Discovering Dan

Recent Geology and Physical Geography graduate from Keele University. Going on to study MSc Geoscience Research Training (with International Placement) at Keele.

[discoveringdan-blog]

Lemming Complex

I haven't really been doing much of late, in fact I've been quite monotonous in my motions: wake up, eat, work, home, internet, bed, netflix, sleep.. And the cycle continues. This lifestyle, however mundane it may seem is somewhat soothing as I have a strict time plan to do things in, and to be honest with you, I really like that sort of thing.

This is why I link it to the little Lemmings. They just chill all day, doing their own things continuously and don't have a care in the world.. They follow each other and stick to their regimes. It's kind of nice to know that we are not the only mammals to do this..

Maybe it's just a Big Brother society, and we are conforming, even when we say we aren't.. I mean, if everyone doesn't conform, isn't that them in fact conforming to nonconformity? A bit deep, but it's late and I'm thinking about random stuff.

Anyways, I'll check back in a few days when I have something more interesting to write about!

Don't forget, it's always good to be a Lemming!

[discoveringdan-blog]

Modifications

So today I had a bit of bad news in the tech world as the person who I was going to swap my Samsung Galaxy S4 for an iPhone 5 backed down. I had already factory reset the phone for him, so I was left with nothing apart from a blank canvas, and sometimes that's a pretty good thing, so here we go:

Before you start, you need these apps:

1. Apex Launcher 2. Minimal UI Go Apex Nova Theme 3. UCCW 4. Elegante UCCW skin 5. Optional: Eye In Sky

Configuring Apex Launcher:

1. Install Apex Launcher 2. Set it to default 3. Press Menu 4. Go to “Homescreen Settings” 5. Set “Portrait grid” to 10 x 6 6. Scroll down to the bottom of the same menu and make sure “Hide shadows” and “Hide icon labels” are ticked 7. Go to “Dock settings” and turn the Dock off (top right hand corner) 8. Go to “Homescreen Settings” and click “Manage screens”. I only have three home screens, but you can have as many as you like

Configuring Minimal UI Go Apex Nova Theme 2.0

1. Install Minimal UI Go Apex Nova Theme 2.0 2. On the Homescreen, press Menu and go to “Theme settings” 3. Click “Minimal UI” and tick “Icon pack” 4. Go back and click “Default Theme” and press “Skin” and “Font”. This took me some time to get right, so just play around with it (I preferred the Blue look from the default theme, but if you like Orange, just click Minimal UI)

Configuring UCCW & Elegante UCCW skin

1. Install both from the Play Store 2. Click and Hold the Homescreen 3. Click “Widgets” 4. Scroll down to UCCW and select any one, you can resize the widget later 5. Select Elegante UCCW skin 6. Click “Touch here” 7. Clickand hold the clock widget 8. Click “Resize” and make it as big or as small as your heart desires

Optional Eye in Sky Widget:

1. Press and hold the Homescreen (I chose the left screen) 2. Select “Eye In Sky Forecast” 3. Select “Tab” from the dropdown menu 4. Text colour: White (#FFFFFFFF) 5. Background colour: Transparent (#00000000) 6. Press “Ok" 7. Resize widget until you make it right

Then you can just put your apps on the home screen as you'd like (the normal way). You might want to play around with the size of the Portrait Grid to get it to what you want.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this, and now it actually feels like the phone is mine once again; I'm actually liking it more than the iPhone 5. The comments I'm getting seem to be only ones of excitement and jealousy from the Apple users too so I'm happy!

Anyways, I hope this helps.

[discoveringdan-blog]

Pay Day!

After waiting almost six weeks for a paycheck, it has finally arrived, and in style! I've been able to sort a lot of things out which I have barely had the resources, time, or money for recently.. I am so happy and relieved. 

Relieved... yet somewhat disheartened. I've had to pay out so much in so little time, it's almost as if my job has directly paid the companies which I "owe money to". 

I suppose trying to steer clear of money and problems is difficult I must admit, as the both of them are generally symbiotic in nature, but I'm grateful that I've been able to sort myself out for another month, and now I can sort of relax and enjoy the rest of my "holiday" before the academic year starts again.

NB: There's been a couple of days hiatus in posting here, and to be honest I've been a little too busy to even consider switching my computer on, or sitting down for more than 5 minutes to write a post.

So anyway, after a good few days of earning money, I get to have a lie-in tomorrow, so this is a good time to logout, watch a couple of episodes of Family Guy on BBC3 and relax. 

[discoveringdan-blog]

Living Free

I tell you, today has been one of the greatest days for free stuff in it’s entirety. Browsing freecycle for possibly the third time, I decided to message a few people in the hope that I might actually be able to get something relatively mediocre for free. 

A week ago, a person put a “Free Juicer / Blender" on freecycle and I obviously thought it was already taken, but on the off chance that no one decided to snap this little gem up, I messaged the person in question. It turns out that the item was still available and that I could pick it up. So with that in mind, I got onto my Schwinn Cruiser SS and cycled the 5.2 miles there and was met by a very nice man and his son. He was more than happy to hand over the juicer, and joked a little bit how it can get dirty (I wish I took his advice sooner - my god that thing is hard to clean). I cycled the 5.2 miles back, and here’s the proof: 

