The Windows XP End-User License Agreement consists of a single word!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/eula/pro.mspx

A long hiatus…

Hi all,

As seems to be traditional with me posts come in bursts and this blog hasn’t been updated in a long yime. However I still seem to get traffic now and then for my Accomodation pages so I’ll make sure to keep an eye on things and try to supply a more reasonable series of updates in future. Maybe I should buy a camera

Tribute To… Johannes Vanderham

There has been a death in the family recently. This is a small tribute to him. May he rest in peace.

A Sense of Purpose

This web journal is intended to be used primarily as a semi-private area for me to collect and organise information relevant to my University life and work. It may also contain what could be called ‘Diary Entries’ at some point in the future; as well as any other information I consider relevant to the public interest.

- Adam James

The Rooms @ Thwaite Hall

For those of you looking to see what the newly refurbished rooms at Thwaite Hall look like, look no further! Except, of course, to the end of this post. And make sure that you follow the link

Obviously, these rooms are bare – but you’re positively encouraged to make it your own! There are several poster emporium events during freshers week which is a great opportunity to personalise the walls of your room. Of course, once you’ve gotten your things in your room, it’ll look less like a hotel room and more like somewhere to call home

Room facilities include:

Telephone line:
The phone line can make internal calls and receive calls at no cost to you. However, if you wish to make calls with it [rather than using your mobile phone, for example] then a phone card can be purchased, which works much like a mobile phone top-up. Last year a large number of them were given away for free. The rates for making calls on the card are very cheap, especially for calling international (that is, non-UK) numbers – useful for those of you coming from abroad!

Internet Connection:
The Internet Connection requires that your computer has an Ethernet port. If your computer does not possess an Ethernet port then Computing Services on campus sell USB adapters and PCMCIA cards. Step by step guides for setting up your connection are provided to you and cover many different Operating Systems.

Technically adept students like myself often don’t mind setting these up for you, often for nothing more than a polite thank you afterwards. However, other renumeration (usually in the form of sweets, beer, coke or cash) is normally gladly accepted.

Bed:
It’s a bed, what more do you want to know?

Desk Lamp:
Well, it’s a lamp that can be put on your desk and lights what you point it at. Yes, really.

Desk:
This is a nice desk with three large size drawers and ample leg space at one side.

Chairs:
Provided in the rooms for your comfort and convenience is a nice swivel chair. It goes up and down as well as having an adjustable backrest.

Sink:
All rooms posses sinks with hot and cold running water. You can wash cups and things in them and can drink the water.

Cleaning of the rooms is conducted every two weeks. Communal areas are cleaned every morning except on weekends and bank holidays.

For residents at Thwaite Hall, the official postal address for any given student (e.g., You!) is:

Your Name
Your Room Number
Thwaite Hall
Thwaite Street
Cottingham
East Riding of Yorkshire
HU16 4RE

Before & After – Pictures Of My (Ex) Car

Okay – here’s the before pictures which I had on my MySpace:

And now the after pictures from this morning – sorry I didn’t get a decent one from the front, but if you look in one of them you can see how the passenger side has crumpled.

You can click on all of the images in this post to see a larger variant. I used to have the original (large size) versions of the top images, but they were gone. The lower images are high resolution though, so you can see the damage in detail.

Needless to say, it’s a write off. I just got off the phone with my insurance company (Royal&Sun Alliance, the car was a Motability car with fully comprehensive insurance). I’m getting a courtesy car on Tuesday, probably something like a Corsa or a Peugeot. I can keep that until Motability can sort me with a new car, but needless to say I’m in no mood to drive at the moment.

Brush With Death

Okay…. I don’t really know where to start with this entry, so I’ll just explain things as they happened. Yesterday, at about 12 noon, I left my aunts having collected the documents I needed to get. Just after I’d left Withernsea, I was following a Yorkshire Water van, which was itself behind another white van. I don’t remember the details of it, but we were all travelling down Halsham Straight, part of which contains two hills with a dip between them.

