Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Rob's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, July 11th, 2009
9:10 pm	Reading Festival 2009 Jesus christ I've started to get excited about Reading Festival 2009. I just checked the confirmed acts on readingfestival.com and got a few surprises. Rival Schools who I've been wanting to see since I was a young boy at high school have reformed and are billed to play on Saturday. Also pounding house-master Deadmau5 is now listed to be in the dance stage last thing on on Sunday night. There are so many bands I want to see. If possible I'm going to lend my ears to all of the following: Friday Bombay Bicycle Club - Supported Maximo Park earlier this year, definately worth another listen Deftones - There may be a risk of being moshed to death, but should be worth it Placebo - Yep yep Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby ruby ruby rubyyyyyy, wahhh wahhhhhh Kings of Leon - Pretty good Saturday Rival Schools - Ahhh, amazing Maximo Park - Another sweat-fest The Prodigy - Should influence some crazed pogo rave-dancing. Unlike anything else Arctic Monkeys - More than alreet northern tunes Sunday The Crystal Method - One for Iain Rawson Deadmau5 - What's your name, what've you had? Reach for the lasers, safe as fuck. Lostprophets - One for the cheery emos Bloc Party - The most disappointing set I saw in 2008, but I'll probably still head over to check it out Radiohead - The potential to play for about 5 hours Unfortunately I'd quite like to see all three headliners on Sunday night; Radiohead, Deadmau5 and Lostpropets. I guess I'll end up heading over to which one I feel in the mood for at the time. Reading Fesival, music for any occasion. Current Music: Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster Stronger (Deadmau5 edit)
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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
2:03 pm	Thin legs I have really thin calves. Despite doing lots of running recently, they don't seem to have increased in circumference one bit. In fact, I was very disappointed when some measurements done this morning revealed that they're less than 1cm bigger than both my sister's and my mum's. My dad's are 1cm bigger than mine. It seems we are a thin-legged family.
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Monday, June 29th, 2009
5:19 pm	Pedal power I absolutely love my pedal bike. I love razzing it about town, and out in the countryside. It's a quick, efficient and practical mode of transport. And most importantly it is really fun to ride. At the weekend I finally decided that I love my current bike at least much as much as my last one (which was a lot). I wanted to write a little note to say so. Here she is. It is a 2005 Gary Fisher Marlin. It is an entry level hard-tail mountain bike which I mainly use for commuting, some fitness riding, a little touring, and a tiny bit of off-road. The frame is aluminium, up front are a pair of Manitou Axel forks, and the groupset is mainly Shimano Deore. We've done 5,540 miles together over the past four years. My vague target is to hit 10,000 over the next four or five years, though I should be able to keep her a lot longer than that because the frame comes with a lifetime warranty. I've replaced the chain, a chain-ring, the cassette, gear cables, the brake pads (many times), and the tyres and inner tubes (more times than I care to remember). I recently rebuilt the rear wheel with a new rim, which was quite an involved bonding exercise. She supported me from Land's End to John 'O Groats in June of last year. This is my previous bike, a (1999?) Specialized HardRock. This was my main bike from its purchase until just before I bought the Gary Fisher. We did a paper round for two years, and cycled to and from school for about five. When I moved the speedo over to my new bike, it was reading just over 11,000 miles, and I've done a few more 'off the clock' since then. We've been through a lot together. Recently it was salvaged from its resting place in the dust of my parents garage and stripped down to be a single-speed (32-13 ratio). Here's to bikes! Current Music: Jimmy Eat World - Your New Aesthetic
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Saturday, May 16th, 2009
