My new joystick arrived, which meant I then spent ages trying to get the drivers to install then gave up. The MS ones seem to work okay anyway. Then I had all sorts of activation problems. Managed to fly it fairly stably down the M5 though from Gloucester airport which I was quite happy with.
Work wise, still on render code. Didn’t go anywhere lunchtime but popped out in the evening for a bit and went over towards Filton and did a few caches there.
I don’t recommend you read the safety briefings at the end of the Robinson R22 manual, you will never set foot in a helicopter again. Low RPM rotor stalls and zero-g roll-overs. There’s one bit which says the rotor will flex so much that it will chop the tail boom, but this is irrelevant as you are doomed anyway. The copy of flight sim arrived.
Spent most of the day on renderer code again, still plodding along quite nicely. Walked the dog.
Went to the gym and did combat, it was very warm. Then came back and did some more work. Finally installed the flight sim and got the R22 up and running. I’m actually very impressed after setting every possible option to realistic it’s just as much of a bitch to handle as the real thing. Don’t have my flight stick yet, so trying to fly it with an XBox controller isn’t easy. But things like airspeed and RPM drop were spot on. It even has Gloucester airport so after I managed to get the bloody thing off the ground I managed to fly fairly stably along the M5. I then crashed it in a field trying to land. I think it’s going to be quite a good training aid, I look forward to doing some more hovering practice.
So got up after sex. Actually it was quite good, Jamie laid on his front so I didn’t get to see the extremities. Had breakfast and a coffee, cleaned up the dog poo. Got rid of a couple of mouldy lettuces. Then had lunch.
In the afternoon I decided that as the temperature had dropped a lot since yesterday I’d go biking. So I pumped up the tyres on the mountain bike and donned lycra. I cycled to the outskirts of Bath and then cycled back again. I stopped for an ice cream on the way and a bottle of water on the way back. Very pleasant ride, haven’t done a decent one since about this time last year. Then came back and red the Robinson R22 owners manual, made the back mistake of reading all the back pages on ‘safety tips’, I’ll probably bang on about this a bit more later in the week, but it’s surprising there are any Robinson R22 owners who aren’t dead that would require an owners manual.
Time for a bath.
So got up at a sensible time and took the dog over to Almondsbury. Came back and grabbed those couple of travel bugs I picked up last week. Then I went and picked up mother, inserted her in the car and off we set to Weymouth. Took the fairly direct cross country route and got there in a couple of hours. Parked no problem considering the hot weather. We stopped first in a pub and had lunch then walked round a bit. Certainly it’s been a couple of years since we’ve been out but mothers walking ability has rapidly deteriorated, we can’t have really walked for more than an hour. Anyway, we had an ice cream and then went in the arcade and played on the 2p machines. I’ve ended up with a few bits which I can use for travel bugs so I’ve ordered a couple of them.
We then set off to Portland, trying to find some Geocaches, a sod to park anywhere then we ended up in the wrong place several times. In the end I parked up at the top of a hill and just used the phone to find a couple of nearby caches. Found one in a gate and another at an old BMX track. Managed to drop off a couple of trackables in that one. Almost got muggled putting it back.
We then drove back following the sat-nav which decided to take us to a road that was closed, then a 50 mile diversion followed including a trip up a mud track which required some fun reversing. Anyway we got back in the end. Had a shower, something to eat and some telly.
I also ordered the new (or last version anyway) flight sim for the PC, this includes the R22 helicopter, I’ve also ordered some controls. So it will be interesting to see how it handles.
Still on renderer code this morning, all going according to plan, just lots of typing.
Then filled up the car with the remaining garage stored fuel. Then drove up to Cheltenham….actually it was Staverton airport. Nice little place, lots of hangers with vintage planes, lots of geeks hanging about watching them. I was here for a purpose though. It was time for me to learn to fly a helicopter….
So it was into ‘Rise Helicopters’, where I met Captain James. He showed me the Robinson R22, it looked like it was made out of Meccano and held together with cheese. We climbed aboard, it was somewhat compact. I switched it on (well I pressed some buttons I was told to do), then he fired it up. It vibrated a lot. But soon the rotor was up to speed and we lifted off gently down the car park to the helipad. We got tower clearance then we were up and away. I took a few photos as we were climbing. He went through all the controls now we were in the air and then moved the cyclic (that’s the stick thing) over to me. I was somewhat nervous. We were 1500 feet in the air and I was in control. It’s surprisingly twitchy and you have to be very gentle on the controls. The art was to keep the compass box on the windscreen level with the horizon while keeping the air speed up. I oddly got the knack of this very quickly. So I then spent the next ten minutes just flying about, changing air speed and turning. I then asked about the ‘auto-rotation’ which is what happens when the engine stops. He said in 22 years he’s never heard of an engine failure on an R22. He then proceeded to drop the engine RPM so it disengaged the rotor. We were now pretty much in free fall, except not a great deal happened. He picked a field and got it to land beautifully with no engine power. He then told me to lift up on the collective (another stick) and we took off again. All too soon it was time to go back to the airfield, I flew it all the way back to the boundary. We then had a go at hovering, trying to keep it stable on the spot. That is very very hard, I only had a few minutes at it but was getting the hang of it. And then we went back to the car park.