As we passed over the crest of the first hill, the Yorkshire Water van moved out and overtook the white van. I followed the white van out. The white van got far enough to pull in again, and did so. As it moved in, I saw a British Gas van come over the crest of the second hill, in the oncoming lane. I didn’t have enough time to brake and move back, so I put my foot down and just managed to avoid hitting the British Gas van and the Yorkshire Water van in the other lane. I had to swerve quite hard to avoid a collision, and I was doing about 50-55mph.

Because I was going so fast, my front left tyre had moved onto the grass verge and began to pull the car in. As soon as I realised, I tried steering the other way (to the right) to correct it. The car was already out of control, and this pushed it too far – the car then flipped at 55mph, sideways.

The next 6 seconds or so were a blur. I remember flipping twice, but after that I had my eyes closed and my hands somewhere between the steering wheel and my face. I heard a lot of banging and crunching as the car continued to roll, and a moment later everything was still.

I opened my eyes, hardly believing that what was happening was true. I had to wait a moment before I started thinking “Oh, fuck” again. I was upside down, strapped in my seat, being held by the seatbelt. The car was smoky and on fire, but the compression of the body caused by the car rolling and landing on it’s roof had caused all of the windows to break. I tried to move, but I was pretty much stuck. I couldn’t really work out my position in the car or how to right myself again (I was too disoriented anyway), but i could see light out of the drivers’ side window. I pushed my head as far as I could and tried to see out, which is when I saw the driver of the first car to overtake running towards me.

I shouted to him to help me; and once he reached me he told me that the underside was on fire. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the flames, then asked me if I could get out. I tried to reach my seatbelt, but couldn’t find the release. He told me not to move because it would just keep getting tighter, then disappeared for a few seconds before returning with a knife. He cut me out and then helped me to the side of the road.

Apparently the first thing I said was, “Fuck, my mum’s gonna kill me”. By this time, people had stopped to see what had happened. The police had been called at 12:16, with the accident occurring about 12:15pm. Before long, the fire service, police and paramedics had arrived and began clearing up the wreck. I was confused and disoriented as anyone would be, but I saw the car upside down – what a mess…

I managed to get a name and registration from the driver of the van in front of me which overtook first – I think it was the guy who helped me – turns out he knows my aunt. He saw me crash in his rear view mirror, and he says I rolled four times. The car rolled onto its’ left side (judging by the wreck and what I felt), and spun to face the other direction during the process. The paramedics said that 90% of people in those kinds of crashes (type and speed) die, and chances are if I’d been in any other car (probably meaning a less modern car – mine was a Mazda3 TS with about 10 airbags and a reinforced body among other things) – I’d be dead now. By rights, I should be dead.

To be honest, I thought I was going to die. It’s a weird feeling.

I spent a couple of hours getting looked over at the hospital, but I’m alright – no major injuries, just cuts and bumps mainly. I have a graze on my head and my muscles in my shoulders and neck are aching from getting knocked about, but I’ll be alright. Considering how close I came to dying… I’m just glad to be alive. I’ll upload the pictures I took later on.

Choosing Accommodation

Okay, so after deliberating for a couple of hours last night and visiting the various types of accommodation today, I feel I have thorough justification for applying to Thwaite Hall on two out of my three options (applying for a Standard room and a Large room). I’ve also applied to Taylor Court Flats as my ‘least preferable’ option, though I can’t really complain – it’s all totally en-suite and self contained (though I would be sharing the occupancy with other students, possible postgraduates).

So, why Thwaite?

It’s simple, really. The Lawns Halls are all identical, and Needler is pretty similar to that. Once you’ve seen in one, you’ve seen ‘em all. To be frank, they all look like a motel on the inside (yes, one of those horrible seedy places you find hookers and drug dealers in American movies) and are generally not disabled-person friendly. I guess I can’t be too harsh, though – the Lawns complex was built in the 60’s.

Anyway… where to start? I had trouble getting into the complex due to the stairs on the way in; and then once I got inside there were yet more stairs with no hand rails whatsoever. The organisation of the halls themselves (inside) is somewhat unsuitable, too – one example – you’re not allowed any kind of tea/coffee making facilities in your room (I guess it’s a Health & Safety rule or something) and if I ended up on the “wrong” floor I would have to traverse at least one flight of stairs carrying a hot drink. Not something I’m good at, to be honest. I don’t suppose it would be as much of an issue for an able-bodied student, but for someone like me who has trouble getting up stairs without handrails (without having anything in my hands whatsoever and leaning on a wall) and finds it impossible to do so up the middle of a flight (i.e., free standing with no support), not only is it difficult and impractical, it’s downright dangerous. The lowest (floor of) accommodation available requires you to traverse a thoroughly rail-free flight of stairs, and T&C facilities are on the next floor up. I like need my tea and coffee. If you’ve not already guessed it, I’m not a fan. Lawns was pretty much right out from the get-go.