2:16 pm	Missing clothing I've just been looking through some old photos of myself on Facebook, and realised that over the past few years I have lost loads of items of clothing. I have no idea where I even last saw most of these things; Thin beige jacket with zip up the front Smartish blue jeans (34L) Blue impetus boxer-pants Black speedo goggles Le-coq sportif blue sports shorts with white trim on the sides Blue regatta zip-up fleece Light grey tshirt with VW camper van on the front The right foot from a pair of smart black shoes (somewhere on the old Felixstowe road between Bucklesham and Felixstowe) Grey (Oakley?) wrist sweatband Thin black fingerless gloves I'm not counting dozens of pairs of trainers which my mother has thrown into the bin without my consent. If you have, or have seen any of these things. Or indeed have in your possession any other item of clothing which belongs to me, please contact me ASAP! Current Music: Foo Fighters - Best Of You
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Thursday, May 14th, 2009
12:03 am	Tewkesbury Half Marathon On Sunday I ran the Tewkesbury Half Marathon (13.1 miles). I'd only decided to run it one week ago after peer pressure from various friends over the previous few weeks. It seemed like a good challenge, but as soon as I'd signed up I started worrying that it'd be a challenge too-far. I received my runner number plate thing in the post on Wednesday, and filled in my next of kin and allergy details on the back. It's important to note that I've only started running seriously since Christmas. I've never run more than 6 miles in one go, and about 8 in a session. I have been running quite a lot, usually two or three sessions a week of about 6 miles each, but never this much in one slog. I felt daunted. On the Sunday morning of the race itself I decided to eat nothing. I seem to suffer from stiches if I eat anything significant within about 4 or 5 hours of running, so thought it'd best not to risk it. I attached my runner number to the front of my shirt with duct tape, donned two pairs of socks and a cotton shirt and waited for Craig to pick me and Toby up and take us into Tewkesbury. On arrival Craig and Toby went to the port-a-cabins to 'get down to racing weight', but I didn't think I could produce anything so stood around and took in the atmostphere of hundreds of runners milling about. We queued up to collect our electronic timing chips, which attach around an ankle, and then had a chat with a few other professional-looking runners with full-lyrca running suits and enormous hgih-tech GPS watches. The starting area was split into sections signed with '7 minute miles', '8 minute miles', etc. to get groups of similar speed runners together. We slotted into the area marked for 9 min miles and stood next to some podgy women. We'd discussed a race strategy of doing 10 min miles for first 5 miles, and then doing an assessment for the rest of the race depending on how we felt. But as soon as the race started we got swept along with the flow of people around us and clocked 8 mins 35 for the first mile. There were loads of people surrounding us and it was tricky to avoid standing on the feet of people in front, and cutting up people behind. It seemed like everyone behind wanted to overtake, and everyone in front was going too slow. But the further we moved away from the start, the quieter it got as people spaced out, and it wasn't a problem after the first mile. Toby and Craig edged-off in front so I ran with two other guys from work. We chatted about various things. I commented that it was pretty good to run with so many other people, and that there was a lot of stuff to look at compared to a normal road run. One thing we immediately noticed was that it was nice to have priority over cars, rather than generally trying to avoid being run over. There were actually police stopping the traffic for us! The first 6 miles were actually easy, I had to keep thinking about reducing the pace my legs wanted to go at. I didn't want to burn out before the end, considering that we had so far left to go. We averaged 8 and a half mins/mile for this period, and got half-way round the course in about 55 minutes. The weather was slowly turning from grey cloud into bright sun, so I started grabbing water to sip at the stations by the side of the road. From about 6.5 miles to 7.5 I felt absolutely amazing. I was really happy that we'd made it so far and that I was still feeling so good. Loads of people by the edges of the road were cheering us on, and I did some comedy running poses after spotting a few friends taking photos. On going through the 8 mile marker my motivation disappeared immediately. Within a few seconds all ten toes started smarting, I realised that the insides of both knees were really sore from rubbing together, I felt really hungry, I was too far too hot and really thirsty. I had to start pushing myself to run to keep moving at the desired 9min/mile pace rather than just coasting along. At the next water point I grabbed a whole bottle and washed my face. The water dripping from my forehead and cheeks tasted extremely salty, and I wandered if I'd been sweating too much and not replacing my fluids, and perhaps I was suffering