The Parthenon

© Nathaniel Ho 2009

Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
Filter: Skylight 1A
Date: 14th April 2009 18:52
Location: Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Focal Length: 18mm (equivalent focal length: 29mm)
Shutter: 1/125s
Aperture: F/14
ISO: 100
Post–processing: can't remember - minimal contrast boost I think

Nathaniel Ho : 21 Jul 2009 19:11 |  Tags: Photography Travel |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Hong Kong Island Skyline

(C) Nathaniel Ho 2009

Nathaniel Ho : 27 Jun 2009 11:19 |  Tags: Holidays |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

This may get you in a lot of trouble

If you have been shopping at Topman and bought some manly shirts, you will probably find "Topshop" on your credit card bill. What you don't expect is the description of Women's Clothing to be included. This is either very funny, or very unfunny if it gets you into trouble!

Actually some of the men's clothes in there are a bit girly...

Nathaniel Ho : 31 Mar 2009 22:59 |  Tags: General |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Results for 'Expert' F1 2007 Season Predictions

Follow-up to 'Expert' F1 2007 Season Predictions from nathanielho.com :: blog

Sorry this is over a year late!

I can confirm that the 2007 Winner was Rich! Followed by Paul in second place and myself in third.

2009 Predictions coming soon!

Nathaniel Ho : 22 Mar 2009 17:18 |  Tags: General Motorsport |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Dublin 2009

I was on trip to Dublin this week on a work assignment. Going out there was brilliant: 30 second check in at BHX, 3 minute baggage reclaim at DUB, a quick AirCoach connection and a quick walk through the grounds of Trinity College to get to my hotel.

It was nice to return to again Dublin and doing my homework 9 months ago certainly helped! My experience of the O'Callaghan Davenport hotel was good. It was in a perfect location for my needs south of the river. When travelling for work you have to get used to dining alone! My favourite destination was the Millstone on Dame Street. I tried the Ostrich burger - it's frankly awesome meat. I managed to get an a few hours off on my last afternoon to visit the National Gallery and the Old Trinity Library.

Obviously this good fortune meant I was in for some real poo on my return. My flight was delayed for 2 hours and I had already got to the departure lounge 2 hours early! It didn't help that I was visiting Dublin during my 'no alcohol' month. So I wasn't able to make have an Irish coffee or have a Guiness during the four hour wait! It. was. hard.

Nathaniel Ho : 14 Mar 2009 20:07 |  Tags: Dublin Travel |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Keep Alive

I apologise for not providing any update for almost 6 months. Even the lobbying from pressure groups to keep the blog alive ran out of steam.

I have been working steadily in my first full-time job, playing football on tuesdays and living in Leam. I work in the telecoms industry (no surprise) as a services engineer and the graduate scheme I'm on means I get a lot of varied training. I have been fortunate to meet quite a lot of good people within and outside the company. Leam is comfortable, however after 4 yrs of uni, almost everyone I know have left the town.

You find when working full time, there are a few changes you must look out for:

• Weeks and months pass quite quickly - There is none of the pain of long terms that existed with school and university.
• There is no homework - if you have homework, then you need to find a job with no homework!
• You come home, eat, watch tv, sleep and then do it again - this is a dangerous trap that you can easily fall in to. The trick is to make the most of your free time - which isn't that hard. And another important thing to do is to USE your annual leave.
  
• Your blog is never updated
  

So once you are aware of that you can plan your time well. I have made odd trips every now and then to keep in touch with old uni people. I think I have got a good balance going - except for the blog updates.

Nathaniel Ho : 21 Feb 2009 17:37 |  Tags: General |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

F1 Drivers' Favourite Words

Kovalainen: "maximum"

Alonso: "maximum"

Massa: "for sure" or "I did a great lap"

Montoya: "for sure" and "that's racing!"

Trulli: "for sure"

Heidfeld: "Fewwawis"

Webber: "mate"

DC: "conditions"

Button: "the car's just not fast enough"

Michael Schumacher: "optimum"

Hamilton: "team"

Raikkonen: "er..." or "urm" or "er" or "I was having..."

Nathaniel Ho : 14 Sep 2008 15:03 |  Tags: F1 Motorsport |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

91.1 mpg in real life

On the 100 mile journey from Silverstone to his home in Surrey, along a lot of motorway and some large altitude changing country roads, Will managed a whopping 91.1mpg average in a VW Polo Bluemotion. A simple economical 1.4 litre turbo diesel engine in a small car means that it is under the magic 100gCO2 per km which means no congestion charging (and I think no road tax). It has skinny tyres, a slicker aerodynamic profile and long gear ratios. Frankly it whips the silly Toyota Prius. Our figure could actually have been even higher had we not got stuck in some of the usual M25 traffic. We had achieved 95mpg from the motorway journey before we hit the country roads.