Next, I went down to Thwaite Hall. The picture looks nice, but seeing it in person… it really is amazing. You know, like on TV when there’s a McDonald’s advert showing? They show you a Big Mac, and it looks delicious. Then you go down to a drive-thru, and what you get given looks nothing like what you were promised by the TV ad? I was expecting that same feeling with this. But Thwaite really is like the TV Land Big Mac – while what I saw was mainly a building site (they do repairs and refurbishments during the summer), it really looked nice. Even the standard rooms are nice and airy, and every room had a large glass door looking out over the gardens and the lake. There are two large common rooms, well stocked (plasma tv, games consoles, pool tables, newspapers, yada yada yada), along with a large dining room and smaller kitchen for snacks and drinks. All of the rooms are single rooms of varying size – a bed, wardrobe; table, light; and smaller cupboard is provided, along with 8 (I counted) wall sockets and an Ethernet Jack for 24-hour access to the Campus network and Internet. I can see it being easy to wander across and make friends with the guy/girl on the other side of the corridor. Disabled facilities (toilets, baths and showers) are all within easy reach – without having to get up or down stairs (which have rails anyway). In short, this is perfect.

Onto the Taylor Court Flats. Now these are a full contract lease, which means there are students living in them all year round. With that in mind, I couldn’t very well just waltz into one and start asking to look around. So I did the next best thing – went to the accommodation office and had a decent (15+ mins) talk with a female student who worked on the front desk. She’d lived in all of the accommodation that was available, and so was a great source of help (thanks, nameless helper! I’ll drop in and say Hi once I move in! ).

While living in TC would allow me to have all the facilities I need in a single place, it is mixed accommodation – if I end up with people I don’t like – tough shit. I’d have to wait a whole year to change to another type of housing. I also wouldn’t be with people my own age (entirely), and my housemates likely wouldn’t be going through the same things I am. At least in Thwaite I’m surrounded by others in the same position as me. That shared experience is something I feel I would benefit greatly from – it’s the main reason I’m moving away from home anyway, besides just wanting more independence. Like I said at the start of this post – I couldn’t really complain if I got a fully furnished, en-suite flat. That said, the lack of true privacy and the ‘pot luck’ factor of who you end up with is a bit of a deal breaker. At least in Thwaite I can lock myself away and know that the room I’m in – whatever its size – is my personal space.

One thing that did irk me slightly was that £150 deposit I mentioned. I just got a little money in the bank yesterday – and even though me and mum went 100/50 splits on the cost, transferring £100 across to her account was a painful experience. I now have… £90 to last me the month. Oh, goodie! But, at least my application’s in now.

Oh, my God. It’s official.

By Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 – at the latest – I’ll be moving out.

What’s On Offer? (or, Hull University Accommodation) Part Four – Thwaite Hall

Thwaite Hall
A student residence since the 1920’s, Thwaite Hall is an imposing 18th century country house in over 24 acres of beautiful grounds adjoining the University’s Botanic Gardens. There’s a large lake, parkland, meadows, woods and 3 all-weather areas for tennis, netball or football.

What are the features?

• 1.2 miles from the main campus
• Regular bus route, which also covers Hull City Centre
• 178 single study rooms/9 large single rooms
• Free telephone and web network access
• Corridors are generally mixed gender, although bathroom facilities are separate
• Catering 14 meals per week (breakfast and evening), including the provision of non-specialised vegetarian meals, with late evening meals also available
• Utility bills included
• Personal contents/possessions insurance included
• Students are asked to bring their own bed linen, snack-preparation and eating utensils

What are the shared facilities?