from a lack of salt in my body. I downed about 300ml of water and then got a stitch at the 9 mile marker. This wasn't good and I was really worried that I'd have to stop running and walk it off, I braced myself for this to last for the rest of the race, but thankfully it went away by the 10th mile marker. After the stitch went away I felt a lot better and decided I was able to pick up my pace a little for the final 3 miles of the race. I accelerated a bit and started moving away from the two guys I'd run the first 10 miles with. I started trying to overtake as many other runners as possible. This wasn't hard as loads of people in front had stopped to walk, and those who hadn't were going at a much slower pace. I found it really motivating to keep setting targets of reaching people in front and then catching them up. Unbelievably I was overtaken by a guy pushing another guy in a wheelchair, so I increased my pace even more to reel them back in. Quite a few spectactors were shouting "keep going, only a mile left", clearly lying as we'd not even reached the 12 mile marker. Scumbags. When I finally did get to that point with just over a mile remaining we were back into Tewkesbury town. I stepped up to the fastest pace I thought I could maintain for the final mile. I started feeling really nauseous and kept eyeing up good places to take a chunder, thinking that I'd need to go at any moment. I was a little worried by the number of ambulance sirens I heard, and the number of people collapsed by the side of the road. I saw one guy supporting another who was completely knackered, his legs and head were flopping about like jelly. A paramedic grabbed him about 1/4mile from the finishing line and frog-marched him toward an ambulance. From this point loads of people were shouting encouragement, and I could heard a commentator on the PA system at the finishing line. I kept my head down and turned into a field where the finishing line was. The commentator guy must have looked up my name from my runner number and I heard him say "And here is Robert Hendy, making it look easy!". Ha. I made it about five steps past the finishing line before a guy grabbed me and gave me a medal, and directed me to put my leg up on a stool so that some old lady could cut the timing chip off my ankle. Some other guy gave me a bag of goodies, and a St. Johns Ambulance medic gave me a bottle of water. I staggered back through the crowd and laid down for about three minutes to get my breath back. After the short rest I felt much better, and decided to try and find the rest of my friends, some who had finished in front of me and a few others who had come along to watch. They were standing right by the finish line, and had apparently shouted at me as I ran past, but I hadn't heard them. We sat about for about 20 minutes, clapping for people still finishing and eating the contents of my goodie bag; a weird non-Frijj milkshake (not bad, but a bit warm), a cereal bar (quite nice), some weird glucose gel which was a real struggle to open (very lumpy and tasteless, but strangely refreshing) and a sachet of electrolyte rehydration powder which I added to a bottle of water (very salty). My finishing time was 1:53.36. I was very demoralised to watch the winner roll up looking very calm and collected and collect his 1st place medal. His time was 1 hour 13! I'd finished 472nd out of 959 people who had actually got round the course in the three hour time limit (just in the top half!). Which I guess is pretty good for a first attempt. I think about 600 people didn't finish, but I don't know how many of these didn't start either. I put on my medal and went home. Jon asked how it had gone and I said it was "pretty easy". I had a large cup of tea and a power-nap. Current Music: Deadmau5 and Kaskade - I Remember (Original)
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Monday, May 4th, 2009
12:34 pm	Running joke Due to peer pressure from various friends, I have signed up to do a half marathon in Tewkesbury on the coming Sunday morning. It is 13.1 miles on flat(ish) tarmac. I estimate I'll reach the wall of pain at either 5 or 11 miles (or maybe both). I'm pretty excited and scared. Current Music: Peter. Bjorn & John - Young Folks
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