It’s easily the most fun you can have without lubricant. It’s also somewhat surprisingly cheaper than karting used to be. We had a chat and I’m going to go back a do some more lessons, even if I don’t complete the whole course it’s still great fun.
I’m now a ‘chopperholic!’.
Today was spent mostly working on render code, well converting render code from one platform to another. While mainly listening to Glastonbury sets.
Walked the dog as swapped with Jamie for tomorrow. Updated the shopping list.
Getting quite excited about tomorrow, I’ll either love it, hate it, or die.
Went and did a recheck on a couple of dogs, both were quite mad. Lovely people, lovely dogs, no problems there. It was situated by the UWE so I parked up in a lay-by there and got the GPS out. Had a good run, found three in quick succession then a couple of DNF’s, which is a shame. Ended up clambering up a few hills and having a great view of the M32. Stung to hell by nettles again.
Torture porn night, second attempt at that Danny Dyer film.
Woke up at 6:30am and took the dog to daycare. Went back to bed and started work at a reasonable time. Still getting through Glastonbury videos on the iMac in the background. Working on render and shader stuff, still a hell of a lot to do, it’s mainly still in the design and creative stage at the moment. A couple of interesting issues to do with instances, rabbit for another time.
Managed to get out this evening and find three caches over Almondsbury way that were grouped together. I’m beginning to fill in a few areas now. Doing a home recheck tomorrow so will venture out that way. Now watching ‘Luther’, good as always.
Didn’t sleep hardly at all last night, mainly down to the heat and Jamie snoring like a train. So woke up this morning very tired. Made a start though, then drove over to Vauxhall to get the car serviced. They gave me that bloody white Agila again. Pram with an engine, it feels just so plastic and it had no bloody petrol in it. Got back home and cracked on.
Been feeling very tired all day, up to the point in the afternoon I almost dropped off. Picked up the car, which took bloody ages due to traffic. Came back and ploughed on. What I’m doing at the moment is very complex, there’s a hell of a lot of it, just have to plough through it. Felt very tired so finished a little bit early. Didn’t go anywhere this evening although it was a beautiful one. Now sat down watching this court case thing, recorded live in a Scottish court. After that I think I’ll try and get an early night as the dog is at daycare tomorrow.
Woke up late, probably due to having baths and wine at stupid o’clock last night. Yes, indeed, today I was working on shaders, again. But finally I’ve finished, sorted out my default parameters issues. So ready to move on to the next bit, which is renderer related. That’ll be a long job, but a fun one.
Booked a hotel for a gathering of work people in a few weeks. Opened up the Tesco shopping list. Then I’ve booked something interesting for Friday, certainly something I’ve never done before and probably never will again.
Walked the dog. She got very hot and tired. Went to Combat, which was quite quiet.
Thinking about doing the 5-2 diet again to buff up for Turkey. That unfortunately doesn’t mean five cans of larger followed by two bottles of wine. Technically I could do a 3-4 diet just by cutting out bread from my lunchtime sandwich and cheese. Will give it a blast next week.
I started the day off sweating a lot, almost to the point where the memory foam mattress had turned into a small duck pond. My fingers had even started ‘pruning’. Had breakfast, drank coffee.
Got up eventually, did the dog poo run, then had lunch. We then took the dog out, walked all the way to Almondsbury. She ran around her favourite field and got fairly tired. We walked back to the Swan pub and had a pint. Jamie then left with the dog to go back home. I then walked further North to do some Geocaching. Think I found about another four, haven’t logged them yet, also picked up a couple of travel bugs.
Then walked home, well had to run the last couple of miles, which I wouldn’t have minded too much if it wasn’t so damn baking. Got home, got the BBQ out, then picked up Andy and Lisa. We then had a very pleasant evening drinking and eating meat. They then stumbled into a taxi and we tidied up. I had a bath and then watched the end of the ‘Apprentice’ episode I fell asleep through the other day.
Nice weekend, very warm.