And then Richard Hammond got his chopper out

So started off this morning slightly later than usual. Dropped Sasha off at daycare then continued up the A38 to join the M5. Drove to Staverton and got there just before 8:30. There in the car park was a motor bike and a man who looked very much like Richard Hammond. I thought I must be mistaken as he looked a bit disheveled without his TV war paint on. He also seemed to have a key to the place. Anyway, we swapped ‘good mornings’. James turned up and sauntered over as if he was at a evening soiree. We got our ‘copter out and checked it over. Then went into the planning room where James went through the manifold pressures and attitudes. He then introduced me to Richard. Nice chap, just as scatty in normal life.

We got into out aircraft as Richard was setting off. I was just going through my checklist and he flew back in again. James went and investigated and they disappeared off for a bit, then came back. Apparently he had a warning light on. It’s his own helicopter with his own call-sign on it. An R44, a few quids worth.

Anyway, we took to the skies on what turned out to be a pretty clear morning. I did some more assents and descents, all good. We then went in for some more hover practice. Now today winds were up to 12 Km/hr so it was a real ass to keep it stable. He asked if I wanted exactly an hour and I said I didn’t mind, so we went on until we almost ran out of fuel. Clocked up 1.2 hours in the end. Together with the R22 study guide that rolled in at just shy of £400.

Drove back and got on with work. Fixed environment maps, still have an orange rather than blue sky. But then spent most of the day fixing various shader problems.

Went for a run. Did the shopping list and now about to finish work just shy of midnight.

Oh, the arcade cabinet artwork is finished, it looks fab. I have a quote for the entire machine. It’s very expensive. It will be here in about four weeks. A bit of a luxury item, but you do need to live a little. At the moment I need to live a lot.

Heliguy.com you are about to incur my wrath

Today work was hard. Very hard. But also rather productive. Let’s just say I gave up on the manufacturers debugging tools and ended up writing my own. Their were more problems with the debugger than I had in my code. Managed to trace a few problems quickly and got things sorted. I’ve still got a hell of a long way to go and a load more hard work in the coming weeks.

Worked through lunch, but went for an eight mile run early evening. Didn’t stop at all, kept going all of it, felt really good. Came back and done a couple more hours, then did a bit of flying on the simulator.

Now heliguy.com…..I bought a helicopter from you a few weeks ago. I crashed it, knowing that you say you stock all the parts. I ordered parts, they don’t fit. Apparently they can’t help. This is going to be interesting. If you buy a brand new car and three weeks later you prang the wheel into a kerb and need a new stub axle, then go back to the dealership and they say ‘sorry we don’t stock that any more’, wouldn’t you be a little pissed off? I think it’s time to get heavy and start suing people, it’s been a while, I’ve missed it. I may look at upgrading the whole headset to alloy though, as it’ll be stronger and all the same bloody size.

Consoles just want to shit on me today

Spent all day trying to get something to work. Even though I solved various problems along the way it still continues to piss me off. Very frustrating.

Went to combat, came back and tried again. Cancelled tomorrows helicopter lesson and rescheduled for Wednesday. Mind is not in the right place for it at the moment.

Will have an early night and do battle again tomorrow.

The most constructive thing I managed today was fix a helicopter

So yesterday mainly consisted of riding various roller coasters at Alton Towers. ‘The Smiler’ was very good. Although the 100 minute wait for the second go was rather tedious.

Today mainly involved sleeping, walking the dogs and picking up dog poo. It was the first time we let Dillon off his lead and he was very good. Came back and then went to the Harvester with Jamie’s mother and stuff. I ate a rather nice burger. Drinking in the afternoon always sends me to sleep. Today was no exception. So I snoozed, did the accounts and repaired my helicopter, although it still needs another part as one is the wrong size. Nothing else done, so fun weekend, had by all.

Back rub and a blowy

Today was very much the same type of stuff, debugging a renderer. It wouldn’t be see bad if it wasn’t an ultra complex deferred renderer. Still, the more hours I spend on it, the more of it works, so can’t complain.

Briefly walked the dogs. I did it individually, as I feel Sasha has the right to feel slightly pissed off, when she walks nicely and Dillon pulls like a tractor. They did have fun in the morning though, it was raining and they both spent ages playing in the mud. They then came in covered in it, but with the look of, “We’ve been nowhere near it”.

Work was very busy, its been a very long week work wise, and mentally very hard going. Still, progress has been made.

Picked up Megan from the station. Jamie came home on time, so we packed up and drove to Alton Towers. Checked in to the “Splash Landings” hotel. Ate at the buffet restaurant, which was far too overpriced. Had a beer at the bar and now in bed. When we got here, there was a birthday cake and beer. Jamie is now insisting on a back massage and a blow job….well it is his birthday.

I now have a simulator for the simulator

Back into debugging renderer pipelines, not the most exciting thing on the planet, but I find it good fun. Had great problems with producing mipmaps in cube maps. Got there in the end using a rather novel approach with six render targets.

Popped over to the sorting office and picked up a parcel.

Walked the dogs, although it was very short as Dillon kept pulling. Went for a run.

Unwrapped said parcel, it was my ‘Phoenix flight sim’. This comes with a USB interface. I installed it all and connected it to my Honey Bee CP3 controller. It actually configured fine which I didn’t expect. It doesn’t have the exact helicopter but it has some very similar models. Boy is it good. I was really surprised. The 3D copters are a real pain to fly, it’s going to be a great training aid. I spent about the first thirty minutes just snapping the rotors off. Finally I was getting the hang of it and getting it into a hover. Will have a play tomorrow. So now I have a simulator for the model, which is a simulator for the real thing. Much fun. Oh, my little copter I bought off Groupon is great as well, it’s an indoor one and is great for scaring the dog.

Wine time.

And then cube maps pissed me off

Once again straight into it, after the small diversion of dropping Sasha off at daycare. Started tracing through stuff and came across a cube map. I’ve then basically spent the whole of the day trying to render stuff to it and then generate mips from itself. It doesn’t want to play ball it’s very annoying.

The dogs ate my cucumber, they must have taken it off the worktop. I now have even less salad.

Went for a quick run, had a shower and then still got nowhere with cube maps. Annoying.

Do have all the parts to fix my helicopter now though. Also got another little helicopter that’s fun to fly as it’s actually stable.

Finally it’s all beginning to work

Today started a bit later than I planned, but soon got stuck in. Carried on from where I left off. My first issue was actually caused my a rogue video player. After I disabled that then everything started falling into place.

Late afternoon I started a data build and went out for a run. Did a home check in the evening for a dog, then did a bit more work. Think I’ll try and have an early night tonight and do some helicopter reading. I must spend some time during the day tomorrow to go on the simulator, leaving it until last thing at night is too tiring. Need to get the flying hours in.