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Author Archive | Ian Robinson

Hormonally Yours – Shakespear’s Sister

By on January 14, 2005 in General

Took the urge to listen to the song Stay from the Hormonally Yours album from Shakespeare’s Sister tonight. So I pressed the trusty iPod into service. I ended up listening to the whole album. Bloody marvellous stuff. Pity they are not together anymore. Since their split however there have been a few brilliant solo albums from Marcy Detroit.

The iPod really changes the way you listen to music. It’s incredible having 2600 tracks available instantly no matter where you happen to be. No need to find the CD and mount it to hear a track from your collection. Want to hear a track? It’s playing in seconds.

Also the AAC encoding system that you can use in iTunes to encode your CD’s for the iPod produces files that sound incredible. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating. If you want a digital music player get an iPod or one of the new iPod mini devices. You won’t be disappointed.

More drivel on BBC Thought for the Day

By on January 2, 2005 in Uncategorized

I thought that I was beyond attainment of a state of incredulity when listening to pious twerps try to justify natural events in the world. I was wrong.

If you want to listen to some idiot talking absolute nonsense in the face of the recent earthquake and tsunami then visit the URL below and listen to the tripe Elaine Storkey was allowed to broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 29th December. This is a new low in the several thousand years of wreck and ruin religion has inflicted upon humanity.

I suppose I should thank the idiots who spout this nonsense for vindicating my rejection of religion as errant nonsense when I was about 10. But sod them. My wish for 2005 is that more people realise that all religion is an anachronism whose time has passed. Humanity needs to grow up and make a better future for all the life on this planet. Religion is surplus to requirements in the endeavour.

This link will expire at some stage. You will need to search the BBC Thought for the day archive to get the 29th December 2004 entry after that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thought/week.shtml

Another check-up bites the dust

By on December 4, 2004 in Uncategorized

With apologies to John Deacon for the title of this entry. Had another check-up last Wednesday. Everything fine and dandy.

Got the usual physical check of the lymph nodes in the neck & abdomen. Also had a chest X-Ray taken to make sure my lungs are clear. My oncology consultant has decided to stop checking for tumour markers in my blood every 2 months. It’s been 20 months since my IO. My markers were normal pre and post IO. Have been normal on every test since as well. I’m happy enough to stop getting spiked for a blood sample every 8 weeks. Next visit will be in 6 months at which time I’ll get an ultrasound exam of the remaining nut!

So assuming the X-Ray is clean (and it should be) it’s full steam ahead. The TC escapade is retreating further into the past 🙂

The Knife – Deep Cuts

By on October 15, 2004 in General

Just got the new album (well new for he UK anyway) from The Knife. It’s called Deep Cuts. Not sure if I like it as much as their last album but it has some really good tracks. It’s growing on me.

I really like Pass this on and You take my breath away. Other good ones are Heartbeats, Girls night out, One for you, Rock classics, Is it medicine and Got 2 let u. Actually I seem to have listed most of the tracks there so I must like the album as whole. it comes with a DVD that contains videos for 5 tracks.

The Ancestor’s Tale – R. Dawkins (plus) The Road To Reality – R. Penrose

By on September 13, 2004 in Science

Was at a meeting this morning in the centre of Belfast so I popped into Waterstones bookshop to pick up a copy of Roger Penrose’s “The Road to Reality“. Got that okay. We will get to that presently.

Sitting proudly in the Just Published section was Richard Dawkins “The Ancestor’s Tale“. So I got a copy of that as well. All I can say is “Wow!!”

First impressions; this is a beautiful book. The production quality is superb. It’s 528 pages long. Between A4 and A5 in size, hardback, excellent paper quality. All that’s fine and dandy but “what about the content?” I hear you cry.
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The Darkness live

By on September 1, 2004 in General

Brilliant!!! Went to see The Darkness at the Belfast Vital04 festival in Belfast Botanic Gardens on Monday. They were excellent.

All the hype is true. These guys are the real deal. They are tight as a unit, can actually play their instruments well, have good rapport with the crowd and bash out the songs with gusto. All in all they put on a show which is, lets face it, what you want at a bloody concert.

They played most of the songs from their debut album and those from the EP available on the Apple iTunes store. Love on the Rocks with no Ice was the last one played and it went on for ages! They also played one new song. “This is the awkward moment bit” as Justin Hawkins put it 🙂 Another few albums worth of material will fill out the live set nicely. If you get a chance to go see them then take it.

Latest checkup

By on August 4, 2004 in Uncategorized

Had another post treatment check-up today. This was the 4th since the radiotherapy finished. Got the usual check-up as reported previously. Oncologist checked for lymph node swelling in neck, abdomen and groin. Nothing untoward to report 🙂

Also got the results of my CT scan confirmed. Nothing out of the ordinary found. Blood was taken the check for beta-HCG and AFP protein markers. I was told that my check-up frequency would now go onto a 6-month schedule with chest x-rays on that time-scale as well.

So much rejoicing again.

One Year Post IO CT Scan

By on July 2, 2004 in Uncategorized

I had a follow-up CT Scan last week.

Got a call from my Oncology consultants Secretary today to say that the scan was clear. Much rejoicing 🙂

So thanks to science and modern medicine it looks like my adventure with TC is not going to stop me annoying the crap out of people any time soon!

The Knife – The Knife

By on May 16, 2004 in General

Got the self titled album from the Swedish band The Knife recently. I heard them first on the Jonathan Ross radio show on BBC Radio 2. He played a song that I was sure was by Björk. It sounded very like her style. When it had finished however he and Andy Davies (The Ultimate Sidekick) said it was actually a song called Parade by The Knife. It took a few weeks to track down a copy of the album but I finally got it from Amazon UK.

I love it. There are some excellent tracks. Apart from Parade I especially like Kino, I Just Had To Die, I Take Time, Bird and Neon. You can listen to track samples at the iTMS.

Well worth a listen if you like Björk. In fact, well worth a listen even if you don’t.

3rd Post RT check-up

By on April 14, 2004 in Uncategorized

Had another check-up today after the radiotherapy last year. Nothing untoward to report 🙂 The oncologist checked for lymph node swelling in my neck, abdomen and (surprisingly) ankles!! Nothing found. Blood was taken to check for beta-HCG protein markers. The check box for AFP markers was not ticked this time. This is to be expected as seminoma tumours don’t release AFP. In fact only about 10 to 20% of seminomas release beta-HCG markers. Mine were never raised.

The check-ups have occurred approximately every two months since the radiotherapy. I was told today that I would be going onto a four month check-up schedule. A CT scan was also ordered for sometime in the next few weeks. This was ordered not in response to any symptoms but rather just because it’s been a year since my last one. I expect it to be negative!!

So happy days 🙂 Is it okay to use the C word?

[C word = cured]