7:45 pm	Honda CB600F Hornet 5000 mile/1 year review So I’ve now owned my motorbike for almost a year. I thought I’d write a few more ‘review’ style thoughts for the record. Refresh your memory of what I wrote last April if you will. here. So I’ve driven just under 5000 miles over the past 12 months of owning the bike. I’d estimate that about half of the distance has been done on a few ‘touring’ holidays with a pillion passenger, the other half has been split between driving long distances to visit my parents and aimlessly caning it about. About 600 miles were done on the continent on the wrong side of the road (apart from some nutty road markings, this was no trouble). The handling of the bike continues to be a learning experience. I’ve still got nowhere near scraping my knees along the asphalt, but I’m slowly getting more confident, especially around roads that I know. It’s really quick to turn it from side to side, and very stable at speed. It is such brilliant fun to whizz about, and even if I had no practical use for the vehicle I’d probably still keep it just to drive about at the weekends. Power is available in any gear, as long as the engine is revving above 4k. Below this it is very lumpy, especially when a bit cold. The gears are clustered quite closely, but because the engine is so quick to rev and relatively small, the clutch matches it up with the road speed very quickly when changing gear. This means the clutch can pretty much be dropped when wanting to shift quickly. 0-60mph is somewhere between 4 and 5 seconds, and the top speed is about 130mph depending largely on wind direction. The tiny after market fly screen does a half-assed job of protecting the rider from oncoming wind, rain and insects. But when it is sunny and warm, it is really nice to have some air flowing past. It does about 40 to 50 mpg depending on driving style, but usually between 43 and 46 over a tank. This means the range is about 150 miles which is a pain, and what everyone who has this bike seems to complain about. I have to be careful that I don’t get on a motorway without enough fuel to get to the next station. I use the trip meter as a crude fuel gauge which isn’t too bad. I invested in a pair of fabric Oxford pannier bags which were quite cheap, but not comparable to rigid ones. They’re fiddly to fit and provide almost no rain resistance. Despite what I’ve heard other people saying, I personally don’t mind wearing a backpack of about 35 litres. When it’s empty it flaps about a bit, but with content if lays down nicely on the pillion seat. The cost of ownership over this year has been pretty low. At the beginning of the year I paid £260 for TPF&F insurance and £48 for road tax. Amazingly the renewal on the insurance is only £135 after gaining just one years no-claims. I might consider fully comp next year, though I considered that not having this encourages me to drive slightly more safely. Looking on auto trader depreciation seems to be about 20%/£500. I recently did the yearly service work myself, costing about £80 in parts. Throughout the year I’ve lubricated and tightened the chain, but apart from this nothing else which I check has noticeably degraded. The MOT is coming up next week so maybe something will be spotted that I’ve missed. But generally, it has been very cheap to own this bike. Over the next year I plan to complete my RoSPA advanced riding test to reduce my chances of being run over, or doing something retarded which leads to me being run over. After going out with some guys who have super sport 600’s I’ve been considering getting a something with a bit more power. But at the same time I’ve considered going in the opposite direction and getting something which supports carrying luggage more naturally. However the Honda is too good an all rounder I feel. A great bike! Updates next year. Current Music: Lostprophets - Still Laughing
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Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
8:09 pm	How to do a hair cut Greetings all! More exciting new media is on its way. Today we have a video of how to undertake a simple gents haircut using a pair of clippers. It is a grade 7 with 3 around the edges. It has been speeded up about 30 times. Love it Current Music: Queens of the Stone Age - Medication
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Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
10:09 pm	Spring is a-coming Spring is on it's way. I just saw my first annoying little bug of the season. I squashed it. Current Music: Aaliyah - More Than A Woman
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Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
9:19 pm	Taken (2008) Plot keywords for the film Taken (2008) Spit In The Face | Abduction | Held At Gunpoint | Kicked In The Crotch | Female In Bra And Panties | Karaoke Great film. 9/10. Current Music: Limp Bizkit - 9 Teen 90 Nine
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Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
6:34 pm	The sound of insanity The sound of insanity. Beyonce Knowles - Single Ladies (PartyBen remix) Current Music: Beyonce Knowles - Single Ladies (PartyBen remix)
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
