First off, a disclaimer – I’m obviously not a doctor, if you need help or advice about Hepatitis B see a doctor. Better still, ask for a vaccination (yes, there is a vaccination – if only I’d known that at the time!).

I was diagnosed with Hepatitis B a few years ago, following a check up for something unrelated and although rather embarrassed about it (I haven’t told many people) I hoped a would be clear of it a few months later. Something like 90-95% of of people who are infected are able to fight off the virus so their infection never becomes chronic. Only about 5-10 percent of adults infected go on to develop chronic infection. Unfortunately, I fell into the minority.

It has taken a long time, referrals to different doctors, blood test and more blood tests, multiple Ultrasound & x-ray scans but finally I was recommended for treatment by a drug called Interferon. The list of possible side-effects were enough to frighten a small child, but involves a weekly injection under the skin just below the belly button, and to be honest isn’t a problem.

Unfortunately, only a small number of people treated with interferon actual become clear after a year (less than a third), so I’m not getting my hopes up here. Plan B is to take daily medication that suppresses the virus somehow, but I’d have to take forever (gulp).

The alternatives, are far more scary though, as Heb B can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver failure, or even liver cancer.

Anyway, I’m off later too the pub, but can’t drink anymore as it would add to the risk of liver disease. Probably just as well though, since it was almost certainly during a drunken careless moment that I got myself into this mess in the first place.

My first attempt was to try a Sumvision Cyclone HD Media player. This little device came with 250GB hard drive an HDMI connection, network support (over Ethernet) and full HD playback. The trouble was, the interface was not so good, music playback was very basic and I found the whole thing rather limiting and slow to use.

However read a few references to the Revo on Twitter, I thought it was worth checking out. After umming and erring for a while, I eventually took the plunge and opted for the Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Desktop PC, Atom 230 1.6GHz, 160GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, HDMI, nVidia GeForce 9400 ION, WIFI, Linux version & bought a 2GB memory upgrade. All-in £181, which seems very reasonable.

This included next day before midday delivery, despite the fact that I’d ordered it on a Sunday afternoon. To my much surprise, it arrived well before the deadline, and to be honest I was doubtful I would see it at all on Monday, so hats off to Ebuyer, after this experience I’d happily recommend them.

The first thing I done was to wipe the hard drive and install Ubuntu 9.10 on it. The linux installed originally was their fast-boot Linpus linux which is rather quite limited and basic.

Now, I installed Boxee. There are a number of media centre applications available (MythTV, Freevo, XBMC) but Boxee is by far the more polished in my opinion. Whilst I’ve used XBMC quite a bit in the past, it misses out on the Apps like BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and all the other online On-Demand applications.

Generally speaking, Boxee ‘just works’ and sets itself up nicely to detect video, pictures & music quickly.  The only snag I hit was that a lot of TV Series on the hard drive were not detected. Once I figured out what to do though, it seemed fairly straight forward.

The one area it does seem to lack though is music playback. I want the ability to create playlists, or play randomly from all tracks of a particular artist, or everything at random. So far, I haven’t seen anyway to do this, despite the fact that XBMC can do so happily.

Overall, though I’m delighted with the Revo, its given me the flexibility that I want, with a tiny device that will sit quietly (VERY quietly!) tucked behind my telly.

I completely ditched Windows a few years later, relieved to finally turn my back on XP (at home at least).

Fortunately, things are a lot easier now, though I still occasionally get frustrated.  When I bought my new PC (two year back now)  it came ready installed with Vista. The first thing I done was to install Ubuntu on it, though I left Vista on it for playing the occasional game or trying out new software. I almost ditched Linux and went back to Windows at one point, but within five minutes of using Vista I realised I was far more frustrated than I was using Ubuntu.

The things which annoy me about Linux: Sometimes a little painful installing new software, running Windows games is hit-or-miss, but mainly its that its not as widely supported. Not that I can blame Linux for the last part.