Well this is only the half of the fun. So for a long time, my mother has been without a decent cooker (one ring working and the oven cooked so slowly it would literally take about 3 hours for a plate of chips) so again, I turned to freecycle. The cooker was posted two days ago and so I messaged the person to hope that it would still be there. Unfortunately, she messaged me to say that someone was about to pick it up... I was obviously heartbroken. In the message, she did say that if the person doesn’t come to pick it up, she will contact me immediately. True to her word, she got back to me at 3:30pm and I told her I would be there by 7pm. By 4:30pm I arrived and was welcomed by one of the nicest women I’ve met in a long time; educated, funny and witty. From the moment I looked at the cooker, I fell in love with it. I knew my mother would be extremely happy with this, and in an instant I took it off this woman’s hands. She then talked about how she’s not long moved to the area and would like to renovate the garden. Luckily I know people in the trade and I have already told them and I've emailed the woman and told her that the price will be extremely reasonable (the least I could do for something so good, right?). So here’s a photo of the cooker: 

I am extremely proud of myself and grateful for the lovely people who have given us these things today - they’ve made a hell of a difference to not only my life, but my mother’s too. 

So all in all I recommend looking at these sites, or even putting stuff on which you may not want any more. One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure, or so the saying goes. 

[discoveringdan-blog]

Applications

Today I touch up my CV for a job in my local town for the summer, and to be honest, even though I have a lot of experience for the job I've applied for, the CV seems somewhat a little bare!

So after the casual 45 minute walk to town (usually takes me 30 minutes) whilst reading Dan Brown's Inferno on my Kindle, the lovely woman in the shop accepted my CV and said there's a good chance of me getting the job because they're only looking for "temp staff over the summer".

However, the only reason I was applying for the job is because the place I'm working at at the moment weren't giving me the hours I have asked for. The joys of working in a summer town. Anyways, today I find out my work are giving me full-time hours from next week for the summer, and now I feel like me applying for a job was fruitless. You never know though, it might turn up trumps for me to have two jobs, if I get the job, that is.

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Eccentric Day

Today has been hellishly busy for me, and sitting down four hours in work does not constitute as relaxing - those chairs are made by the devil, I’m sure of it!

09:00 - Wake up 09:15 - Babysit and eat breakfast 09:30 - Watch Queen Live in Montreal 13:00 - Fix Birkenstock Sandals 13:15 - Search the house for things to sell 15:30 - Have a sandwich 16:00 - Walk two miles to work 16:05 - Phone call whilst walking 16:40 - End call and get to work 17:00 - Start work 21:00 - Finish work 21:05 - Walk two miles home 21:15 - Phone call whilst working 21:45 - End call and get home 22:00 - Fajitas for dinner 22:20 - Build 3D model of Anakin Skywalker 00:15 - Lay in bed 00:30 - Write this post

My only saving grace today is that I spoke to someone who means so much to me. She knows it, just so you know! We’ve known each other forever, and to be honest I think she’s the one. We always fall back on each other and it’s just… Perfect.

Anyways, enough of me being soppy. Tomorrow I shall put stuff on eBay and relax.

[discoveringdan-blog]

The Struggle

It’s not easy coming straight out of an undergraduate degree, especially if your background is one where you’re not so privileged to have a means to do what you want. It wouldn’t be a problem if I wasn’t going on to study at a postgraduate level, I would find a job, earn some decent money and be comfortable in life. I’ve never been one to have it easy, maybe I like the struggle.

As previously mentioned, I’m going on to study an MSc at Keele University, but the thought of not having any money to pay for the course, accommodation, or even live is a shock to say the least. Now I’ve come to a realisation that I might have to severely struggle and live so below the breadline for another year that any hand outs would be worth their weight in gold.

Today I have called a variety of organisations to see if I can obtain any help whatsoever, but the majority are very specific in the ways they fund. However, one company directed me to government websites that could help me, and I was very appreciative of the time and help he put into our conversation. So with that in mind I have written 8 letters, put 8 stamped address envelopes in the letters too (I don’t want them to begrudge me, after all they are charities themselves) in hope that I will be able to receive some financial aid.

One day it won’t be so difficult, then perhaps I will be able to help those in need as much as my self right now.

[discoveringdan-blog]

Today is a bit of a geek day for me. The laptop on the left has seen me through travels (living in the USA, travelling to Spain and Iceland on field trips) for the past 3 years and the laptop on the left was donated by a good friend who had no need for it anymore. So I thought what better way to breathe life into an old laptop by putting Ubuntu on it? Well, Xubuntu actually!

Not bad for a day off work!

[discoveringdan-blog]

Double Entendre

A double entendre - a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways (Wikipedia, 2013).

Myself:

For years I have aspired to be a blogger, someone who updates daily, weekly or even monthly about the goings on in my life, but I have never seemed to have the time to do so. In the past I have flirted with the idea by publishing some of my posts on “blogger" which I thoroughly enjoyed at the time, but studying unfortunately got in the way. Now that I am free from the constraints of undergraduate study, I would like to start a fresh so to speak. By keeping this blog updated on a regular basis, be it through the website or the Android app, you (and possibly myself) will learn about the person I am. discoveringdan.

Academia:

On 30th September 2013, I am starting a Master’s Degree in Geoscience Research Training (with International Placement) at Keele University. The course will consist of using a variety of geophysical equipment to investigate and acquire information on the different ways in which clandestine graves evolve over a certain period of time. I've liked the idea of doing geophysics for a very long time and now that I have the opportunity to do so and such a great university, why not document my time? Not only that, but in January 2014, I am being transferred to the University of Oviedo, Northern Spain to continue research. So with that in mind, I am going to have a crash course in Spanish to hopefully communicate with the locals in their tongue without looking like an ignorant British tourist!  discoveringdan.

Open your eyes to new ideas and your perspectives will eternally change.