9:56 pm	Thorough insurance investigation Renewal for my motorcycle insurance will be coming up soon, so I did a little internet research to see how much it could be costing me. I quickly got side tracked and tried out lots of combinations of my circumstances (some fictional). See below for some interesting findings! £191.26 Base price; As a 23 year old male with 1 years no claims living in Chelt, requiring third party fire and theft cover for a 600cc Honda Hornet £152.04 As the female Miss Hendy £182.10 Without a pillion passenger £185.87 Excluding commuting to work £187.59 Owning a house £194.71 'Hit in the rear' in an accident which wasn't my fault £211.24 Storing the bike off the road at night, but not in a garage £279.49 With 0 years no-claims (£16 more than last year) £329.76 As an unemployed bum £418.99 Living at my previous address in Cov (mostly due to massive increase in the chance of theft) £440.24 After being convicted of a parking offence £1105.57 After being convicted of death by dangerous driving Current Music: Texas - Summer son
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Friday, December 26th, 2008
10:36 am	Mum's Birthday 2008 Continuing the tradition from previous years, next door neighbour Lawrence Bickers installed a cinema in our garden for my mother's birthday. The open air cinema shows one film, the absolutely terrible Mamma Mia (2008). My Dad and I headed outside with our breakfasts, woolly hats and coats to 'enjoy' a couple of minutes. Annoyingly my Dad now won't stop whistling one of the ABBA songs. Ahh! Current Music: Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan
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Sunday, December 14th, 2008
8:34 pm	Cocknobs When I get out of the shower, I really need to make a concious effort to change my habit of drying my crotch before my face. Current Music: Paul Keeley - Paper Jet (Anjunabeats Vol 6)
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Friday, November 14th, 2008
7:39 pm	How to make a bed Greetings all! I bring with me exciting new media. Below is a video of how to construct an Argos Scandinavian Pine double bed (and eat a curry at the same time). Enjoy! Current Music: The National - Fake Empire
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Saturday, September 20th, 2008
9:41 am	The After Eight Game The fantastic After Eight game, introduced to me by my uncle/cousins last weekend. Start by placing an After Eight Chocolate Mint (or similar) onto the forehead of a contestant. They will need to tilt their head back so that the chocolate doesn't immediately fall off. They should then, by a series of head motions only, attempt to slide the after eight into their mouth, and feast on the success. There are a range of quite successful techniques to employ in getting the chocolate to move around. These include; Shaking the whole head Wiggling eyebrows up and down Twitching nose Poking the tongue against the inside of the cheeks Stretching up with the tongue (when it is close enough to the mouth) The game can be played as a team, head to head, or merely for a bit of fun if you're on your lonesome.
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Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
10:39 pm	Reading Festival 08/09 I survived being starved, dehydrated, squashed, drowned, diseased and burned and returned from Reading Festival in one (very smelly and tired) piece! I have my ticket for Reading Festival 2009. See you there? Current Music: Queens of the Stone Age - You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar
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Thursday, August 7th, 2008
4:03 pm	LE-JOG diary (June 2008) Here is the diary from my Land's End to John O' Groats cycle of June 2008. ( diary! ) Current Music: Imogen Heap - Hide & Seek (Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise 6)
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
10:56 am	IT Pro My Dad, apparently an IT pro, just picked up the television remote with the intention of making a telephone call. Ha. Current Music: Dizzee Rascal - Dance Wiv Me
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Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
11:15 pm	Almost done at Warwick University The final exam of my fourth and final year of university is tomorrow morning at 9.30am. After two hours of this I will have finished a masters undergraduate course in Computer Science at the University of Warwick. I feel like I ought to write something to sum up my thoughts of being here. At the moment I can't be bothered as I need some sleep. But it shall be online sometime soon. Current Music: Arctic Monkeys - Leave Before The Lights Come On
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