The things which annoy me about Windows: Searching for software, Anti-virus precautions, the constant Windows updates every time you log in, the way applications just ‘fail’ for no reason, often causing Windows to fail.

Anyway, I’m going off on one… Last week I installed the latest Alpha version of Ubuntu. I’m usually reluctant to install early Alphas, as I’ve been down this road before. If the X Windows fails to start, you left at the command prompt without much of a clue (well, I am at least). Unable to being the internet up, and so unable to install any missing dependencies, or install any other software.

Fortunately, this time it almost went fine. The only problem I had was a frequently problem to do with my dual screen set up and my Nvidia card. First install provides a generic graphic card driver, which doesn’t like my dual screen. All I got was a pretty pattern on my screen. The only way around this was to get my BIOS to boot using the on-board graphics card and then install the Nvidia driver. Somewhat fiddly, but I got there in the end.

There’s a few improvements this time, namely the boot-up time being even quicker, and the new fancy splash screen, which I must admit looks impressive. The thing I’m most happy with though, is that my WDS USB external hard drive finally mounts automatically. In the past I’ve always had to set this up as a fixed drive, which was always a pain as I had to mount it manually if I forgot to switch it on at boot time, and had to unmount at the command line.

The truth is though, there’s probably very little to be gained from upgrading from 9.04. If its about getting all the latest packages (firefox etc.) these can all be done these days by using PPA’s (Personal Package Archives). Still far too fiddly though.

Albert Road is the main drink & restaurant stretch in Southsea. Its a great stretch because it has so much variety, in fact there’s more variety in Albert Road then anywhere else in Portsmouth. And so, for this one day, they close the road off and have a party!

Having texted my older brother the previous day, I agreed to meet him down there. It was a painful bus journey though, I didn’t expect it to be so busy on a Sunday.

When I arrived at the pub, it was already very busy. It was around midday by now, and the event started around 10am.  We stayed for a couple of pints and then walked down the stretch. I only wish I’d bothered to take some photos, because I’d never seen so many people about on a Sunday. Music playing, live acts, food stalls and the likes stretched all the way down. Having walked all the way down and back, visiting quite a few pubs on the way, we met up with a few of my friends down there.

The only odd thing was around 4pm when all of a sudden all the pubs simultaneously closed, leaving a lot of people with nowhere to go. We where told it was to allow them time to clean up, but the reality is that it forced everyone to decent upon a few ill-equipped bar on the outskirts of Albert Road.

I can’t even remember the name of the bar we ended up in, but it was packed. Ended up staying there ’til about 8pm when everyone started to go home. An early night, even though it was a Sunday.  I paid one more place a visit before heading home, the pub opposite my flat. This place is nearly always busy, but tonight there was one other person (excluding the bar man), and he left shortly after I ordered my drink.

Last week I re-visited Marthas after a few drinks (well, a bottle of wine and a few beers to be precise). Sadly, I never hear from my younger brother anymore, so I guess that was just a phase. Not that I blame him, who wants an old git following him around, probably cramping his style.

Anyway, the club upstairs was really quiet, I guess its a couple of weeks before everyone else gets paid, so not a great time to pick. Still, the funny thing was that I bumped into Gorgeous bloke Justin there. I didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable, so I waited a while before I threw in the passing comment “Don’t I know you from somewhere…”, which in hindsight was rather cheesy.

I pointed out that I knew him from Gorgeous and he lived in Leigh Park but claimed I must be thinking of someone else. I was drunk, and my memory isn’t great at the best of times, but faces I never forget (when/where and who, frequently though).

Alas that was the highlight of the evening, apart from me cruising behind some bushes and going back to some guys flat. That bit I’m not so proud of, but I’m happy to put it all down to the drink.

It all ended safely though, if you know what I mean.

Despite the usual precautions (checking phone is fully charged, back up all data etc.) and despite a fairly glitchless ordeal by using the Nokia software updater, my phone is now dead.

I say ‘fairly glitchless’ as a disconnection warning was given during update. I followed the instructions, and all appeared to be okay.

Switching it on now results in ten seconds of continuous vibration, but nothing else. Connected the USB through Windows indicated an initial detection that then disconnects straight away. As the phone won’t even switch on, I can’t even try to reflash.

Not happy! I guess a quick visit to vodafone may be in order…

I don’t usually like meeting down Southsea, as there aren’t enough pubs for my taste, at least not enough that aren’t packed out. This we found out having made the mistake of moving on. We made one more pub before it was getting close to the end of normal drinking time.

I’m not sure whether this is a problem with living in a smaller city, or whether the problem is everywhere, but the idea of 24 hour drinking in a lie. Certainly in Portsmouth, come 11.20 you’re always stuck without anywhere to go, unless you head for a noisy club, that frankly I never liked 15 years ago, and now that I’m older and wiser, I like them even less. There are some exceptions though, if you know where to go.

A pub I remember fondly was The Osbourne, myself and my mates used to drink down Southsea quite a fair bit until a lot of pubs started closing. In fact, the seafront used to be the main stretch where everyone went of an evening for clubbing etc., but the residents eventually forced the clubs out and Southsea has never been the same since.

So, when my brother suggested it had re-opened as something else and stayed open late, I couldn’t resist the curiousity. I wasn’t happy paying £3 to get in, but it was cheaper than the one remaining club down there (even if we could get in). The bouncer / door man probably needs to work on his promotion more though: “look at it this way, you’ll at least get a shag from some old bird” doesn’t really swing it for me.

And I certainly felt young in there. I might as well have been a teenager again, compared with the age of everyone else in there.

I think I made a bad suggestion that we could get into Marthas still. Compared with staying there for another drink, it seemed like a better option. I’ve never had trouble getting in to Marthas before, but I think we just looked like two straight blokes trying to cause trouble. As that was only half true, I eventually managed to convince the door woman to let us in.

Unfortunately though, it was a naff evening there. It started to get better, but my brother was starting to look uncomfortable, so after about an hour and half we left. That’s when things got interesting.

Three blokes and a girl where outside in what seemed like some wasted effort thinking the could still get in (half an hour before close, there was no chance). They weren’t gay and they were hovering outside a gay club, so I wasn’t comfortable and wanted to make a hasty move away. My brother doesn’t have the same concerns so was more than happy to chat to them.

As it turned out, they were French travelled over for the weekend, and this was the first place that stubled into. My brother being ever-helpful tried to point them to somewhere still open. Although the chances were slim, we suggested a night club, and my brother offered to show them. At this point, I wasn’t going to let my brother go off with them on his own for safety sake, so I reluctantly went with them. They seemed nice enough, I was even smitten on one of the blokes, and clearly my brother was smitten with the girl.

Despite nearly getting killed driving the wrong way down a main street, we found the club to be closed. Fortunately, there were smokers outside and understanding our French cousins desperate plight for a drink, suggested somewhere that may still be open. But it wasn’t to be, and eventually we parted company having finally given up.

Even though I was more comfortable that these people weren’t out to murder us, I didn’t like the fact that my brother agreed to being dropped off by them, but luckily he had the sense to ring me to let me know he was ok.

For those who’ve been on another planet recently, its a social networking “microblogging” site that allows you to leave short messages and updates.

Despite a report by BBC News website (based on a from Harvard study) which indicated that only “10% of Twitter users contribute 90% of the content”, I think this will become even bigger in future. The report also states that an earlier study revealed that “more than 60% of US Twitter users failed to return the following month”.

Facebook also climbed to fame and these days anyone that wants to stay connected on the web must have a facebook account (myself included). But I can’t help being concerned about this trend.

Facebook now dominates the social networking website category and its becoming more and more common to send email via facebook (although there is a long way to go before email is threatened). However, it can’t be denied that reliance on one provider may be risky. What if Facebook network closed tomorrow with no warning? It wouldn’t exactly bring governments down, or cause stock markets to crash, but would cause quite an inconvenience. If their growth continues, this might even become a greater threat.

Sure there are other social networking site like MySpace, but you only have to look at Google Trends to realise what is happening here.

I’m glad to see open source projects like identi.ca bringing an alternative to Twitter, especially as “Tweeting” could easily replace SMS texting over time. For many of us, its cheaper to Tweet than to text. However, I’ve tried to use identi.ca, and whilst I think it shows real promise, at the moment its poses no risk to Twitter.

Marthas/227 in Portsmouth

At least, that was the plan. Having drunk the wine and a few beers, I convinced myself that I could pop into Marthas and it wouldn’t cost me much, as I was already drunk(ish), and entry to the upstairs bar on Fridays is free.

I got into the downstairs pub around 10.30 and found it to me REALLY quiet. On the plus side, easy to get served by the cute bar staff, but wouldn’t make for a good evening unless things pick up. Fortunately, they did within about twenty minutes or so. No-one either remotely interesting (aside from the forementioned bar staff) or interested in me, I think the main area seems to be outside in the smoking area. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t given up smoking – I feel too awkward to stand outside without a cigarette, but have no intention of smoking again (bad habit).

So, with little happening downstairs, and the bar closing for the night,  I plodded upstairs to the 227 club. This place has changed quite a bit over the years from when it used to be One Above, but its nice not having to queue up outside.

I’d already drunk two bottles downstairs so by now I really starting to chill out. Just as well really, because I was feeling out of place. Not because I was soo old (I’m only 37) but because I felt like Billy-no-mates.

This is the fourth time I’ve been to Marthas in the last two months, twice with my younger brother (+bf) and once on my own own, which I really shouldn’t have bothered with (I was REALLY drunk). I enjoyed it more when I was with company, but chances of pulling are much reduced, at least for me anyway.

A group of three really nice blokes walked in and things got interesting from there. Big built guys, looking like Rugby players or something. My spider sense was tiggling warning me to watch out, as they could be trouble, especially as I’m only ever interested in straight guys (another reason I have real trouble pulling).

None of them showed much interest anyway at first, just sipping their pints. And I continued to look awkward and out of place when I went up for another drink. Some guy was really buzzing at something and next thing I know I was dancing with him on the podium/stage. I sware he was on something, not really interested in me but he certainly lightened my mood.  Eventually he dissappeared (home maybe) and I sunk back to my routine.

The Rugby group (I don’t know they were Rugby players, but I’ll call them that anyway) had started dancing now, I guess the drink had kicked in. The Dark haired one (which I probably fancied second out of the three) had noticed me by now, and started dancing with me.  He certainly wasn’t holding back either.  I particularly enhjoyed his tongue down my throat towards the end, just before he started dancing with some girl (not sure what that was all about).

All along I was convinced he was just teasing me though, and never thought it would lead anywhere. So I was very surprised when he suggested going back with me. My God, this would have been the best sex I’d ever had. I knew this really wouldn’t be leading anyway, but didn’t care. Just one night of happy bliss.

So what happened? Whilst he was collecting his jacket, I left. DICK HEAD. I didn’t even get his name, hell I didn’t even say two words to him all night. But I think my mind just took over.

That’s not even the end of it. I stepped out onto the street and some guy started chatting to me, and next thing I know he’s asking to come back to my place. AGAIN, I declined. DICK HEAD. Although, I hadn’t seen him upstairs at all, he’s probably married and Bi, but he was cute and may NOT have been a serial killer.

And so, despite a great night out, I walked home alone. I’ll say it again, DICK HEAD!

I was happy to meet on his terms, play just as friends for now. All I needed was a phone call or even just a text. I hadn’t asked for his number, I thought it would seems less pushy if I left the ball in his court. That backfired though, as I now know it would have been better for me to text him (and him ignore me) rather than forever waiting for him to text me.

Even now, I hold out hope that may be his friend will say to him “don’t be a dickhead, text/phone him”, but I’m just kidding myself.