• Basic kitchen with a variety of equipment (kettle, fridge, microwave, mini-oven, grill)
• Junior common room with 41-inch TV, DVD, VCR, vending machines and daily newspapers
• Large TV room with VCR
• Games room with a snooker table, pool table, table-tennis equipment, dartboard, table football, upright piano
• Large music room with a Steinway grand piano
• Library with large selection of books, photocopier and plenty of workspace
• Computer room with direct connections to the University
• Laundry with cash-operated washing machines and tumble dryers
• Irons and ironing boards
• Limited off-road parking
• Large bicycle shed

A distinctive feature of traditional halls is the JCR (Junior Common Room) committee, which is a body elected by students yearly who:

• Organise regular social events, traditional formal dinners and balls;
• Assist in running the hall, hosting regular meetings for residents to voice opinions and contribute to hall life;

Residents pay a fee to the JCRC which goes towards maintenance and facility-licensing.

The Contract

Thwaite Hall is closed during the Christmas and Easter vacation periods, and students must vacate the premises.

What are the advantages of Thwaite Hall?

• 14 meals per week provided
• Natural and spacious setting
• Located between the University and Cottingham village centre
• Extensive facilities
• All rooms are single
• Ability to live with a group of friends in your 2nd and 3rd year

What’s On Offer? (or, Hull University Accommodation) Part Three – The Lawns

The Lawns
The Lawns complex is a group of 7 halls of residence grouped around a catering and social centre, on 40 acres of land on the Cottingham Village outskirts.

What are the features?

• Tennis courts and football pitches
• 330 free off-road parking spaces
• Each hall has a basic kitchenette with:
• Cooking equipment
• Fridge/freezers
• 3 washing machines
• 2 tumble driers and drying rooms
• Students should provide their own bed linen

There’s a 17% chance you’ll be allocated a shared room if you apply to a Lawns Hall as a first year undergraduate.

Grant, Lambert and Nicholson Halls house approximately 140 students in 80 single and 60 double rooms. Most rooms have washbasins and a balcony, while shared rooms have a partial dividing wall for privacy.

Morgan Hall offers accommodation for 140 students in single rooms, with washbasins and most have a sun terrace.

Reckitt Hall offers a mixture of single and shared rooms with washbasins and a limited number of single rooms with en-suite facilities. Most rooms have a balcony. As this is the only block at the Lawns offering en-suite facilities, early application is advised.

Downs Hall offers accommodation to 140 students in single rooms, with washbasins. Most rooms have a Sun terrace. As this is the only block of self-catered accommodation at the Lawns, early application is advised.

Ferens Hall offers accommodation for 190 students in single rooms – usually 5 students per landing, a layout that encourages good social contact among small groups. Rooms don’t have washbasins vary in size.

Three Nicholson Hall Bungalows house up to 6 students and each are provided with uninterrupted residence contracts that include the Christmas and Easter vacation periods.

• Telephones – pre-paid voucher operation (some internal calls are free/external calls are charged at ‘phone-box’ rates for calls within the UK
• Residents can use campus computing facilities for internet and network access from their bedrooms, provided they have a suitable PC and a modem

What are the shared facilities?

The Lawns Centre provides the main evening meal service to those who are semi-catered, plus a late snack-bar service. The Centre also has bars, a pool room, a television room and a disco area. There’s parking adjacent to the Lawns Centre and secure bicycle sheds at each hall.
Two kinds of residence fee are used at the halls on the Lawns site:

1. Semi-catered covers residence, plus a daily evening meal in the Lawns Centre All first year students who stay in Morgan Hall, Grant, Lambert, Nicholson, Reckitt and Ferens are semi-catered.
2. Self-catering covers residence only. Students in Downs and the Nicholson Hall Bungalows are entirely self-catering. Individuals with special dietary needs who have to self-cater should apply for this accommodation. Self-catering residents are able to purchase evening meals in the Lawns Centre.

The Contract

The main Lawns site is closed during the Christmas and Easter vacation periods, and students must vacate the premises. Students who wish to stay are advised to apply for residence in the Nicholson Hall bungalows.

What are the advantages of The Lawns?

• Evening meal available
• Large student community
• Ability to live with a group of friends in your 2nd or 3rd year
• Sociable atmosphere
• Good public transport to the main campus
• Close to village centre amenities
• Large number of off-road parking spaces