The main tips are:

Get to 55mph and top gear as soon as possible. Keep it at 55mph. At all other speeds, be in the right gear for the speed you are travelling at.

Slipstream lorries - they cruise at around 55mph (avoid fast coaches) and they punch a nice hole in the air for you to tag along. Try following oil tankers as this will require a combination of both skill and bravery! We saw an average of about 120-130mpg behind a lorry. If you're worried, you can keep your left foot over the brake pedal just in case.

Allow the car to gently build up speed on downhill sections and keep it in the same position everywhere else.

Keep the a/c off and windows closed. This may require you to wear fewer clothes and drink cold water. You may only open windows when you are braking. Will particularly enjoyed the aero braking element of putting his hand out of the window. You may only use A/C to increase engine braking in cases you would have applied the brakes.

Carry speed through corners - this must be balanced with acceptable tyre wear, as tyres have very high embodied energies.

Acclerate Gently: only depress the accelerator enough for gentle progress.

By doing this, one 40 litre tank of fuel could have a range of 950 miles!! Maybe this could be used as a new government incentive to keep the kids driving slowly: cash payouts for high fuel economy?

Critical Stats:

Fuel Consumption Average: 91.1 mpg (imperial) or 3.10 litres per 100km
Peak Fuel Consumption: 182.0 mpg

Average Speed: 41 mph
Peak Speed: 67 mph

Nathaniel Ho : 22 Jul 2008 22:51 |  Tags: Cars Environment |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

End of University

The last 3 weeks of university were exam-free and apart from results day, carefree. I have no more exams ahead of me. We filled up the first week well with our flat-bonding trip to Dublin and a quick trip to the WTA Birmingham Classic. After that we just mainly chilled out watching many Rocky movies and playing a fair bit of tennis, making the most of the facilities whilst we were at uni. The same could be said about going to the last few union events of our uni lives (and of the current union).

It was not particularly sad leaving university (it was in the 3rd year when the Bachelor degree'd friends left). After 4 years you just get the feeling that the time is right to leave and I will see most people after uni anyway. Try as I might on the train journey to London to play the most sad songs I couldn't induce any tears - it turns out that I am an emotionless robot. On the contrary, I was actually very happy with a smile on my face when I thought about my time at Warwick. Fortunately no one else was in my end of the coach to see a ridiculous idiot grinning from ear to ear. Another reason is that it is easier for me because I'll be working in Coventry come September anyway. Everyone else seems to be moving to London. Absolutely EVERYONE. Seems like I'm the only one left behind!

So I'm supposed to say university has been rewarding and I have made a lot of good friendships. Both of those are true. It has certainly been fun. I wish everyone the best of luck with their futures!

This blog stays alive...

Nathaniel Ho : 10 Jul 2008 11:37 |  Tags: Friends General |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Dublin 2008

Its the afternoon of Friday 6th of June, every other Warwick engineer has already finished and is sitting on the piazza, enjoying the sun and freedom. I'm sitting in my last undergraduate exam along with the other last few MEng students left inside Westwood games hall waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. After reflecting back on 18 years of education about 500 times in my head, all I want to do is to get out of that room as soon as possible!

Tuesday morning arrives and the hive is up at 5am buzzing around the flat, packing and making sure they have their passports. The whole journey was quite painless and we arrived at Dublin at 9.30ish. At the airport, we found it quite strange that about 3 buses refused to pick us up and take us to the city centre. The Metro showed us why...

When we finally made it to O'Connell Street we decided to walk along the riverside towards Phoenix Park and the Zoo. Dublin Zoo is very good and very well maintained (though I may just be comparing it to London Zoo).  It was a very hot day so in order to cool down we popped to the Guiness Storehouse. The tour was strenuous and they make you go through 6 floors before you can reach the roof top bar for your reward! The roof top bar gives the best view of Dublin, which isn't really that exciting from the top because all the buildings are consistently 5 storeys high.

That evening we went out to the usual touristy stops: Gallagher's Boxty house for dinner and Temple Bar. I managed to catch up with an old school friend studying out here whom I had not seen for 4 years.

Our second and last day was spent in the South again, walking around Trinity College and the nearby Museum of Ireland. Rain interrupted our picnic in the park and a good Irish pub lunch became a great alternative. After lunch, we made a quick trip to Dublin Castle before returning to Temple Bar to pick up the kids from the creche.

It was simply a great trip with the whole flat!

Nathaniel Ho : 23 Jun 2008 10:10 |  Tags: Friends Holidays |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem