--- spoiler alert -- you have been warned -- spoiler alert ---

Just came out after seeing The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, and it certainly brings back memories from our holiday in Toronto Canada last year.

Culver [Toronto] University, the Bioligy University and more importantly that time when we were walking thru the PATH (Toronto's pedestrian network) and walking onto that so-called 'Critical Incident' set.

I can remember us walking thru those turnstyle doors, American Eagle shopping bags and my fiancee Michelle in-tow, then being presented with that dramatic scene outside. In front of us stood the large dome entrance flanked to the left by a New York fire truck, to our right the NYPD; with the building in front flanked by US Army troops armed to the teeth, guns going off and a director screaming to get us off set.

The blurb was that they were filming a pilot for some new US crime tv series called 'Critical Incident' similar to CSI, in reality after seeing the finished product it was in fact the newly realised Incredible Hulk. The scene in question is where the abomination is created, a real freak of nature and bad medicine and a total headache for our hero Bruce Banner.

One guess which ED it is, and no it's not the horse ;-)

Ok, these aren't the best of shots but it does prove Toronto's one amazing city and home to some of the nicest people; plus it's cheaper to shoot there than NY. So on that note, let's have a stroll around to see what other delights can be seen in the film.

Doubling up as big green's home. Toronto University is an awesome sight to behold and has been used in many other films (Good Will Hunting), the architecture and history embedded within these walls has brought us such things as the first pacemaker, the chemical laser and the extraction of insulin.

It's actually broken up into several blocks and is home to some of the brightest minds on the planet, with regular features in Newsweek.

Strolling thru campus crossing Queens Park, it's such a relaxing place to visit but really needs a good day to explore thoroughly.

If you wander you may see Leslie Nielsen's photo on one of the buildings, he studied at Lorne Greene's Academy of Radio Arts before winning a scholarship to New York.

The huge Robards library is built in the shape of a peacock, and stands 14 story's high; housing rare works and first editions it provides the facilities for young minds to take flight.

Awesome stuff, still can't believe our luck!

I'm probably wrong and everything, but last night I got an update of Firefox 3 thru the Synaptic package manager on Ubuntu Hardy and now it sort of looks like it's out early.

Any ideas?

While catching up on Doctor Who and Battlestar I started work trying to make my Ubuntu desktop just that bit more exciting, what you see above is the results of that, specs below;

Theme: moomex

Obtainable from: moomex

It's a GTK 2.x theme so all you need is the Gnome desktop to use it. Open System / Preferences / Appearance and drag-n-drop the downloaded archive file into the Theme panel to install & activate it.

Font Settings

I've really grown to love the Liberation fonts so have combined them with the theme, you can read my guide to installing them here; above are the settings I've used.

Font Rendering

I tweaked the Font Rendering to make the display better, 100dpi and using the LCD Subpixel rendering, plus the Terminal window's using transparency for that really glassy look (Green on Black).

Login Screen

Very Six-Feet-Under, you can grab this from here, it's called Underground Ubuntu GDM, awesome work by ZombieHero.

Don't mind the non-english text, it's not permanent ;-)

Same deal here, open System / Administration / Login Window, then drag-n-drop the downloaded archive file into the Theme window to install it.

Sorry, the background I snagged from way back, think it might be from OSX Leopard but correct me if i'm wrong.

Bye for now,

Just about every new website asks you this simple question, fact is it's the most difficult question you could ask someone and doubly so to answer; so I might as well take a crack at answering it.

Enjoy

Problems, the harder the better. Since my dad bought me my first toolkit from a garage in Southend (worst mistake he could make), I've always managed to tweak and tune things to perfection and creating some seriously decent tools, honestly I enjoy it; just don't play me at cards ;-)

Chaos is something I tend to revel in, last night we touched down at Heathrow walking straight into two other flights creating one nightmare at Arrivals. Screaming kids, wheelchairs, pushing and shoving; I just smiled, you could get angry or you could get on and get things done.

Seriously I don't know how to switch off, hit the ground running and never quit.

TV

• Olympics
• University Challenge
• QI (poor Alan Davies)
• Storm Chasers (discovery channel)
• Mythbusters (blew up my sisters toys when I was a kid, was a mistake getting me that chemistry set)

Reading

Currently Ian Rankin's 'Hide & Seek'.

Authors

• Karin Slaughter (triptych is brilliant)
• H.G. Wells
• Clive Cussler (his older work is better)
• Patricia Cornwell (good reading)

Pointers

• grab as much info as you can, you'll need it
• be flexible, adapt and percevire
• whatever you have to do, get it done
• backup always and frequently, never to just one place
• and above all else enjoy yourself

Future

• log cabin by a lake (rain on rooftops is so relaxing)
• mountain climbing
• fuelled toyota 4x4
• pet husky (gorgeous animals)
• cocoa by a log fire (hopeless romantic)
• carry-anywhere pdf library
• Michelle painting sunsets on the porch
• plus one awesome wifi connection

What a flight we had last night, finally touched down into Heathrow Airport close to midnight coming back from our little jaunt together in Greece.

Went to visit Michelle's sister Lynsey Clark, the SuperModel working for Nikos Takis's modelling school, quite an experience, glad she's doing well and her new boyfriend seems like a decent catch; hope this one's a keeper, nice guy!.

Thought I'd write a few things down to make the next flight a little easier, can't hurt.

Ear Popping

Once airbourne, the aircraft has to climb altitude fast to ride the jetstream and fly faster on less fuel; neat but all that ascension messes with the air-pressure in your ears.

To fix this try chewing gum on takeoff and again on landing, the constant chewing motion helps alleviate the pressure build up and stops your ears from aching; they should pop releasing the trapped pressure.

If it's really bad try pinching your nose, close your mouth and then breathe out. The air should rush thru to your ears equalising the pressure.

Seating

Nowadays you can check-in online which allows you to choose where you sit.

Personally I like to sit near a window so I can look out but not right next to it, like an unfortunate William Shatner from Twilight Zone; so I opt for an aisle seat usually.

Also when flying economy you don't get much leg-room so try choosing to sit by an emergency exit. You'll get more room to stretch out and won't have to worry about people putting their seat back in front of you.

I've flown quite a lot and tend to opt for seats at the front of the plane, at the back and on the wing you tend to really feel the noise.

Good Crew

A lot of people don't like flying because it's too scary or they've had some really bad experiences, to be honest I have to agree, when it gets bad you've really got to grin and bear it. If the plane hits a storm you can really feel the motion, but thankfully your pilots counter this with some responsible flying and plan ahead to avoid such trouble-spots.

It's a tough job to be a pilot and takes years to master so when you grab your bags from the overhead locker, spare a thought for the guys and girls making sure you get home safely; it might be their job but they really deserve a big hug sometimes for all that hard work.

So when you walk off that plane passing the captain, co-pilot, crew, stewards and stweardesses, say a little thank you for a job well done; they so deserve it!

Where Next?

Even before we touched down we're already planning our next vacation, Michelle wants to complete our 'World War' journey by visiting the Somme, we did Normandy two years ago visiting the first days of the d-day invasion and seeing where my grandfather stepped off on D+2.

I want to go back to San Francisco, haven't been there since I was little and really want to explore some more, may need more than 5 days ;-)

All the best and happy flying,

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet!

...and now here's that episode I talked about, classic!