Mark's Website

Welcome to my Homepage!

Not at all being sure what should be on a personal website, I've decided to take the organic approach. So I'll spoon feed you the personal basics about me and my life and then leave you discover the inner me by exploring the (possibly) bizarre collection of things I've chosen to put up here :) Make sure you pop back again as I'm going to make a point of updating things regularly. I've just been too damned lazy up until now! If you are armed with an open mind and a good sense of humour we should get on just fine.

So here we go....Well after one advert :)

If you want to be able to buy really cheap CDs and have them delivered to your door try..

They stock just about everything and deliver pretty fast to anywhere in the world. I use them a lot! Type in the name of an Artist, Album Title or Song Title and click Perform Search to see if they stock what you are looking for. Go on, give it a try.

Ok the ads are over :)

Although a picture is supposed to tell a thousand words, I'm sure you want to know more ;)

My name is Mark, I'm 27 and am the first of two children by my wonderful parents, Royce and Gill Bryant. I was born on the 15th December 1971 in St.Albans in Herts (UK). Making me a Sagittarian/Sagittarius (half man half horse:), for those of you that go in for 'signs'. I am 6 feet tall and wear size 9/10 shoes (43/44 if you are European). The rest you can see for yourself. Well ok not everything, but I'm not putting them on public display ;) Personal viewing can probably be arranged after an email approval by Bruce. Had I been born a girl, I was going to be called Gail/Gayle, which is kinda spooky. You'll see why if you read on.

My house - Taken Summer 1998 I currently live with my life partner Bruce, in a little village called Burnham, between Maidenhead and Slough. We live in the top right flat - The aerials are Bruce's doing, the window box and plants on top of the porch are mine. I really like living above an office. After 6pm and all weekend we have no neighbours! This means no one to upset if we feel like being noisy :) For those of you that didn't join the dots there - Yes my partner is a man, which means I'm gay / Gail / Gayle??!!?! Go figure :) I think it's kind of creepy *shiver*. Coming to terms with and accepting this was one of the major things I've had to do in life. Looking back on it makes me wonder why it was so hard - The reaction from my mates was not what I expected at all. They seemed to like me even more after I came out to them. My parents and close family are the final hurdles I have to overcome. If this is my mum or dad reading this, sorry for not being able to tell yo u that I'm gay directly - yet. I just don't know how to or if I should do - call me chicken if you like. Having said that, if you don't know by now (with all the dead obvious hints I've dropped) then you'll never know. I don't believe that I have any real need to advise you (or anyone) of my sexual preferences to conduct everyday life unless it's directly affecting you or you ask me directly. When was the last time you were at the supermarket checkout, packing your groceries, and you felt morally obliged to tell the assistant your sexual orientation before you could pay?

We would like to get married if it were legal in the UK, but the way the law currently stands means we can't. Perhaps a trip abroad could solve this one. Prod to Bruce if you happen to be reading this :) Somewhere hot would be nice *grin*

In January 1997 I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, which means I now have to inject myself 4 times a day, with insulin, to stay alive. I used to find it very hard going, being petrified of needles. Now, thanks to the advances and wonders of medical science, the treatment of this condition has got much easier and I've overcome my needle phobia (not that I had much choice). I am proud to say that I administered the first dose of insulin myself. Apparently there is research into needle-less injections. It sounds like something out of Star Trek - the Hypospray. If it happens, I'll make sure I'm at the front of the queue for one. Click here if you'd like to read some information I've compiled about diabetes. It is in need of a bit of an overhaul, with whole sections missing. I intend to do something about it soon honestly ;) For more comprehensive and up to date info follow these links.

http://www.diabetes.org.uk
http://www.diabetes.com

Being a Sagittarian means that I constantly crave new things to do and can get bored very easily. The result is me having a very large number of hobbies, covering a somewhat diverse range. Listening to music, collecting animations, cooking & entertaining, my priceless plant collection, collecting lava lamps, playing with my computer (gaming, programming and obviously stuff on 'the net') and keeping up with my already huge social circle - To name only a few.

One of my latest 'fads', I use that word as loosely as possible, is Aromatherapy - The art of healing with scents. I decided to give it a go after getting totally fed up with stuffing my body with all the chemical crap I need for my diabetes; and a little prompting from my friends UKGem and UKDrew. They swear by it and always seem to have a 'smelly' remedy for everything ;) UKGem is also responsible for getting me into growing cacti and succulents.

I can't really say if the aromatherapy has done anything for me yet, as I've only been experimenting for a few days. So far all it seems to have done is make my flat smell really nice :) So it can't be that bad even if it doesn't work and is relatively inexpensive. Everyone likes a nice smelling house. If you are interested in trying Aromatherapy or want to know the address of a good UK supplier of essential oils, the link below should will take you where I got mine from. The people are really nice and are full of useful suggestions.

http://www.essentiallyoils.com

I am also taking part in a distributed.net RC5-64/DES competition, where I could win $1,000 for allowing a tiny program run practically UNATTENDED on my PC, whilst it is switched on and idle. Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? If you are interested in joining the competition or just want to know more, follow one of the links below. Don't worry if you don't fully understand what the final aim of the project/competition is, it's not required for you to win.

The competition has been running for a few hundred days and is expected to only last about two years. But if you have already visited the links you'll know all this. You could always do a few blocks for me if you feel it is too far into the game to enter and stand a chance of winning yourself. Unless you have a huge network of incredibly fast computers at your disposal that is :))

If you want to contribute, please use the following email address in your client configuration.

rc5@vwe.org

I will proportionally split any winnings I get with anyone who can prove how many blocks they submitted on my behalf. If you submit 50% of the total submitted blocks then you will get 50% of the winnings. It is as simple as that. Make sure you have logging enabled to ensure all the info we need is recorded and give it a sensible memorable name so you don't lose it - The easiest way for me to keep track of your activities is to allow the client to email me a copy of the logs it produces. When you do this is up to you of course. It is advised to do it daily. If you put your personal email address as the sending address, rc5@vwe.org as the target address and the SMTP mail server address as that of your ISPs SMTP server then everything should run very smoothly :) By this method I will be able to keep track of the number of blocks each person submits.

Anyone found deliberately trying to cheat, by altering the logs or something equally as lame, will not get a share of the money. If you are using more than one computer to run clients, make sure I know about all of them or I may suspect foul play or ignore you when I see duplicate logs from your email address - You have been warned. At the end of the day the only person losing out will be you. Please email me by clicking here, BEFORE you start submitting blocks to ensure I know about you. Also use it if you want to register another computer with me. Last but not least GOOD LUCK and THANKS!

http://www.distributed.net/ - The distributed.net Homepage.
http://www.distributed.net/clients/ - The RC5/DES client list.
http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/ - The current competition statistics.

Click here to see my current ranking.

If you would like to have a mention, to add or change a link or just had the urge to say something about my site, click here to email me. Who knows, I may like or hate it so much that I just have to put it up for everyone to read. So make sure you choose your words carefully ;)