UNI and learnt nothing.  Please somebody do something about these useless lecturers here!  A friend of mine thought dropping a bomb would be a good idea (how appropriate, considering Coventry's history).  We are supposed to be having a large test (it is only rumours as far as I can tell)  but the teachers cannot be bothered to show us ohp stuff correctly, and on top of that, they don't give out hand outs?  How are we supposed to learn from our wonderful notes if those notes are practically non-existent? 

Oh darn it, at least it was sunny and warm(ish) today, with almost no threatening clouds in the sky.  Lovely.  Got my windows open, listening to the birds sing.  Utter bliss.  Now I shall finally sit down, chill, and get on with my innovations project.

Plumber was supposed to come today to take a look at our broken washing machine, but has he come?  Nope, doesn't look like he will arrive today either.  "Bastards!" my house-mate uttered. 

04/03/02

Well well, at least I finished my final rough draft of my essay, with only two more days to go...thank gawd for that!  Nothing much happening other than me trying to recover from the horrible "critique" that  I had with one of the tutors (who reputedly worked at Porsche at some point?!?).  He pretty much told me what I already knew, but I of course, had started believing otherwise.  "So it's a folding bike, what more is it?" He asks, I answer with a confused look on my face; "Well, it folds differently to other bikes, look, it's really trendy!"

Did he buy it?  Nope.  The one example I could think of that could justify my idea is this:  Look at those new mini-scooters.  Been around for decades, and then some guy came along and re-did them to lovely chrome-folding contraptions that every kid and his sister loved to trundle about it to show off to their buds.  The man must have made a mint on refreshing a thirty year old idea.  Ok my idea was not really innovative, but I definitely thought I had come up with commercially sound idea.  Ok Ok, it didn't follow the brief, and I would not be so foolish to make a crusade out of it.  It just wasn't innovative enough,  and that is that.  To brighten things up however, he did say that I had done well anyway, and that all I need to do is work on the idea, find the best market for it, and basically add a bit of sparkle to it.  So back to the drawing board. 

What else has been happening?   Nothing much, the toilet leaks, the washing machine is broken, it rains in some form or the other every day, it takes millennia for me to log on to the internet, if at all, I don't have a sports car, Alyson Hannigan is not my girlfriend, I live in Coventry, not the Bahamas, I want to buy all this music, but can't afford it coz I don't have any money to spare, what else, I don't know...  I'll just stop whingeing now shall I?  Life is just great.  Hey if anyone was wondering what that little toy car was in my earlier entry, it was a SAAB.

28/02/02

Oh my, completely rearranged the whole darn thing!!!  I am hoping that this will work a peach. Unless it ends up too much hassle to make everything into a "framed" website.  So far so good.

So what has been happening with my life?  Nothing much, just working on my website when I should probably be stressing about a certain marketing report due on the 6th.  Oh yes, lets not forget Design theory (creating a brief so as to improve all OAP lives), Aerodynamic Tractor Presentation with my group, and this wonderful Innovations project (I decided on a new type of folding bike, how original).

When I am not at University I am helping Colin and Lewis (next-door house mates) with their long term project "Small Cars III", filming all their Nitro Powered exploits!  Everyone around me seems to be getting a cold, so I will probably get one soon.  Serious bummer. 

Created 5/11/2001